Fake News

Hi All,

Fake news had been in the - well - news a lot lately.  For example, if you conduct a Google search for 'fake news' you get over 150 million results.  Interestingly readers get results from the 'Top Stories' section - at least as of 6/17/17 at about 10:34am - The Guardian, Fox 5 Atlanta and Newsweek.  All of which are verifiable news outlets and sources.

This blog entry is not a discussion on politics, political parties or people involved in the government. Its simply an entry in the blog that deals with fake news.  Onward!

Wikipedia has a very unbiased, lengthy and comprehensive entry on fake news.  Click here for the entry and click here for the link to a discussion of twentieth century and twenty-first century fake news.  It makes for interesting reading.

Snopes is a website that is fairly well known. It basically debunks urban legends.  However, this link discusses specific examples of fake news on the site.  This next link fact checks various articles and news events as well.

FactCheck.org is a  website that has, as its mission, "to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.
FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

So...FactCheck.org is unbiased, accurate, fair and a great place to learn more about fake news.  This next article is called 'How to Spot Fake News?' and was written in November 2016 - very current and timely and interesting.

In addition, the Viral Spiral page has a list of some of the claims they get asked about the most.  Finally, all of FactCheck.org's articles called 'Ask FactCheck', can be found at this link.

Finally, click on this link from the venerable New York Times - its basically a search of the site for the term 'fake news'. 

Other interesting and/or useful fake news sites include, HuffPost.com, Fake News-NPR and this link from the Guardian (a UK newspaper) titled, 'What is fake news? How to spot it and wha tyo ucan do to stop it?'

Enjoy the link and the articles and how to become an even better news consumer!

Regards,
Stu

Urban Legends - Did It Really Happen?

Hi All,

You probably have heard about 'urban legends'...these are things like stuffing onions in your socks to cure disease or Was Tom Hanks' Dad the Lead Singer of the Diamonds? or Do Birds Exploded If they Eat Wedding Rice?

Urban legends have been around for a long, long time.  And now, with the advent of the internet, urban legends have become more and more prevalent.

And, as the internet giveth, so it shall explaineth - and create a website as an answer...forthwith two sites that discuss urban legends: Snopes and UrbanLegends.About.com.

Of the two, Snopes.com is the more popular - and just might be considered to be the seminal 'urban legends' website on the web.  Its tagline is 'Rumor Has It' - and is a well organized website.

Categories at the top of the page include 'What's New', Randomizer, Hot 25, FAQ, Odd News, Glossary, Newsletter and Message Board.

The Newsletter Subscription link has a form to enable readers to subscribe to the free weekly, Snopes.com newseletter.

Taken in turn...'What's New' lists recent updates and additions to Snopes.com - there are also links to the RSS newsfeed on this part of the page.

The Randomizer link takes you to a random urban legend - and changes each time you click on the word, Randomizer. Fun way to learn new things.

Clicking on the Hot 25 link goes to a page that compiles the 25 urban legends currently circulating most widely.  Fun stuff!

FAQ is a link that goes to the Frequently Asked Questions page on Snopes.  Useful Q&A format makes this a good starting point if you are not familiar with Snopes. 

The Odd News link features a daily collection of links to news articles and websites of interest to Snopes.com readers. 

The Glossary link  provides definitions for  number of terms that visitors to Snopes.com might not
be familiar with. Some terms come from the field of folklore and others are specific to Snopes.com.

And, finally, the Message Board link enables users to sign-up, partake and to follow various conversations that like-minded Snopes readers are engaging in.  It is a great way to share urban legend ideas and thoughts with other people on the web!!!

And now for the shameless plug part of the blog entry.  Readers can check out - get it - some books at their very own Farmingdale Public Library on the topic of urban legends.  Click on this link and you'll go to the library card catalog under the topic of 'urban legends'. 

Enjoy the legends and the links.

Regards,
Stu

Friday the 13th - Boo!

Hi All,

Today is Friday.  It is also the 13th day of December.  That means it is Friday the 13th. I hope I didn't scare you.   This makes for a very, very easy blog post today.  Yep - you guessed it. I'm going to write about Friday the 13th - and movies, and its history and black cats.

So, how did Friday the 13th come into being?  Great question and here is an interesting answer - brought to you by Wikipedia. 

Readers might also want to click on this link from Urban Legends. It also discusses the history of Friday the 13th and puts it in perspective. Also, click here for the Snopes.com version of what Friday the 13th is all about.  Cool stuff.

Is the origin of Friday the 13th a combination of two unlucky superstitions? (Friday being an unlucky day and the unlucky number 13?)  Read on....for an answer.

Click on this link - again from Wikipedia - to see a list of notable people who died on Friday the 13th - some examples....Gioachino Rossini,  Hubert Humphrey, Benny Goodman, Tim Russert and Tupac Shakur.

Click on this clever website that has 13 Years of Friday the 13th. 

Like horror and slasher movies?  Well, we've got a load of them on Friday the 13th. In particular the whole series (aptly titled) 'Friday the 13th' can be found at the prior link.  Users can learn all about the movies and there is a link for fans, an archive and a place where visitors can buy 'all things related to F13' (aka, movies, apparel, books, figures, posters and more).  If you want some reviews for various 'Friday the 13th' movies, click on this link - courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes.


And if you want to try to 'ward off the fears of Friday the 13th', click on this link, care of NPR (National Public Radio).

Finally, click on this link to get the low-down on black cats and Friday the 13th - trust me, you won't want to let this pass you on by. :)

Lest we end on a scary note, click on this link from Youtube for a cute little spoof on Friday the 13th.  Really, its quite harmless - and pretty cute! 

Enjoy the links and hopefully you won't have an unlucky day!


Regards,
Stu

Urban Legends, Myths and More: Snopes.com

Hi All,

What do the phrases, 'autos', 'business', 'cokelore', 'Disney', 'Frauds and Scams', 'Inboxer Rebellion','Old Wives' Tales', 'Travel' and 'Weddings'?

Why they are all subject headings at Snopes.com.  What is Snopes.com you ask?  Excellent question and the answer is that Snopes is the 'definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors and misinformation. 

Users can use the search box to type in a particular hoax or piece of misinformation to learn more about the topic.

For example, I typed in the word 'milk' and got over 100 results.  The first entry is titled, 'Doctor Operates For Free on Girl Who Years Earlier Gave Him a Glass of Milk'.

The entry has a 'glurge' - a word that describes the event that Snopes talks about.  As Snopes describes it, a 'glurge' is a word to describe the syrupy sweet e-mails that are mass-mailed to unwilling participants on the internet'.

Status of the urban legends is either 'true' or 'false'.

An example of when and how the urban legend was found is included.  Origins of the urban legend are discussed in detail (to the tune of over 1000 words) and and a 'Last Updated' time stamp is included in all entries.  Finally, a list of sources is included at the end of the entry!

Hack away and enjoy finding out about all those urban legends that you've been wondering about. 

Regards,
Stu