snopes.com: <NOBR>Update #377</NOBR> Hello again from snopes, where we shed light on the wild tales you've heard! This <NOBR>e-mail</NOBR> gives information about new articles recently added to the snopes.com web site and provides pointers to older pieces about rumors and hoaxes still wandering into everyone's inboxes. Our last update mailing was <NOBR>16 August</NOBR> 2008. 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 <NOBR>�?it's</NOBR> a keeper!
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And now to the legends, the mayhem, and the misinformation!
New Articles - Latest crime scare e-mail posits that gang members in Oklahoma City are throwing bricks at cars in hope of getting potential victims to stop.
- Wind driven: Video clip shows a wind turbine exploding during high winds.
- Dolores Aguilar obituary: Family member runs caustic obituary about deceased parent.
- Warning: Contains anatomically correct image: <NOBR>X-ray</NOBR> purportedly documents a case of fracture of the male appendage.
- Photographs show the world's largest swimming pool?
- Did Barack Obama state during a Wall Street Journal interview that "a strong government hand is needed to assure that wealth is distributed more equitably"?
- Don't forget to visit our Daily Snopes page for a collection of odd news stories from around the world!
Worth a Second Look - We look at a variety of rumors about menthol cigarettes, such as certain companies that produce them being owned by the KKK, that they're part of an insidious plot to do away with African-Americans, that they contain fiberglass, or will do nasty things to the manly parts of male smokers.
Still Haunting the Inbox - Political rumors continue to swell around the two major-party presidential contenders, <NOBR>Barack Obama</NOBR> and <NOBR>John McCain</NOBR>.
- Images show the USS New York, a warship built using steel from the World Trade Center.
- Videos purportedly show popcorn being popped with cellphones.
- Computer virus warnings: Postcard (or Greeting Card), <NOBR>Osama bin Laden</NOBR> Captured (or Hanged) and <NOBR>MSNBC / CNN</NOBR> <NOBR>News Alert.</NOBR>
- Various articles attributed to columnist <NOBR>Thomas Sowell.</NOBR>
- Warning about thieves breaking into cars by capturing remote <NOBR>keyless entry</NOBR> signals.
- Long-running hoax claims Bill Gates, Microsoft and AOL are giving away cash and merchandise to those who forward an e-mail message.
- Various rumors about the U.S. Social Security system.
- Petitions urge Americans to buy/not buy gasoline from Citgo or Petro Express stations.
- E-mail claims Rep. Nancy Pelosi has proposed a windfall profits tax on retirement income.
- E-mail describes woman who evades a rapist posing as a policeman by calling #77 (or *677) on her cell phone.
- E-warning cautions that <NOBR>cell phone</NOBR> numbers are being sold to telemarketers.
- Warnings about scammers' running up long-distance charges by asking victims to press <NOBR>#-9-0</NOBR> on their telephones or luring phone users into returning calls to numbers within the 809 area code.
- Outdated information about the planet Mars making a once-in-our-lifetimes, remarkably close approach to Earth in <NOBR>August 2008.</NOBR>
- Information about Irena Sendler, a woman credited with saving 2,500 Polish Jews from the Holocaust.
- Essay attributed to comedian <NOBR>Jay Leno</NOBR> (or David Letterman) urges Americans to focus on the positive.
- Commentary by actor/writer <NOBR>Ben Stein</NOBR> on the observance of Christmas.
- Aspartame: Responsible for an epidemic of cancer, brain tumors, and multiple sclerosis, or not?
- E-mail requests prayers for <NOBR>Katie Fitch,</NOBR> a three-year-old girl with a hepatoblastoma.
- Controversy over employees at a <NOBR>Tyson Foods</NOBR> plant being given a paid day off for the Muslim holiday of <NOBR>Eid al-Fitr.</NOBR>
- Appeals to find missing children: Ashley Flores, Reachelle Marie Smith, and Evan Trembley.
Fraud Afoot - Seems like everyone has become the recipient of mysterious <NOBR>e-mails</NOBR> promising untold wealth if only one helps a wealthy foreigner quietly move millions of dollars out of his country. The venerable <NOBR>419 Scam</NOBR> 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 claiming 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 or rent anything online (car, boat, horse, motorcycle, painting, apartment, you name it) you're approached by a prospective buyer/renter who wants to pay with a cashier check made out for an amount in excess of the agreed-upon price and who asks the balance be sent to a third party.
- Aspiring work-at-homers promised big bucks for acting as intermediaries for international transactions wherein they cash checks for other parties or reship goods to them have been defrauded by con artists. Don't you be next.
- If someone calls to announce you've failed to appear for <NOBR>jury duty</NOBR> and will be arrested, do not give the caller your personal and financial information in an effort to prove he's sending the gendarmes after the wrong guy. You're being tricked into giving up this information to an identity thief.
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