Dihydrogen monoxide hoax (Why a water hoax?)

[J.Random]

Last winter, there was an article in some ukrainian newspaper which hysterically claimed that government uses highly dangerous extremely radioactive isotope with half-life period of several thousands of years (OH NOEZ!!!) as an ingredient for anti-ice chemical for streets. It was reposted at least once, by RussiaToday.

People are idiots.

[Designer225]

Last winter, there was an article in some ukrainian newspaper which hysterically claimed that government uses highly dangerous extremely radioactive isotope with half-life period of several thousands of years (OH NOEZ!!!) as an ingredient for anti-ice chemical for streets. It was reposted at least once, by RussiaToday.

People are idiots.

Agreed. We are very dependent and that we must be watched at all time.

[Pds314]

What we really need to ban is the substance: (2R,3S,4R,5R)-2,3,4,5,6-Pentahydroxyhexanal

It is commonly found in plants and is a significant factor in causing obesity, blindness and neuropathy, and has been reported to cause a "high" feeling before withdrawal symptoms including loss of energy and irritability.

Acute exposure can also lead to short-term gastrointestinal problems.

[Designer225]

We are actually talking about how exaggeration (and other factors) may lead to public misunderstanding.

[J.Random]

We are actually talking about how exaggeration (and other factors) may lead to public misunderstanding.

I thought it was about the lack of fact-checking habit, or critical thinking, or even common sense.

[Kreuzung]

(2R,3S,4R,5R)-2,3,4,5,6-Pentahydroxyhexanal

Took me half a minute to figure out that this is the thing we're talking about in chemistry right now, lol

[jwenting]

Congress would disagree (along with Obama possibly) when a new amendment would be proposed to repeal the First Amendment. (Possible outcome: Not passed by either House of the Congress, or if got through Congress... not getting a 3/4 state majority.)

That might be pulled to the next election year (2016), when Democrats would possibly nominate a female presidential candidate (If the candidate does become president, then his husband would become the First Gentleman.), then much would be decided.

Also, somewhat less recent events in some people having a petition to build a Death Star (looks like the one in Star Wars), but Obama does not support blowing up the planet.

The guy wanted to show the idiocy and gullibility of your average person, whether congress would go along or the president hardly matters in that (though I've a nagging suspicion that prior to the 2010 elections that killed the dem majority they just might have, of course that'd still not get it passed as a constitutional change requires ratification by the states which tend to be more conservative than their congressional representatives).

The main problem with Hillary as president is that she already served 2 terms, everyone knows she was the real president, Billy boy was just a figurehead

And that's another part of the constitution entirely, lol.

[nothke]

Who ever fears dihydrogen monoxyde should watch this:

http://www.ted.com/talks/rives_on_4_a_m.html

=)

[BFGfreak]

What we really need to ban is the substance: (2R,3S,4R,5R)-2,3,4,5,6-Pentahydroxyhexanal

It is commonly found in plants and is a significant factor in causing obesity, blindness and neuropathy, and has been reported to cause a "high" feeling before withdrawal symptoms including loss of energy and irritability.

Acute exposure can also lead to short-term gastrointestinal problems.

Remarkable. I have the same combination on my luggage. [/spaceballs]

With that said, given my lack of experience with chemistry I'm going to assume that that is sugar given the discription. Am I right?

[drakesdoom]

Similar videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8W1S5rnCk8

I think the video maker is trolling and raking in easy money from youtube but most of the comments seem like they think it is real.

[WestAir]

Realize that while most of us here are extremely gifted in the sciences, we're undoubtedly just as ignorant and foolish in other areas. The people who would vote to ban water because they're naive enough to think it's a dangerous chemical may very well think the exact same about most of us if we were discussing another topic.

...Who am I kidding? I can't play devils advocate for these people. They're denser than iridium. Ban water...

[Designer225]

Off-topic: Which water is better? Light water (H2O, DHMO, or H12O --- I'm not kidding about the 1.) or heavy water (Deuterium Oxide, D2O or H22O --- I'm not kidding about the extra 2.)?

Also, I might setting a poll to test people's stupidity. Maybe not.

[hugix]

It is also that certain shady groups of people use scare tactics in order to push a certain political standpoint or to make money. the most obvious ones are the charity campaigns with all these sad images of dying kids / animals followed by instructions to make monthly payments toward the charity (And to push certain people over the line they also include a free plushy or something cute). Anybody with a sceptical mind knows that these images are deliberately chosen (or sometimes faked) and when crunching the numbers. Most of the cash flows into the wallets of the managers.

But there are also groups proclaiming that every day stuff is dangerous to use. From wireless internet to the so called E numbers, non bio-friendly grown food. And the weird part is that these groups can make people so scarred of certain stuff they stop seeing the impact it has on the world.

A funny example, a few weeks ago I was at a party and a somewhat leftist-hippie friend of mine brought a bottle of cheap whiskey. When searchign for the coke I could only found Diet coke. My friend refused to mix his whiskey with the diet coke because it contains Aspartame. A sugar substitute that has quite the fame on the internet.

I was baffled, he got so brainwashed by these groups claiming aspartame is killing people he completely forgot the WHISKEY part in the whiskey-coke drink. His mind rationalized the banning of Aspartame above alcohol.

The DHMO petition is a great trick to show how these groups work. Smart / sceptical people know how to interpret such a story. But most of the people in our civilised world rather know all the pokemon than the periodic table. And when asked to help ban a "bad something" they sure will sign.

Edited September 29, 2013 by hugix

[Drunken Hobo]

But there are also groups proclaiming that every day stuff is dangerous to use. From wireless internet to the so called E numbers, non bio-friendly grown food. And the weird part is that these groups can make people so scarred of certain stuff they stop seeing the impact it has on the world.

I was baffled, he got so brainwashed by these groups claiming aspartame is killing people he completely forgot the WHISKEY part in the whiskey-coke drink. His mind rationalized the banning of Aspartame above alcohol.

It's funny, the overwhelming majority of articles & websites I've seen about the "dangers" of GM/E numbers/vaccinations also have links to shops selling organic produce/homeopathy/conspiracy theory books. It's almost as if they have a vested interest in scaremongering & spreading misinformation...

Similar to (but less interesting) than your story, I noticed on my shampoo bottle it contained "Organic Tea Tree Oil"... and Methylchloroisothiazolinone. That's a fairly harsh synthetic fungicide. Again, perhaps missing the wood for the trees.