HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: JBrandt@AAA.UOregon.EDU (Jay Brandt (Jason))
Subject: Re: BAH! HUMBUG! (was Re: Christmas is busting out all over!)
Organization: The Polyhedron Group
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 14:42:13 GMT

In article <1992Oct2.072413.21179@muddcs.claremont.edu>,
dgreen@jarthur.claremont.edu (David Green) writes:
> 
> In article <keulen.717997188@possum> keulen@possum.csu.murdoch.edu.au (Mike van Keulen) writes:
> ->rmarsh@waikato.ac.nz writes:
> ->>  "We've bin-hexed!" Stumpy yelps. "I think I'm losing feeling in my toes and
> ->>my fingers are number too..."
> ->                       ^^^
> ->
> ->I thought hex was base 6???
> 
> I think it's short for 'hexadecimal' (base 16).
> -- 

Correct. Hexadecimal uses 0 through 9 and A through F as its digits.
A good -bit- of information, that.

Trivia questions: 
Why are binary, octal and hexadecimal used in computers, rather than
decimal?
Why doesn't anybody bother to use base-4 (Quadral?)?

Jason
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: rlt@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (Minstrel)
Subject: Re: Another Introduction
Organization: DoberPuppies(tm) Unlimited
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 14:01:58 GMT

In article <1992Oct5.133246.21457@lambda.msfc.nasa.gov> rich@theophilus.msfc.nasa.gov writes:

>BTW, I still fiddle with CB--The handle is what I use here also.  I even
>use my real CB Call - KPR7883 - and operate within the rules (scary, ain't
>it).  Just for grins, I am working on getting a HAM licence.  The new
>codeless Technician class sounds like fun to me.

>--The Boss Troll

In one of the darkest corners, lit only by the dim glow of the frequency
display of an old transceiver, a long-silent patron looks up.  She pushes
aside an old brass straight key, takes off a pair of headphones and stretches
the stiff fingers of her right hand.  <Maybe he's on to something, going the
codeless Tech route> she thinks, as she looks to see who was speaking.

As the Boss Troll finishes, she approaches his table and introduces herself.

"Welcome, Troll...I'm afraid I missed your entrance.  Gosh, I haven't posted
much of anything in about a year, and I've barely kept up with reading.  A
few of the folks here might remember me;  my "handle" :-) is Minstrel.  I
just had to drop by and encourage you to get that Ham license.  It is loads
of fun...but it can be pretty time-consuming, as well!  Guess that's one of
the main reasons I haven't kept up with this group too much...This last year
has been mostly studying and taking radio exams.  Finally got my Extra, so
that's over with, anyway!

"Gee, I hope you eventually decide to learn the code, as well.  It's a pain
if you don't enjoy it, but it gives you a lot more privileges (even if you
never use it.)  If you ever want to chat about radio stuff, drop me a line.

"73 de AA2KZ."

  - Minstrel (Formerly KBPP3303...Yep, I used my CB call, too!)

Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: bestr1070@bestsd.sdsu.edu (Alena)
Subject: Arty...A friend in mourning..
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1  
Organization: San Diego State University - Dept. of Redundancy Dept.
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 03:10:00 GMT

I have never posted to this group, but I knew Arty briefly.  My roommate, Liz,
introduced me.  I had dinner with this man.  Intelegent, funny, even attractive
where what I thought when I met him.  I never suppected that this human would 
end his beautiful self. 

Why???

I just wish he had enough faith in us to have turned to us.

Alena-----BESTR1070@BESTSD.SDSU.EDU
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Scrooge)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: BAH! HUMBUG! (was Re: Christmas is busting out all over!)
Date: 29 Sep 92 16:02:45 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@unixd2.cis.pitt.edu

In article <1992Sep29.144245.4516@crc.ricoh.com> rowanf@crc.ricoh.com (Rowan Fairgrove) writes:
>Hey, is there anyone else who would like to join us?

>For those of you who feel it is too early to be planning for
>Yule, I also have my pumpkin carving kit and lots of
>patterns.  Amaze your friends and neighbors with your
>artful designs!  

	The Sea Wasp gags and runs for the Danger Room. 
	From within, even despite the soundproofing, come cataclysmic
sounds, doomsday noises of entire Realities being created and destroyed.

	Finally he emerges.

	"I can't STAND it! I almost screamed when I saw the TV ad for
the Shuttlecraft ornament... in September! AUUUGGGGHHH!
	"Two weeks! THAT is all the preparation for ANY holiday that
should be allowed! I don't want to hear about Halloween before a week
or two into October, then Thanksgiving about the same part of November,
and the same time of December for Christmas. The holly-jolly carols
make me homicidal after that. (I do my shopping three days before
Christmas -- wastes less time that way)...."

	*grumble grouch whine*...


                                 Sea Wasp
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: gryphon@openage.openage.com (The Golden Gryphon)
Subject: Re: Friends ... forever ...
Organization: Open Age, Inc.
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 19:57:26 GMT


"It seems after all, I may have spoke too soon.  I did not know Arty well at
all, but I have known others like him."

"It just makes me wonder at the cruelty we humans give to our own kind."

-- 
The Golden Gryphon 				gryphon@openage.COM
Solve a man's problem and he has 1 less.        No incumbents in 92.
Teach a man to think, and all his problems are less.
Openage - The Premier SCO UNIX integrator in the Washington D.C. area
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: JMPIERCE%USMCP6.bitnet@VM.TCS.Tulane.EDU (JIM PIERCE)
Subject: re: Speaker for the Dead
Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 07:46:15 GMT


  "Smoke, I'm a veteran myself. I do care as all of us here do !
I can come up with a possible reason why The Artful Dodger did what he
did. Many Gulf War vets are suffering from hydrocarbon poisoning, but
the US Veterans Administration is denying all possibility of it. First
they deny Agent Orange, now 'hydrocarbon poisoning' is just a case of
nerves ! Crap ! Ack ! Stupid Bureaucrats ! May they breath smoke for months
and then everyone tell them nothing is wrong with them... !!! " DJ.

   "Mike, a triple shot of rum please. " Jim the Vet.

   "Are sure ? <pause> Okay." Mike.

   Jim walks over to the chalk-line. Drinks one shots worth.

  "Good-bye Artful Dodger !"

  He takes another gulp.

  "You could have talked to me ! I'm a vet too !"

  Chugs the rest...

  "Artful, I'll miss talking to you ! I can't say more, I'm just too
incoheirent !" Jim.

   <CRASH!!!!>

    Jim, no longer in his form of Dreamy Jim, walks over to a quite corner,
and just sits there quitely for a few minutes and his eyes get a faraway look
in them as he just tries to sort it all out. He'll be back in a few minutes
or maybe longer from now...

* <JMPIERCE@USMCP6.BITNET> Jim "DJ." Pierce; Bach. Sci. in Appl. Comp. Sci.
* USM Academic Computing on the Gulf Park Campus. Disclaimer: Standard.
* "I'm tired out from a prolonged squawk !!" me simulating MPFC.
From: braley@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca (The Didi-Sprite)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: Caramel apples
Date: 1 Oct 92 04:45:30 GMT
Organization: SOCS - Mcgill University, Montreal, Canada
Originator: braley@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca

In article <jhitch.717828590@crash> jhitch@crash.cts.com (Jeffrey Hitchin) writes:
>
>	Grant pulls out his fondue pot and lights the flame.  He then
>pours a big bag of caramels into it and melts them.  In the meantime,
>he pulls a large bag of apples and inserts a large, flat stick into
>each one.
>
>	"Okay, this was Didi-Sprite's idea, and I'm more than willing
>to oblige wild flights of fantasy, especially when they involve me!"
>Grant smiles remembering a few trips through the X-window.  "Ahem,
>anyway, Didi said that taffy apples - which I'm interpreting as
>caramel apples, please correct me if I'm wrong - would just about hit
>the spot right now.  Seeing as how we're nearing Halloween, and lately 
>caramel apples have hidden some pretty nasty stuff, let me assure you
>that all that's in this is one apple, a caramel coating (Brach's) and
>wooden sticks.
>
>	"One condition, though.  Imposed by me, of course.  You have to
>dip your own!  Trust me, that's half the fun!":x


The Didi-Sprite sighs and aplogetically leaves DJ's embrace.  With a
flick of an eyelid she shrinks to true Sprite-size and flutters to
Grant's right shoulder.  She gives him a teasing nip on his earlobe
and settles in to watch the caramel melt.

"Grantkins!  You know Caramel Apples are faves of mine, don't you!?!"
she coos.  "Yummmy!"

----<--<@

The Didi-Sprite
Montreal * Canada

braley@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca
From: jlbell@bharh56.bnr.co.uk (John Bell)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: colorfully descriptive phrases
Date: 1 Oct 92 10:09:29 GMT
Organization: BNR Europe Ltd, London Road, Harlow, England.

In article <BvEE15.3E8@agora.rain.com> feath@agora.rain.com (Feather) writes:
>
>And then proceeds to write:
>-  As welcome as a hyperactive puppy at a housecat convention.
>>>    As subtle as a dinosaur with its haemorrhoids on fire.
>>>    (sorry to type so slowly I was checking the dictionary)
>>>

>-
>-
>-
>-
>
>"I've made room for more here, I hope that someone else can come up with
>some REAL creative phrases like that!  Hopefully better than the one I have
>contributed...   THIS is a challenge to you, folks!"
>
> 
>
>
From: omalley1@husc8.harvard.edu (Elena O'Malley)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Artful Dodger
Summary: oh...
Date: 28 Sep 92 18:48:46 GMT
Followup-To: alt.callahans
Organization: Harvard University Science Center


there are definitely times when i wish i read this newsgroup more
regularly.  for instance...

shadowshine has been listening to and dealing with the concerns of 
her life, and has not checked up on the net for awhile.  so when
she hears the tail-end of a conversation when Didi spoke about
Arty, she doubles over, up there in the rafters.  she's just been
hit in the guts.  and all she can think to do is sit there.
part of her says a very loud "NO!" and most of her is incapable
of a whisper.  Shiner's features appear and disappear, her fists
clench tighter.

finally, she slides down on a shadow.  "oh hell," says the very
quiet voice.  and then she pulls out a glass from somewhere, flipping
Mike two quarters, so he must have arranged for it to be there.
she steps up to the line. 

"to when words aren't enough."

and she walks to the fireplace, gently places the glass among the
shards, and goes back up to the rafters.

go n-eirigh an bothar leat, agus..agus may the wind be always
at your back, Dodger...

take care y'all,
shad(owshine)/elena
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: feath@agora.rain.com (Feather)
Subject: RE: Coming in for a landing, ArchTeryx!
Organization: Open Communications Forum
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 17:10:52 GMT

Feather is having fun, having surprised ArchTeryx with her use of his beak
for a landing-place.  ArchTeryx has asked "What can I do you for?"
Feather ruffles her feathers and considers the question a bit.

Well, I do enjoy this grand tradition of Callahaners always buying drinks
for each other.  Would you mind buying me something?  Could I order a
Brandy Alexander and put it on your bill?"

Feather happily anticipates a taste of her favorite drink...
 :
 


 :


Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: dgil@IPSAINT.IPSA.REUTER.COM (Gillett, David)
Subject: Re: Old Coots Test (was A grinning Nightstalker)
Reply-To: dgil@IPSAINT.IPSA.REUTER.COM (Gillett, David)
Organization: Reuters APL Software Division
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 12:11:40 GMT

     As has been reported, the structure of school grades has varied widely,
by both place and time.
     So, it seems to me that the best construction we can put on the original
question is something like:  Do you remember when there were -- wherever you
grew up -- only Primary (variously called Elementary or Public) Schools and
Secondary (or High) Schools?  Anybody who attended "Junior High", or "Senior
Elementary", or some analogous system, must probably answer "No."
     Naturally, this unfairly favours those whose local Boards of Education
where backwards about such matters.

                                      Mentor the Sage

-----------Message forwarded from IPSA Mailbox-------------
From: LALFORD@FSU1.CC.FSU.EDU
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Nicarra's travels
Date: 30 Sep 92 03:29:57 GMT
From: ptd2@po.CWRU.Edu (Palmer T. Davis)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Enter the _Sea_Slug_
Date: 3 Oct 1992 02:22:53 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: ptd2@po.CWRU.Edu (Palmer T. Davis)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu


There is a soft *WHOP*ping noise overhead.

I said, ``There is a soft *WHOP*ping noise overhead.''

Aren't you even going to look up?  Geez, I know that one little noise 
isn't much compared to some of the strange things that happen around here --
but isn't anyone at all curious?

Thank you.  Much better.  Overhead floats a small, grey, oval-shaped 
spaceship, which....

Hey!  Hello?  Excuse me!  Look, I know that whatever you're drinking   
probably seems quite a bit more exciting than one measly little yacht,
but would you at least do me the courtesy of PAYING ATTENTION WHILE 
I'M NARRATING?!!!

Suddenly, every drink in the Place vanishes out of existence.

Aha!  I knew that would get your attention.  And now that I have 
everyone's COMPLETE AND UNDIVIDED ATTENTION (and yes, that includes 
YOU (yes, you!) over there in the corner playing Yahtzee), back to 
the story.

...which vaguely resembles a leech.  The craft has a single circular
engine amidships, and is ringed by a recessed belt with many reaction
thrusters.  Above the belt is a dome pierced by a circular hatch and
narrow, slit-like windows.  Painted on the dome in gold leaf is a 
serpent swallowing its tail, encircling an hourglass with three X's
above it.  Below the serpent, in a graceful script, is the name SEA
SLUG.  Directly forward of the logo, the hull is slightly lighter
where identifying symbols from a previous owner have been pried off:
--.S.S. YAMAT--.

The ship slowly descends to about six feet above the top of the bar,
stops, and lowers a loading platform down onto the bar top.  On the
platform are three crates and a male humanoid in a bright orange
jumpsuit.

Mike takes one look at the humanoid, reaches under the bar, and 
produces his shotgun.  Aiming it at the newcomer, he growls, ``Dammit,
C-Hawk, I thought I warned you never to come flying in here again.''

-- 
Palmer T. Davis      ___
<ptd2@po.cwru.edu>   \X/   cthread.  cthread_fork().  Fork, thread, fork!
From: jf2z+@andrew.cmu.edu (John Charles Fiala)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: Song of Sixpence - Part Five
Date: 4 Oct 92 05:02:19 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

John smiles, enjoying the large birthday party for one of her favorite
callahinians, sipping some mulled cider and munching on some cake as
she orbits the blueberry pizza suspiciously.

"One always wonders if Didi-sprite doesn't know quite what to do with
me during these preperations: Neither am I one of the 'girls' planning
the shindig, nor one of the 'guys' employed in moving things for it.
What does one do with someone who's a little bit of both?"

She smiles, remembering the signs.  "Now, if I had set them up, they
would have said something like:
"This"
"Way"
"To"
"The"
"Egress..."

"With the last arrow pointing to a door that would enter back into the bar.
But then again, I always did like Barnum."

She continues to sip cider as she peers distrustfully at pizza.  "It sounds
good, but I don't think fruits belong anywhere near pizza."
   She tilts her head.  "except, of course, for tomatoes."
-john
"Kiss me, I'm Irish"
"Eat me, I'm Danish"
jf2z+@andrew.cmu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: s903040@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Christopher Francis Anderson)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Can anyone hear me?
Date: 2 Oct 92 10:14:56 GMT
Organization: RMIT Computer Centre
NNTP-Posting-Host: minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au

<<Thunderchild looks around in bewilderment>>

Can anyone hear me?

None of my posts seem to be getting through to the group!

<<Panic ensues on his part>>

If anyone can hear me, let me know, please - I feel a bit strange talking
and not knowing if I'm getting through.

Thanx peoples.


-- 
Thunderchild (a.k.a. Chris Anderson)           Badges? We don't need no 
s903040@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au                      steenking badges!
RMIT University of Technology
Somewhere Down Under (Down under where? I don't know, I just live here!)
From: JBrandt@AAA.UOregon.EDU (Jay Brandt (Thyra))
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: Song of Sixpence - Part One
Date: 4 Oct 92 16:09:22 GMT
Organization: The Polyhedron Group

In article <1992Oct2.193035.11579@cs.mcgill.ca>,
braley@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca (The Didi-Sprite) writes:
> "Alright you two, enough of that!"  giggles Kitten as she stretches out
> in the hot tub and then bounces up (showing quite a bit of Kitten }:-)
> ... she slips back down into the tub ... insisting that Didi join her,
> "After you close those doors!  It's cold out there!"
> 
> Kitten's giggle and good humour are infectious and in no time Didi's
> somber mood lightens.  Suddenly she goes up on tiptoe, gives Galdrin
> a hug and playful kiss on the cheek, then skips over to the hot tub
> where she disrobes down to an almost non-existent bikini.
> 
> "Oooo ... where did you find that?"  asks Caithelin from a nearby 
> table.
> 
> "I didn't find it ... I conjured it!"  Laughs the -Sprite.  "I can make
> you one too, if you will join us?"
> 
> Caithelin needs no further encouragement.   And, soon Didi has outfitted
> several of the other ladies present as well.  In fact, the hot tub 
> appears to be filled to the brim with members of the 'fairer sex'!

<Thyra giggles a bit at the comments on bikini's in the hot tub, as she and
her friends rarely bother wearing anything at all when they go hot-tubbing.
But she looks at Didi' suit and has to agree that a suit like -that- is
-better- than being nude! She tugs a bit at her choker, and dons an equaly
skimpy, french-cut bikini, then rejoins the others in the tub.>

<Purrs>
Thyra
From: randolph@cognito.ebay.Sun.COM (Randolph Fritz)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Wellsprings
Date: 29 Sep 92 21:41:56 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: St. Dismas Infirmary for the Incurably Informed
NNTP-Posting-Host: cognito.ebay.sun.com

[This is a bit of--I'm not even sure what to call it--that I hope
finds a home here.  __R]

Randolph walks up to the line & shouts the odd toast, "To
wellsprings!"  *CRASH*

"Wellsprings are the places where wells come from; the water seeps
into the ground, comes up somewhere--and that's a wellspring.  You can
take water out of one as long as you don't take too much.  If you do,
why, the spring runs dry.  If you drain enough water, you may even
cause the land above the aquifer to drop.  *CRASH*

"But this isn't primarily about water.  It's about the places culture
comes from, instead--the 'wellsprings of civilization,' as it were.

"In our time of vast urbanization we have lost touch with the
wellsprings of culture.  City life can be exciting, bracing, and
creative.  Yet the roots of culture do not grow in the cities;
culture comes from intimate involvement in the physical or spiritual
world.  It comes, in other words, from the countryside, from working
with the physical universe, or from meditation.  City life, I believe,
can vastly expand on culture, but cannot, itself, create culture
because in the end, city life is people interacting with people; the
needed outside impetus is lacking.  And so there is a vast nostalgia
and a vast hunger.  Anything, anything with roots outside of our
cities becomes vastly important--folk arts have become so very
important, and we have a vast nostalgia for the tribal."  He pauses to
scan the bar; the many personae drawn from the memories of the
wellsprings.  "And at the same time, by forcibly involving the peoples
who live near the wellsprings with us, they become more like us, and
less what we need.  And so we drain the wells.

"There is a price for this profligacy.  Human history has a vast
cyclic pattern; nations emerge, focus in cities, then cities lead
nation-states, then fuse into empires, and at the end empires fall.
They drain the wells.  Physically and culturally.  That they do so
physically, I imagine that you all know--we are not the first
civilization to plunder its supporting ecosystems, though we have done
so on a vaster scale than before.  Less evidently, the empires *use up*
the cultural sources of creativity, until finally they have food for
neither body nor soul.

"But this is not intended as a counsel of despair.  Because I don't
think there is a need to drain the wells.  Instead: we could leave
something there; we could put something back.  Empire is not
necessary; we could strike a balance instead.  This is a path I
prefer: why ossify and fall, when we could instead stand and live?"

__Randolph Fritz  sun!cognito.ebay!randolph || randolph@ebay.sun.com
From: lydick@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU (Speaker-to-Minerals)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: schools re: Old Coots Test
Date: 29 Sep 1992 02:44:03 GMT
Organization: HST Wide Field/Planetary Camera
Reply-To: lydick@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol1.gps.caltech.edu

In article <1992Sep28.043640.5500@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca>, aaron@loki (Aaron Humphrey) writes:
>"I just find it strange and pointless to have a school dedicated to teaching
>only two grades.  Isn't that a waste?"

Why would it be?  Suppose you've got enough students in grades 7-12 to fill
six schools.  In terms of waste, what difference does it make whether you place
the students in:
	6 schools each serving grades 7-12
or
	2 schools serving grades 7-8 and 4 schools serving grades 9-12
or
	3 schools serving grades 7-9 and 3 schools serving grades 10-12?
In all cases (assuming, for the sake of simplicity, a zero dropout rate and
that all students advance to the next grade each year), you've got the same
number of students in each of the six schools.

>"I repeat, I've never heard it here for high school, and rarely for university.
>And on that note--why exactly do the four years have the ranks they do?
>Freshman for 1st year I can understand, but why sophomore for 2nd year?

Wise fools.  They're just advanced enough to manage to do REALLY stupid things,
so impressed are they by their new-found superiority over freshmen.