Is Intelligent Design a “Hoax”?

Since there is no content, there is no “controversy” to teach about in biology class. But here is a good...

It’s Enough to Make You Sick

[Gene Weingarten] just finished reading the No. 1 national best-selling advice book in America: Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You...

Urban Legend: Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco refused President Bush’s pleas to declare an emergency

False. Sorting out who should have done what, and when, to head off the disaster in New Orleans produced by...

Urban Legend: Image shows Bush as one of the worst disasters to hit the U.S.

True. (hee hee) Captions accompanying television news broadcasts have to convey information about often complex topics in relatively few words, a situation which can sometimes produce inadvertently humorous ambiguity. [bush_worst_disaster.jpg]

Urban Legend: Willy Gilligan?

Nearly everyone who has ever watched television is the western world is at least passingly familiar with Gilligan’s Island. The...

Urban Legend: “The Price Is Right” offered contestants a trip to New Orleans

True… Whenever disaster strikes a large, long-established city, inevitably one will find earlier references to that city in popular culture...

Urban Legend: Photograph captions describe a black man “looting” and a white couple “finding” supplies in the wake of Hurricane Katrina

True. looting.jpg It's difficult to draw any substantiated conclusions from these photographs' captions. Although they were both carried by many news outlets, they were taken by two different photographers and came from two different services, Associated Press (AP) and Getty Images via Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Urban Legend: Leave a window open slightly during a hurricane to equalize pressure

False. The notion of keeping some windows slightly cracked open during hurricanes crossed over from what was at one time...

Urban Legend: A co-worker urinated in the office coffee.

True. Status: True. Origins: Everyone’s heard “friend-of-a-friend” stories about vengeful pizza guys masturbating onto your medium combination, sworn enemies pissing...

Homeopathic remedies no better than placebo, study finds

Homeopathic remedies may help people feel better, but the impact appears to be no greater than a placebo effect, a...