Snopes.com is your friend

I have friends that do all kinds of awesome stuff, like get blackout drunk and fall down. I don't make fun of them in these pages (much) because we've all been there. Throwing stones in glass houses and all that. What I will make fun of is when they forward me chain mails from other idiots and don't bother to go to snopes.com to figure out if maybe they are being fed some bullshit. As in this forward I got from Orange County's Most Eligible Bachelor today:

From: An Idiot (not the OC's MEB - someone else sent it to him)
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 10:52 AM
To:
Subject: FW: Reminder Cell Phone Numbers Go Public Today!

  Heads up  REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public today

>  REMINDER... all cell phone numbers are being released to

> telemarketing  companies tomorrow and you will start to

> receive sale calls.  .... YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE

> CALLS  To prevent this, call the following number from your

> cell phone:  888-382-1222.  It is the National DO NOT CALL

> list. It will only take a minute of your  time. It blocks

> your number for five (5) years. You must call from the

> cell  phone number you want

 to have blocked. You cannot

> call from a different  phone number.  

I have a computer that talks to other computers through a cable in the wall, so I checked with the redoubtable snopes.com, and guess what? It's a hoax. Like all good lies there are some correct facts in there, but it's still a hoax. I alerted my friend, sent him the link. He responded:

"I just called the number bumbler. It was legit."

Hold the phone. Let's review:
In one corner, you've got a chain mail that someone forwarded to you.

In the other corner, you've got a loooong explanation from Snopes, backed up by referenced media and a link to the FCC website.

I wouldn't know who to believe, either. I mean come on, it has a number so it must be legit! Right? Anyone? [Is this thing on?]