HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: kamorgan@athena.mit.edu (Keith Morgan)
Subject: The return of Bertie and Jeeves
Keywords: Wodehouse, holidays, humor 
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 15:15:51 GMT

For those who on occasion turn on the tv, Masterpiece Theatre on the
People's Broadcasting System will present further adventures of Bertie
and Jeeves on Sunday Dec. 27th, 9 p.m. eastern. Your mileage may vary
according to locale. I thought these pretty good adaptations of the
stories when the first set came around and I'm looking forward to the
new ones. The show will be introduced by the fellow who plays Jeeves.
He is sitting in for the now retired Alastair Cook. 

Keith

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keith Morgan		 	|A nice man is a man of nasty ideas.
kamorgan@athena.mit.edu  	|		Jonathan Swift
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: rsquires@cyclops.eece.unm.edu (Roger Squires)
Subject: Re: Project B.F.D. (was: An apology)
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 92 16:43:54 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

> mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes:
> 
>I can't speak for every case (and, yes, I've run into several of these
>folks myself), but it seems to me that lots of folks are very easily
>intimidated. They're not used to having their opinions exposed to the kind
>of quick and seemingly ruthless critique that Usenet provides. I agree
>very much that oldtimers should take reasonable steps to make newcomers
>feel welcome, but they're cheating the newcomers if they soften their
>opinions in order to preserve the latter's good feelings.
>

	Similar charges of persecution are to be seen on talk.origins
	between creationists and old-timer evolutionists, and there,
	as here, it's pretty bogus.

>
>--Mike

rms
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 19:52:14 CST
From: Cole Kendall <U48073@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Books for Christmas

A few that I have recently read:

Kingsley Amis _The Anti-Death League_ also recently discussed here.  I
have been reading a lot of Amis recently, and this and _Colonel Sun_
(the James Bond book written under the pseudonym of Robert Markham)
were both terrific.

Andrew Barr _Wine Snobbery: An Expose_, a book that ought to have
been better organized, but contains much that anyone who ever buys
wine or champagne should know.

E. F. Benson _Make Way for Lucia_.  What can I say.  When I read raves
from both Fiona and Fido I began my search, and found the seven volumes
under one cover for less than $10, hardcover, and have been chortling
ever since.

Jonathan Franzen _The Twenty-Seventh City: A Novel_.  One of those
nice looking hard covers on sale in an airport bookstore for $5.
(An idea just occured to me that perhaps others could reveal the
few decent airport bookstores; I know the one at O'Hare, but would
appreciate other recommendations.)  Franzen, an alumnus of my alma
mater, has written a very odd story about St. Louis and a conspiracy
to take over the city government.  Some good political stuff on
the city/county turf wars.

Cole Kendall
From: tmaddox@netcom.com (Tom Maddox)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: All I want for xmas
Date: 17 Dec 92 17:48:48 GMT
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)

In article <1992Dec17.133734.20008@grebyn.com> fi@grebyn.com (Fiona Webster) writes:
>Mark Taranto quotes W. Sburgfort S.'s fridge list:
>>> Halo                            Tom Maddox              sf

>and then says:
>>I hope Sburgfort was smiling when he wrote that.

>Now, wait a minute.  I thought I heard Maddox say that people
>better be smiling if they call his book "sci-fi," not if they
>call it "sf."  I've had this distinction between "sci-fi" and
>"sf" drummed into me until I'm blue in the face, so I'd like
>to know if I've *still* got it wrong.

	Fiona's got it right, Mark wrong--insofar as the terms apply.

	However, the "don't call it sci-fi" wing within science fiction
generally represents the Voice of the Fan, which rings out strange and nerdy
over the land.  Most of the rest of us simply don't care.

	(Also, for those who mercifully have been spared it, I should note
that among fans and, hence, on the net, this topic often provokes a perfectly
awful "debate" about whether one should care about or employ the sf/sci-fi
distinction.  The exchange of messages is typically at least as interesting
as a Cramer harangue on liberals, and generally as surprising.)

	And I'd *much* rather have someone call _Halo_ sci-fi and want it for 
Christmas than call it sf and not want it at all.

	
-- 
				Tom Maddox
		    	    tmaddox@netcom.com
	"That's a bird bone, chair, Bob.  I don't know if I should sit there."
				Tom Waits
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: boebert@sctc.com (Earl Boebert)
Subject: Re: Facts on FAQs
Organization: SCTC
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 20:44:46 GMT

If you subscribe to news.answers just about every FAQ on the face of
the earth will show up sooner or later; usually no less frequently
than once a month.  If ever you needed proof that the spirit of the
Late Consumptive Usher is with us still ...

Earl
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 10:45:16 CST
From: Cole Kendall <U48073@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Good bookstore (for a change)
 <BzCxM8.C56@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk>

In article <BzCxM8.C56@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk>, jack@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin)
says:
>
>What does that say about Chicago bookshop standards?  They're a subsidiary
>of the UK's largest and most mindless distribution chain, WH Smiths.
>Yuppie bestsellers only.  Something like the Book-of-the-Month Club with
>carpeting.  Further, Smiths have a record of randomly vindictive political
>censorship, like refusing to carry the UK's largest-selling gay newspaper.
>
>There *must* be real (i.e. non-chain) bookshops in Chicago, surely?
>
Chicago is home to some notable bookshops, few of which are located in
the downtown (Loop/Near North Side area).  Waterstones happens to be
right across from the prime shopping area (on the "Miracle Mile").
It appears to be a valuable addition locally, since the mindlessness
of the downtown chains is enormous (Stuart Brent, an independent
bookseller excepted).

See the monthly posting on Bookstores in Chicago
(maintained by E. Leeper) for some good alternatives, including
my local favorite, the Seminary Co-op in Hyde Park.

Cole Kendall
From: das@voodoo.boeing.com (Deb Schwartz)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Whats a good Terry Pratchett book?
Date: 11 Dec 92 23:19:18 GMT
Organization: Yet Another Graphics Project, Bellevue, WA

In article <Byp7Dx.CM1@techbook.com> gummitch@techbook.com (Jeff Frane) writes:
>
>The truth is that all the Discworld books are alike, and you'll either
>be tickled to death by them or, I suspect, loathe them.  There is
>another book, co-written, which title escapes me entirely, that was
>published in the last year or two about the end of the earth.  This,
>too, is funny as hell -- if it's your type.
>
Good Omens.

>By the way, there is also a Terry Pratchett newsgroup, somewhere in the
>alt.fan hierarchy, I believe.
>
alt.fan.pratchett.  Terry himself is a frequent contributor.


------
Debbie Schwartz // das@voodoo.ca.boeing.com  // ....uw-beaver!bcsaic!voodoo!das

(rab.spinster wannabe - qualifications to follow)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: hhenderson@vax.clarku.edu
Subject: RE: excellent reading!
Organization: Clark University
Date: 13 DEC 92 21:30:55 GMT

Tom Maddox: 
>>>      Fuck off and die, Heather. 

Jan Yarnot: 
>>Ah, yes.  One of my favorite things about r.a.books is the
>>reasoned discussion of books that occurs here. 

Tom Maddox: 
>        Nothing unreasoned about that statement.  

But is it about books?  

I was going to ask you, Mr. Maddox, why you couldn't come up with
a more brilliant riposte than "Fuck off and die," but then I remembered
the anecdote from the days when Joe Morgan was the manager of the Red Sox. 
A sportswriter asked Morgan why the Red Sox didn't run more (e.g., steal
bases).  Morgan eyed him coldly and said, "Why don't we run?  Because we
*can't*, sir!"

Ever egregious,

Heather
HHENDERSON@vax.clarku.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: steyn@cs.rochester.edu (Gavin Steyn)
Subject: Re: Wandering through a bookstore at lunchtime.
Organization: University of Rochester
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 03:18:06 GMT

In article <1992Dec14.014506.2200@grebyn.com> fi@grebyn.com (Fiona Webster) writes:

>Here's an idea for a thread: what's the most curious display of
>ignorance you've ever encountered on the part of a bookstore
>employee?

I just had an astonishing one when I went home for Thanksgiving.  My
brother needed a copy of _King Lear_ for school, so I went to the bookstore
to look for it.  After a while of fruitlessly searching the shelves
(turns out, EVERYONE ELSE had also gone out to pick up a copy), I asked
the guy at the register if they had the book.  "_King Lear_?  Who's
that by?"  So, I told him Shakespeare, and he says, "Oh right, it's just
early in the day," and takes me to the wrong section of the store.
"Guess we don't have any Shakespeare at all..."

Gavin Steyn
steyn@cs.rochester.edu
"So he's had the lifelong ambition of reversing the polarity of the earth?"
From: jim@rand.org (Jim Gillogly)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: question for Arabian Nights fans
Date: 14 Dec 92 04:26:25 GMT
Organization: Banzai Institute

In article <1992Dec12.132816.18430@husc3.harvard.edu> nevins@husc10.harvard.edu (Mark Nevins) writes:
>Has interest in _The Arabian Nights_ been re-kindled by Disney's
>_Aladdin_ and the mention of Burton in Coppola's _Dracula_, or
>what?

I'd say Burtonophilia is in vogue (such as it is, anyway) for two reasons:
(1) a moderately popular (am I overstating this?) film called "Mountains
of the Moon" was released several years ago, and (2) Burton is the most
important viewpoint character of Philip Jose Farmer's very popular
Riverworld series.  The portrait of Burton in the excellent opening book
of the series, "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" is very well done, so far as
I've been able to tell.  Farmer is clearly a Burton fan.

-- 
	Jim Gillogly
	U.S. National Debt: $4,168,960,843,629
	Your Share: $16,289
Xref: sparky rec.arts.books:22466 talk.philosophy.misc:2967
From: zeleny@husc10.harvard.edu (Michael Zeleny)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,talk.philosophy.misc
Subject: Re: The word "homophobic"
Date: 15 Dec 92 19:50:59 GMT
Organization: The Phallogocentric Cabal

In article <OZ.92Dec15110751@ursa.sis.yorku.ca> 
oz@ursa.sis.yorku.ca (Ozan Yigit) writes:

>Michael Zeleny writes [most of it elided] in response to Mike Morris:

MZ:
>>As for your cult of free will, you ought to read more Spinoza.

OY:
>However interesting it may be to read Spinoza's theorems and scholiums,
>I suspect that for this topic, Dennett's "Elbow Room" makes for a much
>more up-to-date reading.

If you seriously believe that Dennett is to be preferred to Spinoza on
*any* reasonable account, you are far beyond any help I can offer.  On
the other hand, on the slim chance that you might be jesting, a good
antidote to the ludicrous theses of _Elbow Room_ is to be found in Van
Inwagen's essay, "The Incompatibility of Free Will and Determinism",
in _Philosophical Studies (1975), and reprinted in Gary Watson's
Oxford Readings in Philosophy collection, _Free Will_.

>oz

cordially,
mikhail zeleny@husc.harvard.edu
"Le cul des femmes est monotone comme l'esprit des hommes."
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: kamorgan@athena.mit.edu (Keith Morgan)
Subject: Re: The word "homophobic"
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 18:29:14 GMT

Self-admitted leftist John Donald Collier confirms the suspicions of
fellow leftist Steve Dyer:

Steve Dyer:

Is this the Suzuki as in "David Suzuki" who appears on CBC in Canada
and occasionally on PBS in the US?  I must say that his TV persona
is one of boundless self-satisfied liberal sanctimoniousness, and that's
means he's pretty intolerable, in as much as I consider myself rather left
of center.

	John Donald Collier:

	The same. I agree on the evaluation of Suzuki's character. 

	His personal character is no reflection of his expertise in genetics.
	I mean that as an empirical claim. 


Before you guys get too sharp with Suzuki I want to affirm that his
"boundless self-satisfied liberal sanctimoniousnes" is equally
irritating to some of us on the right. Although I guess that some
people might say that a guy that manages to piss off the left and the
right simultaneously can't be all bad. I remember when the IQ/race
studies of Philip Rushton were so controversial that Suzuki, during a
debate with Rushton, kept calling for the University (Waterloo,
Western Ontario?) to sack him. Tenure had no meaning for anyone who
crossed Suzuki's ideological borders. As to his expertise in genetics
I have heard it said that since he has gone the publicity and
popularity route his expertise has necessarily declined. That is, too
much time in the studios and not enough in the lab. That may or may
not be true. 

And they switched families?? Truly a tale for our times.

Keith

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keith Morgan		 	|A nice man is a man of nasty ideas.
kamorgan@athena.mit.edu  	|		Jonathan Swift
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,misc.writing
From: sanjiva@ecrc.de (Sanjiva Prasad)
Subject: Re: Help with a title (Dismal Science)
Reply-To: sanjiva@ecrc.de (Sanjiva Prasad)
Organization: European Computer-Industry Research Centre, Munich
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 19:42:54 GMT

In article <1992Dec8.223424.677@tinton.ccur.com> cjh@tinton.ccur.com (Christopher J. Henrich) writes:
>[Requests ideas for a good title]
>
>Economics used to be called "The Dismal Science."  Can you make some
>play on that theme?  How about "The Lighthearted Science of
>Economics?"

Funny how these threads get recycled.  When a couple of rabots were arguing
whether economics was a science or not, I wrote that it was, but a dismal one.
(My source attributes the phrase to the Sage of Chelsea).  And then, to make
matters more lively and less prosaic, I asked whether we could discuss the
Gay Science instead.  Roger Squires picked up on the Provencal origins of
this, and wove it into John McCarthy's homolexical hijacking.  Provence
reappeared  but got et in the arcane egotism thread by some elaborate Masonic
dodges.  Oh what tangled webs, oui oui.

So, do the Popish thing and redo your essays in verse.

--
Sanjiva Prasad,  Guest Magus				E-mail: sanjiva@ecrc.de
European Computer Industry Research Centre		Off: +49 89 92 69 91 58
Arabellastrasse 17					Fax: +49 89 92 69 91 70
8000 Muenchen 81, Germany				Res: +49 89 16 33 59
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,sci.philosophy.tech
From: br105@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jeffrey A. Del Col)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Laughing with Kafka Revisited
Date: 20 Dec 92 21:09:36 GMT
Reply-To: br105@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jeffrey A. Del Col)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


Maybe a month or more ago there was a thread about Kafka's story
"The Metamorphosis."  As part of that discussion I commented that I had
read somewhere that Kafka and his friends used to laugh when he read
his stories aloud.  Unfortunately, at the time I couldn't find the
source of that information.

Well, here it is.

On page 104 of the hardback edition of THE ART OF THE NOVEL Milan Kundera 
reports "When Kafka read the first chapter of THE TRIAL to his friends,
everyone laughed, including the author."  Kundera mentions this in a 
discussion of how Kafka uses the comic to destroy any consolation that
Joseph K. or Gregor Samsa or K., the land-surveyor in THE CASTLE might 
derive from seeing their plights as tragic in any sense. 

Whew!! Glad I found it.

J. Del Col
-- 
Jeff Del Col      *   DECONSTRUCTION--- the critical method invented      
A-B College       *                      by Procrustes  
Philippi, WV      *                             
                  *         
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: chucks@uars2.acd.ucar.edu (Chuck Smythe)
Subject: Re: Every spinster has her day
Organization: Ntl Center for Atmospheric Research, Atmospheric Chemistry
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 16:43:52 GMT

In article <1992Dec17.010156.22166@Cadence.COM> vince@cadence.com (Vince Gibboni) writes:
>jahb@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (JENNIFER A. HEISE) writes:

>    Actually, I'd take this one step farther: most high schools give their
>    college-bound students a year of pre-calc _and_ a year of calculus - 
>    the math on the SAT is generally stuff you learned when you were still 
>    reading Dr. Seuss (sp?) books (and, by the way, I found _One Fish, Two
>    Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish_ to be extremely trenchant). However, I'm not 
>    certain that this wasn't always the case. Can anyone who went to high 
>    school during, say, the Eisenhower adminstration comment on this ? 
>    (I'd ask my parents but they both went to catholic school and are
>    therefore only vaguely of the entire math concept).

Sure.  Tulare Union High School, California, 1957-1961.  See _American
Graffitti_ for context; it missed by one year and fifty miles.  The standard
math curriculum (in an admittedly very rural school);

9th grade - Algebra I.  Simple equations, polynomials, etc. 
10th  - Plane geometry.  Euclid made simple.
11th - Algebra II.  Logarithms, extracting square roots by hand, other wonders.
12th - Plane trigonometry.
Advanced Placement - Algebra III. A little solid geometry, a little analytical
		geometry, trigonometric equations, etc.

I tried to supplement this by learning a bit of calculus from the only text
I could locate (one of the College Study Guide things)  but it didn't help
much.  Not too much of a handicap, since even at Caltech the majority of
freshmen had no preparation in calculus.  

Consider this a supplement to my earlier posting on the SATs and the public
schools.  The teachers I know, at least, are doing things far better than
they did at dear old TUHS.  My admittedly local and anecdotal evidence 
suggests pretty strongly that the decline in public education has less to 
do with the schools than with parents, television, and a society that does 
not expect children to work very much.  (My friends with children at home
report that with the best of intentions it is very difficult to make them
study hard when their friends don't have to, and when nothing they see on TV 
or elsewhere reinforces such values.  If even their parents can't do it,
what is a teacher to do?)

If this is correct, we have a pretty intractable problem.  Going back to the
old time religion of readin', ritin', and 'rithmetic, as I gather Mr. McCarthy
favors, won't do it.  Nor will education vouchers, higher teacher standards,
more money for schools, or any of the other nostrums I have seen proposed.
Even getting individual parents to take more responsibility will have only
a marginal impact.  How the hell do you go about reforming the values of
an entire national culture?

			Chuck Smythe

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto)
Subject: Is a bimbo the modern name for hussy?
Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 15:55:22 GMT



John McCarthy ponders the question "What is the difference between a Bimbo
and a Hussy?"
 
80 points of IQ.
 
 
Mark
 
 
ObBooks:  John Sayles' THE PRIDE OF THE BIMBOS is a wonderful book
          about a Carny sideshow act -- a 4-man softball team called
          The Bimbos -- with a cigar-chomping midget star shortstop.
 
          Yes, it is the same John Sayles who directs those wonderful movies.
 
 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: hoosiers@carson.u.washington.edu (Mary Loveless)
Subject: Re: Is a bimbo the modern name for hussy?
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 23:55:32 GMT

In article <JMC.92Dec17134101@SAIL.Stanford.EDU> jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
writes: > > Would the lady who referred to herself as a hussy, in >jest I
assume, be equally inclined to refer to herself as a bimbo? >-- >John
McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305 >* >He who
refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
__________________________________________________________________________
John, I haven't yet met anyone who calls herself a lady who would also
call herself a hussy, which term implies a certain lack of restraint in
areas where ladies, in my experience, are most inhibited.  Now that I have
peevishly set you straight on a minor point (god, that felt good!) I will
expound on bimboism as contrasted to hussyism:  the term 'bimbo' implies
lack of brainpower (see 'airhead') combined with a childish and bulging
sort of pulchritude (as you proceed with _Bimbos of the Death Sun_ the
image will spring out at you, so to speak); the term 'hussy' implies
brainpower and self-direction, with a rebellious streak.  A bimbo may
apparently demonstrate a lack of inhibition comparable to a hussy; however
this lack stems from gullibility rather than conscious choice. 

Mary Loveless
From: bz754@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Derek J. Wojciech)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: UPDATE: 'Mudpies & Other Recipies' Winslow,1961 - How can I get it?
Date: 15 Dec 1992 20:28:21 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


Special thanx to Heidi Wolf who got me started on finding this book.
This is the info I have:
				'Mudpies and other Recipies'
				by Margerie Winslow
				McMillan, 1961
 
The book is not listed in latest 'Books in Print.'
I am looking for the latest printed hardback version.  A library nearby
has a paperback version.  I have called all the local used/rare book dealers
in the Washington DC metro area.  None had it (or so they believe, some
stores don't have their books logged/categorized.)  Can anyone suggest what
I should try next?  (Besides give up hope...)  Thanx!
 
				Derek
 

-- 
'Fire and Love, the two extremes |  wojciech@ossek.nrl.navy.mil /    ***.
that we live between, Fire and   |-----------------------------/    **   '
Love, there's more to life than  | Surfing or Snowboarding         ****
the eye can see.'  Guardian      |      ridin' the Wave........._-*********
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: sterbenc@ivhs.mot.com (Joe Sterbenc)
Subject: Good bookstore (for a change)
Organization: MOTOROLA 
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 12:33:15 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.books

Hey, kids, I just discovered a new favorite bookstore in Chicago. It's been
around here for a few months, so I'm sure other people have been there.
It's 
also apparently a pretty big chain in the U.K. The name is...Waterstone's.

Three mouthwatering floors of big stately wooden shelves, honest-to-god
music
piped through, as opposed to the 99 Strings playing Manilow, very helpful
service (one young woman spent over forty-five minutes tracking down The
Ant
and The Peacock on the loading dock) and general slickness everywhere else.

They have lots of comfy chairs, and encourage deadbeat browsing. :)

I'll be spending a LOT of time there....

=====
Joe Sterbenc - Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems - Motorola
All opinions are my own, but can be rented for reasonable rates
sterbenc@ivhs.mot.com
=====
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books