'73s - de Chuck / N9RZV

called, apparently makes people believe and  forward copies of silly
hoaxes relating to cookie recipes,  e-mail viruses, taxes on modems,
and get-rich-quick schemes.
  "These are not just readers of tabloids or people who buy lottery
tickets based on fortune cookie numbers," a spokesman said. "Most
are otherwise normal people, who would laugh at the same stories  if
told to them by a stranger on a street corner." However, once  these
same people become infected with the Gullibility Virus,  they believe
anything they read on the Internet.
  "My immunity to tall tales and bizarre claims is all gone,"  reported
one weeping victim. "I believe every warning message and  sick child
story my friends forward to me, even though most of  the messages are
anonymous."   Another victim, now in remission, added, "When I first
heard  about Good Times, I just accepted it without question. After all,

there were dozens of other recipients on the mail header, so I  thought
the virus must be true." It was a long time, the victim  said, before
she
could stand up at a Hoaxes Anonymous meeting and  state, "My name
is Jane, and I've been hoaxed." Now, however, she  is spreading the
word. "Challenge and check whatever you read,"  she says.
  Internet users are urged to examine themselves for symptoms of  the
virus, which include the following:
   the willingness to believe improbable stories without thinking;
   the urge to forward multiple copies of such stories to others;
   and a lack of desire to take three minutes to check to see if a story
is
true
   T. C. is an example of someone recently infected. He told one
reporter, "I read on the Net that the major ingredient in almost  all
shampoos makes your hair fall out, so I've stopped using  shampoo."
When told about the Gullibility Virus, T. C. said he  would stop
reading e-mail, so that he would not become infected.
   Anyone with symptoms like these is urged to seek help
immediately. Experts recommend that at the first feelings of
gullibility, Internet users rush to their favorite search engine  and
look
up the item tempting them to thoughtless credence. Most  hoaxes,
legends, and tall tales have been widely discussed and  exposed by the
Internet community.
   Courses in critical thinking are also widely available, and there  is

on-line help from many sources, including
   Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability at
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
     Symantec Anti Virus Research Center at
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html
     McAfee Associates Virus Hoax List at
 http://www.mcafee.com/support/hoax.asp
     Dr. Solomon's Hoax Page at
http://www.drsolomons.com/vircen/vanalyse/va005.html
     The Urban Legends Archive at
         http://www.urbanlegends.com
     Urban Legends Reference Pages at
         http://www.snopes.com
     Datafellows Hoax Warnings at
http://www.Europe.Datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm
   Those people who are still symptom free can help inoculate
themselves against the Gullibility Virus by reading some good
material on evaluating sources, such as
   Evaluating Internet Research Sources at
http://www.sccu.edu/faculty/R_Harris/evalu8it.htm
     Evaluation of Information Sources at
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~agsmith/evaln/evaln.htm
     Bibliography on Evaluating Internet Resources at
http://refserver.lib.vt.edu/libinst/critTHINK.HTM
   Lastly, as a public service, Internet users can help stamp out  the
Gullibility Virus by sending copies of this message to anyone  who
forwards them a hoax.

The station will be manned by local hams & will operate 40, 20 & 15
meter bands. The station will be battery powered, with the charging
circuit on steam power. This will be a lot of fun and a chance to work
stations throughout the nation & world. A certificate will be available
on request by contacting stations. The station call will be K9S and the
phonetics will be King Nine Steam.

If you are interested in operating, please call Jim Jones, NG9E, at
815.844.5657 to schedule your operating time(s). We will have
openings each day from 1500 to 2200Z each day of the event.

Meanwhile, in 1989 Japanese retailers and banks switched over to a
new year-numbering '''era" after Emperor Hirohito died, and many
used the occasion to update their computers to handle four- digit years
instead of the two-digit years at the root of the problem. One potential

laggard in Asia: the Chinese airlines industry, which seems not that
concerned about the glitch. These nuggets come from a new global
survey by Merrill Lynch & Co. The 439-page report suggests that
many companies are taking aggressive steps to combat the Y2K
problem and there is no need to worry about a computer Armageddon.

215 AMATEURS
ATTEND FEST
Central Illinois Radio Club Host To Well Known Operators

 The Central Illinois: Radio Club held its second: annual
hamfest Sunday at the Bloomington Country club with an attendance
of 215. Visitors were present from Chicago, Davenport, Indianapolis,
St. Louis and Hannibal as well as from many near by towns. Many
nationally known amateurs attended.
Registration and a hidden transmitter contest were on the morning
program. J. J. Hamm, club president, extended greetings to visitors at
the beginning: of the afternoon program. Russell Plank, of Peoria
talked on antenna design. J. H. Smith, club activities manager, called
on several amateur operators for brief talks and managed the afternoon
contests. John Wallace  of Chicago conducted a ham forum.
 Mrs. Herman Ling and Miss Ruth Bitting were in charge of a
program of games for the women who attended. Tentative plans were
made in a special meeting of delegates from other radio club as to
possible ways of reducing the number of hamfests.
 Lew Pirkey of Elllsworth was toastmaster at the dinner served
at 7 p.m. Mayor Lewis F. Wellmerling gave a welcoming talk in
which he invited everyone to attend the hamfest again next year. Lee
Alverson and Henry Klaus of Peoria were other after dinner speakers.

News for the members of CIRC

I thought this needed to go out right away.
1.  Next month’s meeting will have a attenuator construction party as
its main focus. Those of you who told Jim they wanted to build the
attenuators should bring money to the meeting to pay for the parts.
Don’t forget to fireproof your fingers if you have a tendency to pick up
the wrong end of the soldering iron.

2. WACC (Wheeling Around Corn Country) is coming up. Jerry Erb of the
McLean County Wheelers gave a presentation at the meeting on this year’s
WACC. He thanked us and pointed out that Hams were the first to report
the accidents which required medical attention last year. In fact, one
of the hams, Dr.  Zehr - AA9LC  not only reported the second injury but
provided diagnosis, first treatment and transportation for the injured
individual. We were needed and appreciated.
The only comment from riders concerned the fact that for the most part
we were so unobtrusive that they said they hadn’t seen us on the course.
I believe this may be a reason to get a jacket and wear it or display it
proudly.
The praise of last year’s participation was followed by an earnest plea
for our help this year. We are invited to help, attend the all you can
eat dinner at Eureka, and are promised commemorative T-shirts or ball
caps. Please sign up by getting your name and any time period of the
weekend you would prefer to your club officers as soon as possible.

3. In light of the comment above, those of you who do not have jackets,
it’s a good reason to place an order right now. If enough want them it
should be easy to get another order processed in time. The silk screen
has been made.

Please pass this on to all the members you come in contact with. It
really is a relatively small percentage of the membership list that I
have email addresses for. Also a number of those I had email addresses
for have changed providers and not reported it to me. I know, you
wouldn’t be getting this if you were one of those. Just thought you
could remind your friends.