Hey Hector, This was forwarded to me by
Cassandra--it looks legit. Please distribute to Priam, Hecuba, and your 99 siblings.
Thanks,
Laocoon
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.
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
tipoffs that this is a hoax:
1) This "Forward this message to
everyone you know" crap. If it were really meant as a warning about the Greek army,
why tell anyone to post it to the Phoenecians, 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.
