Wednesday, October 22, 2003
You can't win for losing, isn't that true in everything? No? Maybe I'm just feeling a bit cynical today. I made a lasagna yesterday, and was proud of it as it looked good (presentation is everything, right?) My son, who generally eats everything, devoured his portion last night and told me it was good. What's not to like, tomato sauce (my homemade brew), ricotta, meat and pasta. Come to think of it, I could have made American chop suey and given him that same thing without all the bother.
Reading Mike S. Adams column last night heightened the cynicalness. He wrote from his job on the North Carolina campus about the student feminists removing flyers from the bulletin boards because they alledgely were offensive to women. The "Thought Police," he called them. Mike writes from a conservative Christian viewpoint, which I admire, and the story (with a dab of satire thrown in) is interesting.
Am I the only one, or is there not enough people concerned about Valerie (Plame) Wilson? She's the wife of Joseph Wilson, and you'll remember that besides being a wife and mother of twins, she was a CIA agent that somebody unmasked. This story kind of died, which in one way is good, another is that we don't know who leaked the information and why. The reason I'm bringing it up again is that Sunday, my local newspaper, the Providence Journal reprinted the Washington Post story I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.
And finally, how many of you received an email like this recently:
A man from Norfolk, VA called a local radio station to share this on Sept 11th, 2003. His Name was Robert Matthews. These are his words:
"A few weeks before Sept 11th, my wife and I found out we were going to have our first child. She planned a trip out to California to visit her sister. On our way to the airport, we prayed that God would grant my wife a safe trip and be with her. Shortly after I said 'amen' we both heard a loud pop and the car shook violently. we had blown out a tire. I replaced the tire as quickly as I could, but we still missed her flight. Both very upset, we drove home. I received a call from my father who was retired FDNY. He asked what my wife's flight number was, but explained that we missed the flight. My father informed me that her flight was the one that crashed into the southern tower. I was too shocked to speak. My father also had more news for me; he was going to help."
The story continues that Mr. Matthews' father rescued a pregnant woman from the debris and lost his own life. A heartbreaking story, and a lie.
As is my perogative, I check the web sites of those who puncture the balloons of email stories with the truth. And snopes.com, the bellweather site for debunking urban legends weighed in on this one:
"The story quoted above contains all of these elements, but — like so many other September 11-related tales — it appears to be a work of fiction." "On the available evidence we have to conclude that this account, touching as many may find it, is purely the product of someone's imagination and not a true story. "
I've said this before, the Internet is leading so many people astray, and judging from the number of people this was forwarded from, this is the "lemmings to the sea" argument. No one takes responsibility for sending out these patently false stories as true. Think about how email could be used to throw a bone to the whole country, and the world with misleading information! I shudder at the thought. The moral of the story is, when you get a piece of mail that seems too good to be true, it probably isn't. Check the web for links to the urban legend sites, and let the sender know that you found that it was fabricated and your source.
Your humble, cynical servant.
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Reading Mike S. Adams column last night heightened the cynicalness. He wrote from his job on the North Carolina campus about the student feminists removing flyers from the bulletin boards because they alledgely were offensive to women. The "Thought Police," he called them. Mike writes from a conservative Christian viewpoint, which I admire, and the story (with a dab of satire thrown in) is interesting.
Am I the only one, or is there not enough people concerned about Valerie (Plame) Wilson? She's the wife of Joseph Wilson, and you'll remember that besides being a wife and mother of twins, she was a CIA agent that somebody unmasked. This story kind of died, which in one way is good, another is that we don't know who leaked the information and why. The reason I'm bringing it up again is that Sunday, my local newspaper, the Providence Journal reprinted the Washington Post story I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.
And finally, how many of you received an email like this recently:
A man from Norfolk, VA called a local radio station to share this on Sept 11th, 2003. His Name was Robert Matthews. These are his words:
"A few weeks before Sept 11th, my wife and I found out we were going to have our first child. She planned a trip out to California to visit her sister. On our way to the airport, we prayed that God would grant my wife a safe trip and be with her. Shortly after I said 'amen' we both heard a loud pop and the car shook violently. we had blown out a tire. I replaced the tire as quickly as I could, but we still missed her flight. Both very upset, we drove home. I received a call from my father who was retired FDNY. He asked what my wife's flight number was, but explained that we missed the flight. My father informed me that her flight was the one that crashed into the southern tower. I was too shocked to speak. My father also had more news for me; he was going to help."
The story continues that Mr. Matthews' father rescued a pregnant woman from the debris and lost his own life. A heartbreaking story, and a lie.
As is my perogative, I check the web sites of those who puncture the balloons of email stories with the truth. And snopes.com, the bellweather site for debunking urban legends weighed in on this one:
"The story quoted above contains all of these elements, but — like so many other September 11-related tales — it appears to be a work of fiction." "On the available evidence we have to conclude that this account, touching as many may find it, is purely the product of someone's imagination and not a true story. "
I've said this before, the Internet is leading so many people astray, and judging from the number of people this was forwarded from, this is the "lemmings to the sea" argument. No one takes responsibility for sending out these patently false stories as true. Think about how email could be used to throw a bone to the whole country, and the world with misleading information! I shudder at the thought. The moral of the story is, when you get a piece of mail that seems too good to be true, it probably isn't. Check the web for links to the urban legend sites, and let the sender know that you found that it was fabricated and your source.
Your humble, cynical servant.
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