From: mss2@quads.uchicago.edu (Michael S. Schiffer)
Subject: Re: An introduction
Reply-To: mss2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 04:18:43 GMT


	Michael is sitting and drinking a large glass of diet Coke
(having spent a greater than usual amount of time breathing the thin
air atop soapboxes recently) when he hears a voice he recognizes and
looks up:

In article <1992Nov8.031548.6030@midway.uchicago.edu> eeb1@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>Hi, all.
>
>My name is Beth (well, Edith Elizabeth, but I've always gone by 
>Beth) Bartley.  I've been an occasional lurker on alt.callahans, 
>mostly on the political arguments that crop up, for a while.  I 
>think I've probably posted a couple of articles, but not a 
>significant number.  This is a delurking post that hopefully will 
>persuade me to keep posting.

	"Hey, Beth!  Been a while... thanks largely to circumstance
keeping me out of Chicago since early October (save for a brief
sojourn near downtown for a fruitless job interview and an overnight
stopover at Ken's for Election Night).  In any case, welcome to
Callahan's-- there probably isn't anything I could tell you about the
Place that you don't know either from lurking or from Snark, Kateri,
etc."

>I'm at the University of Chicago; I think I already know everyone 
>posting to alt.callahans who knows the U of C.  If not, we can 
>chat in e-mail and not bore the others....   Netwise, I'm known 
>as "Bess" on a couple of MU*s, but I haven't been around there 
>much lately.  I used to participate heavily in talk.abortion (see 
>the .sig; I plan to change it since I expect Clinton to make it a 
>moot point

	"The part about voting for the lesser of two evils?"  Michael
asks, deliberately misconstruing.  "Yeah, I guess Clinton's already
made that a moot point."  :-)

), but I've gotten thoroughly sick of the continual 
>flamewar and the way the same arguments go around and around and 
>around in circles.

	"All I can say is that your ability to tolerate the
talk.abortion environment while remaining reasonable goes beyond any
other sane person I know of.  I couldn't even handle the lesser trial
of alt.politics.elections for a scant few months, and a.p.e. at least
had new election developments to keep things moving.  If there's a
net.Order.of.Merit for keeping one's head when all about you are
losing theirs you should probably be in the running.  :-)"

  I've posted a little bit on scattered other 
>newsgroups, but I haven't posted anywhere besides t.a. for any 
>length of time.

>Miscellanea: I'm a bookworm, reading mostly science fiction /
>fantasy but also a lot of mysteries.

	"She's also modest, and doesn't mention that she's President
of the UC Science Fiction Club.  So I'll do it for her.  So there! :-)"

  I tend to be bouncy and
>energetic and this is enhanced by all the caffeine I drink (in
>soft drinks; I don't much like either coffee or tea).  I used
>to play the guitar and piano but haven't practiced on either in
>a while.  I'm afraid my writing may wind up too formal, but I'll
>try and keep an eye on that when I start getting stuffy.

	Michael grins at Beth: "Don't worry-- if you start getting
stuffy the folks here usually just start throwing pies at you or
some such."

>Herewith will follow vast quantities of politics....  And my 
>apologies in advance if I go into a subject that's just been done 
>to death; when I said "occasional lurker", I did mean occasional.

	Michael offers Beth a salute as she heads immediately into the
breach.  "Good luck, Beth.  Oh, by the way, one phenomenon I should
warn you about in case you haven't caught it in your lurking-- when
one speaks at length on a serious subject, there's a tendency to find
oneself at the top of an ever growing pile of soapboxes.  I know this
far too well-- I seem to spend a significant fraction of my time in
the upper atmosphere.  You may want to borrow this."  Michael hands
Beth a parachute.  "Very useful for getting back down without injury
when you're done.  Oh... and Mike,"  Michael turns to the bartender
and puts a dollar down.  "Beth's first drink here is on me."

Michael

-- 
Michael S. Schiffer, LHN, FCS	"Indeed I tremble for my country
mss2@midway.uchicago.edu	 when I reflect that God is just."
mike.schiffer@um.cc.umich.edu	 -- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on
mss2@amber.uchicago.edu		    Virginia (1784)