+++ FLY ALL IS KNOWN STOP +++

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Bac story = in the 1880s or thereabouts, some undergraduates as a prank sent an anonymous telegram with only these words on it, to every bishop in England. In the morning, says the urban legend, five had vanished with their overnight bags and were never seen again.

I have always loved this story and just found a version of it (in puck of pook's hill, don't ask). Anyway I was thinking: give or take more modern wording and whether or not telegrams still exist, would this still work? With bishops, or with anyone else? Or are we all tell-it-all sluts these days, who'd just fly straight to Kilroy/Springer etc?

― mark s, Thursday, 8 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I guess you could try sending anonymous hotmail messages to people and see what would happen.

"To: GEORGE W. BUSH, White House"

They figured out how you planned this whole thing from the start! Run!"

I suspect he'd only shrug.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 8 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

but the cool bit is that you DON'T say what it is they figured out, you let their guilty consciences run on ahead — but in fact yes, it isn't oprah which killed this gag, it's the modern interweb curse its silly all- connectivity

to be honest i think v.high-level pols are always going to be shamelessly unburnable this-wise: look how

― mark s, Thursday, 8 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

sorry my brain must have fritzed in the kold: the sentence I completely didn't bother finishing continues "much jeffrey archer faced out before he was finally toppled"

― mark s, Thursday, 8 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I dont think it would work now. Instead try "i know what youhave been doing, pay me to shut me up" because no-one is philanthropic enough to send a telegram these days without demanding some return for the favour :)

― Menelaus Darcy, Thursday, 8 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I've heard this story before in a more modern setting. A blackmail note being sent to random people just saying "I know all about your dirty little secret - pay up or I'll tell". And yeah, a very high proportion of people were supposed to have sent the cash or however these things work. I wouldn't have. I don't have a dirty little secret.

― Nick, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think Evelyn Waugh said: 'every man would be shocked to read the details of any other man's sex life, were they published'.. Or sthg to that effect.

― Will, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If he weren't dead, I'd publish mine, just to prove him wrong.

― Nick, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Please retract this for the sake of my rep.

― Emma, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If you were to do this today, I think it would work better using real life post rather than this electronic mail we read so much about. I don't know why I think this though.

― jamesmichaelward, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

DO NOT THROW AWAY THIS ENVELOPE! YOU MAY HAVE WON the chance to fly all in known stop!

― mark s, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Retracted.

― Nick, Friday, 9 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two years pass...

1: give me this amount of money or I will tell you something you don't know about your girl/boyfriend

2: no, I won't give you any money--go ahead and tell me

1: give me this amount of money or I will not tell you something you don't know about your girl/boyfriend

2: you win

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 29 March 2004 12:18 (twenty-one years ago)

ha!

in Dogville: "spank me or else i'll tell my mom you spanked me"

"uh, okay" spank spank spank

"mom, she spanked me!!!!!!"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 29 March 2004 12:22 (twenty-one years ago)

i think those 5 bishops just went off to their fantastic holidays after finding out about these cheap flights to all known stops/destinations.

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 29 March 2004 12:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Yo Beyonce
All that has been in yo ass is known
Fo sho

― queen gynoscopic, Monday, 29 March 2004 13:00 (twenty-one years ago)

"all your base are belong to us"

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 29 March 2004 13:01 (twenty-one years ago)

three years pass...

Your search - "fly all is known stop" - did not match any documents.

u_u

― roxymuzak, Wednesday, 26 December 2007 03:02 (eighteen years ago)

Seriously! This is an RFI!

― roxymuzak, Wednesday, 26 December 2007 04:51 (eighteen years ago)

"all is known stop fly at once stop" is used on a couple of pages about information theory, the origin isn't explained there though. The actual quote, if true, is probably slightly different from that one as well. Find variations?

― StanM, Wednesday, 26 December 2007 07:50 (eighteen years ago)

Arthur Conan Doyle: "We are discovered. Fly now."

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=19954

― StanM, Wednesday, 26 December 2007 09:43 (eighteen years ago)

sorry, that's "Flee"

― StanM, Wednesday, 26 December 2007 09:44 (eighteen years ago)

Thanks, Stan!

― roxymuzak, Thursday, 27 December 2007 01:00 (eighteen years ago)

neato

― El Tomboto, Thursday, 27 December 2007 01:04 (eighteen years ago)

my pleasure!

(you'll find even more links if you just search for "all is discovered")

― StanM, Thursday, 27 December 2007 12:15 (eighteen years ago)

What a fantastic little story. It's got a real Roald Dahl vibe.

― Abbott, Thursday, 27 December 2007 18:17 (eighteen years ago)

― gabbneb, Thursday, 27 December 2007 18:26 (eighteen years ago)

uh?

― StanM, Thursday, 27 December 2007 18:30 (eighteen years ago)

moo

― nabisco, Thursday, 27 December 2007 19:11 (eighteen years ago)

I had a video game on my Mac in college that was like a combination of marble madness with tron lightcycles where you could select a "character" image to be mapped over the surface of your marble - characters included Henry Rollins, Beavis, Butthead, Meat (photo of a pile of steaks), etc. Each character also had its own sound effects set for jumping, dying, falling off the edge of the board, etc. Every one of Butthead's sound effects was just Butthead saying "Uh" in one of like six different ways. It was hilarious. The end.

― El Tomboto, Thursday, 27 December 2007 19:48 (eighteen years ago)

All the boards were texture mapped with HR Giger patterns and the background music was all two-bar samples of Prince songs, looped. It was basically the greatest game ever made.

― El Tomboto, Thursday, 27 December 2007 19:51 (eighteen years ago)

I love the way "fly all is known stop" looks and sounds. I want to make a giant banner of it.

― roxymuzak, Thursday, 3 January 2008 20:37 (eighteen years ago)

Fly All Is Known airways, direct to the Bermuda Triangle daily.

― Trayce, Friday, 4 January 2008 02:39 (eighteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.