HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese)
Subject: Re: jet, ruby
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 13 Aug 92 00:33:33 GMT

In article <CMM.0.88.713648907.fannin@tortoise.cis.ohio-state.edu> fannin@news.cis.ohio-state.edu (elizabeth a fannin) writes:
>
>as far as tests:  you can tell glass beads from plastic by tapping them
>against your teeth; they make a very different sound (also by looking for
>white wear spots on plastic).  *perhaps* one could differentiate true jet this
>way also?  and, how about the temperature differences?   while it is difficult
>to tell hematite from glass on that basis, i would think jet, as a fossil,
>would be less cool than glass in cool temperatures, for instance.  or would
>feel that way, the way in a cool room wood never feels as cold as glass (and
>hey, i should know:  i'm often putting strands of glass beads against my skin,
>including (woowoowoothat's cold!!!) my midsection.

As most gem/jewelry materials are water-safe, immerse them.  You can
pick up their volumes off a graduated cylinder.  Then weigh them.  That
way, you can get their mass and then the density.  Of course, you can't
exactly do this in a shop, unless you cart graduated cylinders and
balances around -- which you can do, technically . . .

>another topic:  in a fiction book i had some years back ruby is described as a
>defense against negative energy.  can't remember the title of the dang
>thing....anyone heard of this one?  (NOT that i am likely to own any rubies!!)

Get synthetics.  They are absolutely identical to the real thing --
actually they are better quality -- and TONS cheaper.  I mean TONS.
Like, $40/carat.

Synthetics have a very bad reputation due to the word sounding like it
means fake.  It doesn't, trust me.  Synth gems are absolutely real and
excellent quality.  They are also more environmentally conscious since
you don't have to process six gezillion tons of ore to find one piddly
little rock, AND you don't have to pay native miners 10 cents a day to
pick `em out of the dirt.  Just turn on a furnace, get some people who
know how to run it, and make gems.

Blessings,
Janis

P.S.:  Yet again, I've distinguished myself by virture of my incredible
and enduring thickheadedness; mark, I lost the alternative addresses you
gave me for mailing to you.  I stated in my posts that jet was a form of
carbon and burnable; I didn't say it was glass.
From: cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: New Thread: Pagan Fiction
Date: 19 Aug 92 03:00:10 GMT
Organization: University of California, Irvine

In article <cstollen.6289@meltdown.chi.il.us> cstollen@meltdown.chi.il.us (Carolyn Stollen) writes:
>n9140397@henson.cc.wwu.edu (Michael J. Hamilton) writes:
>>_Mists_of_Avalon_ by Marion Zimmer Bradley was
>>by far the best peice of pagan fiction I've ever
>>read.  There's a lot of philosphy packed into a
>>great stroy.
>>
>  I have a different opinion.  I enjoyed the work but I was dismayed
>at how, 10, 15, and 20 years later, the major characters were still
>dwelling on the same incidents.  

The incidents were definitive, though.  Like falling in love with
someone and having them marry someone else, and having to see them every
day because of it.  Etc., etc., etc., etc.

>I thought they failed to develop
>and that they woud have had something new to think about and new
>passions raised.  

I lost patience with some characters (Lancelet and Gwynhwyfar mostly),
but got the impression that that's just they way they were; I felt that
I would have lost patience with them had I met them in real life.

>The land of the fairies is not well thought through either.  It seems 
>like an add-on to fill a plot need.  Since there are 3 worlds, it
>might be well to have a better balance.  I love the image tho
>of the boat ride that does not always go to the same place.

I was bugged also that this world was not elucidated more; the misty and
ill-remembered nature of it seemed like an essential part of it, though.
What parts did you feel were not well thought-through?

Blessings,
Janis

>I welcome replies.  Flames are for making "Some-Mores".

With graham crackers, marshmallows, and DARK chocolate (as required by
BITCH GODDESS NUMBER WHATEVER -- 1 OR 2 DEPENDING ON WHAT NUMBER AILSA
WANTS, a.k.a. BG#W1O2DOWNAW)?  I consider them to be a separate food
group all on their own.  They're best when you make them on a beach over
a fire with a bunch of friends, with BIG graham crackers, a half a
Hershey's DARK chocolate bar (as required by BG#W1O2DOWNAW), and TWO
count `em two fat marshmallows.  If they are colored marshmallows, it adds
to the spirituality of the event.  

Now I'm all hungry . . . 

BLessings,
Janis the BG#W1O2DOWNAW.
From: ailsa%ailanth.uucp@wang.com (Ailsa N.T. Murphy)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: New Thread: Pagan Fiction
Date: 18 Aug 92 20:17:44 GMT
Organization: Ailanthus Project

klotz@lclark.edu (Gretchen Klotz) writes:

> Irene Zahava has edited a number of collections for Crossing Press.  She
>
> _The_Wanderground_ by Sally Miller Gearhart falls into the ecofeminist
>
> While poetry probably deserves its own thread, I thought I'd mention
> _She_Rises_Like_the_Sun_, invocations of the Goddess by contemporary
> american women poets, edited by Janine Canan.
>
> One of my *all-time favorites* (in my select top 10!) is _Mundane's_World_
> by Judy Grahn.  I LOVE THIS BOOK!  Whenever I read it, I can't wait to
>
> _The_Riverhouse_Stories_ by Andrea Carlisle.  Two women living on a


wow, with all of these, my favorite books (well, i thought gearheart was just a
touch hard on the gentles, but anyway...) listed, i thought *I* had written
this post and just forgotten!  i also recommend these books VERY VERY VERY
highly!  (i always wanted to meet a woman who likes the same books i do...)

                                                 -ailsa

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
     ailsa%ailanth.uucp@wang.com                   ________
      No visible means of support          Silence \      / Action
      and you have not seen nothing yet.      =     \    /    =
      Everything's come together.           Death    \  /    Life
                                                      \/
From: ailsa%ailanth.uucp@wang.com (Ailsa N.T. Murphy)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: New Thread: Pagan Fiction
Date: 22 Aug 92 05:08:56 GMT
Organization: Ailanthus Project

cstollen@meltdown.chi.il.us (Carolyn Stollen) writes:

>   I have a different opinion.  I enjoyed the work but I was dismayed
> at how, 10, 15, and 20 years later, the major characters were still
> dwelling on the same incidents.  I thought they failed to develop
>  and that they woud have had something new to think about and new
> passions raised.  I certainly have had that happen in my life.
>

what, you haven't had any deep earthshaking things happen to you that affected
your life far after the event?  i know i have...  twenty years ago, i was
eight.  i was the most unpopular kid in school, and people threw rocks at me
and chased me trying to beat me up while at recess at school.  i still live
with the reverberations of that (lack of social skills, lack of trust).
fifteen years ago, i was thirteen.  i was still the most unpopular kid in
school, my best female friend bought "popularity" with the guys by giving them
head behind the school building, and my father was sexually abusing me.  i
still live with the reverberations of that, too.  ten years ago, i was
eighteen.  no single earthshaking thing happened at eighteen, but i lost my
virginity to a rapist at nineteen, so that is close enough.  it's been a long
time since all of those things, but they are strill there, and i still have to
deal with them.

i don't think having characters in books be still working through life events
ten, fifteen, twenty years later is all that unrealistic.  my mom is dealing
with events that happened FORTY years ago...

                                             -ailsa

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
     ailsa%ailanth.uucp@wang.com                   ________
      No visible means of support          Silence \      / Action
      and you have not seen nothing yet.      =     \    /    =
      Everything's come together.           Death    \  /    Life
                                                      \/
From: rna@crystal.med.umn.edu (Ryan Alexander (BMEC))
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: jet, ruby
Date: 13 Aug 92 13:13:08 GMT
Organization: University of Minnesota

>Get synthetics.  They are absolutely identical to the real thing --
>actually they are better quality -- and TONS cheaper.  I mean TONS.
>Like, $40/carat.
>
>Synthetics have a very bad reputation due to the word sounding like it
>means fake.  It doesn't, trust me.  Synth gems are absolutely real and
>excellent quality.  They are also more environmentally conscious since
>you don't have to process six gezillion tons of ore to find one piddly
>little rock, AND you don't have to pay native miners 10 cents a day to
>pick `em out of the dirt.  Just turn on a furnace, get some people who
>know how to run it, and make gems.
>
>Blessings,
>Janis
>

	Better look out Janis, I hear the Sri Lankans are watching the net...


|RNA (DNA's bad-ass sidekick)   / "Decency?!  I am a pirate!
|Internet: rna@ epx.cis.umn.edu/       I don't _do_ 'decency'!"
|			      /           - Don Carnage
From: alizard@drc.uucp (A.Lizard)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: RE: Survey - where to send complaints
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 17:31:51 PDT
Organization: Sound Blaster Systems, Concord CA

I contacted CompuServe and found out where to complain about CompuServe users
who abuse Internet/Usenet facilities, sysadmins especially should save this
for future reference. This message may be reposted in its entirety as long as
this notice is reprinted with it:

(c)1992 by Reptilian Associates

Complaints regarding the message:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Post: 596 of 614
>From: 70253.2621@CompuServe.COM (Chris & Susan Colvin)
>Newsgroups: alt.evil,alt.pagan,soc.motss,rec.games.frp,alt.atheism,
>alt.religion.,emacs,talk.religion.misc,talk.religion.newage,sci.physics
>Subject: Survey
>Date: 18 Aug 92 17:46:12 GMT
>Lines: 11

>When you die, where will you go?  (in the ground is not a valid answer)

>If you were to die today, would you go to heaven?

[more Christian fundamenialist babbling]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
should be addressed to 70006.121@compuserve.COM (Jim Chaffranek)

Jim is a technical customer service representative for CompuServe who will
make sure that complaint gets to the right people. Let me add that he was
friendly and cooperative, the message certainly was not his fault, and he
agrees that the more people send complaints regarding this CompuServe account
holder to him, the better the chance that the idiots who posted that quoted
message will never trouble any of us again. (his willingness to cooperate may
have something to do with the fact that if CompuServe annoys enough Internet
users, CompuServe can no longer use Internet as a bridge to MCI, etc.)
Complaints from system operators / administrators especially welcome. Freedom
of speech is fine, but not at our expense, if Chris and Susan want to waste
the time of a national E-mail audience, they can build their own Usenet/
Internet / NSFNet system.

A.Lizard
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
From: mimir@milton.u.washington.edu (Al Billings)
Subject: Re: New Thread: Pagan Fiction
Organization: The Friends of Loki Society
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 00:56:54 GMT

In article <2A8DD61A.29834@orion.oac.uci.edu> cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:
>
>That's not an excuse.  You think that the gay people who get bashed and
>threatened with their lives are thinking, "Well, I suppose I can't hold
>it against these poor people that they grew up with oppressivecr sexual
>mores"?  More likely they are thinking, "Get your foot out of my ass,
>you slob."

 I think Gays and others should stand up and fight for what the are and
believe. Heinlein is DEAD and he wrote the book 30 years ago. I don't
think it is worth the effort to bash a dead writer who wrote some ok books
in his time when there are better things to do, like fight to make AIDS a
real issue to the people in power.

>And pardon me, but what the hell does your being a man have to do with
>ANYTHING?
>ailsa thinks he's a potzer, I agree with her.  Why is this a problem? 

 Because I watched you and Ailsa waste a hell of lot of bandwith
complaining about how horrible and patriarchial men are for a while and I
just remembered it when I posted it. Since I'm straight and male, I have
to be an oppressor based on the logic you two (and others) were using.

Wassail,
Grendel

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Al Billings - Anthropology Undergrad - Admin for the Troth-l Mailing List | 
| SysOp of The Sacred Grove BBS (206)634-1980 -=- mimir@u.washington.edu    |
------------------------------ Cut Here -------------------------------------
begin 644 GRENDEL.PUB
MF58``1%^*@Q":6QL:6YG<RP@06S^`2N`$7JAHA^YG*D:W0:>,_,\N<XL-]7BN
LV+1/'DT4SH3V2$'*(9NAE_,+VB9R.4=@$9R.J1?CL3H!9@HR8+7DD3@%`!$%E
``
end
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Newsgroups: alt.pagan
From: ciaran@county.lmt.mn.org (Ciaran Benson)
Subject: Re: Hitler as Occultist (was: Re: Numbers)
Reply-To: ciaran@county.lmt.mn.org (Ciaran Benson)
Organization: LaserMaster Technologies, Minneapolis, MN
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 92 22:05:12 GMT

John Greer writes:

>to most of the Christians between Christ's time and the present,
>you're dodging the point -- which is that Christianity has a
>history of oppression, bloodshed and murder unmatched by any
>other religion in history."

to which Paul Ciszek responds:

>"Actually, my point in bringing up Hitler's Odinist associations
>was that "every time you point a finger at someone, you're
>pointing four at yourself." Finding enemies to blame things on
>is such a western, male-dominated thing to do... I can't
>understand why it is so popular among neo-pagans."

  This "[f]inding enemies to blame things on" wasn't referring
to the "history of oppression, bloodshed and murder", was it?

  If it was, then was it your intent to imply that a view of
Christianity's history which includes oppression, bloodshed, and
murder is somehow inaccurate or just finding enemies to blame
things on?

  I'm taking ten deep breaths and counting to a hundred and
doing zazen, but I still infer from your comments that, for
example, the Teutonic knights who raped Lithuania and attempted
to over-run Rus "to save their souls" were not "real" Christians,
and therefore "soldiers for Christ" like them and the
inquisitions can't be counted as a part of Christianity's history.

  I hope that wasn't what you were meaning to imply, and that
my inferrance of it is a misreading of your intent.

  Please set me straight.

  Blessed be, Ciaran.


Newsgroups: alt.pagan
From: radzy@ICSI.Berkeley.EDU (T. O. Radzykewycz)
Subject: Re: jet, ruby
Organization: International Computer Science Institute, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 20:52:54 GMT

cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:
> As most gem/jewelry materials are water-safe, immerse them.  You can
> pick up their volumes off a graduated cylinder.  Then weigh them.  That
> way, you can get their mass and then the density.  Of course, you can't
> exactly do this in a shop, unless you cart graduated cylinders and
> balances around -- which you can do, technically . . .

Actually, most of the lapidiary shops I've been to have a set of
very fine scales there.  They use 'em to set prices on many kinds
of stones.  So all you have to carry is the graduated cylinders.
Of course, you'll have to get their permission, but if they don't
want to let you do that, then just don't buy at that store.  NO
reasonable lapidiary shopkeeper will have a problem with it.

Blessings!

		-- radzy

------------------------------------------------------------
					|  An it harm none,
	T. O. Radzykewycz	     	|  do as ye will.
	The Incredible Radical Cabbage	|
					|  "Just pray for a
	radzy@cogsci.berkeley.edu       |  tough hide and a
	        			|  tender heart."
	        			|    -- Ruth Graham
------------------------------------------------------------
> Hi! I am a .signature virus. Copy me into your .signature to join in!
Newsgroups: alt.pagan,alt.divination
From: sad@dasher.uucp (22430s-downie)
Subject: Re: Tarot: What's the blank card for?
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 14:25:33 GMT
Followup-To: alt.divination

In article <1992Aug18.032907.16615@news.nd.edu>, wlamonac@bach.helios.nd.edu (william lamonaca) writes:
> In article <1992Aug17.200212.4953@henson.cc.wwu.edu> n9140397@henson.cc.wwu.edu (Michael J. Hamilton) writes:
> >In article <1992Aug11.204914.17176@porthos.cc.bellcore.com> netnews@porthos.cc.bellcore.com (USENET System Software) writes:
> >>
> >>Has anyone read and practiced Tarot Spells.  I forgot the
> >>author.
> >>
> >
> >Seems like there was a book on Tarot Spells by Melita Demming
> >and Osbourne Phillips, published by Llewwylin (sp?).
> >
> >Dymen.
> 
> There is also one called _Tarot Spells_ by Janina Renee that I've seen.  I
> haven't bought a copy and would like to know if it's any good.

I just bought the above book.  The spells look pretty easy:  tarot
cards, candles, incense and affirmations.  I'll let you know if they
work.  Thanks,

Sharon Serene

Newsgroups: alt.pagan
From: erc@unislc.uucp (Ed Carp)
Subject: Re: Numbers
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 23:36:40 GMT

Paul Harvey (pharvey@mipos3.intel.com) wrote:

: authority, to know what is right for the one. And one can not place all
: blame for foul results on the saviour, if one chooses to follow a saviour.
: The saviour is the individual and it is the individual who is responsable
: for the acts of the individual. This is what it means to be on the road to
: enlightenment. This is what it means to be an authentic individual living
: an authentic life. This is the way of the rose, the way of the bear Arthur
: and the path to the source, the Grail. Now in review: Follow me and be free!

Bullshit.  "If you meet the Buddha on the road, KILL HIM!"

There is nothing to seek ... and nothing to find.
-- 
Ed Carp, N7EKG     erc@apple.com                801/538-0177
"This is the final task I will ever give you, and it  goes  on  forever.   Act
happy, feel happy, be happy, without a reason in the world. Then you can love,
and do what you will."           -- Dan Millman, "Way Of The Peaceful Warrior"
From: sallyb@qiclab.scn.rain.com (Sally Bowley)
Subject: Re: info wanted on runes
Organization: SCN Research/Qic Laboratories of Tigard, Oregon.
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 05:44:58 GMT

In article <2A92C8D6.12907@orion.oac.uci.edu> cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:
>This may be asking a lot -- I don't know how many runes there are since
>I usually stick to Tarot cards for self-examination and meditation.

hi janis!
there's 25 of 'em in the sets i make. 

>HOWEVER, I am in the process of working on jewelry that has a Pagan-type
>flavor to it (as well as just pretty stuff), and I would like to make
>rune jewelry.  The problem?  I only know what about six runes look like,
>and that's because I found a picture of them in a catalogue (Pyramid
>Books and the New Age Collection; did you ever send for the star,
>radzy?)

don't know how to "do" the symbols on the net - my editor is vi and i
can just about work out how to type ordinary letters, let alone runic
ones... if no one else can come up with something tho, i'd be glad to
send you a photo copy of the ones i use via snail mail. what kind of
jewelry are you going to make? i've made some pendants - blue tiger
eye inlaid in silver, with the symbol engraved and painted in gold
which turned out pretty well. i've had a lot of fun making the sets
too, experimenting with different stones. so far i've used rose
quartz, hematite, amazonite, tiger eye, moss agate, white quartz, blue
howlite, amethyst, rhodocrosite, jasper. 

>If there a a zillion runes, don't bother, but if someone can post a list
>of the runes (how you can show me what they look like I have no idea)
>and a one-word explanation of what they stand for (such as joy,
>partnership, warrior, etc.), I'd appreciate it.

maybe i'll have a go in email ....... pass the gin and tonic, this
could be a long nite.....
blessings
sally

>T'anks,
>Janis
>
>P.S.:  I got that deck of Art Nouveau Tarot cards; they are nice, but I
>think I'm going to use them for ritual purposes and not self-
>examination.  They are lovely, but a bit cold looking, and the frequency
>of Barbie-looking women is a little irritating.  The only women in the
>deck who look remotely like me are described as "desperate," "cold," or
>"androgynous" (the woman in the suit of swords, the Moon, and Justice).  
>
>Also, about the man on the one card who reminded me of my boyfriend?  
>Mikey is tons better-looking.  To borrow an ailsa-ism, *grin*. 
>
From: cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: New Thread: Pagan Fiction
Date: 19 Aug 92 20:09:04 GMT
Organization: University of California, Irvine

In article <1992Aug19.171132.13307@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> radzy@ICSI.Berkeley.EDU (T. O. Radzykewycz) writes:
>idfraser@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Ian Fraser) writes:
>> And if you get the chance, check out _Friday_, and see a world (briefly, I'll
>> admit) where Wicca is the principal religion.
>
>I did.  I thought Friday was one of those women Janis was talking
>about -- someone who'd go down with *anyone*.
>
>Didn't notice any wicca there, but then again, when I read it, I wouldn't
>have know what a wicca was if it bit me.
>

I didn't see any Wicca either.  Friday was one of his books that I read
hoping that he had improved with age; I was wrong.  Friday was a
Penthouse fantasy of a sad old man -- hardly real.  

I read his books because he wrote goodsentences and paragraphs, and I
kept hoping that I'd run into a good BOOK.  I never did.  Someone said
that he wrote draft after draft  looking for the good book in him and
never found it.  I read book after book looking for the good one before
giving up because I just wasn't finding it.  Read Heinlein -- books like
this in particular -- was like tripping on a top step that wasn't there.
You keep waiting for something, and it never happens.

Oh, well.  I thinkI've tired of explaining why I dislike RAH; on to
merrier topics . . .

Blessings,
Janis
From: popec@fennec.sccsi.com (William C. Barwell)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Pagan Population
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 17:06:41 CST
Organization: Fennec Information Systems, Houston, Texas USA

Stupid Question #321.  I have been sort of keeping up with Pagan 
Community doings for some time now.  What I have absolutely no feel for 
is, how many people out in the U.S.A. consider themselves to be 
Pagans, pagans, NeoPagans, or Wiccans, ect.  I have seen a recent figure 
in Green Egg stating that they had a list of 500 Neopagan magazines, and 
newsletters.  This would imply to me an large and active Community.  
Anybody seen any good estimations?  Anyone know how many people listed 
Pagan or Wicca as their religions in the recent census?  Unrequited 
curiosity.  What a horrible feeling!

----------------
William C. Barwell [popec@fennec.sccsi.com]  //  Pope Charles
Pope Of the Church Of The SubGenius for the Golden Triangle Area
Laughing at everything in the Universe...including the concept of 
laughing at everything in the Universe!
-----------------