Judy Got Her Camera Back
March 14th, 2006A few weeks ago I told you about Judith, the woman who lost her camera in a National Park in Hawaii that was found but not returned.
In a follow-up to that story, apparently the family has come around and restored balance to the universe by returning her camera. Here are Judith’s details of the case.
As an aside, The National Post ran an interesting story about this lost camera incident.
March 14th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
To prevent link rot:
Charles Mandel, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, February 25, 2006
Canadians are in hot water over, of all things, a digital camera. In a U.S. blog, titled Lost Camera, a mysterious blogger called only Judith tells about the loss of her camera during a family vacation in Hawaii.
The good news is a Canadian family found the camera, a Pentax Optio S5i with a spare battery and two memory cards, valued at US$500.
The bad news is the family refused to return the camera, arguing that their nine-year-old son was recently diagnosed with diabetes and is convinced the camera is “good luck.”
The story has captured the imagination of Web surfers, spreading across the Internet, aided in part by popular link sites such as Boing Boing and Kottke.org, which attract millions of readers.
Some skeptics opined the lost camera was nothing but a hoax. But Judith Zissman is a reluctant Internet star, who, until she spoke with CanWest News Service, ignored requests from American and Canadian media for interviews.
Her blog has received hundreds of comments — many of them anti-Canadian — from around the world, as well as offers of replacement cameras.
“Let’s go get those Canadian bastards and give them the thumping they deserve for their utter lack of moral fibre,” reads one typical post.
Polite, guilty Canadians are falling over themselves apologizing for the family’s behaviour, while debate rages over everything from what should be done to recover the property to speculation as to where the family lives.
“It’s Alberta, right?” one visitor wrote. “This just seems like the kind of thing an Albertan would do.”
Another person wrote, “I was going to suggest Toronto as the likeliest harbour of such villainy — but it could be argued Ottawa would be!”
Yesterday, Ms. Zissman, a 35-year-old marketing communications professional from San Francisco, said in a phone interview, “Not everyone is dying for their 15 minutes of fame. It’s ultimately a lost camera rather than a genocide in Darfur, so I haven’t necessarily been courting the media about it.”
Ms. Zissman said she’s surprised and disappointed over the incident, but doesn’t hold any grudges against Canadians. However, she’s not pleased that the family, whom she’ll only identify as coming from Ontario, used their son’s illness as an excuse to keep the camera.
“I’ve known people with juvenile diabetes. It’s a horrible illness. I feel for the child, but I don’t think that has anything to do with a found camera.”
Ms. Zissman lost the camera while in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. She likely set it down for a moment while her grandmother and parents were switching between one car to another. Once she realized she’d lost the camera, she filed a lost-and-found report with the park.
Park rangers informed her a Canadian family found the camera, but when Ms. Zissman got in touch with them, she realized they weren’t willing to return it. On her blog, Ms. Zissman recounts telling them, “This is an expensive camera, you know?”
Replied the family: “Oh, we know. We looked it up.”
Ms. Zissman has recovered her photographs, but not because the memory cards were returned. The family burned the photos on to a CD and sent them to her.
“It’s wonderful to have pictures of my grandmother on the beach, but there is $120 worth of property they kept in addition to the camera,” Ms. Zissman said.
Ms. Zissman said she hasn’t accepted any of the offers of replacement camera, only that she hopes to recover hers. She has left the matter with national park police, whom she said have contacted the family.
Cory Doctorow, a London, England-based editor at Boing Boing and a former Torontonian, said stories like Lost Camera spread across the Internet, fascinate everyone.
“It’s like a Greek play or an episode of Gilligan’s Island. Everything is the same with minor variations on the details. I think it struck a nerve with a lot of people.”
Back at the blog, one reader summed up the debate: “That Canadian couple is a disgrace to all Canadians. I truly hope you get your camera back and bad karma hits them.”
© National Post 2006
March 14th, 2006 at 6:46 pm
I know this probably has nothing to do with the entry… but I just found ou something. I didn’t find a “Contact Me” button anywhere on the site (I must be blind XD) so I’m gonna post it here. I found out some subliminal messages in Smells Like Teen Spirit, by Nirvana. At the beginning, it repeatedly says “I hate you! I hate you!” Check it out for yourself.
March 14th, 2006 at 10:23 pm
No prob Johnny.
I have my contact information on my profile page.
March 14th, 2006 at 11:47 pm
Hello Jeff, I am a big fan of your site and I am interested in backmasking of songs and I actively try to find new ones. I have found a new one that I think you might be interested in, that is the indistinguishable yelling at the end of nirvanas “smells like teen spirit”. When reversed it clearly says “I hate you” over and over. I think there are also other phrases in the song and will leave a message in the blog if i find any.
Keep up the good work!