A World-Class Joke

You may have read the story about the Chinese re-release of the movie Titanic. The nude scene was cut from the 3D version because of fears that Chinese men would reach out and try to grab Kate Winslet's, um, assets. James Cameron even talked about it on TV. But there was one part of the story that was missing -it wasn't true. The original source was a satirical blog post that went viral and along the way lost its "fake" tag before it was picked up by major news outlet worldwide.
This particular report exploded like a bomb to spread everywhere.  At first, it was limited only to the Chinese-language Internet.  More recently, it has appeared among foreign media.  I just watched a clip of director James Cameron being interviewed on a talk show during which he said: "They were afraid that the Chinese men will reach out to touch the screen."  When Cameron emphasized that "This is true," I knew that this is one of the most successful fake stories in recent years.

Although this report is so popular that I cannot even believe that I was the one who made it up, the truth is that facts are facts and lies are lies.  And the truth is that this report was the result of a spoof created out of boredom by a person who is about to graduate from university.

Liu Haorui, the original blogger, tells how it happened. Link -via Metafilter

Comments (0)

There are a few articles floating around online outlining the difference in digicam...namely the Army's pattern, USMC's two patterns and how each came to be.

Bottom line, USMC had enlisted input beyond desk jockeys, infantry even, and ended up with two patterns that work well. The Army relied on Os and bureaucrats and got something that only works on flowered furniture. And is expensive...and doesn't look particularly squared away on any soldier for some reason...
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The ACU pattern was the butt of a lot of jokes when I was in the Army, and we suspected at the time that it was selected for political reasons. It was just so wrong, and so obviously wrong, that it could only have been the product of some Pentagon level nepotism.
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everyone here on post or happy about it. i agree with you jennifer, its not about the money spent. we would spend what ever it cost to keep our men and women safe,its about the design flaws.
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The ACUs worked well if you were covered in mud or dust, also you could not sew combat skills patches on the uniform. The only positive thing is that the ripped less than the BDUs, for me at least.
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Sammy, mine are coming from wondering how many service people were injured or lost their lives because of this fiasco. Talk about playing directly into the enemies hands...
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I laughed so hard when I read that the army had spent $5billion on a camo design that made people more visible but I'm not sure whether my tears were from laughter or the sheer waste of money.
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