HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cjh@tinton.ccur.com (Christopher J. Henrich)
Subject: Humility vs. self-doubt (was: autobiography (: Richard Feynman)
Organization: Concurrent Computer Corp., Tinton Falls, NJ
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 1992 21:37:32 GMT

In article <13NOV199214064873@portal.lasc.lockheed.com> le01167@portal.lasc.lockheed.com (Ron Nadel) writes:
>In article <97489@netnews.upenn.edu>, weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener) writes...
>
>>Isaac Newton's "shoulder of giants" comment was
>>not just some clever act of credit sharing, but a genuine humility.
>
>Newton may have had his "weaker" moments, but I don't think humility
>chracterized him.  Whatever he may have meant by "shoulders of giants",
>he certainly had no compunction about using the heads of colleagues.
>Probably the only humble scientific genius of wide reknown was Darwin
>
According to C. Westfall's _Never at Rest_, Newton suppressed his own
researches in calculus for years because he feared ridicule.

To me, this has two astonishing aspects. First, Newton thought
that other mathematicians would laugh at his discoveries.  This,
despite their epochal importance, which he must have appreciated.
Second, that he  f e a r e d  being laughed at, and could not face it.

If Newton could feel like that, it is not surprising that others can
be weakened by self-doubt.

Regards,
Chris Henrich
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mechalas@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (John Mechalas)
Subject: Re: Maddona's new book
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 17:23:45 GMT

In article <1992Nov22.161906.10666@eff.org> mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes:
>In article <By3DxC.A6J@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> mechalas@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (John Mechalas) writes:
>>In article <9211212332.AA12117@cfdev1.shearson.com> mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:
>>> 
>>>mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes:
>>> 
>>>> To me, the exceptional thing about the book is that Madonna could get away
>>>> with it. What other star of stage, screen, or music could have pulled this
>>>> off without damaging his or her career?
>>> 
>>>2 Live Crew.
>>
>>Andrew Dice Clay
>
>Mark Taranto thinks 2 Live Crew would be successful photographed in a book
>like Madonna's. Now John Mechalas says Andrew Dice Clay would be
>successful with such a book. I have learned much more about your tastes
>than I ever knew before.

I don't think it says anything about our tastes.  I think it says something
about what our society would accept.  Both 2 Live Crew and Dice gain their
success by being lewd, obnoxious, and [insert your favorite description here].
Think about it...they thrive on the kind of negative attention that the
news media and the conservative members of society give them.
   What's the best way to make a record go platinum?  Put a sticker on it
that says "Inappropriate for young listeners" on it.
   What's the best way to sell a million copies of your book?  Have Iran
threaten the life of the author.  Or have it censored.
   The above statements are not my tastes:  you said that.  They are rather
beliefs based on some truths I have seen in our society.
   I do not condone the above performers, either:  you implied that.  But I
have no doubt that their popularity thrives on negative press, and that
they could not only "get away" with a book of questionable content, but they
could probably also make it a success.

   It's not exactly a prospect I would look forward to.


-- 
John Mechalas                      | If you think my opinions are Purdue's, then
mechalas@mentor.cc.purdue.edu      |      you vastly overestimate my importance.
Purdue University Computing Center |             Help put a ban on censorship :)
General Consulting                 |                       #include disclaimer.h
From: zeleny@husc10.harvard.edu (Michael Zeleny)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: not verbose (was Re: Balls etc.)
Date: 22 Nov 92 01:58:46 GMT
Organization: The Phallogocentric Cabal

In article <9211212320.AA12098@cfdev1.shearson.com> 
mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:

>hhenderson@vax.clarku.edu (Heather) writes:

HH:
>> Uh-Oh, I've been sucked into Mikhail's ever-unfolding drama.  How'd that
>> happen?

MT asks himself:
>>From egging him on -- or is it from balling him out?

MT answers:
>Eggs, Balls -- never could tell the difference.

I believe the Catholic Church looks askance on this sort of confusion.

MT:
>>       [Other stuff deleted]

HH:
>> Less of some things is better than more.  Talk, for example.
>> Less talk, more action.  Women don't want to castrate men,
>> they just want them to shut up.

MT:
>Hmmmm.  Heather debunks the stereotype of the silent man wishing
>the yapping woman would shut up.

I should think that your example would suffice to debunk that hoary myth.

MT:
>Good for her.  But I'm staying away from Worcester, just in case she is
>serious.

Just in case she is serious, I wish you would go.

>Mark

cordially,
mikhail zeleny@husc.harvard.edu
"Le cul des femmes est monotone comme l'esprit des hommes."
Xref: sparky rec.arts.books:20343 news.answers:4054
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,soc.history
Subject: Re: Crystal Palaces
Date: 19 Nov 1992 15:56:30 GMT
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
NNTP-Posting-Host: oas.stanford.edu

Cameron Laird writes:

	How is it that an *amateur* like Paxton could build something 
	so novel, IN A YEAR, when we software professionals can take 
	even longer to turn out accounting packages forDjikstra'ssake, 
	that *still* don't work?!?  

Cameron Laird, who with a name like that should be building ships on
Clydeside, has raised a nice point. One simple answer is that in Paxton's
time Art and Engineering were intertwined, and that was at least one of
the messages of the Great Exhibition. In Paxton's time Progress was well
defined and well understood. In modern times a few scientists -- Feynman
is an elegant example -- have understood similar connections between Art
and Physics. If it looks right, then there's a fighting chance that it is 
right, and to hell with that dreadfully Teutonic Search for Truth.

As to modern day Crystal Palaces, check out the Crystal Cathedral in 
Garden Grove (?) Orange County, CA. Adjacent to the finest mall of them
all, South Coast Plaza. Does the Revd. Robert Schuler's smile still grace
that place? It seems to be precisely what Misha Z was asking about.

							Fido
From: amnell@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Marko Amnell)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: good novels about gay lifestyle
Date: 23 Nov 92 19:28:34 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki

Francis Muir writes:

	[here beginneth some introspective stuff from the Pflying Pfinn]

	Marko Amnell writes:

		something of a heterosexual variation of William Beckwith's,
		the "young gay aristocrat who leads a life of privilege and
		promiscuity".  Now, what does that say	about my `deep 
		psyche'?

	Marko, old darling, we await with baited breath your own answer to
	this fascinating question. Me, I'm about to dive into a knish which
	has been baptised with some of Lee & Perrin's finest Worcestershire
	Sauce. This is the way to begin a day.

Down, boy, DOWN!  My name is Marko, not Tom.

-- 
Marko Amnell
amnell@klaava.helsinki.fi
Graduate Student in Philosophy
From: bv446@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (James S. Ottaviani)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: WANTED: Christopher Fry's translation of "Cyrano..."
Date: 23 Nov 1992 22:41:36 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


The subject just about says it all. If you know where I can
purchase a copy of "Cyrano de Bergerac" as
translated by Christopher Fry (1975, Oxford University
Press) please send me a message.

Thanks in advance.
jimO
jim.ottaviani@um.cc.umich.edu
-- 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: msmorris@watsci.UWaterloo.ca (Mike Morris)
Subject: Re: All-Internet Cabinet
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 22:55:20 GMT

                                   Wednesday, the 18th of November, 1992

Responding to the notion of Clayton as Secretary of Defense,
Clayton writes:
  You wouldn't like the results.  The standing military of the
  U.S. would drop to about 200,000 people; draft registration 
  would end; and Congress would be lobbied for an updated version
  of the Militia Act of 1792.

I still think you need to reform your usage of ``liberal'',
Clayton (cf. the discussion of this in one of the prefaces
to Hayek's _The Road to Serfdom_), but the above is sounding
much like I've misjudged you. I'll second that nomination.

               Mike Morris
         (msmorris@watsci.uwaterloo.ca)


Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto)
Subject: Re: not verbose (was Re: Balls etc.)
Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 14:44:35 GMT


lnh@soliton.physics.arizona.edu (sometimes a Wombat) writes:
 
> cramer@optilink.COM (Clayton Cramer) writes:
 
>> President Calvin Coolidge was known as "Silent Cal" for his
>> economic use of English.  A young woman approached him at an
>> official function and said, "I've just made a bet with a woman
>> who says I can't get you to say more than two words to me all
>> evening."
>>
>> Silent Cal thought for a moment, and replied, "You lose."
 
> You blew this one, but only slightly.  It should be told " ... can't
> get you to say three words ... "  More effective that way.
 
Perhaps it is just a story, but I have ALWAYS heard this told as a true
story, and always told using the same phrasing that Clayton used.
 
If true, it doesn't matter that it is less effective.
 
If only we could have MORE presidents who kept their mouths shut.
 
 
Mark
 
 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto)
Subject: Books as Objets D'Art
Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 14:35:29 GMT


Francis Muir writes:
 
        John Nagle writes:
 
                Yeah, for $50 it ought to be better bound.  I expect a
                paperback version once hardback sales run down.
 
        You miss the point. The binding is the book, or a major part of it.
        It probably does not belong in any library, not because of any problems
        with its content, but because it isn't a book. It is, literally, an
        "objet d'art".
 
Not a bad idea for a thread.  What books qualify as an objet d'art?
 
I'll nominate THE BOOK OF KELLS -- which is in the Long Library at
Trinity College Dublin, and is, indeed, beautiful.  Any others?
 
Mark
 
Incidently, I've seen Madonna's book selling in a store which
sells videos and game cartridges, for $10 off.

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: rjwill6@PacBell.COM (Rod Williams)
Subject: Re: good novels about gay lifestyle
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, California
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 17:48:43 GMT

> alison@wsrcc.com (Alison Chaiken) writes:
>I'd like to read one or two good books about the gay lifestyle in
>order to try to understand it.  In particular I am NOT curious about
>gay sexual practices (not a prude; just not interested).  I undertake
>this project in the same spirit as when a few years ago I decided to
>read several books about Islam: I want to "see how the other half
>lives."  Recommendations for serious adult fiction are appreciated.

It might help to realize that there are as many "gay
lifestyle[s]" as there are straight ones.  Are you interested
in rural, childless lesbians who repair farm machinery, make
jams and jellies and like target shooting?  Or urban, skinhead,
piereced and tattooed queers who write mash letters to black,
female jazz singers?  Or Catholic priests who spend their days
off bedecked in fuschia chiffon in a drag bar?  Or those nice
boys from the flower shop?  Or that tired looking single mother
who wishes she could afford a babysitter so that she could get
out and seek similar?

People like that, and many more, write serious adult fiction
on the side...

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
rod williams -=- pacific bell -=- san ramon, ca -=- rjwill6@pacbell.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: mahtani@CAMIS.Stanford.EDU (Melanie Mahtani)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Whence Finnish books..?
Date: 21 Nov 1992 02:55:04 GMT
Organization: Stanford University School of Medicine
Distribution: ca
NNTP-Posting-Host: camis.stanford.edu
Originator: mahtani@camis.Stanford.EDU

I am planning a series of trips to Finland as part of an
ongoing genetics projects.

I have a few leads on Finnish language instruction books, 
and they are as follows:
Finnish for Foreigners, by Aaltio
Suomea Suomeksi,
Say it in Finnish, by Flint
Teach Yourself Finnish, by Whitney

I would like
1) some basis for a comparison of these 4 sources
2) any idea as to local (bay area) book stores which might stock them
3) other ideas/books which might be more helpful

My goal is not to learn the language and grammar extensively;
but rather, to gain some common terms and a loose working knowledge
of the language.

Thanks in advance,

Mel
From: br105@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jeffrey A. Del Col)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Souls in the First Circle
Date: 15 Nov 1992 22:43:57 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: br105@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jeffrey A. Del Col)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


Why put Tsvetaeva and other poets in the first circle of Hell?
Because that's where Dante puts all the great pagan poets.  It's
a nice scene; Homer and the others come to greet Dante and welcome
him as a peer; then they engage in a little chit-chat among equals.

Just a trifling  allusion, that's all.

J. Del Col
-- 
Jeff Del Col      *   DECONSTRUCTION--- the critical method invented      
A-B College       *                      by Procrustes  
Philippi, WV      *                             
                  *         
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy)
Subject: Re: Property Rights (was re: Progress: The New Great Divide? (was Re: Cult)
Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
	<JMC.92Nov14094633@SAIL.Stanford.EDU> <13222@optilink.UUCP>
Date: 17 Nov 92 22:08:03

Also we need to distinguish between communism as a political philosophy
and the actual political systems that the philosophy gave rise to.
Some still claim that the philosophy was ok, and it's just that all
of the about 20 implementations were bad.
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
*
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
From: kassover@rumsey.crd.ge.com (David Kassover)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Lightbulbs, et al.  [was: The Truth According to Mickie Medved]
Date: 18 Nov 92 00:43:01 GMT
Organization: nope

In article <97997@netnews.upenn.edu> crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Lauren L. Crawford) writes:
>In article <lgakr7INN6ge@news.bbn.com> ncramer@labs-n.bbn.com (Nichael Cramer) writes:
>
>>How many Californians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
>
>Four.  One to screw it in, and three to share the experience.
>

And a fifth, to write the environmental impact statement.
-- 
David Kassover             "Proper technique helps protect you against
uupsi!khazad!kassover	          sharp weapons and dull judges."
kassover@aule-tek.com                   F. Collins
kassover@ra.crd.ge.com
From: bh419@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Ted B Samsel)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Surreal Novels About WWII
Date: 23 Nov 1992 15:50:47 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


Re: CATCH 22
  Hughes Rudd (he died recently) had a book of short stories
that were originally published in the Paris Review before
CATCH 22 was written. Some of these stories have a good bit of
CATCH 22 in them.
  i.e. the hospital scenes 
  My point is did Heller lift these from Rudd?
-- 
Ted....
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: atten@phil.ruu.nl (Mark van Atten)
Subject: NYT review of books 
Organization: Department of Philosophy, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 11:10:13 GMT

Hi there!
Could someone tell me where in the Netherlands the NYT review of books can
be obtained? Preferably in Rotterdam or Utrecht, but I'm sure it must be
somewhere in Amsterdam...

Kind regards,
Mark.
From: lieser@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com (Ed Lieser)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Maddona's new book
Date: 22 Nov 92 13:40:06 EST
Organization: Test PLease ignore

In article <By3DxC.A6J@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>, mechalas@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (John Mechalas) writes:
> In article <9211212332.AA12117@cfdev1.shearson.com> mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:
>> 
>>mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes:
>> 
>>> To me, the exceptional thing about the book is that Madonna could get away
>>> with it. What other star of stage, screen, or music could have pulled this
>>> off without damaging his or her career?
>> 
>>2 Live Crew.
> 
> Andrew Dice Clay

Howard Stern.

> 
> -- 
> John Mechalas                      | If you think my opinions are Purdue's, then
> mechalas@mentor.cc.purdue.edu      |      you vastly overestimate my importance.
> Purdue University Computing Center |             Help put a ban on censorship :)
> General Consulting                 |                       #include disclaimer.h

Ed Lieser
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Madonna's new book
Date: 16 Nov 1992 23:52:26 GMT
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
NNTP-Posting-Host: oas.stanford.edu

Meg Worley writes:

	Francis Muir writes:

		Really? Since young women carry about 400 of the little 
		rascals around with them in one stage or another (my ObGyn 
		knowledge is pretty rusty), it would seem that "eggs" would 
		not be appropriate. To confuse things a bit, in slang Spanish 
		"balls" are called "uovos", eggs.

	"Huevos", Fido, "huevos."  Not yet recovered from that last evening
	spent with La Lollabrigida?  Or was it La Cicciolina?

Nuts...

	Rage away,

From rage to richesse -- a pleasant thought.

							Fido
From: ncramer@bbn.com (Nichael Cramer)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Ate in Arcadia. Eggo.
Date: 17 Nov 1992 18:26:22 GMT
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA
Reply-To: ncramer@labs-n.bbn.com (Nichael Cramer)
NNTP-Posting-Host: bbn.com

Frankie "Poodles" Muir writes:
|>Lori Cole writes:
|>	Then wouldn't referring to people as having "a lot of eggs" be 
|>	the perfect, all-purpose, non-gendered term?!?!
|>Precisely, and the corresponding unisex (Shades of the Sixties...) 
|>antonymic, "one egg short of a full basket".

And what then (shades of the Fifties) are we to make of the 
sobriquet "Egghead"?

N
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan)
Subject: Re: [UPI] Library attacked for buying Madonna's Sex book
Organization: Johns Hopkins Computer Science Department, Baltimore, MD
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 16:46:42 GMT

cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:

>Any librarian who thought Madonna's masturbatory device belonged
>in a library clearly has too large a budget.

One can imagine an entire museum devoted to Madonna's masturbatory devices.

--
Paul Callahan
callahan@cs.jhu.edu
From: kassover@rumsey.crd.ge.com (David Kassover)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Madonna's new book
Date: 16 Nov 92 21:19:58 GMT
Organization: nope

In article <78v1v-a@rpi.edu> kasprj@rpi.edu writes:
>  
> In recent years I've encountered a growing contingent who insist that 
>the feminine equivalent of "balls" should be "eggs".


Maybe.  But a longstanding Yiddish and Hebrew vulgarism for the
testicular orbs is "baitzim".


-- 
David Kassover             "Proper technique helps protect you against
uupsi!khazad!kassover	          sharp weapons and dull judges."
kassover@aule-tek.com                   F. Collins
kassover@ra.crd.ge.com
From: petelev@convex.com (Pete Levinthal)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross?
Date: 16 Nov 92 20:18:54 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.1992Nov16.201854.6172
Organization: Engineering, CONVEX Computer Corp., Richardson, Tx., USA
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

Hello,

Does anyone know where I can get a copy of this?  I've checked the local
university libraries and have posted to several other groups looking, but
still no luck.  The title is:

"The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross" by John Allegro 
Published circa 1968.

I would be interested in acquiring either hardback or paperback copies, and
would pay for the shipping costs, etc...

Thanks....

Pete
petelev@convex.com
From: jack@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Strange Characters (Was: Trebbitsch Lincoln)
Date: 20 Nov 92 18:24:17 GMT
Reply-To: jack@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin)
Organization: COMANDOS Project, Glesga Yoonie

ian@spider.co.uk (Ian Heavens) wrote:
> The same book also mentions the extraordinary Yorkshire clergyman Joseph
> Wolff, who attempted to rescue Conolly and Stoddard from the Emir of
> Bokhara, and one of the most bizarre and sinister characters in history,
> a White Russian Baron (whose name escapes me) turned Buddhist who
> terrorised Mongolia during the Russian Civil War.

The latter guy (whose name escapes me too) gets an extended description in
James Webb's "The Occult Establishment" - he was a proto-Nazi occultist who
turned to traditional Mongolian Buddhism for what he thought were its
magical secrets.  He introduced the only anti-semitic laws ever passed in
Mongolian history (since Mongolia didn't have any Jews at the time, this
was a pretty strange idea even by Nazi standards).  When his regime was
facing defeat he would go into battle stark naked on horseback with his
horse decorated with human skulls and magical amulets.  (Webb's book has
lots of great yarns like like this: the section on Monte Verita alone is
worth the price).

Some more strange characters: Hugh MacDiarmid's "Scottish Eccentrics"
describes Lord George Gordon, an aristocrat who led a working-class
Protestant mob in the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots, ending his days in
obscurity as an Orthodox Jew.

Another one: Jaroslav Hasek, who started his career as a jobbing journalist
in pre-WW1 Czechoslovakia, in which capacity he wrote columns for a
magazine called "Animal World" and got fired for inventing the animals he
wrote about; went to Russia during the Revolution and became Bolshevik
political commissar in sole charge of a vast area of Siberia; went back to
Czechoslovakia, started writing "The Good Soldier Svejk" and drank himself
to death.  Cecil Parrott's "The Bad Bohemian" tells all this.

-- 
--  Jack Campin    room G092, Computing Science Department, Glasgow University,
17 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RZ, Scotland   TEL: 041 339 8855 x6854 (work)
INTERNET: jack@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk or via nsfnet-relay.ac.uk    FAX: 041 330 4913
BANG!net: via mcsun and uknet     BITNET: via UKACRL    UUCP: jack@glasgow.uucp
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: librik@cory.Berkeley.EDU (David Librik)
Subject: Re: Neuromancer
Organization: University of California, at Berkeley
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 08:11:11 GMT

carlj@muppet.bt.co.uk (Carl) writes:

>Burning Chrome is also worth checking out, some of the short stories in it are
>excellent.

_Burning Chrome_ contains the short story "The Gernsback Continuum" (which
might be subtitled "Why The Future Isn't What It Used To Be"); one of Gibson's
best stories.  It's one of the few successful treatments of "post-modernism"
in sf.

- David Librik
librik@cory.Berkeley.edu