PLEASE READ THIS ABOUT HOAXES I received this in an e-mail Whoever decided to create this note and forward it should get 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". CAUSE IT AIN"T. 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. People lie to pump up the believeability of a lie/hoax. CHECK IT OUT BEFORE FORWARDING. 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, see Urban Legends 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. Nieman 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 disasters DID contain plutonium that was blown into particulate matter over the eastern seaboard, do you REALLY think this information would reach the public via an AOL chain letter? 5. 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 with an actual site of an actual company that actually deals with viruses. Try: http://www.symantec.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.... a FILE! 6. There is no gang initiation plot to murder any motorist who flashes headlights at another car driving at night without lights. There is not one case of someone placing a needle with HIV on it under the handle at the gas pump. 7. 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. 8. 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. 9. 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. Fowarding e-amils get them nothing but headaches, so stop. 10. 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. 11. 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 International 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.) 12. There is no bill in Congress to allow the Post Office to charge for e-mail either. And if there ever is it will not have a number like P402, all bills carry numbers like HR324 or S343. 13. Microsoft, Disney, Victoria's Secret, IBM, Bill Gates, The GAP, or anyother companys are not giving away stuff for free for forwarding E-Mail, No company is giving money to charity for e-mails either. There is no way for anyone to count the number of copies of an email in circulation on the internet, nor to count the number of times something has been forwarded. Email systems are like blind, deaf mute postal workers, who process mail by feel. Furthermore, they are all forbidden to try and communicate with each other, and even if they didn't, they all dislike each other anyway. Tracking a message through such a system would be practically impossible. 14. No cute little programs are going to pop up and run on your computer for "forwarding an e-mail to 15 people", etc. Bottom Line... use some common sense, 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 true... ASSUME it's false, unless there is proof that it's true. Check it out! Now forward this to everyone you know or the program I just put on your hard drive while you read this E-mail will open up your CD-ROM and reach out and slap you upside the head. My Thanks to whoever put this together ADDED NOTE by ME, Billy Eaton: I have contacted Microsoft, The Gap, Disney, IBM and others about the so called give aways after I received those e-mails and each one said "no way would we do business that way even if you could track the e-mail". I have also contacted or tried to contact some of the people who "put their name, office, phone, etc" at the end of e-mail to make it look more real. Most of the numbers are fake, in some cases they are real but the people are not and in a lot of cases the whole thing is fake. I have even called phone numbers that have been listed and if I was able to get someone, they knew nothing about the story. Most of the time the numbers were fake, like the whole message. But it looks impressive to see something like; Dr Bunk, M.D., Super Hospital, Boston, MS 32459, Phone... Fax..., etc on the e-mail. Don't fall for it. It is easy to check these things out either by contacting the companies involved or by going to my link page and clicking on "Computer Hoaxes". You can also find all kinds of good information at some of the links above on my page: Before sending out false information please check it out first. There is an e-mail going around about a virus in the e-mail. It tells you to check your computer for it as Norton won't pick it up. Well the reason Norton won't pick it up is because it is a Windows Program .EXE file. I don't remember what it is right now but you can find out about it on one of the links above. Hold the hoaxes and pass the JOKES and e-mails about what's going on in your life, please.