HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jcl@deshaw.com (Jonathan Laventhol)
Subject: Re: SGML--what is it?
Organization: D. E. Shaw & Co.
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 23:08:02 GMT


Hi --

>twriter1@pencom.com writes:

> I am debating whether or not I should fork over almost $1000
> to learn about SGML (a reputable 2 or 3 day long course).  Is it
> worth it?  Is SGML the wave of the future as I have heard?
> What does it stand for?

Standard Generalized Markup Language, says my nice brochure
from Abortext, who sell SGML software (313-996-3566).
It's a way of marking up text to indicate the typography.  The
standard is public, so you're not locked into a particular
manufacturer; it's style-driven, you say that something's a
header, not that it's in 18-point italics (the book designer
does that separately), and it's also ASCII-based, so you can
email things easily and so on: SGML looks like this:

	<para0>Hello this would be a short paragraph.</para0>

SGML has some big players behind it; but it's big and
complicated.  Abortext have some nice-looking WYSIWYG editors
for it, taking some of the sting out of some of the problems
and to fight off things like Framemaker.  (I have nothing to do
with them; I haven't even seen the product run, unfortunately;
just read the brochures.  It looked good, for a place which
needs something like this.  Their brochures are very
explanatory if you don't know about SGML.)

Worth spending the money?  I've no idea.  I think I'd rather
buy software with it.  For a publishing house or department it
might be worth it.  Ring up Arbortext and say you're thinking
about using SGML and do they have something to tell you more
about it.  :-)

If your problem is writing the documents, rather than
formatting them, you might consider reading:

    LC Call Number: Z286.E43 U54 1987
             Author: University of Chicago. Press.
              Title: Chicago guide to preparing electronic manuscripts : for
                      authors and publishers.
   Publication Info: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1987.
  Phys. Description: xi, 143 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.
        Series Name: Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing


This is a great little book covering a lot of the issues.  It
doesn't talk about SGML, but it makes you understand the
problems better.  It describes a method of tagging text which
looks a little bit like SGML.  In a way, SGML is Industrial
Duty Chicago-Tagging.  I've written technical documents in
Chicago tagging, which the layout department found really easy
to deal with.

Jokes for computer-literates: There is a school of thought
which says SGML is the X.400 of text formatting (in the way the
NROFF is the Fortran); though there are some people who think
it is the Ada.  Chicago-tagging is pseudo-code.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
J.
From: jeff@hilbert.cyprs.rain.com (Jeffrey S. Freedman)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Ethics, publishing and the net
Date: 19 Nov 92 19:28:41 GMT
Article-I.D.: hilbert.1992Nov19.192841.20507
Organization: Cypress Semiconductor Northwest, Beaverton Oregon

In article <BxtDF2.yK@unx.sas.com> sasafw@dobo.unx.sas.com (Fred Welden) writes:
>but the ability to write does not correlate with the ability to get
>published.  There may be a lower cutoff, a level of quality below which
>you cannot hope to be published, but if so it is very low indeed.

Ah, there's hope for me yet!

But then, what does it take to get published?  Must one have a relative who is
an editor?  Or a body like Madonna's?

I read a book on writing in which the author stated that he received 50
rejections before he had his first book published, and that this was an average
number.  Yet, if each submission took a month, and if there were no
simultaneous submissions, it would have taken him over four years before that
acceptance came.  Am I missing something here?

-- Jeff Freedman
From: elle@kimbark.uchicago.edu (Ellen Keyne Seebacher)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Graduate School/Clarion
Date: 24 Nov 92 00:22:28 GMT
Reply-To: elle@midway.uchicago.edu
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations

In article <1992Nov23.212112.11753@u.washington.edu>
 alex@biostat.washington.edu (Alex MacKenzie) writes: 
>Clarion consists of two separate workshops: Clarion East, and 
>Clarion West...

I hate to be picky ("er, no, you don't, Ellen" ...), but it's not
"Clarion East", just "Clarion."  The non-West Clarion was the
original, you see.  It was held in Clarion, Pennsylvania, until a
certain incident involving Gardner Dozois and a virgin sacrifice
caused the brass at Clarion College to dissociate themselves.  Now
it's at Michigan State, in East Lansing, Michigan.

Clarion has had, in years past, a reputation as being very tough; the
West Coast "Clarion Lite" is supposed to lack the boot-camp feel which 
the eastern crowd thinks produces Real Writers.  Since I've had two
friends attend Clarion and none Clarion West, I am no doubt getting a
totally unbiased view :).  Nonetheless, one of these years I may take
some time off and apply to the original Clarion.

(If no one else posts an address in the next couple of days, I'll dig
it up myself.)

--                    __
Ellen Keyne Seebacher \/             elle@midway.uchicago.edu
  "Write early, write often, and cut extensively.  If you can't 
   justify it, you shouldn't keep it."  --Jonathan Bellack
From: paul@svl.cdc.com (Paul Kohlmiller)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Wanted: Ways to Say Someone's Crazy
Keywords: phrases crazy
Date: 23 Nov 92 22:53:13 GMT

cass8806@elan.glassboro.edu (Kyle Cassidy) writes:

>In article <By6Fo3.DGo@news.cso.uiuc.edu> kaman@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu (Geri Kaman) writes:
>>From: kaman@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu (Geri Kaman)
>>Subject: Wanted: Ways to Say Someone's Crazy
>>Summary: ways to say someone's crazy
>>Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 16:12:01 GMT
>>Keywords: phrases crazy
>>Geri Kaman
>>kaman@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu

>toys in the attic
>truely gone fishing
>elevator doesn't quite reach the top
>a few sandwitches short of a picnic
>down a few pawns
>missing some buttons
>nuts
>wacko
>"mental health consumer"
Seems to me Johnny Carson must have made about 1,000 such phrases.
I can't think of them when I need them but here are a few:

When you break open his pinyata (sorry, no enya) you don't get any candy.
Not all of his biscuits are baked.
A few bricks shy of a load.
Elevator doesn't stop at all floors.
Not well wrapped (or not tightly wrapped).

I like the one about sandwitches but that leads to a whole generic form:
He is 1 (2 or 3 or a few) _objects_ short of a _collection_.
Let's see if I can do one on the spot:
He is 3 words short of a sentence.
He is a few lines short of a (computer) program.
He is a few genes short on the chromosone test.
It gets a little sick after a while but if you need a new one and only
one then maybe you can create one.

Some phrases are regional.
In the south bay you might say he belongs in Agnews.
In N.W. Pa. you say he's a candidate for North Warren.

--
     // Paul H. Kohlmiller             //  "Cybers, Macs and Mips"    //
     // Control Data Systems, Inc.    // Internet: paul@svl.cdc.com  //
     // Acronym under construction.  // America Online: Paul CDC    //
     // All comments are strictly my own. I won't lie but my       //
     // perception of reality is at best a personal hunch.        //
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: Theresa Jarosz Alberti <sapphire@wings.micro.umn.edu>
Subject: Attending a Natalie Goldberg Workshop
X-Xxdate: Tue, 17 Nov 92 09:54:30 GMT
Organization: Authors with Twins
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d7
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 21:34:25 GMT


Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: kaman@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu (Geri Kaman)
Subject: Wanted: Ways to Say Someone's Crazy
Summary: ways to say someone's crazy
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 16:12:01 GMT
Keywords: phrases crazy
  -  elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor
  -  lights are on but nobody's home
  -  not playing with a full deck
  -  doesn't have all his/her marbles
  -  has a screw loose

Geri Kaman
kaman@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: guay@fraser.sfu.ca (Tim Guay)
Subject: UBC MFA
Summary: Is UBC's Creative Writing MFA program any good?
Keywords: MFA, UBC
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Distribution: ca
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 23:23:26 GMT

I'm looking for any comments on UBC's MFA in creative writing. So if there are
any UBC MFA students/grads out there I would love to hear your comments on
the program.

Thanks...
From: larryw@sun.lclark.edu (Larry Westdahl)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Graduate School
Date: 17 Nov 92 05:28:08 GMT
Article-I.D.: lclark.1992Nov17.052808.28285
Distribution: usa
Organization: Lewis & Clark College, Portland OR

I am currently knee deep in the arduous task of filling out applications
for graduate school, and I have three questions for anyone who has the 
skinny on this subject.

1. How much experimentation will the average writing program tolerate in
a writing sample?  I imagine that different programs are looking for
different things.  When I was a kid I was being groomed to be a concert
pianist, and my teachers always told me to play the music straight
during competition, and not to take too any liberties.  They said that 
when I became Horowitz, then I could do what ever I wanted.  I imagine that
experimentation can only be pulled of if you are very good, or if your
audience already knows that you can write a simple, straight forward story.

2.  How much of a premium is placed on publication?  Some schools ask if 
I have been published, and others don't.  There are a lot of very talented
people out there trying to get published, and the numbers alone make the 
task difficult.  I haven't submitted very much, mainly because I am a 
terrible perfectionist (but that's beside the point).  If I had been
published already, I might question the value of graduate study, considering
the cost.  I realize that it all comes down to the manuscript, but if 
hard decisions are made easier by who has been published and who has not, 
I may have trouble.

3. Do writing programs look for anything specific in a statement of 
purpose?  I imagine a big no no would be to say that all you want is to
get a teaching job after the program is completed.  Fortunately for me, I am
going only to improve my skills as a writer.  Still, is there anything
beyond the obvious that should be addressed in the statement?

Thanks in advacne,

- L

-- 

_____
larryw@lclark.edu | *L.Westdahl is a caring nurturer, a member of several
writer, musician  | twelve step programs, but not a licensed therapist.
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: eliz@ai.mit.edu (Elizabeth Willey)
Subject: Re: Fiction Advice 12: Show & Tell/ On Evil
Organization: MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
	<1e5gu9INNjfs@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 18:03:16 GMT


"Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy,
monotonous, barren, boring.  Imaginary good is boring; real good is
always new, marvelous, intoxicating.  `Imaginative literature,'
therefore, is either boring or immoral or a mixture of both."
				---Simone Weil

See also Hannah Arendt on the Nuremberg Trials, for more illuminating
thought on evil.


Elizabeth Willey
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: elle@kimbark.uchicago.edu (Ellen Keyne Seebacher)
Subject: Re: Run on sentences
Reply-To: elle@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 18:04:38 GMT

Ian Murray (ian.murray@synapse.org)  writes:
>[Opening sentence of 'Ex Oblivione' by H.P. Lovecraft]
>Is this a run-on sentence or what???

"What," apparently.

Perhaps you'd like to describe what you consider grammatically wrong
with it?  (Hint:  dependent clauses do not a run-on make.)

--                    __
Ellen Keyne Seebacher \/             elle@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: Arizona State University
Date: Tuesday, 17 Nov 1992 07:47:15 MST
From: Jon L. Campbell <KVJLC@ASUACAD.BITNET>
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject:    Flat antagonist?

Correct me if I'm wrong:  Fred wrote that his protagonist wasn't a very
friendly guy and that his antagonist searches for morality(?) or was it
an understanding <rationale> why he committs mutiple murders.

I'll skip the protagonist character and get right to the heart of the
serial killer (pun).  Anyway, my understanding of serial killers is that
they are incapable of displaying guilt, remorse, doubt, or a conscious.
Their behavior is consistent with someone who is immune to the basic
moral delimma's that face most individuals.  They do not think that
what they are doing is typically wrong or unjustified.  In numerous
studies of serial killers (Eggar, 1991) and other documented examples
from the FBI suggest that serial killers murder in various ways to
satisfy a need.  That need may be that they derive a sense of power
over their victims.  In most cases this is probably true, but the sad
fact is that they often must mutilate their victims to achieve true
power.  The serial killer is neither compasionate nor caring towards
their victims and most often enjoy the thrill of watching someone beg
for mercy.  To suggest that one would begin to doubt their actions is
for the most part unrealistic.

Even after they are caught (most times by accident) they do not show
remorse for their crimes, but indifference towards their victims.  The
typical serial killer denies that they did anything wrong, but instead
will talk about their abused childhood or antisocial behavior in ways
that make it look like they are the victims.  But, don't ever believe
that a serial killer is anything other than someone who enjoys inflicting
pain and emotional distress on the helpless.  No serial killer in their
right mind would take on a stout and robust male in thier prime.  Instead
they perfer young children, women, older people and in general those less
likely to be able to defend themselves.

A portrayal of the serial killer in the urban setting would be terrifying
if the pubic only knew how many were out there and the chances of getting
caught are next to nill.  Published reports suggest that between 35 and
200 serial killers roam the country committing an estimate 2500 plus
murders annually.  Scary, eh?

So for Fred's antagonist, I can't imagine him or her feeling remorse or
guilt for what they do, but rather excitement and exaggerated diviant
behavior would be more like it.  This doesn't mean that the antagonist
in Fred's novel couldn't be different or that the protagonist couldn't
be an asshole, but in the world of make believe the writer has to have
us believe that it could happen.  If Fred had convinced the reader of
the differences, then I applaud him and encourage him to continue with
his efforts to get it published.

Good luck Fred,


Jon
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Support the U.S.-Cuba Caravan
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 00:58:44 GMT

/** pn.announcemen: 47.0 **/
** Topic: Support the U.S.-Cuba Caravan **
** Written 10:32 pm  Nov 16, 1992 by peacenet in cdp:pn.announcemen **
From: <peacenet>
Subject: Support the U.S.-Cuba Caravan

From sfaria Mon Nov 16 01:09:30 1992
From: Sheryl Faria <sfaria>

DEMONSTRATE TO 
SUPPORT THE U.S.-CUBA FRIENDSHIPMENT CARAVAN!

on the day it crosses the border.

On Friday, November 20, the U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan will
cross the border into Mexico.  The Caravan will travel through over
90 cities on 9 routes, collecting food, medicine, bicycles and
other humanitarian aid for Cuba, before converging in Laredo,
Texas. From there it will go to the Mexican port of Tampico, where
it will load the goods onto a Cuban freighter.

The Caravan, initiated by the Pastors for Peace and supported by
many other individuals and organizations, is an historic challenge
to three decades of an illegal and immoral U.S. blockade of a small
nation.  The Blockade has recently been tightened by passage of the
Torricelli bill, supported by both Bush and Clinton.

It is crucial that we show our support for this courageous people-
to-people effort.  Its success will depend on a strong public
showing of our belief in its goals.  On November 20, the day the
Caravan is scheduled to cross the border, there will be support
demonstrations in many cities.  The San Francisco demonstration
will be at the U.S. Treasury office, the department which often
enforces the blockade.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20
5:00 P.M.
U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT
425 MARKET ST AT FREMONT, NEAR THE EMBARCADERO BART STATION
SAN FRANCISCO
In the event of possible political/legal confrontation somewhere
along the route, we want to be able to respond quickly.  To
authorize billing for 1 or more emergency telegrams if the caravan
is detained by the U.S.government (approximately $7/telegram),
please send your name and telephone # to email address:
sfaria
or call -
for more information:
U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan
3181 Mission St  #14
San Francisco, CA  94110
415-821-7575

*24-hour Update Hotline:
510-273-9199

** End of text from cdp:pn.announcemen **

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
From: nyt%nyxfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu (NY Transfer News)
Subject: Editorial:No Blockade of Yugoslavia!/ww
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: The NY Transfer News Service
Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 22:15:56 GMT



Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit

NO BLOCKADE OF YUGOSLAVIA

The UN Security Council, which since the Gulf war has functioned
primarily as a diplomatic cover for U.S. military intervention,
has voted sanctions and a blockade against Yugoslavia. NATO, the
imperialist military alliance constructed to contain and overturn
socialist revolutions in Europe, is moving to implement the
blockade. Warships from the U.S., Britain, Italy, France and
Greece are poised in the Adriatic Sea to board and search vessels
bound for Yugoslav ports.

The Pentagon is assembling an armada in the area, including the
guided-missile frigate Halyburton, the cruiser Wainwright, the
amphibious assault ship Guam with 2,200 Marines aboard, and the
aircraft carrier Kennedy accompanied by a battle group of six
other ships. The Romanian Embassy says U.S. and German
officers(!) are now monitoring traffic along the Danube River.

Oil, the lifeline of any country today, tops the list of
prohibited items, along with coal, iron, steel, rubber,
chemicals, tires, aircraft and any type of motor.

NATO and the forces of the Western European Union, which include
France, are scrambling to outgun one another and be supreme in
the Balkans, after years of promoting the breakup of the Yugoslav
socialist federation. The pirates of imperialism are descending
on the area, trying to pick off pieces of what was a unified
workers' state. Their main objective now is to overthrow the
government in Belgrade, the only authority not completely in the
pocket of one of the imperialist powers, and the only part of
Yugoslavia that still has substantial publicly-owned industry.

Forget the talk about protecting Muslim people (after the
slaughter of the Gulf war!), protecting small nations (after the
invasions of Grenada and Panama!), protecting human rights (after
allowing thousands to die in Somalia!). These robbers have no
noble motives, and their intervention will only cost lives, not
save them.

This blockade is nothing but an act of war by imperialist
super-powers against a small country, and should be opposed by
all who believe in the right of nations to self-determination.

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; "workers" on PeaceNet; on Internet:
"workers@mcimail.com".)


 NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit
 Modem: 718-448-2358  *  Internet: nytransfer@igc.apc.org
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
From: Andrew Lang <lang@igc.apc.org>
Subject: Correction on last alert
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 01:55:24 GMT

/* Written  2:12 pm  Nov 17, 1992 by nisgua@igc.apc.org in igc:carnet.alerts */
/* ---------- "Correction on last alert" ---------- */
There is a typo on NISGUA's November 12, 1992 Rapid Response
Alert regarding accusations against human rights monitors.

The number of the prepared telex message is 32.  The three telex
companies all have message 32 rejecting the accusations from the
Min. of Defense. 

Sorry for any inconvenience.

NISGUA, 1314 14th Str. NW, Washington, DC  20005.
Tel. 202/483-0050.  Fax: 202/234-1656.

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
From: Andrew Lang <lang@igc.apc.org>
Subject: Cuba Caravan Alert
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 19:20:46 GMT

/* Written 10:25 pm  Nov 17, 1992 by peacenet@igc.apc.org in igc:pn.alerts */
/* ---------- "Cuba Caravan Alert" ---------- */
From: <peacenet>
Subject: Cuba Caravan Alert

From sfaria Tue Nov 17 10:56:23 1992
From: Sheryl Faria <sfaria>

THERE IS WORD THAT THE MEMBERS OF THE CUBA CARAVANMAY BE ARRESTED AS THEY
ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE BORDER FROM TEXAS INTO MEXICO EARLY THIS FRIDAY MORNING, 
NOVEMBER 20.
MESSAGES TO TREASURY DEPT OFFICIALS ARE NEEDED RIGHT AWAY -- THIS HAS PROVED
EFFECTIVE IN THE PAST.  PLEASE SEE REG.CUBA FOR INFO ON HOW YOU CAN HELP
GET THE CARAVAN ACROSS THE BORDER.
WE'VE ALSO SET UP A 24-HOUR HOTLINE FOR LATEST INFO ON THE PROGRESS OF THE
CARAVAN, AND ACTIONS NEEDED BY ITS SUPPORTERS:  510-273-9199.

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive