(Credit:
Erik Nordenankar )
A Swedish art student who claimed to have created the "biggest drawing in the world" using a GPS device and an international package delivery service has admitted that the drawing is a hoax.
Erik Nordenankar had claimed that he placed a GPS device in a briefcase on March 17 and then sent the case on a 55-day trip around the world with DHL. He originally stated on his Web site that he had given DHL specific travel instructions on the route that the briefcase should take to yield the drawing. After the package allegedly traveled over 6 continents and 62 countries, it was returned to him in Stockholm, Sweden, where he downloaded the GPS coordinates that were recorded by the device to his computer to generate the image.
The technique is described this way: "My pen was a briefcase containing the GPS device, being sent around the world. The paths the briefcase took around the globe became the strokes of the drawing."
His Web site included two YouTube videos purporting to show the briefcase during its journey and delivery receipts for the package during its circumnavigation of the globe.
However, many visitors to the site pointed out that the route described in the drawing was unlikely to be followed by DHL pilots.
"Were the DHL pilots on acid?" asked one visitor.
Another visitor pointed out technical flaws in the project description.
"A GPS signal cannot penetrate dense materials," wrote a reader using the name Samppa79. "That briefcase looks dense enough to block the signal and the roof of a car or thick walls of an airplane blocks the rest."
Nordenankar has since posted this message to the bottom of the site--presumably because he doesn't want to spoil the surprise--admitting his hoax. "This is fictional work. DHL did not transport the GPS at any time."
A DHL spokesman told the Telegraph that the delivery company had allowed Nordenankar access to a warehouse in Stockholm for a school art project and that it was interested in discussing the hoax with him.
Editors' note: this post has been updated to reflect a new magnitude given to the earthquake. Although the earthquake was initially rated as a 7.8 magnitude, the U.S. Geological Survey updated it to 7.9 after a further review of the data.
The loss of life and damage in many cities in and around China's Sichuan province continues to grow after a 7.9 earthquake hit about 55 miles from the major city of Chengdu at 2:28 p.m. local time on Monday.
I live in Beijing, which is about 950 miles from the epicenter. Along with others, I first learned of the quake via Twitter, which has been lit up with first-, second-, third-, and many-hand information about various personal experiences, and hundreds of links to other reports. By contrast, mainstream media such as Sohu.com were partially responsible for a massive rumor mill that pervaded Beijing on Monday evening, with an apparently incorrect prediction of a quake in Beijing between 11:00 p.m. and midnight local time--right now.
Twits, as I prefer to call those who use Twitter, passed information and repeated via twitter what we heard from phone calls, SMS, IM, and e-mail with affected areas. We knew where people had felt it and had short descriptions from various locations quickly. Many soon switched to self-congratulations about how cool it was that Twitter had operated so quickly, and then that subsided for some comments about how we were commenting on our speed. Jeff Jarvis twittered that he'll be writing about this in The Guardian. It clearly is a fast-moving rhetorical space.
Meanwhile, via MSN instant messaging, mobile-phone text messages, and media such as Sohu, a rumor emerged claiming that a quake had struck in Beijing's suburbs at the same time and that some authority was predicting the big one for between 11 p.m. and midnight. As I said, that's right now, so my sense is that this is a hoax that will either be vindicated or made ridiculous in a matter of minutes.
By the time I had been repeatedly warned about tonight, I checked Sohu, which was then carrying a statement from the Chinese national earthquake-monitoring group saying there was no such prediction. Indeed, "twits" were quick to point out that although China is relatively good at predicting earthquakes, such a precise prediction is regarded as more or less impossible.
The latest word from Chengdu: "More aftershock! This is getting old now. Boring!"
My thoughts are with those in the southwest, and I do hope that skepticism takes the day on the Beijing rumor.
Update: Rick Martin at CNET Asia has more, including some good people to follow on Twitter for information.
Most folks recall the story about the Tacoma, Wash., house that was trashed after a woman posted an ad on Craigslist telling people to "please help yourself to anything on the property."
Well, some mischief maker in Jacksonville, Ore., apparently decided to re-enact the Tacoma house-trashing scheme. According to this Associated Press story, Robert Salisbury came home to nearly 30 people rummaging through his barn and front porch. Not only that, when he told the trespassers to give him back his belongings, he was rebuffed.
"I informed them I was the owner, but they refused to give the stuff back," Salisbury told the AP. "They showed me the Craigslist printout and told me they had the right to do what they did."
The Craigslist post advertised all of Salisbury's stuff--even his horse--as free for the taking. The woman who showed up to take his horse finally started to feel uneasy about the whole deal when she realized that the horse looked perfectly healthy, and well, seemed to actually belong to someone. She left a note on the door and then decided to call Salisbury to make sure that the ad was legit.
What's shocking is that of the dozens of people who pilfered his property, she was the only one to catch wind of the scheme. Come on, people.
By the time the police showed up, the plunderers had already crammed their cars full of Salisbury's stuff and taken off.
Investigators are still trying to track down the person who posted the ad--and it could likely be someone Salisbury knows. The Tacoma incident, after all, was fueled by a family feud.
Craigslist seattle
(Credit: CNET)We all remember the story of the giveaway house in Tacoma. Somebody posted an ad on the Seattle area Craigslist inviting folks to take away whatever they could find inside an otherwise unremarkable home. The response was eager and effective. Woodwork and fixtures vanished out the door. What was left was trashed. The incident aroused much online interest.
There was some police interest as well. Tacoma police told CNET News.com there would be criminal charges filed. And now the accused hoaxer, the person who invited the world to trash, has been charged.
Police have accused Nichole M. Blackwell, 28, of placing the ad in Craigslist. The specific charges are second-degree burglary, first-degree malicious mischief and first-degree criminal impersonation. Blackwell is due in court May 25.
At the time of the crime, the woman who owned the house said her sister was not smart enough to think up this affair. The sister of the owner had stopped living in the house just before the trashing invitation. Blackwell is the homeowner's niece. All in the family.
- prev
- 1
- next
