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Monolith Appears In Seattle
LordXarph writes: "AP reports that on new year's day 2001, a 6 foot tall monolith has appeared in seattle. If Monolith Software weren't based in Seattle, I would be worried." Anyone have pictures of this thing? It makes me want to hum Particle Man by They Might Be Giants. Oh wait- Wrong song.Update: 01/03 04:39 AM by H :Check out the picture that a number of people sent in.
Here's a picture of the monolith in the Seattle Times.
I suspect that the folk behind the SpeakEasy cafe are behind this;
I walked by the cafe with my girlfriend on New Years [wanting to visit the staff], and they noted that they were closed for New Years Eve and New Years. It said, "Come see us at the Monolith Party!", or something like that.
They're crazy, interesting, and rich enough to pull off something like this. I'd say: Quite possibly (likely?) it was them..!
That's one short man in the photo if it's only six feet tall.
Didn't see whether the other axes were FOUR feet by ONE foot, but it looks plausible.
(In Clarke and Kubrick's films, as well as Clarke's books, the monoliths' measurements were in the ratio of 1 : 4 : 9, the squares of the first three positive integers, presumably as a sign that the creator was aware of the universality of mathematics as a way of communicating between evolved species.)
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This project has been ongoing for months in the Seattle area. On New Year's Eve, a parade/protest/whatever was organized from Capitol Hill in Seattle (the "Bohemian" Neighborhood) up and down its main street and then into downtown Seattle. The parade was in support of the monolith that was going to be emplaced at an unknown location. We were supposed to have a wooden faux monolith with us but the cops confiscated it. The real monolith was put into place while this was going on.
It's just an unfinished Domino peice.
:)
(or it will be soon after a geek gets
their hands on some black n white paint)
It's only a matter of time
Other tricks to do... glue a monkey toy to the top, make it output funny noises randomly, etc.
All these worlds are yours -- except Seattle. Attempt no landings there.
1.0ft x 4.0ft x 8.5+ft
My ruler goes to 1/16 inches and it was accurate to that level---don't have micrometers to examine further. It was buried slightly at an angle, so I couldn't determine the height.
It's oriented N/S, but with the sun at its current height there's at least one "sunrise over monolith" place to stand.
I would have dug it up to determine the height, but there was a crowd there, mostly dog-walkers. I got involved with a conversation with Fido and Rex about the trival 12th-dimensional spacetime rotation required to unify...oh, that's right, you haven't touched it yet.
Wouldn't an advanced alien species measures things in meters? Or have they not converted over yet, either?
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It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.