Not too long ago, a wrote a post about chain e-mails.  Someone commented on it and mentioned snopes.com, which is a site that researches rumors including those posed by chain e-mails.  I recently got another chain e-mail warning of the danger of using cell phones while they're on the charger.  Apparently it can be fatal.  The e-mail began, however, with the following words:

"Snopes.com says this is true."

Hahaha!  I found the page on snopes.com about this rumor.  The only thing snopes confirms is that cell phone batteries can explode or start fires under certain circumstances, but there is no evidence to suggest the circumstances mentioned in the rumor increase the risk.  In fact, they could only find one confirmed case back in 2004--hardly 1 person every year dying from it as the e-mail claims.  So if an e-mail says "Snopes.com says this is true" but doesn't offer an actual link to snopes.com to back it up, it's probably false.  But that actually isn't nearly as bad as another e-mail I got:

"THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY SNOPES.  http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/mailserver.asp"

This one actually included a link!!  And here's the kicker, if you follow the link, it is actually a page on Snopes.com about this rumor, but it says it's false!  I was apparently the only one smart enough to click the link to make sure lol.  How gullible is that??  Everyone else is like "Oh, it says it's true, it even includes a link.  But instead of clicking the link to be sure, I'm not only going to just accept it myself, I'm going to forward it to everyone I know to openly profess my belief in it and recommend it to others."

People in general really are too gullible, though.  I get a kick out of tricking my friends sometimes.  Like the time I had one of my friends believing that Tomb Raider was based on a true story...  Lol.  Or anything you say using scientific jargon most people will usually accept.  I tell them right away (after I'm sure I had them fooled, of course) that I'm just messing with them, but seriously.  I don't get how people can be like that.  When someone tells me something or I read something somewhere, the first thing that happens in my brain is that the information is cross-referenced with all of my previously gathered knowledge on the subject and checked for consistency.  Not only does that protect me from being deceived, but it also helps me store it by associating it with related information for quick retrieval later.  To me, that's just how my brain works.  I don't understand how it could be any other way.  So when I read the e-mail about cell phones exploding while using them on the charger, a dozen red flags came up as it conflicted with some things I already knew, such as:

• Battery chargers are equipped with circuitry to detect when a battery is fully charged and automatically shut off.
• Even if this circuitry failed, using the cell phone would not increase the risk of an exploding battery, because it would increase the power being used which would draw power away from the battery.
  

But even if you don't know a lot about electronics, wouldn't these items also come to mind?:

• Cell phones have been around for decades.  If this was really a big risk, why haven't I heard of it before?
• Wouldn't such a story be on the news?
• How come no one I know has had this happen?
• Snopes.com is a site for debunking rumors.  Claiming that snopes.com confirms it kindof implies that it's a rumor.  Why not reference a reputable news source if it really is true?

I think this is exactly why there is such a controversy over Wikipedia and similar wiki sites that anyone can edit.  If anyone can edit it, people could just put whatever they want.  But come on, if you just think a little and not be so gullible, it's an invaluable resource.  But since so many people are so gullible, maybe they aren't ready for such a thing as free information.  Maybe they need someone to spoonfeed them from a limited supply of confirmed sources.  I say spoonfeeding is for children who haven't developed their powers of reason yet.  Besides, us grown-ups will never be able to shield people completely from the worthless information and propaganda out there.  They need to learn to think for themselves.  Anyways, enough ranting...