Sometimes we just have to wonder if the so-called "news" sites do any research at all. It's one thing when we at AtAT deliver information that's "accuracy-challenged," because we're not making any promises; heck, we've been known to make stuff up because it's funnier than the truth-- or because looking up the real facts would interfere with our strenuous Olympic training regimen. (We're representing the United States in the vaunted 100-hour channel-surfing event; gotta get that remote-clicking thumb up to speed.)

Look, everyone knows that Macs are basically immune to the ILOVEYOU virus, right? At least, any semi-reasonably-informed Mac user did a little digging to ensure that, as usual, the latest PC virus to bring down half of the civilized world is about as harmless to a Mac as a water balloon is to a Sherman tank. Yes, if you're running PC emulation software you could be affected, or if you've set up your Mac to be a network file server to an infected PC you might be kissing all your JPEGs goodbye, but in the vast majority of circumstances, ILOVEYOU was just one more reason to pity your PC-using friends.

So why, faithful viewer Pete Cassidy asks, is CNN using a picture of a Mac to dress up its coverage of the ongoing ILOVEYOU saga? And it's not just a Mac, it's a Classic-style Mac-- one that certainly wouldn't be able to run VirtualPC, and is less than likely to be used as a file server on a PC network. In short, CNN picked one of the least-susceptible computers on the planet, stuck a big, red Valentine's heart on its screen, and christened it as their international symbol of ILOVEYOU and the horrors it represents. So the question remains: was it just sheer cluelessness on their part, or is it some kind of anti-Apple smear conspiracy that's merely masquerading as sheer cluelessness? We won't know for sure until CNN covers the next catastrophic earthquake; if the shock is measured on the Richter scale but the death toll is reported in "Steves," you'll know something's going on.