Young Skeptics

http://riceinfo.rice.edu/armadillo/Sciacademy/riggins/newframe.htm They are mostly intended for a high school level audience, but you might find several pertinent to some of your topics. ======= X-POP3-Rcpt: btcarrol@wheel From: "Irv Boichuk" To: Subject: Scams Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 07:41:12 -0700 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Status: Bob: Here's another good one, the great "you could win a bunch" contest that targets kids and probably drags in millions. My youngest spotted an ad on Much Music telling him how he could win a massive computer game system, giant television, stereo and all kinds of goodies. All he had to do was enter the contests. Each contest was separate, with different prizes. He sent for the entry (Pandemonium, Incorporated) and received a word puzzle, one for each contest. In order to enter each stage of the contest, you have to submit $5 in US funds. In addition, you can get other options. For a few bucks more, you can get an "insurance" policy that will let you get your prizes without paying income tax. For an extra buck you might win another prize. This whole contest lasted almost the entire year. Total investment? Just over $80. The climax comes when all those lucky contestants who have passed all the preliminary stages and haven't received their coloured "sorry, you bombed" slip in the mail get to go for the big prize. I'd be surprised if anyone didn't make it to the finale! The final contest requires that you fill in a word puzzle to get the most points. Whoever gets the highest score wins the prize. The kid busted his but working out words to fit this puzzle. About a month later, the notification of prizes arrives in the mail, along with a copy of the winning entry. It has words like: UGG - a form of UG, meaning to inspire or affect with dread YG - a form of ICH, the pronoun (I) JO - slang for banjo JYGG - a form of GIG meaning to creak Get real! I thought we spoke English in this hemisphere! Then I find out that these are words from the Middle English Dictionary, the English dialect dictionary, the dictionary of slang and unconventional English. Judging by the numbers assigned to the entrants, I suspect that this "contest" has netted Pandemonium Inc. a rather tidy little sum of fun money. The winner of this contest was entrant #5928. Apparently, this group of "kids" ranging from 10 years to over 19 have a firm grasp of all these incredible words that don't really mean anything. I'm suspicious. Irv Boichuk By the way, I thoroughly enjoy your site, enough to put a link to you on my own site.

The Skeptic's Refuge
Robert Todd Carroll