Snopes | The Probabilist . com

Snopes December 4, 2006

Posted by The Probabilist in : [Links], Creativity, Entertainment, Society, Weird, History , trackback

To keep you updated on more outstanding internet sources I’d like to recommend snopes.com. It’s a place for any (un)thinkable urban legend stories, which Barbara and David P. Mikkelson have taken the effort to classify as true, false or undetermined since 1995. As usual though, I’ll let everyone decide for themselves what can be determined as true or untrue.

As the front page reveals, it’s most practical to browse the database by category of interest. They even have their own categories for Coca Cola, Disney, hurricane Katrina and the Titanic. Whatever catches your attention, the color-coded blobs in front of the titles tell you the current state of veracity for each story. But if you want to keep up-to-date with new entries, there’s one added just about every day in the ‘what’s new’ section.

If you want to participate further, join the message boards. They don’t seem very organized so you won’t find me over there writing anything, but just in case you’re a forum junkie you could take a peek. What I do recommend is the FAQ/Site info section and the glossary page if you’re more inclined to find answers to why, how, who and what snopes.com is about. As they state it, it’s a reference page, so it’s not an ultimate source of knowledge. Additionally, they share links on a daily basis to external news sources that depict weird reports around the globe.

So even though I’m somewhat against following daily TV news out of the fear-driven content they spill out to the masses, I do recommend other sources that leave more food for thought - and are entertaining as well. It’s not like I’m all for personal growth that takes time, frustration and willpower. We all need some fun and recreation as well to keep going. It just so happens that learning something new all the time can be a fun part of life, no matter what the subject is. You just have to switch between the two sides of your brain every once in a while to help it grow more easily as well.

Snopes