HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: whheydt@pbhya.PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt)
Subject: Re: 'Science Fiction' Stage Plays
Reply-To: whheydt@PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt)
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 16:28:53 GMT

In article <cass8806.211@elan.glassboro.edu> cass8806@elan.glassboro.edu (KYLE CASSIDY) writes:
>In article <1992Aug11.122129.5664@linus.mitre.org> bwise@hemlock.mitre.org (Barry Wise) writes:
>
>>In article <1992Aug10.235309.12586@fid.morgan.com> sethb@fid.morgan.com (Seth  
>>Breidbart) writes:
>
>>I believe RUR, where the term 'robot' came from, was a stage play. Can't  
>>remember the author although I think he was Czech.
>
>didn't issiac asimov coin the term "robot?"

No.  It was by Capek in _RUR_.

>is this a faq? am i going to get flamed now?

Most folks pick it up along the way so it isn't asked all that
frequently.  Some find out by reading Asimov closely enough.

Flaming doesn't seem to be called for.

	--Hal
-- 
Hal Heydt                    |    "Boycott Time-Warner"
Analyst, Pacific*Bell        |         --J. Danforth Quayle
510-823-5447                 |    "... kill all the lawyers."
whheydt@pbhya.PacBell.COM    |         --William Shakespeare
From: ddb@tdkt.kksys.com (David Dyer-Bennet)
Sender: FredGate@tdkt.kksys.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: Cons
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 14:21:13 -0600

In a message to All <21 Aug 92 17:56> in Usenet rec.arts.sf.misc "ellen G. Cohn"
wrote:

 GC> P.S.  I've been wondering - what do concoms generally do about First Aid?

For the past 5 or 10 years Minicon has had RN or EMT or
paramedic-certified people on call as needed (rarely, of course; more
often for guests at the Easter Brunch than for our own people).
There seem to be a lot of them around fandom who are willing to
volunteer, particularly since it only means carrying their kit and
having a beeper or something (we've used a couple of systems over the
years).  We've also invested in a moderate first-aid kit to keep on
the bridge for walk-ins and as a backup for the EMT/paramedic stuff.

We didn't go out and look for these people; we have several RN's in
the group, which started the tradition, and then we started
discovering large numbers of emt/paramedic types among our members
who were interested in being available.

In addition, we encourage our department heads, troubleshooters, and
everybody else who's interested to get basic first aid and CPR
certification.  We do this encouraging by scheduling and paying for
the courses.

We haven't had a lot of medical emergencies; perhaps we've scared
them off with all this preparation.  Our people got to a man who
collapsed at the Easter Brunch (not a con member) first, one idiot
put his hand through a pane of glass and had to get bandaged up, and
the trained people have handled some people who slept too little and
ingested too many interesting things.  Plus a lot of bandaids and
aspirin have been handed out, of course.

 * Origin: This tagline not to be removed under penalty of law (1:282/341.0)
From: mvp@hsv3.lsil.com (Mike Van Pelt)
Subject: Re: CONS and video
Organization: Video 7 + G2 = Headland Technology
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 18:26:11 GMT

In article <1992Aug19.182056.3366@clarinet.com> brad@clarinet.com (Brad Templeton) writes:
>What people should do is work to get more reasonable fees 
>from the movie companies.

BayCon tried.  It wasn't a last-minute thing; the organizers intended
from the beginning to "do the right thing" and pay for the showing.
The studios were utterly inflexible in their pricing, and refused to
consider a more reasonable fee.  $250 per film per showing, or deal
with our lawyers.

Of course, once BayCon had tried to negotiate a reasonable fee, the
option of just showing the films and hoping the wrong people didn't
take notice was no longer open.

-- 
Mike Van Pelt                       When the fog came in on little cat feet
Headland Technology/Video 7         last night, it left these little muddy
sun!indetech!hsv3!mvp               paw prints on the hood of my car.
mvp@hsv3.lsil.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
From: pcm@cs.brown.edu (Peter C. McCluskey)
Subject: Re: Free will (was Re: Agnostics and Athiests)
Organization: TransChronal Computing Corp. - NP-complete solutions in constant time!
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 23:55:55 GMT

In article <1992Aug12.090550.22749@cs.hw.ac.uk>, adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk (Adrian Hurt) writes:
|> Would time travel be incompatible with free will?  Suppose I was able to
|> travel forward in time to after the U.S. general election, ask someone
|> how he voted, and then come back to this time knowing how he will vote.
|> Does that person still have a free vote?  Would the fact that I knew who
|> was going to win make the election invalid?

If you analyze time travel via the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics,
then the paradoxes that free will seemed to cause under other theories vanish.
For instance, in the election example, you wouldn't know the outcome because
the time traveller would end up taking a different branch/world/"universe" from
the one he remembers having lived through the 1st time around.
But it would be interesting to see what would happen if both the original you and
the time travelling copy showed up at the polls together and insisted you both
had a right to vote.
-- 
         hardcore signature virus: "As a juror in a Trial by Jury, 
         you have the right, power and duty to acquit the defendant 
                 if you judge the law itself to be unjust."
From: bwise@hemlock.mitre.org (Barry Wise)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: Re: 'Science Fiction' Stage Plays
Date: 13 Aug 92 16:51:10 GMT
Organization: The MITRE Corporation

In article <cass8806.211@elan.glassboro.edu> cass8806@elan.glassboro.edu (KYLE  
CASSIDY) writes:
> In article <1992Aug11.122129.5664@linus.mitre.org> bwise@hemlock.mitre.org  
(Barry Wise) writes:
> 
> >In article <1992Aug10.235309.12586@fid.morgan.com> sethb@fid.morgan.com  
(Seth  
> >Breidbart) writes:
> 
> >I believe RUR, where the term 'robot' came from, was a stage play. Can't  
> >remember the author although I think he was Czech.
> 
> didn't issiac asimov coin the term "robot?"
> 
> is this a faq? am i going to get flamed now?
> 

I hope you don't.  The word is of Czech origin from the word robota  meaning  
work (or in this case workers). The full title of the play was Rustrum's  
Universal Robots to the best of my recollection. Actually, in the play they are  
androids. 

Asimov is credited with comming up with his three laws of robotics.  You may be  
able to credit him with the term "robotics" but the play came from the twenties  
if I recall (long before Sir Issac was writing SF, even though he did start at  
a young age).

--
Barry Wise
(bwise@hemlock.mitre.org)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
From: mss2@quads.uchicago.edu (Michael S. Schiffer)
Subject: Re: Free will and time travel
Reply-To: mss2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 00:17:06 GMT

In article <1992Aug20.230832.25262@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu> dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann) writes:

>In my first scenario, I proposed the possibility that the past is changable.
>What I meant was that it might spontaneously change, with no intervention
>from a time traveler.  This is very different from the usual accepted notion
>of a fixed past, and it's hard to get a grasp on.
>
>We view choices that were made in the past as fixed and unchangable.  My
>proposal is "what if that were not so?"  Then it might be possible that
>the 1960 election might switch from Kennedy to Nixon spontaneously.  The
>trouble is, what happens to us?  Do we continue on, unaware of a change, 
>or suddenly aware of two pasts, or what?

>And what about the future that was before the change? (if you get my
>meaning)  Did it "happen"?  The more I think about this possibility, the
>more I think that it is impossible to construct a consistant model from
>it... I could be wrong, though.

	It can be done, but you basically have to throw Occam's Razor
to the winds and postulate another dimension, call it "metatime",
which is like time in the sense that the universe travels through it
in a fixed direction.  An entire four dimensional universe occupies
one instant of metatime, and as metatime progresses, you can get
different configurations of the universe due to either natural or
artificial causes.  Time travel can then be consistent, as the changed
universe is simply a later variant at a different point in metatime.
Of course, you get all the old paradoxes back if you allow metatime
travel.  There's also the question of the relationship between time
and metatime.  If you're travelling through time, is the duration you
experience duration in metatime?  Can humans experience metatime
duration, or is all human existence (for a given history) limited to a
single metatime instant?  In short, metatime is basically a way of
handwaving around time travel difficulties at the cost of introducing
another level of difficulties if you look at it too closely.

Mike
-- 
Michael S. Schiffer, LHN, FCS	"Workers of the world, forgive me.
mss2@midway.uchicago.edu	 You had more to lose than I thought."
mike.schiffer@um.cc.umich.edu	 -- Karl Marx (1990) as imagined by
mss2@usite-next.uchicago.edu     Jim Koncz (konc@midway.uchicago.edu)
From: fofp@castle.ed.ac.uk (M Holmes)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: Re: Fantasy-in-music list
Date: 20 Aug 92 16:35:00 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

ratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu (Richard Pieri/Stainless Steel Rat) writes:

>>>>>> "JPHF" == James P. H. Fuller <fuller@athena.cs.uga.edu> writes:

>JPHF>      I just ran across Rich Kulawiec's SF-references-in-music list in
>JPHF> this newsgroup.  It's very interesting in itself but it also whets my
>JPHF> appetite (yet again) for a similar list concerning fantasy in music.
>JPHF> Is there such a list presently being kept by anyone?  If there isn't,
>JPHF> I want it badly enough to volunteer to build it and keep it updated
>JPHF> myself, but I'll need help from you-all in the form of REFERENCES
>JPHF> REFERENCES REFERENCES.  What music do you know about that ought to go
>JPHF> on such a list??

>I don't know about a complete list, but much of Blue Oyster Cult and
>Hawkwind is inspired by fantasy and SF, and even written by Michael
>Moorcock. Moorcock has even toured with Hawkwind, reading poetry and stuff
>between sets.

Yep, and there's a mailing-list for boc/hawkwind/moorcock at

boc-l@edu.spc.spcvxa

We'd be happy to provide lists of albums or tracks with fantasy
references. We have fairly complete online histories, discographies, and
lyrics. Let me know if you want 'em.

On the other hand, if you just want to chat about this stuff, or want
help in getting any of the records, why not subscribe to the list. Just
send us a message and join in.

FoFP

"Moonglum and Elric Hunting Theleb Karna
 Myshella now replacing Queen Yishana
 See them travel through open skies
 See the amazing steel bird fly"       -- Hawkwind "Moonglum"
From: CRAIG@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (Ed Craig)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: Re: Yet Another Misleading Cover
Date: 20 Aug 92 16:49:13 GMT


    One of the few books I've bought for cover art alone was _Sugar_Rain_
by Paul(?) Parks. I was pleasantly surprised that the art was reasonably
representative, (as well as having merit on its own), and the book is as
good as the art.
    On the other hand, I've only recently overcome my aversion to the
covers on Simmons' _Hyperion_ and _Fall_of_Hyperion_, figuring no good
book would have a cover with such a shaky sense of perspective and lousy
draftsmanship. It took this list and a couple of friends to override my
misgivings. (Halfway through. You really CAN'T judge a book...)
    Solidly in the middle is Emma Bull's _Bonedance_, with a good
rendering of the protagonist, but the background cityscape with its
high-tech aircraft?! Good portraiture, bad perspective, one hell of a
plot contradiction.
                                       Ed Craig
From: humphrie@SSC.WISC.EDU
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: Re: SF-LOVERS Digest V17 #432 [What Makes A Good Con?]
Date: 18 Aug 92 20:47:49 GMT

What makes a good convention?

Several unrelated comments:

	Focus: I only go to one 'general purpose' SF convention: Minicon,
	primarly because I enjoy the party*. Otherwise I'll stick to the
	smaller, focused conventions Wiscon (feminism), 4th Street (literary
	fantasy), and Armadillocon (too hip for words). None of these
	conventions top 500 people, but everyone's common purpose makes
	up for it.

** I let Worldcon do me once every couple of years since it is, after all,
	Worldcon.

	Smoking: I smoke, and I do have a care how a convention treats 
	smokers. I don't mind using designated smoking areas, but appreciate
	the convention staff keeping them from becoming gulags. Minicon,
	for example, has half the consuite designated smoking**. And they
	put air filters in the rooms since the rooms get heavy use. However, 
	at 2AM Saturday, the smoking consuite can look pretty scary with
	100+ half empty (shame) beer cups full of butts. I just ask social
	directors to keep the rooms clean and fellow smokers to help keep
	the space tidy.

** Perhaps because Mpls Music Fandom does Music Parties (not filking) and many
	of them smoke.

	Atmospherics (or that party-party thing): If a convention doesn't
	have the specialized programing to get my attention, then it should
	do something else special. Minicon has excelled in this with the
	nano-programming staff (Klingon performance art, generic performance
	art) which inspires others to do great silly things such as random 
	troops of drummers and mid-eastern dancers taking over the pool deck,
	and last year's favorite: the court marshall of a costumed fan group's
	leader (after dragging him away in irons).

	Hotel: All I ask is that the con-com have good communications
	with the hotel's reservations section so we don't see overbooking
	(as with Chicon and Minicon last year) or vanishing blocks of rooms.
From: jjfink@skcla.monsanto.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: Chicago Con Suites (was Re: conventions)
Date: 20 Aug 92 12:43:36 GMT
Organization: Searle, Skokie, IL
Nntp-Posting-User: jjfink

In article <9208182208.AA14493@rutgers.edu>, JOHN_DONAT@cs-lp1.prime.COM (John Donat CSE 312-641-3450) writes:
> As far as what makes a good con:
> 
> Con Suite -this is my baliwick -I have been crazy enough to run the
> Windycon con suite for 12 years, and also help on Chicon IV, and run
> Chicon V's con suite, so I think I can talk from experience about such
> things.

If you're the one who brought in white cheddar popcorn for Chicon V,
you deserve a knighthood!  Every con ought to have white cheddar popcorn!!!

> There is no such place as a big enough room for a con suite in any hotel
> in the world! IMHO. I wish we could find a suite like the one in the late
> lamented Radisson Minneapolis downtown -man, that was a huge place.
> Ventilation in a con suite is a problem, and I am not sure that there is a
> real solution, as we at cons are stuffing many more people in a suite that
> the HVAC is equipped to handle.

Chicon V was relatively uncrowded, and the con suite was at least in a
reasonable spot for the traffic flow.

The Copper Door room at the Purple ex-Hyatt where Capricon had been for many
years was an excellent room (it still got over-full, and it's twice the size of
any other con suite I've been in), but it was in 'public' space and the
'regular' guests of the restaurants tended to gawk.

The worst location for a con suite in Chicago was when Capricon moved to the
Hilton in Arlington Heights, where it was, relative to the programming and
hucksters, up a flight of stairs, three rights, and down another flight.
It was only 15 feet away from the huckster's room, but through an
employees-only corridor.

Keep up the good work,
Joel Finkle
-- 
jjfink@skcla.monsanto.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Portions of the preceding were recorded.  As for the rest, I quite fear that
 it was all in your mind" -- Alfred Hitchcock
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc,talk.origins
From: m23364@mwunix (James Meritt)
Subject: Re: Proving the existance of a deity (was Re: Mandatory negatives)
Followup-To: talk.origins
Organization: MITRE Corporation, McLean VA
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 18:43:53 GMT

In article <1992Aug14.005407.12901@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu>, dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann) writes:
}In fact, it seems you must postulate some kind of force which causes
}systems to go from a chaotic state to more and more organized states
}(the exact opposite of entropy) for any `godless' orgin theory of the
}universe.

Ever watch frost form on a window?  After blowing some warm moist air
with its chaotically organized distribution of water molecules?  See the
nicely organized ice crystals forming?

Are you so out of tune with reality that you've never seen ice form?

How about extremely mixed white light going through prismatic diffraction
as it impacts upon suspended particles of higher optical density and
separates into an extremely organized pattern (a circle with the light
sorted by wavelengths)?

Are you so out of tune with reality that you've never seen a rainbow?

How about as particles of differing size are hydrostatically sorted
into "bins" of their respective size/weight through hydraulic acton?

Are you so out of tune with reality that you've never looked at the sand on
a beach?


Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
From: lintz@buster.cis.udel.edu (Brian Lintz)
Subject: Re: Free will and time travel
Organization: University of Delaware, Newark
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 18:02:09 GMT

In article <1992Aug20.230832.25262@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu> dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann) writes:
>
>In my first scenario, I proposed the possibility that the past is changable.
>What I meant was that it might spontaneously change, with no intervention
>from a time traveler.  This is very different from the usual accepted notion
>of a fixed past, and it's hard to get a grasp on.

Ok. What I thought you meant was that the past was consistent, but could
be changed by a time traveler. 

>We view choices that were made in the past as fixed and unchangable.  My
>proposal is "what if that were not so?"  Then it might be possible that
>the 1960 election might switch from Kennedy to Nixon spontaneously.  The
>trouble is, what happens to us?  Do we continue on, unaware of a change, 
>or suddenly aware of two pasts, or what?

Well, if everyone's memory changes to fit the new history, and no one
is aware of the change, then it's like nothing has happened. To get back
to the subject, I guess you'd still have free will. If the 1960 election
changed from Kennedy to Nixon, it would be the same as if it had ALWAYS
been Nixon. You just lived out your life in a different history. 

Now if everyone remembered two pasts, I have no idea how to determine
free will in this situation.

>And what about the future that was before the change? (if you get my
>meaning)  Did it "happen"?  The more I think about this possibility, the
>more I think that it is impossible to construct a consistant model from
>it... I could be wrong, though.

If no one remembers it, you could say it didn't happen. At least, for all
practical purposes, it didn't happen. If everyone remembered two pasts,
then it gets a little fuzzy.

>Dave Schaumann			dave@cs.arizona.edu

Brian Lintz
lintz@udel.edu
From: ELKOWITZ@LENORE.TCH.HARVARD.EDU (Resistance is Futile)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: RE: cover art
Date: 20 Aug 92 17:34:47 GMT

Perhaps publishers think that the primary consumer of the Science Fiction
book is the hyper-hormoned 15 year old male.  This may even be true, I don't
know what the current demographics are for this type of literature.

However I do know may women, including my wife, who are S.F. lovers but are 
offended by these covers and simply do not purchase these volumes.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
From: brad@clarinet.com (Brad Templeton)
Subject: Re: CONS and video
Organization: ClariNet Communications Corp.
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 18:20:56 GMT

In article <1992Aug19.152407.2755@zia.aoc.nrao.edu> dbriggs@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (Daniel Briggs) writes:
>>seem to be that they consider con showings to be "piracy" and are
>>starting to take notice and crack down.  Up until now it's been a
>>case of "what the studios don't know won't cost us..."
>
>A shame.  Video rooms are a major draw for me as well.  I don't suppose

And the fact that you consider it a major draw to a money-charging con
pretty much proves their point that this is piracy.   Having a video room
at a paying con (or to get technical even a free con -- any showing open to
the public or a large group counts) isn't even a gray area.  You're operating
a cinema and charging people to get in.

What people should do is work to get more reasonable fees from the movie
companies.   They are no doubt quoting the minimum fees for more professional
efforts.   But since these showings are long after the film has appeared on
video, and they are indeed on video, and the number of people in the video
room is a small fraction of the number of people at the con, it should be
possible to get them to agree to smaller fees, like $30 or $50 per film.

Which would mean that only a limited number of films would get selected,
but these are their films, not ours, and it's really up to them to select
how they will be shown.

-- 
Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Sunnyvale, CA 408/296-0366
From: dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: Re: Proving the existance of a deity (was Re: Mandatory negatives)
Date: 18 Aug 92 00:29:08 GMT
Reply-To: dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann)
Organization: University of Arizona

[I know I promised to stay out of this, but I just couldn't pass this up...]

In article <4756@balrog.ctron.com>, smith@ctron (Larry Smith) writes:
>And Dawkins goes to great lengths to (a) point out those forms and (b) explain
>why the fossil record cannot be trusted to provide a complete explanation.
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"The fossil record cannot be trusted to provide a complete explanation"??!!!

Dang.  I guess I must be way behind the times when it comes to the scientific
method.  I thought it went "you form a hypothesis to fit the facts; if the
facts don't fit the hypothesis, you toss the hypothesis and not the facts".

But I guess certain hypothesis are above reproach, right?  'Cause if
Darwin was wrong, and evolution is a house of cards... well, that really
only leaves one possibility, doesn't it?.  And if you're philisophically
opposed to that possibility on a fundamental level...

The fossil record *is* an unbiased record of passed events.  It may not
be easily understandable, but if it doesn't fit your theories, you
might consiider checking up on them, instead of blaming the rocks for
not supporting your pet theory.

-- 
Caught an internal error--.brainrc restored
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
From: tolman%asylum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman)
Subject: Nebula and Hugo awards
Date: 13 Aug 92 14:23:12 MDT
Organization: University of Utah, CompSci Dept

  I am looking for the titles of the Nebula award winners for:
1989
1990
1991
1992 (if it is out yet)

Also, if someone has a reference which would give me the Hugo award winners
it would be much appreciated!!

Thanks,
From: pvitaris@emubus ("Vitaris Paula")
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: signoff sf-loverssignoff sf-lovers
Date: 12 Aug 92 17:20:00 GMT

Signoff sf-lovers
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
From: jim@visix.com (Jim Edwards-Hewitt)
Subject: Re: 'Science Fiction' Stage Plays
Reply-To: jim@visix.com
Organization: Visix Software Inc., Reston, VA
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 16:33:59 GMT


curtw@EULER.JSC.NASA.GOV (Se~nor Droolcup) writes: 

>Joseph L. Lockett writes:
>
>> What plays do those on the net know of with a 'science fiction' bent?
>
>When FIRST Comics came out with _Warp_ in the early 80's, it was mentioned
>that it was based on a long-running stage production (was it in Chicago?)
>Anyway, it was Grade-A Space Opera.

_Starstruck_ (sf graphic novel) was also a play before it was in comic
form.  With set designs by Mike Kaluta, who also did the artwork for the
graphic novel.


	-- Jim