Wednesday, December 13, 2006

'Contra Ancoralia Redux' Redux

Doubtless you remember how I complained in a Nov. 1 posting about the nastiness of dealing with the loosely tied Gordian knot of cables behind my desk. Then I wrote again on the same subject, this time about a supposed 'wireless extension cord' sold by ThinkGeek. Well, just now, I found myself somewhat chagrined when I went back to ThinkGeek to add this item to my wishlist. This gadget is an April Fool's joke! The description was so well done, and the technology mentioned so plausible, that I and everyone I know who looked at it were completely taken in. Or were some of you aware of its false nature, and just let me stumble on to embarrassment?

It seems that increasingly one has to double-check everything! For urban legends, there's Snopes and such. But has it gotten to the point that one has to try ordering a product to find out if it is real? How far can a joke like this go? After they take your credit card number? What other kinds of pseudo-information are out there that one has to be careful of?

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