Fwd: [UL] Urban Legends Reference Pages: Update #214

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In a message dated 6/23/2005 5:04:26 PM Eastern Standard Time, snopesupdate@... writes:

snopes.com

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Update #214

Hello again from snopes.com, your corner of urban legends sanity on the World Wide Web! This e-mail gives information about new articles recently added to the Urban Legends Reference Pages and provides pointers to older pieces about rumors and hoaxes still wandering into everyone's inboxes. Our last update mailing was June 16, 2005. If after this update you are left wondering about something newly arrived in your inbox, our search engine stands ready to assist you. Bookmark that URL — it's a keeper!

An RSS feed for our What's New page is available at the following URL:http://www.snopes.com/info/whatsnew.rss And now to the legends, the mayhem, and the misinformation!

New Articles

Was the face of the CPR training mannequin modeled after the deceased daughter of the doctor who invented it?

Grain of Truth: Farmer expresses dissatisfaction with crop prices by carving a message in his grain field.

A humorous tale about a child who smuggles a penguin out of an amusement park.

Ketchup Faux Pas: Law firm secretary sends caustic reply to senior associate's e-mail request for a £4 cleaning bill reimbursement.

Is Dell selling computers with keyboard loggers installed at the behest of the Department of Homeland Security?

Expectant mother produces growing cascade of guffaws by reseating herself under a series of ads on a bus.

Legislation currently under consideration would substantially cut federal funding of public broadcasting.

Former Colorado governor Lamm's speech on the perils of multiculturalism. Worth a Second Look

Article about actor Denzel Washington's visit to Army Medical Center and his donation to the Fisher House Foundation updated with photographs. Still Haunting the Inbox

While it is true a consortium of wireless providers is planning to create a 411 (directory assistance) service for cell phone numbers, you need not register your cell phone with the national "Do Not Call" directory to prevent your number from being provided to telemarketers.

E-mail urges boycotts of gasoline produced by companies that import oil from the Middle East.

E-mail claims girl hatched cockroach eggs in her mouth after licking envelopes.

There was no letter to Starbucks from coffee-seeking G.I.s serving in Iraq, so no response from the coffee retailer saying it didn't support the war and anyone in it.

E-mail asks for help in identifying a young tsunami victim and reuniting him with his family.

Fake photograph shows shark attacking diver being lowered from a helicopter.

E-mail warns of parking lot thieves who render their victims unconscious with ether-laced perfume.

E-mail falsely claims Senator Hillary Clinton refused to meet with a contingent of Gold Star Mothers.

Members of Congress pay into the Social Security fund like everyone else.

E-mail claims Jane Fonda and Ted were refused service in a restaurant run by a Vietnam War veteran.

Cars have been stolen via their Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) being used to obtain working keys, but in the history of car theft this has not happened very often, with this mode of theft far more difficult to effect than the alert warning against its threat would have. The average car owner need not fear this, although the owners of extremely high-end vehicles might.

Dialing #77 or *677 is not a surefire way of reaching the local highway patrol — the service is in place in some regions, but not in others. If in need of assistance, dial 911 instead for the sure thing.

Dr. Dobson is not pleading for your action — there is no petition before the FCC seeking the banning of all mentions of God or religion from the airwaves. This call-to-arms over Petition #2493 (which even when it existed was about something quite different) dates to 1975. As in, 30 years ago.

No, s Hopkins has not issued an alert about freezing plastic bottles resulting in a release of cancer-causing dioxins. Same e-mail as in 2002, just a new authority (erroneously) pointed to as its source.

Now in its tenth straight year on the Internet, the 1995 "save the NEA and NPR from fatal government cutbacks" petition has been dusted off and sent out for another round of inbox invasion.

No, Bill Gates is not sharing his fortune with everyone who forwards a specific e-mail on his behalf. This tired leg-pull continues to romp through everyone's inbox, the latest incarnation swearing "This took two pages of the Tuesday USA Today!"

Virus announcement and virus hoax e-mails are afoot! We try to keep current on them and do our best to point readers to authoritative links confirming or debunking them. Fraud Afoot

Seems like everyone has become the recipient of mysterious e-mails promising untold wealth if only one helps a wealthy foreigner quietly move millions of dollars out of his country. The venerable Nigerian Scam has discovered the goldmine that is the Internet. Beware — there's still no such thing as "something for nothing," and the contents of your bank account will end up with these wily foreigners if you fall in with this.

Likewise, look out for mailings announcing you've won a foreign lottery you don't recall entering.

Or that because you share the surname of a wealthy person who died without leaving a will you're in line for a windfall inheritance.

And be especially wary if, while trying to sell something (car, boat, horse, motorcycle, painting, you name it) you're approached by a prospective buyer who wants to pay with a cashier check made out for an amount in excess of the agreed-upon purchase price and who asks the balance be sent to a third party. Admin Stuff

Click here to subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your e-mail address.

View the latest edition of the snopes.com newsletter online.

Urban Legends Reference Pages copyright © 1995-2005 by Barbara and P. Mikkelson This material may not be reproduced without permission

Meet FREE Music: Get 5 FREE songs when you buy 1 song at music.msn.com

"We teach people how to treat us." - Unknown

snopes.com

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Update #214

Hello again from snopes.com, your corner of urban legends sanity on the World Wide Web! This e-mail gives information about new articles recently added to the Urban Legends Reference Pages and provides pointers to older pieces about rumors and hoaxes still wandering into everyone's inboxes. Our last update mailing was June 16, 2005.

If after this update you are left wondering about something newly arrived in your inbox, our search engine stands ready to assist you. Bookmark that URL — it's a keeper!

An RSS feed for our What's New page is available at the following URL: http://www.snopes.com/info/whatsnew.rss

And now to the legends, the mayhem, and the misinformation!

New Articles

Was the face of the CPR training mannequin modeled after the deceased daughter of the doctor who invented it?

Grain of Truth: Farmer expresses dissatisfaction with crop prices by carving a message in his grain field.

A humorous tale about a child who smuggles a penguin out of an amusement park.

Ketchup Faux Pas: Law firm secretary sends caustic reply to senior associate's e-mail request for a £4 cleaning bill reimbursement.

Is Dell selling computers with keyboard loggers installed at

the behest of the Department of Homeland Security?

Expectant mother produces growing cascade of guffaws by reseating herself under a series of ads on a bus.

Legislation currently under consideration would substantially cut federal funding of public broadcasting.

Former Colorado governor Lamm's speech on the perils of multiculturalism.

Worth a Second Look

Article about actor Denzel Washington's visit to Army Medical Center and his donation to the Fisher House Foundation

updated with photographs.

Still Haunting the Inbox

While it is true a consortium of wireless providers is planning to create a 411 (directory assistance) service for cell phone numbers, you need not register your cell phone with the national "Do Not Call" directory to prevent your number from being provided to telemarketers.

E-mail urges boycotts of gasoline produced by companies that import oil from the Middle East.

E-mail claims girl hatched cockroach eggs in her mouth after licking envelopes.

There was no letter to Starbucks from coffee-seeking G.I.s serving in Iraq, so no response from the coffee retailer saying it didn't support the war and anyone in it.

E-mail asks for help in identifying a young tsunami victim and reuniting him with his family.

Fake photograph shows shark attacking diver being lowered from a helicopter.

E-mail warns of parking lot thieves who render their victims unconscious with ether-laced perfume.

E-mail falsely claims Senator Hillary Clinton refused to meet with a contingent of Gold Star Mothers.

Members of Congress pay into the Social Security fund like everyone

else.

E-mail claims Jane Fonda and Ted were refused service in a restaurant run by a Vietnam War veteran.

Cars have been stolen via their Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) being used to obtain working keys, but in the history of car theft this has not happened very often, with this mode of theft far more difficult to effect than the alert warning against its threat would have. The average car owner need not fear this, although the owners of extremely high-end vehicles might.

Dialing #77 or *677 is not a surefire way of reaching the local highway patrol — the service is in place in some regions, but not in others. If in need of assistance, dial 911 instead for the sure thing.

Dr. Dobson is not pleading for your action — there is no petition before the FCC seeking the banning of all mentions of God or religion from the airwaves. This call-to-arms over Petition #2493 (which even when it existed was about something quite different) dates to 1975. As in, 30 years ago.

No, s Hopkins has not issued an alert about freezing plastic bottles resulting in a release of cancer-causing dioxins. Same

e-mail as in 2002, just a new authority (erroneously) pointed to as its source.

Now in its tenth straight year on the Internet, the 1995 "save the NEA and NPR from fatal government cutbacks" petition has been dusted off and sent out for another round of inbox invasion.

No, Bill Gates is not sharing his fortune with everyone who forwards a specific e-mail on his behalf. This tired leg-pull continues to romp through everyone's inbox, the latest incarnation swearing "This took two pages of the Tuesday USA Today!"

Virus announcement and

virus hoax e-mails are afoot! We try to keep current on them and do our best to point readers to authoritative links confirming or debunking them.

Fraud Afoot

Seems like everyone has become the recipient of mysterious e-mails promising untold wealth if only one helps a wealthy foreigner quietly move millions of dollars out of his country. The venerable Nigerian Scam has discovered the goldmine that is the Internet. Beware — there's still no such thing as "something for nothing," and the contents of your bank account will end up with these wily foreigners if you fall in with this.

Likewise, look out for mailings announcing you've won a foreign lottery you don't recall entering.

Or that because you share the surname of a wealthy person who died without leaving a will you're in line for a windfall inheritance.

And be especially wary if, while trying to sell something (car, boat, horse, motorcycle, painting, you name it) you're approached by a prospective buyer who wants to pay with a cashier check made out for an amount in excess of the agreed-upon purchase price and who asks the balance be sent to a third party.

Admin Stuff

Click here

to subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your e-mail address.

View the latest edition of the snopes.com newsletter online.

Urban Legends Reference Pages copyright © 1995-2005

by Barbara and P. Mikkelson

This material may not be reproduced without permission

Meet FREE Music: Get 5 FREE songs when you buy 1 song at music.msn.com