HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: millere@frith.msu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Does anyone remember...
Date: 27 Jul 92 22:09:29 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Michigan State University, College of Engineering
Originator: millere@frith.egr.msu.edu

A long time ago, (1972?) there was a really cheap made for TV movie  
on that really anticipated cyberpunk. It had a cliched plot:

Young computer scientist creates computer that can think; establishment
tries to cash in, computer refuses to go along; establishment tries
to pull plug; computer takes control of building and tries to kill off
the baddies; young scientist tries to reason with it to no avail.

A romantic sideplot was thrown in, and I believe the actress was 
Peggy Lipton of 'ModSquad' fame.

The finale that sticks in my mind was that the computer kills its
victims either by smothering them in the then high-tech Fortran
punch cards or wrapping them in Fortran punch tape. Pretty hilarious,
but to someone in grade school it was quite scary. I remember my dad
bringing home the Fortran punch cards they used at his office for
us kids to make flip cards out of, and being really wowed at the idea
that a 'thinking mind' could be stored on these cards.

The movie was definately a poor-man's "Collussus-The Forbin Project'(sp?)

Does anyone remember this TV movie?
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: Jeremiah.Blatz@dartmouth.edu (Jeremiah Blatz)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: c_punk movies
Date: 31 Jul 92 01:18:50 GMT
 <lowk.060u@nucleus.cuc.ab.ca>
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

In article <lowk.060u@nucleus.cuc.ab.ca>
lowk@nucleus.cuc.ab.ca (Karl Low) writes:

>   In a sideline to Cyberpunk, has anybody heard anything about a small
> resurgance of "Gothic" type punk?

Ever see _Batman_, _Batman_Returns_?

Jeremiah
From: tmike@cmptrc.lonestar.org (T. Mike Howeth)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: B.E.M.E.H.O.T.H.
Date: 26 Jul 92 18:32:08 GMT
Organization: CompuTrac Inc., Richardson TX

I have no info about this Icon of Geekdom, but it might help to reference the 
correct name of his project: BEHEMOTH.  He should be easy to find - he's on
the net.
(This is NOT intended to be a spelling flame!)  :)

-- 
tmike@cmptrc.lonestar.org                                               __
"Whoever said 'getting there is half the fun'                           \/
    has never ridden in a class 8 probe!"
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: apearlma@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Andrew Pearlman)
Subject: Re: The Difference Engine
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 17:21:09 GMT

In article <20JUL199222275714@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov> olson@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov (Paul Olson) writes:
>       "Their adventure begins with the discovery of a box of punched Engine
>       cards of unknown orgin and purpose.  Cards someone wants badly enough to
>       kill for..."
>
>This is clearly false advertising.  NOWHERE in the book is there ANY reason
>given for people being killed over this deck of cards.  For all the reader
>knows, they are killing each other over the fancy box in which the cards are
>contained.  Every time a Victorian hacker is brought into the picture, the

The cards shorted out the Napoleanic engine.  The cards are a computer virus.
Probably the first one.

The book itself is interesting.  I think the ending isn't very good.

Andy Pearlman


Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: rscott@spock.NMSU.Edu (Joseph Good)
Subject: B.E.M.E.H.O.T.H.
Organization: New Mexico State University
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 02:43:56 GMT


For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, it is the guy
who is riding around the country on that super bike hooked up to computers..
radios..phones.. and everything.

Well, on Donahue the other day, he said he was hooked up to Internet.

Anybody out there know his address???

--

Joseph Good
+-------------------+ - More than just a band....
| Green Dot Brigade | - It's a whole damn army of dots...
+-------------------+ - And we've declared war on the 7-Up dots...

rscott@nmsu.edu (NeXT mail welcome!!)

atlantis@acca.nmsu.edu  (Just plain ol' Unix)
From: layne@pitt.edu (Deborah E Layne)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: More About Cadigan
Date: 30 Jul 92 17:25:09 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: layne@unix.cis.pitt.edu

Nice to hear that at least a couple of people are familiar with her work.

What I think is most amazing is that her cyberpunk stuff is really on
a par with Gibson's best, and yet, I read a short story in an anthology
called When the Music's Over (Shiner, Ed.) that about a young girl and
her abused mother that gave me chills -- and no tech!

The afterword to Mindplayers asks whether readers might think she is going 
too far with the idea of Pathosfinders, Neurosispeddlers, et al, but
then asks us to browse the shelves of the local bookstore and its
"self-help" section.  The mind really is the final frontier and the
last undeveloped recreational facility, no?

Although I can't really vouch for technical accuracy, most of her
tech "rings true" (is "rings plausible" an expression).

Can we get off this Non-Conformist thread?
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: shaun@octel.com (Ralph Neutrino)
Subject: Re: Agrippa
Organization: Octel Communications Inc., Milpitas Ca.
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 01:09:20 GMT

In article <1992Jul26.065046.17762@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> chanson@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Hanson) writes:
>jbs@korova (jacques) writes:
>  Having recently read _The Difference Engine_, only one question arises in my
>mind. Everyone keeps discussing ways to duplicate the content of the alledged
>_Agrippa_ thus allowing it to be read again, despite its efforts to self-
>obliterate. What makes you think you'll want to read it again? ;) 

Tom Maddox's .signature file has put me into a subliminal froth.  I can't help
myself.

>>...and with that, the long-winded old cyberpunk falls asleep in his 
>>Barcalunger.
>
>  Ach, I hear ye. I'm still piloting a metal folding chair...

I have a hideous orange and red sofa held up by a busted frequency counter 
where the front-right leg used to be.  Can I join the quul "Ancient Cyberpunks
with Shitty Furniture" club?  

@Man

-- 
shaun@octel.com  ||  Emergency?  Call @Man's 24-Hour Bass Bin Retrieval Hotline.

"The Tuna is a very serious Fish, but also very Silent.  It has the Strength of 
 ten Men.  I have nothing but Respect for It."  -- Darryl Dung
From: ron@zooid.guild.org (Secret Mud)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: Islands in the Net 
Date: 28 Jul 92 13:03:29 GMT

From: shaun@octel.com (Ralph Neutrino)
>In article <VFZ8NB2w165w@angus.mi.org> thx1138@angus.mi.org writes:
>>
>>Yeah, 
>>  I could not figure that cover out either.  The main character was
>>  a mom, for crissakes! Not some bimbo.  I saw the cover of a hardbound
>>  version --they should have stuck withg that. 
>
>My best guess is that it is Reverend Morgan, the disposable character from the
>Church.  How do these covers get done, anyway?  Does an artist get commissioned
>early on and handed a few chapters early on in the game? 
>

Odd, I had the feeling that pretty much all the characters were disposable.  A
long dull book with primative "future" technology.
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: tmaddox@netcom.com (Tom Maddox)
Subject: Re: The Difference Engine
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 06:22:43 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 

In article <27JUL199213451649@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov> olson@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov (Paul Olson) writes:
>In article <2!jmvp.tmaddox@netcom.com>, tmaddox@netcom.com (Tom Maddox) writes...
>>All you've really established is that you don't like the book
>>and couldn't be bothered to read it very carefully.

>Sorry, Tom, but I'm a very slow, very meticulous (sp?) reader.  

	Not on the evidence.  For instance, I did not say that you were not
a slow, very meticulous reader.  I said you didn't read _DE_ carefully, and
the account you gave of it was my basis.  Like your unsupported claims 
against the book, your unsupported claim that you're a good reader is not
at all convincing.

>I appreciate
>subtlety and depth of story.  If it takes a writer's knowledge to appreciate
>this book, perhaps it shouldn't be placed where "common readers" will pick it
>up.

	Are you saying that writers appreciate something other than subtlety
and depth?  Perhaps that we have some arcane understanding closed to the
general reader?  I don't think so, but even if that were the case, you've
shown nothing that would indicate this principle's relevance for _DE_.

	That you did not like the book does not concern me.  What does?  That 
you make false claims about the nature of the book without providing anything 
by way of support and argument.



-- 
				Tom Maddox
		    	    tmaddox@netcom.com
		   "I swear I never heard the first shot"
                Wm. Gibson, "Agrippa:  a book of the dead"
From: lesher@pollux.tmc.edu (timothy lesher `94)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: _The Adolescence of P1_
Date: 22 Jul 92 14:33:41 GMT
Reply-To: lesher@bucknell.edu
Followup-To: alt.cyberpunk
Distribution: world
Organization: Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa.


A couple of years ago, I read an old (late seventy-ish) book called
The Adolescence of P1.  It was sort of like a biography of an early
AI (fictional, of course).  Has anoyone else read it?  It seems pretty
decent for a book that old--if I remember correctly, a lot of the Comp
Sci stuff was as accurate as could be expected for a novel.

Tim Lesher
<lesher@bucknell.edu>

"We don't need no steenking .sig file!"


Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: mike@highlite.uucp (Mike Wiik)
Subject: Re: Smart Pills
Organization: Gotham Communications Research
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 05:00:58 GMT

olson@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov (Paul Olson) writes:

|In article <1992Jul24.051442.4643@highlite.uucp>, mike@highlite.uucp (Mike Wiik) writes...
|>olson@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov (Paul Olson) writes:
[turd joke deleted]
|>Personally, I'd like to know more about smart drugs and their alledged
|>effects. Jokes like this, though, (which I've deleted), probably belong
|>in alt.i.am.stupid or something, eh?

|No, Mike.  Not stupid.  Just skeptical.  I'm just too much of a scientist to
|believe claims that cannot be properly measured.  I'd like to know more about
|smart drugs/drinks too.  I never said I didn't.

Ok, so I can agree with this post, which sounds reasonable, even though
I think your _TDE_ criticisms are 3rd rate at best - not that I enjoyed
it that much, either (it had its good parts, and yes, I bought the
hardcover for the agreed beautiful cover).

In any case I'm not a scientist, nor play one on TV, but imho treating
a potentially very important subject like this with (imho) stupid humor
is bad enough when it comes from the media, and worse when it comes from
a scientist, or one playing one on the net. I've experienced a mild
energy increase just from heavy choline and B6, more than with Dirk'n'
Sandy's early mixtures, but I really wanna try some vasopressin! I hope
to see some of your more scientific posts on alt.psychoactives...

|But you won't find me at the
|front of the line, waiting for a paper cup and pills.  I'll let others suffer
|neurotransmitter failure first.

Maybe those who go off-line for a second to take a leak will miss the
singularity. In any case this is alt.cyberpunk, where you're expected
at least to POSE like someone shoving into the front of the line... :)

	-Mike

-- 
   | o==== . : ... :  :  .     |Mail Me Neat Stuff->POB 3703 Arlington VA 22203
 --@-- . o o o ... O -O- o o : |No disclaimers needed: I actually pay for this.
   |           ... :  :        |-----------------------------------------------
mEssAGE fRoM sPAcE ARt stUdiOs |Man:TheMissingLinkBetweenApes&HigherIntelligence
From:  (kamchar@ibm.cl.msu.edu (MYBRAINHERTZ))
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: Islands in the Net
Date: 29 Jul 92 22:40:41 GMT
Organization: THE LUMINOUS ETHER

In article <712328609.7395@zooid.guild.org>, ron@zooid.guild.org (Secret Mud) writes:
> 
> From: shaun@octel.com (Ralph Neutrino)
> >In article <VFZ8NB2w165w@angus.mi.org> thx1138@angus.mi.org writes:
> >>
> >>Yeah, 
> >>  I could not figure that cover out either.  The main character was
> >>  a mom, for crissakes! Not some bimbo.  I saw the cover of a hardbound
> >>  version --they should have stuck withg that. 
> >
> >My best guess is that it is Reverend Morgan, the disposable character from the
> >Church.  How do these covers get done, anyway?  Does an artist get commissioned
> >early on and handed a few chapters early on in the game? 
> >
> 
> Odd, I had the feeling that pretty much all the characters were disposable.  A
> long dull book with primative "future" technology.
> 
> 
Once spoke to Spider Robinson about this problem.  He said that "All art directors
have nephews."
 /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\          kamchar@ibm.cl.msu.edu
< MY BRAIN HERTZ >
 \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
From: adam@owlnet.rice.edu (Adam Justin Thornton)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: Non-conformism
Date: 31 Jul 92 15:09:15 GMT
Organization: Milo's Meadow

>
>Don't be sorry.  That's a fucking moronic commercial.  I've always wanted to
>film one that went something like this:
>
><bunch of people sitting around a room, drunk and looking bored>
>
>A: Hey, is there a beer left?
>B: Yeah, in the fridge.
>A: Hey C, get me a beer wouldja?
>C: Get it yourself.
>A: #@*(&!@**@ <gets up, weaves toward fridge>
>D: B... man, I can't figure out your microwave! These thingssss are... <hic>
>   are soo conflacapted.  Complic... plicated.
> <pause>
>E: Now what?
>B: I think I'm gonna hurl.  <hurls>
>
>Voiceover:  "BEER!  When you want to be stupid!"
>

Bunch o' teenagers, sitting around a fire in a grill in a public park, 4 AM.

Voice-over: "It's 4 AM.  You've just killed a cat, and your best buddy Bob is
puking on your shoes.  The cops will be here any minute.  It don't get any
better than this: Milwaukee's Beast Light."

ObCP: was it just me, or was the new M2K even more incredibly lame than the
last one?

Adam
-- 
"Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the
 stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud.  There is _always_
 something." -- Robert Penn Warren | Vote Cthulhu in '92! | adam@rice.edu
If Rice shared my opinions I wouldn't have this disclaimer | 64,928
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: charless@sco.COM (charles stross)
Subject: Re: The Difference Engine
Organization: The Somewhat Contagious Operation, Inc.
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 08:31:02 GMT


In article <20JUL199222275714@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov> olson@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov (Paul Olson) writes:
>
>O.K., Nathaniel, since you've taken the position as Council for the Defence,
>here's the prosecution's position.  The book is clearly falsely advertised.  I
>use as evidence the hook writeup on the back of the paperback version (no, I
>wasn't willing to spend $20 on the hardcover version {and glad of that now}).
>
>First it states:
>
>	"And three extraordinary characters..."
>
>There is absolutely nothing extraordinary about these characters.

... and lots more incredibly accurate and wrong-headed criticisms of
the back-cover blurb and the shriek-line, which he uses as justification
for panning the book and whining that he wants his money back.

Paul, you are _not_ wrong; you are simply not right, either. The
map is not the territory; the cover blurb is not the book. Anyone
who buys a book on the strength of a shriek line deserves exactly
what they get. Shriek lines are not written by authors, or even
(usually) the editors who slave over the book; they're written by
some poor Joe Schmoe in a corporate publicity factory who's
been handed a threefold pre-digested synopsis and told to come up
with a phrase that will *sell copy*, not convey an accurate
rendition of the content.

It may interest you to know that the bits of blurb you quote
don't feature on the UK editions of the book; that's because they
were added by the publisher. The same goes for the cover 
illustrations. The _only_ component of the book that is 
invariant and the responsibility of the authors is the _text_.

You might get away with suing the publishers for false
advertising -- but before you criticize this most excellent
book, it would help if you learned to read and comprehend
what you are reading. _The Difference Engine_ isn't a 
ripping yarn in the tradition of E. E. 'Doc' Smith; it's a
carefully refined construct put together by two seriously
smart cookies who were making a most pointed, ironic and
deeply-considered argument about the interaction between
culture and technology. Criticizing this novel for not having
an action-adventure plot is like criticizing the space
shuttle as a means of transport for not having oars. *It's
not meant to.* Although it's difficult to get used to at
first, you might try considering the idea that the acme of
literary achievment does not require a penny-dreadful
plot construct in order to articulate its conceptual
framework. 

And no, _The Difference Engine_ is probably _not_ cyberpunk,
believe it or not. But what the hell; it's a worth-while
read for all that ...

-- 
Charlie Stross aka charless@scol.sco.com ..... UNIX oriented text mangler
WARNING: The opinions voiced in the preceding electronic document are the
product of a warped mind. Take two before meals. 
Xref: sparky alt.cyberpunk:3517 alt.music.alternative:8166 alt.fan.douglas-adams:2726 alt.destroy.the.earth:499
From: dean@unkaphaed.UUCP (Dean Saxe)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk,alt.music.alternative,alt.fan.douglas-adams,alt.destroy.the.earth,
Subject: Re: Any CTYers or former CTYers out there?
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 20:26:06 GMT
Organization: Unka Phaed's UUCP Thingy

sabg9174@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Tolthrye) writes:

> Vasilii.V.Petrenko@dartmouth.edu (Vasilii V. Petrenko) writes:
> 
> >Anyone associated with CTY (Center for academically Talented Youth) now
> >can submit things to this, so that we can talk about things like the
> >Church Of The Everlasting Taco Salad in peace without non-CTY outsiders
> >annoying us.
> 
>    Ummm....Well, actually, if you post things like this to
>    alt.sex you should probably count on a lot of 'non-CTY
>    outsiders' annoying you.  At least, to politely suggest
>    a more appropriate forum for discussions regarding this
>    Taco Temple.  :)
> 
>       Incidentally, how old a group of 'youth' are we talking
>    about here?  While I have no objection to mature teens checking
>    out groups in the alt.sex. hierarchy, this does raise some
>    issues than the Spooks might be chewing on. Opinions, net.readers?
> 
>    To readers of groups other than alt.sex: I would have removed
>    the crosspostings, but i wanted to make sure this was received
>    by the source.  Sorry for wasting your bandwidth.
> 
>    Tolthrye
> 
> 

Well, from what I can gather from my girlfriend, who is an Ex-CTYer, they 
people are highschool aged, but many, such as herself have grown up into 
adults since their experiences.  I would assume there are a great many of 
them out there, I know probably 20 just at Johns Hopkins alone.

                                Dean

--
dean@unkaphaed.UUCP (Dean Saxe)
Unka Phaed's UUCP Thingy, (713) 943-2728
1200/2400/9600/14400 v.32bis/v.42bis
From: dewind@acsu.buffalo.edu (Padraig)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: Tetsuo
Date: 22 Jul 92 06:39:42 GMT
Organization: UB

bhilpott@wam.umd.edu (Manuel de Anarchismo) writes:

>I saw a movie a while ago during the DC Film Festival called Tetsuo (sp?).
>It seemed to me that the overall theme of the movie was definately in
>the cyberpunk realm, and the 'sequel' Tetsuo 2:  The Body Hammer was
>equally cyberpunk.  The aesthetic of the movie was interesting in that
>the whole thing revolved about the idea that destruction in and of itself
>can be art.  The movies are japanese productions of so/so quality but
>really interesting concepts.  I was wondering if anyone else had seen either
>of these movies?

The only thing I can say about it is that I believe Tetsuo was one of the
main characters in Akira.  Perhaps Tetsuo is actually a sort of sequel to 
Akira or something like that.  Akira did have a lot of CP type of stuff in 
it...perhaps a predecessor to modern Cyberpunk.

Padraig

_______________________________________________________________________________
|Patrick T DeWind				Unix dewind@acsu.buffalo.edu  |
|	Be afraid!			     Vax/Vms V077PW3W@UBVMS.BITNET    |
|	Be VERY afraid!!!						      |
| "When you say I've got a problem that's a certainty...		      |
|  But I can put it all down to ecentricity."	-Lyric by Fish		      |
|_____________________________________________________________________________|
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
From: damir@wpi.WPI.EDU (MR. Boy)
Subject: oops!!
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 19:39:01 GMT


someone (from toronto canada i believe) mailed me in response
to my "re: Vidpunks" post, wanting some information.
i lost your address!!  re-email me.


pEace&ravE from beantown...
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
Donato A. Miranda   "...what's the point of sexy new technology
damir@wpi.wpi.edu    if you can't find some way to pervert it?"
IRC: steely          	    -"Marid Changes his Mind"
anybody feel like falling?	    -George A. Effinger, IASFM, may89
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
From: taz@athena.mit.edu (Brian P Shea)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: Non-conformism
Date: 28 Jul 92 17:23:56 GMT
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology


In article <geRJlYW00VojI1HEs4@andrew.cmu.edu>, Curtis A Beesun <cbee+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
|> 	I would like to preface this messagage by noting that this is not a
|> flame at anybody in particular.  I enjoy the science fiction that the
|> cyberpunk movement would seem to revolve around. . . as well as the
|> attititude. . . music. . . etc. . . 
|> 	But has it occured to anybody else here that this newsgroup seems to be
|> turning into the 'ACME GUIDE TO NON-CONFORMISM.'
|> It just seems that no matter where you go; there is somebody trying so
|> DESPARATELY to be non-conformist that they look and act just like all of
|> the others. . . Isn't that self-defeating?
|> 	Granted, I have a new-wave haircut and listen to Skinny Puppy, NIN, NE,
|> and all of that stuff; but certainly not for the intrinsic value of
|> REBELLION or anything of the sort.  
|> 	I suppose that this is all in response to an article I saw quite some
|> time ago about 'exactly what a cyberpunk person is like.'  The 'fight
|> the standard' attitude seems to be the primary trademark.  Therefore,
|> isn't 'adhering to CP culture' an oxy-moron?
|> 
|> --------------------------------------------------------
|> Curt's Law:
|> 	Just by definition, half of the population is of 
|> 	below average intelligence.                =;^('


First, I'm new so if I screwed up something, tell me.

I think one thing you are missing is the fact that this is a newsgroup, you
don't get the whole side of a person, you just get their cyber-punk side, or
whatever group side.  Anybody who decides to be non-conformist just to be non-
conformist is a sell out.  If you aren't going to do things intellingently, 
think about what you are doing and have a reason, or at least a feeling, about
what you are doing then you are just being a follower, which is never
non-conformity or rebellion.

I think my real point is that the only way to adhere to the CP culture is by
coincidence.  If you are trying to be a part of the culture by being a
non-conformist, then you aren't.  If, however, you are a non-conformist (or
just have a few weird ideas and interests like me) then maybe you are a part of
the culture.

Or maybe not. 

------------------------------------------------------------------
In the spirit of Curt's Law, 
	Just imagine how stupid the average American is.
	Now imagine that half the people are stupider than that.
------------------------------------------------------------------