HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: korz@cs.columbia.edu (Frederick Korz)
Subject: Re: Democracy
Followup-To: alt.callahans
Organization: Columbia University Department of Computer Science
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 17:45:14 GMT

In article <By3nHK.M49@news.cso.uiuc.edu> trumpins@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu (Barbara Trumpinski) writes:
>"email your [StM's] address to me....i am going to chambanacon this
>weekend...i will get a copy and send it to you...."
>
>kitten is ever helpful when it comes to dispersing information.
                                         ^^^^^^^^^^
Frood wonders, "Is that like dispersing a crowd? ... 'O.K. now.  The
show's over, there's nothing for you information here.  Go home.'"

*chuckle*

"Or beaming it out into space, widest dispersion?"  :-)

>--
>***************************************************************************
>conan the librarian a.k.a. kitten           /\ /\  barbara ann 
>"my life's a soap opera, isn't yours?"      {=.=}
>                                              ~   trumpins@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu
>"love is the wild card of existance"
>                          rita mae brown

Fred Korz			450 Computer Science Building
korz@cs.columbia.edu		Columbia University
(212) 939-7068			NY, NY  10027 (USA)


Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: mwasson@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Michael Wasson)
Subject: Is it that darn Boojum agin'?
Organization: University of Hawaii
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 00:37:44 GMT

Gecko-boy, seeking shelter from the Hawai'i rainy season, has just
wandered into the Place and ordered a shot or two (or three) of
Jack Daniels, when his vision begins to blur.

"Hot damn!" he says, "I'm getting drunk before I drink -- the arrow
of time must be reversing.  Whee!  The universe is contracting!"

Then he remembers that Steven Hawking had been proved wrong about that.
He also notices that objects and people around him have started to
fade.  Yes, faster now, everything is simply winking out of 
existence.

He begins to panic.  "Can anyone hear me?  I don't want to be ABEND!"

Gosh, is this what purgatory's like?

Gecko-boy, aka Mike
______________________________________________________________________
Mike Wasson    ---   U.Hawai'i, Manoa   ---   Fat Messiah Games
mwasson@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu  
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"At the beginning of the movie, they know they have to find each
other, but they head off -- in opposite directions" (Laurie Anderson)
"Iko-o, iko-o, isshoni iko-o-oh..." (Shonen Knife)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: mjmh@crsa.bu.edu (Michael J M Holmes)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: Another introduction...
Date: 20 Nov 92 21:18:36 GMT
Organization: Boston University Center for Remote Sensing

In article <1egtjjINNjdv@gap.caltech.edu> ajm@wag.caltech.edu (Abner J. Mintz) writes:

  [deletia - this is me, /* bemoaning my late intro to Heinlein]

>>"I didn't even *know* about RAH until I picked up 'Stranger' in college.
>>I'd been reading sf for a long time, so I don't have a clue as to what
>>took me so long."

>"You poor soul ...  well, I hope you read some of RAH's good novels
>eventually?"  Abner slyly looks over at Kitten, waiting for the explosion.

=>kitten flings herself at abner and starts to tickle him violetly
=> (i know that is repetitious, but it works...)

/* bursts out laughing, watching this tickle-fest.

"I've enjoyed just about everything I've read by RAH, *including*
but not limited to 'Stranger.'"



>The books of the trilogy were "The White Mountains", "The City of Lead and
>Gold", and ...  hmmm ... I forget the third.  I have it at home, and will
>check later.  This was an early favorite of mine as well!

"Great!  I'm glad I'm not the only one who enjoyed these!"

>"You wouldn't happen to have read 'The Rains of Eridan' by H. M. Hoover,
>would you?  One of my favorites ... I've been looking for a copy for years."

/* squinches up his face, his eyebrows looking like furry purple
caterpillars facing off against each other.

"No, I don't think so.  But I have a desperate need to go bookstore-
hopping soon, so I'll be sure to keep an eye out for it!"

>>>>"Thanks, Abner!  I think I need another drink after that Purple-People
>>>>Eater scare!!"

>>>Here you go.  I'm sure it'll taste mauvelous!

>>"AUGH!  What an awful pun!"

>>/* gets a sly grin on his face.

>>"Many more that bad and I'll get violetly ill!!"

>"Say many more like that and you'll get purple upset at you!"

Barely controlling his giggling, /* nods.

"Okay, okay, you win!  I thought I could go for a while
telling purple puns, but you've taken all the plum ones!!"

;)

-- 
========================================================================
Mike Holmes       mjmh@crsa.bu.edu           "Happiness Will Prevail!"
Boston University Department of Geography (a truly GREAT place to work!)
========================================================================
From: mdm@sparc2.prime.com (Michael D. McAfee)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: puns and cons
Date: 16 Nov 92 22:25:24 GMT
Organization: Computervision


		The dark elf emerges from a dark corner.

		"Hi.  I've been lurking for a while, but I figured
	I'd pop up again and get sociable.

		"In January, the Arisia convention is happening in
	Boston.  Along with the other con things I'll be doing, I've
	been asked to be part of a panel, called 'Filk and the SCA.'
	This is it, folks, I've hit the big time at last.  Fame.
	Fortune.  A lifetime of ease and indolence, mine for the taking.
	Bwa-ha-ha-huh?  Oh, sorry, I slipped into a minor delusion of 
	grandeur.  It won't happen again.

		"Anyway, I can e-mail you info about Arisia if you'd
	like.  If you'd like to meet there, we can probably arrange
	times and places.

		"And, to finish off, two atrocious puns I came across
	recently.  First, it seems that some thieves have stolen some
	toilets from Scotland Yard.  Police are looking for clues.  But
	for now, they have nothing to go on.

		"Secondly, I've heard that stamp collectors aren't 
	getting as much money as they used to for rare stamps.  So in this 
	case, philately will get you nowhere.

		"The first one is from Saturday Night Live, November
	14, 1992.  The second is from a talk.bizarre post by Ken Johnson.

		"Hope you enjoy."

	Michael, the Chaotic
	disclaimer:  yeah, my employers'll back me up on any opinions 
			I post...and monkeys might fly outta my butt
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: jmpierce@whale.st.usm.edu (Jimmy Malcolm Pierce)
Subject: and Mississippi weather Re: Democracy
Organization: University of Southern Mississippi
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 22:28:41 GMT

kitten writes:
>but thank you for defending my honor...it's hell to be literate and
>language impaired...."  

  "Indeed it is hell. Of course, you could always be literate and live in
 an area that seems to not care for literacy..." DJ. semi-serious/semi-joking

    Oh, BTW, the weather here has been kind so far. No tornados have touched
down closer than 70 miles from me. All of the damage you might see on the tv
about Mississippi, happened far north of me. Meredith should be okay also.

-- 
 Jim Pierce Bach. of Sci. in Applied Computer Science USM - Gulf Park Campus 
             jmpierce@whale.st.usm.edu  Disclaimer: Standard.
From: lydick@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU (Speaker-to-Minerals)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: The Nightstalker speaks out
Date: 20 Nov 1992 04:30:44 GMT
Organization: HST Wide Field/Planetary Camera
Distribution: world
Reply-To: lydick@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol1.gps.caltech.edu

In article <1992Nov20.002004.9546@ucc.su.OZ.AU>, pope@physics.su.OZ.AU (The Nightstalker) writes:
>I don't dislike you, but the Stm I know is just a wall of hate, that is all I
>see.

>I don't read your posts so I wont be inflamed or hurt by what you say.  I
>only saw bits of what you had said in others posts.

Right.  I don't suppose it's occured to you that the bits you've seen are, of
course, the most controversial?  And that they don't include the context?  One
of the unstated rules of the net is that you don't include more text than is
necessary to remind someone who's been reading the thread of the context.  That
means if you're reading only the stuff that ends up being included in
responses, you're getting a VERY biased idea of my side of the thread.  Is that
how they teach physicists to evaluate evidence in Oz?
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: wyang@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (William D Yang)
Subject: Conditional love?  (was Re: God and Science:  The Ramblings ...)
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 18:42:57 GMT

In article <1ehjm9INNjma@phakt.usc.edu> pechever@phakt.usc.edu (Paul Echeverri) writes:

[Impu-Sebek sez that love is conditional with the following example:]

> 	"You have a SO.  Sie is basically your ideal (I'll take the liberty of
> 	 defining 'ideal' as the sociologically predominant type:  Tender,
> 	 thoughtful, sensitive, gorgeous, great cook...your ideal might be nine
> 	 feet tall, hairy, bazooka-toting, and nicknamed 'snake', but you
> 	 get the essential concept).  You love your SO.  Sie loves you.
> 	 Dandy up till now:  Sie avoids you, boffs other people on YOUR
> 	 couch, becomes slatternly, etc.  Would you still love hir?
> 	 Most people wouldn't.  So we see love is contingent upon certain
> 	 personality aspects of the loved one, which are supposed to remain
> 	 relatively constant.  So that's a condition, and (I daresay) a nearly
> 	 universal one.
> "Of course, you did specify that this definition of love as unconditional is
> yours, personally, so feel free to ignore me on this, but I just thought I'd
> blurt it out.  Here, have some plums."

Bill looks over, with the thoughtful "Logician" look on his face.  (I
probably should describe the logician look.  It's kind of a cross
between a sneer, a smile, and an odd, bemused, yet somewhat controlled
desire to point out something.  Such a look generally appears when
some entity is making an assumption that's very distasteful, AND that
assumption is not intuitively obvious (or is counter-intuitive), AND
the assumption is asserted without compelling argument, AND (finally)
the assumption is a fundamental point of the argument).
 
"Uhm... aren't you blurring the line of being 'in love' versus the
line of 'love'?  That is, aren't there relevant and rather noticable
differences between being 'in love' with a person and 'loving' a
person.  For example, I would feel comfortable saying I'm in love with
my SO; I wouldn't feel comfortable saying I'm in love with my brother
(though, clearly, I love my brother very much!).
 
"I once had an SO that did sleep around on me.  It's very clear to me
that I'm no longer in love with her.  However, I'm not so sure I
stopped loving her -- I still wonder about how she's doing, and still
hope she does well -- it seems as though there's a difference between
being in love and loving, AND further that this difference makes only
one of the two an actual contingent claim.
 
"Clearly, if the above is true, it's not the case that ALL love is
contingent -- only SOME love CAN be contingent (I might argue, with
more thought, that NO love is contingent if it's truly "love"... but
that thought needs much more development before I'd be willing to
argue it).

	-Bill ("is there a metaphysician in the house?" ;)
--
William D. Yang         wyang@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu         Yang.25@osu.edu
It's my opinion, but if you really want it, you can have it for a nominal fee.
ObPhilosophy:  One's mind should always reach further than one's overbite.
From: lydick@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU (Speaker-to-Minerals)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re:  Science and god:  Are they incompatible?  If so, why?
Date: 19 Nov 1992 17:46:42 GMT
Organization: HST Wide Field/Planetary Camera
Distribution: world
Reply-To: lydick@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol1.gps.caltech.edu

In article <1992Nov19.172655.27714@muddcs.claremont.edu>, dgreen@jarthur.claremont.edu (David Green) writes:
>->=*cough* What it looks like to me is that the person _believes_ that s/he 
>->=cannot know whether God exists.  Unless you can point out to me how this 
>->=differs significantly from what you just said?
>->
>->I'll be glad to answer your question if you'll tell me what you think of the
>->color of the shirt I'm wearing.
>
>Nice shade, though a bit on the loud side for my tastes.

Hmmm.  That's the first time I've ever heard standard blue chambray described
as "loud." :-)

>->NOW do you see the distinction?
>
>Mishael throws up his hands in a surrender gesture.  "I suppose I use the term
>`religion' for lack of a better term to use in that case.  In my mind, still,
>agnosticism is a belief _about_ God, `about' in this sense meaning `involving,'
>or `concerning.'

It's more a belief about myself:  I don't know whether or not a god exists. 
Now, I'll admit that that DOES tell us a few things about any god that might
exist, to wit:  Either he is incapable of or has chosen not to make himself
apparent to me, or having made himself apparent to me, he then erased all my
memories of the event.  Now, if you want to call those conclusions "beliefs
about god" then I suppose I'd have to agree with you, but it does seem to be
stretching things a bit.
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: tje3@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu
Subject: Re: Lamplighter's Re-Introduction
Originator: tje3@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu
Reply-To: tje3@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Tammy Jo Eckhart)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 23:19:59 GMT

Michael J M Holmes writes:

>From the corner, /* noticed this exchange, and gave a quick laugh.
>"Hey, that's great!  My favorite color is purple, too!"
>He hears some snickers, glances around at some of the smirking
>Callahaners.
>"Oh, um, I guess I didn't need to say that.  Pretty obvious, hunh?"

>Glancing back to kitten and Lamplighter, /* realizes what a neat
>thing a purple hug can be.  "But don't worry!  It isn't permanent!"

	The Lamplighter, who has never taken much stock in linear sequences
of events, grins.  "It's a good thing you like purple, /*," he says, "seeing
as how you are it."

	"I bet purple hugs are your specialty!  Though kitten here seems
pretty good at them ..."

-         -    -  - -=---------=----=--=-=#=========#====#==#=#*#########*####*
The Lamplighter             |"There's only so many times you can type 'Pat
(Tom Lee)                   | Buchanan' into a word processor before the
tje3@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu | system crashes."                    -- Love & War
*####*#########*#=#==#====#=========#=-=--=----=---------=- -  -    -         -
From: ajm@wag.caltech.edu (Abner J. Mintz)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: The Damned Second
Date: 16 Nov 1992 04:04:00 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: seurat.wag.caltech.edu

Thanks for the story, Alfvaen ...

Sometime I'll have to tell you the mythology for the beginnings of my AD&D
multiverse ... you came reasonably close to it!

- Abner
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: kf8nh!kf8nh@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu (Brandon S. Allbery)
Subject: Re: God and Science:  The Ramblings of The Nightstalker
Reply-To: "Brandon S. Allbery" <allbery@NCoast.ORG>
Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 01:49:34 GMT

On Tue, 17 Nov 1992 01:21:55 GMT, "Michael Wasson" <mwasson@minnie.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu> wrote:
> "Hmm.  One argument I've heard against moral relativism goes like this:
> 
> If I say, 'I believe the world is flat,' that's a *claim* that the
> world is, in fact, flat.  You wouldn't say 'I believe the world is
> flat but I'm wrong.'  Moral relativists seem to be saying something
> quite like that in the realm of normative truths.  'I personally 
> believe that X is wrong, though it may not be wrong for somebody else'
> is just like saying 'I believe the world is flat but it may not be
> flat for somebody else'.  By this argument, moral relativism is not
> distinct from moral nihilism -- itself a consistent enough position if
> you care to adopt it, but one most moral relativists would (I think)
> shy away from."
> 
> Gecko-boy sips contemplatively from his Dos Equis.
> 
> "The scary thing is, I got this argument from my *mom*, who just
> did her master's work in philosophy.  I myself switched out of
> that major while the going was good.... ;-)"

Yeah, that's about what I'd expect from philosophy.  But you're reading it
backwards:  to a philosopher it's as likely that the world will somehow manage
to become flat anyway, if the current philosophy says it should be.  :-)

++Brandon
(needless to say, I'm rather dubious about philosophy)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: dgreen@jarthur.claremont.edu (David Green)
Subject: Re:  Science and god:  Are they incompatible?  If so, why?
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 03:33:14 GMT

In article <1eefs2INN59v@gap.caltech.edu> lydick@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU writes:
->In article <1992Nov18.203953.4479@muddcs.claremont.edu>, dgreen@jarthur.claremont.edu (David Green) writes:
->=->"I don't know" is now a belief?
->=
->=To answer a question with a question: How would an agnostic respond if I
->=were to ask, "What do you believe about God?"
->
->An agnostic would respond along the lines of "The question is ill-formed.  I
->don't know whether or not god exists, so how can I possibly believe anything
->about it?"

*cough* What it looks like to me is that the person _believes_ that s/he cannot
know whether God exists.  Unless you can point out to me how this differs
significantly from what you just said?
-- 
dgreen@jarthur.claremont.edu		        	   David "Mishael" Green
		    Have you scritched your local Furry today? 
************************Who ordered the muon? -- I. I. Rabi*********************
  I have not been appointed Judge, Jury, or Executioner by God.  Just witness.
From: JBrandt@AAA.UOregon.EDU (Jay Brandt (Jason))
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Troll Test
Followup-To: alt.callahans
Date: 19 Nov 1992 15:47:34 GMT
Organization: University of Oregon, Architecture
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: aaa.uoregon.edu

In article <1992Nov18.171352.27616@lambda.msfc.nasa.gov>, you wrote:
> 
> The Troll Mumbles--
> 
> "This is getting ridiculous--now posting gets flakety, chrochety, and wierd."
> 
> Can anyone hear this?
> 
> "Something appears to be busted somewhere, and I'd rater not say 'test'!"
> 
> Hepl?
> 
> --Da Frustrated Troll
> 
> "Something went <crash> in the night, I think---

Came through loud and clear at the U of Oregon. But when I tried to e-mail
a reply to you, it bounced. (See Below).


    -------------- Special condition follows --------------
Mail rejected by host: theophilus.msfc.nasa.gov
Partial protocol transaction follows:

550 <rich@theophilus.msfc.nasa.gov>... User unknown

    -------------- Message follows --------------
Date: 18 Nov 1992 17:04:40 -0800
From: "Brandt, Jay" <jbrandt@aaa.uoregon.edu>
Subject: Dis is a test (Echo)
To: "Boss Troll" <rich@theophilus.msfc.nasa.gov>

Your post worked, Boss Troll, but your e-mail doesn't seem to be working
now.

Jason
From: mjmh@crsa.bu.edu (Michael J M Holmes)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: Economics and the Environment
Date: 23 Nov 92 15:15:09 GMT
Organization: Boston University Center for Remote Sensing

In article <memo.749946@cix.compulink.co.uk> maryb@cix.compulink.co.uk writes:

>Safe, hygenic, sealed packaging is one thing. Two layers of plastic 
>and two layers of cardboard with a plastic wrapper around the outside 
>as well is just plain silly. Most of the "excess" packaging is for 
>advertising and marketing, not for hygiene. You really don't need a 
>bag inside a box inside a bag, do you? Use rigid plastic instead of 
>the box and the inner plastic to cut out a layer - but gosh, doesn't 
>the logo look weedy when it's not printed in proper four colours on 
>card?

A purple face appears, and nods in agreement.

"I've been a more than a little frustrated by this as well.
Our state (Massachusetts, or Confusion, take your pick!) recently
had a voter referendum that might have helped to cut down on
packaging waste, but it was defeated.  Partly because the repackaging
people didn't get enough info out, and partly because many big
business interests outspent them, in "negative ads," by a wide margin."

"For another quick example of marketing excess, compact discs are 
marketed with about twice as much cardboard and plastic wrap than is
necessary.  It has never made much sense to me - and even if you
aren't a big environmentalist, it must seem ludicrous."

/* sighs.

"About the only effective thing that I've been able to do is just
stop buying overpackaged products, and if there is no alternative,
trying to recycle what packaging I can.  With luck, more industries
will turn around in time."

-- 
========================================================================
Mike Holmes       mjmh@crsa.bu.edu           "Happiness Will Prevail!"
Boston University Department of Geography (a truly GREAT place to work!)
========================================================================
Organization: Sophomore, Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 19:12:10 -0500 
From: Mark Beirne Lively <ml5a+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Science and god: Are they incompatible? If so, why?
	<STEVE.92Nov19093131@styx.crc.ricoh.COM>

Excerpts from netnews.alt.callahans: 19-Nov-92 Re: Science and god: Are
t.. Stephen R. Savitzky@crc. (793)

> "The problem with the Catholics and birth control," says the
> Mandelbear, "is that they don't confine their idea of sin to
> Catholics.  They work hard to make birth control (including condoms
> and RU-486), abortion, pornography, sex education, and other things
> they consider sinful unavailable even to people who don't subscribe to
> their religion.

> "This behavior is not confined to Catholics, of course, or even to
> Christians.  It seems to be a general symptom of any person or group
> that believes they have a corner on THE TRUTH."

	Well you can't really blame them for that.  Taking a look at this
philosophically you are taking the relativist view point which says that
there are many different versions of the truth.  Well there version of
the truth not only says that some things are worng but that they are
obliged to inform people of that fact and attempt to deter them. 
Otherwise they are accessories and jsut as bad as the sinner.
	Secondly, Everybody in one or another tries to force there beliefs on
other people and they do succeed.  That is why some people do not run
around naked or kill eachother indiscriminately.  We have forced our
beliefs on them that such things are wrong and should not be done.

-I remember the the glory days when we sat with the king.
Dining on meh yams and washing it down with red rum.
ML5A@andrew.cmu.edu Bear aka the Lord High Rulebender
Newsgroups: alt.callahans