Outraged animal lovers around the world are filling their friends’ inboxes with e-mails decrying the Bonsai Kitten, a web site that offers to sell custom-shaped cats. Inspired by bonsai plants, the web site claims that kittens are raised inside specially-designed[…]
Read moreAuthor: Ken Newquist
“Internet Flower For You” eats hard drives
An internet hoax is claiming that an e-mail titled “An Internet Flower For You” contains a virus that destroys hard drives by eating important little files called dynamic link libraries (DLLs). Fortunately, this virus does not exist. Here’s the original[…]
Read moreDate-rape Drug Progesterex Causes Amnesia, Sterilization
Rape is a scary subject, and nothing to joke about. Yet some sicko must of thought it was pretty damn funny, and launched a hoax that’s scaring people around the world. The hoax — which has been circulating via e-mail[…]
Read moreE-mail Offers Subversive Neiman-Marus Cookie Recipe
A mother who was tricked by Neiman-Marcus into buying their cookie recipe for $250 is getting her revenge by giving away the pricey culinary instructions on the Internet. Sounds tasty, but this story is an urban legend, and has been[…]
Read moreCommunist Blood-Suckers Terrorize Romania in Vampire Nation
Thomas Sipos takes the mythological blood-suckers (vampires) combines them with the intellectual ones (communists) in his novel Vampire Nation. The novel’s set in the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan is in the White House, and Transylvania — home of Count Dracula[…]
Read moreStolen Child Hoax Coupled With Real-World Anti-Kidnapping Program
An urban legend about a kidnapped child has been combined with a true story about Wal-Mart’s “Code Adam” program to create a horrifying half-truth-filled e-mail. The first part of the e-mail is a decades old urban legend: a child is[…]
Read moreThe Eye of the World Looks Down Upon a Fantastic Universe
Fantasy addicts looking for their next fix of sword and sorcery should check out Robert Jordon’s modern classic The Eye of the World. Published in 1990, the novel is the first in a saga called The Wheel of Time. It[…]
Read moreInternet Access Charge Hoax Refuses to Die
A long-running hoax claims that Congress wants to slap a charge on Internet access, forcing users to pay up every time they log-on. It’s a sibling of sorts to the notorious “602P” e-mail that claims the U.S. Postal Service is[…]
Read moreRe-Discover the Rabbits of Watership Down
There are a few books that I’ll be reading to my kids from the first day they open their eyes. One is The Hobbit. Another is Wind in the Willows. But first among these books will be the modern fairy[…]
Read moreWash Up On Infinity’s Shore
In Startide Rising, David Brin began the epic adventure of a crew of neo-dolphins, their starship Streaker, and a terrible, war-inspiring secret. He won the Hugo and Nebula awards for the novel, the story of which remained unfinished for years.[…]
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