GYMN-L Digest - 16 May 1995 to 17 May 1995

There are 8 messages totalling 397 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. computer virus, please be aware
2. Aussie news
3. Pathetic Greedy Authors
4. computer virus, please be aware/hoaxes
5. book bashing
6. Stupid Question
7. FIG News
8. Pathetic Greedy Autho

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Date: Sat, 17 Jun 1995 02:52:46 UT
From: ***@MSN.COM
Subject: Re: computer virus, please be aware

----------
From: Gymnastics on behalf of ***
Sent: Friday,
May 15, 3795 1:06AM
To: Multiple recipients of list GYMN-L
Subject:
computer virus, please be aware

This is not gymnastics-related but thought
it worthy anyhow:


>*********************Forwarded
Message****************************


There is a computer virus that is
being sent across the Internet. If you
receive an e-mail message with the
subject line "Good Times", DO NOT read the
message, DELETE it immediately.
Please read the messages below.

Some miscreant is sending e-mail under the
title "good times" nation-wide. If
you get anything like this, DON'T
DOWNLOAD THE FILE! It has a virus that
rewrites your hard drive,
obliterating anything on it. Please be careful and
forward this mail to
anyone you care about--I have.


*******************************************************************


WARNING!!!!!!!!!: INTERNET VIRUS


*******************************************************************

The
FCC released a warning last Wednesday (4-26) concerning a matter of major

importance to any regular user of the InterNet. Apparently, a new computer

virus has been engineered by a user of America Online that is unparalleled in

its destructive capability. Other, more well-known viruses such as Stoned,

Airwolf, and Michaelangelo pale in comparison to the prospects of this newest

creation by a warped mentality. What makes this virus so terrifying, said

the FCC, is the fact that no program needs to be exchanged for a new computer

to be infected. It can be spread through the existing e-mail systems of the

InterNet. Once a computer is infected, one of several things can happen.
If
the computer contains a hard drive, that will most likely be destroyed.
If
the program is not stopped, the computer's processor will be placed in an

nth-complexity infinite binary loop - which can severely damage the
processor
if left running that way too long. Unfortunately, most novice
computer users
will not realize what is happening until it is far too late.


Luckily, there is one sure means of detecting what is now known as the
"Good
Times" virus. It always travels to new computers the same way in a
text
e-mail message with the subject line reading simply "Good Times".


Avoiding infection is easy once the file has been received - not reading it.

The act of loading the file into the mail server's ASCII buffer causes the

"Good Times" mainline program to initialize and execute. The program is

highly intelligent - it will send copies of itself to everyone whose e-mail

address is contained in a received-mail file or a sent-mail file, if it can

find one. It will then proceed to trash the computer it is running on.


The bottom line here is - if you receive a file with the subject line "Good

TImes", delete it immediately! Do not read it! Rest assured that whoever's

name was on the "From:" line was surely struck by the virus.

Warn your
friends and local system users of this newest threat to the
InterNet! It
could save them a lot of time and money. --


I hate to be the one to
tell you this, but the Good Times virus, and the accompanying press release,
are a hoax. The authors of the hoax are still rolling on the floor.

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Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 15:50:02 EST-11
From: ***@DISINFORMATION.BF.RMIT.EDU.AU
Subject: Aussie news

Latest news from Down Under -

A former gymnast, Jenny Richardson, is suing the Australian
Gymnastics Federation (in particular Ju Ping and the Australian
Institute of Sport) as she claims the training methods used at the
AIS forced her into anorexia. Amongst other things, Jenny claims
that Ju Ping constantly told her she was fat, even when she had
visibly lost weight.

I've known for some time that Jenny suffered from anorexia. The
press claim that she currently weighs 34kg. When Christy Henrich
died, the Australian publication Who Weekly ran a story on her
(Christy) and there was an inset about Jenny, who said that she
became anorexic because of her gymnastics training.

These allegations are very disturbing. I'll post more when I know
more.

On a lighter note, for anyone that's interested, the Australian
Championships are being held in Perth from 24th - 28th May.

Bye for now.

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Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 02:32:26 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Pathetic Greedy Authors

>David, Your message suggests tearing the book apart factoid by factoid and
also
>ignoring it. These don't seem to be compatible strategies. Can you
>clarify?

Why thank you, Adriana. I would be delighted. ;-)

1. When I say ignore it, I mean that we do not allow it to cause an uproar
within our community. This will hopefully allow it to go away as soon as
possible.

2. There is the possiblity however that a) it may not blow over, and b) that
at one time or another, one or all of us will be cornered and asked to
comment, either casually or in detail. We should prepare against this
eventuality by understanding the facctual mistakes and the flaws in argument.

"Hope for peace. Prepare for war." --Sun Tzu

>Did you say when this book will be available?

June is when it is supposed to hit the bookshelves, but you can probably
shake Doubleday's PR Department down for an early review copy if you can get
press credentials.

David

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Date: Tue, 16 May 1995 23:46:38 -0700
From: ***@NETCOM.COM
Subject: Re: computer virus, please be aware/hoaxes

Good times is a hoax !

Ill dredge up a post I already sent oput explaining whats REA:lly going on.

This hoax turns up a few times a year striking panic into the hearts of the less
technical netfolk.

The hoax has been around YEARS and the point is to see how many people they can
panic. Quoting from "The Mad Scientists Club"
"Dont be a sucker for a scarecrow!"

If your sys/net admin believes this crock, have them mail to me and Ill
show them ther error of their ways.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-texx

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Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 09:45:52 -0400
From: ***@MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU
Subject: Re: book bashing

> I can help but wonder if the media would be so rightously pursuing reforms
> in "a sport with such physical and emotional strains that no child should
> have to endure", if "children" weren't in it. I am in no way saying that

Did the author actually use that phrase?! Since when does any child
"have" to endure any of it? If a child "has" to, it's because her (and
maybe sometimes his, but in my experience that's much rarer; in fact, I
can't think of any among those I know) parents make her. That's not the
sport's fault. If forcing a child to stay in gymnastics even rises to the
level of child abuse, why should it be addressed any differently than
other forms of child abuse? Is she talking about the strains *inherent*
in the sport or the abuses that have occured within it (eg Adriana
Giurca)? These are separate questions that have to be addressed in
completely different ways.

Does anyone know what the author's conclusions actually are? Does she
advocate banning of the sport by law? Dropping it from the Olympics?

Also does anyone know how many and which (if any) gymnasts the author
interviewed? I'm just thinking that I've seen at least both Kim Z. and
Shannon on TV *insisting* that they do gymnastics because they want to,
but none of these basher types ever seems to pay attention. No, they
put Kim on the cover of Time, saying "It hurts" as if she were a
5-year-old. Does she consider gymnastics in the whole world or just in
some countries or just the US? Does she rely on the stories from before
the breakup of the USSR?

Questions questions questions

Oh, I meant to ask -- did anyone watch "A Passion to Play" last Sunday?
I was on the phone when Latynina was on, so I missed everything she
said. All I know is that they were on the subject of pregnancy, and I
was afraid they were talking about the whole forced pregnancy among
Sov gymnasts issue. :-P Damage to reproductive organs having been a
classic objection to women in sports, it's interesting to notice that
gymnasts seem not to have had much problem there!

Now back to our regularly scheduled finals studying...

:)
Adriana

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Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 19:50:09 PDT
From: ***@MAIL.LSS.CO.ZA
Subject: Stupid Question

Hi
I know you all think I'm stupid for asking. But could someone give results
from the American Cup, I would love to know who competed! :)

Thanks,
Helen. :)

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Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 17:06:49 -0600
From: ****@RMII.COM
Subject: FIG News

From USAGO!...

Reprinted from the _FIG Flash_, No. 5, April 1995

The FIG Executive Committee took the following important decisions at
its meeting in Moutier (SUI) on March 2-3, 1995.

> The Regulations of Doping Controls and he Regulations on the Medical
Organization of FIG Events have been modified and brought up to date.

> A study carried out recently in the United States shows that
reported accidents at world championships are down. The FIG's Medical
Commission, chaired by Dr. Michele Leglise, nevertheless suggests that
a statistical survey and check on accidents shou ld be
maintained. Such data would be useful to the members of the Technical
Committees and the Apparatus Commission. In addition, the German
Federation has carried out a study on the risk of injuries and lesions
in Women's Artistic Gymnastics. Its conclu sions, together with data
from other studies at present being undertaken, will be the subject of
a comprehensive discussion at the next meeting of the Executive
Committee to be held in Berlin in July.

> The 1997 RSG Four Continents Championships has been awarded to the
Australian Federation and are to be held in Sydney. This choice was
motivated partly by the rotation principle between the continents and
partly by the opportunity it will give the or ganizers to use the
event as a test in the run-up to the Sydney Olympic Games in the Year
2000.

> Bosnia-Herzegovina Federation has been provisionally admitted to the
FIG. This brings the number of affiliated federations to 121. It will
be for the 1996 General Assembly to ratify the Executive Committee's
decision.

> At the last Team World Championships held in Dortmund in November
1994 one anti-doping test was positive. This is the first time in the
history of the FIG that such an incident has occurred.

The low dope count of the substance found (although it was a
prohibited product), the circumstances in which the substance was
taken (to fight off a minor infection), and the good faith of the
athlete in question led the FIG authorities to be both len ient and
vigilant at the same time. Gymnasts were informed that a severe
warning had been given, and the reasons were stated. The Fig's
decision is intended to prevent future errors of this kind through an
educational approach. > The X. World Gymnaestrada to be held in
Berlin on July 9-15, 1995, expects 20,000 gymnasts from 35 countries.

Congratulations and our best wishes for success go to Mr. Jean
Willisegger (SUI), Chairman of the FIG Technical Committee for General
Gymnastics, who has just been appointed to the Sport for All
Commission of the IOC.

> The minimum age for participants in the first FIG Aerobics World
Championships has been fixed at 18 years.

OTHER FIG NOTES

> Provisional entries for the gymnastics World Championships:
Artistic in Sabae 54 federations
Rhythmic in Vienna 46 federations

> American Athletic, Inc. (AAI), Jefferson, Iowa USA) has been
appointed to be the Gymnastics Equipment official supplier to the 1996
Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games. Founded in 1957, AAI has also
supplied the World Championships in 1979 (Ft. Worth), in 1991
(Indianapolis), and has been the official supplier to USA
Championships since 1976.

> Sports Aerobics--From March 6-13, 1995, 70 candidates representing
30 nations from all five continents gathered in Ebnat-Kappel, a small
Swiss town. This town will enter the annals of the FIG as the host of
the first intercontinental judges' and coac hes' course for Sportive
Aerobics.

The first meeting of the Sportive Aerobics Commission was held on
the same occasion, attended by FIG President Yuri Titov. Following the
decision of the 1994 Congress, this sportive discipline is not one of
the FIVE sports under the umbrella of the FI G.

The first official World Championships will take place in Paris on
December 15-17, organized by the experienced French Gymnastics
Federation.

At the end of this lengthy seminar, 59 candidates took the
examinations to obtain the international judges' brevet, and 45 of
them returned home with this precious document.

> Artistic and Rhythmic Sportive Gymnastics at the Pan American Games
in Mar del Plata in Argentina met with enormous public
success. Experts gave their opinion that the performances of the
gymnasts were of a quality rarely achieved.
...
The Congress of the Pan American Gymnastics Union (PAGU) too place
against the background of this tournament. The President, William
Torres (CUB) was re-elected by the Assembly. We congratulate him and
wish him much success during his new term of offi ce.

Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG)
P.O. Box 359 - 2740 Moutier, Switzerland
Phone: (41) 32.936.666

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Date: Thu, 18 May 1995 00:36:00 UTC
From: ***@GENIE.GEIS.COM
Subject: Re: Pathetic Greedy Autho

>June is when it ["Little Girls In Pretty Boxes"] is supposed to hit the
>bookshelves, but you can probably shake Doubleday's PR Department down for
>an early review copy if you can get press credentials.

Or you can just walk into the Barnes & Noble on 5th and 48th in NYC and buy
your very own copy for $22.95.

I've read only a third of it so far; the first two chapters deal with
Julissa Gomez' accident and Christy Henrich's battle with anorexia. IMHO,
the book is nothing but a printed version of "Hard Copy".

Debbie

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 16 May 1995 to 17 May 1995
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