View Poll Results: Should I tell him about the hoax?
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Yes
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8 |
24.24% |
No
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25 |
75.76% |
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Friend Hoaxed, Should I Tell?
03-28-2008, 08:19 AM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
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Friend Hoaxed, Should I Tell?
Last Wednesday, the 25-year-old sax player in my group showed me the stainless steel water bottle that he had just purchased. He spent an extra $4 for a stainless steel top for it.
"I figure it's worth $40 to avoid getting cancer." he told me.
Note that $40 is $10 more than he was getting for the gig that night, and he relies on music for much of his income.
I'm guessing that he was a victim of this hoax:
Email Hoaxes:Your plastic water bottle will give you cancer!
So the question is, should I tell him about the hoax?
__________________
Al
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03-28-2008, 08:25 AM
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#2
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,022
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I vote no. My experience is folks get defensive when you point out this sort of thing, regardless of how diplomatically to attempt to present the information. It might be different if it was something more significant, but for $40 bucks I'd let it pass.
__________________
Numbers is hard
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03-28-2008, 08:37 AM
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#3
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,323
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I agree with REWahoo on this one totally. Let it go for $40. Something bigger...then I would tell him.
__________________
Please consider adopting a rescue animal. So very many need a furr-ever home and someone to love them! And if we all spay/neuter our pets there won't be an overpopulation to put to death.
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03-28-2008, 08:39 AM
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#4
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 113
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If he used to use a Nalgene or similar bottle he could be referring to this
November/December 2003 - Sierra Magazine - Sierra Club
I use polycarbonate bottles like Nalgene but hand wash them so I am not too concerned.
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03-28-2008, 08:43 AM
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#5
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,501
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He has already made the decision and spent the money. If you told him about the hoax, it would imply that his decision was stupid (which in fact, it probably was). There really isn't anything he can do about it now, anyway.
So if I was that guy, even if I realized you were right I would be offended that you felt you had to tell me and essentially rub my face in the fact that I made a poor decision. It would seem like a domination game.
Now, if he tells you that he is thinking about a future stupid purchase like that, then I would tell him!!
Oh, and another thought - - maybe he just really likes the look of the bottle, and is using the cancer idea as a way to justify his purchase. On his income, it would seem stupid to spend so much on a water bottle, otherwise. I think we all have made purchases that were too extravagant at times, simply because we happened to be entranced with whatever it is. And then we start looking for excuses!
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.
Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
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03-28-2008, 08:45 AM
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#6
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Dryer sheet aficionado
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Midwest
Posts: 30
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It's a good opportunity to introduce him to Urban Legends Reference Pages.
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03-28-2008, 08:53 AM
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#7
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,322
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I agree with those who advice you to let it go. Here's another aspect. Suppose you tell him it's a hoax and years down the road, heaven forbid, he gets cancer. Even though it had nothing to do with the bottle, what will he be thinking?
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03-28-2008, 09:00 AM
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#8
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Losing my whump
Posts: 22,708
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Hey Al, looks like you've been presented with an opportunity to sell this guy some other stuff!
Think of how much you can get for that custom built piano seat with the computer aided design crafted hole in it that focuses the natural healing rays of the earth on your buttocks!
__________________
Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. Just another form of "buy low, sell high" for those who have trouble with things. This rule is not universal. Do not buy a 1973 Pinto because everyone else is afraid of it.
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03-28-2008, 11:07 AM
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#9
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,895
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next you'll be telling the world that bodies don't rise from the dead.
at intermission of "the wicked" the other night my cousin tells me that her friend is wearing shoes which are supposed to somehow reduce her cellulite. i hope i whispered softly enough when i commented that they didn't seem to be working.
__________________
"off with their heads"~~dr. joseph-ignace guillotin
"life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages."~~mark twain - letter to edward kimmitt 1901
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03-28-2008, 11:08 AM
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#10
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 5,105
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum
next you'll be telling the world that bodies don't rise from the dead.
at intermission of "the wicked" the other night my cousin tells me that her friend is wearing shoes which are supposed to somehow reduce her cellulite. i hope i whispered softly enough when i commented that they didn't seem to be working.
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You went to a movie theater that had an intermission?
Really?
How long was it?
I only remember them between double features a long time ago.
__________________
Sometimes death is not as tragic as not knowing how to live. This man knew how to live--and how to make others glad they were living. - Jack Benny at Nat King Cole's funeral
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03-28-2008, 11:20 AM
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#11
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Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Sarasota,fl.
Posts: 11,447
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I say Let it go . If he talks about sending money to Nigeria however clue him in .
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03-28-2008, 11:46 AM
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#12
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,895
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consider this: do you want to be responsible for denying your friends any possible psychosomatic benefit of their beliefs?
i have an cousin who lives in lalaland and though i have tried to guide her in application alone, i have never tried to dissuade her from her core beliefs. as long as someone isn't proselytizing, i've got no issues. live and let live. but when idiot cousin tells me that my mother "brought alzheimer's upon herself" because she was worried that she might one day get it (having already buried her father of it), that is when she asks to be set straight.
__________________
"off with their heads"~~dr. joseph-ignace guillotin
"life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages."~~mark twain - letter to edward kimmitt 1901
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03-28-2008, 01:16 PM
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#13
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,891
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Was the hoax that he paid $40 for a $10-15 bottle?
I'm also concerned about the plastics and have read a lot about polycarbonate since it is also in baby bottles. So my kiddos get stainless steal kiddy bottles for water/juice and that's it. i'm not sure they'll get cancer but don't want to add more elements into the equation if i don't have to.
Was he just exaggerating the cancer part or did he believe a + b = cancer?
__________________
If i think of something clever to say, i'll put it here...
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03-28-2008, 01:25 PM
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#14
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,764
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny
Hey Al, looks like you've been presented with an opportunity to sell this guy some other stuff!
Think of how much you can get for that custom built piano seat with the computer aided design crafted hole in it that focuses the natural healing rays of the earth on your buttocks!
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Lol Man I might want to buy one of those with that sales pitch.
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2 uses for that custom piano bench.
03-28-2008, 02:11 PM
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#15
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 897
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2 uses for that custom piano bench.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny
Hey Al, looks like you've been presented with an opportunity to sell this guy some other stuff!
Think of how much you can get for that custom built piano seat with the computer aided design crafted hole in it that focuses the natural healing rays of the earth on your buttocks!
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Has a double use, in the bedroom, if the legs are only about 9" long and your woman is lazy always complaining about being on top (because you're lazy, too).
-CC
__________________
"There's those thinkin' more or less, less is more, but if less is more, how you keepin' score?
It means for every point you make, your level drops. Kinda like you're startin' from the top..." "Society" - Eddie Vedder
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03-28-2008, 02:32 PM
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#16
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,895
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dex
You went to a movie theater that had an intermission?
Really?
How long was it?
I only remember them between double features a long time ago.
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really? cretin shoots a cheap shot (pause) & misses? really? wicked's not a movie? really? it's a play? really? intermissions? really? get real, really!
click quicklink
click control panal
click ignore list
add "dex"
save list
problem solved
__________________
"off with their heads"~~dr. joseph-ignace guillotin
"life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages."~~mark twain - letter to edward kimmitt 1901
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03-28-2008, 02:38 PM
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#17
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Houston
Posts: 1,448
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum
really? cretin shoots a cheap shot (pause) & misses? really? wicked's not a movie? really? it's a play? really? intermissions? really? get real, really!
click quicklink
click control panal
click ignore list
add "dex"
save list
problem solved
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Wow, it's like watching two 12 year olds in a slapfight.
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03-28-2008, 03:33 PM
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#18
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lawn chair in Texas
Posts: 14,183
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Quote:
Originally Posted by soupcxan
Wow, it's like watching two 12 year olds in a slapfight.
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Only two...
__________________
Have Funds, Will Retire
...not doing anything of true substance...
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03-28-2008, 03:37 PM
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#19
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,764
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He started it!
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03-28-2008, 03:38 PM
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#20
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lawn chair in Texas
Posts: 14,183
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Did not!
__________________
Have Funds, Will Retire
...not doing anything of true substance...
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