OMG SHARK

I'm sure most people have seen this once in a lifetime shot of a shark almost killing a guy and almost taking out the helicopter! Chilling to say the least!!! I've never seen such a thing!

...And it's no wonder. Such a thing never existed. This friend of mine forwarded this picture in a nice chain mail he was part of. The email stated "National Geographic's Photo Of The Year". Firstly, I tore him a new one for including me in chain mail - then I proceeded to tell him how gullible he was...er..oh wait...how gullible most people are when it comes to this sort of rubbish.

This picture was new to him (and apparently a host of other folks) but has been circulating the net since around 2001. It'd be cool to think that this shot was real, but just look at it. That shark looks like it was pasted into the picture. Why? Because it was.

"A photograph that has been circulating on the internet showing a shark leaping out of the water to attack a helicopter, is a fake. The composite image, which claims to be National Geographic's "Photo of the Year," was spliced together from a U.S. Air Force photo taken near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and a photo of a shark from South Africa.

Email to a Friend
RELATED

* Photographing Africa's "Flying Sharks" (images of monster sharks leaping clear into the air)
* Shark Attack Tips

The photo of a breaching great white shark was taken by South African photographer Charles Maxwell [see the link to his Web site at the bottom of this page]. The Air Force photo of an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter was taken by Lance Cheung. They were spliced together by an unknown person, and reportedly began making the rounds on e-mail in August 2001."

There are plenty of "photoshopped" pictures cruising the internet, so be forewarned. Why people keep getting sucked into believing this tripe is beyond me. Is your life just THAT dull that you really need something to make you say "OMG" in real life and not just over Instant Messenger?

Snopes.com is a good reference to help spot hoaxes - whether they are pictures or articles. Take a look so you're better prepared for the anti-climax that is sure to follow.

You know, that shark pic totally reminds me of another that I've seen before, but can't recall exactly what....



OMG VENDING MACHINE!

Top 15 Skylines In The World

"All my years in studying Urban Planning helped me grow a greater appreciation for the dense downtown skyline of the big city. The downtown core of big cities across the Americas, Europe and Asia are the cultural pulse and economic engines of urban regions where millions of people live. All urban "life" begins and ends, each day and night under the watch of the city's tallest skyscrapers and most grand architectural structures. So kick back and appreciate the view that they have to offer..."

I love architecture, and these city skylines are just some of the examples of some truly great man made structures.

Pac Man Returneth!

"t's very nerdy, but strangely cool. This is a DIY kit that gives retro gaming life to your tired old bike wheels. Passers by will watch in awe as you zip through the streets with your bike wheels illuminating a yellow circle chasing a blob ( better known as pac man )"

Ok, this guy might have too much time on his hands to develop something like this, but how cool is this thing?!!?

I've Always Hated Walgreens

"Less than a month after a Palm Beach woman sued Walgreens for labeling her CrAzY!!" and "psycho" in its nationwide computer system, two more Floridians have come forward with similar allegations.

A Palm Beach Gardens grandmother, 64, filed suit Wednesday, accusing the retail chain of negligent supervision and intentional infliction of emotional distress for typing in its system in May 2003: "WATCH CONTROLS SHE SEEMS SHADY."

The drug business which is America's number one money maker, was one reason why I hate corner drugstores like Walgreens. This article just gave me another reason.

Google Keeps Search Data Private

"Google will not have to hand over any user's search queries to the government. That's what a federal judge ruled today when he decided to drastically limit a subpoena issued to Google by the Department of Justice. (You can read the entire ruling here and the government's original subpoena here.)

The government's original request demanded billions of URLs and two month's worth of users' search queries. Google resisted the subpoena, prompting the judge's order today. In addition to excluding search queries from the subpoena, Judge James Ware also required the government to limit its demand for URLs to 50,000. We will fully comply with the judge's order."

A significant win over privacy concerns. This DOES affect you and me, folks.

Official: Playstation 3 delayed until November

" Sony Corp., the world's biggest video-game console maker, will delay worldwide sales of the PlayStation 3 by about six months to November, giving Microsoft Corp. time to raise its share of the $20 billion global market.

The company had problems with the copyright protection standard for its Blu-ray high-definition DVD technology that will be included in the console, Ken Kutaragi, head of Sony's gaming unit, said at a conference with analysts, media and software makers in Tokyo today. Sony had planned a spring release. "

Not surprising by any means since it was supposed to launch in Spring yet everyone's been hush hush about its details. Come on Blu-Ray!

Google Mars!

Yes, Earthlings, it's true. Google has mapped the planet Mars using their oh-so-lovely mapping software intellect. It works damn well too - type "face" in the search field and see what comes up.

More Cassini Images

Some new images of Saturn's moon, Encaledus, where NASA's Cassini showed photographic evidence of water geysers erupting from the surface. (images courtesy of NASA. linked from wired.com)

Samsung's Flash Laptop

Samsung unveiled this 32GB flash laptop at one of the biggest and most important computer expos called CeBit. Supposedly costing around $30 per Gigabyte, it's not cheap, but it'll be quick, light and thinner than standard notebooks. Slick.

Saturn Moon, Encaledus, May Have Water

"NASA said Cassini images show icy jets and towering plumes ejecting huge quantities of particles at high speed. After studying the images, the scientists believe they show evidence of water jets erupting from near the icy surface."

"We realize that this is a radical conclusion, that we may have evidence of liquid water within a body so small and so cold," said Carolyn Porco, a Cassini team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. "However, if we are right, we have significantly broadened the diversity of solar system environments where we might possibly have conditions suitable for living organisms."

Boy would this be a huge boost for NASA's space program amidst the financial problems and cutbacks they'd be likely facing if something big didn't happen fairly soon. Perfect timing, hm...

The "Why" and "How" of RSS

"Chances are, you're not entirely sure what the point of RSS is. I saw that little orange icon in Firefox, I've also seen their "live bookmarks" feature, which just looks cumbersome, and just never thought it could be helpful to me. Now, I wouldn't live without it. Here's why.

If you're like me, you have a ton of sites bookmarked or on your favorites list, depending on your browser of choice. That browser should be Firefox, by the way, but that's beside the point. You may have evolved and developed a list of maybe five, ten, fifteen sites you check every day to "stay in touch." RSS is a way you can be MORE in touch — with a higher number of sites — while doing less work."

Good article describing what RSS is and how to get the most out of it. Mostly geared towards Firefox users (which you should be using right now anyway).

Looks Like A Photo Of A Kitchen To Me...

..But it's not. The image on the right is a render. That's right, a computer render crafted by Benjamin Brasdau from Germany. The link in the topic title is direct from the CGSociety forums. There are a few more images in there - all jaw dropping. Please do yourself a favor and check them out. If someone showed me those images, I would have never guessed that they were computer generated. Awesome work.

Dubai's World-Beating Buildings

By the beginning of the next decade, relatively tiny Dubai -- it's smaller than Canada's Prince Edward Island, and has a population of about 1.4 million citizens -- will be home to an astonishing number of superlative architectural projects. These include Earth's tallest skyscraper, the first luxury underwater hotel, and a man-made archipelago of private, residential islands (yes, the biggest development of its kind) that will resemble a map of the world when seen from above.

Ok, forget about Dubai Ports Authority and the possible acquisition of some of our ports for a second and check out these amazing near future architectural masterpieces that they've got planned.

The topic is a direct link to the pictures. The link to the original article can be found here.