1947 'alien autopsy' film frame is up for auction as an NFT:
A picture is worth a thousand words, but is a single frame of 16-mm film worth $1 million? That's the opening bid for a negative frame of black-and-white movie footage from 1947, allegedly showing an extraterrestrial corpse on a medical examiner's table.
The frame comes from an infamous and very implausible "alien autopsy" said to have been captured on film in 1947, following reports of a UFO crash at Roswell, New Mexico. Lore surrounding the crash claimed that the made-for-a-movie creature was aboard the UFO and died in the crash; it was then dissected in secrecy by the U.S. government, the tale goes, according to a statement about the auction.
And now, one frame of the autopsy film is up for auction as a non-fungible token, or NFT, which means that the highest bidder will acquire a string of unique code that verifies the film frame's authenticity. The winner will also receive an actual physical frame of the autopsy film, according to the auction listing.
[...] In the autopsy footage[*], a lifeless humanoid figure lies on a table; a gaping wound can be seen on its right leg. It has a rounded trunk and belly, bulbous, dark eyes and a hairless head that's much larger than the average human skull. Figures clad head-to-toe in white protective suits circle the "corpse" and perform a methodical dissection.
Where did this film come from? Rumors about a UFO in Roswell began to circulate in 1947, after a U.S. Army public information officer issued a press release describing a crashed "flying saucer" from Roswell that was now in the army's possession. In 1995, a documentary that aired on Fox Television under the title "Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction" introduced TV viewers to footage of this alleged postmortem of the UFO's “extraterrestrial” occupant, Live Science previously reported.
Ray Santilli, a British record and film producer, owned the footage. Santilli said that he acquired the film in 1992 from a retired U.S. military cameraman, during a search for archival footage for a documentary about Elvis Presley, according to the auction statement.
[*] The video is located on YouTube. The audio is not in English and appears to be about TOR and the dark/deep web. But, if you skip ahead to 3m40s, there is an approximately 35 second piece of footage.
The crazy has just stepped up a notch
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Booga1 on Sunday May 30 2021, @07:41AM (10 children)
These things are like art. Only worth something to someone who wants to pay for it. Does that make it worth a million? What makes any art worth anything?
Every NFT has the same value to me as a banana taped to a wall: nothing.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Sunday May 30 2021, @12:55PM
"eBay prices". Yeish.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 30 2021, @07:14PM (8 children)
These things have extraordinary intrinsic value to those who would wish to conceal the item or service they have actually paid for, you know, just like traditional meatspace art.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Reziac on Monday May 31 2021, @02:21AM (7 children)
A nicely written up HowTo:
http://mileswmathis.com/launder.pdf [mileswmathis.com]
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday May 31 2021, @09:27AM (6 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday May 31 2021, @01:50PM (3 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday May 31 2021, @02:23PM (2 children)
That may be, tho when I look down the update list, most appear to be satire, or making shit up for its own sake. One doesn't point out that something is "worth a laugh" if one is taking it seriously.
However, the basic point still stands. If I actually cared, I'd go find some of the other analyses I've seen that reached the same conclusion about the financial foundation of Big Art. Lessee,,,,
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=money+laundering+art+market&t=h_&ia=web [duckduckgo.com]
Let's pick a few, trying to avoid those that regurgitate one another's stories...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/not-a-pretty-picture-money-laundering-and-americas-art-market/ar-BB17Jslf [msn.com]
The 150-page report from the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) details how a pair of Russian oligarchs allegedly laundered at least $18 million through the American art market in recent years,
https://www.artandobject.com/news/how-money-laundering-works-art-world [artandobject.com]
There also seems to be plenty of instances where art has played a role in the act of money laundering. Consider that when the Mexican government passed a law in the early 2010s to require more information about buyers, and how much cash could be spent on a single piece of art, the market cratered, as sales dipped 70 percent in less than a year. Many believed that was because Mexican cartel rings had previously been the biggest buyers in the market.
report from a big-ass business services outfit:
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/finance/us-five-insights-into-the-art-market-and-money-laundering.pdf [deloitte.com]
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/comment/how-will-us-money-laundering-crackdown-actually-impact-the-art-market-a-lawyer-explains [theartnewspaper.com]
Specifically, the new law subjects antiquities dealers to the provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act, requires registration of the ultimate beneficial ownership of limited liability companies, and directs the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) at the Department of the Treasury to conduct a study of money laundering in the art market. Long considered but only now passed, the bill is a significant step into regulating the US art and antiquities market, though still far less invasive than the European Union’s current approach.
So, maybe the lunatic isn't just howling at the moon! Stopped clock, perhaps? who knows, but it's getting some mighty big attention elsewhere.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday June 02 2021, @03:34PM (1 child)
https://www.startpage.com/do/dsearch?query=art+tax+avoidance&cat=web&pl=opensearch&language=english
Which of course contains a lot of repetition of principles more than individial cases because, I would claim, it's so widespread that enumerating examples is no longer interesting (OK, there's one specific one in the list):
https://thestandrewseconomist.com/2020/11/27/the-art-of-tax-evasion/
https://observer.com/2020/03/art-collectors-avoid-state-tax-through-shipping/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0308518X20972712
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/2/4/18210829/superyacht-art-storage-billionaires-tax-avoidance
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/27/arts/design/tax-break-used-by-investors-in-flipping-art-faces-scrutiny.html
https://groco.com/tax/how-to-avoid-taxes-on-income-from-selling-expensive-art/
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2027&context=umcur
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/yves-bouvier-tax-evasion
https://research.cbs.dk/en/publications/the-new-luxury-freeports-offshore-storage-tax-avoidance-and-invis
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/dec/27/tax-exemption-public-access-treasured-artworks-racket
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday June 02 2021, @03:56PM
Oh, certainly. If you're money is legit, best to use a handy legit loophole.
If your money ain't so legit, it's a convenient laundromat.
But sometimes it's a fine line between.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday May 31 2021, @02:06PM (1 child)
He's just the one I happen to have bookmarked that conveniently puts it all in one place so I don't have to natter on about it; there are others who've made the same analysis and reached the same conclusion (with assorted evidence, too). When I first stumbled across the concept of, shall we call it, retail money laundering, I was actually looking for an analysis (beyond my own) of the same thing happening on eBay and Amazon, where some trivial item is offered at an outlandish price, dozens or hundreds of times its realistic retail value, and is apparently resold umpteen times... aha, they're not selling a USB cable for $500 (often with equally inflated shipping), they're moving dark money, or laundering money. The absurd price keeps the uninitiated away, and who knows how much "bonus money" gets moved via Paypal.
I first noticed this going on about 18 years ago, because I kept getting inquiries about my Tyan S1830S mainboards (sort of a specialty server board that remained in some demand long past its best-by date, thanks to at the time being the only reasonably fast board with four ISA slots .. .do you want to sell them? NO!)... so decided to see what they were realistically selling for.... around $250 (well, there's a nice markup on what I paid for 'em).... except for this one guy who has one listed at $5000. And a whole bunch of other both vintage and modern components at similarly inflated nonsense prices, wtf (IIRC the most entertaining being a $25,000 server rack). So for the next several years I kept an eye on it... and there was always one or another dealer on eBay with the same stuff at the same absurd prices, readily located by that same $5000 listing for an S1830S mainboard (worse, sometimes for "parts only"). Occasionally it would show as SOLD, but another one always immediately reappeared. And the S1830S was by then rare enough that no, it's not plausible that someone has an infinite supply.
Obviously no one is stupid enough to pay $5000 for "parts only" when eBay spits up a couple more "new in box" at a fraction of the price, and no idiot however deluded pays $500 for a generic USB cable, and this has been going on for years, so I concluded... they ain't real items, it's just a way to move illegitimate money, with a relatively-rare marker item that makes the "seller" easy to locate for those in the know. (I've also seen a book seller with similarly gold-plated prices. There are likely many more, I just happened to intersect with one of 'em by sheer chance.)
A few years after I first noted this on eBay, I started seeing the occasional $500 USB cable (and sometimes other stuff similarly inflated) on Amazon, tho it was more a trip-over, as I never bothered working out whether there was a standard locator item, just happened across a few examples while looking for something else.... but regularly enough to determine it wasn't just a dumb mistake-price by the seller.
Anyway, thanks to that experience, I have absolutely no problem believing that the same thing happens in the art world, only a whole lot bigger. Further, it would be interesting to know how many of these ...remarkably priced random splats... are not on someone's wall or hanging in a gallery, but rather are housed in a warehouse which mysteriously burns down and provides a nice insurance payout.
Meanwhile, the artist gets paid, the gallery gets paid, and interesting sums of money move around in interesting ways with no obviously criminal strings attached. Everybody happy! But I'd not be surprised if no one at the level of artist or gallery, and perhaps not even the auction house, knows what's going on ... after all it's not their money, they just facilitate the sale and collect the commission, and who's fool enough to turn down an astonishing sum for what is manifestly overpriced? Postmodern art and the occasional legit bidding frenzy has handed 'em the laundering method on a platter, all legal and above-board, and people with money at that scale are not stupid.
Ultimate conclusion: we're all in the wrong business. ;)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday June 02 2021, @03:39PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 30 2021, @07:49AM (7 children)
I didn't fully understand Einstein the first time I heard of the "human stupidity is infinite" joke. I'm not sure I fully understand him now, either, but this NFT thing is an eye-opener.
"Here, this list of ones and zeros is unique."
"But I can make a copy of them."
"No, no, it's unique."
"But it's just ones and zeros, literally I can duplicate..."
"It's non-fungible! Can't you understand simple English?"
I'm actually envious. I'd have no moral issues taking money from these people, but I don't know how to find them.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Sunday May 30 2021, @12:38PM (1 child)
The thing is, it is no joke.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by FatPhil on Monday May 31 2021, @10:18AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday May 31 2021, @10:16AM (4 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 01 2021, @06:34PM
I don't have a source for the above, sorry. for better or worse, I thought about it all by my self...
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday June 02 2021, @04:11PM (2 children)
ZeroHedge has an RSS feed that gives you the full article, tho the link is non-obvious. Since finding that, I don't think I've even looked at the site itself.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/zerohedge/feed [feedburner.com]
Until today... works fine with JS disabled entirely, except you don't get to see the comments. If I allow just its own JS, I get some overlay annoyance and the comments, which per brief perusal, are not worth the bother.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday June 02 2021, @05:01PM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday June 02 2021, @05:46PM
I use SeaMonkey's mail client. No idea how Palemoon's RSS works, but usually if I can't find what I've already read, it's because I've got that folder set to only show unread messages. But it does an actual download-and-write-to-disk, dunno if others might just treat it like a web page request.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 4, Touché) by isostatic on Sunday May 30 2021, @10:46AM (2 children)
Exact same reason for ridiculous value of 'art', great way to launder money.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday June 02 2021, @02:40PM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Funny) by Reziac on Wednesday June 02 2021, @04:14PM
Behold the power of AND! :D
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday May 30 2021, @11:02AM (2 children)
I don't want to watch, or own, some alien snuff-movie. They might get pissed and abduct me ...
Doesn't this make it a NNFT (non-non-fungible-token) then as you get a frame of film? Or in other words it's a normal auction for one frame of film and a series of digits but with the new buzzwords attached to it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 30 2021, @11:41AM
The whole NFT craze is just fucking awful. The less you have to think about it, the better.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday June 02 2021, @02:45PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 30 2021, @11:08AM (6 children)
maybe these are not aliens but german test pilots?
not sure how to bend the narrative but "something" with space-time, maybe "propulsion" maybe "time-travel" might have warped them? you know t-force and operation paperclip etc etc?
also, the site.might crash again now ^_^
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday May 30 2021, @12:45PM (5 children)
TBH, I'm not entirely convinced that the "cadavers" were ever real.
It is true that creating a fake cadaver in the 1940s would have been testing the limits of technology. It is also true that Average Joe wasn't invited into the lab to put hands on the supposed bodies to poke and prod. Even back then, it wasn't a great challenge to manipulate video "evidence" to convince the target audience or whatever you wanted to convince them.
It would all have been more convincing if dozens of medical examiners, doctors, and nurses from local communities had been invited in for the autopsy.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 30 2021, @03:41PM (2 children)
just saying, that it matters how you shine a light on real things.
those "cadavers" might be real, but as i said, maybe the whole "alien" thing is just a cover-up for something else.
something along the line of "where do you place the light" totaly makes a scene look different even tho you're looking at the same real thing; as an example consider the sars2 origin thingy going on. it hinges on two things:
1) first that wuhan is 100% guaranteed to be the "xplosion site". there's is no other site, no previous site.
2) origin is a animal and bugs can jump species.
if either one is wrong, and the first one is very very doubtful, then it blows the door off of any numbers of so-called approved news narratives.
just because a chinese doctor decided to look a bit more then "change the oil and filter, wipe down the windshield" examination and found that the the steering tie-rod (or whatever) a 1/4" from rusting thru doesn't mean that it originated in china per se.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 30 2021, @03:43PM
oh, forgot to add:"hiding in plain sight". the pres is giving them 3 months now to do that!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 30 2021, @03:53PM
oh and also, here's a example of shining light on a scene:
light-source one: desert storm syndrome. some cocktail injected so soldier "don't get sick".
light-source two: marching soldiers to nuke test site, to have them "experience" a atomic blast.
...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 30 2021, @10:14PM
Compare how the actors in the film use scissors to how medical professionals use scissors.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday June 02 2021, @04:16PM
Somewhere in the rabbitholes leading away from this discussion, I read that the film was actually made in 1974.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 30 2021, @05:16PM (3 children)
It is now worth $2 million and I am gifting it to you with no strings attached... just feel free to up-mod me by way of thanks if you have any NFK (non-fungible karma) to spare.
Here is the blockchain entry: 11663af895e4ba99-89c9e9ab4760237c-a0999bb4760237b0-989b0234ddf300aa. Be sure to keep it in a safe place since it will be worth $5 million in a few days.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday May 30 2021, @09:51PM
Jeeeez, damn auto-correct changed it to 11663af895e4ba99-89c9e9ab4760237c-a0999bb4760237d0-989b0234ddf300aa. Shit, now i gets nothing.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday May 31 2021, @10:20AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday May 31 2021, @12:26PM
You should sell natural numbers as NFT. You know, each number is absolutely unique, and they are even naturally numbered.
And you'd never run out of numbers to sell. ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday May 30 2021, @05:54PM (1 child)
The seller targets gullible people. Clever way to ensure a sale.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday May 31 2021, @02:24AM
Occurs to me to wonder how many of these "one of a kind" frames will be sold... it's not like the buyers are likely to want the world to know they were this gullib-- er, launde-- ...never mind...
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Kymation on Sunday May 30 2021, @06:03PM (2 children)
I just got this at the end of this article:
"Art is anything you can get away with. -- Marshall McLuhan."
So if it sells, they got away with it. Yeah.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday May 30 2021, @06:16PM
I see it too. Perfect.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday May 30 2021, @10:49PM
Marshall McLuhan? Now that's a name I haven't heard in a very long time [youtu.be]
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..