Trojan Horse Warning

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

To: Hector

 Fwd From: Laocoon

 Subject: WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

 IF YOU RECEIVE A GIFT IN THE SHAPE OF A LARGE WOODEN HORSE DO
 NOT DOWNLOAD IT!!!! It is EXTREMELY DESTRUCTIVE and will
 overwrite your ENTIRE CITY!

 The "gift" is disguised as a large wooden horse about two
 stories tall. It tends to show up outside the city gates and
 appears to be abandoned. DO NOT let it through the gates! It
 contains hardware that is incompatible with Trojan programming,
 including a crowd of heavily armed Greek warriors that will
 destroy your army, sack your town, and kill your women and
 children.

 If you have already received such a gift, DO NOT OPEN IT! Take
 it back out of the city unopened and set fire to it by the
 beach. FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!
 Poseidon

 ******************************

 To: Laocoon
 From: Hector
 RE: Greeks bearing gifts

 I hate to break to you, but this is one of the oldest hoaxes
 there is. I've seen variants on this warning come through on
 other listservs, one involving some kind of fruit that was
 supposed to kill the people who ate it and one having to do with
 something called the "Midas Touch".
 Here are a few tip-offs that this is a hoax:

 1) This "Forward this message to everyone you know" business. If
 it were really meant as a warning about the Greek army, why tell
 anyone to post it to the Phoenicians, Sumerians, and Cretans?

 2) Use of exclamation points. Always a giveaway.

 3) It's signed "from Poseidon". Granted he's had his problems
 with Odysseus but he's one of their guys, isn't he? Besides, the
 lack of a real header with a detailed address makes me
 suspicious.

 4) Technically speaking, there is no way for a horse to
 overwrite your entire city. A horse is just an animal, after
 all.

 Next time you get a message like this, just delete it. I
 appreciate your concern, but once you've been around the block a
 couple times you'll realize how annoying this kind of stuff is.

 Bye now,

 Hector

–
Teeming Millions: http://fathom.org/teemingmillions
“Meat flaps, yellow!” - DrainBead, naked co-ed Twister chat
O p a l C a t
www.opalcat.com

2

Greek soldiers do not overwrite a city and kill women and children. They rape the women and enslave the children, you silly goose.

I never could get the hang of Thursdays. - Arthur Dent

3

A thousand pardons, and far be it for me, of all people, to divert a perfectly good thread, especially where Trojans are concerned, but I must ask about this name . . . “agisofia”??

Am I in the presence of the ‘Divine Wisdom’ of Byzantium, or is the reference to Constantinople merely coincidence?

I realize I’m prying out of context and without due precedent, but yer screen name left me thunderstruck fer a moment there, and yer reference to the Greeks would tend to preclude sympathy for Justinian . . .

Just asking . . . And shutting up now . . .
Dr. Watson
“The best way to keep your subjects from doubting you is to look sure, regardless of whether you are.”
– Justinian II

4
      • I thought it was " -rob the people and rape the cattle"? - MC