I finally set foot on the Antarctic
continent and I love being in this terra
incognita there are no signs of human
anything there so when you’re out hiking
in Antarctica you really do feel like
the only person on earth that’s part of
the allure I also had a very special
encounter this is an island of South
Georgia so already were returning from
Antarctica and headed back and we’re on
a beach with about half a million
penguins and we noticed this one penguin
that was a little bit different than the
rest of them this penguin had black
stomach his entire body was black and
the biological term for this is melanism
it’s a melanistic penguin
it’s a genetic rarity and we saw and I
said that’s really cool and I took some
pictures but there were a lot of people
that saw it the internet says that I
discovered this black penguin and though
I’m very flattered that’s not the case
they were about 40 of us had saw it we
all took pictures but the difference is
that I tweeted the pictures we went back
to the boat and everyone else went and
got hot chocolate everything else I was
so excited open my computer upload these
pictures and immediately sent them out
into the world and they went they went
viral now the thing about the internet
and the thing I learned and I’m still
learning about the Internet the Internet
has made everything that’s normal
extraordinary and exotic and it’s taken
everything that’s kind of extraordinary
exotic and made it very normal and this
kind of conversation ship is what what
drives us to the Internet and also
fascinates us by it’s why we spend hours
on YouTube we’re looking at things that
are very everyday that are now hilarious
and exotic and we’re looking things that
used to be very exotic that are now
right in our in our desks right in front
of our faces and this was the case with
with the black penguin so he took
several pictures of this penguin and
everyone was commenting online and we
were getting hundreds of thousands of
hits on our website and everyone was so
excited but of course the internet when
you’re writing for the internet it’s the
world’s largest peanut gallery so you’re
writing and you’re getting all the
naysayers and suddenly everyone was
accusing me of photoshopping these
pictures and this is this is a problem
the Internet is we we have really grown
to mistrust anything because there’s so
much fake stuff out there and I was kind
of offended because I was like I did not
photoshop this penguin but people said I
spray-painted I was like I did not spray
paint hang on there really was an
all-black penguin and I said there were
other people there as well but I was one
who put it on on Twitter and suddenly I
was responsible now I have a very strict
no artificial ingredients policy on all
my social media and when I’m blogging
everything else if I haven’t seen if I
haven’t done it if I don’t know it I’m
not going to put it out there but even
then when this got so big that they were
putting it on TV and all the news
channels they were kind of questioning
are you sure are you sure and we had a
scientist who made my editor swear on a
stack of national Geographics that the
pictures were real and they and so the
National Geographic said to me it’s like
you know do you have any video that we
can prove and I was like no I don’t I
don’t and then I got home and I was I’m
very disorganized by the way it was
going through all my files I suddenly
found that I actually had now if I knew
what National Geographic paid for one
second of worldwide exclusive rights for
video I would have shot probably three
hours in this penguin
and retired but I only got 13 seconds
and so when they showed this on CBS News
and on all these morning shows they
actually took this and they kind of
spliced it four times in a row so it
looks like the Penguins walking all
across the beach but his only 13 second
clip the black penguin was real though
and he became very famous on the
Internet but what I learned from this
was that it’s not so much about who
discovers it and who sees it but it’s
it’s who shares it and that I put it on
out there and it had taken on a life of
its own and I also learned that from
this whole experience that there were
people who wanted to travel this way who
were in their offices or at home but
this was a way for them to follow along
a real adventure in real time just just
online
continent and I love being in this terra
incognita there are no signs of human
anything there so when you’re out hiking
in Antarctica you really do feel like
the only person on earth that’s part of
the allure I also had a very special
encounter this is an island of South
Georgia so already were returning from
Antarctica and headed back and we’re on
a beach with about half a million
penguins and we noticed this one penguin
that was a little bit different than the
rest of them this penguin had black
stomach his entire body was black and
the biological term for this is melanism
it’s a melanistic penguin
it’s a genetic rarity and we saw and I
said that’s really cool and I took some
pictures but there were a lot of people
that saw it the internet says that I
discovered this black penguin and though
I’m very flattered that’s not the case
they were about 40 of us had saw it we
all took pictures but the difference is
that I tweeted the pictures we went back
to the boat and everyone else went and
got hot chocolate everything else I was
so excited open my computer upload these
pictures and immediately sent them out
into the world and they went they went
viral now the thing about the internet
and the thing I learned and I’m still
learning about the Internet the Internet
has made everything that’s normal
extraordinary and exotic and it’s taken
everything that’s kind of extraordinary
exotic and made it very normal and this
kind of conversation ship is what what
drives us to the Internet and also
fascinates us by it’s why we spend hours
on YouTube we’re looking at things that
are very everyday that are now hilarious
and exotic and we’re looking things that
used to be very exotic that are now
right in our in our desks right in front
of our faces and this was the case with
with the black penguin so he took
several pictures of this penguin and
everyone was commenting online and we
were getting hundreds of thousands of
hits on our website and everyone was so
excited but of course the internet when
you’re writing for the internet it’s the
world’s largest peanut gallery so you’re
writing and you’re getting all the
naysayers and suddenly everyone was
accusing me of photoshopping these
pictures and this is this is a problem
the Internet is we we have really grown
to mistrust anything because there’s so
much fake stuff out there and I was kind
of offended because I was like I did not
photoshop this penguin but people said I
spray-painted I was like I did not spray
paint hang on there really was an
all-black penguin and I said there were
other people there as well but I was one
who put it on on Twitter and suddenly I
was responsible now I have a very strict
no artificial ingredients policy on all
my social media and when I’m blogging
everything else if I haven’t seen if I
haven’t done it if I don’t know it I’m
not going to put it out there but even
then when this got so big that they were
putting it on TV and all the news
channels they were kind of questioning
are you sure are you sure and we had a
scientist who made my editor swear on a
stack of national Geographics that the
pictures were real and they and so the
National Geographic said to me it’s like
you know do you have any video that we
can prove and I was like no I don’t I
don’t and then I got home and I was I’m
very disorganized by the way it was
going through all my files I suddenly
found that I actually had now if I knew
what National Geographic paid for one
second of worldwide exclusive rights for
video I would have shot probably three
hours in this penguin
and retired but I only got 13 seconds
and so when they showed this on CBS News
and on all these morning shows they
actually took this and they kind of
spliced it four times in a row so it
looks like the Penguins walking all
across the beach but his only 13 second
clip the black penguin was real though
and he became very famous on the
Internet but what I learned from this
was that it’s not so much about who
discovers it and who sees it but it’s
it’s who shares it and that I put it on
out there and it had taken on a life of
its own and I also learned that from
this whole experience that there were
people who wanted to travel this way who
were in their offices or at home but
this was a way for them to follow along
a real adventure in real time just just
online
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