HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: thomasc@ms.uky.edu (Thomas Campbell)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho
Subject: Re: Immortal Companions:  The Doctor's Age & His Companions
Date: 5 Sep 92 18:36:19 GMT
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences

In article <18arngINNqk5@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> sdh5@po.CWRU.Edu (Scott D. Hurley) writes:
>
>no companion gap between the Doctor saying he was 745 towards the
>end of Tom Baker's Era, and Colin Baker saying he was 912 in
>"Russerection of the Daleks" (I think, or was it "Revelation?",
>
>From this information it seems that while the doctor aged nearly
>170 years, his companions, in an unbroken line, aged at most
>five years!  
>
>All relevant theories are welcome.  Please contain all responses

Ok, first of, I'm full of crap so whatever I say is just a theory and
nothing else.  ANYWAY, I would say that it has to do with the fact that
since Gallifrey is not exactly subject to the laws of time (I don't rember
the exact reasons for this) that they should be on a continous time-line 
in which they age,.  Now, humans from earth (or whereever) on the other 
hand are subject to the laws of time which would mean that all traveling
done inside of the Tardis itself would not be considered as "aging" since
they are traveling at the speed of light and do not age during that period.


Of course, like I said this is basically full of crap but, I thought it 
might amuse someone and lead towards a more thought out theory.

Alex
Xref: sparky rec.arts.books:15765 rec.arts.poems:8706
From: sstover@sumax.seattleu.edu (Maven o'Mirth)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.arts.poems
Subject: Re: Poetry Suggestion
Date: 7 Sep 92 18:37:59 GMT
Organization: Seattle University, Seattle WA

In article <1992Sep5.213326.26631@hellgate.utah.edu> tolman%asylum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman) writes:
>>|> I will soon read a poem to my Toastmasters club (a club for people
>>|> interested in improving public speaking skills).   I am looking for a
>>|> particular sort of poem to read--I want an inspirational poem, a rousing
>>|> tribute to the power and spirit of the human race.  I want a poem that
>>|> brings a lump to your throat and makes you proud to be a human being.  I am
>>|> particularly interested in something that celebrates the the noble or
>>|> courageous individual.  I also need it to be from a reasonably well known
>>|> poet, one that I would be able to find in a public or college library.
[...]
>
>Get that poem "Rage against the dying of the light", by,.... I forget.
>It is advice to a person, telling them not to give in to old age, it is
>cool and I love it.


Ah! Ah! by...you forget?  I'm sorry.  I'm sorry you forget.  The poem is
"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas, and it is also a
classic example (as I believe has already been pointed out by someone) of
a villanelle.  I am certain you can find it in either any one of
multitudes of English language poets anthologies, or in most of the Dylan
Thomas collections.  Though I still hope :) that you go with the Bard instead.


Regards,
--
Sheryl Stover				|  How passing fair is youth,
*>sstover@sumax.seattleu.edu<*		|  Forever fleeting away;
and Hemingway, feline philosopher	|  Who happy would be, let him be;
Watch this .sig for news of the		|  Of tomorrow, who can say?
upcoming album from Seattle's 		|	-Lorenzo de'Medici
premier band, the Medici!		|


Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: utopias and distopias
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 14:55:36 GMT

Mark nevins writes:

	I'm toying with the idea of working on a description of utopias 
	and distopias in literature, ...  I am familiar with utopic 
	elements in some medieval travel literature (e.g. Mandeville), and 
	naturally I've noted More's _Utopia_, Butler's _Erewhon_, Johnson's 
	_Rasselas_.

I have sat under the mulberry tree that More sat under (alas, now dead),
and I'd be very interested in a review of his *Utopia*.

								Fido
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: loosemore-sandra@CS.YALE.EDU (Sandra Loosemore)
Subject: Re: Title/Author needed
Organization: staff hacker @ Yale Haskell project
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 08:06:09 GMT

abrams@dan.ccd.bnl.gov (The Ancient Programmer) writes:

	   Some years ago, I read a book about a Cornish hero/family
   named Poldark.  It was set in Cornwall in the late 18th century.
   Can anyone tell mne the name of the book and the author's name?

The author is Winston Graham, and there are a whole series of novels
about the Poldarks -- eleven of them, in fact.  The first seven were
made into a BBC TV series back in the 1970's that didn't really do
them justice (the casting was fine but the scripting was erratic).
This is a *wonderful* set of books, some of my all-time favorite
historical novels.

-Sandra
From: miner@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Walpole's _The Castle of Otranto_
Date: 14 Sep 92 23:11:45 CDT
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services

I just read Walpole's _The Castle of Otranto_ because I wanted to see
what a man so fed up with his age would come up with.  I am amazed at
his conception of realism!

In his introduction he says:

	Allow the possibility of the facts, and all the actors comport
	themselves as persons would do in their situation.

In other words, he believed his characters acted realistically.  But
who reading this story can fail to be struck by the indifference of Manfred,
the villain, to repeated visitations of spirits, the appearance of a
giant helmet from nowhere which crushes his son, blood dripping from
the noses of statues, claps of thunder, visions of giant body parts
finally to be assembled into a whole that bursts the castle asunder--

--who after each successive experience of this kind is filled
with terror and alarm for only a moment or so, thereafter to plunge
madly on with his schemes.

What accounts for such an odd notion of realism?  Something in the
Gothic mystique?
-- 
********************************** +.............................+
*- Ken <miner@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>* :All opinions expressed herein:
*There is no privileged position.* :are my own and are not to be :
*	-God, Derrida, others    * : attributed to my employer   :
********************************** +.............................+
From: cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Date: 8 Sep 92 21:21:32 GMT
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA

In article <1992Sep7.161209.2985@morrow.stanford.edu>, jon@leland.Stanford.EDU (Jon Corelis) writes:
>    [Bonus comment:  I recently tried to think up what would be the most
> marketable book title of all time.  My entry is:  "The Astrological
> Guide to Weight Loss During Sex for Women Who Fall in Love With One Shit
> After Another"]   
> -- 
> Jon Corelis               jon@lindy.stanford.edu

Very good -- but how do you get that most powerful of paperback
marketing symbols on the cover -- the swastika?

There was a point in the early 1980s where you might have assumed
that a paperback for sale in the U.S. received some sort of 
tax credit for having either a swastika or a hammer-and-sickle
on the cover.



-- 
Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer  My opinions, all mine!
Alcohol prohibition didn't work; drug prohibition doesn't work; gun
prohibition won't work.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: kalagher@mwunix.mitre.org (Dick Kalagher)
Subject: Re: Donna Tartt
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 13:31:00 GMT

In article <1992Sep9.160702.8864@infonode.ingr.com> 
james@brock.b17b.ingr.com (James Brock) writes:
> Any reports on this new book by Donna Tartt? She was a friend of that
> literary giant Bret Easton-Ellis (at Bennington) and was given an advance
> of $500,000 for her novel (the title has left my mind). 

There was a review of it in the Wall Street Journal yesterday (9/9).  They 
basically panned it quoting several paragraphs to illustrate the poor 
writing.


Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: loosemore-sandra@CS.YALE.EDU (Sandra Loosemore)
Subject: Re: Walpole's _The Castle of Otranto_
Organization: staff hacker @ Yale Haskell project
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 08:26:41 GMT

miner@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes:

   I just read Walpole's _The Castle of Otranto_ because I wanted to see
   what a man so fed up with his age would come up with.  I am amazed at
   his conception of realism!

Realism?  I've always thought that Walpole wrote this story
with tongue firmly planted in cheek...  (But maybe my brain was
warped by reading too much Mark Twain first!)

-Sandra
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 18:06:38 GMT

Mark Taranto writes:

	Mike Godwin responds to me:

		I doubt Dr. Webster would insist on the distinction 
		between her persona and her "self," whatever that is, 
 
	On the other hand, Ms Courtesy writes in a very different style 
	from Fiona Webster or Fiona Oceanstar.  It might be true that 
	all of these personae share the views of the writer/psychiatrist 
	who created them -- but they do express themselves differently.
 
There is a question of net etiqutte which we should settle. It seems to me 
that something posted under some name -- whatever it is -- should be
treated as coming from that name and not necessarily from the person behind
the name who may or may not share that name. When Mike Godwin posts 
something, then I take it that it is "Mike Godwin" and not Mike Godwin
who is a lawyer and holds a job with some company in Boston.  I beleive it
is particularly important that we do not confuse this. Fiona posted
something that pissed off Mike. Fair enough. he should then explode and
atteck Fiona. He did not. He attacked Dr. Webster. This seemed then and
still seems on reflection to be a breech of netiquette whch i regret. 
I'd like to make the further point that I believe that while we may
flame in public as much as we care to, it is a gross breech of good manners
to carry on a flame in private.

						Fido
From: cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: unexpected quotes
Date: 15 Sep 92 00:21:22 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA

In article <-4xn2d=@lynx.unm.edu>, rsquires@cyclops.eece.unm.edu (Roger Squires) writes:
> In article <1992Sep13.205116.16372@cs.yale.edu> loosemore-sandra@CS.YALE.EDU (Sandra Loosemore) writes:
# #One of the joys of reading is coming across good quotes in unexpected
# #places.  Consider this one:
# 
# 	[neat quote]
# 	There are some great passages in the _Federalist Papers_
# 	as well.  I especially recall one that likened the government
# 	to a solar system, with the states as minor planets, that
# 	I thought was very finely turned.
# 
# Roger Squires

The ratification debates are worthwhile also -- especially when
one of the Virginia delegates warns that the day will come when
the federal city (District of Columbia) would be filled largely
with criminals -- though not for the reason he thought.
-- 
Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer  My opinions, all mine!
There can be no peace as long as AB 2601 lives.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: orourke@sophia.smith.edu (Joseph O'Rourke)
Subject: Wonderful Life (Was : Re: Progress (Was : Re: The Literary Canon))
Organization: Smith College, Northampton, MA, US
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 18:01:20 GMT

Joel Hanes praised Stephen Jay Gould, and Matt Austern and Chuck Smythe 
concurred, citing "Wonderful Life" in particular.  I too was taken
with "Wonderful Life," but I heard that since publication, it
has been discovered that the odd Burgess Shale creatures were
not as odd as Gould thought, significantly undercutting his
thesis that rerunning the tape of life could result in entirely 
different creatures.  Apparently one of the BS weirdos
was reconstructed upside down, and another has been found to
fit into a known class.
	Can anyone who knows the recent work provide more accurate
details?  Thanks!
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: fi@grebyn.com (Fiona Webster)
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Organization: Grebyn Timesharing
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 15:16:40 GMT

It won't be long before this multiheaded hydra of a thread gets
re-titled, "thread to avoid," but I'll wade further into the muck
on this persona issue, in an effort to get some sort of consensus.
 
Francis Muir sought to clarify a point of net etiquette, suggesting
that people should not assume that the persona represented by the
signature at the bottom of a posting, is identical to the "real
person" behind that persona.

To which Mike Godwin replied:
>I thought it was clear from the dogged consistency with which I used the
>name "Dr. Webster" that I was attacking what I took to be a persona
>lurking behind the Ms Courtesy persona. I could have used inverted commas
>to make this clearer, I suppose, but that punctuation would likely have
>been misread as implying something negative about Dr. Webster's
>credentials.

Your posting was clear, Mike.  What's not clear, is whether we can
agree on rules for this "game," and if so, what rules should we adopt.
I side with Francis, because I've been amused by his Fido, Nosebody,
and Philomath personas, and because I like the idea of r.a.books being
a place for such fictional characters to emerge.  Are you saying,
Mike, that you disagree? that you would prefer to respond as though
the ur-persona (uber-persona?) were making all the remarks that proceed
from the same e-address?

(Apologies to those who can't stand meta-discussions...)

							--Fiona
From: mworley@mathcs.emory.edu (Meg Worley)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Where to buy the Encyclopaedia Britannica?
Date: 12 Sep 92 12:40:59 GMT
Organization: Emory University, Dept of Math and CS

Michael Wise wrote

> >>It's not a great encyclopedia as far as they go. Better off with a 
> >>one-volume Columbia or an encyclopedic dictionary. They provide essential
> >>facts without the patronizing attitude.

When I first left home, I cajoled my mother into letting me take our set of
Brittanica.  Eventually, she thought better of it and demanded it back.  That
was 10 years ago, and I have missed it ever since.  I have a large library of
reference books, but Brittanica saves the day when they can't help me.  What
I wouldn't give to have it back!

Mark Norman wrote 
 
> On the other hand the latest Britannicas have split into two sets you buy,
> the Micropedia and Macropedia. There seem to be more volumes with nicer
> binding, but less information and more colour pictures (and perhaps
> drool-proof paper? :-). I haven't consulted one in depth yet, but it may
> be that there is no depth anymore.

They definitely made a wrong turn when they went the Mini/Macro route.  I
doubt I will ever forgive them.  What a waste of paper and shelving!

Incidentally, our family Britannica was acquired while my mother sold the
things so my father could acquire some arcane learning.  I am proud to say
that my mother was the Brittanica Man of the Year for three years running!

Rage away,

meg
 
-- 

 Meg Worley 				Internet:  mworley@mathcs.emory.edu		
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: lynnette@Ingres.COM (Lynnette Viste)
Subject: Re: The Literary Canon
Keywords: race canon
Reply-To: lynnette@Ingres.COM (Lynnette Viste)
Organization: Ask Computer Systems Inc., Ingres Division, Alameda CA 94501
Date: 10 Sep 92 21:01:37 GMT

In article <1992Sep9.155347.19826@tinton.ccur.com> cjh@tinton.ccur.com (Christopher J. Henrich) writes:
>In article <12139@optilink.UUCP> cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:
>>In article <67525@hydra.gatech.EDU>, barclay@RAIL9000.gatech.edu (Barclay Blanchard) writes:
>>
>>I post to rec.arts.books, where liberals attempt to defend the
>>position that the ancient Greeks weren't white...
>
>I can think of approximately three meanings of "white" that have
>been used in the discussion of this "issue." (Why am I having
>trouble counting up to three? Because two of the meanings are very
>close to each other, and all of them are somewhat fuzzy.)
>
>1. A "naive" meaning: Having little skin pigmentation;
>"fair-complexioned" or "paleface" or "melanin-challenged".
>
>2. The definition of "Caucasian" used by anthropologists.  This
>includes features of pigmentation, bone structure, and probably a lot
>of other things that I don't know about.  Pretty soon it may be
>reformulated in terms of DNA sequences.
>
>3. The social meaning of being "white" in the USA.  This meaning
>cannot be discussed without reference to the social meaning of being
>"black" in the USA; just as you can't define "Tuesday" without
>mentioning the other days of the week.  Because this is a social
>meaning, its reality consists, very largely, of how it is perceived.
>Just to add to the fun, it is clear that different people perceive
>it differently.
>
>About the ancient Greeks: they were probably white in sense 1 (but I 
>think they had spledid sun-tans, because Greece is a sunny country 
>and they spent most of the day outdoors); I assume they were white in
>sense 2; but they cannot have been white in sense 3, because they did
>not share in the history of the "peculiar institution" of American
>slavery.
>
[ stuff about slavery etc deleted]
>
>Peace,
>
>Chris Henrich

But what about "white" in the sense of the Literary Canon - ie
"Dead white males"? Surely the ancient Greeks are the ultimate
in this meaning? This is similar to your definition #3 but not
quite the same. The "social meaning" of being white in modern day 
American includes the education/social system which teaches the 
history, literature, religion, etc. of "The Western World" or
whatever you want to call it. Being included in that makes you
"white" in the eyes of repressed minorities. Hm, not sure I want
to say that last line but I can't think of a better way to put it.
I don't mean that anyone can be deemed white against their will 
by being accepted into the canon, but if the "founders" of all 
the "Western white culture" aren't white in some sense, then
who is?

Lynnette
lynnette@ingres.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: jfc@athena.mit.edu (John F Carr)
Subject: Re: Bookstores in Various Cities List (rec.arts.books)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 01:37:43 GMT


[I tried to post this a couple weeks ago, but it looks like the server
lost the body of my article.]

I recommend the "Chester County Book Company" in Westchester, PA (~20 miles
west of Philadelphia).  They don't seem to turn over their stock as much as
most bookstores: there are more older books than you usually find (at least
in paperback).  They have about 50% more books than their shelves will hold;
there are many stacks of books not on shelves.  They also have a pair of
very large birds, fortunately confined to a cage.

I don't know the address, maybe somebody who lives in the area can provide
it?

--
    John Carr (jfc@athena.mit.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: The White Man's Burden of Proof
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 17:42:33 GMT

Mark Taranto writes:

	I do have a fancy title -- but it is usually associated with 
	people who can not spell "potato."

And, apparently, with people who cannot spell "cannot".

							Fido

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: spb0457@zeus.tamu.edu (SubGenius)
Subject: Re: elusive allusion
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 17:07:00 GMT

Mike Godwin writes...
>Fiona Webster writes:
>>Which is a superlative novel, if I may interject an empty value judgment
>>here...the best horror novel set in Houston I've ever read.  (No, I
>>don't think David Lindsey is all that good.)
> 
>My problem with David Lindsey is that, as an author, he seems to enjoy
>the nasty things that happen to the victims in his mysteries a bit too
>much.
>--Mike

+--------------------------------------SubG------------------------------------+
The same can be said (off the top of my head) for Harold Robbins and (in the
cinema) Brian DePalma, both apparently not only sick and twisted individuals, 
but closet woman-haters to boot.

There's something exculpatory about a guy who makes a big deal about how awful
it is that people get taken apart by gardening equipment (or whatever) by
psychopaths in fits of meaningless violence when said fellow's work is full
of nothing but said meaningless violence, possibly with some meaningless
sex thrown in for variety.

Or maybe that's just personal hangup of mine.





Yours etc.,



SubGenius
From: manes@bass.bu.edu (Michelle Manes)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Progress (Was : Re: The Literary Canon)
Date: 9 Sep 92 20:27:13 GMT
Reply-To: manes@bass.bu.edu (Michelle Manes)
Followup-To: rec.arts.books
Organization: Boston University

In article <12179@optilink.UUCP> cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:
>
>Not to worry, you can get mistreated by the police if you are white,
>also.  I have a brother-in-law with a 25 stitch scar on his head
>where he was beaten by a Sacramento policeman.
>

I swore I would not respond to anything posted by Clayton that was
even vaguely political because it's just not worth the effort...but
REALLY.  YES, you can be harrassed by a cop if you're white, but it
is not SOP for cops to pull over white people driving BMW's and make
the driver wait while they check if the vehicle is stolen.  Nor is it a
regular occurance for cops to question white joggers in affluent
neighborhoods -- they seem to belong while black joggers don't.

I'm real sorry about your brother-in-law.  But that's the exception
where abuse of Blacks by cops -- often by black cops -- is the rule.

michelle

--
Michelle Manes		|	"What should I be when I grow up?"
manes@bass.bu.edu	|	"Honest."
			|	-Robert M. Pirsig
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Tuesday, 15 Sep 1992 11:12:02 CDT
From: <U16244@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: books to avoid

In article <lasofvINN1up@appserv.Eng.Sun.COM>, danoc@earlybird.Eng.Sun.COM (Dan
O'Connell [CONTRACTOR]) says:
>
> But I did not write solely to vent my spleen.  What other phrases
> get up your nose or otherwise serve to prevent you, like Socrates'
> divine sign, from making sorry mistakes?

How about....

... a beleagured Vietnam Vet and a his beautiful companion...
... a recovering alcoholic cop and the beautiful reporter...
... a former big city cop, now a sheriff of a small town and his lovely
wife...

Give me a few hours in a book store, and I'll give you a few more pairings.
At least some thrillers I liked didn't hit you over the head with
"I'm yet another overwraught Vietnam Vet in terrible danger with a token
buxom babe strapped to my arm."

Douglas P. Wojtowicz