Link to one of my Favorite Sites

Like you, I receive entirely too many emails with outlandish claims, urban legends, and categorical falsehoods. For example the email that goes around saying that Bill Gates is giving away his fortune. Obviously false, but where did it originate? Likewise, my post on the paranoia surrounding the use of microwaves. I am baffled by the ability of simple hearsay and/or conjecture to cause many to blindly forward blatant bullcrap to everyone in their address book.

One of the advantages of the internet is that while lies run rampant, valid research into a topic can be done almost instantaneously. Some of the research has already been done, specifically on urban legends and circulating emails, at snopes.com.

Here's a link to an article about McDonald's coffee spoons. Maybe you've heard this before.

http://www.snopes.com/business/origins/mcdspoon.asp