Every few days, I get URGENT e-mail messages sent by one of the aunties or cousins warning of all sorts of plots, computer viruses, scams, rapists, or danger lurking around the corner. These messages have usually been forwarded to their entire address book and have already been widely circulated judging from the all the <<<'s in front of the text.
Usually I just delete these warnings, because I’m crazy like that. The last two that I’ve read were good, so I might reverse that policy. Here’s a sampling:
>> Never, ever answer a cell phone while it is being CHARGED!! A few days
>>ago, a person was recharging his cell
>>phone at home. Just at that time a call came and he answered it with
>>the
>>instrument still connected to the outlet. After a few seconds
>>electricity flowed into the cell phone unrestrained and the young man
>>was thrown to the ground with a heavy thud. His parents rushed to the
>>room only to find him unconscious, with a weak heartbeat and burnt
>>fingers.
>>
>>He was rushed to the nearby hospital, but was pronounced dead on
>>arrival.
>>
>>Cell phones are a very useful modern invention. However, we must be
>>aware that it can also be an instrument of death. Never use the cell
>>phone while it is hooked to the electrical outlet!
>>
>>FORWARD THIS TO THE PEOPLE THAT MATTER IN YOUR
>>LIFE, I JUST DID !
Cell phones. Instruments of death. Ignore this warning at your own risk, people.
…It was about 1:00 p.m. In the afternoon, and Lauren was driving to visit a friend. An UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put his lights on. *Lauren’s parents have always told them never to pull over for an unmarked car on the side of the road, but rather to wait until they get to a gas station, etc.
Lauren had actually listened to her parents advice, and promptly called *677 on her cell phone to tell the police dispatcher that she would not pull over right away. She proceeded to tell the dispatcher that there was an unmarked police car with a flashing red light on his rooftop behind her. The dispatcher checked to see if there were police cars where she and there weren’t, and he told her to keep driving, remain calm and that he had back up already on the way.
Ten minutes later 4 cop cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her.
One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car behind. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground. The man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes….
Send this to every woman (and person) you know; it may save a life.
I have dutifully sent this e-mail to every woman (and person) that I know.
Apt. 11d 
Laura, you may want to make Snopes your best friend. It’s a website dedicated to debunking urban legends.
Here the one about the cell phone.
Here’s the entry about poor Lauren.
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1. I answer my phone while it’s charging all the time and I’m not dead yet. See this:
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/cellcharge.asp
2. This MIGHT work if you live in Ontario, since 677 refers to the letters OPP, or Ontario Provincial Police. Might not. See this:
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/cellcharge.asp
My mom sends me this stuff every day. Sigh.
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oooh. Thanks, guys. I hadn’t heard about this site. All the aunties and cousins (and people) are going to get the link to it, too. Might stop the flow of hysterical e-mails.
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Laura- if the Snopes link stops the aunties and cousins you’re a very lucky woman. I’ve sent my aunts and cousins links to Snopes several times and they still send me these urgent messages. My family is hardcore, because I’ve told everyone that I immediately delete all forwarded e mail and they STILL send it.
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Catie, the proper response is then to become hardcore yourself and put them in the killfile the next time they send you that crap (or spam bucket or filter or whatever your program has). Then when they want to know why you never responded to something meaningful, smile sweetly and explain that their meaningful email must have gone to the spam bucket since they’ve sent you so many.
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(sigh) I’ve sent my mom the particular Snopes URL for whatever claptrap she’s passing on so many times… Now I just do it if the sh..er, nonsense she’s passing on is particularly dangerous if taken to heart.
The only, only, only piece of pass-it-on crap that I have ever found to be good and true is the admonition to wash your dryer lint trap once every six months. I lost a dryer to burn-out in less than 10 years because I didn’t. I got a new dryer that Christmas instead of the sapphire ring I had been soooo looking forward to.
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Laura I find a special evil pleasure in finding the email on Snopes and then forwarding it to all the people my distant cousin, aunt, well meaning friend did.
It makes me feel smart and eventually they seem to figure it out. Just like I did 5 years ago when I was sending all my girlfriends emails saying, “If you forward this you get a $20 gift card to Old Navy!”
My sister swiftly pointed out: ‘How do they get your address asshole?”
Oh, uh, right.
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Yeah it’s just not accurate that you will be killed by electrocution using your “plugged in” cell phone. Another new “urban legend” ? I recently seen involved this martial arts master named Dustin Etan (here is a link to a website I found in google search- http://81x.com/bluedolphin/MartialArts) who was supposidly commissioned by United airlines to teach air line personnel on how to quickly kill hijacking terrorists. But that his special training was making airline workers very dangerous themselves. Does anyone know if this one is true or not or have any other new information?
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