Kooks Day- the Why's and Who
Bruce Hutchinson
Got an email the other day from a newcomer to the Usenet scene
wondering about the origins for Kook Day. Why June 26th?
For anyone else who is wondering, on June 26th, 1998 one Earl Gordon
Curley passed away in the suburbs of Toronto, Canada. Some say it was
from alcohol poisoning while others variously claim cirrohsis, heart
attack, a skeptic (Randi-Cult) conspiracy, or terminal stupidity.
Regardless of the reason for his death, his death took from us the
Pre-Eminent Kook of the Internet era.
Nobody since has come even close to achieving his unique blend of
total failure as a psychic forecaster of future events and his
outragous claims of being 100% accurate, his drunken and often
hilarious "rebuttals" to those that would criticise and laugh at him,
his vicious attacks on his "arch-enemy" Randi, his abject cowardise
when confronted, his many attempts to gain free space for his
website, and his ultimate descent to living in a rented room.
He often would remind us of his "staff of attorneys", his "army of
trained professionals", his contacts with special Internet
"registries", his contracts with "world intelligence agencies", and
his ability to raise millions with a couple of phone calls. But most
of all, he wouild constantly threaten us with the lawsuits that were
being filed "tommorow".
Ever wonder where the term "sockpuppets" came from? Earl was the one
of the best at creating posters who wrote of their glowing support of
Earl's prophetic visions and his personal crusade against the evils of
the Randi-Cult conspiracy. The term "sockpuppet" first appeared on
the Usenet to describe these imposters. "Sockpuppets" has now become
part of the lexicon, thanks to Earl Gordon Curley.
To fully descibe the Ultimate Kook that was Earl Curley would take a
long, long time. Interested lurkers would do well to Google him both
on the web and in these groups. Suffice it to say that the Usenet
community did not accord Earl this honor of his death being remembered
as Kooks Day lightly. He earned this, and it is fitting that it will
forever be his final legacy.
So... here's to Mary Jo, the toaster, Globalserve's couch, and the
Airport Executive Suites.
Happy Kooks Day!
hutch
____
Member in good standing of "Randi et al"
Reality is nothing more than a mathematical abstraction...
or a really good steak.
Bill Stevenson
one Yahoo group someone had archived which appears to have been created
for you guys to use sockpuppets. There were also posts about contacting
other posters in "real life". I find your post very amusing from that
standpoint.
Any comments?
Michael Davis
> I couldn't help but notice that you were one of those posting in that
> one Yahoo group someone had archived which appears to have been created
> for you guys to use sockpuppets. There were also posts about contacting
> other posters in "real life". I find your post very amusing from that
> standpoint.
>
> Any comments?
Yeah, I've got one. I smell the unmistakable stench of mop-jockery afoot
here.
You learned your "history" from a kook, "Bill".
--
The Evil Michael Davis(tm)
http://www.mdpub.com/scopeworks/
http://skepticult.org Member #264-70198-536
Member #33 1/3 of The "I Have Been Killfiled By Tommy" Club
"There's a sucker born every minute" - David Hannum (often erroneously
attributed to P. T. Barnum)
BaronLurk
up and said:
>I couldn't help but notice that you were one of those posting in that
>one Yahoo group someone had archived which appears to have been created
>for you guys to use sockpuppets. There were also posts about contacting
> other posters in "real life". I find your post very amusing from that
>standpoint.
>
>Any comments?
Besides "You're a top-posting fuckwit who can't figure out how to trim your
post?"
No.
george
A.M.D.
"Michael Davis" <mdav...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:1119823368.48b0057b14a8f1a335d9f5f6c388f220@meganetnews2...
> Bill Stevenson wrote:
> > I couldn't help but notice that you were one of those posting in that
> > one Yahoo group someone had archived which appears to have been created
> > for you guys to use sockpuppets. There were also posts about contacting
> > other posters in "real life". I find your post very amusing from that
> > standpoint.
> >
> > Any comments?
>
> Yeah, I've got one. I smell the unmistakable stench of mop-jockery afoot
> here.
Yeah, the smell of fresh foam and froth is a dead giveaway.
> You learned your "history" from a kook, "Bill".
And what a kook he is! http://www.petitmorte.net/cujo/Robert_Wolfe.html
Mike Combs
psy...@passport.ca(Bruce Hutchinson) wrote:
>
> Ever wonder where the term "sockpuppets" came from? ...
> ... The term "sockpuppet" first appeared on
> the Usenet to describe these imposters. "Sockpuppets" has now become
> part of the lexicon, thanks to Earl Gordon Curley.
And I'm ever so proud of the fact that I Was There on that historic
occasion.
In fact, it kind of bugs me that I actually got quoted in the Sock Puppet
FAQ but it's no longer available on the web as far as I can tell.
--
Regards,
Mike Combs
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Member of the National Non-sequitur Society. We may not make
much sense, but we do like pizza.
george
Mike Combs wrote:
> In article <42bec822...@nntp.charter.net>,
> psy...@passport.ca(Bruce Hutchinson) wrote:
> >
> > Ever wonder where the term "sockpuppets" came from? ...
> > ... The term "sockpuppet" first appeared on
> > the Usenet to describe these imposters. "Sockpuppets" has now become
> > part of the lexicon, thanks to Earl Gordon Curley.
>
> And I'm ever so proud of the fact that I Was There on that historic
> occasion.
And those others who were also there.
Twitch (who shall always be known by his cats name)
And a New Zealander at Canterbury University who got his account closed
because of EGC and came back as some-one who did a great amount of
damage to EGC.
(No, dammit, not me)
My ISP even contacted his on a number of occasions and had EGC's net
access closed down a number of times (3 ISTR)
Larry Huntley
this thing on?" and, in alt.paranormal, message
news:1119992716.0...@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com, prounounced:
Let us not forget the oft-maligned "jo-boy", Steve Sebastian, a favorite
target of Earl's ire.
- L
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Larry Huntley Beaverton, Oregon
Skep-Ti-CultR Member #130-978649-969 http://www.skepticult.org/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Message-ID <35325a08.04091...@posting.google.com>,
alcha...@yahoo.com (Edmond Wollmann) asserted:
I own a publishing company, idiot, and if I wish to place notice
on my work as a safeguard for legal action stating "ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED", I will do so and you will ignore it at your own peril.
Malthus
Really? Who?
--
Malthus
(posting from Chch)
george
Sorry. It was about 1996 and although I remember the incident his name
eludes me
MindMe
> Let us not forget the oft-maligned "jo-boy", Steve Sebastian, a favorite
> target of Earl's ire.
MindMe
https://everything2.com/user/anyend/writeups/sock+puppet