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1 If you are in need of help, you need but ask....
2 ************************** INSTALLED: 19 JAN 85 ********************
3 Welcome to BWMS (BackWater Message System) Mike Day System operator
4 ************************************************************
5 GENERAL DISCLAIMER: BWMS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INFORMATION PLACED ON
6 THIS SYSTEM.
7 BWMS was created as an electronic bill board. BWMS is a privately owned
8 and operated system which is currently open for use by the general public.
9 No restrictions are placed on the use of the system. As the system is
10 privately owned, I retain the right to remove any and all messages which
11 I may find offensive. Because of the limited size of the system, it will be
12 periodically purged of messages. (only 629 lines of data can be saved)
13 To leave a message, type 'ENTER' and use ctrl/C or break to get out of the
14 ENTER mode. The message is automatically stored. If after entering the
15 message you find you made a mistake, use the replace command to replace
16 the line. To exit from the system, type 'OFF' then hang up.
17 Type 'HELP' to see other commands that are available on the system.
18 ************************************************************
19
20 Hmmmm... The 23rd of December?
21 Those pills they've been giving me at the home must be strong.
22 Oh yes... At the top!!
23 YIPPEEE!!!!!!!!
24
25 Dr. Frankenstupe
26 +_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_
27
28 lurk...
29 drat, missed the top.
30 Kathy: old habits are hard to kill, so I probably will wait out your next entry. I need to know Jack a bit better before
31 I craw into his skin.
32 All: this is not the start of a debate, but what is the hangup you have about spelling? A word that is spelled correctly
33 although it is much easier to read, has very little flavor to it. A persons personality can be reflected by the way he
34 shapes his letters, and over a terminal, there is no way of displaying handwriting, so the way a person spells is a
35 wonderful way of telling more about that person.
36 Well, I guess I'll be getting back into lurk mode now, so I'll be seeing female sheep.
37 lurk...
38 up 10
39 IOIOIOIOIOI][
40 me, what for do you want to hear youself from far away?
41 was note on le old? put a note on the back of your hand.
42 talk into a tape recorder and play it back.
43 IOIOIOIOIO][
44 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PaPa
45 Once again the midnight early morning oil burns at the Inn. The place
46 is slowly begining to clear out, but bodies are sleeping all over.
47 The Innkeeper slowly scans the scene and shakes his head a few times.
48 "What an interestingly weired bunch of patrons I have." But he knows
49 that deep in each and every heart is goodness. He slowly turns, locks
50 the ale tanks, and heads for bed. They will rise soon and depart.
51 Might as well let them sleep here for the night.
52 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PaPa Smurf 1-19 0613
53
54 -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
55 My my, with this UNDergrOUND poking its head into the pictuer again, I
56 can't help but feel that things are going from bad to worse when they
57 are involved. If I didn't know better, I'd think that the NET was going to
58 be in for a rough time. It's a good thing that I know better.
59 All I have to do is think of the happy little faces stuffed in those funny
60 looking three-piece suits, those bright offices with lots of really neat
61 super-spy equipment, and all the cola machines they must have in each of
62 the offices. Never a dry throat for the goody guys! (Sorry Farley)
63 I'VE GOT IT! I think I know what I can do to get recognized a little more
64 by those nifty men with their handy-dandy pulse-lasers & photon particle
65 emiiting gadgets that are always sitting in their jackets to look like
66 all those ordinary pistols. Maybe if I can, just by pure chance, happen to
67 find out where they are currently working over some bad guys (OUTSIDE of
68 the big and fancy branch offices) I might be able to let them see me first
69 hand! Oh boy! Another assignment! Won't they be impressed...
70 (Nevermind my decoder ring, where's my 98 channel police scanner?)
71 Maybe I can find some news at the store on 72nd when I go to get some more
72 six-pacs of cola. (they haven't been lasting very long lately...)
73 _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ abacab _-_-_-_-_-_(7-11)_-_-_-_-_-_
74
75
76 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (fussy little mr. t)
77 Why is it that whenever I want to get onto some juvies brand new system that
78 their father bought them for Christmas all I get is a connection to a
79 system that wants to play the role of a catatonic newspaper? GRRRRRRRRR!
80 kathy: about T; "the lights are on but nobody's home." Again.
81 Any and ALL: I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I shouldn't have even
82 brought up the subject of boarders at all! Now look at where it's gotten
83 me? try to do a guy a favor...
84 CISTOP MIKEY: Well, after having met some of the frequenters of The INN, I
85 have almost abolished all feelings of gender concerning her/it/him. All
86 I see now are the faces that go with the names, and feel that I am inter-
87 acting with those persons and NOT the system. (Except for those random
88 DISK/ERRORS) >>>>OOOOPS... her/it/him refering to BWMS...
89 th emachine itself.
90 Sorry for being so incoherent, it seems to be a natural misgiving when I
91 type to you. Absolutely nothing personal, I asure you.
92 Prometheus: Hmmmm... No entries on any of the four+ systems in a couple of
93 days. Are you feeling okay? I'll drop a quarter and give you a call.
94 Isn't India suppose to be long distance? I guess not...
95 ZZZZZZippy: Who knows? Maybe I might show up to the Who-ings. Prepare to
96 see some truely vintage Dalek action if you don't mind watching the
97 'dandy' for a switch. Have loads of fun!
98 Lady S. Another Hmmmm... Try to convince Theus to get another unit for
99 the ANNEX if at all possible. I MUST KNOW! Say 'ello to Hephastian (sp?)
100 for me. (squeak, squeak)
101 Mrs. Deagle: Hee hee hee... (menacing little green fellows...)
102 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ --->the Guardian 0808 Hrs 19 Jan 85
103
104 |_|_|_|_|_| LADY S WHERE ARE YOU? YOU MISSED THE STORY TO YOU, ALL THAT CONFUSION FOR NOTHING|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
105 { ^+/* ---------------- ^+/* ---------------- */+^ ---------------- */+^ }
106 CISTOP & others in the discussion: It would seem that careful consideration
107 of how computer hardware and software can be optimized to serve human goals
108 and endeavors is long overdue. Most of the present lead-them-by-the-hand,
109 menu-heavy variety have missed the mark by a country mile. (You will notice
110 that most often used, most under utilized phrase (UF) is conspicuous by its
111 absence.) My favorite image to illustrate the above concept shows a person
112 holding a hammer by the head, rather than the handle. Another person in the
113 picture says, "Sure looks like a useful tool, where's the help key?"
114
115 A couple of factors that carry considerable weight in the design of easy to
116 use program interfaces are: FAMILIARITY and CONSISTENCY. BWMS probably gets
117 a low grade on the first concept (for the first time user) but it gets high
118 marks on the second. I suspect part of the flavor of the Backwater is from
119 learning the outs and Inns of the system, thus becoming a BWMS irregular.
120
121 My personal preference leans more toward the command driven applications as
122 opposed to the menu driven ones. The two forms can be utilized in the same
123 program to take advantage of the best aspects of both. Menus presented in a
124 way that is fast and nondestructive (popup/pull-down) can greatly augment
125 a command driven program. Some of the new alternate input devices, such as
126 the mouse, show promise but should be implemented with caution. Frequently
127 these new trendy devices get indiscriminately attached to everything.
128
129 TMA: You're out of the lurk mode twice, or more, in one week. A refreshing
130 experience to see your cryptic style gracing the Backwater. One would hope
131 this is a precursor of your more frequent presence. Have you noticed how
132 often the phrase 'if God had meant' (in jest of course... but as one famous
133 writer once said, "many a serious word is said...") is used to impart some
134 sort of omniscient magnitude to purely arbitrary human choices? Present use
135 excluded, of course. Do continue your visibility status.
136 { ^+/* --------------- The Mesolithic Mathematician --------------- */+^ }
137 *********************************
138 A definate 15 of the fog index! Hee Hee.. Sorry MEz, I couldn't resist!
139 *********************************
140
141 ****************************************************************
142 Well, it has been done. No, I didn't swap drive a with drive b,
143 I threw them both into the junk box. BWMS now has <gasp> NEW DRIVES!
144 (well, almost new, one of them only has about 200 hours on it, and
145 the other has less then 50. The are single sided TEAC drives that
146 were pulled out of equipment (Sanyo 550) when it was upgraded to
147 double sided drives. This should give new life to the ailing system.
148 There will still be disk errors until these two disks get shuffled
149 off to the archives, but that should be the end of it once they are
150 gone. I'm glad THAT headache is over with. An added advantage is
151 that there are no head load solinoids, so no clickity-clack all
152 night long anymore. (Not that it ever bothered me what with BWMS
153 being locked up in a little room all of its own.) The again, I'll
154 never know when it is being used any more either. Oh well, every
155 silver lining has its dark cloud....
156 Now I wonder what will go wrong next......
157 ********************* CISTOP MIKEY *******************************
158 OREGONIAN OREGONIAN OREGONIAN OREGONIAN OREGONIAN OREGONIAN OREGONIAN OREGONIAN
159 Portland OR - Blake Edwards, Bo Derek, Julie Andrews, and Dudly Moore are
160 being sought in connection with the bizarre mass murder or a Portland Family
161 last Friday.
162 At first, A para-military organization was thought to be responsible for the
163 carnage, but it was later discovered that police crime lab officials had made
164 a mistake in determining the origin of several clues found on the scene. In
165 a prepared statement, communications officer D. Harry explained the situation.
166 "We thought we had found the letters NET all over the crime scene, referring,
167 of course, to the organization made famous in a series of articles written
168 by Washington Post writer Bob Woodward. After re-examining the clues, it was
169 found they were artifacts from the set of the motion picture '10.' A picture
170 about a man going through a middle age crisis. It seems that most of the
171 paraphernalia had the title of the movie spelled out, ie 'TEN', to avoid
172 confusion with the title of Dick Clark's birthday party television show, named
173 after the year he was born. As more details become available, we will relate
174 them to the news media"
175 OREGONIAN OREGONIAN OREGONIAN OREGONIAN OREGONIAN OREGONIAN OREGONIAN OREGONIAN
176
177 --------------------------------------
178 Mesolithic Math.: Your comments raise several questions indeed. I personally am sick and tired of having my hand held
179 through various software programs via menus, when I would much rather stack command through command driven programs.
180 Regardless, one can not ignore the beginning user, who when not shown all possible choices at any given situation, can
181 quickly become bewildered and loose interest. I have seen it happen many times in my line of work. There must be a
182 point of compromise where a meld of menu-driven and command-driven operations can be utilized for a satisfactory
183 program for all. Much of the new software coming out now is touching on just such subjects, but so much more needs to
184 be done. It may be a case where the initial design of a product is done by those who will code it instead of those
185 who will use it. The mouse is a step in the right direction, although I feel most implementations as yet fall short of
186 the mark. As the science of software engineering combined with ergonomics becomes more exact, maybe we will see a sort
187 of renaissance in program design. Until then, we must suffer along with all the rest. I would be very interested in
188 hearing your views on the subject. Please write back.
189 A. Debater
190 --------------------------------------
191
192 NET NEWS BRIEF
193 abacab dear fellow, a NET agent would never be caught dead in a three piece
194 monkey suit unless the situation called for it. Black clothes, grease paint,
195 quite sneakers, and small side-arms are much more de rigueur.
196
197 Farley was taken to another room, this one equipped with much better
198 appointments. He was given a cool drink of lemonade, and some Hostess Fruit
199 pies. The man who accompanied Farley was someone he had not seen before, but
200 that did not seem to deter the man from speaking to Farley as if he were an
201 old acquaintance. This idle chitchat continued for nearly half an hour, until
202 a concealed claxon interrupted the two. "Sounds like trouble", the other
203 man said. "Follow me" Farley took his advice, and they made their way down
204 the hall, passing several heavily armed men along the way. "Looks like a
205 full scale attack is underway. We better get to the emergency exits, just in
206 case." The man muttered something else, which sounded to Farley like the
207 word loam or lome, but he couldn't be sure. Just then, an explosion rocked
208 the building, and the red emergency lights turned red.
209 NET NEWS BRIEF
210
211 ch /turned red/turned on/; ch /quite/quiet/; ch /or/of/; drat enter only!
212 That was silly!
213 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ETC.^^^^^^^^^^^^
214 Something a little different.
215
216 A NOT-YET-TITLED-SOMETHING
217 EPISODE X+1
218 He shivered in the fierce warm wind. Even though the metal walls were
219 hot against his skin, elsewhere the sweat and blood that covered him made
220 the air feel icy. He iched all over from the caked blood but couldn't
221 risk the sound he would make in wiping it off, even his breath would seem
222 loud if the fans cut off again. In a way it was worse to know that most
223 of it wasn't his. It served to remind him just how badly things had gone.
224 As it turned out the air shaft had been one of his great bad ideas, but
225 in all the time he had been stuck here he had come up with nothing better.
226 The obvious sabotage he had finished first. That part was supposed to
227 be found. It would take some time but it would be repaired. The rest was
228 more subtle. It was also incomplete. He had been interupted, rather
229 abruptly. That acounted for the blood.
230 Only part of the sound monitors had been affected, they were used in
231 a rotation and could only be tampered with while they had power to them.
232 But the pressure sensors were easy to fix, a he had little time to hide
233 his work, so the air shaft was the only choice.
234
235 Adrian
236 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ETC.^^^^^^^^^^^
237 *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
238 John K. O'hara: Orders received and noted, sir. Ryan, out.
239
240 *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Elizabeth Ryan *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= At 3:35pm on 1/19/85 *=*=*=*=*
241 *************************************************************************
242 Guardian: (twilight zone music) The door creaked open and dust was
243 filtering thru the sunlight. But the lobby was empty and
244 my footsteps echoed thru the halls. I walked into the
245 kitchen and called out " yooo hooo, any one home" my voice
246 echoed backed with an errie tone. Curiousity killed the
247 cat and I opened the dusty refrigerator. (IEEEEEE)
248 My scream could be heard for miles around as my
249 nightmares were realized.
250 *********************************************kathy***********************
251 `'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'
252 Someone once said, "It takes all kinds to make a world." If that is true
253 then where are they all?
254 Having bad spelling is one thing, trying to elevate it to some sort of
255 virtue, using weak rationalizations, is quite another matter. Everyone makes
256 their own decision whether to learn to spell or not. Whatever other kinds of
257 impressions bad spelling invokes it quite universally gives the impression
258 of ignorance. (Before you rise to the bait note that there is a difference
259 between ignorance and stupidity; one is correctable by applying a little
260 personal effort.) Spelling ability, or more likely the lack of it, is one of
261 those emotional issues. It's interesting that many times people will spend
262 more effort defending why they shouldn't do something than the effort it
263 would take to accomplish it. All in all the subject gets more attention than
264 it does accomplishment. That's why I decided to add to the discussion. I
265 shall continue to enjoy all the entries whatever the spelling.
266 The Jiz, that's the one but I've heard it has five verses, or was it
267 seven. You should expand the 'Soap' outline into a story, give it a setting,
268 develop the characters, give them some dialog and interaction to show how
269 they feel about each other. The outline has potential, develop it.
270 Thought for the NET: A real secret is something only one person knows.
271 `'`'`'`' -alchemist- `'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'
272 Here's a quote that seems rather appropriate, what the "user-friendly"
273 debate going on.
274 "The real world is not user friendly."
275 Kelvin Throop (Analog, March 1985, p. 67)
276 __________________________________Leonard__________________________________
277 ps. "what with the" not "what the"
278 ___________________________________________________________________________
279 ************************************************************************
280 My hero rushed in and pulled my from the refrigerator, He kissed
281 me and rubbed my hands trying to bring me out of my terrible shock.
282 My eyes were glassy and i was starting to shake the reallity of
283 the terror was too much for a impressionable person like myself.
284 I knew then I could never look at a bowl of jello with lust again.
285 ********************************************kathy***********************
286 p.s. i hate enter only
287 ************************************************************************
288 (Swish)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>(Poof!)
289 Melissa- Thank you very much for your compliment.
290 >>>>>>>>
291 Seeing that a few patrons of the INN were interested, I began a story.
292 "Have you ever seen a dragon?", I began. "'Wonderful' doesn't come anywhere
293 close to describing them. One sight that I will never forget to my dying day
294 is the ballet of dragons flying at dawn above the sea. Such beauty and grace
295 in a being so large! Still, seeing them is nothing compared to actually
296 talking to them.
297 "Yes, they talk. They're about twice-and-half again as intelligent as your
298 average human, so why shouldn't they? Of course, usually they have nothing to
299 do with men. We bore them. If you approach a dragon and don't get his
300 attention within thirty seconds, he's likely to relieve his boredom by eating
301 you."
302 "I've talked to one, once. I'm not a Dragonfriend, or anything like that.
303 There's only two things a dragon will do with or to a human- talk or eat. Only
304 if, as someone once said, you can guarantee that the former will happen and not
305 the latter are you a Dragonfriend. Still, just talking once is an experience
306 to remember."
307 My small audience murmured a little while, then someone asked, "What did
308 the dragon say?"
309 "Well, this particular dragon was a female, named Camille. Female dragons
310 are generally harder to talk to than males, because often they have young about
311 that they are extremely protective of. I was younger then, and 'bravely'
312 sought a dragon to converse with. The first words I said, and I'll swear to
313 it, were 'How are you today, dragon?'."
314 Someone else spoke up. "Isn't that a little dangerous to speak like that to
315 a dragon?"
316 "Yes, it is, but at the time I didn't know any better. She was going to eat
317 me, but I convinced her otherwise."
318 "How?", someone asked.
319 "Well...", I said, beginning a long sub-story.
320 (Poof!)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Master Changer >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>(Swish)
321 ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
322 John walked slowly to his front door. It had been a hard day, his coach
323 hadn't been easy on him. 'Nam had been quite a while ago, but the emotions
324 still were pent up inside. He boxed to relieve them. It was a way to legally
325 beat up someone.
326 Abruptly, he looked up at his porch. A sea of letters and small bundles
327 filled the entire front yard, and was beginning to overflow onto the street.
328 He bent to pick up one. "Occupant", it was addressed. He snatched another,
329 and yet another. ALL of the letters were addressed "Occupant". This had all
330 the makings of a royal post office screw-up.
331 He looked at the letters again. Slowly, anger crept over him. Someone was
332 going to pay for this. He hadn't done anything to anyone to make him mad at
333 him... he was only a boxer who had, at one time, been a Green Beret.
334 John screamed at the injustice. I'll find 'em, he thought.
335 -The life of John Keith O'Hara, Boxer
336 [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[
337 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
338 Portland, OR (AP): The entire fleet of schoolbuses at David Douglass High
339 School was spraypainted last night with oange and violet phosphoresent paint
340 spelling the word "NET" in large 10-foot letters, an official at the school
341 reported. A massive clean-up operation was put into action this morning,
342 finishing just moments before the buses were scheduled to leave on their
343 routes. "Disgraceful!", said the superintendent, "Simply disgraceful! If
344 you want MY opinion, I think it's the start of a new evil cult movement among
345 young high school students. Whatever this 'NET' thing is, it should be
346 stopped! Next thing you know, those evil people will have our kids wearing
347 three-piece suits, muttering passwords, and writing their english essays in
348 code! I personally am shocked at the whole thing."
349 The police only have one lead, a simple plastic ID card for the 'NET'.
350 Investigation into the matter has, so far, revealed that it could have been
351 made at any one of two dozen novelty shops in Portland. Police are currently
352 investigating all those people who have bought such cards in the last 30 days.
353 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
354 #$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$#
355 I thanked the man profusely for the lemonade. I didn't recognise him, but since he was being pleasant, I didn't mind.
356 We chatted for quite some time about trivial things. He seemed about to speak about something important, but was
357 interrupted by the sound of an alarm. This one didn't go 'Whoop, Whoop', b is was still an obvious warning signal.
358 The man (I must really get to learn his name, I can't go on forever calling him 'the man') said something about
359 getting near an emergency exit, so I followed him. We passed a few heavily armed men in the hall. The man muttered
360 something about "an attack" and then said a word I couldn't quite hear. He obviously wasn't expecting a response from
361 me, so I didn't ask him to repeat. Shortly, we arrived at a heavily armored door. The man punched a long sequence
362 into the keypad at the right hand side. The door swung outward slowly. Soon I saw why- it was more than six inches
363 thick, and made of no metallic material that I was aware of. The man ushered me inside the gaping mouth of the door,
364 just as I heard firing noises in the hall behind us...
365 #$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$# Farley #$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$# 18:57 - 01/19/85 #$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$##$#
366 02020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202
367 SARR[ LD_FD ZXPD\ UDVJX ZJC\D GVDCL IDJGL LFLZ[ LD_FL NRGIF LZDYA RRED[ ZD_ST
368 FEPRA E[\HB _SCUD PXDZX [LD_R AXLCJ ID[CD _FP[E _EDLF NADYA FLZDC YRADP XDEAA
369 DCDLF NARUD MXJ\C PPAIH B\AEE CZA[\ DD_FD EPFRR DPTFL ODSAD ETXGR IDALN XIADP
370 TADNX IA[LD _PTXG ZT[\D D_RXX OHBCP DCRRD PTAD[ E_TY[ ED_VC FJEDC PDA^A JUDNJ
371 []_RM [E_E[ \HB_K XETGC DXGP[ \HB_A XMHBL [MWO_ X[KDZ CCJ_O D[LK_ GW[K_ JE[RR
372 02020202020202020202020202 19 Jan 85 at 11:08:02 PM 020202020202020202020202
373
374
375 .................................................................
376 UPI News -
377 Due to business conflicts, Portland Mayor Bud 'Whoop Whoop' Clark was
378 forced to dispose of his holdings in his Little Furry Alarm Company.
379 Bud said that he had gotten the idea when he had accidently stepped on
380 his pet gerble one day and it let out a loud "Whoop". Although Mr.
381 Clark refused to disclose who purchased his company, rumor has been
382 rampant that it was obtained by 'Little Furries Inc.' a wholly owned
383 subsidery of McKane Industries. When asked to confirm or deny the
384 rumor, Mr. Clark would only respond with "No Comment."
385 .................................................................
386
387 **********************************************************************
388 Little furry alarm company? Sheesh!
389
390 Debate: Actually, I feel that the mouse is entirly blown out of proportion.
391 It does not add all that much to user friendlyness. It is ok if you are
392 moving things around on the screen, but then a joystick or trackball or
393 even a graph pad work as well. A major problem with the mouse is that it
394 assumes that you have reasonabe table space to move it around on. Mind
395 you, I'm not saying that the mouse is not usefull, only that it is not
396 the end all solution that everyone is looking for no matter what Apple
397 would have you believe. The wonderfully simplistic picture they (and others)
398 draw of only a couple flicks of the wrist and a tap of a botton and
399 your problems are solved, is grossly in error and a misstatment on the
400 true use and value of the computer. Sure the last thing you do to get
401 that printout is to tap that one tiny little button, but to get there
402 can take long hours of pounding on a keyboard. This is the area that
403 is in desperate need of help. Easing the burden of the poor user who
404 has to use the monster for hours at a time, or learn some new fangled
405 whiz-bang software package. Apple has flashy demos, but when it comes
406 to actualy doing the work, they are no better then the rest, and worse
407 then some. I don't care for IBM's idea of a 'friendly' keyboard either,
408 but that's another story...
409 ********************* CISTOP MIKEY ***********************************
410 Well put CISTOP!
411 To ****************: Shucks, and I was going for 18 or better!! (chuckle) -Mez-
412
413 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ETC.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
414 A-NOT-YET-TITLED-SOMETHING
415 EPISOD X+2
416 Even with almost plugging the duct the gauges would read normal, and no one
417 would check further than that. Except for the extreme lower levels none of the
418 shafts were bigger than his arm. This was the largest and it was questionable
419 whether he could even back up or not. he had been prone here for hours with
420 his arms streached forward for two hours. Even with the low gravity it was
421 intolerable.
422 The knife had been his great good idea, and in the dark he smiled. But it
423 was a grim smile, it had been his only good idea. The carbon blade passed
424 through all the public detectors with no problem and even the density scanners
425 used by the company hadn't icked it up. The small handle made it difficult to
426 manage and it was to light to be thrown with any force but stun protectors
427 weren't designed to stop a knife and an induction generator didn't do anything
428 to a non-conductive blade. It was a good trade off.
429 Right now he was not going anywhere, and worse he had no where to go.
430 It was too soon to try to get back into security control, in fact, after the
431 botched job he had just done there he may have to forget that entirely. The
432 upper level sound grid would pass him, but down here he was going to have to
433 be very carefull.
434 The wind was slowing. He wiggled side and grimaced as the blood
435 had caked onto the metal walls and was tearing the hair off his arms and
436 chest. As the last rush of wind rumbled through the shaft he began to inch
437 forward, holding the knife and smiling that grim smile.
438 Adrian
439 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ETC.^^^^^^^
440 -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
441 Golly! You mean that I'm supposed to pick up some info on the NET from
442 no other than MYSELF, Ian? First time we met, I fit that description
443 almost to a 'T' 'cept for the grease paint that is... Didn't you notice
444 that I WAS carrying some sort of a very small firearm? An 'Other' can
445 atest to that if you'd like... Now, if only you knew who the Other was.
446 I can't just make up these rules as I go along you know, just trying
447 to get more than a little recognition can be hard enough...
448 Or could being a 'kid' be of some advantage do you suppose?
449 All the possible combinations are making my head spin... And out of
450 the confusion came a beam of light and a word form the gods... "COLA!"
451 _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_/from/_-_-_-_ abacab _-_-_
452
453 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (time flew)
454 It seems that everything went by so fast this time around. Trying to remain caught up anymore can be a real chore, not at all
455 as it was back when the many travelers wandered through the Ruby Valley in search of an answer. Then who could forget when
456 Alex and Ontho found the trident? It really wasn't all that long ago... or was it? People have come and people have gone.
457 In such secretive times it isn't polite to name names for they really haven't gone away, it's only that they've changed their
458 appearances. (At least two that I can think of.) It's nice to know that SOME of the good things remain the same...
459 ^^^^^
460 kathy: You sure seem to have had time on your hands today. (tonight?)
461 Even the two-parters can have their own twists. I liked it.
462 Glad to see you've enjoyed the 'popcorn'...
463 Prometheus: I know you probably won't be able to read this, it's more for the
464 rest. Sorry to hear that you had to maim your terminal so.
465 Zippy: Well? Did you have fun? I understand you got a bit of a lesson on the
466 basics of Whovionomics. Interesting, isn't it?
467 Alchemist: It might interset you to kno that I plan all my mistakes.
468 Just kidding... Good entries. >clink< A six-pence for your thoughts...
469 Did I miss somebody? Just leave a note... (stop da lurkin')
470 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ --->the Guardian 0547 Hrs Jul: 20
471
472 ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
473 In general, I don't care for a mouse as either an entry tool or as a
474 graphics tool. The main porroblem is that to use it you must remove your hands
475 from the keyboard. As I touch-type, this slows me down considerably.
476 Smalltalk-80, the programming language that Xerox developed at their
477 Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), was the origin of the mouse that has been
478 taken up by Apple and the rest. In Smalltalk, learning to program is bound to
479 learning NOT to type (perhaps one of the reasons that I have such difficulty
480 with it). There, since any text on the screen is accessible at the same
481 'modeless' level as any other, most construction of text consists of moving
482 around the screen copying and pasting blocks of text with an occasional keyboard
483 entry. I, personally, find it much more efficient to simply type in what I
484 want, rather than waste time searching through a system browser or group of
485 workspaces for the wording I am after. Someone who does not touch-type
486 would likely hold the opposite view.
487 With the variety of folks in the world, perhaps a number of command structures
488 would be appropriate? Roll your own -- if you like mice and windows, have them
489 there, if not, pick your own. Unfortunately, we don't have a "st
490 andard command interface" (excuse that last -- damn enter only!) and have to
491 learn each application's command structure from scratch. If there were a
492 single group of commands -- a "core" of some sort -- that were common to ALL
493 applications, then the difficulty in learning an application would be much
494 less. Unfortunately, at the present time, we'd likely pick the wrong core
495 of commands and seriously hamper future efforts.
496 pppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
497
498 |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
499 ADRIAN: Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! I can't wait to see what this develops
500 into. I have but one suggestion: find a title.
501
502 ALCHEMIST: A note on spelling. I am not a bad speller, nor am I a good one. The
503 majority of my errors are typo or just carelessness. However, I must argue.
504 A bad speller is not always a lazy person with a mental block. Although I
505 realize many people have mind blocks against it. It is the way inwhich you
506 remember that artributes (sp?) to your spelling. I know spellers who can re
507 member whole lines from movies but often forget how to spell "excelant". There
508 are also people that remember how to spell the long, complicated words and
509 forget the small, everyday ones. This I believe is a reflection on their
510 method of remembering things. All people don't remember things the same.
511 There are some people that can't remember what their best friend looks like
512 if they haven't seen him/her in a few days. Does this mean they don't like
513 their best friend? No, usually it means that they remember feelings and emo-
514 tions about him/her. Other people remember each person/thing/whatever with
515 an assigned color. Etc... the list goes on. Therefore, I think it silly it
516 (oops) silly to say that people forget how to spell are lazy or have mind
517 blocks against it. Some do, granted. But, memory varies from person to
518 person. And, the ability to remember things also varies. I'm sure that their
519 are some memory feats that are almost impossible to you, but are simple for
520 someone else. Now, maybe are memory weakness are mental blocks... hmm...
521 you never know....
522 |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|
523 FOR SALE APPLE CAT 300 BAUD.$200,LEAVE NAME AND NUMBER
524 -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
525 The mouse is okay for when you don't have to type anything, I agree that
526 it's a pain to program with. I have a graphics pad and it is good for graphics
527 but I still have a long way to go before I try to program with it. Right now
528 I'm still trying to find software that will work with it. Joysticks are good
529 for games but when it comes to try to do something delicate it realy needs
530 some work. I have never had the pleasure of working with a track-ball but I
531 imagine that it would be much like the joystick.
532 Oh, by the way, if you know of any software programs that will work with the
533 Apple Power Pad please leave a note for me here, thanks.
534 -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
535 ****************************************************************************
536 Tina found a chair and Marci sat down close to her. At the next table
537 on Marci's right were the boys. Jack and Tony were quite blitzed at this
538 time and not to informative. The girls knew they had been the late ones
539 and felt no malice towards their partners. They giggled at dumb jokes.
540 I.E. why did the bike fall over? ... it was two tired. <yuk,yuk>
541 and what do you get when you cross Billy Jean King and Bo Derek?
542 ...
543 A DC10.. <double yuk,yuk>
544 After finishing their cognac's they processed to try and get the
545 boys home to their apartment and wait untill they sobered up. Tony was
546 no problem so get moving, being he was quite light and still able to
547 walk, Jack however has clumsy straight and impossible drunk, At one point
548 he clutched at Marci's B****t and at her cry of pain, he giggled and
549 said, "oh mommy, I luv you". At this point many of the patrons of the
550 bar were rolling on the floor in laughter wich caused even more discomfort
551 for our poor executives. ( oh when will this caper get off the ground floor?)
552 **************************************************kathy***********************
553
============================================================================
554
Let's go, smelling of stereo
555 Where there are all tomorrows.
556 We'll see, what really is to be
557 Where you are and where you shouldn't be
558 For you see the place you want to be
559 Is really over there
560 And all you've go to do, to make it true
561 Is take it on a dare.
562 And it's dark in there!
563 Are you really ready for something new?
564 Yeah?
565 No!
566 The show, about to begin
567 Drowning in all our sorrows
568 This scene, about to unfold
569 It'll life you up and leave you wanting more
570 It'll take the days we do not have
571 And can't ever see again
572 And all you've got to do to make it true
573 Is take it on a........!
574 ============================================================================
575 Third time's the charm (I hope)! I don't think I've seen this particular
576 border pattern before, but if it belongs elsewhere I'll just change again.
577 Darn, got to remember to ask the Innkeeper how to shut this darn door!
578 ============================= Jedeves == 85/1/20 ===========================
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