Unseen World!

An internet rumor claiming controversial rapper Kanye West died in a Los Angeles car crash overnight is gaining momentum in the search engines this morning.

For the record, he has not. The bogus story created a firestorm of postings on social networking websites, like Facebook and Twitter. In truth, the rumor appears to have started as a prank with this posting on 4Chan.com:

“bizarre car crash in Los Angeles involving two luxury cars early this morning rapper Kanye West dead, a second injured, a third arrested for gross vehicular manslaughter and a fourth person was detained by police.”

In fact, it looks like the rumors were used to sling anti-malware scam. What losers. This is the lamest stunt since Balloon Boy (although it’s far less costly).

Users searching for more info on the fictitious fatality are liable to get redirected to sites distributing spyware, malware and "scareware," researchers warn.

The rumor itself reportedly originated on notorious image board 4chan, the seeding ground for the Anonymous campaign against Scientology and others.

It’s a new kind of subway flasher: baring it all for art. New York Photographer Zach Hyman, 22, has been known to take photos of nude models in Times Square and Chinatown, and The Huffington Post reports that now he’s trying the subway. He spends about 30 seconds and takes 10 shots of the models, his latest one being Jocelyn Saldana. Her photo for Zach’s Chair and Maiden Gallery showing is one of 14 images on display in a photography exhibition that opens tonight in New York.

Hyman insists that his photos are not pornography; he says that our nether regions are “one of the unifying aspects of being human.” Still, he always keeps bail money on hand, watches out for police and keeps his lawyer on speed-dial in case he gets arrested. The response from other subway riders varies; during a recent shoot, a woman screamed and an elderly man started shaking – but most people were apathetic. Just another crazy on the subway…

According to The New York Post, Alex Reisner, a 20 year-old Columbia student, is one of Zach’s models who stripped down on the street in Chinatown. When she jumped into the air and Zach took her picture, the crowd burst into applause.  ”There was so much adrenaline,” she said. “I was bouncing around for the rest of the day. I told him I want to pose nude every weekend.”

Something tells me the men of New York would be okay with that.