Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 01:20:10 -0500
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Comments: Resent-From: crispen@netsquirrel.com
Comments: Originally-From: Patrick Douglas Crispen
From: Patrick Douglas Crispen
Subject: TOURBUS -- 22 OCTOBER 1999 -- NASA KIDS / MISSING KID HOAX
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TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
NASA Kids / Missing Kid Hoax
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/
http://www.missingkids.org/
Howdy, y'all, and greetings from the beautiful, RV-infested city of
Tuscaloosa, Alabama. [The Bama-Tennessee game is tomorrow, so every
motorhome in a 1,000 mile radius is currently parked on campus!]
I want to thank the folks at the Society of Research Administrators
for inviting me, for the fifth year in a row, to speak at their annual
conference. This year's conference was in Denver, and I had a great
time teaching the conference's participants how to design research-
related Web sites. I also want to thank the folks at the Hall Kent
Elementary School in Birmingham for inviting me to spend the day with
their teachers earlier this week. I can honestly say that Hall Kent
helped me achieve a life-long goal: I got to eat at the teacher's
table in the school cafeteria! :)
And, as always, I want to thank the folks at "Woody's Office Watch,"
"Columbia House," and "Flying Noodle" for making today's post
possible. As always, please visit our wonderful sponsors and thank
them for keeping the bus rolling!
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On with the show ...
---------
NASA Kids
---------
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has a
wonderful, free, kid-friendly "NASA Kids" Web site at
http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/ .
Created by the rocket scientists at the Marshall Space Flight Center
in North Alabama, the NASA Kids site is deceptively complex. There is
a LOT of really good information here, folks. In fact, the NASA Kids
site reminds me a little of Yahooligans [Yahoo's free kids site at
http://www.yahooligans.com/ ].
The NASA Kids site has just four main sections -- Space & Beyond;
Rockets & Airplanes; Projects & Games; and Pioneers & Astronauts --
but once you click on one of those sections you are taken to a second
page that contains links to a BUNCH of easy-to-understand, kid-
friendly articles on space-related information.
For example, in the Rockets & Airplanes section, you are given links
to information about how the Space Shuttle works, how to launch a body
from a spinning planet, and even how to locate the International Space
Station, Mir, and the Chandra observatory. The Projects & Games
section gives you links to coloring pages, some simple experiments
your kids can perform, and even an online weight calculator that shows
you how much you weigh on other planets [if you are easily depressed,
STAY AWAY FROM THE CALCULATOR -- you REALLY don't want to see how
much you weigh on Jupiter!] :)
As a former Simulations Director at the United States Space Camp, I'm
quite impressed with the depth and quality of the information
available on the NASA Kids site. If you have a future astronaut (or a
future engineer or scientist) in your family, the two of you should
visit the NASA Kids site together. Both of you will learn a lot. :)
------------------------------------
The Sickest Urban Legend of them All
------------------------------------
I have yet another "forward an email to all of your friends and
something great will happen" hoax to debunk. Before we get to that,
though, let's do a quick review of US child protection laws.
True or false: if you live in the United States and your child is
missing, you have to wait at least twenty-four to forty-eight hours
before you can file a missing persons report with your local police
department.
FALSE! Despite what you have heard from Hollywood, The National Child
Search Assistance Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-647, Title XXXVII) makes
it illegal for State law enforcement agencies to require a waiting
period before accepting a missing child or unidentified person report.
The 1990 Act also reconfirms The Missing Children Act of 1982 (28 USC
Sec. 534), requiring Federal, State, and local law enforcement
agencies to report each case of a missing child under the age of 18 to
the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) of the Department of
Justice. [The NCIC is a computer database under the authority of the
FBI, and it enables law enforcement agencies across the country to
gain access to descriptive information about a particular missing
person or fugitive.]. Finally, the National Child Search Assistance
Act of 1990 requires law enforcement agencies to maintain close
contact with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
for the exchange of information and technical assistance in any
missing child case.
With that said, let's get to today's hoax:
I am asking you all, begging you to please forward this email on
to anyone and everyone. As most all of you know, I have a 5 year
old daughter named Kelsey Brooke Jones. We are from Southern
Minnesota. She has been missing since 4 pm Oct. 11, 1999. The
police were notified shortly after. If anyone anywhere knows
anything, sees anything, pleeeeaaaase contact me if you have my
number. The police don't recommend I put my number online, but
you can contact the Police, a missing persons report has been
filed. I am including a picture of her.
All prayers are appreciated!!
I am happy to announce that this is yet another Internet hoax. Kelsey
Brooke Jones, if she even exists, is *NOT* missing. Here's how I
know:
1. There is no NCIC report on Kelsey Brooke Jones. As you saw
earlier, if Kelsey really *is* missing -- and if the mythical
"Southern Minnesota" police department really *did* file a
missing persons report -- federal law requires that there be
an NCIC report on Kelsey's disappearance. No such report
exists.
2. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
[ http://www.missingkids.org/ ] has no report on Kelsey Brooke
Jones or, for that matter, any other child from "Southern
Minnesota" who went missing on October 11.
3. The FBI office in Minneapolis, the largest metropolitan city
in "Southern Minnesota," has no information on Kelsey Brooke
Jones. In fact, according to an agent I spoke to, the FBI
thinks the Kelsey Brooke Jones story "is probably a hoax."
Wait, it gets better. The original sender is now reporting via email
that Kelsey was recently returned by the police after being "taken
from the public library yesterday while her preschool class was
visiting it." Kelsey's abductor was a "mentally handicapped [man who
was] living on his own." This too is a lie -- if it were true, you
would have read about it in every newspaper in the world.
In short, some bozo thought it would be funny to create a false story
about a missing child in "Southern Minnesota." When confronted with
the fact that there are no records that the child even exists, let
alone is missing, this bozo decided to create a false, happy ending to
the Kelsey Brooke Jones story, deceitfully blaming Kelsey's fictitious
abduction on an unidentified, "mentally handicapped" man.
I can't think of a sicker urban legend.
The moral of today's story? YOU CAN'T GET SOMETHING FOR NOTHING, and
you certainly can't get something for simply forwarding an email to
all of your friends -- even the return of a missing child.
If you really want to help someone locate a missing child, point your
Web browser to the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children's Web site at
http://www.missingkids.org/ .
Veteran TOURBUS riders will remember that we first visited this site
in my 24 June 1999 post which you can find online at
http://listserv.aol.com/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9906D&L=tourbus&P=R211&m=51 .
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a
private, nonprofit organization that spearheads national efforts to
locate and recover missing children and raises public awareness about
ways to prevent child abduction, molestation, and sexual exploitation.
The NCMEC has worked with law enforcement on more than 65,173 missing
child cases, resulting in the recovery of 46,031 children.
If a child is missing in the United States, the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children knows about it. Federal law REQUIRES
it.
What should you do if you receive a "missing kid" email from one of
your friends? Should you forward the message to all of your friends
on the off chance that it just might be true? Of course not.
Instead, visit the NCMEC's Web site and see if the story is true. If
you can't verify the "missing kid" email using the NCMEC's database,
chances are it the "missing kid" email is a hoax and should be
ignored.
That's it for this week. Have a safe and happy weekend, and we'll
talk again next week. [Oh, and if you are a Tennessee fan, ROLL
TIDE!] :)
---------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE WEEK
---------------------------------
PEEGAL (noun). A cucumber preserved in brine or vinegar.
Usage: "Ju want a peegal on your burger, Bubba?"
[Special thanks to Julian Michael Philips for today's wurd]
You can find all of the old Southern Words of the day at
http://netsquirrel.com/crispen/word.html
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