HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.humor,alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: Re: Agnostics and Athiests
From: system@kryton.UUCP (Scott Beckstead)
Date: Tue, 01 Sep 92 15:26:53 PDT
Organization: Paradox Alley F&SF BBS 805-492-8789

speers@opus.mcds.com (Daniel E. Speers) writes:

> st890270@pip.cc.brandeis.edu (LUCIFER) writes:
> 
> > tsuanian@cc.curtin.edu.au writes
> > > (motivation of god to create people)
> > 
> > two things. the heaven & hell concept is a new-fangled Christian idea, and 
> > Jews still consider it a little cockeyed ]:{)
> > 
> > as to why create people: nobody ever claimed god is immune to boredom.
> > (or maybe, he has his reasons, but they are beyond our imagining. After all
> > can you actually imagine omnipotence?)
> 
>   Nevemind motivation...  If God created us, who created God?
> 
>   Second Question:  If God can do anything, can (s)he create
>                     a rock that (s)he cannot lift?
> 
> 
> Ignorance is bliss...
> 
   God Created man in his own image...Man being a gentleman returned the favor
         Inherit the wind (good play and not bad movie)


System Administrator Paradox Alley  F&SF BBS and Usenet News/Mail 
805-492-8789  Thousand Oaks, Ca. The Place For Science Fiction and Fantasy
"Spin My Nipple Nuts and Send Me to Alaska!" Kryten, Red Dwarf
From: egpv29@castle.ed.ac.uk (JHenderson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Wordstruck
Date: 28 Aug 92 11:23:42 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <9208271603.AA08975@cfdev1.shearson.com> mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:
=>
=>I love THE REAL THING.  I've read it, but I was also fortunate enough
=>to see it when Glen Close and Jeremy Irons performed in it.  The
=>cricket-bat speech stood out as one of many fine pieces in the play.

They also produced a double-LP, which is excellent.



-- 
==================================================================
-Jeremy Henderson            |  Une souris verte
 egpv29@castle.ed.ac.uk	     |  Qui courrait dans l'herbe
==================================================================
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: Why I read the Economist
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 12:37:40 GMT

John McCarthy writes:

	... the City of Palo Alto asked neighboring cities and 
	possibly neighboring counties whether they wanted to 
	participate.  When none did, the park was reserved for 
	Palo Alto residents.  None of the other Palo Alto parks 
	has any restriction.  By the way, Stanford University, 
	where I live, was also one of the entities that declined 
	to participate in the development of the park.

	I think we deserve what we got.

Surely the point is, did we not deserve what we did not get?

	By the way one of the incidental expenses of developing 
	Foothill Park was making sure it was entirely clear of 
	land mines.  Dr. Lee's well known public spirit had extended 
	during the Korean War to allowing SRI to test the use of 
	dogs there for finding nonmetallic land mines.

	SRI was very sure that all had been removed, and indeed 
	none were found.

Is this all the mines, or all the dogs? Were the dogs selected on the 
basis of their refusal to do arithmetic? SRI was then the Stanford 
Research Institute, and an integral part of the University. It is
curious that Dr. Lee would allow Stanford's dogs but not Stanford's
sapient featherless bipeds on to his earthy mound. Did the Farm also
have grazing rights?

						Fido

						I am His Highness'
						Dog at Kew. 
						Pray tell me, Sir,
						Whose Dog are you?
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 01:12:50 EDT
From: <DAB16@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Agnostics and Athiests
 <1ZLaqB2w164w@opus.mcds.com> <16854847D.IQTI400@INDYCMS.IUPUI.EDU>
 <1992Sep2.223906.21345@news.columbia.edu>

In article <1992Sep2.223906.21345@news.columbia.edu>,
lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu quotes:
>
>article <16854847D.IQTI400@INDYCMS.IUPUI.EDU> where IQTI400@INDYCMS.IUPUI.EDU
>(macphil) writes:
>>>Ignorance is bliss...
>>Let's not butcher Shakespeare:
Yes, let's not:  "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."
I can't cite chapter and verse, but at least I remember the damn line!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dennis Beach                                BITNET: DAB16@PSUVM.BITNET
Penn State University                     internet: dab16@psuvm.psu.edu
From: danoc@earlybird.Eng.Sun.COM (Dan O'Connell [CONTRACTOR])
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Bookstores in Santa Cruz
Keywords: monthly
Date: 25 Aug 92 23:55:52 GMT
Organization: Hmm
NNTP-Posting-Host: earlybird

(evelyn.c.leeper) writes:

 		Bookshop Santa Cruz (currently in two tents on Cedar,
 			right near the town clock).  The larger tent is
 			devoted to new books; the second is for staff and
 			receiving.  Their used books are sold from a building
 			to your left from the tent entrance, called the
 			(used?) book shed.  A Santa Cruz tradition.

Yes, it is the "Used Book Shed". The pickings can be slim,
but there are gems (IMO).

It is about to move into the old St. George Hotel on 
Pacific Garden Mall, if I'm correct.

 		Logos (has re-opened in a new building at its *old* location
 			on the Pacific Garden Mall).  Two full floors of
 			books, used records, and used CDs.  Can be thought
 			of as Santa Cruz's answer to Moe's in Berkeley.

It is this bibliophile's opinion that Logos has THE best
used book selection (in Santa Cruz, the center of the
Universe) :) You can get the same book (used) here you can get
in Capitola for 1/2 price (new).

 		Plaza Books  (damaged in the 'quake, but not destroyed.
 			On Cedar half a block from Walnut).  New books
 			only.

Note that Logos and Plaza Books are right next door 
to each other. Plaza Books has the best tee-shirts,
post-card books, and greeting cards, by far beating
out any of the more "touristy" places.

Also, in the same general neighborhood, across from
Caffe Pergolesi on Center Street is a used bookshop
(I can't remember the name), great for philo,
religion, some rare stuff too, but small.

Also in the opposite direction, but still only
a block from Logos/Plaza is Gateways a venerable
Santa Cruz institution, now in a new location
(the old Great Outdoors Outlet) with twice the
space and a small cafe. It is primarily known
for new-age, metaphysics, self-help, etcetra.

 		Book-Cafe (41st Ave in Capitola).  New books only.  Good
 			selection of magazines.  Also has a small coffee-
 			shop inside.

Probably has the best selection of audio books and literary
magazines in Santa Cruz.

Dano
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: gersh@aplpy.jhuapl.edu (John R. Gersh)
Subject: Re: A Biog of Captain James Cook
Summary: Beaglehole and Villiers
Keywords: Cook, James
Organization: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 92 19:52:58 GMT

In article <1992Aug31.161625.23901@gvl.unisys.com> Ralph Marrone writes:
>I'm currently reading Richard Hughes' _The Fatal Shore_, and the 
>sections about James Cook are quite interesting.  Can anyone recommend
>a good biography of him?
>


A good scholarly biography is J. C. Beaglehole, The Life of Captain
James Cook, Stanford U. P., 1974. I've not read it, but remember a few
approving references.

One book that I _have_ read, and enjoyed very much, is Alan Villiers, 
Captain James Cook, Scribners, 1967. This one reads almost like a
Hornblower novel.

Villiers, by the way, is a good candidate for the recent sea stories
thread. While not fiction, some of his books go a long way to
providing the salty fix that some readers want. Sons of Sinbad (dhow
trading in the Gulf just before WWII) and The Way of a Ship (the last
days of long-distance commercial sail) are particular favorites of
mine.


---------------------------------------------------------------------
John Gersh                                     gersh@aplpy.jhuapl.edu
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Johns Hopkins Rd., Laurel, MD 20723		       (301) 953-5503
From: fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Life's too short. Was: 1930s Science Fiction
Keywords: LIFE IS TOO SHORT
Date: 24 Aug 92 19:18:50 GMT
Organization: The Fighting Thundercats

Tom Maddox writes:
>Jeff Davis writes:
>>My interest in science fiction is minimal because as a genre its target --
>>the relation of man to science -- seems to me to be too narrow for fiction
>>and to have been summed up neatly by _Frankenstein_: its province is the
>>consequences of knowing for the sake of knowing. Has science changed
>>since Bacon? The content has advanced but its human aspect (that there 
>>are consequenceless facts) doesn't change quite so readily.
>
>	Deeper and deeper, Mr. Davis.  You now have progressed from dismissing
>all its works but one to summing up sf's "target," which also cannot be done 
>from a position of ignorance.
>
>	The truth on this matter is simple, I believe:  if you have not read a
>great deal of science fiction, you cannot reasonably make summary claims about
>it.  (You may regard it as a corollary of Mike Godwin's "Satanic Principle," 
>which has been the subject of appallingly long threads over the past few years.)
I've tried for almost 12 seconds to come up with a broader umbrella for
science fiction than man's relationship to science and can't. Please
enlighten me. 

Take a work like "Blade Runner"  -- not a book, but from comments I've
read, it influenced Tom Maddox's friend William Gibson to write _Neuromancer_
which I will not comment upon -- it is science fiction, yes? And fairly
new. Well, how does it advance the art beyond _Frankenstein_? What themes
does it treat that aren't present in _Frankenstein_? Or a more recent 
film "Total Recall" It questions what it means to think, to have memories...
what it means to be human and how science reflects on that. Again, how
are these themes different from what Mary Shelley dealt with? I don't
claim to be encyclopedic and I'm not persisting in this thread to simply
bug Maddox....although from his tone that might not be a bad idea...
it's just that the serious works of science fiction they've all seemed to 
reflect the same concerns. Is that drawing an artificial line to defend my 
position? I don't think so, but if the working definition of  science 
fiction is simply any work which uses science and technology for significant 
props, then I will also concede the field to Maddox. Of course, that lets 
in the Sharp catalog to science fiction, too. But a certain amount of 
Utopianism is probably a good thing.

BTW, is there some rule to r.a.b which requires us to jockey around
like grad students in a seminar? If we must maintain that academic
ambience, why not substitute for the seminar room, the local
bar on Friday afternoon. Insults sound better there and are usually
wittier. I know. I've been insulted there too. 
-- 
Jeff Davis <davis@keats.ca.uky.edu> Write when you get the chance. 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: AZ.EPC@forsythe.stanford.edu 
Subject: Re: dark fantasy
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 11:23:12 GMT

In article <1992Aug30.111233.21257@morrow.stanford.edu>,
AZ.EPC@forsythe.stanford.edu writes:
>
>
>Looking for a list of Afro-American writers who specialize in
                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                      That's black, to non-whites and moderates.
From: egpv29@castle.ed.ac.uk (JHenderson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Unreliable narrator in "Pale Fire"
Date: 28 Aug 92 11:21:59 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

I'm only about 6 months behind in catching up on this, but
exactly *how* unreliable is the narrator. Is there *anything*
he says that can be believed? He doesn't seem to have been
a close friend of Shade's (not invited to the birthday party)
and he probably told fibs about the assassination (lift in
Emerald's car) - was he telling the truth about *anything*?

-- 
==================================================================
-Jeremy Henderson            |  Une souris verte
 egpv29@castle.ed.ac.uk	     |  Qui courrait dans l'herbe
==================================================================
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: stefan@leland.Stanford.EDU (Stefan Michalowski)
Subject: Re: Sea Stories
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 92 20:16:59 GMT

In article <9208282135.AA14252@coventry.Corp.Sun.COM> Lisa.Levine@Corp.Sun.COM (Lisa Levine) writes:
>_Dead Ned_  and  _Live and Kicking Ned_ by John Masefield. 
>
>He has one or two other seafaring-type novels.  These are
>children's books, but as I recall, well written and based 
>(no doubt loosely, since there are pirates) on some of his 
>own experiences.

John Masefield, England's Poet Laureate (1930-1967), sailed before
the mast in the 4-masted barque Wanderer. He published at least
three volumes on seafaring: "The Wanderer of Liverpool" (easy to
find in used bookstores; part poetry), "The Bird of Dawning" (slightly
treacly account of a clipper-ship race ala Ariel/Teiping) and "Tales
from a Round-House" (a collection of short stories). There may be
others. Masefield's style, both prose and poetry, is almost
guaranteed to grate painfuly upon most modern readers.


SM
From: cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Why I read the Economist
Date: 31 Aug 92 19:16:57 GMT
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA

In article <1992Aug29.122657.6594@morrow.stanford.edu>, francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir) writes:
> As for the Economist, it should be pointed out that while they are 
> conservative, they are not Conservative. Working a similar vein, the
> Financial Times provides a simple way of picking up the news in England
> without getting bogged down in rhetoric.
> 
> 						Fido

And even by the current definition of "conservative" in America,
they aren't conservative.  Note their oft-expressed feelings about
gun prohibitionism.

-- 
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.
From: daggs@l42bb.jsc.nasa.gov (Clark)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Anybody Else Read History?
Date: 26 Aug 1992 23:57:07 GMT
Organization: nasa-jsc

In article <1992Aug25.133304.4142@clpd.kodak.com> staffan@ca.serum.kodak.com
(Kenneth Staffan (x37507)) writes:

>
>I like History, and would enjoy reading more in the story-telling fashion,
>but I have a problem with Historical Fiction.  I'm usually reading to learn,
>which means I am not intimately familiar with the era or events.  As a 
>result, I can't always tell where the history stops and the fiction begins.
>That bothers me.
>
>Ken
>

Dear Ken,

	Well, the answers to this one that I know are: 1) read the history 
too, preferably from multiple sources. 2) find out how much and what 
sort of primary source material exists. 3) find out about the author
and his/her research methods. 4) keep the b*llsh*t filter on at all
times. 5) remember that most conversations in historical fiction must
be made up.

	For an historical fiction author who plays tight with the facts
try James Alexander Thom. These books are all set in America between
1740 and 1820. I think this is an exhaustive list:

	_Follow the River_
	_Long Knife_
	_Staying Out of Hell_
	_From Sea to Shining Sea_
	_Panther in the Sky_

	Only _Staying Out of Hell_ is not currently in print, but I am
told that it will be again in October.
	
	Another author of fiction who kept relatively near the facts was 
James Fennimore Cooper. 

	Robert Graves is a truly "great" author, but I can't say when and
where he diverges from fact because I am less schooled in his subjects.


Clark J. Daggs
1864 El Mar Ln.
Seabrook, Texas 77586  

P.S. #4 in my answers above is a especially useful in understanding the
news.
Xref: sparky rec.arts.books:15268 rec.humor:27353 alt.folklore.urban:22462 rec.arts.sf.misc:2752
From: ltf@ncmicro.lonestar.org (Lance Franklin)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.humor,alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: Re: Agnostics and Athiests
Date: 29 Aug 92 22:13:52 GMT
Organization: NC Microproducts, Inc.

twain@milton.u.washington.edu (Barbara Hlavin) writes:
}ajmiller@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Arkayn) writes:
}>Incidently, if you check your Oxford English Dictionary, as well as most
}>others, you will find that, contrary to popular opinion, potatoe is not only
}>a correct spelling, but for many years was THE correct spelling.
}
}But not in this century, which is the century we live in, or rather, 
}WOULD live in if we had a choice, or if we were Americans, which I and 
}my mother and brother and so on, many of my great-great grandparents, 
}have been for many many years now. 
}
}But that's just us, and that's what I mean when I say "family."  
}
}(Am I in the right solar system yet?) 

Barbara, I think you might have a great future as Dan Quayle's
scriptwriter...that's the best QuayleSpeake I've seen in quite
a while...that hasn't come directly out of Danny's mouthe.


Lance (or perhaps Lanc...)


-- 
Lance T. Franklin            +----------------------------------------------+
(ltf@ncmicro.lonestar.org)   | "You want I should bop you with this here    |
NC Microproducts, Inc.       |    Lollipop?!?"                 The Fat Fury |
Richardson, Texas            +----------------------------------------------+
From: Crawford_Kilian@mindlink.bc.ca (Crawford Kilian)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Rooney vs. Cramer
Date: 29 Aug 92 16:58:58 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Distribution: world

I hesitate to intervene in a fight where the two participants are clearly
enjoying the name-calling and vituperation, but perhaps a brief definition will
help them further the cause of enlightenment for the rest of us. The difference
between a jerk and an asshole is that the asshole knows what he's doing. I
leave it to the participants to decide which definition better suits them.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: oneil@cwis.unomaha.edu (Sharon O'Neil)
Subject: What do you know about Waldenbooks?
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 20:00:40 GMT

I'm interested in knowing what there is to know about Waldenbooks.  I know
it is a subsidiary of K-Mart.  But what else is there to know about the
store.  I basically just wantfacts.

Sharon O'Neil
oneil@cwis.unomaha.edu

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy)
Subject: Re: Sherlock Holmes Quote
Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Date: 2 Sep 92 11:13:33


"How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the
truth?"

	--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, _The Sign of Four_

The actual stories don't live up to the quotation.  There are always
numerous possibilities left.  However, the author controls what the
truth is.
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
*
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
From: janines@novell.com (Janine Schenone)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Back to Books
Date: 3 Sep 92 19:54:39 GMT
Organization: Novell, Inc.

If you don't mind, I would like to digress from the subject of
Palo Altans' snootiness. (We denizens of Mountain View, California,
just to the south of P.A., allow citizens of all races, creeds,
and cities to frolic freely in our parks, and we visit
Palo Alto only when passing through on the way to Kepler's Books 
in Menlo Park.)

I have a problem, which I hope you R.a.b.belaisians can help me solve: 
I am in a fiction funk. The problem is so severe that I believe 
they should add a new diagnostic category to depression for people 
who can't seem to find anything to read. 

I am reading nonfiction books on parenting, spirituality, religion and
such, but I cannot seem to find a book of fiction that interests me.
This is surprising, as I usually thrive on a diet of novels only.
Can anyone recommend a book that will knock my socks off? I'm looking
for something entertaining but not empty. Nothing that might dampen
the spirit, please. I could use a change of scenery, so something
set in a country other than the U.S. might be nice.

What do I usually read, you might ask. I enjoy Pynchon, Faulkner,
T. Coraghessan Boyle, Austen, Dickens, Philip Roth, Willa Cather,
R.K. Narayan, Graham Greene, Bernard Malamud, some of Martin
Amis's work, Louise Erdrich. . . . I enjoy anything
that's good. I'm not crazy about the little science fiction that
I've read, and the only mysteries I've enjoyed were written
by Tony Hillerman and Georges Simenon. I don't read romance novels,
although I will confess that, after a friend's suggestion that
I try to read what the "masses" read, I read _Princess Daisy_
by what's-her-name. My doctor has just authorized my return to
solid foods, thank you.

Suggestions?

Janine Schenone
janines@novell.com
From: kate@cactus.org (Katherine M. Catmull)
Subject: Re: The Literary Canon
Organization: Capital Area Central Texas UNIX Society, Austin, Tx
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 22:41:08 GMT

In article <1992Sep2.111856.2594@ecrc.de> sanjiva@ecrc.de (Sanjiva Prasad) writes:
>>
>One can conceivably be "born with a genius for sitar playing" but it's
>really hard to conceive of one being "born with a genius for writing in 
>Hindu."  For the simple reason that there is no such language.  (Substitute
>guitar for sitar and Christian for Hindu, and you'll get what I'm nitpicking
>about).   

Not nitpicking aall--I thought that sounded wrong when I wrote
it. I ought to go with my gut when it comes to my ignorance, perhaps.

Kate


-- 
- - - - - - - -
kate@cactus.org
Be the voice of night and Florida in my ear.
From: darrell@cse.ucsc.edu (Darrell Long)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Looking an old book ...
Date: 1 Sep 92 03:55:21 GMT
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz (CE/CIS Boards)
NNTP-Posting-Host: cypress.ucsc.edu

I'm trying to locate a copy of Herminie Templeton Kavanagh's "Darby O'Gill and
the good people."  I've gotten the follow-on book, "Ashes of Old Wishes" but
I can't seem to find the former in print.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Regards, DL
Xref: sparky rec.arts.books:15501 rec.humor:27712 alt.folklore.urban:22753 rec.arts.sf.misc:2796
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.humor,alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: Re: Agnostics and Athiests
Date: 2 Sep 92 22:39:06 GMT
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University

In article <16854847D.IQTI400@INDYCMS.IUPUI.EDU> IQTI400@INDYCMS.IUPUI.EDU (macphil) writes:
> 
>>Ignorance is bliss...
> 
>Let's not butcher Shakespeare:
> 
>"Ignorance is bliss, but to be wise is folly."
> 
I thought that at DEC, if you program in their implementation language:

BLISS is ignorance, but WISE is to eat potato chips.

cjl
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books