HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: paul@clodii.Columbia.NCR.COM (Paul Fidler)
Subject: Re: ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE
Organization: NCR E&M Columbia SC
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 19:26:35 GMT

In article <WARK.92Apr15091738@gandalf.think.com> wark@gandalf.think.com (Mark Warkentin) writes:
>In article <1992Apr14.205151.26537@ncrcae.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM> paul@clodii.Columbia.NCR.COM (Paul Fidler) writes:
>
>   In article <1992Apr10.132743.7505@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> bf455@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bonita Kale) writes:
>   >
>   >
>   >Soda was pop.  I had to get used to that; if you said soda, you got plain
>   >soda water.                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
     ^^^^^^^^^^

>
>   Uh, 
>
>   What did you expect to get?  Coca Cola?  Mountain Dew?  7Up?  Sprite?
>
>   I mean, the variety of carbonated soft drinks/pop/sodas/"cokes" is such
>   that they are usually specified by trade name, no?
>
>   If you said "pop", what did that mean? Any brown-colored cola?
>
>   What about root beer?
>
>"Pop" is anything non-alchoholic that fizzes.
  

   Yes, I know.....

The particular context above has to do with specifying what you want, like 
in a restaurant.          

Surely you can't just say, "I'll have a 'pop', please."

Invariably you will have to be more specific, whereas "soda" (according to
Bonita and others) *can* mean, specifically, plain soda water.


HINT: I suspect the answer to my inquiry is that "pop" is only a generic
      term and wouldn't actually be used when ordering drinks....

      Same with "soda", more or less....        
                               
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: jon@cyclone.MITRE.org (J. E. Shum)
Subject: Re: Muir's writings
Originator: jon@cyclone
Organization: The MITRE Corp. McLean Va.
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1992 01:10:10 GMT


In article <JMC.92Apr2140748@SAIL.Stanford.EDU>, jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy) writes:
> There's an autbiography of John Muir.

Any idea of who wrote it?  :)
From: cte@oracorp.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Looking for Title
Date: 9 Apr 92 18:11:54 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: ORA Corporation, Ithaca, New York

My 8 year old nephew has recently taken an interest in 
ciphers.  It brought to mind the vague memory of a book
I enjoyed as a child, but I can't recall either title or 
author.  I believe that it was one of a series involving
a bright young boy, who had a buddy the same age and a 
younger sister.  The story I am thinking of involved an
enciphered message revealing the location of buried treasure,
some bad guys, and a kindly old retired cryptanalyst who
introduces the children to cryptology.  There is a scene in
a library where the hero has his buddy copy the text of the
cipher while he lures the bad guy away from the table.  The bad
guy discovers what is going on, chases the hero out of the library
and the hero escapes by squeezing through the bars of an iron
fence that the bad guy can't fit through.

I thought that this might be one of the Danny Dunn books, but at
our local library I couldn't place any of those title with my
story (unless its "The Scientific Detective", which my library
had no copy of for checking).  Does this description ring a bell
with anyone?  Please respond by e-mail.

-- 
Carl T. Eichenlaub          ORA Corporation
(607)-277-2020              301A Dates Dr.     
cte@oracorp.com		    Ithaca, N.Y., 14850
Organization: Freshman, Biology, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Date: Wed,  8 Apr 1992 13:13:05 -0400 
From: Julie Marie Goodliffe <jg4n+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: read any good books lately?
	<1992Apr8.125817.11707@cs.cornell.edu>
Distribution: na

Jenn writes 
	

	And I'm checking out Nicholson Baker's _Vox_ as soon as it gets
	returned to the library.


I'm not sure about _Vox_.   It seemed to be about masterbation.  I
suppose that you could read more than that, but I don't think that there
is much more.  It presents an irony about people being so willing to
discuss their deepest fantasies and at the same time not want to reveal
the city that they live in.   It also is very interesting the way that
two people can be so comfortable discussing their sex lives and
masterbation habits just because of the medium that the conversation
exists in.  I suppose that it also represents the safe sex of the 90's,
and it seems for these two people to be very very good.   

	I'd like to hear what anyone else thought about _Vox_.

	Julie
From: goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: If all humanity had one throat ...
Date: 8 Apr 92 05:35:46 GMT
Reply-To: goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb)
Organization: The Sinister Icy Black Hand of Death Club
NNTP-Posting-Host: tornado.berkeley.edu
Originator: goldfarb@tornado.berkeley.edu

In article <j9pj=_=.dani@netcom.com> dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) writes:
)mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin):
)>"I wish everyone in the world had a single throat, and I had my hands
)>around it."
)
)Sounds like a variation of one of Rorschach's lines.  (R is the psychopathic
)'superhero' from Alan Moore's "Watchmen".)
)
)Dani Zweig

	_Watchmen_ was promoted with six single-panel illustrations, one
per character in the title group. Each was captioned with a quote from the
character in question. The one for Rorschach read: "You know what I wish?
I wish all the scum of the earth had one throat, and I had my hands around
it." (The wording is from memory, but I'm not far off.) The difference here
between "everyone in the world" and "all the scum of the earth" is important.

	Oddly enough, Rorschach's quotation was the only one which did not
appear in the text of the work itself.

-- 
David Goldfarb    goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu   (Insert standard disclaimer)
"Baldrick, you wouldn't know a cunning plan if it came up, bit you on the
behind, and sang three choruses of a song set to the tune of 'I am a Pirate 
King' called 'I am a Cunning Plan'."
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: davidf@golem.uucp (David J. Fiander)
Subject: Re: suggestions for good fantasy/sf, mystery, for travel reading?
Date: Tue, 07 Apr 1992 21:40:45 GMT

According to jespah@milton.u.washington.edu (Kathleen Hunt):
>Hi -- I have a friend who is about to leave on a 3-month field season
>in Panama.  (She's an ecologist)  She's just mentioned that she wants to
>take a bunch of books along, and I'm touring the local used bookstores to
>put together a collection for her.  She particularly mentioned fantasy/sf
>novels -- books that don't require *too* much in-depth concentration, but
>that are well-written w/decent characterization.  Books to be read by 
>exhausted, muddy scientists during breaks in their work. We both recently read

I have a couple of recommendations, one obvious, one not so
obvious:  Doug Adams (of Hitchiker fame), and another Brit who
writes fantastic comedies (pun intended): Terry Pratchet.  His
most recent book was a collaboration with somebody else (I
can't remember who) called _Good_Omens_ (or was it _Bad_?).
He's also written a collection of books which all take place on
Discworld [sic - he _is_ British after all].  The first was
_The Colour of Magic_.

Regarding one of your ideas.  I doubt that O S Card is a very
good idea for "exhausted, muddy scientists during breaks in
their work"

>"And this is a tiny radiotransmitter.  It transmits tiny radios through
> the air to this tiny radio receiver."

This is great!  I just about fell out of my chair when I saw
it.  Where's it from?
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,soc.history,soc.culture.jewish
From: jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy)
Subject: Re: ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE
Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Date: 14 Apr 92 10:18:49

Advice for those who fear being misunderstood when they go to the
store and ask for rubbers.  Ask for a pair of rubbers.  The wrong
interpretation requires a considerable stretch of the imagination.
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
*
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
From: ed@wente.llnl.gov (Ed Suranyi)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Asimov's mystery fiction
Date: 12 Apr 92 17:17:26 GMT
Organization: UC Davis Dept of Applied Science at LLNL

In article <1992Apr12.060008.23880@umbc3.umbc.edu> cs201139@umbc5.umbc.edu (cs201139) writes:
>I haven't found a fiction novel of his yet that I didn't like. Of course I
>could be wrong, but were't even his mystery novels imbedded with some SF?

Three of his novels were science fiction mysteries:  "The Caves of Steel",
and its sequels "The Naked Sun" and "The Robots of Dawn".

"A Whiff of Death" doesn't have any SF aspects, but it does concern a
university chemistry department, so science is involved.

"Murder at the ABA" has no science or SF component at all, that I
remember.

His Griswold and Black Widower mystery stories do not in general involve
SF.

Ed
ed@wente.llnl.gov

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: ecl@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: THE REAL WORLD OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by Peter Costello
Date: 16 Apr 92 18:17:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: cbnewsj.1992Apr16.181703.23759
Organization: AT&T


               THE REAL WORLD OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by Peter Costello
                Carroll & Graf, 1991, ISBN 0-88184-738-0, $19.95.
                        A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
			 Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper

        This book purports to be about the real-life crimes investigated by Sir
   Arthur Conan Doyle.  However, even though it basically delivers on its
   promises, it is disappointing and dissatisfying.

        In order to flesh the book out to an acceptable length, Costello was
   apparently forced to include many cases in which Conan Doyle's participation
   was minimal, to say the least.  (By the way, I have yet to figure out if the
   second reference to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle should be "Conan Doyle" or
   "Doyle.") Arranging for a medium to hold a missing person's glove, or
   commenting in a letter on his personal opinion of the Sacco and Vanzetti
   case, does not constitute a high level of involvement.

        Even in cases where Conan Doyle played a more important role, Costello
   gives only the superficial details.  He doesn't analyze Conan Doyle's
   attitudes and thought processes, except to show links to the Holmes stories.
   Instead, he spends time giving his own opinion on the various cases.  Given
   that Costello's credentials seem to be more literary than forensic, this
   serves no purpose except to annoy the reader who had hoped to understand
   more about Conan Doyle.  In particular, an analysis of Conan Doyle's
   logical, down-to-earth detective versus Conan Doyle's own belief in
   spiritualism would have been fascinating, but is barely touched on.

        Even on the mechanical level this book is a disappointment.  There is
   no index, which makes it impossible to cross-reference anything.  (There is,
   however, an extensive bibliography.)  And as far as proof-reading goes, it
   seems to have gone entirely.  Such a mass of misspellings, mis-
   capitalizations ("Holmes" as "HOlmes"), etc.--at least twice "separate" was
   spelled "seperate."

        It sounded promising, but THE REAL WORLD OF SHERLOCK HOLMES fails to
   live up to its promise.  Give this one a miss.

   %T      The Real World of Sherlock Holmes
   %A      Peter Costello
   %C      New York
   %D      1991
   %I      Carroll & Graf
   %O      paperback, US$19.95
   %G      ISBN 0-88184-738-0
   %P      235pp

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   +1 908 957 2070   |   att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com
From: lin@Apple.COM (Judy Lin)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: European historical novel?
Date: 15 Apr 92 21:49:09 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA

I'll be going to Europe (Britain, France and Italy) on vacation in the near
future, and I'm looking for some reading material to take on the trip.
What I would like is historical fiction set in one of these
three countries, is in paperback, and is entertaining enough for vacation 
reading. Historical accuracy would be nice, but is not particularly
important. 

Some examples of what I have in mind are: _The_Name_Of_The_Rose_, _Trinity_,
or _Outlander_ (the last is a great time travel/romance novel that 
takes place in Scotland just before the Bonnie Prince Charlie uprising).

Any opinions on _First_Man_In_Rome (or its sequel) or _Foucoult's_Pendulum_?

Suggestions would be appreciated.

Judy
lin@apple.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: tmaddox@milton.u.washington.edu (Tom Maddox)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Irrelevant _GR_ question
Date: 17 Apr 92 04:05:04 GMT
Organization: The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington


	Ingenious, Matthew, but sorry, no banana.


-- 
				Tom Maddox
			tmaddox@u.washington.edu
		"Writing is reading and reading is writing."
				A. S. Byatt
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: Irrelevant _GR_ question
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 13:34:33 GMT

Tom Maddox writes:

	SubGenius writes:

		Who or what the hell is the "Kenosha Kid"?

	Kenosha, Wisconsin was Orson Welles' birthplace.  _Citizen Kane_
	serves as a warped template for much of what has happened to 
	Slothrop, in particular the theme of a child being sold off to 
	The Powers That Be. I'm sure other _GR_ aficionados can add to this.

Not to mention the Peacock connection:

	"The only son and heir Mr. Glowry had christened Scythrop, 
	from the name of a maternal ancestor, who had hanged himself
	one rainy day in a fit of taedium vitae, and had been 
	eulogised by a coroner's jury in the comprehensive phrase of 
	felo de se."

						Nightmare Abbey

A sort of higher-pitched companion piece to Jane Austen's *Northanger
Abbey* (which was published in the same year, 1818). Actually, once you 
realize that Pynchon had read Peacock and had a feeling for the Pavonian
milieu, then this opens up a glorious field for further study -- at least 
29 PhD thesis topics are here.

Does this little note entitle me to join Maddox' Yahoo Pantheon? I hope
so...

						Francis Muir

francis@sep.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin)
Subject: Re: books on the holocaust
Originator: mnemonic@eff.org
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1992 14:54:34 GMT

In article <BLp3Dv.1w5@world.std.com> jfl@world.std.com (john f lovett) writes:
>There ARE books by reputable scholars who deny that Germany had a policy
>to deliberately murder Jews.
>
>You can get a catalogue listing a large number of them by writing to:
>  Institute For Historical Review
>  1822 1/2 Newport Blvd. Suite 191
>  Costa Mesa, CA 92627

The "scholars" you mention are "reputable" primarily among subscribers to
the IHR, whose raison d'etre is denial of the worst aspects of the
Holocaust--a denial they use as a predicate to their own anti-Semitism.

I recently visited my friend John Schwartz in New York--he's aa editor at
NEWSWEEK. On the wall of his office is a cutout of his article on David
Geffen and the sale of a recording company to Sony. A letter writer had
sent him the cutout, on which he had written "That's all we need--the
kikes and the Japs taking over America." He also sent Schwartz some handy
materials from the IHR.



--Mike






-- 
Mike Godwin,     |"Les vrais paradis sont les paradis
mnemonic@eff.org | qu'on a perdus."
(617) 864-0665   | 
EFF, Cambridge   |          --Marcel Proust
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: staffan@ca.serum.kodak.com (Kenneth Staffan (x37507))
Subject: First Editions
Reply-To: staffan@serum.kodak.com
Organization: Eastman Kodak
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 17:51:23 GMT

Do any other people who buy new first editions cringe when they see the
disclaimer (more and more often, it seems) "A signed limited edition of this
book has been previously published by the Franklin Library".  I'd rather
wait for the paperback than be coerced into buying a book (or worse joining
a "series") from Franklin.  I could buy the hardcover and be happy with
the first trade edition, but then that disclaimer would be there to haunt
me every time I re-read the book.

I wouldn't even mind as much if the publisher offered limited first editions,
but I don't _want_ to buy from Franklin.

Ken

P.S.  The ones that I've seen haven't said _how_ limited the edition is,
	either.  I can see it now, a limited edition of only 10,000 copies :-)

---
staffan@serum.kodak.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: loosemore-sandra@CS.YALE.EDU (Sandra Loosemore)
Subject: Re: reading in bed
Organization: Yale Haskell project
Distribution: rec
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 10:04:11 GMT

jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy) writes:

   What is the most convenient arrangement people have found?
   What equipment is best?

Well, my preferred arrangement is to have somebody else read me
bedtime stories.  Unfortunately, the "equipment" for that isn't
always readily available....  :-(

Seriously, what "equipment" does one need beyond a book and a reading
lamp?

-Sandra
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: nmrdb@vms.macc.wisc.edu (BEVERLY SEAVEY)
Subject: Re: Muir's inventions
Organization:  University of Wisconsin Academic Computing Center
Distribution: na
Date: 10 APR 92 16:09:53    

In article <1992Apr6.233611.24570@nas.nasa.gov>, eugene@wilbur.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya) writes...

> 
>I have seen photos of the study desk page turner.  It exists.  Other people
>have similar clock-like devices.  I am not certain where it is located:
>The Smithsonian?  The Univ. of Wisconsin?  Muir's Marin CA home?

It's here at the Historical Society lobby at Univ of Wisc, Madison.
From: cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: ???Behaviorist Brainwashing????
Date: 10 Apr 92 19:12:07 GMT
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA

In article <1992Apr1.185246.27965@eff.org>, mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes:
> In article <10279@optilink.UUCP> cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:
> >In article <1992Mar27.234758.29971@intelhf.hf.intel.com>, pgryan@intelhf.hf.intel.com (Paul Ryan) writes:
# ## For anyone in rec.arts.books who *hasn't*  sometime in the past year already
# ## experienced Clayton's obsession with bashing homosexuals: this is, of 
# ## course, bullshit.  The gay community does NOT support NAMBLA, the gay
# #
# #Shall I provide some quotations from soc.motss justifying NAMBLA's
# #desire to abolish age of consent laws?
# 
# Only if you can demonstrate that those quotations represent  the views of
# the gay community. Otherwise, you are not responding to Ryan's criticism.

Does the presence of NAMBLA in gay parades suggest anything to you?
Such as the support of such groups by at least some large number of
homosexuals?

# # How about the continual
# #defenses of adults having sex with children as young as eight?
# #Perhaps some of JoJo's postings on the subject?
# 
# What is your evidence for your implication that "JoJo" represents 
# views held widely by the gay community? If you don't have any, you should

Lack of criticism in soc.motss.  I don't think I've ever seen a single
postings suggesting that JoJo should grow up.

# apologize for what you have posted, although I doubt you have the grace to
# do so.
# 
# The fallacy of inferring a general truth from a particular person (or set
# of people) is well-documented.
# 
# Mike Godwin,     |"Les vrais paradis sont les paradis

If nearly every member of a group expressing an opinion takes a 
position in defense of A, and you can evidence that this position
is taken by the larger community, does it make you wonder?  Even
a little?

I've seen the flak and insults that homosexuals who have opposed
child molestation in soc.motss have received -- it's clear that
they are taking a VERY unpopular position.
-- 
Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer  My opinions, all mine!
"The mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a
favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace
of God." -- Thomas Jefferson
From: weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Q about _Gravity's_Rainbow_
Date: 8 Apr 92 15:27:00 GMT
Reply-To: weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener)
Organization: The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology
In-reply-to: matt@physics.berkeley.edu (Matt Austern)

In article <MATT.92Apr7222521@physics.berkeley.edu>, matt@physics (Matt Austern) writes:
>I'm curious where Pynchon's opinion about literary criticism can be
>found.  As far as I know, his only published discussion of fiction is
>in the introductions to Slow Learner, and I cannot recall any such
>sentiment in that book.  Have I missed something?

For what it's worth, his publishers are not allowed to publish books
about Pynchon.
-- 
-Matthew P Wiener (weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu)
From: amadeus@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Susan Harwood Kaczmarczik)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: King Arthur. Many Many Versions...
Date: 7 Apr 92 22:53:56 GMT
Organization: University of Texas at Austin


Also to be included: Patricia Kennealy's Keltiad series has a trilogy
on King Arthur.  At present only the first book of what will be a
trilogy is out; it's called _The Hawk's Gray Feather_.  The next book,
which will be out sometime in December or January, probably, will be
_The Oak Above the Kings_.

It's definitely a different spin on the stories, but it's very, very
good.

-- 
-----Susan Harwood Kaczmarczik-------------------------------*<:-)-------------
"Queens never make bargains."  -- The Red Queen, _Through the Looking Glass_
-----amadeus@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu--------------The University of Texas @Austin---
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: bl959@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Philip G. Terrie)
Subject: Re: artic books -> "travel" lit.
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, (USA)
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 00:08:22 GMT


I read a lot of travel/adventure books, the more exotic the locale
the better. Just finished one of the best I ever read, which I
enthusiastically recommend: RUNNING THE AMAZON by Joe Kane. It's
part of an excellent series, "Vintage Departures" published by
Random House. There are many other fine titles in this series
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: cs201139@umbc5.umbc.edu (cs201139)
Subject: Re: Isaac Asimov Dead ...
Organization: University of Maryland Baltimore Campus, Academic Computing Services
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 19:11:44 GMT

I'm really upset about this. Now no more novels and no continuation of the
Foundation series. I am awarethat either his wife or daughter (or perhaps
both?) is also an author...Maybe they will pick up where he left off or maybe
he has some unfinished works? No one can ever replace him...

Does anyone know if he was in poor health before this or was it just a sudden
thing?

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: bf455@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bonita Kale)
Subject: Re: ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, (USA)
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 92 10:33:18 GMT




In a previous article, jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy) says:
>
>In my childhood usage, rubbers were black, covered the shoe only half
>way and were stretched on.  Galoshes were higher, some other color,
>had a tongue, were easy to get on and fastened with clasps.  Rubbers
>were used for rain and galoshes for snow and slush.


Now, too, as far as I know.  Galoshes are those floppy rain boots.  Real
rubbers do exist, and you can't call them galoshes and communicate.  My
husband takes the bus to work; he wears rubbers over his shoes because we
live in Cleveland. 

Bonita Kale