Hoax Forum

Is Usana a scam?

2009-09-16T19:40:15-08:00

Hi All!

I would like to find out if anyone is taking the Usana (Link removed-Moderator) vitamins. A friend tried to convince me to buy the vitamins which he said it has the highest rated supplements in the world. The pitch is very convincing but what makes me very uncomfortable is this brand of vitamins is sold under the MLM (multi level marketing) plan. Which translates to high dollars for the vitamins.

I do not mind paying more or even it’s sold under MLM, but does it work?

Thanks!

Another “missing baby” hoax.

2009-11-05T16:31:23-08:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/05/florida.baby.found/index.html

Missing baby was locked in chest for 12 hours

A 7-month-old baby was locked in a 2-by-3 foot cedar chest hidden underneath her aunt’s bed for 12 hours before police found her Wednesday night, a Florida sheriff said Thursday.

Shannon Lee Dedrick, who had been reported missing four days earlier, is in good condition, Washington County Sheriff Bobby Haddock said

“There was no bottle, just a blanket to cover [her],” Haddock said. “She was healthy…she was just wide open and surprised.”

Police think Crystina Lynn Mercer gave her daughter to the baby’s paternal aunt, Susan Baker, a day before reporting her missing, Haddock said. Both women have been charged in connection with the incident.

Baker, who also babysits the child, met with Mercer on Friday and asked if she could permanently take custody of the infant, Haddock said.

“Susan Baker took custody of Shannon from her mother sometime in the hours of October 31st,” he said.

That morning, Mercer reported her baby missing to police.

Both women have been charged with interference of child custody, a third-degree felony. They also were charged with making a false report of a missing child, a false report of a crime and contributing to the delinquency of a child, all misdemeanor charges. Mercer has been charged with desertion of a child, and Baker has been charged with child neglect with aggravated circumstances, both felony charges.

Haddock offered no suspected motive.

Baker’s husband was also in custody, but he was released without being charged, Haddock said.

This one is just. . .weird.

Film company pays $22,250 for faking news

2009-11-11T15:00:30-08:00

•The film company distributing “The Fourth Kind” has agreed to pay $22,250 to the Alaska Press Club and a Calista Scholarship Fund because it created fake news articles and claimed they were written by Alaska journalists.

It also used some real news stories without authorization.

A legal agreement released today between seven Alaska newspaper companies and Universal Studios says that the company “created a number of Web sites purporting to be ‘news archives.’’

Some of the stories on the sites were genuine, while others were phony. The goal was to fool Internet users into thinking that the characters described in “The Fourth Kind” are real people, which they are not.

The agreement is the first official admission by the company that its “viral internet marketing” included the fabrication of news stories and attributing them to the Nome Nugget, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the Anchorage Chronicle and other publications. In addition, the company included real news articles without permission.

To settle the dispute, Universal also agreed to disable Web sites it set up to promote the claims that the movie about alien abductions in Nome, was true.

Under terms of the deal, the Alaska Press Club is to receive $20,000, while the Calista Scholarship Fund is to receive $2,500. The press club is an independent organization of journalists from across the state.

“Universal agrees to the permanent disabling and removal of, and represents and warrants that it has already permanently disabled access to and removed from the Internet, all news articles,” the settlement says.

The studio says that if it is notified that any of the phony news stories become available in the future, it “shall take appropriate steps to see that they are removed from the Internet. . .”

But in some ways this is an empty promise. I found the two fake stories attributed to the News-Miner on sites where they had been copied. Universal won’t be able to take those down. There are also cached pages that were available earlier this week.

When I wrote here the other day about the disabling of the phony news sites, I said that perhaps the news coverage in the Anchorage Daily News Sept. 1 led to that action, but it turns out that the Nome Nugget and other newspapers had been working behind the scenes on a settlement.

One of the most striking aspects of this story is that the company regarded the creation of phony news stories and the use of news stories without authorization as acceptable marketing practices. The studio is a wholly owned subsidiary of NBC Universal, which owns NBC News.NewsMiner

Hoaxes concerning electricity in the 1800’s

2009-11-09T18:47:51-08:00

http://ia331309.us.archive.org/2/items/80344/8034410h/8034410h.htm#19

This is an article called Electro-Mania from Scientific American- August 5, 1882. Its a really interesting read but it might be only for real nerds like me Talks about some of the foolish claims being made at that time using electricity. Mentions alot of names and places which for me always leads to hours of looking this stuff up for fun lol.

I hope someone enjoys it…

Dude travels to a parallel universe where the Beatles never broke up!

2009-11-06T06:37:31-08:00

Long story short: Man chases his dog in the desert, trips in a rabbit hole, knocks himself unconscious until he wakes up in a parallel universe where he steals a Beatles cassette tape, builds a website about his experience and puts the music on there as proof.
(the music is pretty good though, if you like the Beatles)

http://www.thebeatlesneverbrokeup.com/

Fake President of Brazil interviewed.

2009-11-07T20:49:49-08:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8348882.stm

Hoaxer impersonates Brazil leader

A hoaxer pretending to be Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was interviewed by Portuguese-language radio stations before being found out.

An interview he did with Angolan state radio was broadcast on air for a few days before the hoax was discovered.

The impersonator discussed the 2016 Olympics - due to be hosted by Rio de Janeiro - in the interviews.

A local Brazilian radio station seeking content for a comedy slot is believed to be behind the hoax.

BBC regional analyst Leonardo Rocha says the impersonator convincingly imitated President Lula’s husky voice and informal style.

Radio stations that broadcast in Portuguese received an e-mail a few days ago saying President Lula was willing to be interviewed about the 2016 Olympics.

Editors at Angola’s national radio were said to be in a state of shock.

In the interview, the impersonator praises Angola for its good work ahead of the African Cup of Nations, which it will host in two month’s time.

The impersonator also said: “We know we have a huge Brazilian diaspora in Australia and we’re very honoured to be getting in touch with our people around the world.”

But a sound engineer at Australia’s SBS radio station became suspicious that the president would be giving interviews on a poor telephone line, and not from a studio in the capital Brasilia.

The Australian station has demanded the authorities open an investigation into the prank.

Hoax or miracle?

2009-11-03T22:14:55-08:00

Personally I’m calling hoax on this one. It appears there is a baby in Russia who seems to have verses from the Koran randomly appearing on it’s skin.

link to article.

Cake-in-a-jar KILLS?

2009-09-28T11:27:04-08:00

Okay…I have to do this quick b/c I’m leaving to get Jocelynn from school, but I want to get some minds working on this ASAP.

If you google “cakes in jars” recipes…you will find the process used to make a cake in a jar. Lots of military wives send these to their deployed soldiers.

Recently someone has said that “cakes in a jar can KILL” b/c of botulism. I did a quick google…and DID find articles regarding the danger of possible botulism or bacteria in cakes in jars.

Then I tried to google “death, illness” in regard to cakes in jars. NADA. Nothing came up. SO…I am trying to find out if the warning exists simply b/c of the danger…and not from actual evidence that someone has been injured or killed as a result of eating a cake in a jar covered in botulism.

Please, thanks…?? Hugs and kisses…I know you guys can find me something I can take back to my fellow military wives.

Will return soon!

Severed Feet

2009-10-29T15:04:45-08:00

not sure if it qualifies as a hoax or not but does anyone have any ideas on the severed feet washing up in canada wearing a sneaker? pretty sick…

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7ae_1256851132

Fake meteorite in Latvia?

2009-10-26T17:48:08-08:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8326483.stm

Doubts over Latvia ‘meteor crash’

Scientists investigating a large crater in a field in northern Latvia, believed to have been caused by a meteorite, now suspect it was a hoax.

Fire crews were called to the scene on Sunday outside the town of Mazsalaca by locals who said something had fallen from the sky and set the land on fire.

One expert who had said the 9m (27ft) wide crater was caused by an impact, said he now thought it was artificial.

The hole was too tidy to have been caused by a meteorite, he said.

It would be unusual for such a large meteorite to hit the Earth, as most objects burn up in the atmosphere and never reach the surface.

In 2007, a meteorite ploughed into the countryside near the Andean town of Carancas in Peru, creating a 15m (50ft) wide crater.

‘Pyrotechnic compound’

On Monday, a spokeswoman for the Latvian State Fire and Rescue Service said firefighters had been told by a witness about a fire in a field near Mazsalaca at 1730 (1530 GMT) the previous day.

“We concluded that the impact must have come from the air and this is why we believe it could have been a meteorite,” Inga Vetere said.

A military unit sent to the site found normal radiation levels.

Uldis Nulle, a scientist at the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre, said his first impression after visiting the site late on Sunday had been that the crater was caused by a meteorite.

However, on closer inspection in daylight he found that the hole was too tidy to have been caused by a genuine impact.

“This is not a real crater. It is artificial,” he told the Associated Press.

Caroline Smith, meteorite curator at London’s Natural History Museum, told the BBC that the photographs and video footage of the site, and the material burning in the bottom of the hole, indicated that it was not an impact crater.

“Meteorites are not ‘on fire’ or even hot when they land on Earth,” she said.

“Additionally, there have been no witness reports of any large ‘fireball’ sightings in the region on Sunday afternoon, when the crater was allegedly formed.”

Latvian Geologist Dainis Ozols said he believed someone had dug a hole and tried to make it look like a meteorite crater by burning a pyrotechnic compound at the bottom.

It is thought the meteorite would have to have been at least 1m (3ft) in diameter to create a crater that size.

The owner of the land is now selling tickets to people who want to see the crater, reportedly to pay for wear and tear on the road.