HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mcodogno@nyx.cs.du.edu (Maurizio Codogno)
Subject: Re: Mostly Harmless
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 93 09:21:02 GMT

johne@PROBLEM_WITH_INEWS_GATEWAY_FILE (John Eaton) writes:
>
>Where was the  Arthur II that corresponded to Tricia McMillian?

Maybe he committed suicide after that famous party... :-)
.


--
ciao! .mau.
-----
Maurizio Codogno - CSELT UF/DU dept. - Torino Italy
"home" email: mau@beatles.cselt.stet.it
From: jute@sday.pulp.nullnet.fi (Jussi Kantola)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: why is arthur dent saved?
Date: Thu, 07 Jan 93 14:51:14 EST
Distribution: world
Organization: Splattersday

"davidr turner" <davidr.turner@canrem.com> writes:

> They've been friends for the 15 years Ford was stuck on Earth.

Not quite.  The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, part 1, chapter 2,
page 23 :

Ford:  How long have we known each other?
Arthur:  How long?  Er, about five years, maybe six.  Most of it
seemed to make some kind of sense at the time.

And this happens just before the Earth is demolished.


---
jute@sday.pulp.nullnet.fi (Jussi Kantola) from Paltamo, Finland
"Hey, you're a real cool boy you" -- Z.B. -- DNA
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams,alt.usage.english
From: john@liebnitz.ssd.kodak.com (John Hall)
Subject: Re: What does bis mean? (was What does Mk II mean?)
Organization: Eastman Kodak
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 21:42:56 GMT

What does "bis" mean, as in "V.32 bis"?  From context it appears to mean
something like "Mk II".
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Hall, Product Software Engineering, EASTMAN KODAK CO., Rochester NY
716 253 7446   john@kodak.COM   ...!rochester!kodak!ektools!john
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: jsmcgi01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu
Subject: Yet Another Mostly Harmless Post
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 04:03:03 GMT
Organization: University of Louisville

Could someone please explain to me the continuity (if that is in fact possible
in the HHGTTG universe) in going from SLATFATF to MH (the shortest title of
them all)?
It seems to me that SL.. ended with Arthur being quite happy with Fernchurch on
the planet Earth that the dolphins had discovered in a time fold or somesuch
thing.
1.)  Why didn't the duplicate planet Earth (or any of the other duplicate
plantet Earths that Arthur went mentioned in MH, for that matter) give the
readout on the question like it, being the computer that it was, was designed
to??
2.)  What happened to the Earth that the dolphins retrieved?  In the beginning
of MH, we learn that Fernchurch was lost in hyperspace while traveling with
Arthur and he starts seaching for other Earths (for some reason).
3.)  Why did they learn that Earth (let's call it Earth-1) and go into
hyperspace at all?
4.)  Would the alternate Earth in MH (Earth-2) have dolphins on it?
5.)  If a train left New York heading South at 55 MPH and another train left LA
heading west at 80 MPH, . . .   Sorry, got carried away.  @=-)
From: bd053@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Joseph C. Wynn)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Mostly Harmless on cassette
Date: 8 Jan 1993 07:49:42 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: bd053@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Joseph C. Wynn)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


Has anyone listened to Mostly Harmless on the 4 cassette version.  As it 
takes me a few hours to get back to school, I decided to buy the audio version
of this book.  I have not yet finished the last cassette, but so far it is very
interesting.

By the way, it is approx. 6 hours long, unabridged, and read by the author.

It really contributes to the pleasure of the story to hear it read the way
it goes through Adam's mind.  

Is this the first of his books to be on tape?

Later,

Joe
From: ensalada@cats.ucsc.edu (Kevin Charles Rubio)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Comment on MH
Date: 12 Jan 1993 09:01:18 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
Reply-To: keeper@deeptht.armory.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: si.ucsc.edu




As for the comment that Earth still can be saved because one of its
inhabitants (Elvis) is alive:

I read the Elvis scene differently.  I read it to mean that Elvis
wasn't abducted by aliens, but that he >was< an alien.

Reasons for hypothesis: He had his own spaceship, and seemed far less
confused than Arthur.  Ford was a big fan of Elvis, as though he knew
of Elvis for a long time -- even before he arrived on Earth.  That would
not be possible unless Elvis had been somewhere else before on Earth,
since all the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had to say about Earth was
"Harmless."


--
Email replies must be sent to keeper@deeptht.armory.com

Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: cmwolf@mtu.edu (christopher m. wolf)
Subject: Re: Comment on MH
Organization: Michigan Technological University
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 16:03:02 GMT

moser@ks.id.ethz.ch (Stefan Moser) writes:
>|> From what I remember, the whole idea behind the Mk II was to destroy the
>|> earth in all plural universes.  That kinda ends the series.
>
>Yeah, but in order to do that, every piece of matter that originated from earth needs to be destroyed simultaneously. And not only is Elvis still alive,
>Fenchurch got somehow lost in space at the beginning of MH. It's not clear yet if
>she made it back in time to any Earth to get evaporized. 
>
>Stefan

You lost me here.  Why does everything from earth need to be back to destroy it?
Xref: sparky alt.fan.douglas-adams:4577 alt.usage.english:10367
From: ted@physics3 (Emory F. Bunn)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams,alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: What does bis mean? (was What does Mk II mean?)
Followup-To: alt.usage.english
Date: 8 Jan 1993 23:37:30 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: physics3.berkeley.edu

In article <1993Jan8.214256.16082@pixel.kodak.com> john@liebnitz.ssd.kodak.com (John Hall) writes:
>What does "bis" mean, as in "V.32 bis"?  From context it appears to mean
>something like "Mk II".

It's the French word for "twice."  The only time I recall seeing it
used in an English-language publication is when a work containing
numbered sections  has been revised to include a new section:  If
you've inserted a section in between section 2.2 and section 2.3, and
you want to keep the section numbers consistent with the previous
edition, you can call the inserted section "2.2 bis."

-Ted


Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams,alt.usage.english
From: mcodogno@nyx.cs.du.edu (Maurizio Codogno)
Subject: Re: What does bis mean? (was What does Mk II mean?)
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 11:14:01 GMT

In article <1993Jan8.214256.16082@pixel.kodak.com> john@liebnitz.ssd.kodak.com (John Hall) writes:
>What does "bis" mean, as in "V.32 bis"?  From context it appears to mean
>something like "Mk II".

well, V.32 was a CCITT specification which gave a standard for
9600 bps - full duplex data communication.
 
V.32 bis (bis means "twice") is an upgrade of the specification, as
CCITT people did not thing the method chosen to reach 14400 bps f/d
was so different from the old one.
--
ciao! .mau.
-----
Maurizio Codogno - CSELT UF/DU dept. - Torino Italy
"home" email: mau@beatles.cselt.stet.it
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: UWEHAUCK@dosuni1.rz.uni-osnabrueck.de
Subject: Re: Mostly Harmless comment
Organization: University of Osnabrueck, FRG
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 12:05:21 GMT

In article <ubigpig.726624860@mcl>
ubigpig@mcl.ucsb.edu (Jeremy Dodd) writes:
 
>
>Has anyone else noticed that Douglas Adams, in the 5th book, has quietly become Kurt Vonnegut?
>
 
Can anyone give me the adress of the english publisher of the 5th Book,
cause none of our german bookstores even knows about it.
I gave them ISBN, title and author but all they said was sorry, don't know !
UweHauck@dosuni1.rz.uni-osnabrueck.de
Help, I would really like to read this book, but, as I am from germany,
none of our book stores even knows about it ! I gave them the english
title, the ISDN and even the publisher, but none of them even knows
about it. Can anyone give me the adress of the english publisher
so i can order it directly ?
Thanx
UweHauck@dosuni1.rz.uni-osnabrueck.de
 
I am wondering slowely what this 5th Book is all about ? I am from germany and
a real DA fan, but none of our book-stores even knows about a new book of
DA. I gave them the english title, the isbn and the publisher, but the answer
was "nope, we don't no anything about it !"
Does anyone have an adress of the publisher, so I can order the book directly ?
uwehauck @ dosuni1.rz.uni-osnabrueck.de
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: "davidr turner" <davidr.turner@canrem.com>
Subject: why is arthur dent saved?
Reply-To: "davidr turner" <davidr.turner@canrem.com>
Organization: Canada Remote Systems
Distribution: alt
Date: 5 Jan 93 19:59:11 EST

MH>Hello, I am rereading the first book, Hitchhikers Guide, and have
MH>a question. Is there any reason that Ford Prefect decides to take
MH>poor Arthur along with him?

One thing you'll learn soon enough - if you're going to stop & ask
questions when you don't understand something, you'll still be on
chapter 1 when you retire... <gr>

They've been friends for the 15 years Ford was stuck on Earth.

Later...
---
  OLX 2.1 TD  All hope abandon, ye who enter messages here.
--
Canada Remote Systems  - Toronto, Ontario
World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044
From: ensalada@cats.ucsc.edu (Kevin Charles Rubio)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Comment on MH
Date: 12 Jan 93 09:07:26 GMT
Reply-To: keeper@deeptht.armory.com
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: si.ucsc.edu


In article <935511205524@ibm3090.bham.ac.uk> Simon Jerram<EEE90053@IBM3090.BHAM.AC.UK> writes:
>BTW anyone seen Shada?

Yes.

What about it?

"Routine inquiry, sir.  We had a report that this room has been stolen."

--
Email replies must be sent to keeper@deeptht.armory.com
From: ginsu@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Wes Simonds)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: MH for $14.95 <flamebait>
Date: 12 Jan 1993 21:55:26 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX
NNTP-Posting-Host: mickey.cc.utexas.edu

I also think MH is pretty bad, certainly the worst (from a humor standpoint)
of all his books... but if there is a third Dirk book I will read it (after
checking it out from the library first).

I am curious whether anybody else out there agrees with me about the comedy;
for example: does anyone else think that in LDTTOFS, Chapter Three (in which
Dirk wakes up in his house) is by far the best chapter in the book?  If not, 
which do you prefer?

Wes
From: leaver@comlab.ox.ac.uk (Andrew Leaver)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Last Chance To See
Date: 7 Jan 93 20:39:33 GMT
Distribution: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Organization: Oxford University Computing Laboratory, UK
Originator: leaver@thom2.comlab

In article <C04xvo.IJB@mach1.wlu.ca>, john7552@mach1.wlu.ca (Niall Johnson u) writes:
>For those who haven't read this book, you gotta go out and get
>it.

Has anyone mentioned that Last Chance to See is not just a book but also
a radio series? Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4? With Mark C. & Douggie
of course, recorded on location where they went to look for the various
endangered species.

Andrew
--
Xref: sparky alt.fan.douglas-adams:4570 alt.usage.english:10351
From: ensalada@cats.ucsc.edu (Kevin Charles Rubio)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams,alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: What does Mk II mean?
Date: 8 Jan 1993 06:45:04 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
Reply-To: keeper@deeptht.armory.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: si.ucsc.edu


In article <1ihv08INNd1s@coli-gate.coli.uni-sb.de> muehlen@fsinfo.cs.uni-sb.de (Ralf Muehlen) writes:
>Does anybody know what the  'MK II' means in 'The Guide Mk II'.

It means "Mark Two."  `Mark' is a way of designating version numbers
for objects (as opposed to software) or devices in English.

Hmm, come to think of it, `Mark' also is used to designate the moment
when an action is taken.  "On my mark ... Mark!" for example.  It's used
in a sort of countdown before an action is taken, too: "Mark, set, go!"

My guess is that is means what it's always meant -- an etch or symbol.
A new design for something would have a new blueprint, or new marks on
paper.  Somehow, perhaps it has come into use for verbal marks, hence
the "On my mark" usage.  "Mark, set, go" I suppose come from running
races -- the runners stand on the starting mark, get set to begin running,
then go running.

The word itself comes from an Old English word meaning `boundary'.  How
that came to mean any old marks is another matter.  Let's just put it
down to plain old misuse.

--
Email replies must be sent to keeper@deeptht.armory.com

Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: blckjck@leland.Stanford.EDU (Brett Alexander Cruden)
Subject: Re:  Why is Arthur Dent saved?
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 93 04:47:52 GMT

In article <1993Jan12.125243.1@cs2.lamar.edu> karell@cs2.lamar.edu writes:
>
>The reason Ford Prefect needed to take Arthur with him is because the earth
>was being built in order to answer "The Question", and he was hoping that
>the answer would be encoded into his DNA.  This was his last hope at 
>finding the answer, since the entire planet was being destroyed.  A hint
>at reading Dougie:  keep reading and you questions will be answered--
>sometimes.  Have fun!!!

That's wrong.  Ford had no idea that the earth was actually a computer.  I
believe he was as shocked as Arthur to find that out.  If that was truly his
reason, they would have handed Arthur over to the mice and let him die.
From: d92-jhe@dront.nada.kth.se (Johan Hellman)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Comment on MH
Date: 12 Jan 93 08:50:39 GMT
Organization: Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

In <1993Jan11.223348.14669@mtu.edu> cmwolf@mtu.edu (christopher m. wolf) writes:

>ag173@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jason Hitesman) writes:
>>
>>(I hope this hasn't alredy been discussed but I jst found this goup)
>>
>>IMHO it's verry possible that DA will write another book in the Hitchiker
>>series.  If you look the continuig reason that the earth keeps coming back
>>is because one or moor if it's inhabitants is still around.  At the end of
>>the book it seems everyone is gone.  Except of course for Elvis.  He's
>>still sitting in his restraunt!  Leaving the whole thing wide open for
>>another book.  Unfortunatly I'd rather see a new Dirk Gently book without
>>all that confusing space travel and just safe insane mucking about in time.

>From what I remember, the whole idea behind the Mk II was to destroy the
>earth in all plural universes.  That kinda ends the series.

 What about the parallell universe in which Arthur and Ford stay with
the King instead of returning to earth? That4s an option... It would
get a bit confusing though... 

/johan

-- 
+-----------------------+----------------------------+-----------------------+
! Johan Hellman         ! E-mail addresses;          ! Per aspera ad astra.  !
! Student of CS         ! d92-jhe@dront.nada.kth.se  !-----------------------!
! Royal Institute of    ! Johan Hellman at 2:201/291 ! The above opinions    !
! Technology, Stockholm ! in FidoNet (+46-8-6676206) ! are my own, as usual. !
+-----------------------+----------------------------+-----------------------+
From: rmasters@aslan.lssec.bt.co.uk (Robert Masters)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Have I Got News For You. READ ME!!!!!!
Date: 8 Jan 93 09:38:06 GMT
Organization: BT D&P London

Did anyone tape this?
I only read about it yesterday!

Ta,

Robb
From: matt@wardsgi.med.yale.edu (Matt Healy)
Subject: TIFF Specification
Followup-To: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Organization: Yale University--Genetics
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 14:31:58 GMT

The official specification for the TIFF image file
format requires a certain "magic number" in the
header field that programs look for, to identify
the file as being a TIFF file.  Guess what value
they chose?

The *official* spec goes on to say this value was
chosen for its "deep philosophical significance"!!!

I am not making this up!  I recently had to convert
some files and I needed a way to recognize TIFF so
I went and looked at the official specs.

Matt Healy
"I pretend to be a network administrator; the lab
 net pretends to work!"

matt@wardsgi.med.yale.edu
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: moser@ks.id.ethz.ch (Stefan Moser)
Subject: Re: Mostly Harmless comment
Organization: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 09:24:25 GMT

In article <16B53B828.UWEHAUCK@dosuni1.rz.uni-osnabrueck.de>, UWEHAUCK@dosuni1.rz.uni-osnabrueck.de writes:

|> Can anyone give me the adress of the english publisher of the 5th Book,
|> cause none of our german bookstores even knows about it.
|> I gave them ISBN, title and author but all they said was sorry, don't know !
|> UweHauck@dosuni1.rz.uni-osnabrueck.de
|> Help, I would really like to read this book, but, as I am from germany,
|> none of our book stores even knows about it ! I gave them the english
|> title, the ISDN and even the publisher, but none of them even knows
|> about it. Can anyone give me the adress of the english publisher
|> so i can order it directly ?
|> Thanx
|> UweHauck@dosuni1.rz.uni-osnabrueck.de
|>  
|> I am wondering slowely what this 5th Book is all about ? I am from germany and
|> a real DA fan, but none of our book-stores even knows about a new book of
|> DA. I gave them the english title, the isbn and the publisher, but the answer
|> was "nope, we don't no anything about it !"
|> Does anyone have an adress of the publisher, so I can order the book directly ?
|> uwehauck @ dosuni1.rz.uni-osnabrueck.de

Hi,
at the moment I don't know the publisher of the book (unable to get hold of 
a copy of it, I have a working life you know), but I can give you
the adress of a bookstore here in Switzerland where I ordered the book and
received it some three months ago. This might be easier than ordering from
the UK.

            Neue Buecher AG
            Gotthardstr. 49                                              x
            8002 Zuerich
            01 / 202 74 74

These guys are specialized in SF/fantasy stuff, so they generally know what
they/you are talking about.

Stefan
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: calloway@lonestar.utsa.edu (Michael L. Calloway)
Subject: Re: MH for $14.95 <flamebait>
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 22:56:54 GMT

In article <1iveoeINNhqp@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> ginsu@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Wes Simonds) writes:
>I also think MH is pretty bad, certainly the worst (from a humor standpoint)
>of all his books... but if there is a third Dirk book I will read it (after
>checking it out from the library first).
>
>I am curious whether anybody else out there agrees with me about the comedy;
>for example: does anyone else think that in LDTTOFS, Chapter Three (in which
>Dirk wakes up in his house) is by far the best chapter in the book?  If not,
>which do you prefer?
>
    Personally I am one of those people that picks up copies of HHGTTG at
half-price bookstores and gives them away.  Because I think everyone
should be exposed to something like that at least once in a life time.
I have made many friends this way.(I do let them by the rest of the series.)
    But my advice towards reading MH is don't.  Let it end with the forth
book.  You can't say just don't read the last 5 pages, because they will.
That is the end of the book.  If you don't read the last pages you might
as well not read any of it.  Let the series end and pretend MH does not
exist.  I have warn them all, it is there problem now.  I wish DNA would
have found a better way to end the series.
    As for confusing, if you can make it to Ch. 3 of LDTTOTS you
can make it through the book.  LDTTOTS is the most confusing; not because
of topic, but "bouncyness".

---MY TWO SENCES---
From: IO20746@MAINE.MAINE.EDU
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Why is Arthur Dent Saved?
Date: 10 Jan 93 19:17:57 GMT
 <OKES.93Jan10151629@SunLab46.essex.ac.uk>
Organization: University of Maine System

In article <OKES.93Jan10151629@SunLab46.essex.ac.uk>, okes@essex.ac.uk (Simon
Oke) says:
>
>In article <rb_3jdp@rpi.edu> tuffyd@bray1a.its.rpi.edu (Devin 'Nice Guy'
>Tuffy)
>writes:
>| In article <1993Jan2.075059.5238@news.columbia.edu>,
>hauben@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Michael Hauben) writes:
>| |> Hello, I am rereading the first book, Hitchhikers Guide, and have
>| |> a question. Is there any reason that Ford Prefect decides to take
>| |> poor Arthur along with him?
>| |>
>| Because He's A Nice Guy?
>|
>Because DA needed a fall guy to make the books funny?
>

I think it's because Ford felt a little guilty about knowing the
whole world was going to be destroyed and was really unable to do
anything about it. Imagine the emotions that would be going through
you if yu knew that a planet you had been stranded on for fifteen
years was going to be destroyed and you could do nothing about it.
I think in saving Arthur Ford was in fact trying to relieve himself of
his own guilt.
 Either that or DA did in fact need a fall guy for his book to make
them funny. You decide.
-just some guy
>--
>Simon Oke, 3rd year Computer Science
>undergraduate at the University of Essex, UK.
From: ag173@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jason Hitesman)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Comment on MH
Date: 12 Jan 1993 19:16:24 GMT
Organization: Trout Meisters of America (TMoA)
Reply-To: ag173@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jason Hitesman)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc10.ins.cwru.edu


In a galaxy far away (but proably in this dimension), christopher m. wolf says:

>moser@ks.id.ethz.ch (Stefan Moser) writes:
>>|> From what I remember, the whole idea behind the Mk II was to destroy the
>>|> earth in all plural universes.  That kinda ends the series.
>>
>>Yeah, but in order to do that, every piece of matter that originated from earth needs to be destroyed simultaneously. And not only is Elvis still alive,
>>Fenchurch got somehow lost in space at the beginning of MH. It's not clear yet if
>>she made it back in time to any Earth to get evaporized. 
>>
>>Stefan
>
>You lost me here.  Why does everything from earth need to be back to
destroyit?

Because it's all the left over matter that keeps poping up as a new earth. 
Only if everything from the earth is destroyed can the earth itself be
destroyed.  Then there's the fact that Zaphod (Though not from earth) is
still hanging around somewhere and DA could always write a book based on
him.... 
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: S_HEYDEN@rzmain.rz.uni-ulm.de (von der Heyden Joern)
Subject: Need help to get MH
Organization: University of Ulm, Germany
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 14:19:09 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.24

I got a little problem. Right now it is impossiple to get MH in Germany
and i am really interested in getting it. So, could anyone from the Uk
get it for me?
If u are willing to help me please send me a message.
Does any of the German DNA fans know how to get the Cd of the Radio
Series?
I heard that it is availible in Germany but coul not persue my local CD
store to order it.
Thanx for any help,
                     Joern