USE SNOPES!

Has anyone emailed you this picture of the December 26 tsunami hitting Phuket, Thailand? It’s all over the web, yet if you’ve ever been to Phuket, you know this is a fake. The city is actually Antofagasta, Chile with phony Photoshopped waves.

We all have friends with the terrible habit of forwarding some shocking claim worthy of National Enquirer on to everyone in their email list, without bothering to check its veracity out first. There’s no need to be upset at them, for they’re excited and just want to share something they think is cool – but now you can tell them how to easily find if any claim is for real or not.

Just go to Snopes.

The Snopes web site, also called the Urban Legend Reference Pages, locates the sources of these “urban legends” we’re deluged with, and determines their truth or falsity. Let’s take this example:

This is supposedly from a 1954 issue of Popular Mechanics predicting what a home computer would look like in 50 years. The alleged article is quoted:

Scientists from RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a "home computer" could look in the year 2004. However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home. Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work, but 50 years from now scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With teletype interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use.

Snopes reveals that the picture is a doctored photo of a submarine maneuvering room console found on U.S. Navy web site, converted to grayscale, and modified to replace a modern display panel with pictures of a decades-old teletype/printer and television – as well as to add the guy in a 50’s suit. The whole thing is a gag.

But Snopes is not just about debunking. There are those Urban Legends your friends send you that turn out to be true. Seen this?

This one comes with the caption:

Here is a soldier stationed in Iraq. Stationed in a big sand box, he asked his wife to send him dirt, fertilizer and some grass seeds so he can have the sweet aroma and feel the grass grow beneath his feet. If you notice, he is even cutting the grass with a pair of scissors. Sometimes we are in such a hurry that we don’t stop and think about the little things that we take for granted. Upon receiving this, please say a prayer for our soldiers that give (and give up) so unselfishly for us.

Snopes is happy to inform us that this one is for real. The picture is of Warrant Officer Brook Turner at a US military post north of Baghdad. The picture was taken by Staff Sgt. Mark Grimshaw.

So now you know. Next time you get a jaw-dropping email, go to Snopes to see if it’s legit. If it is, you can thank your friend for sending it. If it’s not – well, it’s fun to send your friend a reply with the Snopes link, and tell him: “Hey, buddy – it’s an urban legend!”

And yes, I’ve been snookered too. That picture I used in The Tsunami We Need ? It was a real picture – but not of the tsunami hitting Thailand. It was the tidal bore racing up the Qian Tang Jian River in Hangzhou, China. I shoulda checked with Snopes first.