HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: poser@vxdsyc.desy.de (Till Poser)
Subject: Comic book heroes and misunderstandings
Summary: Hoo Boy! A straight line!
Reply-To: Poser@vxdsyc.desy.de
Organization: Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron, Experiment ZEUS bei HERA
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 16:08:24 GMT

In article <1992Aug11.174559.3376@desire.wright.edu>, 
demon@desire.wright.edu (Stupendous Man) takes things at face value:

|>In article <1992Aug11.160435.2142@dscomsf.desy.de>, 
|>poser@vxdsyc.desy.de (Till Poser) attempts to feed S.M. a bit of carefully 
|>concocted ad hominy grits, but runs smack into a wall in the process (Sigh!):

|>> If You are naming Yourself after some masked and caped Sooper Hero, I
|>> respectfully submit that The Comedian would be a much more suitable choice,
|>> given Your mien and demeanour.

|>	If you don't have Calvin and Hobbes where you are, I can send some
|>pertinent strips.

Don't bother. I own all the C&H collections that have come out so far.
(We have one of the largest and best stocked Comic Art shops in Suthern 
 Germany right here in Freiburg. But then we are directly bordering on
 the #1 Comic Art nation of the world, France.)

Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons: "Watchmen", DC Comics $16.95

Look for The Comedian.

You'll understand, trust me.

[Actually this is an interesting subject. Comics tend to be shortlived
 comestibles, with a decidedly limited timespan, usually. They tend to 
 contain cultural short circuiting to evade longwinded intoductory
 panels. I therefore posit that once the escapist elements are blanked
 out, one obtains substancial clues as to the consumer base since the 
 cultural imagry has to be understood and _accepted_ by the same.]

|>	The assumption seems to be that Stupendous Man is to be taken at face
|>value.

No, not really. Stupendous Man exhibits an enchantingly childlike quality of
selfserving malice, which makes his pursuits a joy to behold.

However one choses to qualify Your demeanor, it is not childlike.

|>Brett

       Till Poser         Internet: poser@vxdsyc.desy.de
-F35- ZEUS DESY/Freiburg  Bitnet:   POSER@DESYVAX
bldg.1b-235, Notkestr.85  Hepnet:   VXDESY::POSER (13313::Poser)
   D-2000 Hamburg 52      Tel.: -49-40-8998-2004
From: pjm@cshl.org (Pat Monardo)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa
Subject: Re: Dollar bills
Date: 13 Aug 92 20:45:57 GMT
Organization: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

In article <1992Aug12.142011.3394@desire.wright.edu> demon@desire.wright.edu (Stupendous Man) writes:
>In article <frank2.11@underdog.ee.wits.ac.za>, frank2@underdog.ee.wits.ac.za (FRANK D N) writes:
>> On the back of a U.S. Dollar bill there appears a pyramid. There is an eye 
>> super-imposed on its peak, which hovers disjointed in an aura, just above 
>> the rest of the pyramid. A Latin inscription, "NOVO ORDO SECLORUM" 
>> (if I remember correctly), appears at the base of the pyramid and there 
>> is some other Latin either on or above the pyramid (which I do not remember).
>> 
>> Can anyone tell me what the significance of this occlut'ish looking symbol 
>> is. Could the inscription mean "New World Order", and if it does, for how 
>> long was this concept around before Bush and what is its origin? What does 
>> the other Latin mean?
>
>	Yes!  And also Procter and Gamble have satanic signs on their logo and
>Liz Claiborne sold her soul to the devil!!!
>
>	Seriously, the latin means something like "from one, many".  The
>eye/pyramid (and the rest of the things on most US money) have to do with
>wealth, security, prosperity, etc.  I can't remember the exact details. 

i think it mean New World Order. you are referring to another expression.
hmm, annuit coeptis, dont know, maybe annuit has something to do with
year and coeptis maybe birth, so the New World Order began in 1776
the date in the pyramid.

-- 
-- Pat Monardo
-- pjm@cshl.org
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa
Subject: Re: Multiculturalism
From: demon@desire.wright.edu (Stupendous Man)
Date: 17 Aug 92 13:59:40 EST
Organization: Demonic Possesions, Inc.

In article <1992Aug15.191556.3959@ccu.umanitoba.ca>, feld@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Michael Feld) writes:
> In article <1992Aug15.155828.28221@panix.com> gcf@panix.com (Gordon Fitch) writes:
>>Is there more than one viable culture in the United States?
>>If there is more than one, how would you identify them?  How
>>do they differ from one another?  How do they connect?
>>-- 
>>Gordon Fitch | gcf@panix.com | uunet!cmcl2!panix!gcf 
>>*       1238 Blg. Grn. Sta., N.Y., N.Y. 10274      *
> 
> 
> Appocryphal interview:
> 	Q: Mr. Gandhi, what do you think of Western culture?
> 
> 	A: That would be nice.

	Q: Mr. Westerner, what do you think of Eastern civilization?

	A: Get back to me when you find one

	Hmmm, makes you think, eh?

Brett                                                      
_______________________________________________________________________________
Proconsul Computer Consulting                                        CHA-CHING!
Better, Cheaper, Faster					       (Pick any two :)
Disclaimer:								   NOT!
From: pschauer@evans.den.mmc.com (Paul Schauer)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa
Subject: Re: Culture "!=" Politics (and places to visit!)
Date: 12 Aug 92 16:12:50 GMT
Organization: Martin Marietta Astronautics, Denver

In article <paulf.713568169@w6yx>, paulf@w6yx (Paul Flaherty) writes:
> 
> 
> With reference to the content of this group, I could not agree more; the vast
> majority of these postings belong in talk.politics.*.  Clearly, the only
> solution is to flood this group with Real American Cultural Topics.
> 
Here, Here! One only has to read soc.culture.british to understand what a
culture news group should be. No, I am not a raving Anglophile. They just
manage to keep the culture news group CULTURAL and not POLITICAL. Naturally,
some politics enters, but not to the extent of this group. They even 
created alt.politics.british to carry on long winded political bombasts.
Keep the abortion/conspiracy/cascades/politics/drugs etc. issues in their
respective news groups!

My $0.02
Paul S.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa
From: klassen@sol.UVic.CA (Melvin Klassen)
Subject: Water shortages, tourists, and the Grand Coulee Dam
Organization: University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C. CANADA
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 16:25:21 GMT

An item in the local news yesterday noted that despite water-shortages
upstream (the Columbia River) of Spokane, Washington, the officials at
the Grand Coulee Dam deliberately cause water to be spilled for 37 minutes 
each evening, during the laser-light show, "for dramatic effect".

So, if you're short of drinking-water, 
just be glad that the tourists see a good show! 

Some lakes along the Columbia are 20 feet(!) below their historical levels,
so, "waterfront vacation property" becomes "view of stinky mud-flats".
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa
Subject: Re: Dollar bills
From: demon@desire.wright.edu (Stupendous Man)
Date: 12 Aug 92 14:20:10 EST
Organization: Demonic Possesions, Inc.
Summary: If there had been a "misc.test" in the newsgroups line...

In article <frank2.11@underdog.ee.wits.ac.za>, frank2@underdog.ee.wits.ac.za (FRANK D N) writes:
> On the back of a U.S. Dollar bill there appears a pyramid. There is an eye 
> super-imposed on its peak, which hovers disjointed in an aura, just above 
> the rest of the pyramid. A Latin inscription, "NOVO ORDO SECLORUM" 
> (if I remember correctly), appears at the base of the pyramid and there 
> is some other Latin either on or above the pyramid (which I do not remember).
> 
> Can anyone tell me what the significance of this occlut'ish looking symbol 
> is. Could the inscription mean "New World Order", and if it does, for how 
> long was this concept around before Bush and what is its origin? What does 
> the other Latin mean?

	Yes!  And also Procter and Gamble have satanic signs on their logo and
Liz Claiborne sold her soul to the devil!!!

	Seriously, the latin means something like "from one, many".  The
eye/pyramid (and the rest of the things on most US money) have to do with
wealth, security, prosperity, etc.  I can't remember the exact details. 
Every once in a while the news media prints the story of the design of the
bills because people keep asking if it's a occult/devil worship/etc.

Brett                                                      
_______________________________________________________________________________
Proconsul Computer Consulting                                        CHA-CHING!
Better, Cheaper, Faster					       (Pick any two :)
Disclaimer:								   NOT!
Xref: sparky soc.culture.usa:6589 talk.politics.misc:39884 alt.politics.bush:1681 alt.politics.elections:10625 alt.war:1790
From: buckley@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (BUCKLEY  CHARLES RAY)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa,talk.politics.misc,alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.elections,alt.war
Subject: Re: Bush's position on Bosnia
Date: 15 Aug 92 08:46:15 GMT
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder

In article <1992Aug14.160936.9365@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>In article <1992Aug11.030252.13861@Princeton.EDU> kjcarey@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Kevin J. Carey) writes:
>>In article <1992Aug11.010011.856@tss.com> mathon@tss.com (John D. Mathon) writes:
>>>
>>>Iraq is a desert country with no place to hide and sunny weather most
>>>of the time.  Large parts of Yugoslavia are mountanous and difficult
>>>to maneuver.  The difficulty we encountered in the Vietnam war of 
>>>being unable to tell the "good" guys from the "bad" guys would
>>>exist.
>>>
>>I believe there were friendly fire deaths in the Gulf.
>
>That's not the issue, Kevin.  The issue is whether you can identify
>the enemy when you see him or not.  The options in the Balkans are all
>BAD, and I think we would be incredibly stupid to put troops in there.
>
>[I've heard that some NATO general has said it would take 100,000
>troops just to keep the supply corridor open.  Keep in mind that this
>would entail a willingness to just continually soak up casualties,
>since that is NOT enough men to pursue a war against the folks trying
>to cut the supply lines.  Bad idea.]
>
Yes but the terrain also,limits the types of weapons that could be used.
To get at the convoys, the attackers would have to get into the same valley
with the convoy to have any chance at getting the vehicles. The attackers
would then have to bug out over the mountain, which is not good when your
opponent is airmobile. The longer range weapons are not as numerous and
the number will be decreased rapidly should adequate air support be availible.
The idea is to keep the supply lines open. This would be best served by destroying the means cutting the supply line as well as killing anyone with the guts to
attack the lines. Let the enemy come you. You'll have a higher initial loss but
will inflict greater losses on the attackers. Besides, booby traps were one
of the major (if not the major) cause of injury in Viet Nam. By giving the
engineers a specific area to clear and the enemy a specific area that must
attacked, this particular type of attack can be greatly reduced.


I would have put the number slightly higher.>
>
>
>
>-- 
>"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
> in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.


Charles Buckley
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa
From: gcf@panix.com (Gordon Fitch)
Subject: Re: Why do Americans get so little vacation time?
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 02:33:42 GMT
Organization: mydog in exile
Followup-To: misc.jobs.misc,talk.politics.misc

In article <1992Aug11.225503.13330@ncar.ucar.edu> ilana@kiowa.scd.ucar.edu (Ilana Stern) writes:
| I agree, let's get rid of the politics and back to the culture.  I am
| certainly not going to share my favorite unspoiled vacation spots, as
| I want to keep them to myself :-) but that proposed topic brings up
| another which is near to my heart:  why is vacation so undervalued
| in the US?
| 
| In most western European companies, 5-6 weeks of vacation is *standard*
| for employees.  In the US, two weeks is standard;  some companies don't
| even give first-year employees any vacation, and many give only one
| week. ....

I agree that it would be good to take the politics elsewhere.
Unfortunately, I think this item leads back to politics through
economics.  The real median wage has been falling steadily in
the United States for the last 20 years or so.  This has many
effects, one of them being that Americans are increasingly
working harder and longer than they used to in an attempt to
keep up their standard of living.  And there is little pressure
on employers to offer longer vacations when so many people
are unemployed.  Europe, while it is not devoid of problems,
seems to be faring better that the United States in this
area.
-- 
Gordon Fitch | gcf@panix.com | uunet!cmcl2!panix!gcf 
*       1238 Blg. Grn. Sta., N.Y., N.Y. 10274      *
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa,soc.culture.british
From: rkw@zuni.unx.sas.com (Randy Whitehead)
Subject: Re: What is the history of the term "boondogle" (spelling?)
Originator: rkw@zuni.unx.sas.com
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 12:28:39 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.


From the "Word Histories" column in the July 1990 issue of _The Atlantic_:

boondoggle

What with the savings and loan scandal, the high cost of the Stealth bomber,
and the hugely expensive cleanup of toxic waste at the nation's atomic weapons 
plants, the word boondoggle (a trivial or wasteful project or activity) is being
heard with no little frequency these days. Last fall Senator Dale Bumpers
lamented yet another wasteful enterprise, in an essay titled "The Trident
Boondoggle," the reference being to the Trident submarine. Boondoggle has 
been a staple of american politics for 60 years. Inthe 1930's Republicans 
applied it to the Roosevelt Administration's "alphabet" agencies (WPA, FERA,
NYA). According to one explaination of the word's origin, it is jargon from  
the iron smelting industry and refers to unprofitable attempts to retrieve 
good iron from slag. According to another, it is from a scottish word for 
a playing marble recieved as a gift without having been earned. Doggle, or
dogle, is indeed English Dialect for a common marble, but there is no evidence
that it was ever compounded with boon (favor, gift). The most commonly accepted
etymology holds that boondoggle was the invention of one Robert H. Link, a
New York scoutmaster. He supposedly began using it around 1925 to refer to 
the plaited leather cords made by Boy Scouts to wear around the neck, from
which a knife, keys, or a whistle might hang. Link considered such boondoggles
to be "makework."

(The above is reproduced without permission - so sue me.)

-- 
Randy Whitehead                    Shut up and be happy, dammit!    
SAS Institute Inc.                     
rkw@unx.sas.com                        
                                       
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa,alt.society.civil-liberty
From: gcf@panix.com (Gordon Fitch)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa
Subject: Re: Re: Family Values and the West (Socialist Utopia: no families :-)
Date: 17 Aug 92 15:09:01 GMT
Organization: mydog in exile

| > gf:
| > | ->Yeah, but what's a "family"?  

reykja@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Reykja Sigurdsson) writes:
|      unfortunately, it is not generally used to mean "any group of people
| who choose to join together to provide mutual support and security."

tedrick@whistle.Berkeley.EDU (Tom Tedrick) writes:
| > | Typical of your average socialist, doesn't know what a
| > | family is :-)

rs:
|          Neither socialists nor any other political group has been 
| willing to acknowledge 'family' as a voluntary social unit. 

I don't know about that.  I would say that liberals (classical
and modern), socialists, and anarchists have thought they
were willing to "acknowledge 'family' as a voluntary social
unit" but they were making a lot of assumptions when they 
did it, such as that people would just sort of naturally
pair off into nice heterosexual nuclear units, and so on.
We didn't see an exposure of this assumption until the
appearance of modern feminism in the 1960s.

Most conservatives and social reactionaries seem to have
a very precise idea of what the family is, but as their
view involves the use of force I would agree that their
concept is not of a "voluntary" unit.

| > 2.  I promise not to turn your definition over to the UPS
| > police.  Now: when you use the word "family", what do you
| > mean?

rs:
|           Yeah. What's your definition? 

I don't know if this is addressed to me or Tom, but 
assuming we need one because we're not going to do away
with the state before next Tuesday, I'd go for extending
the liberal view that people should be free to form such
associations as they please.  The question of the
responsibility for children remains, but the present
very popular imposition of this responsibility on the
biological parents covers it until something different
evolves. 
-- 
 )*(    Gordon Fitch    )*(    gcf@panix.com    )*(
( 1238 Blg. Grn. Sta.,  NY NY 10274 * 718.273.5556 )
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa,misc.jobs.misc
From: hallam@zeus02.desy.de (Phill Hallam-Baker)
Subject: Re: Why do Americans get so little vacation time?
Keywords: work vacation
Reply-To: Hallam@zeus02.desy.de
Organization: Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron, Experiment ZEUS bei HERA
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 00:26:53 GMT

In article <18AUG199211160259@rover.uchicago.edu>, frank@rover.uchicago.edu
(Frank - Hardware Hacker - Borger) writes:

|>In article <1992Aug18.082855.29594@dscomsf.desy.de>, Hallam@zeus02.desy.de
|>writes...
|>>Unless Frank happens
|>>to be one of the designers of the instrument in question I see no particular
|>>reason to trust his assement of the relative skills of the inspector and
|>>himself.
|>> 
|>>Phill Hallam-Baker
|>
|>	Hey, wait a second. 
|>
|>	1/ I never said I was doing the mod to the machine in question.
|>	   In response to a failure reported from the field, THE DESIGNERS OF
|>	   THE INSTRUMENT IN QUESTION determined the need for and designed an
|>	   ECO to the instrument.

[tale of woe deleted]

OK, playing it by the rules and still getting toasted by the inspector I can
sympathise with!

|>	5/ As reported, the problem stated in part that current welding of the
|>	   contacts of a relay contributed to the problem. The FDA investigator
|>	   said to me, "According to the bulletin, they replaced the relay with
|>	   a solid state version, and that solved the problem." This told me
|>	   two things about the investigator.

Sounds like it was the inspector being the one wanting to second guess the
designers, approvers and yourself. In fact he was doing what I was (wrongly)
accusing you of!

Even if there were a marginal advantage to a slightly different mod introducing
a non standard feature would be a hazard in itself since there would be no way
of correlating failure data.


|>		A/ The investigator had never read the bulletin enough to under-
|>		   stand the problem, because the solid-state relay was added
|>		   in parallel to the existing interlock system, not as a re-
|>		   placement. (I find this typical of many goverment regulation
|>		   agencies. They are so short-handed that even good people do
|>		   not have enough time to properly do their work.)

But you are now making a quite different case, you are demanding a *better*
beauracracy, not less beauracracy. In fact less can often mean better. It isn't
really a question of not having regulations though it's a question of paying
attention to the coherency and complexity of them.


|>		B/ Anyone with experience in the field has seen cases where
|>		   solid state relays have shorted due to overload currents,
|>		   just like their mechanical bretheren. The inspector's impli-
|>		   cation that solid-state relays can't short out demonstrated
|>		   to me that he did not have as much hands-on experience with
|>		   as I would have liked. (The term naive might be appropriate.)
|>		   I ask what conclusion you would have drawn.

How about that it would be staisfying to strap the guy into a chair with cable
ties, stick a soldering iron up his bottom and switch it on?

--

Phill Hallam-Baker
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa
From: paulf@w6yx (Paul Flaherty)
Subject: Re: Myopia. A common ailment among Europe's intellectual elite? was (Re: [military] sending troops to the Middle East)
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 00:19:28 GMT

jkp@cs.HUT.FI (Jyrki Kuoppala) writes:

>Interesting.  I don't think I have said much anything on the "Usonian
>character" or "American character" as you call it - I've been talking
>about the political climate in USA and mostly about the actions of
>U.S. government.  Moreover, most of the stuff has been repostings from
>other groups, written by Usonians reporting happenings in USA.

As an expert on US politics, you must therefore be aware of that American
cultural tradition of arguing about everything.  And about the related
tradition of telling foreigners to MIND THEIR OWN %$%#@ BUSINESS while
doing so.  You must also be aware that wide crossposting is frowned upon,
especially reposts that waste net bandwidth.

>Words are a powerful weapon for fighting, particularly uncensored
>words in an anarchistic world-wide communications network.

Yes, and the next time Finland is militarily occupied by a fascist dictator,
we'll send over a few thousand copies of Dale Carnegie's _How to Win Friends
and Influence People_, instead of the 101st Airborne...

--
-=Paul Flaherty, N9FZX/5W1JX  |"Anyway, nothing can beat Good Old American
->paulf@Stanford.EDU          | Know - How." -- Harry Canyon, _Heavy Metal_
From: martinjp@cs.washington.edu (John Martin)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa
Subject: Republican: Family Values UGGGH!!!
Date: 20 Aug 92 17:05:20 GMT
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle

I have been watching the Republican Convention...

(OK I admit I am stuck in Los Alamos and there isn't much else to do)

I am just about sick of hearing about Family Values...And how

decent (whatever that means) the republican party is.  

I guess decent includes raiding the HUD program and America's
S&L's.

I just love the attacks (direct and indirect) on Hillary Clinton.

Who would want ever want to marry an evil person like her 
Christ!!! She a attorney afterall <SARCASM>

FYI Barbara Bush dropped out of Smith College to marry George
    what kind of roll model is that for American women?
    

I am sorry to bring this up, but those republican politicians just
make we sick sometimes...

-john


----
John P. Martin		     
Computer Engineering      &        Los Alamos Nat'l Labs 
University of Washington           P-15, MS D406
Seattle, WA                        Los Alamos, NM  87545
internet: jpm@pinex3.lanl.gov      (505)-665-7757
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa,talk.politics.misc,alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.elections,alt.war
From: manuelp@ecf.toronto.edu (MANUELPILLAI Gerald Nishanthan)
Subject: Re: NAFTA (was Re: Bush's position on Bosnia)
Organization: University of Toronto, Engineering Computing Facility
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 21:39:12 GMT

In article <1992Aug12.234241.23559@oakhill.sps.mot.com> pjm@anegada.sps.mot.com (Patrick J. McGuinness) writes:
>
[LOADS OF BLABBER ABOUT THE FREE-TRADE AGREEMENT DELETED]

How did NAFTA get into alt.war????  People, please check the
newsgroups line before you hit that followup key!  This has been
happening way too much lately, on all matter of subjects.  Jeesh!

(P.S.  Alt.war readers :  I hope that 'charter' is coming along.
Can't remember who promised to set it up (Larry Jewell?), but 
please, oh please hurry! )

Gerald 
(Oh well, just another line in my kill file)