So what else might be the biggest hoax in history?

How about one that you have not even heard of?

Here I will submit Blue green algae as at least possible.

OK, algae is plants. Tiny plants but still plants. Lots of hippie type people use algae in place of multivitanins. Perhaps it contains the nutrients that a specific person needs. Or not. It fails to matter.

The hippie type people have some idea that algae is food. And therefore it is good for you. Heck, they might even be right. If they happen to be right, it will not be because they set out to be right. It will be because they stumbled into it.

Personally, I like beer. Beer is made from tiny plants. It has all the good stuff in it. That and it gets me drunk.

They are sort of right, but rather frivilously so.  Yeah, it contains loads of nutrients, protein, etc.  But for the same price as a bottle of algae (around $40) you could buy twenty pounds of traditional food plants (like broccoli, kale, etc.) to feed you for many weeks, which incidentally *also* contain those nutrients (just in slightly lower densities)- the practical solution would seem to be to eat more plants, not a small amount of super-dense incredibly expensive plants.

Addendum:  Looks like good old-fashioned capitalistic competition brought the price down on spirulina in the past couple years.  Now (dried, in large amounts) it's actually kind of comparable to other vegetables (maybe only a little more expensive).  The FDA does need to regulate it, though, because of the potential for other kinds of algae to grow in the facilities which can contribute toxins to the final product (Spirulina is fine, but without good protocols, other kinds of algae that aren't fine can also grow along side it and be potentially lethal- a concern that doesn't exist for broccoli).

Spirulina has the potential to be substantially cheaper than other food plants if it catches on, because it could be grown in sufficient quantities in glass tubes on one's roof or in one's backyard, cutting out the cost of distribution-- and it grows much faster than vegetables in a garden, giving substantially higher yield per square meter (this is largely because it's not necessary for the algae to waste energy and time growing all of the support structures like stalks and leaves, and defense mechanisms from predators, since it's free-floating).  It's something NASA is investigating for a source of food in space: docs.google.com/viewer

Not quite a hoax, but definitely entirely unnecessary while other plants are still cheaper.  However, in a sense I am thankful for the irrationality of people buying a more expensive product for no good reason, because it has the potential (with adequate infrastructure and processing techniques) to become a very cheap source of food, and that irrational demand is driving the market in a very rational way to that end.

Personally, I'm not going to buy the stuff until 1. It's cheaper than broccoli per nutrition content, and 2. The FDA steps in and calls "bullshit" on the supplement claim and provides some regulation to prevent toxic algae from entering into the food supply.

It would also be nice if 3. Somebody came up with a way to make it not smell and taste like pond scum (maybe a deodorizing process).

That makes sense, thanks.  I thought there was something else to it, with regards to the aqueous environment, but I wasn't sure what.

 Well Blake, I understand what you are saying and to an extent, I can agree.

However, looking at a couple of web sites that sell the stuff, I am finding that even the generic product is running north of $25/pound right now. While it has food value, such prices are not in keeping with the general properties of food. Such prices are rather more in keeping with me having a waiter bring me the stuff and making me feel like I have received far more than the food value.

Also, as far as the idea of the stuff being grown in well regulated conditions, if that was what the hippie type had going on, then I would be happy for them. However, they are not paying those prices for a laboratory grown product. In fact, if one suggests laboratory grown stuff, the hippie people will respond with adjectives such a “sterile” and “unnatural”. When they do that, the come off to me as little different for the RC crowd being opposed to rubbers.

I can go further. Do you know why the stuff smells and tastes like pond scum? Well, they are paying for “Lake Klammath Algae”. That is right, they actually scrape it off the surface of a pond. Well a huge fucking lake actually but still...

This bring us to the idea of the stuff being regulated so that it can be free of contaminants. Some forms of algae produce neuro-toxins that are more dangerous for you than the venom of snakes found only in Africa. Yet the stuff that is being sold for way too much money is where the deal is and any attempt to reduce the risk is considered to be unacceptable.

Well, I do have to grant the hippie type people one point. Given that they are willing to pay gold rush level prices for this stuff, companies that would make it are in a position where they lack the incentive to provide a growth medium which might actually have the specific nutrients that might be found in nature. It is a simple matter of capitalistic profit maximization.

Also, I have another matter to touch on about lake Klamath. It is, in fact, downhill from a large agricultural region. So the reason why it produces so damned much pond scum is because of the nitrogen based runoff that enters the lake. If and when the farmers in the area learn that they can save large amounts of cash by targeted application of fertilizer, the whole idea of that particular lake having huge crops of harvesteable pond scum will collapse.

Unless, of course, the people who are getting rich on the deal learn to hit the lake with fertilizer themselves. But then the hippies are going to have to deal with the idea that the lake is being jacked to produce the stuff. Not that is it not already but the harvesters are not at fault today.

Japanese Nori that wraps up sushi is also algae - larger in size and so we call it seaweed.  Lots of soy sauce will cover up the taste.

If people are raising spirulina in ponds that are stagnant, then it would affect the flavor.  The Japanese Nori farms are in low lying tidal areas so the algae gets fresh circulated seawater.

http://www.zuozuo.com/jelly-news-137.html

This site is probably more than you ever wanted to know: http://www.fao.org/fishery/culturedspecies/Porphyra_spp/en

I'm just saying that Jesus has been built up over thousands of years to be this larger than life, immortal, superhuman, KINGS of KINGS figure while in reality he's just a mythical being that was FORCED by an emperor of a DEAD empire (Roman) for political reasons!

The evidence is clear that there are no historical references to Jesus or ANY character or event in the bible despite the fact that there were many historical figures at the time who left records like Justis of Tiberius, Columella Phlegon, Josephus Seneca, Favorinus Ptolemy, etc.

There are also records written in STONE in Egypt that NEVER mention any Jesus or Moses or ANY Bible character or event!  So in relation to how he's probably the most famous figure in the history of the world yet in reality he's just a myth it's safe to say he's the biggest hoax in the history of mankind!!

I meant to say the story of Jesus has been built up for thousands of years by successive generations talking about him forever but he's been a total bust that never comes back.  So you are correct in that the myth was created over just a few years.

Can you please expound on that and explain how Paul of Tarsus created the Jesus myth?