Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!snorkelwacker!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ukma!rayssd!sud509!heiser From: heiser@sud509.RAY.COM ( Sun Workstation Support) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: what is this group? Keywords: alt callahans alt.callahans Message-ID: <707@sud509.RAY.COM> Date: 11 Dec 89 15:02:37 GMT Organization: Raytheon Company, Equipment Division, Sudbury, MA Lines: 8 What is this newsgroup's topic? -- Bill Heiser | Work: heiser@tdw201.ed.ray.com | {decuac,necntc,uunet}!rayssd!tdw201!heiser | Home: Bill.Heiser@f101.n324.z1.fidonet.org (Fidonet 1:324/101) | Other: 75106.2332@compuserve.com Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!usc!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!caesar.cs.montana.edu!milton!blake!unicorn!n8946177 From: n8946177@unicorn.WWU.EDU (Melissa Tabbifli) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: PURRRRRRRR!!!!! Keywords: happi tabbi!! (and i got the address right!) Message-ID: <378@unicorn.WWU.EDU> Date: 12 Dec 89 05:06:37 GMT Reply-To: n8946177@unicorn.wwu.edu (Melissa Tabbifli) Followup-To: alt.callahans Distribution: alt Organization: Western Washington Univ, Bellingham Lines: 56 From the cushion next to the fire comes a soft rumble that slowly gets louder. As people turn to stare, they realize it comes from the (deceptively) small grey-point tabby kitten with big blue butterfly wings that had curled up near the warmth (she had, of course, moved from her spot whenever a toast was made, and was sure she brushed all (if any) glass shards from the pillow before resuming her spot). Suddenly, with the excitement that comes from being a kitten, she launches herself from full sleep into full flight, and does loops around the room. 'Hey, Mike?' someone yells out, 'What did you put in that cat's wine, anyway?!?' Tabbi comes to a complete stop in the middle of the room, and a light, purring laugh comes out of her. 'I am happy!' she purrs. 'Well, as happy as I ever am,' she amends. 'I am finished with my finals (which is still a little worrying), and I have found the other half of my soul (even if he *is* 5000 miles (at least) away).' 'But, most of all, I have found *people*! *My* people. People who know what it is to hurt.. and love.. and laugh.. and, most of all, to help others and *HUG*!! I think you will never know how much that means to me....' 'I was on the phone with Chris (ckd) when he started this - or soon after - and i immediately subscribed. While I have been seriously considering dropping many (if not all) of my other newgroups, this is the one I would have stayed with. It is people like Chris, and Chris P. (as bitter as it may seem now, dear, it *does* get better. Trust me, I have also gone through Hell - and I made it.), and Taldin (Unicorn - Blue as the Sky, Silver as the Frost, I have Known Thee before), and Magyk, and so many others.. the ones I have not met and the ones I have... Luru, who (should) will be coming back, my love, whom I am expecting at any time, and all the rest.. Shadow, Hummingbird, Jilara (I heard you wrote - I never got it :( ) and so many more that I cannot name.... Thank you. You have made a sad, hopeless English major hopeful for the chance for Love, Hugs, and Warm Fuzzies (*hug* and a Fuzzy to you, as well, Gilly) to not only survive, but also prosper.' Looking around, she notices all furries in the room. 'Hmmm... a Wolf, a Teddy Bear, a Unicorn, a Hummingbird, a Phoenix... great Heavens above, it's a menagerie! Nobody better make any animal jokes in here.' She cocks her head to one side, thinking, then quickly flits down to her cushion, picks up her glass, and tosses it into the fire - 'To Happiness, Love, Hugs, Warm Fuzzies and Flutes - may they forever prosper!' ***CRASH*** With that, she returns to her pillow and (after checking for glass) returns to her nap, releasing a contented purr. PURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh, yes - ***HUGS*** to all. Path: mit-eddie!bu-cs!austin From: austin@bucsf.bu.edu (Austin Ziegler) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Masks, IRC, and more... Message-ID: <44430@bu-cs.BU.EDU> Date: 12 Dec 89 09:47:31 GMT Sender: daemon@bu-cs.BU.EDU Distribution: alt Organization: Boston University College of Engineering Lines: 97 Magyk is listening to everyone speak while sitting at his table with Jilara, Alaric, and the tabbifli. He is not surprised when the tabbifli suddenly reacts to Luru's sudden appearance and disappearance, for he was close to doing the same thing himself, just in a more subdued way. Ah, but the tabbifli is quick. He almost stops sterling on his way out of the building, but decides that it would be a bad idea for he could do nothing but agree with sterling, as he is in the same predicament. "Such is the way of empaths," he is heard to say. When the toasts are made about the women in Montreal, however, he begins to cry. "I pity the families of the women in Montreal, but worse, I had not known about it until I read it here on Callahan's. I don't drink, but I shall toast to the souls of those women, and that they are properly avenged." One of the remaining twelve flies, full, into the fireplace at a gesture from Magyk. "I wish I had known." Many people have come up to him with questions. "Ah, rather than answer all these questions individually, I shall say it to you all. If you do not have Internet access, then you cannot use IRC, but if you do, there are two parts to IRC you will need. One is the server: that is gotten by anonymous ftp from tolson.oulu.fi. The other is the client. I don't know if it comes with the server, because I didn't set it up on our system (I wouldn't know how to at the moment). However, another server is available from tale@pawl.rpi.edu. This gentleman wrote the EMACS IRC server that Boston University uses in addition to the IRC Client. I am quite pleased with the server, and he says the next release should be available soon. I suggest that you get in touch with him about it." "It was brought to my attention the other day that I had forgotten a few people when I posted the Christmas-izing of Callahan's. To all the Jews out there, I apologize. If you do not believe in either Christianity or Judaism, celebrate with us in the spirit of the season at least." With that, he stands and puts a menorah (is that right? I'm not up on my Jewish symbols.) on the fireplace. "Have a Happy Hanukkah." "And now to masks. I've seen a little more about them, and this part requires a little bit of description. Today, my roommate moved into the triple down the hall. It was not because of problems between him and I, but because of problems on the floor. (A long story that only involves me with this tangent.) That really hurt. But not only that, I could also get a new roomate that I knew nothing about. Well, in addition, tonight was the last night of classes, so several people got drunk. Well, my neighbor, a good friend, came by when no one else was around, and told me two things: 'With you, and only you, I am able to be myself. Around everyone else, I have to act differently.' and 'If you really want, I'll move into the room with you.' Well, the first statement really touched me because not many people have been able to tell me that, but it also says that in the long run, the maskless approach works. The second one was neat because he did not want to move out of his room into the triple. But he was willing, regardless of what everyone else thought, to move in *with me* because he thinks I'm someone worth having as a friend. He's here now, sleeping off the alcohol...he's a good friend." Magyk stands, and walks up to the bar. "Heck. I'll have a Classic Coke tonight." He pays the dollar, and walks up to the line, drinks his Coke, and then holds the crystalline glass up to the firelight. "With this, I will toast friends, honesty, and the spirit Christmas. And I send a prayer after the souls of the women in Montreal." He throws the glass into the fireplace. He walks over to Eddie whispers something to him. "If you don't mind, I'm going to sing two songs. If you know them, please join in. The first one i'm going to sing for the Christmas spirit. This song put the bug in me...I hope you enjoy it. The other is the benediction of my high school choir, and is dedicated to the women of Montreal and to everyone here. May it affect your life." The Carol of the Bells Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells, all seem to say, throw cares away. Christmas is here, bringing good cheer, to young and old, meek and the bold. Ding-dong-ding-don, that is their song, ring joyfully, all caroling. One seems to hear, words of good cheer, from everywhere, filling the air. Oh how they pound, raging their sound, calling again, telling their tale. Gaily they ring, while people sing, songs of good cheer, Christmas is here. Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas. Mery, merry, merry, merry Christmas. On, on they send, on without end, their joyful tone, to every home. The Lord Bless You and Keep You The Lord bless you and keep you, and lift His countenance upon you. And give you peace, and give you peace. The Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious, and be gracious, and be gracious unto you. Amen. I don't know the attribution for either of these, and these are as I remember singing them last year, so the words might not be totaly correct. I hope that they mean as much to you as they do to me. Magyk (austin@bucsf.bu.edu,@bucsb.bu.edu,engc8vc@buacca.bu.edu) 700 Commonwealth Box 2094, Boston, MA 02215 Path: mit-eddie!bu-cs!austin From: austin@bucsf.bu.edu (Austin Ziegler) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: what is this group? Message-ID: <44432@bu-cs.BU.EDU> Date: 12 Dec 89 10:02:19 GMT References: <707@sud509.RAY.COM> Sender: daemon@bu-cs.BU.EDU Organization: Boston University College of Engineering Lines: 42 In-reply-to: heiser@sud509.RAY.COM's message of 11 Dec 89 15:02:37 GMT >>>>> On 11 Dec 89 15:02:37 GMT, heiser@sud509.RAY.COM ( Sun Workstation >>>>> Support) said: Bill> What is this newsgroup's topic? Well, I don't have a copy of the official welcome in the archive, and I was going to send that to you, but I guess Chris will get to that instead. What is this newsgroup's topic? Well, the full explanation is in the official welcome, but I'll try to summarize here: alt.callahans is modeled after Spider Robinson's books pertaining to Callahan's Cross-Time saloon. It is a place where the rule is "Pain shared is pain divided; Joy shared is joy multiplied." You can bring your troubles to sympathetic ears and your joys to people who are ready to celebrate with you. There are also tall-tale nights (what day is that anyway?) and Punday Nights (Tuesday nights, I think) and Riddle Nights (and what night is *that*?). I can say that I'm at a disadvantage as to what the original Callahan's Cross-Time saloon is because I've not read the books yet, but I'll soon be fixing that as I just found them in the bookstore. The primary pasttime of Callahan's is toasting, which follows a certain procedure. All drinks are $0.50 or $1.00 if you wish to make a toast. When you make your toast to whatever, you then throw your (hopefully emptied) glass into the fireplace. I hope that is enough for you to start with. Again, like I said, Chris will probably get the official welcome to you shortly, and he and I both have copies of the archive. Be warned however, the archive is already 1 Megabyte in size. If you really desire to read lots'n'lots, then I'll send a compressed, uuencoded copy to you, but let me know through email. PS. Chris--could you send me a copy of the official welcome so I can prepend it to the archive? Thanks. Magyk (austin@bucsf.bu.edu,@bucsb.bu.edu,engc8vc@buacca.bu.edu) 700 Commonwealth Box 2094, Boston, MA 02215 "The Lord bless you and keep you/and lift His countenace upon you/and give you peace/the Lord make his face to shine upon you/and be gracious unto you./Amen." --The Lord Bless You and Keep You, a traditional benediction Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!usc!ucsd!ucbvax!CCB.UCSF.EDU!robin From: robin@CCB.UCSF.EDU (Robin Colgrove) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: path test and further misadventures Message-ID: <8912120859.AA09152@ccb.ucsf.EDU> Date: 12 Dec 89 08:59:31 GMT Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 66 Dabbing absently with his napkin at his newly shortened and still oozing tongue, the spectacularly uncoordinated newcomer becomes aware out of the corner of his mind of a fair-skinned and shapely damsel giving him the eye from the next table. "You sly dog," he thinks to himself in his most debonair thought-voice (causing several telepaths in the room to wonder who was broadcasting the Inspector Clouseau impression) "She is smitten with your dashing charm, poor girl. Ahhh, duty calls..." and with that he non chalantly scoots his chair over to her table, catching the end of her long black cape under a chair leg and nearly sending them both sprawling onto the floor. Missing nary a beat, "Good evening dear lady. I simply had to tell you what a stunning outfit you're wearing tonight. Black is definitely your color!" "As a matter of fact, it is" she purred cryptically. "Oho" he thinks "bullseye. She is like zee putty in my hands. But, my, she is so pale! She should get out more, get a little sunshine..." "Oh, I work nights, mostly." she said as if reading his mind; soft, central European accents rolling her R's ever so slightly. Looking deep into her eyes, he pulls out his heavy artillery. "You have the most beautiful eyes in the Galaxy..." he begins but is interrupted in mid schmooze as she throws her head back and laughs, thick mane of raven hair nicely framing the sparkle from her bright white canines. "Funny," he thinks, "that line worked so well for that fellow on television. " He dabs his tongue again with his now clearly blood-tinged napkin. "You must excuse me Miss. You see, I seem to have bitten my tongue rather badly and it just won't stop bleeding..." "Yes," she cooed, still chuckling "I'd noticed." Mentally going over the script, the clueless newcomer ponders what might have gone amiss. "Perhaps it's my delivery." he thinks. He rehearses silently. "YOU...have the MOST...beaUtiful eyes..." no, that's not it "you have THE-MOST-BEAUT..." nah. "Hey, lady!..." No that won't do... Maybe one of those schnazzy "personnas" so much in vogue around here. He tries to conjure something suitably chivalric and Arthurian but the image of the armor keeps being quite Spanish in design and dented and rusty at that. The floor begins to clutter with broken windmill slats and an aged, emphasematous and long- suffering whinny is heard from the direction of the bike rack outside. "This will not do at all," he thinks with annoyance "Whose running the holograms for this joint anyway?" He lets the image fade in dismay. "You're doing just fine." she said, again answering his unspoken thoughts and running her own tongue along the upper row of her perfect teeth. He got the feeling she was eyeing him like a hunk of raw meat. Under normal circumstances this would be a rather pleasant feeling but this lady looked so ...THIRSTY about it. He begins to feel that she is looking at him like a raw meat SODA. Suddenly, the better part of valor seems a very attractive option. "Sweet lady, I seem to have made a grievous error. Perhaps you are one of those benighted souls so wounded and emotionally battered on love's battlefield that you need a little...ummm...personal...uhhh...space." He leans farther and farther back in his chair as she inches closer and closer. "Oh, it runs much deeper than that." she replies with a smack of her lips. "You might say it runs through the very fabric of my being." Gulp. "Then, er, 'The fault lies not in our scars but in our cells?' " "Not even horrible puns can save you now, human." She seizes him with satanic force and engages his mouth in a passionate french kiss, all the while draining the blood from his wounded tongue. "You were asking for it." she thinks with such power that even he can hear. "Saunter in here on a full moon and brazenly flaunt your own blood! What's a Vampiress to do when some guy flounces in provocatively displaying so many red cells? " "Gurgle, gurgle, glmph, glck." he replied, as clearly as he could. "Gack! Bleah! Ptooey!" She says, suddenly pulling back from him. "What's in this blood!? What've you been eating? Cough. Gag. Aarrrgh." "Just this double garlic pizza this guy over in the corner gave me. Funny, he said it was the thing I needed most in the world..." he stops cold as his companion vanishes in a puff of sulphurous smoke and a flutter of leathery wings. "Teach me to flirt in an alternate universe." he muses, returning somewhat chastened to his coffee and beer. robin colgrove (robin@ccb.ucsf.edu) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Path: mit-eddie!mcmullan From: mcmullan@eddie.mit.edu (Greg McMullan) Subject: Archives by FTP Message-ID: <1989Dec12.160259.21563@eddie.mit.edu> Reply-To: mcmullan@eddie.MIT.EDU (Greg McMullan) Organization: What, me organized? Hah! Date: Tue, 12 Dec 89 16:02:59 GMT Lines: 53 Hi! Just a quick note to let you good people know that the archives of alt.callahans can be gotten by anonymous FTP from eddie.mit.edu, in the directory alt.callahans. There, the messages are stored in 2 ways so far. The first 200 messages are in a big file called articles1-200.Z, and messages from 180 to the present are in files 180.Z, 181.Z, and so on. These are compressed with the Unix(*) compress command to save space, but are still fairly voluminous (almost 800 kilobytes). This is not yet perfect, as the installation of FTP seems a tad confused --- you can't get the directory listing. I will include a sample script of a session. If you do things as in that session. it should work fine. Also, I do not yet have the disk quota to really support this, but I will ask the powers that be for more room so that I can keep it updated. If you get the files, please send me a note that you did, so I can say "Look --- 17 people have grabbed the files recently. This must be a useful service!" I suppose I should introduce myself, too, but I'd better get back to work and let that wait until a more opportune time. Greg McMullan mcmullan@eddie.mit.edu sample ftp session follows: eddie> ftp eddie.mit.edu Connected to EDDIE.MIT.EDU. 220 eddie FTP server (Version 4.161 Thu Nov 17 20:19:54 EST 1988) ready. Name (eddie.mit.edu:mcmullan): anonymous 331 Guest login ok, send ident as password. Password:mcmullan 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply. ftp> cd alt.callahans 250 CWD command successful. ftp> dir 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening data connection for /bin/ls (ascii mode) (0 bytes). 226 Transfer complete. ftp> get 200.Z 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening data connection for 200.Z (ascii mode) (1590 bytes). 226 Transfer complete. local: 200.Z remote: 200.Z 1592 bytes received in 0.11 seconds (14 Kbytes/s) ftp> close 221 Goodbye. ftp> quit Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!snorkelwacker!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!cbmvax!vu-vlsi!swatsun!hildebrd From: hildebrd@cs.swarthmore.edu (Jeff Hildebrand) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Group Relationships Message-ID: <1989Dec11.231222.626@cs.swarthmore.edu> Date: 11 Dec 89 23:12:22 GMT References: <1989Dec3.191415.7367@cs.swarthmore.edu> <140@boston-harbor.lucid.com> Reply-To: hildebrd@cs.swarthmore.edu (Jeff Hildebrand) Organization: CS Dept., Swarthmore College, PA Lines: 70 Wow, I didn't expect any more comments about my original post, but this one does raise some really interesting points. kdo@lucid.com writes: > I have a similar story to tell, and maybe you can see a bit more of > where I'm coming from. I had my first real romantic involvement when > I was a freshman in college. Unfortunately she got involved with > someone else as well. She didn't want to give either of us up, but we > weren't very good at dealing with this kind of thing, and it got > pretty unpleasant at times. Well, this someone else was involved with > yet another person, who was also involved with still other people, and > it went on and on in a long chain of confusion. She and I were honest > with each other, which wasn't the case for everyone in the chain, but > even so I was pretty unhappy. So, when another women showed some > interest in me I felt free to respond and soon this chain of > relationships extended on both sides. Sheesh, if anything this is even more complicated that the situation I was in, and it also has an important difference. More on that to follow. > This was long ago and far away, and many relationships have formed and > dissolved since then. But wait. Today my best friend is the person I > was first involved with. Hmm, this is quite interesting, and it gives me a lot of hope. Over the past month, and especially the past week, I've been become much closer to the person I was involved with, but in a non-relationship way. I fairly certain that we will never get involved in anything again, but we can be friends, and close friends at that. It means I haven't completely lost her (I mean that not in the possesive sense, instead I mean that she's still adding something to my life) which was one of the more devestating parts of breaking up. It has taken some adjusting and I'm probably not through adjusting. But knowing that it can work out in the long run is very encouraging. > What's important to me is a "closely knit circle of friends" as Jeff > says, and I think a closely knit circle of lovers would work for me as > well. Jeff, I don't know if this would have worked for your group, > but something about your description made me feel I should mention it. > It isn't right for everybody, and it isn't easy, but one of the more > important things I've learned in my life is to be tolerant and open. > It's easier to find what's right for you if you know all the things > that can be in the world. Finally we get to the point where it makes sense that I'm posting instead of e-mailing. My first reaction to reading this was a shudder. In part it was because when the situation first arose during the summer we decided not to even try it. And I don't think it would have worked for two reasons. First of all, relationships can be very scary for me, and since this was my first real experience I couldn't have handled having to deal with more than one person. However I think for people more mature, a "circle of lovers" could work out if the group was fairly balenced in terms of the sexes. Our group was three men and one woman, all of us heterosexual. I think the imbalence would have cause lots of problems if we had tried it. Anyone else out there have any thoughts on this? > Ken -Jeff -- Jeff Hildebrand Swarthmore College, Swarthmore PA 19081 JDH92@campus.swarthmore.edu (prefered) or hildebrd@cs.swarthmore.edu Would you trust a man who | "First things first, but not answers to Hildebaby? | necessarily in that order" - The Doctor Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!snorkelwacker!usc!samsung!uunet!cbmvax!vu-vlsi!swatsun!hildebrd From: hildebrd@cs.swarthmore.edu (Jeff Hildebrand) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Interconnectedness Message-ID: <1989Dec11.232926.781@cs.swarthmore.edu> Date: 11 Dec 89 23:29:26 GMT References: <11960@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <12007@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <11323@csli.Stanford.EDU> <6204@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> <11333@csli.Stanford.EDU> Reply-To: hildebrd@cs.swarthmore.edu (Hildebaby) Distribution: usa Organization: CS Dept., Swarthmore College, PA Lines: 40 There have been many postings on this subject and unfortunately most of them have disappeared on me due to a short roll-over period on the news here. :( So I really can give references. Sorry. The issue of whether giving back rubs to members of the opposite sex constitutes a threat raises a lot of thought for me. First of all, it really depends on the type of people you're dealing with. Back in my high school days, someone giving a backrub to someone else was a pretty good sign that they were, "involved." [Let's hear it for uptight private schools. :)] In contrast, places where people are more relaxed (like here at Swarthmore, thank God!) it's merely a sign of friendship. It's far from uncommon to encounter "backrub circles" among a bunch of friends. The question I have is when does it go beyond just friendship. Last year as a freshman I was required to attend an "aquainance rape workshop" which included a couple of videos. One of these dealt with just this issue. A man offered to give a woman a backrub to help her relax while studying. However he took it a little further and essentially started making sexual advances. To my eyes this was quite clearly a case of violation. What wasn't clear is where the border lies. Not wishing to upset people, whenever I have the faintest doubt I choose the side of caution, and I'm sure I'm being too conservative. I feel like I'm pontificating and that's not what I wanted. I merely wanted to throw out some ideas and experiences. Mike, gimme a root beer. To intelligent discussion, may it continue to serve us well. -Jeff -- Jeff Hildebrand Swarthmore College, Swarthmore PA 19081 JDH92@campus.swarthmore.edu (prefered) or hildebrd@cs.swarthmore.edu Would you trust a man who | "First things first, but not answers to Hildebaby? | necessarily in that order" - The Doctor Newsgroups: alt.callahans Path: mit-eddie!mcmullan From: mcmullan@eddie.mit.edu (Greg McMullan) Subject: Re: Archives by FTP Message-ID: <1989Dec12.182621.28722@eddie.mit.edu> Reply-To: mcmullan@eddie.MIT.EDU (Greg McMullan) Organization: MIT EE/CS Computer Facilities, Cambridge, MA References: <1989Dec12.160259.21563@eddie.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 12 Dec 89 18:26:21 GMT Lines: 18 Well, it has been pointed out to me that I was lucky when I did the sample ftp session in my previous posting. Since the files are compressed, you should set the file type to binary before getting files from the archives. Simply give the command "binary" before getting the files, and they should come through fine. (Yes, I did try the script out and it worked --- I hate virtual examples as much as the rest of you.) On another score, I will break up that huge file to make uncompressing easier as soon as I have the time and space to do so. I thought that it would be best to get the files available first, and then make it nice, so that is what I did. I will probably break the postings into weekly groupings, unless I think of something better. Suggestions? Bye for now! Greg Path: mit-eddie!bu-cs!lll-winken!uwm.edu!uwvax!sabertooth.cs.wisc.edu!lewandow From: lewandow@sabertooth.cs.wisc.edu (Gary Lewandowski (TA of Doom)) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: a happy story! (and just in time for the holidays) Message-ID: <9366@spool.cs.wisc.edu> Date: 12 Dec 89 18:44:43 GMT Sender: news@spool.cs.wisc.edu Reply-To: lewandow@sabertooth.cs.wisc.edu (Gary Lewandowski (TA of Doom)) Distribution: alt Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept Lines: 43 Share the joy! (however the philosophy goes) My two best friends in the world (and one of them my Spiritkin at that) were here to visit this weekend. Close knit friendships are sooo nice. We don't do masks. The concept of personal space is rather limited, if at all applicable. And best of all, it's a damn good time. Talking about life, playing games, just sitting around doing nothing at all. (Well, we did have JT or Tracy Chapman playing, but almost nothing.) So Mike, here's my dollar -- make it alcoholic so I can throw it and watch the flames. (That's okay isn't it? I'm not thirsty right now and I love to watch those flames shoot up.) So first, everyone back away from the fireplace a little, please. [That announcement was brought to you by the official USENET non-offical fire department. Sorry, we don't do flamefests.] Whoosh goes the drink. Neato go the flames. Now, to friends: best friends, net.friends, all friends. Pitcher gets the sign. Shakes it off. Now he's got it. The wind up. The pitch. Oh, it's a beauty! (BTW, guess who's in a hyperactive mood again! (-:) p.s. My father is getting better. p.p.s. I don't think I can go back in the corner, so many other people have gone back there that I think I lost my seat. That or callahan's has more corners than I can believe. :-) Oh well, I have to leave for awhile anyway. Those projects didn't take a break for the weekend like I did. gary lewandow@cs.wisc.edu "It's too late to correct it," said the Red Queen. "When you've once said a thing, that fixes it, and you must take the consequences."