[ View Thread ] [ Post Response ] [ Return to Index ] [ Read Prev Msg ] [ Read Next Msg ]

BGonline.org Forums

OT: NZ Green party wants to ban what?

Posted By: Daniel Murphy
Date: Thursday, 12 June 2008, at 6:56 p.m.

In Response To: OT: NZ Green party wants to ban what? (happyjuggler0)

Gullibility is alive and well, as is the fun to be had and political hay to be made with gaffes both real and imagined, but this is 7-year-old "news."

In 2001, a staffer in New Zealand Green Party MP Sue Kedgley's office fell victim to a hoax email that asked for support in banning "dihydrogen monoxide." Revelations of the mistake (attributed by Kedgley to a temporary secretary) prompted NZ National Party spokesman Nick Smith to assert that it showed "how naive and unscientific the Greens are and illustrates why the Government should ignore their extreme views to ban genetic technologies from New Zealand." But National Party MP Jacqui Dean fell victim to the same hoax in September 2007.

http://www.snopes.com/science/dhmo.asp traces the "dihydrogen monoxide" hoax back to 14-year-old Nathan Zohner whose paper "How Gullible Are We?" won a prize at an Idaho state science fair in 1997, but notes that "even back then [the] project wasn't original." Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide_hoax says the "hoax was apparently created" some students at UC Santa Cruz in 1989.

"The problem with the French," George Bush whispered to Tony Blair at the gala Models Against Hunger and Bulimia fashion show and concert, "is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur. Oh look, there's Stevie Wonder. Let's wave at him!"

Messages In This Thread

 

Post Response
Your Name:
Your E-Mail Address:
Subject:
Message:

If necessary, enter your password below:

Password:
 

 

[ View Thread ] [ Post Response ] [ Return to Index ] [ Read Prev Msg ] [ Read Next Msg ]

BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.