From: DPM%MRGPRE%Health_Net@mcimail.com (DPM)
Subject: AFUUL Scale

I was going through my archives and discovered my uncompleted scale for
measuring the UL-ness of various entries.  I quickly finished it up, and
I now submit it to the denizens of AFU.  Please feel free to amend, improve,
correct, or criticize it; maybe by working as a committee we'll end up with 
something truly worthwhile.

 - snopes

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                   AFU-UL (pronounced "aw-ful") Scale 
                      [measured in shergolds (sg)]
                   ------------------------------------

  6 sg:  Classic ULs that are recent and convincing enough to still
         be repeated as having "just happened to a friend of mine":

         Examples: "Sit, lady", child on the radiator grill, drunk takes
         police car home.

  5 sg:  Classic ULs that *everybody* has heard since childhood and generally
         recognizes to be just stories.  

         Examples:  Hook on the car door, boyfriend's death, the vanishing 
         hitchhiker, or just about anything that appears in Brunvand's "The
         Vanishing Hitchhiker".
 
  4 sg:  Urban legends that linger on since they aren't too far-fetched and
         no one can (or will) disprove them.

         Examples: Mick Jagger Mars bar incident

  3 sg:  Common ULs that are often believed, but are just a little
         too bizarre for widespread belief among the faithful.

         Examples:  Toothbrush burglars

  2 sg:  Urban legends believed by laymen, but scoffed at by those with a little
         general knowledge

         Examples: "Greened" CDs, super-mileage gasoline pill

  1 sg:  Urban legends that even silly people generally recognize as silly.
      
         Examples: Green M&Ms as aphrodisiacs, various talk/game show
         incidents, snuff films, Disneyland kidnappings

  0 sg:  ULs that will persist until the end of time, despite being thoroughly
         and repeatedly debunked.

         Examples:  Craig Shergold, various etymologies

 -1 sg:  Persistent matters of science that end up being debated endlessly every
         time they re-appear.

         Examples:  Hot water freezing faster than cold, the Coriolis effect. 

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|"[Disney's machine] has placed a Mickey Mouse hat on every little developing |
| personality in America.  As capitalism, it is a work of genius; as culture, |
| it is mostly a horror."   --   Richard Schickel, "The Disney Version"       |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  David P. Mikkelson (snopes)  A non-affiliated poster.  Northridge, CA  USA |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+