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?
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!
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!
White island would be over 150 Miles south of auckland thats a long way in New Zealand Heres a map SafT
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 :-(
White Island isn't a dangerous, lava-covered island. It's actually relatively safe so long as you don't stay there too long and, on bad days, where a mask. Tourist boats go out there all the time, it's just that most of them don't stop off to let people wander around due to the liability problems of having un-educated people wandering around a live volcano spewing out noxious fumes. If you're careful, you can easily get on, attach a Dino, and get off again.
Here is a copy of the photo, as the site is S L O W at the moment
Not any more. Most companies have learned the lesson that they are too inert and they are not getting enough turnover. As a result modern toy and household plastics have under 5 years of life and become brittle and break due to decomposition and loss of plastifiers. Some plastics are even more short lived (plastic bags have under 6 months of life). So that dino is not going to be there for very long.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
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
Who the hell modded this informitive? Do you guys even check the links?
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.
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
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
Plastic bags are made "biodegradeable" by mixing starch in with the resin, which decomposes in sunlight (but not in landfills, oops). The plastic resin persists but only as dust rather than a film. If this Dino is inflatable it is probably PVC, a resin that is easy to mold even if it isn't all that strong. PVC can be surprisingly durable if you add enough stabilizers/UV blockers/plasticizers to it, as would be common for an inflatable pool toy. But the air will perfuse through the plastic and Dino will deflate.
Early plastics incuded Bakelite, a very stable epoxy-like material that lasted forever, and celluloid, which doesn't last (much to the chagrin of film preservationists). The celluloid stuff is all long gone so when you look at old plastic objects the selection bias makes it look like they used to make everything long-lasting. The cheapest stuff always got brittle because anti-oxidants add to the cost.
5th may, 12 Noon pic here
5th may, 11 AM pic here
Current photo 25th May 3 PM
here
As a side note, when was the last time something being astronomically dangerous has ever stopped some idiot from attempting to be funny or cool? I know people who used to hood surf, and all things considered this is probably a lot safer.
There are quite a lot of active volcanoes in New Zealand, some of which are fairly frequently visited by trampers (hikers). In the case of White Island, the government funded Geological and Nuclear Sciences Institute (who incidentally part fund the webcam) have the a hazard advice booklet on the web for those who wish to visit White Island: Visitors to White Island should avoid steam/gas clouds, and watch for wind changes that could blow clouds in their direction. Gas masks with acid gas filters are advisable, to be work if gas becomes a problem. http://www.gns.cri.nz/what/earthact/volcanoes/nzvo lcanoes/whiteisprint.htm