Yesterday we posted about a mysterious monolith that had popped up on a hillside in Romania, which had followed the discovery and disappearance of a similar monolith in Utah. But since our post, the Romanian monolith has disappeared, with only a small indentation in the ground as a reminder of its short-lived existence.

From Vice:

The monolith's disappearance occurred Monday. It also happened to be the night of Saint Andrews Day—which is associated with supernatural activity like sinister wolves being able to talk and people turning into werewolves, according to the Romania-Insider.

"The monolith found near the archaeological site of an old Dacian Stronghold disappeared on the night of Saint Andrew, when reportedly, a bright light surrounded the object," Journal FM reported. "Locals thought the light came from a car, but the light pointed towards the sky."

Still no word on how the silver monolith arrived in the Romanian town of Piatra Neamt. This one was a seemingly more scrappy, off-brand version of its stoic Utahnian cousin, as its face showed scratches and etched designs mimicking that of notebook doodles. 

And in case you missed it, it turns out the Utah monolith was likely removed by irritated locals.

Last week, a shiny 12-foot monolith was discovered in Utah. Then, over the weekend, it mysteriously vanished.

Now a similar monolith has appeared on a hillside in Romania, standing where an ancient Dacian fortress used to be. This monolith looks almost exactly like the one in Utah, except it has scribbles scratched across its surface.

One explanation is that it's an art piece by the late artist John McCracken. From Vice:

An almost identical structure to the now-famous Utah monolith has been found across the world in Romania. This one has what look to be deliberate loop-de-loop scribbles scratched on its entire face and stands at about the same height as its Utah twin. This European monolith is placed only a few feet away from where an ancient Dacian fortress once stood, according to The Daily Mail. 

It's still shiny silver and still quite reminiscent of a John McCracken sculpture. McCracken was a skilled minimalist artist who died in 2011, according to The New York Times. The artist's son told The Times his father had talked about creating art meant for remote places before his death. The theory is inconclusive, but the David Zwirner gallery, which has hosted McCracken's work for decades, says it's indeed a McCracken piece. 

Project Runway's Season 17 had a contestant who made a "Head to Toe" look which included a matching mask. The hosts praised it as "sick." And, of course, his name was Kovid Kapoor.

😮2019 Project Runway had a contestant named Kovid who made a facial mask to go with his runway look! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/ey0Rq01I2N

— Myriam 🌊 (@maximusmom13) November 30, 2020

Referring to Trump's refusal to cooperate with the Trump-Biden transition this morning, anchor Craig Melvin asked reporter Ken Delanian, "Ken, what have you learned, sir?"

And Delanian's response? "Oh shit. Fuck."

Delanian later apologized, saying it was due to a technical glitch. More details on Deadline.

John Collins, better known as the Paper Airplane Guy, has been a professional paper plane folder more than 30 years—and a Guinness World Record champion for "Farthest Flight by a Paper Aircraft" (226' 10"). Although Wired covers him a lot, it's never boring.

In their video today, the Guy demonstrates how to make his world champion plane. But don't think it's as simple as your typical classroom airplane fold—if you want to partake, you'll need some tools (such as tape, scissors, and a clip) and 37 minutes to learn.

The Daily Show's Trevor Noah reveals just how desperate Lindsey Graham has become (starting :33) as Graham's poll numbers show him potentially trailing behind Democrat Jaime Harrison in a new Morning Consult poll. There's no subtlety as Graham admits he's being "out-raised 3-1, outspent 4-1" and begs for a few bucks from each of his Fox viewers. "Help me," he pleads. "You need to have my back, please."

"I really just care about building something that my girls are going to grow up and be proud of me for," Mark Zuckerberg told CNN Money. Now the clip is being used in a new ad created by Accountable Tech, airing tonight during the presidential debate, reminding us of Facebook's catastrophic failings and Zuckerberg's empty words.

Via Vice

With a short list of household items like scissors, a sheet of plastic, white paper, nails, a hammer, and a knife, this short video shows you how to make a simple "hologram projector" that looks pretty cool. A perfect weekend pandemic project.

Would you pay for airplane food if you weren't on a plane? Finnair thinks so! The Finnish airline is betting that people with feet on the ground are actually going to pay for their flight food in supermarkets. Their "Taste of Finnair" meals, including reindeer meatballs and teriyaki beef, will cost US$12 and will make their market debut tomorrow. Welcome to 2020.

From US News:

The move comes are airlines around the world try to employ their idled resources during the pandemic and tap into people's desire to fly when most planes are grounded. Some are offering simulated flights, fake trips where the aircraft takes off and lands in the same location, or even just time to sit in the plane.

Kimmo Sivonen, store manager at the K-Citymarket Tammisto which will sell the Finnair meals, told the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat that the dishes have been modified to have less salt and spices than those offered in the air, where people's sense of taste is dulled by high altitude.

Image: dingram_kiwi / Flickr

In case you get lost on your way to Trump's Des Moines rally tonight, there will be a huge billboard pointing you in the right direction:

We're doing our part to warn Iowans that @realdonaldtrump is in town tomorrow. This billboard is directly outside the Des Moines Airport where he will hold his hangar rally. #Superspreader #SuperspreaderTrump #covidiots pic.twitter.com/KtN9SebH4T

— Rural America 2020 (@RuralUSA2020) October 13, 2020

The billboard was kindly put up yesterday by Rural America 2020, an advocacy group that, according to their website, "educates Americans on how policies affect rural America," or in this case, how Trump rallies affect rural Americans.

Image: Rural America 2020

Two Stanford economists won the Nobel Prize for "improving how auctions work," according to Bloomberg on their YouTube site. But only one of them, Robert B. Wilson, heard about it from the Nobel Committee. They weren't able to get in touch with his colleague, Paul R. Milgrom, but thankfully the two men are neighbors. Here is Wilson knocking on Milgrom's door in the middle of the night to tell him he won. Milgrom sounds half asleep, but utters a "Wow" when he hears the news.

It only takes six seconds for an aggressive bee to sneak up and attack an innocent bumblebee. YouTuber Mazzy had finally gotten a beautiful shot of the bumblebee when it was snatched from behind and carried away.

From Mazzy:

It's most likely male wool carder bee. They are known for their territorial behaviour and will fiercely battle any other insect that invades their patch of flowers, which they are keeping for potential mates.

As Joe Biden's national lead against Trump in national polls grows, even evangelicals are piling on. The non-profit evangelical group Vote Common Good just put up this billboard in Michigan cities Holland and Grand Rapids as part of their "His Words Matter" anti-Trump campaign.

Michigan billboard campaign contrasts Trump's words against Jesus' https://t.co/K920cfg9zu

— Detroit Free Press (@freep) October 13, 2020

From Detroit Free Press:

The billboards juxtapose quotes from the president with the words of Jesus.

One billboard, for example, shows an image of Jesus with the phrase "Turn the other cheek," drawn from Jesus's words in Matthew 5:39, next to an image of Trump and the words "I'd like to punch him in the face," a comment Trump made about a protester who was removed from one of his 2016 campaign rallies.

"What we're trying to do is make sure that people in the Grand Rapids-Holland area have a chance to really talk about how Donald Trump's behavior as president and his public statements sit in relationship to how they hold their own Christian faith," said Doug Pagitt, executive director of Vote Common Good. "We thought to contrast his public statements with quotes from Jesus would be an effective way for people to be invited into that conversation."

The group will spend $75,000 on anti-Trump billboards from now until Election Day.

Image: PxFuel

explain this then pic.twitter.com/sXAUbPX6zf

— hypocrite🧍‍♀️ (@outtomykonos) October 6, 2020

What a fun way to start the day. Kellyanne's 15-year-old daughter gives us a sneak peek at home life in the Conway residence.

From Raw Story:

Former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway this week was shown on video cursing out her 15-year-old daughter, Claudia Conway, after she blamed the former Trump official for getting their family infected with COVID-19.

In a video that Claudia Conway posted on her TikTok account, Kellyanne can be seen berating her daughter over her past TikTok videos in which she denounced President Donald Trump for being reckless about the disease.

The White House is claiming that Trump's Covid-19 symptoms are "mild," and that could be true, but then it's curious that Vice President Pence has already stepped in to take over Trump's one scheduled appointment of the day: "a 12:15 ET call about coronavirus support for vulnerable senior citizens," according to CNBC.

The scheduled phone call occurred after Trump's White House doctor Sean Conley said he thought Trump would be able to "continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering."

From CNBC:

NBC News earlier reported that Trump spoke to Meadows on Friday morning and is "in good spirits."

The president did not, however, take part in his only scheduled event of the day, a 12:15 p.m. ET call about coronavirus support for vulnerable senior citizens. Vice President Mike Pence led the call instead. It was not immediately clear why Trump bowed out.

Image: Gage Skidmore/Flickr

After Tuesday's exhausting, deflating debate, let Weird Al Yankovic be your salve with his latest hysterical parody, We're All Doomed.