Re: Diversionary tactics

[mmaynard@mail.utexas.edu (Michele Maynard)]

Okay, now my curiousity is aroused.  Why would Sun Microsystems donate money 
to charity simply because someone sends an e-mail message?  Is this some way 
of amassing some huge e-mail address list so they can bombard us with 
advertising? (Sorry, I know this sounds like paranoia, but I'm, uh, paranoid.)




On December 15 Neal Lerner wrote:

>WC Folk,
>
>Below is a message sent to me that I thought I'd pass on, perhaps as a 
>means of diverting us from current discussions of flame v. noflame, 
>newbies v. oldbies, technophobes v. technogurus, free time v. no time.
>
>Have a wonderful holiday all.
>
>	Neal Lerner
>	Boston University
>	nlerner@acs.bu.edu
>
>> > Subject: Spread the word...
>> > 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > Sun Microsystems is donating $0.10 to a food bank each time an Internet
>> > user sends an email msg to any (or all) of the three addresses below:
>> > 
>> >    santa@north.pole.org
>> >    elves@north.pole.org
>> >    rudolph@north.pole.org
>> > 
>> > Doesn't matter what the msg contains; it could be an empty msg, full of
>> > invisible holiday spirit. Pick your favorite and send email there a few
>> > times. If *everyone* on the net were to BCC all three addresses with every
>> > msg they posted to a list for one day, the counter would top out almost
>> > instantly, so this is like a weird and wonderful test of Mass Human 
Kindness.
>> > 
>> > You can do your part to help big fat international corporations make
>> > good on their Promises of donations to charities. It only takes 250,000
>> > msgs to reach the $25,000 Sun promised to donate to a Bay Area food bank
>> > for homeless families. Other corporations are donating to selected causes,
>> > including a banking firm in Washington DC that will donate up to $5,000 to
>> > the Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage (only 50,000 msgs...li'l baby
>> > birdies...furry baby rabbits... c'MON now! :)
>> > 
>> > Other corporations are participating too: any firms wishing to add matching
>> > funds should contact Luther Brown at <elfmaster@north.pole.org>. The
>> > announcement's in the Dec 94 Advanced Systems magazine (pg 22). Who knows,
>> > someday you might see companies all across the globe donating part of their
>> > obscene profits to children's charities in Sarajevo, San Francisco, Manila,
>> > Mogadishu, Bombay, Moscow, Port-au-Prince, Bucharest, Shanghai, Rio de
>> > Janeiro... everywhere Santa stops in.
>> > 
>> > Remember: any user can send multiple msgs, so please be counted at least
>> > _once_, OK? There are not many such opportunities to directly affect
>> > something with your computer, and it doesn't take the Compassion of
>> > Siddhartha to see what's good about putting food in the mouths of little
>> > children with no home, wherever they are.
>> > 
>> > 
>> 
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Michele Maynard
Assistant Director, Undergraduate Writing Center
University of Texas at Austin
mmaynard@mail.utexas.edu
http://www.utexas.edu/depts/uwc/.html/main.html