-------------------------------------------------------------------------
While we await for authorities to resolve the Rainsong situation, Radd Icenoggle (great name, by the way!) takes a stab at categorizing bird hoaxes of the past in this blog post:
http://tinyurl.com/yb7z3ly
Meanwhile, FWIW, here are a few other tangential webpages that might harbor teensy elements of pertinence to the Sabine River story... or, NOT:
http://www.gamblingphd.com/gambling-psychology.htm
http://tinyurl.com/yblyse5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_minutes_of_fame
http://tinyurl.com/6qa7ar
(Clifford Irving was sentenced to 2 years of jail-time for his money-scheming book hoax --- sometimes the best avenue a claimant can take is to make a full and public apology, in exchange for walking away, before evidence is gathered to prosecute for fraud/jail-time.)
(p.s. -- if this case hasn't been closed by the end of today I'll issue my own challenge-of-sorts to the situation come Monday... stay tuned.)
Some readers, I realize, are fascinated by the whole affair (like craning your neck at a roadside accident) and glad for efforts here to track it (Jan.19 - 28 posts), even if much can't be divulged, but others are already bored stiff and sick of hearing about it. I can only say that hoaxes represent the bottom-of-the-barrel for me and anything smacking of one ought be torpedoed (or vindicated) as soon as possible --- unfortunately, fraudulent storylines can be hard to 100% DISprove --- come to think of it, I saw 3 Ivory-bills fly over my backyard just last week; it vividly sticks in my memory because one of them was carrying a Carolina Parakeet in its beak... uhhh, "prove" that it didn't happen.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 comment:
CT,
Since you brought up the subject of Howard Hughes (for the youngsters, Hughes was the purported subject of Irving's hoax), mention ought to be made of another bit of chicanery associated with the eccentric and reclusive Texas billionaire (and back then, a billion dollars really was a lot of money). This one occurred after Hughes' death and involved a purported will found in the offices of the LDS Church here in Salt Lake, one that named a certain "Melvin Dummar" as a partial beneficiary...
Google that one up if you're a student of historical "trainwrecks." BTW, Dummar's fingerprints were found on the envelope that contained the will...
The cherry-on-the-sundae on this one is that Dummar is still sticking to his story and telling it to anyone who will listen! Not long ago this included a reporter for the local Deseret News...
Okay, I realize this blog is about birds and not birdbrains, but I've seen so many proven hoaxes recycled endlessly and repeatedly that I felt the matter deserved mention.
And being generally opposed to capital punishment, I don't advocate hanging the perpetrators...
It is, afterall, perhaps a useful service they provide by functioning as carving roasts for wordsmiths in need of offerings at their restaurants . . .
And it's doubtless a matter of taste whether they should be served up rare and bloody, fried to a crisp, or sliced up into a salad with tomatoes thrown at them.
Post a Comment