Real-Life Weirdness

[L.J.Steele]

https://hypebeast.com/2021/6/salvato..._23_8cnmElAvBE

Italian artist Salvatore Garau has just sold an invisible sculpture for $18,000 USD. The Io Sono (I am) sculpture, as the artist explains, exists but just not in material form, and is actually more like a “vacuum.”

The 67-year-old went on to elaborate that, “the vacuum is nothing more than a space full of energy, and even if we empty it and there is nothing left, according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, that ‘nothing’ has a weight. Therefore, it has energy that is condensed and transformed into particles, that is, into us.” Much like how we “shape a god we’ve never seen.”

The “sculpture” is intended to be displayed in a 5×5-foot square and must be displayed in a private space free from obstructions where lighting and climate control are not required. Reiterating that even if you can’t see it, it does exist, Garau included a certificate of authentication to the purchaser.
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You know there's got to be occult or other significance to the invisible sculpture. And I'm envisioning (no pun intended) the heist caper where the PCs have to steal (or recover) it.

[ravenfish]

Originally Posted by L.J.Steele

Italian artist Salvatore Garau has just sold an invisible sculpture for $18,000 USD. The Io Sono (I am) sculpture, as the artist explains, exists but just not in material form, and is actually more like a “vacuum.”
[...]

You know there's got to be occult or other significance to the invisible sculpture. And I'm envisioning (no pun intended) the heist caper where the PCs have to steal (or recover) it.

The twist to the caper is that, having stolen it, you have to convince people that you've done so. Alternatively, if it's too well guarded, you could skip the theft and just send a "certificate of authentication" by mail saying that that the statue is officially stolen. Not since the great invisible-friend kidnapping has crime been so abstract.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

. . . you could skip the theft and just send a "certificate of authentication" by mail saying that that the statue is officially stolen.

I have duplicated it! The unique properties of this kind of sculpture make it quite easy to create perfect copies. They are now available via NFTs at $1,250 each. Offer limited to 18 statues.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip

Just another day Down Under. The rivers are flowing, the fish are fat and healthy, and vomiting up mice.

The mouse plague is almost more interesting than the fish. Crazy stuff.



If you ever want to knock a growing Post Apocolyptic community back down again, just bring in the mice.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

The twist to the caper is that, having stolen it, you have to convince people that you've done so. Alternatively, if it's too well guarded, you could skip the theft and just send a "certificate of authentication" by mail saying that that the statue is officially stolen. Not since the great invisible-friend kidnapping has crime been so abstract.

But it can't just be any old certificate, you'd want the original certificate or something indistinguishable from same. So if there's too much security, you make a duplicate certificate and then burn down wherever the sculpture is. Having heroically rescued it from the fire, you can then pass it on to your buyer. Of course, they'll have to display it in private, because it's still technically stolen property.

Of course, there's also the possibility that to those with the right kind of senses, there is a perfectly detectable sculpture, you just need to have mage sight, or natural radar, or be a medium or whatever.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

But it can't just be any old certificate, you'd want the original certificate or something indistinguishable from same.

No problem. You just steal the NFT for the certificate along with the certificate for the statue, so you can prove your cert isn't a copy.

(The NFT for this statue is particularly interesting, as it's the NFT that consists of no bits. With other NFTs, you could have two sets of bits that were identical, but there's only one way to have the empty NFT. As a side benefit, it's much easier to store and transmit than ordinary NFTs.)

[L.J.Steele]

I'm pretty sure there's a gang of hyper-intelligent squirrels involved in this pistachio theft ring.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57558536

[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by L.J.Steele

I'm pretty sure there's a gang of hyper-intelligent squirrels involved in this pistachio theft ring.

They are stashing them for the impending apocalypse. Just let the implications of that sink in...

[Varyon]

Office of the Director of National Intelligence Preliminary Assessment of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (not sure why the filename misspells "Preliminary" as "Prelimary," but whatever). Not much real information there, but at least a look at some of the challenges paranormal investigators - even government appointed ones - can run into. Particularly interesting was the bit about "sociocultural stigmas" getting in the way - if you treat anyone who claims to have experienced something as crazy, pretty soon only crazy people will be willing to share their story with you.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by L.J.Steele

I'm pretty sure there's a gang of hyper-intelligent squirrels involved in this pistachio theft ring.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57558536

I don't know why but this sentence in the article made me giggle.

"When nuts are stolen, they can be virtually untraceable, especially in a region where nut-hauling trucks are a common sight."

I imagine someone saying, "They're virtually untraceble, L.J. It's the perfect crime!"