HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: markk@pongo.West.Sun.COM (Mark Allen Kampe)
Newsgroups: alt.magick
Subject: Is magic useful (was enemy ...)
Date: 14 Oct 92 23:53:44 GMT
Reply-To: markk@pongo.West.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems
NNTP-Posting-Host: pongo.west.sun.com

In article 3729@gdr.bath.ac.uk, mascdb@gdr.bath.ac.uk (C D Burdorf) writes:

>1. Magick isn't very practical on the short term (when you need >immediate help).

If you are going to work with arcane forces you had better know how to center yourself and gain complete control of your emotions and imagination.  This training will help you with any crisis.

>3. While on the short term you might be able to influence the 
> situation with magick, it might make a bigger mess for you in
> the long term.

There are many types of magick: divinatory, protective, manipulative, offensive. Divination and protection may be exactly what you need ... in order to give you the time and space you need to plan your actions.  Note however that the attack you describe is not magickal but mundane.  Ultimately your defense must be mundane, but magick may be able to provide you with additional intellectual and emotional resources with which to assess your situation and rally a mundane defense.

Do your have centering exercises?  Do you have a spiritual teacher
to whom you can go for strength and peace?  Do you have friends 
with whom you can explore the scope and depth of your situation?

First regain control of your own mind ... without that you cannot
be helped.
From: oispeggy@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Peggy Brown)
Newsgroups: alt.magick
Subject: Re: NEED HELP.
Date: 11 Oct 92 16:06:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <92278.161556L13BC@CUNYVM.BITNET>, L13BC@CUNYVM.BITNET writes...
> 
>  Hi people,  I'v studied occult a while, back, then I stopped, since some ooh,
> very bad things happened.  But the "help" that I need is this: Around 5 years
>ago I wen't to this place (it's in BROOKLYN), on the presumption that there wou
>ld be vampires there, I don't have time to explain it all now, but I need to fi
>nd out what's going on in that place.  I left a description of it on alt.vapyre
>s  it's my first or second message there.  I don't know if that place is still
>an "active" sight, I haven't passed by it in around 2 years, but everytime I do
> I feel something is watching me, always watching.
>                                  Thanx people.


First explain more about the vampires.  Do you believe in the 
"movie version" of the vampire, or what?

I read the vampyre list (before it became an alt.) for awhile and 
found it very odd.  I asked some of the people (in e-mail) what 
they believed in and was told it was a fantasy/role-playing trip. 
Of course, there may be some who really believe they are vampires 
and really do all the weird things they talk about.  Certainly 
seemed like it.

What do you mean by vampire and why do you want to find vampires?

Not going to pound a stake through someone's heart, are you?

- Peggy -

PS:  Something is always watching you, its yourself.
Newsgroups: alt.magick
From: rtsumn01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu
Subject: Re: Changing times and magick.
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 01:24:27 GMT
Organization: University of Louisville

In article <92287.123111CCS105@psuvm.psu.edu>, <CCS105@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
> Does anyone have any thoughts on the old story of " As time progresses,
> there will be more mages around..etc."  It seems that I run into more and more
> people who practice the arts.  Then again, maybe i'm just getting out more...
> It seems that some believe that as years go by, the use of magick will grow
> tremendously..and then fade out, and this goes on in a cycle.  Any ideas on
> this?  Opinions?
>                   later, gersha
> 
>                         Smitty.

I believe it's akin to the new-car phenomenon. As soon as you buy a new car
(new to yourself, not necessarily a model of the current year) it will start
cropping up al over the place. If you bought a bright red station wagon, the
world will be *filled* with red station wagons. If you bought a VW van,
everyone's got one.

This occurs, not because of a shift in car ownership patterns, but because you
now have a particular car type on the brain. Your awareness of that particular
type is heightened because it's important to you. And the human brain is so
good at spotting patterns.

Similarly, you are running into more "artists" because magick is more a part of
your life than it once was. You are more conscious of it, you have more
associations, you are better at finding mages due to practice. That's all.

There probably are cycles--nothing in society is static--but it's probably
being enhanced by your own perceptions. Which reminds me I have a test in
perception tomorrow. Ouch.

--Semhaza 
Newsgroups: alt.magick
From: mitchell@seas.smu.edu (Utopium Enterprizes)
Subject: Re: Magickal significance of names written in blood
Organization: Utopium Enterprizes
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 18:14:06 GMT

Thus wrote craig@cattnts.canada.ncr.com (Craig Campbell):
>
>What you may or may not be doing will also be strongly tied to your intent.
>Signing your life over to Satan?  Again, even if you beleive in such things,
>I would suspect intent to be required.
>
I would like to add that I have drawn hexagrams in my own blood, fresh from
the cut on my finger, and that my magick seems to be more potent when I do so.
I think it is simply the act of sacrifice that does it, though the fact that
it is a "life fluid" helps...

-- 
Utopium Enterprizes - mitchell@seas.smu.edu
"Do not mistake my sympathy for understanding; do not accept my understanding
 as sympathy." -- St. Thomas Laine the Abbreviated
From: oispeggy@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Peggy Brown)
Newsgroups: alt.magick
Subject: more on Merlin (Taliesin)
Date: 11 Oct 92 15:16:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

A "transformational poem" from The Book of Taliesin, a 13th century 
Welsh manuscript.  Translated by Patrick K. Ford.

- Peggy -
______________________________________________________________________

                THE ARMY OF THE TREES    

	I was in many shapes before I was released:
	I was a slender, enchanted sword -- I believe that it was done.
	I was raindrops in the air, I was stars' beam;
	I was a word in letters, I was a book in origin;
	I was lanterns of light for a year and a half;
	I was a bridge that stretched over sixty estuaries;
	I was a path, I was an eagle, I was a coracle in seas;
	I was a bubble in beer, I was a drop in a shower;
	I was a sword in hand, I was a shield in battle.
	I was a string in a harp enchanted nine years, in the water as foam;
	I was a spark in fire, I was wood in a bonfire;
	I am not one who does not sing; I have sung since I was small.
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: dant@techbook.com (Dan Tilque)
Subject: Re: bicycle scenery adjective
Organization: Pseudopolis Yard
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 06:49:48 GMT

chorley@vms.ocom.okstate.edu writes:
>> 
>	No mate, that's not a motorway, it's the M25 car park.

Park on the driveway, drive on the parkway.  Except at rush hour, when
you go slow because the freeway is not free.

---
Dan Tilque    --     dant@techbook.com
From: rarosenb@gandalf.rutgers.edu (Robert Rosenberg)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: Bicycle Scene/Word Games
Summary: Courage word
Date: 16 Oct 92 20:47:11 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <1992Oct9.124642.24307@mcnc.org>, key@mcnc.org (Kathy E. Yount) writes:
> 
> What word would you use to describe the courage one
> has when fighting the system for their beliefs and rights? 
> i.e.  Ryan White who fought the system for his right to an education,
>       any great inventor or discoverer (Columbus)

Principled.
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: wmc@photon.com (Bill Cornette)
Subject: Re: a good dictionary
Organization: Photon Research Associates, Inc.
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 21:46:28 GMT

Delbert Yeh (yeh@qucis.queensu.ca) wrote:
: Can anyone recommend a good english dictionary to buy? Thanks,

	Depends on what you want and how much you want to spend.  I
use both the Oxford English (1st Ed. + Suppl, I can't afford the
2nd edition yet) and the American Heritage (haven't compared mine
with the latest i.e., 3rd, edition).  The first is huge, definitive,
and expensive.  The second is more useful on a day to day basis, when
the OE (or some "unabridged" dictionary) is not required.  I also
have a cheap paperback Merriam-Webster Dictionary (1974) at my office
for mundane, minor stuff.
	The usual disclaimers apply as all of above is IMHO, and
I'm as biased as the next person.
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: bicycle scenery adjective
From: nikolay@husc10.harvard.edu (Philip Nikolayev)
Date: 10 Oct 92 15:38:02
Organization: Poets for Physics
In-reply-to: nadeau@bnr.ca's message of 9 Oct 92 14:51:16 GMT

[...]

> I'm beginning to think the original poster is trying to cram a lot
> into one adjective.  Now, I do like getting the "mot juste", but we
> shouldn't expect a single adjective to do the work of a whole
> sentence or paragraph.

It is silly to insist on an adjective here, anyway. Even 'jarring'
is ineffective (besides, it isn't an adjective, strictly speaking);
let alone 'discordant', 'dissonant' and all the rest of them.
Try 'in stark/glaring/unnerving/embarassing/etc. contrast to',
for example.

Philip Nikolayev at nikolay@husc.harvard.edu
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: srgcraf@grace.cri.nz (Ross A Fletcher)
Subject: Re: Possessives, Contractions, & Apostrophes
Organization: Industrial Research Ltd
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 92 03:56:46 GMT

In article <Bvw3MM.7AG@comp.vuw.ac.nz> Ray.Nickson@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Ray Nickson) writes:
>From: Ray.Nickson@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Ray Nickson)
>Subject: Re: Possessives, Contractions, & Apostrophes
>Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 05:08:46 GMT
>In article <92048@netnews.upenn.edu> crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Lauren L. Crawford) writes:
>
>           --If a noun is hyphenated or compound, use an apostrophe with
>             the last element.  ("Her father-in-law's sculpture won a prize.")
>
>What if the compound noun makes its plural by modifying a word other
>than the last, I wonder?
>
>Her brothers-in-law's sculptures?

I believe (although Lauren Crawford doesn't include it in her list) that the 
above example when both the possessors and the possessed are plural that the 
apostrophe follows i.e. Her brothers-in-laws' sculptures.  Isn't this true?
From: casseres@apple.com (David Csseres)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: Multimeter / Multi-meter
Date: 7 Oct 92 17:10:46 GMT
Followup-To: alt.usage.english
Organization: Apple Computr, Inc.

In article <14896@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au>, s913606@yallara.cs.rmit.OZ.AU
(Mab) wrote:
> 
> Ok guys.. newest argument around our town.
> 
> Just how do _you_ pronounce "multimeter"???
> 
> Bear in mind that when the word ends in metER it has no emphasis
> placed on the last two syllables (think therMOmeter), whereas in
> METre words the emphasis is on the second last (think CENtiMEtre).
> 
> So how do you pronounce multimeter???
> 
> Mab.
> ps. I pronounce it muTImeter. Just to piss people off with the above argument.

Well, just to piss you off I will say that the above argument is utterly
bogus, the pronunciation of words in both -meter and -metre is determined
by usage, not by spelling, and the accepted pronunciation of multimeter is
multiMEter.

Except among M.D.'s, that is.  They say "sonti-MEter" and "sonti-grade," so
dog only knows what they do with multimeter.

--

David Casseres
Exclaimer: Wow!
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: mcoffin@IASTATE.EDU (Marie Coffin)
Subject: Re: Possessives, Contractions, & Apostrophes
Reply-To: mcoffin@IASTATE.EDU (Marie Coffin)
Organization: Iowa State University
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 19:34:40 GMT

In article <casseres-081092101801@missmolly.apple.com>, casseres@apple.com
(David Casseres) writes:
> In article <1992Oct7.155820.29454@advtech.uswest.com>,
> eade@advtech.uswest.com (Elizabeth Erickson) wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > Can anyone supply a simply formulated set of rules for the use of
> > apostrophes?  My husband is woefully ignorant on the subject, and believes
> > that "it doesn't matter anyway, no one else knows how to use them, either".
> > This drives me nuts.
> > 
> > I've noticed in grading my students' papers (these are undergrads in info
> > systems management) that they, too, have difficulty deciding how to use
> > apostrophes.  It drives me crazy, but I can't think of all the proper
> > examples to use.  "It's" and "its" as well as using apostrophes for plurals
> > (how is it possible to make a mistake like "all of the red one's"?) --
> > does anyone have a BRIEF set of rules?
> 
> Well, IF I were interested in trying to reform English (and I'm not), I'd
> abolish apostrophes altogether.  And IF I were trying to be helpful to
> average English-speakers like your husband (and thank god I'm not), I'd
> tell them "Don't use apostrophes at all.  You'll make far fewer mistakes by
> always leaving them out than by trying to follow rules."
> 
> --
> 
> David Casseres
> Exclaimer: Wow!

I think you're exaggerating, David.   You may not find apostrophes useful
(although I do), but the rules for using them are actually quite simple,
as a previous poster demonstrated.  This is the sort of thing that used 
to be taught in grade school, back when they taught grammar.  

By the way:  if you abolish apostrophes altogether, aren't you going to find 
words like wont and won't a trifle confusing?  I could probably figure out 
from the context which on was intended, but why should I have to, when, 
by including the apostrophe, the writer could make his intentions obvious?  
Why "reform" English in such a way as to make it harder to read?

Marie Coffin

Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: jbradfor@leland.Stanford.EDU (Jeffrey Bradford)
Subject: Re: Adjective needed for the following scene.
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 92 00:29:22 GMT

In article <1992Oct06.205057.128466@watson.ibm.com> yozzo@watson.ibm.com (Ralph Yozzo) writes:
>Describe the following scene with a one word adjective:
>==========
   [ ... story deleted ... ]

Actually, between the stench of the exhaust fumes and the smell of the
cow patties, added to heavy breathing due to the exercise, I thought that
"revolting" would be the word of choice...

Jeff
From: wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: bicycle scenery adjective
Date: 12 Oct 92 10:19:29 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

In article <1992Oct9.101905.1@vms.ocom.okstate.edu>, chorley@vms.ocom.okstate.edu writes:
> No disrespect intended to the person of bayla singer, but "cognitive
> dissonance" may be a phrase (?) or term in the art of psychobabble, it is, 
> however, death to decent prose. Returning to the original problem, I would 
> encourage you look for a word which, in your own experience, reflects the 
> gut-level feeling of the scene:if it is a little "off", or out of the norm, 
> so be it. Do not be afraid to use a word which only has meaning for you, 
> but don't (PLEASE DON'T) co-opt a word from psychology, sociology, or 
> Marxism. If you are going to borrow a word, try Hindi, Tamil or Welsh.:)
> Whatever word you choose, keep it short.
> 
> Regards, David Chorley.

[with reference to the country lane/motorway scene]

How about "Oh shit, not *another* motorway."
-- 

Stephen Wilcox             |   Remember what happened to the dinosaurs!
wilcox@maths.oxford.ac.uk  |    I did---and look what happened to me.
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: tice@anapest.rtp.dg.com (Anne Tice)
Subject:  10181	Re: Final comma in lists                      [23] Bonita Kale         
 
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 16:01:25 GMT
Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC

The Chicago Manual of Style says separate items in a series with commas, including a comma before the conjunction.  Harbrace College Handbook says that you may omit the comma before the conjunction if there is no danger of misreading. Seems reasonable to me.
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: roger@uvmark.uucp (Roger MacNicol)
Subject: regress
Date: Thu, 08 Oct 92 19:01:54 GMT
Organization: Vmark Software, Inc.

I am looking for a suitable transitive verb to describe the process of
reverting to an earlier state.  I had used 'to regress' transitively when
describing a software tool that makes a file available to an earlier
release of some software (eg make WordPerfect 5.1 files available to
WordPerfect 4.2).  However a couple of people here objected since all
the dictionaries we have seen only permit its intransitive use.

Regress implies motion so it is not that appropriate.  What is the opposite
of supersede?  retrosede?

Thanks - Roger

-- 
******************************************************************
* Roger MacNicol, Snr. Software Engineer
* VMark Software, Inc., 30 Speen Street, Framingham, MA 01701-1800
* email: uvmark%roger@merk.com
From: rarosenb@gandalf.rutgers.edu (Robert Rosenberg)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: a good dictionary
Summary: Cosmic Crap?  really!
Date: 15 Oct 92 21:19:43 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <mcnair.38.719163207@slab.unt.edu>, mcnair@slab.unt.edu (SEAN MCNAIR) writes:
> Random House is OK, but American Heritage SUCKS. Try a Webster's, for Christ 
> Sake!
			<stuff omitted>

> 
>                Sean Jeffers Mc Nair
> 
> P.S. American Heritage is a NEW AGE dictionary. It's full of COSMIC CRAP!


Aw, c'mon.  Describe, prescribe, all around the town . . .   It's
always full of cosmic foofoo.  When it gets TOO bad, just kick back
and remember Sturgeon's Law:  95% of *everything* is crap.

Love and kisses.
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: leveret@warren.demon.co.uk (Nick Leverton)
ReplyTo: leveret@warren.demon.co.uk
Subject: Re: Possessives, Contractions, & Apostrophes
Distribution: world
X-Mailer: cppnews $Revision: 1.18 $
Organization: Indexed; Access: Random.
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 04:33:33 +0000

In article <1992Oct08.140845.12970@uvmark.uucp> roger@uvmark.uucp (Roger MacNicol) writes:

>OK, but on an invoice is it:
>
>	Two day's consultancy @ $...
>or
>	Two days consultancy @ $...
>
>In other words does one say x day's worth of consultancy or has days become 
>part of the number?

IMHO it's definitely not a possessive - you are saying "Two days of
consultancy at such-a-rate". Nothing belongs to the days. You wouldn't
say "day's" any more than you, assuming you are not a greengrocer, would
say "two melon's for a pound".

Nick Leverton
-- 
"Politician! Where's your credibility ?
Little did we know you were only into money and publicity"  -  Hugh Masekela.
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: plu@math.psu.edu (Todd Andrew Simpson)
Subject: Re: Question on apostrophes...
Organization: Department of Mathematics, Pennsylvania State University
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 00:18:45 GMT

In article <1992Oct12.211653.8702@constellation.ecn.uoknor.edu> mmmirash@midway.ecn.uoknor.edu (Mandar M. Mirashi) writes:

   The current discussion on apostrophes had me wondering as to which of the foll.
   forms are correct :
   1. "Here are some dos and donts"
   2. "Here are some do's and dont's"
   3. "Here are some do's and don't's"

The one I most often see is 
   4. "Here are some do's and don'ts", and next most common is
   5. "Here are some dos and don'ts".

I've never actually seen 1. or 2. that I can remember; I don't (not
dont) think they're right.  I would prefer 5., though 3. is all right
if one wants to avoid confusing the plural of do with the Spanish word
for two.  I don't like 4. so well, because it always seemed to me
that if do should take an apostrophe when pluralized, so should don't.

That's my opinion anyway....

- Todd Andrew Simpson
From: kingsley@hpwrce.mayfield.hp.com (Kingsley Morse)
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 15:52:36 GMT
Subject: Re: Please Help
Organization: HP Western Response Center
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english

Oops! My apologies for posting my previous "Please Help" survey to this
group. It was an honest mistake and won't happen again.

Kingsley
From: B536HIND@UTARLVM1.UTA.EDU (C. S. Sudarshana bhat)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Meet with?
Date: 14 Oct 1992 23:47:25 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

One American usage which has been bothering me is 'meet with'.  Is it
common in any other country to say 'meet with somebody'?  Previously,
the only place where I had come across 'meet with' was in 'someone
met with an accident' (so it seems that it ought to be connected with
an event).  What is the opinion of net.folk?

Is it "made in USA" or "made in THE USA"?  I believe I read somewhere
that the former is correct since it is one country, but it doesn't
*sound* right to me.

How should 'lest' be used?  I was under the impression that the word
'should' *must* follow 'lest'.  However, I am coming across a lot of instances
where 'lest' had been used without 'should'.

How many periods need to follow 'etc' if it is the last word in a sentence?

I wonder why no one wrote about the Advanced Learner's Dictionary of
Current English, which is an OUP publication too; it is not all that
thick!  Oh, that was the old title; now it's called "Oxford Advanced
Learner's Dictionary".  (Or was it mentioned --> I missed it then).

Ciao.
Porky!

PS: Is this the same group which started off with a flamefest over the
    American (?) pronunciation of 'route'?
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: andrew@utopia.resntl.bhp.com.au (Andrew Lewis)
Subject: Re: log in to vs. log into
Organization: BHP Research - Newcastle Laboratories
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 00:16:26 GMT

In article <1992Oct6.100910.1@wombat.newcastle.edu.au>, eepjm@wombat.newcastle.edu.au (Peter Moylan) writes:
|> In article <casseres-300992094221@kip2-34.apple.com>, casseres@apple.com (David Csseres) writes:
|> > In article <1992Sep28.204947.23817@nas.nasa.gov>, asimov@wk223.nas.nasa.gov
|> > (Daniel A. Asimov) wrote:
|> >> 
|> >> My own preference is for either "log in to" or even "login to" since
|> >> "login" often appears as a prompt for the user to enter their user ID.
|> > 
|> > But "login" is a noun, not a verb.  If it were a verb you could conjugate
|> > it, but you can't.  "Log" is a regular verb, "in" and "to" are
|> > prepositions, and "login" is a noun like "payback" or "takeoff."
|> 
|> A simple test: do you say "I logged in to the computer" or
|> "I loginned to the computer"?
|> 
My previous post to this thread appears to have been eaten by Martians so I will
just briefly outline:
Peter's test is correct in showing that "log in" is a compound verb (like "touch
up" as in "touch up a photograph/painting") and "login" (or "log-in" if you
prefer) is a noun.
That still leaves the dilemma of "log in to" or "log in on" (when referring to a
computer - as has been pointed out, "log in at" is often used when referring to
a site and I have heard the usage "log in under" a username).

Andrew
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: mcnair@slab.unt.edu (SEAN MCNAIR)
Subject: Re: a good dictionary
Organization: School of Library & Info Sci, UNT
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 15:33:27 GMT

Random House is OK, but American Heritage SUCKS. Try a Webster's, for Christ 
Sake!

    Webster's, The Superior American Dictionary

(I've studied English since I was knee high to a grass hopper, just a pint 
sized mite! My father writes poetry, and I have a Master's in English. 
Please trust me on this!)


               Sean Jeffers Mc Nair

P.S. American Heritage is a NEW AGE dictionary. It's full of COSMIC CRAP!