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200 Comments
- zeiben, on 02/03/2008, -1/+655. "Digg-proof hosting, just $1.99 a month!!!"
- dave_colorado, on 02/03/2008, -6/+69inaccurate. Canada isn't on the list.
- hdar3415, on 02/03/2008, -2/+57Even though "The Turk" was a hoax it was still very complicated and a technological achievement for it's day.
- diskit, on 02/03/2008, -1/+48What about Orson Welles' radio adaptation of the War of the Worlds that many people took seriously?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds ... - Awspire, on 02/03/2008, -11/+415. Mission Accomplished.
- macbookpromat, on 02/03/2008, -18/+455. Ron Paul
- Michas, on 02/03/2008, -1/+28Site is getting slow for me..
1. The “Computer” That Outsmarted Napoléon
the-turk.jpgCenturies before Deep Blue started whuppin’ on Russian grand masters, a chess-playing automaton nicknamed “the Turk” was thrashing all manner of chess players. Atop a wheeled wooden cabinet was a seated, life-sized mannequin made of wood and dressed in Turkish garb. The Turk held a chessboard in his wooden lap, and he beat ’most all comers—including Napoléon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin. Premiering in the 1770s, the creation of Wolfgang von Kempelen moved its wooden arms, seemingly without human assistance, around the board. The secret? The Turk’s arms were operated by a diminutive chess expert crouched inside the cabinet, who operated gears and pulleys to move the Turk’s arms. After traveling the world for almost a century, the Turk ended up mothballed in Philadelphia—where it was destroyed in a fire in 1854. [Photo is of John Gaughan’s reconstruction of “The Turk.”]
2. Microsoft Buys the Catholic Church!
microsoft-logo.jpgWhile the pranksters are still unknown, few press releases have had the impact of the 1994 doozy sent out supposedly by Microsoft, announcing Bill Gates’s purchase of the Catholic Church. As reported, Microsoft not only would get sole electronic rights to the good book, but also would pitch in to the church’s efforts, namely by engineering a means for delivering the sacraments online. Needless to say, the prank tricked a few folks. So many customers rang up Microsoft in protest that the distraught company finally felt obligated to clear up the mess via (you guessed it!) another press release. The statement full-out denied the allegations, and further said that it hoped to alleviate customer concerns by declaring that the company had no intentions of purchasing any religious institutions, Catholic or otherwise. Of course, it wasn’t long before another “press release” surfaced, this one touting IBM’s response to Microsoft: a merger with the Episcopal Church.
3. This Is Your Brain on Bananas
Bananas.jpgWhen the alternative newspaper the Berkeley Barb published a satirical article in 1967 claiming that smoking dried banana peels could lead to intoxication, they never expected to be taken seriously. But the oh-so-square national news media didn’t get the joke, and publicized the report throughout the nation. Since then, countless wayward teens have been duped into smoking bananas (which can make you nauseated, but not pleasantly so). The hoax really took off, though, in 1970 with the publication of William Powell’s The Anarchist’s Cookbook, which covers all manner of craft pleasantries from building pipe bombs to manufacturing LSD. Not surprisingly, it also provides a recipe for turning your banana peels into “a fine, black powder” suitable for smoking. Even though no one’s ever gotten high from bananas (although they are a great energy fruit, according to Dr. Atkins!), the Barb’s hoax has had a stunning shelf life.
4. The Social Text Fiasco
social-text.jpgIn 1996, the respected cultural studies journal Social Text published several complex and dense articles, mainly because that’s what respected academic journals do. But one, “Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Physics,” was a hoax by NYU physics professor Alan Sokal, who sought to prove that academic journals will publish any paper that uses big words. 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. It’s hilarious, if you like that kind of thing, but it’s also utter nonsense. After Sokal revealed his hoax in Lingua Franca, many academic journals beefed up their peer review process. - graemee, on 02/03/2008, -10/+351. Religion
2. Superstition
3. Sex after Marriage
4. Size doesn't matter - aceakm, on 02/03/2008, -2/+22Greatest hoax? Keyser Soze.
- wisam, on 02/03/2008, -0/+19For some reason, I couldn't believe that these hoaxes were really pulled off so I checked out each hoax. Certainly they were clever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turk
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/msft.html
http://www.physics.nyu.edu/~as2/#papers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Barb#Banana_ ... - moog, on 02/03/2008, -4/+21Don't make us come down there and burn down your beloved Whitehouse...again!
- hamobu, on 02/03/2008, -0/+17You mean I can't get high by smoking the banana peels? Must have been a placebo effect then. Oh well.
- mojorrison, on 02/03/2008, -1/+175. Scientology
- imikedaman, on 02/03/2008, -2/+16The Piltdown man is a good example of a behavior many people tend to exhibit, many times without realizing it:
If a new piece of evidence directly contradicts what someone believes, they'll hold it to the highest scrutiny and nitpick every last detail until they convince themselves that the evidence is flawed. However, if some new evidence supports their beliefs, they're much more likely accept it as proof without making any attempt to verify its accuracy.
I know that wasn't entirely related to the discussion, but I thought it was pretty interesting. I think it's called a selective perception bias, although I'm not 100% positive about that:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_perception - erzy, on 02/03/2008, -1/+145. Their bandwidth?
- JanYpe, on 02/03/2008, -2/+15Can we make this the new Godwin? It's time to introduce one for Bush-related factoids.
- JLecker, on 02/03/2008, -2/+15No Piltdown Man?
- n0t0kayipr0mis3, on 02/03/2008, -4/+16what about cold-water fusion?
- Rikkochet, on 02/03/2008, -3/+15I humbly withdraw your #5 and replace it with Jesus Christ.
Not because I'm opposed to religion; just because I'm opposed to religious people like YOU. - imikedaman, on 02/03/2008, -0/+12Argh, the session expired before I could finish editing my post.
I just wanted to add that I wouldn't be surprised if many hoaxes are propagated that way, since it takes advantage of a loophole in the way our brains are wired to automatically accept certain types of circumstantial evidence without verifying it. It's an easy point of entry. - flaflashr, on 02/03/2008, -30/+415. That Iraq deserved to be invaded since they were linked to al Quaeda and that they posed a credible threat to the U.S.
- Rikkochet, on 02/03/2008, -1/+12Yeah, the holocaust was a ***** sham.
You know what the "gas" chambers were in Auschwitz? They fired oil so they hold huge oil wrestling cage matches so the happy jews there could watch strippers slide all over each other.
Oh, and the huge ovens? Those were there so all the happy jews could have fresh cinnamon buns every morning!
WAH WAH WAH I'M A WASP AND DON'T GET ENOUGH ATTENTION! - padrebuf, on 02/03/2008, -1/+12i tried it. i think i used the anarchists recipe too. man, high school was awkward.
- BigglesPiP, on 02/03/2008, -0/+10What? No spaghetti crop failure?
- foopirata, on 02/03/2008, -3/+13Plus, if you're going to be a turd about it at least correct what's really wrong: "for its day", not "for it's day".
- cococooky, on 02/03/2008, -3/+13I had heard that one about banana peels that many times I thought it must be true. Glad I never tried it....
- TheFiestyFaun, on 02/03/2008, -1/+11Just because you can't pleasure a woman doesn't mean it's a hoax.
- UNCCEJ1010, on 02/03/2008, -0/+10Ok if you're going to be an ass and correct that, you should have also picked up on his incorrect use of "it's."
Edit:
Whoops,
failed to read further down where foopirata said this already. - signal15, on 02/03/2008, -1/+11Nutmeg is true though. You have to eat about 3 tablespoons of it. Read the reviews on Erowid on it, some of them are hilarious.
- diggcensors, on 02/03/2008, -1/+10troll
- JanYpe, on 02/03/2008, -0/+9You worthless wankers.
- taquitohater, on 02/03/2008, -0/+9he added a comma.
- spartan777, on 02/03/2008, -2/+10go back to the medieval ages with your superstitious, pseudo-scientific beliefs.
- funkychikensays, on 02/03/2008, -30/+375. The Bible?
- Starkyy, on 02/03/2008, -3/+10Nobody likes people who do that wisam.
- topace3000, on 02/03/2008, -2/+9Not important enough of a hoax.
- Comatose51, on 02/03/2008, -0/+7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadnought_hoax
I dare anyone try to pull this off again. - rragle, on 02/03/2008, -5/+12thank you for pointing out your religious beliefs.
- rikwakefield, on 02/03/2008, -0/+6Text-only Mirror (faster) - http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:T8C6CMgRCOAJ: ...
- inactive, on 02/03/2008, -1/+76. That you have a healthy and happy social and sex life.
- Lassan, on 02/03/2008, -1/+7Wait, what did you change?
- JanYpe, on 02/03/2008, -0/+6Will there be truth-nachos at the meeting?
- JanYpe, on 02/03/2008, -0/+6Shut up you failure.
- Leomarth, on 02/03/2008, -5/+11They forgot the Leo Taxil hoax.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxil_hoax
It's caused millions to believe Jewish international bankers, the Illuminati, and the Freemasons are running the world. - stackered, on 02/03/2008, -0/+55. The cake.
- FatPhizzle, on 02/03/2008, -0/+5I have heard that if you smoke the ginseng plant in the same way you smoke marijuana, you get high
- SelfAbortion, on 02/03/2008, -0/+5Because you've been living under a rock.
- quadvods, on 02/03/2008, -0/+5The Y2K bug?
- JLecker, on 02/03/2008, -2/+7***** truthers.
- BingoPower, on 02/03/2008, -0/+5that wasn't necessarily a hoax in the traditional sense. That was just preamble to a story causing dumb people to kill themselves.
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