HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: wald@theory.lcs.mit.edu (David Wald)
Subject: Nonrepresentational fiction (was Re: Q about _Gravity's_Rainbow_)
Organization: Laboratory for Computer Science, MIT
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 16:59:25 GMT

In article <1992Apr10.055132.19393@uniwa.uwa.edu.au>
wojdylo@maths.uwa.oz.au (INFIDEL) writes:
>Joe Green writes:
>>In article <1992Apr9.174800.19856@infonode.ingr.com>
>>palmerc@palmerc@abulafia.b21.ingr.com (Christopher M. Palmer)
>>writes:
>>>Judged in a vacuum, there is some merit to the fact the some
>>>Picasso's look like attempts by pre-schoolers attempting
>>>representational art.
>
>That is not a fact - it is the opinion of an ignoramus.

In other words, the opinion of one judging in a vacuum.

-David
--
============================================================================
David Wald                                           wald@theory.lcs.mit.edu
   "Blessed are the peacocks, for they shall be called sonship of God"
             -- Matt 5:9, from a faulty QuickVerse 2.0
============================================================================
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: repnomar@leland.Stanford.EDU (Janet M. Lafler)
Subject: Re: reading in bed
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Distribution: rec
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 01:45:53 GMT

In article <JMC.92Apr14183753@SAIL.Stanford.EDU> jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU writes:
>What is the most convenient arrangement people have found?
>What equipment is best?

It depends on who's in bed with you.

/Janet

-- 
send mail to repnomar@leland.stanford.edu
Purdy...lowered his voice.  "Now.  We never had this conversation."   B.J. was 
alarmed to hear it.  Who _had_ had this conversation and what had he been 
doing while they had it?
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: jhitch@crash.cts.com (Jeffrey Hitchin)
Subject: Re: mystery book
Organization: Crash TimeSharing, El Cajon, CA
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 16:28:15 GMT

In <35153@uflorida.cis.ufl.edu> yms@carp.cis.ufl.edu (Yuh-Ming Shyy) writes:


>A friend of mine just recommended a mystery book "Talking 
>God" by Tony Hillerman. I would like to know is there any 
>one who has read or heard any book by this author. Any 
>comment or information is welcomed. Thanks. 

>email: yms@carp.cis.ufl.edu

	Considering Mr. Hillerman makes the NYT Top Ten, I would
guess people have heard of him. :)

	I like him.  I don't go ga-ga over him as some people
do.  Actually, I would suggest either _Dance Hall of the Dead_
which won an Edgar, _Skinwalkers_, or _A Thief of Time_ which
was nominated for an Edgar.  It might help to read his early
books before he combines his characters.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 12:51:43 GMT

FM, flagrantly derelict:
Most Americans don't seem to realize just what an assole C. S. Lewis 
really was. 

JES:
If being deliberately literal to make a point makes one as asshole, then
I'm one as well.  I would say calling someone an asshole in a public
forum might qualify a person for the label.

MZ:
By your own lights, you have just qualified.

JES:
I beg to differ.  I believe that I stopped just short of committing
said act.  You are, of course, entitled to your opinion.

You may have attempted to stop just short of qualifying for the title, but
your logic carried on inexorably, oblivious of your reticence to proceed
any further.  Unless, that is, you were hedging your bets just so: suppose
you tell me that, in your idiolect, "might" doesn't make right?


>`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'
>: Qu'est-ce qui est bien?  Qu'est-ce qui est laid?         Harvard   :
>: Qu'est-ce qui est grand, fort, faible...                 doesn't   :
>: Connais pas! Connais pas!                                 think    :
>:                                                             so     :
>: Mikhail Zeleny                                                     :
>: 872 Massachusetts Ave., Apt. 707                                   :
>: Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139           (617) 661-8151            :
>: email zeleny@zariski.harvard.edu or zeleny@HUMA1.BITNET            :
>:                                                                    :
>'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
From: wismith@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (William R. Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: King Arthur, many versions
Date: 6 Apr 92 15:36:14 GMT
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

Margaret Martin Gardiner writes:
	>A few more titles to add to the list:
	>
	>	Firelord - Parke Godwin (one of a series)


I read this on the recommendation of someone on the net a couple
of years ago.  This is an excellent book.  I was much moved by the
characters, the sense of time and setting and by the mystical/
spiritual aspects of the story.  Highly recommended.



William Smith
Intel, SSD
(415) 604-3877
From: tittle@ics.uci.edu (Cindy Tittle Moore)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE
Date: 13 Apr 92 15:05:18 GMT
Reply-To: tittle@ics.uci.edu (Cindy Tittle Moore)
Organization: ICS Dept., UC Irvine

In <1992Apr13.120230.21647@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> bf455@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bonita Kale) writes:

>Which reminds me of a question I had regarding British usage.  C.S.
>Lewis (d. 1963, so this was a while back) had a guest who asked to
>use the "bathroom".  He showed him to the room with the bathtub in
>it, as a lesson not to use American euphemisms.  I'm not sure what he
>wanted him to call the room with the toilet in it, but I had the
>impression it was "lavatory", which in the U.S., at least, is one of
>the most prissy, school-marmish euphemisms you would ever wish to
>hear, while "bathroom" is reasonably blunt and direct.  (Back in the
>sixties, I shocked a teen-aged library page by asking him to check
>the bathrooms.  He thought I should have said "rest rooms".)

>So what is the straightforward, non-vulgar usage in Great Britain?

When I was over there, it was unapologetically called the "toilet."

Mind you, I didn't frequent any of the high-class places, but I did
have a most entertaining conversation with a barmaid who was very
surprised to hear an american accent asking for the toilet.  She'd
get "bathroom" (OK), "restroom" (hmm), "comfort station" (WHAT?!).
She wanted to know why we had so much trouble with the word toilet.
I told her it must be from those darned English puritans in our
background.  We had a good chuckle.

--Cindy


--
Cindy Tittle Moore

Internet: tittle@ics.uci.edu       | BITNET: cltittle@uci.bitnet
UUCP:     ...!ucbvax!ucivax!tittle | Usnail: PO Box 4188, Irvine CA, 92716
From: wald@theory.lcs.mit.edu (David Wald)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: reading in bed
Date: 16 Apr 92 18:15:24 GMT
Article-I.D.: mintaka.1992Apr16.181524.16625
Organization: Laboratory for Computer Science, MIT

In article <farrell.703407011@coral.cs.jcu.edu.au>
farrell@coral.cs.jcu.edu.au (John Farrell) writes:
>In <1992Apr15.135933.5624@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu>
>wald@theory.lcs.mit.edu (David Wald) writes:
>>
>>Lots of pillows and a good, adjustable small-area lamp.
>
>  Lots of pillows and one of those lamps which clips on to your book.

I've never found these very comfortable.  I always feel that they're
in my way.  I prefer a mounted or floor lamp with a long enough arm
that I can set it up shining over my shoulder wherever I put myself.

-David
--
============================================================================
David Wald                                           wald@theory.lcs.mit.edu
   "Blessed are the peacocks, for they shall be called sonship of God"
             -- Matt 5:9, from a faulty QuickVerse 2.0
============================================================================
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: _Gravity's_Rainbow_
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 22:21:03 GMT

Tom Maddox writes:

	Leroy writes:

		It's important to have something to say when you write, 
		or so I say.

	Good principle.  Next time, put it into practice.

But surely he did? After all, you quoted him.

						Francis Muir

francis@sep.stanford.edu
From: cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Surveying readers of the Advocate (Was: Re: Wanted: Readers)
Date: 10 Apr 92 19:00:16 GMT
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA

In article <17777@awdprime.UUCP>, mbrown@testsys.austin.ibm.com (Mark Brown) writes:
> >In article <10080@optilink.UUCP> cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:
> >>Do you believe that human rights exist, independent of the culture?
> >>If so, you aren't a moral relativist, and therefore aren't a liberal.
> 
> This is screamingly funny, given that the entire "basic human rights"
> advocacy issue started out as a "Liberal" cause, until conservatives in the
> US started using it as a tool for USSR-bashing. 

Odd.  But perhaps if liberals had applied the notion of human rights
to the Soviet Union at the same time, there wouldn't have been the
cynicism about it.

> "Human Rights for *all* South Africans"? Conservatives *hated* that one,
> until recently.

They did?  Can you give some examples of conservatives who believed
that apartheid was a good idea?  There is a difference between, "We
don't think this will be an effective strategy to human rights,"
and, "We agree with apartheid."

In any case, conservatives have more in common with liberals
than different.

Keep in mind that apartheid and the rest of the South African
system was fiercely hostile to free markets and private property
rights -- that's why apartheid existed as a legal system, not just
social pressure -- apartheid was established to counteract
free markets.

> Mark Brown       IBM PSP Austin, TX.| I believe in the richness and mystery

The liberals that I work with and that show themselves on USENET
do NOT believe in human rights of any sort.  As one of my co-workers
asserted over lunch one day, "There's really no such thing as
freedom."  This is a guy who votes Democratic, and supports all the
politically correct causes.
-- 
Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer  My opinions, all mine!
"The mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a
favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace
of God." -- Thomas Jefferson
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: callahan@lost-boy.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan)
Subject: Re: Children's book name wanted
Organization: Johns Hopkins Computer Science Department, Baltimore, MD
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 21:11:21 GMT

sullivana@gtephx.UUCP (Anne Sullivan) writes:

>I'm sure it is a Dr.Seuss book.  The title Bartholemew and the Oobleck popped
>into my head when I read your description, but I'm not sure that's right.
>Maybe it's another book with Bartolemew.  (spelling looks wrong, sorry)

Must be another one.

In _Bartholomew and the Oobleck_, the king decides that he's tired of the same 
old weather and wants something different.  His wizards come up with "oobleck"
as the solution, and go through some incantations to make it so.  Oobleck seems 
to consist of drops of green goo falling from the sky.  This causes lots of
problems, depicted in classic Seussian fashion, though I forget how they are
resolved.

Sorry if I messed up some details, but I am working from memory and the last
time I looked at this was when I was seven or so.  Anyway, it doesn't sound
like the book suggested by the original poster.  At least, I don't remember
the scene.  

--
Paul Callahan       | "... the 'spineless prickly pear' ... this long-neglected 
callahan@cs.jhu.edu | gift of nature, which now promises to be of as great or 
                    | even greater value to the human race than the discovery 
BIFF WHERE ARE YOU? | of steam."                      -- Luther Burbank, 1911
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: bf455@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bonita Kale)
Subject: C.S. Lewis (was Re: ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, (USA)
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 92 10:57:03 GMT




In a previous article, francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir) says:
>
>This sounds like Lewis. Most Americans (Statesmen?) don't seem to realize
>just what an assole C. S. Lewis really was. This is a prime example.


God forbid we should be judged by our silliest moments, Francis.  If I
hadn't found his books so marvelous, I wouldn't have read the book about
him that related that silly incident.  He had his faults (some of them
rather large and cumbersome, sort of like dragging a St. Bernard with you
all the time), and of course, like all of us, he didn't know himself.

But--but.  He was just great, that's all.  You want to be more precise in
your dislike?  Then I could be more precise in my praise.

Bonita
 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: kasprj@vccsouth03.its.rpi.edu (Jim Kasprzak)
Subject: Re: The Closing of the American Mind
Reply-To: kasprj@rpi.edu
Organization: The Big Wedge
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 06:13:53 GMT

In article <1992Apr11.050129.8558@athena.mit.edu>, hhuang@m4-035-15.MIT.EDU (Han-Young Huang) writes:
|> 
|> Is this section also for general type of books, such as The Closing of the
|> American Mind?  Books which can tell me how to live?
|> 
|> I'm not sure if modern fiction fills the bill of "telling me how to live."
|> That, in fact, seems to be the key issue.  So somebody enlighten me.  I have
|> too many problem sets to do.
 
 If you actually need to be told how to live, then perhaps you're better off
not bothering.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: nemet@ide.com (Todd Nemet)
Subject: Re: Scientists fiction or plays
Keywords: if,then
Organization: IDE, San Francisco
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 92 21:40:14 GMT


I watched this thread thinking that someone would
mention _Cat's Cradle_ by Kurt Vonnegut.  But no
one has so I shall.

One particularly admirable thing about this book is
that it doesn't portray scientists as lovable, bumbling
geniuses who expand our knowledge of the universe
(a la The Absent Minded Professor).  Rather, they are
portrayed as lovable, bumbling geniuses who fuck with
things that they shouldn't fuck with.

Todd Nemet
-------------
Read Harpoon!
From: spb0457@zeus.tamu.edu (SubGenius)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Irrelevant _GR_ question
Date: 15 Apr 92 20:12:00 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

>Before the 30s, there were two people in the area known as the Kirghiz
>and the Kara Kirghiz.  They were then renamed the Kazakh and the Kirghiz
>respectively.  Now what's interesting is that Kara XXX--I don't know
>which language it is--often gets translated as "Black XXX" for various
>Central Asian (sub)nationalities.
>So I conjecture the following paranoid, and hence plausible, fiction:
>there used to be three groups known as Kirghiz: the Kirghiz, the Black
>Kirghiz, and the White Kirghiz (aka the Kirghiz Light).  In the 30s, the
>Kirghiz became the Kazakhs and the Black Kirghiz became the Kirghiz, and
>the White Kirghiz disappeared.
>-- 
>-Matthew P Wiener (weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu)

+-------------------------------------SubG-------------------------------+
I really can't see much justification for this, as Pynchon's usage of
the Kirghiz Light is as an abstraction;  almost a Tao-type idea of a 
mystical primary wah-dee-do-dah from which the scattered tribesmen 
gather spiritual fufillment and so on--look at Tchicherine's (sp?) reaction
to the Aqyn's song (the longest one in _GR_, no?).

Unless you can supply some documentary evidence for this, I can't see
any reason to believe it.





-SubG
From: djdaneh@pbhyc.PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Irrelevant _GR_ question
Date: 16 Apr 92 17:33:38 GMT
Reply-To: djdaneh@PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes)
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA

In article <1992Apr12.060846.6538@u.washington.edu>, tmaddox@milton (Tom Maddox) writes:

>...But if you want a *really* hard _GR_ reference:  the Kirghiz Light.

It's a beer, Tom.  Came out in the early '70s, died because of a terrible
advertising campaign.  Slogans included "Taste's the differance," "The
one beer to have when you're having beyond the zero," and the ever
popular, "Tastes great, less fibrillating."


		Can Jack and Jill
			terrified that each and the other are not terrified
		    become
			terrified that each and other are terrified, and
		    eventually,
			not terrified that each and other not be terrified?
				--R.D. Laing

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, Net.Roach
My opinions do NOT represent Pacific Bell,
Professional Development, or anyone else.
But I'm willing to share.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: chuong@bullet.ecf.toronto.edu (CHUONG  HAN HSING)
Subject: *** DAVID EDDINGS WANTED ***
Followup-To: chuong@bullet.ecf.toronto.edu
Organization: University of Toronto, Engineering Computing Facility
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 16:18:07 GMT


I am a relatively new fan of David Eddings and have finished reading
the Belgariad (yes, I know it's probably been printed and reprinted
about 300 times now) and have finished all but one book in the second
part of this epic - the Mallorean.  The problem is, I can't seem to 
find the last book (after the Sorceress of Darshiva; I can't remember
the name) in paperback.  I was wondering if anyone knows if (and when)
it'll be out on the shelves.

I am also currently looking for good authors in the science
fiction and fantasy catagories and don't wish to purchase a dozen
books to find out which authors I like.  I have found, in the past,
that the only sci-fi writer I loyally read was Timothy Zahn.  I'm
a big fan of his work and have probably (and hopefully) every book he's
written. However, it's been quite a while since I've seen any new books
from him so if anyone knows anything about any current works from
him, drop me a line.  Thanks in advance.

In the field of fantasy, I have found myself obsessively reading
Raymond E. Feist and hope he comes out with works as enchanting and
exciting as the Riftwar Saga.

Jim Chuong
University of Toronto
Faculty of Engineering
chuong@bullet.ecf.toronto.edu


Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: King Arthur. Many Many Versions...
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 20:48:31 GMT

Joann Zimmerman quotes William Gerhardie:

	"If a book is worth reading at all it is worth reading more than 
	once ...  Suspense drags you on; appreciation causes you to linger."

For some reason I cannot but be reminded of G.K.Chesterton's advice:

	"If a thing's worth doing, its worth doing badly."

Francis Muir

francis@sep.stanford.edu
				

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: dstein@amalthea.math.ucla.edu (David Stein)
Subject: Re: Q about _Gravity's_Rainbow_
Reply-To: dstein@amalthea.math.ucla.edu (David Stein)
Organization: UCLA, Mathematics Department
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 92 21:03:18 GMT

In article <12052.29e84e71@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu>,
wagner@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu writes:
|> 
|> Pane Steine,
|> 
|> myslim ze jste udelali chybu.  Ten clovek kterou tu blbost napsal uz
|> v minulich clanku dokazal ze jemnosti Anglictini nerozumi, a ze vubec
|> nerozumi jemnosti moderni noveli.  Vase otazka je (v matematickem smyslu
|> slova) trivialni.  Doufam ze me prominete mou pologramotnost v Cestine,
|> uz tu ziju dlouho a mnoho jiste jsem zapomel.
|> 
|> 							-Lukas
|> 						(SAT verbal 98 %)

   Dobry den pane Wagner,
    
   moc jste mne potesil Cestinou, bylo to prijemne kdyz na mne tady tak 
   neocekavane vybafla.  S Vasi Cestinou si nedelejte starost, je velice dobra.
   Ja sem na tom hur, Ceski jsem uz zapomnel, ale Anglicky se jeste nenaucil.
   Jenom je skoda ze se tu nedaj delat hacky a carky, vypada to dost blbe bez
   nich.

   Mimochodem muj SAT dotaz byl jenom rhetoricky, noboli tedy `plaminek',
   abych ukrad z Anglictiny.

							- David
						(SAT vocabulary  8%)
						(SAT reading    98%)

p.s.  Is there a better argument for the idiocy of that test?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm not a native speaker of English, so I'm not sure what I wrote.
Flames will be ignored unless you post them in perfect Czech.
================================ - David (the metamathician) - ===
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: The galosh 
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 16:07:18 GMT

Cindy Tittle Moore writes:

	Francis Muir writes:

		Bonita Kale writes:

			"Rubbers" is a nuisance, since there really is no 
			other word for what you put on over your shoes, 

		Galoshes

	I get funny looks (it sounds old-fashioned on this side of the 
	Atlantic, I guess), but it sounds just right for what it does.  

I have just checked the online OED. They give galosh 75 lines! Quotes
begin with Langland's *Piers Plowman* and one of Chaucer's *Tales*. For
the modern meaning (overshoes made of india-rubber or gutta percha --
don't you love the slightly musty OED?) they quote Carlyle and Thackeray.
They do add 'rare in U.S.'. The quotes are theirs, as tho' there is
something slightly negligent in netioning transAtlantic usage.

I have ordered overshoes here in the States, and got what i wanted.

						Francis Muir

francis@sep.stanford.edu
From: lopresti@henson.cc.wwu.edu (lopresti robert)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: If all the world had one throat...
Date: 9 Apr 92 14:51:39 GMT
Article-I.D.: henson.1992Apr9.145139.29882
Organization: Western Washington University


Caligula, the Roman emperor is supposed to have said to the
crowd in the Coliseum (or some similar event):
	"If you had one throat I'd hack it through."

Rob
lopresti@henson.cc.wwu.edu
From: spb0457@zeus.tamu.edu (SubGenius)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Irrelevant _GR_ question
Date: 14 Apr 92 04:49:00 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

[Misc. deletia]

>	But if you want a *really* hard _GR_ reference:  the Kirghiz Light.
>	I've asked this one in a number of venues, including MLA panels on
>Pynchon, the Pynchon list, also among various informal gatherings of 
>Pynchon scholars/loons.  No one has been able to come up with a definitive
>allusion, explanation, or plausible fiction.
>	Do something good with it, and I'll reward you with an e-song about
>bananas or pigs.
>				Tom Maddox

[Misc. deletia]

+--------------------------------------SubG--------------------------------+
Never thought that it was that obscure a reference, just ficticious.

I believe that Pynchon is just using the destruction of the Kirghiz tribal 
culture by the introduction of a new "official" language to the erstwhile 
socially isolated tribesmen as another link between Soviet Tchitcherine and
his Herero flip-side Enzian.  Besides which, he gets to further impress us
with his urbane knowledge of obscure cultures by mentioning the Aqyn (a 
professional bard.  Blind singers aren't original with Pynchon;  literature is
littered with them like whores at a Shriner's convention, from Homer to
Heinlein) and the ajtys (kirghiz song-duels) u.s.w.

The actual Kirghiz Light is unique to _GR_ as near as I know--I've never
seen any reference to it in anything about Soviet ethnic folklore.  Just
another example of Pynchon trandescendence (spell it yourself).  Frankly, I'd
have been dissappointed if he hadn't gifted this particular bit of the 
counterforce with some kind of mystical hooey.  Another example of the
equation black=south=primitive=good, white=north=organization=THEM=bad, near
as I can tell.






-SubGenius


Newsgroups: rec.arts.books