Jelena sent in the image to the right, asking "Americans do have a reputation, but this can't be for real, can it?" By real, I assume she means--is the RIAA really distributing this poster? The answer is no. Looking at the fine print on the side of the image, I can see that it's author was modernhumorist.com. |
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John Walkenbach gave me a heads up about this image, which has been puzzling visitors to his blog. Is it real or fake? His readers have already figured out that the message on the front of the bus means "cross on the zebra crossing" (or something to that effect) in Portuguese. In other words, it's warning people not to jaywalk, or they'll end up hit by a bus. It's hard to tell with such a low-resolution image whether or not it's real, but my hunch would be that it is real. I don't see any obvious signs of photoshopping. It reminds me of the 'Air Santa' image that was circulating around a few years ago (which seems a bit more fake to me).
A photograph of what appears to be dragons flying in the sky above Tibet has been generating some attention. The photograph was taken over a year ago:
Here's a photo that I received in my email (forwarded by Robert Avallone). My first impulse is to say that it looks real, though it's conceivable that someone whited out something that Jim Edmonds (on the right) was holding in his hand, making it look like he's groping Jason Marquis (on the left). I haven't been able to find any references to the photo online. Maybe this is an example of the 'Pope grope' that cardinals are said to use to check the gender of the Pope (following the Pope Joan debacle). Wait, no. Wrong type of Cardinals.
This seems kind of odd: a runway with a road going across it. And yet it's real. It's Gibraltar Airport, which is the only airport in the world that has a road crossing the runway. A view of the airport can also be seen via Google Maps (if you don't believe the picture is real). It reminds me of Princess Juliana Airport in St. Maarten, in terms of being a very unusual airport. (via Outhouse Rag)
Here's a picture that I got in my email, which is appropriate for these hot summer days. Not to be negative about sun worshippers, but it's pretty gross. The woman's skin could have been made to look like that with photoshop, but I suspect the image hasn't been manipulated because I know that there are people whose skin really looks like this.
Michael Perkins sent in this image (click the image to enlarge), asking whether or not it's real. I've never seen the image before, so I don't know where it comes from, but it looks like a fake to me. The background image of the bear in the woods seems to have been pasted onto the foreground image of the golfers. Note the unnaturally straight line where the green meets the forest directly behind the flag.
Here's a link to some video footage of an accident with a photocopier. I don't have any details about where this footage was taken, or if it's real. Although it looks staged to me.
Gunner Miller forwarded me a link to the latest viral video going around. It shows a purse grabber who gets taught a lesson. I've never seen the video before, and I can't decrypt the text above it (I tried to translate it using altavista's Russian-to-English tool, but that didn't work). So I can't add much to it. Gunner comments that "The females stance and shoulders seem very guy'ish."
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My guess is that this video clip is real (the banner ads on the site that hosts the movie probably aren't safe for work, but the clip itself is safe). It's the kind of stunt that circus performers, sword swallowers, etc. have done for ages. It's still pretty bizarre to watch, however. I think the clip has been doing the rounds for a couple of years because I vaguely remember seeing it a long time ago.
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