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Urban Legends Reference Pages:

Update #182

Hello again from snopes.com, your corner of urban legends sanity on the World

Wide Web! This e-mail gives information about new articles recently added to the

Urban Legends Reference Pages and provides pointers to older pieces about rumors

and hoaxes still wandering into everyone's inboxes. Our last update mailing was

October 1, 2004.

If after this update you are left wondering about something newly arrived in

your inbox, our search engine stands ready to assist you. Bookmark that URL —

it's a keeper!

An RSS feed for our What's New page is available at the following URL:

http://www.snopes.com/info/whatsnew.rss

And now to the legends, the mayhem, and the misinformation!

---------------------------------

New Articles

Sports shocker: The outcome of Washington Redskins football games has

correctly predicted the winner of every U.S. presidential election since 1936.

New rumor: HIV+ blood has been slipped into ketchup dispensers in fast food

restaurants.

Gen. S. Patton Jr. discovers the French are honoring a latrine pit.

Is a photograph showing an American Airlines airliner with an engine on fire

real?

More phishing: e-mail claims SunTrust Bank is asking customers to verify

their account details due to " a large number of identity theft attempts. "

Son of Spam: Another humorous twist on the Nigerian Scam.

Do photographs show a prototype of a new F/A-37 " Talon " military plane?

Worth a Second Look

Golden oldie: Pilot locks himself out of the cockpit and has to use a fire

axe to get back to the controls.

Still Haunting the Inbox

2001's theory that something other than a hijacked Boeing 757 crashed into

the Pentagon has in 2004 been bolstered by a video presentation of the rumor.

Same silliness as before, just now there's a film clip to go with it.

Widely-read e-mail to the contrary, it's not likely the U.S. will be

reinstating the draft in the Spring of 2005.

Sorry, but there is no Quranic verse that speaks of the " wrath of the Eagle

cleansing the lands of Allah, " let alone one cited as Quran (9:11).

No, s Hopkins has not issued an alert about freezing plastic bottles

resulting in a release of cancer-causing dioxins. Same e-mail as in 2002, just a

new authority (erroneously) pointed to as its source.

1999's hoax about the deadly South American Blush Spider (arachnius gluteus)

which lurks under toilet seats in public restrooms is back.

Members of Congress pay into the Social Security fund like everyone else.

Given the current state of the technology, you needn't fear that thieves are

using their cell phone cameras in checkout lines to capture your credit card

information.

Khalid Alussy, an Iraqi sculptor also known as Kalat, did indeed craft the

touching piece of art attributed to him, but as a paid work commissioned the

standard way, not a spontaneous expession of gratitude.

The story about the Budweiser driver who punished Arab-Americans he saw

celebrating on September 11 ain't true. Neither is its extension about the Bud

driver inciting the Pepsi/Frito-Lay delivery person to follow suit.

A warning continues to circulate about a purported new carjacking scheme that

involves the placement of fliers on automobiles' rear windshields.

No, Bill Gates is not sharing his fortune with everyone who forwards a

specific e-mail on his behalf. This tired leg-pull continues to romp through

everyone's inbox, the latest incarnation swearing " This took two pages of the

Tuesday USA Today! "

It's an election year, so there are a zillion rumors afoot about Kerry

and W. Bush, and there will likely be more in the months to come. We've

devoted two sections of our Politics category solely to Kerry and W.

Bush rumors so as to give you one central location for weighing the veracity of

what you've heard.

Virus announcement and virus hoax e-mails are afoot! We try to keep current

on them and do our best to point readers to authoritative links confirming or

debunking them.

Fraud Afoot

Seems like everyone has become the recipient of mysterious e-mails promising

untold wealth if only one helps a wealthy foreigner quietly move millions of

dollars out of his country. The venerable Nigerian Scam has discovered the

goldmine that is the Internet. Beware — there's still no such thing as

" something for nothing, " and the contents of your bank account will end up with

these wily foreigners if you fall in with this.

Likewise, look out for mailings announcing you've won a foreign lottery you

don't recall entering.

Or that because you share the surname of a wealthy person who died without

leaving a will you're in line for a windfall inheritance.

And be especially wary if, while trying to sell something (car, boat, horse,

motorcycle, painting, you name it) you're approached by a prospective buyer who

wants to pay with a cashier check made out for an amount in excess of the

agreed-upon purchase price and who asks the balance be sent to a third party.

~ " If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you've made me smile, the

entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand. "