Urban Myths

[JAWS]

You might find this site either amusing or informative depending on your point of view. It gives a whole host of Urban Myths.
Most are complete inventions but some, strangely enough, are true.
http://www.snopes.com/

[Elenna]

Yes, thats a great site, Jaws. I use it sometimes to check out the reality of some of these stories that get forwarded to me by friends in email...its amazing the rubbish that keeps making the rounds, and doubly amazing what is really true!

Another good site in a similar vein is called truthorfiction.com

[katarina]

A woman starved to death because he refused to leave his computer long enough to eat. That's me folks! lost a lotta weight this last wee while!

[brokencross]

Enjoyed having a look at that site.

On one of the cable channels they have a show called "Mythbusters" where they do "experiments" to prove or disprove various myths, e.g. could using a mobile phone actually cause an explosion at a petrol station, or if a lift is plumetting groundwards out of control and you jump at the last second before impact would you survive.

[katarina]

Enjoyed having a look at that site.

On one of the cable channels they have a show called "Mythbusters" where they do "experiments" to prove or disprove various myths, e.g. could using a mobile phone actually cause an explosion at a petrol station, or if a lift is plumetting groundwards out of control and you jump at the last second before impact would you survive.

And would you? survive i mean? You'd have to jump pretty high I'd imagin.

[Elenna]

And would you? survive i mean? You'd have to jump pretty high I'd imagin.

I don't know what they may have said on that show brokencross mentioned, but there is a whole explanation at http://science.howstuffworks.com/question730.htm (HowStuffworks.com is another absolutely brilliant site, btw), where it explains, in part:

Don't Bother Jumping

You sometimes hear that you should jump immediately before the elevator crashes, so you would be "floating" at the second of impact. Would it work? Nah. Even if you could perfectly time such a leap, it wouldn't help. Let's say you and the elevator are falling at 100 MPH. When you jump up in the elevator, you would still be going about 100MPH. You would hit the ground at 100MPH, just like the elevator. That's gonna hurt!
Your best bet would be to lie flat on the floor. This would stabilize you and spread out the force of the impact - so that no single part of your body would take the brunt of the blow. But, it's still gonna hurt!

[Elenna]

I was sent this quite a few years back, but its a great spoof on email hoaxes/chain letters/urban legends, and I thought it fits in here very well.

I was on my way to the post office to pick up my case of free
M&M's (sent to me because I forwarded an e-mail to five other
people, celebrating the fact that the year 2000 is "MM" in
Roman numerals), when I ran into a friend whose neighbor, a
young man, was home recovering from having been served a rat
in his bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken (which is predictable,
since as everyone knows, there's no actual chicken in Kentucky
Fried Chicken, which is why the government made them change
their name to KFC). Anyway, one day this guy went to sleep and
when he awoke he was in his bathtub and it was full of ice and
he was sore all over and when he got out of the tub he realized
that HIS KIDNEYS HAD BEEN STOLEN. He saw a note on his mirror
that said "Call 911!" but he was afraid to use his phone because
it was connected to his computer, and there was a virus on his
computer that would destroy his hard drive if he opened an
e-mail entitled "Join the crew!" He knew it wasn't a hoax
because he himself was a computer programmer who was
working on software to prevent a global disaster in which
all the computers get together and distribute the $250.00
Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe under the leadership of Bill
Gates. (It's true - I read it all last week in a mass e-mail
from BILL GATES HIMSELF, who was also promising me a
free Disney World vacation and $5,000 if I would forward
the e-mail to everyone I know.)

So anyway, this poor man then tried to call 911 from a pay
phone to report his missing kidneys, but a voice on the line
first asked him to press #90, which unwittingly gave the
bandit full access to the phone line at the guy's expense. Then
reaching into the coin-return slot he got jabbed with an HIV-
infected needle around which was wrapped a note that said,
"Welcome to the world of AIDS." Luckily, he was only a few
blocks from the hospital - the one where that boy who is dying
of some disease is, the one whose last wish is for everyone in
the world to send him an e-mail and some corporation has
agreed to pay him a nickel for every e-mail he receives. I sent
him two e-mails and one of them was a bunch of x's and o's in
the shape of an angel (if you get it and forward it to more than
10 people, you will have good luck but for 10 people only you
will only have OK luck and if you send it to fewer than 10 people
you will have BAD LUCK FOR SEVEN YEARS).

So anyway, the poor guy tried to drive himself to the hospital,
but on the way he noticed another car driving without its lights
on. To be helpful, he flashed his lights at him and was promptly
shot as part of a gang initiation.

Send THIS to all the friends who send you their junk mail and
you will receive four green M&Ms -- if you don't, the owner of
Proctor and Gamble will report you to his Satanist friends and
you will have more bad luck: you will get sick from the Sodium
Laureth Sulfate in your shampoo, your spouse/mate will develop
a skin rash from using the antiperspirant which clogs the pores
under your arms, and the U.S. government will put a tax on your
e-mails forever.

I know this is all true 'cause I read it on the Internet.

[connieb19]

Brilliant Elenna!!!

[The Angel Of Death]

Enjoyed having a look at that site.

On one of the cable channels they have a show called "Mythbusters" where they do "experiments" to prove or disprove various myths, e.g. could using a mobile phone actually cause an explosion at a petrol station, or if a lift is plumetting groundwards out of control and you jump at the last second before impact would you survive.

Quality show i watch it all the time the lift one was pretty good poor buster though "broken" again !!!

Watched the tnt to clean the cement mixer myth the other night who would have thought that that much explosives would make a cement truck "dissapear"

[robglysen]

Anyone see the chinese water torture one, that poor girl damn near pooped herself.

Oh and the Brown noise I think was busted, but Brainiac did it and people phones in saying they had to poop.

(they gave out the exact frequency and volume too....)