Debunking the Hoax

[Sazerac]

Since there has been so many hoaxes going around lately, here is, from a variety of sources, a meta-debunking of all hoax emails:

1. Big companies don't do business via chain letters and there are no computer programs that track how many times an e-mail is forwarded, let alone by whom. Bill Gates is not giving you $1000, Disney is not giving you a free vacation, and Nokia is not giving away free cell phones to those who email the most messages. There also is no baby food company issuing class action checks to emailers.

2. Proctor and Gamble is not part of a satanic cult or scheme, and its logo is not satanic.

3. MTV will not give you backstage passes if you forward something to the most people.

4. The Gap is not giving away free clothes. You can relax; there is no need to pass it on "just in case it's true."

5. There is no kidney theft ring in New Orleans. No one is waking up in a bathtub full of ice, even if a friend of a friend swears it happened to their cousin. If you are hell bent on believing the kidney theft ring stories, see http://urbanlegends.tqn.com/library/weekly/aa062997.htm . And I quote "The National Kidney Foundation has repeatedly issued requests for actual victims of organ thieves to come forward and tell their stories." None have. That's "none" as in "zero." Not even your friend's cousin.

6. Neiman Marcus doesn't really sell a $200 cookie recipe. And even if they do, we all have it. And even if you don't, you can get a copy at http://www.bl.net/forwards/cookie.html Then, if you make the recipe, decide the cookies are that awesome, feel free to pass the recipe on.

7. If the latest NASA rocket disaster(s) DID contain plutonium that spread radioactive particulates over the eastern seaboard, do you REALLY think this information would reach the public via an AOL chain letter?

8. There is no "Good Times" or "It Takes Guts To Say Jesus" or any number of other similar supposed viruses. In fact, you should never, ever, ever forward any email containing any virus warning unless you first confirm it at an actual site of an actual company that actually deals with actual viruses. AOL, for example, is not in the antivirus business. (Some would say AOL itself is a virus, but that's another story.) The fact that someone says "AOL confirmed the existence of this virus!" is meaningless. Try http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html . And even if the virus IS real, don't forward the warning. We don't care; we keep our antivirus scanner up to date, and know better than to open unknown file attachments.

9. There is no gang initiation plot to murder any motorist who flashes headlights at another car driving at night with out lights.

10. If you still absolutely MUST forward that 10th-generation message from a friend, at least have the decency to trim the eight miles of headers showing everyone else who's received it over the last 6 months. It sure wouldn't hurt to get rid of all the ".." that begin each line either. Besides, if it has gone around that many times we've probably already seen it.

11. Craig Shergold (or Sherwood, or Sherman, etc.) in England is not dying of cancer or anything else at this time and would like everyone to stop sending him their business cards. He apparently is no longer a "little boy" either.

12. The "Make a Wish" foundation is a real organization doing fine work, but they have had to establish a special toll free hot line in response to the large number of Internet hoaxes using their good name and reputation. It is distracting them from the important work they do. Also, the American Cancer Society does not give 3 cents for each person you forward e-mail to. They ask for you to *donate* money, money, they don't *give* it; and, besides, how could they know how many e-mails you sent out? Sheesh.

13. If you are one of those insufferable idiots who forwards anything that promises something bad will happen "if you don't forward it" to X people or within X timeframe, then something bad *will* happen to *you* if I ever meet you in a dark alley.

14. Women really are suffering in Afghanistan, but forwarding an e-mail won't help their cause in the least. If you want to help, contact your local legislative representative, or get in touch with Amnesty International or the Red Cross.

15. As a general rule, e-mail "signatures" and "From:" lines are easily faked and mean nothing.

16. KFC really does use real chickens with feathers and beaks and feet and everything. No, they really do. Why did they change their name? In this health conscious world, what was KFC's name? Kentucky FRIED Chicken. FRIED is not healthy. So with the help of a focus group, they changed the name to KFC. It's short, doesn't offend dieters and it's easy to remember.

17. Canola oil comes from the seed of the canola plant. It is not CANada OIL product. There is no such company as Canada Oil, and even if there was, there are no known cases of people's skin splitting open from using Canola oil.

18. Another thing, just because someone said in a message, four generations back, that "we checked it out and it's legit," or "we know a lawyer who says it must be true or [Disney/Nokia/AOL/Microsoft/etc.] will be sued!" does not actually make it true.

19. ICQ is not deleting you if you don't forward this to everyone you know.

PS: There is no bill pending before Congress that will allow the Post Office to charge you for sending email.

Bottom Line...

Composing e-mail or posting something on the Net is as easy as writing on the walls of a public rest room, and about as likely a source of truth. Don't automatically believe anything...ASSUME it's false, unless there is real proof (and not just someone's unverified claim) that it's true.



[This message has been edited by Sazerac (edited 06-04-2001).]

Originally posted by Sazerac: 2. Proctor and Gamble is not part of a satanic cult or scheme, and its logo is not satanic.

CEO's of Proctor & Gamble admitted publicly that their religion is Satanism and in this country they have every right to practice whatever religion they choose.
(I saw this in a television interview sometime within the last two or three years or I would not be posting it here.)

They have since removed the crescent moon and thirteen stars logo from their products in an effort to regain customers they lost in their revelations of their religion. They won't advertise Satanism if you will buy their products.
Hopefully those ignorant enough to believe that the removal of the logo translates into conversion will also return.

BTW, P&G products are most of the best quality products on the market~right down to the shredded corn cobs put into Tide laundry detergent and although if you can call my practices "religion" they would veer towards Christianity, I do buy quality products as opposed to cheap or outright bad ones.

9. There is no gang initiation plot to murder any motorist who flashes headlights at another car driving at night with out lights.

Not an initiation, but people in a couple of western states (AZ and CA for example) have been shot at for flashing their headlightslights at another car driving at night with out lights. It happened frequently for a short period of time in Tucson AZ while I lived there and was covered on the evening news more than once...the cars that did the shooting that were identified were proven to belong to known gang members.

An actual intiation tactic that was common was for new gang members to car jack a car...easy targets were single women at gas stations who did not lock their vehicles while going inside to pay...this actually happened less than a mile from where I lived in AZ a number of times until that particular station got "hot" and gang activity moved to other locations.

Just my 11 cents worth.


Moni

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[This message has been edited by Moni (edited 06-04-2001).]

[Earthdog]

I was going to say the same thing about Proctor and Gamble. They are definitely Satanic. I know a lot of Christians that quit buying their products when they admitted publicly that they worship Satan.

Other than that right on!!! to most of the stuff you said Saz.

Moni is also right about the car thing with the headlightsl. I know. I lived in Dallas Texas and Augusta Georgia and they do it in both towns. They flash thier headlights at you and if you flash yours back they start shooting. Thats a fact.

The US postal sevice wants a 4.5cent tax per email because the believe they are losing about a billion dollars per day by not handling your mail. But that sounds to me kind of like Taxation without Representation. How can they tax you if they arent providing a service for you????

But it IS a fact that the US Postal Service wants that tax. They are just trying to figure out how to justify it. No no bill is pending, sitting on the floor or anything else, but they are trying to get one into motion.

I know my address is in Melbourne Australia but I am from the states and lived there for 35 years. I have only been in OZ for a little over a year. But I distinctly remember seeing this on all the big tv stations news not long before I left ie., ABC NBC CBS and FOX were all reporting on it. ABC Nightline reprted on it extensively. I think they might have tried to underpulicise it if you know what I mean. The US Postal service already has a kind of CRAP reputations and somehow this idea seems to violate everything that the constitution stands for. Its the basic principle.

Dont think for a minute that the US government isnt a money hungry machine.

Gee whiz wasnt the INCOME TAX supposed to be temporary???? only long enough to help win the war???? but they saw how much money it generated and said SCREW EM ALL!!!!

oooops sorry if it sounded like I was going off at you... that wasnt my intent at all. But the money grubbing US government gets in my craw.

Anyway yep you are ever so right on the rest of the stuff.

Have a nice day

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THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!!!!!!!!!

[This message has been edited by Earthdog (edited 06-04-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Earthdog (edited 06-04-2001).]

[Bleys]

Originally posted by Sazerac: 8. There is no "Good Times" or "It Takes Guts To Say Jesus" or any number of other similar supposed viruses.

There is no 'good times' but there is 'bad times'


If you receive an e-mail entitled 'Badtimes', delete it immediately. Do not
open it. It will not only erase everything on your hard drive, but it will
also delete anything on disks within 20 feet of your computer.

It demagnetises the strip on ALL of your credit cards. It re-programs your
PIN access code, screws up the tracking on your VCR and uses subspace field
harmonics to scratch any CDs you attempt to play.

It will recalibrate your refrigerator's coolness settings so all your ice
cream melts and your milk curdles. It will then program your phones autodial
to call only 0898 sex line numbers. This virus will mix antifreeze into your
fish tank. It will drink all your beer. It will leave dirty socks on the
coffee table when you are expecting company.

It will replace your shampoo with engine oil and your engine oil with orange
juice, all the while dating your current girl/boyfriend behind your back and
billing their hotel rendezvous to your Visa card. It will cause you to run
with scissors and throw things in a way that is only fun until someone loses
an eye.

It will rewrite your backup files, changing all your active verbs into
passive tense and incorporate undetectable misspellings which grossly change
the interpretations of key sentences. It will call your boss an asshole and
give you a bad case of the clap.

If 'Badtimes' is opened in Windows 95/98, it will leave the toilet seat up
and your hair dryer plugged in dangerously close to a full bath, and it will
molecularly rearrange your aftershave/perfume, causing it to smell like dill
pickles.

It will then install itself into your cistern and lie in wait until someone
important, like your boss or girlfriend, does a serious number 2, then block
the s-bend and cause your toilet to overflow.

In the worst case scenario, it may stick pins in your eyes.

[Earthdog]

WWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Now THAT was funny.

Bleys you crack me up. HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA

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THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!!!!!!!!!

[Yorick]

Originally posted by Sazerac: Composing e-mail or posting something on the Net is as easy as writing on the walls of a public rest room, and about as likely a source of truth. Don't automatically believe anything...ASSUME it's false, unless there is real proof (and not just someone's unverified claim) that it's true.

What?! I don't believe you. This is a hoax isn't it?



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I am the walrus!.... er, no hang on....

A fair dinkum laughing Hyena!

[Earthdog]

Also i wanted to mention i dont know if Neiman-Marcus has a $200 cookie recipe but i kniow a few years back they sold his and hers HUM-Vs as matching Xmas gifts one year. And for the people with more money than they know what to do with there was the Monopoly set that cost $3.2 million. It had 24k gold play pieces and came with REAL CASH>>>>> allllll those $500 bills and everything.

Must be nice to have that kind of money to throw away on a board game.

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THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!!!!!!!!!

[This message has been edited by Earthdog (edited 06-04-2001).]

[Neb]

Lol, Good one Bleys

[Epona]

I received the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe story by e-mail a few years ago. I didn't know at the time whether the story was true, but I made the recipe, and they were the best damn cookies I ever tasted.

I gave some to relatives, friends and work colleagues, as the recipe makes enough mix for hundreds of cookies! I had boxes full of cookies, and they were wonderful! I recommend the recipe, hoax or not.

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Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

Epona of The Laughing Hyenas

[Bahamut]

P&G..as in safeguard and stuff like thaT?


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You know what happened. We are ONE, WE ARE, ahh.. er... I AM ...teehee and... Stay ahead of the Avalanche or risk being buried...