Nothing Dies On The Internet

As is well known, the Internet is a fount of true and false information. And often, information that is shown to be false just won’t die. Like a bad penny it turns up again, professing its versimilitude to all who will listen.

 

A case in point, Neatorama, a site that collects neat things from around the web, published this today. Ostensibly, it’s an article about a pair of identical twins, one of whom has had the amputated arm of his twin surgically attached to his torso. Also, a finger joint has been amputated from one twin’s hand, and used to lengthen the same finger on the other twin’s hand.

 

The article was originally published in 1999 – April 1st 1999, to be precise. Now, it’s quite possible, and indeed probable, that Neatorama realised it was a joke, but decided to re-publish as it is, in truth, a startling article. Still, the kicker is that I’ll bet that many people out there will think that this is a piece of true reporting – just as many people did when it was first published. And the real eye-opener for me is that some folks really do think that this is a neat thing to do. As I’ve said before, I never will understand human nature.

 

Update: Nope, Neatorama thought the story was true. Sigh.