MERCEDES-LACKEY Digest 625 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) Re: Books again, gryphons, and pegasoi, oh my! by Rosario Holsen-Baker 2) Re: Of sheep and cows... :) by skarzin-+AT+-soonet.ca (Tony and Michele) 3) Re: Of sheep and cows... :) by skarzin-+AT+-soonet.ca (Tony and Michele) 4) Narnia/Lewis by Peggy Hamilton 5) Re: Of sheep and cows... :) by jc-+AT+-crosfield.co.uk (Jerry Cullingford) 6) Re: Books again, gryphons, and pegasoi, oh my! by Sarah Worley 7) Re: Baaaaah!/ animal husbandry by "Diana L. Heald" 8) Re: Lost knowledge. by "Diana L. Heald" 9) by Robbie Betts 10) Re-Saving books by Robbie Betts 11) Re: Re-Saving books by "Diana L. Heald" 12) Re: Baaaaah! by Becky Anne Christensen 13) Re: Jewelry by MO9605-+AT+-DSCC.CC.TN.US 14) by Robbie Betts 15) Re: Warning! by Becky Anne Christensen 16) Re: Baaaaah!/ 10 books/C&W "music" by David Tiffany 17) Good Times! by David Tiffany 18) Re: New to group with a bunch of replies by Wildfire 19) Re: Lost knowledge. by David Tiffany 20) Re: Southern Baptists/Arizona/Logical Thinking by David Tiffany 21) Re: Please help re: feather jewelry by hirschco-+AT+-ix.netcom.com (Farrin) 22) Re: Of sheep and cows... :) by hirschco-+AT+-ix.netcom.com (Farrin) 23) Re: Lost Knowledge by "Amy, Alice, & Jim Trivitt" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 01:39:41 -0400 (EDT) From: Rosario Holsen-Baker To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Books again, gryphons, and pegasoi, oh my! Message-ID: On Tue, 18 Jun 1996, Lady 'Dessa wrote: > When I looked at the picture, after I'd read a couple of the books I > always thought that maybe it symbolized the legendary Windrider, > specifically in the song Windrider Unchained. I mean, it makes some > sense, doesn't it? Well, Just my own humble opinion. :) > Uh-oh, rehash alert! :) No, because the winged horse thing was from Baron Valdemar's coat of arms, long before Darshay and Windrider. And besides, Windrider was the Herald. "Sings back the magic to Windrider's hands" as opposed to hooves. :) 8//////]==================> LADY JAGUAR of the Cat People Companion Lavaan "If looks could kill they probably will in games without frontiers, war without tears" 8//////]==================> ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 02:59:43 -0400 (EDT) From: skarzin-+AT+-soonet.ca (Tony and Michele) To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Of sheep and cows... :) Message-ID: <199606180659.CAA24105-+AT+-victory.soonet.ca> >On Sun, 16 Jun 1996, David Snyder wrote: > >> >Your Majesty I present, one flock of chocolate and one box of sheep. >> >Lady Nightshadow aka Shady who has paid her taxes! >> ******************* >> I refuse to pay taxes on the grounds that I'm a Goddess, and I Officially >> Crowned you, so on behalf of all us Gods, I demand a tithe. I promise to >> use it wisely, and not spend it on wine, sailors, and sheep. Use your >> imagination, I'll open a junk shop of the mind! >> Or, you can pay taxes to Queen 'Reesa, and SHE can >> tithe. >> Lady Thessaly, Goddess of Nomenclature, MKGC, LiG >> >> > Oh Wise and Powerful Lady Thessaly, Goddess of Nomenclature, I, >Lady Becky, Goddess of Stress and Dry Breakfast Cereals present to you >the Golden Box of Fruit Loops, and the Silver Saver Stress Reliever. >They are extremely valuable and sacred. Use their power wisely. The >Golden Box of Fruit Loops has (3) three very special features. >(1) The first is that no matter how long you have them, and how often >you forget to seal them back up after using them, THEY WILL NEVER GO >STALE. (2) The second is that no matter how many you may eat, or your >friends may eat, or even your enemies eat, THEY WILL NEVER RUN OUT. >(3) The third is the most special and sacred of all things, every time >you pour a bowl of these Fruit Loops. a special prize will fall into >your bowl. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE THE ONE TO GET THE PRIZE, and won't even >have to dig for it. > > The Silver Saver Stress Reliever will get rid of all stress >related gray or silver hairs. All you have to do, is place it in the >middle of a ten foot circle of tofu. Then make sure you are facing >exactly southwest, and do 4.5 jumping jacks. After that, slither on your >belly through the tofu until you reach the Silver Saver Stress Reliever, >then pat it on the head three and one fifth times. After this, jump up. >Do not jump back down until you have said the alphabet....twice....in >Gaelic. Then you may jump down, now skip through the tofu until you fall, >and all your gray hairs related to stress will have disappeared. Easy, >really. It will also relieve you completely of all stress, and leave you >ready to face the Ugliness Men. > > > *^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_ > Lady Becky, Goddess of Stress & Dry Breakfast Cereals > > Everybody wants prosthetic forheads on their real heads > *They*Might*Be*Giants* > > > Oh wise and powerful Lady Becky, I have a question about the Silver Saver Stress Reliever. If I were to find myself in possession of both the sacred object and a vast amount of tofu, would my hair colour be restored, or would the grey hair disappear. I would hate to enter into a close personal relationship with bean curd, (not to mention learning levitation and Gaelic) only to be ren- dered suddenly and completely hairless. Awaiting Enlightenment, Michele (new to the list) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 02:59:41 -0400 (EDT) From: skarzin-+AT+-soonet.ca (Tony and Michele) To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Of sheep and cows... :) Message-ID: <199606180659.CAA24102-+AT+-victory.soonet.ca> >On Sun, 16 Jun 1996, David Snyder wrote: > >> >Your Majesty I present, one flock of chocolate and one box of sheep. >> >Lady Nightshadow aka Shady who has paid her taxes! >> ******************* >> I refuse to pay taxes on the grounds that I'm a Goddess, and I Officially >> Crowned you, so on behalf of all us Gods, I demand a tithe. I promise to >> use it wisely, and not spend it on wine, sailors, and sheep. Use your >> imagination, I'll open a junk shop of the mind! >> Or, you can pay taxes to Queen 'Reesa, and SHE can >> tithe. >> Lady Thessaly, Goddess of Nomenclature, MKGC, LiG >> >> > Oh Wise and Powerful Lady Thessaly, Goddess of Nomenclature, I, >Lady Becky, Goddess of Stress and Dry Breakfast Cereals present to you >the Golden Box of Fruit Loops, and the Silver Saver Stress Reliever. >They are extremely valuable and sacred. Use their power wisely. The >Golden Box of Fruit Loops has (3) three very special features. >(1) The first is that no matter how long you have them, and how often >you forget to seal them back up after using them, THEY WILL NEVER GO >STALE. (2) The second is that no matter how many you may eat, or your >friends may eat, or even your enemies eat, THEY WILL NEVER RUN OUT. >(3) The third is the most special and sacred of all things, every time >you pour a bowl of these Fruit Loops. a special prize will fall into >your bowl. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE THE ONE TO GET THE PRIZE, and won't even >have to dig for it. > > The Silver Saver Stress Reliever will get rid of all stress >related gray or silver hairs. All you have to do, is place it in the >middle of a ten foot circle of tofu. Then make sure you are facing >exactly southwest, and do 4.5 jumping jacks. After that, slither on your >belly through the tofu until you reach the Silver Saver Stress Reliever, >then pat it on the head three and one fifth times. After this, jump up. >Do not jump back down until you have said the alphabet....twice....in >Gaelic. Then you may jump down, now skip through the tofu until you fall, >and all your gray hairs related to stress will have disappeared. Easy, >really. It will also relieve you completely of all stress, and leave you >ready to face the Ugliness Men. > > > *^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_ > Lady Becky, Goddess of Stress & Dry Breakfast Cereals > > Everybody wants prosthetic forheads on their real heads > *They*Might*Be*Giants* > > > Oh wise and powerful Lady Becky, I have a question about the Silver Saver Stress Reliever. If I should somehow find myself in possession of both the sacred object, and a vast amount of tofu, will my hair colour be restored, or will my grey hair disappear? I would hate to enter into a close, personal re- lationship with bean curd,(not to mention learning levitation and Gaelic) only to find myself in possession of less hair than I started with. Awaiting Enlightenment Michele ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 00:00:35 -0700 From: Peggy Hamilton To: "mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk" Subject: Narnia/Lewis Message-ID: <31C65413.51C9-+AT+-lodinet.com> Kerry Wrote: > Well, he was great friends with Lewis Carroll who wrote a lot of Christian > metaphors and discussions and I think they had a few discussions on the > topic. He may have denied it, but it's pretty near unmistakeable. > "My father, the Emperor from across the sea." Aslan, being sent. > Sacrificing himself, betrayed by a son of Adam. As for _The Last Battle_ > try "Anything good, you do in my name. Any evil done in my name I do not > recognise." (badly paraphrased) - and the Dwarfs, who through their own > blindness kept themselves from paradise and even Aslan could only try to > show them, not force them to see. > Sorry, but C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carrol were not contemporaries. C.S Lewis was one of the Inklings, a goup of Christian writers at Oxford that included JRR Tolkien & Charles Williams. Dorothy Sayers is also sometimes listed, but while she is one of the "Oxford Christians" she is not technically an Inkling (no women in the group). Lewis's SF trilogy consists of Out of The Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. I loved Narnia, and spent a good paret of my childhood there, but I didn't like any of the trilogy very much, and I loathed the last one. Lewis was an amatuer theologan, and wrote a number of works on Christian theology. My favorite is The Screwtape Letters. I don't agree with all of his positions, but I still enjoy reading his works (but then I'm a Preacher's Kid, so theological arguments are second nature to me). Peggy ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 10:51:58 +0100 (BST) From: jc-+AT+-crosfield.co.uk (Jerry Cullingford) To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Of sheep and cows... :) Message-ID: <9606180951.AA08657-+AT+-crosfield.co.uk> > > On Sat, 15 Jun 1996, Lady 'Reesa wrote: > > > No, you don't have to bow unless I go into formal mode. By The Way > > people, taxes are due, and it doesn't matter what country you live in. I am > > Queen of Everything, so you still owe. I like chocolate. And sheep... > > Oops, I forgot, I wasn't going to mention them again. Here's my contribution: +-------+ | | | | +-------+ a nicely framed picture of six sheep in a snowstorm :-) (or seven sheep at midnight, depending on what your background colour... or three sheep behind a hill (green) or Sheep Meet Doom (red) or... -Jerry -- _|_ / | Jerry Cullingford jc-+AT+-crosfield.co.uk (Work) \_|_ jc-+AT+-selune.demon.co.uk (Home) \__/ Hemel Hempstead, UK jerry-+AT+-shell.portal.com (alternate) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 07:02:16 -0400 From: Sarah Worley To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Books again, gryphons, and pegasoi, oh my! Message-ID: <199606181102.HAA14739-+AT+-ist.net> On June 18, Lady Jaguar wrote: > Uh-oh, rehash alert! :) > No, because the winged horse thing was from Baron Valdemar's coat > of arms, long before Darshay and Windrider. And besides, Windrider was > the Herald. "Sings back the magic to Windrider's hands" as opposed to > hooves. :) Hmm. No quote, but I could have sworn somewhere in either Arrows or LHM, someone is talking about the whole Sunsinger/Shadowdancer deal and how they had the power to free themselves or free Windrider, but not both. It mentions in there that "The Crest/Adept Manifestation of the Windrider would forever show shattered chains" (misquoted badly, but thats as close as I remember it). "Windrider" I believe, was what he was called because of his Adept Manifestation- that of a winged horse. It later somehow became the Crest of Valdemar. I dont think the Baron had a crest of his own, or if he did I doubt he would have used it, seeing as how he was fleeing from the country it would show honour to. Zhai'hai'allav'a Dass dassin-+AT+-ist.net Even evil magicians get up in the night http://www.dassin.org/ and look for cookies, sometimes. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 08:10:29 EST From: "Diana L. Heald" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Baaaaah!/ animal husbandry Message-ID: <19653AF2614-+AT+-ais.syr.edu> I think every place has their share of crazies. I was raised in southern California which is the trend-setter for weirdness. Now I live in New York which has Alfonse D'Amato. Diana > Heyla! > > >>I thought Montana was known for groups wanting to suscede >(sp?) from > >>the nation. > > > >>Diana > > > >Well, sure now it is. But before any of that Freeman crap happened I always > >thought that Montana was known for that, um, interesting preference. (No > >offense Your Majesty 'Reesa the 1st(?)) What state(s) is/are known for > >rednecks? Isn't that Montana too? > > > >Lady Nightshadow aka Shady > > Arizona sure is...we're chock full of bloody militias, and as you will recall, > we're home to the (alleged) OK city bomber Tim McVeigh....I'd mention some > others but at the risk of offending people , I won't. > > *************************************************** > Herald Michal Alderan Skysong, Chosen of Tyr > VP of the VEVUWEC and member of the DMFs > *************************************************** > > *********************************************************** Diana L. Heald Syracuse University Email: dlheald-+AT+-ais.syr.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 08:34:47 EST From: "Diana L. Heald" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Lost knowledge. Message-ID: <196BB75267F-+AT+-ais.syr.edu> Kerry writes > > Personally I was -very- disappointed in Stef and Van when I found out that > it was they who were responsible for the lost knowledge. A Bard above all > others should know the importance on knowledge and to suppress it like that, > to the extent that it started catching up related things as well is just > plain stupid. If you remember correctly, the problem at the time was that the people thought only Herald-Mages could solve their problems. If a just-plain-herald showed up, they (the people) didn't believe that the herald could do the job. Also, since there were no more mages to train, or even recognize, new mages, it would be too dangerous for them to experiment on their own. Therefore Vanyel had to make an executive decision that it was better not to have mages than to have half-trained or badly-trained ones. It would also give the people confidence in regular Heralds. It was probably not the decision that Vanyel would have preferred, but it probably seemed to be the best one at the time. It also protected everyone for a very long time. Diana *********************************************************** Diana L. Heald Syracuse University Email: dlheald-+AT+-ais.syr.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 10:00:00 -0400 From: Robbie Betts To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Message-ID: >>> 06/17/96 07:37pm >>> Well, sure now it is. But before any of that Freeman crap happened I always thought that Montana was known for that, um, interesting preference. (No offense Your Majesty 'Reesa the 1st(?)) What state(s) is/are known for rednecks? Isn't that Montana too? Lady Nightshadow aka Shady <<< For some good rednecks, you have to go to Louisiana and then travel straight to New Mexico with a northern stop in Oklahoma (mom's an Okie). Trust me you'll see rednecks like you never knew existed! Robbie ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 10:03:28 -0400 From: Robbie Betts To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re-Saving books Message-ID: I just had a fire at the ened of February beginning of March. Was in hospital for 1 week (thank god for managed care!!!!!!). Trust me people, you won't be worrying about saving books, computer or anything else--you get out! I barely got out with just me intact (and a blanket it's cold in B'more in February). I'm okay now, but that sure changed mya ttitude about life! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 10:22:52 EST From: "Diana L. Heald" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Re-Saving books Message-ID: <19888B64159-+AT+-ais.syr.edu> Robbie says > I just had a fire at the end of February > beginning of March. Was in hospital for 1 week > (thank god for managed care!!!!!!). Trust me > people, you won't be worrying about saving books, > computer or anything else--you get out! I barely > got out with just me intact (and a blanket it's > cold in B'more in February). I'm okay now, but > that sure changed mya ttitude about life! > > I'm so glad you're OK. I know people can talk about saving this or that, but most fires happen when you are asleep or gone. First thought is living things. Most of the rest can be replaced. I used to have a safety deposit box that I stored my pictures and things that couldn't be replaced. I closed it when I thought we were going to move. I think I need to get a safe for these things now. A friend of mine had a floor safe for his life-time's worth of pictures. These memory-joggers are a lot more important than books or CD's. Diana *********************************************************** Diana L. Heald Syracuse University Email: dlheald-+AT+-ais.syr.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 07:45:16 -0700 (PDT) From: Becky Anne Christensen To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Baaaaah! Message-ID: On Mon, 17 Jun 1996, Jerry Cullingford wrote: > > Jerry asks > > > > > > ObMisty: Do we ever see many farm animals mentioned anywhere? About > > > the only example I can think of is the magicked cow at the end of BTS. > > Dian replied: > > > > I remember the soldiers going out during the mage storms to find the > > children with the sheep. > > > *bangs head on terminal* Of course - I should have remembered that :-). > There's also Talias "silly sheep" song. > There's also the sheep at Van's home, the ones that Withen gets all upset about, because he thinks Mekeal is being a fool. *^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_ Lady Becky, Goddess of Stress & Dry Breakfast Cereals Everybody wants prosthetic forheads on their real heads *They*Might*Be*Giants* ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 09:44:09 -0600 (CST) From: MO9605-+AT+-DSCC.CC.TN.US To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Jewelry Message-ID: <01I61SMOR8MA002N4G-+AT+-DSCC.CC.TN.US> I'm sorry... but due to circumstances beyond my control I have to move again. I am going to be moving to Missouri in a few hours. I thank you all for being so supportive and freindly... funny... and just all around COOL. I AM going to be at the Kansas City Ren-Festival, if anyone is gonna be there.... anyway... I can give my mailing addy because I won't have email for about 3 weeks prolly. well... my old mailing addy... everything will be forwarded. (BTW, Thess... can I be God of New homes... seeing as I've had 3 in the past month) ;-) Well... I fear I must be off... well... physically I mean. Fireheart Le Morgan 417 Avery Dyersburg, TN 38024 Be back soon!!!!! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 11:04:51 -0400 From: Robbie Betts To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Message-ID: >>> Diana L. Heald 06/18/96 10:55am >>> > > I'm so glad you're OK. I know people can talk about saving this or that, but most fires happen when you are asleep or gone. First thought is living things. Most of the rest can be replaced. I used to have a safety deposit box that I stored my pictures and things that couldn't be replaced. I closed it when I thought we were going to move. I think I need to get a safe for these things now. A friend of mine had a floor safe for his life-time's worth of pictures. These memory-joggers are a lot more important than books or CD's. <<< Yes, a *CHEAP* alternative to a safe is an old refrigerator (go to a junkyard) and put things in it. You'd be surprised at how well they will keep things during a fire (everything in the refrigerator was spoiled but it was all still there) because electricity had been cut-off for the firemen, and never was turned back on. I wasn't going to move back to an empty shell... :) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 08:05:02 -0700 (PDT) From: Becky Anne Christensen To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Warning! Message-ID: On Mon, 17 Jun 1996, Chen Chen wrote: All about Good Times This is copied off the net, from a FAQ about good times: Read it, anf forward it to any who you have the impule to send the good times virus warning to. Help stop the madness! :) If you already know the virus is a hoax, jusr delete this, nothing new here. Is the Good Times email virus a hoax? Yes. It's a hoax. America Online, government computer security agencies, and makers of anti-virussoftware have declared Good Times a hoax. Since the hoax began in December of 1994, no copy of the alleged virus has ever been found, nor has there been a single verified case of a viral attack. I'm new to the Internet. What is the Good Times virus hoax? The story is that a virus called Good Times is being carried by email. Just reading amessage with "Good Times" in the subject line will erase your hard drive, or even destroy your computer's processor. Needless to say, it's a hoax, but a lot of people believed it. The original message ended with instructions to "Forward this to all your friends," and many people did just that. Warnings about Good Times have been widely distributed on mailing lists, Usenet newsgroups, and message boards. The original hoax started in early December, 1994. It sprang up again in March of 1995. In mid-April, a new version of the hoax that mentioned a (long since retracted) FCC report began circulating. Worried that Good Times would never go away, I decided to write the FAQ and a separate report that chronicles the hoax's history. What is the effect of the hoax? For those who already know it's a hoax, it's a nuisance to read the repeated warnings. For people who don't know any better, it causes needless concern and lost productivity. The virus hoax infects mailing lists, bulletin boards, and Usenet newsgroups. Worried system administrators needlessly worry their employees by posting dire warnings. The hoax is not limited to the United States. It has appeared in several English-speaking countries. Adam J Kightley (adamjk-+AT+-cogs.susx.ac.uk) said, "The cases of 'infection' I came across all tended to result from the message getting into the hands of senior non-computing personnel. Those with the ability and authority to spread it widely, without the knowledge to spot its nonsensical content." Some of the companies that have reportedly fallen for the hoax include AT&T, CitiBank, NBC, Hughes Aircraft, Texas Instruments, and dozens or hundreds of others. There have been outbreaks at numerous colleges. The U.S. government has not been immune. Some of the government agencies that have reportedly fallen victim to the hoax include the Department of Defense, the FCC, NASA. I've confirmed outbreaks at the Department of Health and Human Services, though they had the good sense to question the hoax, and ask for more information on Usenet. The virus hoax has occasionally escaped into the popular media. ez018982-+AT+-betty.ucdavis.edu reports that on April 4, 1995, during the Tom Sullivan show on KFBK 1530 AM radio in Sacramento, California, a police officer warned listeners not to read email labeled "Good Times", and to report the sender to the police. I've called Business Media Services (916-453-8802) and ordered a tape of the show. .WAV at 11:00. Is an email virus possible? The short answer is no, not the way Good Times was described. The longer answer is that this is a difficult question that's open to nitpicking. Keep three things in mind when considering the question: 1.A virus is computer specific. IBM PC viruses don't affect Macintoshes, and vice versa. That greatly limits the destructive power of viruses. (And notice that none of the Good Times warnings mention which types of computers are affected.) 2.A virus, by definition, can't exist by itself. It must infect an executable program. To transmit a virus by email, someone would have to infect a file and attach the file to the email message. To activate the virus, you would have to download and decode the file attachment, then run the infected program. In that situation, the email message is just a carrier for an infected file, just like a floppy disk carrying an infected file. 3.Some of the situations that people have dreamed up involve Trojan horses rather than viruses. A virus can only exist inside another program, which then automatically infects other programs. A Trojan horse is a program that pretends to do something useful, but instead does something nefarious. Trojans aren't infectious, so they're much less common than viruses. There are some email programs that can be set to automatically download a file attachment, decode it, and execute the file attachment. If you use such a program, you would be well advised to disable the option to automatically execute file attachments. You should, of course, be wary of any file attachments a stranger sends you. At the least, you should check such file attachments for viruses before running them. Was the hoax a sort of virus itself? Yes, but it wasn't a computer virus. It was more like a social virus or a thought virus. When someone on alt.folklore.urban asked if the virus was for real, Clay Shirky (clays-+AT+-panix.com) answered: "Its for real. Its an opportunistic self-replicating email virus which tricks its host into replicating it, sometimes adding as many as 200,000 copies at a go. It works by finding hosts with defective parsing apparatus which prevents them from understanding that a piece of email which says there is an email virus and then asking them to remail the message to all their friends is the virus itself." Shirky eloquently described what a lot of people were thinking. So what is a virus? To a biologist, a virus is a snippet of genetic material that must infect a host organism to survive and reproduce. To be contagious, a virus usually carries instructions that cause the host to engage in certain pathological activities (such as sneezing and coughing) that spread the infection to other organisms. To a computer programmer, a virus is a snippet of computer code that must infect a host program to spread. To be contagious, a computer virus usually causes the host program to engage in certain pathological activities that spread the infection to other programs. From this perspective, it's easy to see the Good Times hoax as a sort of thought virus. To be contagious, a thought virus causes the host to engage in certain pathological activities that spread the infection. In the case of Good Times, the original strain (happy Chanukah) explicitly told people to "forward this to all your friends." The other major viral strain (infinite loop) encourages people to "Please be careful and forward this mail to anyone you care about," and "Warn your friends and local system users of this newest threat to the InterNet!" *^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_*^_ Lady Becky, Goddess of Stress & Dry Breakfast Cereals Everybody wants prosthetic forheads on their real heads *They*Might*Be*Giants* ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 08:26:47 -0700 (PDT) From: David Tiffany To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Baaaaah!/ 10 books/C&W "music" Message-ID: On Sat, 15 Jun 1996 Raingcats-+AT+-aol.com wrote: > And about all this talk of animal husbandry: Whenever I read these posts I'm > constantly reminded of Montana. Isn't Montana supposed to be known for the > frequent trips to the animal's beds? No, that's Wyoming, "Where men are Men and sheep are nervous." Country and Western? I grew up on a farm and I hate it! C&W hates real country folk. If you don't belive me, watch a few episodes of a show called "Hee-Haw" and see the real opinion C&W people have of rural life. Ten books huh? Ok, in no particular order. 1-3) "Lord of the Rings" by JRR Tolkien 4) complete works of Shakespeare 5) "Cities in Flight" by James Blish 6) "Fundamentals of Topology" by Benjamin sims 7) "Silver San Jaun" by Mallory Hope Ferrill 8) "Last Herald Mage" by ..ah you know. 9) "Doctor Who-The Sixties" by Howe, Stammers et.al. 10) "Doctor Who-The Seventies" by Howe, Stammers et.al. Actually, I'd be shoving them out the window for as long as I could. David Tiffany ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 08:57:39 -0700 (PDT) From: David Tiffany To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Good Times! Message-ID: Sorry, couldn't resist. There AIN'T NO SUCH CRITTER! See the FAQ. PK300.ZIP - this one is for real tho. the latest version of pkzip is 2.04g (pkzip204g) and the people who make it are good and PO'ed about this. There is a warning up on thier web page, at least there was 6 weeks ago. OBMisty: Could some nasty create a spell that would spread via mind magic the way the MYTHICAL "good times" virus spreads over email? David Tiffany ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 12:02:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Wildfire To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: New to group with a bunch of replies Message-ID: On Tue, 18 Jun 1996, Amy, Alice, & Jim Trivitt wrote: [chomp] > Wildfire, > I need some information before I can even select a feather jewelry > style for you. Like what are your favorite colors (If you say white I'll > say get rid of the "shoot me now clothes".) and what color is your hair. D'oh! Left this out, did I? Well, I have black hair, and my favorite color is blue, of the darker shade - thing is, I dunno what shade of blue Courtier Blue is... > If it was me I would pick the Bardic, HealerGreen, Cortier Blue, > Royal Purple, and maybe the SwordSworn. But then I like the colors with the > blue tint in it (Rasberry, Wine, Emeralds,etc) and I have dark brown hair > so..... Well, I was kinda interested in what you people'd choose for yourselves, so thanks for the info. Cheers, Wildfire ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 09:12:19 -0700 (PDT) From: David Tiffany To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Lost knowledge. Message-ID: On Tue, 18 Jun 1996, Diana L. Heald wrote: > > Also, since there were no more mages to train, or even recognize, new > mages, it would be too dangerous for them to experiment on their > own. Therefore Vanyel had to make an executive decision that it was > better not to have mages than to have half-trained or badly-trained Just to play Devil's Advocate here-But couldn't the oh-so-powerful Vanyel spirt have set up a spell to bring potential mages to him in Sorrows so that he could train them instead of playing games with peoples minds? David Tiffany ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 09:20:56 -0700 (PDT) From: David Tiffany To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Southern Baptists/Arizona/Logical Thinking Message-ID: On Tue, 18 Jun 1996 Seranna-+AT+-aol.com wrote: > heard) was that they were going to wait for a year before starting the > boycott. Supposedly to give Disney time to REPENT. Disney so far has said > ''. This is causing me all sorts of problems. I've been boycotting Disney since they pulled the video of "Lady and the Tramp" off the market, causing me to break a promise to my (then) three year old daughter to get it for her for christmas. I may have to start buying their stuff again now. > kidding. It was on our news) First homosexuals, then Jews, next? Probably Anglicans, Romans, Greeks and other catholics. OBMisty: There are no differing interpetations of the Star-Eyed's religion! David Tiffany ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 09:26:43 -0700 From: hirschco-+AT+-ix.netcom.com (Farrin) To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Please help re: feather jewelry Message-ID: <199606181626.JAA04056-+AT+-dfw-ix1.ix.netcom.com> >Wildfire wrote: >> Herald White: White satin cord, pure white feathers, and white or frosted >> beads. >> Ceremonial White: White and silver satin cord, pure white feathers, and >> silver beads. >> Bardic Scarlet: Scarlet and gold satin cord, red feathers, and gold beads. >> Sword Sworn Black: Black and gold satin cord, pure black feathers, and >> gold beads. >> Healer Green: Forest green and gold satin cord, green feathers, and gold >> beads. >> Courtier Blue: Blue and silver satin cord, blue feathers, and silver beads. >> Sun Kindler Gold: Black satin cord, gold feathers, and silver beads. >> Royal Purple: Purple satin cord, purple feathers, and silver beads. >> Hawkbrother: Brown suede thong with wooden beads and pheasant feathers. I've seen the Scarlet and they are very pretty, but certainly live up to their name. That is one bright red! Not a good choice if you are a redhead, but would work with almost any other haircolor. AliFarr ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 09:44:34 -0700 From: hirschco-+AT+-ix.netcom.com (Farrin) To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Of sheep and cows... :) Message-ID: <199606181644.JAA02572-+AT+-dfw-ix2.ix.netcom.com> > >> On Sat, 15 Jun 1996, Lady 'Reesa wrote: >> >> > No, you don't have to bow unless I go into formal mode. By The Way >> > people, taxes are due, and it doesn't matter what country you live in. I am >> > Queen of Everything, so you still owe. I like chocolate. And sheep... >> > Oops, I forgot, I wasn't going to mention them again. > > >Here's my contribution: One unsweetened, so dark as to be black, chocolate lamb. If I have to pay taxes, I shan't sugar coat them :) AliFarr ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 09:58:57 -0700 From: "Amy, Alice, & Jim Trivitt" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Lost Knowledge Message-ID: <9606181658.AA05572-+AT+-mail.coos.or.us> I thought the knowledge about magic was "lost" so that Valdemar wouldn't have to depend on the Herald-Mages. Vanyel was beating his head against the wall before his final strike trying to convince the people and the Heralds that magic doesn't solve everything and that "normal" gifts most times could solve the problem better. It's really sad when an organization (using the term loosely) like the Heralds depend on just one part of it like the mages to solve all of it's problems. In away it was good that the knowledge was lost because the descendants of the people during Vanyel's time didn't have anything to impede their learning. It was like giving the Heralds a chance to start over in their development of training of the gifts, etc. I agree that "Suppress knowlede for their own good crap" (quoting Kerry) isn't neccessarily a good thing but the knowledge was there the whole time. The Heralds just weren't looking at the right places like in the right frame of mind (like in D. Eddings Mallorean the information about Zandramas and the next part of the quest was there in front of Belgarath and Belgarion the whole time they just weren't in the right frame of mind.) I don't think that Elspeth would have gone without training for long though Roland and Gwena were already planning something right after Ancar's attack on Talia. And I think Vanyel was already watching out for her when Elspeth helped Dirk fetch Talia. Amy I could go on and on about this. ------------------------------ End of MERCEDES-LACKEY Digest 625 *********************************