Last week, I ordered food from a restaurant and went to go pick it up. To my surprise, there was nobody at the counter. However, my food was sitting on a shelf in the lobby, labeled "mobile orders".

I had a moment of pause. Should I wait for someone to witness me taking this? It is, after all, my food. Bought and paid for. I confirmed the name and order number on the bag.

But even if the employee witnessed me taking this, what would that prove? They don't know what the person who ordered this looks like.

When the pandemic started, and these popped up everywhere, I imagined they'd be abandoned relatively quickly. After all, it would be very easy for me to walk into a restaurant and grab a bag.

I'd imagine these companies would have a very low tolerance for food theft, intentional or otherwise. I figured only one or two transgressions would result in the shelf being locked behind the counter.

Maybe the food isn't taken. Or if it is, maybe the loss is small enough to not bother. Mayb

Red mercury is a discredited substance, most likely a hoax perpetrated by con artists who sought to take advantage of gullible buyers on the black market for arms. These con artists described it as a substance used in the creation of nuclear weapons; because of the secrecy surrounding nuclear weapons development, it is difficult to disprove their claims completely. However, all samples of alleged "red mercury" analyzed in the public literature have proven to be well-known, common substances of no interest to weapons makers.

Always found this interesting. Like a non-living cryptid. Ever heard of red mercury, and all the stuff it can allegedly do?