From: Jeff Bone (jbone@jump.net)
Date: Wed Aug 30 2000 - 22:56:51 PDT
I was just razzing you --- just a few days ago I got this same thing written up as an "Aggie
Virus." In Texas, particularly among UT folks, Aggies (i.e. folks from Texas A&M) are generally
held to be these sort of dopey hicks, and Aggie Jokes are just a variation on the age-old ethnic
group jokes. (Think Polish Jokes, or whatever.) The schtick is that the CS dept. at A&M are so
dumb that this is the best kind of virus they can come up with.
I've also seen a version of this thing cast as the "Linux Honor Virus," the schtick being that since
Linux is so virus-resistant this is the only instantiation that works on that kind of platform.
It's quite a funny joke, actually, and its mutability is a credit to how deep the joke really goes.
Prions are little bits of protein that are themselves "infectious" in some sense; think even
simpler than viruses. There's some notion that prions may in fact be responsible for certain kinds
of mental illness; that's a scary thought, mental illness as an infectious disease. Memes can be a
little bit like prions, IMO. (Side note: Mad Cow Disease is known to be prion-based.)
:-)
jb
cdale@silly.techmonkeys.net wrote:
> Well, I'd never seen it, so it never existed till then. (: Laughed my
> ass off thinking about people who'd actually do it. What's a prion? (:
> Cindy
>
> "A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity."
> -- Robert Frost
>
> On Wed, 30 Aug 2000, Jeff Bone wrote:
>
> >
> > Dude, this meme is already so out of date that it's already mutated into an "Aggie Joke." I'm
> > sure, presumably not being from Texas, that you can't understand how totally *low* and
> > mainstreamed that means, but trust me: this one's dead.
> >
> > We've all received a non-viable virus.
> >
> > Now, what about prions?
> >
> > ;-)
> >
> > jb
> >
> >
> > cdale@silly.techmonkeys.net wrote:
> >
> > > "A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity."
> > > -- Robert Frost
> > >
> > > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > > Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 18:41:45 EDT
> > > Subject: new computer virus
> > >
> > > You have just received the Goober Computer Virus.
> > >
> > > Because we don't know how to program computers, this virus works on
> > > the honor system. Please delete all the files on your hard drive
> > > manually and forward this message to everyone on your mailing list.
> > >
> > > Thank you for your cooperation.
> >
> >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Aug 30 2000 - 23:06:42 PDT