HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: tmaddox@netcom.com (Tom Maddox)
Subject: Re: Tom Maddox, please keep your sig.
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 02:48:59 GMT

In article <6NOV92.21194267@vax.clarku.edu> hhenderson@vax.clarku.edu writes:
>It's OK, Tom, you can keep your sig., I think I can handle it.

	You're too kind.

>It was just that after I'd seen the word "reptoids" too many times,
>I lost control.  Like the woman in this Richard Brautigan short
>story:
>
>                       THE SCARLATTI TILT
>
>"It's very hard to live in a studio apartment in San Jose with a man
>who's learning to play the violin."  That's what she told the police
>when she handed them the empty revolver.
>
>So feel free to post as often as you like, and even use the word
>"reptoids" a lot, because I'm now on special medication.

	I'm happy for you and your new medication but unwilling to share an
apartment with you in San Jose.

-- 
				Tom Maddox
		    	    tmaddox@netcom.com
		"The Reptoids eat humans like we eat chickens."
				Alex Alexander
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: le01167@portal.lasc.lockheed.com (Ron Nadel)
Subject: Re: Torturing Politicals
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Co. - Rye Canyon
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 16:01:40 GMT

In article <1992Nov11.101846.3221@genie.slhs.udel.edu>, starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu (Tim Starr) writes...
>In article <WARKENT.92Nov9131714@ltisun14.epfl.ch> warkent@ltisun14.epfl.ch (Ken Warkentyne) writes:
>}
>}Other topics not suitable for humourous treatment:
>}
>}  Rape


.in "Play it again, Sam"

Diane Keaton: (wife of a friend of Allen's)

"Did you hear about that woman who was raped in Oakland?"

Allen: (who is feeling guilty for wanting to sleep with Keaton)

"I was nowheres NEAR Oakland!"


Ron
From: brad@optilink.UUCP (Brad Yearwood)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: BOOK: Hollywood vs. America by Michael Medved
Date: 6 Nov 92 03:47:39 GMT
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA

In article <13068@optilink.UUCP>, cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:
# 
# Well, of course.  That's part of why George Will is the liberals'
# pet conservative.
  ^^^
   |----- Finally: someone explains why Will keeps shitting on the newspaper.

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: le01167@portal.lasc.lockheed.com (Ron Nadel)
Subject: Re:  Accuracy in autobiography (was: GENIUS: Richard Feynman)
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Co. - Rye Canyon
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 17:04:58 GMT

In article <Bxn517.MqB@wsrcc.com>, alison@wsrcc.com (Alison Chaiken) writes...

> I feel the same way about
>Feynman's two autobiographical works that I felt about Hellman's: that
>the strict veracity of these books is irrelevant to their enjoyment.

I'd say that strict veracity of these books is fatal to their enjoyment...
..so we toss it out.

Ron
From: kat@banach.WPI.EDU (Christina Lynne Freeman)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: literary lions
Date: 11 Nov 1992 19:42:43 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: banach.wpi.edu
Originator: kat@banach.WPI.EDU


In article <1992Nov11.181345.21178@grebyn.com>, fi@grebyn.com (Fiona Webster) writes:


[long article containing many excellent points about the literary lions deleted]

I agree with you and your comparisons, but you forgot one literary lion in your
discussion that does not fit the mold.  We cannot forget the cowardly lion in
_The Wizard of Oz_.  

kat
 ***************************************************************************
      Christina Freeman                                 kat@wpi.wpi.edu
		"Was there not, from the first, more poison in
 			  your nature than in mine?" 
                           - _Rappaccini's Daughter_ 
			      Nathaniel Hawthorne
                  ********************************************
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto)
Subject: Re: A Literary Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 17:43:48 GMT


le01167@portal.lasc.lockheed.com (Ron Nadel) writes:
 
> So what other authors and novels do you think of in this light?
> You know, not just a story with ups and downs or exciting moments,
> and not just a character who lives through some sort of nightmare,
> but anguish and psychological tension where you experience frisson
> after frisson, find yourself drained and mentally perspiring when
> it's over, and haunted by it effect for days...
 
THE MAGUS and THE COLLECTOR, by John Fowles.
 
FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies.
 
Mark
 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: rpeck@pure.com (Ray Peck)
Subject: Good books for 8-year-old kids
Organization: Pure Software, Los Altos, CA
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 03:39:40 GMT

I recently began tutoring an 8-year-old boy.  He's quite sharp, and
likes to read.  His fave seems to be the Encyclopedia Brown books that
I liked so much when I was young.  

I'm interested in getting him something more challenging, and
something that he can learn from, but still enjoy.  When I was his
age, I used to read a lot of biographies, but I can't remember quite
what else (though I did a lot of reading).

So, how 'bout some suggestions?  What literary (or semi-literary) fun
stuff should I look into?  He can probably handle Tom Sawyer, for
instance.

Email, and I will summarize.


-- 
Ray Peck						rpeck@pure.com
Pure Software						415-903-5100
From: zeleny@husc10.harvard.edu (Michael Zeleny)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: People and Personas (was re: maddona's [sic] new book [sic]?)
Summary: the best way to remove makeup
Date: 13 Nov 92 02:00:58 GMT
Organization: The Phallogocentric Cabal

In article <9211121715.AA19007@cfdev1.shearson.com> 
mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:

>I'm not sure where people end and personas begin. 

This comes from the git who blamed Fido for confusing fiction and reality.

Give it a rest, Mark.  And, hey, if you ever need to separate a person
from her persona, just use a dab of vaseline.

>[...]

>Mark -- who is mostly "Mark -- but not always."

cordially,
mikhail zeleny@husc.harvard.edu
who still regrets his prematurely abandoned theatrical career...
"Un de mes plus grands plaisirs est de jurer Dieu quand je bande."
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: anand@Cadence.COM (Anand Bemra)
Subject: Re: Property Rights (was re: Progress: The New Great Divide? (was Re: Cult)
Organization: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 02:21:34 GMT

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

[taking a stab at communism, socialism ]
>The proposition that another system might work better just had a
>very extensive trial and was found disastrous.  

At this rate, John McCarthy would blame the Japanese if the
Sun were not to rise in the east tomorrow. 
Communism failed because of the bureaucratic, all encompassing 
centripetal State and not because of lack of private property.

anand
--
Screw PBS & NPR news. Tired of news "sanitized for your protection?". Try:
misc.activism.progressive, "Lies Of Our [NY]Times", "Z" magazine (Boston).
KPFA 94.1 FM (Bay Area), 90.7 (L.A.), 90.1 (Houston, TX), 89.3 (Washington, DC)
These are my opinions, not my employer's.
From: kat@banach.WPI.EDU (Flame's Passion)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Books in the time of school
Date: 8 Nov 92 15:34:51 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: banach.wpi.edu

In article <1992Nov5.092246.14324@newstand.syr.edu> mprisco@lynx.cat.syr.edu () writes:
>
>In grade school it had to be the S.E. Hinton books (_The_Outsiders_ et al)
>but by Highschool I'd started to get into that snotty can't-read-it-if-its-
>not-liturature phase (that's lasted until a few years ago!) and probably
>Madame_Bovery (reading for some HS class or other) would be the one
>that meant the most to me....
>

I got the S.E. Hinton books also.  But I also got in grade school Beverly
Cleary (_Socks_, _Sister of the Bride_,etc) and Judy Blume (_Tales of a 4th
Grade Nothing_, etc). I loved them all and at the time probably read each of
them at least twice.  In high school, I read alot of classics (mostly for
classes though, not by choice.)  At the time, I wasn't very impressed.  
However now that I look back upon it, I think I really did enjoy every one
that I read and one day plan to re-read most of them.  _Madame Bovary_ and
_To Kill a Mockingbird_ were by far my two favorites from the whole lot for
novels. And I loved every Shakespeare play (and I read 15 or so) that I read.

kat
 ***************************************************************************
      Christina Freeman                                 kat@wpi.wpi.edu
		"Was there not, from the first, more poison in
 			  your nature than in mine?" 
                           - _Rappaccini's Daughter_ 
			      Nathaniel Hawthorne
                  ********************************************
From: amnell@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Marko Amnell)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: More Boris! (was Re: fake accents)
Date: 11 Nov 92 10:26:09 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki

In <WARKENT.92Nov10210548@ltisun14.epfl.ch> warkent@ltisun14.epfl.ch 
(Ken Warkentyne) writes:

>  I suppose I should have mentioned in my e-mail to you about
>TV5 that I am Canadian, tabernac ou bien!

Tabernouche!

-- 
Marko Amnell
amnell@klaava.helsinki.fi
Graduate Student in Philosophy
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: colten@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (marc.colten)
Subject: Re: Columbus and the Egg?
Summary: Columbus and the Egg
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 16:19:55 GMT

In article <179690001@hpcndm.CND.HP.COM>, neal@hpcndm.CND.HP.COM (Neal Bauer) writes:
> Last month my book group read _Frankenstein_.  Those of us who read the
> introduction were puzzled by this passage:
> 
> 	Every thing must have a beginning, to speak in Sanchean phrase;
> 	and that beginning must be linked to something that went before.
> 	The Hindoos give the world an elephant to support it, but they
> 	make the elephant stand upon a tortoise.  Invention, it must be
> 	humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but
> 	out of chaos; the materials must, in the first place, be afforded:
> 	it can give form to dark, shapeless substances, but cannot bring
> 	into being the substance itself.  In all matters of discovery and
> 	invention, even of those that appertain to the imagination, we
> 	are continually reminded of the story of Columbus and his egg.
> 
> If this was a test of cultural literacy, we all flunked.  Can anybody out
> there enlighten us?  What is the story of Columbus and the egg?


This is an old story, I have it in a children's story books somewhere.

Before Columbus went on his voyage, the story goes, everyone said it couldn't
be done. Either he'd fall off the edge of the Earth or just get lost.

Well, when he came back, everyone said - so what?  One night, he was at
a dinner party and everyone was talking about him and saying, what
accomplishment - anyone could do it, all you had to do was sail west.

So Columbus took and egg from the table and challenged the dinner guests
to make it stand on end. They all tried, balancing it, spinning it,
and they all failed.  They then said it was impossible.

Columbus took the egg back and gently tapped it on the table, crushing
in one end slightly, and the egg stood up with no trouble.

"So you see," Columbus said, "it was easy to do.  Anyone could do it,
ONCE THEY HAVE BEEN SHOWN HOW!"

marc colten
From: weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Accuracy in autobiography (was: GENIUS: Richard Feynman)
Date: 13 Nov 92 15:32:11 GMT
Reply-To: weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener)
Organization: The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology
In-reply-to: alison@wsrcc.com (Alison Chaiken)

In article <Bxn517.MqB@wsrcc.com>, alison@wsrcc (Alison Chaiken) writes:
>I think that Gleick's book performs a useful service by demystifying
>Feynman's life.  As a physicist, I especially appreciated reading how
>filled with doubts about his talents Feynman was throughout his
>career.

I get the impression you never talk or read much when you say this.
Most of the greats have doubts about their talents, or even deny being
any more talented.  Isaac Newton's "shoulder of giants" comment was
not just some clever act of credit sharing, but a genuine humility.

>	  Undoubtedly all his humorous tales were to cover up his
>essential insecurity.

Perhaps he told humorous tales because it was a lot of fun, and Feynman
loved having a lot of fun.  He certainly did a pretty lousy job in the
coverup department, considering that he spells out his insecurity in
several of his tales.
-- 
-Matthew P Wiener (weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,alt.horror
From: cass8806@elan.glassboro.edu (KYLE CASSIDY)
Subject: Re: Algernon Blackwood
Organization: Rowan College of New Jersey
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 15:34:26 GMT

>newt@ais.org (Heather Darling) writes:
>>I recently came across a volume of short horror fiction by Algernon
>>Blackwood. I'm wonderuing if anyone can give me any background on him or his
>>writing since I know nothing about it?
>
i was just reading one of his books this weekend. what i can remember from 
the bio it little. i know that as a young man he attracted the attention of 
some weathy benefactor who liked his writing and set him up so that he could 
penn a bunch of short stories -- the most fameous of which is probably "the 
doll" (because they made a night gallery episode out of it). H. P. Lovecraft 
said that Blackwood's "The Willows" was the best supernatural story written 
in english. He lived to be fairly old. If you're really interested I can 
type in the bio from the book....

kc
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: gls@windmill.ATT.COM (not the wind, not the mill)
Subject: Re: A rose is a rose is a rose
Organization: Save the Dodoes Foundation
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 16:01:43 GMT

> amnell@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Marko Amnell) writes:
> 
> Famous rose lines.  Any author, any language. [...]

	"They opened like a rose, and proved great sport."

				--Italian bomber pilot on the Ethiopian campaign
-- 
Col. G. L. Sicherman
gls@windmill.att.COM
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: tmaddox@netcom.com (Tom Maddox)
Subject: Re: Advice to the World Weary (was Re: The Eudaemonic Pie
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 23:46:31 GMT

In article <9211041700.AA01029@cfdev1.shearson.com> mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:
>But I am starting to get a little concerned about Francis.  He can't
>tell the difference between fiction and reality, can only relate
>to others under the guise of an assumed persona, doesn't remember
>if he was in New Orleans or not, and has this continuing image of
>young Catholic boys in short pants.

	Fido has suffered lately.  First he was taken to task for egregious
misstatement about the ownership of firearms in England by the Semi-Lunatic
Mr. Cramer (not a pleasant experience, I would imagine); then he misused a 
cricket term (to do with bowling, I believe) and was abused for doing so;
then the same thing happened regarding the self-appellations of some sub-
class of Australians; and, finally (oh, the shame), he misquoted the
Oxford motto and was repeatedly chastised for it.

	And of course he was not mentioned at the Austin r.a.b.ble
convocation.

	He seems embittered by it all, as is evidenced by his caustic
remarks concerning "sickening sycophancy, log-rolling and back-scratching"
being "The Way" on r.a.b.  (He and Fiona would seem to have arrived at
opposite conclusions about the state of things on r.a.b., I note in passing.)

	What is going on here?  Is Fido not only *not* the real Francis but 
*not real at all*?  Perhaps Fido is, in net.parlance, a pseudo, perhaps even
one of the LISPing Professor McCarthy's AIgents (the Stanford connection
offers fertile grounds for speculation here for the conspiratorially
inclined).  Or perhaps Fido/Francis only claims to be English, and despite
all his semi-convincing semi-gibberish about Public Schools, travels in the
Empire, &c., he is in reality a product of some other country--even, the
mind recoils in disbelief & horror--an American.  Or perhaps Fido/Francis
is merely going through a bad patch, like IBM, General Motors, Sears, the
Fundamentalist Right, the KGB, and other such folks, once ascendant.

	I have no answers to these deep questions, but I do find them
amusing.
-- 
				Tom Maddox
		    	    tmaddox@netcom.com
		"The Reptoids eat humans like we eat chickens."
				Alex Alexander
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,alt.horror
From: rsquires@cyclops.eece.unm.edu (Roger Squires)
Subject: Re: Algernon Blackwood
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 09:09:43 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <cass8806.381.720977666@elan.glassboro.edu> cass8806@elan.glassboro.edu (KYLE CASSIDY) writes:
>
>-- the most fameous of which is probably "the 
>doll" (because they made a night gallery episode out of it).
>

	I saw this one!!  It *was* great, 'specially the ending!

>
>kc

Roger Squires
rsquires@cyclops.eece.unm.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: msmorris@watsci.UWaterloo.ca (Mike Morris)
Subject: Re: Property Rights
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 02:16:46 GMT

                                     Wednesday, the 11th of November, 1992

Anand Bemra writes:
  Communism failed because of the bureaucratic, all encompassing 
  centripetal State and not because of lack of private property.

The question is whether communism is possible to implement without
invoking a bureaucratic, all encompassing centripetal state.

                  Mike Morris
           (msmorris@watsci.uwaterloo.ca)


Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: sbrock@teal.csn.org (Steve Brock)
Subject: This House Of Sky by Ivan Doig (Western history/culture)
Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc.
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 17:32:37 GMT

THE LAST WATER HOLE IN THE WEST: THE COLORADO-BIG THOMPSON PROJECT
AND THE NORTHERN COLORADO WATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICT by Daniel
Tyler.  University Press of Colorado, P.O. Box 849, Niwot, CO 
80544.  Illustrated, index, bibliography, notes, glossary, maps,
list of acronyms and abbreviations.  613 pp., $19.95 cloth.
0-87081-277-7

                             REVIEW

     If you're anyone but a water historian, there's much more in
this book than you want to know about the Colorado-Big Thompson (C-
BT) Project, the largest trans-mountain water diversion.  Even
those not in the know, however, won't fail to admire Tyler's
scholarship.  "The Last Water Hole" is very similar to Robert
Gottleib's history of water development titled "Thirst For Growth,"
though not as critical.
     As a student of water policy, this book was a great read, even
though, at times, I objected to seeing these water developers of
the Northern Colorado Water Conservation District (NCWCD) portrayed
with human faces.  
     The book is broken into five parts: formative years (northern
Colorado's search for a water supply, planning the project, and the
acquisition of funding), the district during WWII (plan modifica-
tions and the push for final approval), construction and delivery
(but not without financial and legal problems), urbanization
(decisions about conservation versus the acquisition of new
supplies), and management v. environmental activism (i.e. the fight
over Two Forks).
     Environmentalists will balk at the happy face put on this
powerful water organization, but this isn't a gloss, as was Karen
Smith's reverent treatment of the Salt River Project in "The
Magnificent Experiment."  
     The NCWCD faces a hard future, and Tyler believes that the
creation of a regional authority for water management may help,
while the leadership of the NCWCD seems to be retrenching - saying
that it needs to "be more receptive to its constituency."  
     Whatever the eventual management scenario turns out to be, the
district has been placed as one of the best-researched in the
United States.
     Tyler is a professor of history at Colorado State University.
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Et in Arcadia ego
Date: 12 Nov 1992 13:15:05 GMT
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
NNTP-Posting-Host: oas.stanford.edu

Alan Hunter writes:

	Microsoc writes: 

		Or are you interested in the details of the evolution 
		of Britain's second oldest place of learning?

	I hate to be disruptive, but I can not help sharing with you the 
	heresy that there is an outside possibility of the existence of 
	places where people learnt even before Oxon & Cambs came into 
	existence. 

We were not, however, talking about Oxford or Cambridge but about Baliol.
Alan Hunter's Scottish History seems to have deserted him, since it was
and still somewhat is a Scotch College founded by Devorguilla de Baliol
for the education of a few Scots scholars as a penance exacted by Rome
for her late husband John's slaying of some Bishops. Well, not so much 
that he killed them as that he got caught.

	Having said that, I think the idea of rounding the buggers up 
	so that we can keep an eye on them was a major advancement for 
	civilisation as we know it.

The phrase "civilization as we know it" takes on special significance
when uttered by one from the Isle of Islay, since the island is defined
by one product, Islay Mist, to my mind the archetypal Single Malt. It
has a peaty single-mindedness that is, Thank God, too much for many.
Helps keep the price down. Obligatory booky reference? Oh yes, I believe
that Islay mist was the late Sir Compton mcKenzie's favourite tipple.

						Fido
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: sfysh@epas.utoronto.ca (Stephanie Moskal Fysh)
Subject: Re: maddona's [sic] new book [sic]?
Organization: University of Toronto - EPAS
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 15:48:01 GMT

In article <9211120531.AA07635@cfdev1.shearson.com> mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:
>As with everything else that she does, and in spite of the books's title,
>Madonna's new book is about one thing: Madonna

It does have a nice cover, though.

Stephanie Fysh
Univ. of Toronto
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Torturing Politicals
Date: 10 Nov 1992 12:48:28 GMT
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
NNTP-Posting-Host: oas.stanford.edu

Ken Warkentyne writes:

	John McCarthy wrote:

		[punny cannibal poem deleted]

	Would you recite that poem to someone whose mother was eaten by
	cannibals?  To someone whose mother, a victim of child abuse, was
	eaten by cannibals after being raped by Genghis Khan's horde and
	tortured to death by the Spanish Inquisition following her escape
	from Dachau?  I think not.

But this is precisely what happened to Cunegonde in Voltaire's *CANDIDE*,
or are we not reading books anymore? Lenny Bernstein certainly saw the
humor in it, and so did the many who saw and loved his opera (which
contains some of his loveliest music for those who enjoyed *West Side
Story*). Of course, nowadays we'd have to change the name Cunegonde to
something more PC, I suppose.

For those who have forgotten, Voltaire sat up in bed several hours after
his death, spat out his false teeth, and grinned from ear to ear.

								Fido