When Apples Ruled

From: subspecies23@aol.comyourmom (SubSpecies23)
Date: Thu, Sep 4, 2003

On one episode of "Courage the Cowardly Dog," the computer gets a virus, and
begins rapidly showing a series of images and error messages and stuff like
that, and one says "6 x 4 = Bob."

<< San Francisco Examiner: February 11, 1988 page A-1

Computer pranksters plant 'virus' in Macs
By John Markoff

A computer "virus" designed by adherents to a loose-knit
philosophy called the Church of the SubGenius is creating an
uproar on the nation's largest computer-information system, whose
managers fear the bug may cause widespread destruction.
The bug's designers, however, say they intended to spread a
message of good will with their virus, a small software program
that automatically spreads itself from computer to computer. It
is aimed at Macintosh personal computers.
The virus, designed to simply display an unexpected message on
a computer's screen, has not actually caused any damage. In fact,
it won't flash on any screens until March 2. Still, it angers
Macintosh users, who fear the damage a less-benign but similar
program could cause.
The programmers, who publish a magazine called MacMag in
Montreal, said they had launched the virus in December. So far,
the program has spread to Europe and the West Coast, as well as to
Apple Computer in Cupertino.

The Church of the SubGenius is an ill-defined group of sometime
pranksters that began in Texas as, in the words of one writer, a
"monotheistic new-UFO cult in the 1950s" and has become a
"polytheistic grab-bag in the 1980s."
In other words, said David Spector, a New York University
programmer whose computer was infected by the virus, "They're a
bunch of high-tech looney-tunes. It's a loose club that is
something out of 'Zippy the Pinhead.'"

In recent months the specter of destructive software viruses
has sparked nationwide debate because of the vulnerability of
computers to invasion. Several malicious viruses that destroy
computer data have been discovered in U.S. universities and
corporations and in Israel. Personal computers are particularly
vulnerable because they lack even the most rudimentary security
mechanisms.

Compuserve, a computer-information service based in Columbus,
Ohio, provides more than 50,000 PC users with electronic mail,
news and bulletin boards for hobbyists. The virus got into
Compuserve through an infected file placed on one of the bulletin
boards, creating a booby trap for other subscribers. When they
transferred the file to their computers, the virus came with it.

Neil Shapiro, moderator of Compuserve's Macintosh user group,
has posted a warning about the virus.

"Do not use the [program] 'Newapp.stk' which was online here
for about 24 hours," the message said. "It will mess up your
system with unknown results."

Computserve officials would not comment.

Shapiro said Wednesday that he and several other programmers
had spent two "horror-filled" days trying to understand the
program.
"I'm aghast anyone in the Macintosh community would do anything
like this," he said. "A lot of people think that doing something
like this is heroic, but it really isn't. It's an insidious way
of breaking into somebody's property."
However, one of the bug's designers said the virus was an
"artistic" act intended to celebrate the introduction of the Apple
Macintosh computer.
Peter Lount, a director of MacMag, said he and Richard Brandow,
the magazine's publisher, had designed the virus to spread a
"peaceful message" through the Macintosh community.
Lount said the virus was a "neoist" act that fit with the
philosophy of the Church of the SubGenius.
"It's really interesting: this is madly, wildly distributing
itself," he said. "We're trying to show that you can use the
Macintosh to reach millions of people."
Kevin Kelley, an editor of the Whole Earth Review, a Sausalito
magazine, said the Church of the SubGenius had begun as a spoof on
fundamentalist religions but later had taken on aspects of a
religious cult in its own right. Its founder, a shadowy Texan
named J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, died in 1985.
Fred Cohen, a University of Cincinnati computer scientist,
warned that while the MacMag virus might appear harmless, the
potential for great damage was real.
A trivial modification of the program could make it "incredibly
destructive" to information stored on a computer's disks, Cohen
said.
Spector, the New York programmer, said he had discovered the
program in his Macintosh Tuesday.
"I was really frightened last night at 1 or 2 in the morning
when I discovered that thing was living in my system," he said.
Spector said he eventually had determined the virus was
designed to do something on March 2.
Once the virus infects a Macintosh, Lount said, it will sit
unnoticed inside the computer's operating system until March 2.
When someone uses the computer on March 2, it will display this
message: "Richard Brandow, publisher of MacMag, and its entire
staff would like to take this opportunity to convey their
universal message of peace to all Macintosh users around the
world." The next day, the program will destroy itself.
>><BR><BR>

------------------------------------
"Men: The gender that realizes we are all nothing but hairless apes."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "ghost" <ghost@ghost.net>

"SubSpecies23" <subspecies23@aol.comyourmom> wrote in message
news:20030904161201.16430.00000474@mb-m02.aol.com...
(snip)
" Kevin Kelley, an editor of the Whole Earth Review, a Sausalito magazine,
said the Church of the SubGenius had begun as a spoof on fundamentalist
religions but later had taken on aspects of a religious cult in its own
right."

And this is a bad thing?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Unclaimed Mysteries <k4doh@mindspring.com>

The Church of the Subgenius is a spoof of a cult that began as a spoof
on fundamentalist religions but had later taken on aspects of a
religious cult in its own right. Is that clear enough?

But the Church of the Subgenius is also an if-it-feels-good-overdo-it
movement to promote the beneficial effects of BOWLING LIKE UNTO HOWARD
SPRAGUE.

And something to do with lemurs, on specially marked boxes.

Corry

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "ghost" <ghost@ghost.net>

Jeez, now I'm glad I schismed early and often... bowling, you say?

Up one level
Back to document index

Original file name: Re- When Apples Ruled.txt - converted on Saturday, 25 September 2004, 02:05