ckd@bu-pub.bu.edu (Christopher Davis) (03/20/90)
>>>>> On 19 Mar 90 17:22:05 GMT, dfc4354@dsac.dla.mil (Al Ethridge) said: > am posting this message for a 9 year old boy who has a brain tumor. If > I have posted this in the wrong place please excuse me. The boy is not > expected to live past the year. The boy has only one request. he would > like to have his name put in the Guiness Book of world records. To do > this feat he would need to receive over 1 million get well cards. If you > would be willing to have this boy's wish come true send him a card at > the following address. Thanks for helping out. > Craig Shergold > % Childrens Wish Foundation > 32 Perimeter Center E. > Atlanta, Ga 30346 He moved! Neat! Seriously, though, folks, this *isn't true*. The Guinness folks won't accept entries for this sort of thing anymore, *because* of the number of fake ones that show up...and "Craig Shergold" has been dying for a while, as I recall. Followups to news.misc. -- Christopher Davis, BU SMG '90 <ckd@bu-pub.bu.edu> <...!bu.edu!bu-pub!ckd> "Dammit, we're all going to die, let's die doing something *useful*!" --Hal Clement on comments that space exploration is dangerous
richard@aiai.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) (03/20/90)
In article <1733@dsac.dla.mil> dfc4354@dsac.dla.mil (Al Ethridge) writes:
[Please send cards to dying boy]
Don't do this. The story was true, a couple of years ago. They don't
want any more. I am absolutely certain of this. He's probably dead
now anyway.
Please check your facts before posting (and then do so in a more
appropriate group).
-- Richard
--
Richard Tobin, JANET: R.Tobin@uk.ac.ed
AI Applications Institute, ARPA: R.Tobin%uk.ac.ed@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
Edinburgh University. UUCP: ...!ukc!ed.ac.uk!R.Tobindfc4354@dsac.dla.mil (Al Ethridge) (03/21/90)
From article <2087@skye.ed.ac.uk>, by richard@aiai.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin): > In article <1733@dsac.dla.mil> dfc4354@dsac.dla.mil (Al Ethridge) writes: > I have verified the information to be true. Childrens Wish Foundation has confirmed it to be true. Craig Shergold % Childrens Wish Foundation 32 Perimeter Center E. Suite 100 Atlanta, Ga 30346 If you wish to confirm the phone number is (800) 323-9474
faigin@aerospace.aero.org (Daniel P. Faigin) (03/22/90)
>dfc4354@dsac.dla.mil (Al Ethridge) originally wrote: >> am posting this message for a 9 year old boy who has a brain tumor. If I >> have posted this in the wrong place please excuse me. The boy is not expected >> to live past the year. The boy has only one request. he would like to have >> his name put in the Guiness Book of world records. To do this feat he would >> need to receive over 1 million get well cards. If you would be willing >> to have this boy's wish come true send him a card at the following >> address. Thanks for >> helping out. >> Craig Shergold >> % Childrens Wish Foundation >> 32 Perimeter Center E. >> Atlanta, Ga 30346 To which most responded (as I originally did) that this was an urban legend. Well, the thing just showed up here at work. One of my coworkers went and called the Childrens Wish Foundation. Here is what he found out: ------- Forwarded Message Date: Wed, 21 Mar 90 13:31:10 PST From: burkhart@aerospace.aero.org Message-Id: <9003212131.AA01984@sunflower.aero.org> Subject: Re: Last wish from child - Guinness Book of World Records I verified it with the Children's Wish Foundation ( (404)-393-9474 ) it is legitimate. They have been receiving over 8,000 card a day. Maybe you would like to let everyone know it is still ok to bring cards. ~~~~~Soren ------- End of Forwarded Message I thought the net should know. Daniel -- [W]:The Aerospace Corp M1/055 * POB 92957 * LA, CA 90009-2957 * 213/336-8228 [H]:9758 Natick Avenue * Sepulveda CA 91343 * 818/892-8555 | If you turn it [Em]:faigin@aerospace.aero.org * Faigin@dockmaster.ncsc.mil | over and don't [Vmail]:213/336-5454 Box#3149 | let it go, you end up upside down
unccab@calico.med.unc.edu (Charles Balan) (03/23/90)
In article <FAIGIN.90Mar21135502@sunstroke.aerospace.aero.org> faigin@aerospace.aero.org (Daniel P. Faigin) writes: >>dfc4354@dsac.dla.mil (Al Ethridge) originally wrote: > >>> Craig Shergold >>> % Childrens Wish Foundation Suite 100 >>> 32 Perimeter Center E. >>> Atlanta, Ga 30346 > >To which most responded (as I originally did) that this was an urban legend. >Well, the thing just showed up here at work. One of my coworkers went and >called the Childrens Wish Foundation. Here is what he found out: > > I verified it with the Children's Wish Foundation ( (404)-393-9474 ) >it is legitimate. They have been receiving over 8,000 card a day. Maybe you >would like to let everyone know it is still ok to bring cards. > > ~~~~~Soren I also called the Foundation at the number listed above (they also have a toll-free number 1-800-323-9474) and told them that many people thought that it was a joke. The man at the Foundation said that this is what happened: semi-" Mercedes-Benz approached us with this idea about 2 months ago. We weren't sure about it, because we had heard that there was a 'fake' name and child used a couple of years ago. But Mercedes checked it out with the hospital and with the child *AND* with Guiness Book and it has been verified. Therefore, we *are* accepting cards at this address for the boy." Another point the man said was: " what possible motive would we have to do this? We don't make any money for receiving the cards for the boy, nor do we get any money from Guiness Book. We believe that another foundation similar to ours started the rumour that this is a scam, but really, what is being scammed? We just want to help a dying boy get a last wish." So, I think I am going to send in a card. After all, it is only $0.25 (at least until next year) to make a kid's dream come true. What can it hurt? If you have doubts about its validity *CALL THE FOUNDATION*...there is the 800 number..who would spend money on an 800 number and all that if it wasn't legit? 'nuff said. Charles Balan UNCCAB@med.unc.edu , UNCCAB@uncmed.uucp , UNCCAB@unc.bitnet %%%%%%%%%%%%% Don't have a cow, man. --- Bart Simpson %%%%%%%%%%%%
hsu@eng.umd.edu (Dave "bd" Hsu) (03/23/90)
In article <FAIGIN.90Mar21135502@sunstroke.aerospace.aero.org> faigin@aerospace.aero.org (Daniel P. Faigin) writes: >>dfc4354@dsac.dla.mil (Al Ethridge) originally wrote: >>> to live past the year. The boy has only one request. he would like to have >>> his name put in the Guiness Book of world records. To do this feat he would >>> need to receive over 1 million get well cards. > >To which most responded (as I originally did) that this was an urban legend. Well, "Little Jimmy" is the urban legend. The rest of these requests, though they may have real people and real stories behind them, should be regarded as the nuisances that they are. As for Craig Shergold, the subject of this current edition... [a coworker says] > I verified it with the Children's Wish Foundation ( (404)-393-9474 ) >it is legitimate. They have been receiving over 8,000 card a day. It is also meaningless. This same plea on Craig Shergold's behalf made the rounds roughly one year ago; another bona fide foundation (Make a Wish?) in Florida confirmed the authenticity of its plea over the phone at that time. Half of those postings ran around the net with his name spelled "Graig". If this fella really only has a year to live, why did he waste so much time before moving the story a few hundred miles to Atlanta? The trouble is, all this means doodlysquat unless you can get a confirmation from Guiness, which claims to have closed the "most postcards" category after Mario Morby (England, "terminal" cancer which went into remission) set the record a few years back. Many of Morby's postcards were sent in response to just this sort of posting, except that his plea made the rounds twice, the second time as "David". If Guiness says the category is open again, by golly post all you want. Otherwise, can we rid the net of this nonsense for once and for all? -dave -- Dave Hsu Systems Research Center, Building 115 (301) 454 8867 hsu@eng.umd.edu The Maryversity of Uniland, College Park, MD 20742-3311 "I'm fishing. No I'm not, I'm newting!" - A. A. Milne
seanf@sco.COM (Sean Fagan) (03/26/90)
In article <1990Mar23.035146.21179@eng.umd.edu> hsu@eng.umd.edu (Dave "bd" Hsu) writes: >If Guiness says the category is open again, >by golly post all you want. In an appropriate newsgroup, for crying out loud! What, in the name of the Goddess, does this postcard garbage have to do with operating systems? -- -----------------+ Sean Eric Fagan | "It's a pity the universe doesn't use [a] segmented seanf@sco.COM | architecture with a protected mode." uunet!sco!seanf | -- Rich Cook, _Wizard's Bane_ (408) 458-1422 | Any opinions expressed are my own, not my employers'.