HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: kenr@orleans.storage.tandem.com (Ken Rose)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: permanent temporary buildings.
Date: 5 Oct 92 16:29:12 GMT
Organization: Tandem Computers Inc, Cupertino CA

In article <BvIAxr.Ht3@acsu.buffalo.edu>, v201lrxa@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (BILL S. PRESTON, ESQ.) writes:
> on our south campus at ub, there are maybe half a dozen aluminum/cinderblock
> buildings that were built 20 or so years ago as temporary 'annexes' to the
> buildings they were built next to. hayes hall has three or four such annexes.
> anyway, these buildings were built around 1970 as temporary structures, and
> are still called temporary today. go figure. hell, they survived the blizzard
> of 77......that's about as permanent as you can get :)
> 
> mike

UCSB must hold some kind of record for temporary buildings.
When I was in school there, some of my TA's were assigned offices
in "temporary" huts that dated back to when the land was used
as a Marine Corp Air station -- in World War II !!! 

They've built a new engineering building, but I think some of the
"temporary office space" is still in use today.

-- Ken

____________________________________________________________________
Ken Rose    (kenr@storage.tandem.com)
The Usual Disclaimer:  Any opinions expressed above are mine alone, not
those of my employer (who is kind enough to allow me Usenet access).
From: bull@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: Computer Lab Operator Geeks
Date: 14 Oct 92 13:44:19 +1000
Organization: Computer Centre, Monash University, Australia

jdahl@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Jared Dahl) writes:
> oldman@titan.ucc.umass.edu (Tig Stone) writes:
>
> |>    Yeah, but at least you're on a shift (i.e. it's your job).  I
> |> get asked these questions, and answer them for free (out of the
> |> kindness of my heart).  Unfortunately, when this happens, the dam
> |> bursts, and I'm helping everyone.
> |>    Sometimes, they ask ME, even when there IS someone on duty...
>
> But of course, it always helps if the person who needs help
> it an attractive young woman!!

        Under those circumstances, insist that the "AYW" specifically
ask for *you* next time, I do ;-)

        A few of my own.

        A student here was found trying to insert an audio cassette
into a 3.5" floppy drive.

        I've lost count of the times I've retrieved a disk from the
(very small) gap *between* two  5.25" floppy drives.


           Bull@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au  OR  bull@monu1.cc.monash.oz
                    DOD# 251  '84 VF 750   Closet Ducatisto
             Disclaimer. If you love your llama, let it lambada.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
From: chil@fraser.sfu.ca (Keith Lim)
Subject: Re: Renaming Hallowed Institutions
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 12:21:29 GMT

Ok, here at SFU, there are (currently) four residence buildings. Their names
are Louis Riel House, Shell House, McTaggart-Cowan Hall, and Madge Hoagarth
House. I'll take them one at a time.

Louis Riel House doesn't have a nickname as such. I've only heard it being
referred to as "Louis" for short, as in "I'm now living in Louis, but will be
moving out at the end of this semester." So much for that; onward to the other
residences that *have* been renamed.

Shell House, which I hear is named after a person and not the Shell gas
station that's not too far from it, has two alternative names, "Hell House"
and "Smell House". Neither of these are inappropriate.

McTaggart-Cowan Hall gets shortened to, simply, "McCow". Gary Larson-like
bovine creatures are a favourite of floor t-shirt designs. There aren't that
many McDonald's hamburger jokes going around though. Every semester, there
are a couple of female residents who aren't too happy about the "cow" part
of the abbreviation (note that when the name is used in full, "cow" doesn't
occur: the "co" and "w" belong to different syllables.)

Madge Hoagarth House, the all-women dorm, is "Mad Hog House". Even less
popular than "McCow". I don't hear it used all that often, though; the
common short-form is simply "Madge".

There are new residences being built, and which will be open in the Spring
(Jan 93). I don't know what they will be called, but they will no doubt be
renamed eventually. When that happens, I'll let this group know.

Oh, and our library, the "W.A.C. Bennett Library" (named after a former premier
of B.C.) is sometimes (though rarely) called the "Wacky Bennett Library". Most
of the time though, it's simply "the library".

BTW, a student from the University of British Columbia (UBC), who wishes to
remain anonymous, emailed me to tell me that one renaming of UBC is "Screw BC".

-- 
Keith_Lim@sfu.ca   Simon Fraser University, Burnaby B.C., V5A 1S6, Canada
Hon Cog Sci; Min Psyc; Forum; Senate; CDSU; URC; ASC; FARSIDE; LEAD; CCCS
I officially represent each and every one of the above bodies--NOT!

Elaan: "That ancient Earth custom called spanking...what is it?"
Kirk : "Well, er...er...we'll talk about that later!"
From: smith+@cs.cmu.edu (Sean Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: Computer centers, leaving oneself logged in
Keywords: heh
Date: 7 Oct 92 16:17:23 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.college
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

This discussion reminds of a prank from my undergraduate days.

Computer-illiterate Carl Greppin was finishing some major paper 
using the mainframe as a word processor (the main use of the 
campus mainframe, btw).  But his roommate had compromised the account,
and planned some fun---and he let us all know about it in advance, so
we could manage to be in the terminal room at the right time and
witness the fun.

I won't bore you with the details of the prank---typical stuff, and
I don't remember them anyway.  But I do remember how Carl bought
it hook, line, and sinker, and in all innocense uttered the line

	``Gee, it's a good thing all my friends are here to
	help me out!''

(Of course, he has a job now, and I'm still in school)

--Sean

smith+@cmu.edu                         	     	    school of computer science
carnegie mellon university    5000 forbes avenue     pittsburgh, pa 15213 3890
From: mancuso@pilot.njin.net (Tina Mancuso)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Hmmm.
Date: 7 Oct 92 06:17:18 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.


I meant to put this in my last post, but I was so long-winded that I
forgot.  The person who posted the story about the guy who believed
that a Walkman was logging him out (BTW, I'd love to hear more stories
about him if you have any!) reminded me of some of the things our
computer center employees do to fellow employees who are dumb enough
to leave themselves logged in in a public place.  One popular thing to
do is to replace the person's LOGIN.COM (this is on a VAX, of course)
with a bogus login file that won't let them do *anything*, and says
things like "No files found" when they type DIR, and "No help
available" then they type HELP.  It also won't let them log out.

A meaner tactic is to place a line that says "logout" in the
beginning of their login.com...but that one's not used that much, nor
is putting "del *.*;*" in.

I think my favorite was one I thought of when my friend Dave left
himself logged in at the help desk in the computer center.  First, a
little background: our VAXes are connected to a DECserver which is
accessed through the ADI boxes (besically digital modems that every
Drew resident receives) in our rooms.  When you are on the DECserver,
you get a "Local> " prompt, from which you can connect to any of the
VAXes or the Unix machines.  So, when Dave left himself logged in, I
edited his LOGIN.COM so that, as soon as he logged in, he'd see a
message that looked exactly like he was being logged out...he was even
returned to the Local> prompt.  Of course, the "Local" prompt was
really his own VAX prompt, because the logout message was totally
fake.

Unfortunately, he figured out what had happened in about 30
seconds...but I've always wanted to try that trick on a
computer-illiterate person, just so I could hear their frantic "I
can't log in!"

--Tina
--
	  Tina Mancuso, Student Manager, Academic Computer Center
		      Drew University, Madison, NJ
     tmancuso@drunivac.drew.edu		mancuso@pilot.njin.net
"What you think of yourself is more important than what others think of you."
From: zelek@remus.rutgers.edu (Grey Wolf)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: Computer Lab Operator Geeks
Date: 7 Oct 92 17:57:11 GMT
Organization: Rutgers University

moore@gibbs.oit.unc.edu (Hall Moore) writes:


>luser:  Can you help me?
>lab a.: What do you want to do?
>luser:  I don't know...

>I rest my case.

   This is news?  I get at least three or four people per shift coming up to
me asking me if I can help them, and then when I try to get SOME SORT of
specifics from them, they're turn into a gibbering pile of stupidity.  *sigh*
Not the thing you need to have happen to you three users in a row on a bad
day....

Can you help me, I seem to have forgotten my name,
Chris [zelek@aramis.rutgers.edu]
From: swincup@opie.bgsu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Where not to keep your data
Date: 15 Oct 92 21:04:01 GMT
Organization: Bowling Green State University

Hey!
I gotta tell someone about this who can appreciate it.  I was helping out a
person who was working on a twelve page paper here at the labs.  They
complained that they had already typed the paper twice, but it was never on his
disk when he returned the next day.  We searched all of the hard drives, and
all of the subdirectories therein.  I asked him if he kept the disk next to any
kind of heat source, and he said. "No, in fact I keep it on my refridgerator."
It turned out that he was pinning up the disk with a magnet at home.  

Thank god there are those out there who make things more difficult than they
really are.  It's these people that create a need for the rest of us.


 --------------------------------------------------------
|Steve Wincup                                            |
|Bowling Green State University, Ohio                    |
|SWINCUP@opie.bgsu.edu                                   |
| ------------------------------------------------------ |
| "We are the people our parents warned us about!" - J.B.|
 --------------------------------------------------------
 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
From: jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Jonathan M Lennox)
Subject: Re: New logos (was Re: Iowa State University Towers)
Reply-To: jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Jonathan M Lennox)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 05:54:53 GMT

In article <1992Oct7.160917.8966@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu> dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann) writes:
>Another Curious Fact(tm) about the U of A is that for many of the buildings,
>the ground-level floor is number 2.  This includes the library...

  At least you can reasonably expect to enter on 1 or 2...off the top
of my head, I can think of buildings here at Columbia for which campus
level is 2, 3, 4, or 5...I can't think of a 6, anywhere, though.

  The reason is that the campus is on a hill, and all the buildings
are numbered from street level, not campus level, even if it's
impossible to enter the building from the street.  Of course,
sometimes the first floor isn't even flush with the street, but they
just pick one of the two nearest it.

  The library is also interesting--it has two *completely
inconsistent* floor-numbering schemes, depending on whether you're in
the stacks or not (the stacks have lower ceilings than the rest of the
library, so you go from the second floor outside the stacks to the
sixth inside).  Really confuses people new to the library, who wander
around saying "we came in on the second floor...I know we did."

  Also, the building I'm currently living in seems to have a floor
missing...the floors are numbered 1, MZ, 4.

Jonathan Lennox
jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu
From: ChazL@county.lmt.mn.org (Chaz Larson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: Computer Lab Operator Geeks
Date: 8 Oct 92 21:07:01 GMT
Reply-To: ChazL@county.lmt.mn.org (Chaz Larson)
Organization: LaserMaster Corporation

In article <OLDMAN.92Oct5214521@titan.ucc.umass.edu>, 
oldman@titan.ucc.umass.edu (Tig Stone) writes:
> 	I don't know what it is, but whenever I'm in a computer lab,
> SOMEONE asks me a "stupid user question".  I don't even WORK in a
> computer lab.  I guess I just LOOK like I know what I'm doing (which I
> do :).


I seem to have this problem with retail stores.  No matter how I dress or 
what I'm doing, I've been asked "Where is X?" or "Do you carry Y?" questions 
frighteningly often in stores.

The other day, I was standing in a aisle studying the widgets at a Sears, 
wearing jeans and a [none-to-fancy] hooded sweatshirt, when a BDI walked up 
to me and asked where the whatsises were.  He was taken aback when I told him 
I didn't work there.

Another time, I was dressed about the same way, had my car keys a-jingling in 
my hand, and was jogging toward the door when someone flagged me down to ask 
me where the doo-hickies were kept.  Again, they seemed surprised that I 
wasn't an employee.

I guess those [long-past] years of working retail imbued me with some sort of 
generic Retail Employee Glow.

chaz


..must think...bubble pipe will relax me and I think...
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
From: jdahl@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Jared Dahl)
Subject: Re: Stupid college sports
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 20:22:22 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM Rochester

My roomies and I used to play William Tell.

Simple game.  Get a pillow and an apple. put
the apple on your head and the pillow in front 
of your face. Stand against the wall.  Your 
opponent stands 8 feet away with three darts
and tries to knock the apple off of your head.
Not a game for the faint of heart!! :)

Jared "Ooops.  That'll heal in a day or so!"  Dahl
-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
| Jared Dahl             | "My heart is human, my blood is boiling, | 
| Systems Programmer     |  my brain IBM"                           |
| IBM - Rochester, MN    |              -- STYX,  "Mr. Roboto"      |
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Opinions expressed are mine, not IBM's.
From: jacobs@cerritos.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: Computer centers, leaving oneself logged in
Date: 8 Oct 92 20:57:15 PST
Organization: Cerritos College, Norwalk CA

In article <1992Oct8.174942.27068@ncsu.edu>, davison@unity.ncsu.edu (John Davison) writes:
> In article <00961C83.E83CF180@vms.csd.mu.edu>, 2429oconnorw@vms.csd.mu.edu writes:
> |> 
> |> Same here, we have WordPerfect and other word processing programs on a
> |> server and students try to copy the programs on to their disks.  I don't
> |> know which act is dumber, trying to get a program from a server which
> |> keeps telling you that you can not get the program or thinking that 
> |> one can fit WordPerfect on one 5.25 DD disk.
> |> 
> But that doesn't match the ones who think they can logon with their 1200 baud
> modem and run interleaf from the X-windows system here on their little Macs or
> PCs. Over the phone lines. Without a Unix box. In their lifetime.
> Or the ones who want to copy Interleaf or SAS onto a diskette so they can use it
> at home.
 
But that still doesn't beat the lady I had to help last night. She came to me
saying that she couldn't save her WP51 file. After trying the commands myself I
looked in the disk drive and found a 3 1/2 floppie crammed diagonally into a 5
1/4 drive! I couldn't belive it. ( I was also told by one of our former lab
aides that he one has someone shove a 5 1/4 disk into a 3 1/2 drive. I guess
they folded it!)

Karl
 
________________________________________________________________________________Karl Jacobs - Jacobs@cerritos.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
From: chris@cs.toronto.edu (Chris Beck)
Subject: Re: Class Rings
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
Date: 9 Oct 92 20:26:50 GMT

<ICSCH@ASUACAD.BITNET> writes:
> Any class ring folklore?

Well, sort of folklore...

First some background:
	At my undergrad school (St. Francis Xavier University), rings are
a huge deal.  It is the same design every year - a gold ring with a large
black X (it looks much better than it sounds) and they are _given out_ 
in a mini-graduation ceremony on December 3rd (the Feast of St. Francis
Xavier) evry year.  By _given out_, I mean you have to order and pay for
them but they get delivered to the X-ring Committee which organizes 
everything.

	The present Prime Minister (Brian Mulroney) attended St.F.X. back
in the 50s or so.

The folklore has it that after being named Conservative party leader but before
being elected as PM, he visited the campus (an official visit) and addressed
convocation or something.  He wasn't wearing his X-ring which everyone
interpreted as a slight.  All X students since then know this story, even the
incoming frosh 7 or 8 years after the event.

Chris

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
From: zlsiida@fs1.mcc.ac.uk (dave budd)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: how to identify a freshman
Date: 7 Oct 92 09:27:52 GMT
Organization: Manchester Computing Centre

In article <1992Sep17.180105.14940@vax5.cit.cornell.edu> h2m@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (JA) writes:

>In article <Sep.16.20.00.02.1992.15657@remus.rutgers.edu>,
>zelek@remus.rutgers.edu (Grey Wolf) writes: 
>> GRS00041@APPSTATE.EDU (Shannon G. Frady) writes:
>> 
>>  [  freshman is sexist  ] 
>> now they're called 'first-year students.'  As with all PC titles, it's
>> completely bland, generic, and leaves a stale taste in your mouth after
>> you say it.

>I prefer the terms: freshling or freshoid

In UK they've always (well for a long time anyway) been called just:
freshers


              Have another day    [Armageddon, the musical] 
  Dave Budd, MCC, Oxford Rd, Manchester, England   (44|0)61-275-6033  
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
From: jwc2001@andy.bgsu.edu (Milo)
Subject: Re:Comp Lab Op Geeks
Followup-To: alt.folklore.college
Organization: bgsu
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 21:51:09 GMT

Well, after reading that huge thread I just had to put in my two cents
worth.  At Univ. Comp. Svcs. in BGSU we have the standard stories:

1.  A user comes in with a five and a quarter floppy and attempts to insert
it into a Macintosh drive by folding it in half...

2.  I'm working in a residence hall lab (read that homework on-duty) when a
user asks to borrow a printer for her computer in her room.  When I tell
her absolutely not, lab stuff stays in the lab, she asks for the phone
number of the library lab, wondering if maybe that lab would let her take a
printer home.  She would bring it right back, of course.

3.  "I think my computer is broken," a user complains.  I goose their mouse
a bit to kill the screensaver.

4.  The #1 broken record question, "How do I turn this thing on?"

and so on and so forth.

Milo
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
From: gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener)
Subject: Re: New logos (was Re: Iowa State University Towers)
Reply-To: gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 19:12:22 GMT

In article <1992Oct11.173222.18869@sol.ctr.columbia.edu> vcf1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Victoria C Fike) writes:

>>  Also, the building I'm currently living in seems to have a floor
>>missing...the floors are numbered 1, MZ, 4.
>
>My theory is, they took it out and put it in Carman, which goes 1, MZ, 2, 3,
>etc...

But how'd they get the floor out of Jay without all the residents there
noticing a big THUMP?


--
Gabe Wiener - Columbia Univ.     "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings 
gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu       to be seriously considered as a means of 
N2GPZ in ham radio circles        communication. The device is inherently of
72355,1226 on CI$                 no value to us." -Western Union memo, 1877
From: okes@essex.ac.uk (Oke S)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: Computer Lab Operator Geeks
Date: 9 Oct 92 13:08:55 GMT
	<37240@uflorida.cis.ufl.edu> <1992Oct7.140856.6614@samba.oit.unc.edu>
	<Oct.7.13.57.08.1992.24459@remus.rutgers.edu>
	<OLDMAN.92Oct8163114@titan.ucc.umass.edu>
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Essex, UK.
In-reply-to: oldman@titan.ucc.umass.edu's message of 8 Oct 92 21:31:14 GMT

In article <OLDMAN.92Oct8163114@titan.ucc.umass.edu> oldman@titan.ucc.umass.edu (Tig Stone) writes:
|	   Yeah, but at least you're on a shift (i.e. it's your job).  I
|get asked these questions, and answer them for free (out of the
|kindness of my heart).  Unfortunately, when this happens, the dam
|bursts, and I'm helping everyone.
|	   Sometimes, they ask ME, even when there IS someone on duty...

|Tig "I don't work here, you know" Stone
|(oldman@titan.ucc.umass.edu)

I know exactly the feeling. In the Computer Science Dept. here, there is no-one
permanently hanging around to help, and the sysadmins aren't too keen on
wasting their time on people who have just discovered how to edit their
.Xsession files, but don't realise why they can't log in afterwards. So they
coma and ask _me_, and I tell them that I discovered the hard way that it has
to be executable.

Sometimes I wish I was just as clueless about Un*x as the rest of them...

Simon "I'm getting fed up with sorting out other peoples' problems" Oke
(okes@essex.ac.uk)
--
This signature is copyright 12/6/1992 Simon Oke. All rights reserved. If you
like it and keep a copy for your own use, you owe me $20. Please pass it on
to your friends with all documentation.              Email okes@essex.ac.uk.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reincarnation: life sucks, then you die. Then life sucks again.
From: jma@reef.cis.ufl.edu (John 'Vlad' Adams)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: Computer Lab Operator Geeks
Date: 10 Oct 92 03:31:34 GMT
Organization: Univ. of Florida CIS Dept.

Did chil@fraser.sfu.ca really type:
}  I was in SFU's Mac Lab once when the system crashed, and everybody's 3.5's
}  were trapped in their Mac. I saved the day by going around with the
}  straightened-out paper clip, ejecting everyone's precious disks for them.

T'would have been more fun to tell everyone to press and hold the
mouse button while calling university power and having them turn off
campus power...
-- 
    _   Who:    John 'Vlad' Adams 
 _ //   Where:  jma@cis.ufl.edu -or- jadams@coral.senod.uwf.edu
 \X/    Why:    "Every moment of pleasure in life has to be
                   purchased by an equal amount of pain."
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
From: kevin@netcom.com (Kevin Fong)
Subject: Ground floors? (was Re: New logos )
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 07:25:40 GMT

dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann) writes:

>Another Curious Fact(tm) about the U of A is that for many of the buildings,
>the ground-level floor is number 2.  This includes the library...

>It turns out that the real explanation is that, for reasons known only to
>itself, TPTB decided that all floors were to be numbered starting with 1
>at the lowest floor.  This means that the ground floor is always numbered
>one more than the number of basement floors.

The most confusing building(s) I've seen at UCLA are the three connected
engineering buildings. They are built into the side of a hill, so you can
enter, from ground level, at the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors. In
fact, the main entrance is to the 5th floor.

There is a set of steam tunnels around campus that, in most buildings,
runs at or below the basement level. In the engineering building, you
exit the tunnel, climb *down* a ladder, and find yourself on the second
floor.

-- 
Kevin Y. Fong              kevin@netcom.com
Los Angeles, CA         
"You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building."