HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Help me upgrade my computer
From: don@zl2tnm.gen.nz (Don Stokes)
Date: 17 Apr 92 12:32:04 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Wolery

Jay.Ashworth@f160.n3603.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Jay Ashworth) writes:
> Actually, most PC class machines require their covers to be installed,
> because they depend on flow-through ventilation, pulled by the power
> supply fan.  If you leave the cover off, the only thing which gets
> cooled is your PS. 
> 
> Your processor chip Will Not Like This.

Nah, not really.  Most PCs have stuff-all airflow.  They also have
especially poor airflow over the largest concentration of electronics,
ie the expansion cards.  The fan is needed with the cover *on*, since
the heat won't go out the (totally inadequate) air slots by itself, but
with the box open, convection will be plenty to keep the thing cool, at
least for 386 class machines or lower.  

The other function of PC fans is of course to suck all the cruft in
creation across the floppy drive heads.... (When the 3.5" drives came
out, they *all* had little flaps that closed over the slot to prevent
this, which was a Good Thing.  This Good Thing seems to have vanished
off the face of the earth, curse it all.)

--
Don Stokes, ZL2TNM (DS555)                        don@zl2tnm.gen.nz (home)
Network Manager, Computing Services Centre            don@vuw.ac.nz (work)
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand              +64-4-495-5052
From: marc@vieta.math.uni-sb.de (Marc Conrad)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: chip-on-chip technology
Date: 8 Apr 92 17:29:55 GMT

peter@ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes:

>In article <1223@eouk15.abcl.co.uk> pcockere@abcl.co.uk (Pete Cockerell) writes:
>> #define

>> is pronounced `pound-define' (not `hash-define')

>No, it's pronounced `number-define'. :->
>

Perhaps 'define sharp' ??           (   :-) )


--
     \   /                     | Marc Conrad 
      \ Luxemburg              | Universitaet des Saarlandes
France \|   Germany            | marc@math.uni-sb.de 
        \x <---- you are here! | phone: 0681 302-2297
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: peter@taronga.com (Peter da Silva)
Subject: Re: Why Grey? Are computer unhappy objects?
Organization: Taronga Park BBS
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 13:39:14 GMT

In article <1992Apr8.174846.5037@sci.kun.nl> hansm@cs.kun.nl (Hans Mulder) writes:
>All Macs before the II were yellow.

The 128 in my kids' bedroom certainly looks grey to me.

You must be thinking of the Banana Jr.
-- 
/F{findfont exch scalefont setfont}def /S{moveto show}def /T{/Times-Roman F}def
6 T (Have you hugged your wolf today?)468 20 S 9 T (Taronga Park BBS)24 35 S 10
/Courier F(`-_-')488 40 S ( 'U` )488 30 S 6 T (+1 713 568 0480 2400/n/8/1)24 27
S (+1 713 568 1032 Trailblazer)24 20 S 12 T (Peter da Silva)24 45 S showpage
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: palmerp@math.orst.edu (Paul A Palmer)
Subject: Re: Patron saint of programmers?
Reply-To: palmerp@math.orst.edu
Organization: Dept. of Math, Oregon State University
	<1992Apr5.224954.21480@cs.uow.edu.au>
	<1992Apr9.181807.9891@ncmicro.lonestar.org> <silk.702966405@pineapple>
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 06:53:36 GMT

In article <silk.702966405@pineapple> silk@pineapple.ucsb.edu (Mencher;Kenneth;S;;;COMS;Undergraduate;920630;;;8-402525-19906-7;1000) writes:

   >Saint Vidicon, if I'm not mistaken...his icon is a small screwdriver.


   Saint Vidicon of Cathode!  Intercede with him on our behalf, we beseech
   thee!  protect us from Murphy's curse!

   and yes, his icon is a golden screwdriver in the left breast pocket of the
   monk's robe.

I don't suppose anyone has an X11 bitmap for this...

--
Paul Palmer
Department of Mathematics     	E-mail: palmerp@math.orst.edu
Kidder Hall 368
Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331-4605

	 "It's moving so fast, it's standing still." - William Gibson
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 03:13:05 -0400 
From: "Joseph M. Newcomer" <jn11+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Why is a byte called a byte?

>pic@igc.org writes:
> 
> 
>>Can anyone out there tell me why a byte is called a byte?  Who
>>came up with the term?  When was it first used?
> 
>No, a byte is not called a byte. It is called an etyb.

No, it is called a ybet, or possibly a teby.  Depends on the endianess of
the original machine.  I've seen both permutations, but never etyb.
                                joe

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: peterd@polari.com
Subject: Re: Patron saint of programmers?
Organization: Seattle Online Public Access Unix.  (206) 328-4944 (all lines telebit-equipped)
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 07:22:11 GMT

bq434@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael A. Chance) writes:



>Several years ago, I ran across a reference to a "patron saint" for
>computer programmers.  However, my memory isn't what it used to be (was
>it ever?), and I've forgotten the exact name.

>Does anyone recall who the patron saint of programmers is (other than
>St. Jude 8-)?

>Michael A. Chance
>St. Louis, MO

Two options, both from fiction.
St Viacon of the Cathode, marytred in AD two thousand clerical error
when he provided the needed resistance for an obsolete 2D transmission
of the then Pope's address to the world.  His life and martyrdom is
related in _WarLock Unlocked_.

St Liebowitz, Order of Albert Magnus. Martyred after the Flame Deluge,
founder of the Albertian order of "bookleggers" whose vocation was
to preserve the Memorabilia of Civilization.  Mentioned briefly in
_A Canticle For Liebowitz_.

chus\
pyotr
From: stetner@bwdlh525.BNR.CA (Douglas Stetner)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Wanted: Unix license plate
Date: 6 Apr 92 17:44:59 GMT
Reply-To: stetner@bnr.ca
Distribution: world
Organization: Bell Northern Research


In article <34793@flying-disk.com>, frisbie@flying-disk.com (Alan
Frisbie) writes:
|> In article <99g0HB1w164w@gnat.rent.com>, 
|> ahm@gnat.rent.com (Andreas Meyer) writes:
|> 
|> > Several years ago, a company was using a license plate to promote it's
|> > product.  It was greenish, and said "UNIX - Live Free or Die".
|> 
|> I remember the DECUS symposium many years ago when Armando Stetnor stood
                                                              ^^^^^^^
                                                              Stettner

|> up and said, "You have been asking when you could get a Unix license from
|> DEC.   The answer is now.", holding up one of these plates.
|> 
|> 
|> --  Alan E. Frisbie               Frisbie@Flying-Disk.Com
|> --  Flying Disk Systems, Inc.
|> --  4759 Round Top Drive          (213) 256-2575 (voice)
|> --  Los Angeles, CA 90065         (213) 258-3585 (FAX)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
Douglas G. Stetner, 4Y22  |  Bell-Northern Research  | ESN 6+39+3+8396
      stetner@bnr.ca      |  P.O. Box 3511, Stn. C   | (613) 763-8396  (work)
 My opinions are my own.  |  Ottawa, ON, CANADA      | (613) 828-6321  (home)
From: Jay.Ashworth@f160.n3603.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Jay Ashworth)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Computer-related auto license tags
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 09:36:00 EDT
Organization: FidoNet node 1:3603/160 - Hacker's Haven, Clearwater FL

In a message of <Monday April 13 1992>, Stephen Ollis wrote to All:

 SO> One of the guys who I worked with has a white volkswagen with
 SO> the plates VAX 750

Apt.

Cheers,
-- jra

--  
Internet: Jay.Ashworth@f160.n3603.z1.FIDONET.ORG
UUCP: ...!uunet!ndcc!tct!psycho!160!Jay.Ashworth
Note:psycho is a free gateway between Usenet & Fidonet. For info write to
     root@psycho.fidonet.org.
From: s923647@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Finn Thain)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Space Shuttle Computers
Date: 6 Apr 92 05:45:44 GMT
Organization: RMIT Computer Centre, Melbourne Australia.

witczak@romeo.egr.msu.edu (Mark Witczak) writes:

>	He finished the speech by saying that in the future NASA will be 
>using off the shelf components. I seriously doubt that you'll see a 386 
>or a 68000 on it anytime soon.  I would be willing to bet my career that 
>the shuttle will never say INTEL INSIDE.

 Actually, I remember seeing a photo in a Mac magazine of a Mac plus on a
 shuttle. (Not freestanding on a desk, of course, but fixed in a wall.)
 I dont recall what the article said they used it for.        

 --
From: bmarcum@world.std.com (Bill Marcum)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Slashed o's (o's, not zeros)?
Date: 15 Apr 92 02:19:19 GMT
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA

In article <1992Apr14.175858.9354@pollux.lu.se> magnus@thep.lu.se (Magnus Olsson) writes:
>
>It's funny, but many English-speaking people seem to think that those
>funny little dots, slashes and rings used by Germans and Scandinavians
>are there just for decoration, and can be added or removed at will.
>Nothing could be further from the truth. The horror examples are heavy
>metal groups like Motorhead and Motley Crue, who've added some
>German-looking dots - I suppose for the visual effect. They would be
>less than pleased if they knew how ridiculous it sounds if you
>actually *pronounce* those dots... :-)
>
Then there's Spinal Tap, who put the two dots over the "n".  This has no
meaning in any language I know of.
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Disk and Drive incompatible....
Keywords: Disk 3.5 5.25 Formatting
Date: 9 Apr 92 23:26:08 GMT
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University

In article <1992Apr9.153427.18218@solbourne.com> imp@solbourne.com (Warner Losh) writes:
>In article <1992Apr8.193939.11700@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
>lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>>In the 3.5" case, there is no actual difference, because all of the heads are
>>the same thin-film design, just that 1.44 Meg type can go at 500 KHz, not
>>250 KHz.  The actual manufacture of most of the media is identical.
>
>Well, almost.  The media is almost the same, but the permeability of
>the HD disks is slightly higher.  There is a potential for problems if
>you use LD disks at HD densities, since the media is not capable of
>reliablely recording data at those rates.  However, HD disks should
>work OK at LD densities.
>
>I find it curious that the box for 3M disks reports that the HD disks
>weren't designed to work reliablely in 800K drives on the Mac.
>
>Warner
>-- 
>Warner Losh		imp@Solbourne.COM
>If it can't be done with Emacs, you are being too ambitious.

Sorry, they ARE the same.  Originally you were correct, but it has been 
leaked to the net and other places that virtually all of the major diskette
manufacturers don't bother anymore, although it's likely that testing is
not as severe on the disks not punched out for HD usage on drives that care.

BTW, not every disk in a lot is equally tested.  They subject some to more
tests and the whole lot sinks or swims on the singled-out few.

This is why the hole-puncher people are so successful.  If the media were
flakey, this wouldn't be so popular.  I know people with the puncher who
are quite happy.  I know others who have an override switch on their drive
doing as well :-).

I wouldn't attempt any of this with off-brand media, since you never know
what it really is anyway :-).  (With some stuff, you are better off sealing
the provided hole up and ONLY using them at low density :-).)

cjl
From: liam@durie.amigans.gen.nz (Liam Greenwood)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Writing Comments (was: CS Hackers?)
Date: 11 Apr 92 06:12:37 GMT
Organization: It's Home, really...

In article <1992Apr8.141552.16458@sctc.com> smith@sctc.com (Rick Smith) writes:
>> zrepachol@cc.curtin.edu.au writes:
>
>>>label.. code.. args.. comment char.. short comment on what we are doing
>>>
>>>Even C programmers seem unable to resist filling in the right hand side.
>
A trap with this is some programmers do useless comments e.g.

	la,u	a0,10	    . load a0 with 10

It looks like you've got commented code, where in actual fact you just have
code and psuedo code in 2 columns.
--
****  Liam Greenwood	    * Don't tell my Mother I'm a programmer...   ****
****  Wanganui, N.Z.	    * she thinks I'm a piano player in a brothel ****
		   **** liam@durie.amigans.gen.nz ****					  *
From: murphy@npri6.npri.com (David P. Murphy)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Computer-related auto license tags
Date: 7 Apr 92 21:55:58 GMT
Organization: NPRI, Alexandria VA

eric williams here in alexandria has the plate R&M AXS
which (blush) i could not figure out.

ok
dpm
-- 
murphy@npri6.npri.com
602 Cameron St.
Alexandria, VA  22314                 The First Amendment:
(703) 683-9090                        it's not just a good idea, it's the law.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: s854109@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Nicholas Murray)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Computer-related auto license tags
Date: 6 Apr 92 07:24:20 GMT
Organization: RMIT Computer Centre, Melbourne Australia.

I *think* someone around RMIT here in Melbourne has a car with the number
plate ORAC, after the omniscient computer in the British science fiction
series "Blake's Seven".

-Nick.
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:6194 comp.editors:1358 comp.unix.questions:6003
From: dylan@ibmpcug.co.uk (Matthew Farwell)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,alt.unix.wizards,cct.ccc,cct.cuhug,comp.editors,comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: me vs. vi survey *please read*
Date: 8 Apr 92 09:14:16 GMT
Organization: The IBM PC User Group, UK.

In article <1992Mar25.175914.4363@eff.org> hshubs@eff.org (Howard Shubs) writes:
>In article <aldavi01.701515301@starbase.spd.louisville.edu> aldavi01@starbase.spd.louisville.edu (Arlie Davis) writes:
>>While everyone is proudly displaying their emacs/vi, does anyone think
>>that Q-Edit (yes, MSDOS) is a worthy editor??  I do.  It was the One
>>True Editor for me, when I still used DOS machines.  (ugh, yuck, blecch)
>>It was small, fast, *powerful*.  (I can't stand having my editor take
>>more than a second to load.  It's one reason I prefer vi over emacs --
>>I'm constantly invoking, exitting, suspending, resuming my editting all
>>day long.)
>
>Aaah...  yer all clueless!  The best editor in existance is LSE, or
>EVE if you can't get LSE.

No, the best editor in existence is TECO.

zjiJust another teco hacker
$$

Dylan.
-- 
'If there is a hung parliament, and John Major and Neil Kinnock have
both been hung, then I am willing to take over.  Vote Insanity - you
know it makes sense' - Screaming Lord Sutch
From: xexeo@dxlaa.cern.ch (Geraldo Xexeo)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: You know you've been in hack mode too long when...
Date: 16 Apr 92 11:23:14 GMT
Reply-To: xexeo@dxlaa.cern.ch
Organization: CERN - European Organization for Particle Physics


Oh! 

I already tryed to Ctrl-S dreams and Ctrl-C my girldfriend
waking me up to work. 

After writing a big report, I tryed to 
Backspace in a pen and paper letter to a friend. 

After days with YACC, I started to parse my conversations.

After a large C program, while in University, 
I could not stop to study making algorithms, 
what used to make a friend that was studying
with me very happy, because he could use them. 

After 3 days playing a AD&D adventure, I could not stop
analysing people stats.
 
I've been collecting brainos, that usually happen when
I've been working for a long time and I am sleepy, most
of them beeing text-editor related, very afraid I was the only
one inflicted. Thanks 1E6 for this thread.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Geraldo Xexeo      |internet: xexeo@dxlaa.cern.ch|  "Cristo Redentor,    
CERN - PPE Division|bitnet:  gxexeo@cernvm.bitnet|   Bracos abertos sobre a
1211 Geneve 23     |decnet:   vxcern::xexeo      |   Guanabara...
Switzerland        |FAX: (41) (22) 785 - 0207    |   Rio, eu gosto de voce!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: userisra@mts.ucs.ualberta.ca (Mark Israel)
Subject: Re: NET.CELEBRITIES Version Beta.33.8.3.4
Originator: lnds@zeus.biochem.ualberta.ca
Organization: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 02:06:53 GMT

In article <1992Apr2.163409.29283@dxcern.cern.ch>, xexeo@dxlaa.cern.ch (Geraldo Xexeo) writes:

> CANONICAL LIST OF NET.CELEBRITIES 
> =================================
>
> Version Beta.33.8.3.4 [...]
>
>
> Some nominations I couldn't check if were celebrities, or
> miss information (please send me more info)
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>
> WHO			| OBS
> Charles Lasner        posts in alt.folklore.computers
> Fred Fish		<missing>
> Jonh Mashey		lives in comp.arch (what?) <really, missing>
> Mark Eckiwiller       <missing>, authoritative poster on law issues
> Mark Israel           posts in soc.singles

   No, I am not a celebrity.  You can take me off the list.

> Send collaborations directly to xexeo@dxlaa.cern.ch.  

   Well, since I'm not a celebrity, I thought I'd enhance my Net.profile
by posting instead. :-)

userisra@mts.ucs.ualberta.ca		Mark Israel
Instinctive grammatical moralizer.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris)
Subject: Re: Slashed o's (o's, not zeros)?
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 12:45:25 GMT

magyar@hss.caltech.edu (Ted Turo'cy) writes:

>	A question for those who, unlike me, are old enough to possibly
>remember:  Last summer, I came across a sf short story (sorry, I forget
>who wrote it, maybe someone can fill it in for me) named "Watchdog", in
>which the 'o' was slashed.  What caught my eye was a footnote (from the
>original story) which said something to the effect that "it was common
>computing practice for printers to slash o's so that there would be no
>confusion with zeroes".  Well, as far as I can remember (~10 yrs), I've
>only seen _zeroes_ slashed, and never o's (except, of course, in those
>languages which have the slashed-o as a character...).  Anyone know
>when this practice changed?  Are there any more "modern" notable systems
>to used the slashed 'o'?

Back when I got into this strange business (in 1961) the manuals I
used employed the slashed *letter*; the explanation was that until
very recently (this is 1961, remember) programmers routinely worked
more with digits than letters, so to resolve the ambiguity between
circle-meaning-zero and circle-meaning-letter the extra stroke was
added to the less popular glyph.

Another possible reason for slashing the letter was the use of the
slash-oh glyph in Scandanavian languages.

Not everybody bothered to make this clear differentiation.  I just now
hauled out my old MACRO manual (assembler for the PDP-1) and found
that the uppercase letter "O" and the digit zero are almost identical.
The saving grace was that most programmers used the lowercase characters
on the Flexowriter tape punch, which gave a much more obvious clue
as to which character was intended.  This is perhaps the *only* thing
I can think of for which the Flexowriter deserves praise...

I'm not sure where my old Teletype manuals are, but I think that you
could order a TTY33 type cylinder with slashed letter, slashed digit,
or a very prominently squared letter.  (Recall that the TTY33 was
a monocase machine.)

As you noted, today's common practice is that (at least in the US)
if either letter-oh or digit-zero is to be slashed, it will be the 
digit.  Perhaps some of our readers elsewhere can comment on practices
elsewhere...(HINT!)

Back in the days when the keypunch pool was a fixture of any DP 
facility, most coding pads had a block to tell the keypunch operator
what glyph written by the programmer was to be punched with what
code.  A good operator could adjust to any reasonable pattern as
long as the text was legible.  In addition to the oh-vs-zero problem,
popular trouble points were U vs V (resolved by drawing a dash across
the V) and digit-1 vs letter-I (usually resolved by underscoring the 
digit).

Even today, when I'm writing notes for myself I frequently slash the
letter O...but considering my handwriting I need all the help I can
get to make sure that I can read it tomorrow.

Joe Morris
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: wcsjc@alfred.carleton.ca (John Coughlin)
Subject: Re: Computer-related auto license tags
Organization: Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 22:24:11 GMT

There's a guy who works for Sun locally whose Porsche has vanity plates
reading UNIX TM.
From: christo@bcarh803.BNR.CA (Mark Christopher)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: CP-6?
Date: 12 Apr 92 18:13:14 GMT
Reply-To: christo@bnr.ca
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.

A few CP-V (predecessor of CP6) comments:

In article <1992Apr12.094810.24511@cs.tulane.edu>, pierce@navo.navy.mil
(Jim M. Pierce) writes:
|>In article <colinm.702762324@cunews>, colinm@alfred.carleton.ca (Colin
McFadyen) writes:
|>|> In <1992Apr4.194808.25369@cs.tulane.edu> pierce@navo.navy.mil (Jim
M. Pierce) writes:
|>|> >   Ah yes, the CP-6. It was built by Honeywell. It is now a Bull CP-6 as
|>|> > Honeywell gave up on the computer end and gave it all to their
|>|> > subsidiary Bull. It has an editor called IBEX that, IMHO, is even worse
|>|>                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|>|> The editor is called EDIT (surprise).  IBEX is a command processor like
|>|> shell.  It may be worse but it is probably the most powerful line-editor
|>|> around.  One of the development programmers has written an editor called
|>|> FSE (full screen edit) that can use emacs commands.  Much better.
|>|> 
|>   I was real tired when I originally posted about this. Anyway, the '!'
|>  prompt is for the IBEX, and '*' prompt is for EDIT/BUILD. Dabble is
|>  also enabled on it. 

CP-V's shell was TEL - for Terminal Executive Language - and its prompt was
also '!'.  The editor was EDIT, always abbreviated to E, and its prompt was
the asterisk - perhaps the same editor as in CP6?  Since the terminals at
the university were only permitted 1200 baud, I never experimented with any
screen editor.  Although the system gurus always used it of course...


|>|> allow access to files and programs in the same account.  One drawback
|>|> is that it has a flat filesystem so if you don't organize yourself,
|>|> your account can get very messy.

Yep.  But I never had that problem because of quotas...


|>   The on-line help on the CP-6 is a big joke. Its worse than MS-DOS 5.0
|>  dosshelp, IMHO anyway. I was told its about 15 years old, I've never
|>  actually seen it. 

I don't recall much about the on-line help.  What I do remember is that
the text for the various errors the system spewed out were looked up in
a file.  A friend of mine told me that one April 1st, the error messages
magically became some strange combination of pig-latin and rhyming slang...

-- 
Mark Christopher                                christo@bnr.ca
Bell-Northern Research                  ..!uunet!bnrgate!bcarh803!christo
     Just adding my thoughts.  There, now my brain is empty again.
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:6234 rec.arts.sf.written:5613 comp.unix.sysv386:8411
From: eric@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,rec.arts.sf.written,comp.unix.sysv386
Subject: Re: WAR GAMES II, or How I Learned To Start Worrying And Hate The Bomb
Date: 9 Apr 92 13:34:22 GMT
Distribution: world

In <1992Apr9.011820.6826@pegasus.com> Richard Foulk wrote:
> What a great way to promote your book on the net without getting flamed.

It was dramatically required at that point in the story.  I tried to do it in a
tasteful and hackerly way.  I'm pleased that you think I succeeded, and in fact
no one has flamed me about doing so yet.

(Note that I've successfully resisted the temptation to reproduce the plug yet
*again* :-) :-))
 
> Nice job!

Thanks.  To *all* of you.  The volume of fan mail has been remarkable; I'm
gratified that so many enjoyed this mini-epic.
-- 
      Eric S. Raymond = eric@snark.thyrsus.com  (mad mastermind of TMN-Netnews)