By Jayson Jarmon, CEO, LuxWorldwide.com
Several entries ago I wrote about the pervasive and, frankly, entertaining spam I receive on a daily basis here at Lux headquarters. In that entry I also promised a brief discussion about apocryphal and/or wildly misleading websites. The Internet abounds in such sites, and here are a couple of my favorites.
The casual web surfer who, by whatever impulse or misdirection, finds himself at History of Robots in the Victorian Era will be treated to a thoroughly entertaining and totally bogus article about 19th-Century steam-powered robots. The star of our show is Boilerplate," a sad-sack Tin Man who, among other amazing things "embarked on a series of expeditions [demonstrating his] abilities…the most ambitious being a voyage to Antarctica."
The creators of Boilerplate were not 19th-century men of science, as the very thorough article indicates, but rather a group of 21st-century illustrators and web designers using the site as a promotional tool for their services. Be sure to check out the other Victorian robots as well including the "Steam Man" and the "Automatic Man."
Another apocryphal website worthy of mention that I've recently encountered, asserts that the United Kingdom has secretly been incorporated into the US as the 51st state. Indeed, England gave itself to the United States in trade for our protection during the Second World War ... FDR himself signing the "secret Executive Order 9431," or, as the site so eloquently puts it:
"In 1944, on the eve of D-Day, the ROYAL FAMILY, over the head of W. Churchill himself, made a DEAL WITH THE DEVIL. They agreed to hand-over sovreignty [sic] of the United Kingdom to the United States, in return for the participation of the U.S. in the invasion at Normandy ..."
Evidence for the secret US statehood includes a group of hastily doctored photos (like the one above), and a largely incoherent "blog" which, I imagine, is meant to serve as corroboration for the claims in the website. It includes one of my favorite entries on the matter, which I disclose below in its crude entirety:
"More Proof!
Mood: !incredulous
Topic: Proof of UK Statehood?
My daughter Cala came ack from Engalnd with two black eyes and refused to tell me what happened. I ASKED HER IF THEY BEAT HER UP BECUASE SHE WAS AMERICAN, and she started to cry and said, DADDY, THEY'RE ALL AMERICANS.
I didn't get it unti lI saw a website which confirmed it. That the US owns England and is going to turn it into a state. The guys who beat up my Cala did it because she knew too much about the plans. She was an intern in an architect's office who was making trhe plans for the new state capitol building which is going to be in some city north of Londun. THEY BEAT HER UP TO SCARE HER AWAY FROM TALKING."
One's mind simply reels at the immensity of the conspiracy, as well as the blogger's spelling of "Londun" [sic]. I'm particularly impressed by the circularity of the blog, which claims the very website it, in turn, supports, as evidence.
That's all for now, but I'll keep my eyes peeled for further sites worthy of our attention. And, as I've repeatedly said, if it's on the Internet, it MUST be true!
