NOSTRADAMUS... NOT!

[Tony Alicea]

Words fail us at times like this. They can mislead us as well. In
the wake of Tuesday's tragedy, I received a few copies of a
horrific piece of e-mail: a verse attributed to 16th century
prophet Nostradamus. The eight lines seem to predict the World
Trade Center attack and the subsequent start of World War III. If
you've received this e-mail, please don't forward it: it's a
malicious hoax. Some of the words do indeed come from Nostradamus
(though they've been spliced, diced, and rearranged to form a
coherent prediction). But the most worrisome specifics--lines
such as "In the city of York there will be a great collapse, two
twin brothers torn apart by chaos" and "The third big war will
begin when the big city is burning"--are fabricated whole cloth.
Shame on those who would spend their energies spreading fear
while we're all so vulnerable.
--Steve Fox, editor in chief, CNET.com