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!!!

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.

Naming a generic version of Dr. Pepper requires a special dose of imagination of the supermarket brand specialist not required by other fizzy drinks. You can’t just get away with “Cola” or “Orange.” There are innumerable variations and several websites have cropped up to document and catalog them.

In an interview with California Lawyer, Scalia said that the Constitution itself does not protect women and gay men and lesbians from discrimination. Such protections are up to the legislative branch, he said.

In 1868, when the 39th Congress was debating and ultimately proposing the 14th Amendment, I don’t think anybody would have thought that equal protection applied to sex discrimination, or certainly not to sexual orientation. So does that mean that we’ve gone off in error by applying the 14th Amendment to both?

I’ve seen plenty of toaster-PC mods over the years but I do believe this is the first time someone has modded an Xbox 360 into toaster.

Facebook’s valuation is now more than $50 billion? Only one word comes to mind when I read that…sell! Seriously Zuckerberg, sell.

Facebook has raised 500 million euros from US investment bank Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor that values the popular social networking site at 50 billion dollars, the New York Times reported on Monday. The investment puts the value of Facebook at higher than fellow Internet companies eBay and Yahoo!, as well as media company Time Warner, the newspaper said citing sources familiar with the deal.

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