Slashdot Mirror

Snopes has thoroughly debunked this urban legend

You might find this interesting.

Snopes on Nova

The Chevy Nova (no-go in Spanish) taught them all :)

Yes, it's a great cautionary tale, supposedly repeated in many marketing textbooks. Too bad it isn't true.

The video floating around on the net of a guy doing this is a well known urban legend.

Q: Why do you have some true stories listed as "urban legends"?

A: An "urban legend" is not the same thing as a "fictional tale" or an "apocryphal anecdote," although many people mistakenly use the term in that sense (e.g., "That's not true; it's just an urban legend!"). A tale is considered to be an urban legend if it circulates widely, is told and re-told with differing details (or exists in multiple versions), and is said to be true. Whether or not the events described in the tale ever actually occurred is completely irrelevant to its classification as an urban legend.

Although the 'S' was not technically an abbreviation and therefore did not need to be followed by a period, Truman's full name was generally rendered as 'Harry S. Truman' during his lifetime, and Truman himself used letterhead bearing the name 'Harry S. Truman' and signed his name with a period after the 'S,'

Or, someone at your sister's work may not have heard that all of those names are urban legends.

(I did notice that there really was a pitcher with the last name "Lemongello", though...)

Tomorrow night our network and phone system will be "cleaned". This will be done by forcing air through the wiring to blow out any debris that may be blocking the system from functioning correctly. Please help us out by brining in a small plastic sandwich bag in the morning. These bags will be placed over your headsets to prevent the dust and debris from covering your work area. Leaving the mess for the cleaning crew, as you know, may not do much good.

Thank you for your cooperation.

---

Hetairoi
IT Systems Admin

Yo do know, of course, that subliminal advertising doesn't work. What makes you think subliminal CDs will?
Really, if you want to learn something, read. If you want to change a habit, grow a character. Remember, TANSTAAFL.

I don't trust the CDs for sale in the stores, after all, who regulates that industry and ensures there actually is a message on them, and if so, what is the message?

You have nothing to worry about, because subliminal advertising is not effective.

Apparently, subliminal messages have little effect. Maybe you're just looking for the placebo effect, in which case it likely doesn't matter *how* you record your subliminal tape, just as long as *you* beleive!

I'm no Republican, but this is a distortion of the facts.

See here for the details on what Gore did say.

Al Gore did NOT claim to have invented the internet. Anyone who repeats that false statement is a liar who is quick to believe false statements that match what they think they believe, or want to believe.

Here's the link. The urban legend is the idea that there was a bill passed recently with this title that gave blacks credit on their income tax as a slavery reparation. The IRS claims to have gotten over 100k bogus tax returns claiming this refund (and apparently they mistakenly did send refunds to many of those). But the story of freed slaves being promised "40 Acres and a Mule" after the end of slavery is not really an urban legend, although the person promising had no authority to do so. And the phrase was used throughout the twentieth century as a symbol of America's failure to deal responsibly with the legacy of slavery.

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.htm

that he did not invent the Internet.

(And - probably contrary to George's belief - Al Gore never claimed he did)

Alex

are you joking?

read this please.

just desserts

just deserts

My aunt sent me and several other people an inflammatory forward which, among other things, compared Sept 11th to the Holocaust, claimed the Afghanistan wedding party which was bombed was to blame for their own demise, and criticized the Palestinians for their widely broadcast and falsified celebration of Sept 11th. I replied that three thousand sudden unexpected deaths can't be compared to six million deaths through torture and medical experiments, and that it was disrespectful of the holocaust victims to do so. I also pointed out that the Palestinian celebrations were a hoax. (I later learned I was wrong on this point. Fake footage: Palestinians dancing in the street) I was upset enough about the e-mail that I sent my answer to all the recipients of the original forward.

Somebody wasn't amused at my response (or maybe an automated spam filter detected the words "hoax" and "holocaust" in the same mail?) and decided to report it as spam to yahoo. Yahoo immediately blocked my account without warning or recourse. This was very upsetting for me because I had a number of old e-mails and address information stored in that account which I didn't have anywhere else and which would have been impossible to replace. It took me several hours of research spread out over a couple of days to find the telephone number for paying customers to call and get the problem corrected.

Lessons learned: Don't keep important information in a free account. Some things are worth paying for. Don't use Yahoo.

Why would anyone go into the humanities, get a PhD in history and figure they could get a job as a museum curator

Dear Sir:

Thank you for your latest submission to the Institute, labeled "211-D, layer seven, next to the clothesline post. Hominid skull." We have given this specimen a careful and detailed examination, and regret to inform you that we disagree with your theory that it represents "conclusive proof of the presence of Early Man in Charleston County two million years ago." Rather, it appears that what you have found is the head of a Barbie doll, of the variety one of our staff, who has small children, believes to be the "Malibu Barbie". It is evident that you have given a great deal of thought to the analysis of this specimen, and you may be quite certain that those of us who are familiar with your prior work in the field were loathe to come to contradiction with your findings. However, we do feel that there are a number of physical attributes of the specimen which might have tipped you off to it's modern origin:

See Smithsonian Barbie for the rest of this.

Well, there is the mythical American Express Black Card for the superrich. Is that swanky enough?

I don't know, whether this is such a brilliant idea - if this gets widely adopted it can't be long before some idiot will get the idea of paying for a spam to "advertise" one of his competitors just to get HIS site blocked...

They've been doing it for years. It's called a "Joe Job", and it's so prevalent that even Snopes uses the term.

Cute joke, but not true.

Blah, don't get me started on those low-tech workaround by Russians.

After the success of anti-gravity pen, NASA proudly announces they beat Russian again with state-of-the-art subauditory, subvocal communication system, which merely costs ten billions and ten years of effort.

You do know that the NASA "space pen" story is a hoax, right? (Or an urban legend, if you prefer.)

Obligatory Snopes link

Ah like many pumping stations they have bought in to the old sparking phone Urban Legend

I hope rubber soled shoes were banned prior to cell phones.

Ah like many pumping stations they have bought in to the old sparking phone Urban Legend

I hope rubber soled shoes were banned prior to cell phones.

I think it's pathetic that a melody written in 1893 is still covered by copyright... barring additional changes in law, the song's now protected at least 2030!

The actual details behind Happy Birthday are kind of interesting... a good synopsis is available from the reference librarian's best friend, Snopes.

...brig

I've got it !!

Dihydrogen Monoxide Insurance.
Be sure to include stiff fees for intentional exposure and that death due to withdrawal is not covered.

/.-,

And in related news, the city of Aliso Viejo, CA has decided to legislate a simpler value of pi = 3.15, which is much more accurate than the value of 3 preferred by the Alabama legislature. They based this decision on the well-documented scientific research of Dr Richard Kimber.

You know, I'm sure there's an urban legend along these lines somewhere. Anyone want to check www.snopes.com? Ah yes...

Here's a better link.

What's strange about this particular story, is the snopes.com article on it.

A number of reputable sources, who have obviously researched Steinmetz, seem to confirm this story as true, yet snopes does not. Perhaps snopes is wrong for once?

The only thing the draft ensures is that politically unconnected people are forced to fight and die for causes supported for the politically connected, while their kids get cushy jobs in the Air National Guard, where no one cares if they show up or not.
Just keep in mind that's a bi-partisan street. Wartime photographer is about as cushy as you can get.

LAME.

Are you that ignorant or are you just trying to be funny?

If you boil a frog, it doesn't know that it's in trouble until its legs are paralyzed and can't escape. Yup.

Just to make sure readers know:
Snopes on Frog Boiling

In short, the adage isn't literally true, although it might be figuratively true.

Ah, that good old joke. I used to believe it too (and used it for Gore bashing when I thought Bush was the better one (how wrong was I!!)).

Unfortunately, he never claimed that.

Is this the first tech info virus?

Oh goodness, no. Not that these were first either, but SULFNBK.EXE and JDBGMGR.EXE both predate this comfortably. Both are emails screaming at people to delete certain harmless files from their computer because they are a virus, and will cause loss of functionality if they are actually deleted, albeit a minor loss.

Granted, this is a much bigger loss ("a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing"), but it's the same basic thing.

Is this the first tech info virus?

Oh goodness, no. Not that these were first either, but SULFNBK.EXE and JDBGMGR.EXE both predate this comfortably. Both are emails screaming at people to delete certain harmless files from their computer because they are a virus, and will cause loss of functionality if they are actually deleted, albeit a minor loss.

Granted, this is a much bigger loss ("a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing"), but it's the same basic thing.

Who do you think is more, or less, likely to have assault rifles in the home: Bush backers, or Kerry backers?

And who do you think is the most threat with an assault rifle, a Bush backer or a Kerry backer?

"Everyone also knows that the average human only ever uses 10% of her potential brain power"

Proof-by-everyone-knowing eh?

It's wrong and

wrong.

"If knowledge is power... explain George W. Bush!"

We, he is certainly smarter than that boob who lost the election after he made a false boast that he had invented the Internet.

But I can see a the potential for misuse too.

I have no idea what you're talking about. Now step over here so I can jab this pencil in your eye, give you a paper cut across the neck and stick your fingers in this space heater.

I predict this will be the next great urban legend, following in the vein of kidney theives and zombies created by criminals. "I woke up in my room and there were wires coming out of my head. I could only scream silently in my head as my body walked out the door and proceeded to rob a bank." Hmmm...reminds me of Spock's Brain...

It is 100% pure scam, built upon spam. What a great way to make a buck. Snopes article on the matter: http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/wordofmout h.asp

I once heard a story of a woman that was eating a dessert at a restaurant and thought it was so incredible that she just HAD to have the recipe...

That's a standard Urban Legend, though it's more often a cookie recipe. Check out Snopes for the details.

And for those disinclined to click links, a summary:

Status: False.

Urban Legend dating back to the 1940's

There are many regular lemmings lurking about.

Really? I kind of thought they all committed suicide =).

Not true... Disney needed a good story in the 1958 White wilderness film... Lemmings don't commit suicide.. they'd rather eat each other.

Here's the link from SNOPES:



www.snopes.com/disney/films/lemmings.htm

Just trying to set the record straight for those poor little lemmings...

Actual dialogue of a former WordPerfect Customer Support employee:

[snip]

Incorrect.

You might want to run that one through Snopes.

That's an old urban legend. Snopes dates it at 1998, but I received an account of some variation via e-mail quite a bit before then. (Even Snopes points out it was in a 1998 movie, so it had to be around before then, unless the movie was the originator.)