By Vladimir Brezina
The Internet instantaneously connects many millions of people in all parts of the world into a vast network. And just like a natural ecosystem, it can serve up unexpected storms at any moment.
Recently we experienced a minor storm.
One day, Wind Against Current began to get thousands of hits on this old picture:
Over a day and a half, there were over 10,000 hits.
And they all came from a country where until then we hadn’t had many readers: Malaysia.
Johna said, “It’s an attack!” But closer inspection (for which WordPress has quite good tools) showed that all the hits came from a number of websites (such as this one) that published and republished a post that included our picture (and linked back to our blog, which was very nice of them!).
Things became clearer when we saw that many other Malaysian visitors came after searching for “2 suns” or something similar. And I had just happened to title this picture “Two suns over New Jersey”…
Some time later we received the following message from a stranger: “Your pic is making round on FB [Facebook] with Following details – “TWO SUNS AT A TIME in USA——The Miracle Has Happened Today USA And CANADA Saw Two Suns. This Is Called As Hunters Moon. Due To Change Of Orbit The Sun Sets And Moon Rises At the Same Time With Both Being Opposite To Each Other At A Particular Angle Or Degree Moon Reflects The Sun So Bright That It Almost Feel Like Another Sun…. Effects Stay For Couple Of Days…”
The stranger who sent us this message added: “LOL”. LOL indeed. Needless to say, this makes no sense whatever, and our picture just shows the sun’s rays reflected off the glass wall of a building…
But now we have some small insight into how the sausages of the Internet are made!
Vladimir Brezina (RIP) 
Johna Till Johnson
Wind Against Current 
This post describes perfectly how things work today when so many people just believe anything they see on the internet. I often wonder if spending a lot of time reading and believing what you see on Facebook is really any different than spending the day watching soap operas. LOL indeed.
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Facebook is a soap opera… :-)
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Interesting. Good to know, though, that many have seen your beautiful photograph.
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Yes, it’s taken off and is circulating out there somewhere… :-)
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It’s still a good pic. ;)
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I think so :-)
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How very interesting and a great example of how rumours can spread quickly using the internet. Just thinking how such a great picture could spread a totally wrong story around the world is enough to make one suspicious of lots of other pictures and captions.
Lovely image though. You must be proud of this.
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Being suspicious is definitely the right attitude… :-)
Thanks!!
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Apparently there is a branch of Buddhism that believes in multiple suns … your innocent and beautiful photo resounded in Malaysia where this cult/religion has believers… you proved to them what they believe but had never seen – amazing connection indeed.
How about now making a picture of the ‘End of Time’..??? Cheers, V.
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That’s an interesting take on it :-)
Yes, “End of Time” would probably go viral—might have to have a go at it…
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image worthy
of so many views :-)
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Thanks! :-)
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Strange world! Beautiful picture!
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Thanks!!
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LOL. You went viral and you didn’t even know it.
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Well, mini-viral… no, make that micro-viral :-)
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haha, pretty tasty sausages. :)
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Yes, they usually are—you just don’t want to know how they are made :-)
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Funny and weird at the same time.
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… and definitely most unexpected! With the Internet, you never know what weird thing you’ll wake up to in the morning…
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One more view of those two suns from right here (outside Malaysia).
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:-) Thanks, Bruce!!
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Amazing photo and amusing story!
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Glad you enjoyed it! :-)
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Sometimes I think people prefer the fiction to the truth that this was just a reflection of brilliance. ;-) Either way, it’s a great photo that deserves attention.
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It certainly got attention: I believe that the post in which the photo appeared is now our most viewed post :-)
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I don’t think I have any views higher than 300, so you have me way beat. :-D
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All of our most-viewed posts have become most-viewed through some outside intervention—coming to the attention of Malaysia, becoming Freshly Pressed, or being featured on some kayaking or sailing site that sends a steady stream of visitors our way…
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Pretty cool, however it happens. You take great pictures!
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Thanks!!
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If they could only see some of your other amazing photographs!!!
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:-)
But as this incident shows, if you put your content out there, you never know what interesting reaction you might get, one day out of the blue… that’s one of the wonders of the Internet ;-)
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