Thursday 15 October 2015
The dangerous art of the ultimate selfie
If 2014 was the year of the selfie, then 2015 took the art of self-photography to a new and dangerous level.
People are, quite literally, dying to take a picture of themselves.In Russia this year there have been a handful of selfie-related fatalities, including the death of two men in the Ural Mountains who posed for a photo while pulling the pin from a hand grenade.
And, in June, a university graduate died after trying to take a selfie while hanging from a Moscow bridge.
Most recently a 17-year-old boy fell to his death from a rooftop as he tried to take his picture for his Instagram page.
He had previously taken a number of similar pictures of himself posing on high rooftops in the city of Vologda.
The problem isn't just limited to Russia. In the US recently a man died after shooting himself in the neck while taking a selfie.
At least 12 people have died this year while taking pictures of themselves making the practice more deadly than shark attacks, of which there have only been eight recorded deaths in 2015, according to tech news site Mashable.
In August, officials at the Waterton Canyon in Colorado were forced to close the park after several people were caught getting a little too close to the wildlife.
"We've actually seen people using selfie sticks to try and get as close to the bears as possible, sometimes within 10 feet [3 metres]," said recreation manager Brandon Ransom in a blog.
And, at Yellowstone National Park, officials issued a warning after five separate incidents of selfie-takers being gored by bison.
In Australia, a rock that looks like a wedding cake was fenced off because too many people were climbing it to take pre or post-wedding photos of themselves.
"A selfie with a weapon kills," the brochure read. The accompanying poster campaign listed dangerous places to take a selfie.
15-minute fame
So why are some people willing to risk their life to take the ultimate selfie?It may come down to pure bravado, thinks Lee Thompson - whose snap of himself on top of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janiero went viral in June 2014.
"People see pictures like mine and see how they spread across the world and see a way to make themselves famous for 15 minutes," he told the BBC.
"I'm not a serial selfie-taker - this shot was to publicise my business. It was the shot I knew I had to get because people love selfies," he told the BBC.
He admits that the trend towards ever more dangerous selfies is "getting out of control".
"Be creative with your pictures but don't put yourself in danger," he advised.
Narcissists
According to research published by the Ohio State University, the pictures that people post on social media can tell an interesting story about their personality.Hundreds of tests on people's social media habits were conducted for the study, which showed that people who post a lot of selfies also tend to score higher in traits of narcissism and psychopathy.
Lead researcher Jesse Fox said that, for many, a dangerous selfie is worth it for the number of likes and comments it will generate.
"Likes are a quantifiable way of measuring popularity and these days it isn't enough to just post a picture of yourself, because everyone is doing that. The more extreme it is, the more likely you are to stand out and get lots of likes and comments."
The rise of the selfie as an art form has not gone unnoticed by manufacturers such as Asus, which recently launched a phone dubbed the ZenFone Selfie, that as the name suggests, comes with a powerful camera.
But it too is sensitive to the issue of risk-taking selfies and its marketing of the device in France came with a poster campaign similar to that of the Russian government, pointing out places where taking a selfie would be ill-advised - including in front of trains, in cars and with bears.
Shark selfie?
A video on YouTube, compiling what it describes as the "25 most dangerous selfies ever", has been viewed over 20 million times.
It includes examples of a man taking a selfie while a bull charges at him, a man posing with a lion, someone taking a picture in front of a train and a woman taking a selfie of herself and her toddler while driving.
James Kingston's picture of himself hanging off a crane (above) came in at number three.
The list also features several self-portraits with sharks which had gone viral but which the video exposes as fakes.
Selfies may have become more dangerous than shark attacks but it seems that even the most intrepid self-shooter draws the line at a picture with a Great White.
German police warn parents over Facebook pictures of children
A German police force has warned parents against posting photographs of their children to Facebook publicly.
The
pictures could be copied and altered by paedophiles or simply prove
embarrassing to the children in later life, Hagen Police said, in a
message on their own Facebook page.Parents were advised to ensure that privacy settings allowed only their Facebook friends to view the photos.
The advice has been shared nearly 200,000 times.
Never forgets
A police officer and spokesman for Hagen Police told the BBC that the response to the post had been "amazing" and that they estimated it had been viewed by more than 12 million people."We want to tell all users that it is important to be careful with everything they do on the internet," said Hanki Ulrich.
"It's better to think twice - the internet never forgets."
Mr Hanki added that the post had not been inspired by any recent criminal cases or paedophile activity in Hagen.
Doctored photos
"We know that sex offenders are able to doctor innocent family photos of children, and developments in photo editing software have made this easier.
"So if parents do publish photos of their children online, they should take care to ensure that they have checked their privacy settings and are happy about who can see and share them."
The statement added that if parents were worried a photograph of their child had fallen into the wrong hands, they should contact the Internet Watch Foundation, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) or NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000
Wednesday 14 October 2015
before its too late say everything you want to....
looking at him i didn't know how would i stop him from leaving or how would i tell him how i feel about him... he says to me with a broken smile i m getting why did you called here.. everything stopped but my heart was racing i jumped to hug him told him i love you please don't go just stay here i don't want to lose you i know we have been best friends since forever but i love you in every way possible ... he simles and says i have to go fight for my country bye...
after a week his coffin comes homes and a box along with it which was for me his friend told me that he said if he didn't make it then this box belongs to me.. as i opened the box my eyes got filled with only tears i don;t know if they were for the sadness for the happiness.. each and every letter picture note audio video everything since first grade all of it said that he loves me but never could tell me with the fear of losing me...
Moral; never let go of a chance to tell some one how you feel about them... before its too late say everything you want to....
after a week his coffin comes homes and a box along with it which was for me his friend told me that he said if he didn't make it then this box belongs to me.. as i opened the box my eyes got filled with only tears i don;t know if they were for the sadness for the happiness.. each and every letter picture note audio video everything since first grade all of it said that he loves me but never could tell me with the fear of losing me...
Moral; never let go of a chance to tell some one how you feel about them... before its too late say everything you want to....
High School Football Players Crown Dying Toddler Homecoming Queen
They wanted to honor her because she "touched their hearts so much."
This past weekend, a Denver high school football team decided to give
a special 3-year-old a night to remember by making her their Homecoming
Queen.Avelynn was born with severe heart complications and has already undergone multiple open heart surgeries. And even though doctors didn't expect "Avi" to live past six weeks, she just celebrated her 3rd birthday.
She's also making a big impact on those around her. For a community service project this summer, players from Manual High School's football team came to her house to put grass in her backyard so she could play outside. And the teammates were instantly smitten.
The team's defensive coordinator, Benjamin Butler, says the guys were so deeply impacted that months later, they wanted to do more for her — so they invited her to the October 9 game and gave her their crown. "There is something special about high school and a high school football game on a Friday night, and meeting little Avi, we wanted to make sure we could share that experience with her," Butler told KDVR.
And the team — and their entire school — couldn't have been more thrilled to share their big night with the little girl. "To see this girl walk out and be crowned queen [is] something she probably won't experience ever so it really means a lot to us," Kone said. "Our coach always has a saying: Choose life. That little girl chose life. She chose to move on."
Monday 12 October 2015
Be what you want others to be......
when i was a child i used to drink down my own
tears as i grew up i still did because i knew that people won't always be there
to wipe them away...
But one
day and i suddenly stopped as the realization hit me that i am not the only one
who is hurt there are many others who suffer greater than me and they do every
day without complaining or crying. we should be the ones we want others to be so the world can unite again. people can live and smile again HAPPINESS WILL RAISE AGAIN
Possible Nazi Tunnels Fuel Treasure Seekers in Poland
WALBRZYCH, Poland — The gold diggers have arrived here in Lower Silesia.
They have stormed the Ksiaz Castle. Upended earth and artifacts. Emptied store shelves of metal detectors.
In normal times, Lower Silesia, a province in southwest Poland,
has an unassuming charm and struggles financially. But since two groups
of explorers claimed to have discovered evidence related to a local
legend — a Nazi train loaded with treasures, supposedly hidden in the
region — nothing has been the same.
“The
thaw for unearthing the secrets of our region has begun,” Krzysztof
Kwiatkowski, governor of Walbrzych County, told reporters two weeks ago.
The legend could be the basis for a movie: Hidden in the forested mountains near here is a secret underground city built on Hitler’s orders. As the Soviet Army advanced in the closing days of World War II, the Nazis fled, leaving behind a train loaded with gold, gems and armaments.
For
more than 70 years, the legend endured, though many historians scoffed
at it. But in late August, two explorers, Piotr Koper and Andreas
Richter, claimed to have found what they believed to be the mysterious
“gold train.”
Then
another local explorer, Krzysztof Szpakowski, declared that he, too,
had made a discovery less than 15 miles from the train site — a
multilevel complex of tunnels in the Owl Mountains that could be part of
the biggest underground infrastructure built on Hitler’s
orders during the war. The purpose of the project, known as Project
Riese, German for “giant,” is shrouded in secrecy to this day.
Verification
of both discoveries, according to the local authorities, is months
away. The sites could be booby-trapped with mines. Explosives experts
from the Polish Army started examining the train site on Monday and will not finish before the end of the week.
Bartosz
Rdultowski, an author of books on the mysteries of Lower Silesia, said
he, like many historians, was skeptical about the reports.
“How
many times we’ve heard it?” he said. “In the late ’90s, the government
issued an order to blow up half a mountain near Piechowice in Lower
Silesia because one guy said that the train was there. Well, it wasn’t.”
“And
these tunnels? They could be part of any old mines,” Mr. Rdultowski
said. “Before the war, there were about 200 of them here.”
Still,
he said, that does not mean there is nothing to explore in the area,
which is “definitely one of the most interesting regions in Europe for
treasure hunters.”
Many seem to agree.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of fortune hunters from all over Poland
have swarmed the province, hoping to stumble across precious artifacts,
often not abiding by the law, searching and digging under cover of
darkness without required permits.
Numerous
archaeological sites, including old cemeteries and the site of a
Napoleonic battle in 1807 in the nearby city of Struga, have been dug up
and vandalized, said Barbara Nowak-Obelinda, the conservator of
monuments in Lower Silesia.
More
than 120 media organizations from around the world have besieged the
picturesque Ksiaz Castle, four miles from the site where the train was
said to have been detected, said Andrzej Gaik, a castle guide.
The
treasure hunt has worried local officials and has already claimed a
victim: a 35-year-old man who the authorities said died when he fell
while trying to break into a tomb near the city of Walbrzych three weeks
ago. The tomb belonged to the von Kramst family, German owners of a
Silesian textile empire, and was rumored to be full of treasure.
“This
gold rush madness got to a point where we had to do something to scare
off other amateur treasure seekers,” said Ms. Nowak-Obelinda, who filed a
complaint with the prosecutor’s office against two groups of explorers
who had not obtained permits to use ground-penetrating radar in their
searches. “Every morning I have new complaints from our archaeologists
that more sites were vandalized during the night.”
Elzbieta Mirkowska, 74, lives just over a mile from the site where the train is said to be.
“I’ve
been hearing about this train for at least half a century,” Ms.
Mirkowska said. “After all this time, it would be lovely to finally dig
this thing out.”
“But
these fortune seekers are a bit much,” she said. “They used to be
everywhere, walking with little metal detectors. Fortunately, now they
are more scared and do it mostly at night.”
Historians
say the Third Reich used the castles and mansions here as a treasure
chest for the artworks, jewels and gold plundered in this part of
Europe. Some researchers even believe that Nazis may have hidden in the
area the Amber Room looted from St. Petersburg, Russia, or “Portrait of a Young Man” by Raphael.
After
decades of largely fruitless searches by the Polish authorities and
amateur explorers, some local officials are optimistic that the region
could be on the verge of unlocking some of its mysteries.
Walbrzych
used to be known for its mining industry, but its three mines were
closed in the 1990s, and unemployment here surged to 28 percent from 15
percent in five years.
The
city sits in a picturesque valley in the wooded Owl Mountains, near
numerous mineral springs. Once a German city named Waldenburg, it became
part of Poland after surviving World War II
almost intact, allowing it to preserve its unique mixture of Prussian,
Bohemian and Austrian heritage. But for decades it was not popular with
tourists, unlike the nearby city of Wroclaw, which many tourists
consider one of the most historic and beautiful cites in Europe.
Now it seems that in recent weeks, Walbrzych has finally stepped out of Wroclaw’s shadow.
“If
the city wanted to pay for this kind of prime-time advertising, we
estimate that we would have to spend 100 million zloty,” about $26
million, said Anna Zabska, director of the Old Mine Science and Art
Museum, which started producing T-shirts, mugs and flashlights with the
image of the legendary train.
For
weeks, herds of curious onlookers have been lingering by the green
viaduct near the site where the train is reported to be, even though it
is heavily guarded by railroad security guards and police officers day
and night.
Maciej Nowak and Jaroslaw Piwowarczyk, history enthusiasts from Krakow, made a quick stop here to see the site.
“I’m
a skeptic,” Mr. Nowak said as he looked toward the railway security
guards. “But just how great would it be to again live in a world where
legends come back to life?”
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