Hoax Slayer 'proves' Gibraltar Airport runway exists!

An article on Hoax Slayer today, focuses on an email going the rounds, showing photographs of Gibraltar's Airport Runway and questions the veracity of these photographs.

Hoax Slayer is a site I use regularly. It is renowned for debunking email hoaxes and exposing Internet scams. Articles normally give a summary of the subject, then proceeds to either prove it is a hoax and debunk it, or as in the case of Gibraltar's airport runway, shows evidence that proves the original premise in the article summary is true.

In its findings, Hoax Slayer concludes:

According to this 'email forward', the attached photographs depict the runway at Gibraltar Airport - a very unusual runway in that it is traversed by a busy road. The photographs show that traffic on the road crossing the runway is controlled by traffic lights and boom gates thereby allowing aircraft to land unhindered.

Although, such a runway configuration is certainly unusual, the photographs are genuine and do depict the Gibraltar AIrport runway.

As a born and bred Gibraltarian who has walked and driven across the runway thousands of times, flown in and out of it more times than some have had hot breakfasts... now and then in very 'hairy' weather conditions... and been stopped at the barriers on more occasions than I care to recall, I'm wondering... what's all the fuss!!

The article goes on to comment on the fact that these arrangements are currently being changed with the reconstruction of the airport terminal following plans unveiled by the Government of Gibraltar, in May 2007, which will include a new tunnel that will eventually carry the road under the airport runway.

The report also carries the following YouTube video of the road crossing Gibraltar Airport's runway and of a flight taking off:



As you can see, the video firstly shows a British Airways airbus flight taking off, then the arrival of the daily Spanish airline Iberia flight from Madrid landing, with the road crossing barriers down as it stops the road traffic and pedestrians for both flights.

The viewer is then taken on a flight take-off (actual airline not seen but my guess is it's probably BA) in a Westerly direction and shows some nice views of one of the Marinas, the Rock of Gibraltar itself and the Bay of Gibraltar. As the flight circles around the Rock firstly going South over the Strait of Gibraltar (with some views of Jebel Musa and the Atlas Mountains of Morocco in the distance), it then banks left to head East over the very western limits of the Mediterranean Sea towards Malaga and the Costa del Sol, on it's way for the couple of hours flight over Spain, the Bay of Biscay, France and final destination in the UK, either Luton, Gatwick or might even have been a Manchester flight.

And we wonder why we receive so much SPAM and Junk mail - Blind carbon copy for christ's sakes!

As many of my regular readers know, I often share jokes, interesting pictures and other curious or weird fun stuff that I receive... and publish them under my A Gibo's Tale: In my Inbox today... blog tab.

The source for these is, as the tab title implies, the many emails I receive, forwarded to me by my contacts, friends and family, that arrive in my email inbox on a daily basis.

I also have a 'Family and Friends' contact list in my email manager, that I use when I want to pass these fun and/or interesting emails onto them... mostly a discriminating selection of my idea of good stuff, sometimes it's not a joke, but it could just be a particularly insightful opinion piece, some important bit of security information or... whatever stuff I think may inform and amuse.

I think most of us do the same or similar. It's fun and it's a great way to just keep in touch with family and friends... without having to write lengthy emails. It tells them they're in our thoughts... so all very positive and fair enough.

But... the all important thing to bear in mind... when forwarding or sending an email to multiple recipients is this... that you are about to use the great medium that email is to mass distribute something quickly and easily... often to a group of people, who may be friends to YOU but who are often strangers to each other... and THEY may also forward the email onto another group, possibly of friends... but more probably strangers too!!

Would you give a stranger your Mother's or brother's private telephone number?

The answer is surely not... right? You wouldn't walk round the streets dealing out your friends or loved ones' private phone numbers to anyone you happened to meet in the streets right?

So how come... so many people... do exactly that, with our private email addesses??

Please... Please... Please... when forwarding an email... there's just one simple rule: Do not forward my email address! That applies to the email address of all your friends and loved ones... just delete them... then forward the email!!

Forwarding Emails

Before you hit that send button, there's something you should know, if you don't know it by now... or still don't get it.

Please don't put all of the email addresses of your family and friends in the "To" or "Cc" fields of your email. Instead, put them in the 'Bcc (Blind carbon copy)' field!

By putting the addresses in the 'Bcc' field (as very well explained and illustrated here), their email addresses will not show up at the top of the emails that each of your contacts will receive.

As I've already explained, we've all received those kinds of emails... you know, where you have to page through reams and reams of email addresses before you actually get to the message that the person wants you to read? Yes, those ones. It's just NOT a good idea... for the reasons explained here.

Sending an e-mail to multiple recipients

When sending an e-mail to multiple recipients, you can hide their email addresses from each other. Why? Because this is a sensible anti-spam precaution... because it avoids making a long list of email addresses available to all the recipients (which is what happens if you put everyone's address in the To: or Cc: fields).

For this reason, it makes sense to use the Bcc: field for mailing or contact lists. Some viruses also harvest e-mail addresses from users' cache folder or addressbook, and large CC lists may further the propagation of unwanted viruses, giving another reason to use Bcc:.

So why Bcc?

Basically... as I said earlier... because you don't want to be giving your mother's email address to everyone and their dog... in the same way as you would NOT broadcast her phone number and street address to the world without a second thought!!

Here's a great article by Craig Hartnett @ www.iamcraig > How and Why to Blind Copy Multiple-Recipient Emails that goes into the whole issue at length... and highlights the crassness of NOT using Bcc in multiple recipient emails

So... to Conclude...

It's not that complicated or that much of a big a deal to send multiple-recipient emails to your family, friends and co-workers while respecting their privacy and email addresses... once you know why and how to do it. So please, if you are still unsure, take a second to read Craig Hartnett's article @ www.iamcraig > How and Why to Blind Copy Multiple-Recipient Emails

Please... it's the right thing to do and not at all as trivial or anal as it seems.

Thanks!

Email Hoaxes and Internet Scams

To conserve this post specifically to the topic, I didn't want to go into the related topic of chain letters and the various hoax emails and scams that also abound on the net.... which also concern me greatly. For that, you can look up the Latest Email Hoaxes - Current Internet Scams @ Hoax-Slayer.

More information on Blind carbon copy (Bcc) @ Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A little "hand of hope"... an amazing story or a hoax?

I am grateful to Sancho, blogging at Tilting at Windmills, who posted this amazing story following a moving email a reader of his blog sent him.

The email, with the subject line "Hand of Hope" read as follows:

Please read before viewing picture - it's worth it!

A picture began circulating in November. It should be ‘The Picture of the Year,’ or perhaps, ‘Picture of the Decade.’ It won't be. In fact, unless you obtained a copy of the US paper which published it, you probably would never have seen it.

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner.

The baby was diagnosed with Spina Bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville , he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr.Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. Dr Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, 'Hand of Hope.' The text explaining the picture begins, 'The tiny hand of 21-week- old foetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life.'

Little Samuel's mother said they 'wept for days' when they saw the picture. She said: ‘The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person.’ Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful.

Now see the actual picture - and how awesome and completely incredible it is.... pass it on. The world needs to see this one!

This is the picture:



An amazing story or a hoax?

Some readers of 'Tilting at Windmills' took exception when one of them, showing prudence, checked this story out.

Frankly, when I first read it, my instinct was to do the same. Call me a cynic if you like. The fact is, there are far too many hoax emails constantly going around and arriving in my inbox on a regular basis. All you have to do is check out places like Urban Legends or Hoax-Slayer to verify what I am saying is the reality... and that hoaxing emails abound!

This one however, is true... but it has to be said, the email does exagerate a touch!

According to About.com's Urban Legends' Analysis, the amazing photo (above) was taken by Michael Clancy and originally published in USA Today and The Tennessean on September 7, 1999, is authentic. It began circulating via email within weeks of its first appearance in newspapers.

The accompanying text is basically accurate, as well. The photo was taken during a surgery performed by Dr. Joseph Bruner and Dr. Noel Tulipan at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville on August 19, 1999 to treat a 21-week-old foetus for spina bifida. The operation was a success, and three months later a healthy Samuel Alexander Armas was delivered by C-section.

Doubts have been raised about the assertion that the foetus actually reached out of the opening in the womb to grasp the surgeon's finger, inasmuch as there are at least three different accounts of precisely what happened at that moment, two of them from eyewitnesses:

This amazing photo, taken by Michael Clancy and originally published in USA Today and The Tennessean on September 7, 1999, is authentic. It began circulating via email within weeks of its first appearance in newspapers.

The accompanying text is basically accurate, as well. The photo was taken during a surgery performed by Dr. Joseph Bruner and Dr. Noel Tulipan at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville on August 19, 1999 to treat a 21-week-old foetus for spina bifida. The operation was a success, and three months later a healthy Samuel Alexander Armas was delivered by C-section.

Doubts have been raised about the assertion that the foetus actually reached out of the opening in the womb to grasp the surgeon's finger, inasmuch as there are at least three different accounts of precisely what happened at that moment, two of them from eyewitnesses:

• Email text (above): "During the surgery on little Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed, hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger."



• Photographer Michael Clancy: "Samuel came out from under anesthesia too soon and thrust his clenched fist out of the surgical opening to his mother's womb. In my opinion, Samuel was in pain. Dr. Joseph Bruner reached over and gently lifted Samuel's hand, and Samuel reacted by squeezing the doctor's finger."



• Surgeon Joseph Bruner: "Depending on your political point of view, this is either Samuel Armas reaching out of the uterus and touching the finger of a fellow human, or it's me pulling his hand out of the uterus ... which is what I did."

Urban Legends analysis summarises:

"Perhaps it all boils down to semantics. Dr. Bruner has stated elsewhere that Samuel's hand "appeared" in the uterine opening before he reached out and lifted it, lending credence to photographer Clancy's version of events. In any case, although it appears the email does exaggerate when it says the foetus "reached ... through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger," something akin to that really did happen.

Such quibbles don't lessen the impact of the photograph itself, which Dr. Bruner has described as "powerful" and Michael Clancy calls "miraculous." It should come as no surprise that both the image and Samuel Armas' success story have figured prominently in the abortion debate ever since."

So... there you have it... this amazing story is true... and it did happen. I hope you were as moved by it as I was!

Update on Samuel Armas

Here's an update on little Samuel, written by Charles W. Colson on BreakPoint Commentary in January 2000.

Samuel, the baby in the photograph, was born healthy and active five weeks after his operation.

Today, instead of looking forward to life as a paraplegic, he enjoys the prospect of running and playing like other kids.

You can read more here.

The last available update on young Samuel was posted on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, around 2003... and at that time, he was coming along: Samuel Armas.

I wonder how he is today? He should be nine years old now? I do hope he's growing up healthily and well!

Poet Laureates kindred spirits and personal ads

A thought provoking post today by 'Clouds moving in' about Poet Laureate and Kindred Spirits, congratulating the appointment of the new poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy... a sentiment which I would like to share.

In her research for her post on the new 'Laureate' however, 'Clouds moving in's thoughts were strangely diverted and turned to the Daily Telegraph, that bastion of 'middle england' (perhaps a little more highbrow than the Daily Mail) and its 'Personal Ads'.

What she saw there has rather affronted 'Clouds moving in' and urged her to comment:

"Oh, and all the men seemed to have conservative/right wing politics. Hardly unexpected I suppose. Oddly, very few of them claimed to smoke.

Regardless of the political socio-economic issues, what really got up my nose was the idea that fat middle-aged men with a bit of money seemed to consider it their right to advertise for a younger, slimmer, slightly shorter, intelligent woman to do exactly what they were told. Oh, and attractive or very attractive of course - because women are only worth judging on their looks, aren't they?"

No... not at all! We also judge them on their ability to cook, sew, dust, hoover (when I'm at the pub or not watching the match), provide intelligent conversation ("would you like another beer dear" works for me). We also judge them on how much of a complete tart they can be in the bedroom! I could go on.

Anyhow, as you can imagine... I couldn't resist a reply... with my own 'personal ad':

Short stumpy balding toothless grumpy breast fed leftie commie smoking liberal (56) with very little money looking to share life and love with rich glamorous tall curvy sexy ladies (25 to 35). Must love football and beer. All replies will be answered! :)

Can't wait to review all the replies!!

Maybe you too would like to take up the opportunity offered here. It's bound to attract the interest from many likely ladies searching for suitable partners across the net. Don't miss your chance to find your preferred partner in life and love!

To post your 'personal ad' click here!

I do hope 'Clouds moving in' sees through my tonguey cheekiness!

In my Inbox today... A Facebook warning on adding possible hackers

I received a message today in my Facebook Inbox... warning me... and asking me to "tell all my friends... and all my contacts" not to add someone.... well an email address actually!

The message read:

"Tell all your contacts not 2 accept dr3am_rock@hotmail.com ... he will pirate your computer and if one of your contacts accepts, he also hack in2 yours! Make fast it is moving..."

This is the second such message I've received over the last couple of days. The message has also been posted on the 'Facebook Wall' by at least one of my contacts too.

I receive many of these warning in my email inbox every week... asking me to forward them urgently to all my contacts.

Which is all very nice... that some people want to make the effort to warn others about these dangerous people... hackers and / or viruses etc. On the other hand, you might think some people have nothing better to do?

But... there are all sorts of possible dangers lurking round every corner on the net... so perhaps it is worth warning or checking these out?

The reality is that nearly ALL these warning emails are hoaxes.... and if people trouble to check with sites like Hoax-Slayer (see more on Hoax-Slayer below) they will probably find that email warning has already been debunked as a hoax!

Notwithstanding that... ask yourselves some questions when you next receive this type of warning email.

The first thing that occurs to me about this warning today (on Facebook), apart from going to Hoax-Slayer to check it out... was... how do we know the person whose email address this belongs to... is really a hacker? Has anyone verified this? For all we know... this warning may have been a malicious attempt by someone to mess up this person's email and probably get this person into a lot of hot water!

Nevertheless... many users on Facebook, over the last couple of days... have been forwarding this warning along quite merrily! I wonder if they've given this possibility any thought!??

The second thing that goes through my mind is.... do we really still need to be told NOT to add people we 'don't know from Adam'? Are there really still people out there who accept 'Add' requests from people they don't know??

To my mind... anyone who is stupid enough to add people they have never had any contact with before... probably deserve everything they get... a sharp lesson in what not to do again on the internet!

Maybe I'm being a little too harsh... but honestly!!

Anyhow... for 'newbies' to the internet and social networking sites or instant messaging systems.... be warned... the best advice is... NEVER add people you don't know!

If you ever receive an 'Add Request' from someone you don't know... and I constantly receive many (at times from people I've never ever heard of before), just take a moment to ask them why they want you to add them... ask them to explain themselves. Nine times out of ten... they probably have a good and totally legitimate reason for asking.... but... be very wary of the reply... and think carefully before you DO add them... as you never know what you're going to get! If in any doubt... DO NOT ADD them... quite simple really!

Oh and it really does help if one keeps one's wits about us a little.... as we stumble around the net! Another problem with the warning I received on Facebook today is... that it rather puts the cart before the horse.... in this case possibly a 'Trojan'!

The message warned not to add a person with the email address of dr3am_rock@hotmail.com. The trouble is... on Facebook anyway... users cannot see other users' email addresses... until you have added each other! By which time... if the other user IS a hacker... or intent on doing you some damage or disfavour in any way... by the time you go and check if his email address matches the one you WERE warned about... it really is too late!

My point being that this message which is doing the rounds on Facebook right now... like many... is a bit silly... a very pointless and at the end of the day... totally ineffective exercise.... that has only served in giving me the opportunity... to rant on!!

Well... then again, if I manage to warn at least one person with this post, about these sorts of dangers lurking on the net... then I suppose (hope) the exercise will not have been entirely worthless!

Check @ Hoax-Slayer

One final little tip. I mentioned Hoax-Slayer earlier. Well, whenever you receive a warning email like this... before you do anything... it may well often be worth your while to pay Hoax-Slayer a little visit!

Hoax-Slayer is dedicated to debunking email hoaxes, thwarting Internet scammers, combating spam, and educating web users about email and Internet security issues.

Hoax-Slayer allows Internet users to check the veracity of common email hoaxes and aims to counteract criminal activity by publishing information about common types of Internet scams.

Hoax-Slayer also includes anti-spam tips, computer and email security information, articles about true email forwards, and much more. New articles are added to the Hoax-Slayer website every week. I would recommend you bookmark this link. It could save you and your Facebook or other contacts... a lot of trouble and anxiety in the future!

This particular warning message for dr3am_rock@hotmail.com is not in their database... I checked... at least it's not there yet! But... in any case, it's probably rubbish anyway if you ask me... but it has gone far and wide across the internet already!

Twitter... the real world or a world for twits

I've been using Twitter for a while now. I started using it because I thought it would be a good way to let people know about my blog posts... get them noticed by as wide an audience as possible.

Having used it for a couple of months... I'm not that convinced of it's effectiveness to get one's message across. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder what all the fuss is about.

Here's how Twitter would like us to think about them:



So... Twitter 'rocks' eh? Hmmm...

Here's another view... the "twouble with Twitter"... as seen on Current.com:



Ha ha... that's a great video, very funny and well produced and one that I think hits the nail on the head... definitely about Twitter's superficiality!

I'm tending to be more inclined to this latter view. The 'twouble' with Twitter is... that one gets completely overwhelmed by the amount of 'Tweets'. The message... if ever there is one... tends to get lost in the morass of, often banal comment or completely uninteresting or unrelated 'news' that some sources spout off with at an amazing rate!

While Twitter can be fun, on a very superficial level and while it can be a way (a simple minded sort of way) to keep in touch with friends, family, etc., even receiving updates directly from (interesting?) sources as varied as No 10 Downing Street to Google Blogs or Stephen Fry... personally, I'm afraid I don't find it exactly 'rocks' for me.

I'm happy to continue to ride this trend though... till it fizzles out... as these things tend to do... and just dip in from time to time... but I won't take it too seriously... and it certainly isn't a good marketing tool... it's not a particularly effective way of getting one's message across!

You can of course, always follow me on Twitter... and make your own judgement!

Postcards from the World... my new blog

Just for a bit of fun... I have created a new blog today... Postcards from the World!

The idea of this site is for people like you to send me a souvenir tourist postcard from your part of the world. I would like you and people like you, to help me build an interesting collection of souvenir postcards from all across the globe!

If you wish to participate, all you need to do is to obtain a suitable souvenir tourist postcard of your town, city or country or any place you are visiting or have visited... just scan it into .jpeg format and send it to me... and I shall publish it in its own page in Postcards from the World.

If you would like to include a brief description of yourself and your town, that's fine. In fact, that would be very welcome and will add further interest to your postcard and the page I publish it on... don't you think? But please... I would like to ask people to be brief (unlike me)!

As and when I can, I shall also include a link (and brief description) to a page on Wikipedia for your location. For instance, in my case it would be for Gibraltar where I am originally from.

So... if you would like to participate and help me build a nice collection of souvenir tourist postcards from around the world, visit Postcards from the World now and just follow the simple instructions there.

I do hope you can help me build an interesting collection of souvenir postcards from all across the globe... so please do paricipate and send me your souvenir tourist postcard!

I look forward to receiving many great postcards from all across our wonderful world!

Thank in advance! :)

The power of prayer... or of a picture

In my Inbox today... a beautiful picture of man's best and most faithful friend... or in this case, the little boy's!


The dog's intensity and concentration shows more sincerity than one might see in many people! Ya just gotta' love him!

Of all the stupid junk we receive every day over the Internet... occasionally, we get something like this... which just has to be shared... right? :)

Blogger makes following blogs easier with Google Friend Connect

If you’re using the 'Follow' feature of Google Blogger, which was introduced a few months ago, you will I'm sure, have enjoyed how easy it is for your readers to follow your blog posts and updates.

According to Blogger Buzz, nearly 3 million communities are using this feature!

Readers can find my 'Follow' feature near the bottom of my right sidebar.

However, I have found many readers are reluctant to 'Follow' using Blogger's feature, simply because they feel... since they are not bloggers on Blogspot (or any other blogging platform) themselves, this feature is not for them. In fact this feature can be used by anyone! A non-blogspot user can simply open a Blogger.com account and 'follow' even if he/she does not have a blogspot blog... or any blog for that matter!

Anyhow... now, you may be pleased to hear, your readers do not have to be restricted by this!

Yesterday, Blogger Buzz announced, that they have adopted 'Google Friend Connect' into their Blogger.com functionality.

This means that your readers, including many who may have wished to follow you, even if they don’t have a Blogger account, can now easily follow your blog using their Google Friend Connect account. So, whether they have tied up their Friend Connect to their Yahoo, AOL, WordPress, Typepad (or any other platform), or not... they can easily join your 'Follow Community' by using Google Friend Connect.

Likewise if you have other blogs in other blogging platform, your users can easily also follow your updates on those, using Google Friend Connect.

Implementing Google Friend Connect will certainly give our blogs more exposure since, if readers of our blogs follow our blogs, our blogs will appear on their Google Friend Connect profiles, which in turn can be seen by our follower’s followers... if you follow me! :)

To make it easier, for all of us who have implemented the 'Follow' feature on our respective Blogger blogs, to implement Google Friend Connect, Blogger has already included the feature on our Blogger Profile (which if you wish can be disabled by editing your Blogger Profile). All we need to do is to set it on (by default, it is ON) to start using the Google Friend Connect (open your Blogger Profile to check).

To learn how to follow a blog using Google Friend Connect, here’s a short video prepared by the Blogger team to guide you:



As I said earlier... if you wish to follow this blog, you can find my 'Follow' feature near the bottom of my right sidebar... just scroll down... hint hint!! :)

For more information, visit Google Friend Connect.

In my Inbox today... a video of an amazing music machine!

In my Inbox today... the amazing video of an incredible music machine which was built as a collaborative effort between the Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa.

Watch this:



Absolutely remarkable right? Amazingly, 97% of the machine's components apparently came from John Deere Industries, who make tractors and farm machinery and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft Iowa. Yes... farm equipment! (presumbably except for the bongos!)

The email says it took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment, calibration and tuning before filming this video but as you can see it was WELL worth the effort.

It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian.

Ahhh... but wait just a second....

Hoax Slayer, famous for "debunking email hoaxes and exposing Internet scams since 2003"... in fact... perhaps sadly, two years ago, exposed this "incredible Music Machine from the University of Iowa"... excellent and remarkable as it is... as a prank... yet another of the many internet hoaxes that go (and come) around daily!!!

In December 2006, Hoax Slayer said the video itself is certainly an incredible and inspiring piece of work. However, far from being a remarkable work of engineering, it is in fact a very clever piece of computer animation and does not depict a real machine made of farm equipment at all!!

The video features a piece of music called Pipe Dream, (if you liked the video you'll love this link) that was created by Wayne Lytle and Dave Crognale and their team at Animusic, a content creation company located in Austin, Texas in the USA.

The company has created a number of quite amazing 3D computer graphics music animation videos that are available via the company website. According to information on the Animusic website:

"Both the graphics and the music are entirely digitally synthesized. Virtual instruments are invented by building computer graphics models of objects that would appear to create the sound of the corresponding music synthesizer track. Graphical instruments range from being reminiscent of existing instruments to arbitrarily abstract."

Some unknown prankster saw fit to create this email and fanciful tale to go along with the unusual video. No names no packdrill... but one can't help giving a sideways look at John Deere Industries and Bancroft of Iowa... a nice bit of advertising for them! :)

Even the university departments named in the message appear to be fictitious. There is no record of the 'Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory' or the 'Sharon Wick School of Engineering' at the University of Iowa... or anywhere else for that matter!

According to an article about the prank email, on Iowa's KCRG:

"The machine is supposedly a collaborative effort between the Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering but if you search the campus high and low you’ll never find either of those buildings. They don’t exist."

Hoax Slayer rightfully concludes "there is no need to malign this fantastic animation by tacking on a foolish and totally fictitious cover story".

"Such clever work speaks for itself and needs no embellishment. Moreover, the real creators of the animation deserve credit for their genius."

If a friend forwards this email to you, now you can let them know the reality... and true origin of the remarkable 'farm machine music' video!! :)

Feedback... would be welcome!

Earlier this month, I revamped this old blog, that had lain dormant for about four years... and re-directed it to a more personal blog.

Calling it 'A Gibo's Tale', I describe it, somewhat 'tongue in cheek', as the "Observations, comments, thoughts and at times maybe irreverent musings of a Gibraltarian abroad... some might even say... from a grumpy old Gibo"!

I've now published 30 items to date this month. You can see the posts listed (linked) on the right sidebar. I'm not sure I shall keep this rate of verbiage up... but one never knows! lol

However, at the risk of sounding a touch churlish, (it wouldn't be the first time for this grumpy git), I'm a little disappointed at the very little feedback I've received to date, either on Facebook (one or two of you have and I'm grateful for those... ), or here on the blog itself, where there are two opportunities to leave feedback.

Perhaps you think the blog is all crap... (in which case... fair enough). On the other hand, maybe it's because you are not aware of the ways one CAN leave feedback... or even, that much of the point of blogging (as with social networking on Facebook or elsewhere), is to have some fun interreacting with each other.... maybe even debating issues raised.

So... to leave Feedback here, you can do so in two ways. Firstly, you can simply 'tick' on the 'Reactions' found at the bottom of each posting... categorising the post as 'funny', 'interesting' or even... 'cool'!

You can also leave a comment, on the posts I've published, via the easy and practical 'Comment' tool provided at the bottom of all posts. You can do this either as a Blogger user, or simply by name (with the option to also leave a URL to your website)... or even as 'anonimous', though I must admit, I'm not too keen on anonimous comments... but they are there if you prefer to comment this way.

Vote on my poll.. and let me know what you think:

Do you enjoy what you read on my blog?
	Yes... very interesting!
	The posts are funny or amusing
	Room for improvement
	The blog is shite!
	You'd like to kill me
	Some of the above... positive
	Some of the above... negative
pollcode.com free polls

Anyhow... I think I've made my point. Some feedback... especially comments on the blog and/or a vote on the poll would be great... and much appreciated... thanks in advance!

Saludos! )

Llanito or Yanito discussed on Gibraltar Discussion Forums

My post yesterday, about the fact that Gibberish may derive from Llanito, prompted Garrett Gibbons to offer us a link to an article he wrote entitled Did 'gibberish' originally describe the speech in Gibraltar (Yanito)? > An Alternative Etymology for Gibberish.

I am much obliged to Garrett for providing us with the link to this very interesting and well argued etymological article on the origins of 'gibberish'. I am also grateful for his interest in Gibraltar generally. Garrett is currently blogging about a Gibraltar Documentary Film project he is in the process of putting together. I very much look forward to viewing it, when it's finished!

Anyhow, this all led me to think some of you may be interested in the following links to discussions on Gibraltar Forums, where our rather unusual, maybe even odd and quirky (for some) Gibraltarian language, Llanito or Yanito, is discussed.

Here are three topics from Gibraltar News Online Discussion Board

Are we 'Llanitos' or 'Yanitos'??

Language/accent

Gibraltarian Bilingualism explained

Panorama Forum

This one may be a bit of a non story. There used to be a very good discussion on the Panorama Forum, on a topic entitled Giannito/Llanito, Dialect, Patois, Gibberish?. Sadly, this link was not working at the time of writing this post.

According to GoDaddy.com, the net domain registrars, the domain xsorbit3.com, which hosted the Panorama Gibraltar Discussion Forum, has not been renewed and is currenly offline!

A note on Panorama's, (one of Gibraltar's daily newspapers with an online presence), discussion page says:

To all users of our Discussion forum

The server which hosts the Discussion forum for Panorama www.xsorbit3.com has gone down.

To date no explanation has been received by us from Xsorbit despite attempts to contact them.

We are sorry for the inconvenience caused but this situation is outside of our control, and we are attempting to find a solution as soon as possible.

This is very sad news, as there were many very interesting topics about Gibraltar on this discussion board. Not least the one I'm referring to here, which had, if I remember rightly... something approaching 20 pages on the subject of Llanito, with many llanito words offered and discussed... and much amusing comment! I really hope this topic (or databse) has not been lost forever! It would be a real shame.

I have found a couple of pages on Google Cache, which are snapshots of how these appeared on 19 Jan 2009 19:44:24 GMT

Google Cache > Giannito/Llanito, Dialect, Patois, Gibberish? > Page 1

Google Cache > Giannito/Llanito, Dialect, Patois, Gibberish? > Page 3

I'm not sure how long Google keeps their cached pages... but they are there for now. Let's hope that Panorama can get those pages back up or somehow, in the hope it's not lost forever, recover that database of some great topics concerning Gibraltar!

In the meantime, I hope anyone interested in the subject of Llanito... can enjoy some of it, as discussed on these links.

For those of you who have no idea what Llanito is... Llanito (pronounced [jɑˈnito] or Yanito is an Andalusian Spanish based vernacular spoken in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Gibraltarians call ourselves Llanitos.

Llanito consists of an eclectic mix of Andalusian Spanish and British English, marked by a great deal of code switching and loan-words from many other Mediterranean languages. You can read more about Llanito and the Gibraltarian culture on Wikipedia

Facebook say... 'Relax, we won't sell your photos!'

Caroline McCarthy writing in CNET News' The Social, talks about a change to Facebook's terms of service, which has "created a firestorm of banter on the Web" and asks: Does the social network claim ownership to any user content on the site, even if the user deletes it?

Apparently, Facebook reorganized its terms of service last Wednesday. In a blog post, company legal representative Suzie White provided an explanation:

"We used to have several different documents that outlined what people could and could not do on Facebook, but now we're consolidating all this information to one central place.

We've also simplified and clarified a lot of information that applies to you, including some things you shouldn't do when using the site."

The blog post sounded benign. But the brouhaha arose on Sunday over a revision in the wording of Facebook's policy over what happens to profile content--shared items, blog post-like "notes," photos--when members delete their accounts.

I think Ms McArthy is spot on when she says, "most Facebook users won't give a hoot"... and that only "a few vocal advocates" of copyright reform and privacy, not to mention photographers and writers who may want the photos they upload or "notes" they write on Facebook to eventually lead to some kind of profit, will no doubt be alarmed and continue to debate the issues on who owns what.... and what can they do with it!

Ultimately though, for the average Facebook user, surely... do they still need to be told to be careful what they upload and say on their profiles? Does it really need to be said? I think so... ad nauseam... Be careful what pics you upload... I don't care what Facebook says... you never know WHO will copy them and what they will DO with them!

As for what should really happen when a user deletes their account? I agree with Michael Murdock's comment (on the article page)... Facebook should offer an option:

A. Delete and hold - remove my account for 6 months and if I don't come back in that time, delete permanently, nothing saved.

B. Delete Permantely, Immediately

Well, that's clear enough and I completely agree. However, confusingly, Mr Murdock goes on to say, "of course, you have archived copies of things, but those are understood and since the user is closing their account and not returning they forfeit the rights to those things".

No Mr Murdock... if a User wishes to delete HIS account, he should also be able to remove ALL traces of his posts, images, etc as they are generally tagged when someone uploads something into the system.

Otherwise, as Mr Murdock rightly concludes:

"If not, you need to strangle your programming team as they've basically screwed you.

I'd be asking a lawyer to ask a court to demand that such a contingency be in place so that when user A decides he wants to vanish from facebook, every email, every photo, every video, etc. just disappeared and was filled in by something else."

If I was the User, I would not care what Facebook chose to fill my vacuum with... so long as it's not my content!

The debate.. will no doubt go on endlessly!

Join in Action Against Guilt Upon Accusation Laws in NZ

Internet Blackout NZ - A Week of Action Against Guilt Upon Accusation Laws in NZ.

Join The New Zealand Internet Blackout to protest against the Guilt Upon Accusation law 'Section 92A' that calls for internet disconnection based on accusations of copyright infringement without a trial and without any evidence held up to court scrutiny.

The word is already out and hundreds of people are learning about this law (even Stephen Fry).