Real-Life Weirdness

[Dr. Beckenstein]

Remember the giant gold coin that was stolen in Berlin a few months ago?

The police arrested some suspects:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...old-coin-heist

The suspects belong to some "Arabic - Khurdish" clan.

So - Assassins in pay of the Gnomes of Zurich try do destroy German-Canadian relations?

[ericthered]

Wheelbarrow? They literally carried the coin along the railroad tracks in a wheelbarrow!

It also blows the mind that the security surrounding a 4 million dollar coin failed so spectacularly. They left DNA evidence, physically and apparently unsubtley smashed their way in, and left, all without tripping any alarms or alerting security.

What happened to the security!?

[Bruno]

Meanwhile in Canada...

Starting today, a titanic spider and an equally titanic dragon battle on the streets of the nations capital, causing all kinds of traffic problems.

From the ninth level of heaven, Long Ma—a cosmic creature who is half-horse, half-dragon—keeps watch over humanity. But a sinister force that has taken the form of a giant spider slips into his home as he sleeps, burning his wings and robbing his sacred temple. From this time forth, the Dragon-Horse roams the seven seas in search of his missing temple.

The giant spider, Kumo, takes refuge in Ottawa, the mother-city of all spiders. Buried deep beneath the waves, the temple remains concealed. But the recent work undertaken by the city to build Ottawa’s new transit line has disturbed Kumo, and she is forced force to emerge from the ground. Her power depleted, the spider becomes vulnerable and loses control of the temple, which reappears in the city. Alerted by this apparition, Long Ma sets out on the route taken by Champlain several centuries earlier, with the intention of recovering his temple of travel, a shrine that he alone has the power to properly restore.

See also: Maman, or why Ottawa is the mother-city of all spiders.

[Flyndaran]

I don't normally like those kinds of sculptures. But that Maman has a nice liquid shadowy presence to it. Similar to the mimics from the game Prey.

Semi- OT: As to dragon-horse, why are dragons the only fictional beasts that seem to mate with more things than humans do?

[Bruno]

For comparison, Kumo is as wide as two school buses parked nose-to-bumper are long. Or if you prefer, the length of a blue whale.

Long Ma is as tall as [strike]five to six giraffes[/strike]. And breathes fire.

EDIT: I have been corrected, Long Ma is about as tall as two to two-and-a-half giraffes at the shoulder, or about as tall as a four or five story building.

[Flyndaran]

When the battle erupts partly through the veil of mundane minds but distorted by our mechanistic view of reality.
Can you tell I've been re-reading Gurps: Madness Dossier?

[Anaraxes]

Giant robotic daikaiju duking it out in Ottawa? When did Ottawa become a Japanese city?

[Anders]

Toddler and kid crash their mom's SUV.

Grand Theft Auto - preschool edition.

[Bruno]

There was a great one recently where a 7(?) year old got hungry for a McDonalds hamburger at 9 o'clock at night, so he took his kid sister, stole the parents car while they slept, and drove to the drive-through. The drive-through people thought it was some sort of prank, until they figured things out. Called the grandparents to come reclaim them and the car.

They got to have their hamburgers while grandma and grandpa came to pick them up.

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by William

This thread exists to stock people up on random tidbits from the news and interesting real-life happenings that sparked gaming ideas.

Reminder to all posters: this is not a "funny stuff I saw online" dumping ground. If it doesn't spark ideas for gaming OR is not a real-life event OR is not weird, it doesn't go in this thread.