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Too Much Free Time

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Mar 15th 2004 11:53am





City Scared By Dihydrogen Monoxide Threat

from the brilliant dept

Sometimes life really does imitate the Onion. The Dihydrogen Monoxide research website has been online for many years, and is a well known (and well done!) hoax page describing the risks of the "colorless and odorless chemical compound" dihydrogen monoxide. Without much chemistry training, you should be able to translate dihydrogen monoxide into its chemical representation of H20 - more commonly known as... water. Of course, never underestimate those with too much free time on their hands and access to the internet. It seems that a paralegal working for the city of Aliso Viejo, California became so worried about the risks of this compound, that a law was almost passed through on the basis of that website. The city considered banning styrofoam cups (which have other problems) entirely because the site mentions that "dihydrogen monoxide" is used in the production of those cups. Update: As is pointed out in the comments, it appears the water hoax was not the sole reason for the styrofoam law, but was listed as one of the reasons.

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    Andrew Klossner, Mar 15th, 2004 @ 3:52pm

    Backward

    It's not true that the law was almost passed "entirely" because of these worries. Instead, the city council was thinking of banning Styrofoam from city-sponsored events, and asked the paralegal to research possible justifications with which to argue the point. The paralegal fell for the prank, H2O was added as a "whereas" in the proposed ordinance, and then it all came apart. This makes for a good joke on a slow news day, but the subtext about stupid city councilors doesn't fly.

     

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    •  
      identicon
      Aloser Viejo, Mar 16th, 2004 @ 3:31pm

      Re: Backward

      Why wouldn't the city council like to be remembered for genuinely taking care of the city and its residents, as opposed to jumping on the tree-hugging band wagon and outlawing something that really has no impact on the city.

      And the paralegal...No doubt a quota vs. quality employee.

       

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    Anonymous Coward, Mar 15th, 2004 @ 8:33pm

    No Subject Given

    I am laughing my ass off. That is the funniest thing I've read in a while.

    We used to call it Hyrdogen hyroxide, which would render some people dumb. But never would it trigger legislation...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]


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