Re: Was: Re: Please read this.... (( LONG ))

[Robert J Welenc <rjwelenc@erols.com>]

Poster: Robert J Welenc <rjwelenc@erols.com>

At 01:32 PM 11/9/98 -0500, Julien de Montfort wrote:

>While concern for others is notable and appreciated, I think it is
>folly to simply send along any information one gets online as being
>truth and gospel.  In fact, by *not* bothering to check up on random
or
>otherwise suspect emails that come along, one is participating in no
>more than idle gossip and rumor, which is also the spreading of
>information without checking up on it.

It doesn't hurt, either, to read the story through again and do a bit
of analysis on it.

For instance:

>The boy
> played for about 10 minutes when he started to whimper
> slightly. The mother asks the boy what had happened and he
> mearly replied,"Hurt mommy." 

Now, folks, what three-year-old bitten by rattlesnakes is going to
"whimper slightly"?  All the toddlers of my aquaintance would scream
bloody murder!

>the mother noticed some big red welts on the little
> boys arms and legs. Not being able to figure out what they
> were, the mother started to Look at them closer. Could be red
> ant bites...she did not know.

Rattlesnake bites do not leave red welts.  Rattlesnake bites leave
*obvious* puncture wounds.

> family of baby rattlesnakes living underneath the balls in
> the ball-pit area. She has since found out that this happens
> more often than not snakes crawl into the ball pit because it
> is dark and warm in there. She knows for a fact that another
> death has occurred because of this in South Carolina.

Then why wasn't it widely reported in the newspapers and on TV?
Think of the publicity given to the e. coli contamination of
hamburgers in another fast food restaurant.  Why didn't Burger King
*immediately* close off all of their outdoor playgrounds and warn
other fast food places to do the same, if snakes crawling into ball
pits is a common occurance?  Why is it any warmer in the ball pit
than anywhere else in the playground?  (Come to think of it, I've
never seen an outdoor ball pit.  I had to read this story twice to
see that it was reportedly outdoors, because I was thinking "How
could rattlesnakes get into the building?")  What sort of
rattlesnakes do they have in South Carolina that aren't afraid of
busy places like a playground?

Apply a little bit of common sense as well as checking out the
hoax/urban legend sites listed before.  

Alanna
=======================================================================
List Archives, FAQ, FTP:  http://merryrose.atlantia.sca.org/
            Submissions:  atlantia@atlantia.sca.org
        Admin. requests:  majordomo@atlantia.sca.org