http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/22200.html

An excerpt:

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The world will end tomorrow - official By Lester Haines Posted: 12/10/2001 at 12:33 GMT

There's some good news today for all our London readers who have always believed - as do we - that two days is just not enough of a weekend. Well, we have it on good authority that you won't have to get up early on Monday and trudge your way to the office. Here's why:

To all,

I have just been told this story from a friend at work, I would take it seriously

My friends friend was walking in London last week and she saw a man drop his wallet. she picked it up and ran after him. once she caught him she gave the wallet to him and he was so grateful that he thought he would give her a piece of advice for the thanks. he was an Arab and told her to do herself a favour and do not be anywhere near the centre of London on the 13th of October. She was so scared that she went straight to the police. the police asked her if she would be able to identify the man, they gave her a book of wanted terrorists and she was able to identify him in the book.

This is not a circular its from me and was told to me from a reliable source.

tell all your friends

That's right - it's all going to kick off on Saturday. Tell all your friends and then run for the hills.

Or, if you've already received another version of this email: where the Arab drops his wallet in a cab/pub/pole-dancing club; where he gives the date as 28/30 September or 1/5/10 October; or where MI5 turn up at your door with a really big book of wanted terrorists, you might want to reflect on the net hoax phenomenon which can reduce otherwise rational people to headless chickens.

US inboxes have recently been infected with various strains of the 'Klingerman virus' email. It warns people not to open any blue envelope they get from 'The Klingerman Foundation'. If you do, you're dead - inside is a sponge saturated with an unknown, killer virus.

Laughable nonsense, or is it? Sadly, it's the very scale and scope of the net - it's great strength - which makes it the ideal platform for the rapid dissemination of disinformation and conspiracy hysteria. And for every hoaxer there are a thousand gullible people willing to believe.

Conspiracy theory The tragic events at the World Trade Centre have spawned a veritable industry of imbecility. You want conspiracy? Try this out:

Here we have Q33NY in Wingdings font. It clearly shows a plane about to hit the WTC. Throw in a skull and crossbones and a Star of David, and there you have it - Zionist terrorist conspiracy.

It all makes sense. After all, thousands of Jewish office workers stayed at home on 11 September, didn't they?

But hold on, what's Q33NY got to do with it? Well, it's the flight number of one of the hijacked planes. Actually, it isn't. But hey, we've found a meaningful set of symbols. Let's not let the truth get in the way of a good yarn.

Indeed, the Wingdings controversy has been raging for some time. Why not render NYC in the same font?:

As long ago as 1992 Microsoft was obliged to issue a disclaimer stating that any apparently significant output in Wingdings was no more than co-incidental. This cut little ice with the black helicopter brigade, who continue to inflict their tiresome paranoia on cyberspace.

www.youreallgoingtodie.com Another fear-inducing story which has been doing the rounds is the one about some urls which were registered before the WTC attack:

attackamerica.com attackonamerica.com attackontwintowers.com august11horror.com august11terror.com horrorinamerica.com horrorinnewyork.com nycterroriststrike.com pearlharborinmanhattan.com terrorattack2001.com towerofhorror.com tradetowerstrike.com worldtradecenter929.com worldtradecenterbombs.com worldtradetowerattack.com worldtradetowerstrike.com wterroristattack2001.com

Naturally, the fact that they were registered before the attack is clear evidence that the people who bought them had prior knowledge of the terrorists' plans. Quite what they intended to do with them remains unanswered.

Many of the urls cannot in fact be found. One that is active, www.pearlharborinmanhattan.com, can hardly be considered an al-Qaeda product.

If you do fancy hopping on this particular conspiracy bandwagon, www.attackontwintowers.com is up for auction at afternic.com. Starting bid $1000. Get in there now and avoid the rush.

But Nostradamus said... Ok, that's all rubbish. But Nostradamus really did predict the WTC disaster. What about this posting gleaned from advogato.org?:

Nostradamus once wrote: "In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb" , "The third big war will begin when the big city is burning" - Nostradamus 1654 I always believed in the words of the great Nostradamus. Again, he prophesized the truth.

Convincing stuff. Even more so given that Nostradamus' powers must have extended to divination from the 'other side' - he died in 1566.

Interest in Nostradamus has rocketed in the weeks following the WTC attack. The above 'quatrain' (four-line verse), and many other versions of it, have been doing the rounds. They have found a credulous audience among those who have, apparently, neither the time nor the inclination to check the veracity of the words. It's a hoax.

So, what about a real Nostradamus prediction? youngskeptics.org offers the following, which apparently foresaw the space shuttle Challenger disaster:

Le pare enclin grande calamit, Par l'Hesperie & Insubre fera:Le feu en nef peste & captiuit', Mercure en l'Arc Saturne fenera.

The sloping park great calamity To be done through Hesperia and Insubria:The fire in the ship, plague and captivity, Mercury in Sagittarius Saturn will fade.

Wtf? We would suggest that any connection with Challenger is, at best, tenuous. 'The fire in the ship'? Hmmm. As for the rest of it, well, suggestions on a postcard please.

The predictions of Nostradamus have achieved an almost mythical status among believers. Such accolytes have the great advantage of being able to make the quatrains reflect any circumstance after the event. This process is what Stephen O'Leary recently called vaticinium ex eventu (prophesy after the fact) in the Daily Telegraph. Put simply, it's hammering a square peg very, very hard into a round hole until it fits.

No doubt many readers will be eager to prove that Nostradamus's predictions are right. If so, can they send us next week's National Lottery winning numbers? Thanks.

The face fits No disaster conspiracy theory would be complete without a complimentary set of images demonstrating a hidden and sinister power at work. Who else but Satan himself would appear at the WTC?:

This process of finding images is known as pareidol, and is discussed further here. While the name of Allah in an aubergine, or a likeness of Mother Theresa of Calcutta in a sesame bun (no, really), might be amusing simulacra, accrediting an arbitrary plume of smoke with mephistophelean significance is preposterous.

When, as is the case of the above photograph, the image has been enhanced to more adequately make the point, you wonder what anyone has to gain from such rubbish.

But for real effect, just cut out the enhancement and go for the full fake:

This offering comes allegedly from the camera of a tourist who clearly picked the wrong moment to visit the World Trade Centre. It is so laughably amateur that it merits no further discussion.

1+1=4 It all adds up. And the answer is 11. Be afraid:

The date of the attack: 9/11 - 9 + 1 + 1 = 11

September 11th is the 254th day of the year: 2 + 5 + 4 = 11

After September 11th there are 111 days left to the end of the year.

119 is the area code to Iraq/Iran. 1 + 1 + 9 = 11

Twin Towers - standing side by side, looks like the number 11

The first plane to hit the towers was Flight 11

State of New York - The 11th State added to the Union

New York City - 11 Letters

Afghanistan - 11 Letters

The Pentagon - 11 Letters

Ramzi Yousef - 11 Letters (convicted of orchestrating the attack on the WTC in 1993)

Flight 11 - 92 on board - 9 + 2 = 11

Flight 77 - 65 on board - 6 + 5 = 11

This numerological gem comes from snopes2.com. The site notes:

The telephone country code of 119 is used for neither Iran nor Iraq -- Iran's country code is 98, Iraq's is 964, and 119 is invalid. Also, American Airlines Flight 77 carried 64 people (58 passengers and 6 crew members), not 65; hijacked United Flight 175 had 65 people on board.

Oh dear, oh dear. Back to the abacus then.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001

Answers

oops, somehow cut & pasted more than I intended. Oh well.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001

MANY OF THE STUPIDITIES IN ONE PLACE

LINK TO: http://www.snopes2.com/rumors/rumors.htm

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001

from http://www.joker.org another view of "NUMBERS"

At last, justification for only giving 100%....

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Here's an interesting thing. Just to help you with that competitive edge...

Giving 100% plus ..... We have all been to those meetings where someone wants over 100% Here's to achieving 103% !!

Here's a little maths that might prove helpful in the future. What makes life 100% ??

Well, if: A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, D = 4 etc to Z = 26.

THEN:

H A R D W O R K

8 1 18 4 23 15 18 11 = 98 % Only

K N O W L E D G E

11 14 15 23 12 5 4 7 5 = 96 % Only

BUT:

A T T I T U D E

1 20 20 9 20 21 4 5 = 100 %

HOWEVER:

B U L L S H I ....

2 21 12 12 19 8 9 20 = 103%

Give it all you've got . .

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

There are 16 letters in World Trade Center. If you square this value and multiply by 2.6015625, you will get 666.

666 is the secret number of Satan.

We're all gonna die.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

We all know that "we are all going to die". That is a given. I do not expect it for a very long time yet.

BBBBButtt .... 1/3rd of the 666 gives you BACK ALL THE TWOS, SO IT IS THE EVIL TWOS THAT ARE THE ROOT CAUSE OF THIS.

Have you not heard of the "Terrible Twos"?? Composed of children, Fringers, DOOOMZIES and Fundies.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001