Introduction
    +----------+

    Yet again the date for release kept getting held back, partly because
    I was on holidays and partly because the other members were on holidays
    also (this didn't help much ;).  We've done our best to check for bugs
    in the code but we all make mistakes and one or two may exist.  I hope
    this isn't the case, but if you find one.. deal with it!

    There are now six members in VLAD, and perhaps one more by next
    issue, but I think that will be it for us.  Don't need too many
    people, this issue is packed enough with just the six of us :).
    I guess that means some of us can take a rest next issue.  Of
    course that won't apply to me, having to get everyone to work all
    the time anyways (doh!).

    Since all of the members have done something this time, we haven't
    crapped on so much like we did in previous issues.  Most of my articles
    I write the day we release the magazine so they aren't top quality.
    We're definately more organised now, but it's still tough to keep
    in touch with the overseas members all the time.

    Now for a little news in and around the scene which I think you
    might find interesting.  Aristotle of NuKE'94 recently announced
    his retirement from the virus scene, although from his recent
    actions it seems that like usual he is full of shit.  He handed
    over leadership of his "group" to Deathboy who I'm sure will carry
    the tradition on nicely.  Here is the message which he sent to
    Deathboy to inform him of the great news.

     "Dude,

      Since A-E, aka Arthor Ellis, aka Bruce Wilson, aka Michael Jackson,
                                        :) censored ---> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
      has caused such a ruckus among the US law enforcement agencies to
      such an extent that they want some butt, I've decided that this
      whole vx/av/whatever is for the birds. So, in keeping with tradition,
      I'll pass the NuKE lineage on to you...

      Darkman->Rock Steady->ARiSToTLE->The World->You  :)

      Wear the brackets in good health... Take no prisoners...

      Jeff Cook loves you all and may be reached at;

      Jeff Cook 100 Canal St.
      Dagsboro, NJ. (or is it Del) (302)732-3105

      This number will recognize incoming faxes for the weak at heart.

      Oh well... There will be one final NuKE Info Journal, but it will
      be a lot different than what many of you would expect. :)

      BTW... I met Firecracker a week or so ago. By the looks of it, the
      blood is dry and should hopefully remain so.

      Anyhow, y'all have a good one... Happy New Year!

      Seek Jesus in all that you do!

      a r i s t o t l e"

    Along the lines of seeking Jesus, I asked Euclid when the next
    Revelations magazine was to be released by The Trinity, it seems
    that the group has a slight setback.  Euclid can't find Jesus
    :).  So until he does it looks like The Trinity are in heaven
    for a little longer.

    Contrary to Aristotle's statement above he still has one goal left
    in life it seems, this is to now try and take over VLAD instead of
    his NuKE'94 scam.  He and his friend Splice both now support the
    [VLAD] emblem when signing their name, we have yet to see if they
    will attempt to release a fake journal.

    In reply to the message above Qark asked Aristotle if it was crap.
    To which he replies affirmative, as you can see from the next
    lovely piece of Ari literature.

     "=>  Is this crap ?
      =>

      Why yes... Yes it is!

      I'm thrilled that you have such keen perceptions as you do!
      So, perceive this... I've declared a hostil takeover again.
      This time, I want the land of VLAD... Mooooowahahahahahaha
      ...and so it were that ARiSToTLE smote the little men with his
      gauntlet and declared a coup had ensued. Gracefully, with the
      strength of one, he beat them about the head and neck. Seeing
      little resistance, he grabbed the all too often glorified name
      of VLAD and tucked it securely between a pair of spare brackets
      that he had remaining from a previous engagement. [VLAD]

      ...and off he rode to recruit new members for his new group.

      Mooooowahahahahaha /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

      a r i s t o t l e  [VLAD]"

    Stormbringer of Phalcon/Skism also announced his retirement from
    the scene, he is still around to see what's going on but will not
    be authoring any more viruses.  I asked him to write a little
    something about why this occured, here it is.

   "Okay, my retirement, part II 1/2...... heh.....  well, first of all,
    peppermint schnapps (100 proof) and irish cream coffee is a killer
    combination *sigh*.  Anyway, for a while, I kept my viruses w/source
    code available on my ftp site.  Someone in singapore downloaded
    keykap2, and placed it on another guys computer.  The guy realized
    he was infected, and as i tend to put, as Urnst calls them, my
    "vanity marks" in my code (i.e. the little (c) 199x Stormbringer
    thingie) and post to usenet with my handle, it was probably amazingly
    easy to find me.  Anyway, i was drunk one night, and got email from
    the victim of my virus.  This was the first case i knew of where one
    of my viruses escaped into the "wild".  I was drunk, and got
    depressed, my morals came in, ya know...... guilt trip etc.  So i
    called the guy ($1.30 a minute to singapore..... <ouch>) and
    explained to him how to fix his computer  (i often help people
    out with virus problems, this was just my first time to have it be
    one i wrote).  Anyhow, he was very nice and polite, and it kinda
    hit a nerve.... I got drunker, got more depressed (it had been a
    long day anyway) and wrote mah retirement letter (sorry for the
    melodramaticism in it guyz..... i blame it on the booze).  I posted
    it to alt.comp.virus, and forwarded it to the guy in singapore....
    anyway, at that point i stopped writing viruses, and as i am a man
    of my word, have not written, and will not write viruses, since
    that point (unless there is some immediate need for one for some
    strange reason that i cannot forsee..... can't see it happenin
    though).  I am still a member of phalcon/skism.  I got a reply from
    the person in question saying that he hoped he wasn't the cause
    of my retirement, and that he wrote ansi bombs.... whoopeee....
    honestly, i probably am not really cut out for virus writing i
    guess, because it really did bother me that someone was bothered
    by one of my viruses.  I dunno... take it as you will.  I am not
    out of the scene really, but no more viruses will be coming from
    me.  And no, I haven't headed off to any big AV companies... heh...
    haven't even gotten any offers (oh well. wah. ;).  I do and always
    have written my own disinfection programs for things i run into
    or that someone needs cures for, but thats about the extent of my
    recent virus-related stuff.

    Cheers,
    Stormbringer, Phalcon/SKISM"

    It seems the news is all over the internet, Phalcon/Skism are just
    about to release another issue of their famous magazine 40hex.
    It should be a great issue to check out, after their break for one
    year it will be well reiceved I'm sure.  Now not only do I get the
    proverbial "when will vlad#3 be released?" I also get the "has 40hex
    come out yet?".

    The virus group TridenT has now officially ceased to be.  The
    members (that I can name ;) were John Tardy, Masud Khafir,
    Dark Helmet, Bit Addict, Peter Venkman and Omega.  I'm not quite
    sure as to why this happened, but they're writing some kind of
    article for release in a magazine about it.  It will be in
    40hex/IR.. not sure.  The Netherlands will never be the same
    again :).

    Edwin Cleton retired as moderator of the fidonet virus echo,
    I'm sure this as a result of the mass mail bombing that occured
    on there.  A large amount of messages from a sex related mail
    net were crossposted to virus.  Also a small amount of source
    code was posted.  Jeff Cook the moderator of virus_info has
    taken over for now.

    Screaming Radish has taken over the spot of NuKE leader after
    Falcon resigned for a day in protest over lack of leadership.
    The next NuKE info journal will be released as soon as there is
    enough material.

    Immortal Riot the Swedish virus crew now has a new member,
    Conzouler has joined them.  I'm sure there'll be a lot of
    input from him in the next IR magazine.

    The book "Virus Creation Labs, a Journey Into the Underground"
    seems to have caused quite a stir around the place.  Although I
    can't afford to buy a copy (and haven't seen one in Australia)
    many people have obviously taken the time to purchase it.
    George C. Smith (Urnst Kouch) goes into the intricacies of
    virus author life and spills a large amount of beans about what's
    going on.  His section on Priest is very in-depth, if you want
    to check it out grab the latest Crypt magazine (29).  From the
    chapter about Priest though it seems fairly obvious that Urnst
    has nothing at all against recording all conversations with
    virus authors, so ppl beware :)

    There is a new Russian virus group which already it seems has
    been responsible for quite a few viruses around the place.  They're
    called Fear of the Dark.  I have yet to talk to any of the members
    properly but I'm sure you'll see something from them in the near
    future.  Good luck to them, I hope to see more of them on IRC.

    The site at which VLAD was based (internet) tempest.rhn.orst.edu
    was taken down by Aristotle and one of his cohorts.  He complained
    to the admin at oregon state university and the connection was
    withdrawn from the student that ran it.  Supposedly his computer
    was confiscated by the federal police and he was kicked out of
    university.  I'm sure this is just a rumour though.  Aristotle
    even admitted this to me over fidonet, so much for his claims
    of not being a narq.  Here's part of a message Aristotle sent
    to Splice (the only other ari supporter who now supports [VLAD]
    after his name).

     "=>         John...  I've never liked tearful goodbyes...

      Me either! I prefer to go out in a blaze of glory, but I think the
      extraction of satisfaction came with the downing of TEMPEST  :)

      Mooooowahahahahahahaha.... The Royal VLAD Dist took a hickey for
      a short while. NOW, I just discovered that our beloved Rod Fewster"

    It seems the only virus of ours which is currently detected is
    Incest.Daddy.  Not that any of the programs name it correctly,
    Daddy in TBAV and Incest with McAfee but they're getting there.
    I'm not sure if it can be removed as yet though.  Perhaps CARO
    ought to do something about the name of the virus.

    Well that just about sums up everything that has happened around
    me lately, hope you got some info out of it.  Apart from the two
    new members since last issue (Antigen & Rhincewind) nothing has
    happened within the group itself.  We're still rockin' on.
    Anyways, time to finish this one off methinks.

    Metabolis/VLAD