Who wants to ‘fake a vacation’?

A Nebraska-based business is offering to bolster social media pages with expertly faked photos of the user on vacations they never took.

The company, Fake a Vacation, offers packages for a service to superimpose the photos of a social media user in front of famous landmarks at popular vacation spots including Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Hawaii and Walt Disney World.

The packages also include some facts about each destination to help the customer concoct the story of their fake vacation.

The company cited a study that suggests more than half of millennial’s have lied about taking vacations for reasons ranging from last-minute cancellations, the high price of travel and the desire for social media recognition.

Mysterious jellyfish-like creature spotted

A bizarre jellyfish-like creature has been discovered at the bottom of the Indian Ocean in what is believed to be its first-ever sighting.

The unnamed creature was captured on camera at the murky depths of the Java Trench, some 7,000 metres below sea level. Footage shows the deep-sea alien slowly floating across the ocean floor while emitting a haunting blue glow.

The leader of the expedition, Victor Vescovo, said the jellyfish “does not resemble anything seen before”.

The Five Deeps Expedition team has, so far, made three separate trips to the Java Trench which is believed to be the deepest point in the Indian Ocean. The dive, taken in the DSV Limiting Factor, is the first time a human has been taken to the bottom of the trench and is being filmed as part of a documentary for the Discovery Channel.

Chief scientist Alan Jamieson said their encounter with the creature is one of the highlights of the trip to the bottom of the ocean.

Two 10-year-olds aim to save lives with 3D crosswalks

A pair of Massachusetts 10-year-olds kids are hoping to save lives with a crosswalk they designed to capture the attention of drivers with a 3D illusion.

Isa, a fourth grader at Brooks Elementary School in Medford, said she and her friend Eric came up with the idea for the 3D crosswalk when Eric’s brother had a close encounter with a car.

The kids took their idea to the Centre for Citizenship and Social Responsibility, a young people’s organisation they belong to, and local artist Nate Swain was hired to put the idea into action in the driveway of the elementary school. The crosswalk makes it appear to drivers as though the white lines are elevated from the ground.

“When you’re walking across you can tell it’s painted, but what we hope is, when you’re driving down, you’ll see it as 3D, three dimensional. So it looks real,” Isa said.

The city is planning to add similar crosswalks at the other three local elementary schools during the summer.

Fisherman catches 170-pound alligator gar

Wildlife officials in Oklahoma shared a photo of a fisherman’s “prehistoric” catch — a giant alligator gar (a type of ray-finned fish) weighing in at 170 pounds.

The Oklahoma Game Wardens said Zackary Sutterfield of Durant was bow fishing on Lake Texoma when he encountered the six-foot, seven-inch leviathan.

The post said family members Nic Sutterfield and Billy Sutterfield helped the fisherman reel his massive catch into the boat. The Game Wardens said an Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation biologist was allowed to examine the gar as part of state research.

The big fish fell short of the state record — the largest alligator gar caught in Oklahoma weighed a staggering 254 pounds.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 11th, 2019