Video of the Day: Yao Ming PSA about shark fin soup

by Mike Barish on

We recently covered the controversy over shark fin soup, so no need to rehash that. However, we were interested in this video staring Yao Ming, arguably the most famous – and popular – Chinese national in the world. In the ad, diners decline to eat shark fin soup after witnessing just how inhumane it is.

Yao, of course, is the dominant center on the NBA’s Houston Rockets. That’s when he’s not nursing the injuries that caused him to miss 77 of 82 games last season. In fact, he’s missed 168 games over the last five seasons. Perhaps he could have used some of the shark fin’s alleged medicinal and virility-enhancing properties. What? Too soon?

Photo of the day – Non-royal wedding

by Meg Nesterov on


Well, it’s all over. Whether you woke up in the middle of the night to watch Will and Kate get married or ignored the deluge of media coverage, today’s historic Royal Wedding has said “I do” and we can all breath a collective sigh of relief that we can stop hearing about it. We’re still feeling a bit romantic here at Gadling, so today’s Photo of the Day is of another wedding couple leaving the scene of the ceremony, taken by Flickr user e.r.g.o. in Sri Lanka. He notes that the wedding was on a Wednesday morning, to coincide with the most astrologically auspicious time.

Photograph any happy couples on your travels? Add your photos to the Gadling Flickr pool and we may use one for another Photo of the Day.

Photo of the day – A no-good monkey in India

by Meg Nesterov on


Monkeys are a fact of life in India, a fact that I struggle to wrap my mind around as a primate-lover. You mean you see monkeys all the time?! And that’s a bad thing?! It’s all relative, though, maybe Indians find pigeons delightful. Flickr user Nico Crisafulli ran into this troublesome monkey at the Mahanavami-Dibba royal monument in India and captioned his photo “You see this monkey? This monkey is no good.” The photo is also beautifully saturated with color and a great capture of everyday life.

Photograph any monkeys on your travels, naughty or nice? Add them to the Gadling Flickr Pool and we may use one as a future Photo of the Day.

Video of the Day: Wind in Palm Springs overwhelms reporter

by Mike Barish on
We’ve all had unpleasant weather ruin a trip. But imagine having to record a news report during epic winds. Well, that’s what CBS reporter Marissa Mike was trying to do recently in Palm Springs. Unfortunately, her insistence on wearing a hat and confusion over what to call a traffic signal made filing her report about the wind quite difficult. The winds themselves had something to do with that, too, of course.

The lesson here, of course, is that news reports about weather serve no purpose other than to embarrass local journalists. If the weather was that dangerous, the Emergency Broadcast System would start beeping, we would all mute our televisions because we’d think it was only a test and we’d all be killed.

[Via Huffington Post]

Photo of the Day – Korean festival lanterns

by Jeremy Kressmann on

I love taking photographs at festivals. The riotous colors, local costumes and friendly demeanor of locals usually means you’ll have a chance to capture some truly great shots. Take today’s photo for instance, captured by Flickr user Trent Strohm at a Buddha’s Birthday celebration in Seoul, Korea. The rainbow colors of the lanterns create a visually arresting pattern, punctuated by the curvy black outline of a tree, rising from below.

Taken any great travel shots of your own recently? Why not add them to our Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick one of them as our Photo of the Day.