Internet Hoaxes

[Tonyblack]

I don't know about you but I often get emails from well meaning people who tell me that a friend they trust has told them that a friend that they trust (etc.) has passed on a dire warning about Internet viruses and hackers.

Here's one I got this morning.

URGENT

IF A PERSON CALLED SIMON ASHTON (simon_25_@hotmail.co.uk)
CONTACTS YOU THROUGH EMAIL DON'T ACCEPT HIM. DELETE HIM
BECAUSE HE IS A HACKER!!



TELL EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST BECAUSE IF SOMEBODY ON YOUR LIST
ADDS HIM THEN YOU WILL GET HIM ON YOUR LIST. HE WILL FIGURE
OUT YOUR ID COMPUTER ADDRESS, SO COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE
TO EVERYONE EVEN IF YOU DON'T CARE FOR THEM AND FAST BECAUSE
IF HE HACKS THEIR EMAIL HE HACKS YOUR MAIL TOO!!!!!...





PASS ON TO ALL YOUR ADDRESSES !!!

Well the multiple exclamation marks should have been a warning for a start. But a quick Google of "SIMON ASHTON (simon_25_@hotmail.co.uk)" revealed this warning for what it was - a hoax.

Here's what Hoax Slayer.com has to say about it.

I can only assume that the idiots who start these scares do it purely to see how many people they can catch out as there's no other point in it.

It took me all of 20 seconds or less to debunk this one and pass the info back to my friend and if everyone took the time then these things would be stopped a lot sooner.

I'm not saying that there aren't real threats out there - there are. But Googling will also show up the genuine threats.

So let's use this thread to try and debunk some of these hoaxes. After all that's how Snopes.com got started.

[poohbcarrot]

So can we talk about the alledged Apollo moon hoax? I am only 80% convinced that in 1969 Americans walked on the moon.

[Tonyblack]

Absolutely not! That's not an Internet hoax as the Internet wasn't invented then.

[poohbcarrot]

Absolutely not! That's not an Internet hoax as the Internet wasn't invented then.

I beg to differ. According to my "Headway Beginners English" (Oxford Press) textbook, the internet was invented in the 1960s by the US military!

[Tonyblack]

Absolutely not! That's not an Internet hoax as the Internet wasn't invented then.

I beg to differ. According to my "Headway Beginners English" (Oxford Press) textbook, the internet was invented in the 1960s by the US military!

Ah but is that just a hoax?

Actually, I used to know a guy who was convinced the Moon landings didn't happen. He had no real reason to believe this apart from what some bloke in a pub told him. When I asked him if he believed that Apollo 13 had really got into trouble, he believed that - so go figure!

It's one of those things where someone says it didn't happen and not matter how much evidence is produced that it did, the disbeliever will come back with "the government made that up" and "the government are covering it up". There's no talking sense into people with closed minds like that.

[poohbcarrot]

Politically the moon landing was very "convenient." (I won't mention any scientific bits like the Van Allen radiation belts, no lights on the moon etc).

Was the president at the time trustworthy?

In 1969 there were riots against the Vietnam war in the US. Students were being killed at Kent State University for protesting. The US was on the verge of revolution. Suddenly BANG! We've walked on the moon! We're the best - protests cease.

It also fitted in with Kennedy's speech when he said by the end of the decade Americans will walk on the moon and screwed the Russians (who had always been ahead of the US in the Space Race until then)

The space shuttle never goes more than 400 miles (approx) above the earth's surface. If Apollo 13 was only that far above the Earth's surface, it could have experienced trouble and would have been believable.

Alledged "moonrock" could be from meteors that hit the earth or normal rock exposed to radiation.

But I'm talking nonsense because our leaders never lie. There were loads of WMDs in Iraq, we could all have been vapourised within 45 minutes if we hadn't invaded and The General Belgrano WAS in the Exclusion Zone when it was sunk.

[Tonyblack]

Well when you put it like that.

[poohbcarrot]

Speaking of politics Tony, I think it might be a politically good move to self-censure the last 4 words of the post 3 above this one.

[Tonyblack]

Speaking of politics Tony, I think it might be a politically good move to self-censure the last 4 words of the post 3 above this one.

I've done that now - thanks! As this is a fun type thread I won't leave the comments here.

[poohbcarrot]

...and it struck me as very odd that when China recently put a man into space, George W suddenly said that the US was going to go back to the moon, but it would take 20 years to do it.

If they could do it in 7 years with a computer smaller than a Nintendo 32, why would it take over 20 years with the technology we have today?

...and have you ever seen Diamonds are Forever? Released in 1971, there's a bit where Bond breaks into a "moon set" and steals a moon-buggy-type-thing. Why was there a "moon set" which looked like a replica of people walking on the moon?

[Tonyblack]

...and it struck me as very odd that when China recently put a man into space, George W suddenly said that the US was going to go back to the moon, but it would take 20 years to do it.

If they could do it in 7 years with a computer smaller than a Nintendo 32, why would it take over 20 years with the technology we have today?

...and have you ever seen Diamonds are Forever? Released in 1971, there's a bit where Bond breaks into a "moon set" and steals a moon-buggy-type-thing. Why was there a "moon set" which looked like a replica of people walking on the moon?

Don't even mention Capricorn One.

[poohbcarrot]

Capricorn one? (Spike Milligan)

[chris.ph]

read about the lemar radiation belt and how much lead it would take to protect a human from it (and thats lead not silver foil) they cant lift the payload that it would take

[Jan Van Quirm]

ROFLMAO - Capricorn One is such a brilliant film!

Which is truly amazing as it had James Brolin AND O.J. Simpson in it...

Speaking of whom - did he really do it? He certainly took part in the most boring car chase in history...

[Tonyblack]

ROFLMAO - Capricorn One is such a brilliant film!

Which is truly amazing as it had James Brolin AND O.J. Simpson in it...

Speaking of whom - did he really do it? He certainly took part in the most boring car chase in history...

I've got Capricorn One on DVD and there are parts of it that are great and other parts that drive me crazy. Like they go to the trouble of explaining the time delay that there would be in talking in real time to the astronauts - perfectly good science there. And then later in the movie they ignore that altogether and have a conversation in real time.