Distant lands...

Friday, June 19, 2009

Sarcasms triggered from Congressman's twitter...

Scary that there are so many ppl out there like that :)

> I got a sunburn last weekend. Makes me think of Hiroshima.
> My softball game was rained out today. Now I know what Hurricane Katrina felt like.
> Sitting in a chair, feeling a good deal like Stephen Hawking. #GOPfail
> Walked out onto Constitution Ave in D.C. and was almost hit by a taxi. Reminded me of Tienanmen Square.
> our office cooler ran out of water. this must be what its like in Sudan.
>, fell off my surfboard in Malibu today, now I know what D-day felt like.
> Didn't have breakfast this morning, it was exactly like the Great Potato Famine
> Still haven't got paid for a job I did. Now I know what slavery is like.
> Just got into a snowball fight. Reminded me of the Hundred Years' War
> Got some sand in my shoe. Now I know what it's like to be on my third deployment in Iraq.
> I got a splinter in my hand today. Felt just like Jesus getting nailed to the cross.
> Someone walked in on me while I was in the bathroom. Reminded me of Pearl Harbor.
> My toilet just overflowed a little. Now I know what it was like for the Indonesian tsunami victims.
> Had to move all my stuff to a new office w/o a corner view. Now i know what the Trail of Tears was like. #GOPfail
> I had to sit in the last row of our corporate jet this morning. This is what Rosa Parks must have felt like.
> Missed lunch today cuz I was late and walking to a meeting. Reminded me of the Bataan Death March.
From petehoekstra?

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

How to spot an Email Hoax Forward

Would you like it if one of your close friends regularly gives you bad stock market tips? Or how about giving advice that is clearly harmful?
That may be exactly what you are doing to your friends when you forward hoax mails.

It’s one thing when forwarding a funny mail to a few of your friends.
But it’s dangerous to blindly believe a hoax forward you received and send it to all your friends thinking that you are doing them a favour.

You are responsible for what you send to your friends including wrong information – it is not an excuse that you did not know that the information was wrong.

Before forwarding an email, ask yourself these questions:

1. Does the email fail to provide confirmation sources?
Hoaxes do not provide verifiable references to back up their spurious claims. Genuine mails will usually provide a link to reputed news articles, websites or other publications. So even if there is a link, check that it is a reputed site.

2. Does the email ask you to send it to a lot of other people?
Hoax writers want their material to spread as far and as fast as possible, so almost every hoax email will in some way exhort you to send it to other people. Some email hoaxes take a more targeted approach and suggest that you send the email to a specified number of people in order to collect a prize or realize a benefit.

3. Is the language used overly emotive or highly technical?
Email hoax writers have a tendency to use an emotive, "over-the-top" style of writing peppered with words and phrases such as "Urgent", "Danger", "worst ever virus!!", "sign now before it's too late" and so on, often rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS for added emphasis. Paragraphs dripping with pathos speak of dying children; others "shout" with almost rabid excitement about free air travel or mobile phones. As well, some email hoaxes try to add credibility by using highly technical language.
A "yes" answer to one or more of the above questions, should start some alarm bells ringing. These indicators do not offer conclusive evidence that the email is a hoax but they are certainly enough to warrant further investigation before you hit the "Forward" Button.

Next time, think twice before forwarding a mail that may be a hoax. Even if no harm comes to your senders, you may get a reputation for spending misinformation.

Summarised from http://www.hoax-slayer.com.