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That looks like a mangled version of a faux story from the Weekly World News. It includes this quote:
"The good news is that this finding confirms several cutting- edge ideas in theoretical physics," announced Dr. Albert Sherwinski, a Cambridge based astrophysicist with close ties to NASA. "The bad news is that the total annihilation of our solar system is imminent." For those who don't know, WWN is a joke tabloid that specializes in outrageous stories. It was one of Douglas Adams' favorite periodicals. My favorite WWN story (with pictures) was the 2003 wedding between Osama Bin Laden & Saddam Hussein (Saddam was the bride, and wore a white gown). Attendees included Muammar Qadaffi, Kim Jong Il and Jacques Chirac.
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"Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of flickering pictures - in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together." St. Exupery |
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Wow, thanks for the link. That probably is where the idea came from. The WWN usually is full of it, though the story on the surface looks "scientific".
Well, as long as it's not true, I guess we can scratch that one off our list!
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"One of the most untruthful things possible, you know, is a collection of facts, because they can be made to appear so many different ways." -Karl A. Menninger |
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"I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be." ~ Isaac Asimov "Somewhere, there is something incredible waiting to be known. " ~Carl Sagan |
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Anything may be possible, but not everything actually is. Some things are true and some things are not. Wisdom is knowing the difference. |
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An open mind is like an open window...without a good screen you'll get all sorts of weird bugs! |
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The sad thing is that WWN DOES include an occasional small tidbit that is at least semi-true (the little short articles that take up about 10% of a page are sometimes semi-true or at least I've seen some of those same stories elsewhere before).
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Some are more believable than others, obviously....
Tonar: http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/wwn/...610520022.html |
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"Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of flickering pictures - in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together." St. Exupery |
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WWN doesn't care if the story winds up being true, just as long as it is entertaining to read.
My alltime favorite story arc in the WWN was one week the cover story was "Woman gives birth to baby sheep" and explained it was a big mix uo at the sperm bank. Fair enough. The very next week the story was "Sheep gives birth to human baby." Yes, you guessed it, big mix up at the sperm bank. To their credit, neither story mentioned the other, leaving it to us to make the connection. I don't see WNN as a put on or joke. Obviously the stories are baloney, but it is presented straight. That is, it is no more - nor less - a joke than the Art Bell show. Or Pro Wrestling. Maybe I am being overly picky, but a joke is never intended to be believed by anyone. |
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when I was in high school, the fluff section of the LA Times published an article about the WWN, including interviewers with staff. they freely admitted to making it up. (two of my favorite cover stories: "Hitler's nose cloned--and it's growing a moustache!" and "woman killed by fur coat!" the exclamation points are absolutely mandatory for WWN headlines.)
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Gillian "Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'" "You can't erase icing." "I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!" |
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Now while I might be amused by Cthulhians, I don't necessarily distrust them to carry out the functions of government. -- JayUtah What's it like being a skeptic in the Middle East? Check out my blog. |
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http://www.scifi.com/pathofdestruction/
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Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity. Isaac Asimov |
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I put the WWN in the same category as The Onion, The Watley Review and other satirical periodicals. Each seeks to imitate a different kind of journal, but the overall intent is the same: Make people laugh.
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"Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of flickering pictures - in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together." St. Exupery |
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Didn't the editor of the Weekly World News once say that it's the most relable newspaper in the world? He said you can count on all the stories to have been made up. You gotta love these gals and guys!
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Carl Matherly Offical Battlestar Galactica Apologist Named Time Magazine's 2006 "Person of the Year" |
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![]() (It doesn't actually end, it rolls over, but very few Woo woos realise this. In a more humorous vein, I've heard the theory that our DNA will be upgraded in 2012 (Which makes no sense to me, rather akin to upgrading your hair, what does that mean?) which will allow us to use more than (wait for it...) 1/1 millionth of our brain, yes, the is person also believes that we currently only use 1/1 000 000 of our brain, thus making us psychic )
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"I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be." ~ Isaac Asimov "Somewhere, there is something incredible waiting to be known. " ~Carl Sagan |