HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan)
Subject: A Shocking Confession
Organization: Johns Hopkins Computer Science Department, Baltimore, MD
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 18:30:11 GMT

I have six illegitimate children--all by a potted cayenne pepper plant in
my apartment.  That's it.  That's all I have to say.  I just couldn't keep
quiet about it.  I have *no* excuses.  I accept *full* responsibility.

Well... except for... but I realize that's no excuse.  *We* are all free.  We 
decide what to *make* of our lives.  Still, four years of isolation from women,
living in a lonely basement apartment, having only spiders to talk to.  It 
could happen to the best of us.  Yes, who could possibly resist?  Could any 
of *you*?  I don't think so.  I dare any one of you to suggest otherwise.  
I *dare* you!

Anyway, she, I mean, it, I mean... the plant wanted it more than I did.  It
was pure *charity* on my part.  Was I to let the flowers bloom and die, 
unfulfilled?  I ask you, was I?  *Was* I?  It could have easily happened
by accident.  Was I to avoid touching the plant at all?  Oh yes, so easy
for you to stand up on your soapbox, but I had to *water* it.  Is that what 
you're saying, that I should have denied water to a dear and innocent little 
pepper plant?  You heartless bastards!  And if I just happened to give it a 
little conscious help, a gentle twist of the index finger...  Surely I can't 
be blamed for such a thing.  It was inevitable!  Yes, *inevitable*!

Now I know you're thinking, "He's had his fun.  Let him pay for it."  But,
who has ever heard of marrying a plant?  It just isn't done.  I'd do anything
to make good on it, but society refuses to let me.

Oh the shame!

--
"I would rather be torn to pieces by the poison-clawed cat, than to suffer one
instant of acceptance by the resident intellectuals of rec.arts.books." 
          (slightly modified; attribution left as an exercise to the reader.)
Organization: Arizona State University
Date: Monday, 21 Dec 1992 14:09:38 MST
From: <IDJMW@ASUACAD.BITNET>(jo)
Newsgroups: alt.angst
Subject: Re: angst according to the dictionary

trust me, we'll have to have an appropriate encyclopedic definition,
i'm sure the mere dictionary will not be good enuf.......


j.
Newsgroups: alt.angst
From: bucknerb@bnr.ca (Brent Buckner)
Subject: Re: Anyone know the answer to this one?
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ontario, Canada
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 21:46:35 GMT

In article <winkern.26.0@columbia.dsu.edu> winkern@columbia.dsu.edu (NANCY MARIE WINKER) writes:
>The question is:  If someone submits a letter to the editor, is the editor 
>required to print it?  

As a rule, no.  Perhaps your newpaper has a specific requirement
to print letters whenever this is not contraindicated.

>What instances could support the editor's decision to 
>refuse to print a letter?  

Off the top of my head, here are a few:
libelous statements, offensive language, or lack of relevance
to the content of the newspaper and the community it serves. 

>Is it ethical for an editor to coerce the person 
>who submitted a letter into withdrawing it?  

No.

>Is it ok to ban a letter 
>because it criticizes the paper it was sent to?

This is a reason _to_ print the letter.

>       [letter to the editor information deleted]         
>So somehow it got posted on our E-mail program to all 
>the faculty, staff, and administrators, with the introduction that it was a 
>letter to the editor that was not printed in the newspaper and should have 
>been.

>They blamed me for the posting, and wrote a rebuttal to the same 
>group, saying that MY use of the mail was "malicious" and "injudicious" and 
>that I am not a productive part of our campus society.  

If there is no evidence that you made the posting, you may have a claim
of libel.  If you want a public apology, you could probably get
it.

>This from the 
>newspaper advisor, a long-term instructor AND the wife of the Dean of 
>Student Affairs.  She attacked me personally, and accused me of making a 
>lauging stock out of the author of the letter.

Keep hardcopies of the original post and the response.  Get someone
else to obtain copies directly from the system too.
Date and initial the copies.  Ideally, have the system
administrator archive the posts.  You may need the 
evidence of what really was posted when memories fade.

>I am ready to file a grievance report.  

I hope this goes well.  If this is a paying position, you may want
to look into labor regulations for firing without cause.

>She has yet to discuss the situation with me, but I took that as a "You're 
>fired." 

I suggest that you send a registered letter requesting
clarification of your status.  You may be exposed to a claim of
abandonment if you do not perform your duties and have not
been explicitly relieved of them.

>Anybody care?

Enough to respond, at least.

-- 
at Bell-Northern Research
voice:        (613) 765-2739
Canada Post:  P.O. Box 3511, Station C, Ottawa, Canada, K1Y 4H7
I do not claim that BNR holds these views.
From: ogorman@unix1.tcd.ie (Lucifuge)
Newsgroups: alt.angst
Subject: Re: Why I'm such a shit
Date: 21 Dec 92 12:04:19 GMT
Organization: Trinity College, Dublin

In <DUKE.92Dec18182926@portal.paperboy.osf.org> duke@portal.paperboy.osf.org (Duke Robillard) writes:

>This is all very logical, and doesn't require any leap of faith, or
>any belief in something that we don't understand currently.  This
>makes it incredibly attractive, intellectually.  Unfortunately, it's
>also incredible depressing.

Not to mention profoundly boring.

>This is the source of angst, in the sense meant by the people who
>created the term--the existentialists and nihilists of the last half
>of the 19th and first half of the 20th century.  This is the feeling
>that all of Godot's characters have.  This is what causes the Sickness
>Unto Death.

Yes yes, but if you're really 'sick unto death', why don't you go party
in a.s.h. (briefly of course).  The intellectually based angst you
describe strikes me as basically false self-serving and fundamentally
gutless.  A way to feel moral superiority to the world - j.a.d.w. (just
another dicksize war.

>So, a couple of years ago, I find alt.angst.  At the time, it was
>filled with people sharing the same kind of opinions, reaching the
>same kind of conclusions, whistling in the Dark of Despair, and making
>snide remarks about the hopelessness of existence.

Really?

>But for the last year or so, alt.angst has been gradually filling up
>with people who are not concerned with these issues.  They are
>concerned with failing relationships, unhappy childhoods, and the lack
>of sex.  This bummed me out.  In some sense, sine is the epitome of
>this anti-angst alt.angst.  Hence I lash out, attacking her when she
>hasn't really done anything to me.  Then I feel bad about it.  Pass
>the Strychnine

As long as I've been here (clue, longer than a year) alt.angst has had
the potential to be renamed alt.i.can.not.get.laid - our memories
apparently do not agree.  Go figure. 

Anyway since you've mentioned Xibo, didn't he lose the angst when he
gained a female/male/dog/sheep/SO/whatever?  Think about that.

Again the little reference to suicide...so what stops you?

>The angst-meme.  This I can believe.  One of the characteristics of
>the angst-ridden is a tendency to explain to the non-angst-ridden how
>the universe is cruel and uncaring.

And then get laughed at by those same people for whom the universe is
substantially less than uncaring and meaningless.  Think about that too.

And remember: the point is there isn't a point.

Ollie/Lucifuge...

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  The Lord is my Shepherd............................but I'm not a Sheep
-----------------------------ogorman@unix1.tcd.ie-------------------------
From: Karl.Glazebrook@newcastle.ac.uk (Karl Glazebrook)
Newsgroups: alt.angst
Subject: test
Date: 28 Dec 92 16:07:14 GMT
Organization: Physics Dept., University of Durham


-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Karl Glazebrook,      | INTERNET:   Karl.Glazebrook@durham.ac.uk           |
| Dept. of Physics,     |    JANET:   KARL.GLAZEBROOK@UK.AC.DURHAM           |
| Univ. of Durham,      |     SPAN:   19463::DUVAD::KGB                      |
Organization: Arizona State University
Date: Monday, 21 Dec 1992 11:22:07 MST
From: <IDJMW@ASUACAD.BITNET>(Jo)
Newsgroups: alt.angst
Subject:    Politically Correct

i feel obligated to check with SOMEONE before posting, just in case my "angst"
isn't good enuf, or approved of, or appropriate, or politically (or
angstfully) correct.... from whom would this permission be granted?

while i wait, i have my hammer, with which to flatten my fingers against
the desk, in appropriate self-punishment

(since Meech is in Canada, i've taken over thwacking duties.....)
j..............
Newsgroups: alt.angst
From: rudoff@mdd.comm.mot.com (Doug Rudoff)
Subject: Re: time to go back
Organization: Motorola, Mobile Data Division - Seattle, WA
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 17:55:50 GMT

[Rachel talks about her financial woes and the angst created when people
offer to loan her money]

Rachel, I suggest you take all the money you can get. Head to the
nearest 7-11 and spend it all on Lotto tickets (if Arizona doesn't
have a lottery, head to the first 7-11 across the border in
California). If you win big bucks, throw a big angstcon in Tucson. If
you don't win, hit the road with a few angry and poorer alt.angsters
on your tail. Spend a few years as a fugitive. From your experiences
write a treatment for the T.V. show, "Rachel Perkins, Astrophysicist
and Fugitive from Justice" and sell it in Hollywood for big bucks. Do
the talk show circuit. Then pay off your lenders and throw a big
angstcon in Tucson, so everyone will find out how miserable it is to
be a celebrity.

Either way, everyone wins.
-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Doug Rudoff          Motorola, Seattle    INTERNET:rudoff@mdd.comm.mot.com
                                            USENET:uunet!mdisea!rudoff   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
From: triley@weber.ucsd.edu (Tristan Riley)
Newsgroups: alt.angst
Subject: Re: Why bother?
Date: 21 Dec 92 23:11:41 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego
NNTP-Posting-Host: weber.ucsd.edu

In article <1992Dec21.165022.16669@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu> rperkins@astro.as.arizona.edu (Rachel J. Perkins) writes:
>
>
>i'm wondering the same thing right now. i am going to my parents' house
>on thursday afternoon, and i'm returning sunday. i managed to make the visit 
>as short as possible, but until then, finals are over, there's no work (every-
>one's out of town), and here i am in my house, with my dogs asleep by the 
>heater, and no one to talk to. 

why not talk to the dogs? 


just a thought,
tristan
Newsgroups: alt.angst
From: sokay@cyclone.mitre.org (Stephen J. Okay)
Subject: The eternal questions...
Originator: sokay@cyclone
Organization: Mitre Corporation, McLean, VA
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 04:37:40 GMT


Is there more to life than news?
Should I get this depressed when nobody sends me mail?
Is this the ultimate example of a pathetic waste of protoplasm?

Should I get a life or just try and get a trade-in on the one I currently
have?
Am I always going to be so alone despite being surrounded by friends of
varying degrees?

Am I going to keep posting shit like this whenever I get down or depressed
or am I actually going to fix myself?

----never mind...don't answer that.....

----Steve 
-- 
---------
sokay@cyclone.mitre.org
		"Your Mind....My Playground" ---me 
Newsgroups: alt.angst
From: s0454850@let.rug.nl (J.P. Prenger)
Subject: Re: hmm..
Organization: Faculteit der Letteren, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, NL
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 18:09:39 GMT

In article <LaD7VB1w165w@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca> thespian@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (Stephanie M. Clarkson) writes:
>From: thespian@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (Stephanie M. Clarkson)
>Subject: hmm..
>Date: Tue, 22 Dec 92 03:26:20 EST
>To Julie, using Cliff's account :-)
> 
>Arg.  90210 zapped another otherwise reasonable, mature, literary person, 
>hmm?
> 
>I'd never been addicted to a soap opera (unless one counts Twin Peaks) 
>until I happened to be around when 90210 was on a few times, and that was 
>it...none of my friends watched it (being a mostly male, 30ish group), so 
>it was this closet thing I did...it seems to me that the show seems to 
>have 2 groups of fans...the young 'uns that the show is aimed at, and 
>this odd little group of older people who categorically DON'T WATCH 
>SOAPS!
> 
>Tres weird, if you ask me.  But don't worry about it.  It can be beaten 
>(I have), and its alot more common that you'd think :-)
> 
>Stephanie.
>
>
>    Stephanie M. Clarkson : thespian@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca         
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>    What do you give the guy who  |  "Well, there are the usual           
>    has nothing?                  |  things; flowers, chocolates,
>     -- The wrong phone number.   |  promises you don't intend to
>                                  |  keep."           - Cogsworth       
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nothing to worry about, there are numerous people who are mainly referred to 
as being quite intelligent who watch BH 90210. (Nope, it's not me) Maybe it 
is because this series is so incredible politicaly *UN*correct (at least in 
a Dutch way of P.C. - by the way, in Holland we got a magazine called P.C. ('
Propria Cures', which is everything, except Politcally Correct), so 
incredibly uncorrect, I was saying, that maybe therefore it is fun to watch. 
The way people like to read pulp, or maybe it's like kitsch turning into 
camp. What me striked when I saw BH is that there are no hispanics, blacks, 
jews, or other minorities in it. The last time I accidently zapped into BH, 
there was an afro-american in it, but just for the sake of showing how 
good (& politically correct) the main character is.

Jan Peter Prenger           :  'The rich are getting richer and the poor
University of Groningen     :   are getting drunk.' - Paul Westerberg
The Netherlands             :
E-mail: s0454850@let.rug.nl :
From: llama@tramp.cc.utexas.edu (sine nomine)
Newsgroups: alt.angst
Subject: Re: No meaning (was "Re: Why I'm such a shit")
Date: 4 Jan 93 01:42:48 GMT
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

sbate@atl.ge.com (stephen) wrote:

: Happy, sad, scientific, unscientific, ... it doesn't matter. If you
: look at the length of our existence compared with the age of the
: universe, you'll see that we are so insignificant that we practically
: don't exist at all. 

if you look at the length of our existence compared with that of a
mayfly, we live forever and a day. and being dead might mean your
consciousness has ceased, but does that mean your influence has ceased
also? so if you define meaning in terms of influence you have on
others, you still have meaning after you die. it all depends on what
you value.

: We march hazy-eyed to our doom with
: only a vague feeling that something is wrong -- a feeling that maybe
: reality is not what we think it is. If that vague feeling increases to
: a certain level of intensity, then it becomes "angst". People try to
: avoid angst, but real angst is the threshold of our salvation. Don't
: avoid it.  Don't "resolve" it. LISTEN TO IT! It's trying to tell us
: something.  

so what? even if you were right, you've just spent half this article
explaining to us how nothing we do can change anything. so what if
angst is a clue that we should wake up? are you saying you're better
off and somehow less doomed if you realize that you're doomed? cows
that fight get just as dead as cows that march quietly to the
slaughterhouse.

the only meaning in life is what you assign to it. i choose to try to
make my life please me. what it means to anyone else really isn't in
my control or anything i care about. that's how i deal with angst and
the meaninglessness of it all in the cosmic scope of things. 

--
sine | deb
there isn't a direct correlation between suffering and nobility.
i admire people who know that life sucks and insist on enjoying it anyway.
Newsgroups: alt.angst,talk.bizarre
From: jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (JKF)
Subject: Re: while driving home
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: Sat, 26 Dec 92 07:21:57 GMT

In article <XIBO.92Dec20005145@fido.fido.econ.arizona.edu> xibo@fido.econ.arizona.edu (Mr. Coates) writes:
>
>"He's seeing monsters..."
>	There was a major difference, however.  In the passenger seat was a
>female, she was leaning over and talking with the driver.  Before I could
>grasp more detail, my turnoff for the apartments came up.  But the other
>MR2 did not make the turn; it kept going north, outside the city, into the
>area where the nice houses are, where Campbell takes many fun curves.
>	I thought some more, and realized that this other MR2, this other
>self, could perhaps not be from my future, but could be from an alternate
>reality, where my life had taken a different turn.  This leaves me left
>wondering, just wondering, what I have to do to get back on the timeline
>that leads up the hill.  Where did I err?

You erred in not having Tank Girl lobotomized six months ago.  End of story.


Newsgroups: alt.angst
From: winkern@columbia.dsu.edu (NANCY MARIE WINKER)
Subject: Anyone know the answer to this one?
Organization: Dakota State University
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 20:16:07 GMT

Ok, you all know I am involved in journalism stuff--I have been on the 
campus newspaper staff a total of ten semesters, and now I have taken on the 
concept of creating an FM radio station, which hopefully will be operating 
in the next year or two.  (I hope I graduate before then.)

The question is:  If someone submits a letter to the editor, is the editor 
required to print it?  What instances could support the editor's decision to 
refuse to print a letter?  Is it ethical for an editor to coerce the person 
who submitted a letter into withdrawing it?  Is it ok to ban a letter 
because it criticizes the paper it was sent to?

(The questions ARE--I guess.)  The scenario is this:  someone on our radio 
staff (not me--that would be a conflict of interest) wrote a letter to the 
editor, criticizing the newspaper of not acknowledging KDSU.  The editor (
not me--I am not good enough to be their editor) found the author of the 
letter and begged her to pull it.  After so much arm-twisting the author 
agreed, but then came to me and asked what she should do.  She really wanted 
to make her point.  So somehow it got posted on our E-mail program to all 
the faculty, staff, and administrators, with the introduction that it was a 
letter to the editor that was not printed in the newspaper and should have 
been.

Well, to make matters worse, the newspaper fired me.  I am really lucky, 
because I have been wanting out anyway, but for them to do that really took 
nerve.  They blamed me for the posting, and wrote a rebuttal to the same 
group, saying that MY use of the mail was "malicious" and "injudicious" and 
that I am not a productive part of our campus society.  This from the 
newspaper advisor, a long-term instructor AND the wife of the Dean of 
Student Affairs.  She attacked me personally, and accused me of making a 
lauging stock out of the author of the letter.

I am ready to file a grievance report.  This woman even came into my class 
during a final test and requested that I give her my keys to the office.  
She has yet to discuss the situation with me, but I took that as a "You're 
fired."  I also learned that they found a replacement for me within hours of 
the posting.  Funny, since I have been doing three jobs on the staff and 
nobody was available to assist me all semester.

I am very angstful about this.  I have probably lowered my GPA from all the 
stress--failing my tests and all.  We shall see.

Anybody care?
From: mitch@novavax.UUCP (Mitch Silverman)
Newsgroups: alt.angst
Subject: Re^2: A Shocking Confession
Date: 30 Dec 92 03:56:33 GMT
Organization: Nova University, Fort Lauderdale, FL

callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan) writes:

>PC Alert!!!
>-----------

[Unnecessary (IMHO) Explanation and justification deleted]


>I would like to point out that I *do* own a cayenne pepper plant, and that
>the inspiration for the preceding posting came while hand-pollinating the same.
>There are actually eight peppers on the plant, four of which have turned red,
>providing a festive holiday display.

I should have thought that this was obvious from your post.  It took me
a minute (well, okay, I had to read about half of the message first) to
realize that you were talking about pollinating it.

I also thought ypur post was a very well-executed metaphorical
presentation of your angst at "...currently practice the most
effective form of birth control known...." which I thought was
reasonably obvious from your *one* post.
 
Worrying about offending people is one thing--worrying about
someone misinterpreting such a wonderful bit of sexual angst...
if Portnoy can fuck a piece of liver and beat off in the Holland
Tunnel, why can't you father your cayenne pepper plant's
children?
 
Pardon this anti-flame, but enough PC is many times too much.

Mitch Silverman                    | As Voltaire never said, "I
Student, New College of            | disagree with what you say,
the University of South Florida    | but will defend to the death
mitch@cfraix.cfr.usf.edu           | your right to say it."
From: thespian@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (Stephanie M. Clarkson)
Newsgroups: alt.angst
Subject: hmm..
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 92 03:26:20 EST
Distribution: world
Organization: darkpark

To Julie, using Cliff's account :-)
 
Arg.  90210 zapped another otherwise reasonable, mature, literary person, 
hmm?
 
I'd never been addicted to a soap opera (unless one counts Twin Peaks) 
until I happened to be around when 90210 was on a few times, and that was 
it...none of my friends watched it (being a mostly male, 30ish group), so 
it was this closet thing I did...it seems to me that the show seems to 
have 2 groups of fans...the young 'uns that the show is aimed at, and 
this odd little group of older people who categorically DON'T WATCH 
SOAPS!
 
Tres weird, if you ask me.  But don't worry about it.  It can be beaten 
(I have), and its alot more common that you'd think :-)
 
Stephanie.


    Stephanie M. Clarkson : thespian@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca         
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    What do you give the guy who  |  "Well, there are the usual           
    has nothing?                  |  things; flowers, chocolates,
     -- The wrong phone number.   |  promises you don't intend to
                                  |  keep."           - Cogsworth       
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~