I am really not sure what we are doing other than poking each other with sticks, here.

The Internet is the world's best medium for quickly spreading rumors, chain letters, and other memetic disasters. There's a good reason why snopes.com does so well with their "inboxer."

One news story linked from three livejournals to one study published in a way I've never heard of rates about two notches above "chain letter" and slightly below "the news." Your own filter may vary. I don't tell you what to trust, and I doubt you trust very many things either. Do we have to have the same filters?