By the gods, how to spot the prank e-mails:

[NeilV]

> Hey Hector,
>
> This was forwarded to me by Cassandra--it looks
legit. Please
> distribute to Priam, Hecuba, and your 99 siblings.
>
> Thanks,
> Laocoon
>
> TO: Trojan Army Listserv
> RE: WARNING!! BEWARE GREEKS BEARING GIFTS!
>
> 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

Dearest Laocoon :

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" stuff. If it were
really meant as a warning about the Greek army, why tell anyone to
post it to the Phonecians, 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

[Son of Moose]

NeilV:

Very good!!! An extremely neat play on the concept of a Trojan Horse.

[buckylarue]

Thanks for the good laugh tonight!!!

[googoo]

so Poseidan knows how to send emails now? Those gods will never stop with their petty torments.

[Bugsy]

LOL!! I love it, and am going to forward it to everyone I know on pogo. ARGH but those people loooove to send crap along! No one ever doubts the validity of it either. I've had to block people from mailing me, cause they would get one, and send it to all their friends, and their friends would send it back, cause it said to...(lol), and then they would send it on again. I got the same freakin' email twenty-seven times. I was ticked. And why is it they get offended when you point out it's a hoax?

[Son of Moose]

Bugsy:

I got the same freakin' email twenty-seven times. I was ticked.

Now that can be singularly annoying!! However, it does show that you have a lot of friends!!!