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The new issue of College and Undergraduate Libraries 15 (1/2) (2008) is on critical thinking. Stephanie Mathson and I have an article in it titled "We Won't Be Fooled Again: Teaching Critical Thinking via Evaluation of Hoax and Historical Revisionist Websites in a Library Credit Course." The article is not online but Stephanie and I are pleased with it.
From the abstract:
At Central Michigan University, librarians teach multiple sections of an eight-week, one-credit research skills class to hundreds of undergraduate students each semester. While the main focus of the course is to teach students how to find, use, and properly cite library resources, librarians also address critical thinking skills by designing lessons to teach World Wide Web organization and how to analyze the information found via search engines. Showing student's obvious hoax sites about “tree octopi” and “male pregnancy” introduces the concepts of critical thinking and Website analysis. Most students quickly refute the information on such sites. However, students have a more difficult time assessing social, historical, or political revisionist Web sites' validity. Contrasting those claims with evidence accepted by international courts, historians, and scientists is useful in pointing out the flaws of seemingly well documented but one-sided revisionist sites. There are dangers in exposing students to these groups via their Websites. Yet, it is important to do so in order to convey the importance of critical analysis of information. The authors discuss students' preand post-test (CMU's online assessment tool, the “research readiness self-assessment” [RRSA]) scores to determine whether critical thinking skills have improved.
Showing posts with label Hoax Sites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hoax Sites. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
We Won't Be Fooled Again: Teaching Critical Thinking via Evaluation of Hoax and Historical Revisionist Websites in a Library Credit Course
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Cryptids are Real
I have two sons. They often watch the Cartoon Network. Recently, the network has been running some commercials promoting a site titled Cryptids are Real.
A description of the site reads:
Discover the hidden world of cryptids. Watch legendary animals caught on video, read eyewitness monster encounters, and track creatures like the Loch Ness Monster.
The site looks nice. It has the commercials online, some headlines, graphics with brief text, and a map for tracking cryptid sittings. The site is not deep and there is not really a lot of content yet. I think this site was developed to promote a new cartoon show on the network.
It does not take long to see that this is a hoax site. None of the stories are real. Headlines like "Bigfoot's Stinky Cousin" give it away. However, as this site is aimed at children, will this not be taken seriously by some of them? For this reason, I am going to classify this as a hoax site. It could be useful for teaching Web evaluation and critical thinking skills to elementary school students.
A description of the site reads:
Discover the hidden world of cryptids. Watch legendary animals caught on video, read eyewitness monster encounters, and track creatures like the Loch Ness Monster.
The site looks nice. It has the commercials online, some headlines, graphics with brief text, and a map for tracking cryptid sittings. The site is not deep and there is not really a lot of content yet. I think this site was developed to promote a new cartoon show on the network.
It does not take long to see that this is a hoax site. None of the stories are real. Headlines like "Bigfoot's Stinky Cousin" give it away. However, as this site is aimed at children, will this not be taken seriously by some of them? For this reason, I am going to classify this as a hoax site. It could be useful for teaching Web evaluation and critical thinking skills to elementary school students.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Free Online Pregnancy Test
I have found another interesting hoax site. This one is called the Free Online Pregnancy Test. Yes, it is an obvious hoax and I sure hope no one would ever fall for it.The site claims, "If you're concerned that you may be pregnant, take our free online pregnancy test from the privacy of your own home. No messy stick tests, no waiting, and best of all, our online pregnancy test results are guaranteed!" The guarantee states, "Please note we only guarantee that you'll get a result, not that the results will be accurate."
How does it work? "Using our exclusive Remote Sensor Technology (RST) software in conjunction with a standard web browser Flash plug-in, over 30 of your key physical health parameters are analysed. The RST software processes the parameters and, after evaluation, displays your pregnancy test results at up to 99.9 percent accuracy."
This site probably would not be useful in teaching information literacy because it is so obviously a hoax but it is fun to play with. Make sure you turn your sound on so you can hear the scan working and the moans and laughter which are emitted when the father of the baby is revealed. You can even get birth certificates.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
HOAXBUSTERS
I found a fun site. It appears to have been around for some time. HOAXBUSTERS contains information about hoaxes, chain letters, urban myths and other bogus information being routed around the internet. I bet some good material for information literacy lesson plans could be found here.
From the site:
Interspersed among the junk mail and spam that fills our Internet e-mail boxes are dire warnings about devastating new viruses, Trojans that eat the heart out of your system, and malicious software that can steal the computer right off your desk. Added to that are messages about free money, children in trouble, and other items designed to grab you and get you to forward the message to everyone you know. Most all of these messages are hoaxes or chain letters. While hoaxes do not automatically infect systems like a virus or Trojan, they are still time consuming and costly to remove from all the systems where they exist. At CIAC, we find that we spend much more time de-bunking hoaxes than handling real virus and Trojan incidents. These pages describe some of the warnings, offers, and pleas for help that are filling our mailboxes, clogging our mailservers, and that generally do not have any basis in fact.
In addition to describing hoaxes and chain letters found on the Internet, we will discuss how to recognize hoaxes, what to do about them, and some of the history of hoaxes on the Internet.
Users are requested to please not spread chain letters and hoaxes by sending copies to everyone you know. Sending a copy of a cute message to one or two friends is not a problem but sending an unconfirmed warning or plea to everyone you know with the request that they also send it to everyone they know simply adds to the clutter already filling our mailboxes. If you receive any of this kind of mail, please don't pass it to everyone you know, either delete it or pass it to your computer security manager to validate. Validated warnings from the incident response teams and antivirus vendors have valid return addresses and are usually PGP signed with the organization's key. Alternately, you can and should get the warnings directly from the web pages of the organizations that put them out to insure that the information you have is valid and up-to-date.
From the site:
Interspersed among the junk mail and spam that fills our Internet e-mail boxes are dire warnings about devastating new viruses, Trojans that eat the heart out of your system, and malicious software that can steal the computer right off your desk. Added to that are messages about free money, children in trouble, and other items designed to grab you and get you to forward the message to everyone you know. Most all of these messages are hoaxes or chain letters. While hoaxes do not automatically infect systems like a virus or Trojan, they are still time consuming and costly to remove from all the systems where they exist. At CIAC, we find that we spend much more time de-bunking hoaxes than handling real virus and Trojan incidents. These pages describe some of the warnings, offers, and pleas for help that are filling our mailboxes, clogging our mailservers, and that generally do not have any basis in fact.
In addition to describing hoaxes and chain letters found on the Internet, we will discuss how to recognize hoaxes, what to do about them, and some of the history of hoaxes on the Internet.
Users are requested to please not spread chain letters and hoaxes by sending copies to everyone you know. Sending a copy of a cute message to one or two friends is not a problem but sending an unconfirmed warning or plea to everyone you know with the request that they also send it to everyone they know simply adds to the clutter already filling our mailboxes. If you receive any of this kind of mail, please don't pass it to everyone you know, either delete it or pass it to your computer security manager to validate. Validated warnings from the incident response teams and antivirus vendors have valid return addresses and are usually PGP signed with the organization's key. Alternately, you can and should get the warnings directly from the web pages of the organizations that put them out to insure that the information you have is valid and up-to-date.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Fake drug, fake illness -- and people believe it!
Another hoax site, this one with an art exhibit too! The hoax site itself is at http://www.havidol.com/. An article about it is Fake drug, fake illness -- and people believe it!
From the site:
A media exhibit featuring a campaign for a fake drug to treat a fictitious illness is causing a stir because some people think the illness is real.
drug called Havidol for Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder (DSACDAD), which she also invented.
But the multi-media exhibit at the Daneyal Mahmood Gallery in New York, which includes a Web site, mock television and print advertisements and billboards is so convincing people think it is authentic.
"People have walked into the gallery and thought it was real," Mahmood said in an interview.
From the site:
A media exhibit featuring a campaign for a fake drug to treat a fictitious illness is causing a stir because some people think the illness is real.
drug called Havidol for Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder (DSACDAD), which she also invented.
But the multi-media exhibit at the Daneyal Mahmood Gallery in New York, which includes a Web site, mock television and print advertisements and billboards is so convincing people think it is authentic.
"People have walked into the gallery and thought it was real," Mahmood said in an interview.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Hot-Headed Moles in Antarctica
Hot-Headed Moles in Antarctica. I participated in an innovative class the other day. The instructor used a fake article on penguin devouring moles in Antarctica to teach about solving problems in groups. It is similar to exercises I have used dealing with hoax web sites but used a printed out copy of the article instead.
Problem-Based Learning in Language Instruction: A Constructivist Model by Mardziah Hayati Abdullah has information on problem-based learning. Abdullah wrote, "One method which supports learning in the target domain is Problem-Based-Learning (PBL). It was created by Barrows (1986) as an alternative instructional method to prepare medical students for real-world problems by letting them solve medical problems based on real-life cases, rather than having them learn mainly through lectures which taught the sciences out of context. The students worked in teams, and were assigned a medical practitioner who acted as facilitator. This practice was consistent with the assumption that learning occurs not in the "heads of individual speakers" but in the fields of social interaction (Lave & Wenger, 1991), where social partners also determine what and how someone learns (Cole & Engestrom, 1993; Salomon, 1993). It was argued that PBL made learning more applicable by encouraging students to think and act like they would in the real world of medicine. This same method, Duffy and Cunningham (1997) believe, can be applied in other domains. "
The mole scenario is rather outrageous. It is pretty easy to see as fake. I do not think many college students would fall for it but it may work well in the K-12 setting. (My eight year old son would believe it and think penguins being ate by moles was cool.) Similar articles that are a bit more believable may work best in a post-secondary setting. A direct link to the mole article can be found at LIFE ON ICE II.
From the site:
Dr. Janice Lingle, an associate professor of physics, had acquired a reputation among her colleagues and students as a person who enjoyed solving and posing problems. Thus she wasn't particularly surprised one morning when she found a clipping from Discover magazine in her mail box with a Post-It note asking: "Is this for real? -- Barb". (Dr. Barbara Jenkins was an Assistant Professor of English who often ate lunch with Jan in the faculty dining room.) Jan quickly read the short article and thought to herself, "This is great! I can use this today to introduce the next topic," and she rushed off to make copies for her students.
At 9:30, the 65 students in her nonmajors introductory physics class strolled in talking about who would make the final four in the NCAA tournament and what they were planning for spring break. At the beginning of class, Jan asked, "Could you please sit together with your lab partners today? I think you can help me with a question Professor Jenkins from the English Department asked me this morning." The students pulled their chairs into groups of 3 or 4 as Jan handed out the Discover article to each group. They enjoyed these unexpected breaks in the routine. "In half an hour, I want each group to advise me how I should answer Prof. Jenkins and give well supported reasons for your recommendation."
During the following 30 minutes, Jan moved from group to group listening to the discussion and occasionally asking or fielding questions. In one group she overheard Jon mutter, "Of course it's true. It's in Discover." And in another group a puzzled Melissa said, "Like, this isn't physics, it's biology. Ya know what I mean? Like, how are we supposed to know the answer?" Jan's response didn't resolve Melissa's puzzlement when she said somewhat cryptically, "Actually one could also think of this as a chemistry, geology, or history problem. It doesn't matter to me what information or reasoning you use to come to a decision, so long as it makes sense and everybody in your group can explain the reasons for the decision."
Problem-Based Learning in Language Instruction: A Constructivist Model by Mardziah Hayati Abdullah has information on problem-based learning. Abdullah wrote, "One method which supports learning in the target domain is Problem-Based-Learning (PBL). It was created by Barrows (1986) as an alternative instructional method to prepare medical students for real-world problems by letting them solve medical problems based on real-life cases, rather than having them learn mainly through lectures which taught the sciences out of context. The students worked in teams, and were assigned a medical practitioner who acted as facilitator. This practice was consistent with the assumption that learning occurs not in the "heads of individual speakers" but in the fields of social interaction (Lave & Wenger, 1991), where social partners also determine what and how someone learns (Cole & Engestrom, 1993; Salomon, 1993). It was argued that PBL made learning more applicable by encouraging students to think and act like they would in the real world of medicine. This same method, Duffy and Cunningham (1997) believe, can be applied in other domains. "
The mole scenario is rather outrageous. It is pretty easy to see as fake. I do not think many college students would fall for it but it may work well in the K-12 setting. (My eight year old son would believe it and think penguins being ate by moles was cool.) Similar articles that are a bit more believable may work best in a post-secondary setting. A direct link to the mole article can be found at LIFE ON ICE II.
From the site:
Dr. Janice Lingle, an associate professor of physics, had acquired a reputation among her colleagues and students as a person who enjoyed solving and posing problems. Thus she wasn't particularly surprised one morning when she found a clipping from Discover magazine in her mail box with a Post-It note asking: "Is this for real? -- Barb". (Dr. Barbara Jenkins was an Assistant Professor of English who often ate lunch with Jan in the faculty dining room.) Jan quickly read the short article and thought to herself, "This is great! I can use this today to introduce the next topic," and she rushed off to make copies for her students.
At 9:30, the 65 students in her nonmajors introductory physics class strolled in talking about who would make the final four in the NCAA tournament and what they were planning for spring break. At the beginning of class, Jan asked, "Could you please sit together with your lab partners today? I think you can help me with a question Professor Jenkins from the English Department asked me this morning." The students pulled their chairs into groups of 3 or 4 as Jan handed out the Discover article to each group. They enjoyed these unexpected breaks in the routine. "In half an hour, I want each group to advise me how I should answer Prof. Jenkins and give well supported reasons for your recommendation."
During the following 30 minutes, Jan moved from group to group listening to the discussion and occasionally asking or fielding questions. In one group she overheard Jon mutter, "Of course it's true. It's in Discover." And in another group a puzzled Melissa said, "Like, this isn't physics, it's biology. Ya know what I mean? Like, how are we supposed to know the answer?" Jan's response didn't resolve Melissa's puzzlement when she said somewhat cryptically, "Actually one could also think of this as a chemistry, geology, or history problem. It doesn't matter to me what information or reasoning you use to come to a decision, so long as it makes sense and everybody in your group can explain the reasons for the decision."
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Hoax or Just Strange? A Web Evaluation Exercise
I tried a new exercise to teach critical thinking and web evaluation skills. I had a small class (10 students) and I passed each a website address to examine and evaluate. Each website was accompanied by a set of four questions.
These were:
1. What is this site about? For what purpose was it created?
2. What evidence do you see that would indicate this is a valid site for information?
3. What evidence do you see that would indicate that this might not be a good site for finding valid information?
4. In your opinion, is this a hoax site? If not, would it be a good site to use for information even if you think the site is strange or out of the mainstream?
Each student got a different site. Sites used included:
Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
TEXAS INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT
Southern Lake Michigan - Where You Will Meet The Whales and Dolphins!
Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
HAWAII - INDEPENDENT & SOVEREIGN
A Concise Grammar of Feorran
The First Human Male Pregnancy
Visit Exciting Fredericton
Shards O'Glass
Dominion of British West Florida
Before I passed out the exercise, I went over with the class what to look for when evaluating a site. I used Five criteria for evaluating Web pages from Cornell as a guide.
The students had mixed success. They correctly identified the whale watching, shards of glass, male pregnancy, and tree octopus sites as being hoaxes. They correctly identified the Texas independence and the human extinction movement as real. They mistakenly labeled the Hawaiian and West Florida independence sites as hoaxes. They also believed the Fredericton site and the Feorran site were real.
After the results were shared, I again went over criteria for web evaluation and how the points could be used in looking at the sites. The students agreed that they were helpful when looking at these sites and that even the real sites would not be good sources for unbiased information. For example, the Texas independence site would be good for getting information on Texas separatists but it would not be a good source for Texas history due to political bias.
The students had a lot of fun and I think some real critical thinking skills were further developed. I would encourage others to try this or some variation on the exercise. The Open Directory Project has a good Hoax category for finding fake sites. Any fringe political group (or micronation online) is good for finding a real cause the students will doubt as real. Good luck.
These were:
1. What is this site about? For what purpose was it created?
2. What evidence do you see that would indicate this is a valid site for information?
3. What evidence do you see that would indicate that this might not be a good site for finding valid information?
4. In your opinion, is this a hoax site? If not, would it be a good site to use for information even if you think the site is strange or out of the mainstream?
Each student got a different site. Sites used included:
Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
TEXAS INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT
Southern Lake Michigan - Where You Will Meet The Whales and Dolphins!
Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
HAWAII - INDEPENDENT & SOVEREIGN
A Concise Grammar of Feorran
The First Human Male Pregnancy
Visit Exciting Fredericton
Shards O'Glass
Dominion of British West Florida
Before I passed out the exercise, I went over with the class what to look for when evaluating a site. I used Five criteria for evaluating Web pages from Cornell as a guide.
The students had mixed success. They correctly identified the whale watching, shards of glass, male pregnancy, and tree octopus sites as being hoaxes. They correctly identified the Texas independence and the human extinction movement as real. They mistakenly labeled the Hawaiian and West Florida independence sites as hoaxes. They also believed the Fredericton site and the Feorran site were real.
After the results were shared, I again went over criteria for web evaluation and how the points could be used in looking at the sites. The students agreed that they were helpful when looking at these sites and that even the real sites would not be good sources for unbiased information. For example, the Texas independence site would be good for getting information on Texas separatists but it would not be a good source for Texas history due to political bias.
The students had a lot of fun and I think some real critical thinking skills were further developed. I would encourage others to try this or some variation on the exercise. The Open Directory Project has a good Hoax category for finding fake sites. Any fringe political group (or micronation online) is good for finding a real cause the students will doubt as real. Good luck.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Gallery of Hoax Websites
Gallery of Hoax Websites. Here is a nice (but slightly dated) site listing with some annotation hoax websites. This should help to find examples of good looking bad information sites for information literacy classes.
Here are few of my favorites:
Afterlife Telegrams -Terminally ill volunteers will memorize your messages and, upon death, deliver them to your friends and family on the other side.
Aluminum Foil Detector Beanie - The low-cost device described on this site will help you combat unwanted mind control.
Britain for Americans - Americans visiting Britain can often be confused by the peculiar customs and speech of the island inhabitants. This site, created by John Hopkin of the United Kingdom, offers puzzled Americans a field guide to Britain.
Christian Women's Wrestling - These Christian woman have come up with a novel way of reaching out to sinners.
From the site:
These aren't sites about hoaxes. These are sites that are, themselves, hoaxes. The lifespan of hoax websites tends to be rather brief. So don't be surprised if some of the links no longer work.
I do my best to check them once in a while, and if they're dead I'll move them to the Hoax Website Graveyard. But if you notice that a link is dead, just let me know. All these links worked as of September 20, 2003.
NOTE: I stopped adding to this list in late 2003 when I began keeping a regular weblog. Hoax websites that I've found since then can be found by looking at the hoax websites category for the weblog. There's a lot of them there (more than there are on this list).
Here are few of my favorites:
Afterlife Telegrams -Terminally ill volunteers will memorize your messages and, upon death, deliver them to your friends and family on the other side.
Aluminum Foil Detector Beanie - The low-cost device described on this site will help you combat unwanted mind control.
Britain for Americans - Americans visiting Britain can often be confused by the peculiar customs and speech of the island inhabitants. This site, created by John Hopkin of the United Kingdom, offers puzzled Americans a field guide to Britain.
Christian Women's Wrestling - These Christian woman have come up with a novel way of reaching out to sinners.
From the site:
These aren't sites about hoaxes. These are sites that are, themselves, hoaxes. The lifespan of hoax websites tends to be rather brief. So don't be surprised if some of the links no longer work.
I do my best to check them once in a while, and if they're dead I'll move them to the Hoax Website Graveyard. But if you notice that a link is dead, just let me know. All these links worked as of September 20, 2003.
NOTE: I stopped adding to this list in late 2003 when I began keeping a regular weblog. Hoax websites that I've found since then can be found by looking at the hoax websites category for the weblog. There's a lot of them there (more than there are on this list).
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
POP! The First Human Male Pregnancy
POP! The First Human Male Pregnancy. Here is another great hoax website that should be helpful in teaching web evaluation skills. I hope none of your students fall for it...
From the site:
In the years since the first "test tube baby" was born in 1978, physicians and scientists from RYT Hospital have been working to develop a viable technique for the successful impregnation of male individuals. Illustrated to the right is a recent radiographic image of Mr. Lee, the first human subject to attempt this procedure, which shows the healthy fetus developing in his abdominal cavity.
Please note that RYT Hospital is not accepting new patients for this procedure. Male pregnancy is still in its experimental stage and will not be available to the public in the immediate future.
From the site:
In the years since the first "test tube baby" was born in 1978, physicians and scientists from RYT Hospital have been working to develop a viable technique for the successful impregnation of male individuals. Illustrated to the right is a recent radiographic image of Mr. Lee, the first human subject to attempt this procedure, which shows the healthy fetus developing in his abdominal cavity.
Please note that RYT Hospital is not accepting new patients for this procedure. Male pregnancy is still in its experimental stage and will not be available to the public in the immediate future.
Friday, November 18, 2005
A Concise Grammar of Feorran
A Concise Grammar of Feorran. Yet another clever hoax site...
The abstract for this site reads, "Feorran is a language of the Ross Group of the Antarctic Language Family. Site presents a descriptive grammar of the language based upon fieldwork undertaken in 1995-96. Also included are concise lexicons, both Feorran to English and English to Feorran, folktales in Feorran with analysis, and a brief ethnographic sketch."
Considering there is no indigenous human population in Antartica, this is clearly a hoax. However, I bet many students would fall for it. It looks real and even has a bibliography. Unfortunately, most students do not like to study languages so that might not even look closely enough to even evaluate the site.
I really need to start my own hoax site for fun and profit. I just can not decide on a good enough concept.
The abstract for this site reads, "Feorran is a language of the Ross Group of the Antarctic Language Family. Site presents a descriptive grammar of the language based upon fieldwork undertaken in 1995-96. Also included are concise lexicons, both Feorran to English and English to Feorran, folktales in Feorran with analysis, and a brief ethnographic sketch."
Considering there is no indigenous human population in Antartica, this is clearly a hoax. However, I bet many students would fall for it. It looks real and even has a bibliography. Unfortunately, most students do not like to study languages so that might not even look closely enough to even evaluate the site.
I really need to start my own hoax site for fun and profit. I just can not decide on a good enough concept.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
The AlterVistas Project
The AlterVistas Project. Apparently, I am not the only one out there who likes strange sites on the Web...
This is a well done collection of odd sites arranged by category. A couple of gems I found browsing today:
The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (This is a good looking hoax site! See if your students are fooled.)
So you've decided to be Evil.
The Time Travel Fund (What a great idea. The logic is flawless.)
From the site:
Since the birth of the internet it has been a showcase for the bizarre and the strange. We can't help being drawn to weird and funny websites, and we at AlterVistas have undertaken the mammoth task of cataloging and recording for all eternity the weirder side of the web.
As AlterVistas' grows and develops we hope you will join us on our quest; a quest for truth, a quest for honor, a quest for what lies at the heart of every one of us, a quest for what makes us the best goddam species on the planet...a quest for oddness.
This is a well done collection of odd sites arranged by category. A couple of gems I found browsing today:
The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (This is a good looking hoax site! See if your students are fooled.)
So you've decided to be Evil.
The Time Travel Fund (What a great idea. The logic is flawless.)
From the site:
Since the birth of the internet it has been a showcase for the bizarre and the strange. We can't help being drawn to weird and funny websites, and we at AlterVistas have undertaken the mammoth task of cataloging and recording for all eternity the weirder side of the web.
As AlterVistas' grows and develops we hope you will join us on our quest; a quest for truth, a quest for honor, a quest for what lies at the heart of every one of us, a quest for what makes us the best goddam species on the planet...a quest for oddness.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
People for the Ethical Treatment of Pumpkins
People for the Ethical Treatment of Pumpkins. This is not a hoax site but one of clever satire. I found it very amusing. The baby in the pumpkin photo at the bottom is cute and the quote that goes with it is great! It reads, "We must change our pumpkin perceptions in order to change our pumpkin behaviors. The youngster in the photo wasn't born with a desire to wear a pumpkin. Most assuredly an adult gutted the pumpkin and placed the child inside. This young person will probably grow up to be a pumpkin abuser too. Look closely at the picture, is the pumpkin smiling?"
I hope this site develops some more. Perhaps some P.E.T.PU t-shirts for sale? Some bumper stickers? Some additional education articles on pumpkin liberation would be welcome as well.
I hope this site develops some more. Perhaps some P.E.T.PU t-shirts for sale? Some bumper stickers? Some additional education articles on pumpkin liberation would be welcome as well.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Save the Manhattan Beach Mottled Roach
Save the Manhattan Beach Mottled Roach. Save one roach today, that tomorrow you may help to save millions! Another great hoax web site to share with your students. The music is a bit annoying so you may want to turn your sound down.
From the site:
While the common cockroach continues to hold its own against the encroachments of mankind and the reduction of its food supply through the inhumane methods of tightly sealed waste containers and insect resistant packaging, the Manhattan Beach Mottled Roach has an additional problem.
This majestic creature survives only in a small area, completely contained within the city limits of Manhattan Beach, California. It has become dependent on the special nutrients contained only in its small enclave. When this area becomes developed, the Mottled Roach will become extinct, following the path of the Southern California Giant Tree Slug and the Death Valley Yellowfin Tuna.
From the site:
While the common cockroach continues to hold its own against the encroachments of mankind and the reduction of its food supply through the inhumane methods of tightly sealed waste containers and insect resistant packaging, the Manhattan Beach Mottled Roach has an additional problem.
This majestic creature survives only in a small area, completely contained within the city limits of Manhattan Beach, California. It has become dependent on the special nutrients contained only in its small enclave. When this area becomes developed, the Mottled Roach will become extinct, following the path of the Southern California Giant Tree Slug and the Death Valley Yellowfin Tuna.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Oompa Loompa Liberation Front
Oompa Loompa Liberation Front. I just watched the new version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory yesterday. It is an excellent film and I like the ending to this version of the book better than the original film! I like the emphasis on the importance of the family.
However, I note the complete and total exploitation of the Oompa Loompas by Willie Wonka. He works them for low wages (only cocoa beans!). He experiments on the the Oompa Loompas by trying his unproven products on them. He has created a capitalistic business enterprise that takes advantage of a third world people by creating a cult of Willie Wonka that the Oompa Loompas slave for night and day. (I can't find Loompa Land on a map either. The colonial powers must have destroyed it. We need to return sovereignty to the Loompa people.)
I have been pressured to adopt a progressive cause at the library I work at. People say they like me but have trouble with my conservative, American Nationalist politics. They claim I need a "good" cause to humanize myself just a bit.
I have looked at a few causes that look interesting as I have examined the plight of the tree octopus, the oppressed bigfoots of Cascadia, and the Hawaiian Independence movement (or the fronts to liberate Alaska and Texas too!). However, those are just silly and I can't get into them.
But the Oompa Loompas. This is a great cause! Boycott Wonka bars. No Oompa blood for chocolate. Support the Oompa Loompa Liberation Front today!
However, I note the complete and total exploitation of the Oompa Loompas by Willie Wonka. He works them for low wages (only cocoa beans!). He experiments on the the Oompa Loompas by trying his unproven products on them. He has created a capitalistic business enterprise that takes advantage of a third world people by creating a cult of Willie Wonka that the Oompa Loompas slave for night and day. (I can't find Loompa Land on a map either. The colonial powers must have destroyed it. We need to return sovereignty to the Loompa people.)
I have been pressured to adopt a progressive cause at the library I work at. People say they like me but have trouble with my conservative, American Nationalist politics. They claim I need a "good" cause to humanize myself just a bit.
I have looked at a few causes that look interesting as I have examined the plight of the tree octopus, the oppressed bigfoots of Cascadia, and the Hawaiian Independence movement (or the fronts to liberate Alaska and Texas too!). However, those are just silly and I can't get into them.
But the Oompa Loompas. This is a great cause! Boycott Wonka bars. No Oompa blood for chocolate. Support the Oompa Loompa Liberation Front today!
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Hoax Sites
Hoax Sites. This is a good collection of the many hoax sites which are on the Web today. It includes such classics as the Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, Lake Michigan Whale Watching, and Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division.
I discovered for the first time such goodies as We Want Your Soul (company offering cash in exchange for souls) and Shards O'Glass (developer of glass shard edible consumer products intended for adults).
I feel kind of bad. I have yet to come up with a good hoax site. I think all librarians should. If we create good, high quality looking sites full of bad information we can help to flood the Web with worthless information and force the public to rely on us more! (We can't do much worse than all the search engine optimizers out there who ruthlessly promote low to no content pages to get those sites to the top of Google rankings to make more money.)
I have a few ideas. How about King Cobras of Michigan? I'll throw in lots of pictures and write about how the native King Cobra species of Michigan is threatened due to human fear and the human encroachment on their habitat. If I have good design, spell everything right, and pitch the right environmentally correct language, I might fool a lot of people into thinking the information is correct. I wonder if I could get the site to #1 ranking on Google for the term King Cobra?
I discovered for the first time such goodies as We Want Your Soul (company offering cash in exchange for souls) and Shards O'Glass (developer of glass shard edible consumer products intended for adults).
I feel kind of bad. I have yet to come up with a good hoax site. I think all librarians should. If we create good, high quality looking sites full of bad information we can help to flood the Web with worthless information and force the public to rely on us more! (We can't do much worse than all the search engine optimizers out there who ruthlessly promote low to no content pages to get those sites to the top of Google rankings to make more money.)
I have a few ideas. How about King Cobras of Michigan? I'll throw in lots of pictures and write about how the native King Cobra species of Michigan is threatened due to human fear and the human encroachment on their habitat. If I have good design, spell everything right, and pitch the right environmentally correct language, I might fool a lot of people into thinking the information is correct. I wonder if I could get the site to #1 ranking on Google for the term King Cobra?
Monday, February 28, 2005
The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. Here is another great liberal cause. Please help save the endangered tree octopuses before it is too late! This hoax site is a good one for teaching Web evaluation skills to students. One of my colleagues used it today and reported that two of her students thought it was a legit site.
From the site:
The Pacific Northwest tree octopus (Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula on the west coast of North America. Their habitat lies on the Eastern side of the Olympic mountain range, adjacent to Hood Canal. These solitary cephalopods reach an average size (measured from arm-tip to mantle-tip,) of 30-33 cm. Unlike most other cephalopods, tree octopuses are amphibious, spending only their early life and the period of their mating season in their ancestrial aquatic environment. Because of the moistness of the rainforests and specialized skin adaptations, they are able to keep from becoming desiccated for prolonged periods of time, but given the chance they would prefer resting in pooled water.
An intelligent and inquisitive being (it has the largest brain-to-body ratio for any mollusk), the tree octopus explores its arboreal world by both touch and sight. Adaptations its ancestors originally evolved in the three dimensional environment of the sea have been put to good use in the spatially complex maze of the coniferous Olympic rainforests. The challenges and richness of this environment (and the intimate way in which it interacts with it,) may account for the tree octopus's advanced behavioral development. (Some evolutionary theorists suppose that "arboreal adaptation" is what laid the groundwork in primates for the evolution of the human mind.)
From the site:
The Pacific Northwest tree octopus (Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula on the west coast of North America. Their habitat lies on the Eastern side of the Olympic mountain range, adjacent to Hood Canal. These solitary cephalopods reach an average size (measured from arm-tip to mantle-tip,) of 30-33 cm. Unlike most other cephalopods, tree octopuses are amphibious, spending only their early life and the period of their mating season in their ancestrial aquatic environment. Because of the moistness of the rainforests and specialized skin adaptations, they are able to keep from becoming desiccated for prolonged periods of time, but given the chance they would prefer resting in pooled water.
An intelligent and inquisitive being (it has the largest brain-to-body ratio for any mollusk), the tree octopus explores its arboreal world by both touch and sight. Adaptations its ancestors originally evolved in the three dimensional environment of the sea have been put to good use in the spatially complex maze of the coniferous Olympic rainforests. The challenges and richness of this environment (and the intimate way in which it interacts with it,) may account for the tree octopus's advanced behavioral development. (Some evolutionary theorists suppose that "arboreal adaptation" is what laid the groundwork in primates for the evolution of the human mind.)
Monday, October 18, 2004
The Electric Eclectic. This is a fun little collection of 3000+ links arranged by subject and title. It is maintained by Jim Eccleston. Evidently, he adds useful sites as he finds them. I enjoyed browsing his collection.
Sample categories:
History
Philosophies
Women
Sample categories:
History
Philosophies
Women
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