Circa 1850.
A curious document that had been filed away in a box for over a century.
Hundreds of pages of strange, crudely drawn figures, resembling stick figures, many of them appearing to be urinating, copulating, whipping each other, and displaying enormously swollen genitals. An extremely important document that revealed much that was previously unknown about Native American history and culture?? The scribbling book of a German child, "the leisure pencillings of a nasty-minded little boy"?? We may never know.
[more inside]
posted by ecorrocio
on Jul 28, 2011 -
44 comments
Clive James on Scams and Hoaxes. "
If the flim-flam man is sensible enough to offer you a return of only twice as much, the scam might even work. I was once defrauded of a heartbreakingly-large sum by a fellow writer who was smart enough to offer no return at all. True to her word, she didn't return my money either."
posted by Blue Stone
on Apr 9, 2007 -
18 comments
Yikes! In light of approaching finals do you find yourself excogitating WTHHIBD (what the hell have I been doing) over and over, and wondering if your lost time may have been due to
circumstances beyond your control? While the vindicating qualities (obviously you would have been more productive if you hadn't been somebody else's science experiment) of this alibi are usually ephemeral, it is still curious to think is all this talk of sightings/abductions/misplaced keys just a
hoax,
an elaborate cover up, or some yin yang amalgamation of the two? Is the mystery surrounding
Area 51 nothing more than conspiracy, (even if well
positioned)? To what extent are we inexorably skeptical or prepared to sort through the overflowing, spooky coffers of galactic mystery?
posted by superposition
on Dec 7, 2004 -
6 comments
Any experts out there? Have you been asked to do a show, called "The Debate Show" on "an MTV network"? Well look out: IT'S A TRAP! "The Debate Show" is actually a new Comedy Central program called
Crossballs, a "smart, comedic spoof of programs such as Crossfire, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and the entire Fox News Network..."
A second amendment activist emerged from a taping with extremely twisted knickers, whilst a
privacy advocate barely escaped (this account via
bOINGbOING). I'm torn: part of me wants to see the show, and part of me wants to see if enough attention on the web can ruin it...
posted by PinkStainlessTail
on Jun 21, 2004 -
62 comments
sniggle.net :: calls itself a 'Culture Jammer's Encyclopedia' -- its a fabulous compendium of forgeries, fakes, hoaxes, counterfeiting, spoofs, pseudoscience, and just plain weird stuff. Perfect fodder for killing time on a Friday afternoon.
posted by anastasiav
on Apr 23, 2004 -
6 comments
Hot Abercrombie Chick? Maybe
not,
"Something was amiss, and I had to prove that Hot Abercrombie Chick was either a) a totally different girl, b) a guy or c) some team of people creating an identity. And I was devoted to outing this fraud."
posted by cedar
on Apr 21, 2004 -
51 comments
There's a lot of scammin', griftin', and chicanery going on in the world and
Snopes has always been there, but they usually take some time to do their investigations. But for the quick hit, they've just launched
a new daily scam page carrying just that day's latest scam news from around the country. It's really amazing
how many major scams take place every day, and it helps to know how to spot a scam when you hear about it.
posted by mathowie
on Apr 10, 2004 -
4 comments
Rainbow Innuendo Episode Evidentially Rainbow was a children's show in Britain (Canada?) in the Late 70's - early 80's. (I never heard of it till now here in Ohio.) Anyway, wether this went on the air or whether it was just a gag reel for the cast and crew... I doubt anyone will know. I went out and found the full 16MB MPEG version for downloading, because I love ya. Must be seen to believed. Possibly NSFW. Maybe.
Can't believe your ears/eyes? Want to see the script?
Here ya go.
posted by Dome-O-Rama
on Feb 26, 2004 -
11 comments
Punk the National Review - a potentially-petty exercise in journalistic credibility. The
National Review has recently engaged in printing anonymous e-mails from readers who "used to know" the Democratic candidates and just happen to have damaging stories about them. Blogger Ted Barlow is offering a $10 Amazon gift certificate to anyone who can get their anonymous story published. "If you possess an email address and an eye-opening story, you've passed the rigorous fact-checking that has made
National Review and the
Penthouse Forum world-famous."
posted by XQUZYPHYR
on Feb 3, 2004 -
26 comments
Who was that masked man? A bunch of friends decide to fool their local paper into thinking there is a real-life superhero in Tunbridge Wells.
Local paper falls for it hook line and sinker. Swiftly followed by
national media. This thread on a Divine Comedy discussion board describes the whole dastardly plot unfolding. The fun starts on page 2.
posted by salmacis
on May 27, 2003 -
13 comments
As a brief distraction from all the death and destruction, let's head over to the museum of hoaxes, where we'll find the top 100 April Fool's day pranks of all time.
Good luck with your own respective hoaxing.
posted by jonz
on Mar 31, 2003 -
5 comments
How would you like to control the entire universe, both what goes within you and what happens with others?
As you can imagine when you can knock down attackers from 10 feet away or heal someone dying from something just using your own energy- that is true personal power!
Others are
skeptical. I think I will hold on to my $19.99. The movies are entertaining, though.
posted by hockeyman
on Feb 15, 2003 -
19 comments
This news item turned out to be a hoax. Has Reuters been
fooled again? I certainly smell a rat...
(I know the original mefi link pointed to the BBC, but the BBC picked it up from Reuters)
posted by titboy
on Oct 19, 2002 -
10 comments
It starts with Delaware... Over at Google Answers, a Microsoft Games Studio employee has posted a most interesting puzzle to solve. Over the course of the last twenty
months a list of states has been gradually revealed by his boss, but under what criteria are they listed? He's giving $200.00 to the winner; just think of
what you could
buy. The fine folks at the
Straight Dope are already on the case. To the Googlemobile! [via
Cardhouse]
posted by thewittyname
on Aug 22, 2002 -
75 comments
For anyone in "the know," it's no secret that
Jack + Meg White are not brother and sister but actually are a divorced couple posing as siblings.
Glorious Noise has posted a copy of their marriage certificate.
But aren't we all brothers and sisters in rock n' roll?
posted by modularette
on May 26, 2002 -
31 comments
Are You Ready For April Fool's Day? Better read the
Museum of Hoaxes's March Newsletter to find out. Certain
pranks are already in progress, while
other recent hoaxes - of which at least one was seriously discussed here on MetaFilter - remain fresh in our minds. Real aficionados and sleuths, of course, will head straight for the
hoax websites pages, where some seem too good - or too awful -
not to be true. In Southern Europe, April Fool's Day is known as
Liars' Day and everyone is entitled - nay, compelled! - to invent at least one big
whopper. Any ideas?
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Mar 30, 2002 -
35 comments
Fake or Foto? Try to guess which are photographs, and which have been cleverly computer-generated. Sure it's a game, and it's interesting on that level, but I was wondering if anyone was seeing any patterns in the kind of objects they were able to recognize as one or the other. I know I did.
posted by Hildago
on Nov 14, 2001 -
33 comments
Urban Legend, I choose you! Pokemon is being banned in several Muslim countries because of rumour that it is anti-religious. What's your favorite urban legend that resulted in widespread societal changes? (You need not limit yourself to religious edicts . . . an sort of change made by people in power because of an urban legend will be fine.) Why do you think that urban legends have this power? What does this say about human cognition?
posted by iceberg273
on Apr 24, 2001 -
46 comments
Government GPS surveillance through your digital camera. A DOJ project to go after pedophiles and obscenity-mongers by regulating digital still and motion cameras is slated to be introduced in Congress:
A DOJ project code-named "Indecent Images" plans to implant technologies developed to automatically recognize hard-core Internet sex images into the next generation of cameras. An II-compliant camera will refuse to take illegal photographs or videos, and could even quietly tip off law enforcement to illicit behavior. . .
The II draft says that "any variant" of digital still or video camera must include a GPS device and a transmitter that is compatible with U.S. pager networks. When a child pornographer takes an illegal photo, the camera recognizes it and transmits an encrypted message containing the image, the date, and the location to the local police -- who would then raid the home and save the child from continued erotic exploitation.
They've
got to be kidding. I'm not endorsing exploiting kids, natch, but I can't believe this this kind of surveillance is even being contemplated. . .
Then again, remembering Ashcroft's beady little eyes. . . (via
J. Orlin Grabbe)
posted by aflakete
on Apr 2, 2001 -
26 comments
Psycho ex-girlfriend is a hoax! Looking at the code, I could see that it would sleep for a while, then start popping ad windows. Because of the delay, people would not associate the advertising with PsychoEx - the countdown starts only when you leave the page. and registered at anystreet, Dallas TX phone number 214.555.1212
posted by igloo
on Mar 30, 2001 -
14 comments
