Slashdot Mirror
Remote New Zealand Volcano Sees Dinosaur Alert?
Thanks to BoingBoing for pointing to a ChannelNewsAsia story discussing a 'dinosaur' sighting in webcam pictures of a remote New Zealand volcano. The latest live webcam picture shows the offending creature, with Geonet spokesperson John Callan saying: "Some wag has glued a [toy] pink dinosaur in front of our digital camera", even though "...most people do not go ashore on the uninhabited, rumbling" White Island, east of Auckland, where the webcam is located. Apparently, the dinosaur will stay for now, since authorities "are not planning on removing it, counting on the sulphur and high acid environment to deal to the creature."
I'm a little surpised the news article and Slashdot are just using the term "pink dinosaur"... is it that hard to recognize Dino from The Flintstones?
How about a Gnome? Also be nice to see Waldo in a random webcam picture. It is great that the dinosaur is in such a remote place that they are going to leave it.
Those who trade freedom for security will lose both, and deserve neither" -- Ben Franklin
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has a story complete with picture in case of a Slashdotting.
This is a great hack. It has to be an inside job. How else would they know when the camera takes pictures, to avoid getting caught. Not to mention the exact location of the camera.
Too funny!
"Some wag" is a cop out. They did it and are afraid to admit it. Who else would have the necessary safety equipment to put the toy there, other than the people who put the web cam there, and who else would know exactly where the web cam was on an island that "people don't go on"? We're expected to believe "some wag" jusy happened along in that forbidding scenery and just happened to be carrying that particular toy, and happened to find that aprticular spot and know what the thing was attached to?
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
... to go unnamed.
Actually, there IS no other news, which is why this made it to the front page.
...what next Clippy next to Big Ben? Geez
:)
P.S Yes I did RTFA!!!
Who has the time to go up a volcano to pull a global prank? Only a geek
Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
Slashdot points to BoingBoing points to ChannelNewsAsia points to a webcam pointing at New Zealand?
I think I'm getting dizzy..
Not that this wasn't entirely predictable.
I can't think of a better place for Barney than an un-inhabited island!
Of couse a web-cam Barney could give new meaning to the song, "I love you, You love me......"
hehehe
B-)
A friend will come and bail you out of jail, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "damn that was fun!"
This could create a new fad. Place object of choice in the field of these site cams.
I mean its made of plastic, but it looks like it might be one of those rubber types.
I would also like to know WHEN it showed up. I mean, really, who would miss something like that.
SOMEONE has to be getting paid to stare at that camera, or at least review it every day.
here comes Enzy...
Now I have to pick up after Pebbles and Bam-Bam in New Zealand?!? WILMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was in the park the other day wondering why frisbees get bigger and bigger the closer they get - and then it hit me.
Many plastics are fairly resistant to acidic environments and sulfur aren't they? Isn't this why toys like this last for hundreds of years? I realize that many plastics have different chemical characteristics, but aren't the majority pretty inert? Someone out there with some plastics chemistry knowledge like to weigh in?
After turning up the audio gain for the web cam, said dinosaur was heard to vocalize: "Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh!!!"
IAALS.
It's an ad for Jurassic Park IV Sorry for the lousy link. Had to beat the mind readers to the punch. Hope I made it.
What?
That's great except that it's not Barney, that's Dino from Flintstones.
So this is where the hide the studio all these years.
That's not a dinosaur, it's Smaug! He's escaped from the set of Peter Jackon's The Hobbit and is trying to nest!
If they don't do something quickly, this could be even worse than the incident when all those orcs got loose during the Battle of Helm's Deep filming and slaughtered that busload of Japanese tourists!
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
If you're ever setting up a webcam outside, position it so that the sun is always behind it, not shining directly into the camera for two or three hours every afternoon.
I learned this the hard way; my weathercam has exactly the same pattern of smokey lines across the sky now too..
455fe10422ca29c4933f95052b792ab2
actually it's not that remote, it's a 40 min boat ride from where i live, tourists go there almost daily (yes i've been too) and it certainly is not fuckin east of auckland!
...a slashdotted dinosaur with big tits. Next!
they will need to wait for Mother Earth to do this dino in.. The slashdot effect has allready got it ;)
Paranoid tinfoil hat crowd say Y here, everyone else say N.
Truly, the end is night.
Oh really, the end is night? The end is not even nigh!
White island would be over 150 Miles south of auckland thats a long way in New Zealand Heres a map SafT
the lastest pictures of their webserver too =(
Are you an idiot?
Actually, white island isn't that remote. It is a fairly popular daytrip. I'd post photos from a holiday there, but there's no way my 128k DSL line can handle slashdot :-(
There have been musings from several New Zealand-based fark.com members that other items may soon be joining Dino.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
Surprise at Dino Peak
another more interesting possibility is the web cam is suffering from charles bonnet syndrome. this is a condition wherein cartoon characters appear in some part of the visual field--such as the lower half. sounds like i'm making it up, but go ahead and google it.
Here is a copy of the photo, as the site is S L O W at the moment
That's even worse than calling something a "mute" point.
nt
..in case of slashdotting. Mirror
Look about a third from the right and a third up in the shadowy area. Is that a dragon head I see?
http://s92169157.onlinehome.us/img/whiteis.jpg
Mirror 2
Enjoy, and hey at least this post had a point.
If you're not paranoid, then you're not paying enough attention. - Unknown, Slashdot
I'd really rather watch Barney melt to a purple goo. Dino is such a nice pet.
Cozinha para as massas (e para geeks)
http://130.236.227.49/whiteis.jpg
To deal what to the creature? Cards? Drugs?
WWJD? JWRTFA!
I played with the gamma, and I haven't seen any thing looking like a dragon. Also I should note that I no longer have eyes...
If plastics melt in this particular enviroment, what is the webcam made out of?
C:\earth\humans\del *.m0ronz
Oh my god that page is worse than fucking goatsex. Don't click on it, your eyes will never be the same!!
Are the folks of slashdot posting age too young to remember the flintstones already? Truly, the end is night (and day?)
If it does slowly melt like the article implies, it would be rather neat to download and save the photo everyday and create a time-lapse video of it melting... If it actually does...
damn, where's that troll with the akamai mirrors when you need him
We here at U-Dub wouldn't dare limit ourselves to plastic toys in our webcam shotstealers. For proof, see http://www.washington.edu/cambots/archive.html and look for the birds, spiders, and other goodies that show up.
I rather doubt this is a small toy glued to the camera, since Dino is currently (May 25 10:00 am NZST picture) casting a rather distinct shadow on one of the rocks.
Unless, of course, the prankster also glued a rock to the camera... :-)
A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
1. More objects appear next to Dino.
2. Dino melts.
I would have fucked with their heads and been like, unfortunately due to abnormally high radiation and toxic gas levels these poor young comedians wont live out the month.
Come on you should have at least tried to hoax the hoaxers and get a good reaction out of them.
(note to mods: this is not a troll, it's 'informative', or 'funny')
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
The real thing is that scientists are conducting experiments on the poor little thing by testing the limit that Dino can reach in an inhospitable environment. Please stop the insanity and save the dinosaur.
--This announcement is sponsored by PETA
Yahh, hiii haaaaa! -Major Kong, from Dr. Strangelove
They should've put up a cardboard Tourist Guy.
Great... so how long will it be till guys start sending messages to the volcano asking it to get naked and make out with Dino? Oh wait... that'd be bad...
Question everything that you've accepted without thinking.
that this could have been gimped/photoshoped or whatever you prefer...it could also have been comprimized...someone could have saved all the pictures and edited them then feed them to the wab server as if they were comming from the cam...the web server could have been comprimized and they are to ashamed to admit it...I mean all these difrent things could have happend and evryone thinks that somone actually went up there...i really would not be surprised if there is no dino up there.
Anyone else think it would make a neat GeoCaching point!
iRepairIT - iPhone, Mac, & PC Repair
I'm not so sure about the kids, but their older sister has. And I can say I'm not too happy to have been there for them on those moments.
Cozinha para as massas (e para geeks)
Gaaaaaah! Only Godzilla has the power to fight this menace!
The Smog Monster was no match for him. We can only hope he escapes Monster Island in time to save the day!
...maybe the dinosaur is hollow, and it's all an elaborate Geocache? (TNLNSDino)
I told you they weren't extinct.
That's not Barney. It's Dino from the Flinstones, as numerous other have already said or suggested.
I, for one, welcome our new dinosaur overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted volcanologist, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sulphur caves.
That server is so gone, if you know anything anout NZ IT inferstructure you'll know that. Hell our back bone is probably browning out right now.
I always told em, 'Copper wire! NOT No.8 wire! you fools!'
GPLv2: I want my rights, I want my phone call! DRM: What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak?
One variety of which involves going to the GPS coordinates and finding the webcam, then either staying there 'till it takes your picture, or calling a friend back home and having them go to the site and click "save".
Makes authentications of one's claim that you were there a bit easier; just post the photo to the forums. Yeah, you could Photoshop it, but no one cares enough to do that.
I had something similar happen with my christmas lights display when a friendly neighbor vandelized my snowman ... but I don't think he was aware I had a webcam on it and caught him in the act! ;-)
My all-time favorite (and semi-unique) was whupping my brother in a game of Rock Paper Scissors ( RoShamBo ) after he Slashdotted my Christmas Webcam.
Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
They are probably just filming another sequel to Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park: The fellowship of the pink plastic dinosaur.
glad /. managed to get to the bottom of that one. /. should have checked with me before posting this story. quite the fuckin' Clouseau.
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
What's this "Foreign" area you keep talking about? Is that part of Nebraska?
Not if you don't want to meet a hydrogen sulfide(I think?) gas cloud that might come out of a vent at any second and wind up dead pretty much on the spot. Remember they said they're planning on the acidic fumes taking care of Dino? That sucker's active (the volcano, not Dino), and I remember a story about most of a team of volcanologists getting killed from that and a rock slide (of course, they ignored warning signs of an impending event, but still- you don't get anywhere near that close to an active volcano without at least a gas mask.
Please help metamoderate.
Was there with some friends a few years ago. It was fun. Sail north for a couple hours, climb around the volcano for a few hours, and sail back. I've got tons of pictures of us climbing around the crater, sulpher pools, and factory ruins. They used to have factories built in it to process the sulphur, but after they were destroyed the third time, they never rebuilt.
It's actually fairly safe there. The volcano is quite well behaved. It throws out steam continuously, and only occasionally has hissy-fits where it throws out rocks the size of coffee-tables. Those come and go, so as long as you avoid it during particularily active times, you'll be fine.
I should point out that there are trips running out to White Island regularly. In particular, it's a popular dive spot, considered by many to be on par with the Poor Knights.
Will, normally, I ain't no writin' nazi, but shouldn't this be "the end is neigh" or something? "The end is night" might be somewhat true with the sun blowing up in the (not so distant?) future though...
I'd like my purple dinosaur with hot grits by the way... but IN SOVIET RUSSIA, PURPLE DINOSAUR EATS YOU! ALL YOUR VOLCANO ARE BELONG TO US! Will it ever stop?
Fight hunger. Filet a politician and send him to a 3rd world country of your choice.
Something like the stuff on happytreefriends.com (MAY NOT BE CHILDREN FRIENDLY)?
Neeat ;)
.... ... }
int main (void) {
That's the funniest thing I've seen... well, since the beginning of this article, I guess. It's at least the second funniest thing I've seen on Slashdot today, though, which is worth something.
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
Next thing you know - BAM! One of the three-eyed aliens from Toy Story in a photo from a mars rover! Scheming pranksters...
Someone has found that the dinosaur turned up between 1100 and 1200 NZST on the 5th of May. :)
20040505-1100
20040505-1200
As in the email I sent to the Inquirer in reply to this article, it appeared between 11am and Noon NZST on the 5th of may, as evidenced by these archived shots: 11am Noon. Given the positioning and angle, I suspect someone who has access to the camera and was able to make sure it was lined up correctly.
Consultancy: If you're not part of the solution, there's money to be made in prolonging the problem
Dude! Flintstones - not barney! Or are you too young to remember the Flintstones? (Damn.. now I feel old..)
I've been studying this sauropod since thursday, and I believe that it is a plastic pen topper, one of a group of Flintstone pen toppers available on the web:
http://amres-pics.com/p_asp/a4091.asp
Here's the topo of the island:
http://www.gns.cri.nz/what/earthact/volcanoes/nz volcanoes/bookimages/Whit_fig1.gif
..and more stuff about it:
http://www.wi.co.nz/hazards.htm
The camera is actually located near the beach, about 3/4 kilometers from any active vents, so it's pretty safe and highly accessible by boat. Apparently groups of geology students are sent out there to study, and probably to maintain the camera too. I guess one of them had this fancy topper along, and was struct by sudden inspiration. Since there is likely a pen or pencil under Dino, it will be highly stable against disturbances.
There is a forum about White island, but in 3 years most posts seem to be blank submits from students "learning" about the island. There was one post a few days ago that mentioned the 'saur, but no other word before that.
A page on that now-slashdotted site showed the camera setup, and it looks like the camera is just above ground level, matching what's seen in the live image, so I doubt it's faked.
Compared to some other photos, the island seems fairly quiet right now.
Perennial student + Impractical joker + CSS junkie = Big John
The dino has been there since 11am-12am 5-May
0 5. 1200.jpg
http://www.geonet.org.nz/images/volcams/W200405
Rumor has it these pranksters have high-jacked White Knight and SpaceShipOne and are now enroute to Mars.
Authority questions you. Return the favor.
dr. demento anyone?
i do remember a "movie review" with the flinstones and jurassic park in the same song. possibly volcanoes.
SIGERR: laziness exceeds quota
Will, normally, I ain't no writin' nazi, but shouldn't this be "the end is neigh" or something?
Well, the horses of the apocalypse might well be saying the end is "neigh", but the horsemen themselves would be claiming the end is nigh
If the scientists could obtain a duplicate Dino they could subject it to varying amounts of sulfur, etc, in a controlled environment. Then based on the changes that occur to the on-site Dino (everything from color changes to actual melting of plastic), they could roughly determine the amount of chemicals it was exposed to. It should at least be useful to know when a particularly large venting has occurred.
For example the pigment used to make the collar green may be particularly susceptible to fading when exposed to a certain kind of acid, etc.
Dan East
Better known as 318230.
Here's the dope on sulphur mining on White Island.
The island was mined from 1874 to 1900, with a break because of the 1886 Tarawera eruption. Mining resumed in 1914, but the operation was anihilated later that year by a minor eruption. There was further mining between 1923 to 1930 but finally closed because of financial losses.
Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
The dinosaur is contravening OSH guidelines by not wearing a hard hat.
Looks like Dino, but is he really there? Looking at the picture and the fact no one has been there to remove it, whether Dino hasn't just been added digitally, like the overlay text?
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Judging from these photos (please mirror), it looks like the plastic dinosour is on site. I base this on the varying lighting on the thing, and the shadow on the rock.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
I don't know about the sulphur, but the acid should make things interesting...from Dino's POV anyway.
Your brain is not a computer.
I, for one, welcome our purple dinosaur overlords!!!
They've got a page of snapshots from the last 24 hours: http://www.geonet.org.nz/whiteisland.html
I can't tell you what he was doing in those (presumably middle-of-the-night) black images. Maybe he slipped out for a beer...
the clock on the wall says 4 til 7
I thought that was what http://www.archive.org/web/freecache.php is for ... you simply put a link as http://freecache.org/http://link.to/mysite.jpg ; freecache then retrieves a copy of the linked material and serves it from their site.
Brilliant!
Except it is for serving single files > 5MB. The files are only ~100kB.
What, are they running out of virgins?
Table-ized A.I.
Oh yes, it looks like a practical joke now, Just some cute little pink plastic Dino toy...but you just wait, mark my words... with all the good stuff flying around the air out there it will mutate... it will grow... before you know it we will all be screaming... "Godzilla!!! Run for your lives!!!!"
Feed my eyes...
Now we know what really happened to Anakin Skywalker.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
I figure as a UW fan, you'd appreciate the pictures of CopperTone Girl at Husky Stadium and McMahon Hall Handstands ... 7 stories up! ;-)
Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
It is not a toy man, its a toy dinosaur.
Bush and Blair ate my sig!
Now we'll start seeing pink "Dino" the pet dinosaur from the Flintstones on remote webcams all over the globe... seeing how everyone on Earth surfs /.
Dino will soon be photoshopped into all the famous photos on the web, replacing the "Tourist Guy" at the scene of the famous disasters of history. I can't wait to see the pics.
Rock on Dino!
"It is essential that justice be done
So how big are the rocks in units of volkswagen-size?
In case anybody wanted to know the actual location of White Island, here it is
not to nitpick someone who is trying not to nitpick, but shouldn't the sun blowing up in the future be "The end is bright"?
cheers.
im so lame.
This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I have gone through the image history. The dinosaur was not in place at 11am on the 5th of may, but was in the shot at 12pm on tht 5th of may.
. 1100.jpg . 1200.jpg
Evidence:
http://www.geonet.org.nz/images/volcams/W20040505
http://www.geonet.org.nz/images/volcams/W20040505
I remember when people used to go "I want proof, do you have any photographs of what you're saying?"....and now its "So you have photographs, eh? But I want proof!" :P
It must be the work of Mozilla!
"deal to" is a local dialect form of the language. In standard English, "deal with" would be used.
Oh.
You could pad them!?
No, I don't think you should either.
Someone I know has an acid bath at work (for cleaning), unlabelled so the OSH people don't see it and kick up a fuss. If any burglers find it, well that's their problem.
In the olden days, they had a similar situation at the Eiger North Face: some mountaineer died in an accident while attempting to ascend it, and rather than fall down, he stayed stuck in the "wall", hanging in his rope. In plain view from the nearby village. For two years (!). With no feasible way to remove him from there.
Bugs Bunny cartoons have taught me that modern day drunks see pink elephants so I guess pink dinosaurs are what drunken cavemen would see.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
looks more like a simple 3d rendering to me:. 1100.jpg
http://www.geonet.org.nz/images/volcams/W20040525
c0w goes moo.
If it were a deep purple with a green stomach... someone had better hand me a shotgun, and quickly. >=D
Don't eat me
Looking at today's picture, as of June 1 NZST (day ahead of here), Dino is lookin' fine. High quality toys they make today!
$#!^ happens, but why does it always have to happen to me???