First a mysterious monolith appeared then disappeared in the Utah desert.
A similar one popped up in Romania. It, too, vanished.
Then another one appeared at the top of Pine Mountain in California. This led some folks to ask whether it was the same one from Utah.
Alas, not. The California monolith is apparently shorter and slimmer than the Utah one.
A weird kind of monolith mania was catching on. A giant wooden phallus disappeared from a mountainside in Germany, sparking a police investigation.
Anyhow, we imagine most Novocastrians aren't surprised by all the attention on these objects.
We had our own phallic symbol at Queen's Wharf for years. It disappeared, too.
And, of course, we've had our own monolith on top of the hill above Newcastle in a place fittingly known as The Hill.
"The Obelisk is one of our city's oldest navigational markers," the city council says on its website.
"The first navigational marker on the site was built in 1820 and was known as the Government Flour Mill.
"In 1847, the government decided to demolish the mill and it was submitted to auction to be demolished. It was purchased by a Newcastle resident."
A protest in the shipping fraternity ensued, as the old windmill was a guiding mark for mariners entering the harbour.
"Petitions were at once forwarded to the governor, but the purchaser sped up the demolition and the building was down before the government could cancel the sale.
"However, continued agitation by the shipowners compelled the government to act. In 1850, the Obelisk was erected on the spot where the old windmill stood."
Anyhow, the disappearance of monoliths has us worried for the welfare of the Obelisk. We're suggesting an around-the-clock police guard until monolith mania dies down.
Marketing Mania
While we're on the subject of mania, with Christmas approaching marketing mania is rising again.
A Central Coast shopping centre is offering a $50 gift card for customers who spend $500 (excluding, of course, ALDI, Coles, Kmart and Woolworths).
The catch is, you've got to spend the $500 "in the course of one day from any specialty store".
The promotion was apparently about "celebrating happy hour".
This made us wonder whether they hope shoppers will go on a spending binge in an hour or a day [we're confused], or perhaps a booze binge?
Topics recommends against either.
Lifesaving Solar
Still on the manipulative world of marketing, we had a solar panel salesman at our door the other day.
He was wearing a surf lifesaving badge.
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