Necrophile Infects Woman (Malta)

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=108116

The Malta Independent
26 June 2010

Macabre mortuary rumour denied

The Health Ministry yesterday flatly denied a morbid rumour of necrophilia having taken place at the Mater Dei mortuary, which according to the grapevine had resulted in the death of a woman. [...]

It was on Tuesday that this newspaper first heard the horrific rumour. In essence it involved an employee having allegedly passed on a parasitic infection to a woman after having had sexual contact with cadavers. [...]

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=108188
The Malta Independent
27 June 2010
Necrophilia story may have been nothing more than an imported urban legend

Bologna Placed on Car to Damage It

http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/content/2010/jun/23/vandals-weapon-bologna/news/

Hickory Daily Record [NC]
23 June 2010

Vandals' weapon: bologna

By Richard Gould

When a 19-year-old Hickory woman returned to her car after working her shift at the Valley Hills Mall, she was greeted by a rude surprise. Ten pieces of bologna had been left on her Nissan Sentra, Monday night. [...]

The Internet is awash with speculation as to the efficacy of bologna as a car paint remover. [...]

Two Suns in the Sky (Indian Rumor)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Mumbai/Now-Internet-hoax-on-two-suns-in-sky/articleshow/6076945.cms

Times of India
22 June 2010

Now, Internet hoax on 'two suns in sky'

Vijay Singh, TNN

MUMBAI: If you have been craning you neck skywards to catch a rare glimpse of “two suns in the sky’’ on Monday, then you’ve been made an ‘Internet Bakra’. Scientists and astronomers in the city have confirmed that certain hoax emails and social networking e-groups have been spreading rumours about two suns being visible on Monday and Tuesday, and also that another star has come close to Earth.

“Don’t believe in such emails that say that another bright star called ‘Aderoid’ will come as close as 34 million miles from Earth,’’ said senior scientist and astronomer from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Professor Pankaj Joshi. [...]

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/kochi/mail-on-two-suns-dismissed-as-sheer-prank/183528.html
Express Buzz [India]
22 June 2010
Mail on two suns dismissed as sheer prank

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/jun/200610-hoax-email-two-suns-mumbai-news.htm
Mid-Day [India]
20 June 2010
No need to double the sunscreen

Prediction of Earthquakes & Tsunamis in Fiji

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/world/3838515/Quake-prophecy-fears-in-Fiji

The Timaru Herald [NZ]
22 June 2010

Fiji rugby chief held over 'prophecy' rumours

By MICHAEL FIELD - Stuff

Fiji's rugby union head remains in custody and police on the islands are threatening to seize more people, amidst rumours the nation will be hit by a disaster tomorrow.

The chairman of the Fiji Rugby Union, Bill Gavoka, who also heads the Fiji Visitors Bureau, was seized by the regime yesterday after he sent emails to tourist operators warning of a pending disaster. [...]

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=54331
Radio New Zealand International
23 June 2010
Fiji pastor says Suva workers headed home at noon because of ’disaster warning’

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/3844203/Doomsday-prophecy-causes-Fiji-disruption
Stuff [New Zealand]
23 June 2010
Fiji quake prophesiers seized
By MICHAEL FIELD - Stuff

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=150671
Fiji Times
23 June 2010
Earthquake will not trigger tsunami

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=150672
Fiji Times
23 June 2010
False prophet

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=150717
Fiji Times
25 June 2010
Police charge tsunami prophet

Emperor Used an Electric Chair as a Throne

http://blogs.forteana.org/node/123

16 June 2010

The Emperor's electric chair

Mike Dash

[Did Abyssinian Emperor Menelik II use an electric chair as a throne? Dash discusses this legend which was popularized by its appearance in The Book of Lists (1977).]

Police Uniforms Stolen from Dry Cleaners

http://www.680news.com/news/local/article/66800--several-toronto-police-uniforms-missing-after-being-sent-to-cleaners

680News [Toronto]
15 June 2010

Several Toronto Police uniforms missing after being sent to cleaners

680News staff

Toronto Police sources have told 680News that over a dozen uniforms are missing after being sent out to be cleaned over the past few days.

Police fear the uniforms could be used be people to misrepresent themselves as officers. [...]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/g8-g20/news/toronto-police-cant-confirm-report-that-uniforms-were-stolen-from-cleaners/article1605515/

The Globe and Mail [Toronto]
15 June 2010

Toronto police can’t confirm report that uniforms were stolen from cleaners

Adrian Morrow

Police say they have no information to back up a report that more than a dozen uniforms have been stolen from drycleaners less than two weeks before the G20 summit in Toronto.

Radio station 680 News, quoting unnamed police sources, reported that the uniforms were lifted from drycleaners across Toronto over the last few days. [...]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/06/15/police-deny-reports-of-stolen-uniforms/

National Post [Canada]
15 June 2010

Police deny reports of stolen uniforms

Toronto Police could not confirm a report earlier today that 13 or more of their uniforms had been stolen from dry cleaning shops around the city in the past few days. [...]

"What's the Biggest Fish?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/15/world-cup-2010-brazil-north-korea-live

The Guardian [UK]
14 June 2010

North Korea set their World Cup target: happiness for the Dear Leader

Marina Hyde in Johannesburg

There is something about a North Korean World Cup press conference that recalls a possibly apocryphal story featuring the creepy Guinness Book of Records editor Norris McWhirter. According to this tale, Norris was visiting a school in his capacity as leader and co-founder of the Freedom Association, the charmless libertarian pressure group whose policies included mounting legal challenges against peace campaigners and allowing 1980s cricketers "freedom to trade" in apartheid South Africa. After delivering a fairly eye-wateringly right-wing lecture to his young audience, Norris broke the silence that greeted its conclusion by asking if anyone had any questions. "Yeah," drawled one kid. "What's the biggest fish?" [...]

http://www.bsad.org/0304/reports/sunderland/aptext.html

Blind, Stupid and Desperate [Blog]

Norris on the spot

By Simon Devon

You must remember Record Breakers. I remember once they had a show where they broke the world record for a bloke balancing milk crates on his head. It was stirring stuff. There was also a bit called "Norris on the Spot" where the kids would get to fire questions at Norris McWhirter and try to catch the old duffer out. A typical exchange would be:

CASTLE: "Have you got a question for Norris?"
KID: "What's the biggest fish?"
NOZZA: "Well, there are two opinions..."

http://www.tvcream.co.uk/?tag=norris-mcwhirter

TV Cream [UK]

The Record Breakers
1972 to 2002 on BBC1

LONG-RUNNING PROMOTIONAL campaign for the Guinness family and, for most of its existence, the only place you’d see 80-year-olds on children’s telly. ROY “OOPS! ANOTHER SOFT CENTRE!” CASTLE was your tapping, trumpetty host, with NORRIS (and, originally, IRA murder victim twin brother ROSS) McWHIRTER as the Book-compiling know-it-all foil. Never-changing menu: sketches, reports, McWhirter-retention testing ‘Norris on the Spot’ round (which always went: ROY: “Have you got a question for Norris?” KID: “What’s the biggest fish?” NOZZA: “Well, I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you that there’s a leopard in Africa that can run faster than a motorcycle”) [....]

Labiumstick

Gail Hershatter, Dangerous Pleasures: Prostitution and Modernity in Twentieth-Century Shanghai (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), p. 109.

A 1929 article in Crystal described American prostitutes, apparently in the United States, as [...] strong and healthy enough to sleep with a dozen men per day, "like a wheel in motion." They were further said to routinely smear lipstick on their genitalia, which were darkened from overuse. [36]

36. Jingbao [Crystal], 24 April 1929, p. 3.

Cow Tippers

http://www.triblocal.com/Glenview/detail/178775.html

Trib Local [Chicago, IL]
18 May 2010

Four men arrested in attempted cow tipping incident

By Jeff Danna/Triblocal.com staff reporter

Police apprehended four young men after they allegedly attempted to tip cows at Wagner Farm.

Glenview residents Spencer Olson, 21; John Kofod, 21; Timothy Plewa, 20; and Brian Snider, 21, were cited for trespassing after residents reported suspicious people running through back yards in the 1400 block of Kaywood Lane around 4:30 a.m. on Monday, Glenview Police said. They were found to have entered Wagner Farm in an attempt to tip several cows, police said, and Snider also was cited for interfering with police. [...]

Little Girl Parties

http://bc.rcmp.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=50&languageId=1&contentId=14861

RCMP in B.C.

Chilliwack

Parent Advisory - New Teen Parties on the Rise
File # 2010- Parent Advisory Thu May 27 10:01:00 PDT 2010

Chilliwack, BC- Like parents these days don’t have enough to worry about with their teenage kids, there appears to be something new on the rise. They are called “LG” parties and the acronym stands for “Little Girl.” High school teenagers will host a party and invite younger, middle school girls between the ages of 12 and 13 to attend. They will lure these girls with alcohol in an attempt to get them intoxicated enough to engage in sexual acts with them. [...]

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Police+investigate+competition+seduce+Grade+girls+Cloverdale+school/3058513/story.html

The Vancouver Sun [BC]
21 May 2010

Police investigate competition to seduce Grade 8 girls at Cloverdale school

By Ted Colley, Surrey Now

METRO VANCOUVER — Police and school officials are investigating after learning a small number of older male students at a Surrey high school were engaged in a competition to see who could seduce the greatest number of Grade 8 girls. [...]

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/officials+admit+warnings+over+little+girl+parties+based+hearsay/3084730/story.html

The Vancouver Sun [BC]
28 May 2010

B.C. officials admit warnings over ‘little girl’ parties based on hearsay

By Douglas Quan, Canwest News Service

Police and school officials in two B.C. communities are defending their decisions to alert parents about alleged incidents of high school boys seducing girls who are several years younger — even as officials acknowledged the advisories were based largely on hearsay. [...]

Organ Theft Rumors (Kosovo War)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10166800.stm

BBC News [UK]
27 May 2010

End of the road for Kosovo organ claims?

By Nick Thorpe
BBC News, Pristina, Belgrade and Tirana

For years rumours have circulated about Serbs abducted and killed for their organs in the months following the Kosovo war.

Three parallel international investigations, by war crimes investigators from Serbia, the European Union, and the Council of Europe, have failed to uncover any evidence that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) trafficked the organs of captives, according to sources close to each investigation. [...]

Link Between "Shrek" Movie & Notre Dame University

http://www.fox28.com/Global/story.asp?S=12542860

WSJV-TV [South Bend, IN]
25 May 2010

Link between Shrek, Notre Dame turns out to be myth

By Ed Greenberger

It doesn't take long to figure out why Notre Dame students call chemistry professor Graham Lappin "Shrek." The Scottish-born Lappin sounds exactly like the character. In fact, for years the rumor on campus has been Lappin was the inspiration for Shrek. [...]

Mobile Phone Number 0888 888 888 Fatal to Owners

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7763578/Mobile-phone-number-suspended-after-three-users-die-in-10-years.html

Daily Telegraph [UK]
25 May 2010

Mobile phone number suspended after three users die in 10 years

A mobile phone company has suspended the number 0888 888 888 – after every single person assigned to it died in the last 10 years. [...]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1281327/Jinxed-phone-number-0888-888-888-suspended-EVERY-user-dies.html

Daily Mail [UK]
25 May 2010

Mobile phone number 0888 888 888 suspended after every user assigned to it DIES

Marines Refused Service at Eatery (Stockton, CA)

http://www.kcra.com/mostpopular/23534591/detail.html

KCRA-TV [Sacramento, CA]
12 May 2010

Marines Refused Service At Eatery? Claims Fly Online
Phone Calls Hammer Weberstown Mall Sub Shop

STOCKTON, Calif. -- Web postings claim a Stockton sandwich shop refused to serve Marines at lunch on Monday, and the talk has led to a boycott of the eatery.

Calls for the boycott were posted on Facebook pages for the Department of Defense and other sites across the Web.

Posters claim that that Marine recruiters in Stockton were refused service at this Charley's Grilled Subs in Weberstown Mall. [...]

The Ticketer Ticketed

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2010/05/20/189555_back-paddock.html

The Weekly Times [Australia]
20 May 2010

Back Paddock [Column]

Cop that, officer

[...] A zealous motorbike copper pulls over a speeding motorist.

When the driver tries to argue he was only slightly over the limit, the copper barks, "I'm in charge here", and proceeds to write out a ticket.

As the copper walks back to his bike, the driver gets out of his car and says to the cop, "Well now I'm in charge, officer. I'm from occupational health and safety. You are not wearing your regulation fluoro safety vest and so now I'm giving you a ticket."

Back Paddock has seen various versions of this story where it took place in either Queensland, NSW or Victoria and involved the work safety authority in the state. [...]

A Talking Organ

[Don Cochrane's (self-published?) memoir consists mostly of humorous incidents from his career as an embalmer and funeral director in Ontario. He left the profession in 1968. The following excerpt is in the tradition of legends of church organs or sound systems picking up radio transmissions. -- bc]

Don S. Cochrane, Die Laughing (British Columbia, Canada: Little Mountain Publishing, 2001), pp. 83-4.

Behind the Funeral home was an older house owned by an elderly Irish gentleman. His passion was ham, or amateur radio. A visit to his radio room was very impressive, because he talked to other radio operators all over the world. On the top of the house was a very substantial radio tower.

Our organist would turn the electric organ off between hymns as it made an audible humming sound. After one funeral, she had complained that the organ had made several strange sounds while she was playing. It was as if someone was talking inside but it was slight and garbled. We could think of nothing that would cause the organ to act in such a way.

One day, the Minister was in the middle of a funeral service. He had come to the part of the service that called for the second hymn. In preparation our organist turned on the organ. It began to hum and then in a very clear loud voice she heard the words, "Are you there? Are you there? Am I getting through to you?"

There was a piercing and blood-curdling scream. She leapt up from the organ, charged through the chapel, and flew by the minister and casket just as he was asking the people to rise and sing. With her gown flowing, her hair streaming, and still screaming, she rounded the corner and headed down the long hall to our office at the front of the funeral home.

She was in full sail. Her considerable bulk was moving at an amazing speed and her continued screams echoed off the walls. She was convinced the organ had been possessed and was inhabited by aliens or was at least transmitting a message from God. She went straight out the front door while the other Funeral Director and I ran to the Chapel to see what had happened.

The people in the Chapel were buzzing, the family was dumbfounded and the voice in the organ kept talking. It was picking up the radio transmissions from next door.

The funeral continued without organ music and it took almost a month of talking and assurances it would not happen again to get her back but she was never really comfortable again.

Child Abducted, Head Shaved (Macau)

http://www.macaudailytimes.com.mo/macau/12247-Police-deny-child-abduction-rumour.html

Macau Daily Times
14 May 2010

Police deny child abduction rumour

The Judiciary Police (PJ) and the Public Security Police (PSP) both clarified yesterday that the suspected child abduction cases circulating via SMS were unsubstantial.

According to the PJ spokesperson Suen Kam Fai, the bureau investigated into the rumour that suggested someone had reported to the PJ on Wednesday night saying there were children who got abducted respectively in Rua do Campo and Avenida do Ouvidor Arriaga.

It also went on saying that when one of the children was found by his/her relatives, his/her clothes had already been changed and hair had all been shaved. [...]

Sunken Locomotive in Burnaby Lake

http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/burnabynewsleader/news/93729669.html

Burnaby News-Leader [BC, Canada]
13 May 2010

Sunken locomotive in Burnaby Lake just a myth, officials say

By Wanda Chow - Burnaby NewsLeader

The urban legend of a steam locomotive buried in Burnaby Lake is alive and well.

But the closest things to artifacts dredging crews have found so far are pop cans and plastic bags. [...]

Piranha Escape After Tennesse Flood

http://www.cmt.com/news/news-in-brief/1638478/piranha-reported-loose-at-opry-mills-mall.jhtml

CMT News
5 May 2010

Piranha Reported Loose at Opry Mills Mall

A pair of piranha reportedly escaped from their aquarium during Nashville's recent flood. According to police reports quoted by television station WKRN, at least two flesh-eating piranha slipped out of the huge 150,000-gallon tank at Aquarium Restaurant in the Opry Mills mall and are swimming in the flooded hallways, where water remains waist-deep to neck-deep in spots. Piranha are freshwater fish, native to South America.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100505/DAVIDSON/100505063/1974/DAVIDSON/
The Tennessean
5 May 2010
Nashville Aquarium Restaurant: No piranha loose; most fish OK

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100506/BUSINESS01/5060328

The Tennessean
6 May 2010

Opry Mills still closed; piranha escape reports false

By Bonna Johnson • THE TENNESSEAN

The Opry Mills shopping center, known for its Bass Pro Shops and Rainforest Café, remains closed because of flooding. Reports that dangerous piranha escaped from the Aquarium Restaurant at the mall are not true, restaurant officials said. [...]

A Rash of Rumors

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6444RW20100505

Reuters
5 May 2010

U.S. safety agency looking into P&G's new Pampers

(Reuters) - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has launched an investigation into Pampers diapers with Dry Max after some parents complained that the new Procter & Gamble Co diapers appear to be the cause of rashes and chemical burns on their children. [...]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6457AH20100507?type=domesticNews

Reuters
6 May 2010

P&G dismisses Dry Max Pampers rash rumors

(Reuters) - Procter & Gamble Co called reports that its new Pampers with Dry Max cause rashes and other skin irritations "completely false" as it aimed to contain a public relations threat to its biggest diaper innovation in 25 years. [...]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-14/procter-gamble-in-bind-over-moms-web-attack-on-pampers-brand.html
Business Week
14 May 2010
Procter & Gamble in Bind Over Moms’ Web Attack on Pampers Brand
By Burt Helm

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iTfUjoTs-1jLjIBNJjaX5JY52XMgD9HVU5LO0
Associated Press
2 September 2010
Feds: No Link Between Dry Max Diapers and Rashes

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10331.html

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
September 2, 2010
Release #10-331

No Specific Cause Found Yet Linking Dry Max Diapers to Diaper Rash

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Health Canada (HC) have reviewed consumer incident reports and other information involving Pampers Dry Max diapers. To date, the review has not identified any specific cause linking Dry Max diapers to diaper rash. [...]

Puppy Adoption Plea (Singapore)

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20100507-214676.html

AsiaOne News [Singapore]
7 May 2010

Beware SMS hoax urging adoption of puppies

By SIA LING XIN

IF YOU have recently received an SMS urging you to adopt one of the puppies abandoned by a puppy mill in Pasir Ris, take note: It is a hoax.

The SMS, which lists 17 breeds of dogs up for adoption, said the dogs will be put to sleep if they are not adopted within the next two weeks. [...]

Reservoir Drugs

http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/3421/reservoir_drugs.html

Andy Roberts, "Reservoir Drugs. Are the CIA spiking your water supply?" Fortean Times 262, May 2010.

[...] But of all the fortean fables associated with acid the ‘LSD in the water supply’ urban legend is by far the most potent and long-lived. And, unlike the rest of them, this one has at least some basis in reality. The legend comes in many forms, but the basic premise is that various individuals and groups, invariably framed by the media as political or psychedelic terrorists, have conspired to introduce LSD into the water supply, usually by dumping huge quantities in reservoirs. Society’s fear is that the dramatic effect of LSD on the masses will result in a disoriented and incapacitated population who are rich pickings for invasion, mind control or involuntary use in a demonstration of the drug’s power over ‘straight’ society by enemies of the state.

Over the past 50 years, the legend has manifested often, appearing in newspapers, magazines, books, films and TV shows. The idea sounds vaguely plausible – but is it? Has it ever happened, and, if not, just how did the story grow into an urban legend? [...]

Red SMS Messages Are Deadly

http://www.haveeru.com.mv/english/details/30422/Behind_the_%E2%80%98Red_Number_Hoax%E2%80%99

Haveeru Daily [Maldives]
5 May 2010

Behind the ‘Red Number Hoax’

By Ali Naafiz

[...] The rumours swept like wildfire among Maldivians on Tuesday, with chain messages warning the receiver not to answer calls from 7888308001, 9316048121, 9876266211, 9888854137 and 9876715587, “which would be in red colour.” Or else “you may get brain haemorrhage due to high frequency,” the texts read. They also claimed “27 people died just receiving the call,” urging the receiver to “watch DD News [an Indian public broadcaster] to confirm” the reports. [...]

http://www.nation.lk/2010/05/09/news4.htm

The Nation [Sri Lanka]
9 May 2010

SMS hoax causes panic
Physicist says phones emitting high frequency is an impossibility

By Ishtartha Wellaboda

[...] A hoax text message which circulated through mobile service networks on Friday and Saturday created panic among many mobile users. The message cited a series of numbers saying that if anyone were to answer calls from those numbers a high frequency would emit causing sudden death. [...]

[For earlier reports, see Deadly Phone Virus.]

Job Interview Test

Richard Dorson, Buying the Wind (Chicago & London: University of Chicago, 1964), p. 148.

As a schoolboy in New York City in the 1920's I heard and believed the story of a job interview test: a book is left lying on the office floor; if the applicant leaves it there or asks if he should pick it up, he fails to get the job, but if he picks it up immediately he is hired.

Kill Whites on Freedom Day (South African SMS)

http://www.citizen.co.za/index/article.aspx?pDesc=123950,1,22

The Citizen [South Africa]
26 April 2010

Police probe SMS warning whites of ‘murder pamphlets’

CITIZEN REPORTER

JOHANNESBURG - The intelligence community is investigating the origins of a “mischievous” SMS that has sowed panic in Polokwane and prompted the provincial police commissioner to place his forces on high alert.

The SMS, which warns that there are pamphlets being distributed around Polokwane which are urging black people each to kill as many whites as possible during today’s Freedom Day celebrations, has been distributed countrywide over the past few days. [...]

School Panic Over Jashinist Hit List

http://www2.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/state_regional/article/school_panic_grew_from_wildly_overblown_story/35709/

NBC4i [Columbus, OH]

26 April 2010

School Panic Grew From Wildly Overblown Story

Media General News Service

BRISTOL, Va.—Amid rumors that a bloodthirsty vampire cult might ritualistically sacrifice their children to gain immortality, dozens of Wallace Middle School parents kept their kids home Friday. [...]

Money Hidden in Bible Undiscovered

Robert K. Dodge, Early American Almanac Humor (Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1987), p. 147.

A wild young fellow was going abroad: His mother took him up into her closet, telling him she had a precious treasure to deposit in his hands, and after many grave admonitions produced the Bible, handsomely bound in two volumes; and to crown all, advised him to consult and search the scriptures. Little did the youth know how precious the volumes were; but you shall hear. On his return from sea, the old lady one day took him aside, and hoped he had remembered the last instruction she had given him: "Yes," he could very honestly say he had taken care of the Bible. To prove his respect and obedience, he runs upstairs to his own room, and returns instantly, with the two volumes safe and sound.

The good lady pulls off one cover: "Rather too clean, my dear." "O madam, I took great care of them: the second volume is equally fair." She shakes her head; intimating her suspicions that they had not been read so often as she wished: Then opened the first volume, and, lo! a ten pound note is found; the second volume displays a second note, and of twice the value. She was confounded, and so was her son: and regrets that he did not search the scriptures. (The Columbian Almanac; or, The North American Calendar, for...1800)

A Mongrel Imposter

Robert K. Dodge, Early American Almanac Humor (Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1987), p. 22.

The Countess of Jervac, having some time since lost a favorite lapdog, desired a friend, on his next passing over the Pont-neuf, to replace it, by purchasing another from the people, who there vend these animals. The gentleman, accordingly bought for two Louis, the handsomest in the place. The Countess became instantly enamoured of the beauty of its colour, and the silkness of its coat. The new favourite was the admiration of every visitant, until one gentleman unfortunately observed that it had a little stiffness in its walk. The dear creature was taken up to examine into the cause of its lameness, when a seam presented itself running along the belly, which being rip't and pursued with great caution, out skipped a little black mongrel puppy. The Countess was astonished -- the visitors stared -- but the little animal himself, seemed greatly rejoiced at being released from the skin into which he had been inserted with so much ingenuity. (Wheeler's North American Calendar...for...1789)

Acid Rain Caused by Volcanic Ash

[The eruption of Eyjafjallajokull has been incorporated into acid rain rumors.]

http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/update/society/2010-04/525217.html

Global Times [China]
23 April 2010

Acidic rumors refuted

By Li Shuang

An urban myth of cancerous volcanic acid rain has been doused by the Beijing weather bureau.

Volcanic ash will not reach the city and the rain that fell Thursday was not acidic, Beijing bureau meteorologist Zhang Mingying said. [...]

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2010/04/23/253610/Effects-of.htm

China Post [Taiwan]
23 April 2010

Effects of acid rain with ash rumor denied: expert

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- There is no need to panic over the online rumor that exposure to severe acid rain containing Icelandic volcanic ash would raise the possibility of getting skin cancer, an expert said yesterday. [...]

Bomb Shelter in Winnipeg School

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/lance/Mythbusting-at-Windsor-Park-Collegiate-91612134.html

Winnipeg Free Press [Manitoba, Canada]
22 April 2010

Mythbusting at Windsor Park Collegiate

By: Arielle Godbout

[...] Staff explained that since the school was built during the early years of the Cold War, the architect had designed a place to keep students safe in case of a nuclear attack.

The story of the bomb shelter [under the gymnasium] was so ingrained in the lore of Windsor Park Collegiate that [principal Marilyn] Thorington couldn’t believe the verdict after the Louis Riel School Division’s director of facilities examined the building’s blueprint.

"There’s no bomb shelter there," said Peter Kolba, who took a close look at the school’s plans earlier this month at the request of Thorington. [...]