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This article is from the Urban legends FAQ, by Terry Chan tchan@dante.lbl.gov and Peter van der Linden linden@eng.sun.com with numerous contributions by others.

36 Question authority (and other conspiracies) (Urban legends)

U. CIA fixed the Anarchist's Cookbook, so explosive blows up as you make it.
T. You may *own* the mailbox, but US Postal Service controls what goes in it.
T. The CIA, NSA and 11 different secret govt organizations tap & bug everything
T. Princess Anne was only female competitor not given sex test in 1976 Olympics
F.*Guy/gal wakes up in Big City, a kidney has been stolen from him!
["The Kidney Heist" in TBT.]
T.*...Common variation now is Americans/Europeans/et al. stealing children
from some poor (e.g., Guatamela) country for their organs.
T.*There are many other interesting (though non-UL) issues relating to organs.
Fb.Hubbard started Scientology after Heinlein bet he couldn't found a religion.
Bill Van Horne actually posted some useful stuff that I used to change this.
T. alt.religion.scientology FAQ sez "F," but I haven't been converted yet.
F. P&G's logo reflects Satanic or Moonie ties.
F. P&G's "president" appeared on "Donahue" to affirm same.
["The Procter & Gamble Trademark" in TCD]
F. On "Oprah" designer Liz Claiborne said her clothes were not designed for
black women because their "hips were too big".
F. On "Oprah" designer Liz Claiborne said she supports the KKK.
Tb.Candy manufacturers sneakily micro-reduce size of product to gyp you.
F. Universal Product Codes (computer readable bar-codes) are marks of Satan.
P. VP Bush persuaded Iranians to delay hostage release to aid Reagan election.
U. Govt has secret plan to replace the currency overnight to foil drug barons.
Tb.CIA radio transmits spoken five digit code numbers to operatives worldwide
T. You can send a coconut thru the mail without any further wrapping. Yowser!
F. Sticking one of those "Postage Paid" reply cards on a heavy object (e.g.,
a brick) will cost the addressee the postage. [Nope, USPS tosses it.]
T. Some change-making machines can be fooled by photocopies of currency.
T. NSA leaned on NIST to propose less secure digital signature standard than
RSA.
T. After a public outcry, NIST allowed a longer key (up to 1024 bits) which
made it into the digital signature standard FIPS-186
Tb. The reason DSA was used for digital signatures rather than the more proven
RSA algorithm was that NSA opposes easy public access to an algorithm
that can also be used for general encryption. (RSA can/DSA can't).
F. Unification Church (i.e. Moonies) owns Entenmann's bakery
F. Unification Church (i.e. Moonies) owns Waldenbooks.
Tb.Unification Church (i.e. Moonies) owns a fish processing plant in
Gloucester, Massachusetts.
U. Those guys selling roses on roads are connected with the Moonies.
T. Entenmann's owned by General Foods, Philip Morris bought, merged w/ Kraft.
F.*Ship captains, on their own authority, can perform marriages.
F. Govt cabbage price memo lots longer than var. patriotic/religious documents.
["The Price of Cabbage Memo" under "Government Legends" in TCD.]
F. Govt regularly burns WWII-era hemp fields. Only high officials know where.
F. If you are the first to read this and send me e-mail, you will receive $10.
Fb.Class requests satellite imaging photo; US says "no";(then) USSR says "yes".
F. Compensation paid to kin of Salem witches up to 1957 (per _The Economist_).
F. Alleged witches were burned at the stake in the US during the Salem trials.
T. Alleged witches were hanged or pressed to death.
T. Mass. recanted the Salem trials and freed the witches within a few years
T. Name of last alleged witch was cleared in 1957.
Tb.Whole business is extraordinarily similar to modern accusations of Satanism.
T. ...For some leads on satanic ritual abuse, see:
http://www.kosone.com/people/ocrt/sra.htm
http://www.kosone.com/people/ocrt/ra_none.htm
T. Crop circles (at least in the UK) have been shown to be man-made.
T.*Mapmakers place copyright traps in maps (e.g., Rand-McNally, no. Thomas
Maps, yes)
U. Several noted movies have "death curses" on them.
Fb.Major firms/gov't suppress evidence of a super great product(car,light,etc.)
["The Economical Car" in TVH and CBA]
T. The USA did have a 49 star flag.
F. Some 1963 $1 bills have a 'K' for JFK, 11 for month of death to commemorate
JFK. ["The Kennedy Note" in TMP]
T. Channel 1 for TV existed in the US, but was eliminated by the FCC in 1945.
U. Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
F. An undercover cop must answer yes to "Are you a cop?" to avoid entrapment.
Fb.Guy dodges draft by eating peanut butter/hotdog from rectum in front of MD.
F. There was once a female Pope in the Roman Catholic Church.
F.*Noted atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair is petitioning the FCC to ban religious
broadcasting.
F.*U.S. Patent Office head once said that it be closed because "Everything that
can be invented has been invented."
F. It's illegal to pick Trilliums in Ontario, Canada.
U. Lots of places are supposedly either 3rd or 22nd to be bombed in WWIII.
F. Ads for "free pets" are frequently answered by testing labs for specimens.
T. Gerald Ford did have a vice president(who is mentioned elsewhere in the FAQ)
T. Bank policies on ATMs work differently in different areas.
F.*The king of Denmark wore a yellow star in solidarity with Jews in WWII.
T. There were (are?) Japanese soldiers hiding out on isles in Pacific who
believed WWII was still on.
F. The Trilateral Commission is working to take over the world.
F. Ditto for the Council on Foreign Relations.
F. Queen Victoria so loved _Alice in Wonderland_ she requested copies of all
Lewis Carroll's books. Was ticked with copy of _Symbolic Logic_.
F. You can tell if a big op. is happening at US gov't by level of pizza orders.
T. Craig Becker once went nuts and bought a whole shitload of Jack Chick comix.
T. Canadians sure seem to get worked up about this "50-40" business.
T. People can just ramble on about Jehovah's Witnesses & getting rid of 'em.
T. AFUBOT.
F. Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Science) was buried w/a phone so she could
her followers from "The Other Side."
U. There may or may not have been an AFU EAST. I need $$ to find out.
T. There are many, many anecdotal stories descrbing why US$2 bills are unlucky.
F. Story involving a page or an elevator operator telling US Rep. Fred "Love
Boat" Grandy "Lido Deck, sir?" or "Promenade Deck, sir?" subsequently being
fired.
F. Adolf Hitler intentionally snubbed Jesse Owens by refusing to shake hands
with him in the 1936 Olympics.
T. Hitler didn't shake hands with any athletes after the first day of
competition, and Jesse didn't win anything until the second. Hitler
did, however, snub another black American athlete, Cornelius Johnson.
F. Magnetic strips are embedded in US currency for nefarious purposes.
T. ...See http://www.ustreas.gov/treasury/whatsnew/newcur/newcur2.html
T. ...Of course, this won't make any difference if you REALLY KNOW otherwise.
F. US Navy aircraft carrier engages in radio exchange to tell other party
to move to avoid collision. Other party was a lighthouse!

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