Fun_People Archive
1 Feb
Fun_People Updates 2/1/99
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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 99 02:21:51 -0800
To: Fun_People
Precedence: bulk
Subject: Fun_People Updates 2/1/99
X-Lib-of-Cong-ISSN: 1098-7649
Fun_People Updates 2/1/99
==============================================================================
Fun_Folks,
Here are some responses/comments relating to recent Fun_People postings...
- Peter
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Robert.Reynolds@directory.Reed.EDU (Robert Reynolds)
Re: QDJ - Quiz Du Jour - 12/17/98
> 5. What is the only sport in which the ball is always in the possession
> of the team on defense, and the offensive team can score without
> touching the ball?
> 5. Baseball.
5. Isn't cricket another example (not certain myself)? And team dodgeball?
>11. There are seven ways a baseball player can legally reach first base
> without getting a hit. Taking a base on balls -- a walk -- is one
> way. Name the other six.
>11. Batter hit by a pitch; passed ball; catcher interference; catcher drops
> third strike; fielder's choice; and being designated as a pinch runner.
11. Isn't "error" another correct answer (I think -- again not sure - that
these don't count also as hits)?
Bob
______________________________________________________________________________
From: "Brian Farmer" <bfarmer@rbitem.com>
Re: QDJ - Quiz Du Jour - 12/17/98
About #11...I'm not so sure that a batter can reach first on a passed ball.
A passed ball can be ball four (base on balls) or a dropped third strike,
either of which could put the batter at first, but both of those are
already covered on the list. But I've been wrong before...
Never would have gotten the pinch runner one...very clever...
BF
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Daniel Steinberg <dss@opcode.com>
Re: QDJ - Quiz Du Jour - 12/17/98
> 3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for
> several growing seasons. What are the only two perennial vegetables?
asparagaus, rhubarb...and artichokes.
> 8. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters "dw".
> They are all common. Name two of them.
what dweeb wrote that one?
[Dwight Dwyer? -psl]
______________________________________________________________________________
From: "Terwilliger, James, Mr, AFDPO/PPPF" <James.Terwilliger@pentagon.af.mil>
Subject: Which is worse: denial of an affair by a high official -or-
denial of a continuing affiliation with a white supremacist
organization?Trent Lott & Barr and the white supremacists
Did you see the article on page 2 of the front section of the Washington
Post about Congressman Barr (the impeach Clinton fanatic) and Trent Lott
(majority party Leader in the Senate) and their keynote speeches at the
white supremacist group conventions? Considering how strongly anti-Clinton
the Post has been for the last 6-years, with the elite media insulted and
infuriated by the "hick" from Arkansas, and how much the Post sucks up to
the right wing Congress, this story is amazing. The story is extremely
apologetic for Lott and Barr, and still is deadly!
Which is worse: denial of an affair by a high official -or- a denial of a
continuing affiliation with a white supremacist organization ?
This would make a fascinating story for your readers:
[Longish rant follows... -psl]
Lott Renounces White 'Racialist' Group He Praised in 1992
By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 16, 1998; Page A02
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who last week claimed "no
firsthand knowledge" of the controversial Council of Conservative Citizens,
six years ago told the group's members they "stand for the right principles
and the right philosophy."
This week, after being asked about a newly surfaced copy of the group's 1992
newsletter, in which he appears to endorse the group and ask for its
support, Lott renounced the organization and said through a spokesman he
has nothing to do with them.
The CCC, which has strong ties to the old white Citizens Councils, is
considered racist by conservatives and liberals. Many of the most prominent
figures in the organization are proponents of preserving the white race and
culture, which they see as under assault by immigration, intermarriage and
growing numbers of Hispanic Americans.
In the spring 1992 newsletter, provided by a Dallas man, Ed Sebasta, who
has followed the organization's activities, Lott is pictured speaking to
the group with its banner in the background.
In his speech, Lott, according to the newsletter, called the Citizen
Informer, warns against the forces supporting government spending: "We need
more meetings like this across the nation" to offset these liberal
pressures. "The people in this room stand for the right principles and the
right philosophy. Let's take it in the right direction and our children will
be the beneficiaries."
After the Informer article became available, Lott's spokesman disassociated
Lott from the CCC and sharply criticized the organization: "This group
harbors views which Senator Lott firmly rejects. He has absolutely no
involvement with them either now or in the future," John Czwartacki said
this week.
He defended Lott's 1992 keynote speech to the CCC at a Greenwood, Miss.,
meeting, arguing: "This appears to have been a widely attended political
gathering with the senator giving what sounds like generic stump speech
remarks . . . With their votes, contributions or time, tens of thousands of
people endorse Trent Lott's views. That endorsement does not necessarily go
the other way around."
Lott, with many other Mississippi politicians, Republican and Democratic,
also appeared in 1991 and 1995 at the quadrennial Black Hawk political
rally, co-sponsored by the CCC and the Black Hawk Bus Association, which
provides transportation for the private Carroll Academy.
The Citizens Council, many of whose members helped found the CCC, was a
segregationist organization. The membership generally included local
establishment figures in the South, small businessmen, mayors and other
white community leaders.
The leader of the Mississippi CCC, William Lord, who is pictured next to
Lott in the 1992 newsletter, was a regional organizer for the Citizens
Council. The national chief executive of the CCC, Gordon Lee Baum, was a
Midwest director.
The CCC has been barred from the annual Conservative Political Action
Conference (CPAC). David Keene, head of CPAC, said "we kicked [them] out of
CPAC because they are racists."
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, an impeachment opponent, recently
complained that impeachment advocate Rep. Robert L. Barr Jr. (R-Ga.) had
spoken to a CCC meeting in Charleston, S.C., this year. The charge brought
an angry response from Barr, who contended Dershowitz was trying to smear
him.
A number of the leaders of the CCC describe their views as "racialist," and
adamantly reject portrayal as white supremacist.
Jared Taylor, a Washington area leader of the CCC and publisher of the
magazine American Renaissance, wrote in an essay currently appearing on the
magazine's Web site:
"It is certainly true that in some important traits -- intelligence,
law-abidingness, sexual restraint, academic performance, resistance to
disease -- whites can be considered 'superior' to blacks. At the same time,
in exactly these same traits, North Asians appear to be 'superior' to
whites. Is someone who believes that there are probably genetic reasons for
this a 'yellow supremacist'? . . . AR expresses an unapologetic preference
for the culture and way of life of whites. It also expresses the belief that
only the biological heirs to the creators of European civilization will
carry that civilization forward in a meaningful way."
(c) Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
______________________________________________________________________________
From: "Tom Duff" <td@pixar.com>
Re: QDJ - Quiz Du Jour - 12/17/98
> 8. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters "dw".
> They are all common. Name two of them.
> 8. Dwarf, dwell, and dwindle.
Dweeb, dwelling (the noun, presumably the participle doesn't count as
different from ``dwell.'') I think dweeb is standard by now.
> 11. There are seven ways a baseball player can legally reach first base
> without getting a hit. Taking a base on balls -- a walk -- is one
> way. Name the other six.
> 11. Batter hit by a pitch; passed ball; catcher interference; catcher drops
> third strike; fielder's choice; and being designated as a pinch runner.
Strictly speaking, an umpire can award first base under rule 9.01(c) (``Each
umpire has authority to rule on any point not specifically covered in these
rules.'')
______________________________________________________________________________
From: WR3RD@aol.com
Re: QDJ - Quiz Du Jour - 12/17/98
Regarding #1. What about golf?
> 1. There's one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants
> know the score or the leader until the contest ends. What is it?
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Smolian@aol.com
Re: QDJ - Quiz Du Jour - 12/17/98
In a message dated 12/17/98 10:54:15 AM, you wrote:
>8. Dwarf, dwell, and dwindle.
What about dweeb? Hasn't that been accepted into the lang-wich?
Patti
______________________________________________________________________________
From: "Mike O'Dell" <mo@UU.NET>
Re: A kinder, gentler lynch mob
how about a plan....
fund oliver stone to make a movie about a legal coup by a vengeful,
hateful group in Congress, where a sitting president, once reelected,
is removed from office for a trivial, petty offense, and release the
movie about 4 weeks before the next presidential election
-mo
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Cindy Williams <CWilliams@sd68.bc.ca>
Subject: Man of the Year
On Time's website you can vote for Man of the Year. I know a lot of us
had fun voting for the "grumpy dwarf" last year. This year we have
another opportunity to express our views. Matthew Shepard is on the
list. Why not take the time to cast another symbolic vote.
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/moy/index.html
Cindy
[Oops! Sorry, Cindy; I guess I waited too long on this one.
But it appears they opted for farce on their own... -psl]
______________________________________________________________________________
From: George Osner <gosner@ainet.com>
Re: Mr. Cranky savages "You've Got Mail"
The only thing missing was Mr. Cranky's URL:
http://www.mrcranky.com/
this is a great site!
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Mark James <trantor@linex.com>
Re: An Assessment of MP3 vs. Lucent's EPAC
This stuff makes me sick, Peter!
Not what you think, though.
I think MP3 SHOULD stay around, unencrypted, uncopyprotected, etc. And, I
think it will.
The music industry should be hung for passing off CD's as "High Fidelity"
when they have had the technology for higher bit rate recording standards
for a long time. MP3 is the consumers revenge, now that they trained people
on low fi.
Next, look at Canada. That is what the audio industry would do to us here,
given half a chance.
I own a DAT. Have for a long time. It is worthless for moving/mixing music,
as I can't copy songs from one tape to another. Even music I record myself.
Even music I have the legal right to make personal copies of.
I don't subscribe to this crap of "harming musicians". The only people who
get harmed are the super rich, super famous bands, and the industry
executives doing everything they can to keep music prices for CD's as close
to $20 as they can.
Piracy is the market's reponse to predatory pricing. They should not be able
to encode that into law. but they will. ;-(
Hope you don't mind the rant! ;-)
The box said 'Requires Windows 95, or better.' So I bought a Macintosh.
Mark James
______________________________________________________________________________
From: "Stephen Nelson" <snelson@nwlink.com>
Re: Records and Albums
My oldest child (now 22) discovered vinyl when he got into doing some
recreational mixing and sampling as a home hobby. Then he and his sister
started going through my collection of old albums - it was great. They
discovered on their own how good some of the old soul and blues artists
were on their own. They had no interest if I suggested it was something
they ought to listen. After finding it on their own they decided that
maybe I did have some worthwhile musical preferences.
______________________________________________________________________________
From: "T'pak" <tpak@mail.utexas.edu>
Re: QOTD - 1/8/99, Huxley
>X-Lib-of-Cong-ISSN: 1098-7649
>[Happy Eighth of January, everybody! -psl]
Gee, Peter, I didn't know you were an Elvis Presley fan!
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Sunil Maulik <Sunilm1@best.com>
Re: Capitalism vs. Communism
ok, I just have to contribute my 2c:
"Capitalism is the unequal distribution of wealth".
"Communism is the equal distribution of poverty".
-sm-
______________________________________________________________________________
Forwarded-by: Robert.Reynolds@directory.Reed.EDU (Robert Reynolds)
Re: The Sick Irishman
Tom Snyder told this one:
=====
A man is told by his physician he has only 24 hours to live. He goes home
and tells his wife.
"Since I have only 24 hours left in this world, could we have sex one last
time?" His wife agrees readily.
Eight hours later the man says "Since I have only 16 hours left on Earth, how
about sex one more time?" She gladly agrees.
Six hours later "Since I have only 10 hours, how about one more time?", and
she agrees.
Four hours later he wakes her up: "Since I have only 6 hours left . . .?"
She agrees.
Four hours later he wakes her up: "Since I have only 2 hours left ...?" She
says "Look, *one* of us has to get up in the morning!"
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Mark James <trantor@linex.com>
Re: Unhooking Windows followup
Did you see the followup on this???
An international "Windows Refund" day Febuary 15th 1999.
Should be fun!
Here is the wired story:
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/17442.html
There is a "Windows Refund Center"
http://www.thenoodle.com/refund
And, of course, slashdot has their own twist.
http://www.slashdot.org/
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Charles Bigelow <bandh@maui.net>
Re: Unhooking Windows from a laptop -- a true story
Peter,
Concerning the MS Windows refund, you have probably seen this recent story
about coordination of efforts to get refunds.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/17442.html
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Mark Boolootian <booloo@cats.UCSC.EDU>
Re: Unhooking Windows from a laptop -- a true story
You should take a look at:
http://www.thenoodle.com/refund/
______________________________________________________________________________
From: jym@igc.org (Jym Dyer)
Re: San Francisco story problems
> 4. Chad wants to take half a pound of pot to Orinda and sell
> it at a 20% profit. If it originally cost him $1,500 in food
> stamps, how much should Nicole write the check for?
=o= Interesting variant: "Chad wants to take half a pound of heroin to
Orinda and sell it at a 20% profit. If it originally cost him $1,500 in
black market Beanie Babies, how much should he sell it for? Factor in BART
fare from 16th and Mission."
=o= I've also seen ethnic variants of Chad's name.
> 8. There are 4500 homes in Mill Valley and all of them recycle
> plastic. . . .
=o= This is the only one I was actually able to do the math for. You need
to factor in the fact that 90% of the plastic "recycled" in California is
dumped in Asian landfill.
=o= Oh, and here's my addition to the quiz (the names "Buffy and Chip" used
courtesy of the Mission Yuppie Eradication Project):
11) Buffy and Chip own a restored Stick/Eastlake Victorian home in Noe
Valley, on a 23' wide lot (10' of which is driveway) and with a garage door
that is 7' tall. When they drive 3 blocks down to "New Bohemia" for
caffeine, they are distressed to find that the vehicles they double-park
with are larger than theirs, and they can't see over them. They buy a new
SUV which is 15' long and 9' high. Calculate their combined IQ.
<_Jym_>
______________________________________________________________________________
From: "T'pak" <tpak@mail.utexas.edu>
Re: Unhooking Windows from a laptop -- a true story
Peter,
In case you weren't aware, Mr. Bennett's great adventure has apparently
inspired a web site devoted to the same cause. It may be found at
http://www.thenoodle.com/refund/.
______________________________________________________________________________
From: adam cavan <acavan@suika.com>
Re: Unhooking Windows from a laptop -- a true story
peter,
here's a url dedicated to the topic of refunds when not using pre-installed
windows:
http://www.thenoodle.com/refund/
regards,
adam
______________________________________________________________________________
From: "Martin L. Jara" <MLJara@lbl.gov>
Re: Your Vote Counts
What's a "ward healer"?
MJ
>
> Candidate A:
> + Associates with ward healers and consults with astrologists.
> + He's had two mistresses.
> + He chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.
>
[I've seen it spelled "wardheeler" but "healer" makes a certain sense. It's
a political worker, associated typically with the corrupt politics of ward
bosses and political machines like Tamany Hall. -psl]
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Jake Mohnkern <JMohnkern@COMMONWEALTH.COM>
Re: QOTD - Robbins, 1/26/99
Funny how this question has annoyed folks for so long.
Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
A: All of them. (This works on so many levels)
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Jim Gillogly <jim@acm.org>
Re: Asia Offers Unique Fire Protection Challenges
Peter -
FYI - that's labeled "False" in the Urban Legends guide. See
http://snopes.simplenet.com/spoons/faxlore/hydrbeer.htm for tracking back
to 1994.
[What a surprise! Or you could find when it first appeared in Fun_People by
checking the Fun_People Archives... Aha! January of 1994...
http://www.langston.com/Fun_People/1994/1994ABK.html
-psl]
______________________________________________________________________________
From: <wichers@tfn.com>
Re: Asia Offers Unique Fire Protection Challenges
>Forwarded-by: Faried Nawaz
>Forwarded-by: Mike Nelson
>
>TOKYO (AP) The recent craze for hydrogen beer is at the heart of a three
>way lawsuit between unemployed stockbroker Toshira Otoma, the Tike-Take
>karaoke bar and the Asaka Beer Corporation. Mr. Otoma is suing the bar
>and the brewery for selling toxic substances and is claiming damages for
>grievous bodily harm leading to the loss of his job. The bar is
>countersuing for defamation and loss of customers.
Peter,
It's a great story - I had even sent it on in my daily humor mailing list.
However, I soon learned it's not quite true. Check out:
http://snopes.simplenet.com/spoons/faxlore/hydrbeer.htm
--John
______________________________________________________________________________
From: "NELSON, Tim" <tnelson@shl.com>
Re: Asia Offers Unique Fire Protection Challenges
You might want to forward this to your teams as a warning to not forward
this urban legend. Tim
[What good is a UL if you don't forward it? -psl]
Subject: RE: Asia Offers Unique Fire Protection Challenges
This is debunked at http://snopes.simplenet.com/spoons/faxlore/hydrbeer.htm
</jump/http://snopes.simplenet.com/spoons/faxlore/hydrbeer.htm> . Among
other things, they point out that "There is no Asaka Beer Corporation. Due
to tight government regulations, there are only five beer companies in
Japan: Kirin (40.6% market share), Asahi (37.6%), Sapporo (15.8%), Suntory
(5%) and Orion (1%)."Some people do make beer fizz with nitrogen instead of
CO2, but even if you used hydrogen, it wouldn't end up in your lungs in a
high enough concentration to raise the pitch of your voice or make your
breath flammable. CO2 is more soluble in blood than hydrogen, and it's about
50% denser than air, but it doesn't lower the pitch of your voice when you
drink something carbonated.
Just so you know, in Japanese.
Suiso means Hydrogen
Gajira is the correct romanji spelling and Japanese pronunciation of
Godzilla
Asaka is meaningless, unless you say it our loud, in a sentence, like "I'm
asaka if I believe this"
It is claimed that a soc.culture.japan newgrouper named Henry Robertson
invented the Hydrogen beer gag. It now shows up in newspapers and web sites
around the world and in many languages. Henry has a right to be proud of
creating a true Urban Legend.
Tim Nelson
______________________________________________________________________________
From: joev@archtop.com
Re: Asia Offers Unique Fire Protection Challenges
Peter,
You been boinked, but you're in good company. Never having heard of "Asaka"
beer, not to mention any voice altering properties of hydrogen (especially
consumed in carbonated! form) I checked this out. Results below.
Best,
Joe
[See http://www.snopes.com/spoons/faxlore/hydrbeer.htm for the results Joe
mentions. -psl]
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Michael Cooney <mbc42@groucho.ctel.net>
Re: Asia Offers Unique Fire Protection Challenges (fwd)
>TOKYO (AP) The recent craze for hydrogen beer...
That story doesn't ring true to me; at least the second half. It has the
ring of a story "augmented" by someone to increase its humor value. [And
anyone can put (AP) in front of anything.]
There is someone out there whose writing style is easily recognizable
creating "true" weird and funny stories. They DO all seem to be written by
the same person. If they started out as real stories, this person can't keep
from taking them to an extreme.
Doesn't it seem like that to you?
[Well... -psl]
Hola-a,
Michael
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Michael Cooney <mbc42@groucho.ctel.net>
Re: Asia Offers Unique Fire Protection Challenges (fwd)
>TOKYO (AP) The recent craze for hydrogen beer...
It occurred to me that a high school buddy of mine [he was "manager" of my
high school trio] has been [at/head of?] the Paris AP office for about the
last 30 years. It wasn't difficult to get his e-mail address this morning.
I sent him the story and asked his opinion. He replied, "...it's horseshit."
the pen is mightier than the sword
LaFayette S. Cadrille
______________________________________________________________________________
From: John Sayles <JSayles@mutualmaterials.com>
Re: QOTD - Robbins, 1/26/99
> "Philosophers have argued for centuries about how many angels can dance on
> the head of a pin, but materialists have always known it depends on whether
> they are jitterbugging or dancing cheek to cheek."
>
> -- Tom Robbins
-----> Here's another amusing Robbins quote for you (from "Still Life With
Woodpecker"):
"Sandwiches were invented by the Earl of Sandwich, popcorn was invented by
the Earl of Popcorn, and salad dressing by the Oil of Vinegar."
-- Tom Robbins
______________________________________________________________________________
Forwarded-by: David Casseres <casseres@apple.com>
Re: San Francisco Story Problems: Answers
[A while back Anton Sherwood <antons@jps.net> posted these problems. A
friend of a friend has answered them:]
1). Zelda and Jane were given a rottweiler at their commitment ceremony.
If their dog needs to be walked two miles a day and they walk at a rate of
3 miles per hour, how much time will they spend discussing their
relationship in public?
* 40 minutes, and their use of the word "bitch" will be increased by 3%.
2). Michael has two abusive stepfathers and an alcoholic mother. If his
self-esteem is reduced by 20% per dysfunctional parent, but Michael feels
3% better for every person he denigrates, how long will it take before he's
ready to go home if 1 person walks by the cafe every 2 minutes?
* 40 minutes again, unless Zelda and Jane walk by, in which case he better
shut the fuck up if he knows what's good for him.
3). Sanjeev has 7 piercings. If the likelihood of getting cellulitis on a
given day is 10% per piercing, what is the likelihood Sanjeev will need to
renew his erythromycin prescription during the next week?
* A trick question. Since erythromycin needs to be continued after the
infection disappears (usually it's prescribed for about 14 days), this is
actually a time-series problem -- we need to account for the possibility
that he has a leftover prescription from last week. Plus we don't know
about his sexual habits -- a bad case of genital warts could increase the
probabilities astronomically.
4). Chad wants to take half a pound of heroin to Orinda and sell it at a
20% profit. If it originally cost him $1,500 in food stamps, how much
should Nicole write the check for?
* $2,000, because he's scamming Nicole for an extra two hundred bucks.
5). The City and County of San Francisco decide to destroy 50 rats infesting
downtown. If 9,800 animal rights activists hold a candlelight vigil, how
many people did each dead rat empower?
* Another trick question. 98, not 196, because each activist jointly
co-constructed their own empowerment with their .00510204 piece of a rat.
6). A red sock, a yellow sock, a blue sock, and a white sock are tossed
randomly in a drawer. What is the likelihood that the first two socks drawn
will be socks of color?
* 50%, but if the white sock has a hole in it, it can identify as disabled
and feel oppressed too.
7). George weighs 245 pounds and drinks two triple lattes every morning.
If each shot of espresso contains 490mg of caffeine, what is George's
average caffeine density in mg/pound?
* 12, until he pees.
8). There are 4500 homes in Mill Valley and all of them recycle plastic.
If each household recycles 10 soda bottles a day and buys one polar fleece
pullover per month, does Mill Valley have a monthly plastic surplus or
deficit? Bonus question: Assuming all the plastic bottles are 1 liter size,
how much Evian are they drinking?
* Mill Valley sucks.
9). If the average person can eat one pork pot sticker in 30 seconds, and
the waitress brings a platter of 12 pot stickers, how long will it take five
vegans to not eat them?
* Hopefully they think they're vegan pot stickers, and just scarf them down
and wonder, "How did they make the soy protein taste so realistic?"
10). Todd begins walking down Market Street with 12 $1 bills in his wallet.
If he always gives panhandlers a single buck, how many legs did he have to
step over if he has $3 left when he reaches the other end and met only one
double-amputee?
* 10, because he stuffed three bucks into Busty LaBlonde's g-string in the
Market Street Cinema.
Advanced Placement Students Only:
11) Katie, Trip, Ling, John-John and Effie share a three-bedroom apartment
on Guerrero for $2400 a month. Effie and Trip can share one bedroom, but
the other three need their own rooms with separate ISDN lines to run their
web servers. None of them wants to use the futon in the living room as a
bed, and they each want to save $650 in three months to attend Burning Man.
What is their best option:
a) All five roommates accept a $12/hour job-share as handgun monitors at
Mission High.
b) Ask Miles, the bisexual auto mechanic, to share Effie and Trip's bedroom
for $500/month
c) Petition the Board of Supervisors to advance Ling her annual digital-
artists-of-color stipend.
d) Rent strike.
* e) They should all go back home to Long Island where they came from.
______________________________________________________________________________
From: "Peter H. Salus" <peter@eng.us.uu.net>
Re: Books -- Bulk Over Content?
Peter, From a book reviewer, you can't imagine the way
books gain weight. Not just K&R. Remember, Kernighan &
Plauger ran just over 300pp.; Steve Bourne's UNIX System
was 350; and AWK was just over 200. Now look at the
stuff on Perl or Python or sendmail. Yecch!
Peter
______________________________________________________________________________
From: "Peter H. Salus" <peter@eng.us.uu.net>
Re: Pluto Safe From Demotion
Of course, none (= 0) of the planets nor their satellites
moves in a circle. They all have elliptical orbits.
Peter
______________________________________________________________________________
Forwarded-by: Jack Doyle <doylej@peak.org>
Re: Unhooking Windows
From: dave_wolf@om.cv.hp.com
Fans of Linux Plan to March On Microsoft
Benny Evangelista, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, January 28, 1999
Hoping to spark a worldwide revolt, fans of the Linux computer operating
system plan to march down to the local Microsoft Corp. office in Foster City
on February 15 to demand refunds for unused copies of Windows.
Their premise is that people who buy computers preloaded with Windows 95/98
or NT are paying for the cost charged by Microsoft to the computer maker.
But customers who load Linux or another operating software instead of using
Windows are entitled to a refund, they argue.
Microsoft's end-user licensing agreement states that a computer user who
does not agree to the terms of the license can contact the manufacturer "for
instructions on return of the unused product(s) for a refund."
The idea of a Windows Refund Day surfaced just last week on an Internet
Linux discussion site, www.slashdot.org, after word surfaced that an
Australian Linux user, Geoffrey D. Bennett, had used the provision in the
licensing agreement to get a refund because he doesn't use Windows. Bennett
posted online messages saying he received a $110 refund from his laptop
manufacturer after months of haggling.
Windows Refund Day organizers say they are trying to cut the red tape that
prevents others from getting refunds.
"We want people who get Windows involuntarily to be able to exercise their
claims promptly and conveniently," said Donald B. Marti Jr., a San Francisco
Linux marketing consultant who is helping to coordinate refund day.
"You'd be surprised how many PCs people buy and boot straight into Linux
and never run Windows at all," Marti said.
Organizers of the Bay Area event say there are also plans for simultaneous
marches on Microsoft offices in Orange County, New York and Japan.
Although 2,700 people have signed up for an Internet update newsletter,
organizers don't know how many people will actually show up at each site.
Rick Moen, a Linux user and San Francisco computer network consultant, said
he was inspired to help organize the Bay Area refund day after reading about
Bennett's experience.
Moen, who authored the refund newsletter available at http://zork.net/refund
, said February 15 isn't supposed to be a "Bash Microsoft" day, but simply
a chance for Linux users to make a point that not everyone wants Windows.
The organizers said that people seeking refunds should bring proof that they
haven't used Windows, or bring in their computers.
Microsoft spokesman Adam Sohn said the company has not decided how to handle
the refund seekers, but said the license agreement calls for refunds to come
from computer manufacturers, not from Microsoft.
The standard end-user license is supposed to thwart software piracy and is
"not really designed to be a referendum on Windows or how manufacturers ship
PCs," Sohn said. "If you don't want a Windows PC, you should buy a PC with
whatever operating system you want."
Dell Computer Corp. spokesman T.R. Reid said he did not know if any Dell
customers have sought Windows refunds in the past, but said the vast
majority of the firm's customers demand Windows.
Dell would honor a refund request by having the customer return the entire
system, Reid said.
But eMachines Inc., a new Fremont company selling sub-$500 computers, this
week agreed to refund $26 to a Bay Area woman who loaded Linux without
booting Windows.
Computer-makers "are obliged to do the same thing, if the consumer for
whatever reason doesn't want Windows," said eMachines marketing director
Pattie Adams.
c1999 San Francisco Chronicle Page B1
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© 1999 Peter Langston
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