The “hot” rumor of the moment, baselessly declaring that seven people have died of anthrax poisoning due to contaminated detergent samples received in the mail, has in fact been circulating in one form or another since 2001.
That is to say, it’s false and a decade old.
Here are some specimens posted via Facebook, Twitter, and text message late Wednesday night:
IMPORTANT FWD: Anthrax poison in Tide detergent packs coming thru the mail do not open or use. 7 ppl dead already. Plz pass it on!!!
Anthrax Poison in Tide Detergent packs coming thru the mail do not open or use. 7 people dead already. Please pass it on. IT WAS ON CNN
Just got a forward saying “Anthrax poison in Tide detergent packs coming thru the mail. Do not open or use, 7 people dead already. Please pass this on. It was on CNN yesterday.” Has anyone else heard this?
I was informed that if you get any Tide samples don’t open it. Its contaminated with Anthrax. 7 people have died so far. CNN is reporting don’t open any sample of washing powder.
During a United Airlines flight to Frankfurt, Germany from Chicago this week, a cockpit crew member spilled a beverage on equipment, an airline spokesman said on Wednesday. This prompted a chain of events that inadvertently sent an alert that the plane was being hijacked.
Hurley’s numbers were 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 and the winning Mega Millions numbers were 4, 8, 15, 25, 47 with the Mega Ball number 42.
It’s not the $355 million jackpot of course (that will be split between two winners), but interestingly enough its almost exactly what you would need to pick up the entire LOST collection on DVD. Probably just a coincidence right? Either that or this is the best marketing campaign ever.
Since the mid-1990s, the US has built fencing at various points along the southern border in an attempt to deter would-be immigrants from Mexico. Building the fence isn’t cheap. On average, each mile of border fence costs US taxpayers about $4 million to build and will cost another $6.5 billion over the next 20 years to repair and maintain.
Are we getting our money’s worth? Is the border fence an effective deterrent? To find out, I asked two young women—both only about 5’5″—to see if they could climb the wall. Check it out…
