Megan Fox to play Wonder Woman?
Status: hoax

The site
wonder-who.com claims to reveal that Megan Fox will be starring in a new Wonder Woman movie. The site looks professionally made. Someone obviously put some effort into it. But according to
JoBlo.com, Warner Brothers has issued a denial, insisting that no such movie is planned.
So why did someone spend so much time creating the site? I have no idea. A really over-eager Megan Fox fan perhaps? Or maybe a studio was testing the response to the concept?
Links:
pfunn.com,
io9.com.
Posted By: Alex | Date:
Thu Nov 06, 2008 |
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Comments (7)
Category:
Celebrities,
Entertainment,
Websites
Weird Fragrances
Status: Suspicious

I stumbled across this site, weirdfragrances.com (I'm not linking directly to them, so I won't boost their google rank), that promises to send you a free sample of cologne. In return you simply provide them with your email and mailing address, and promise to later answer a few questions about the fragrance. You can choose from a variety of offbeat scents such as Grease Monkey, Burning Rubber, or Ash Tray.
Is it a legit offer? I would guess not.
First, it strikes me as odd that the site is registered anonymously through domains by proxy. Why would a legitimate company be trying to hide their identity?
Second, a quick google search reveals people
posting on forums about how they submitted their info but never received anything except spam. So it appears to be a spam trap.
Posted By: Alex | Date:
Tue Sep 23, 2008 |
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Comments (2)
Category:
Business/Finance,
Websites
Poe’s Law and TrueChristians.com
Status: Discussion of religious parody
Poe's Law, coined by Nathan Poe on the Christian Forums site, states:
in general, it is hard to tell fake fundamentalism from the real thing, since they both sound equally ridiculous. The law also works in reverse: real fundamentalism can also be indistinguishable from parody fundamentalism.
Cranky Media Guy recently submitted an example:
truechristian.com.
It contains passages such as:
So God put Adam to sleep and ripped out one of his ribs and behold, we find out that women originate from bones! So men come from dirt and women come from bone. Now that's real science in action and if you disagree you are going to Hell!
My b.s. meter says it's parody, but because of Poe's Law, I'm not totally certain.
Posted By: Alex | Date:
Tue Sep 16, 2008 |
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Comments (5)
Category:
Websites,
Religion
Should websites be given trustworthiness ratings?
Status: Debate
Sir Tim Berners-Lee is worried that there's too much disinformation floating around the web. He feels that there needs to be a way to rate sites according to how trustworthy they are.
From the BBC:
"On the web the thinking of cults can spread very rapidly and suddenly a cult which was 12 people who had some deep personal issues suddenly find a formula which is very believable," he said. "A sort of conspiracy theory of sorts and which you can imagine spreading to thousands of people and being deeply damaging."
Sir Tim and colleagues at the World Wide Web consortium had looked at simple ways of branding websites - but concluded that a whole variety of different mechanisms was needed.
"I'm not a fan of giving a website a simple number like an IQ rating because like people they can vary in all kinds of different ways," he said. "So I'd be interested in different organisations labelling websites in different ways".
I don't think this proposal would improve the situation in any way. There already are trustworthy sites on the internet, and the web is actually pretty good at debunking rumors and misinformation. The problem is, the people who believe the misinformation are the same people who don't bother to check the trustworthy sites. (Thanks, Joe!)
Posted By: Alex | Date:
Mon Sep 15, 2008 |
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Comments (7)
Category:
Websites
Fosh Automotive
Status: Hoax
The website of
Fosh Automotive appeared a few weeks ago, promising that the company was soon going to unveil an unlimited mileage electric car that would sell for under $25,000. A lot of people were skeptical.
Fast forward to a few days ago, when Fosh unveiled something, but it wasn't an electric car. Instead, it was a bizarre anti-Obama, anti-abortion diatribe. Turns out the whole "electric car" thing was a bait-and-switch to lure eco-liberals to their site and then hit them with pictures of dead babies.
More evidence that conservatives basically have no clue how to pull off a good hoax. (via
Ecorazzi)
Posted By: Alex | Date:
Wed Aug 27, 2008 |
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Comments (4)
Category:
Websites,
Politics
Doggy Condoms
Status: Hoax Website

The internet was already home to
dogcondoms.com, which
I posted about back in 2005. But for someone out there, one version of the joke was not enough, because there is now also
doggycondoms.com (registered in May 2008).
It's the exact same joke, just more elaborately fleshed out.
It looks like it's the creation of the humor website
DailyContempt.com, which is also responsible for a slew of other hoax sites including (but not limited to)
puppybeef.com,
puppyprofits.com, and
childtrader.com (which I posted about
a few months ago).
Posted By: Alex | Date:
Fri Aug 08, 2008 |
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Comments (1)
Category:
Animals,
Websites,
Sex/Romance
Buy Your Own Universe
Status: joke website

The
Authority for Universe Ownership offers you the chance to buy your own parallel universe. They explain:
Quantum physics dictates that reality is created by observation. There are an infinite number of possible realities, which can be actualised only through observation - an unlimited variety of parallel universes exist in what is known as quantum flux.
In some of these universes the deeds purchased from Buy Your Own Universe will be recognised as legally binding, meaning that you really are the rightful owner of your Universe! Any day a scientific breakthrough in quantum physics may occur that allows you to travel to your universe, through a wormhole for example. This is not fantasy but accepted science.
The price is a bit steep at $9999. But they also offer a
free option.
Of course, if they're right about the existence of an infinite number of parallel universes in which all possibilities, however improbable, are manifested, then the theory of
Quantum Immortality is true. Meaning that in some existence you're likely to become an eternal, all-powerful being who already owns the universe without needing to go through the Authority for Universe Ownership. (via
A Welsh View)
Posted By: Alex | Date:
Wed Jul 30, 2008 |
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Comments (3)
Category:
Future/Time,
Websites
Brillante Weblog Premio
Status: Viral gimmick

Surf around the web enough and you'll notice a lot of sites that have announced they're the recipients of a "Brillante Weblog Premio" award. (Google "Brillante Weblog" and you'll see what I mean.)
Just to clue in anyone who might be confused -- this is not a real award. It's a viral nuisance. The gimmick is that you receive this award from a friend. Accompanying the award are these rules:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated.
In this way, the award keeps circulating endlessly.
There are real
"Brillante Awards for Excellence" awarded by the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, but they're not related in any way to the "Brillante Weblog Premio" award. (via
Heart and Hands)
Posted By: Alex | Date:
Wed Jul 23, 2008 |
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Comments (5)
Category:
Websites
Fly Derrie-Air
Status: Hoax

Derrie-Air claims to be the world's only carbon-neutral luxury airline. From
its website:
Welcome to Derrie-Air, the world's only carbon-neutral luxury airline, where you don't have to choose between living the high life and saving the planet. Nine out of ten scientists agree—we need to reduce our carbon emissions or perish from the face of the earth. Air travel is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions and global warming. Derrie-Air will be the only airline that plants trees to offset every pound of carbon that our planes release into the atmosphere.
But not only will we do our part to protect the environment, we will expect you, our passengers, to do your part as well. The magic comes from our one of a kind "Sliding Scale"—the more you weigh, the more you'll pay. After all, it takes more fuel—more energy—to get more weight from point A to point B. So we will charge passengers based on how much mass they add to the plane. The heavier you and your luggage are, the more trees we'll plant to make up for the trouble of flying you from place to place.
The reality is that Derrie-Air doesn't exist. It's a fake company dreamed up by Philadelphia Media Holdings, owner of the
Philadelphia Inquirer and
Philadelphia Daily News. In addition to creating the Derrie-Air site, they also ran Derrie-Air ads in their papers as a marketing test "to demonstrate the power of our brands, in print and online, to drive traffic awareness -- in this case for a brand that doesn’t exist and is fictitious." More details in
Editor & Publisher, and on
MSNBC.
I predict this will become a case of satirical prophecy, in that it won't be long before airlines actually are implementing measures such as charging by the pound. (Thanks, Rebecca)
Posted By: Alex | Date:
Fri Jun 06, 2008 |
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Comments (6)
Category:
Exploration/Travel,
Websites,
Journalism
KaleCoAuto
Status: Hoax Website
KaleCoAuto offers a variety of automobile parts and accessories you're unlikely to find anywhere else. For instance, they sell "seasonal air" for your tires, so you can make sure the air inside your tires is at the correct temperature for the season outside.
Other products include porcupine seat covers, a car-to-tank kit, and (my favorite) the "Round Tuit" (pictured) -- a multi-functional tool that is "a requirement to finish all those hard jobs that you keep putting off."
According to uwhois.com, the KaleCoAuto.com site is registered to Ronald McPothole who lives on 1986 Corvette Lane. I'm sure that's a real name. (Thanks, Jerry)
Posted By: Alex | Date:
Mon Jun 02, 2008 |
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Comments (6)
Category:
Websites,
Technology