HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca (Denis Beauregard)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Fabrikant did not post to sci.research.careers
Date: 28 Aug 92 03:06:54 GMT
Organization: Institut de recherche d'Hydro-Quebec, Varennes, Canada

In article <1992Aug26.033318.1123@news.iastate.edu> mds@iastate.edu (Mark D. Smucker) writes:
>
>One thing should be noted here, Dr. Fabrikant did not post to this
>group,  Dov Bai ( bai@msiadmin.cit.cornell.edu ) posted all of the
>articles.  I am curious where Mr. Bai got the articles etc.  What
>other groups saw the same set of postings?
>
>Mark D. Smucker   ----  mds@iastate.edu

From the first article posted, you could see who get the series.
From postal address, most people with names with Ba...  Either
the sender had a list of addresses already available to send email
for scientific purposes or he built this from some index of names.

-- 
  \_\    Denis Beauregard  *  internet:beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca
 /   \   Genealogiste officiel : Beauregard/Jarret/Jarest/Vincent
J   __>  Vient de paraitre : Andre Jarret et ses Ancetres
\_.-===  En vente par l'auteur                      Opinions ? Et pis non !
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
From: crawford@church.mitre.org (Randy Crawford)
Subject: Re: Do the police have Fabrikant's postings?
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 17:54:52 GMT

In article <1992Aug26.150049.13307@relay.nswc.navy.mil>, 
bwallet@apssgi.nswc.navy.mil (Brad Wallet) writes:
>
> I am still interested in whether the college is going to
> have to answer the charges made by Dr. Fabrikant.  I guess
> there is no disagreeing that his actions proved him mad,
> but his claims still should be examined.
 
The charges certainly contributed to his state of mind.  I have to
believe that Fabricant's attorney will attempt to validate them, at
least to mitigate the act as Fabrikant's reaction to an impossible 
situation, thereby reducing his sentence.

Ironically, had Fabricant acted less irrationally and killed only 
the head of the department, he probably would be sentenced to only a 
short term in prison as a first time offender and for having _some_ 
just cause for his actions.   As it is, I think he will be treated 
as a madman and locked away for a long time.
-- 

| Randy Crawford        crawford@mitre.org        The MITRE Corporation
|                                                 7525 Colshire Dr., MS Z421
| N=1 -> P=NP           703 883-7940              McLean, VA  22102
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
From: maniattb@cs.rpi.edu (Bill Maniatty)
Subject: PhD In C.S.
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 22:47:01 GMT


Hello:

	I'm finishing up my M.S. in computer Science here at R.P.I. and
I'm getting ready to go on for my PhD.  Before I take the plunge,
it is important for me to examine my options, and find the best possible
match.  I'm currently doing applied Parallel Computation, and am publishing
at a recent workshop.  The results are very encouraging, and I expect to
publish a journal publication.  My questions are:

	Is massively parallel computation a ``hot area''?

	What schools are doing interesting work in this area,
		and what constitutes interesting work?

	Is the area of systems programming ``hot''?

	Will the contributions I make during my M.S. be weighted heavily
		in the application process for PhD, or will they be discounted
		in favor of some other criteria?

	Is there a stigma attached switching schools between M.S. and PhD.
		degrees?

Thanks:

Bill
-- 
|
|	maniattb@cs.rpi.edu - in real life Bill Maniatty
|
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
From: gfarrell@cs.sfu.ca (Gordon James Farrell)
Subject: Re: Two die, three hurt in university rampage - Montreal Gazette
Organization: CSS, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 17:54:40 GMT

In article <1992Aug27.154822.24448@bwdls61.bnr.ca> clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis) writes:
>In article <1992Aug26.010329.25424@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> yamauchi@ces.cwru.edu (Brian Yamauchi) writes:
>>My initial reaction to Fabrikant's articles was "why doesn't he just
>>quit and find a position somewhere else?", but after reading some of
>>the comments regarding the problems of foreign nationals in this
>>country, I realized that this might have been easier said than done.
>
>Fabrikant had been here for 14 years (most likely having at least
>landed-immigrant or even citizenship status) and wasn't a student, so
>I don't think that the "problems" mentioned apply - ie: failure to get
>a grant wouldn't have forced him to leave the country.
>

The Vancouver Sun reported yesterday that Fabrikant has phoned the Department
of Mathematics at the University of British Columbia in 1988 and 1990 asking if
positions were available. 
When told that the only available positions were for theoretical mathematicians,
he became "excited and abusive".

So, obviously, finding a position somewhere else was an option.

Gordon Farrell
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers,soc.culture.canada
From: maniattb@cs.rpi.edu (Bill Maniatty)
Subject: Re: Illuminating Fabricant quotation
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 15:47:58 GMT

In article <BtutHx.7IF@helios.physics.utoronto.ca>, neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca (Christopher Neufeld) writes:
|> In article <csty+a=@rpi.edu> maniattb@cs.rpi.edu (Bill Maniatty) writes:
|> >In article <wcsjc.715192126@cunews>, wcsjc@alfred.carleton.ca (John Coughlin) writes:
|> >|> In <Btp6IA.D0p@math.uwaterloo.ca> mskucher@math.uwaterloo.ca (Murray S. Kucherawy [MFCF]) writes:
|> >	[Stuff Deleted]
|> >
|> >Its obvious that these people both expect Fabrikant to have mastered English
|> >to become tenured.  I'm not sure that is fair, since Concordia is in Quebec
|> >if I remember correctly, which would mean that French is the primary language
|> >there.  That means that he would not get much chance to practice his English.
|> >
|>    No, Concordia University is an English language school.
	[Stuff Deleted]

Thanks for clearing up my misconception.

Bill
	
-- 
|
|	maniattb@cs.rpi.edu - in real life Bill Maniatty
|
From: cote@cs.ucsd.edu (Brad Cote)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Fabrikant
Date: 27 Aug 92 21:47:41 GMT

lseltzer@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Linda A. Seltzer) writes:

>For example, Bush gave a speech in which he mentioned a
>slippery road.  Clinton's father died in a car accident and
>Gore's son was injured in a car acident.  Clinton is tough,
>but deep inside there must be a person who hurts from
>such a comment.

I think you've been in academia for a bit too long, Linda. Either
that or you are a literature major. Without meaning to get
into politics, I don't think there was any double meaning to
Bush's "slippery road" comment. I also doubt that Clinton
thought anything of it. It is, after all, a common euphemism.


				Brad Cote'
				University of California, San Diego
				STARE Project
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
From: eugene@wilbur.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
Subject: Re: PhD In C.S.
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 92 23:52:03 GMT

In article <9lqy1+@rpi.edu> maniattb@cs.rpi.edu (Bill Maniatty) writes:
>	Is massively parallel computation a ``hot area''?

>	What schools are doing interesting work in this area,
>		and what constitutes interesting work?

>	Is the area of systems programming ``hot''?

Well, I think that I can at least say MP is at least moderately warm.

Schools:
	depends on your interests.
	MIT has a variety of interesting projects and was the jumping
	off point for Thinking Machines Corp.
	Caltech is the home of the MIMD hypercube.
	U. Tenn. is where Jack Dongarra is located and numerical algorithms
	are a substantial area driving MP thinking.
	U. Ill. is well known and long time working in parallelism.
	The main line major CS schools like UCB, CMU, etc. all have
	some vested interest in MP, but you have to field the individual
	research team at their their drives and motivations (as well as
	your own).

Interesting areas: hardware is hard to come by, by the time an MP machine
	is completed and ready for testing, the circuitry inside is
	obsolete.  The h/w development cycle is frequently too long.
	Communications is interesting because it is not well understood
	by software types (too network oriented), protocol overhead is too
	high.  Programmability has always been an issue: what OSes
	layer over the hardware, what languages will we use?  What
	algorithms are needed to use the thing efficiently.

	Few people have totally integrated vision.  How does it all fit
	together?  Avoid schools which are too hardware driven unless
	you are specifically EE oriented.

Systems: you mean MP systems or SP in general?
	Certainly warm.  Check ICPP (just happened, Intl. Conf. on Parallel
	Processing).  Languages, compiler, debuggers, systems to assist
	converting codes, OSes are all going to be critical.  The question
	is too vague to answer easily.

--eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov
  Resident Cynic, Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers
  {uunet,mailrus,other gateways}!ames!eugene
Second Favorite email message: Returned mail: Cannot send message for 3 days
A Ref: Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning, vol. 1, G. Polya
From: beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca (Denis Beauregard)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Do the police have Fabrikant's postings?
Date: 27 Aug 92 15:17:51 GMT
Organization: Institut de recherche d'Hydro-Quebec, Varennes, Canada

In article <1992Aug25.211931.12120@reed.edu> orpheus@reed.edu (P. Hawthorne) writes:
>The events that have unfolded before us are stunning, and I would prefer to
>get over the ersatz trauma of having followed the thread to it's horrible
>conclusion, but I feel compelled to ask: Do the police have copies of his
>recent posts here? I mean, are we sure that they've been handed over?

I read his first posting monday at 1 o'clock.  Then, was in town at
4 PM when I saw a lot of police cars crossing the street where I was,
going to Concordia as I learned later.  At 5 PM, someone told me 
what happened without having any name.  At 5:30, I listened to the
news on TV (first on TQS, a private station in French, then on CBC where
the newsman studied at Concordia).  I already knew about the email
and the newspersons talked about that. Before the event, we were
informed.  Probably that someone informed soon after the TV news.

Despite of this, Fabrikant wrote about a court contempt (?) just like
if the court was already in the knowledge of early email.  Don't forget
that email is for a long time (since February?) even if not a public posting.

No idea if discussing this over the net is legal or not, but one sure
thing, they can't take me in the jury because of this discussion.
-- 
  \_\    Denis Beauregard  *  internet:beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca
 /   \   Genealogiste officiel : Beauregard/Jarret/Jarest/Vincent
J   __>  Vient de paraitre : Andre Jarret et ses Ancetres
\_.-===  En vente par l'auteur                      Opinions ? Et pis non !
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
From: sri@ctrvx2.vanderbilt.edu (R. Sritharan)
Subject: Re: Halt harrasment, lawyer urged Fabrikant in 1983.....
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Vanderbilt University
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 15:36:00 GMT

In article <19030001@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com>, alexa@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com (Alexander Anger) writes...
>
> [ stuff deleted ]
> 
>On Fabrikant's prolific literature, one almost gets the impression from
>reading the abstracts that he was as good at squeezing papers out of
>related topics as the best administrator.  Although interesting in
>their own right as intellectual tomes, the description of the problems
>leaves one wondering if any ME who ever built a real structure could
>make use of them.
> 
>Sorry, Mr. Fabrikant, you are not the Robin Hood of academia.
> 
>
Now wait a minute. In my opinion, I think you have gone a bit too
far here. I am not qualified to comment on his work, and I am
assuming you are since you did.

Do you mean to say that he has not contributed to ME ? What do you
have to say about all the refrees who read his papers and decided
that they are worth publishing ? What about the books ? If you mean
to say that good results in ME are only the ones that help some
Engineer build real structures, I must say you are grossly mistaken.

R. Sritharan

P. S. ME : Mechanical Engineering
From: coady@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Coady Michael)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Fabrikant and Concordia
Date: 26 Aug 92 14:46:43 GMT
Organization: Universite de Montreal

Hello all.
	A number of recent posters have asked whether the gunman at
Concordia University was the professor whose complaints have been
aired here.  This is correct; Dr. Valery Fabrikant was the man who
killed three people and wounded two more.  From what I can gather
in the Montreal Gazette this morning, he failed to get most of the
people he was after, whose activities had been described in detail
here.

Mike Coady
COADY@ERE.UMONTREAL.CA
From: david@ariel.yorku.ca (David Forster)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Do the police have Fabrikant's postings?
Date: 25 Aug 92 23:00:18 GMT
Article-I.D.: newshub.1992Aug25.230018.10312
Distribution: na
Organization: York University, Toronto, Canada
Originator: david@juno.ariel.yorku.ca


In article <1992Aug25.211931.12120@reed.edu>, orpheus@reed.edu (P. Hawthorne) writes:
> ... I feel compelled to ask: Do the police have copies of his
> recent posts here? I mean, are we sure that they've been handed over?
> ...
> Theus (orpheus@reed.edu)

I don't know for sure, but the Toronto Globe and Mail reports having
copies of a dozen mail messages, presumably the same ones as we all
read.  BTW: The names of the two victims who died, Douglas and Hogben,
don't appear in all the reams of messages sent out.  Only those of
Ziogas and Saber (both wounded) do, and they're merely mentioned in
connection with committees and faculty meetings.

- David Forster
From: cjs1722@zeus.tamu.edu (STEPANIAN, CHRISTOPHER JOHN)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Please Don't Post Irrelevant Stuff
Summary: Irrelevance is in the eye of the beholder
Date: 25 Aug 92 21:29:00 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Aug24.233204.10058@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov>, gat@forsight.jpl.nasa.gov (Erann Gat) writes...
>In article <tkmyjvr@rpi.edu> maniattb@cs.rpi.edu (Bill Maniatty) writes:
>>	Recently there has been a series of posts concerning a dispute between
>>Dr. Fabrikant and Concordia University.  I use this news group to get career
>>related information.  While the dispute may or may not have some relevance to
>>careers in scientific research, the postings were excessive in volume.  This
>>volume obscures any possible insights, and does not garner support or interest
>>for either of the parties in this dispute.  In short:
>>	1).  Brevity in writing style is desirable
>>	2).  Care should be taken in selecting a forum for your views
>>	3).  Discuss only issues appropriate to the selected forum
>>Sorry if I hurt any feelings, but these are the facts.  If you can't find
>>some redeeming qualities in the topic at hand, please take the discussion off
>>line.
> 
>I strongly disagree.  While the dispute iteself leaves a bad taste in my
>mouth, I found reading about it to be quite fascinating.  Just because you
>use the group to get career information doesn't justify your request to
>censor this thread.  It is rare to get such a detailed look at an
>academic dispute.  There may even be some useful career lessons there
>if you take the time to look.
> 
>Erann Gat
>gat@robotics.jpl.nasa.gov

 I likewise disagree. You are correct in your statement about the need
  for brevity but in some cases the importance arises in the details.

 Also... As a masters candidate who is considering a PhD, this gives
  me some insight into what I MAY encounter. I think this string of 
  memoranda should be given wide distribution. Not as slander directed 
  towards the university, but as something to learn from so disasters
  such as this will be avoided in the future. 

 Sincerely,

 C. Stepanian
 Texas A&M, Dept of Ocean Engineering
From: feld@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Michael Feld)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Do the police have Fabrikant's postings?
Date: 25 Aug 92 23:36:47 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

In article <1992Aug25.211931.12120@reed.edu> orpheus@reed.edu (P. Hawthorne) writes:
>The events that have unfolded before us are stunning, and I would prefer to
>get over the ersatz trauma of having followed the thread to it's horrible
>conclusion, but I feel compelled to ask: Do the police have copies of his
>recent posts here? I mean, are we sure that they've been handed over?

I believe so; Canadian t.v. news shows Fabrikant's dept head holding
fanfolds of offprints from what looks like this newsgroup; certainly
the text they've highlighted looks like the stuff he uploaded here.
-- 
Michael Feld                         | E-mail:  <feld@ccu.umanitoba.ca>
Dept. of Philosophy                  | FAX:     (204) 261-0021
University of Manitoba               | Voice:   (204) 474-9136
Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2M8, Canada
From: mjassels@cs.concordia.ca (Michael Assels)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Murder: for or against?
Summary: I don't like it.  What about you?
Date: 31 Aug 92 00:38:53 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Computer Science, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec
Followups: alt.bizarre

I can't believe what I'm reading here, day after day.  A man murders three
people (unrelated to his troubles, if that matters) and he develops a fan 
club in sci.research.careers!  Hello?  Is anybody out there?

Followups to alt.bizarre

+-------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Michael Assels, Analyst       | Everything is what it is and not |
| Comp. Sci., Concordia Univ.   | another thing.                   |
| 1455 de Maisonneuve O         |    - Aristotle (or someone else) |
| Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8     +----------------------------------+
| Voice: (514) 848-3030         |     mjassels@cs.concordia.ca     |
+-------------------------------+----------------------------------+
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
From: gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Don Gillies)
Subject: Re: Second Undergraduate Degree, or transitional master's
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 02:28:17 GMT

A Bachelor's degree at most schools is two years of "basic" training
and two years of specialization in a "major".  A master's degree
represents one to two years of specialization in a major.  Thus, a
master's degree is ideally suited to your wish to change from
chemistry to ee/cs/engineering.  It can probably be completed in two
years, since you have a science background, and have taken the basic
rhetoric and humanities and science core courses
(chem/physics/calculus) as a part of your chemistry degree.

By the way, MIT students are *not* notorious for collecting two,
three, etc. bachelor's degrees.  Each additional bachelor's requires an
additional YEAR's worth of coursework at MIT (120 MIT hours = 30 hours
at most schools).  Most people are dying to stop paying tuition, and
if they can handle the course load, choose instead to graduate in 3.5
years or less, rather than picking up a second degree.

Don Gillies - gillies@cs.uiuc.edu - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


-- 



Newsgroups: sci.research.careers,soc.culture.canada
From: ray@philmtl.philips.ca (Ray Dunn)
Subject: Re: Illuminating Fabricant quotation
Organization: On the Brew.
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 23:40:19 GMT

In referenced article, maniattb@cs.rpi.edu (Bill Maniatty) writes:
>Its obvious that these people both expect Fabrikant to have mastered English
>to become tenured.  I'm not sure that is fair, since Concordia is in Quebec
>if I remember correctly, which would mean that French is the primary language
>there.  That means that he would not get much chance to practice his English.

Quebec yes, but Concordia is an English (speaking) University, so all of
Facricant's day to day work is in English.

His English isn't bad - mainly preposition errors, and no, I doubt that
this has any bearing on the case at all.
-- 
Ray Dunn at home    |    ray@philmtl.philips.ca    |    (514) 630 3749
From: bauwens@acs.ucalgary.ca (Luc Bauwens)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Murder: for or against?
Date: 1 Sep 92 04:00:40 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: The University of Calgary, Alberta

In article <la57vkINNn04@utkcs2.cs.utk.edu> primeaux@wham-o.cs.utk.edu (David Primeaux) writes:

>None of the articles *I* have read give any indication that the
>author supports Fabricant's (alleged) murders.  On the other hand,
>several people have written that *despite* his actions, the claims
>of academic dishonesty should be investigated.  I personally agree 
>with this position.  As another poster implied (I have lost the
>name):  to do otherwise is to embrace an argumentum ad hominum
>(abusive) -- and this is a logical fallacy.  The veracity of his 
>claims is a question independent of his subsequent actions, regardless
>how vile or attractive those actions might be.

I would agree with that *if* there were, in Fabricant's stuff, any
serious evidence to support his ranting.  However, the only 
thing that I saw there was unsubstantiated accusations and jaleousy.

I don't see why one should subject the people being accused to the
harrassment of having to defend themselves in the absence of anything
but gratuitous accusations.

I read the whole stuff *before he acted*.  The first chapters looked
like the beginning of something that would turn into reasonable
accusations, except that the prospect of him being jailed for
contempt of court already sounded like some kind of emotional
blackmail toward the reader.

But then, as it went on, the substance of his claims never seemed
to appear.  Then this crazy business of him not willing to
authorize the payment of his laser printer looked downright silly.
I started wondering whether it was his case that I was reading, or
the administration's.

Finally, the business about not be willing to teach when he had been
hired primarily as a teacher...  And all the memos, notes and
documents emanating from the head, the dean or the administration all
looked very reasonable...   Exactly what you would expect from
people who were basically nice people and would wish that crazy
issue would go away without either them or him getting hurt.

So, the picture that came through was that of a jerk who had (perhaps
he was right about that?) such a high regard of himself as a researcher
that he could no longer stand being subordinated to an establishment
that was intellectually so *inferior*...  So he started his own
war against the establishment.  And sure enough, it was like
Soviet Russia...


LB


I am sure that, if there is a trial, he is going to try recycling 
his accusations, though.
From: rchafetz@cephalo.neusc.bcm.tmc.edu (Ross Chafetz)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Funding
Date: 30 Aug 1992 23:31:57 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston,Tx



I'm a lab tech trying to find funding for some experiments I would
like to try.  Of course my boss is funded, but I would like to find
some of my own funding to try different things.  I only have an
undergrad degree (but plan to goto graduate school eventually).  

Are there any sources out there I can try???

:)

Ross Chafetz
 
rchafetz@cephalo.neusc.bcm.tmc.edu