• Lion (1355::68%) ::::: [][][][][][][]
• Midgets (640::32%) :: [][][]

The article you're most likely expecting to read can be found here.

If you haven't already guessed, the article is fake.

05-07-05 ::: Updated: (05-17-05 5:05 PM EST)

:: Why the article was created:

- The debate:

It was created to 'settle' a dispute between a friend of mine in which he claimed that 40 weaponless midgets could defeat 1 lion in a hypothetical fight. Many of my other friends and I tried to convince him that the lion would definitely win, but he would not back down from his argument. After seeing another fake article posing as BBC about 'zombism' in Cambodia, I got the idea to make this fake news article to try and convince him for the final time. (Please 'Join the debate' at the bottom to express your opinion.)

- How it spread:

The link to where the article was posted was not intended to spread outside of the initial group of guys in the argument, but as I was alerted it had been posted on collegehumor.com, fark.com, and several other web forums, it has spread far beyond that. I honestly don't know how it spread, since the initial link was only (to my knowledge) posted occasionally on my AIM away message, along with a friend of mine's AIM info last week. The article was originally posted the (very early) morning of Wednesday, May 3rd, and from what I've seen, the earliest post of it was on fark.com on Saturday, May 7th at 12:28 AM. Once again, the article was never intended to spread over the internet as it did.

- The outcome:

The argument was in fact settled once he read and believed the article, but to his credit it was posted to appear to be totally legit from the BBC (no bbc.co.fake at the top and no ads). He eventually discovered it was a fake article and admitted he had been fooled.... big time, and has since retaken the side of the midgets.

:: Why this page was created:

As soon as I was alerted the article had spread to the public, I created this 'disclaimer' page explaining the article's invalidity. This was not only to hopefully protect myself from the BBC or Cambodian Midget Fighting League (if one exists), but to also protect the reputability of the BBC and Cambodia itself, since the article isn't exactly politically correct and may offend some readers. I apologize to anyone or any groups that may have been offended by the article, and hope that they will understand it was all in good fun.

:: Join the 'debate':

If you took the time to read the article (or even if you didn't), please email me (lionvs40midgets@yahoo.com) what you think the outcome of a hypothetical fight between 40 midgets and 1 lion would be. Here are the terms of the fight:

• Fight takes place between 1 full-grown, male African lion and 40 midgets
• The midgets are unarmed (no guns, baseball bats, tasers, etc.)
• The fight takes place in a closed arena (a racquetball court for example)
• Fight is over when either a) the lion is dead, or b) all 40 midgets are dead or unable to fight back (severely wounded)
• Lion is highly agitated, midgets know there's no way out until the lion is dead (they have to fight)
• The midgets are not specially trained to fight (not like the Cambodian fighting ones in the article) but are in average physical and mental health
• The midgets are given 5 minutes before the fight to prepare/strategize

Any other conditions in the fight you may decide to give whoever you want an advantage. Simply email me who you think the victor would be, and if you'd like, provide an explanation why. I'll probably post the results here once (if) I receive more than 25 responses.

Once again, sorry for the confusion.

:: Update Notices:

05-08-05

I moved to a tripod account hoping to support more users, this will probably go down soon as well.

Also, for those of you who wouldn't mind emailing me as to where you found/heard about the article it would be greatly appreciated. I'm already aware it was on collegehumor.com, so there's no need send that one in. I'm actually more interested in what you think the outcome would be.

05-08-05 (again)

I moved the site once again to an atspace account which claims to have unlimited bandwidth, and also doesn't have any of the advertisements the other 2 hosts had.

Thanks to all those who have already emailed me with their predictions of the outcome, I've really enjoyed them so far. I'll probably post some anonymous excerpts from the emails I've received along with the current results sometime tomorrow.

05-08-05 (once more)

Well the atspace account was terminated because of a violation of the 'Terms and Conditions' so it's back to this ad-laden tripod site. I don't foresee this one lasting much longer either.

Thanks again to everyone who's emailed me their thoughts, all my friends and I are really getting a kick out of them, so keep them coming.

05-09-05 1:31 AM EST

Oh man, thanks again for the emails and votes. Please continue to vote even if the subject of your email is simply who you think the victor would be and nothing else, although the explanations are fun to read. As you can see, I'm posting the results of the votes on the left side. Look for a more detailed site around Wednesday (I've got exams coming up, and this site has already tied me up for a much needed study day). Update will most likely include separate pages including how the argument first got started, along with anonymous excerpts from some of the email's I've received, although I don't think this site will be nearly as popular in a week once people learn the article is fake. I'd like to add a poll to the site instead of having readers email me votes, but I'd like to have the results displayed on this page, not some other host page. If anyone knows how to do this and would like to help, it would be greatly appreciated. As I mentioned, the site was never intended to spread beyond the initial 10 or so guys involved in the argument, but it's fun to hear how many people are discussing who would win the hypothetical fight.

05-09-05 9:15 PM EST

I was reading a comment on one of the forums the site had been posted at, and somebody mentioned the image in the top left of this page, so I thought I should mention it as well. As you can see, the image is obviously, and poorly, photoshopped. I made the image using other images found on Goggle with every intent of it looking fake. Personally, I think it adds to the absurdity/hilarity of the argument itself. I made the image for a facebook group (if you know what the facebook is, I'm sorry; if you don't, I'm equally sorry) here that my friends and I created entitled '1 Lion Could Totally Take Out 40 Midgets', and and after receiving an email from a visitor asking if I had created any such images, posted it on this site as well, hoping to serve as another indicator to the fake-ness of the article. Also, if you read the article, "The Cambodian Government allowed the fight to take place, under the condition that ... no cameras would be allowed in the arena."

05-10-05 11:07 AM EST

I've been informed by a few visitors that they have heard the article aired on radio stations. While I think it may be an interesting story to explain how the article was created and spread, I do not want under any circumstances for people to believe the article is true (the only person it was intended to fool was my friend who was initially in the debate). I emailed the radio station, making sure they knew the article was fake, but I encourage those of you who hear the article on the radio to also call the station and ensure they, and any listeners who heard it aired, know the article is a hoax. Please send them to this site if they don't believe you.

05-13-05 4:05 PM EST

I woke up this morning with 135 emails in the lionvs40midgets inbox; that's almost half of what I had received all week. It appears as if the story is now being forwarded via email around the net, and some emails I received still had the original BBC headings (not the fake ones), making the article appear to be legitimate. If you have/do receive an email with the article in it, I strongly encourage you to reply to everyone the email was sent (the 'reply all' button accomplishes this task I think), and let them know the article was fake and send them to this site for an explanation.

I find it somewhat amusing that the story has now become popular enough to be considered an 'urban legend' by about.com. I've pondered and some of the emails and my friends have suggested that I make an attempt to sell 'Cambodian Midget Fighting League' T-shirts to make money off of this popularity, but right now I feel it would be wrong to exploit this article in that way, since it was never supposed to become this popular (Update 5-25-05: As you can see on the left side of the page, I have decided to sell shirts). It has also been brought to my attention through emails and various websites that the term 'midget' is considered derogatory by some, and that the term 'little people' is preferred. However, since the original argument my friends and I were involved in was 'who would win a fight between 1 lion and 40 midgets?', not 'who would win a fight between 1 lion and 40 little people?', I'm not going to change all the references to 'midget' on this site to 'little people', but I am sorry to those who may be offended.

Also, just to clear something up, I've seen on some of the message boards the site was posted on, that some people find it humorous that it was 42 midgets who were involved in the fight. The number 42 is apparently 'the answer to life, the universe, and everything' (or something along those lines) in the book 'A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', which I personally have not read, although probably will at some point in my life. The number 42 was chosen simply to 'prove' to my friend that a lion could defeat more than the 40 midgets that were involved in the argument's hypothetical fight. Any coincidence between the article and said book, is in fact, a coincidence.

05-19-05 12:05 AM EST

It's been a while since I posted an update, so I figured it was high time I did.

The site and article are becoming increasingly more popular, especially among email forward groups. The first 4 days of this week alone generated more traffic than the entire 7 days of last week, with a peak of 56,061 visitors on Tuesday.

I've now come across other websites who are hosting the article, and are giving no up front indication to visitors that the article is fake, much like the original article I posted. The only way to disprove these articles is to a) look at the URL address and realize it's not from the BBC, b) go to the BBC website and search for 'Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring-Fight', c) search Google for 'lion midgets Cambodia' or any combination of the sort; this page is the first to on the search list, or d) realize the journalism is too poor to be part of the BBC. I have absolutely no affiliation with these sites, except for the fact that they're using the article I wrote. I removed the original format of the article over a week ago, so these sites must have taken the steps that I did to create the article in the first place. I made it clear that the article was fake to avoid legal consequences from the BBC, so if these sites don't mind that risk, then that's their choice.

Apparently a few more radio stations have gotten a hold of this article (most likely off of the hosts I mentioned above), and have broadcasted it over their airwaves. If you are visiting this site because you heard the story on the air, and they made no mention (or had any idea) that the article was a hoax, I highly encourage you to contact them and fill them in on the details, or send them to this site to explain.

I've also received a few more pieces of 'hate mail' (if you want to call it that). All-in-all out of the 1400 emails I've received, only about 6 have been ones complaining about the site (which really isn't too bad in my opinion), and all 6 of those complaints could have been cleared up if the authors simply took the time to read this page. Therefore, I'm going to place this 'code', if you will, for everyone else who would has a legitimate problem with this site. If you decide to email me your complaint, please include the phrase "rubber baby buggy bumpers" at the top of your email, that way, I will know that you've read this entire page, and I can take your complaint as legitimate and not have to educate you on information contained on this disclaimer page. If you don't include that phrase somewhere in your complaint, I'm most likely not going to take your complaint seriously.

That being said, as you can see, I've decided to start selling T-Shirts based on the requests from emails I received. There are 4 styles of shirt, in order to best suit your budget and gender needs. You can visit the store by clicking the link on the left side of the page. I decided to start selling the shirts before someone else beat me to it, and if I still feel guilty making a profit off of this unwarranted and slightly politically incorrect fame, then I will donate a portion of my profits to both Cambodian and midget organizations. Just as an update, there have been 95 shirts sold.

As I am writing this update, my account on tripod.com has been suspended, so I've contacted those visitors who mentioned they could help me with hosting. Hopefully this update will make it to the web under a new domain name.

I always seem to forget what it is I want to say in these updates, and since I can't remember anything else I wanted to mention, I guess I had better wrap this one up.

Thanks again for all the replies I've received.