Fun_People Archive
28 Mar
Cults, UFO's, and Web Developers Digest (several articles)

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 97 15:32:48 -0800
To: Fun_People
Subject: Cults, UFO's, and Web Developers Digest (several articles)

[In case you've been off-ploanet or hiding under your bed for the last few  
days... -psl]

Forwarded-by: dawson@world.std.com (Keith Dawson)
Forwarded-by: Keith Bostic <bostic@bostic.com>
Forwarded-by: HawkeWerks Multimedia <hawke@hawkewerks.com>
From: CNN: http://www.cnn.com/US/9703/27/suicide.update.am/index.html

39 die in apparent mass suicide near San Diego

Source: Group described intentions in videotape

RANCHO SANTA FE, California (CNN) -- The bodies of 39 men and women were
found Wednesday in a Southern California mansion occupied by a
quasi-religious group of computer programmers, and deputies described
their deaths as a mass suicide.

The group sent two farewell videotapes that described their intentions to
commit suicide to a former member, said Nick Matzorkis, a Beverly Hills
businessman who employs the former member.

Matzorkis told NBC's "Today" show that members believed it was time to
"shed their containers," perhaps to rendezvous with a UFO they believed
was traveling behind the Hale-Bopp comet.

The victims were all reported to be between 18 and 24 years old and were
found in various rooms of the home in Rancho Santa Fe, an exclusive
community about 20 miles (32 km) north of San Diego.

"They're dressed similarly, all lying in a prone position, hands at their
side as if asleep," said Cmdr.  Alan Fulmer of the San Diego County
Sheriff's Department. He said the victims were wearing dark pants and
tennis shoes, and there were no signs of trauma or blood.

The numerical breakdown of women and men was not available early Thursday,
Fulmer said.

He would not disclose how the victims may have died or how long the bodies
had been at the house.  Authorities were not releasing victims' names,
pending the notification of relatives.

The Sheriff's Department received an anonymous phone call at midafternoon
from someone who said there had been a mass suicide and provided the
address of the mansion.

An attorney for the homeowner, Sam Koutchessahani, said his client rented
the mansion in October 1996 to what he described as a religious group.

Fulmer said there were no religious artifacts found near the bodies, and
the corpses did not appear to be arranged in any ritual manner.

....

Several rooms in the house contained computers; members told [real estate
agent] Warren they were developing World Wide Web pages.

"They kept referring to the temple as very self-sufficient and how proud
they were," said Bob Dyson, owner of the real estate agency. "It was very
clean and neat. A lot of bunk beds, and they referred to each other as
brother and sister."

=============================================================================

Forwarded-by: dawson@world.std.com (Keith Dawson)

Just heard on NPR that their Web design company was called
Higher Source and they were Christian-oriented. The company
is at <http://www.highersource.com/>, but it's refusing con-
nections now. Wonder why. Can you say "flash crowd?" This is
the first returned hit from HotBot:

1. Higher Source - Web Site Design And Programming
99%   JAVA / VRML / GRAPHICS | Services | Web Site Design | Graphic Design |
      Audio/Video | Visitors | Security/Privacy | Programming | System Analysis |
      The Difference | Sample Websites | Email US hsce@highersource.com Or
      font@cris.com

      http://www.highersource.com/, 8618 bytes, 24Jan97

=============================================================================

Forwarded-by: dawson@world.std.com (Keith Dawson)

11:29 am EST

One of the sites that Higher Source developed, again according to NPR,
was that of the San Diego Polo Club, <http://www.sandiegopolo.com/>.
It's refusing conections too.

=============================================================================

Forwarded-by: Larry Hunter <hunter@intr.net>

According to this morning's NPR news, the suicide cultists web business
was called "Higher Source."

http://www.highersource.com doesn't respond to pinging, but the HotBot
summary is:

Higher Source - Web Site Design And Programming
JAVA / VRML / GRAPHICS | Services | Web Site Design | Graphic
Design | Audio/Video | | Security/Privacy | Programming | System Analysis
| The Difference | | Sample Websites | Email US hsce@highersource.com
Or font@cris.com Visitors
http://www.highersource.com/, 8618 bytes, 24Jan97

http://www.cris.com/~font points to http://207.155.252.4/~Font/, which is
in fact a  "Higher Source" web page.  Looks like  they do good work, with
nice "spacey" graphics...

Check http://207.155.252.4/~Font/pro/main.htm#8 for their "difference",
and especially check out the "Q-Haul" demo graphic toward the bottom of
http://207.155.252.4/~Font/pro/graphics.htm

That looks to me as if it might be related to the explanation of the
suicide:

"Ask your Continuum Rep about our New, Improved Instantaneous Relocation
Plan!"

Sounds oddly like some aspects of Scientology to me...

=============================================================================

Forwarded-by: Keith Bostic <bostic@bostic.com>
Forwarded-by: Sean Eric Fagan <sef@Kithrup.COM>
Forwarded-by: alphax@netcom14.netcom.com

Top Ten Reasons for San Diego Web Cult Suicides:

10:  Their domain got screwed up by InterNIC.
 9:  They're waiting for a Frames page to finish downloading...
     In their next life.
 8:  Last resort publicity stunt to raise traffic on their websites...
 7:  Microsoft coming out with similar web pages next month
 6:  Sued over use of domain "viveka.com" by dog-food company
 5:  Couldn't read email because their local AOL POP was always busy
 4:  When they got on, they read one too many spam emails.
 3:  Then they got less money back from AOL because they actually got on...
 2:  Suddenly realized, "Hey, this Web stuff is stupid!"
 1:  Couldn't bear the pain of another major Windows upgrade.

=============================================================================

Forwarded-by: Keith Bostic <bostic@bostic.com>
Forwarded-by: glen mccready <glen@qnx.com>
From: Angus Durocher <angus@inetport.com>

    My father the businessman called me this morning and asked me (only
half-jokingly) if I (as a Webjockey) had obtained the Higher Source Cult's
web page client list yet.
    In the interest not of business but of social science, I obtained
names of four clients from CNN's site and proceeded to call. Herefollows
the results:

1.  Samia Rose Topiary (http://www.srtopiary.com/) 800-488-6742

    Result: Uninteresting voice mail message


2.  British Masters "Mountains of British Car Parts"
    (http://www2.4dcomm.com/bmr/) 619-945-2226

    Result: Amusing voice mail message (as follows:)

    Hi, this is Eric at British Masters. If yer calling about the
    mass suicide story, I will be available at four-o'clock for
    fifteen minutes for a thousand dollars.
    If this is a customer, I'm sorry for the inconvenience, you
    can leave a message or call back at four-o'clock


3.  San Diego Polo Club (http://www.sandiegopolo.com/)
    619-481-9217

    Result: Uninteresting voice mail message


4. 1-800-HARMONY (http://www.1800harmony.com) 1-800-427-6669

    Result: Conversation with 'Montague' (as follows:)

  Montague: One Eight-Hundred Harmony, this is Montague, how may
            I help you?

     Angus: Good morning, my name is Elanor Stockton and I represent
            the Dilligaf New Media and Internet Design firm. Are you
            familliar with Dilligaf's work?

  Montague: Uh, no, not really I guess, but I-

     Angus: We can be found at www.dilligaf.com where you can not
            only see our own corporate website, but link to some of
            our clients and current projects. I hope you take the time
            to do so, as I'm sure you'll be very impressed with what
            you see.

  Montague: You know, I-

     Angus: The reason I'm calling today is that I understand the
            firm previously performing the maintenence on your web
            site has recently committed some form of ritualistic
            suicide in an attempt to unite themselves with an alien
            species currently traveling in a craft directly behind
            the comet Hale-Bopp.

  Montague: I-

     Angus: Have you concidered which firm would be handling your
            future web business?

  Montague: You know, you really should speak with Lilly, her numb-

     Angus: Thank you very much.

  Montague: Oh, sir, you're welcome. Her number is 310-452-6114.

     Angus: Thank you again.

  Montague: Have a good day, sir.

      Note: Lilly's number has been busy all morning.

=============================================================================

From: spl@szechuan.ucsd.edu (Steve Lamont)
Subject: Winner of the "Bad Taste But Good Hack" Perpetual Trophy (Space  
Aliens Division)

http://emke.com/~cult/

I think the Subject and the URL say it all...
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