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 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. 541 and what do you get when you cross Billy Jean King and Bo Derek? 542 ... 543 A DC10.. 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 =========================== TOTAL NUMBER OF LINES = 578