Whoever decided to create this note and forward it on should receive some type of humanitarian award. It says it all!
1. Big companies don't do business via chain letters. Bill Gates is not giving
you $1000, and Disney is not giving you a free vacation. There is no baby food
company issuing class-action checks. Procter and Gamble is not part of a satanic
cult or scheme, and its logo is not satanic. MTV will not give you backstage
passes if you forward something to the most people. You can relax; there is no
need to pass it on "just in case it's true". Furthermore, just because someone
said in a 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.
4. 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 chainletter?
5. You should never, ever, ever forward
any email containing any virus warning unless you first confirm that an actual
site of an actual company that actually deals with viruses. Try:
http://www.trend.com
And even then, don't forward it. We don't care. And you cannot get a virus from
a flashing IM or email, you have to download....ya know, like, a FILE!
6. There is no gang initiation plot to murder any motorist who flashes
headlights at another car driving at night without lights.
7. 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.
8. 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 mon ths.
It sure wouldn't hurt to get rid of all the ">" that begin each line either.
Besides, if it has gone a
round that
many times we've probably already seen it.
9. Craig Shergold (or Sherwood, or Sherman, etc.) in England is not dying of
cancer or anything else at
this time and would like everyone to stop sending him their business cards.
He apparently is no longer
a
"little boy" either.
10. The "Make a Wish" foundation is a real organization doing fine work, but
they have had to establish a
special toll free hot line in response to the large number of Internet
hoaxes using their good name and
reputation. It is distracting them from the important work they do.
11. If you are one of those insufferable idiots who forwards anything that
"promises" something bad will
happen if you "don't," then something bad will happen to you if I ever meet you
in a dark alley.
12. Women really are suffering in Afghanistan, and PBS and NEA funding are still
vulnerable to attack (although not at the present time) but forwarding an e-mail
won't help either cause in the least. If you want to help, contact your local
legislative representative, or get in touch with Amnesty Internationa l or the
Red Cross. As a general rule, e-mail "signatures" are easily faked and mean
nothing to anyone with any power to do anything about whatever the competition
is complaining about.
(P.S.: There is no bill pending before Congress that will allow
long-distance companies to charge you
for
using the Internet.)
Bottom Line... composing e-mail or posting something on the Net is as easy
as writing on the walls of
a
public restroom. Don't automatically believe it. Until it's proven false...
ASSUME it's false, unless
there
is proof that it's true.
Now, forward this message to ten friends, and you will win the Publishers
Clearing House sweepstakes.
My email answer to chain letters etc.
Linear Mode
