Urban LegendsGLE 0801.4.3 Make distinctions about the credibility, reliability, consistency, strengths, and limitations of resources, including information gathered from Web sites.

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Definition of Urban Legend from "The Vanishing Hitchhiker"Urban legends "are realistic stories concerning recent events (or alleged events) with an ironic or supernatural twist. They are an integral part of Anglo-American culture and are told and believed by some of the most sophisticated "folk" of modern societyyoung people, urbanites, and the well educated. Jan Harold Brunvand, http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/vanish.asp

What is an urban legend?An urban legend is an apocryphal story told as true, concerning some horrific, amusing or ironic aspect of modern life.

Though the term seems to have become synonymous in common parlance with "false belief," it denotes a more complex and subtle social phenomenon having to do with the production and transmission of folk narratives narratives which are indeed usually false, but which can, on rare occasions, prove to be true.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/faq/blfaq-urbanlegend.htm

Characteristics: It is a narrative. It is alleged to be true. It is plausible enough to be believed. It is passed along from individual to individual in oral or written form (e.g., fax, photocopy or email). http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/faq/blfaq-urbanlegend.htm

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Fact or Urban Legend? Lead in LipstickHigh Cholesterol is HealthyCoffee FoolAre You One Too?Help Find Ashley FloresJudge Sentences Rap Music Fan to Bach, BeethovenWoman Says She Was Shot In The Leg By Her StoveThe Centaur ExcavationsDehydrated Water A Well Known Urban LegendConsider Your SourceMore Urban Legends

Lipstick ArticleNEW PRODUCT TESTS FIND LEAD IN LIPSTICK Top brands LOreal, Cover Girl and Christian Dior test positive for lead!

Snopes ArticleLead in Lipstick The Food and Drug Administration states that there is only a miniscule of harmful substances in cosmetics, not enough to have any adverse effect.

High Cholesterol ArticleThe secret is outand studies show that higher cholesterol could slash your stroke risk by nearly 300%!

Books by Dr. DouglassHigh Cholesterol Healthy? William Campbell Douglass II, M.D. is a famous alternative doctor who is sending a free booklet to many people to get them to buy his Douglass Report. William Campbell Douglass (M.D.) says a diet in low fat is actually killing everyone. He is saying a diet high in red meat will reduce your risk of heart disease. He claims drinking water will do more harm than good.

Is high cholesterol healthy? That would be a question for you and your doctor to decide.Science is Critical

Coffee ArticleCoffee FoolThe shocking secret coffee companies dont want you to know!

Coffee Article Defining FreshnessCoffee FoolThis site states that all of the coffee out there is stale. The good news is that stale coffee is drinkable but once you've tasted truly fresh coffee, you'll be forever hooked. You will not know fresh until you taste coffee just roasted. You will not know stale until you see and taste what is unstale.

Help Find This Missing Girl: Ashley FloresA 13 year old girl, Ashley Flores has been missing for two weeks. An email bearing her picture and a plea for help has been circulated.Ashley Flores Email

Snopes ArticleHelp Find Ashley Flores The text of the email does not include the most basic information in a missing child plea: where the young girl went missing, when she went missing, when and where she was last seen, a description of her, her parents contact information, and contact information for the police handling the case.

Judge sentences rap music fan to Bach, BeethovenA defendant had a hard time facing the music. Andrew Vactor was facing a $150 fine for playing rap music too loudly on his car stereo in July. But a judge offered to reduce that to $35 if Vactor spent 20 hours listening to classical music by the likes of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin.Rap Music Article

Information from: Springfield News-Sun, http://www.springfieldnewssun.com

Judge sentences rap music fan to Bach, Beethoven

Champaign County Municipal Court Judge Susan Fornof-Lippencott says the idea was to force Vactor to listen to something he might not prefer, just as other people had no choice but to listen to his loud rap music.

Woman Says She Was Shot In The Leg By Her StoveA woman said she was shot in the leg by her stove. Cory Davis told the Peninsula Daily News she had just stoked her cast-iron heating stove Sunday when she heard a loud bang and was struck in her left calf.Stove Article

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081008/D93MFO602.html

Woman Says She Was Shot In The Leg By Her Stove

A case of shotgun shells spilled about a month ago at her home and one must have landed in the newspapers she used to light the stove.

She removed a metal fragment herself and was treated Monday at Forks Community Hospital.

The Centaur Excavations In the Jack Reese Galleria of the great Hodges Library of the University of Tennessee the art and artifacts of the Centaur excavation at Volos has found a permanent home. This reconstruction of a Centaurian burial site was assembled by Professor William Willers of the University of Wisconsin in the mid-1980s before being moved to the University of Tennessee.Centaur Article

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081008/D93MFO602.html

The Centaur Excavations

Very well done, with photographs, created in a good academic style with an .edu domain. Actually explaining a hoax, but from a quick look it's easy to be fooled.

Dehydrated Water A commercial website selling dehydrated water. Dehydrated Water Article

http://www.buydehydratedwater.comDehydrated Water

Very well put together. They are seeking financial help in gaining market penetration throughout local supermarkets around the world. The site requests a handful of investors to help pay the required $6.5 million slotting fee to get on the shelves. If you are interested, please contact investors@buydehydratedwater.com

TESTIMONIAL

http://www.buydehydratedwater.comDehydrated Water"I can't believe you invested so much time and money to create a web site like this. Don't you have anything better to do with your life?" Response: And we can't believe you took so much time to reply and vent your disbelief. You obviously have never tried our water. Our customers have a tendency to become dedicated followers. Don't be a cheapo. Send us $5 and try it out for yourself.

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