My classmate, Susan, and I are in the middle of our thesis rewrites
for Johns Hopkins University. We only have two weeks left and we are
both quite razzled at the prospect of doing more research in the
remaining time.
Today Susan called me to say that she desperately needed more history
about a small tribe of Native Americans that lives in the Grand Canyon
but there's only one telephone on the reservation and no one ever answers it.
As a matter of fact, the three times she visited the tribe's Visitor
Center while she was on vacation, she said no one ever opened up the
building.
Being a computer geek, I said, "Have you checked the Internet?"
She said, "No, what a great idea! Thanks."
I did a quick check using Excite while she used Yahoo and she was astounded
at the information available about this little-known tribe. She thanked me
profusely for the tip and hung up.
Two hours later, she called me back sounding absolutely miserable.
"Susan," I said, "What's the matter?"
"Well," she said, "You're not going to believe it but they have their own
Web page with all the information I could ever want about the tribe."
"That's great," I said. "What more could you ask for?"
"You don't understand," she said. "My article is about how isolated the
tribe is and how their only path to the outside world is a little dirt
trail up the side of the canyon! On their Web page, they even have a
scanned photo of the helicopter that brought the donated PC into the canyon."
Moral of the story: Sometimes ignorance is bliss -- especially when you're
trying to finish a thesis on time. 

In the 80's, a [local] radio station had a couple of DJs
who claimed the stealth fighter had landed at the Mt. Joy
airport in Mt. Joy, Iowa. This is used mainly by the weekend
warriors, and once a year it's used for an air show. The
authorities were notified after an estimated 10,000 people
came to the airport. They asked the people why they were out
there, and they were given the story about the stealth fighter.

The authorities then called the FBI, who talked to the FAA, who
called the FBI back. The two DJs got yanked off the air and
suspended for two weeks -- but not before some people at the
airport, armed with cell phones, called into the station, got
put on the air, and said that they couldn't see the thing. The
DJs replied that it was proof the technology worked.

To top it all off: the DJs said the only way that you could see
the plane was to move your head back and fourth -- like a chicken
when it walks -- and try to catch a glimpse out of the corner of
your eye. They stated that if you looked right at it, you would
never see it. This was believed and a majority of the people were
doing just this when the police arrived! 

Following the initiatives of the Afghan Taliban
government - which has banned kite-flying, TV
watching and wearing white socks - Iran is also
cracking down on its more decadent citizens.
Ayatollah Mohammed Yadzi has decreed that dog
walking is to be made illegal, saying that
taking dogs out onto the streets was 'a public
insult', as it was a blind imitation of Westerners.