HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bwatson@nyx.cs.du.edu (bruce watson)
Subject: Re: You know when you're hacking too long when...
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 16:34:37 GMT

In article <a=anyyn@lynx.unm.edu> quirk@pioneer.unm.edu (Gym Z. Quirk) writes:
>In article <viking.714714825@vincent1.iastate.edu> viking@iastate.edu (Dan Sorenson) writes:
>>otto@vaxb.acs.unt.edu (M. Otto, "Virtual Prisoner of the VAX") writes:
>>>Not too long back, Burger King was advertising their Whopper; you can have it
>>>one of 1024 ways.  Now that's 2^10; what I couldn't figure out is what all 10
>>>items are.
>>
>>>Single/Double, mayo, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onion, tomato, mustard,
>>>ketchup...
>>
>>>What's the 10th item?  Is it something only a hacker would want?
>>
>>	Yes.  "Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles,
>>onions, on a sesame seed bun."  That's 2+1+1+1+1+1+1=8, so the obvious
>>additions are the tomato and mustard, giving ten.  The bun appears to be the
>>part only a hacker would want, likely for the chance to compute the sesame
>>seeds/square inch ration to 32 decimal places.
>
>Wrong burger chain.  Described immediately above is a 'Big Mac(c)'.
>(Note: there are only six variables with that - seven if you include
>th bun.)

But at MacDonalds' you don't get a choice. The Big Mac comes only one way; 
like it or not.
>
--
 ___________________________________________________________________________ 
|wats@nyx.cs.du.edu |   "To the extent that it doesn't use mathematics;     |
|   Bruce Watson    |                 it is no science."                    |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: The need for an assembler (was: Favorite CPU)
From: ecmtwhk@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Thomas Koenig)
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 10:08:36 GMT
 <1992Aug21.073815.15046@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz> <1992Aug26.072145.15137@news.columbia.edu>
Organization: University of Auckland, New Zealand.

lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:

>In article <1992Aug21.073815.15046@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz> ecmtwhk@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Thomas Koenig) writes:
>>lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>>
>>>Moreover, there is far too much modeling of code generation based on a model
>>>using a stack.  While it is true that occasionally a stack structure is needed,
>>>it often isn't.  Perhaps statistically speaking most of the time, yet most
>>>code is generated (ab)using a stack.
>>
>>From the release notes of ftn 3.4, running on an SGI under IRIX 4.0.5
>>(MIPS - architecture):
>>
>>       5.  Known_Problems_and_Workarounds
>>[...]
>>	o Compiling old	Fortran	code (SCR 3526)
>>	  Fortran, by default, allocates local variables on the
>>	  stack	for faster execution speed.  These local automatic
>>		^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>	  variables are	uninitialized, as opposed to being
>>	  initialized to zeros,	which occurs using the static
>>	  allocation of	older Fortran systems.	Also, the value	of
>>	  an automatic variable	is not retained	between	successive
>>	  calls	to a subroutine	as for a static	variable.
>>[...]
>>
>>ABusing a stack?

>Fortran need not allocate in the first place.  The program can be statically
>loaded.  Only one DMA cycle per word to get it loaded. 

Do you want to load the BSS from disk? I'd call that a waste of I/O
bandwith and disk space (especially for large arrays), but your mileage
may vary...

>Statement stands.  Faster than what?  I can imagine some horrible methods
>they could have used that using the stack is better than. :-).

On a MIPS (and a HP/PA), you can load a word into a register stack -
relative in a single cycle. Adjusting the stack pointer on entry into a
subroutine takes another single cycle. If you can come up with anything
faster using static allocation, pray tell (btw, loading a 32-bit
constant into a register takes 2 cycles on these machines).

Another point: by repeadedly using the same memory space for the data
of different subroutines, the amount memory used is reduced, reducing
the number of page faults.

Now, exactly how is the stack abused on a MIPS?

Stacks are indeed more expensive on a /360 and related machines, but
that is hardly the height of design these days :-)
-- 
Thomas Koenig, ecmtwhk@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz, ib09@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de
The joy of engineering is to find a straight line on a double logarithmic
diagram.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: zcookbruc@cc.curtin.edu.au
Subject: a.out (was Longtime PDP-11 users, tune in now)
Organization: Curtin University of Technology
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 09:08:58 GMT

In article <l9t0gjINNjon@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>, linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Peter van der Linden) writes:
> Has it ever struck you as strange that the output file
> from compiling any C file goes into "a.out"?
> If you stop the compiler at any other stage, the results of 
>             cc foo.c
> 
> will be in:  foo.i  foo.o   foo.s  etc.
> 
> It's somewhat of a nuisance that the final binary goes into a.out 
>     -- you might forget where it came from 
>     -- it will be overwritten by the next compilation.
> 
> I wonder if this is a holdover from the old PDP-11 implementation of C.
> 
> Theory: 
>    The PDP-11 assembler just put its output in "a.out" by default,
>    and the first C compiler didn't have any easy way of communicating
>    an alternative name to it.
> 
> Are there any longtime PDP-11 users who can remember details like
> this about its assembler?  Is there any basis to my theory?
> Maybe it even came from the PDP-7 implementation of C?
>    

A question:
	. Whose compiler are we talking about ? _ I wasn't aware of a
	PDP-11 C compiler from DEC until a few years ago. I've been using
	DECUS C for many years (at least you get the sources) This compiler
	always gave a .OBJ output (For PDP linkers)

Possibly if you look back through the history of C you'll find that
it was 'B' that set this standard. Why not ask the inventor?

...BRU
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: artn@bert.eecs.uic.edu (Ellyn Sandor)
Subject: Re: CyC project
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 18:22:53 GMT

xexeo@dxcern.cern.ch (Geraldo Xexeo) writes:
>A recent issue of Scientific American cited the CyC being done
>at MCC, Austin. The CyC (say 'psych') is a database with currently
>2 Mrules, and its creators say when it arrives 10Mrules it should
>be intelligent.
	I've heard about this too, read the article in a sort of
glossy-ignorant sort of way.  In this same mindset, a few semithoughts
on the subject.
	Does CyC have an e-mail address?  Can we talk CyC@MCC.edu?
Does it post?  (Kibo? Biff?)  Perhaps the creators should publish a
"call for rules" or somesuch, where we could email rules in their format,
for automatic inclusion in the database.  Of course, there is the potential
problem of persons providing false rules and information.  Sort of like
allowing your child to be raised by hundreds of thousands of total strangers
(Steve Martin:  "May I mambo dogface to the bannana patch?).
	Al least letting CyC lurk the net (when it can read) would provide
it with a huge amount of real-world experience, already in machine-readable
form.  Eventually, it can learn to dump GIFs and samples (perhaps we should
vote on how old it should be before it can read alt.binaries.pictures.sex,
etc)
	Although I would not suggest letting the net teach the "good copy"
of CyC, perhaps a "trash copy" could be put on like (sort of the psycho
evil twin...)
	And what about alt.computers.religion?.....

			Stephan Meyers

(insert :-) where appropriate)

-- 
--
Stephan Meyers | artn@uicbert.eecs.uic.edu
(Art)^n Laboratories, inventors of the Stealth Negative PHSCologram
(312) 567-3762
From: ivie@cc.usu.edu (CP/M lives!)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Branching in HLL vs. Assembler (was Re: The need for an assembler)
Date: 27 Aug 92 16:32:19 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

In article <1992Aug27.135129.24542@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>, rfd@po.CWRU.Edu (Richard F. Drushel) writes:
c> 
> 	There are conditionals, of course.  JP Z/NZ/C/NC/PE/PO are typical
> examples from the Z80 instruction set.  While with efficient code ordering
> and the appropriate test, you can stick with the explicitly conditional
> branches, there are still occasions where the only choice is the absolute
> JP.

Don't know about anyone else, but I keep getting quite upset at big machines
like the VAX that can handle nice big addresses but keep giving me rinky-dink
8-bit signed conditional branch offsets so that I have to keep branching
around an unconditional jump in order to get a long conditional branch.

Roger Ivie
ivie@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,alt.religion.computers
From: neeri@iis.ethz.ch (Matthias Neeracher)
Subject: Re: Good source code to read?
Organization: Integrated Systems Laboratory, ETH, Zurich
	<9224300.17045@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU>
	<1992Aug31.162303.4148@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 12:59:04 GMT

In article <1992Aug31.162303.4148@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de> duening@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de (Lars Duening) writes:
>I'd like to add that the importance of turing machines come from two facts:
>first it's possible to build Universal Turing Machines which are capable
                        ^^^^^ mathematically define

>to emulate every other Turing Machine (even themselves),

>and second, up to
>today nobody found proof that modern computers aren't just sophisticated
>turing machines.

They are *memory limited* turning machines, actually.

Matthias
From: kmoore@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Kyle E Moore)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Scent of Lavender?
Date: 25 Aug 92 18:25:14 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University


     Has anybody heard anything about how the scent of lavender is supposed to 
accompany a ghostly presence?  Granted, that may not be the only scent that is 
supposedly associated with a presence, but it seems to me that I'd heard that 
somewhere, the lavender bit.

     I work in the theater in the evenings as an actor and sometimes stage 
manager, and of course "every good theater has a ghost in it". (Hence the term
"ghost light", for the one light that is left burning onstage all night after
the place is all locked up).  In any case, I'm currently performing in a show 
in the Drake Union Theatre on the campus of Ohio State, and both the Stage 
Manager and Assistant Stage Manager, (Shana and Stacy, respectively) have said 
that that place gives them the creeps late at night.  Apparently there is a 
ghost there that "doesn't like" female stage managers (This according to Shana,
who may or may not have a screw or two loose to begin with, but that's beside 
the point), and they both have told me some of the stories that have 
accompanied the rumors.  Opening night (last Thursday), three of us
were standing backstage near a doorway that leads directly onto the stage, when
Pam (one of the actors) asked if anybody was wearing lavender perfume.  Nope,
didn't think so.  However, all three of us could distinctly smell lavender.  It
lasted for about a couple minutes, and thereafter we haven't smelled it again.
     Chances are, of course, good that one of the audience members or one of 
the other actors was wearing some sort of lavender scent.  I was just wondering
if anybody else had heard whatever about that particular scent supposedly 
accompanying a ghostly presence.

     Later,

     K-Mo
     kmoore@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu

     I blew about half a day reading the stories on this board.  Sure beats the
heck out of the endless Andrew Lloyd Webber discussions on rec.arts.theatre.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: dw@unislc.uucp (Dan Wright)
Subject: The Haunted Meadow
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 18:43:04 GMT


I'm a skeptic.  I sometimes ask people, "do you believe in ghosts?" to
gauge their sanity.  One day I put this question to Dave and Linda Miller,
a couple who were both engineers at Unisys at the time, and who I respect
and admire personally and professionally.  They exchanged glances, cracked
nervous smiles, and told me they generally don't believe in ghosts, but
they recently had an "interesting" experience.

They were mountain-bike camping along Skyline drive here in Utah.
They had a friend along (I think his name was Scott) and they had their dog.
It was the last evening of a trip which had been a lot of fun thus far.
They rode along peacefully, watching for a place to camp for the night.
They decided to pitch their tent on a flat meadow next to a stand of trees
and a small lake.

As soon as the tent was up, the dog went in and refused to come out.
This dog normally runs all over the place and demands to play frisbee.
He crouched in the tent looking uncomfortable all evening.  The place
seemed somber.  They built their fire and cooked their dinner but the
food tasted plain.  They stayed up a while longer and had a beer and
some conversation but nobody was keen.  They decided to go to bed.

They slept fitfully, and in the midnight hours, all of them suffered
vivid grisly nightmares.  They were relieved when the sun came up.

At breakfast they exchanged nightmares and were surprised to learn that
their ordeals were rather similar.  Dave dreamed there was a guy trying
to kill him.  The guy couldn't be shaken but stalked and tormented Dave
constantly.  Dave remembered an overwhelming feeling of helplessness.
Scott dreamed that a guy came out of the trees and stabbed him in the chest
with a knife.  Linda dreamed there were men in the trees, laying in ambush
for her, and meaning to kill her.  She caught glimpses of their eyes and
their weapons.  At one point hundreds of them rushed out of the trees to
get her, and she awoke in terror.

They got to thinking the place was haunted.  They did a little research
on the area when they returned to Salt Lake City.

Turns out it was the site of an Indian massacre during the pioneer days.


Dan Wright                | Internet: dw@unislc.slc.unisys.com
Salt Lake City, Utah      |     UUCP: ...!{sun, uplherc}!unislc!dw
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ah, the prayers of the millions, how they must fight and destroy each
other on their way to the throne of God" -- Steinbeck  _Tortilla Flat_
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: finneyrc@newton.ccs.tuns.ca (R Craig Finney)
Subject: Re: Street lights
Organization: Technical University of Nova Scotia, Halifax, N.S.
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 04:03:15 GMT

In article <1992Aug25.193038.17016@math.utah.edu> () writes:
>
......Stuff deleted
>
>So, are previous shock victims cursed for life to drain the juice of electrical
>devices?
>Is this why my scooter battery keeps going dead?
>
>LH
>

No.  You may want to check your scooter for a short.  As for watches and
hair dryers - Do you keep buying the same brand?  Yes, try another brand.
No - A good watch which I have is a Timex Quartz Lithum.  Bought it about
2.5 years ago, after my last one froze to my arm.  Winters in Canada can
get really cold.
-- 
Agent 36
(Everyone is sane in their own reality)
From: cb@wixer.cactus.org (Cyberspace Buddha)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: crop circles
Date: 31 Aug 92 14:26:25 GMT
Organization: Real/Time Communications

In article <5305@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP> hummell+@pitt.edu (Andrew G Hummell) writes:
>In article <1992Aug28.194118.21109@StarConn.com> sallyh@StarConn.com (Sally Holmes) writes:
>>
>>I thought the crop circles had been exposed as the work of two jokers in
>>England and their copiers?
>>
>>Sally

eh?  what'd they do, push their Xerox machines <ok, so I'm assuming
copier == Xerox machine> around in the fields?

>
>This is info that I have gleamed from "Sightings" on FOX and from various
>(legitimate) newspaper and magazine articles that I've read on the subject.
>

Sightings also showed details of the circles where the crop had been 
"twisted" in a clockwise manner on one layer, and ccw on other layers.
truly a weird thing, but I'd sure like to know how it was done...

<finishes blathering>
From: dzecchini@csi.compuserve.com
Subject: Re: Scariest movie
Organization: CompuServe Incorporated
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 06:59:24 GMT

>>You wanted a list of the scariest movies- here is a list of my 3 faves:
>>
>How about watching Terminator at 3AM, in an empty, dark house, when you 

Have to cast my personal vote for The Shining.  At least off the top
of my head.

Best movie I've seen at 2:00 AM with the lights off was probably Gothic.
(Although I've watched The Shining like that a few times, too <g>)
-- 
         David "Maelstrom" Zecchini | "It may be better to be a live jackal
       dzecchini@csi.compuserve.com | than a dead lion, but it is better still
 dzecchin@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu | to be a live lion.  And usually easier."
           maelstro@bluemoon.rn.com | -Robert A. Heinlein
From: toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: Street lights
Date: 27 Aug 92 00:45:50 GMT
Organization: Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center

In article <1992Aug25.033127.353@engage.pko.dec.com> moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com writes:
|For quite a while there was a defective streetlight on my street.  It would
|shut off for no reason, regardless of whether anyone was around, stay off
|for about a minute, then start up again, then after several minutes would
|shut off again.  Repeat all night long.

Maybe it's a chaotic system?  Maybe even a small event is enough to change
its course?

>-Mike (sorry to be a spoilsport)
:-(

  Tom Schneider
  National Cancer Institute
  Laboratory of Mathematical Biology
  Frederick, Maryland  21702-1201
  toms@ncifcrf.gov
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: mds8539@tamuts.tamu.edu (Michael David Slater         )
Subject: Re: Scariest movie
Organization: ~/lib/organization
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 18:56:21 GMT

In article <1992Aug30.013506.28339@news.nd.edu> wlamonac@tolkien.helios.nd.edu (william lamonaca) writes:
>You wanted a list of the scariest movies- here is a list of my 3 faves:
>
How about watching Terminator at 3AM, in an empty, dark house, when you 
have no idea what the movie is about?  I can't say I was comfortable 
first time I saw it.



Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: jlysagh@hubcap.clemson.edu (james joseph lysaght)
Subject: Re: Scariest movie
Organization: Clemson University
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 12:39:50 GMT

The Day After,  A very realistic movie of what very well could happen to
society if we had a nuclear war.  What made it so scary was that it was
not embelished, it showed what was most likely to happen if there realy
was a nuclear war.  I think it came out around an election about 12
years ago.  Of course this was at a time when the economy was bad, and
the russians were an evil empire and feer of nuclear war ran high
already.  It was made for TV movie and I have never seen it mentioned
anywhere since.  I tried to get throufh a video sotre not too long back
and they could find no listing for it and did not know what I was
tlaking about.  Anybody else see this movie?

If we want to keep this list ghost related though, then excorsist was
probably the scariest I have seen.  I need to rent this one for my wife.
It's always fun to sahre a scary movie with a wife (or girlfriend for
those of you not married).

Jim
From: ivan@spider.co.uk (Ivan Reid)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: crop circles
Date: 31 Aug 92 17:12:49 GMT
Organization: Spider Systems Limited, Edinburgh, UK.

In article <1992Aug28.194118.21109@StarConn.com> sallyh@StarConn.com (Sally Holmes) writes:
>I thought the crop circles had been exposed as the work of two jokers in
>England and their copiers?

Well, if you saw these two guys on the news, claiming that they'd done
the circles, you, like me, would have had a very hard time believing
them! The "tools" they claimed to use were ridiculous - a la bog-roll
tubes for sights and nun-cha-ko (sp?) to flatten the corn. I was
convinced the two men were just trying to get attention for themselves
(very successfully too). Nope, there must be another explanation.
-- 
Ivan Hans Mark Reid                      Management Information Systems Analyst
"Information is Power ..."                                   Spider Systems Ltd
vox: (+44 31) 554 9424                                 Spider Park, Stanwell St
fax: (+44 31) 554 0649                              Edinburgh EH6 5NG, Scotland
From: jl3a+@andrew.cmu.edu (James A. Lane)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: A Quick Question
Date: 26 Aug 92 12:24:35 GMT
Organization: Psychology, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Hi all-
I was wondering if all you ghost-story fans could answer me a question-
private email, please, and I'll summarize on the board- 

What is your favorite element(s) or thematic device(s) in ghost stories?
What I'm getting at is the best elements that make up a ghost story-
the long-forgotten visitor, howling wind, the disembodied voice, 
the candle that suddenly goes out, the face in the window.  A suggestion
doesn't necessarily have to be in ALL ghost stories, just one that
stuck in your head, really gave you the creeps, provided that perfect
detail, maybe comes back to visit you at night when you're trying to 
get to sleep.  The more specific and out of the ordinary (my suggestions
are pretty trite!), the better.

Please, again, email me directly and I'll post a synopsis.  Thanks!

Jim
jl3a+@andrew.cmu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: aharris@javelin.sim.es.com (Alan Harris)
Subject: Debunking vs Ignorance
Summary: debunking better than ignorance
Reply-To: aharris@javelin.sim.es.com
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp., Salt Lake City, Utah
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 19:16:35 GMT

Every time I go to the grocery store, a ghostly thing happens.  The doors
to the store open right before my eyes even though there is no one there!!!
It sure is scary.  My wife says something about "automatic doors" but I don't
listen to her.  I want to believe a ghost is opening the doors.  My friends
say this is a common thing at grocery stores and nothing scary, but where
is the fun in believing that?  Please don't anyone tell me what's really
happening.  I don't want to ruin my beliefs with the truth.



Sorry about the nasty sarcasm.  I don't wish to imply that every unusual
happening has a boring explaination.  I believe that supernatural/spiritual
happenings do occur.  I just can't imagine someone being deliberately
ignorant because the truth isn't any fun.  The thing that makes an event
exciting is when there IS NO explaination by means that we understand.
Just pretending there is no explaination doesn't do it for me.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
From: st17y@rosie.uh.edu (Belding, Troy C.)
Subject: Re: Repost Rose Hill PLEASE !
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 21:14:00 GMT

In article <1992Aug31.114123.29479@mr.med.ge.com>, bednarek@picard.med.ge.com (Dennis Bednarek Mfg 4-6971) writes...
>Theresa McFarland (farland@outland.b24a.ingr.com) wrote:
>: In article <9208200052.AA14179@news.cis.ohio-state.edu> FURRJK@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu writes:
>--
>Me too
> 

Yes please. Here too.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll get a life when it is proven          Troy C. Belding
and substantiated to be better             ST17Y@JETSON.UH.EDU
than what I am currently                   HSSM@MENUDO.UH.EDU
experiencing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------




Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories