Fact? Or Urban Legend

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I used to have friends that would forward every damn email rumour in the universe. snopes IS your friend! I would finf the particular rumour du jour and send them the link back. at least two of them have quite emailing me. oh well, that's ALL they ever emailed

I have a bunch of them that do that as well, and some have stopped after I kept pointing out that the stuff they were forwarding was false. Never a "thanks for letting me know", or anything of that sort, they just stopped sending them, which is fine since I have all that free time on my hands now.

Originally Posted by Mortis

I had the same problem, then I just told all my forwarding friends to please stop, or I would have to block their email address and to this day my mother has to phone instead of email

I actually did block my uncle. He used to forward every joke, internet rumor, quite a few of them seriously politically incorrect. One day I replied back to ask him how things were going, and about my cousins. I got no reply but continued to get the daily deluge of emails. A few days latter I tried again ... still not direct reply, just continued waste of time emails. I finally realized I was getting spammed by my uncle, I was on some giant mailing list and he just forwarded everything to everyone on the list.

So I blocked him! And haven't thought about changing it since. Especially since my mom (his sister) will forward me one of his occasionally, and it is still banal, bigoted, borderline racist crap he sent before.

Maybe I should have put this in the vent and rant thread...

[Fbone]

In the film 'Star Trek: First Contact', when Picard shows Lilly she is orbiting Earth, Australia and Papa New Guinea are clearly visible .. But New Zealand is missing.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Mortis

I just told all my forwarding friends to please stop, or I would have to block their email address and to this day my mother has to phone instead of email

Myth.

[Fbone]

In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down but only 6 people were injured

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Fbone

In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down but only 6 people were injured

Myth. More than half was destroyed, and there were certainly deaths due to the fire.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

One of my favorites quoted below;

On July 20, 1969, commander of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module, Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon. His first words after stepping on the moon, "That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind", were televised to Earth and heard by millions. But just before he re-entered the lander, he made the enigmatic remark:

"Good luck, Mr. Gorsky." Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs. Over the years many people questioned Armstrong as to what the "Good luck Mr. Gorsky" statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled. On July 5, 1995, in Tampa Bay, Florida, while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26 year old question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had died and so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question.

In 1938 when he was a kid in a small Midwest town, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hit a fly ball, which landed in his neighbor’s yard by the bedroom windows. His neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Gorsky.

As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky. "Sex! You want sex?! You’ll get sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!"

But.....is it true?

True! Oops....

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

[Fbone]

It is estimated that millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Fbone

It is estimated that millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.

That's why the peanut trees are growing in my yard!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Fbone

It is estimated that millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.

True, judging by the number of walnut seedlings that appear in my garden each year!

[orlok]

A man returned from shopping to find his car had been badly dented, and the culprit was no where in sight. As he got closer he felt relieved when he saw a note had been placed under his windshield-wiper. Laughing at himself for doubting the honesty of the average person, he pulled the note loose and read it, it said: "THE PEOPLE WATCHING ME THINK I'M LEAVING MY NAME AND ADDRESS, BUT I'M NOT."

True or False?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by orlok

"THE PEOPLE WATCHING ME THINK I'M LEAVING MY NAME AND ADDRESS, BUT I'M NOT."

True or False?

False.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

False.

Correct! Another urban myth...

[Mortis]

[orlok]

Does that prove it's true? Looks like a trick, methinks.

[Bikeridr]

Originally Posted by orlok

"THE PEOPLE WATCHING ME THINK I'M LEAVING MY NAME AND ADDRESS, BUT I'M NOT."

It most probably started out as an urban legend, but thanks to the internet information expressway, quite a few people get "bright" ideas.

In Norway, there have been plenty of these types of messages after the initial emerged on the 'net.