Path: gmdzi!unido!fauern!iraun1.ira.uka.de!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wupost!uunet!mcsun!news.funet.fi!ousrvr.oulu.fi!woo.oulu.fi!shem
From: s...@phoenix.oulu.fi (Janne Himanka)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Veterrima data et programmata latine adnotata
Message-ID: <SHEM.91Sep3221121@phoenix.oulu.fi>
Date: 3 Sep 91 20:11:21 GMT
References: <1991Sep3.091141.23162@athena.mit.edu>
Sender: n...@ousrvr.oulu.fi
Reply-To: s...@phoenix.oulu.fi
Organization: Tilde's home bakery
Lines: 34
In-reply-to: jik@athena.mit.edu's message of 3 Sep 91 09:11:41 GMT

>>>>> On 3 Sep 91 09:11:41 GMT, j...@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) said:

	jik> % ls -l /etc/motd 
	jik> -rw-r--r-- 1 root 63 Feb 6 1912 /etc/motd 
	jik> %

	jik> (I *really* don't know why the date on my /etc/motd is in
	jik> 1912, but that's not really relevant here. :-)

But it is *here*! I've been wondering where lingers the
_oldest_existing_file_. If I were to call it a contest, I should
probably create at least two categories:

    1. Files in backup storage (tape, punched card, whatever).

    2. Files that have lived all their life in magnetic disk.

The definition is so broad and the contestants so susceptible to
manipulation that the contest needs true sportsmanship to survive
pseudophilosophic meanderings concerning the nature of electricity and
illicit intercourse with i-nodes. You can enlist your candidate by
sending me e-mail within thirty days, and I will then proceed to
announce the winner. If the size of the winner is acceptably moderate,
(s)he will be posted to the group (if the owner or owner's heirs
admit). The judgment will be based on my arbitration, which can be
influenced by sound arguments, good repute and donated accounts in
exotic machines.

The second enquiry I have concerns the Multics sources of the EMACS
editor, which are said to contain latin annotations. As an avid
smatterer of the latin language I would be pleased indeed to hear
about the afterlife of this famous code and its whereabouts. Any other
code decorated with good ciceronian latin is also appreciated. 

Yours in good health, Janne Himanka

--
Lone Ranger and Tonto were riding down the line,   + s...@phoenix.oulu.fi
fixing everybody's troubles, everybody's but mine, + hima...@tolsun.oulu.fi
someone must have told them that I was doing fine. + TKOP-HJH@FINOU