HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho
From: paige@csri.toronto.edu (The Woodsman)
Subject: Timewyrm and Cat's Cradle
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
Date: 8 Oct 92 21:26:49 GMT

   It's strange that the Timewyrm series is out of print in the
 US. Up here in the backwoods of Canada I can pick up any of the
 four books (and I did, at that) from Coles, Smiths, or any of the
 usual trendy book stores. Have you considered trying to order
 directly from Virgin? Some of my acquantainces in the UK have done
 that. Failing this, try ordering from bookstores in Canada.
 Someone's gotta have a copy!!! Maybe even one of the fan clubs that
 run mail-order services can help out.

   As for the quality of the TimeWyrm series, the third book is indeed
 the worst, but it's still a 6/10. You should read them in order. New
 Doctor Who adventures should be savoured, like fine wines.

   I was rather disappointed with Cat's Cradle. Time's Crucible wasn't
 bad, but I got the feeling it was all rather drawn out. The characters
 weren't particularly well-depicted, either. Warhead was a bit more
 readable, but the plot wasn't anything to write home about. Witch Mark
 just struck me as weird, but kind of good.

   Haven't been able to find Nightshade around here. Any fellow Torontonians
 have any suggestions as to where I could scare up a copy?


			The Woodsman.



   
-- 

Rich Paige DCS/CSRI     paige@csri.toronto.edu
From: jhildeb1@cc.swarthmore.edu (Jeff Hildebrand)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho
Subject: Re: Last of the Bannermen?  Stunk.
Date: 9 Oct 92 17:23:20 GMT
Reply-To: hildebra@math.wisc.edu (Jeff Hildebrand)
Distribution: na
Organization: Don's Merry Horde of Topologists

mjmh@mappo.bu.edu (Michael J M Holmes) writes:
> 
> Just wanted to unlurk to express appreciation for the kind words
> about "The Happiness Patrol!"

	I must admit that it was a surprise for me to see so many people
speaking positively about The Happiness Patrol. I enjoyed it immensely but a
lot of people on the net absolutely despised it when it first aired. I
really think you need to have read a bunch of utopia and dystopia novels in
order to really appreciate how much that episode is jabbing at those
cliches. Also helps to realize "Helen A" = "Maggie T".

> Its my favorite episode, and renewed my faith in the possibility
> of Dr. Who continuing.

	I wouldn't say it's my favorite, but the combination of "Remembrance
of the Daleks" followed by "The Happiness Patrol" really made me sit up and
take notice of what Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred were doing

> "Happiness Will Prevail!"

	Having just seen "Paradise Towers" again I remembered the button I
made a few years back which said:
"Build High For Happiness. Happiness Will Prevail."

	Anyone for a matchup between the KandyMan and the Kangs? :)

-Jeff
-- 
Jeff Hildebrand, The Shaggy TA			hildebra@math.wisc.edu
"Join that political superman, secret agent double 0 zero, George Bosh
in his new film, 'Never Just Say No Again.'"      Off The Cuff, R.I.P.
"Did everyone buy that? Good, 'cause I didn't"   The Proof By Snow Job
From: vks0@bunny.gte.com (Vijay Samalam)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: The Talk Of The Town
Date: 8 Oct 92 18:04:52 GMT
Distribution: world,local
Organization: GTEL

In article <81282@ut-emx.uucp> jzimm@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Joann Zimmerman) 
writes
about comments about The New New Yorker:

> That makes two reviews I've seen, and they would seem to contradict
> each other.

Hardly surprising, is it ? 

> (I am, by the way, informed that one may now subscribe and request a
> fragrance-free edition. Perhaps this would mollify your friends
> somewhat.)

It is not just the perfume that makes me wrinkle my nose at the 
new New Yorker. It looks like Elizabeth Drew has been banished
and I miss her, even when she is talking about Dan Quayle and 
Nine Totenberg. And finally, it looks like we might not have 
those four part articles on California geology. I *liked* those
aritcles and the leisurely pace in which they were written. Starting
to read those articles one was not even sure for a few pages what the 
topic of the article was and it gave a person time to , as it were,
stoke the fire, get the brandy snifter, pat the golden retriever,
fluff the pillows, wriggle comfortably under the comforter,
and settle down to a nice delicious read !


Regards,
-Vijay

************************************
Vijay K. Samalam        fiat experimentum in    
GTE Laboratories          corpore vili                    
Waltham , MA 02254
e-mail vks0@gte.com INTERNET
************************************
From: beede@sctc.com (Mike Beede)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Borders Bookstores sold to K-Mart
Date: 13 Oct 92 12:38:00 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: SCTC

jseaver@starbird.WPI.EDU (Jason John Seaver) writes:

>	I'm really unqualified to talk about this (never even SEEN a Borders),
>but it may not be that bad.  K-Mart bought the company because it's showing a
>profit; in the current state of economic affairs, if something is showing a
>consistent profit, you don't mess with it.  Now, if a couple of years down
>the line the profits drop sharply, they might cause trouble, but I wouldn't
>worry until then.

There are clouds of management types in a big company.  What are they
there for?  Well, a rational position might be that they are there to
maximize profits and do smart things after carefully considering all
the issues and conditions.  

I would argye a more realistic position is that they are ``selfish
genes.''  A management unit can attract favorable attention to itself
by doing something with short-term benefit and moving on before the
long-term effects are felt [insertion of obvious comment about Ronnie
is left as an exercise].  Making this strategy unprofitable for the
individual would require some pretty strong controls, I'd think-- to
put it another way, it would require more class than K-Mart has
demonstrated to me in the past.

Look for considerable change within a year, is my prediction.

	Mike

-- 
Mike Beede         Secure Computing
beede@sctc.com     1210 W. County Rd E, Suite 100           
------------------ Arden Hills, MN  55112
                    (612) 482-7420
Xref: sparky rec.arts.books:18298 rec.arts.sf.misc:3131 aus.sf:588 rec.railroad:7984
From: ethomson@metz.une.edu.au (Evan Thomson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.arts.sf.misc,aus.sf,rec.railroad
Subject: Re: SF Rails (was: Whats the title/Author of this story
Date: 14 Oct 92 01:49:46 GMT
Reply-To: ethomson@metz.une.edu.au
Followup-To: rec.arts.books
Originator: ethomson@metz.une.edu.au

Anyone remember "A Transatlantic Tunnel? Hurrah, Hurrah!'
	-by Harry Harrison, I think.
From: Joseph.J.Marcheso.Jr.@dartmouth.edu (Joseph J. Marcheso Jr.)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Help with Milton's Paradise Lost
Date: 16 Oct 92 02:02:55 GMT
 <1992Oct15.183858.16428@husc3.harvard.edu>
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
X-Posted-From: InterNews1.0a5@newshost.dartmouth.edu

Well I wrote my paper on the ambiguity of Satan as represented in Book
I-III now my topic is on the comparison and contrast regarding the
council of Hell and the one in "Heav'n" what do you think is important.

Some ponderables:
They "all sat mute" in Hell
They "all stood mute" in heav'n 
Satan and Christ both offered to go.
the decision over what actions to take was basically decided before the
council. etc..
any thoughts?
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy)
Subject: Re: More Notes from the Decline
Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
	<1992Oct6.203207.192@netcom.com> <1992Oct7.150059.9543@grebyn.com>
Date: 7 Oct 92 11:43:14

I bought a "Split wood not atoms" sticker and reversed it so it
read "Split atoms, not wood".  It was impossible to keep one on
my car, since it evidently gave offense.
 
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
*
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
From: mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Only Connect
Date: 8 Oct 92 14:57:44 GMT


wojdylo@maths.uwa.oz.au (John Wojdylo) writes:
 
> Does "being connected" in the sense of Forster entail one has to be as
> scatterbrained as Margaret?
 
> Stupid bitch.
 
I expect remarks from John about people.  His comments about books
are usually a little more thoughtful.
 
Margaret scatterbrained?  I don't think so.  Perhaps John could point
out some passages which make him believe that she is scatterbrained.
 
Perhaps John is mistaking a mind which does not think like his for a mind
that does not think.  Let's look at a few examples:
 
 
Margaret has developed the desire to search for truth, and to see things
whole.  Forster writes:
 
        It is impossible to see modern life steadily and see it whole,
        and she had chosen to see it whole.  Mr. Wilcox saw steadily.
 
At an early age, Margaret overhears her English Aunt Juley talk about how
God has appointed the English to run the world.  On the previous day, her
German relatives said the same thing about Germany.  Margaret's response:
 
        "To me one of two things are very clear; either God does
        not know his own mind about England and Germany, or else
        these do not know the mind of God."
 
Margaret searches for truth.  Here is one of my favorite passages:
 
        At every turn of speach one was confronted with reality and the
        absolute.  Perhaps Margaret grew too old for metaphysics, perhaps
        Henry was weaning her from them, but she felt that there was
        something a little unbalanced in the mind that so readily shreds
        the visible.  The business man who assumes that this life is
        everything, and the mystic who asserts that it is nothing, fail,
        on this side and on that, to hit the truth.  "Yes, I see dear;
        it's about halfway between," Aunt Juley had hazarded in earlier
        years.  No; truth, being alive, was not halfway between anything.
        It was only to be found by continuous excursions into either realm,
        and though proportion is the final secret, to espouse it at the
        outset is to ensure sterility.
 
These don't seem like the thoughts of a stupid bitch.  To dismiss Margaret
so lightly, John just becomes another Henry Wilcox, and helps to ensure
sterility.
 
Sometimes, I think it is John's mother who should have ensured sterility :-)
 
Mark
From: cschamau@slate.mines.colorado.edu (Connie Schamaun)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: female mystery writers
Date: 14 Oct 92 15:48:03 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Colorado School of Mines

I have found Ngaio Marsh to be pretty good, but I'm not sure
whether to class them as mystery or detective stories. She is
a New Zealander and her novels seem to all take place there.

				Connie Schamaun
				Colorado School of Mines
				cschamau@mines.colorado.edu

-- 


					Connie Schamaun
					Colorado School of Mines
From: mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: The Philosophy of Science (was Re: Once I put this book down, I could not pick it up again.
Date: 14 Oct 92 20:42:34 GMT
Article-I.D.: cfdev1.9210142042.AA10178


Christopher.Carne@brunel.ac.uk (Christopher J Carne) writes:
 
> Well, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" may be a landmark, but hey
> its a bit long in the tooth by now, Both the philosophy and sociology of
> science (my field) have come a long way since Kuhn and I find it rather
> disappointing that in scientists have read one book about their subject that
> it is this one. In general, I find philosophy of science less interesting
> than sociological approaches, when did you last see a philosopher lurking
> round a lab trying to find out what scientist actually do. On the other
> hand us sociologists are sometimes a little too resistant to philosophy.
 
As I've already mentioned, I'm no fan of Kuhn's.  But it should be noted
that, like Christopher, Kuhn came at this topic from the social sciences,
not from Philosophy.
 
As for philosophers lurking around labs to see how science is done, most
people in the Philosophy of Science have a solid foundation in science.
When I took Philosophy and Physics as an undergraduate, there were two
professors.  One had a PhD in physics, with a solid background in philosophy.
The other had an undergraduate degree in engineering, a masters degree in
physics and a PhD in the philosophy of science.  These kinds of credentials
are not rare in the field.
 
In addition, there are a number of works by people like Newton and Einstein
where they talk about exactly how they went about doing their work.
 
Yet, I agree with Christopher that the study of how science is done is
not so interesting.  But the Philosophy of Science is more than just that.
I find the portion which intersects with the Philosophy of Logic much more
entertaining.  Others find questions like "What constitutes a valid theory?"
to be fertile areas of study.
 
I would suspect that sociologists are more interested in the effects of
science on society.  Perhaps Christopher can let us know more about this?
 
Mark
 
 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin)
Subject: Re: She's baaaaack.....Camille Paglia
Originator: mnemonic@eff.org
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 12:34:07 GMT

In article <1992Oct6.222648.14265@klaava.Helsinki.FI> amnell@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Marko Amnell) writes:
>In article <1992Oct6.201421.22594@eff.org> mnemonic@eff.org 
>(Mike Godwin) writes:
>
>>I don't think Paglia meant for her Madonna pieces to be "profound reads."
>
>Then why all the fuss about her book?

Well, Marko, we often make fusses about books that aren't "profound
reads."

Are "profound reads" the only kinds of books you read?


--Mike

-- 
Mike Godwin,    |"Liberty resides in the rights of that person
mnemonic@eff.org| whose views you find most odious."
(617) 864-0665  | 
EFF, Cambridge  |                           --John Stuart Mill
From: jseaver@starbird.WPI.EDU (Jason John Seaver)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Borders Bookstores sold to K-Mart
Date: 8 Oct 92 20:43:14 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: starbird.wpi.edu

In article <7083@transfer.stratus.com> jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com writes:
>In article <1992Oct8.163852.1271@HQ.Ileaf.COM> tyg@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Tom  
>Galloway) writes:
>> According to last Saturday's Boston Globe, Borders has been sold to 
>> K-Mart, who also own Waldenbooks and had been starting to get into
>> the megastore market with Bassett Books. The purchase price was a  

[ ... Stuff deleted ... }

>Oh, well. That's really upsetting!!  Borders is by far the best
>chain in America. They were better than the other chains in their
>"one of everything, even if we only sell one copy every couple of
>years" philosophy.   I'd heard that Waldens wanted to do this,
>but hoped it would hold off a while. (I keep hoping the next
>administration will have policies that discourage this kind
>of corporate take-over.)
>
>My guess is that Borders may stay the same for a short while,
>but a year or two from now some corporate bean counter will
>notice they can save money by not bothering to buy books from 
>these little companies, and not "wasting" shelf space on 
>stuff that doesn't sell. After all, if they get rid of all
>that literature stuff that doesn't sell much, they can triple
>the number of romances in the store.  Sigh!

	I'm really unqualified to talk about this (never even SEEN a Borders),
but it may not be that bad.  K-Mart bought the company because it's showing a
profit; in the current state of economic affairs, if something is showing a
consistent profit, you don't mess with it.  Now, if a couple of years down
the line the profits drop sharply, they might cause trouble, but I wouldn't
worry until then.

						-Jay
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com (Jim Mann)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Once I put this book down, I could not pick it up again.
Date: 8 Oct 92 12:25:14 GMT
Reply-To: jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com

In article <1ave9mINNh2p@bigboote.WPI.EDU> kat@yaya.WPI.EDU (Flame's  
Passion) writes:
> In article <7038@transfer.stratus.com>  
jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com writes:

> >I like Dickens and don't find him boring.
> 
> So do I, however, I have always contended that Dickens takes a nice  
100 page
> story and adds 400 pages of description to it.  I still enjoy him,  
but I 
> find that I can't read several of his works in a row.  I usually  
read one and
> not read another Dickens for several months if not a year.
> 

But it's those 400 pages of description that make Dickens great!
I think most Dickens stories, if told in a spare, post-Hemingway
style would actually be rather forgettable.  It is the richness
of his detail and language that helps raise Dickens above the
ordinary.

--
Jim Mann            
Stratus Computer   jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com  
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.arts.sf.misc,aus.sf,rec.railroad
From: cpf@alchemy.TN.Cornell.EDU (Courtenay Footman)
Subject: Re: SF Raisl (was: Whats the title/Author of this story
Keywords: SF railways mars
Organization: /usr/local/lib/news/organization
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 02:53:29 GMT

For a very futuristic railroad, try "Rails across the Galaxy", by Offutt and
Lyon (Lyons?).  It was serialized in Analog, and I have never seen a book
edition.
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Courtenay Footman			I finally got back on the net.

cpf@alchemy.ithaca.ny.us		Now I will never get anything done
From: ecl@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Borders Bookstores sold to K-Mart
Date: 9 Oct 92 17:39:50 GMT
Article-I.D.: cbnewsj.1992Oct9.173950.3094
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T

In article <7094@transfer.stratus.com> jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com writes:
> In article <92210@netnews.upenn.edu> crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu  
> (Lauren L. Crawford) writes:
> > In article <7083@transfer.stratus.com>  
> jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com writes:
> > 
> > >After all, if they get rid of all
> > >that literature stuff that doesn't sell much, they can triple
> > >the number of romances in the store.  Sigh!
> > 
> > Triple the romances?  Our Borders is such a pick-up joint as it is.
> > 
>            The romance section in Framingham is small: about
> half the size or less of the SF section.

It's a joke, Jim; she's talking about *romances*, not romance novels.

Evelyn C. Leeper  |  +1 908 957 2070  |  att!mtgzy!ecl or  ecl@mtgzy.att.com
--
"God does not play dice with the universe."  --Alfred Einstein
"Not only does God play dice with the universe, but sometimes
        He throws them where they cannot be seen."  --Stephen Hawking
From: wojdylo@maths.uwa.oz.au (INFIDEL)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: More Notes from the Decline
Date: 12 Oct 1992 05:30:00 GMT
Organization: The University of Westrn Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: madvax.maths.uwa.oz.au

joan@med.unc.edu (Joan Shields) writes:

>In article <1b0su3INNkc@uniwa.uwa.edu.au> wojdylo@maths.uwa.oz.au (John Wojdylo) writes:

>>Picture-of-Happiness for the Day:

>>Joan Shields spinning around on Mike Morris's erect dick while he's 
>>reading "Gravitation" --- Meisner, Thorne & Wheeler --- on a reclining 
>>armchair, in front of a fire.

>Gee, that might be fun but I think it would be a difficult to spin round on
>somebody's dick if he's sitting in an armchair.  

I meant a grinding motion.


I.


Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: twain@milton.u.washington.edu (Barbara Hlavin)
Subject: Re: Books in the time of school
Summary: books that "got you through" 
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 05:01:20 GMT


Like Kate, who initiated this thread, I have enjoyed the responses, 
and even spent a bit of reflection trying to think of a book that 
Got Me Through High School (or anything else).  I finally concluded 
that there was no particular book or writer, but it was books per se 
that assured me there was a world beyond my present miseries, that 
there was Much to Be Learned and Experienced in Life, and that I 
must simply endure until I had the freedom to experience my own 
independent reality. 

I do believe, though, that the two books that formed the poles 
of my personality as a child, two books that I read one right 
after another when I was nine years old, were _Huckleberry Finn_ 
and _Eight Cousins_. 

I was alternately questioning the goodness of god and the judgment 
of my elders (all the time scheming to light out for the territory 
at the first opportunity), and looking for my little white gloves 
so that I could be Most Helpful to my grandmother by dusting the 
strings of her balalaika. 

--Barbara 


Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin)
Subject: Re: The Marvelous Kit Smart (Was: The Marvelous Mr. E--- )
Originator: mnemonic@eff.org
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 17:48:45 GMT

In article <1992Oct7.183921.2529@galileo.physics.arizona.edu> lnh@soliton.physics.arizona.edu (sometimes a Wombat) writes:
>
>The original whole JUBULO AGNATO (I must have that title misspelled) is
>a treat.  It gets very chaotic in places, and by the time he reached
>the Jeoffrey section, Smart's antiphonal plan had pretty much broken
>down and the texts on opposite pages are best read serially, instead
>of interlinearly.  The Jeoffrey section is the best known because,
>well, it's the best section.
>
>If you can find it (not easy), it's well worth reading.


There's a nice Penguin collection of Christopher Smart poems. I found it
in one of the Barnes & Noble superstores, but of course one can order it
directly from Penguin.


--Mike




-- 
Mike Godwin,    |"Liberty resides in the rights of that person
mnemonic@eff.org| whose views you find most odious."
(617) 864-0665  | 
EFF, Cambridge  |                           --John Stuart Mill
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: msmorris@watsci.uwaterloo.ca (Mike Morris)
Subject: Re: More Notes from the Decline
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 19:57:38 GMT

                                    Sunday, the 11th of October, 1992

Donna mi pregha:
   What do you think, Mike?

I agree that Anais Nin is a much better read.

[Probably it was just a typo, but that's Charlie Misner, John.]

                 Mike Morris
         (msmorris@watsci.uwaterloo.ca)


Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: harper@oracorp.com (Douglas Harper)
Subject: Re: Dashiell Hammett
Keywords: Red Harvest, mild spoiler
Organization: ORA Corporation, Ithaca, New York
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 15:00:36 GMT

In article <1992Oct9.173342.6743@eff.org> mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes:
>In article <1992Oct7.210104.20569@oracorp.com> harper@oracorp.com (Douglas Harper) writes:
>>A mild spoiler follows:
...
>>	    We waited a moment, and then Pete the Finn appeared in the
>>	dynamited doorway, his hands holding the top of his bald head.
...
>>	    Reno called him a lousy fish-eater and shot him four times
>>	in face and body.
>
>Under the circumstances, and given the name of the victim, it seems
>likely that "lousy fish-eater" is an anti-Catholic slur.

I'm afraid I don't see the likelihood.  My understanding is that the
Finns are predominantly Lutheran, not Catholic.

-- 
Douglas Harper | harper@oracorp.com | +1 (607) 277-2020
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books