Domain: snopes.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to snopes.com.
Comments · 4,476
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Re:Not true, according to the governmentyup, this story has been long discredited by snopes
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This is Bullshit
Not only is this 'story' over a month old, but it is 95% bullshit. Snopes, though, has you covered.
Quoting: 'There are no plans to stop teaching the Holocaust. Indeed, the education department's plan seems to be ensuring that it is taught everywhere. A spokesman for the Department of Education and Skills (DES) maintained that "The Adjegbo report on citizenship [a different report authored by Sir Keith Adjegbo and released in January 2007] said key British historical events must be taught" and that while "the national curriculum is a broad framework and there is scope for schools to make their own decisions, teaching elements including the Holocaust and key British events will be compulsory."' -
good one kdawg
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Re:urgh
Prefer their equivalent of CNN then? http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,
2 048161,00.html Or, if you like: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-2339118 8-details/Teachers+drop+the+Holocaust+to+avoid+off ending+Muslims/article.do But really, let's cut straight to the point: http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/holocaust. asp -
See, you don't even know the real deal
This is really about knocking back linux's control of the embedded market through a generalized attack.
Fuel prices have radically altered the economics, and some of the patents involved will be used in a new invention that will revolutionize the transportation industry.
Details here:
http://www.snopes.com/autos/business/carburetor.as p
When you read that link, remember: False is the new True! -
Some of us do use our whole brain
> I mean, we only use something like 10% - 15% of our brain, what does the rest do?
That's a frequent misunderstanding: http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/10percnt.htm
The best part: Have you ever heard a doctor say, ". . . But luckily when that bullet entered his skull, it only damaged the 90 percent of his brain he didn't use"? Of course not. -
Re:Defamatory
Proposition B: A high proportion of the human race, if you print an orange dot in a newspaper and tell them touching it will make their dreams come true, will take it *very seriously indeed*.
I think you'll agree the latter proposition is simply ludicrous
Considering the multitude of people who believe the moon was never landed on, or even that the UK dead fairy hoax is real ( http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/deadfairy.asp ), I find proposition B is the more logical one.
Fact is, most people WANT to believe. UFOs, supernatural events, miracles, they go by many names but it's difficult to find people who don't believe in something along those lines. -
Re:Lipstick on a pig
Don't believe all the chain email letters you get http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/pensions.asp
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Re:What Would the Russians Do?
This story reminds me of the classic tale, legend or not, of NASA engineers spending millions of dollars to create a pen that could write in zero gravity.
Legend. Snopes
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Re:What Would the Russians Do?
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Re:Well...
I've heard of it happening with older cordless phones (my sister claiming it happened to her back around 1997 at my aunt's house) and I found this on snopes to back it up. I suppose it isn't out of the realm of possibility that a corded touch tone phone with poor quality components could short in just the right way to sound the 911 tones if bumped to the floor as well. I don't know how a rotary phone could do it though.
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Re:umm
Yeah. Not all photos get you exiled for life, though. In the case of the photo I linked to, it's quite unfortunate.
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Re:wowThey can probably also sniff out a decorated US Marine off to deliver a speech at West Point.
And it really makes us all safer. After all, Joe Foss has indeed admitted to various acts of aircraft related violence. -
Re:Real Use CasesAmericans spent millions to engineer a pen that writes upside down for space travel. Russians just used a pencil. While your point is valid, this anecdote is an urban legend. Both the Russians and the Americans used pencils until Fischer developed the space pen on their own dime. Using pens alleviated the safety problem stemming from the debris associated with pencils, and ever since both the Americans and Russians have used pens.
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Stop Eating Spiders, Make Money Fast!
OK. Number one, your link is broken. Here is a working one
Number two, snopes says that this little tidbit is false.
Number three, snopes says that this bit of misinformation started out in the 50s in a list of common insect misconceptions, and was used in the early 90s in an experiment of fake facts on the internet to show how gullible people are. -
Re:Ever hear of the "Sixth Sense"
Yeah, you got lucky THAT time. You know the average person swallows a handful of spiders in their sleep every year, right?
Here's the source, if you're interested: http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/spiders.htm/ -
Re:No sex please...
Actually, my understanding is that the old "they're putting stuff in the food so I can't get it up" myth is a result of stress. It's not at all uncommon that a soldier in basic or combat to be so physically and emotionally stressed that they are unable to preform. This is quite normal, however, the male ego refuses to believe this, so it clearly must be the result of outside interference, like the REMFs putting something in the food.
And a quick search shows my memory serves me: http://www.snopes.com/military/saltpetr.htm -
Re:Obligatory
You're probably being being facetious, but I'll be a stick in the mud anyway: that's an urban legend.
Dan East -
Re:Down the Rabbit Hole we go!
Have you ever heard the term "Mad as a Hatter"? Maybe, but you probably do know who the Mad Hatter is.
Mad as a Hatter is a term that stems from "Hatters" (hat makers) using Mercury in the formation of hats. It was used in the process of removing hair from animal hides. All the hatters ultimately went insane or had the other symptons of mercury poisioning.
That's where the term comes from, and that's where the idea for the "Mad Hatter" came from for Alice in Wonderland. What does this have to do with the article? Nothing really, just trying to spread some random information.According to: Mad As a Hatter at snopes.com, this is but one possibility. Here is some of what I found there:
and:In the 18th century, mercury salts were used to make felt for fancy hats. The process required copious amounts of the element, a substance then not known to be as dangerous as we now know it to be.
Hat makers who day after day handled mercury-soaked fabric risked mercury poisoning, a condition that affects the nervous systems. Those so exposed would in time develop uncontrollable twitches and trembles, making them appear demented to the casual observer.
Even though there exists a strong tie between mercury poisoning and strange behavior in those long-ago hatters, it's still more than likely the term we now toss about so casually did not spring from this combination.
Even though there exists a strong tie between mercury poisoning and strange behavior in those long-ago hatters, it's still more than likely the term we now toss about so casually did not spring from this combination.
and:Whether Carroll meant his "hatter" as a caricature of a known crackpot, a play on mad as a March hare, as a bit of tomfoolery about venomous vipers, or as a combination of all three, it seems clear that the only relation his use of the term had to mercury-maddened hat makers was that of coincidence.
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Re:Down the Rabbit Hole we go!
Have you ever heard the term "Mad as a Hatter"? Maybe, but you probably do know who the Mad Hatter is.
Mad as a Hatter is a term that stems from "Hatters" (hat makers) using Mercury in the formation of hats. It was used in the process of removing hair from animal hides. All the hatters ultimately went insane or had the other symptons of mercury poisioning.
That's where the term comes from, and that's where the idea for the "Mad Hatter" came from for Alice in Wonderland. What does this have to do with the article? Nothing really, just trying to spread some random information.According to: Mad As a Hatter at snopes.com, this is but one possibility. Here is some of what I found there:
and:In the 18th century, mercury salts were used to make felt for fancy hats. The process required copious amounts of the element, a substance then not known to be as dangerous as we now know it to be.
Hat makers who day after day handled mercury-soaked fabric risked mercury poisoning, a condition that affects the nervous systems. Those so exposed would in time develop uncontrollable twitches and trembles, making them appear demented to the casual observer.
Even though there exists a strong tie between mercury poisoning and strange behavior in those long-ago hatters, it's still more than likely the term we now toss about so casually did not spring from this combination.
Even though there exists a strong tie between mercury poisoning and strange behavior in those long-ago hatters, it's still more than likely the term we now toss about so casually did not spring from this combination.
and:Whether Carroll meant his "hatter" as a caricature of a known crackpot, a play on mad as a March hare, as a bit of tomfoolery about venomous vipers, or as a combination of all three, it seems clear that the only relation his use of the term had to mercury-maddened hat makers was that of coincidence.
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Re:Bananas *are* clones.
Snopes has the story: http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/bananas.asp
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Re:Article 1: Why stop at Cheney?Thanks for the quotes. Dems are definitely not blameless in this mess since so many of them did the popular thing and rubberstamped Bush's war. However, although these quotes are accurate, they are lacking in context and you shouldn't ignore actions that took place between the quote and 2003. Snopes.com explains:
All of the quotes listed above are substantially correct reproductions of statements made by various Democratic leaders regarding Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's acquisition or possession of weapons of mass destruction. However, some of the quotes are truncated, and context is provided for none of them -- several of these quotes were offered in the course of statements that clearly indicated the speaker was decidedly against unilateral military intervention in Iraq by the U.S. Moreover, several of the quotes offered antedate the four nights of airstrikes unleashed against Iraq by U.S. and British forces during Operation Desert Fox in December 1998, after which Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen and Gen. Henry H. Shelton (chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) announced the action had been successful in "degrad[ing] Saddam Hussein's ability to deliver chemical, biological and nuclear weapons."
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Dear Mr. Thompson,
From the desk of the millions of normal people who play games:
Much like you, we were deeply disturbed by the actions of the shooter at Virginia Tech and feel terribly for the families of the lost. However we deeply resent the fact that you have totally bypassed the issue at hand and chosen instead to scapegoat the electronic entertainment industry. Perhaps instead of blaming videogames (which are clearly not your area of expertise) we should instead delve a little deeper in order to find what causes these depraved/deprived individuals to take such drastic measures. Your "proof" of a link to video game violence is tenuous at best - equivalent to such joke statistics as bread creating murderers. Statistical correlation is not proof of cause and effect but beyond that, you have failed to even show a statistical correlation, instead bringing up the specific examples where the statistics say what you want to prove.
Like naysayers for the past several centuries, you see the advent of a new form of entertainment as the downfall of society. Novels, the waltz, radio and television have all been targetted in the past and so far civilization has emerged unscathed (but not unchanged).
Perhaps this is the issue; you (and millions of right-wing conservatives) are afraid of what the future may bring. Who knows what changes the liberalization of the West may bring?
In short, we feel that you are doing nobody any good - you are attempting (and luckily failing) to take the attention away from the actual issues (which in the case of the VT shooting are as of yet indetermined).
Signed,
Gamers of the world.
P.S. While we harbour you no malice, I wouldn't suggest you attempt any retribution - we have all been trained on "murder simulators" . . . -
Re:Nanoscale lubricant?
Hey! I remember that guy...
How's it hanging? Hehe.. -
Re:Since when...Did you read the British memo, written by Matthew Rycroft, published in the Sunday Times?
Extracts:
"July 23rd, 2002"
No need to say more. You can keep your delusions and rewrite history. But there is written proof the war decision was decided in advance, and the reasons for it were fixed. And this memo is not the only proof.
Wow, Bush really _is_ powerful. He even got all these Democrats to believe the intel he was fixing, in 2002. I wonder how he did that (note the dates) : http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/wmdquotes.asp How did he get Clinton, the other Clinton, Gore, Kennedy, Kerry, Pelosi, etc etc etc all convinced of his "fixed" intel, when he wasn't even President yet? Oh, I know, that's how devious (while simultaneously cripplingly stupid) he is, is that it?
Face it, they were all working from the same intel, and then the UN gave them years and years to hide the nasties somewhere. -
Re:You got it wrong
There was corn syrup in it before the New Coke thing. New Coke was an attempt to taste like Pepsi because Pepsi was winning taste tests. Check out the Urban Legends Reference Page's entry: http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/newcoke.asp
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Re:You got it wrongDon't let the fact that aspartame turns into formaldehyde in your veins hold you back. Again, Snopes
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Re:You got it wrong
Like most urban legends, Snopes debunks this one too. The truth is actually more interesting. Coca-Cola Inc. had just introduced Diet Coke, which was a runaway smash hit. It also happened to be based on a different, sweeter formula. With Diet Coke such a hit, it became natural to wonder if their flagship product, which had lost marketshare to rival Pepsi (which also featured a sweeter formula) might also benefit from a switch to this popular new formula. That's right, "New Coke" is actually Diet Coke + calories. Most interesting of all, Coca-Cola Zero is a diet cola based on the "Classic Coke" formula, and it is delicious.
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Urban LegendsActually, New Coke was put on the market as a distraction so they could switch the Coke Classic recipe from sugar to corn syrup.
Coke first used corn syrup in World War Two.
In 1980 - five years before the introduction of New Coke - half the cane sugar in Coke had been replaced by corn syrup. Six months before New Coke - all the cane sugar had been replaced by syrup.
Syrup was cheaper. Diet drinks were cutting deep into sales and profits. Knew Coke
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YOU got it wrong
That's strange, I did a quick search on Snopes... http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/newcoke.asp
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Re:You got it wrong
I think the switch happened much earlier than the "New Coke" switch. It's just an urban legend.
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Re:I booby-trapped my son
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Re:Give the Students More CreditAnyway, he solves it in a way that is completely unlike the related methodology presented in the textbook. Well, this story illustrates your point perfectly (left unquoted for readability):
"The following concerns a question in a physics degree exam at the University of Copenhagen:
"Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer."
One student replied:
"You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the barometer, then lower the barometer from the roof of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will equal the height of the building."
This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student was failed immediately. The student appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter to decide the case.
The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics. To resolve the problem it was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer that showed at least a minimal familiarity with the basic principles of physics.
For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought. The arbiter reminded him that time was running out, to which the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn't make up his mind which to use. On being advised to hurry up the student replied as follows:
"Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, drop it over the edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the ground. The height of the building can then be worked out from the formula H = 0.5g x t squared. But bad luck on the barometer."
"Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper's shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional arithmetic to work out the height of the skyscraper."
"But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a short piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height is worked out by the difference in the gravitational restoring force T =2 pi sqr root (l /g)."
"Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easier to walk up it and mark off the height of the skyscraper in barometer lengths, then add them up."
"If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course, you could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground, and convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the building."
"But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to knock on the janitor's door and say to him 'If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper'."
The student was Niels Bohr, the only Dane to win the Nobel Prize for physics."
This is allegedly an Urban Legend according to Snopes, but it's no less good for it :)
Source:
http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/barometer.asp -
Re:Flame Fest.
like the flaming mouse,
Um - he changed his story a few times: http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/mousefire.asp -
Re:Beyond words...
off the top of my head comes this:
http://www.snopes.com/crime/dumdum/gunshop.asp -
Re:Monkeys aren't donkeys
Nope.
Shigeru Miyamoto, the game's inventor and the one person who unquestionably knows the origins of the name he chose, has repeatedly affirmed that he used the word "donkey" to convey a sense of stubbornness and the name "Kong" to invoke the image of a gorilla.
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Snopes: Donkey WrongCan anyone tell me where the F&*@ are the donkeys?
Dick Wolf, the man behind TV's Law & Order, is neither a penis nor a lupine. Likewise, Donkey Kong is not a donkey. The name "Donkey", which could be a derivative of Duncan, carries a connotation of stubbornness. See also Snopes: Donkey Wrong.
For donkeys, see Kicking Ass: The Democratic Party's Blog and History of the Democratic Party.
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Re:This is ridiculousFunny story, somebody started a campaign to take down the Christmas lights because they were red and white, and thought they were a big Coke advertisement. Never mind that red and white are traditional Christmas colours. Well, Coca-Cola did have a part in standardizing the image of Santa Claus as a jolly fat guy dress in red in white..
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Re:Pointless? No.Can it be a wireless router satellite (wifi router sat) DLink with hacked DD-WRT or OpenWRT (WhiteRussian) firmware running IPv6 protocol?
Además de sin cables, también te da alas!
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Re:Slashdot moderation maintains civility?Unfortunately, it also lets fanboys/shills for platform/company/philosophy X hide comments critical of platform/company/philosophy X. And they do, with great regularity. Are you saying this as a knee-jerk reaction, or are there actual, recent incidents you can cite? As someone who moderates pretty frequently, I almost always browse comments at -1. Not to rain on your tin-foil hat, but my experience is that flamebait/troll/offtopic ratings are generally accurate. Good information, well-argued opinions, and funny jokes tend to rise to the top. Of course, you could unmask this conspiracy by just browsing at -1 yourself, and reveal the secret information about the 200mpg carburator that we've been trying to hide from you...
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Kinder to the environment
I guess the E.T. cartridge solution was ruled out on environmental grounds?
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Has everyone forgotten the last experiment?
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[99 44/100% OT] boiling frogs
For what it's worth, snopes.com says the legend of the boiling frog is false. But I do wonder sometimes if we should just get it over with and start fucking things up ASAP.
:) -
Re:Sounds like mom was a busy girl.
You're not thinking of this case, are you? A woman in the UK gave birth to twins: one white and one black. They both had the same mixed-race father, and the genetic lottery gave one child "white" genes from the father, and the other "black" genes. (Yes, I'm oversimplifying.)
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Re:Al gore still...
This joke is not, and has never been funny, and the whole incident was a smear campaign in the first place.
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Re:Yes, the cat did get my tongue, actually.
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Re:To badPlease expound on this--I've never heard this particular accusation, and I would like to know more. Since you've already been labeled troll, I need to state that I'm serious about wanting to know more. Reliable sources please.
The accusations are untrue. However it was a popular urban legend. A debunking of the list is available here. I never believed he killed any of those people. My only point in making the statement was I don't think Bush has ever been accused of having someone shot, except of course as a matter of war. Clinton has, although unjustly. However, accepting an urban legend as true, is better than making up some baseless accusation.
Now I could be wrong, there could have been rumors of mysterious deaths related to Bush, but I've yet to hear them.
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Re:With Bobby, there's no schadenfreude
Will snopes.com suffice?
http://www.snopes.com/language/notthink/deserts.ht m
If not, try this one:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/just-deserts.ht ml -
Giant Rabbits
First its Y2K then killer asteroids, Unix timestamp running out in 2038 now this. Whats next?
My money is on the Giant Rabbits.
You'll see. They will kill us all. -
Re:Just ridiculous notice to begin with
Super bowl Sunday is also one of the top days for spousal abuse.
No
Well, it's probably in the top few hundred.
And what the hell does "my" team loose? Their bowels?