RECENT INTERNET dis- patches from the digital fron- tier — witness an urban myth in the making: Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy Subject: Birmingham Black Choppers Date: 9 Nov. 1994 On Saturday I was driving down the interstate toward the air- port, and I saw five black chop- . pers hovering above the city. There is an air force base at the Birmingham airport and I decided to drive down there for a look. To my surprise I noticed the whole fleet of heavy and light choppers painted black! Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy Subject: Helicopter Question Date: 12 Nov. 94 Calf me crazy, but are heli- copters allowed to fly at night over a large city without lights on? I was walking home a cou- . ple of nights ago around 9:30 p.m. . and a helicopter flew directly overkead with no lights on what- scever. This was in Canada so I don't ‘know what regs are in the states but I thought this was generally discouraged so nasty things like mid-air pile-ups don’t happen. Newsgroups: al:.folklore.urban ‘~' Subject: Re: Black Helicopters ‘Date: 12 Nov. 1994 . - ~The Globe and Mail noted the other day that a new UL (urban legend) is brewing, concerning a ’ rash of sightings of “mysterious _black helicopters,” leading many to fear that there is some kind of plot to take over the U.S. - Has anyone heard anything > about this? i. ‘- Hop on over to alt.conspiracy. - -On any given day there will be ‘approximately five to 10 postings about black helicopter sightings a4 and five to 10 more speculating on what they are doing. Several loonie theories are pop- ular: @ they are UN troops training to take over the U.S.A. and put “dis- sidents” in concentration camps. The camps are already set up in Indiana and North Dakota; @ they are troops training for urban assault and riot control; @ they are (insert U.S. govern- ment agency here) hit squads moving around the country in order to suppress the evidence that the U.S. government is run by/has access to/is in league with extraterrestrial aliens. In other words, they are transports for The Men In Black. I think they’re Canadians! eeaqo Newsgroups: alt folktore.urban Subject: Re: Black Helicopters Date: 13 Nov, 1994 The Globe and Mail noted the other day that a new urban legend is brewing, concerning a rash of sightings of “mysterious black helicopters,” leading many to fear that there is some kind of plot to take over the U.S.! I see this just about every day in lower Manhattan. They’re a close match to a military model I've seen film clips of, they're black and they have no identifying - markings that I can see. I see them going north (and then south) over the Hudson river past the World Trade/Financial centers. Looks like plain ordinary training flights, but I have to admit that they are menacing-looking aircraft. Maybe they’re carrying NYC sewer alligators up to Toronto to barter for Molson’s, Newsgroups: alt.cyberspace Subject: Digital Truth Date: 11 Nov, 1994 What will be the consequences of illusion becoming dominant when technology increases to the extent (if it has not already) that we can not differentiate reality from fantasy? Newly arrived Netizens are inevitably overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information avail- able on the Internet. The size of the Internet is said to double every year. Today it is estimated to link more than 25 million users who access three million computers throughout approximately 150 countries. In just five years from now Vint Cerf, an original developer of the Internet, forecasts 500 million Internet users logged on to 100 million computers around the world. A new resource guide just pub- lished by Coriolis Group Books, Free $tuff From the Internet, by Patrick Vincent, offers a broad listing of neat places to go for lots of goadies. The guide opens with a handy overview and description of some of the tools most commonly used to navigate and interact on the net- work. ; In plain language, the book tells you how to get to some great resources. Oo The value of a book like this is in the savings to be had by reduc- ing the amount of “surfing” time that a user is connected to the Internet. oo These are direct plug-ins to some fun stuff. Free $tuff From the Internet is listed at $26.99. 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