HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto)
Subject: Re: Books on Disc
Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 13:42:08 GMT



jmo@fns-nc1.fns.com (John Otteson) writes:
 
>> In article <qwmnr3#.dani@netcom.com> dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) writes:
>>> Can you imagine having to read these books from a computer monitor?
>>>
>> Aside from the size and resolution constraints of a CRT, what is it that
>> people dislike about reading books on a computer?  What would be the
>> features in a book-reading program?  Bookmarks, tabs, dog-eared pages?
>
> Well, the smell of a freshly opened new book would be one thing I
> would miss.
>
>> In article <qwmnr3#.dani@netcom.com> dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) writes:
>>> Can you imagine having to read these books from a computer monitor?
>>>
>> Aside from the size and resolution constraints of a CRT, what is it that
>> people dislike about reading books on a computer?  What would be the
>> features in a book-reading program?  Bookmarks, tabs, dog-eared pages?
>
> Well, the smell of a freshly opened new book would be one thing I
> would miss.
 
It is well known that the sense of smell is the one most closely associated
with memory.  The smell of a book can elicit memories, almost giving one
the sense of Deja Vu.  But this effect can be achieved in other ways,
using electronic media.
 
Besides -- the smell can be put in bottles.
 
Mark
 

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: hhenderson@vax.clarku.edu
Subject: Sickles and Swastikas (was: books to avoid)
Organization: Clark University
Date: 9 SEP 92 22:14:32 GMT

Barbara responds to Clayton:

>I was not only alive and sentient during the '80s, I was in one
>bookstore or another in a major cosmpolitan city four or five times
>a week during that decade, and I swear to god that I can't think of
>a single example of a single paperback book displaying either a swastika
>or a hammer-and-sickle on its cover on any volume I set my eyes on in any
>of the 12 or more bookstores that I visted on a regular basis during
>those years.

You gotta be kidding, lady!!!  You can throw a piano in any bookstore
(at least the ones in New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia that I
know) and hit a book with a swastika or a hammer and sickle on the cover.
Granted, you should be in the spy thriller section, not, for example,
belles-lettres or Women's Studies.

The British humorist Alan Coren once was at a loss as to what to call his
newest collection of essays (so the story goes), so he asked his publishers
what the best-selling types of books in the UK were.  The answer was:
books on golf, books on Nazis, and books on cats.  So he titled his book
"Golfing for Cats" and had them put a big swastika on the cover.  I don't
know if it became a best-seller, though...

Heather
Clark University
HHENDERSON@vax.clarku.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: beede@sctc.com (Mike Beede)
Subject: Re: Books on Disc
Organization: SCTC
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 12:06:31 GMT

drm@esl.com (Don McGregor ) writes:

>In article <qwmnr3#.dani@netcom.com> dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) writes:

>Aside from the size and resolution constraints of a CRT, what is it that  
>people dislike about reading books on a computer?  What would be the  
>features in a book-reading program?  Bookmarks, tabs, dog-eared pages?

Mostly portability.  I can't take a CRT into the tub or to bed or out
on the deck or to a picnic table in the park.  Reading plain ASCII
text gorked out to even a pretty nice screen is painful compared to
even a poorly printed book, too.  I don't know exactly why, but part
of it is the colossal columns things usually appear in.  By the time I
scan to the end, it is a lot of work to get back again.  I assume that
some pretty dumb software could improve this, especially with text
never intended to appear on a screen (it would work poorly with, e.g.,
USENET postings -- too bad).

What features?  It would be nice to be able to attach notes to the
text and search among them easily, but basically, until a small-format
cheap machine that reads CDs and has a terrific display comes out,
I'll stick to paper.

	Mike
-- 
Mike Beede         Secure Computing
beede@sctc.com     1210 W. County Rd E, Suite 100           
------------------ Arden Hills, MN  55112
                    (612) 482-7420
From: proberts@informix.com (Paul Roberts)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: The White Man's Burden of Proof
Date: 7 Sep 92 01:12:32 GMT
Organization: Informix Software, Inc.

In article <JMC.92Sep6154722@SAIL.Stanford.EDU> jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU writes:
>Indeed I hope someone will tell me what poem "insidious intent" is
>from. 

Haven't been following this thread, but it is from Eliot's "The Waste
Land". Of was Eliot quoting someone else?

Paul
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Date: 10 Sep 92 15:30:28 GMT
Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway


mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) responds to me:
 
> I doubt Dr. Webster would insist on the distinction between her persona
> and her "self," whatever that is, to the extent that Fido/Francis Muir
> does. But the Fido persona exists in many contexts, and is consistent
> and even predictable. The Courtesy persona seems to have been invented
> for a single posting.
 
I'm not sure I buy this.  For all of the talk of the personae of Francis
Muir, they all look alike to me.  Whether it is Francis, Fido, Philomath
or any of his other incarnations, the writing style is consistent.  The
articles all look like they are written by the same very intelligent,
Oxford-educated, nanny-raised, interesting, sometimes rude and often
entertaining curmudgeon.  I'd like to know which of these traits is not
shared by the real Francis?
 
On the other hand, Ms Courtesy writes in a very different style from
Fiona Webster or Fiona Oceanstar.  It might be true that all of these
personae share the views of the writer/psychiatrist who created them --
but they do express themselves differently.
 
While I don't share her conclusion that Mike G and SubG were rude, I
did enjoy her exposition, and wonder if Mike would think differently
were he not the "victim."  I thought it was meant to be a good-natured
and humorous rebuke.
 
All the talk of differences between self & persona make me miss Joe Green,
who is very different from his net presence.  I predict a reappearance
within the month (classes at the University of Minnesota resume near the
end of the month).
 
 
Mark
 
 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: rsquires@cyclops.eece.unm.edu (Roger Squires)
Subject: The Fall (Was Re: books to avoid
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 92 04:56:25 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <1992Sep9.030204.24336@u.washington.edu> twain@milton.u.washington.edu (Barbara Hlavin) writes:
>...  Attracted by the title THE GATES OF THE 
>FOREST, I picked up the book and read on the front, "Not since Albert 
>Camus has there been a writer of such moral sensitivity blah-blah-blah..." 
>

	This reminds me :)  When I read _The Fall_ some time ago,
	I was deeply moved, coming away with the impression that
	this was a beautiful novel about a man who has discovered
	moral responsibility and connectedness with other people.
	(Recalling the Great Endings thread, this one had a throat
	catcher).

	Anyway, sometime later when reading Philip Thody's _Albert Camus_,
	I was surprised to find that Thody, at least, thinks that
	this novel has been misunderstood, and that though Catholic
	critics and even theologians had embraced Camus because of
	the religios tendencies they perceived in the novel, in 
	actuality Camus' intention was to poke fun at the Catholic
	position taken by the hero.  Comments?

>
>I have in the ensuing years read eveyrthing Elie Wiesel publishes
>

	_Night_ wasn't too bad.

>--Barbara  (who believes Barbra Streisand should be flogged for what 

Roger Squiresr
rsquires@cyclops.eece.unm.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: sullivan@gorgo.gsfc.nasa.gov (Dan sullivan)
Subject: Re: ... on Miss Manners (cough)
Reply-To: sullivan@gorgo.gsfc.nasa.gov (Dan sullivan)
Organization: NASA/GSFC Hydrospheric Sciences Branch
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 23:05:40 GMT

'Miss Manners' is an arrogant (with no justification) nasty bitch. 
When people ask honest questions of her, she replies with sarcasm. 
Sarcasm is not how a polite person replies to question. She constantly
admonishes people not to correct other peoples' bad manners. But what the
hell does she do? Make a living out of criticizing people about their
manners! I feel sorry for what she must have put her children through.
I hope she chokes to death on a chicken bone. "My My Miss Manners!
Choke if you must, but please don't drool all over my antique white
tablecloth!"
 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: davidf@golem.uucp (David J. Fiander)
Subject: The Dedalus printing house (was Re: King in Yellow, publication date?)
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 00:57:20 GMT

According to librik@cory.Berkeley.EDU (David Librik):
>It's Robert Chambers, and it's 1895.
>
>I am amazed at the number of times references to an 1895 book I thought no-one
>else owned or read but myself have come up recently.  Is the Dedalus reprint
>a complete one, or has it just got the spook stories?  I continue to be amazed
>that anyone has reprinted it; no matter how deep you delve into the back stacks
>of old libraries and older bookshops, someone's been there before you.

I'm going to have to get a catalog of the Dedalus publishing
house.  I just finished reading _Tales of the Wandering Jew_,
Brian Stableford, Ed.  (Dedalus, 1991), mostly because of a
review by the harmless Ms Leeper.  The copy I read (which was
fetched for me by the Djinn of Inter-library Loans) seemed to
be a paperback edition.  The lists of other offerings in the
back was quite intriguing, and this latest addition to their
stable has clinched it.

Does anybody have an address for Delalus?

- David
From: dac@prolix.apana.org.au (Andrew Clayton)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Looking for books about Gothick Fiction
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 06:29:00 GMT
Organization: More like Dis~, really.
X-Newsreader: Arn V1.00 beta rel2

In article <BuFnIz.8yx@acsu.buffalo.edu>, Martin J Spinelli writes:

> 
> hi folks,
> 
> 	i'm a grad student at the university of buffalo doing research in
> the reception of popular gothick novels and romances at the end of the 18th

This smacks of a Compuserve person wondering what to read:

GO THICK.

> thanks for your time

An amusing interlude. Back to the regular programming ...

Dac
--
From: proberts@informix.com (Paul Roberts)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Arthur Hugh Clough. Was: Re: I give up...
Date: 6 Sep 92 19:20:21 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Informix Software, Inc.

>francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir) writes:
>>Gary Stonum writes:
>>
>>> Clough?
>>> Enough!
>
><cough cough>
>
>>Arthur Hugh Clough was the only 20th century poet who had the misfortune
>>to be born in the early 19th century. 
>

OK, let's have have some Clough then. This one is moderately inspirational,
especially if you feel that you favourite causes (you know, literacy, public
television, being generally pleasant to people and animals, etc) are 
everywhere under attack from "a kind of galloping cretinism in the land 
which does not augur well for our shoddy civilization" (Gore Vidal, 1972).


Say not the struggle nought availeth
------------------------------------

Say not the struggle nought availeth,
  The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
  And as things have been they remain.

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
  It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
 Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
  Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

And not by eastern windows only,
  When daylight comes, comes in the light;
In front, the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
  But westward, look, the land is bright!

			- Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: RABfest '92: the fourth day.
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 14:47:23 GMT

For my breakfast, I have just finished up the Stilton I retrieved at
the end of our Saturday soiree. A Welsh rarebit. Stilton toasted on a 
muff until it was bubbly and browning. Being the final piece, it was
almost all crust. An incredible edible experience.

The Morbier went much quicker, and to other rabisti and rabistas thinking
of putting on a similar bash, then it looks as though Morbier (the 
unpasteurized version, of course) is the cheese of preference. The '84
Chateau Baronne Philipe de Rothschild got gulped down with fervour, and
the Madeleines were welcome with the Celebes Kalossi, although, to tell 
the truth, I'd prefer Lu-lus myself. Their Marie biscuits are a delight
and now contain no tropicals.

We were about a baker's dozen, and I must confess that i thought everyone
looked exactly as they read -- which was just as well. The highlight of
the evening was a set of readings by some of the rabble. We had indicated
previously that a page or two of text was the price of entry -- that, and
a small cash disembursement ($12:50 and "A Room with a View") for the food.
My own favorite was a reading of an unfinished letter from Dorothy L.
Sayers to Charles Williams. Pure seduction. As an ice-breaker, we watched
a video of Mark, his books, his cat, and his city. He was wearing a bald
wig and a fancy dress mock-GQ "at home" outfit. It was OK, but I was a
little disappointed not to see him in the Italian First Communicant outfit
that we have all come to think of as the defining outfit.

						Semper Fido
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: vgriscep@wam.umd.edu (VGR (Craig Pell))
Subject: Re: Dungeons and Dragons: It may have been nice animation, but...
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 00:27:34 GMT

In article <1992Sep7.200951.18895@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) writes:
>
>The lack of violence.  This may sound slightly ridiculous, but you just
>can't have Dungeons and Dragons without the slaying of monsters.  Oh,
>sure, an evil wizard or two was slain at the end of every episode, or
>at least decisively defeated, but were any orcs, goblins, trolls, kobolds,
>etc. killed?  I don't believe very many even made an appearance.  When
>the Ranger (can't remember his name) hit a monster with his bow, it would
>usually just tie the monster up.

The show did have one good scene.  I remember the leader (was he the Ranger?)
was being transformed into a skeleton, slowly.  They showed the whole business
of his flesh rotting away.  Of course, the spellcaster was stopped before the
transformation was complete and he returned to normal.  (What, you thought
he'd become a permanent member of the undead?)

  VGR

"The size of the brain is no measure of its capacity."   - Mr. Jonathan Frisby
From: scotth@hoshi.corp.sgi.com (Scott Henry)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation
Subject: Re: Samurai Pizza Cats
Date: 8 Sep 92 14:34:15 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics Inc, Mountain View, CA


I'm probably biased since I work for SGI, but...

>>>>> In article <1992Sep8.050852.13059@umr.edu>, quandt@mcs213i.cs.umr.edu (Brian Quandt) writes:

quandt> I am part of a company that is developing software for people
quandt> involved in animation, i.e., professional animators (computer
quandt> based) and amateurs.  Without saying too much, the product
....
quandt> Here's a brief list of the kind of information we are looking for:
quandt> (the purpose of all this is the development of business plan)
quandt> ...
quandt> 	- What platforms are people using to develop animations? 
quandt> 		Unix (which hardware, I bet Sun), amiga, PC, etc.
                                                    ^^^
You've never been to siggraph recently, have you? The predominant
machine for computer animation is an IRIS (Silicon Graphics)
workstation. If you can believe our marketing department, SGI has 80%
of the market for computer animation and growing. That's probably $,
not units, and a lot of that is probably the high end (read $$$)
units. That info is over a year old, before the Indigo (low end
machine), and definitely before the Reality Engine (new high-end graphics).

quandt> ...
quandt> 	- What resources contains information that can answer many 
quandt> 		of the above questions?  Any professional research
quandt> 		firms anyone recommends?

I'd look for siggraph proceedings, for one place.

quandt> 	- How big of problem is it to single frame record animation
quandt> 		to tape?

That depends more on the tape deck than on any thing else. There are
lots of animation controllers on the market.

=-=-=-=-=
--
 Scott Henry <scotth@sgi.com> / Traveller on Dragon Wings
 Networking Services,        / Help! My disclaimer is missing!
 Silicon Graphics, Inc      / GIGO *really* means: Garbage in, Gospel Out
Xref: sparky rec.arts.animation:3617 rec.arts.comics.misc:2157
From: ss@wpi.WPI.EDU (Scott Streeter)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation,rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: Batman Animation
Date: 7 Sep 92 16:02:05 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609-2280


rjung> Not to be a wet blanket, but I thought the "Man-Bat" story
rjung> wasn't THAT great. My biggest gripe was that the identity of
rjung> the Man-Bat was telegraphed from a mile away -- as soon as
rjung> Bruce walked into the lab, the light bulb went off in my head.

But anyone who reads the comics knows who the Man-Bat is already
anyways. Also this story was a sum what sorter version of the Man-Bats
first appearence in the comics.
--
                        Scott Streeter
                        ss@wpi.wpi.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation
From: smmcafee@mtu.edu (Sean McAfee)
Subject: Re: best current toons
Organization: Michigan Technological University
Distribution: rec
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 02:12:41 GMT

In article <1992Sep7.083221.4741@news.Hawaii.Edu> anash@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Dana Uehara c/o Andrew Nash) writes:
>In article <92249.132408DCA105@psuvm.psu.edu> <DCA105@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>>I also think that 'Talespin' is one of the best cartoons on, and I was VERY
>>disappointed when the 'Gummi Bears' was cancelled.  That was my favorite show
>>while it was on.  
 
>SECONDED!!!

Thirded!

>Among the shows that are (or used to be) my favorites:  Gummi Bears, 
>Tale Spin, Darkwing Duck and Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers.

I liked Darkwing Duck at first, but as time wore on I grew to dislike the
(IMHO) overabundant cartoon-style violence.  Now I like falling anvils and
sticks of dynamite as much as the next guy/gal, but it just doesn't seem to
work for DWD.  The episode that really turned me away from the show was the
one in which FOWL tried to pay Grizzlikov to kill DW.  So Grizz tries--by
squashing DW into a ball and playing soccer with him--after which DW is,
of course, shaken but unhurt.  I think the show would be a lot better as a
semi-serious spoof of the superhero genre.  "Tiff of the Titans" is my
favorite episode for just this reason.

Besides, now I just switch over to Nick on Saturday mornings for Danger Mouse.
The White Wonder can beat Darkwing Dork any day of the week!  :)

>I was also a TMNT fan when I first started watching the cartoon series.
>However, the merchandisers have, IMHO, completely overkilled the characters by
>flooding the market with TMNT this, TMNT that...  virtually everything except
>TMNT soup, which, at the rate things are going, will probably hit the store
>shelves very soon.

I hate to break it to ya, but...TNMT soup has been around for several months.
At the end of it, one of the turtles gushes "Like, thank goodness for
Chef Boy-Ar-Dee!"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It's for real, all right.  But real what?  It doesn't       Sean McAfee
talk...Is it evil?  Good?  Or just a GEEK!"                smmcafee@mtu.edu
Nick, "Brother Power, the Geek" #1
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation
From: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Subject: Re: Batman: TAS critiques
Originator: jmkaraka@c00067-100lez.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1992 03:14:59 GMT


|> How do the gas capsules Batman uses always stop with the vents facing up?
|> 
	Not having seen the episode, but willing to believe it works,
I speculate that capsules are heavier on one side, naturally causing the vents
to come face up (IMHO).

	-john 'dammit, don't bother with facts, I'm too busy' karakash-
From: klein@frith.egr.msu.edu (Jeffrey Klein)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation
Subject: First Impressions of BATMAN
Date: 6 Sep 92 01:56:12 GMT
Organization: Michigan State University College of Stunt Piloting

Well, I saw Saturday's BATMAN premiere - 'The Cat and the Claw'(Pt 1)

First off, the title sequence is VERY remeniscient of the old Fleischer
SUPERMAN style.  The show itself wasn't quite that good.

For the actual >content< of the show - it was good, yes but somehow it
felt - empty.  Like more stuff should have happened.  Or more dialogue.

I just didn't get the feeling of being entertained by a story, as in
other adventure cartoons - some of my favorite adventure series that 
do 'deliver a story' are TaleSpin (ok, it's an adventure-comedy, not
an action-adventure, but I tihnk it's one of the best TV cartoons yet)
and the Galaxy Rangers.  And maybe Transformers.  And even GI Joe -
yeah, GI Joe!  It had some fun stuff!

You know what this 'empty' sense reminds me of?  Jonny Quest.  I'd
watched it when I was younger, and heard good stuff about it on R.a.a,
but when they re-ran the show on TNT there just didn't seem to be 
anything to get into.  

Minor Peeve:  It's impossible to read the end credits w/o a VCR.  I'll
never catch the animation studio.

Well, that was only one episode.  The show looks good, tho, so I'll 
watch it a while longer.

(Oh yeah - the Adam West series - not a cartoon, but the first two
seasons were great.)

-- 
Jeff Klein             | "Happily, Ral doffs his outer clothing for a
Browsing Boy of the LNH|  refreshing dip in one of the dangerous 
klein@kira.egr.msu.edu |  chemical vats." - Ty Templeton 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation
From: kgscharf@napier.uwaterloo.ca (Kevin Scharf)
Subject: Re: Cartoon Network
Keywords: In article <1992Sep11.021028.20223@zia.aoc.nrao.edu>, jogle@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim)) writes:
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 18:34:52 GMT

> In article <mumble> conty@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (OtakuRoach) writes:
 

> Geez, I actually remember "Wait Till..." from when it was originally
> on (let's see, that was way back in first or second grade so that
> means it was...ugh...) in 1974.  It was a prime-time cartoon sitcom.
> About all I can remember is that it was your typical family sitcom fare,
> nothing unusual or cartoony about it.  There was at most a season's
> worth of episodes, probably more like half a season.
> 
> -- 
> Kansas Jim (Jim Ogle, TORG guru)
> jogle@aoc.nrao.edu (NRAO-VLBA, Socorro New Mexico)
> "I'd be apathetic if I cared."
> 

I remember "Wait Till Yoour Father Gets Home" from the Global TV Saturday afternoon lineup.  They must have shown reruns of that show for years.  Two things stick out in my mind. The theme song was annoying "Wait till your father gets home" over and over, and second, Tom Bosley (Mr. C. from Happy Days) played the dad.