Good Luck

Anybody remember this?

> >
> > GOOD LUCK TOTEM
> >

> > \\\|||///
> > . =======
> > / \| O O |
> > \ / \v_'/
> > # _| |_
> > (#) ( )
> > #\//|* *|\\
> > #\/( * )/
> > # =====
> > # (\ /)
> > # || ||
> > .#---'| |----.
> > #----' -----'

> > This message has been sent to you for good luck. The
> > original is in New England. It has been sent around the
> > world nine times. The luck has now been sent to you. You
> > will receive good luck within four days of receiving this
> > message -- provided you, in turn, send it on. This is no
> > joke. You will receive good luck in the mail -- but no
> > money.
> >
> > Send copies to people you think need good luck. Don't send
> > money as fate has no price. Do not keep this message. This
> > message must leave your hands in 96 hours.
> >
> > Please send ten copies and see what happens in four days. The
> > chain comes from United States and was written by Diana Li, a
> > missionary from Asia. Since the copy must tour the world,
> > you must make ten copies and send them to friends and
> > associates. After a few days, you will get a surprise.
> > This is true, even if you are not superstitious.
> >
> > Good luck, but please remember: 10 copies of this message
> > must leave your hands in 96 hours... You must not sign on
> > this message...

I can't remember the number of times I received this good luck totem in the early days of the Internet. An ascii generated drawing had magical powers and was going to bring me good luck. And people kept sending it to me!

I thought about this totem today when I received a message from the Dalai Lama. Lovely photos, lovely message, but ending with the traditional:

Forward this mantra to at least 5 people and your life will improve.

0-4 people and your life will improve slightly
5-9 people and your life will improve to your liking
10-14 people, your life will have at least 5 wonderful surprises in the next 3 weeks
15 people and over your life will improve drastically and everything you ever dreamed of will begin to take shape.

Do not keep this message. This mantra must leave your hands with 96 hours.

You will get a very pleasant surprise.

It was the good luck totem all dolled up in a powerpoint presentation with beautiful photos, but at its core really just the old ascii good luck totem of the pre-World Wide Web days.

OK. Now. Are there people who really believe this crap? Has anybody ever documented any magical result coming from passing along a totem or a mantra or good luck charm. Or do people keep passing them along "just in case" ?

And I also have to quibble about the rules here. You can't keep the message. It must "leave your hands" within 96 hours. I'm not sure what is so magic about 96 hours, but both the totem and the mantra had to be passed along within 96 hours. But they are still on my hard drive. Does that invalidate the good surprises I'm going to get, or must I delete and then make sure it is totally eradicated from my system entirely? Or is it all a moot point because, technically, it was never in my hands at all, but simply on my computer screen? I'm so confused.

Then there is the message that insists that you forward it on "right NOW" If you forward it to 7 people immediately something very funny will happen on your screen. "You'll laugh your head off." (Perhaps because nothing happens and you've been duped like everyone else who passed it along?)

The St. Therese message had to be passed along to 11 people and in 8 minutes I would receive something I had long awaited.

If you send the frend quiz to 10 of your friends someone you love will surprise you (perhaps by telling you to go away and never contact her ever again!)

Oh and remember the fun ones like some company was going to send you money, or cookies or whatever was the scam of the day if you forwarded the message to all your friends? People actually believed that Microsoft was tracking every e-mail that you sent from your computer (it's only the federal government that does that).

It just amazes me, sometime, how blindly, stupidly trusting we are sometimes. Some people believe that Sarah Palin shot Big Foot,

or that some woman gave birth to a baby with "fly eyes"

because it appeared in a tabloid magazine, and you can't print anything in a newspaper unless it's true, can you?

Heck, I don't believe everything I read in the mainstream media!!

But I figure I've covered all my bases. By writing this journal entry, I have now forwarded at least 6 good luck messages to lots of people who read this journal and I'm sure that any minute now so many wonderful things are going to happen to me I just won't know what to do with myself.

Thanks for reading. You've made my day (I hope).

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If you missed it, Jon Stewart's interview of Mike Huckabee on gay marriage was WONDERFUL. I've embedded it on my "Look at these videos..." site.