From: jma@phoenix.oulu.fi (Jacob Matthan)
Subject: Appearing Files?? Summary
Organization: University of Oulu, Finland
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 02:52:55 GMT


Dear Netters,

A file with a curious name mysteriously appeared in one of my folders 
in my PBk 170. Disappearing files have been fixed with TuneUp 1.1.1 
and System 7.1. My query was to the possibility of files with specific 
names appearing in Macs, in my case "a bizarre" name, a phrase 
coined by Matthew T. Russotto <russotto@eng.umd.edu>. 

The interest was large. The bulk of respondents (e.g.. Faisal Nameer 
Jawdat <fj05+@andrew.cmu.edu>) were curious to know the 
"shocking" name. Speculations as "Hail Eris" or "All Hail Discordia" 
topped the list. Before revealing the name I summarise the position. 
Thanks to those who gave their time to attempt to solve the problem.

I was accused (e.g. Jay Elmore jelmore@nyx.cs.du.edu) of withholding 
vital information, thereby defeating the process of using the net. If I 
had not done so, Jay, I think that the scientific curiosity in this 
problem would have been lost. We would have had only a speculative 
analysis. I sent the file name immediately on receiving a response to 
evoke further comment. It did not contribute to the facts.

The replies centred around the three possibilities suggested by 
Bradford B. Behr <bbbehr@sunspot.noao.edu>.
1) My PowerBook was visited by aliens.
2) There is a new virus afoot which creates empty files with 
'shocking' names
3) My dealer, for unknown reasons (maybe just as a test), created 
this file during installation of my new hard disk, and forgot to delete 
it, or maybe did hide or delete it and then freak media errors 
reinstated the file.

That files can appear was pointed out by most respondents. The 
example is the Word Temp files that appear with Word 4 and System 
6. The second aspect (Jay and John T. Chapman <jtc1@cornell.edu>) 
is that the MACA signature belongs to the older version of MacWrite, 
not MacWrite II. Many applications choose to give exported text files 
this Creator Code. AddressBook is capable of exporting address lists 
to text files with a default creator as MacWrite. Although I do not 
have any version of MacWrite, a document with the MacWrite Creator 
code appearing is feasible. 

With regard to location, John felt that the Macintosh was smart 
enough to remember the current folder when certain files are saved 
or programs launched. This could result in an occasional side effect 
of odd files cropping up in those locations because less well-behaved 
programs decide to save to the current folder rather than trying to 
find the right place. The example is of the "dump postscript file" 
feature of the LaserWriter driver where the files can turn up 
anywhere (although he thought that this had been fixed in System 7.

A couple of other important observations were made by Matthew. He 
pointed out that there were several "easter eggs" existing in the Mac 
which could open unexpectedly. He was not aware of any which had 
names of the type indicated by me. He also noted that the original 
creation date of a file would be copied onto my hard disk even if the 
file was made elsewhere.

Many respondents believed as Elliotte <erh0362@tesla.njit.edu> that 
my dealer had put the file there or more importantly a previously 
invisible file became visible when the dealer ran some disk utility 
across my disk to check it out.

Given these comments I tried to work out the problem. The file had 
been created somewhere, not necessarily on my hard disk, at 23.56 
on Tuesday the 10th of November. Between then and the time I 
discovered it on Sunday 15th of November this file had been 
transferred to my disk, the 120 MB one. As this file also exists also 
on the 40 MB hard disk, which was put out of commission on 
Thursday 12th November the file was transferred before 1 pm when 
that hard disk was removed from my machine. During that period 
the only time that this disk was out of my hands was between 12 and 
1 pm on Thursday when it was in the hands of the dealer.

From what the dealer tells me they were unable to start the 
PowerBook even after trying all the tricks of juggling and jiggling  
the PowerBook (read posting PowerBook Unadulerated Junk/Repost 
Apology). They exchanged the 2 MB RAM, managed to start up and 
changed the hard disk. They transferred the data from the 40 MB to 
the 120 MB. Do not forget that this is Finland where few people 
work in English. The dealers work in Finnish. Hence there is no 
possibility of them having created a file with an English title and 
then storing it on my 40 MB Hard disk to transfer onto the 120 MB 
hard disk. The representative assures me that he did nothing to the 
disks other than swap them, ensured that the new one worked and 
transferred the data. My long association with them makes me trust 
their words. After transferring the data they put back my own 2 Mb 
memory. I picked up the machine at 4 pm.

As the file also exists on the 40 Mb Hard Disk, which is now in cold 
storage, the file created on Tuesday night must have been 
transferred into my machine at some time between Tuesday night 
and midday Thursday. There are only two possibilities. The first is 
that it came onto my disk if I had logged in to the net and 
downloaded some files from sumex, nic.funet.fi and ftp.apple.com, 
the three I normally use. This I did not do. I had been extremely busy 
working on a problem, partly on the PowerBook and partly on a Mac 
at the University. I was working with a MS-DOS formatted diskette. 
That diskette is unchanged even till today since Wednesday 11th and 
quite clean with no sign of any extra file. The second possibility is 
that the file was generated by an application, init, extension, control 
panel, etc. If so, by which one. Has anyone else got a file with this 
same "bizarre" name. The easter eggs indicated by Matthew are not 
believed to contain evangelical names. He did recommend me to try 
and find a list in sumex where it may have been archived in 
comp.sys.mac.misc. This I have not been able to do.

Given this scenario I come now to the name of the file which was

Jesus is Lord

With these facts, can somebody now come forward with a more 
positive comment. I am sure several others have downloaded from 
these ftp sites and worked with very common applications. I do not 
have any exotic applications, inits, control panels, etc. Others too 
should have got a file with the same name as I did.

Or was it a visit from ALIENS?

Regards

J. Matthan
Oulu, Finland.