From: Laura Bashlor <lauralou@gatecoms.gatecom.com>
Subject: [Fwd: TOURBUS -- 5 DECEMBER 1996 -- URBAN LEGENDS AND VIRUSES]
Date: Sat, 07 Dec 1996 19:11:39 -0500
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------5AED685A3D65
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Actually, I was going to ignore the Cookie post, having seen this legend
in fax form about 6 years ago. Then an answer to it prompted me to dig
up this Tourbus post on computer Urban Legends. Please excuse the
off-topic posting. I know there are a lot of new computer users on this
list. Call it protection for them and maybe a chuckle or two for the
others.
Laura (MI)
--------------5AED685A3D65
Content-Type: message/rfc822
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline
Return-path: <owner-tourbus@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>
Return-Path: owner-tourbus@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Received: from listmail.aol.com (listmail.aol.com [152.163.200.7]) by gatecoms.gatecom.com (8.7.3/8.6.12) with ESMTP id UAA12348; Thu, 5 Dec 1996 20:33:25 GMT
Received: from LISTSERV.AOL.COM by listmail.aol.com (LSMTP for Windows NT v1.0a) with SMTP id 022BAC50 ; Thu, 5 Dec 1996 15:35:57 -0500
Received: from LISTSERV.AOL.COM by LISTSERV.AOL.COM (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release
1.8c) with spool id 911609 for TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM; Thu, 5 Dec
1996 15:22:27 -0500
Received: from listmail.aol.com (listmail.aol.com [152.163.200.7]) by
listserv.aol.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id PAA01236 for
<TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>; Thu, 5 Dec 1996 15:22:26 -0500
Received: from LISTSERV.AOL.COM by listmail.aol.com (LSMTP for Windows NT
v1.0a) with SMTP id 9E675C00 ; Thu, 5 Dec 1996 15:33:09 -0500
Approved-By: crispen@CAMPUS.MCI.NET
Received: from mci-01.campus.mci.net (mci-01.campus.mci.net [204.71.75.150]) by
listserv.aol.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id BAA02596 for
<TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>; Thu, 5 Dec 1996 01:02:43 -0500
Received: from [130.160.224.102] (squirrel.us.ua.edu [130.160.224.102]) by
mci-01.campus.mci.net (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id WAA01322 for
<TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>; Wed, 4 Dec 1996 22:10:33 -0800 (PST)
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Message-ID: <199612050610.WAA01322@mci-01.campus.mci.net>
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996 22:10:33 -0800
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Sender: The Internet TourBus - A virtual tour of cyberspace
<TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>
Comments: Resent-From: Patrick Douglas Crispen <crispen@CAMPUS.MCI.NET>
Comments: Originally-From: crispen@CAMPUS.MCI.NET (Patrick Douglas Crispen)
From: Patrick Douglas Crispen <crispen@CAMPUS.MCI.NET>
Subject: TOURBUS -- 5 DECEMBER 1996 -- URBAN LEGENDS AND VIRUSES
To: TOURBUS
/~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~~|~\
| "Why | Surf When / You Can | Ride The | Bus?" / | \
|__________|__________/__________|__________|__________/ | \
/ /______|----\
| MOMS WANTED for Internet panel to advise major |//////| |
| company. For info, e-mail to: moms@cybersurveys.com |//////| |
| |//////| |
~~~/~~~\~~/~~~\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~~\~~~~
\___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/
TODAY'S STOP: URBAN LEGENDS AND VIRUSES
TODAY'S ADDRESSES: http://www.urbanlegends.com/
http://www.kumite.com/myths/
http://www.kumite.com/myths/myths.htm
One of my favorite things about TOURBUS is that we not only talk about neat
stuff on the Net, we also occasionally talk about some neat non-Net-related
stuff as well. For example, back on November 21st (TOURBUS -- 21 NOVEMBER
1996 -- HISTORIC EVENTS AND BIRTHDAYS) I told you that Sir Samuel Cunard
founded the Cunard/White Star Line, the company that owned the RMS Titanic
and that still owns the Queen Elizabeth 2. Well, it turns out that I was
not entirely correct. According to Graham Dodd, a TOURBUS rider in
Australia (the *DEEP* South)
Cunard never owned Titanic. Cunard Line was in opposition to
White Star Line up until the 1920's when it -- eventually -- took
over. Titanic was built in 1911, launched 1912 and sunk that
same year. The only "connection" between Cunard and Titanic is
the fact one of the Cunard Line ships is known for going to the
rescue -- namely RMS Carpathia. Nor did Cunard, therefore, have
anything to do with Titanic's 2 sister ships -- since the
Britannic sunk during WW1 in the Mediterranean and the Olympic
went to scrap before or near the same time as that final take-
over by Cunard.
A couple of TOURBUS riders also noticed that in my last post (TOURBUS -- 28
NOVEMBER 1996 -- SPAM!) I wrote
[I]f you receive an e-mail letter that asks you to forward the
letter to others, the only person that you should forward it to
is the sender's postmaster
and then I ended that post with
Send this copy to 3 friends and tell them to get on the Bus!
The only explanation for my apparent duplicity is: DRUNKEN SQUIRRELS MADE
ME DO IT! According to an article sent to me by Allen Agnew
Wildlife officials [in Lexington, Kentucky] are coping with a new
dilemma: Large numbers of obnoxious squirrels that sneak into
whiskey distilleries, eat the fermented grain --- and get roaring
drunk!!!
Citizens report hundreds of the long-tailed rodents reeling and
staggering across the roads of rural Kentucky.
Anyway, with both of those mistakes now corrected (or at least explained),
here is a quick message from the folks who were kind enough to make today's
TOURBUS post possible. Make sure that you stop by and thank them ... and
mention that the drunken squirrels sent you!
*--------------------------- MASS MUSIC -----------------------------*
More Music For Your Money! Over 185,000 Titles -- Just A Click Away
Sign up for our FREE Weekly Music Zine Now!
Buy 7 Get 1 FREE Everyday. Try the Treasure Hunt for a Chance to Win
*------------------( http://www.Mass-Music.com )-------------------*
In light of my recent TOURBUS posts about spams and urban legends, I have
two Web pages that I think y'all might be interested in. Our first stop is
the semi-official Urban Legends archive at
http://www.urbanlegends.com/
By the way, make sure that you make "urbanlegends" plural -- if you try to
go to "www.urbanlegend.com" you'll end up at a really boring "under
construction" sign.
Anyway, for those of you who may not know what urban legends are, they are
stories that
- Appear mysteriously and spread spontaneously in varying
forms;
- Contain elements of humor or horror (the horror often
"punishes" someone who flouts society's conventions);
- Make good storytelling; and
- Do NOT have to be false, although most are. ULs often have a
basis in fact, but it's their life after-the-fact (particularly
in reference to the second and third points) that gives them
particular interest."
The best example of an urban legend is the "Craig Shergold" story that we
have talked about before (Craig's the kid who supposedly is dying of a
brain tumor and who wants to make it into the Guinness Book of World
Records for having the most cards ... only he is CURED and he DOESN'T WANT
ANY MORE DARNED CARDS!). Another popular urban legend, at least here in
the states, is that that "Mikey" kid from the Life cereal commercial died
from eating Pop Rocks. Both stories are false, but the Craig Shergold
story is a pretty good example of how some urban legends often have a basis
in fact. Craig was once ill, and he once wanted cards ... but that was
YEARS ago.
Anyway, back to the urban legends archive. I'm not sure how to describe
this homepage, other than to say that it is an absolutely *HUGE* archive of
information about pretty much every urban legend around. From "alligators
in sewers" to "Walt Disney on ice" this page chronicles everything!
The main urban legends archive has 22 different categories, ranging from
"Animals" (animal urban legends) to "TV" (I think you can figure out what
that one is all about). Most of the archive's categories are pretty
self-explanatory, except for these two:
- "AFU." AFU stands for "alt.folklore.urban," a usenet newsgroup
dedicated solely to the discussion of urban legends. As a
matter of fact, almost all of the articles that can be found in
the urban legends archive come from AFU.
- "Book Reviews." This category is not about the discussion of
urban legends surrounding book reviews. Rather, it is a
collection of reviews about the various urban legend books that
you can purchase at your local bookstore.
The other 20 categories are pretty straight-forward. For example, if you
click on the "Collegiate" category, you are taken to a page that contains
articles about such urban legends as "one word exams" and the "pennies for
college" scheme. [By the way, since my finals start next week, if any of
you can convince my professors to each give me "one word" finals, I will be
eternally grateful!]
Our second stop on today's tour of our little bus of Internet happiness is
a site that my father (the Rev. Bob "Bob" Crispen) told me about when I was
at home last weekend, eating turkey for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Since so many of us are absolutely terrified about the possibility of
getting virused by the Net, and since there are so many virus hoaxes
floating around the Net right now that even the most level-headed of us has
to be at least a little bit leery, I am please to announce that there is
now a page on the Web that addresses -- and debunks -- almost every virus
story floating around.
The Computer Virus Myths page can be found on the Web at
http://www.kumite.com/myths/
If I were King of the Internet (instead of being what I am now: the global
village idiot), I would make it a law that every single person on the Net
visit this page. Actually, I would probably tell everyone to jump straight
to the "Read all about computer virus myths" subpage at
http://www.kumite.com/myths/myths.htm
If you want to become a resident expert on everything there is to know
about viruses, this page is for you! This page explains, in simple
English,
- How viruses really work,
- The difference between viruses and trojan horses,
- How you can and can not get a virus,
- Why you can't get a virus or a trojan horse from a plain old e-
mail letter, and
- How most virus stories are either absolute hoaxes or are
entirely overblown.
Again, if you are looking for a really good insider's look at the TRUTH
behind viruses and trojan horses, I can't overemphasize how important it is
for you to visit the Computer Virus Myths homepage.
That's it for this week! Have a safe and happy weekend ... and watch out
for drunken squirrels!
*----------------------* Be A CyberGourmand! *----------------------*
Give a gift of good taste for the holidays, shop at Twin Peaks Trading
Post for all your gourmet desires. Cornucopia of pleasurable edibles!
*------------------------( http://tpeaks.com )-----------------------*
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Win a Color TV by playing Where in the World? at WorldVillage |
| http://www.worldvillage.com/wv/gamezone/html/where.htm |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
--------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE DAY
--------------------------------
TOWEE (noun). Things that children play with.
Useage: "We bought our grandchild a new towee."
(Special thanks goes to Bob James for today's wurd.)
YOU CAN FIND ALL OF THE OLD SOUTHERN WORDS OF THE DAY ON THE SOUTHERN WORD
HOMEPAGE AT http://ua1vm.ua.edu/~crispen/word.html
======================================================================
Join : Send SUBSCRIBE TOURBUS Your Name to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Leave : Send SIGNOFF TOURBUS to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Info : On the Web at http://www.worldvillage.com/tourbus.htm
Advertising: E-mail BobRankin@MHV.net w/ Subject: SEND TBRATES
=--------------------------------------------------------------------=
For info on my new book "Atlas for the Information Superhighway"
send an e-mail letter to LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU that says
GET ATLAS INFO F=MAIL in the body of your e-mail letter
======================================================================
TOURBUS - (c) Copyright 1996, Patrick Crispen and Bob Rankin
All rights reserved. Redistribution is allowed only with permission.
Send this copy to 3 friends and tell them to get on the Bus!
(\__/) .~ ~. ))
/O O ./ .' Patrick Douglas Crispen
{O__, \ { The University of Alabama
/ . . ) \ crispen@campus.mci.net
|-| '-' \ } http://ua1vm.ua.edu/~crispen/
.( _( )_.'
'---.~_ _ _& Warning: squirrels.
--------------5AED685A3D65--