21 July 2010

Silver Spring Shark Shocker

Image Credit Flickr User Sarawithoutanh001
Strange things are afoot at the Discovery Channel HQ in Silver Spring, Maryland.  Passersby will have noticed that a great big shark has suddenly appeared out of nowhere (perhaps teleported?) and made his new home in the building. Or maybe he's stuck.  Who can say?  One thing is for sure, the office cleaning company that provides maid service is going to have a real job on its hands here.  Let’s hope that their motto is no job too large!

Contrary to being a failed teleportation experiment (though I have always wondered what would happen if you landed in the middle of an object like, say, oh a great big tower block in Maryland) this is one of those publicity stunt thingies.  As they go it’s a great big successful publicity stunt thingy.

You may have already put two and two together and realised, what with the Discovery Channel building and the Shark that the station is about to show a season of films about elephants.  Seriously, though, the shark (who goes under the name Chompie: well he would, wouldn’t he?) is there for a much more obvious reason.

The first week in August is Shark Week, hence Chompie’s supersized presence on/in/around the building. So you know what to expect on a certain channel in the near future, don't ya?  One wonders how the office cleaning company would feel about having to clean those teeth. Coincidentally, Chompie weighs in at an enormous 84,000 pounds.  Take heart, then, if you are a little overweight – this guy seriously needs to go on a diet.  We find that unlikely, however (cue a certain film theme composed by a Mr John Williams).



Kuriositas would like to thank the Flickr Users below who very generously gave permission for us to reproduce their marvellous photos here.  Please visit their Flickr streams (links below) and take a look at the rest of their work.

Sarawithoutanh001
Alykat  aka Alyson Hurt
Wombatarama - and this is his blog Animals Behaving Badly
Logjayge
Scattered1
Stro-buddy
DoubleA_ron
FiZ