Web Monitor
18:00 UK time, Monday, 6 July 2009
A celebration of the riches of the web.
Web Monitor has been scouring the web to bring you the most interesting bits.
Send us your favourite links by sending them via the comments box.
• Sarah Palin's resignation has set the blogosphere tongues wagging. through the masses of debate on why she resigned, from Bill Kristol's theory in the to become president, to Todd S Purdum in of Palin putting her personal ambitions before political principles, to claiming she resigned to make time for Twitter. to see if the bloggers and columnists know what Palin will do next. Purdum on the presidential aspirations theory, but for completely different reasons, saying, "Sarah Palin showed on Friday that in one respect at least, she is qualified to be president. Caribou Barbie is one nutty puppy." What the First Post calls the backlash was headed up by Andrew Brietbart in the Dowd of bullying, declaring "the assassination of Sarah Palin by media". Web Monitor is deluged with comments on Palin. To help us select the best Palin Picks send your favourite via the comment box.
• Twitter was suffering from another headache-inducing problem yesterday as internet pranksters gathered around 4chan - the popular anonymous internet forum - seemingly orchestrated an attack on the site. The pranksters created a number of fake accounts pushing the hashtag #gorillapenis to the trending topics. The hashtag assault is now apparently under control as it is no longer visible in the Twitter trends. This isn't the first time 4chan has spammed a site, they were previously responsible for hacking Time Magazine's voting system for the World's most influential person, making the site's creator, moot, the winner by a large margin.
• Three brave, if not naïve, individuals dared to challenge a trio of elephants to a hot dog bun-eating contest on Coney Island on Friday, reported . The cross-species eating contest saw the pachyderms chop down 505 buns in six minutes. The humans in comparison only managed 143 buns. Experts say the elephants had an advantage as they enjoy bread and can consume a foot long loaf in a mere 1.6 seconds. Before the contest, George Shea, Chairman of Major League Eating, said:
"This contest has significant implications for inter-species relations. If humans win, it shows we are unbeatable in this sport, and if the elephants win it will significantly enhance their stature in the animal kingdom."
• With 3.3 million plus viewings in just a few days the YouTube video has intrigued surfers, becoming the most viewed video this week, even beating Michael Jackson's Thriller. The footage reveals a life form reminiscent of the blob. The creature was spotted in a North Carolina sewer, with initial postings claiming it was an alien entity. Scientists have rushed to quell the myth. While the clip is real, an expert on freshwater bryozoa and an officer with the International Bryozoology Association, told it is actually a colony of tubifex worms. The colonies attach themselves to roots that gradually work themselves into weak points in the pipes. Dr Wood said:
"They are clumps of annelid worms, almost certainly tubificids. In the photo they have apparently entered a pipeline somehow, and in the absence of soil they are coiling around each other. The contractions you see are the result of a single worm contracting and then stimulating all the others to do the same almost simultaneously, so it looks like a single big muscle contracting."
• A US family from Stockton, California, believe they can see the image of Michael Jackson in a tree stump. Similarly to the "" or , the family believe they have their very own spiritual image in their front yard. reports that Felix Garcia, who has lived in the house for 22 years, claims he had never noticed the apparent image before Jackson's death. Many people gathered to see the birch stump to see the resemblance over the weekend.
One neighbour said:
"... Michael Jackson was an icon to us. To Stockton, Michael Jackson meant more to us than Jesus, to some people. I think they're both about even."
Web Monitor has been warned about visions before by .
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