Twitter #Hoaxes-Small Minds Amused by Small Things, #Haiti, #Earthquake

Last Updated 22.01.2010 09.20hrs

Since the earthquake in Haiti which decimated one of the poorest countries on earth.

Some people think it is a great joke to spread rumors, untruths and plain hoaxes into the world, via social media, forums and the like.

It’s not just the Haiti event that causes this sort of cruel joke to be played, there are individuals in the community who think it is a great laugh to spread lies simply because they think they can

Let’s de-bunk the lies starting here:-

American Airlines ARE NOT flying Doctors and Nurses to Haiti for Free. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/14/twitter.hoax.haiti/index.html?hpt=Sbin
The Nation National

Snopes.com have the truth and lies here - follow up - Don't send into the WWW unless you know it is true http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/charity/haiti.asp

UPS are NOT sending 50lb parcels to Haiti for free – they are donating US$1million to aid. http://blog.ups.com/2010/01/13/ups-donates-1-million-to-haitian-relief-%e2%80%93-here%e2%80%99s-how-you-can-help/#more-775 Here is an update from the UPS site Directly UPS Haiti
The Nation National

Facebook is NOT Donating $1 per Status Update to Haiti Relief
Urban Legends

Jet Blue are NOT flying just any Doctors/Nurses to Haiti, "We're not offering free transportation for just any doctors who walk up and want to fly there." http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/14/twitter.hoax.haiti/
The Nation National


UNICEF & Red Cross DO NOT need nor want clothing and food for Haiti atm http://www.unicef.org.uk/press/news_detail.asp?news_id=1449

Requests for Donations:- Always be Very Careful when pledging donations, DO NOT click on links supposedly from trusted sources. Symantec has revealed that the '419' scammers are using the devastion to access your personal details possible steal your identity. http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/technews/31337/scammers-abuse-haiti

As Deborah Hymes (@wandernot), a user of Twitter commented “People who start fake Twitter rumors have the same mentality as hackers: still in high school, longing to hang with the cool kids.”

Just because something is on Facebook does not make it True. It is A HOAX - Please check out the links above and everytime you see someone making a mistake - let them know that it wastes the donated money - when organisations have to deal with this.

If you know of any rumors that immediately effects efforts of charitable organisations, post in the comments with links etc and I’ll post here for all to see.

Send this link far and wide and let’s see if we can stop the gullible from being fooled, time and time again.

Spanish:- Alguna gente piensa que es una gran broma para separar rumores, falsedades y a bromas llanas en el mundo, vía medios sociales, los foros y similares.
#HOAX American Airlines, Unicef y UPS NO estan transportando enfermeras y medicos gratis a #Haiti. Lean el link http://bit.ly/6nULZW


Portugese:- Alguns povos pensam que é um grande gracejo para espalhar e semelhante boatos, untruths e embustes lisos no mundo, através dos meios sociais, fóruns.

French:- Certains pensent que c'est une grande plaisanterie pour écarter des rumeurs, des mensonges et des canulars plats au monde, par l'intermédiaire des médias sociaux, des forum et semblable.

German:- Einige Leute denken, dass es ein großer Witz ist, zum von Gerüchten, von Untruths und von normalen Hokuspokussen in die Welt, über Sozialmittel, Foren und dergleichen zu verbreiten.

You can follow me on Twitter @I_Enigma - thanks for taking the time to add to this - it's a pity that it had to written in the first place.

I realise that some people believe in truth and honesty 100% - unfortunately not everyone tells the whole truth. Some of the abuse I have received would astound you! I might add the more colourful ones later on - just to give you an idea of the thought patterns of some people!

Just because it is on the internet does make it true NOR right - check ALL sources BEFORE passing onto friends. Too assume is to make an ass of yourself ;)

Happy New Year

Today is the 1st January 2010 and you feel horrible,

It’s midday (I know) even if you don’t. You drank too much last night. The kids are squealing for breakfast, which could possibly pass for lunch.

Your head hurts, you can’t find the panadol! Did I really kiss Bob from next-door last night?

What was I thinking LOL

Oh well, it’s a new year, it’s a new start, thankfully you have some time off.

Do you take the kids to the beach? Take them to the pool or sit under the air-conditioning and just let them play on the computer?

All choices you have to make, but try turning the computers off, try turning the play stations off. See if you can go one day without technology.

You might actually find your kids and start touching base with them and communicating with them and not sending the dinner reminder via MSN!!

Alright – remember new year, new start even if it is something as simple as sitting down to dinner as a family at the one table and turn the Television off!

Good luck.

Victorian Publics’ Lives at Risk

Today the 16th December 2009 is the day the media claim is the first day that Victoria’s fire services will be put to the test for the 2009-2010 Fire Season.

I have to say at 13:21hrs – The emergency services have failed the state.

The CFA website has been down and very glitchy all day – I thought it was my connection – but others have checked and no – I am right – The CFA website has been down.

12:18hrs down
12:20hrs up
12:29hrs down
12:30hrs down
12:33hrs down
12:35hrs up
12:40hrs up
12:44hrs up
12:49hrs up
12:58hrs up
13:21hrs up
13.31hrs Up
13:43hrs Down
13:46hrs down
13:48hrs down
13:49hrs down
13:56hrs down
14:03hrs Down
14:07hrs down
14:12hrs Down
14:14hrs down
14:16hrs down
14:18hrs down
14:22hrs down
14:23hrs down
14:28hrs down
14:32hrs up
14:37hrs up
14:53hrs down (time-out)
14:54hrs up (very slow)
14:57hrs up
15:00hrs up
15:06hrs up
15:10hrs up
15:16hrs up
15:18hrs up
15:22hrs up
15:24hrs up
15:26hrs up
15:30hrs up
15:33hrs up
15:45hrs up
15:49hrs up
15:54hrs up


At a CFA meeting for the public – a statement along the lines of “You will have to put up with the problems for accessing the site” – This is not a satisfactory response.

There is poor load capacity on servers and that comment is coming straight from CFA Head Quarters. There are ways and means to manage these problems. Some of the other causes appear to be the source coding with too many requests to other data sources and also that google tracking appears twice on the same page.

This is something that should concern ALL VICTORIAN’s.

It’s fine to say keep your eyes open, that the site information will be delayed, that it is your personal responsibility. This is ONE of the tools I use to monitor fire activity along with 100’s possibly 1000’s of other people.

Don’t we have a right to feel safe in the knowledge that tools we need to assess the danger are working and accessible to everybody state-wide?

Your thoughts, your ideas, welcome – if we can find a solution for the Emergency Services then let’s do it!

(last updated 15:56hrs - 16.12.09) - no further updates

It would appear that changes done yesterday were the cause of the problems - Things seem back to normal as at the last update.

How safe is the data in your safe?

Not very. Yup sounds like a contradiction – it is a contradiction. Safes are only for honest people, safes are only a place to store stuff that you don’t want anyone else to see. The sort of stuff I am talking about are the XXX rated videos of you with someone other than the person you are married to.

All safes have a fire rating, the best you can get without paying an arm and a leg (and I mean that literally) is four (4) hours, some cheaper safes are rated under that.

I’ve seen safes drilled, I’ve seen safes blown apart, I’ve seen safes burnt, I’ve seen safes look fine from the outside but when opened everything is either reduced to ashes or melted.

The polymer notes that are Australian Currency these days just melt when exposed to heat. The old paper money used to turn to char.

Don’t rely on a safe to protect your data, don’t rely on a safe to protect your wills, don’t rely on a safe to protect anything of value. Because it can’t when exposed to anything other than ‘normal’ trauma.

You’ll notice that since I started blogging, many of my blogs have been about the Black Saturday’s fires, that is because they are a big part of my life at the moment and will probably remain so for the rest of my life.

Someone was talking about data protection – computer hard drives and the like. They were saying move HD onto portable drive and just pull the drive and leave. Life is never that simple, life is never that easy. Trust me you don’t have time. Don’t rely on remembering – don’t rely on it won’t happen to you – don’t rely on off-site servers (Although better than nothing) Rely on friends and family outside the area and rely on duplicity.

I can’t be any straighter to the point – remember it may not be tomorrow, it may not be the day after, It may not be next year.

Don’t lose those precious family photos because you think you have plenty of time.

YOU DON’T HAVE ANY TIME. DO IT NOW.