Best Hoaxes and Pranks

Giant Skeletons Discoveries Review

2012-01-24T00:04:00.000-08:00

"...All the people we saw there are of great size.

We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim).

We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them"

(Numbers, 13:32-33)

Tales of giants abound in the popular cultures of most ages. The human imagination is often drawn to stories about humans who are larger than life. A random sample of such characters, good or evil, might include Goliath, the Cyclops, the giant at the top of Jack's Beanstalk, Paul Bunyan, or even Colossal Kid in the Legion of Super-Heroes. Sometimes this desire for the human-who-is-larger-than-life is expressed in physical terms, as seen in the Colossus of Rhodes, the Sphinx of Egypt, the effigies of Easter Island, and the Statue of Liberty.

The Bible is no exception. Giant stories are particularly prominent in the narratives of Israel's history and pre-history, and the effect they had on Israelite thought can still be felt in the writings of the later poets and prophets.

But, in many cases, the historical tales proved to be the distorted description of the actually happened events or existing characters. May be, the giants indeed lived long ago, and the archeological discoveries can prove their existence?

In this post, we will review several announced findings of the giants’ skeletons, which all unfortunately proved to appear hoaxes.

Cardiff Giant

The Cardiff Giant is considered to be one of the most famous hoaxes in the United States history. It was a 10-foot (3.0 m) tall purported "petrified man" uncovered on October 16, 1869 by workers digging a well behind the barn of William C. "Stub" Newell in Cardiff, New York.

The Giant was a hoax dreamed up in 1868 by George Hull, a New York tobacconist. Most importantly, Hull was an atheist, and he came up with the idea for the Giant after spending the night arguing religion with a Methodist. The factuality of Genesis was in contention, with Hull especially disputing Genesis 6:4 -

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men which [were] of old, men of renown.

Following the heated discussion, Hull decided to give his Methodist antagonist a giant all his own. He hired men in Iowa to carve out a ten foot slab of gypsum. He told them that he was using it for a memorial to Abraham Lincoln. Then Hull had it shipped to Chicago, where he hired a stonecarver to shape into a man; Hull swore the stonecarver to secrecy.

Next, Hull artificially aged the statue, using oils and pigments and beating it with steel. When he got it weathered enough, Hull put the statue on a train to New York, where he had it placed in the ground in the town of Cardiff. At this point, Hull had spent $2,600 on the hoax. As you understand, for 1868, this joke was quite pricey.

To cover up all the traces and make his “discovery” at the right moment, Hull waited almost a year before he hired someone to dig in the area where the giant was buried. When the statue was unearthed, Hull claimed it was a petrified Biblical giant.

People swarmed to the site. Hull charged admission, looking to make back his big investment. Next David Hannum entered the picture. Hannum, leading a group of five men, bought Hull’s Giant for $23,000, making the whole thing a big success for the happy businessman. Hannum put the Giant on display in Syracuse, where it was still a big hit. It was so successful that PT Barnum showed up and offered $50,000 for the Giant. Hannum refused. But Barnum would not be dissuaded, so he hired a man to sneakily make a plaster cast of the Giant and recreate it. Barnum put the ersatz Giant on display in his New York City museum and called Hannum’s Giant a phony. Hannum eventually sued Barnum for calling his Giant a fake. But then Hull confessed to fabricating the original giant and the case was thrown out - you can’t sue somebody for calling your phony a phony.

Giant Skeletons Found in India, Greece, and Saudi Arabia

Around 2007, multiple online reports have referred on the unique discovery of the giant skeleton, found in India. For example, March 2007 article in India's Hindu Voice monthly claimed that a National Geographic Society team, in collaboration with the Indian Army, had dug up a giant human skeleton. "Recent exploration activity in the northern region of India uncovered skeletal remains of a human of phenomenal size," the report read.

Such a real picture, however, is just an innocent fake. The images were lifted from Worth1000, a Web site that hosts contests for digital artists. Created by an artist using the alias IronKite, the collection of pictures placed third in a 2002 competition titled "Archaeological Anomalies 2," which asked contestants to create a hoax archaeological discovery.

The images were so cool, that multiple emails were spreading, claiming that this giant was found in Greece or in Saudi Arabia.

Arabian story was also well carved, using the Islamic beliefs in giants. The giant photo hoax include alleged discovery of a 60- to 80-foot long (18- to 24-meter) human skeleton in Saudi Arabia by an oil-exploration team. The commentary insisted that the Saudi Arabian find was entirely consistent with the teachings of the Koran.

Interesting is that the doctored photo was indeed related to a great archeological discovery. The original photos were taken on 16 September 2000 at an excavation site outside Hyde Park, New York, under the Paleontological Research Institution and the Department of Geological Sciences at Cornell University. What the team of more than 60 scientists, students and volunteers under paleontologist Prof. John Chiment discovered was, however, not the skeleton of a giant human being, but the skeleton of a mastodon, an extinct predecessor of the elephant. Actually, the find included one of the most complete fossils of a mastodon and possibly a less-complete mammoth. The animals lived between 10,000 and 14,000 years ago.

Other Giant Skeletons

While the first two accounts were more or less easily debunked, there were multiple reports, which do not have clear explanation, or confirmation that they are false. Here are just several discoveries, made just on the territory of the USA during the last centuries:

Large bones in stone graves in Williamson County and White County, Tennessee. Discovered in the early 1800s, the average stature of these giants was 7 feet tall.
Giant skeletons found in the mid-1800s in New York State near Rutland and Rodman.
In 1833, soldiers digging at Lompock Rancho, California, discovered a male skeleton 12 feet tall. The skeleton was surrounded by caved shells, stone axes, and other artifacts. The skeleton had double rows of upper and lower teeth. Unfortunately, this body was secretly buried because the local Indians became upset about the remains.
A giant found off the California Coast on Santa Rosa Island in the 1800s was distinguished by its double rows of teeth.
A 9-foot, 8-inch skeleton was excavated from a mount near Brewersville, Indiana, in 1879.
Skeletons of "enormous dimensions" were found in mounds near Zanesville, Ohio, and Warren, Minnesota, in the 1880s.
In Clearwater Minnesota, the skeletons of seven giants were found in mounds. These had receding foreheads and complete double dentition.
Near Toledo, Ohio, 20 skeletons were discovered with jaws and teeth "twice as large as those of present day people." The account also noted that odd hieroglyphics were found with the bodies.
Archeologists discovered very tall, red-haired mummies in 1911 in Lovelock Cave, Nevada.
In 1931, skeletons from 8 1-2 to 10 feet long were found in the Humbolt lake bed in Nevada.
In 1932, Ellis Wright found human tracks in the gypsum rock at White Sands, New Mexico. His discovery was later backed up by Fred Arthur, Supervisor of the Lincoln National Park and others who reported that each footprint was 22 inches long and from 8 to 10 inches wide. They were certain the prints were human in origin due to the outline of the perfect prints coupled with a readily apparent instep.
During World War II, author Ivan T. Sanderson tells of how his crew was bulldozing through sedimentary rock when it stumbled upon what appeared to be a graveyard. In it were crania that measured from 22 to 24 inches from base to crown nearly three times as large as an adult human skull. Had the creatures to whom these skulls belonged been properly proportioned, they undoubtedly would have been at least 12 feet tall or taller.
In 1947 a local newspaper reported the discovery of nine-foot-tall skeletons by amateur archeologists working in Death Valley.
According to the San Diego Union, August 5, 1947, the mummified remains of giants were discovered buried near the Arizona-Nevada-California wasteland. The giants' remains were still clothed in strange leather garments. The team of explorers tentatively dated the remains as nearly 80,000 years old.

How many of these discoveries are hoaxes, or simply mistakes? Hard to say, as most of them did not preserve the factual information, pictures, or other fragments of substantial confirmation.

Red-Haired Giants of Nevada

We will just mention the story related to the red-haired mummies, which is also based on the folklore tales of Native Americans. The Paiutes, a Native-American tribe indigenous to parts of Nevada, Utah and Arizona, told early white settlers about their ancestors’ battles with a ferocious race of white, red-haired giants. According to the Paiutes, the giants were already living in the area. The legend says that after many years of warfare, all the tribes in the area finally joined together to rid themselves of the giants. One day as they chased down the few remaining red-haired enemy, the fleeing giants took refuge in a cave. The tribal chiefs had warriors fill the entrance to the cavern with brush and then set it on fire in a bid to force the giants out of the cave. The few that did emerge were instantly slain with volleys of arrows. The giants that remained inside the cavern were asphyxiated.

In 1911, group of archaeologists explored the cavern near Lovelock, Nevada – the same cave the Indians had described in their legends. The scientific discovery was staggering: over 10,000 artifacts were unearthed including the mummified remains of two red-haired giants—one, a female 6.5-feet tall, the other male, over 8-feet tall. Many of the artifacts (but not the giants) can be viewed at the small natural history museum located in Winnemucca, Nevada.

As the excavation of the cave progressed, the archaeologists came to the obvious conclusion that the Paiutes myth was no myth; it was true. What led them to this realization, was the discovery of many broken arrows that had been shot into the cave and a dark layer of burned material under sections of the overlaying guano.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://peter.chattaway.com/articles/giants.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_Giant

http://badassdigest.com/2011/04/01/the-cardiff-giant-a-truly-great-hoax/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071214-giant-skeleton.html

http://www.rationalistinternational.net/article/20041001_en.html

http://www.stevequayle.com/Giants/N.Am/hidden.proofs.giant.race.html

http://mattovermatter.com/2010/12/archaeology-giant-skeletons-discovered-in-nevada-cave/

Spaghetti Tree Hoax

2012-01-16T22:33:00.000-08:00

Multiple rating lists for the most prominent April 1 hoaxes in the World History, can be found on the Web. And the Spaghetti Tree Hoax is usually placed among the best. It can also probably be considered as the first attempt (and quite successful one) for television to stage the April Fool’s Day hoax.

As per featured Wikipedia article, the spaghetti tree hoax is a famous 3-minute hoax report broadcast on April Fools' Day 1957 by the BBC current affairs program Panorama. It told a tale of a family in southern Switzerland (Ticino) harvesting spaghetti from the fictitious spaghetti tree. Just putting this report in the historical time scale, you should take in consideration that this broadcast can at a time when this Italian dish, currently known all around the World, was not widely eaten than in the UK, and some Britons were unaware that spaghetti is pasta made from wheat flour and water. And the “documentary”, showing women carefully plucking strands of spaghetti from a tree and laying them in the sun to dry, was quite convincing.

While the television was not so widely spread in the general population, the broadcast has huge resonance. Keep in mind that at this time, there were only two channels were available to UK viewers - the BBC and ITV. It is estimated that about 8 million viewed the broadcast. Hundreds of viewers phoned into the BBC, either to say the story was not true, or wondering about more details. Some callers even asked where they could get hold of a spaghetti bush so they could grow their own crop. To which the BBC rather diplomatically replied: "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

Let’s take a look on the famous BBC broadcast.

You can also review the clip directly at BBC website.

Hoax Heroes

The hoax has been elaborated and filmed by Charles Theophile de Jaeger, a cameraman for the BBC. The idea for the joke came to Jaeger from his childhood. Once at school, one disappointed teacher exclaimed: "Boys, you are so stupid, you'd believe me if I told you that spaghetti grew on trees."

Jaeger developed the idea in close collaboration with producer David Wheeler, and a commentary written by Wheeler was added by respected broadcaster Richard Dimbleby.

In de Jaeger's 2000 obituary Ian Jacob, the then-Director-General of the BBC, was quoted as having said to Leonard Miall, Head of Television Talks 1954-61, "When I saw that item, I said to my wife, 'I don't think spaghetti grows on trees', so we'd looked it up in Encyclopædia Britannica. Do you know, Miall, Encyclopædia Britannica doesn't even mention spaghetti."

Sources and Additional Information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_tree_hoax

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Jaeger

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/1/newsid_2819000/2819261.stm

http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com/2011/04/1957-swiss-spaghetti-harvest.html

10 Strange and Funny German Laws

2012-01-09T21:20:00.000-08:00

The jocular saying is that, in England, "everything which is not forbidden is allowed", while, in Germany, the opposite applies so "everything which is not allowed is forbidden". This may be extended to France — "everything is allowed even if it is forbidden" — and Russia where "everything is forbidden, even that which is expressly allowed". While in North Korea it is said that "everything that is not forbidden is compulsory" (Wikipedia).

Today, we will review some quite interesting, sometimes explainable, sometimes not, strange and funny Laws in Germany. Germans themselves alter a bit the traditional converse principle – “everything which is not allowed is forbidden” as following: "Everything is forbidden; apart from that, do what you like".

Every office must have a view of the sky, however small.

While the law must sound funny from the first glance, those who ever worked in the windowless office ever, will find this regulation as absolutely reasonable. Even if you do not suffer from claustrophobia, that might be so depressing. Therefore, office buildings in Germany are usually long and skinny.

A pillow is classified as a "passive weapon" and hitting someone with one can lead to charges of assault.

A passive weapon is something you use to protect yourself against other weapons. Other protective weapons would be a helmet, a bullet proof vest and a respirator. But, if you think twice, you may find that the pillow can be not only passive, but pretty much active weapon, especially if it is filled in stones, or used for victim suffocation.

It is illegal to wear a mask while on strike.

This law says that you are not allowed to mask your face when you go on a strike. Some years ago there were many problems with such people; they damaged everything and police couldn't identify them. Now, if you wear a mask in a strike or political demonstration, you can be arrested. This prevents such violence.

It is illegal for ones car to run out of gas on the Autobahn.

That is also not so stupid after all, if you just imagine, on what speeds cars are flying through. Some cars are driving with 200 KM/H and more. The obstacle on the road in a form of a stalled car may be disastrous. There are plenty of gas stations along the Autobahn, so adding some legal enforcement to the common sense might be quite useful for some individuals.

It is against the law to mention the date 1966 in any football ground.

I could not validate this law through independent resources, but I could guess, where it may come from. During the 1966 FIFA World Cup, in England from 11 July to 30 July, England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final dramatic game, winning the World Cup for the first time. Some Germans are confident that this loss was the result of the referee error.

It is illegal to tune pianos at midnight.
It is against the law to deny a chimney sweep access to your home if he demands it.
It is illegal to have the ashes of your loved one stored in an urn at home after cremation.
In Munich: During Octoberfest no person is ever legally drunk – no matter how much alcohol they have consumed.

Oktoberfest, or Wiesn, is a 16-day festival held annually in Munich, running from late September to the first weekend in October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and is the world's largest fair, with more than 5 million people attending every year. The Oktoberfest is an important part of Bavarian culture, having been held since 1810. Only beer according to the Purity Law with the minimum of 12,5% Masterspice (about 6% alc.) in this Beer which is brewed from a Munich Company within the city limits of Munich is allowed to be served on this festival. Upon passing this criterion, a beer is designated Oktoberfest Beer. One of the observers noticed, that it is the only chance for you to experience Legal Drunk Driving – driving bumper cars in Munich during Octoberfest.

In Munich: By law a pub can never be overcrowded – there is always room for one more drinker at each table – no matter how squashed people are.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/international/germany

http://www.stupidlaws.com/laws/countries/germany/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/4399866/Ten-crazy-German-rules.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oktoberfest

Ancient Greece is a Big Hoax!

2012-01-03T21:03:00.000-08:00

If it is seen on Internet, that must be true! In old days, the word Internet could be easily replaced by word “newspaper”, “radio”, or “TV”, but now Internet is a main informational source for many people.

The following article was forwarded to me by one of the readers, Tom, who wanted to share with me this amazing discovery, and I appreciate his assistance in spreading a word. OK, let’s read the article from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source, by their own words.

WASHINGTON—A group of leading historians held a press conference Monday at the National Geographic Society to announce they had "entirely fabricated" ancient Greece, a culture long thought to be the intellectual basis of Western civilization.

The group acknowledged that the idea of a sophisticated, flourishing society existing in Greece more than two millennia ago was a complete fiction created by a team of some two dozen historians, anthropologists, and classicists who worked nonstop between 1971 and 1974 to forge "Greek" documents and artifacts.

"Honestly, we never meant for things to go this far," said Professor Gene Haddlebury, who has offered to resign his position as chair of Hellenic Studies at Georgetown University. "We were young and trying to advance our careers, so we just started making things up: Homer, Aristotle, Socrates, Hippocrates, the lever and fulcrum, rhetoric, ethics, all the different kinds of columns—everything."

"Way more stuff than any one civilization could have come up with, obviously," he added.

According to Haddlebury, the idea of inventing a wholly fraudulent ancient culture came about when he and other scholars realized they had no idea what had actually happened in Europe during the 800-year period before the Christian era.

Frustrated by the gap in the record, and finding archaeologists to be "not much help at all," they took the problem to colleagues who were then scrambling to find a way to explain where things such as astronomy, cartography, and democracy had come from.

Within hours the greatest and most influential civilization of all time was born.

"One night someone made a joke about just taking all these ideas, lumping them together, and saying the Greeks had done it all 2,000 years ago," Haddlebury said. "One thing led to another, and before you know it, we're coming up with everything from the golden ratio to the Iliad."

"That was a bitch to write, by the way," he continued, referring to the epic poem believed to have laid the foundation for the Western literary tradition. "But it seemed to catch on."

Around the same time, a curator at the Smithsonian reportedly asked for Haddlebury's help: The museum had received a sizeable donation to create an exhibit on the ancient world but "really didn't have a whole lot to put in there." The historians immediately set to work, hastily falsifying evidence of a civilization that— complete with its own poets and philosophers, gods and heroes—would eventually become the centerpiece of schoolbooks, college educations, and the entire field of the humanities.

Emily Nguyen-Whiteman, one of the young academics who "pulled a month's worth of all-nighters" working on the project, explained that the whole of ancient Greek architecture was based on buildings in Washington, D.C., including a bank across the street from the coffee shop where they met to "bat around ideas about mythology or whatever."

"We picked Greece because we figured nobody would ever go there to check it out," Nguyen-Whiteman said. "Have you ever seen the place? It's a dump. It's like an abandoned gravel pit infested with cats."

She added, "Inevitably, though, people started looking around for some of this 'ancient' stuff, and next thing I know I'm stuck in Athens all summer building a goddamn Parthenon just to cover our tracks."

Nguyen-Whiteman acknowledged she was also tasked with altering documents ranging from early Bibles to the writings of Thomas Jefferson to reflect a "Classical Greek" influence—a task that also included the creation, from scratch, of a language based on modern Greek that could pass as its ancient precursor.

Historians told reporters that some of the so-called Greek ideas were in fact borrowed from the Romans, stripped to their fundamentals, and then attributed to fictional Greek predecessors. But others they claimed as their own.

"Geometry? That was all Kevin," said Haddlebury, referring to former graduate student Kevin Davenport. "Man, that kid was on fire in those days. They teach Davenportian geometry in high schools now, though of course they call it Euclidean."

Sources confirmed that long hours and lack of sleep took their toll on Davenport, and after the lukewarm reception of his work on homoeroticism in Spartan military, he left the group.

In a statement expressing their "profound apologies" for misleading the world on the subject of antiquity for almost 40 years, the historians expressed hope that their work would survive on its own merits.

"It would be a shame to see humanity abandon achievements such as heliocentrism and the plays of Aeschylus just because of their origin," the statement read in part. "Moreover, we have some rather disappointing things to tell you about the pyramids, the works of Leonardo da Vinci, penicillin, the Internet, the scientific method, movies, and dogs."

Pretty convincing post, don’t you think so? The historians’ community has not even object to the disclosure, probably because it was so convincing. But, may be, the lack of angry responses can be explained by the simple fact that it was published by The Onion? Based on Wikipedia article, which we can trust in most cases, The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news. The Onion's articles comment on current events, both real and fictional. It parodies such traditional newspaper features as editorials, man-on-the-street interviews, and stock quotes on a traditional newspaper layout with an AP-style editorial voice. Much of its humor depends on presenting everyday events as newsworthy and by playing on commonly used phrases, as in the headline "Drugs Win Drug War."

Note, that if you ever accepted The Onion post as a real story, you are not alone. Because in multiple occasions, the straight-faced manner in which The Onion reports non-existent happenings has resulted in other news sources mistakenly citing The Onion stories as real news.

So, not everything you read on Internet is true, especially if you read that on The Onion…

Brothel Operated by Police

2011-12-24T23:59:00.000-08:00

In 1999, the police officials in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu have invented a totally new and profitable approach to improve their financial standing. The scheme was simple and efficient, and it did not require significant investments. The plan has been executed by opening a secret brothel, than busting it, arrested the customers, and “fining” them.

With seed money of just 6,000 Yuan ($725), Lishui County police substation deputy chief Gao Mingliang set up operations in a brothel disguised as a restaurant. Specially hired professional prostitutes would entice their customers into the back rooms. After a while, the police would raid the rooms, arrest the customers, haul them down to the police substation and fine them.

The interesting detail is that depending on how much money the police station pulled in, policemen would even issue a performance bonus to the girls.

Between May and August 1999, the bureau racked up more than 80,000 Yuan through the scheme from multiple brothel customers. The Lishui County police plan unraveled when a neighboring police substation arrested the man listed as owning the restaurant and sentenced him to a year in a labor camp for running a brothel. Upset after a year of hard labor, the man sent a petition to high level officials who uncovered Gao's scam. As Gao later confessed, in September a Nanjing District Court sentenced him to one year in prison for abusing his authority.

Legal Facts

Prostitution is illegal in China under the Security Administrative Punishments Law of 2006, but is relegated to the status of a misdemeanor unless the participants knowingly have a “serious venereal disease,” or physical violence, injury, or a minor child under the age of 14 is involved. It is technically punishable with a warning, a fine up to 5,000 Yuan, a signature on a "statement of repentance," "re-education through labor," or 15 days in prison. (Article 30 of the Regulations of the PRC on Administrative Penalties for Public Security, 1986).

Due to the illegal status of the prostitution in China, and multiple efforts to prosecute the sex workers, China fails to comply with requirements of the UN Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which calls for widespread legalization of prostitution.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.zipadeeday.com/story/19/brothel-bother/

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=82586&page=1

http://middlekingdomlife.com/guide/prostitution-in-china.htm

http://www.echinacities.com/expat-corner/does-china-s-oldest-profession-need-new-regulations.html

http://prostitution.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000772

Cat House for Dogs

2011-12-10T16:41:00.001-08:00

If somebody will create the list of the top pranksters of modern time, Joey Skaggs should probably be considered to be one of the best, if not the very best. A performance artist, Skaggs is responsible for the 1976 Village Voice article "Cathouse for Dogs" which introduced a new business into the community, a Doggie Brothel. For $50 a pop your pooch can be sexually gratified. Skaggs is also responsible for the Hippie Bus Tour of Queens, Fame Exchange with John and Yoko, Celebrity Sperm Bank, Gypsies against Stereotypical Propaganda, Windsurfing from Hawaii to California, Fish Condos, Bad Guys Talent Management Agency, Brooklyn Bridge Lottery, Maqdananda: the Psychic Attorney, and the notorious Rudy Doody happening in Washington Square Park. In this post, we will present his the most famous prank “Cathouse for Dogs”, while some of his other pranks will be reviewed in the future publications.

"Cat House for Dogs," said an ad in the Village Voice, "featuring a savory selection of hot bitches..." Along with this ad, a press release was sent to the media saying that if your dog graduated from obedience school, if it was his birthday, or if he was just horny, for $50 you could get your dog sexually gratified. This was not a breeding service, but purely a sexual pleasure service.

The phone rang off the hook as hundreds of people called to talk to New York's first and only dog pimp. Surprisingly, not only were the calls from bonifide customers willing to pay $50, but there were just as many calls from people who wanted to have sex with dogs or watch dogs have sex with other people. Dog pimp, Skaggs, recorded all of these incoming phone calls.

When contacted by the news media, Skaggs got together 25 actors and 15 dogs and staged an elaborate performance in a SoHo loft -- a night in a bordello for dogs. The performance featured models posing with female dogs in look-a-like outfits, and actors posing with the male dogs waiting to view the bitches. Friend Tony Barsha played a bogus veterinarian on site who, when interviewed, explained that the female dogs were injected with a drug called Estro-dial to artificially induce a state of heat. If a bitch was already in a natural state of heat, she would be given a contraceptive called Ova-ban, so there would be no fear of fatherhood.

A lecture was given on dog copulation techniques and customers filled out questionnaires about their male dog's age, medical history, and bitch preferences and hostesses served cocktails. A staff photographer was there to take a token photo of each dog getting it on, and a dog groomer to primp the dogs before and after sex.

The video crew members, representing Midnight Blue, New York's first late night cable TV sex show, thinking they had shot every kind of sexual perversion known to man, were totally grossed out by the site of female dogs humped by male dogs for money. To be sure their viewing audience "got it," they got down on all fours and shot the humping dogs from a dog's eye view. Of course there was no actual copulation at any time. As anyone who's ever owned a dog knows, any horny male dog will hump space once his mojo kicks in.

The performance was covered on television and in the press. This added to the public clamor and outrage. The SoHo Weekly News covered the story twice. During the second interview, a week after the first article had appeared, the writer suspected it was a hoax. But it was such a good story, he complied with Skaggs' request to continue the ruse.

When WABC TV called, saying they wanted to do a documentary on the Cathouse, Skaggs refused to take them to the facility, saying he had gone underground due to harassment, but instead provided them with the previously shot video of the Cathouse for Dogs (this done after Skaggs clued in Alex Bennett, Midnight Blue producer, who gleefully went along with the hoax).

The WABC TV piece aired, painting proprietor Skaggs as a sleaze-bag dog pimp exploiting innocent dogs for money. This helped to enflame more authorities, including the ASPCA, the Bureau of Animal Affairs, the NYPD vice squad, the Mayor's office, and various religious and humane organizations, who were thus compelled to send out a drag net to bring down the dog whoremaster of Greenwich Village. Finally, a subpoena from the Attorney General's office, complete with $2.00 for cab fare, was delivered to Skaggs' door.

On April 1, 1976, in answer to the subpoena, Skaggs called a press conference at the Attorney General's office. He announced it was a conceptual performance piece, that the whole thing was a hoax. He was forced to give and swear to a deposition and the case was dropped.

WABC TV never retracted the story, leaving millions to believe that somewhere in New York City there still exists a bordello for dogs. When asked about this later, the WABC TV producer insisted that Skaggs had said it was a hoax to avoid prosecution, and expressed bitterness because the documentary, which had been nominated for an Emmy Award, had been knocked out of the running.

The dog bordello was the subject of much debate in the media for a long time thereafter. The myth continues to this day. In a book called The Total Dog Book, by Louis L. Vine, D.V.M., (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) there's still a section that says that somewhere in Greenwich Village there is a cathouse for dogs.

While Skaggs’ brothel for dogs was a deliberate prank, it inspired more practical, while not very successful, attempts to establish such business. For example, Karl-Friedrich Lentze's dream has been killed by Berlin city council. Lentze is a German artist who decided to start a business, brothel for dogs, in 2003. This could have been the start of a new era for animal sexual liberation, but the Berlin city council has denied Lentze's application for a business permit.

“Most dogs in this city get only a five-minute walk on a lead each day,” Karl Lentze told reporters in Berlin. “That’s not long enough to sniff another canine, let alone indulge in a bit of fun. Our dog brothel will allow them to release their frustrations and will suit the fast-paced modern life of their owners too. For £30 they will be able to leave their pet at our brothel for the afternoon so it can have sex with one of our bitches on heat, while they make their own calls.”

The council has decreed that dog sex is for the purpose of reproduction only, and encouraging recreational sex would just make the animals harder to manage.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.april-fools.us/top-pranksters.htm

http://www.joeyskaggs.com/html/cat.html

http://www.newryjournal.co.uk/content/view/331/37/

http://cjam.tomtenney.com/skaggs/

15 Strange and Funny Laws in France

2011-11-29T22:49:00.001-08:00

In our previous posts, we observed the strange and funny laws in USA and UK. While the French legal system is different from USA and UK, it does not mean that it is fool-proof from the cases, when it might be considered funny or strange to the modern individual.

France has a civil legal system. This means that the law arises from statues and judges can only interpret this law (they are not to make law). England (the United Kingdom), the United States, Australia and Canada all have common law systems. This means that judges make (or declare) the law, as well as interpret statutes. In common law systems, judges are bound to follow previous decisions in the same way (hence, the name ‘common’ law).

The basis of the French legal system is laid out in a key document originally drawn up in 1804, and known as the Code Civil, or Code Napoléon, (Civil code or Napoleonic code) which laid down the rights and obligations of citizens, and the laws of property, contract, inheritance, etc.. Essentially, it was an adaptation to the needs of nineteenth-century France of the principles of Roman law and customary law. The Code Civil remains the cornerstone of French law to this day, though it has been updated and extended many times to take account of changing society. There are other codes, including notably the Code Pénal, or Penal code, which defines criminal law.

So, some really unusual French Laws with some comments and background information:

1. Between the hours of 8AM and 8PM, 70% of music on the radio must be by French artists.

This law was naturally adopted to promote and preserve French musical culture and French language because the young generation tent to turn to a more American/British culture. More precisely, the law actually applies only to French language radio stations (as in ones who’s DJs and radio hosts deliver their broadcast completely in French).

2. It is illegal to kiss on railways in France.

In French the term "rail" designates the actual rail track, and it is a security measure as lovers kissing on or by a railway track might be so absorbed in what they were doing that they might not hear a train approaching.

3. No pig may be addressed as Napoleon by its owner.

One of the reader commented that you want to call your pig Napoleon, but you do not like to be prosecuted, you can just call it Emperor Bonaparte, which is probably legal.

4. In Antibes, it is illegal to take photos of police officers or police vehicles, even if they are just in the background.

5. It is forbidden without a cemetery plot to die on the territory of the commune.

The mayor of a French Mediterranean town, faced with a cemetery "full to bursting", has banned local residents from dying until he can find somewhere else to bury them. Yes, the town officials actually knew this was a dumb law when they passed it, but they passed it to make a point.

6. An ashtray is considered to be a deadly weapon.

A deadly weapon, sometimes dangerous weapon, is a statutory definition listing certain items which can inflict mortal or great bodily harm. In addition, deadly weapon statutes often contain "catch all" provisions which describe abilities used to designate other implements as deadly weapons. In 19-th century France, a closed fist was considered a deadly weapon and thus combatants would kick or strike each other with an open-palmed slap. But ashtray still remains on the list in row with shotguns and propelled grenades.

7. It is illegal to shoot Englishmen as they cross the English Channel towards France - unless they are sailing in a 'boat of war'.

This is definitely a sign of friendship between France and Britain. 100-year war is long over!

8. In France, it is legal to marry a dead person!

While this law may sound funny at the first glance, it is quite serious and can lead to the significant consequences. It happened in December 1959, when the Malpasset Dam burst in southern France, Charles de Gaulle drafted a law which would allow a widow to marry her dead husband. President de Gaulle promised a young woman called Irène Jodard that he would think of her, after hearing about her fiancé’s drowning and her wish to carry on with her marriage plans. The law says that the French president can authorize a marriage when one of the future spouses has died after the start of official formalities which confirm that he/she would have consented. There must be serious grounds for the marriage, which would then be "backdated" to the day before the death. The marriage brings no rights of inheritance, or financial benefit to the surviving spouse. A child born to the couple will be legitimate.

9. In France, if an athlete doesn't play for the national team he/she can be banned from playing for his/her club.

10. In France, it is against the law to sell dolls that do not have human faces.

Frankly, I could not confirm the existence of this law in France, might be just one of the urban myths.

11. Paris: It is illegal for women to wear trousers.

The rule banning women from dressing like men – namely by wearing trousers – was first introduced in 1800 by Paris’ police chief and has survived repeated attempts to repeal it. The 1800 rule stipulated than any Parisienne wishing to dress like a man “must present herself to Paris’ main police station to obtain authorisation”. In 1892 it was slightly relaxed thanks to an amendment which said trousers were permitted “as long as the woman is holding the reins of a horse”. Then in 1909, the decree was further watered down when an extra clause was added to allow women in trousers on condition they were “on a bicycle or holding it by the handlebars”. In 1969, amid a global movement towards gender equality, the Paris council asked the city’s police chief to bin the decree. His response was: “It is unwise to change texts which foreseen or unforeseen variations in fashion can return to the fore.”

The latest attempt to remove the outmoded rule was in 2003, when a Right-wing MP from President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party wrote to the minister in charge of gender equality. The minister’s response was: “Disuse is sometimes more efficient than (state) intervention in adapting the law to changing mores.”

But while there is acting law banning women in trousers, there is no objections to go without pants at all.

12. Paris: Any man carrying onions must be given right of way in the streets.

13. Paris: Criminals can apply for sanctuary in Notre Dame Cathedral and must be 'fed and watered' for up to six weeks.

14. Paris: Touching a woman's bottom is considered illegal on Paris's Metro underground system, but touching their breasts is still allowed.

15. In a region of the Rhone, it is illegal for UFOs to fly over vineyards.

It is probably still OK for UFO to fly over Paris…

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/france

http://wanttoknowit.com/fun-facts-about-france/

http://weird-websites.info/Strange-Laws/France-French-laws-most-stupid-weird-10-old-legal-rules-online.htm

http://www.funfactz.com/weird-laws/in-france-it-is-legal-to-marry-a-672.html

http://www.parislogue.com/beyond-paris/weird-french-laws.html

http://about-france.com/french-legal-system.htm

An Incomplete History of the Art of Funerary Violin

2011-11-20T11:11:00.001-08:00

“a kind of literary equivalent of a mockumentary.”

James Ley (Australian Literary Review)

“Read as an amusing fable it's a lot of fun —

but it also takes aim at the walled city of the classical canon

by positing the possibility of a popular form of classical music.”

Steven Carroll (Age)

“The Art of the Funerary Violin is a fascinating work

in its own right, an unorthodox alternative history novel

filled with left-field characters and quirky details.”

Tim Howard (Sydney Morning Herald)

An Incomplete History of the Art of the Funerary Violin is a 2006 book by Rohan Kriwaczek, purportedly tracing the lost history of funerary violin. According to this book, the funerary violin was a musical genre that was ousted by the Vatican in the mid-19th century and has rarely been spoken of since.

But the problem is that all the music history experts, violin dealers, string-instrument publications, and other professionals, claimed that there is no evidence of the funerary violin genre, forgotten or otherwise.

There were no Great Funerary Purges. And Mr. Kriwaczek did not graduate from the Royal Academy of Music in 1974, as his biography claims, or receive a lifetime achievement award from the International Federation of Funeral Directors, an organization that appears to exist only on the author’s personal Web site.

“Maybe I have been fooled,” the book's U.S. publisher, Peter Mayer from Overlook Press, said. “It is possible. But it reads so extraordinarily serious and passionate. If it is a hoax, I can only say, I have my cap off.”

It is easy to see how Mr. Mayer could have found himself spellbound by the book, a sprawling 208-page volume complete with detailed biographies, black-and-white photographs and elaborate musical scores. Mr. Kriwaczek painstakingly describes the members of what he calls the Guild of Funerary Violinists, with names like Bulstrode Whycherley and Wilhelm Kleinbach. In a photo dated 1870, Mr. Kleinbach bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Kriwaczek in an author photo.

But the book’s entry in the Overlook Press catalog raised the suspicion of Paul Ingram, the trade-book buyer of Prairie Lights, an independent bookstore in Iowa City, who contacted an expert in the history of the violin, David Schoenbaum, who said the book seemed to be a hoax. Mr. Schoenbaum, an occasional book reviewer for The New York Times, brought the book to the paper’s attention. Database searches for the Guild of Funerary Violinists produced few results, among them Mr. Kriwaczek’s Web site, a MySpace page and a deleted Wikipedia entry on the topic. “We’ve never heard of this guild,” said Frances Gillham, a director at J & A Beare, a violin dealer in London. “Unless it’s some sort of strange folk thing, it seems pretty unlikely.”

Mr. Mayer said he had doubts of his own soon after he read the manuscript last year at the Frankfurt Book Fair. So before buying the book, he insisted on meeting Mr. Kriwaczek in London, a week later. “In he walks, deadly serious, with his violin,” Mr. Mayer said. “I ask him a whole bunch of questions. He gave more or less credible answers to them. Some of them, he said, ‘I can’t answer, Mr. Mayer, because it is a secret society and it’s dying out.’ ”

Mr. Kriwaczek, who through his publicist in London declined interview requests, has tried to sell his tale of funerary violins before. Ariane Todes, editor of The Strad, a leading monthly magazine about string instruments, said Mr. Kriwaczek submitted a 2,000-word article about the funerary violin to the magazine earlier this year.

“He presented it as a factual piece of research complete with photographs and quotes and things,” Ms. Todes said. To prop up his story, Mr. Kriwaczek supplied the editors with pictures, letters and photocopies of articles from what Ms. Todes called “obscure British newspapers dating back to the 18th century.”

Among them was a facsimile of a letter supposedly written to Hieronymous Gratchenfleiss, who Mr. Kriwaczek said was a funerary violinist. But the editors, growing wary of Mr. Kriwaczek, were not convinced of the letter’s authenticity. “It suspiciously had tea stains on it and looked like modern handwriting,” Ms. Todes said.

Days before the magazine went to press, the editors rejected the article. It was only after that, Ms. Todes said, that Mr. Kriwaczek admitted in an e-mail message that the funerary violin was an invention.

“We thought of running it as an April Fools’ joke,” Ms. Todes said, “but then thought, no, he doesn’t deserve it.”

Despite the questions of authenticity, popped up even before the book was released to the public, Peter Mayer decided to purchase the manuscript and go on with its publishing.

"I decided it didn't really matter to me how much of this was actually accurate. It was a life's work. [Kriwacezk] was dedicated to this guild not being forgotten, dedicated to the music. I decided this is just an amazing piece of work, and I wanted to publish it," Mayer says.

In his book, Kriwaczek writes about "funerary duels" in France in the 1810s: Two violinists improvised on a fragment of melody, attempting to draw more tragedy from it than his opponent; the winner was the artist who drew the most tears from the assembled crowd.

"Who knows if it's true, but it's unbelievable reading," Mayer says.

Book stores that have agreed to stock the book are unsure how to categorize it. The book does not really belong in fiction because it is not a typical narrative, but the art history section would also be incorrect because much "historical" fact has been invented.

Kriwaczek argues that his book is neither a hoax nor an attempt to mislead. He issued a statement on October 5, 2006, in which he writes that to call his work a hoax is to misunderstand his intentions. He highlighted that he wanted to "expand the notion of musical composition to encompass the creation of an entire artistic genre, with its necessary accompanying history, mythology, philosophy, social function, etc." Also, he noted that as a funerary violinist himself, he has performed at more than 50 funerals throughout southeast England.

To complete this publication, we would like to offer you the video clip of the Rohan Theatre Band.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.scribepublications.com.au/book/anincompletehistoryoftheartoffuneraryviolin

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/40903

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6202644

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Incomplete_History_of_the_Art_of_Funerary_Violin

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/books/04viol.html

French Built Fake Paris to Fool German Bombers during WWI

2011-11-12T16:37:00.001-08:00

Towards the end of World War I, the French army developed up forward-looking plans to build a "fake Paris" in an attempt to get German planes to drop their bombs away from the real capital city.

The plan, reported in French dailies Le Monde and Le Figaro, was to recreate major landmarks of the city so that German bombers, flying at night and without radars, would think they had arrived at their target and release their bombs.

The "fake city" placed makeshift buildings in the same configurations as the real Paris, along with street lights and signs of industry, to give the impression to planes up above that they were flying over the real thing.

London's Daily Telegraph explains that the fake city wasn't just a bunch of cardboard cutouts. Far from it… There were "electric lights, replica buildings, and even a copy of the Gare du Nord—the station from which high-speed trains now travel to and from London."

The painters went so far as to use paint to create "the impression of dirty glass roofs of factories." Fake trains and railroad tracks were lit up as well. There was a phony Champs-Elysées.

It stands to reason that in the early 20th century, the plan could have worked. "Radar was in its infancy in 1918, and the long-range Gotha heavy bombers being used by the German Imperial Air Force were similarly primitive," the Telegraph notes. "Their crew would hold bombs by the fins and then drop them on any target they could see during quick sorties over major cities like Paris and London."

The plans were first revealed almost more than 90 years ago, in a November 1920 article in The Illustrated London News. Tuesday's Le Figaro published archive maps of the plans which it says it unearthed from a French publication at the same time, L'Illustration.

According to the French report in 1920, executing the plan was "very difficult." "It was necessary to make sure that the zones designated for enemy bombardments did not have people living in them," said a source quoted in the 1920 article in L'Illustration.

Ultimately, three zones rather than just one were chosen. One site close to the North West suburb of Maisons-Laffitte was selected because the river Seine curves through it in a similar way to the shape it takes in Paris.

Makeshift buildings were created to give the impression of the Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est railway stations. In another zone, plans were drawn up to create a fake Avenue des Champs-Élysées while a third zone was designed to look like the city's industrial areas, like Saint-Denis and Aubervilliers.

Great pains were taken to get the lighting to look realistic and efforts were led by Italian-born engineer Fernand Jacopozzi. Jacopozzi was a specialist in lighting who later received the Légion d'honneur award for his post-war work illuminating famous Paris sights including the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Élysées.

The fake cities were built but never tested out as they were only ready after the last German raid on Paris in September 1918.

"It's an extraordinary story and one which even Parisians knew very little about," the Daily Mail quoted Professor Jean-Claude Delarue, a leading historian based in the French capital as saying.

"The plan was kept secret for obvious reasons, but it shows how seriously military planners were already taking the new threat of aerial bombardment," he said.

For those who do not remember how the World War I ended, I would like to remind the outcomes of the First, but not the Last World War.

The Paris Peace Conference opened on 12th January 1919, meetings were held at various locations in and around Paris until 20th January, 1920. Leaders of 32 states representing about 75% of the world's population, attended. However, negotiations were dominated by the five major powers responsible for defeating the Central Powers: the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Japan. Important figures in these negotiations included Georges Clemenceau (France) David Lloyd George (Britain), Vittorio Orlando (Italy), and Woodrow Wilson (United States).

Eventually five treaties emerged from the Conference that dealt with the defeated powers. The five treaties were named after the Paris suburbs of Versailles (Germany), St Germain (Austria), Trianon (Hungary), Neuilly (Bulgaria) and Serves (Turkey).

The main terms of the Versailles Treaty were:

(1) the surrender of all German colonies as League of Nations mandates;
(2) the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France;
(3) cession of Eupen-Malmedy to Belgium, Memel to Lithuania, the Hultschin district to Czechoslovakia,
(4) Poznania, parts of East Prussia and Upper Silesia to Poland;
(5) Danzig to become a free city;
(6) plebiscites to be held in northern Schleswig to settle the Danish-German frontier;
(7) occupation and special status for the Saar under French control; (8) demilitarization and a fifteen-year occupation of the Rhineland;
(8) German reparations of £6,600 million;
(9) a ban on the union of Germany and Austria;
(10) an acceptance of Germany's guilt in causing the war;
(11) provision for the trial of the former Kaiser and other war leaders;
(12) limitation of Germany's army to 100,000 men with no conscription, no tanks, no heavy artillery, no poison-gas supplies, no aircraft and no airships;
(13) the limitation of the German Navy to vessels under 100,000 tons, with no submarines;

Germany signed the Versailles Treaty under protest. The USA Congress refused to ratify the treaty. Many people in France and Britain were angry that there was no trial of the Kaiser or the other war leaders. But, Germans were most unhappy from the status of the losers, and that point might be considered as beginning of World War II…

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.thelocal.fr/1697/20111108/

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/during-world-war-france-built-fake-paris-fool-213735364.html

http://www.sify.com/news/french-planners-built-fake-paris-towards-end-of-ww-i-to-fool-germans-news-international-llkp4jdhfbi.html

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/881263-french-built-second-paris-to-fool-german-pilots-during-war

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWversailles.htm

Predictions of Jonathan Swift on John Partridge Death

2011-11-06T01:49:00.000-07:00

Here Five Foot deep lyes on his back
A Cobler, Starmonger, and Quack,
Who to the Stars in pure Good-will,
Does to his best look upward still.

(From Swift's 'epitaph' to Partridge)

John Partridge was a leading astrologer of the early 18th Century - a period when astrology was sliding into disrepute. Rejected by the scientific establishment of the Age of Reason, it became fair game for ridicule by the wits and satirists of the day. In 1708 Dean Jonathan Swift, best known now as the author of Gulliver's Travels, perpetrated an elaborate hoax at Partridge's expense.

Poor old Partridge had the misfortune to cross Dean Swift, partly for reasons of his political allegiance, partly because Swift had a poor view of astrologers in general, and partly because he was annoyed by the astrologer's attacks upon the church. Under the assumed name of Isaac Bickerstaff, Swift issued his own almanac to rival Partridge's Merlinus Liberatus.

His predictions for the year 1708 are prefaced by a condemnation of..."mean illiterate traders between us and the stars". He names Partridge and Gadbury, whose.. ."nonsense and folly are offered to the world as genuine from the planets, though they descend from no greater height than their own brains". He condemns the pretensions, the learning and even the literacy of those named and offers himself as a true practitioner.

My first prediction relates to Partridge the almanack-maker. I have consulted the star of his nativity, and find that he will infallibly die upon the night of 29th of March next, about eleven at night, of a raging fever: therefore I advise him to consider of it, and settle his affairs in time.

The pamphlet continues with a series of predictions. It was apparently taken seriously enough to be burned by the Inquisition in Portugal, according to the ambassador of the time. Swift kept the jest running around town by next publishing - as 'a Person of Quality' - a critical account of 'Bickerstaff's' predictions, and challenging Partridge to refute them.

Word of Bickerstaff’s pamphlet quickly spread across London. Although astrologers, Partridge among them, were notorious for predicting the deaths of notable people each year, none dared to name a specific timeframe—or to target one of their own. The almanac reached far enough to be read and burned by the Portuguese Inquisition, while Partridge fanned the flames with a harshly-written reply to Bickerstaff. It read in part: “His whole design was nothing but Deceit, / The End of March will plainly show the Cheat.” Some wondered if the entire commotion was a joke by Bickerstaff, but the motivation for such a thing was hard to imagine—if he were false, he would be exposed and forgotten in just a few short weeks. In the meantime, all of London sat in anticipation.

And incredibly, on the 30th of March, word of Partridge did indeed arrive. A letter written to an unnamed lord and titled “The Accomplishment of the First of Mr. Bickerstaff’s Predictions” began to circulate around the city. In it, an anonymous man “employed in the Revenue” reported sitting at Partridge’s bedside on the evening of March 29. Partridge, he recalled, had fallen ill some three days earlier and was by then beyond hope. In his final hours, he had confessed to being a fraud and named Bickerstaff’s prediction as the self-fulfilling prophesy that had put him in this state. Finally, he had succumbed to his fever at 7:05 PM—just four hours off the time predicted by Bickerstaff.

The content of the letter (it is short, so I will publish it in full):

My Lord,

In obedience to your Lordship’s commands, as well as to satisfy my own curiosity, I have for some days past enquired constantly after Partridge the almanack-maker, of whom it was foretold in Mr. Bickerstaff’s predictions, publish’d about a month ago, that he should die on the 29th instant about eleven at night of a raging fever. I had some sort of knowledge of him when I was employ’d in the Revenue, because he used every year to present me with his almanack, as he did other gentlemen, upon the score of some little gratuity we gave him. I saw him accidentally once or twice about ten days before he died, and observed he began very much to droop and languish, tho’ I hear his friends did not seem to apprehend him in any danger. About two or three days ago he grew ill, and was confin’d first to his chamber, and in a few hours after to his bed, where Dr. Case and Mrs. Kirleus were sent for to visit, and to prescribe to him. Upon this intelligence I sent thrice every day one servant or other to enquire after his health; and yesterday, about four in the afternoon, word was brought me that he was past hopes: Upon which, I prevailed with myself to go and see him, partly out of commiseration, and I confess, partly out of curiosity. He knew me very well, seem’d surpriz’d at my condescension, and made me compliments upon it as well as he could, in the condition he was. The people about him said, he had been for some time delirious; but when I saw him, he had his understanding as well as ever I knew, and spake strong and hearty, without any seeming uneasiness or constraint. After I told him how sorry I was to see him in those melancholy circumstances, and said some other civilities, suitable to the occasion, I desired him to tell me freely and ingeniously, whether the predictions Mr. Bickerstaff had publish’d relating to his death, had not too much affected and worked on his imagination. He confess’d he had often had it in his head, but never with much apprehension, till about a fortnight before; since which time it had the perpetual possession of his mind and thoughts, and he did verily believe was the true natural cause of his present distemper: For, said he, I am thoroughly persuaded, and I think I have very good reasons, that Mr. Bickerstaff spoke altogether by guess, and knew no more what will happen this year than I did myself. I told him his discourse surprized me; and I would be glad he were in a state of health to be able to tell me what reason he had to be convinc’d of Mr. Bickerstaff’s ignorance. He reply’d, I am a poor ignorant fellow, bred to a mean trade, yet I have sense enough to know that all pretences of foretelling by astrology are deceits, for this manifest reason, because the wise and the learned, who can only know whether there be any truth in this science, do all unanimously agree to laugh at and despise it; and none but the poor ignorant vulgar give it any credit, and that only upon the word of such silly wretches as I and my fellows, who can hardly write or read. I then asked him why he had not calculated his own nativity, to see whether it agreed with Bickerstaff’s prediction? at which he shook his head, and said, Oh! sir, this is no time for jesting, but for repenting those fooleries, as I do now from the very bottom of my heart. By what I can gather from you, said I, the observations and predictions you printed, with your almanacks, were mere impositions on the people. He reply’d, if it were otherwise I should have the less to answer for. We have a common form for all those things, as to foretelling the weather, we never meddle with that, but leave it to the printer, who takes it out of any old almanack, as he thinks fit; the rest was my own invention, to make my almanack sell, having a wife to maintain, and no other way to get my bread; for mending old shoes is a poor livelihood; and, (added he, sighing) I wish I may not have done more mischief by my physick than my astrology; tho’ I had some good receipts from my grandmother, and my own compositions were such as I thought could at least do no hurt.

I had some other discourse with him, which now I cannot call to mind; and I fear I have already tired your Lordship. I shall only add one circumstance, That on his death-bed he declared himself a Nonconformist, and had a fanatick preacher to be his spiritual guide. After half an hour’s conversation I took my leave, being half stifled by the closeness of the room. I imagine he could not hold out long, and therefore withdrew to a little coffee-house hard by, leaving a servant at the house with orders to come immediately, and tell me, as near as he could, the minute when Partridge should expire, which was not above two hours after; when, looking upon my watch, I found it to be above five minutes after seven; by which it is clear that Mr. Bickerstaff was mistaken almost four hours in his calculation. In the other circumstances he was exact enough. But whether he has not been the cause of this poor man’s death, as well as the predictor, may be very reasonably disputed. However, it must be confess’d the matter is odd enough, whether we should endeavour to account for it by chance, or the effect of imagination: For my own part, tho’ I believe no man has less faith in these matters, yet I shall wait with some impatience, and not without some expectation, the fulfilling of Mr. Bickerstaff’s second prediction, that the Cardinal de Noailles is to die upon the fourth of April, and if that should be verified as exactly as this of poor Partridge, I must own I should be wholly surprized, and at a loss, and should infallibly expect the accomplishment of all the rest.

The news left London in a state of shock and wonder. At the same moment it had lost one of its oldest and most respected almanac writers, the city had gained what was surely the first indisputably genuine astrologer in history. The implications were staggering.

It’s likely that no one was as surprised to hear the news as John Partridge. For Partridge, as it happened, was alive and well, having spent the night of March 29 smugly celebrating his victory over the fraud Isaac Bickerstaff. Word of his death became widespread on the morning of April 1, making it apparent that Partridge had been the victim of one of history’s grandest All Fools’ Day pranks.

But Partridge’s ordeal was only beginning. It’s reported that he woke up the morning of his death to the sound of the church bell announcing his passing. Before long, he was visited by an undertaker looking to prepare his home, and later by the church sexton seeking orders for the funeral sermon. Throughout the day a string of mourners, funeral workers, and church officials were shooed from the cobbler’s door.

It wasn’t difficult to piece together what had happened. The letter announcing Partridge’s death had, of course, been written by Isaac Bickerstaff himself—as he had planned to do from the very start. But this one authentic-sounding account was more than enough to convince London of the news. Partridge’s name was removed from the Stationer’s Register—making him essentially legally dead—and crowds of his fans held vigils outside his home. Meanwhile, Partridge’s published responses asserting his continued functioning went largely ignored. The public had decided he was dead, and the words of a dead man obviously couldn’t be trusted.

Some Londoners seemed to genuinely believe the good astrologer was deceased, while others merely reveled in tormenting him; Partridge would frequently be stopped on the street for inquiries into how his widow was coping, or to be chided for lacking the decency to be properly buried. The old astrologer had no shortage of enthusiastic enemies willing to perpetuate the myth of his death, and the more literarily inclined among them—some the past victims of Partridge’s own predictions—set about printing additional denials and confirmations of his passing, adding to the confusion. Some of these forgeries were released under Partridge’s own name, making it difficult to separate his genuine protests from the comically-enhanced accounts of his imposters.

What is clear is that the hoax plagued Partridge for the rest of his life. As a preface to all of his future public dealings he would invariably need to argue—sometimes unsuccessfully—that he was the real John Partridge and that he wasn’t dead. Even among those who knew he was alive, Partridge had become something of a living joke, so that he was unlikely to be taken seriously any longer as a sober dispenser of astrology or medicine. Publication of his almanac ceased, and while he was far from ruined, the Bickerstaff incident essentially marked the end of Partridge’s life as a public figure. He spent the rest of his days trying to discover the true identity of Isaac Bickerstaff, but to no avail.

The answer that eluded Partridge was not lost to history. It was eventually uncovered that Isaac Bickerstaff was a pseudonym for none other than the legendary author and cleric Jonathan Swift. In the years before writing such classic works of satire as Gulliver’s Travels and “A Modest Proposal,” Swift amused himself by terrorizing his friends and enemies with elaborate pranks on All Fools’ Day, his favorite holiday. Not a fan of charlatan physicians and astrologers to begin with, Swift had taken a special interest in John Partridge over some sarcastic remarks the old cobbler had made about Swift’s employer, the Church of England.

Swift published as Bickerstaff one last time in 1709 with a letter titled “A Vindication of Isaac Bickerstaff.” In it, he outlined a series of elegant arguments to prove that Partridge was indeed dead. Among them, he reasoned that it was “sure no man alive ever writ such damn’d stuff” as the tripe printed in Partridge’s almanacs, and that Partridge’s wife had been heard to swear that “her husband had neither life nor soul in him.” “Therefore,” Swift continued, “if an uninformed carcass walks still about and is pleased to call itself Partridge, Mr. Bickerstaff does not think himself any way answerable for that.” Swift had by now abandoned all pretense of seriousness, but it no longer mattered.

In the end, half of Swift’s prophesy came true: John Partridge did eventually die. The precise date fell somewhere around 1715, putting Swift’s prediction off by a mere 62,000 hours—the blink of an eye on fate’s great cosmic scale. Partridge’s legacy included an impressive assortment of publications, titles, and honors, but he would be remembered for nothing better than the epitaph written for him by Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq. in 1708, part of which is included as epigraph to this post.

Here, five Foot deep, lies on his Back,

A Cobler, Starmonger, and Quack;

Who to the Stars in pure Good-will,

Does to his best look upward still.

Weep all you Customers that use

His Pills, his Almanacks, or Shoes;

And you that did your Fortunes seek,

Step to his Grave but once a Week:

This Earth which bears his Body’s Print,

You’ll find has so much Vertue in’t,

That I durst pawn my Ears ’twill tell

Whate’er concerns you full as well,

In Physick, Stolen Goods, or Love,

As he himself could, when above.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.skyscript.co.uk/bickerstaff.html

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-extraordinary-astrologer-isaac-bickerstaff/

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_predictions_of_isaac_bickerstaff/

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/swift/jonathan/s97b/part2.html

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/swift/jonathan/s97b/part4.html

Well-planned Retirement Benefits for Bristol Zoo Parking Lot Attendant

2011-10-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

I got this story by email from one of the readers of this blog (thanks, Alex) with inquiry of how much true is it. The story definitely deserves to be published and investigated.

Original Email

From The London Times:

Outside the Bristol Zoo, in England, there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 coaches, or buses.

It was manned by a very pleasant attendant with a ticket machine charging cars 1 pound (about $1.40) and coaches 5 (about $7).

This parking attendant worked there solid for all of 25 years. Then, one day, he just didn't turn up for work.

"Oh well", said Bristol Zoo Management - "we'd better phone up the City Council and get them to send a new parking attendant..."

"Err ... no", said the Council, "that parking lot is your responsibility."

"Err ... no", said Bristol Zoo Management, "the attendant was employed by the City Council, wasn't he?"

"Err ... NO!" insisted the Council.

Sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain, is a bloke who had been taking the parking lot fees, estimated at 400 pounds (about $560) per day at Bristol Zoo for the last 25 years. Assuming 7 days a week, this amounts to just over 3.6 million pounds ($7 million).

And no one even knows his name.

Nice story, but how true is it? It looks like to be a one too good to be true. Its popularity confirms the fact that it has been published on many blogs and forums on the internet, distributed by email in numbers, and even caught the attention of the police after one person who read it made a complaint.

The situation can be clarified with the Bristol Zoo authorities, and team of journalists from the Bristol Evening Post conducted a thorough investigation on the topic and found the tale of the phantom car park attendant to be "nothing more than an urban myth". And the exact point of its origin appeared to be the Bristol Evening Post!

"A version of the story did appear in the Evening Post two years ago," explains an article in the June 13, 2009 edition of the paper, "in a feature on urban myths published to coincide with April Fools' Day."

Management at Bristol Zoo Gardens has also made their contribution in the story verification – they totally denied that there has ever been any confusion about which entity controls car parking attendants. The zoo employs more than one car parking attendant and there are several car parks available. Parking information and pricing for visitors is published on the Bristol Zoo's website:

The North car park on Clifton Down is open daily during Zoo operating days. The West car park on College road is open during peak periods and an overflow car park operates on the Downs during the high season.

Day visitors: Ј3 per car
Members: Ј1 per car
Corporate, hospitality and business visitors: Ј3 per car

Thus, not even the per-car fee supposedly charged by the swindler is correct and, although the main zoo car park does not accommodate coaches (buses), plenty of free coach parking is available in nearby streets.

Another human point to consider: is that really possible that the most dedicated swindler could have managed to turn up for "work" seven days a week for 25 years in a row, not missing a single shift? Well, most likely, over such a time period the fake attendant would have taken at least a few days off due to illness or personal affairs.

The Attendant by Bill Lamperes

Recently the funny urban myth got a second life, now in form of the book. Like millions of people around the world, Arizona-based writer Bill Lamperes first heard about the story after receiving a joke email, which had been forwarded from a friend.

"I started to wonder what the guy would do with the money," he says. "You wouldn't be able to put it in the bank, because the authorities would then be able to trace the money. So pretty much all you could do, would be to build up a bigger and bigger stack of coins in your home, and spend in a big way with small change as much as you could”.

"I loved the idea so much that on the first day I sat down to start writing, I found myself ploughing straight through the first six chapters.

"Within just a few weeks, the book was finished and being mailed to the publishers."

The result, book, Bill Lamperes’ The Attendant, is already proving to be a modest hit in bookstores across the States, and is now available in British bookshops.

Real Life

While the described case is an obvious April Joke, there is at least one example of the real attempts to follow the parking lot attendant successful plot. In 2009, a Brooklyn man broke into a closed city-owned garage, opened it for public, and began charging people the modest parking fee. But his successful career lasted much less than 25 years. Next day, he has been arrested by police. Later, he has found himself facing legal charges for burglary and criminal impersonation. Not too happy end!

Sources and Additional Information:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/humor/a/bristol_zoo_car_park_attendant.htm

http://www.djmick.co.uk/laughs/bristol-zoo-parking-attendant-email-funny-but-fake/

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/bristol-zoo-car-park-hoax.shtml

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/PARKING-SCAM-MYTH-WORK-FICTION/story-11278620-detail/story.html

http://www.snopes.com/crime/clever/carpark.asp

Did Marie Antoinette really say "Let them eat cake"?

2011-10-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

Original Claim

This urban myth was steadily propagated among the historical publications and is still popular among well-educated general public nowadays. Your history teacher may tell you at school that that the late Queen of France Marie Antoinette was a very frivolous, extravagant, and ignorant woman who cared little for the sufferings of the starving French peasants, and that this indifference contributed greatly to provoking the French revolution that eventually lead to the execution of the said queen and her husband King Louis XVI. The saying that is most frequently quoted against her is that when told that the peasants were starving because they had no bread she replied "Let them eat cake".

True or False?

At the time the sentence was attributed to several French princesses including Marie Therese, wife of Louis XIV, and the daughters of Louis XV Mesdames Sophie and Victoire. The most likely explanation is that it was a fiction, invented by the political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau himself who liked to attack those in authority. It helped to increase popularity and sales of his books.

The peasants-have-no-bread story was in common currency at least since the 1760s as an illustration of the decadence of the aristocracy. Jean-Jacques Rousseau mentions it in his Confessions in connection with an incident that occurred in 1740. He stole wine while working as a tutor in Lyons and then had problems trying to scrounge up something to eat along with it. He concludes thusly: "Finally I remembered the way out suggested by a great princess when told that the peasants had no bread: 'Well, let them eat cake.'"

Rousseau may have been embroidering this yarn with a line he had really heard many years later. But even so, at the time he was writing — early 1766 — Marie Antoinette was only ten years old and still four years away from her marriage to the future Louis XVI. Writer Alphonse Karr in 1843 claimed that the line originated with a certain Duchess of Tuscany in 1760 or earlier, and that it was attributed to Marie Antoinette in 1789 by radical agitators who were trying to turn the populace against her.

Generally speaking, Confessions was, on the whole, a very inaccurate autobiography: "The 'facts' he so frankly admits often emerge, in the light of modern scholarship, to be inaccurate, distorted or non-existent"; and his work is the oldest source for the saying.

In fact, people of France in the eighteenth century might have had many problems, but the chronic shortage of bread was not one of them. There was a shortage in 1775 around the time of the coronation of the king. That led to some rioting in several places. There was a further shortage in 1789, just prior to the outbreak of the revolution, but generally the French peasants were among the best fed in Europe at the time. The Queen herself gave generously to charity, when she was aware of the need, and she was very aware that her position meant that she needed to work hard for the betterment of her people. This is shown in this excerpt from a letter which she sent to her family in Austria.

"It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness. The King seems to understand this truth."

It was the misfortune of Marie Antoinette that her reputation was intentionally falsified by the people who would stoop to any level of falsehood in order to further their own agendas. And general people were readily accepting any lies, because that was convenient at the time.

So, it is important to understand when studying how this phrase came to be attributed to Marie Antoinette is the increasing unpopularity of the Queen in the final years before the outbreak of the French Revolution. During her marriage to Louis XVI, her perceived frivolousness and her very real extravagance were often cited as factors that only worsened France's dire financial straits. Her Austrian birth and femininity were also a major factor in a country where xenophobia and chauvinism still played major parts in national politics. In fact, many anti-monarchists were so convinced (albeit incorrectly) that it was Marie Antoinette who had single-handedly ruined France's finances that they nicknamed her Madame Déficit. In addition, anti-royalists libellists printed stories and articles that attacked the royal family and their courtiers with exaggerations, fictitious events and outright lies. Therefore, with such strong sentiments of dissatisfaction and anger towards the king and queen, it is quite possible that a discontented individual fabricated the scenario and put the words in the mouth of Marie Antoinette.

Phrase Exact Translation

While it is not the main point in debunking the myth, I would like also point out on the exact meaning of the famous phrase. The attribution is doubly erroneous in English, because the word "cake" is a mistranslation. In the original French the alleged quote reads, "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche," which means, literally, "Let them eat rich, expensive, funny-shaped, yellow, eggy buns."

Well, well, well, the French peasants understood it literary different, and did not question the negative meaning of the words, put in the Marie Antoinette’s mouse.

Death of Marie Antoinette

While there is no direct link between false claim and death of the Queen of France, the story would not be complete without highlighting the way she died.

Louis XIV was executed on 21 January 1793, at the age of thirty-eight. The result was that the "Widow Capet", as the former queen was called after the death of her husband, plunged into deep mourning; she refused to eat or do any exercise. Marie-Antoinette's health rapidly deteriorated in the following months. By this time she suffered from tuberculosis and possibly uterine cancer, which caused her to hemorrhage frequently.

Despite her condition, the debate as to her fate was the central question of the National Convention after Louis's death. There were those who had been advocating her death for some time, while some had the idea of exchanging her for French prisoners of war or for a ransom from the Holy Roman Emperor. On 1 August, she was taken out of the Tower and entered into the Conciergerie as Prisoner No. 280. Despite various attempts to get her out, such as the Carnation Plot in September, Marie Antoinette refused when the plots for her escape were brought to her attention.

She was finally tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal on 14 October. Unlike the king, who had been given time to prepare a defense, the queen's trial was far more of a sham, considering the time she was given (less than one day). Among the things she was accused of (most, if not all, of the accusations were untrue and probably lifted from rumors begun by libelles) were orchestrating orgies in Versailles, sending millions of livres of treasury money to Austria, plotting to kill the Duke of Orléans, incest with her son, declaring her son to be the new king of France and orchestrating the massacre of the Swiss Guards in 1792.

She was declared guilty of treason in the early morning of 16 October, after two days of proceedings. On the same day, her hair was cut off and she was driven through Paris in an open cart, wearing a simple white dress.

At 12:15 pm, two and a half weeks before her thirty-eighth birthday, she was executed at the Place de la Révolution. Her last words were "Pardon me sir, I meant not to do it", to Henri Sanson the executioner, whose foot she had accidentally stepped on after climbing the scaffold. Her body was thrown into an unmarked grave in the Madeleine cemetery, rue d'Anjou.

A sad end of the story, one of many drops of blood from under the knife of Paris Commune…

Sources and Additional Information:

http://christopheranton.hubpages.com/hub/More-of-historys-lies

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/550/did-marie-antoinette-really-say-let-them-eat-cake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/dubiousquotes/a/antoinette.htm

Da Vinci Code: The Priory of Sion Hoax

2011-10-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

Part of the popularity of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" came from the possibility that much of the novel was based on truth. At the beginning of the novel, Brown lays out a number of "facts" upon which the book is based. Many sources, however, contend that some of Brown's facts are actually based on a hoax. The Priory of Sion, the secret society in Brown's book, was actually invented in the 1950's by Pierre Plantard. Plantard created false documents that connected him to the supposed illustrious secret society and then planted those documents in the French national library. The authors of the book "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" used the documents as part of the research for their book; Dan Brown based his research for "The Da Vinci Code" on "Holy Blood, Holy Grail."

Historical Background

The trail to the "Priory of Sion" fraud begins in mid-nineteenth-century France. A resurgent interest in the occult led to the creation of many esoteric groups. Members of these groups often belonged to several organizations. Their leaders often broke away to form competing factions. At the same time, constant turmoil in the French government drew France into two increasingly hostile camps jousting for political supremacy. The royalists, composed of the Catholic Church, the far right, and the supporters of the old system of royalty, vied for power with the republicans, composed of Freemasons and other supporters of democratically elected governments. From 1877 to the eve of the Second World War, Freemasons dominated French government. Their domination earned them bitter enemies.

In the 1880's, at the height of this political conflict, Joseph Alexandre St. Yves d'Alveydre, "the supreme Hermeticist of his epoch," proposed a new idea for injecting moral values into governing society. He called it "synarchy" and claimed it was the method used by the Knights Templar to change medieval society. An elect band of initiates would influence groups representing different aspects of society. Those groups would influence their spheres and ultimately the entire social order.

By the turn of the century, the royalist faction came to fear synarchy, whose influence had spread beyond esoteric groups. By the 1920s, Masonic groups with distinctly synarchist policies were a reality in France. In the 1930s, even a leftist group, called the X-Cruise Club, advocated a technocracy with synarchist ideas.

In this era, the French far right formed its own seemingly esoteric groups. But they were actually front organizations, pretending to have Masonic and esoteric affiliations in order to draw support away from the Masons. As anti-Semitism spread across Europe in the 1930s, the French far right denounced Masons and Jews in the same breath. When fourteen initiatic orders created a federation called FUDOSI to promote peace and positive ideals, the far right increased its formation of pseudo-Masonic groups.

During the war, Nazi occupation policy was to arrest leaders of esoteric organizations, put them in concentration camps, and seize their groups' records and membership rolls, which were placed in a central depository. In France this depository was called the Centre d'Action Maconnique, and the French occupation government at Vichy actively aided the Gestapo in its persecution of Masonic and esoteric orders. So great was the far right's fear of Masonic influence that an unknown source even issued a document called the "Chauvin Report," alleging Masonic involvement in Vichy. While these events were taking place, the individuals who later formed the "Priory of Sion" were being gathered into two groups. One group, known to have been in existence as early as 1934, was called Alpha Galates. Toward the end of the 1930s Alpha Galates utilized a young man named Pierre Plantard, born March 18, 1920, as its titular head.

In 1937, at the age of only seventeen, Plantard attempted to found an anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic group to engage "purifying and renewing France" and sought official permission to publish a periodical called "The Renewal of France." This theme Would constantly appear in association with Alpha Galates and later with the "Priory of Sion."

Under the collaborationist Vichy regime, the group behind Plantard and Alpha Galates sought influence with the government. On December 16, 1940, Plantard wrote to Marshal Petain, head of the Vichy regime, denouncing a vast Jewish-Masonic plot. But he failed to receive any attention beyond routine entries in police files. In 1941, Plantard applied to found an organization called "French National Renewal" but was denied official permission in September of that year. Finally in 1942, Plantard and his superiors again sought public visibility, now openly using the name Alpha Galates and promoting a publication called Vaincre ("Conquer").

Vaincre, which commenced publication in September 1942, was filled with anti-Semitic, fawningly pro-Vichy articles and sprinkled with shallow, superficial esoterica on Celtic traditions and chivalry. Nonetheless Alpha Galates tried to present this journal as the clearinghouse of a relatively sizable and cohesive body of young people. After six issues it ceased publication. But it earned Plantard some recognition. He was periodically observed by the police. As late as February 1945, the police were still investigating Alpha Galates and its revolving-door membership of 50 or so, and concluded it had no serious purpose. But at least one serious seeker, Robert Amadou, who joined Alpha Galates believing it was a genuine esoteric group, suggests that its focus was political. Later a Freemason and Martinist, after 40 years Amadou refused to discuss Alpha Galates, only saying, "For my part, I have never been involved in political activity, before or since."

In 1947, while a revived FUDOSI met in Paris, Pierre Plantard filed the legal papers necessary to create another organization, called the Latin Academy. Its titular head was his own mother. Its ostensible purpose was "historical research." Its real purpose was to carry on the right-wing program of its predecessor. By the mid-1950s Plantard began promoting himself in Catholic circles as the Merovingian pretender to the throne of France. One place where he engaged in these activities was the Paris church and seminary of St. Sulpice.

The Priory of Sion

Pierre Plantard founded the Priory of Sion in 1956, almost a nine hundred years after it was to have allegedly been formed.

Plantard decided to travel to the small town of Rennes-Le-Chateau to have lunch with his friend, Noel Corbu. Noel Corbu’s restaurant was attached to a stone tower that was built by a priest named Sauniere Beranger. To promote his restaurant, Corbu made up a story about how this priest had found a hidden treasure in the local church.

The story had Plantard’s wheels turning and he decided to take it back home with him and use it to establish the mythical origins of his newly founded Priory of Sion. Plantard tied in the ancient Merovigian Kings and then created a fake family line making himself the only surviving descendant of King Dagobert. He even changed his last name to St. Clair to sound as if he was related to the Sinclair family of Scotland, said to be descendants of the Knights Templar and ancestors to the Freemasons.

As if this wasn’t enough, Plantard even created a fake list of past grand masters of the Priory of Sion, and made sure to include Leonardo da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton. To top it off he created fake historical documents and inserted them into archives in places such as the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Plantard then wrote a book about the Priory of Sion but he couldn’t find a publisher. He gave his book to a friend, and had him rewrite the book and publish it in his friend’s name. He also forged the documents that Sauniere was allegedly to have found and planted them in Rennes-Le-Chateau. What was to happen next, no one could have guessed.

A British actor named Henry Lincoln stumbled upon Plantard’s book and created two documentaries that were aired on BBC. He then urged authors Michael Baigant and Richard Leigh to join him on an expedition to uncover the secret of Rennes-Le-Chateau.

No one knows how long it took them to realize they had been duped. One can assume it was when they linked up with Plantard who helped them stumble upon documents linking himself to the Merovingian Dynasty. Either way they sniffed out Pierre Plantard’s fakery, but they decided to make the most of their wasted time and partake in a bit of tom foolery of their own.

They took Plantard’s story and added a bit about the origins of Christianity and wrote a book about how Plantard St. Clair was not only the descendant of the Merovingian Dynasty, but of Jesus of Nazareth himself. The rest is history. Lincoln, Baigent, and Leigh’s book, “Holy Blood Holy Grail” blazed the path Dan Brown’s novel “The Da Vinci Code.” The small lie had spiraled out of control and turned into a grand conspiracy that landed Plantard in court, not only fighting for royalties of the book he had his friend publish, but also admitting that he invented the Priory of Sion, forged documents, and caused the largest religious uproar of the twentieth century.

Aftermath

Pierre Plantard made an attempted comeback in 1989 following his resignation from the Priory of Sion in 1984, the details of which were outlined in three 1989 issues of Vaincre - dated April, June and September of that year. The comeback involved revising the whole structure of the myth of the Priory of Sion - creating a whole new system of belief with a brand new agenda - the old material as contained in the previous Priory Documents was discarded and rejected with Philippe Toscan, the author of the Dossiers Secrets being lampooned as a sad individual who had written his works under the influence of LSD and was arrested on 11 April 1967 for that! Indeed, the works of Mathieu Paoli, Henry Lincoln, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh were criticised as products of "the imagination and the novel". The parchments were no longer genuine - again - but the fabrications of Philippe de Cherisey. Genuine parchments "did exist", but they were inaccessible. So, Plantard came storming back to a completely disinterested French Public having regained his position as the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion at the "Convent of Avignon" on 9 March 1989 following the death of the previous Grand Master, Patrice Pelat.

But involving in this story Pelat, a friend of the then-President of France François Mitterrand and centre of a scandal involving French Prime Minister Pierre Bérégovoy, put a last nail in a coffin of the story. In October 1993, the judge investigating the Pelat scandal had Pierre Plantard's house searched. The search failed to find any documents related to Pelat, but turned up a hoard of false documents, including some proclaiming Plantard the true king of France. Plantard admitted under oath he had fabricated everything, including Pelat's involvement with the Priory of Sion. Plantard was threatened with legal action by the Pelat family and therefore disappeared to his house in southern France. He was 74 years old at the time. Nothing more was heard of him until he died in Paris on 3 February 2000.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/01/april-fools-literary-hoax_n_843470.html

http://www.alpheus.org/html/articles/esoteric_history/richardson1.html

http://www.ancientmonks.com/mystical-order-of-neglected-knowledge/4th-degree-friar-of-the-sword-and-quill/priory-of-sion-rennes-le-chateau-and-the-holy-grail

http://priory-of-sion.com/psp/id60.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Plantard

Fake Business Card of Abraham Lincoln

2011-09-23T18:36:00.001-07:00

Abraham Lincoln is best known for his policies on abolishing slavery and his belief in self-government; he took his job as president very seriously. About the night he knew he'd won the election he later said, "I went home, but not to get much sleep, for I then felt as I never had before, the responsibility that was upon me."

Lincoln had another side to his personality; he had a good sense of humor and liked to make jokes. Even as a boy, Abe must have thought about pranks and jokes. When he was about sixteen, he wrote in a school copybook:

Abraham Lincoln
his hand and pen
he will be good but
god knows When

All his life, Lincoln used to turn his quick wit on himself. Once he said: “My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it. I never did like to work, and I don't deny it. I'd rather read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh - anything but work”.

Another story he told had to do with 'being stopped on a street one day by a man who thrust a revolver in his face. "What seems to be the matter?" inquired Lincoln with as much calmness as he could muster. "Well," replied the stranger, "some years ago I swore an oath, that if I ever came across an uglier man than myself I'd shoot him on the spot." A feeling of relief came over Lincoln on hearing this and he answered, "Shoot me, then, for if I am an uglier man than you, I don't want to live."

But the best joke, probably, related to Abraham Lincoln is not the joke he played, but the joke a joke that the opposing Democratic Party played on him during the 1864 presidential election. It was a fake business card, which was printed by the Democratic committee the same year prior to the elections.

Lincoln, Abraham. "A. Lincoln. Attorney and counselor at law. Springfield, Illinois ... My old customers, and others, are no doubt aware of the terrible time I have had in crossing the stream, and will be glad to know that I will be back ... ready to swap horses, dispense law, make jokes split rails and perform other matters in a small way.

The point is that for a good part of 1864 Abraham Lincoln had little faith that he would win or even be renominated. Despite the decisive Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg the year before, the Confederacy had sustained recent victories outside Richmond at the Crater and Cold Harbor. Three long and bloody years of war, with still no end in sight, had rallied significant political support for peace. The Democratic challenger, his former general, the popular George B. McClellan, bowed to his party's convention vote for peace, even though he personally believed in continuing the war.

The presidential contest of 1864 would determine whether the United States would compromise its fundamental purposes. The war, triggered by an election, would see another election stand as the pivotal point of the entire conflict.

In spite of the gloomy political prediction, the Republicans had the last laugh on this joke, while distributing the Lincoln’ business card, because he actually won the election for president in 1864 with 55% of the popular vote versus 45% for McClellan.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://business-cards-review.blogspot.com/2011/09/abraham-lincoln-fake-business-card.html
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/lincoln/aa_lincoln_humor_1_e.html

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/lincoln/aa_lincoln_humor_1.html

http://www.jcs-group.com/military/war1861people/lincoln.html

http://michael-streich.suite101.com/the-presidential-election-of-1864-a115530

http://www.highlightskids.com/Stories/NonFiction/NF0205_laughwithLincoln.asp

Drinking 8 Glasses of Water Daily: Good or Bad for your Health?

2011-09-11T23:56:00.000-07:00

Surely, you have read the statement multiple times in the health-related posts online and offline, that drinking 8 glasses of water every single day is essential for keeping your health in the good shape. To make sure you got the message, your friends definitely forwarded you the scary messages that if you will not follow the rule, you will get thick soon from multiple disorders. The rule is usually referred as "8 x 8", since each one out of 8 glasses you drink, should be 8-ounces, making it 64 ounces of total daily consumption. The only positive side in those messages is that you are not alone who underdrink –it is claimed that 75 percent of Americans are chronically dehydrated and fail to drink the specified amount of water per day recommended by health and nutrition experts.

I do not think you ever followed the "8 x 8" rule every time you read about that. Most likely, you felt guilty of not doing of what is advised, but you continued your regular nutrition and hydration routine. But if you try to follow it religiously, you might spend a lot of time running to the bathroom, and you might not see substantial improvements to your health.

Source

Why do so many people believe this rule? Why do so many doctors and writers and bloggers on the health related topics still include it in the list of the advisable actions?

The number originally came from the National Academy of Sciences of the United States Food and Nutrition Board, which publishes recommended daily allowances of nutrients. The 1945 edition of the Food and Nutrition Board recommended: "A suitable allowance of water for adults is 2.5 liters (about 8 cups) daily in most instances." This amount is based on the calculation of one milliliter of water for each calorie of food. HOWEVER, the Board also noted that most of the water you need is in the food you eat.

The Board revisited the question of water consumption in 2004. Its panel on "dietary preference intakes for electrolytes and water" noted that women who appear adequately hydrated consume about 91 ounces (2.7 liters) of water a day and men about 125 ounces (3.7 liters). These seemingly large quantities come from a variety of sources—including coffee, tea, milk, soda, juice, fruits, vegetables and other foods. Instead of recommending how much extra water a person should drink to maintain health, the panel simply concluded that "the vast majority of healthy people adequately meet their daily hydration needs by letting thirst be their guide."

Why the medical misconception, originated in 40s, is still flourishing in our well-informed and well-educated environment? Because somebody benefits from that! One of the most probable reasons of why this “8 X 8” myth is alive and doing well can be traced to aggressive marketing tactics by the bottled water industry, including the Hydration for Health initiative, which is sponsored by the French food giant Danone, maker of Volvic, Evian and Badoit bottled waters.

Scientific Background

All foods contain water. Even the driest nut or seed has a lot of water in it. Furthermore, when food is digested, it is converted to energy, carbon dioxide and WATER. Most people can get the fluid the body needs from food, and they only need to drink enough water to prevent constipation.

When you eat, the pyloric valve at the end of your stomach closes to keep food in the stomach. Then the stomach takes fluid that you drink and food that you eat and turns the solid food into liquid. If you don't drink enough fluid, your stomach takes fluid from your blood and adds it to the food in the stomach to create the soup. The pyloric valve will not let food pass to the intestines until this liquid soup is formed. Then the liquid soup passes to the intestines and remains a soup until it reaches your colon. Only then is the fluid absorbed to turn the soup into solid waste in the colon. If you do not have enough fluid in your body, your body extracts extra fluid from your stool and turns your stool into hard rocks, causing constipation.

Studies

A study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition shows that plain water is not needed as long as enough fluid is obtained from other drinks and food. Twenty-seven healthy men consumed one of two diets for three-day periods and were studied in a lab setting. The first diet included plain water while the second omitted it, relying on only foods, orange juice, diet soda, and coffee for fluid. None of the nine measures of hydration were affected.

Heinz Valtin, MD, professor emeritus of physiology at Dartmouth Medical School, published results of his study on the topic in American Journal of Physiology, confirming the "8 x 8" rule is not supported by the scientific evidence.

He noted that surveys of fluid intake on healthy adults of both genders, published as peer-reviewed documents, strongly suggest that such large amounts are not needed. His conclusion is supported by published studies showing that caffeinated drinks, such as most coffee, tea and soft drinks, may indeed be counted toward the daily total. He also pointed to the large body of published experiments that attest to the capability of the human body for maintaining proper water balance.

Valtin emphasized that his conclusion is limited to healthy adults in a temperate climate leading a largely sedentary existence - precisely, he pointed out, the population and conditions that the "at least" in "8 x 8" refers to. At the same time, he stressed that large intakes of fluid, equal to and greater than 8 x 8, are advisable for the treatment or prevention of some diseases, such as kidney stones, as well as under special circumstances, such as strenuous physical activity, long airplane flights or hot weather. But barring those exceptions, he concluded that we are currently drinking enough and possibly even more than enough.

That is true, Valtin goes further in his assessment, claiming that drinking too much water can bring harm to your health. "The fact is that, potentially, there is harm even in water," explains Valtin. Even modest increases in fluid intake can result in "water intoxication" if one's kidneys are unable to excrete enough water (urine). Such instances are not unheard of, and they have led to mental confusion and even death in athletes, in teenagers after ingesting the drug Ecstasy, and in ordinary patients.

And he lists other disadvantages of a high water intake: (a) possible exposure to pollutants, especially if sustained over many years; (b) frequent urination, which can be both inconvenient and embarrassing; (c) expense, for those who satisfy the 8 x 8 requirements with bottled water; and (d) feelings of guilt for not achieving 8 x 8. Other claims discredited by scientific evidence that Valtin discusses include:

Thirst Is Too Late. It is often stated that by the time people are thirsty, they are already dehydrated. On the contrary, thirst begins when the concentration of blood (an accurate indicator of our state of hydration) has risen by less than two percent, whereas most experts would define dehydration as beginning when that concentration has risen by at least five percent.
Dark Urine Means Dehydration. At normal urinary volume and color, the concentration of the blood is within the normal range and nowhere near the values that are seen in meaningful dehydration. Therefore, the warning that dark urine reflects dehydration is alarmist and false in most instances.

In 2008 Dan Negoianu and Stanley Goldfarb reviewed the evidence for the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. They came to a similar conclusion: "There is no clear evidence of benefit from drinking increased amounts of water."

One of the statement, advocating the 8 x 8 guideline claims that thirst is a poor hydration indicator, since many people are so chronically dehydrated they no longer recognize their bodies' signals for water. Barbara Rolls, professor of nutrition sciences at the Pennsylvania State University, disagrees. Her studies, she says, "found no evidence that people are chronically dehydrated." She also contradicts to the popular belief that people mistake thirst for hunger, which causes them to eat when they are really just thirsty, arguing that "drinking water and waiting for pounds to melt away does not work. We all wish it were that simple." She explains that "hunger and thirst are controlled by separate systems in the body. People are unlikely to mistake thirst for hunger." Furthermore, she reports that her studies "never found that drinking water with or before a meal affected appetite." Nevertheless, there are some elements of truth in the misperception. Rolls did find that water-rich foods—as opposed to stand-alone water—tended to help people consume fewer calories. And, she says, "there is a way that water can help with weight loss—if you use water as a substitute for a caloric beverage."

And the most recent 2011 move to debunk the myth was made by the Scottish practitioner Margaret McCartney in the current issue of the British Medical Journal. McCartney took on medical claims disseminated by Hydration for Health, a water-pushing health organization created by the company that owns Volvic and Evian. McCartney wrote that she did not see any high-quality scientific literature provided by Hydration for Health proving drinking so much water was essential. In fact, she found evidence that mental performance suffers when people drink more water than they're thirsty for. "In other words, there is still no evidence that we need to drink more than we naturally want, and there may be unintended harms from an enforcement to drink more water," McCartney wrote.

While McCartney didn't see evidence backing up the 2-liter-a-day rule, she did see bottled water companies pushing the "water=health" idea to sell more of their products. So, indeed, somewhere at the bottom of this cleverly organized hoax is somebody profit, as was already suggested above. As McCartney wrote on her blog: "The bottled water industry is pushing the idea that we should drink more than we normally would with the promise of health benefits, and I don’t think there are any". The bottled water companies were not happy with McCartney's attitude. In response, the European Federation of Bottled Waters wrote a letter to BMJ about McCartney's article and cited a recommendation that "at least two liters of water should be consumed per day."

Recommendations

A reasonable amount for a healthy human is one cup of water or any other fluid with each meal. If you have a problem with constipation you may not be drinking enough water, but if you are not constipated, you are getting plenty. You'll also want to replace fluids whenever you sweat a lot, particularly when you exercise or in hot weather. Drink water whenever you feel thirsty, but there's no health benefit from forcing yourself to drink eight glasses of water a day. Drinking too much water can be dangerous. This is of particular concern if you are exercising in hot weather and fail to replace the salt you lose in sweat.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/9942.html

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2002/aug/080802.html

http://jasn.asnjournals.org/content/19/6/1041.full

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=eight-glasses-water-per-day

http://www.minnpost.com/healthblog/2011/07/13/29954/we_need_8_glasses_of_water_daily_nonsense_says_british_doctor

http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/07/gem-week-forget-8-glasses-water-day

Can you insure your cigars against fire?

2011-08-23T22:38:00.000-07:00

You probably got already this email more than once, and the story still sounds cool and intriguing to you. But can this story be true?

FW: Subject: Our wonderful legal system

A Charlotte, North Carolina man, having purchased a case of rare, very expensive cigars, insured them against (get this) fire! Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of fabulous cigars, and having yet to make a single premium payment on the policy, the man filed a claim against the insurance company.

In his claim, the man stated that he had lost the cigars "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason that the man had consumed the cigars in a normal fashion. The man sued -- and won! In delivering his ruling, the judge stated that since the man held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that the cigars would be insured against fire, without defining what it considered to be unacceptable fire, it was obligated to compensate the insured for his loss.

Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company grudgingly accepted the judge's ruling and paid the man $15,000 for the rare cigars he lost in the fires. After the man cashed his check, however, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of arson. With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used as evidence against him, the man was convicted of intentionally burning the rare cigars and sentenced to 24 consecutive one-year terms.

So don't piss off your insurance company!

True or False?

This story is decades old and likely originated as a joke. A much briefer version appeared in a 1965 toastmaster's manual and was apparently the direct inspiration of the earliest Internet variant, posted in a Usenet discussion in February 1996:

A cigar smoker bought several hundred expensive stogies and had them insured against fire. After he'd smoked them all, he filed a claim, pointing out that the cigars had been destroyed by fire. The company refused to pay, and the man sued. A judge ruled that because the insurance company had agreed to insure against fire, it was legally responsible. So the company paid the claim. And when the man accepted the money, the company had him arrested for arson.

Another anecdote from 60^th also suggests that the story has originated as a joke:

He is a kind of accountant you’ve got to admire. Last year he deducted eighty cartons of cigarettes from my income tax. Called it loss by fire!

While most of the sources (and I tend to lean to their version) consider the story as having no factual background, I have found also reference to the real case. It is claimed that the story (at least, its beginning) is true, and the man who insured his cigars was Jason P. Mountebank, who lived in New York City at the time. The incident in question took place in the winter of 1960-1961. The policy did not cover a collection, but only gross of cigars of a particularly rare Cuban vintage, and valued at over $100 apiece. Moutnebank collected some $14,400 from the insurance company -- a fair amount of money in the early 1960s.

The tail end of the legend -- about additional policies being canceled -- is played for laughs (albeit weak ones) and has no basis in fact. A few years after the incident, however, Mountebank purchased a large Montana lemming farm and had its residents insured against suicide with results I'm sure you can puzzle out for yourself.

Summary

It seems highly unlikely that even the earliest version of the story was based on a real case. Even in the 1960's, it seems quite doubtful that an insurance policy would have been so poorly worded that the act of smoking a cigar in the normal way would have been considered by a court as a claimable fire. Moreover, the fact that the court ordered the insurance company to pay up means that the court did not find that the cigar smoker had committed a fraudulent act - no insurance company would be forced to pay if the claimant's actions had been deemed fraudulent. Therefore, the smoker could hardly be charged for arson for simply smoking his cigars in the intended manner.

Cigar Song

To give an old anecdotal story a new life, Brad Paisley converted it into The Cigar Song lyrics.

Well I'm a sucker for fine Cuban cigars
The problem is I can't afford 'em
But last year I went and got myself a whole box
And just to be safe I insured 'em

Chorus
I took out a policy against fire and theft
And then I on hurried home
With a fifty-cent lighter I sat on my back steps
And I smoked 'em one by one

Two weeks later I went to see that insurance man
And I handed in my claim
With a straight face I told him that through a series of small fires
They'd all gone up in flames

2nd Chorus
They reviewed my case and they had no choice
But to pay me for what I'd done
And I took that check and bought a whole new box
And I smoked 'em one by one

Two weeks later this detective shows up
Tells me that company's pressin' charges
One speedy trial later they locked me up
On twenty-four separate counts of arson

3rd Chorus
And now I sit and stare at a blank brick wall
Lookin' back on what I've done
To pass the time I've got some ten-cent cigars
And I smoke 'em one by one
Yeah, I smoke 'em one by one.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blcigar.htm

http://www.snopes.com/crime/clever/cigarson.asp

http://www.all-lies.com/legends/government/legal/cigararson.shtml

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/lawyer-cigar-arson.shtml

http://www.lyrics007.com/Brad%20Paisley%20Lyrics/The%20Cigar%20Song%20Lyrics.html

Harry “S-for nothing” Truman

2011-07-29T23:42:00.000-07:00

My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference.

Harry Truman

The United States presidential election of 1948 is considered by most historians as the greatest election upset in American history.

Harry Truman became our 33-rd president upon the death of President Franklin Roosevelt in 1945. Truman's presidency was considered a good one, rebuilding the United States, Japan and Europe after World War II, and the first to deal with the "Cold War."

In 1948, he was challenged by Thomas Dewey, a rather charismatic orator. Truman was a common man, and considered by many to be too boring and uninteresting to win re-election against Dewey. His advisers told him that not only was he boring, so was his name. Since President Roosevelt popularized using his middle initial — Franklin D. Roosevelt — so should Truman. The problem was, Harry had no middle name. His advisors chose the letter "S," believing "Harry S. Truman" had a nice ring to it.

During a news conference, a journalist asked what his middle initial "S" stood for. Truman answered honestly, "nothing." Thereafter, his unofficial campaign slogan became "Vote for Harry S-for-nothing Truman."

Being more accurate, the S as the middle letter was not invented from scratch, since it was indeed given to Harry Truman at birth, he just never actually used it before the public presidential campaign. In Truman's autobiography, he stated, "I was named for...Harrison Young. I was given the diminutive Harry and, so that I could have two initials in my given name, the letter S. was added. My Grandfather Truman's name was Anderson Shippe Truman and my Grandfather Young's name was Solomon Young, so I received the S for both of them."

On the eve of the election, Gallup polls showed Truman would lose to Dewey by a large margin — so much so that the Chicago Daily Tribune declared "Dewey Defeats Truman" on its front page before the final vote was tallied. Actually, almost every prediction (with or without public opinion polls) indicated that incumbent President Harry S. Truman would be defeated by Republican Thomas E. Dewey.

However, Truman won, overcoming a three-way split in his own party. Truman's surprise victory was the fifth consecutive win for the Democratic Party in a presidential election. As a result of the 1948 congressional election, the Democrats would regain control of both houses of Congress. Thus, Truman's election confirmed the Democratic Party's status as the nation's majority party, a status it would retain until 1952.

The photo of Truman holding the Chicago paper above his head is legendary and documents one of the biggest journalistic blunders of the 20th century.

Harry "S-for-nothing" Truman, whether an intentional hoax or an accident, won him the election. This remained his nickname for the rest of his life.

Truman once joked that the S was a name, not an initial, and it should not have a period, but official documents and his presidential library all use a period. Furthermore, the Harry S. Truman Library has numerous examples of the signature written at various times throughout Truman's lifetime where his own use of a period after the "S" is conspicuous. The Associated Press Stylebook has called for a period after the S since the early 1960s, when Truman indicated he had no preference. The use of a period after his middle initial is not universal, however; the official White House biography does not use a period after his name.

Truman's bare initial caused an unusual slip when he first became President and had to take the oath of office. At a meeting in the Cabinet Room, Chief Justice Harlan Stone began reading the oath by saying "I, Harry Shipp Truman, ..."! (Truman responded using his actual name: "I, Harry S. Truman, ...")

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.dchieftain.com/news/70401-04-07-07.html

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/truman/truman.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1948

http://askville.amazon.com/real-story-president-Harry-Truman/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=382575

Benjamin Franklin and Indian Savages

2011-07-16T15:39:00.000-07:00

Historical Background

Benjamin Franklin stands tall among a small group of men we call our Founding Fathers. Ben used his diplomacy skills to serve his fellow countrymen. His role in the American Revolution was not played out on the battlefields like George Washington, but rather in the halls and staterooms of governments. While he can be seen on our $100 bill, contrary to what many people believe, he was never president of the United States. He was far too busy to take on a job like that.

Politics became more of an active interest for Franklin in the 1750s. In 1757, he went to England to represent Pennsylvania in its fight with the descendants of the Penn family over who should represent the Colony. He remained in England to 1775, as a Colonial representative not only of Pennsylvania, but of Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts as well.

Later, Franklin was elected to the Second Continental Congress and worked on a committee of five that helped to draft the Declaration of Independence. Though much of the writing is Thomas Jefferson's, much of the contribution is Franklin's. In 1776 Franklin signed the Declaration, and afterward sailed to France as an ambassador to the Court of Louis XVI.

The French loved Franklin. He was the man who had tamed lightning, the humble American who dressed like a backwoodsman but was a match for any wit in the world. He spoke French, though stutteringly. He was a favorite of the ladies. Several years earlier his wife Deborah had died, and Benjamin was now a notorious flirt.

In part via Franklin's popularity, the government of France signed a Treaty of Alliance with the Americans in 1778. Franklin also helped secure loans and persuade the French they were doing the right thing. Franklin was on hand to sign the Treaty of Paris in 1783, after the Americans had won the Revolution.

Benjamin Franklin and Supplement to the Boston Independent Chronicle

Being deeply involved in the overseas diplomatic activities, Benjamin Franklin was preparing the public opinion for the Americans fighting for Independence. At some point, he has become deeply troubled by Britain's alliances with, and arming and training of, Iroquoian peoples for the explicit purpose of attacking colonial settlers and American militia indiscriminately.

This was a strategy that Britain had used with success during the wars against the French in North America during the 1740s to 1750s. The strategy, in other words, was one from which the colonists had at one time benefited. Franklin was well aware of the centrality of the Iroquois to any sense of security on the part of the colonists living in New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Although he knew and understood the reasons why the military administration was attempting to break the colonists (not to mention the Iroquois) by enlisting Iroquoian groups to support Britain, he also understood that the real-life effects of the war against the colonists were not being brought home to Britons in England, many of whom did not take the colonists' grievances very seriously.

Franklin used his creativity as a manipulative diplomat, framing reality to best serve the purpose of revolutionary success. In 1782, he printed the fake newspaper, Supplement to the Boston Independent Chronicle, where he published a fabricated letter showing out that Indian warriors, working for the British crown, were sending hundreds of American scalps back to the Monarchy as war trophies. The scalps included those of women, as well as young boys and girls.

The scalping letter in the Supplement reveals an effort to bring home a sense of the cruelty of the bloodshed of war, along with the dastardliness of the British policy of inciting groups of the Iroquois to kill colonists in undefended areas. His ultimate goal was to secure reparations for American Britons who suffered personal and property losses as a result of British-sponsored invasions and attacks.

The "scalping" hoax is a purported letter from a Captain Samuel Gerrish, of the New England militia, to his commander, reporting on the booty taken in a recent capture of British military goods. This New Englander reports being horrified that one James Craufurd, in the British service, was attempting to transmit to England, "at the Request of the Senneka Chiefs," a large package including "eight Packs of [colonists'] Scalps, cured, dried, hooped and painted, with all the Indian triumphal Marks," detailed carefully as to how and where the scalps were taken, how they are marked in the package, and the relative age of the people thus taken. In grisly but interestingly dispassionate articulation, some of the torments are elucidated in the supposed Seneca orator's speech recorded by Craufurd.

For instance, included in packet "No. 1," the Seneca leader asserts, are "43 Scalps of Congress Soldiers killed in different Skirmishes; these are stretched on black Hoops, 4 Inches diameter; the inside of the Skin painted red, with a small black Spot to note their being killed with Bullets. Also 62 of Farmers, killed in their Houses; the Hoops red; the Skin painted brown, and marked with a Hoe; a black Circle all round, to denote their being surprised in the Night; and a black Hatchet in the Middle, signifying their being killed with that Weapon."

Franklin’s articles were so psychologically moving that they shocked European public opinion and encouraged aid to the American war effort. Franklin’s ploys were particularly effective in acquiring the public support in Britain, France, and also the support of the Spanish king who provided all money, weapons, and even military assistance for Americans to win the Civil War.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://stillwaggingthedog.blogspot.com/2011/07/hoax-from-trojan-horse-to-american.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7707/is_200812/ai_n32312423/pg_4/?tag=mantle_skin;content

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_supplement_to_the_boston_independent_chronicle/

http://fi.edu/franklin/statsman/statsman.html

http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/index.htm

Queen Elizabeth and George W Bush

2011-07-04T11:22:00.000-07:00

Story

At Heathrow Airport in England, a 300-foot red carpet was stretched out to Air Force One and President Bush strode to a warm but dignified handshake from Queen Elizabeth II. They rode in silver 1934 Bentley to the edge of central London where they boarded an open 17th century coach hitched to six magnificent white horses.

As they rode toward Buckingham Palace, each looking to their side and waving to the thousands of cheering Britons lining the streets, all was going well. This was indeed a glorious display of pageantry and dignity. Suddenly the scene was shattered when the right rear horse let rip the most horrendous, earth-shattering, eye-smarting blast of flatulence, and the coach immediately filled with noxious fumes.

Uncomfortable, but maintaining control, the two dignitaries did their best to ignore the whole incident, but then the Queen decided that was a ridiculous manner with which to handle a most embarrassing situation. She turned to Mr. Bush and explained, "Mr. President, please accept my regrets. I'm sure you understand that there are some things even a Queen cannot control."

George W., ever the Texas gentleman, replied, "Your Majesty, please don't give the matter another thought. You know, if you hadn't said something I would have assumed it was one of the horses."

Comments

This much is true: In November 2003, President G.W. Bush paid a formal state visit to England, where he stayed at Buckingham Palace, banqueted with Queen Elizabeth II and speechified alongside Prime Minister Tony Blair on behalf of U.S.-British solidarity. At no point did Mr. Bush accompany the Queen in a horse-drawn carriage, however, let alone misspeak himself in the manner quoted above. This charming anecdote, which circulated widely in the wake of Bush's ceremonial trip, is not only apocryphal; it is, in fact, a joke, and an old one at that.

"[A] tale is told," New Zealand columnist Duncan Campbell recently wrote, "of an elderly British royal of last century alighting from a carriage when the horse suddenly produced a ripsnorter. 'Sorry about that, ma'am,' said the coachman. 'That's quite all right,' responded Her Highness. 'I thought it was the horse.'"

As Campbell's version of the vintage quip illustrates, it can be told in more ways than one, though the standard set-up calls for a visiting head of state riding in the company of a royal personage, as above, or as in this example:

Did you ever hear about the time Queen Elizabeth had to share her horse-drawn carriage with Idi Amin, and one of the horses farted very loudly?Queenie voice: "So sorry about that, you must excuse us"Idi Amin, grinning like mad (well, he WAS): "That's all right, Your Majesty, these things happen. I thought it was the horse."

Among the Queen's alleged coach companions in variants handed down through the years have been the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Prime Minister of Australia, the Prime Minister of Canada, Emperor Bokassa of the Central African Republic, and sundry other dignitaries foreign and domestic. Nor was G.W. Bush the first American President to be singled out as the butt of it. The following version collected on the Internet, for instance, cites Bush's immediate predecessor:

One day President Clinton was visiting Queen Elizabeth and she decided to take him for a tour of London in the Royal Carriage. Now the carriage was being pulled by six Royal Stallions and one of them suddenly passed gas. It sounded like a twenty one gun salute it was so loud. The smell permeated the inside of the carriage and the Queen was totally devastated."I apologize profusely for the terrible smell inside the carriage", she said."Oh, that's alright", said the President, for a minute there I thought it was the horse."

And this variant names Ronald Reagan:

The Queen of England decides she wants a Kentucky thoroughbred in the royal stable, so she calls President Reagan, who decides to meet her in Lexington, Kentucky.When they get there, they decide to go for a ride. They're just pulling out of the barn when the Queen's horse's tail goes up and "Lbbttt!" — out comes a monstrous fart.The Queen says, "I'm so embarrassed!"Reagan says, "You shouldn't be! I thought it was the horse!"

In spite of the fact that it is so often framed as such, the joke isn't fundamentally about the commission of an incourtesy in the presence of royalty. Rather, it shines a light on phenomena far more universal and mundane: human inhibitions pertaining to certain dread bodily functions. We find the motif rendered in its most basic form in the 1972 Patrick O'Brian novel Post Captain, in which a drunken midshipman named Babbington transports a plainspoken lady in the back of his horse-drawn cart:

The horse slowed to a walk — the bean-fed horse, as it proved by a thunderous, long, long fart."I beg your pardon," said the midshipman in silence."Oh, that's all right," said Diana coldly. "I thought it was the horse."

I leave you with an actual paragraph from the obituary of Brigadier Sir Gregor MacGregor, 23rd Chief of Clan Gregor, published in the Daily Telegraph, April 15, 2003:

A good horseman, MacGregor was once passing in front of the band when his mount noisily broke wind. "Sorry about that, Brigade of Drums," he called out. "That's all right, sir," a piper retorted. "We thought it was the horse."

Sources and Additional Information:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/humor/ss/Funny-Stories-Urban-Legends_11.htm

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_gw_queen.htm

http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=96;t=000289;p=0

Platinum Weird – the greatest band that never existed

2011-06-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Platinum Weird is a musical collaboration formed in 2004 between Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and Kara DioGuardi (American Idol judge). It is also the subject of an elaborate hoax placing the band in 1974, including a half hour mockumentary produced for television network VH1 and a series of bogus World Wide Web fan sites and related false documents for the “lost” group.

How was it? Simply, Dave and Kara got together to write some songs for the Pussycat Dolls. Somehow, it resulted in songs that sounded like Fleetwood Mac. You can see how two wouldn’t exactly mesh. Instead of scrapping the whole thing, Interscope Records chairman Jimmy Iovine told them to forge ahead with what they were doing. This involved creating a band to go with the songs and a making a whole backstory about what the band did in the ‘70s and how they eventually collapsed. A bunch of artists were in on the joke as well, recording clips reminiscing about the greatness of Platinum Weird. Contributors included Ringo Starr, Mick Jagger, Stevie Nicks and Christina Aguilera. When Rock Legends, a Behind the Music-type show, appeared on VH1, the network came clean about the band’s origins (or lack thereof).

The created backstory is that in 1973, Dave Stewart formed a band called Platinum Weird in North London with his female songwriting partner, muse and soul mate, Erin Grace. The pair originally met a few months earlier and formed a creative and spiritual bond. Their debut gig was at Mick Jagger’s birthday party where they quickly enjoyed a cult-like status performing at intimate gigs in London’s rock club circuit. Elton John’s Rocket label decided to sign them. Says Stewart: “Platinum Weird formed at the end of 1973 and only lasted until the end of 1974. I was still meant to be in the band Longdancer – signed to Rocket Records – but I met Erin and decided to form a band with her. I played Elton John ‘Platinum Weird’ songs secretly on a cassette, and he agreed that it would be a good idea for me to hook up with Erin instead of Longdancer, and eventually signed Platinum Weird.” Erin’s behavior during the making of the album was unpredictable and eccentric and then disappeared.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/40903

http://www.hiponline.com/2766/platinum-weird-interview.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platinum_Weird

http://www.imwan.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7525&p=617144

How Neil Armstrong converted to Islam?

2011-05-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

“ As soon as Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon, he heard the Moslem call of Ezan (call to prayer) as ‘Allah-hu-akber’ then, he said: ‘the real religion in the whole world is only Islam and immediately he became Moslem!” (From Message Board).

"When Neil Armstrong and co. walked on the moon, they heard sounds in a strange language they did not understand. ‘When Neil Armstrong went to Egypt, he heard the adhan, and said, “it was spacey something similar I heard while I was on the moon". Egyptian Friend told him that, it was the sound of Azaan (call for Muslim prayer). And Neil Armstrong immediately became Muslim because of this experience.” (From Wikislam).

Among the many rumors circulating in the Islamic world, the claim that Neil Armstrong, the famous Astronaut, has become a Muslim seems to be one that will never die.

Here are more posts from the newsgroups on the topic:

Salam, I heard that when he went to the moon he heard the Athan (call for prayer), so he heard it again on earth and he became a Muslim, I read an article that he lives in Lebanon now (my country) and his neighbors say he doesn't talk to anyone... He could have been so famous the second man on the moon is still famous now, but Neil decided to live like this. Alah aalam (god knows). If anyone else knows about him I’d like to know more. Wassalam.

Asalam-alaikum, what I've heard (some time ago, in this group) is that Neil Armstrong went to Egypt, heard the adhan, said it was spacey" in an interview. And somehow, that got turned into a rather nice story about how he heard some strange sound when he was up in space, eventually found out that it was the adhan, and became Muslim because of the experience. Salam.

The rumors were so strong at the time, that the official statement had to be released. The following statement was authorized by Mr. Armstrong, speaking on his behalf.

NEIL A. ARMSTRONG

LEBANON, OHIO 45036

July 14, 1983

Mr. Phil Parshall Director

Asian Research Center

International Christian

Fellowship 29524 Bobrich

Livonia, Michigan 48152

Dear Mr. Parshall:

Mr. Armstrong has asked me to reply to your letter and to thank you for the courtesy of your inquiry.

The reports of his conversion to Islam and of hearing the voice of Adzan on the moon and elsewhere are all untrue.

Several publications in Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries have published these reports without verification. We apologize for any inconvenience that this incompetent journalism may have caused you.

Subsequently, Mr. Armstrong agreed to participate in a telephone interview, reiterating his reaction to these stories. I am enclosing copies of the United States State Department's communications prior to and after that interview.

Sincerely

Vivian White, Administrative Aide

Furthermore, a following statement by the US State Department sent to all embassies and consulates in the Islamic world:

P 04085 0Z MAR 83 ZEX

FM SECSTATE WASHD C

TO ALL DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS PRIORITY

UNCLAS STATE 056309

FOLLOWING REPEAT SENT ACTION ALL EAST ASIAN AND

PACIFIC DIPLOMATIC POSTS DTD MAR 02.

QUOTE: UNCLAS STATE 056309

E.O. 12356: N/A

TAGS: PREL, PGOV, US, ID

SUBJECT: ALLEGED CONVERSION OF NEIL ARMSTRONG TO ISLAM

---------------------------------------------

REF: JAKARTA 3281 AND 2374

1. FORMER ASTRONAUT NEIL ARMSTRONG, NOW IN PRIVATE BUSINESS, HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF PRESS REPORTS IN EGYPT, MALAYSIA AND INDONESIA (AND PERHAPS ELSEWHERE) ALLEGING HIS CONVERSION TO ISLAM DURING HIS LANDING ONTHE MOON IN 1969. AS A RESULT OF SUCH REPORTS, ARMSTRONG HAS RECEIVED COMMUNICATIONS FROM INDIVIDUALS AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS, AND A FEELER FROM AT LEAST ONE GOVERNMENT, ABOUT HIS POSSIBLE PARTICIPATION IN ISLAMIC ACTIVITIES.

2. WHILE STRESSING HIS STRONG DESIRE NOT TO OFFEND ANYONE OR SHOW DISRESPECT FOR ANY RELIGION, ARMSTRONG HAS ADVISED DEPARTMENT THAT REPORTS OF HIS CONVERSION TO ISLAM ARE INACCURATE.

3. IF POST RECEIVE QUERIES ON THIS MATTER, ARMSTRONG REQUESTS THAT THEY POLITELY BUT FIRMLY INFORM QUERYING PARTY THAT HE HAS NOT CONVERTED TO ISLAM AND HAS NO CURRENT PLANS OR DESIRE TO TRAVEL OVERSEAS TO PARTICIPATE IN ISLAMIC RELIGOUS ACTIVITIES.

Comments

This rumor perhaps was first started sometimes in early 1980’s and since then, this rumor was surfacing every other month or so on the Islamic newsgroup, making more colorful fake stories to make it more convincing to ordinary Muslims all over the world. This wishful mullahs spread this rumor to compensate the tremendous insult they felt first, when an American “Kafir” set his feet on the moon and has made the “Pabitra Cha’nd” A’pabitra (impure) . After a brief period of their insult/injury because of this unimaginable (at least by Muslims) episode, these wishful mullahs made-up this rumor simply to boast/rejuvenate Islam and to keep ‘Darma Bebosha’ alive.

Strangely enough, this rumor still goes round and round in the Islamic world, over a decade after it has been denied over and over again. Not only in mouth to mouth propaganda but it is even spread by Muslim radio stations. But the modern version of this hoax has more details and is more convincing for people.

Here is how the current version of the rumor looks:

Armstrong and his two fellow astronauts, Aldrin and Collins, saw an object on the Moon’s horizon, which looked like an open book, and then they heard some mysterious “music.” They reported this back to Earth. At first, no one on Earth believed them: how could there be a book on the Moon and music in airless space? But the “music” was also heard on Earth over the radio transmission, and the “book” was photographed.

It is believed that the book the astronauts saw on the Moon is the prototype of the earthly Koran that exists in the heavens.

But all this information was classified.

In February 1983, fourteen years after his flight to the Moon, Astronaut Neil Armstrong went to Egypt to participate in a scientific conference. During the meeting, the azan sounded. Armstrong, sitting in the presidium, went pale and asked: “What is that music?” Surprised by the astronaut’s behavior, the conference participants explained that it was the Muslim call to prayer. “That voice. That’s what I heard when I first stepped on the Moon, hearing it is giving me goose bumps!… O Allah! I found You not on Earth, but on the Moon!… I stepped onto the Moon without praying, but now I will pray, you can consider me a Muslim.” So the first person to walk on the Moon, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, became a Muslim.

Later a NASA employee, who recorded all the conversations between the spaceship and Earth during the astronauts’ time on the Moon, declassified this information by allowing the public to listen to the tape.

The same website goes into full details:

Astronaut Aldrin: “We can see some object that looks like an open book. Right above the Sea of Tranquility (Mare Tranquillitatis).”

Astronaut Armstrong: “It looks like two rings, or to be more exact, like an open book.”

Astronaut Collins: “I changed the position of the sextant, now we can clearly see that it is shaped like a book.”

Observation from Earth: “What are you talking about, how can there be a book on the Moon?”

The voices were recorded on tape. The next day the book disappeared, however some external interference constantly jammed the radio transmission, a sound kept breaking in similar to the siren of a fire engine.

Collins: “Earth, can you hear me, get rid of the interference, that siren, or I’ll go deaf…”

Earth: “That sound is not coming from Earth, it’s coming from without, are you sure there isn’t another ship there besides yours?”

Armstrong: “And now some music has started, Earth, are you going to get rid of the music or not?”

Earth: “Everything here is in working order. The music is coming from you.”

Aldrin: “What nonsense! Can we agree or not? That music is coming from you!”

* * *

The next day, Armstrong went onto the Moon again. “The Eagle has landed!” he said with emotion. A person was walking on the Moon for the first time. Suddenly the sound like a siren was heard again. But this time (this is all recorded on tape), the following words were heard: “RABBI-EL ARDZ-DINI ENDAHU-IZA-KUN-ALIM.”

Earth: “Hey, who’s talking?”

Armstrong was walking on the Moon at this time. Again the sound of music was heard: “Ashgadu ala illaga illallag.” (I testify – there is no God but Allah.)

Earth: “UFOs again? What were the words in that music?”

Collins: “Ashan mahatma rasamballa…,” something like that. Sounds like Indian…”

Armstrong: “I heard it (the Arabian prayer presented above. – Ed.) to the end. It somehow makes you feel good. I think it’s from African radio stations…”

Aldrin: “I changed the frequency, the same sound again. It’s coming from the Moon. It’s not a radio wave. It’s something hard to believe.”

Earth: “What, have you all gone crazy up there? How can there be sound in airless space?” Collins: “So what is it then? UFOs?”

Armstrong: “Can UFOs be shaped like books?”

Earth: “A strange indisposition. Or some space wave? It’s obvious that the voices, sounds, are all figments of your imagination?”

Armstrong: “You can’t take pictures of figments! You can’t record an imaginary voice on tape!”

Earth: “Alright, but how can sound spread in airless space?”

Sometime later, the astronauts returned to Earth. The cassettes were listened to again. In the meantime, consultations were held with Al-Baz, NASA’s executive secretary. He gave an explanation of the “music” heard on the Moon, declaring it to be a holy saying in Arabic.

Much time passed, and Warden, an Apollo 16 astronaut, heard the same “saying.”

What is more, while photographing the Earth in infrared rays, he picked up something akin to the aura of our planet, which looks like the Arabic inscription of the Creator’s name – Allah.

This photograph, which was published in “National Geographic,” has traveled around the whole world.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.answering-islam.org/Hoaxes/neil.html

http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/skm/neil_armstrong.htm

http://ajnorge.0catch.com/English/NeilArmstrong.htm

http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2006/09/16/was-neil-armstrong-the-first-muslim-on-the-moon.htm

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2008/08/some-muslims-believe-that-astronauts.html

Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity

2011-04-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

But why did I do it? I confess that I'm an unabashed Old Leftist who never quite understood how deconstruction was supposed to help the working class. And I'm a stodgy old scientist who believes, naively, that there exists an external world, that there exist objective truths about that world, and that my job is to discover some of them. --Allan Sokal

In its 1996 Spring/Summer issue (pp. 217-252), Social Text journal published an article by Allan Sokal, Professor of Physics at New York University, entitled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity." The article was a hoax submitted, according to Sokal, to see "would a leading journal of cultural studies publish an article liberally salted with nonsense if (a) it sounded good and (b) it flattered the editors' ideological preconceptions?" It would. Needless to say, the editors of Social Text were not pleased.

Sokal claims that the editors, had they been scrupulous and intellectually competent, would have recognized from the first paragraph of his essay that it was a parody. The physicist says he was "troubled by an apparent decline in the standards of intellectual rigor in certain precincts of the American academic humanities." The hoax was his way of calling attention to this decline.

At that time, the journal did not practice academic peer review and did not submit the article for outside expert review by a physicist. The journal's editorial collective did, however, express concerns to Sokal about the piece, and requested changes, which Sokal refused to make. Wishing to include the work of a physicist, the editors decided to accept the article on the basis of Sokal's credentials. On its date of publication (May 1996), Sokal revealed in Lingua Franca that the article was a hoax, identifying it as "a pastiche of Left-wing cant, fawning references, grandiose quotations, and outright nonsense . . . structured around the silliest quotations [by postmodernist academics] he could find about mathematics and physics". Needless to say that after the Sokal Hoax, Social Text established an article peer review process.

To the extent that Sokal’s article is readable, it makes a grandly silly argument about the political implications of quantum gravity. Among other ludicrous assertions, the article claims that physical reality does not exist, that the laws of physics are social constructs, and that feminism has implications for mathematical set theory.

In his own words, in this article, Sokal attacks "the dogma imposed by the long post-Enlightenment hegemony over the Western intellectual outlook" that there is an external world governed by laws of nature which we can understand imperfectly using the scientific method. He also claims that "physical 'reality' ... is at bottom a social and linguistic construct." Furthermore, he says, “Throughout the article, I employ scientific and mathematical concepts in ways that few scientists or mathematicians could possibly take seriously. For example, I suggest that the "morphogenetic field'' -- a bizarre New Age idea due to Rupert Sheldrake -- constitutes a cutting-edge theory of quantum gravity. This connection is pure invention; even Sheldrake makes no such claim. I assert that Lacan's psychoanalytic speculations have been confirmed by recent work in quantum field theory. Even nonscientist readers might well wonder what in heavens' name quantum field theory has to do with psychoanalysis; certainly my article gives no reasoned argument to support such a link. In sum, I intentionally wrote the article so that any competent physicist or mathematician (or undergraduate physics or math major) would realize that it is a spoof. Evidently the editors of Social Text felt comfortable publishing an article on quantum physics without bothering to consult anyone knowledgeable in the subject”.

Such lax editing might be expected in a New Age magazine, where preposterous and unfounded claims about paranormal "energies" being validated by quantum mechanics are commonplace. But Sokal thinks we should expect more of a prestigious journal edited by distinguished scholars in the humanities. But why did he pick on this particular journal?

Sokal hoaxed Social Text for political reasons. Both are "leftist" politically, but Sokal considers the New Left to be guilty of "epistemic relativism." He seems particularly peeved that the New Left promotes the notion that reality is a social construction. Furthermore, the New Left has created "a self-perpetuating academic subculture that typically ignores (or disdains) reasoned criticism from the outside." So, apparently Sokal wanted to criticize the "epistemic relativism" and "social constructivism" of the New Left in a New Left journal but felt the only way they would let him do so would be if he pretended to share their ideology.

Many have pointed out the profound implications of this hoax. At the very least, articles should be reviewed by experts in the field covered by the article. Sources and references named in the article should be checked by the editors.

Above all, however, the Sokal hoax demonstrates how willing we are to be deceived about matters we believe strongly in. We are likely to be more critical of articles which attack our position than we are of those which we think supports it. This tendency to confirmation bias affects physicists as well as professors in the social sciences and the humanities.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.skepdic.com/sokal.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair

http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/transgress_v2/transgress_v2_singlefile.html

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1875673/posts

http://www.worldsstrangest.com/mental-floss/4-of-history%E2%80%99s-greatest-hoaxes/

Psychic Surgery in Philippines: Miracle or Fraud?

2011-03-31T22:57:00.000-07:00

Psychic Surgery – Historic Evidence

In 1565, a Spanish Priest/Explorer Pedro Chirino describes the earliest reference to the therapeutic use of sleight-of-hand in the Philippines. Chirino writes, "He (the sorcerer) placed one end of the hollow bamboo upon the affected part while through the other end he sucked up the air; then, he let fall some pebbles from his mouth pretending they had been extracted from the affected spot." Chirino continues, "In times of sickness, these men were at there best, because in times of sickness they (the patients) were ready to venerate anyone who could give or at least promise to obtain a remedy for them." In 1588, an English explorer named Cavendish writes, "The priests of these tribes were known as Catalona in the North, and Babailan in the Visayas. They were the sorcerers or medicine men, and rude beyond measure was their art in curing, consisting generally of the imaginary extraction of pebbles, leaves, and pieces of cane from the afflicted part."

Psychic Surgery – Our Days

Psychic surgery is found in parts of Africa, South America and Indonesia, but only in the Philippines is it practiced in such a massive scale that it attracts foreigners. Many thousands of sick seemed to have made the trip, driven by the desperate hope that by some magic or miracle performed by the Philippine “healer “ the cause of their decease can be removed.

What is psychic surgery? Jaime Licauco, a Philippino authority on the subject of psychic healing, describes it as: “a special process of healing performed by a spiritist group popularly known as faith healers. The process usually involves painless, barehanded intervention into the human body, the removal of diseased tissues, tumors or growths and the closing of the incision leaving hardly any trace of the operation.”

In the book entitled "Into the Strange Unknown," written in 1957 by reporters Ron Ormond and Ormond McGill, are the first references to what would later be termed "psychic surgery." Ron Ormond used the term "fourth dimensional operations" to describe the paranormal healing work of Eleuterio Terte, whom Ormond refers to as a "fourth dimensional surgeon."

Ormond tells us, "A patient suffering from what had been diagnosed as a gall stone lay on the table, abdomen bared. Terte’s thumb and forefinger of his right hand sunk out of sight into the flesh. As his fingers disappeared within the man, the choir commenced their singing, stopping only when the healer’s hands emerged with the gall stone, which dropped into the waiting jar of alcohol." He continues saying, "In each operation, there was seemingly no pain, no bleeding, no open wound of any kind."

Overwhelmed by what they had seen, the reporters interviewed the patients. They told them that, "God had performed the miracle, using the man, Terte, as His instrument." Terte confirmed this observation saying, "I can do nothing unless the power of the Spirit Protector is within me." On their way back to Manila, the reporters discussed the amazing events they had witnessed. Ormond asked McGill, "What is your verdict?" McGill replied, "Either that man is working miracles or he’s the greatest magician that ever lived."

In conclusion Ron Ormond summarized, "I, and McGill, still don’t know what to think; but we have motion pictures to show it wasn’t the work of any normal magician, and could very well be just what the Filipinos said it was – a miracle of God performed by a fourth dimensional surgeon."

Lacking any understanding of the religious beliefs and spiritual practices of the "fourth dimensional surgeons," well meaning but misinformed parapsychologists, attempted to define what they had witnessed. The very term "psychic surgery" coined by the writer Harold Sherman, inferred that the spiritual healing practices of the Filipinos, derived from their religious practices, were equivalent in some way to the surgical procedures of Western medicine.

This supposition aroused the ire of Western doctors and set into motion a concerted effort on the part of the Western medical profession to prove that "psychic surgery" was a fraudulent and deceitful form of medical quackery. On close examination, it became apparent that in addition to the genuine miracles that had been thoroughly documented, some of the "psychic surgeons" were simulating the "operations" with a sophisticated and innovative form of sleight-of-hand.

Debunking Hoax

How genuine is psychic surgery? There is ample evidence that this type of “healing” is dangerous. The promoters of psychic surgery prey upon and exploit the frustrations, the hopes and the longings of the seriously ill.

In 1974, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Senate Subcommittee on Health and Long Term Care held hearings on psychic surgery. In these hearings, the FTC heard the testimonies of 48 witnesses and reviewed 134 exhibits. According to these witnesses, the Filipino healers had defrauded their patients by palming small plastic bags, which contained blood and tissue. The witnesses maintained that the Filipino healers were defrauding their patients by producing these plastic bags in sleight-of-hand simulations of surgery. Working from the premise that Filipino healers were impersonating surgeons, thereby practicing medicine illegally, police began setting up sting operations in order to prosecute them.

In a 1974 lawsuit, the Federal Trade Commission also challenged the advertising ethics and practices of a number of US travel agencies promoting psychic surgery. The court prohibited four travel agencies and seven individuals from promoting and selling trips to the Philippines for “psychic surgery.” It was found to be pure “fakery” and “a fraud accomplished by the deception and trickery of the ‘psychic surgeons’ “. The respondent travel agencies were also required to send a warning to all people who had purchased trips from them for “psychic surgery.”

In 1984, Congressional hearings chaired by Claude Pepper reviewed the files of five governmental agencies. These agencies included the FTC, American Cancer Society, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health & Human Sciences, and The American Medical Society. This four-year review led to the conclusion that they ‘could find no evidence that psychic surgery was effective.’

In 1986, the arrest and prosecution of psychic surgeons began in earnest. Gary and Terry Magno were arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, and charged with the fraudulent practice of medicine. They posted bail and immediately fled back to the Philippines. In 1987, Jose Bugarin was arrested in Sacramento, California, for cancer quackery, illegal practice of medicine. He was sentenced to nine months in prison. In 1989, Placido Palitayan was arrested and prosecuted in Oregon for the illegal practice of medicine. In 1991, immigration officials arrested Terry Magno in the Philippines, and deported her back to the United States to stand trial. Mrs. Magno faced 17 counts of fraud and one of conspiracy in connection with the 1986 charges of practicing psychic surgery in Arizona.

Placebo Effect

While the persecution of the Filipino healers was getting into gear, the Institute of Noetic Sciences published a report on aspects of the placebo effect that were known only to a select group of medical researchers. One of the topics covered in the report was the little known subject of placebo surgery. In the 1950s, several American doctors conducted an experiment designed to determine the merits of the surgical procedure for angina pectoris. In the experiment, three of five patients received the operation. The other two were merely placed under anesthesia, and given a surface incision, which was then sutured. Once awakened, the five patients were monitored during their recovery from the operations. To the amazement of the physicians, a significant percentage of the patients who had received placebo operations were cured. In 1961, Dr. Henry Beecher reviewed two double-blind studies of the placebo operations. These studies convincingly demonstrated that the actual operation produced no greater benefit than the placebo operation. In a separate study conducted by Dr. Leonard Cobb and his associates, placebo surgery proved to be more effective than the real thing. Cobb reported that fully 43% of the patients who received placebo surgery reported both subjective and objective improvement. In the patients who had received the real operation, only 32% reported satisfactory results. What this research established is that the mere form (metaphor) of surgical procedures can produce the same results as the actual surgical procedures.

Conclusion

Check the video, debunking the fraud:

In spite of the scientific evidence that the psychic surgery is a fraud, there is still a big question how come it has gained so much popularity among civilized and educated Europeans and Americans. Only because of the last chance hope? Or there were indeed multiple cases presenting the factual evidence f miraculous curing? Can everything be explained by the placebo effect?

Having critical mind, I do not believe in miracles. But, if there was many people, who get better from this procedure, no matter what it was – real miracle or placebo – maybe, just maybe, there is something more than old magician tricks? Definitely, we should not put terminally ill patients in arms of the medical fraudsters, but how we can keep their hope for miraculous recovery alive?

What do you think?

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.brighthub.com/science/medical/articles/19351.aspx

http://www.reformedreflections.ca/studies/psychic-surgery.pdf

http://www.metamind.net/enigmaipsysur.html

http://www.benatural.org/psychic-surgery.html

Remarkable and True Story about Larry Walters - "Lawn Chair Pilot"

2011-03-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

The Dreams of Youth...

Born Lawrence Richard Walters in April of 1949, Larry had always dreamed of flying. At the age of 13, on a visit to an Army-Navy surplus store, he saw several empty weather balloons hanging from the store's ceiling, and thought that it would be an interesting way to attain flight. But a more practical way, learning to fly an airplane, was much more reasonable. Nevertheless, the method was filed away in Walters' subconscious.

When he came of age, he enlisted in the United States Air Force, with the hope of finally learning to fly. However, it was discovered that he had poor eyesight - killing his flight career before it could even begin.

After leaving the Air Force, Walters began to hatch his plan. It called for him to attach a couple of helium-filled weather balloons to a lawn chair, then cut away an anchor, and float above his backyard at a height of about 30 feet for a couple of hours. The flight would end when he would use a pellet gun to pop the balloons, one after another, to gently return to the earth below.

Walters, 33, living in North Hollywood and working as a truck driver and deliveryman for a film production company, invested $4,000 in the project, purchasing nearly four dozen surplus weather balloons from California Toytime Balloons (under the guise of being for use in filming a television commercial), compressed helium cylinders, a sturdy aluminum lawn chair from Sears, and various other bits of equipment for the flight. Walters even learned how to skydive, and planned on wearing a parachute for the flight - just in case.

The night before the launch of a short "test flight" of the contraption, Walters and several friends met at the San Pedro home of Carol van Duesen, Larry's then-girlfriend. The crew inflated balloons throughout the night, and rigged together the chair and assorted equipment.

Launch Day

At 11 o'clock on the morning of July 2, 1982, Walters sat atop his lawn chair under his towering apparatus, christened "Inspiration I". Four tiers of helium-filled balloons, over 40 in total, rose tall above him. The flight "plan" called for Walters and his balloons to fly out over Long Beach, and 300 miles east, towards the Mojave Desert.

Walters was equipped with an altimeter, parachute, life jacket (in the event of a "water landing"), a 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola, a sandwich, and Citizen's Band (CB) walkie-talkie. He also had a BB-gun pistol to shoot the balloons and lower his altitude, and took a camera but would later admit to interviewers, "I was so amazed by the view, I didn't even take one picture."

Tethered to the ground via three lines tied off to the bumper of a Jeep, Walters waited with anticipation as the ropes were to be cut. But after Carol cut one of the tethers holding the craft earth-bound, the other two ropes snapped suddenly. The balloons, and Walters in his lawn chair, were rocketed skyward!

'The Best Laid Plans'...

His eyeglasses ripped from his face, Walters, a North Hollywood truck driver with no pilot or balloon training, was soaring upwards at an alarming rate, when he had expected to attain level flight at merely 100 feet above the ground.

Fearing that he might unbalance the load, he did not dare shoot any balloons with his pellet gun. Instead, he spent about two hours aloft and soared up to 16,000 feet -- over three miles high.

From San Pedro, Walters and his balloons began to drift over Long Beach, and crossed the primary approach corridor of Long Beach airport. Airlines pilot from both TWA and Delta reported seeing him to the control tower at Long Beach airport.

'Now on Final Approach...'

Knowing that this was possible, Walters used his CB radio and, using Channel 9 (the emergency CB radio channel), attempted to notify the tower. The conversation was recorded by the Crest-REACT (Radio Emergency Associated Communication Team) in Corona, California.

REACT: What information do you wish me to tell them [air traffic control] at this time as to your location and your difficulty?

Walters: Ah, the difficulty is, ah, this was an unauthorized balloon launch, and, uh, I know I'm in a federal airspace, and, uh, I'm sure my ground crew has alerted the proper authority. But, uh, just call them and tell them I'm okay.

In disbelief in what they are hearing, the crew at REACT asks further questions of Walters:

REACT: What color is the balloon?
Walters: The balloons are beige in color. I'm in a bright blue sky which would be very highly visible. Over.
REACT: [Balloon] size?
Walters: Size approximately, uh, seven feet in diameter each. And I probably have about 35 left. Over.
REACT: You're saying you have a cluster of 35 balloons??
Walters: These are 35 weather balloons. Not one single balloon, sir. It is 35 weather balloons.
REACT: Roger, stand by this frequency.

Shivering in the thin high-altitude air, he finally used his pellet gun to start popping balloons, in order to lower his altitude. However, Mr. Walters then lost his pistol overboard, and the chair drifted downward, controlled only by the gallon jugs of water attached to the sides as ballast. Descending, he aimed, as best he could, to land at the Virginia County Club in Long Beach. But, he descended short of the golf course, and headed into a residential neighborhood in Long Beach.

"The part that was scary was the last 300 feet (before landing), with the rooftops and telephone poles coming up so fast," Walters said. "I was praying that I wouldn't hit one of those power lines and be fried or sizzled." Walters said in a interview shortly after landing.

He dumped the gallon jugs of water tied to the chair to slow the gadget's landing but, on the way down, his balloons draped over a set of power lines. Left dangling five feet off of the ground, the police had to shut down electricity in the Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes in order for Walters to safely egress his wounded wonder, down and into the backyard of a house in Long Beach.

"By the grace of God, I fulfilled my dream. But I wouldn't do this again for anything."

Afterwards...

He was immediately arrested by waiting members of the Los Angeles Police Department. When asked by a reporter why he had done it, Walters replied "a man can't just sit around."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was initially baffled by the incident. The regional safety inspector, Neal Savoy, reportedly said "We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, some type of charge will be filed. If he had a pilot's license, we'd suspend that. But he doesn't." But Walters had been catapulted, unexpectedly and unprepared, from obscurity to national fame. For a time, Walters hired an agent to handle the deluge of interview requests. But for unexplained reasons, he decided that was a bad idea.

"No more agents," he said. "I am on my own. Everything happened so fast and so many people came to me saying, 'We're looking out for you.' I'm going to handle everything on my own now, one to one. To me, that's fair."

In December of 1982, Walters was accused by the FAA of committing several violations of the Federal Aviation Act, including operating a "civil aircraft for which there is not currently in effect an airworthiness certificate" and operating an aircraft within an airport traffic area "without establishing and maintaining two-way communications with the control tower." The resulting fines totaled $4,000.

Walters retorted with, "If the FAA was around when the Wright Brothers were testing their aircraft, they would never have been able to make their first flight at Kitty Hawk." Despite his punishment, Walters didn't rule out the possibility of another flight. "We've been looking at the Bahamas and a couple of other possibilities. It depends on whether or not I can get somebody to finance it, because I sure can't," he stated during an interview.

Walters appealed the violations, and admitted to only one of the charges (not establishing and maintaining two-way contact with the airport control tower). According to the FAA, "The flight was potentially unsafe, but Walters had not intended to endanger anyone". The fine was reduced to $1,500 in April of 1983.

Life After Flight...

Several of the deflated six-feet wide balloons were signed by Walters, and given to neighborhood children. The lawn chair used in Walters' flight was given to an local boy, although Walters later admitted he regretted doing so - the Smithsonian Institution asked him to donate it to the National Air & Space Museum. Also, according to Ballooning magazine, Walters had also inadvertently set a world altitude record for flight with gas-filled cluster balloons, breaking the old record of 3,740 feet, but it could not be officially recorded because his lawn chair lacked an altimeter with recording capabilities (and the fact that the flight was unsanctioned as a record attempt).

In a brief period of time, Walters toured as a motivational speaker after his flight. He quit his job as a truck driver, but never was able to make much money from his fame. Walters also received the "Bonehead of the Year" prize in February of 1983 from the "Bonehead Club" of Dallas for his misadventure, as well as accepted invitations to appear on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson, and "The Late Night with David Letterman".

In September of 1982, he told a reporter from the United Press that he vowed never to do it again, but a group of San Diego businessmen "have offered [him] a substantial sum of money" to fly a new lawn chair airship, to be called "The Spirit of San Diego." Evidentially, nothing even became of that venture.

However, it was not until 1992, when the Timex watch company recognized Larry Walters in an advertisement based on ’adventurous individuals,' that Walters "broke even" on the expensive stunt from ten years earlier.

But Walters never found happiness. Later on in his life, Walters hiked the San Gabriel Mountains and did volunteer work for the United States Forest Service.

On October 6th, 1993, at the age of 44, he hiked to his favorite spot in the Angeles National Forest, and shot himself in the heart. He left no suicide note.

His remains are interned at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills, in their Columbarium of Valor. He had no children, and is survived by his mother and two sisters.

Hero or Fool?

I will probably leave that as an open question, as everything depends on the point of view. Definitely, what he did was foolish and unsafe. But, still, I personally admire the guy who made his dream come true. Yes, it is crazy way, yes, it might be a bad example for next generation kids, who might not be so lucky to survive such adventure. But, still, if there would be no guys like Larry, the life would be dull and filled solely with pathetic adventures of Hollywood movies.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Walters-BalloonRide.htm

http://www.markbarry.com/lawnchairman.html

http://www.darwinawards.com/stupid/stupid1998-11.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Walters

Linda Brown Practical Joke: Riot at Burlington Coat Factory, Columbus, Ohio

2011-03-15T23:32:00.000-07:00

What would you do if a stranger came up and offered to buy you anything for up to $500?

Under normal circumstances you'd probably back away slowly or go for your pepper spray, since the alternative almost certainly involves starring in some videos that will shame you and your family forever. But if you were hearing it at a clothing store, from a woman who rolled up in a stretch Hummer limousine and claimed she'd just won the lottery, then you might be a little more receptive.

Well, that's exactly what happened at a Burlington Coat Factory in Columbus, Ohio, October 2009, where a woman named Linda Brown went to the cash register and announced she announced she had won $1.5 million in the lottery and would pay for each person's merchandise up to $500 purchases.

Her story though convinced the shoppers.

"I said, 'Are you sure?' said Carol Hubbard, who was inside the store. "I said, 'I can't pay you for this,' and she said, 'Honey, I've got $1.5 million and I have been used all of my life and mostly by my family members and this is just my turn to give back.'"

The offer was extended to every shopper at the store and not just for clothes.

"I said, 'I don't need the clothes,'" said Candace Jordan, a shopper. "I just need assistance with my rent and she said, 'How much is it?' and she promptly wrote out a cheque."

Customers predictably reacted to this generous offer by grabbing everything in the store they could get their hands on, as well as calling friends and family members to come get a piece of the charity action. The result was that 500 people crammed into the store, along with up to three times as many outside trying to get in. Oh, and two dozen police officers also showed up to try to control the crowd and/or score some sweet new coats.

Telling customers she had been abused by her family and that this was her chance to 'give back', the woman managed to ring up $5,000 on a debit card before hitting her card limit. After about an hour of letting people shop, Brown hopped into her limo and disappeared, claiming that she need to get to her bank to extract more cash. But, she never brought that cash, people hoped to.

When she returned - empty handed - store employees had phoned the police to handle the crowds. She left again in her limo - but police had discovered the truth, and told customers they had been duped.

So, like mature, responsible adults, customers accepted the fact that they had been tricked their own way. And by that we mean they rioted, damaged the store and ran off with tons of unpaid-for merchandise, which they figured was now theirs since a stranger who was not associated with the sellers in any way had told them they could have it. "Everybody was like, 'I still want my free stuff,' and that started the riot," one of the police officers said. "It looks like (Hurricane) Katrina went through the store."

As for Brown, no, she wasn't a millionaire, and the limo was rented. It turned out that it was hard for a pretend millionaire to pay $900 for a rented limo, so she was turned into the police. At least she got to travel there in style.

Brown was arrested on three outstanding warrants for aggravated menacing, misuse of a 911 system and causing false alarms.

She was jailed, but no charges had been filed against her related to the coat store chaos pending a mental health evaluation.

Sources and Additional Information:
http://www.cracked.com/article_18478_the-7-ballsiest-pranks-you-wont-believe-actually-worked.html

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/weird/linda-brown-told-shoppers-shed-won-15-million-in-lottery-and-would-pay-for-their-goods-causes-riot/story-e6frev20-1225787200031

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1220622/Woman-causes-riot-Burlington-Coat-Factory-lying-shed-won-lottery-wanted-spend-clothes-there.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/14/woman-pretends-to-win-lot_n_321761.html