Mission 2 Extra
Posted by Adrian on September 3, 2009 at 3:30 p.m.
Mixed Signals
Ever seen a guy or girl smiling at you, and thought that they obviously fancy you? And then you find out that they're already going out with someone else, or they hate your guts? It's easy enough to get the wrong idea about someone in real life - and it's just as easy online.
Cal's woken up to find that he has a new best friend: Jo's been a regular visitor at his bedside, and even does a podcast about him on boyinacoma.com. Jo thinks they're good mates, and has spent a lot of time talking to him, but Cal doesn't see it that same way. He sees Jo's concern as being stalkerish and creepy, and Jo's hurt because she feels like he's her friend.
It's especially easy to get signals confused online because most of the time we talk through text. Things like smileys evolved because people needed an easy and quick way to indicate tone - a quick :) can make the difference between an accusation ('you're such an idiot') and a friendly bit of teasing ('you're such an idiot :D').
Whether you're angry, sad, excited, or trying to say something important, always take a second to look at what you're writing online and think about how the other person might interpret it. With bare text, things can easily get mistaken - and unlike spoken words, they'll never go away.
Memory Loss
Cal has traumatic retrograde amnesia: he's forgotten the events leading up to the car crash because of the physical and mental trauma. There are many different kinds of amnesia: for instance, anterograde amnesia doesn't affect memories of your past, it stops you from forming any memories (it's often called "Memento-syndrome", because the film made it famous!)
One of the most famous and severe amnesia sufferers is British musician Clive Wearing, who has anterograde amnesia. Clive was infected with a virus that damaged his brain in 1985, and to this day, he can't make new memories; he can only remember about 30 seconds at a time. Every time his memories 'restart' he feels like he's waking up after being unconscious for a long time.
White Smoke Day and other Hoaxes
Cal and Max's hoax to get everyone a day off school is only the latest in a long line of tricks over the centuries. Some of the best (and er, worst?):
- The BBC managed to convince lots of people that documentary-maker Terry Jones discovered an amazing colony of flying penguins. This isn't even the first time the BBC has fooled millions. In 1957 it managed to get people to believe that spaghetti grew on trees!
- The BBC has also been hoaxed in return. In 2004 BBC broadcast an interview with chemical company Dow representative Jude Finisterra where he accepted full responsibility for the Bhopal gas disaster in India. Dow's stock plummeted - later the BBC discovered they'd been duped by political activists The Yes Men, who've made a career (and political statements) through tricks and hoaxes.
- A recent email hoax purports to link to an 'amazing speech' by US President Obama, but actually downloads password-stealing malware onto your computer.
Smokescreen is a cutting-edge game about life online, on a new social network called White Smoke.
Explore websites, search for clues, receive phone calls, chat on IM, and tackle puzzles and minigames. On Smokescreen, who can you trust? Find out more...
