If you like weird connections, how about a Cypherpunks-Heaven's Gate link? If you like really weird connections, how about a Cypherpunks- Heaven's Gate-Solar Temple link? If you like really, really weird connections, how about a Cypherpunks-Heaven's Gate-Solar Temple- Waco link? Lest you think I jest, let me explain that what I am about to tell you is fairly easy to verify and document, and is not based on vague allusions to some psychic vibrations from the comet, which seem to be rather commonplace lately. In the early 1970's there was a small group in Canada, known as the Bartonian Metaphysical Society. The group was joined by an individual named C.J. Parker, who had just had his first experience of "the end of the world" as a member of Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God. Parker became a teacher and leader in the group, which soon became the Institute for Applied Metaphysics, with metaphysical retreats in Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec. There were often UFO reports surrounding the dates of their intensive seminars in Eastern Canada, which received press coverage, I believe. Parker was involved, according to both himself and many others, in the founding of the New Covenant Club during his involvement with IAM. This was centered around the belief that the "old covenant" with God, which involved circumcision, had now been replaced with a "new covenant," which involved vasectomies. Later, some of the Eastern leaders began indicating that if vasectomies were a good way of indicating one's dedication to spirituality in the end-times, then castration was even better. Parker was soon involved in a second "end of the world" when Winifred Barton made her prediction in the mid-to-late 1970's. After her prediction appeared (to some) not to come true, then many left the group and quite a few migrated to other groups, including the Solar Temple. Parker migrated to Texas, where he was involved in the music business, and in running clubs for mob interests. He managed clubs in Waco and Killeen, Texas, where he apparently became involved with David Koresh, although that might have been at a later date. He was arrested and convicted in Bell County, Texas for assault on police officers there, sometime around 1980. Parker became a recording artist and soon afterward moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he continued to dabble in music and metaphysics, travelling across the SouthWestern U.S., as well as up and down the west coast. He started a computer company in Tucson, called "Pearl Harbor Computers," which was based on the belief that computers were the work of Satan, that Bill Gates and Microsoft were tenacles of the Satan, and that those who wished to fight evil must dedicate themselves to promoting other operating systems, UNIX in particular. Parker apparently fathered an organization called the "Circle of Eunuchs" that was dedicated to recruiting individuals who had the skills and the intelligence to develop systems and methodologies which could serve to work against what he saw as the plans of Satan to bring domination over the whole earth At various times, he has had vehicles registered in the states which were his main recruiting area: Texas, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Oregon. (He also made limited recruiting trips to Germany, Poland, and, I believe, Russia.) Parker spent time in California where he was in contact with Do, who shared his fetish for mixing computers and spirituality, and it was apparently Parker who introduced him to the concepts underlying the New Covenant Club. Parker and Do also shared an affinity for mixing spirituality and alien theories, and decided that the Internet was going to be the battleground of the future in the fight between good and evil. Parker was also involved with a group in Berkeley, California, Basis, Inc., which was heavily involved in a Unix time-sharing enterprise and gave Parker access to a wide variety of young students and programmers to introduce to his belief system. Parker named the evil protagonist in the manuscript after the login name for one of Basis' founders, "Gomez." Parker wrote the book under the pseudonym of "son of gomez," as Basis' Gomez was his mentor in the world of UNIX. Parker was responsible for a manuscript titled "The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre" that contained a character, Bubba Rom Dos, which was loosely based on Do, including veiled references to his sexual inclination toward youngsters. Among those in the Circle of Eunuchs, it was also referred to as Part I of "The True Story of the Internet," which they foresaw as the vehicle that would prove the manuscript prophetic. Parker and his tenacles used the Internet to quietly spread the manuscript among those thought to be potential recruits, even as Do's group began making their impact on the Internet. Parker believed that Phil Zimmerman's troubles were a result of his group using Zimmerman's PGP to spread the manuscript secretly across the Internet. He apparently impressed upon Do the need to use PGP to secure any communications which were of a nature that they could cause undue trouble for groups which were working against Satan and Gates. Parker's second manuscript, Part II , began as "TV World" and later was changed to "WebWorld and the Mythical Circle of Eunuchs." This manuscript was apparently supposed to be converted to hypertext, with complete graphics, by Higher Source, and several chapters were in the works, but about a week before the El Rancho suicides, Parker was told that he should go ahead and release it in its present form, because Higher Source would not be in a position to complete the work. Parker began converting the second manuscript to hypertext himself and has had members of his organization releasing it on the Cypherpunks list. Chapters of the manuscript have been released from various points in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Russia. Although the manuscript had already been completed around a year before this, Parker, after receiving word to begin its release, began making _changes_ in the manuscript, apparently as a result of no longer having a need to so heavily disguise the connection between the Circle of Eunuchs and Do. A prologue was written for "WebWorld," sent to the Cypherpunks list on March 18, 1997, in which the opening strains contained the quote, "Why didn't I _do_ something?" The word "do" was in bold hypertext. Then, the next word in bold format was the word _me_, indicating that the first bold word should be pronounced as in the musical notes, do, re, me. The sentence containing the world _me_? It was a reference to Do soon being 'picked up,' "This time, they are coming for _me_." And the new opening sentence of the manuscript? A veiled reference to the fact that those left behind had been warned of their last chance to 'escape' the fate that awaits them. "The great tragedy of it, is that it didn't have to happen. Not at all... we were warned." The URL's of the manuscripts are: http://bureau42.base.org/public/webworld/ http://bureau42.base.org/public/xenix/xenbody.html They are apparently hosted by David E. Smith <dsmith@prairienet.org> I don't believe that he is a member of Parker's inner circle, although he does have many connections to hackers and phreaks in the Edmonton, Alberta area. Except for the prologue, the sections of the original manuscript seem to be in small print, with the newly written sections in large print. The new sections appear to use the Cypherpunks as analogous to the space aliens, and a new character, Jonathan, representing one of the Heaven's Gate members, is added. "He rode the river of tears once again, only this time the journey was _toward_ the CypherPunks, and toward freedom." It is my understanding that the "Magic Circle" is quite active in both Western Canada and the Southwest U.S. They seem to be a very secretive organization with ties to a number of groups, including the Solar Temple cult in Quebec, and a Diamond System (?) Freudian-Sufi sect centered in the Bay area. I dropped all involvement with these people a year or so ago, as I decided that involvement with them is unhealthy. I hope that you will make an effort to check out what I have told you, and perhaps expose any activities which could lead to more deaths and castrations. I don't want to be involved with anything further to do with them, as I am uneasy about being connected with them in any way, shape, or form, although I still keep track of their activities through certain members who are on the periphery of their organizations. C.J. Parker is a nome-de-plume he took on as a musician, and I can't recall his real name, but it shouldn't be too difficult to find, given the fact that he has a criminal record in the U.S. which should link the pseudonym with his birth name. He also might be located by tracking him through his record releases, which were done in Canada, I believe. TruthMonger