HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: rabrams@igc.apc.org (Robert Abrams)
Newsgroups: alt.co-ops
Subject: Service Equity
Date: 20 Aug 92 00:32:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1337700017:000:2825
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!rabrams    Aug 19 17:32:00 1992


Service Equity

It is commonly acknowledged that cooperatives are often
undercapitalized, by choice or by default.  (See various issues of
the Cooperative Grocer for more on this subject.)
Undercapitalization can result in low investment in the
cooperative, and eventual non-competitiveness with other business,
cooperative or otherwise, in the coop's market area.

One method for generating equity without raising margins is to use
a share system as the basis for membership.  A share is usually
defined as a refundable investment, the payment of which entitles
the person to 1) a discount independent of any working discount
and 2) a vote.

Some cooperators, perhaps many, find the idea of basing membership
on an explicit dollar contribution offensive.  Further, even with
a share system, the coop may want or need to raise a sufficiently
large amount of capital that the share price, if applied evenly to
everyone, would be unaffordable by most of the membership.  Some
members might be able and willing to contribute more than the
average share amount, but to give these members just compensation
without turning the excess into debt capital (ie. loans) and
without abandoning the concept of one person one vote, we need a
new kind of equity.

One solution would be Service Equity.

Service Equity would work as follows.  A person who is a member in
good standing of the coop (however the coop defines this) would
make a refundable investment in the coop.  The coop would be
obligated to repay the face value of the investment in some
specified time after a request for such is made.  Three to six
months might be reasonable.  The investing member would not
receive any interest.  Instead, 10% or twice the prevailing
interest rates on local savings accounts would be given to a
non-profit of the member's choice.  The 10% would be paid as
discounts, probably at working member levels.

As a result, the member would be 1) helping to support the coop,
2) helping to support the bond between the coop and the rest of
the community, and 3) supporting a non-profit at a higher rate of
interest than would be otherwise possible.  The coop offsets some
of its annual losses due to the extra interest because the
"donation" is being recycled through the sales stream.  Obviously,
this system would work best in a retail coop which has goods the
non-profit needs, though creative use of the idea might work for
residential coops too, perhaps to provide housing for temporary
workers, student volunteers and the like (perhaps a good way of
filling vacancies too).

Service Equity would allow the coop to acknowledge and make use of
the real income distribution of the community without sacrificing
democracy by creating patrons of the community, rather than
landlords of the community.

Robert Abrams
ZKIX@VAX5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU
Newsgroups: alt.co-ops
From: ggmoj@cc.newcastle.edu.au (Mark Jackson, Geography, Uni of Newcastle, NSW)
Subject: LETSystems elsewhere in the world????
Organization: University of Newcastle, AUSTRALIA
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 07:21:14 GMT

I'm doing a Ph.D on LETS (Local Employment and Trading System)
through Macquarie University, Sydney. I'm also a coordinator with
NewcastLETS in Newcastle NSW. I'd be very interested to here from any
people who know of LETS, especially in the US or New Zealand. I'm already 
in touch with Canada and Australian LETSystems. If you have any info either
 post here or send to me.

Mark Jackson
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
From: wiml@cs.washington.edu (William Lewis)
Subject: Re:Oh No!...Geraldo
Keywords: sound hacks
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering Dept., Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 92 03:19:32 GMT

Hans Hrasna writes
> ObHack: rlogin to your friend's SUN and:
> 	host% xhost +
> 	host% setenv yourhost:0.0
> 	host% soundtool &
> 	host% logout
> 	yourhost% 
> 	play a sound in soundtool :)

  You could do the same sort of thing on earlier versions of NeXTstep
without even logging in. The Mach port corresponding to the audio
device driver was advertised on the network message server under a well
known name. I wrote a nifty application to excercise this feature.
(This would be even more interesting if they hadn't "fixed" this in
version 2.0 of the OS. The hardware that NeXT released along with the
upgrade included mikes built in to the monitor. Distributed eavesdropping!
and from anywhere on the Internet, too. OTOH, I suspect 8 kb/sec of 
keyboard noises would get boring after a while.)

  Of course, NeXT still has plenty of security holes, although few
quite as interesting. Multimedia mail, for example, has many applications...
From: Jym Dyer <jym@mica.berkeley.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
Subject: Re: NL->SQL
Date: 23 Aug 1992 02:27:09 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
In-reply-to: kxs5829@ultb.isc.rit.edu's message of 10 Aug 92 06:55:50 GMT
Originator: jym@remarque.berkeley.edu

> Hack:	Writing most of a natural language to SQL front end in
> a few hours, and have it compile and run correctly the very
> first time!

=o= Uh huh.  Of course, "correctly" can be a very subjective
concept.  How well do you think it would fare against Natural
Language Inc.'s regression test suite? :-)
    <_Jym_>

ObHack: Loading NLI-Lisp into Emacs, yielding Emacs-Lisp with
an English SQL interface.
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
From: dmuntz@dip.eecs.umich.edu (Daniel A Muntz)
Subject: Re: How can I remove a file with a / in it ?
Keywords: rm remove delete unix
Organization: University of Michigan EECS Dept., Ann Arbor
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 20:20:41 GMT

In article <Aug.18.14.39.53.1992.29153@remus.rutgers.edu> broderic@REMUS.RUTGERS.EDU (Alfred J. Broderick) writes:
>The wizards that I work with created a file called REMOVE/ME
>in my home directory.  Could you guys help me out and tell
>me how to remove this file?  They say it can be done, but
>not easily.
>
>So now I ask you guys.  I know this must have been done before.
>How is it done and how do I get rid of the file?
>

1) Use PCNFS.  I'm not sure if this still works, but PCNFS used to be able
   to create and delete files containing '/' chars in a unix fs (at least
   on a sun...)

2) Edit the raw disk device.  Search for REMOVE/ME and change the '/' to a '.'
   Then  'rm REMOVE.ME'.  Don't forget to 'sync' before you try to do the
   'rm'.  You (hopefully) need root to do this.

For a clue about what's going on here, look up 'namei' in your favorite unix
reference.  

  -Dan

Newsgroups: alt.hackers
From: (noone)
Subject: (none)
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 12:30:00 GMT

Newsgroups: alt.hackers
From: kennu@mits.mdata.fi (Kenneth Falck)
Subject: Re: Forged Post
Organization: Microdata Oy, Helsinki, Finland
Distribution: alt
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 16:23:35 GMT

In article <Bt7H49.KrD@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> nimouat@napier.uwaterloo.ca (Nikos Mouat) writes:
>
>Hey everybody, the last post that said it was a forged post really was!!!
>ie: I didn't post it, so please stop the flame mail....

Hehe.. I suppose that's an easy way to make a forged post; just
post something very silly, then say somebody else forged it :-)

I'll have to try this myself some time.

>Nik.

-- 
kennu@mits.mdata.fi
From: fadden@uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden)
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
Subject: Re: First Post
Date: 14 Aug 92 21:06:49 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

In article <1992Aug14.090928.2677@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal) writes:
>apollo@ee.ualberta.ca (Apollo Wong) writes:
>>ObHack: Use Emacs to patch the directory so that filenames with character '&'
>>        in it can be moved.
>
>ObFaq: Use the backslash, Luke!

NO NO NO GOD DAMN IT NO!!!

PLEASE DO NOT START  ** YET ANOTHER **  HUGE, UNDYING THREAD ON "WHAT IS THE
BEST WAY TO REMOVE FILES WITH STRANGE NAMES!"  I'VE SEEN THIS STUPID THREAD
SO MANY TIMES I'M READY TO HURL MY GUTS ALL OVER THE UNIX FILE SYSTEM!!

YOU CAN USE A BACKSLASH!  YOU CAN USE RM -i * !  YOU CAN RUN FSDB ON THE
FILE SYSTEM!  YOU CAN USE EMACS!  YOU CAN USE A C PROGRAM WITH THE "UNLINK"
SYSTEM CALL!  YOU CAN WRITE YOUR OWN SHELL!  YOU CAN REAM YOURSELF WITH THE
BUSINESS END OF A PLUMBER'S HELPER!  I DON'T CARE!!  JUST DON'T POST IT
ANYMORE!!  I CAN'T TAKE IT!!

AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGHHH!

(hurl)
(splash)
>yuck!<

OKAY, I FEEL BETTER NOW, BUT I'M STILL GOING TO YELL!  GRRRRRRRR!

ObHack: writing a program to allow bang-paths to be specified under csh
	8-]

-- 
fadden@uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden)
[ Above opinions are mine, Amdahl has nothing to do with them, etc, etc. ]
From: hurtta@cs.Helsinki.FI (Kari E. Hurtta)
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
Subject: Re: First Post
Date: 15 Aug 92 12:13:07 GMT
	<1992Aug15.031932.12426@beaver.cs.washington.edu>
	<cSc-CN_@engin.umich.edu>
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Finland

In article <cSc-CN_@engin.umich.edu> positron@engin.umich.edu (Jonathan Scott Haas) wrote:
> ObHackQuestion: I'm new to UNIX and X-Windows (been hacking micros for a long
> time now). Fairly recently I was sitting at a Sparc running X, doing some work,
> when a message window popped up on my screen. I sure didn't cause it.
> Someone started talking to me through it... I looked all over the computer
> lab, nothing but innocent faces. I hadn't done an xhost +, but just to be
> safe I did xhost - about a zillion times... I also did several whos and
> a few rmproc -i's, nothing unusual showed up. Then the guy made a naked
> GIF pop up on my screen, in the middle of this crowded computer lab... I
> switched off, fast. I was a little pissed, but mainly drooling with envy.
> How did the guy do it, and how can *I* do it? :)

In X-programs have option -display <display name> just use it.
If option -display don't have given X-programs use environ variable $DISPLAY.


xhost +			anyone can connext to you screen from any machine
xhost -			anyone can connect to you screen from these machine
				what you have listed in list of xhost
				(just type: xhost)

Best security is when
1) xhost -		
2) list of xhost is _empty_

Then of course yourself can't connect to you screen, _except_
when you use Xauthority (this must turn on when X-server is started).

(I strongly recomment to configure system to use Xauthority.)

- K E H
( Kari.Hurtta@Helsinki.FI,
  hurtta@cc.Helsinki.Fi,
  hurtta@cs.Helsinki.FI,
  HURTTA@FINUH.BITNET
)
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
From: nimouat@napier.uwaterloo.ca (Nikos Mouat)
Subject: Forged Post
Organization: University of Waterloo
Distribution: alt
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 00:52:57 GMT


Hey everybody, the last post that said it was a forged post really was!!!
ie: I didn't post it, so please stop the flame mail....



Nik.
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
From: flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal)
Subject: Re: First Post
Date: 16 Aug 92 20:41:48 GMT

russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) writes:
>ObAnnoyingQuestion: Which of these works when the strange character in
>the name is '/'?

Only fsdb.  Files with slashes in a component of their name in unix are big
no-nos.  You must have created this by using defective low-level software.
Could I guess NFS from a mac through a gatorbox?  I recommend you use the mac
to delete/rename the file; it's the easiest way.
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
From: hassan@cs.ubc.ca (Moustafa M Hassan)
Subject: First Post
Keywords: yahoo!
Organization: Computer Science, University of B.C., Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 17:56:50 GMT


ObHack: Writing a command interpreter for DOS (yuck!) that emulated most
        of the features of tcsh, including command editing, file name
        completion, and searching through one's history using the arrow
        keys.  Then I discovered ndos and it made my hack look dumb. 8^(

"Ptht, Ptht" -- Bill the Cat

********************************************************************
* Moustafa Hassan          |                                       *
* hassan@cs.ubc.ca         |  Political correctness is a euphemism *  
* TEL/FAX: (604) 535-2826  |  for intellectual stagnation.         *
********************************************************************
--
********************************************************************
* Moustafa Hassan          |                                       *
* hassan@cs.ubc.ca         |  Political correctness is a euphemism *  
* TEL/FAX: (604) 535-2826  |  for intellectual stagnation.         *
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
From: dv@cc-mac.nbn.com (David Vezie)
Subject: Re: First Post
Organization: Computer Concepts
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 17:56:17 GMT

In article <1992Aug16.200713.4800@eng.umd.edu> russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) writes:
>In article <2crY03GO5e4p00@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> fadden@uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden) writes:
>
>>YOU CAN USE A BACKSLASH!  YOU CAN USE RM -i * !  YOU CAN RUN FSDB ON THE
>>FILE SYSTEM!  YOU CAN USE EMACS!  YOU CAN USE A C PROGRAM WITH THE "UNLINK"
>>SYSTEM CALL!  YOU CAN WRITE YOUR OWN SHELL!  YOU CAN REAM YOURSELF WITH THE
>>BUSINESS END OF A PLUMBER'S HELPER!  I DON'T CARE!!  JUST DON'T POST IT
>>ANYMORE!!  I CAN'T TAKE IT!!
>
>ObAnnoyingQuestion: Which of these works when the strange character in
>the name is '/'?

any one that deals with the file system itself.  emacs on the directory
would also work.

I remember this happening.  Years ago, in the waining days of 4.1 BSD
at school (after the final backup and before the upgrade to 4.2 BSD),
I made a Twilight_Zone directory.  In it, I made the following *files*
(yes, even with the '/' in them):

/etc/passwd	/etc/super.people	/bin/su		/bin/sr

(back then, /bin/su didn't check passwords if the user was in
/etc/super.people, and sr was a "single root" command for people
who were in the same file (crackers can stop drooling now -- this
is all in the ancient past)).

and a few others, I can't remember.  I also linked . and .. so that
"cd .." would keep you in Twilight_Zone, and "pwd" would show you as
being in root.  It was really like being in the Twilight Zone.
-- 
David Vezie dv@sonoma.edu,dv@xnet.ssl.berkeley.edu
From: russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto)
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
Subject: Re: First Post
Date: 16 Aug 92 20:07:13 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park

In article <2crY03GO5e4p00@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> fadden@uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden) writes:

>YOU CAN USE A BACKSLASH!  YOU CAN USE RM -i * !  YOU CAN RUN FSDB ON THE
>FILE SYSTEM!  YOU CAN USE EMACS!  YOU CAN USE A C PROGRAM WITH THE "UNLINK"
>SYSTEM CALL!  YOU CAN WRITE YOUR OWN SHELL!  YOU CAN REAM YOURSELF WITH THE
>BUSINESS END OF A PLUMBER'S HELPER!  I DON'T CARE!!  JUST DON'T POST IT
>ANYMORE!!  I CAN'T TAKE IT!!

ObAnnoyingQuestion: Which of these works when the strange character in
the name is '/'?
-- 
Matthew T. Russotto	russotto@eng.umd.edu	russotto@wam.umd.edu
Some news readers expect "Disclaimer:" here.
Just say NO to police searches and seizures.  Make them use force.
(not responsible for bodily harm resulting from following above advice)
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
From: tinsel@uiuc.edu (Thomas Aaron Insel)
Subject: Re: First Post
Originator: tai50080@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
Reply-To: tinsel@uiuc.edu
Organization: {not speaking for the} University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 04:27:35 GMT

positron@engin.umich.edu (Jonathan Scott Haas) writes:

> ObHackQuestion: I'm new to UNIX and X-Windows (been hacking micros for a long
> time now). Fairly recently I was sitting at a Sparc running X, doing some work,
> when a message window popped up on my screen. I sure didn't cause it.
> Someone started talking to me through it... I looked all over the computer
> lab, nothing but innocent faces. I hadn't done an xhost +, but just to be
> safe I did xhost - about a zillion times... I also did several whos and
> a few rmproc -i's, nothing unusual showed up. Then the guy made a naked
> GIF pop up on my screen, in the middle of this crowded computer lab... I
> switched off, fast. I was a little pissed, but mainly drooling with envy.
> How did the guy do it, and how can *I* do it? :)

rsh
-- 
Thomas Aaron Insel (tinsel@uiuc.edu)
  I speak for myself, and not for the State or University of Illinois.
  "We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty." -- Edward R. Murrow
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
From: Kenobi's Flying Circus in Bradenville
Subject: Mac Hacking
Organization: Columbia University Center for Telecommunications Research
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 15:37:00 GMT
X-Posted-From: cwis.unomaha.edu
X-Posted-Through: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

Would someone give me a glance at hacking on the macintosh?  I am especially
interested in things relating to Quickmail, MacPassword, the Systems digitized
sounds, alarm clocks (making sounds go off every 2 minutes, and such).  Please
give me ideas for spreading programs using the network, hacking passwords
on Quickmail, and the like. 

Note:  For informational purposes only.  Please reply to this hopefully
anonymous post on Usenet if you think you can help me out.  

Please try to flame me via email.  I would love to see if this message
is traceable.

~~~~~~~
Obiwan Kenobi
From: tlg@uknet.ac.uk (Tim.Goodwin)
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
Subject: Imaginary File System (Re: making the named pipe work on a cluster)
Date: 12 Aug 92 17:17:27 GMT
Organization: UKnet

In article <166or2INN21m@smurf.smurf.sub.org> urlichs@smurf.sub.org
(Matthias Urlichs) writes:
>In alt.hackers, article <1992Jul30.215954.22281@sfu.ca>,
>  howesb@fraser.sfu.ca (Charles Howes) writes:
>> 
>> Actually, since a file exists if it is held open, you could create an
>> 'imaginary file' server.  How could anybody recover the data if they didn't
>> go through the server?  
>
>And how do you propose to get the files back after a reboot?  ;-)

Unlink them from lost+found, of course.

ObHack: persuading PP to run more than one instance of its filter
channels (a feat which its designer said couldn't be done), by telling
it that two identical filters were different.  Yes, this means that
some messages get filtered twice, but it still improved our throughput.

Tim.
-- 
perhaps if people had understood fork() better we | ; who am i
wouldn't have threads - Rob Pike.                 | uknet.ac.uk!tlg
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
From: chester@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Craig Abbott)
Subject: minor apple 2 hack
Summary: minor
Keywords: none
Organization: University of Western Australia
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 16:24:03 GMT

Thanx to the guys who posted the info about 386BSD.  I am really
interested in hunting through the Unix OS - I think I'll go with it.

OBhack:  (In the beginning...)  Wiring a mangled apple 2 joystick to a
homemade amplifyer and light sensitive cell to monitor movement around
the computer -> sounding alarms if anyone went near it!  My mother
became very confused about this one...

Chester
From: hopkins@turing.ac.uk (Don Hopkins)
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
Subject: Re: ZMOB?  Also, Zephyr tips
Date: 12 Aug 92 17:58:00 GMT
Organization: The Turing Institute, Ltd.

Aaah, ZMOB: The computer of the future, using the processor of the
past (128 Z80's)! The nicest thing about it was that each processor
board had *FOUR* *DIFFERENTLY-COLORED* *LEDS*!  The looked really
great blinking away behind the smoked glass.  Later on somebody did
something more modern called MCMOB (MC68K's, on Heuricon boards).  You
might ask "rogerp@cs.umd.edu" or "pete@cs.umd.edu" about it.

	-Don

OBhack: who needs a freaking OBhack, when all those fools keep
demonstrating to the world how stupid they are by posting "duh, this
is a test" messages to this newsgroup? I'm just answering a question!
From: urlichs@smurf.sub.org (Matthias Urlichs)
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
Subject: Re: making the named pipe work on a cluster
Date: 10 Aug 1992 23:58:58 +0200
Organization: University of Karlsruhe, FRG

In alt.hackers, article <1992Jul30.215954.22281@sfu.ca>,
  howesb@fraser.sfu.ca (Charles Howes) writes:
> 
> Actually, since a file exists if it is held open, you could create an
> 'imaginary file' server.  How could anybody recover the data if they didn't
> go through the server?  

And how do you propose to get the files back after a reboot?  ;-)

ObHack: Write a signature randomizer that analyzes my text and selects an
appropriate signature.

Actually, it's using rand() and the simple fact that my choice of qoutes in
the fortune file and the stuff I'm likely to post are somewhat related.
But sometimes the appropriateness of a quote is stunning... which is an
interesting observation actually -- I often do things about which I'm later
amazed that they actually work. You decide whether that's indicative of
modesty, or of ignorance.  ;-)

-- 
"When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great
parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if
I'm leaving."
		-- Steven Wright
-- 
Matthias Urlichs  --  urlichs@smurf.sub.org -- urlichs@smurf.ira.uka.de   /(o\
Humboldtstrasse 7 -- 7500 Karlsruhe 1 -- Germany  --  +49-721-9612521     \o)/
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
Subject: Somebody SCREAM!!
From: I mean, what *is* an individual, anyways?
Date: 16 Aug 92 05:30:00 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.hackers,alt.sources
From: faber@loon.cs.wisc.edu (Ted Faber)
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
Subject: Re: First Post
Date: 14 Aug 92 13:08:23 GMT
Organization: U of Wisconsin Madison - Computer Sciences

In <1992Aug14.035734.7594@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca> apollo@ee.ualberta.ca (Apollo Wong) writes:


>
>ObHack: Use Emacs to patch the directory so that filenames with character '&'
>        in it can be moved.

	Hurm.  I hate to flame what was undoubtably a worthwhile learning
	experience about (blech) Emacs and the file system you're working
	on, but on most systems the easiest way to solve that problem is to
	use quoting to mask the "&" from the shell.  On most unix boxes, for 
	example, under most shells

	mv file_with_an_\& another_\&_name

		or

	mv 'file_with_an_&' 'another_&_name'

	does what you want.

	Like I say, not a flame, but an attempt to make your life easier
	next time.

I can't think of a good ObHack.

>-- 
>| Apollo WONG S.Y.  

"You've really got your banter worked out haven't you"
  "No, this is a new and spontaneous thing.  It's called wit" ---BLACK ADDER III

-- 
Ted Faber		Figment at Large		  faber@loon.cs.wisc.edu
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit." -- Maugham
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
From: positron@engin.umich.edu (Jonathan Scott Haas)
Subject: First Post
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 23:35:11 EDT
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

Well, this is my first post... should work. You folks realize that the only
reason that moderated newsgroups work is that most people don't *know* how
trivial it is to forge a message to one? Hope it never gets out...

ObHackQuestion: I'm new to UNIX and X-Windows (been hacking micros for a long
time now). Fairly recently I was sitting at a Sparc running X, doing some work,
when a message window popped up on my screen. I sure didn't cause it.
Someone started talking to me through it... I looked all over the computer
lab, nothing but innocent faces. I hadn't done an xhost +, but just to be
safe I did xhost - about a zillion times... I also did several whos and
a few rmproc -i's, nothing unusual showed up. Then the guy made a naked
GIF pop up on my screen, in the middle of this crowded computer lab... I
switched off, fast. I was a little pissed, but mainly drooling with envy.
How did the guy do it, and how can *I* do it? :)

-- 
__/\__  Jonathan S. Haas         | Jake liked his women the way he liked
\    /  University of Michigan   | his kiwi fruit: sweet yet tart, firm-
/_  _\  positron@engin.umich.edu | fleshed yet yielding to the touch, and
  \/                             | covered with short brown fuzzy hair.