Forward or Delete: This Week's Fake Viral Photos
Occasionally, against all odds, you'll see an interesting or even enjoyable picture on the Internet. But is it worth sharing, or just another Photoshop job that belongs in the digital trash heap? Check in here and find out if that viral photo deserves an enthusiastic "forward" or a pitiless "delete."
FORWARD
Thanks to the internet's endless appetite for so-called "history porn" (and the dozens of shady picture-sharing accounts that provide it), fake and misattributed war photos are everywhere these days, but this improbably dope image is the real thing.
Taken by 1st Lt. John D. Moore on Easter morning, 1945, the National Archives identifies the picture's subjects as T/5 William E. Thomas and Pfc. Joseph Jackson, two members of the all-black 969th Field Artillery Battalion preparing to "roll specially prepared eggs on Hitler's lawn."
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This similarly fun (and really quite plausible) image of the Snoopster Bunny, on the other hand, is—as most owners of one or more eyeballs probably guessed—just Photoshop.
When the same picture blew up on Reddit last Easter, original bunny suit model Clar00 came forward to post the undoctored, sadly Snoop-less photo.
Still, as Redditor hoppepper noted, this year's version is a solid improvement over 2014's, which depicted the Doggfather with some oddly Anglo hands.
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Another promising candidate for "Worst Photoshop Job of the Week," the above image went viral on Friday bearing the caption "Pink Forest, Ireland."
In reality, of course, no such forest exists, the picture being a photo of Kyoto, Japan's Saihō-ji "moss temple" color-shifted to better resemble regurgitated cotton candy.
Images via Imgur/Wikipedia/Ivanoff
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When a Vero Beach, Florida man's picture of a big ol' bobcat catching a big ol' fish made the rounds this week, much of the discussion centered around whether the photo was legit. Contacted by a number of media outlets, experts quickly reached a consensus: Yeah, probably.
"There is no reason to believe it's fake," Liz Barraco of the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission told WESH-TV, later explaining, "This is the first time we've seen something like it. It's not totally unreasonable but it's just the first time."
National Geographic Photo Editor Ken Geiger (who presumably knows about this sort of thing) agreed, saying a close examination of the photo suggested the image was authentic.
Image via Twitter
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While Titanoboa is a real scary-ass snake that slithered the Earth 60 or so million years ago, this skeleton is not, the aluminum and stainless steel creation of Chinese-French artist Huang Yong Ping.
Titled Ressort, Ping's sculpture stretches some 175 feet, making it several times longer than the relatively puny Titanoboa, believed to max out at a no less terrifying 42 feet.
