HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Lauren L. Crawford)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Back to Books
Date: 3 Sep 92 20:32:48 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <1992Sep3.195439.10516@novell.com> janines@novell.com (Janine Schenone) writes:
>
>I have a problem, which I hope you R.a.b.belaisians can help me solve: 
>I am in a fiction funk. The problem is so severe that I believe 
>they should add a new diagnostic category to depression for people 
>who can't seem to find anything to read. 
>
>Can anyone recommend a book that will knock my socks off? I'm looking
>for something entertaining but not empty. Nothing that might dampen
>the spirit, please. I could use a change of scenery, so something
>set in a country other than the U.S. might be nice.
>


I just finished the first of Mahfouz Naguib's Cairo trilogy (he 
recently won the Nobel, and his works are just getting translated
into English).  It's "Palace Walk" and it's wonderful.  I'm
halfway through the second, also wonderful.  The trilogy follows the
fortunes and misfortunes of an Egyptian family in Cairo in the '20s and
'30s.  It took me a little while to get into it; now I'm hooked.

Another suggestion:  "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan.  Most of it takes
place in this country, some in China.  Wonderful look at the intricacies
of mothers and daughters and first-generation immigrants.  

Or just about anything by Ruth Prawar Jabvahl; I especially like her
Indian novels that don't include western characters.  They tend to
be much funnier.  

Or try to get ahold of something by Mrs. Oliphant, a Victorian writer
whose stuff has recently been reprinted.  She's surprisingly funny
and ironic. 

 

-- 
Lauren Crawford  //  crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu

I believe we are on the irreversible trend toward more freedom and
democracy -- but that could change.   -- J. Danforth Quayle  
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.humor,alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.sf.misc
From: mfc1493@venus.tamu.edu (Ratboy)
Subject: Re: Agnostics and Athiests
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 20:58:00 GMT

>>} >>>>>>>IF THIS DOESN'T STOP, IM GOING TO START THE WORST CASCADE EVER.
>>} >>>>>>WHILE EATING THIS SLOP, I SEWED THE FIRST BROCADE BEAVER.
>>} >>>>>BILE FITTING RIG STOP, LIE SPEWED THIRST LIVER !!!!
>>} >>>>IF YOU MUST CONTRIBUTE, AT LEAST DELIVER...
>>} >>>WHO MAY I ATTRIBUTE TO THIS BEASTLY SLIVER?
>>} >>TO SPAY A LUTE IN A GREASY RIVER
>>} >DAMN CASCADERS THINK YOU'RE SO CLEVER
>>} I WILL NOT CASCADE; NOPE, NO, NEVER
>>WOULD YOU, COULD YOU, ON A TRAIN?
>WOULD YOU, COULD YOU, IN THE RAIN?
R2-D2 ON THE BRAIN?

Ratboy

Sorry. No sig.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.humor,alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.sf.misc
From: schroede@bnlux1.bnl.gov (gary l. schroeder)
Subject: Re: Agnostics and Athiests
Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 20:01:24 GMT

In article <1992Aug28.190248.8109@u.washington.edu> twain@milton.u.washington.edu (Barbara Hlavin) writes:

>>>FRAIL, MISSPELLED POTATOeS AROUND US DO HOVER!
>>Incidently, if you check your Oxford English Dictionary, as well as most
>>others, you will find that, contrary to popular opinion, potatoe is not only
>>a correct spelling, but for many years was THE correct spelling.

>But not in this century, which is the century we live in, or rather, 
>WOULD live in if we had a choice, or if we were Americans, which I and 
>my mother and brother and so on, many of my great-great grandparents, 
>have been for many many years now. 

Yes, but this explains much.  Why, just the other day I heard Quayle get
up to leave an interview saying "Sorry, gentelmen, but I have to run.  I
need to stop at ye olde book shoppe on the way home this evening".

While we've been ridiculing Mr. Quayle, we've just been ignorant of our
own cultural bias.  How dare we judge ourselves superior merely because
we accept the spelling "potato" as correct.  We are failing to recognize
the vice president's cultural and social background.  In light of this,
it's easy to understand why Mr. Quayle failed so many standardized tests
in high school.  He wasn't unintelligent or learning disabled, but
rather he was being unfairly judged by the standards of mainstream
American academia.

I have a new found respect for the man, and more than a little pity for
him having to endure this unending slander because of his Olde English
heritage.




>(Am I in the right solar system yet?) 
>--Barbara 

Alas, that's a question that I can't answer for you, Barbara.  Which one
are you in?


-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Schroeder	                |  Warning: prolonged exposure to this
schroede@bnlux1.bnl.gov         |  .sig may cause retinal damage and 
Brookhaven National Laboratory  |  blistering skin rashes.
From: jack@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: The Literary Canon
Date: 31 Aug 92 17:23:03 GMT
Reply-To: jack@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin)
Organization: COMANDOS Project, Glesga Yoonie

entpph@ritvax.isc.rit.edu wrote:
> I am saddened to see that the superstition of race is still with us despite
> the progress(?) of the last 50 years.  There is no such thing as race.

Twaddle.

> No one group of people has achieved evolutionary superiority over another
> group.

Which has nothing whatever to do with the issue of whether "race" means
something.

> No person's "race" can be determined from his or her skeleton.

Big deal.  You don't wait till someone's dead before deciding what race
they are.

> Under the skin we are all the same.

Except that Ashkenazic Jews are more likely to get Tay-Sachs disease,
Anglos are more likely to get cystic fibrosis, Maori women have LDL/HDL
ratios the same as men, West African-descended people are more likely to
get sickle-cell anaemia, Mediterranean-descended people are more likely to
get beta-thalassaemia, nobody but Caucasians and Fulani are likely to be
able to digest lactose as an adult... and these genetic differences aren't
under the skin?

You don't have to deny that racial differences exist to say they shouldn't
affect the way people are treated.  And trying to make such an outright
loopy empirical claim in the name of anti-racism is most likely to have the
completely counterproductive effect of making anti-racists look like
nutters.  Hell, I can tell whether I'm in Edinburgh or Glasgow simply by
looking at the physical types of the people around me; Glaswegians tend to
be shorter and fatter with wider faces and more often red hair and freckles
(because they have a higher proportion of Irish and Highland Scots genes
than Edinburghers).  I could make a similar judgment between Istanbul and
Bursa, or between Norwich and Birmingham.  It's just obvious to anyone with
eyes in their head that you can make a pretty reasonable guess at where
someone's ancestors came from by looking at their physical characteristics.

These systematic differences between the *average* physical characteristics
of whole groups are what people ordinarily mean by "race".  And dreaming up
some bizarre strawman concept that not even a Nazi has ever advocated in
order to refute it with platitudes is leaving whole areas of *convincing*
half-truth open for racists to use.

-- 
--  Jack Campin    room G092, Computing Science Department, Glasgow University,
17 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RZ, Scotland   TEL: 041 339 8855 x6854 (work)
INTERNET: jack@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk or via nsfnet-relay.ac.uk    FAX: 041 330 4913
BANG!net: via mcsun and uknet     BITNET: via UKACRL    UUCP: jack@glasgow.uucp
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.humor,alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.sf.misc
From: gwr@hedonist-1.lanl.gov (Graham W. Redgrave)
Subject: Re: Agnostics and Athiests
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 20:26:45 GMT

In article <1992Aug25.170508.12071@colorado.edu>, paulchem@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Icarus) writes:
|> In article <1992Aug25.153404.2055@ccs.QueensU.CA> 3005904@jeff-lab.queensu.ca (Colleen Davis (Dexter)) writes:
|> >In article <787@dsbc.icl.co.uk>, sut@dsbc.icl.co.uk (Secure Unix Team KID01) writes:
|> >> 
|> >> In article <1992Aug21.081211.5150@pacifier.rain.com> keithf@pacifier.rain.com (Keith Furrow) writes:
|> >> >In article <g60nbv2z@csv.warwick.ac.uk> csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~) writes:
|> >> >>In article <1992Aug18.140604.19294@wam.umd.edu> ara@wam.umd.edu (Ford Prefect) writes:
|> >> >>>In article <chris.714120892@rufus> chris@state.COM.AU (Chris Keane) writes:
|> >> >>>>ara@wam.umd.edu (Ford Prefect) writes:
|> >> >>>>
|> >> >>>>>IF THIS DOESN'T STOP, IM GOING TO START THE WORST CASCADE EVER.
|> >> >>>>WHILE EATING THIS SLOP, I SEWED THE FIRST BROCADE BEAVER.
|> >> >>>BILE FITTING RIG STOP, LIE SPEWED THIRST LIVER !!!!
|> >> >>IF YOU MUST CONTRIBUTE, AT LEAST DELIVER...
|> >> >WHO MAY I ATTRIBUTE TO THIS BEASTLY SLIVER?
|> >> TO SPAY A LUTE IN A GREASY RIVER
|> >DAMN CASCADERS THINK YOU'RE SO CLEVER
|> WHY DO ALIEN INVADERS MAKE YOU SHIVER ?
FOR THE SAME REASON AS A MADMAN WITH A CLEAVER!
-- 
Graham Redgrave    |    --  I don't speak for the government, 
gwr@life.lanl.gov  |        but I wish the government would speak for me ...  --
Xref: sparky rec.arts.books:15354 sci.lang:6912 rec.arts.sf.written:11662 rec.arts.sf.misc:2780
From: tolklang-request@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Julian Bradfield)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,sci.lang,rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: Monthly posting: TolkLang - mailing list on Tolkien's languages.
Date: 1 Sep 92 10:59:59 GMT
Reply-To: tolklang-request@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Julian Bradfield)
Followup-To: poster
Organization: Laboratory for the Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh U

This is an automated monthly posting to
rec.arts.{books,sf.{misc,written}} and sci.lang.

TolkLang

    Contact: tolklang-request@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Julian Bradfield)

    Purpose: Discussions of the linguistic aspects of 
    J.R.R. Tolkien's works. This covers everything from Elvish
    vocabulary and grammar to his use of Old English. The list is 
    (lightly) moderated.

    It is possible to receive TolkLang as a weekly digest; please
    say if you want this.
From: mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Family Relationships
Date: 25 Aug 92 18:50:08 GMT


Keith Morgan writes:

        Mike Godwin writes:

                The first name is Don. The last name is not Lazlo--it's
                Novello. Don Novello is the creator of the characters
                Lazlo Toth and Father Guido Sarducci.

        Barrie Trinkle adds:

                And the brother of U.S. Surgeon General Antonia Novello.

        The propensity for uniforms must run in the family.

As I wrote to Barrie, I suspect his sources.  General Novello speaks
English with a (somewhat) heavy Hispanic accent, while Don does not.
Novello could be Italian or Hispanic.  I always thought Don was Italian,
but that could be because of his character.  Also -- if his sister was
surgeon general, don't you think she would get him to stop smoking?
After all -- this is the woman who took on the smoking camel.

Since we are talking about family relationships, let me ask the following:

I recently finished TIME'S ARROW by Martin Amis.  In the acknowledgements,
he mentions his brother-in-law, Matthew Spender.

There is an artist named Matthew Spender who is the son of Stephen Spender,
and is married to Maro Gorky, who is also a sculpter.  Matthew Spender
has just published a book called WITHIN TUSCANY.

Does anyone know if there is a familial connection between the two families?
Is the brother-in-law of Martin Amis the son or grandson of Stephen Spender?

As an aside, the picture of Matthew Spender on the back cover looks
astonishingly like that of his father, so unlike the boy that his father
wrote about in "One More New Botched Beginning:"

        Also that summer
        My son stayed up the valley in the mountains.
        One day I went to see him and he stood
        Not seeing me, watching some hens.
        Doing so, he was absorbed
        In their wire-netted world.  He danced
        On one leg.  Leaning forward, he became
        A bird-boy.  I am there
        Still seeing him.  To him
        That moment -- unselfknowing even then
        is drowned in his oblivious early days.

Mark
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: kate@cactus.org (Katherine M. Catmull)
Subject: Re: The Literary Canon
Organization: Capital Area Central Texas UNIX Society, Austin, Tx
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 22:35:11 GMT

Mike Morris writes of the "Shakespeare's Sister" argument:

>
>My complaint is that I think this over-romanticizes being a
>writer, as though one were completely born to such a talent. I think
>one can see the absurdity if one imagines instead that she commits
>suicide really because she was born with a genius for sitar playing and
>she has been frustrated by having no outlet for this talent.


Mike Morris' arguments are always so thoughtful and reasoned that I
hate to disagree with him here, but I don't think this comparison
holds at all. One is not "born with a genius for sitar playing" anymore
than one is "born with a genius for writing in Hindu."  But one
might be born with a genius for composing music, and if a person of
whatever culture with such a "genius" were consistently denied access
to the tools of developing and using that talent, they would live, I
think, in great misery indeed.

Kate



-- 
- - - - - - - -
kate@cactus.org
Be the voice of night and Florida in my ear.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: The Literary Canon
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 22:50:33 GMT

Barclay Blanchard writes:

	Barbara Hlavin writes:

		Ron Nadel writes of Mark Taranto:

			Boy, Cramer is so lucky to have a friend like you.  
			Yawn...

		rec.arts.books is lucky to attract people like Mark Taranto.  

	I second that.  Mark is intelligent and open minded.

Does all the love in this world then go to Mark? Is there no-one to spare 
a little for Ron Nadel?

						Fido
From: rafem@gvlf7-e.gvl.unisys.com (Ralph Marrone)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Wanted: Old Dean Koontz SF Novels
Date: 4 Sep 92 15:48:29 GMT
Organization: Unisys Defense Systems, Great Valley Labs, Paoli, Pa

In article <Bu1LrB.5vD@agora.rain.com> hopkins@agora.rain.com (Scott Hopkins) writes:
>
>	Can anyone help me?  I'm looking for old Dean R. Koontz novels!  
>Which includes sci-fi or any of his books under a pen name!  I know that
>they're out of print, but one can hope....
>	Any help would be very appreciated!!!!
>
>			-Casey Hopkins
>			hopkins@agora.rain.com

I've never read any of his novels, but years ago he wrote a short
story called, I believe, _The Mouse in The Walls of The Global
Village_.  It's collected in Harlan Ellison's _Again, Dangerous
Visions_.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: farrell@coral.cs.jcu.edu.au (John Farrell)
Subject: Re: Fowles' `The Collector'
Organization: James Cook University
Date:  2 Sep 92 23:11:11 GMT

In <78942@ut-emx.uucp> asim@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Asim Rehman Khan) writes:
>Recently, I read an interesting book and thought of sharing my impressions of
>it.  It was John Fowles' "The Collector"...

  You know they made a movie of it? Dreadful early seventies, late sixties
type thing. It's called "The Collector".

Friendless
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: david@infopro.com (Dragon [David Fiedler])
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.humor,alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: Re: Agnostics and Athiests
Date: 28 Aug 92 04:11:51 GMT
Organization: InfoPro Systems: Writers, Consultants, and Dragons

paulchem@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Icarus) writes:

>In article <1992Aug25.202645.13056@newshost.lanl.gov> gwr@hedonist-1.lanl.gov (Graham W. Redgrave) writes:
>>In article <1992Aug25.170508.12071@colorado.edu>, paulchem@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Icarus) writes:
>>|> In article <1992Aug25.153404.2055@ccs.QueensU.CA> 3005904@jeff-lab.queensu.ca (Colleen Davis (Dexter)) writes:
>>|> >In article <787@dsbc.icl.co.uk>, sut@dsbc.icl.co.uk (Secure Unix Team KID01) writes:
>>|> >> 
>>|> >> In article <1992Aug21.081211.5150@pacifier.rain.com> keithf@pacifier.rain.com (Keith Furrow) writes:
>>|> >> >In article <g60nbv2z@csv.warwick.ac.uk> csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~) writes:
>>|> >> >>In article <1992Aug18.140604.19294@wam.umd.edu> ara@wam.umd.edu (Ford Prefect) writes:
>>|> >> >>>In article <chris.714120892@rufus> chris@state.COM.AU (Chris Keane) writes:
>>|> >> >>>>ara@wam.umd.edu (Ford Prefect) writes:
>>|> >> >>>>
>>|> >> >>>>>IF THIS DOESN'T STOP, IM GOING TO START THE WORST CASCADE EVER.
>>|> >> >>>>WHILE EATING THIS SLOP, I SEWED THE FIRST BROCADE BEAVER.
>>|> >> >>>BILE FITTING RIG STOP, LIE SPEWED THIRST LIVER !!!!
>>|> >> >>IF YOU MUST CONTRIBUTE, AT LEAST DELIVER...
>>|> >> >WHO MAY I ATTRIBUTE TO THIS BEASTLY SLIVER?
>>|> >> TO SPAY A LUTE IN A GREASY RIVER
>>|> >DAMN CASCADERS THINK YOU'RE SO CLEVER
>>|> WHY DO ALIEN INVADERS MAKE YOU SHIVER ?
>>FOR THE SAME REASON AS A MADMAN WITH A CLEAVER!
>YOU SOUND LIKE QUAYLE WITH A GHASTLY FEVER !
ALL I NEED IS A PLACE TO STAND AND A LEVER!
-- 
David Fiedler    UUCP:{netcomsv,utoday}!infopro!david               AIR: N3717R
"The future is tekon."   Internet: david@infopro.com or david@utoday.com 
USMail:InfoPro Systems, PO Box 220 Rescue CA 95672 Phone:916/677-5870 FAX:-5873
From: blue@cam.nist.gov (Jim_Blue)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Sea Stories (was: Patrick O'Brian vs Horatio Hornblower...)
Date: 27 Aug 92 12:51:31 GMT
Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD

Not exactly "The Sea," but I enjoyed a nonfiction book by Tristan (?) Jones about his boat trip across South America. All right, there were a few
short portages, but only a few. He claims the altitude record for sailing, on Lake Titicaca (12500 feet). Sorry not to remember the title, but I gave the book to a sailor friend.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: jyc@leo.Stanford.EDU (Jon Corelis)
Subject: Re: Why I read the Economist
Organization: DSO, Stanford University
Date:  2 Sep 92 02:41:28 GMT

   I seem to be the only person so far posting to this topic who lives
in, or at least who will admit to living in, Palo Alto, and I don't see
what all this fuss is about.  We Palo Altans have never considered
ourselves to be above the common people.  Indeed, it is an article of
faith with us that we should treat those who aren't fortunate enough to
live here exactly as if they were our equals.

  No doubt these comments will not sway those who are incorrigably
prejudiced against this municipality.  But no matter what the Great
Unwashed opine -- I dare say we people who live in Palo Alto need
scarcely worry about our reputation ([hyoh-hyoh-hyoh]).

                                            ^
                                            |
                                             -- (patronizing chuckle)

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: myboy@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Lewis Murtaugh)
Subject: Re: Titles for Tom Maddox Biography Needed
Keywords: our lovely friend
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 18:38:49 GMT

In article <9208311658.AA12438@hardy.u.washington.edu> doland@mammoth.com (Doug Doland) writes:
>munnari!labtam!eyrie!prolix!dac writes:
>%In article <9208271658.AA03359@hardy.u.washington.edu>, Doug Doland writes:
>%
>%> Tommy, can you hear me? Tommy, can you see me? You will, o' course, get
>%> final peeky-boo of the galleys, but what do think of this:
>%>
>%>         TOM MADDOX: THE ZIT WHO MADE MEDICAL SCIENCE WEEP
>%
>%And let us not forget the sequel:  HOLLOW: The vacuum behind the facade!
>%
>%Dac
>%--
>
>Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions. They have been fed into one of
>those computer things which generated a composite title:
>
>        KARMA'S GUINEA PIG: THE DOWNTURN OF THOMASTHY MADDOX
>
>

Why are you being such a prick, Doug?  What did Tom Maddox do to you to
deserve this kindergarten-level mockery?

I've only read one of his stories, "Snake-Eyes," and I thought it was pretty
good.  Nothing to write home about, but I can't remember the last time I saw
YOUR name in print, Doug.  I've also read Tom's posts on alt.cyberpunk and on
this group, and I've never seen anything out of him that would make me call
him a "zit" or "hollow."  He seems like an intelligent, articualte person. 

Why waste r.a.b bandwidth with these personal attacks?  Would you go up to the
man in the street and call him a zit?  Or would you stand up in a real, public
forum (where people can see you and recognize you and you're not just a user
id) and say such a thing?  If not, why treat the Internet as a more trivial 
environment than the "real world"?  This seems to be one of the more
high-minded groups on the net, but you apparently view it as a preschool
playground.

Nyah nyah nyah nyah!

---
Charles Murtaugh
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: The Literary Canon
Keywords: Greeks race Cramer foolishness
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 15:49:58 GMT

Michael Sean Rooney at oxy.edu rants:

Oxy? Oxy? And who, pray, is the Resident Moron?

						Fido

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,soc.culture.british
From: wismith@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (William R. Smith)
Subject: Re: Why I read the Economist
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 17:46:15 GMT

Gerard Fryer writes:

	  By their own admission Time and Newsweek
	are aimed at about ninth grade (i.e., third form).  



Could someone relate the U.S. school grades to British forms?

	U.S.

	pre-school
	kindergarten	(usually age 5)
	grades 1 - 6	(usually advancing a grade each year)
	grades 7 - 8	(also called junior high or middle school)
	grades 9 - 12	(usually called high school)

	college or university  (designed for 4 years, but now often taking
			5 years to get a bachelor degree)
	2 year colleges are often called junior colleges or community colleges
			students sometimes transfer after junior college
			to a 4 year college

	beyond 4 year college is graduate school




William Sburgfort Smith
Intel, SSD
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books