HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: trumpins@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu (Barbara Trumpinski)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: a sad note
Date: 22 Aug 92 12:24:34 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana



>Klunketaklong (can this really be a rare post from the tin man?)(yes!)

>Nick Chopper sits down at table 28x with Snuggles and a few other
>mechanoids. He waves at Linda and Robbie having a heated argument
>elsewhere. He does not appear happy.

>"I got a call today at home, 10 before 5, from Ken Wright. He told me
>the results of his MRI and I thought you should know.

>"But first some background. Ken is a wheelchair athlete. He swam, and he
>raced in a racing chair - a terrific hi-tech device which allows some
>wheelchair athletes to beat champion able-bodied marathoners. By more
>that 10 minutes!

[     ]

>"He has an inoperable tumor in his brainstem. He has about a year to
>live.

>"As usual, the only feeling I get out of this is cold dismay. The old
>tin heart again. Ken has been my buddy for about 5 years now. He will
>leave a hole in my life. But I may never feel the normal shock and fear
>and sadness that others do. Just a hole.

>"Actually, he and I will probably try to get back into running soon, up
>until the tumor completely incapacitates him. He likes getting out in
>his racer. I do not know about work. I imagine that he will try to turn
>over everything to someone else, clean up the problems he has now. Also,
>he has non-work related things to do - he is a big booster for disabled
>athletics, naturally.

>"I will keep you informed from time to time.  I keep reminding myself
>that we are all in the same boat - it is just that he KNOWS (within a
>couple months) when it ends, we do not.  But we are all just as
>terminal.

>"Not feeling terribly funny just now, still, I had to share this, since
>some of you remember my comments about him from time to time. I really
>do not know how to deal with this except by just going on - being there
>like I always have been, saving my pity for someone who needs it,
>learning some good lessons about life from him. If anyone has any
>advice, you know I am still here.....

kitten hugs her nick...tears in her eyes.  "you know, and ken knows,
that i am here if you need me...(kitten sort of knows ken in RL(tm) by
virtue of an afghan).  he is lucky to have a friend like y.  and, i
don't care what you say...your heart is in the right place...and you
care....in very practical ways that are much more important than
weeping and wailing about the inevitable.

"i love you for who you are...and i will be thinking of ken
constantly, and sending him my positive energy."

kitten wipes away the tears...and smiles.
--
***************************************************************************
conan the librarian a.k.a. kitten           /\ /\  barbara ann 
"my life's a soap opera, isn't yours?"      {=.=}
                                              ~   trumpins@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu 
"perhaps _any_ universe becomes real in proportion 
to the number of people who believe in it and spend time there." s. robinson
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: lots and re: Alfvaen on the haywagon
Date: 16 Aug 92 14:08:31 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@pmax1.cis.pitt.edu

In article <920816.04185528.042002@USM.CP6> JMPIERCE%USMCP6.bitnet@VM.TCS.Tulane.EDU (JIM PIERCE) writes:
> "Modeming in from home at 2400 bps is reallllyyyy ssslloooowww," Dj.

	The Wasp turns, moving about half as fast as DJ.

	"Don't gripe. 1200 here. And I consider 1200 to be BLINDINGLY
fast. I did a huge amount of work on 150 and 300 baud paper terminals,
so I think 1200 is fast. In fact, there are times I find REALLY fast
terminals annoying because something will scroll by you and you won't
be able to stop it..."


                                 Sea Wasp
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: aaron@space.ualberta.ca (Aaron Humphrey)
Subject: Re: a beginners question(s)
Reply-To: aaron@space.ualberta.ca
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 18:25:38 GMT

smith@muvms3.bitnet (Phil smith) writes:
: Ok, I've just discovered alt.callahans and I have a couple of questions:
: (and yes, I looked for a FAQ and did not find it)
: 
: 1.	are there guidelines for selection of an alias?
: 
: 2.	are there special netetiquette (sp?) that I should 
: 	be aware of?

"1.  No, not really.  If you pick one that somebody's already got, then they'll
probably inform you of the fact eventually, or someone else will...and you can
always change it.  Not everyone here uses an alias, in fact.

"2.  Yes, a few.  Upon introducing yourself formally, state your birthday and
favourite drink, and email same to Nick Chopper(whose email address I have
mislaid, but I'm sure someone else will provide).  VR interaction as if in a
bar environment with all us people is not obligatory, but do it if you feel
comfortable with it.  If you haven't read Spider Robinson's Callahan's Bar
books, then that's encouraged reading--start with Callahan's Crosstime Saloon.

"One primary rule is--no flames.  We tend to get into discussions about anything
and everything here, and we have had flameless discussions on abortion, which
the rest of the Net would regard as an impossibility.  If you can't restrain
your urge to flame, take it to email.  Don't say 'You're stupid.'  Say 'I don't
agree with you, and I don't see how you reached that conclusion,' or the like.

"I(Alfvaen/Aaron Humphrey/aaron@space.ualberta.ca)am currently collecting some
descriptions, VR, RL, and otherwise, of patrons, since Stranger-No-More, a
recent arrival, requested the people introduce themselves...I'll see yours if
you post it, and add it to my collection.  Include an RL location if possible;
it's not unknown for people who meet on alt.callahans to get together in RL if
the opportunity presents itself.

"Also nice would be a working email address.  My site knows nothing about
Marshall.edu, or muvms3.bitnet..."

--
---Alfvaen(a.k.a. Aaron V. Humphrey)
"There's too many clues in this room."  Gordon Lightfoot
Current Album--Bill Cosby:For Adults Only
Current Read--Henry David Thoreau:Walden and Other Writings
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: lower-tony@CS.YALE.EDU (Tony Lower)
Subject: Re: Candlesticks (was Re: who are these folks?)
Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept., New Haven, CT 06520-2158
Distribution: alt
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 19:11:02 GMT

>>Castellan looks around for the expected barrage of peanuts, but sees none.
>>"I've been here six months, andiron never seen two horrible puns like those
>>go by unnoticed.  Something's put a damper on our punfulness, and it's just
>>tapered off and gotten really wick.  Maybe if I stack a few up like this it'll
>>wax again, otherwise I'll be hearthbroken."

   Manx looks around.  "Ouch..."  He picks up a bowl of peanuts, eats all
the peanuts, and throws the bowl at Castellan.  Meanwhile, Aloysious is
at work on a very special project.  She is carefully weaving a strait-
jacket for Castellan, but to make it personal, she is using her own
bodily fur to do it.  As her shuttle flies back and forth with uncanny
precision (especially since she has no thumbs and a brain the size of
a small orange), Manx is forced to remark, "A fireplace is the perfect
place for Aloysious to put her Hair-looms..."


Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: ablanch@physics.su.OZ.AU (Shonias)
Subject: Re: who are these folks?
Organization: School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 23:57:47 GMT

Shonias decides that it must be her turn to give her description.
Here she is an elf, Silvan, noble born. Her full name is Shonias
Q'Tari, and since somebody asked (well didn't they?) she will tell
the story of it's origin.

 "Shonias is my given name, I do not believe that it has a specific meaning,
my people choose names that sound right for the child, rather than for their
semantics. We do not have a tradition of keeping other names, much to the
dismay of other peoples. As I came to be adult, and moved about the world,
this caused increasing friction. In my occasional role as diplomat,
suspicious people chose to believe that I kept my sirname secret, for some
treasonous plot. However, I would not take a name just because of the
traditions of others.

"Then came a summer when, by happy chance, I met a Mageking at a warm and
friendly inn. There was something in his eyes that attracted me to him in
an instant. His heart was troubled, but its capacity for love was over-
whelming, and soon he and I were close friends. We returned to our homes,
but the bond between us was strong, and could not be broken by mere distance.
In his beautiful missives, he addressed me using  the formal title Q'Tari,
elf queen in the high speech Quenya. Now I use a second name, one given by
a loved one, as all names should be. It will always be accepted as title,
Quenya being the language of diplomacy among elves, and it is as dear to me
as the name given me by my parents."

In RL I am short fat and blonde. I live in Sydney, Australia and I am
at uni doing physics.

Shonias

--
***************************
We are magic in the night,
We are shadow we are light,
We are forever you and I...
***************************
From: rmarsh@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: A dramatic entrance (or is it a reversed exit?)
Date: 20 Aug 92 21:56:32 +1200
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

In article <1992Aug20.121939.28292@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au>, s903040@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Christopher Francis Anderson) writes:
> 
> "May alt.callahans never be rmgroup-ed!"
> 
> <<<<< C R A S H ! >>>>>
> 
  "I'll drink to that!" says Stumpy, doing so and sending his glass into the
fireplace. "It's always nice to see another new face in the Place,
especially when that face lives somewhere (relatively) nearby. Great
entrance by the way."

> What I like  : Most sorts of music, especially heavy metal and classical, and
> 	       '70s and '80s Australian rock, SF, cyberpunk, and fantasy novels

  "I guess that means you've heard of the New Zealand band 'Crowded House'
that you Aussies keep trying to claim." Stumpy grins, "Mike, I'm buying
Thunderchild's next drink." He turns back to Thunderchild, "I don't suppose 
you'll be in Sydney the first week in September?"

-- 
Robert 'Stumpy' Marsh | 95 Fairfield Rd | I can't reply to E-Mail, but 
rmarsh@waikato.ac.nz  | Hamilton        | don't let that stop you sending.
+64 7 855 4406        | New Zealand     |
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: dgil@ipsaint.ipsa.reuter.COM (Gillett, David)
Subject: Re:  WANTED: Asbestos
Reply-To: dgil@ipsaint.ipsa.reuter.COM (Gillett, David)
Organization: Reuters APL Software Division
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 12:32:03 GMT


-----------Message forwarded from IPSA Mailbox-------------
no. 6482801 filed 20.13.43  thu 13 aug 1992
from dgil
to   locun
subj Re:  WANTED: Asbestos
ref  6482595

     Suzette Hayden Elgin (Hayden-Elgin?), in addition to a couple of
*interesting* science fiction novels, has written a series of books (5 at last
count?) on "The Art of Verbal Self-Defense".
     The very first thing she does is trash the old "sticks and stones may
break my bones but words will never hurt me" myth.  Words CAN and DO hurt, and
are sometimes MEANT to hurt.  In other words, this shithead can make you feel
this way because he WANTS you to feel this way -- and because you don't know
how to stop him from doing so.
     She goes on to introduce various techniques which people use to attack
with words (so you can recognize them), and various techniques you can use to
avoid being hurt by each kind of attack.

     A note to the offender's postmaster might be helpful.  Postmasters are, in
general, reluctant to take drastic action, but they also don't like to have
their mailboxes full of complaints; action might range from withdrawal of news
privileges to worse.  (Sun recently fired some guy, who claims it was because
of his offensive postings -- although I've heard that he was equally offensive
to his co-workers face-to-face....)
                                      Mentor the Sage
From: hollombe@polymath.tti.com (The Polymath)
Subject: Re: Invisible Callahans
Organization: The Cat Factory
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 00:47:54 GMT

In article <1992Aug10.111718.19858@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> jpalmer@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (John D Palmer) writes:
}In article <1992Aug10.045228.19045@ucc.su.OZ.AU> mar@physics.su.OZ.AU (David Mar) writes:
}>Category 3.
}>
}>a. neck cramp, equip

}>e. naughty, after dinner sweet, heavy weight
}
}    Guessing at sports, I think we have bad mint ton. . . bad mitton for
}e....

Badminton.

}...  I'm guessing that would mean that 'crick ????' for cricket is a.

crick kit: cricket.

You're fighting a foreign dialect here.  "To kit out" is not part of
American usage.


(Sorry, I'm a born kibbitzer).

The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, M.A., CDP, aka: hollombe@polymath.tti.com)
Head Robot Wrangler at Citicorp                   Turn the rascals out!
3100 Ocean Park Blvd.   (310) 450-9111, x2483     No incumbents in '92!
Santa Monica, CA  90405
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: WANTED: Asbestos
Date: 13 Aug 92 16:21:35 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@pmax1.cis.pitt.edu

In article <1992Aug13.155533.24580@cs.yale.edu> lower-tony@CS.YALE.EDU (Tony Lower) writes:
>   "Over the past few days, I've had to put up with all kinds of
>people who really PISSED me off... I was doing okay until I saw
>this posting in another group.

	The Wasp nods, having been there as well. "On rec.games.frp.misc, I
believe."

>   Manx gestures at his clothes, "Well, you can guess who was NEXT
>to get involved.  I can say, without boasting, that I just finished
>writing the most polite letter of my _LIFE_.  I was understanding,
>compassionate... I tried (hard as it was) to see things from his
>point of view, and to convince him that there were more constructive
>ways to put his sentiments.  He responded with several recommendations
>that are physiologically unlikely."

	Nodding again, the Wasp says "Yep, I read that one. The problem
is that you should have recognized the symptoms when his FIRST letter
(the one bitching out the poor sod who was just trying to reach
his friend) began 'look, scum'.
	"The rec.games.frp groups have a combined readership which is
composed equally of very intelligent and thoughtful people, and smart
but arrogant, self-satisfied flameheads. The really extreme versions
of this type live to flame. They don't take it to alt.flame because
it's no fun to flame where you're wanted. They choose someone who
obviously is too polite to match them, and get some kind of buzz
by smearing their trash all over in public view."

>back of his head!  Now I'm NOT a violent person, so how is it that
>this shithead can make me feel this way?  What's more, where is there
>any justice in this situation?  This twit gets his jollies by flaming
>complete innocents, bitching out people who try to help him, etc.,
>and the people who are trying to be nice sit there and feel nothing
>but this hollowness right below the rib-cage.... That and murderous
>wrath that they aren't going to act on."

	"In this case, the [wrong] advice my parents used to give me
about the buttheads who harrassed me in school DOES apply. IGNORE HIM.
Flame-addicts like him just LOVE to think you're sitting there getting
desperately pissed off and so on. I've seen some who want flames so 
bad that they flame you for AGREEING with them. So shrug. He didn't,
and can't, do any real damage and in this case is just making the other
guy look even better, and himself look ever more like a jerk."


                                 Sea Wasp
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;
From: jesse@uts.amdahl.com (Jesse Mundis)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: Limericks
Date: 21 Aug 92 19:04:29 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

rip@sequent.com (Paul T Taylor) writes:

>In article <m8eTPB1w165w@pdaxs.techbook.com>
>embeach@pdaxs.techbook.com (Electronic Dreams) writes:

>>Uh, oh!!!!
>>An urge to rhyme has suddenly just come over Elana...
>>
>>"There once was an alien named Beezer
>>Whose brain you couldn't find with a tweezer
>>He once made a pass
>>At a gelatinous mass
>>That he found in the back of a freezer"
>>

[gooey chocolate gun incident deleted for brevity]

Oh no.. not again.

My favorite two short limericks:

"There once was a man from Peru,
 Whose limericks stopped at line two."

And the ever popular sequel:

"There once was a man from Verdun..."


Jesse "Not the man from Nantuckett or Kent" Mundis
-- 
    Jesse Mundis     |      Amdahl Corporation       | Freedom is just chaos
jesse@uts.amdahl.com | 1250 East Arques Ave  M/S 316 | with better lighting.
   (408) 746-4796    |   Sunnyvale,  CA 94088-3470   |    -Alan Dean Foster 

#include <Disclaimer.standard>
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: brumby@nella11.cc.monash.edu.au (Stephen McNamara)
Subject: Re: who are these folks?
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 12:14:26 GMT

   The brumby doesn't seem to have caught any of Stranger-No-More's posts.
News machine strikes again. And we call the general access machine yoyo.

>>>The Stranger-No-More wanders around, listening to the various
>>>conversations (making the odd comment or two), watching the amusing antics
>>>of some of the more athletic patrons, and thinking about this wonderful
>>>place he's found. However, he begins to worry about keeping track of all
>>>these interesting people. "I have a bad enough time," he moans,
>>>"connecting names and faces in RL, but I get really confused in a place
>>>where the names and faces can constantly change.

   "I have to admit, I have trouble keeping track too. In fact, when I
don't post for a while, I can't even remember where *I* last was."
   The brumby grabs more hay from the wagon.

>>>No great detail is required, just a name, a virtual appearance, a
>>>geographic location (to put an accent on the ASCII), and *maybe* a brief
>>>character story (like the Golden Gryphon's *How I became a mythical
>>>creature*)."

   "ASCII, and ye shall receive. Ow! Do you always carrier peanut with you?
Surely there's a more modem way of transmitting your feelings before you
get baud."
   "Okay, okay, on with the character."
   *Thunk*
   "That one wasn't intentional!"
   
   "All right. The Silver Brumby of the Silicon Plains is, as you may have
guessed, a silver-grey stallion. Nothing particularly unusual, except for
his antics in the place, and occasionally elsewhere on the net."
   "The name comes from the Silver Brumby books by Elyne Mitchell, though
I haven't taken much else from there. I needed an equine name when I first
got computer access (I adore horses) and I was copping flak for reading
childrens books at the time. So I took the name and it seems to have gained
a life of it's own. The personality is a bit of a mixture of two horses I
know and my own. One stallion and a gelding who likes to pretend he is a
stallion. According to my wife Ambrose (the gelding) and I have rather
similar personalities in some ways. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be
a compliment or not!"
   "In RL, I am Stephen McNamara, 24, married, heading towards perpetual
student-dom against my wishes (I keep *almost* passing things, though I got
my B.Sc. last year), and I lurk in Melbourne, Australia. That's down the
bottom of the mainland."

   "If anyone wants more info, e-mail me. I spend an hour or two on e-mail
every day anyway, more won't hurt." :-)


-- 
     The Silver Brumby of          brumby@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au
      the Silicon Plains

      The grass is always greener on the other side of the network.
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: mar@physics.su.OZ.AU (David Mar)
Subject: Re: hello again, anyone for a toast
Organization: School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 07:19:52 GMT

> [Raven introduces herself, then...]
>Suddenly she stops, "Hey, there's mouse prints, where there's mice there's
>cheese, would someone kindly point out where the cheese is hiding, it
>would go nicely with all the lemonades I've been offered"

"Someone say 'mouse'?" Danger Mouse looks around.

"In fact, I think I even heard someone say 'cheese'! Well, that's one
thing I share with my adopted VR name."

He grins and produces an enormous cheeseboard from somewhere on the bar
(just behind Mike's free lunch, if you want to know). With a flourish he
holds it out towards Raven, presenting her a cheese-knife with his other
hand.

"Try the Danish smoked, it's delicious.

"And since we have now determined by e-mail that we inhabit the same city
(a rare thing for me in this Place!), I wonder how you'd feel about
attending an RL cheese night some time. A friend of mine and I have been
planning something like this for ages." He smiles and uses another knife
to cut himself a piece of Jarlsburg.

- Danger Mouse.
From: aaron@space.ualberta.ca (Aaron Humphrey)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Desctop Pub-lishing
Date: 13 Aug 92 21:10:46 GMT
Reply-To: aaron@space.ualberta.ca
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

Alfvaen displays a sheaf of papers to Stranger-No-More and the assembled
patrons.  (And the disassembled ones, too--why not.)  "Since Stranger-No-More's
request for patron descriptions, I've been collecting them all, or at least
the ones that made it to my site.  One day I'll probably get around to editing
this all together into a bestiary of sorts.  Here's a roll call of who-all is
on my list..."

Aahz
Abner Mintz
Alfvaen
Bill Yang
Brandon Allbery
Caithelin
Castellan
Dan'l
Didi
Dirbze
DM
Dreamy Jim
Firecat
Gypsy Woman
Ignatz
Jilara
Kateri
kitten
Lynn Gold
Manx
Kimberley MonTemplar
Nathan
Niles
P'relan
Polymath
SEA
SeaWasp
Michael Shiffer
Sjane
Snark
Stephen & Roo
Sundog
TJ
Wumpus

"Anyone who's not on this list feel free to post or email a description, or
you'll end up being left out of the final compilation...although it will be a
open-ended anyway.  Maybe it will even be a regular posting, called 'Who are
these people, anyway?' or something like that.  Comments?"

--
---Alfvaen(a.k.a. Aaron V. Humphrey)
"So you found a girl who thinks really deep thoughts
 what's so amazing about really deep thoughts"  -- Tori Amos
Current Album--The Iron Man Soundtrack
Current Read--Henry David Thoreau:Walden and Other Writings
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: JMPIERCE%USMCP6.bitnet@VM.TCS.Tulane.EDU (JIM PIERCE)
Subject: for Joe Shuster ! re: A toast for a maker of legends...
Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 18:56:19 GMT


  "The time, 1952. location, a local drugstore news rack. The Comics
Section. A voice is heard to say,'But Mom ! Its a Superman Comic !
Please !' That was me..." DJ.


<Crash!>


  Sigh. All gone, my 'Sgt. Rock and Easy Company', the 'Haunted Tank',
'Green Lantern', 'Fantastic Four', 'Super Girl', 'Spiderman',
but the one I always looked forward to buying was 'Superman!'.


* <JMPIERCE@USMCP6.BITNET> Jim "NickD." Pierce; Bach. Sci. in Appl. Cmp Sci
* USM Academic Computing on the Gulf Park Campus. Disclaimer: Standard.
* "I'ts still only Rock 'N' Roll to me !" Billy Joel.
Newsgroups: alt.callahans