HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jac1@ra.msstate.edu (Jennifer Cox)
Subject: Re: class rivalries at colleges
Organization: Mississippi State University
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 17:55:21 GMT


There is a school here called Mississippi College that still forces
the freshmen to do inane things.  My dad went to school there in the
early 60's and they shaved all the guys hair and made them wear beanies.
They were also made to sing songs in the cafeteria at lunch and other likke
goodies.  

When my cousin was thhere in the early 80's they had progressed to just
making the freshmen wear the same T-shirt for 2-3 weeks.  They also
had little tomahawks (Choctaws) around for the same time period.  

I'm pretty sure these traditions are still around.  They still have to sind
in the cafeteria and stuff like that.  Nothing is in bad taste because it
is a Southern Baptist affiliated school.
From: jeffries@iastate.edu (Anthony G Jeffries)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: Iowa State University Towers
Date: 7 Oct 92 02:24:48 GMT
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA

>AGJ> I heard this a couple of years ago as a freshman.  However, the last I 
>AGJ> heard was that the Towers were being renovated.  They are, for all practical
>AGJ> purposes, permanent.  I've never lived in them, but I understand that if you
>AGJ> live on the upper floors, you can feel them sway quite a bit in a strong 
>AGJ> wind.  (For those who don't know, the Towers are about twelve stories tall.)

>I heard that they sway so much in strong winds that the water sloshes
>out of the toilets.  I remember trying to organize a field trip to the
>Towers during one perticuarly nasty storm to verify this rumor.  I
>couldn't, however, get anyone to walk the 12? blocks with me in a
>driving rain storm.

I don't blame them.  :-)  I've heard the rumor about the water in the toilets,
but I don't think they sway quite *that* much.

-- 
Anthony Glen Jeffries N0NRO  ><>   Amazing Grace, How Sweet The Sound!   ><>
Journalism and Mass Communication student  Iowa State University  Ames, IA
"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to 
save the world through Him." John 3:17 (NIV)
From: KPW104@psuvm.psu.edu (K-JAMZ)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Pe: PSU Lab ops
Date: 6 Oct 92 18:20:58 GMT
Organization: Penn State University


    I would like to formally repeal my last post.  It just makes me mad when
people are flamed for trying to do their job- after all they are students and
they are human, prone to having bad days.  In the case of HCM100, I probably
would have throttled him.  I did NOT know everything before I posted and will
probably not do something that stupid again. Please, Accept my apology and
my acceptance of a wrong act.


                                                      -K-Jamz
----
Ken Wilcox
kpw104@psuvm
kpw104@psuvm.psu.edu
From: troch@gandalf.Rutgers.EDU (Rod Troch)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: parking tickets
Date: 1 Oct 92 15:10:44 GMT
	<92273.114341KWF102@psuvm.psu.edu>
Organization: Right Coast HQ For Stupid Pub Tricks
In-reply-to: KWF102@psuvm.psu.edu's message of 29 Sep 92 15:43:41 GMT

>>>>> "Kevin" == Kevin Furrow <KWF102@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
	Kevin> do it.  My roommate once got a $10.00 parking ticket.
	Kevin> So, he went to a local bank, got 1,000 pennies (all in
	Kevin> those 50 cent rolls) and took the pennies to the police
	Kevin> station.  They took it, said thanks, that's all.  Maybe
	Kevin> he should have tried the $100 bill trick.

What is the $100 bill trick?

Rod
--
-----------
If you yell try : Rod Troch                  | Zeta Beta Tau
internet        : troch@gandalf.rutgers.edu  | 
                : troch@pilot.njin.net       | happyHappy joyJoy
Rutgers Univesity - Department of History - Network Administrator
From: pratta@rpi.edu (Anthony Edward Prattico)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: Computer Operators
Date: 2 Oct 92 22:59:01 GMT
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

In article <6696@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP> ccohen+@pitt.edu (Caleb N Cohen) writes:

>  Anyone who has worked as a computer operator, consultant, etc will have
>loads of stories to tell.  I write this as I am working... 
>
>  Here at Pitt, the operators (2 or 3) are required, as part of their job, 
>to file output.  We take it off the printers and put it into bags (yes
>plastic bags.  Do any other u's do this?).  I work in the engineering
>building and we get backed up quite often with our 2 mainframe and 1 IBM
>printers running non-stop.  Well, last Friday, there were only 2 mainframe
>printers working on campus - neither anywehre Benedum Hall. For us operators, 
>it was to be a boon - very little output to file, only wordperfect print outs
>from the little HP laserjet.  NOT to be the case!

Here at RPI we bag and staple output, depending on what the user specifies, or
doesn't specify, as one printer defaults to stapled. We have numerous Apple
Laserwriters, mostly located in the labs, which handle PostScript printing and
other local printing from the UN*X system. In the printroom we have 2 Xerox
8790 page printers which are the mainframe printers. These can be used for 
anything except PostScript, and the output is placed in a rack right outside
the printroom, as is placed there within a few minutes of being printed, and
usually within a few minutes of being sent. (They start automatically after a
set number of pages have been received.) Of course, the concept of the rack is
much too complicated for freshmen to handle, so they are constantly coming to
the service window to ask for their ouput. Also, there is a big button and a 
sign next to the window that says "Push button for service" That is too
complicated as well, and some will stand there staring in the window for 
several minutes waiting to be noticed.

I could go on about students, and also about the operators, and a few stories
about Xerox CE's. But I'll let other people from here post there own.

Anthony
From: jma@reef.cis.ufl.edu (John 'Vlad' Adams)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: Computer Lab Operator Geeks
Date: 3 Oct 92 00:38:44 GMT
Organization: Univ. of Florida CIS Dept.

Did michaelb@cse.fau.edu really type:
}  I've worked in retail I'm use to being helpful to customers (which is what 
}  students are).

No no no... students are peons to the University!  Customers are the
corporations and the government that pay big money for such things as
SDI programs and such!  (UF-CIS is nicknamed 'baby-killers from outter
space.')  Undergrads are peon-wanna-bes.  Grads are peons!

}  A friend of mine went thru a training session they had here
}  for lab assistants (I missed it), and said the attitude of many of them was
}  that the 'students were the enemy'.

You mean they aren't?  Seriously - most of the questions I heard as a
lab ass was "How do I do..." instead of "This is how I tried to solve
the homework - will you show me where I went wrong."  This is why most
of us ex-lab asses know that students are the enemy.

}     Heck, I'm always having to straighten out students who were mis-informed by
}  lab assistants from other labs about our lab.  See, I work in the only Unix
}  lab, the other labs have vt-100 terminals or PCs.

See, we didn't want those students using our terminals!  :)
-- 
    _   Who:    John 'Vlad' Adams 
 _ //   Where:  jma@cis.ufl.edu -or- jadams@coral.senod.uwf.edu
 \X/    Why:    "Every moment of pleasure in life has to be
                   purchased by an equal amount of pain."
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
From: hoesly@lars.acc-admin.stolaf.edu (Rebel Contrabassoonist)
Subject: Re: Renaming Hallowed Institutions
Organization: Contrabassoonists Anonymous
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 23:07:03 GMT


Well, St. Olaf has a few re-namings...
St. Oaf, St. Loaf, and St. O (read: zero) come to mind...

Gustavus Adolphus College is often referred
to (rather appropriately, I think) by its acronym: GAC...

Then there's Whatberg (Wartburg) College
in Where-everly (Waverly) Iowa...

And U Wisconsin- Rubber Balls (UW-River Falls)...
(also known as Ugly Women Roam Free)

"Mistake by the Lake" for Northwestern U...

and the thing they call a college in my hometown,
Mount Senility...er, Mount Venereal...umm, Mount Drano...
(actually Mount Senario)

---
Kurt D. Hoesly	hoesly@acc.stolaf.edu  (The Rebel Contrabassoonist)

So Mattel thinks that math is tough, eh?  *evil laugh*  Wait 'til
they start getting all the phone calls about it...
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
From: dbrod@eng.clemson.edu (douglas brod)
Subject: Re: Renaming Hallowed Institutions
Reply-To: dbrod@eng.clemson.edu
Organization: College of Engineering, Clemson Univ.
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 23:32:18 GMT

In article 15213@javelin.sim.es.com, gfowler@javelin.sim.es.com (Gary Fowler) writes:
>sdavis@cwis.unomaha.edu (Scott Davis) writes:
>
>>In an earlier post, G Fowler mentioned that two BYU cafeterias were
>>given more appropriate names by the student body -- the Cannon Center
>>was known as the Cancer Center, Morris Center as Morbid Center.
>
>>Here, UNO doesn't stand for University of Nebraska at Omaha, but rather
>>University of No Opportunity.
>
>>Any others? 
>
>Also at BYU, many buildings are known by acronyms.  For example SWKT for
>Spencer W. Kimble Tower.  The administration building is the ASB for
>Abraham Smoot Building.  We prefered calling it the Smoot Office Building,
>or SOB for short.

Here at Clemson, they were going to name a building "R.F. Poole Hall",
but they knew it would be called "Poole Hall" by students.  They ended up
naming it "The R. F. Poole Plant and Agriculture Building". 

Doug Brod
dbrod@eng.clemson.edu


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college,alt.folklore.urban,soc.college
From: cavrak@emba-news.uvm.edu.UUCP (Steve Cavrak)
Subject: Re: Class distinction in colleges
Originator: cavrak@newton.emba.uvm.edu
Organization: University of Vermont -- Division of EMBA Computer Facility
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 18:44:15 GMT

From article <1a0vo8INNg9i@agate.berkeley.edu>, by dbucher@ocf.berkeley.edu (Daniel Bucher):
 
	My guess is post-WWII flooding of colleges and universities
	with former soldiers who now could afford college on their GI
	bills. The important thing about these persons is that they
	were older and had far more life-and-death experience than the
	previous average joe-college-student. So they were in college
	not to mess around with petty rivalries, but with the goal of
	graduation and future work in mind.
 
 	Disclaimer: this is just an educated guess. What do you all
	think?
 
	--------------------------------------------------------------
	s/ Daniel Bucher dbucher@ocf.berkeley.edu  Cognitive Science, 
	Class of '94(ish)
 			    G O   B E A R S
	--------------------------------------------------------------

The practice was alive and well at Penn State in 19960 when I was a
freshman where dinks annd name tags and school songs were a part of
the ceremonies (but hazing was forbidden), but there was no evidence
of it a year later(fraternity rituals excepted), when I went to
Berkeley as a sophmore.  At Penn State, attendance at football games,
along with ROTC, was mandatory -- and frosh initiation was declared
over at the first Penn State Touchdown.

My own guess was that the decline in the practice came out of the same
set of concerns that swept away the 50's -- the Civil Rights Movement,
and then the 1964 Free Speech Movement at Cal.  The "military
experience", with its shaved heads, new shirt, new pants, new under
shirt, new underpants, new socks, new shoes, YES SIR! "basic training",
and the eventual graduation into the American Legion suggest to me
that "military experience" was not a force that led to the change
in the way frosh are treated. (Hey, the ROTC is still one of the most
gung-ho groups on campus.)

Steve
From: lee@ace.npac.syr.edu (Lee C. Brink)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: Computer Lab Security (Moroons!)
Date: 5 Oct 92 18:28:32 GMT
	<PRATTA.92Oct4191034@marcus.rpi.edu>
Organization: Northeast Parallel Architectures Center, Syracuse, NY
In-reply-to: pratta@rpi.edu's message of Mon, 5 Oct 1992 00:10:34 GMT


  You think it's bad there with Security not meandering at all.  You
can set your watch to ours!  Security goes through the Center for
Science & Technology at the same time every day.  The custodial staff knows
when it's running behind in its duties by listening for Security.
  Makes me wonder which is worse: If security will ever show up, or knowing
exactly when security will show up.

     Lee

--
+---------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Lee C Brink	            | Office Support Co-ordinator at NPAC	   |
| lee@nova.npac.syr.edu     | Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244-4100 |
|			    | 315-443-1722				   |
+---------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 08:27:23 EDT
From: <HCM100@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Computer Lab Operator Geeks

Okay, Okay.  I know what you're all thinking.  But here at Penn State I
think that they force all the once normal, friendly folks who work at
the computer labs to undergo ferocity training or something.  Sure, there
are a few gems in the manure pile, but come on!  I don't like being
grumbled at at 8:05 when I ask if the lab is open yet (the sign says
8:00) and the operator says GET OUT!  THIS IS MY TIME! And I had a project
due in a few hours, too.

Anyway, the point is:  What are the horror stories from other universities
about the computer system/operators/assorted miscellany?

ObOxymoron:  Computer Center Help Desk


*  Hans C. Masing        |  "When you go in for a job interview, I  *
*  HCM100@PSUVM.psu.edu  |   think a good thing to ask is if they   *
*  Penn State MIS Dept.  |   ever press charges." - Jack Handey     *
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
From: nissim@mary.fordham.edu (Leonard J. Nissim)
Subject: Re: Renaming Hallowed Institutions
Organization: Fordham University
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 20:35:00 GMT
X-Posted-From: mary.fordham.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In article <1992Sep30.171046.26088@ccd.harris.com>, 
mba@controls.ccd.harris.com (Belinda Asbell) writes...
> 
> 
>I've heard that the University of Maryland's Baltimore Campus (UMBC) is 
>sometimes
>referred to as "U Must Be Crazy".....
> 
>-- 
>=============================================================================
>Belinda Asbell        +  System Administrator, Harris Controls Division
>mba@ccd.harris.com    +        #include <disclaimer.h>
> 

It also stands for "U Made Bad Choice"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leonard J. Nissim  (nissim@mary.fordham.edu)   
Disclaimer:  "I speak only for myself."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: diverson@phys.ksu.edu (David Iverson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: permanent temporary buildings.
Date: 3 Oct 92 03:28:13 GMT
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: bohr.phys.ksu.edu

At the University of Rochester there are a whole bunch of buildings that are
labeled "under construction."  You see, George Eastman  (Eastman Kodak)
specified in the original endowment that every building on campus had to be
made of at least 80% red-brick.  But now, since the original campus was
built, they've put up a couple buildings (like the Zornow Sports Center)
that do not meet this criteria.  So, to stay out of legal trouble the Univ.
says, "Uhhhhhhh.....we're still working on them."

-diversion

--
diverson@phys.ksu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: neeri@iis.ethz.ch (Matthias Neeracher)
Subject: Re: Lillith
Organization: Integrated Systems Laboratory, ETH, Zurich
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 10:43:05 GMT

In article <20793@plains.NoDak.edu> person@plains.NoDak.edu (Brett G Person ) writes:
>Whatever happened to Wirth's Lillith machine that Pournelle was
>forever writing about in the  early to mid-80's 

ETH Zuerich, where the Lilith was designed, sold out their Liliths in 1989, if
I remember correctly. I bought one and turn it on about once a year to see if
it still runs.

>I know it was just Pournelle, but the blurbs he wrote about the
>machine made it sound real interesting. 

Considering when it was build, it is a really neat machine: A fast Modula-2
compiler (I particularly like the Modula-2 implementation of PacMan :-), a big
screen. Since it has a pretty high level assembly language (a friend of mine
once claimed that Modula-2 was the real Lilith assembly language), it's easy to
prototype compilers on it.

The biggest problem, apart from reliability questions, is the completely flat
file system (The idea was apparently, that with long file names, no
hierarchical directories were needed).

All in all, one of the better machines Pournelle has ever endorsed :-)

Matthias

-----
Matthias Neeracher                                   neeri@iis.ethz.ch
   "No, what he didn't like about heroes was that they were usually
    suicidally gloomy when sober and homicidally insane when drunk."
                          -- Terry Pratchett, _The Colour of Magic_
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: robm@void.ncsa.uiuc.edu (Rob McCool)
Subject: Re: "Any" key
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 21:14:29 GMT

rgt@kepler.unh.edu (Richard G Tomasso) writes:
: In addition to the "Any" key mistake. One of my favorites has always been
: when (on PC's usually) the user is promted "Please press <F1>" or something
: similar, so they press F ... then press 1 ... and wonder why nothing happens.
: 


Speaking of that, I always get a kick out of taking the keyboard off of the
  computer completely, and trying to boot, with the message "Keyboard error,
  press <F1> to resume".... as if I'm going to be able to press F1 without 
  the keyboard.

-- 
Rob McCool, NCSA STG System Administrator
robm@ncsa.uiuc.edu r-mccool@uiuc.edu robm@imsa.edu
It was working ten minutes ago, I swear...
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,rec.games.int-fiction
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Zork/Dungeon (was Re: MDL)
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 10:47:37 GMT

In article <1992Oct1.113936.24516@bohra.cpg.oz.au> als@bohra.cpg.oz.au (Anthony Shipman) writes:
>
>Are you referring to the "cdungeon" program found in
>    comp.sources.games/volume12/cdungeon
>
>It's History file says that it is translated from the Fortran but that
>it has been superceded by Zork.  ....

>
>cdungeon has .....
>
>
>
>/*COPYRIGHT 1980, INFOCOM COMPUTERS AND COMMUNICATIONS, CAMBRIDGE MA. 02142*/
>/* ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, COMMERCIAL USAGE STRICTLY PROHIBITED */
>/* WRITTEN BY R. M. SUPNIK */
>
>
>So now I'm confused.  What is the genealogy?
>
>	dungeon  -->  cdungeon --> Zork -->  Zork I, II, III
>
>or
>
>	dungeon  -->  (cdungeon = Zork) -->  Zork I, II, III
>
>or
>
>	dungeon  -->  cdungeon --> (Zork =  Zork I) -->Zork II, III
>
>
>or what?

I would like this explained also.  As far as I'm concerned, there is only
one "true" ZORK, the MDL version.  However, while it was under development,
various ripoffs of it appeared.  Apparently cdungeon is a port or translation
of the Fortran version that aspires to be compatible with the 585 point version
of MDL ZORK which isn't the latest version.  Moreover, the Fortran version
itself went through revisions and was originally a hacked-up version of
Adventure in Fortran appropriated to attempt to run the MDL ZORK's cave
description, without permission of MIT, which in turn led to MIT copyrighting
1980 MDL ZORK itself.  Apparently Supnik, a known former DEC employee, who
in turn was responsible for converting the Fortran-10 sources of Advent into
the wimpier PDP-11 Fortran version (wimpier because the Fortran is wimpier;
he had little choice), evolved the Fortran code into something a little better
suited to play the 585 point ZORK, but still not quite as good as MDL ZORK
always was.  If cdungeon is merely a port to C, so be it.  In any case,
there is no other version of 616 point MDL ZORK to be had anywhere.  The
ZORK trilogy is split into three contrived parts, and has additional
incompatible features, some of which are considered to have merit by certain 
people, but clearly not totally agreed upon as improvements by all observers
for all changes.   The consensus is that the splitting is an unacceptable
intrusion into the spirit of the game, and was merely done as an expediency
so each part can fit into the memory of 64K machines alongside an interpreter
of the Z code generated for that module of the game.  Admittedly the parser
of Zork Trilogy may be as good or even slightly better than MDL ZORK, but this
is far outweighed by the split.  Moreover, MDL ZORK' parser at the 616 point
version represents a somewhat better parser than the MDL ZORK parser for the
585 point earlier version, which is apparently the role model for all of these
other inferior versions.

cjl
From: mshute@cs.man.ac.uk (Malcolm Shute)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: PERQ owner's club
Date: 30 Sep 92 16:31:31 GMT
Organization: Dept Computer Science, University of Manchester, U.K.

Hello,
I recently posted to  comp.sys.misc  and asked why there was not
a newsgroup  comp.sys.perq

I pointed out that, since PERQ were standard issue from the SERC
for all university projects in the early 1980s, there must be hundreds
of users in the UK alone who have subsequently acquired machines,
intercepting them on their way to the scrapyard in the sky.

Chris Lamb kindly replied, and said that I might post here, too.
Apparently there is a newsletter... and he suggested that I should
contact Robert Davis and Bill von Hagen.

This posting is partly to ask if they are out there, listening...
and could drop me an email.

It is partly also to ask the net... how many PERQ users *are* there
still out there?
--

Malcolm SHUTE.         (The AM Mollusc:   v_@_ )        Disclaimer: all
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: richg@hatch.socal.com (Rich Greenberg)
Subject: Re: IBM 3021 Data Cell
Organization: Hatch Usenet and E-mail.  Playa del Rey, CA
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 05:44:13 GMT


Sometime in the late 60's (it was SHARE at Houston), a fellow was telling
me of his experiences with the data cell or "Noodle Grabber" as
it was often called.

He wanted to give it a goooooooood workout, so he ran an assembly
putting SYSUT1, SYSUT2, SYSUT3, SYSPUNCH, & SYSGO (3 work data sets
and two copies of the binary output) on every other cell (i.e. evenly
space around the circle of cells).

He then started the assembly of HASP (for those who don't recognize
that term, lets just say it was a *BIG* assembly).

Some hour or so later, he gave up and cancelled it.
-- 
                
Rich Greenberg - N6LRT - 310-649-0238 - richg@hatch.socal.com
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:14823 misc.forsale.computers:36017