The Infamous Exploding Whale

Is it true... or just an urban legend? FIND OUT.

Another visit to Snopes.com

It's a lot of fun to visit Snopes and read the incredibly outrageous crapola that people actually believe is true and in many cases, spend an inordinate amount of effort and time trying to convince others it's true. If you've ever been "victimized" by a chain email promoting some dire warning or desperate plea based on complete malarkey and you've dared to hit "Reply All" or post on a forum the truth and nothing but the truth, you know you risk becoming Public Enemy Number One. People are in love with their legends, after all. Only a meanyhead would insist on telling the truth.

So with pure meanyheadedness in mind, here's another smattering of "stuff" that Snopes either confirms or denies. You'll have to visit the webpage for that particular claim to see its full answer.

CLAIM: "Newspaper reporter falls for the old 'Heywood Jablome' funny name gag." ANSWER

CLAIM: "Geraldo Rivera was born Jerry Rivers but changed his name to appeal to Latino viewers." ANSWER

CLAIM: "An Oregon girl's message-in-a-bottle was found by a boy in Hawaii." ANSWER

CLAIM: "Girl impales herself on gearshift lever after being slipped some Spanish Fly by her boyfriend." ANSWER

CLAIM: "A speeder caught by photo radar mails the police a picture of money to pay his fine." ANSWER

CLAIM: "Quick-thinking cop has a bit of fun with a drunk stuck in the snow by pretending to run alongside his car." ANSWER

CLAIM: "As a teenager, Colin Powell learned to speak Yiddish while working in a Jewish-owned baby equipment store in New York." ANSWER

CLAIM: "A foreign family unknowingly consumes the ashes of a relative shipped to them for burial." ANSWER

CLAIM: "A swelling on a girl's cheek breaks open and disgorges hundreds of baby spiders." ANSWER

CLAIM: "A vengeful co-worker made it his practice to urinate into the office coffee pot." ANSWER

CLAIM: "Service station customers are getting stuck by HIV-loaded syringes affixed to gas pump handles." ANSWER

CLAIM: "Venomous snakes lurk in the ball pits of fast food restaurants." ANSWER

CLAIM: "Man high on drugs slices off pieces of his face and feeds them to his dogs." ANSWER

CLAIM: "Infants have died or suffered debilitating respiration problems after aspirating baby oil." ANSWER

CLAIM: "The charred remains of a scuba diver were discovered in a tree after a forest fire." ANSWER

SNOPES.COM [Place of Honor - Our First Post]

Our first post about weirdness on the web really does belong to Snopes.com which is famous for debunking a lot of the very weird stuff that people believe (much of it flashed around the world wide web via emails or websites).

Snopes is all very neatly categorized for your perusing pleasure. Some of our favorite categories at Snopes include: Disney, Politics, Cokelore, Critters and Food. They have many more categories besides those mentioned here and all are worth a peek.

We will be revisiting Snopes to have some fun with even more categories and specific weirdnesses debunked. Meanwhile, have some fun with these nuggets:

No one is ever declared dead while on Disney property. TRUE OR FALSE?

Walt Disney's face appears on one of the singing busts in the Haunted Mansions graveyard. TRUE OR FALSE?

Letters spelling the word S-E-X are formed by a cloud of dust in "The Lion King." TRUE OR FALSE?

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is one of the owners of the company that produces Tamiflu. TRUE OR FALSE?

U.S. active duty military deaths were higher during the administration of President Clinton than during the administration of George W. Bush. TRUE OR FALSE?

Photograph captures former President George W. Bush holding a book upside-down in a classroom. TRUE OR FALSE?

Email lists quotes garnered from Barack Obama's books. TRUE OR FALSE?

E-mail describes the kidnapping, assault, and torture of Megan Williams by six white suspects. TRUE OR FALSE?

Photograph captions describe a black man "looting" and a white couple "finding supplies" in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. TRUE OR FALSE?

Coca-Cola became carbondated by accident. TRUE OR FALSE?

Coca-Cola used to contain cocaine. TRUE OR FALSE?

Coca-Cola is an effective contraceptive. TRUE OR FALSE?

Combining Coca-Cola and aspirin will get you high. TRUE OR FALSE?

Elephant kills zookeeper by defecating on him. TRUE OR FALSE?

Photo opportunity involving a bear and a honey-smeared child goes horribly wrong. TRUE OR FALSE?

Guests have stomachs pumped after hostess's cat turns up dead. TRUE OR FALSE?

Tourist in foreign country brings home a STRAY dog only to learn it is a rat. TRUE OR FALSE?

Alligators live in the sewers beneath New York City. TRUE OR FALSE?

The Chinese are raising St. Bernard dogs for food. TRUE OR FALSE?

Raisins and grapes can be harmful to dogs, TRUE OR FALSE?

Deadly canine flu sweeps through the U.S. TRUE OR FALSE?

Bargain-hunting shopper is fatally bitten by snake lurking in winter coat. TRUE OR FALSE?

Cats will suck the breath out of babies. TRUE OR FALSE?

The Oregon Dept. of Transportation blew up a dead whale. TRUE OR FALSE?

Customer at fast food chicken outlet is served a batter-fried rat. TRUE OR FALSE?

Green potatoes are poisonous. TRUE OR FALSE?

Mountain Dew will shrink testicles and lower sperm count. TRUE OR FALSE?

...and stay tuned for more!