One of the most renowned sites dedicated to “debunking email hoaxes (and) thwarting Internet Scammers” is Hoax-Slayer. This site analyses evidence in regards to different chain emails, potential scams and bogus claims, deals and vouchers. It is not surprising that many people visit this website for help, but also for entertainment and to observe how others think and react to such messages.

An example of a chain letter which has riddled us in the past is the Good Luck Chain Letter. This particular piece of nonsense claims that after sending this to so many people within five minutes of receiving it, you will receive some phone call with extremely good news. There are many, many silly emails similar to these ones, of which are quite obviously not factual. 

The interesting part of why these chain letters remain in play on our tech systems refers to the background reasons why people pass these emails on. There are three types of categories:

• Those who shut out these messages completely
• Those who know it will not be true, but do it anyway ‘in case’
• Those who believe it

More often than not, the second reason is what keeps these messages bothering us. 
Chain letters are a common issue of which some people by such means find entertainment, and of which others find an absolute pain. Messages of this kind appear everywhere – Facebook, YouTube, E-mail and in nearly any form of online communication.

Also see:
 - Looking into Teenage Relationships
 - Professional Gaming – An Insight

 http://www.whopie.com/2011/magnetic-boy-from-croatia/

Real-life X-boy Ivan Stoiljkovic is an average six-year old, to outward appearances, in the process of learning accordion playing and loving to play football, but there is something highly magnetic about this amazing young chap, to the extent that no metal object in his vicinity seems capable of avoiding a physical attraction to his body, the moment his shirt comes off.

Why this does not happen when he is clothed remains a mystery, but there is film evidence that, indeed,  Ivan finds metallic objects such as spoons, mobile phones and even frying pans stick  to his body as if glued there, and members of his family,in Koprivnica,  Croatia, say that he is also unusually strong, and even possesses powers of healing that seem inexplicable. 

 http://www.aliraqi.org/forums/showthread.php?p=147870789 

 It would seem that this remarkable young boy is capable of holding, with no visible means of support, over 50lbs weight of metal on his bare torso, the video shown depicting his grandmother, Dragica, putting ever more objects onto him ,which apparently hang there, captured by natural magnetism. This lady says that her grandson has what she calls healing hands, having cured her husband of stomach cramps and a fortunate neighbor with a damaged leg, both men claiming that the laying on of hands by the boy resulted in intense heat sensations before the pain vanished. 

http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2011/05/11/article-1305134772878-0BFF52DE00000578-116707_466×360.jpg

The question obviously raises its head about the validity of all this, but if it is a hoax, then it is very cleverly done, riding on the back of the worldwide popularity of those mutant human films in which the major villain, played by Sir Ian Mckellern, was the evil Magneto.  There are undoubtedly abilities within the human mind, and indeed throughout nature, to harness electrical power, and evolution could have stepped in a million years early, to give Ivan abilities humanity is not actually yet equipped to handle.

I tend to believe that, as romantic as this wonderful story might be, it is something that science would find a way to explain, if they were ever allowed to run proper tests, which the family are apparently set against allowing to happen.

http://sbta.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ivan-stoilikovic.jpg

All the same, if nothing else, this is a diverting tale, proving once again just how ingenious and imaginative humanity can be, when looking to get attention. Let Ivan enjoy hid fifteen minutes of fame, for I suspect it will be over all too soon.

All images used with permission

Many celebrities have been a victim of both accidental and perpetrated death reports. Mark Twain was twice reported to have died. The first time was in 1879 when a journalist enquiring of Twain’s physical health got some facts confused. Although no obituary was published this first time, the rumor that Twain had died spawned his oft-misquoted epitaph of “The report of my death is an exaggeration.”

A second occasion was in 1907 when a yacht that Twain was a passenger became lost in fog, and did in fact cause an obituary to be published. Twain, the following day, wrote a humorous anecdote about it in the New York Times.

News leader CNN has often been the inadvertent or unwitting perpetrator of fake obituaries. Using a  template from an actual obituary and merely ‘inserting the name’ of the alleged decedent with intent to ‘fill the details later,’ notables were factually or falsely declared dead but also with incorrect information.

One such occasion, Cuban Leader Fidel Castro was declared dead and the on-air obituary described him as “lifeguard, athlete, movie star.” -WTF?

Image via Wikipedia

The err was that the template used for the obituary was that of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Even after his death, he still hated Communism. Win one for the ‘gipper!

Fake Celebrity Death Reporting Can Be Libellous

In 2001, Texas radio station KEGL reported a (false) celebrity death and got sued for their DJ’s apparent prank.

The story goes that Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake were killed in a car crash. The story was allegedly started ‘as a joke on the internet’ and it spread from there. This is easy to do these days with sites like Twitter, where any news tweet can ‘go viral‘ in mere quarter-hours…

Without having verifying the facts before broadcasting the news, the story was ran on the radio station and as a result the station was sued for an undisclosed amount of money and the two DJs that reported the fake news, were fired.

Image via Wikipedia

While everyone loves a good joke, jest or spoof, fake death reporting is not funny. Unlike Abe Vigoda and Betty White whom seem to take the parody in stride and in the case of Ms. White actually seems to have re-invigorated her career, most just don’t appreciate the humor.
It was just over a year ago that veteran actor Bill Cosby was the target of an ‘Bill Cosby fake celebrity death‘ stating that he was dead. He is not.

At least, according to his web site “billcosby.com.”

This happened in a store where I work. The area is a popular shopping tourist destination, but fairly remote so most shops shut down on Sundays though the winter. The story begins on a Saturday.

Sol was a young teenager whose height was stunted from a heart defect. He appeared to be the size of an eight year old, and in fact had facial features more like a eight year old than a teen. Now you might assume that a child with such unfortunate circumstances has upstanding parents who oversee his care, but this was not the case. Sol’s father left, and his mother was a drug addict and low level criminal.

At one point Sol’s mother, and her sister, took Sol with them into a trendy gift and home furnishing store. Sol’s mother’s eyes lit up, the sound of the cash register was constant. This store would have huge money in it at the end of the night, and even if not, there were plenty of things in the store she would love to have for herself, or could sell.

She came up with a plan instantly, making use of Sol’s smaller size.

She told her idea to her sister, and as neither could see an error in their ways, they carried it out. Sol, with his small body, was to hide inside one of the pine furniture pieces that the store had for sale. He would wait until a few hours after closing then simply unlock the front doors for the sisters. The sisters had already noted that the store did not have a proper alarm system. They even set the alarm on Sol’s watch to go off two hours after the store closed, allowing for any lingering staff to leave the building and people to vacate the area.

The sisters waited in the area before returning to the front of the store to get in, but when they returned the doors had not been unlocked. They waited another 10, then 20 minutes, trying the door again. Eventually they decided that Sol had been found and taken, so they felt it best to leave in case Sol had informed the police of their plan.

The next day was a Sunday, and all the stores were closed. Sol’s mother returned on Sunday only to find the door was still locked and her son nowhere to be seen. Monday morning came. Sol’s mother returned again, and cautiously entered the store. None of the staff were familiar to those working the Saturday shift so she made her way to the furniture unit where she had stashed her son days earlier… it was a stupid thing, he certainly wouldn’t be in there after all this time.

She let out a yell when upon opening the furniture door her sons pale body fell out… Dead.

Little had she known that the store had been having problems with mice, they had set many toxic smoke bombs to go off in the store immediately after closing, including one right outside the furniture unit where Sol had hid. The toxic smoke would have been suffocating when he opened the doors to get out, so presumably he stayed hidden but still breathed in the fumes nonetheless, killing him.

——————————— BUT WAIT———————-

This story is the perfect example of how urban legends, and myths get started. Although not at all true, it has an air of plausibility. This is the kind of thing that gets told verbally, or circulated via e-mail. Many false stories are still retold even though they have been exposed as being false.

They come into being simply as stories, perhaps when first told everyone knows they are not true, or perhaps the teller intentionally wants to trick or deceive the listener.

Many e-mail stories go further, offering some moral, or “feel-good” point, encouraging the reader to “pass it on”. Why? So the original person gets some thrill out of seeing their hoax gain attention.

If you paid attention, you would recall the very first thing I said was “This is an article explaining how urban myths and legends get started. See if you pay attention.”  It only takes one person to write a story, and another to tell it as a truth for it to become a bit of a myth…

Links about Mythical Animals

Did Flying Dragons Really Exist?

Were Pegasus or Unicorns Ever Real?

If you have opinions, ideas, or knowledge, and would like to get Paid for sharing them by writing for sites like this, Click Here.

Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis: FALSE. No harm done.

If you swallow gum, It will stay in your system for years: FALSE. Out and into the toilet within 1-2 days.

If you swallow gum, a gum tree will grow in your stomach: FALSE. Hard to believe, really.

If you keep making that weird face, your face will stay that way: FALSE. Really?

If you cross your eyes too much, they will stay that way: RARELY TRUE. It can happen, and has happened.

Watching TV is bad for your brain: FALSE. It actually develops the brain at a fairly good rate.

Reading in bad light is bad for your eyes: FALSE. Actually strengthens the eyes.

Natural fruit juice is as healthy as the fruit itself: FALSE. More fructose, which can lead to pancreas complications.

Buying a fake Christmas tree saves one real tree: FALSE. The same number of trees will be cut down regardless.

Buying a fake Christmas tree is better for the environment: FALSE. Most fake trees wear out within 5-9 years, and are not biodegradable like real trees.

Taking a plane trip is safer than taking a car trip: TRUE. There are WAY more car related deaths than plane crashes.

Thanksgiving never happened: POSSIBLY TRUE. There is no proof whether or not it really happened.

Trick or treating is illegal for anyone over the age of 12: FALSE. Yet another rumor.

Flies live for less than a day: PARTIALLY TRUE. It all depends on the species of fly. Common house flies live for only several hours.

Planes do not have reverse: TRUE. They can only go backwards with the help of those special little carts that push them.

Chocolate is poisonous to dogs: TRUE. Only in large amounts, however.

Remember to leave responses in the comment section!

-CL

The most common crimes committed against organizations are:

Espionage – when you get information without authorization;

Violation of permit – when using the authorization of another person for purposes unknown;

Fake computer – it happens when there is a change of data;

Leak – inappropriate disclosure of information;

Computer sabotage – when the data is removed or modified in order to change the operation of the machine;

Denial of service – does not meet the request of the legitimate requests of users;

Moral – occurs when the online server (public or private) (service provider, as cumunicações, Entertainment, information, etc …) expresses directly or indirectly, acts such as racism, xenophobia, homophobia, humiliation, repreenção, or other acts that damage the user morally;

Repudiation – improper denial of an action or transaction carried out effectively.

And all these crimes entail a penalty under the law.

There are also other types of crimes, both against organizations and against individuals. These are:

Spamming – the behavior of advertising by electronic mail for a small portion of users. This behavior is illegal, but unethical. Today, it has become very common to use anti-spam filters from a variety of free e-mail, such as those offered by Microsoft (Hotmail) or Google (Gmail);

Cookies – are text files that are stored on your computer in order to identify it. Thus, the site gets some information such as: who is accessing the site, how often the User returns to the web page and other information desired by the portal. Some sites require the User to accept cookies to view its contents. The biggest problem is to find out if the cookie is legitimate or not and if, moreover, to be used that information in the cookie;

Spyware – spyware is sending information to the computer User to strangers on the network. The spread of spyware has been very common in networks, file sharing, such as Kazaa and Emule;

Hoaxes – are e-mails, most of the time, with the sender of major companies or government agencies, containing false messages, inducing the reader to take actions harmful to himself;

Sniffers – are similar to spyware spyware that are placed on the hard drive and is able to intercept and record the packet traffic on the network;

Trojan horse or Trojan horses – when installed on the computer trojan releases a gateway to the computer for a possible invasion. The hacker can retrieve information from files, discover passwords, introduce new programs, formatting the hard drive, see the screen and to hear the voice, if your computer has a microphone installed. How much of the PCs is equipped with microphones and cameras and audio, the trojan enables you to eavesdropping, which is widely used among criminals that seek to capture trade secrets;

Child pornography – the Internet easier to exchange videos and magazines, and increased contact between pedophiles and people who sexually abuse children and adolescents;

Piracy – downloading music, movies and paid software on the Internet and then copy to CD or DVD and distribute them free of charge or (where the money is not transferred to the holder of legal rights).

Beringer was a respected professor of medicine at the University of Wurzberg in Germany in the early 1700s.  Apparently he was also an arrogant ass.  His colleagues at the University, J. Ignatz Roderick and Johann von Eckhardt, wanted to take him down a notch.  The result?  The greatest scientific stunt of their time. 

Knowing of Beringer’s interest in natural science, Roderick and Eckhardt hired stone masons to craft “fossils” out of limestone and enlisted his specimen supplier to sell them to Beringer. The fossils became more and more ridiculous as time went on, but Beringer was still a believer, even as he was presented with fossils from bees with honeycomb, birds and eggs, spiders and webs to even more outlandish ones containing samples of ancient languages, stars and comets. 

The prank worked so well that Beringer wrote a book about his discoveries and his many theories, some of which were so ludicrous that Eckhardt and Roderick probably had trouble controlling their bladders whenever Beringer was discussing them.  They included a “plastica” theory that fossils grew spontaneously, a “spermatica” theory that seed of ancient creatures slipped through rock cracks to form the impressions, and – his favorite- that the fossils were the capricious works of God. 

An unproven rumor is that Beringer finally realized the deception when one of the fossils had his own name carved into it.  However he learned the truth, he sued Roderick and Eckhardt, in what is also the greatest joke backfire of the time. They were both discredited and dismissed from their positions at the University.  Beringer is said to have become penniless trying to buy all the copies of the embarrassing book he created.  Not that it did much good.  It was reprinted again after his death.  The fossils have been known forever since as the Lying Stones.

Below: Drawings of some of the “fossils” that appeared in Beringer’s book

Image Credit

Benjamin Franklin

  Everyone knows Ben Franklin was a genius of politics, literature, science and math, and most people have heard of his many hoaxes, political stunts and what we can euphemistically call “self-promotion”.  What most people haven’t heard is the speculation that his famous kite-in-a-thunder-storm was probably a hoax.  It was most likely a joke directed at the intellectuals of Europe who dismissed his writings on electricity.  Ironically, while his serious work on electricity was ignored, the sensational tale of “discovering” electricity by flying a key on a kite string in a violent storm was taken up enthusiastically.  The most amazing thing is that it has taken this long for the scientific community to realize what grade schoolers hearing this story know right away- wouldn’t getting struck by lightning have killed him? It, at least, would have taken the spring out of his step.

Image Credit

Kids at MIT 

Sure, parents brag when their kids get accepted to MIT, the Jedi Academy for science and engineering dorks, but are they so proud to spend those mega dollars when they come up with this stuff instead of inventing a perpetual motion device?

The kids call these pranks “hacks” and they’re pretty tame.  However, you know a few students had to hit their inhalers after this prank in which the new president’s office door was hidden behind a bulletin board.

Image Credit

Two days before The Phantom Menace opened in 1999, hackers transformed the campus’s Great Dome into R2-D2.  I’m just glad they never saw a very similar film found in the adult section of the video store, The Phantom Man-ass.  Who knows what the Great Dome would have looked like then?

Image Credit

Not an official “hack”, but super cool, nonetheless, was the Bonsai Kittens website.  A spoof detailing how to grow ornamentally stunted kittens in glass containers, it had more than one animal lover convinced this warped site was the real thing.  No, it was just the joke of some of the funnier MIT geeks.

Image Credit

Jovian-Plutonian Gravitational Effect

  In 1976, respected English astronomer Patrick Moore stated on BBC radio that due to the rare occurrence of Pluto passing behind Jupiter, Earth’s gravity would be greatly decreased at the precise moment of 9:47 a.m.  If listeners were to jump into the air at that exact moment they would feel a floating sensation.  People really should have known something was up- it was April 1, after all.  A surprising number of people fell for it.  People jumping all over the UK.  Some people not only claimed to feel the low gravity, but said they proceeded to float around their homes.

Image Credit

Cello Scrotum 

For over 30 years, cellists lived in fear of the dreaded malady, “Cello Scrotum”.  Finally, in 2009, the much respected Dr. Elaine Murphy, who also is a member of the House of Lords, admitted it was a hoax.  In 1974, she found an article in the British Medical Journal about the legitimate condition, “Guitarist Nipple”, quite humorous.  In response, she penned a letter to the BMJ herself inventing “Cello Scrotum”.  As happens, others referenced this over the years and it made its way into other medical literature.

Image Credit

At over a mile wide, twenty miles long and up to seven hundred feet deep, Loch Ness is Scotlands largest lake by volume and is the home to a legendary monster.

The first recorded sighting of “Nessie” was by St.Columba in 565 AD who was crossing the loch with some of his followers , since that time there have been numerous sightings however photographic and video evidence are very sparse.

In 1933 the Daily Mail a British newspaper hired  renowned big game hunter Marmaduke Wetherell to investigate the loch and hopefully find the monster, no sightings of “Nessie” were made, however Wetherell was pleased to announce that he had found what appeared to be enormous footprints on the loch shore leading to the water, dissapointingly when the tracks were checked by experts from the British National History it was found the tracks had been made with a dried hippopotamus foot the type used at the time as an umbrella stand, Wetherell quickly retreated from public view.

Probably the most well known evidence of the monster is the “surgeons photograph” which was taken on April 19th 1934 by British surgeon Colonel Robert Wilson this appeared to show a creature with a large serpentine neck rising from the water, strangely when the photograph became public knowledge Wilson distanced  himself from it, although considered the best evidence of “Nessie” sceptics were sure the photo was a hoax and in 1994 they were proved correct when 90 year old Christian Spurling came forward shortly before his death to confess how he had made a convincing “Nessie” model from a toy submarine at the behest of his stepfather Marmaduke Wetherell! Spurling admitted that an angry and bitter Wetherell had decided that the public would get their monster  after all  and had convinced  respectable surgeon Robert Wilson to be part of the ruse.

Aeronautical engineer Tim Dinsdale filmed a possible sighting of the monster in 1960, the film shows a hump crossing the water and leaving a powerful wake, this particular film has been the subject of much scrutiny and although not conclusive proof a study of the film by the Discovery Network in 1993 seems to show flippers and as many as three humps when the film is looked at in the negative.Disappointingly some experts now claim that this film shows a man in a small boat however Tim Dinsdales widow will not allow the original film to be studied so authenticity cannot be proved either way.

Numerous sonar expeditions have been made across the loch , moving objects that appear to be animate have been recorded on sonar on many occasions including one recording where the  returning sonar echo was twice the size of what would be expected of a Pilot whale. In the early part of the 1970s some underwater photographs were taken on an expedition led by Robert.H.Rines one of which appeared to show a large flipper.

In recent years ” Nessie” sightings have slowed down considerably to the point where some commentators have suggested that whatever lived  in the lake has now died, indeed the Monster Quest TV show did an episode the “Death of Loch Ness” where they investigated this.

So does “Nessie” exist? of course its impossible to say either way for sure, its seems incredibly unlikely that a prehistoric creature such as the Plesiosaur could have survived in the lake for millions of years,  and whatever the creature is there would have to be a breeding population for it to survive.With the size of Loch Ness it seems likely that the majority of “Nessie” sightings are nothing more than the effects of wind and current on the surface of the lake, inanimate objects like fallen tree stumps, misidentification and all sorts of natural phenomena,  like most legends of this type its nice to hope that there could be an undiscovered creature in the loch but ultimately perhaps its better not to know for sure the mysteries of life are always more interesting than the facts.

1. In countries such as the UK, Austrailia, New Zealand and Canada, April fools only lasts until noon. Anyone playing a prank after noon is then considered the April fool.
2. April 1st was counted as the first day of the year in France, until King CharlesIX changed it to January 1st. Those who stayed with April 1st were then ‘April fools’.
3. In calendars published by ‘Mad magazine’, April 1st is the birthday of its fictional mascot.
4. Allegedly April Fool is the codename of a spy that played a pivotal role in bringing down Saddam Hussein.
5. Every year Google perpetrates its own April fools pranks on unsuspecting web users.
6. In 1986 a film was realeased named ‘April Fools Day’. The film was based around a group of teenagers being picked off one at a time by a murderer over April fools weekend.
7. April fools day is sometimes referred to as ‘All Fools Day’.
8. In France April fools day is called Poisson D’avril(April Fish). Children will pin pictures of fish to a friends back in jest. This can be seen in the opening scenes of ‘The French Connection’ movie starring Gene Hackman.
9. One of the greatest April fools hoaxes of all-time was perpetrated by the BBC show ‘Panorama’. The show announced that farmers had been enjoying fine spaghetti crops, brought on by a calm winter. After the piece, the BBC were inundated with calls from duped viewers enquiring as to how spaghetti could be grown.
10. It is widely regarded that April Fools origins relate to the change in seasons from Spring to Summer, thus bringing joviality and celebrations.

The Cottingley Fairies

In 1917 two cousins took pictures of what they claimed proved the existence of faeries. Elsie Wright borrowed her father’s camera and took pictures of her cousin, Francis Griffiths surrounded by what appeared to be real fairies. The story received public attention after Elsie’s aunt attended a Theosophical meeting on fairies in 1919 and mentioned that her niece had photographic evidence of faeries. By the end of 1920, well-respected theosophist Edward Gardener and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were involved and the story had been covered in such magazines as Strand Magazine and The Westminster Gazette. In 1981, the girls admitted that they had faked 4 out of the 5 pictures they took, however they claimed that they did see fairies and that the fifth picture was genuine. They faked the pictures by taking photographs of images of fairies balanced up by hat pins. The pictures used are probably from Claude A. Shepperson’s Princess Mary’s Gift Book.

The Surgeon’s Photo of the Loch Ness Monster

The first and most famous of the Loch Ness Monster photos is the Surgeon’s Photo taken in 1934. It was called, the surgeon’s photograph because it was believed to have been taken by a gynecologist, Robert Kenneth Wilson, who refused to have his name associated with the image.

The image most people will recognize is a close up, which makes the monster seem quite large, but in the full image it is only two to three feet long. In the 70’s it was believed to be an elephant, and in the 80’s some thought it was an otter.

The hoax was revealed in 1994 to be a toy submarine made by Christian Spurling. Spurling’s father-in-law Marmaduke Wetherell had been ridiculed by the Daily Mail, and Spurling claimed they had devised it as a revenge plot.

The Cardiff Giant

One of America’s best known hoaxes, The Cardiff Giant is a ten foot “petrified man” which was ‘discovered’ by well-diggers on a farm in Cardiff, New York on 16th October 1869. It was created by George Hull, an atheist who had argued with a priest over a passage in Genesis (6:4) that claimed there had once been giants on earth.

The ‘Giant’ was made in Iowa out of Gypsum, and after being transported to New York, a stonecutter was employed to make the statue more humanlike. The giant was buried on a farm belonging to William Newell (Hull’s cousin) at the end of 1868. After a year had passed, Newell ordered the construction of the well.

Most archeological scholars claimed it was fake, but there were some fundamentalist Christians and priests who thought it was genuine. When P. T. Bartum failed to secure a lease for it, he produced his own claiming his was genuine and the Cardiff Giant was fake. On December 10th 1869, Hull admitted that The Cardiff giant was a fake, with both giants being found to be fakes in court in February 1870. Both giants are still on display at the Farmer’s museum in Cooperstown, New York.

The Calaveras Skull

In February 25, 1866 miners in California discovered a skull under a layer of lava, a hundred and thirty feet under the earth’s surface. The skull was passed on from the mine’s owner, James Mattison until it reached Harvard Professor of Geology, J. D. Whitney. At a California Academy of Science meeting, in July 1866, Whitney announced the discovery of the skull as proof that there had been humans in North America during the Pliocene age, which would make it the oldest known human on North America. 

Its authenticity was doubted very soon after its unveiling, with several newspapers claiming it to be a prank played on Whitney. Whitney, however believed it to be true, as did his successor at Harvard, F. W. Putnam who in 1901 tried to prove its authenticity. He heard that a skull had been dug u from a near by Indian Grave in the mid- 1860’s and planted in the mine, to be found later.

When the skull was compared with the descriptions of the skull when it was initially discovered, there were several differences which pointed to it have being switched before Whitney received it. Both skulls were deemed to be too modern to be of Pliocene origin.