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March 18, 2006
Snopes Lays An Egg
This is an interesting image, but clearly photoshopped. The moon and the sun, as viewed from earth, are each exactly the same size. Think about a solar eclipse when the moon moves in front of the sun. They're almost exactly the same size. Snopes, however, isn't so sure:
Claim: Photograph shows the North Pole at sunset.
Status: Undetermined.
Undetermined? Are they on crack? The moon is at least 10 times larger than the sun in this image. That wouldn't happen unless the moon crashed into the earth.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on March 18, 2006 at 12:46 PM
Comments
That's no moon.
Posted by: Obi-Wan Kenobi on March 18, 2006 at 3:05 PM
Perhaps you should read what Snopes has to say... they always leave things as "Undetermined" until they verify who and where it came from. They say in the description that it is a digitally modified picture... but they don't know who did it. So it's "undertermined."
Posted by: tomcat on March 19, 2006 at 5:52 PM
Not so fast there, genius. It's true that snopes says the following of the image:
"Origins: Most likely this image is not an actual photograph, but rather a purely digital creation (perhaps rendered with a 3D graphics application) or something created through compositing or manipulation of photographs. However, since we don't yet know how it was created, or by whom, we're still listing this one as 'Undetermined'."
My point, however, is that it doesn't matter who made it. It's clearly not a photo of the moon and the sun at the North Pole. That is the claim, and that the claim is false is intuitively obvious to the casual observer.
The fact that they don't know who made the image is immaterial. When someone starts a chain letter saying that saying that the Clintons are charging the Secret Service rent, they don't list the claim as "Undetermined" because they don't know who started the rumor. They say the claim is "False", because it is a demonstrably false claim.
Posted by: Peenie Wallie on March 19, 2006 at 8:41 PM