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On April Fool's Day in 2013, a pair of Florida disc jockeys got themselves into a bit of hot water with station management for prankishly warning their listeners that "dihydrogen monoxide" - another name for that life-giving substance we identify as H ₂ O, or more commonly, "water" - was coming out of local residents' taps:

The radio station's joke involved that "dihydrogen monoxide" was coming out of county residents' taps.The joke immediately got the attention of Patty DiPiero from Lee County Utilities. She said Lee County residents began calling the utility saying they heard on the station that county water was unsafe and should not be used for drinking, showering or for any use.

DiPiero stressed in an email to media outlets that the utility was not having any issues with the water supply and the water is safe to use.

However, some people believed the hoax, at least for a short time.

One woman wrote in saying she worked in the food service industry and was trying to figure out how to serve customers and prepare food without requiring water.

Lee County residents were far from the first people to fall for this venerable jape. Back in September 2007, for example, news media reported that a New Zealand MP was tricked by a letter from a constituent asking her to raise the issue of "dihydrogen monoxide" (DHMO):

National MP Jacqui Dean has been caught out by a long-running hoax that seeks to trick gullible MPs into calling for a ban on "dihydrogen monoxide" - or water. A letter, signed by Ms Dean and sent to Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton, the minister in charge of drug policy, asked if the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs had a view on banning the "drug".

Mr Anderton yesterday took the opportunity to rub Ms Dean's nose in the embarrassing blunder.

He said dihydrogen monoxide "may have been described to her as colourless, odourless, tasteless and causing the death of uncounted thousands of people every year, and withdrawal from which, for those who become dependent on it, means certain death.

"I had to respond that the experts had no intention of doing so."

In 1997, Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old student at Eagle Rock Junior High School in Idaho Falls, made the news when he based his science fair project on a warning similar to the one reproduced in the "Example" box above. Zohner's project, titled "How Gullible Are We?", involved presenting that warning about "the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide" to fifty ninth-grade students and asking them what (if anything) should be done about the chemical:

Dihydrogen monoxide is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and kills uncounted thousands of people every year. Most of these deaths are caused by accidental inhalation of DHMO, but the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide do not end there. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage. Symptoms of DHMO ingestion can include excessive sweating and urination, and possibly a bloated feeling, nausea, vomiting and body electrolyte imbalance. For those who have become dependent, DHMO withdrawal means certain death.Dihydrogen monoxide:

is also known as hydroxl acid, and is the major component of acid rain.

contributes to the "greenhouse effect."

may cause severe burns.

contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.

accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.

may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes.

has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.

Contamination is reaching epidemic proportions!
Quantities of dihydrogen monoxide have been found in almost every stream, lake, and reservoir in America today. But the pollution is global, and the contaminant has even been found in Antarctic ice. DHMO has caused millions of dollars of property damage in the midwest, and recently California.

Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used:

as an industrial solvent and coolant.

in nuclear power plants.

in the production of styrofoam.

as a fire retardant.

in many forms of cruel animal research.

in the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical.

as an additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products.

Companies dump waste DHMO into rivers and the ocean, and nothing can be done to stop them because this practice is still legal. The impact on wildlife is extreme, and we cannot afford to ignore it any longer!

The American government has refused to ban the production, distribution, or use of this damaging chemical due to its "importance to the economic health of this nation." In fact, the navy and other military organizations are conducting experiments with DHMO, and designing multi-billion dollar devices to control and utilize it during warfare situations. Hundreds of military research facilities receive tons of it through a highly sophisticated underground distribution network. Many store large quantities for later use.

Forty-three students favored banning DHMO, six were undecided, and only one correctly recognized that 'dihydrogen monoxide' was actually plain old water. Zohner's analysis of the results he obtained won him first prize in the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair; garnered him scads of attention from newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations, universities, and congresspeople; and prompted the usual round of outcries about how our ignorant citizenry doesn't read critically and can be easily misled.

Even back then Nathan Zohner's project wasn't original, as spoof petitions about dihydrogen monoxide and other innocuous "dangers" had been circulating for years, and Nathan based his project on a bogus report that was already making the rounds of the Internet. Moreover, his target audience was ninth-graders, a group highly susceptible to allowing peer pressure to overwhelm critical thinking. Thrust any piece of paper at the average high school student with a suggestion about what the "correct" response to it should be, and peer pressure pretty much assures you'll get the answer you're looking for. Someone that age isn't very likely to read a friend's petition calling for the banning of whale hunting and critically evaluate the socio-economic and environmental impact of such a regulation; instead, he's probably going to say to himself, "This issue is obviously important to my friend, and he must have some good reasons for circulating the petition, so I'll sign it."

That said, this example does aptly demonstrate the kind of fallacious reasoning that's thrust at us every day under the guise of "important information": how with a little effort, even the most innocuous of substances can be made to sound like a dangerous threat to human life.

In March 2004 the California municipality of Aliso Viejo (a suburb in Orange County) came within a cat's whisker of falling for this hoax after a paralegal there convinced city officials of the danger posed by this chemical. The leg-pull got so far as a vote's having been scheduled for the City Council on a proposed law that would have banned the use of foam containers at city-sponsored events because (among other things) they were made with DHMO, a substance that could "threaten human health and safety."

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Despite rumors, the dihydrogen monoxide hoax shows that even the most innocuous of substances can be made to sound like a dangerous threat to human life.

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You'll get to learn about a number of things you can do to check if the news story you're seeing or reading is real and true.

A good starting point is to simply ask yourself:

Is this real? It may sound simple but how many of us really stop to think about the information we see and share?

You should use the acronym REAL to:

Ask really? Could this really be true? Do I really believe this?

Look for evidence is your next stage. Who is the source or author? Can they be trusted? Why are they sharing this? What evidence do they have to support what they are saying?

See if the evidence adds up - do the dates, facts and figures all support the story or the claims being made?

Finally look around - are other sources carrying the story as well? Does this reflect what you are seeing elsewhere?

For schools wanting more information about ways of working out what is REAL go to our lesson plan.

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You'll get to learn about a number of things you can do to check if the news story you're seeing or reading is real and true. A good starting point is to simply ask yourself: Is this real? It may sound simple but how many of us really stop to think about the information we see and share?

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There are many different types of sources for information and news such as:

news broadcasters

agencies

search engines

social media platforms

governments

media organisations

individuals

We are more likely to believe a person or organisation that gets things right and is accurate and factual than those that have been known to make things up or get things wrong in the past. But that's not all there is to it.

Different sources are good for different information. So who you trust may change depending on what information you're looking for. It may also change because of your:

Here's some key questions you should ask:

Is your source who they say they are (and not pretending to be someone or something they aren't)?

Do they have expertise in relation to this story or this type of information?

What is their track-record? Are they reliable?

Do they have an agenda? Or are they trying to be impartial? Why are they telling you this?

For schools wanting more information about trust go to our lesson plan.

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There are many different types of sources for information and news such as: news broadcasters agencies search engines social media platforms governments media organisations individuals We are more likely to believe a person or organisation that gets things right and is accurate and factual than those that have been known to make things up or get things wrong in the past.

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The BBC defines fake news as:

false information distributed deliberately, usually for political or commercial purposes

But for others fake news has become a catch all term to dismiss a story, claim or news report.

In this video BBC editors and journalists:

look at different types of fake news and false and inaccurate information

explain some of the reasons why these stories are made and spread

For schools wanting more information about the types of fake and false information go to our lesson plan.

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The BBC defines fake news as: false information distributed deliberately, usually for political or commercial purposes But for others fake news has become a catch all term to dismiss a story, claim or news report.

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Fact or Fake? Play this game to practice your information evaluation skills.  

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Fact or Fake? Play this game to practice your information evaluation skills.  

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Reality Check / Au-delà des faits! - Media Smarts

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Mike the Headless Chicken Festival - Fruita, CO - June 3rd and 4th 2022

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Welcome to THE OFFICIAL Mike the Headless Chicken Festival website! We get this a lot, but YES this is a true story of Mike the Headless Chicken Festival.

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Help Save The ENDANGERED

From EXTINCTION!

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

Rare photo of the elusive tree octopus
(Enhanced from cropped telephoto)

The Pacific Northwest tree octopus ( Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula on the west coast of North America. Their habitat lies on the Eastern side of the Olympic mountain range, adjacent to Hood Canal. These solitary cephalopods reach an average size (measured from arm-tip to mantle-tip,) of 30-33 cm. Unlike most other cephalopods, tree octopuses are amphibious, spending only their early life and the period of their mating season in their ancestral aquatic environment. Because of the moistness of the rainforests and specialized skin adaptations, they are able to keep from becoming desiccated for prolonged periods of time, but given the chance they would prefer resting in pooled water.

An intelligent and inquisitive being (it has the largest brain-to-body ratio for any mollusk), the tree octopus explores its arboreal world by both touch and sight. Adaptations its ancestors originally evolved in the three dimensional environment of the sea have been put to good use in the spatially complex maze of the coniferous Olympic rainforests. The challenges and richness of this environment (and the intimate way in which it interacts with it,) may account for the tree octopus's advanced behavioral development. (Some evolutionary theorists suppose that "arboreal adaptation" is what laid the groundwork in primates for the evolution of the human mind.)

Reaching out with one of her eight arms, each covered in sensitive suckers, a tree octopus might grab a branch to pull herself along in a form of locomotion called tentaculation; or she might be preparing to strike at an insect or small vertebrate, such as a frog or rodent, or steal an egg from a bird's nest; or she might even be examining some object that caught her fancy, instinctively desiring to manipulate it with her dexterous limbs (really deserving the title "sensory organs" more than mere "limbs",) in order to better know it.

Map of estimated tree octopus maximum range, including spawning waters

Tree octopuses have eyesight comparable to humans. Besides allowing them to see their prey and environment, it helps them in inter-octopus relations. Although they are not social animals like us, they display to one-another their emotions through their ability to change the color of their skin: red indicates anger, white fear, while they normally maintain a mottled brown tone to blend in with the background.

The reproductive cycle of the tree octopus is still linked to its roots in the waters of the Puget Sound from where it is thought to have originated. Every year, in Spring, tree octopuses leave their homes in the Olympic National Forest and migrate towards the shore and, eventually, their spawning grounds in Hood Canal. There, they congregate (the only real social time in their lives,) and find mates. After the male has deposited his sperm, he returns to the forests, leaving the female to find an aquatic lair in which to attach her strands of egg-clusters. The female will guard and care for her eggs until they hatch, refusing even to eat, and usually dying from her selflessness. The young will spend the first month or so floating through Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet, and as far as North Puget Sound before eventually moving out of the water and beginning their adult lives.

Why It's Endangered

Route 101, separating the rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula from Hood Canal

Although the tree octopus is not officially listed on the Endangered Species List, we feel that it should be added since its numbers are at a critically low level for its breeding needs. The reasons for this dire situation include: decimation of habitat by logging and suburban encroachment; building of roads that cut off access to the water which it needs for spawning; predation by foreign species such as house cats; and booming populations of its natural predators, including the bald eagle and sasquatch. What few that make it to the Canal are further hampered in their reproduction by the growing problem of pollution from farming and residential run-off. Unless immediate action is taken to protect this species and its habitat, the Pacific Northwest tree octopus will be but a memory.

The possibility of Pacific Northwest tree octopus extinction is not an unwarranted fear. Other tree octopus species-including the Douglas octopus and the red-ringed madrona sucker-were once abundant throughout the Cascadia region, but have since gone extinct because of threats similar to those faced by paxarbolis, as well as overharvesting by the now-illegal tree octopus trade.

Tree Octopus hat from 1923

The history of the tree octopus trade is a sad one. Their voracious appetite for bird plumes having exhausted all the worthy species of that family, the fashionistas moved on to cephalopodic accoutrements during the early 20th Century. Tree octopuses became prized by the fashion industry as ornamental decorations for hats, leading greedy trappers to wipe out whole populations to feed the vanity of the fashionable rich. While fortunately this practice has been outlawed, its effects still reverberate today as these millinery deprivations brought tree octopus numbers below the critical point where even minor environmental change could cause disaster.

While efforts were made in the past to preserve remaining tree octopus habitat, these were met with resistance by the timber industry, which has traditionally viewed the tree octopus as a nuisance, both because the octopuses favor the valuable, moss-shrouded trees of old growth forests-pitting conservation needs against lucrative sources of lumber-and because octopuses hiding among felled trees often gummed up sawmills and stained pulp vats with their ink.

Traveling sideshow exhibits, such as this one by Glen "Bones" Hartzell from 1942, demonized tree octopuses to the ignorant masses
(Click to enlarge)

These nuisances led many loggers to regard tree octopuses as bad luck, resulting in the pointless killing of octopuses on sight at logging camps in a misguided attempt at eradicating the troublesome species. Anti-octopus sentiment was so strong among loggers that some even began to fear that the octopuses were prone to attacking humans.

These fears were fueled in no small part by gratuitous stories involving tree octopuses harassing lumberjacks and distressing damsels in Northwestern-themed pulp magazines of the 1930-40s and variously "nipping", "entangling", or "suckering the flesh" of the heroes of men's action magazines of the 1950-60s. (The magazine publishers depended on cheap paper made from wood pulp and were glad to contribute to the anti-octopus propaganda campaign of the timber industry.)

To this day, misunderstanding and fear of these gentle creatures can still be found among many old timers, although education campaigns-and special octopus-separators installed at sawmills-have largely halted the practice of tree octopus eradication.

How You Can Help

More Tree Octopus Information

Posters motivate the citizenry to action! Post them!

Tree Octopus FAQs - Frequently asked questions, now with answers.

Tree Octopus Sightings - Includes photos of and behavioral research on the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and other tree octopus species.

Tree Octopus In The Media - appearances of tree octopuses, both real and fictional, in the media and popular culture.

Research On Other Tree Octopus Species:

The author of this article and its subsections is Lyle Zapato.
This site is not associated with any school or educational organization,
other than the Kelvinic University branch of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society.
Not to be confused with the Pacific Northwest Octopus Tree.

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Information about the endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and what you can do to save it.

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Detecting Fake News Tip: Check Other Sources

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Detecting Fake News Tip: Check Other Sources

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Diagram: Strategies for Understanding and Selecting Online Information Sources

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Diagram: Strategies for Understanding and Selecting Online Information Sources

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http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/1135_online.pdf

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Discussion Question: How can I critically evaluate online information sources? 

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Discussion Question: How can I critically evaluate online information sources? 

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Learners gather information appropriate

to the task by:
3. Systematically questioning and assessing

the validity and accuracy of information.

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How to Critically Evaluate Online Information Sources  

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How to Critically Evaluate Online Information Sources  

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8th grade