IJMC Save Bernard!

                        IJMC - Save Bernard!

Folks, we've got to help with this one. It's not a chain, but it's the 
kind of thing you're going to have to send to everyone you know. Convert 
it to ICQ, print it out and fax it to your friends, email it to everyone 
you have an address for. If we don't, Bernard might die! If there's a 
chance, if it could be true, could you live knowing that Bernard died 
because YOU didn't send this along. Have some compassion!          -dave





 Save Bernard!

Today was the last straw. I got another copy of the "Disney is going  to
give 13,000 people a free vacation if this message annoys at  least  10% of
the Internet population" Spam. I don't know how  these things  get started,
but I've decided to start my own, and I'm  counting on all  of you to help
pass it on. You won't get a free copy  of Windows 98 for  doing so, but if
enough copies of the message  get out, I will consider  NOT killing the last
person who sent me the  Disney Spam. Yes,   Bernard's life is in your hands!
He was trying  to be ironic, but he  forced me to read it again anyway, and
yes,  God Will Call Bernard Home   if this message doesn't reach  exactly
8,993 people. Here it goes.  

Erynn's E-mail Facts Of Life

1. Big companies don't do business via chain letter. Bill Gates is not
giving you $1000 or a free copy of Windows '98, and Disney is not giving
you a free vacation. There is no baby food company issuing class-action
checks. You can relax; there is no need to pass it on "just in case it's
true".  Furthermore, just because someone said in the message, four
generations back, that "we checked it out and it's legit", does not
actually make it true. 

2. There is no kidney theft ring in New Orleans. No one is waking up in a
bathtub full of ice, even if a friend of a friend swears it happened to
their cousin. If you are hell-bent on believing the kidney-theft ring
stories, please see: 

http://urbanlegends.tqn.com/library/weekly/aa062997.htm

And I quote: "The National Kidney Foundation has repeatedly issued
requests for actual victims of organ thieves to come forward and tell
their stories. None have." That's "none" as in "zero". Not even your
friend's cousin. 

3. Neiman Marcus doesn't really sell a $200 cookie recipe. And even if
they do, we all have it. And even if you don't, you can get a copy at: 

http://www.bl.net/forwards/cookie.html 

Then, if you make the recipe, decide the cookies are that awesome, feel
free to pass the recipe on - WITHOUT the Neiman Marcus story. 

4. We ALL know all 500 ways to drive your roommates crazy.

5. We ALL know how many Usenet posters it takes to change a light bulb. 

6. Even if the latest NASA rocket disaster(s) DID contain plutonium that
went to particulate over the eastern seaboard, do you REALLY think this
information would reach the public via an AOL chain- letter? 

7. There is no "Good Times" virus. In fact, you should never, ever, ever
forward any Email containing any virus warning unless you first confirm it
at an actual site of an actual company that actually deals with virii. Try
<http://www.norton.com> or Computer Virus Myths <http://kumite.com/myth/>
And even then, don't forward it. We don't care. 

8. If your CC: list is regularly longer than the actual content of your
message, you're going straight to Hell. 

9. If you're using Outlook, IE, or Netscape to write Email, turn off the
"HTML encoding." Those of us on UNIX shells can't read it, and don't care
enough to save the attachment and then view it with a web browser, since
you're probably forwarding us a copy of the Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe
anyway. 

10. If you still absolutely MUST forward that 10th-generation message from
a friend, at least have the decency to trim the eight miles of headers
showing everyone else who's received it over the last 6 months. 

But even then, you WILL be putting Bernard's life at stake.  Don't say you
weren't warned. 

Sincerely,
Erynn LeRoy


IJMC September 1998 Archives