 My wife would kill me if I sold hers… |
Saudi police say they are investigating a hoax that has seen people rushing to buy old-fashioned sewing machines for up to $50,000.
The Singer sewing machines are said to contain traces of red mercury, a substance that may not exist.
But it is widely thought that it can be used to find treasure, ward off evil spirits or even make nuclear bombs. It is believed that tiny amounts can sell for millions of dollars.
Rumours about the sewing machines have been spreading for days by word of mouth and over the internet, it said.
In Dhulum, it was reported that people had broken into two tailors’ shops to steal the machines.
In the city of Madina, people were holding mobile phones up to the machines, due to the belief that they could be used to detect the presence of red mercury.
Isn’t it heartwarming to learn that the tinfoil hat brigade is part of the worldwide gene pool?
The superstitious are truly the lesser of our species.
The superstitious are the majority of our species … sadly.
Ah the stuff people will believe, life is amazing.
What do you know, and how do you know it?
How do you change your mind?
Whenever you find a story about people acting like idiots, note the same characteristic within yourself. I think my last example was getting swayed that flu shots aren’t effective or are actually dangerous.
durn! mom has an old white sewing machine… i wonder if there is a sucker for one oof these…$50k + would really help at this time….
hhhmmm what fun substance could be purportedly be in it???..
hhmmmm thinking….
The FBI will have this all sewn up in short order. 😉
Personality,
But the superstitious are everywhere, at every IQ, income level, culture, religion (or not) and race.
This has nothing to do with superstitions. It has to do with people getting false information about a subject.
Happens here all the time.
We have an old singer like that, and I’ve never seen an evil spirit.
… truth!
What a bunch of idiots.
Real “red mercury” is normally called cinnabar, and is the mineral mined as a source of mercury. This link debunks some of the other stories about red mercury and other, fanciful/paranoid descriptions associated with that name.
http://chemistry.about.com/cs/chemicalweapons/f/blredmercury.htm
Nice Singer portable 221K/222K 🙂
Got me one of those, beautifully engineered, rock solid, from a time when things made in North American could be functional, well made and beautiful…
for 50K ok maybe you can take it. Better bring a gun though.
nothing like a dollop of red mercury on warm yellow cake mmmm
1955 was a good year.
http://tinyurl.com/redmercury
Know where I can get one of those little machines? The exact same model?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnabar
This stuff can kill you.
I have a worn out washing machine with intact portable 90 MW submarine design reactor for sale. Price indication $150K, subject for bargain.
I guess they’ve never been to the mercury mines near Terlingua, TX.
Saudi Arabia is a hoax
Pump and dump penny stocks got old. Then I discovered where the real money could be made.