Origin of the phrase "XYZZY"
Warren A Ring
<stev...@freenet.msp.mn.us> wrote:
>Does the 'secret code word' "XYZZY" that one sees used in various text fields
>originate with the text Adventure game? That is where I first recall
>encountering it (it's the secret password to immediately jump from the hut
>outside into the tunnel/passageway). One sees it used in various ways
>throughout computer literature, and I am just wondering if it started in
>Adventure or if it was brought into that game (which was created in the mid
>70's, I believe..) from some other folkloric source.
>
>Scott Stevens
Following is a clip I saved from several years ago:
---------8<--------------8<--------------8<--------------8<-------------
> Where did the "spell" xyzzy originally come from. I remember it from an
> old text adventure game. Now I see it occasionally.
You are recalling that it was used as a magic word in Adventure.
BUT EVEN BEFORE THAT it was already a magic word, taught by math teachers
the world around as a mnemonic device to remember how to do cross
products.
"Cross products?" you ask.
Indeed. The cross product of two three-dimensional vectors is the vector
whose length is the area of the parallelogram with the two given vectors
as adjacent sides, and direction perpendicular to the plane of that
parallelogram.
There is a "simple" formula for the cross product. If A = B x C, where A,
B, and C are the vectors (Ax, Ay, Az), (Bx, By, Bz), and (Cx, Cy, Cz),
then:
Ax = By Cz - Bz Cy
Ay = Bz Cx - Bx Cz
Az = Bx Cy - By Cx
Notice that the second and third equations can be obtained from the first
by simply rotating the subscripts, x -> y -> z -> x. The problem, of
course, is how to remember the first equation.
You do that by remembering the "magic word", consisting of the subscripts,
taken in order: xyzzy.
And that, friends, is the origin of the magic word xyzzy. This use of the
word was around long before Adventure (or Collosal Caves or whatever name
you knew it by) was ever written.
When I first played Adventure, finding "xyzzy" in it was like finding an
old friend in an unlikely place. Or an inside joke.
-Ron Hunsinger
---------8<--------------8<--------------8<--------------8<-------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warren Ring / AB6QE | Columbus, Ohio | warre...@lucent.com
Trying to manage programmers is like trying to herd cats.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Thompson
h...@approve.se.NO_JUNK_EMAIL (Goran Larsson) wrote:
> This article from 1995 might be a clue in the search for the
> origin of XYZZY. Why didn't you read that article when it
> was posted in this very group? :-) Doesn't everybody keep
> track of everything that gets posted to this group? ;-)
>
> ---->8-------->8-------->8-------->8-------->8-------->8-------->8----
> | From hns...@sirius.com Sun Oct 8 21:42:51 MET 1995
> | Article: 91764 of alt.folklore.computers
> | Path: <<235 char long path removed to please trn>>
> | From: hns...@sirius.com (Ron Hunsinger)
> | Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
> | Subject: Re: xyzzy
> | Date: Tue, 26 Sep 1995 05:13:13 -0700
Do I count as an old-timer since I remember the first time this went
around? -- Joe
--
Joe Thompson | http://kensey.home.mindspring.com/
fbi...@orion-com.com | PGP key: Finger joe-...@mindspring.com
AFU Axolotl of Scorn | 0- He-Who-Grinds-the-Unworthy
"Everybody stare at Rebecca's prowess." -- Cael
who?
: Does the 'secret code word' "XYZZY" that one sees used in various text fields
: originate with the text Adventure game? That is where I first recall
: encountering it (it's the secret password to immediately jump from the hut
: outside into the tunnel/passageway). One sees it used in various ways
: throughout computer literature, and I am just wondering if it started in
: Adventure or if it was brought into that game (which was created in the mid
: 70's, I believe..) from some other folkloric source.
Incidently, it is also the name of a street somewhere outside of Las Vegas
in the surrounding desert. perhaps 45 minutes from the California/Nevada
stat line if I recall correctly. It took two trips by it before I was
sure I had read it correctly
jeremy
gnohm...@my-dejanews.com
fbi...@orion-com.com (Joe Thompson) wrote:
> In article <1999Feb10.1...@lorelei.approve.se>,
> h...@approve.se.NO_JUNK_EMAIL (Goran Larsson) wrote:
> Do I count as an old-timer since I remember the first time this went around?
These days you count as an old-timer if you remember last Tuesday, but....
Remember when people posting from AOL were the worst on usenet? (2 points; 1
point for web TV, ten points for "September")
5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
um, my foggy brain can't finish the list. I know there should be hundreds
more items.
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
Tim Shoppa
> um, my foggy brain can't finish the list. I know there should be hundreds
> more items.
You count as an old-timer if you remember when all the major
software repositories/FTP sites were PDP-10's.
It was only a few years ago that SIMTEL20 was shut down!
Tim.
Mike Swaim
: In article <fbi.gov-1002...@user-37ka4ha.dialup.mindspring.com>,
: fbi...@orion-com.com (Joe Thompson) wrote:
:> In article <1999Feb10.1...@lorelei.approve.se>,
:> h...@approve.se.NO_JUNK_EMAIL (Goran Larsson) wrote:
:> Do I count as an old-timer since I remember the first time this went around?
: These days you count as an old-timer if you remember last Tuesday, but....
: Remember when people posting from AOL were the worst on usenet? (2 points; 1
: point for web TV, ten points for "September")
Before them it was the Delphoids.
: 5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
: um, my foggy brain can't finish the list. I know there should be hundreds
: more items.
Don't forget the green card lawyers. The 'tenex' ftp option was also
mentioned recently. There's also "Dr. Rodger Rabbit" aka something Perry.
--
Mike Swaim, Avatar of Chaos: Disclaimer:I sometimes lie.
Home: sw...@c-com.net
Alum: sw...@alumni.rice.edu Quote: "Boingie"^4 Y,W&D
David Given
<gnohm...@my-dejanews.com> wrote:
[...]
>These days you count as an old-timer if you remember last Tuesday, but....
>
>Remember when people posting from AOL were the worst on usenet? (2 points; 1
>point for web TV, ten points for "September")
Hey, *I* remember those, and I only graduated a couple of years ago.
>5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
McIlwane rings a bell, but I forget how. I don't recognise the others.
...what's the date, in Usenet time?
--
+- David Given ---------------McQ-+
| Work: d...@tao.co.uk | Does a Con Neumann machine run a Make
| Play: dgi...@iname.com | Machines Fast scam?
+- http://wired.st-and.ac.uk/~dg -+
gnohm...@my-dejanews.com
Tim Shoppa <sho...@trailing-edge.com> wrote:
> gnohm...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> > um, my foggy brain can't finish the list. I know there should be hundreds
> > more items.
>
> software repositories/FTP sites were PDP-10's.
>
> It was only a few years ago that SIMTEL20 was shut down!
Oh, wow! They shut it down? Darn. But you see, I never knew what hardware the
repositories were; and my idea was a graded oldtimer test -- you get 5 points
if you remember archie, 10 points if you remember when the archives were the
biggest thing on the net, 100 points if your name is on the RFC for FTP.
10 points if you remember MMF posts, 20 points if you saw one by Dave Rhodes.
I doubt that one person could make a definitive list, but you see the idea?
It's the "How old an old-timer are you?" test, perhaps coming soon....
Mike Swaim
: In article <79v589$6vf$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
: <gnohm...@my-dejanews.com> wrote:
: [...]
:>5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
: McIlwane rings a bell, but I forget how. I don't recognise the others.
He'd post odd rants (from the University of Michigan?) with random words
capitalized. He'd close with something like "UNALTERED dissemination of
this VALUABLE information is appreciated." Turkey refers to Serdar Argaic
who'd post long rants about how the Armenians slaughtered the Turks in
WW1. He was widely believed to be a 'bot. Dunno about meow.
Tom Ayers
>
>
> Incidently, it is also the name of a street somewhere outside of Las Vegas
> in the surrounding desert. perhaps 45 minutes from the California/Nevada
> stat line if I recall correctly. It took two trips by it before I was
> sure I had read it correctly
>
> jeremy
The street is Zzyzx road, and is about 7 miles sw of Baker on I15.
Gamma
> fbi...@orion-com.com (Joe Thompson) wrote:
>> In article <1999Feb10.1...@lorelei.approve.se>,
>> h...@approve.se.NO_JUNK_EMAIL (Goran Larsson) wrote:
>> Do I count as an old-timer since I remember the first time this went around?
>
>
>Remember when people posting from AOL were the worst on usenet? (2 points; 1
>point for web TV, ten points for "September")
I remember when fall was a bad Usenet time, because of all the
incoming college freshmen... is this what you meant by "September"?
>5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
Dunno meow and turkey. But I think you meant MacElwaine. Ugh.
That doesn't look right either. I know his first name was Robert...
>um, my foggy brain can't finish the list. I know there should be hundreds
>more items.
Definitely Cantor and Siegel. That was when the Darkness came.
--
Paul Brinkley
ga...@clark.net
Gamma
Mike Swaim <sw...@gemini.c-com.net> wrote:
>David Given <dg@> wrote:
>: In article <79v589$6vf$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
>: <gnohm...@my-dejanews.com> wrote:
>: [...]
>:>5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
>
>: McIlwane rings a bell, but I forget how. I don't recognise the others.
>
> He'd post odd rants (from the University of Michigan?) with random words
>capitalized. He'd close with something like "UNALTERED dissemination of
>this VALUABLE information is appreciated." Turkey refers to Serdar Argaic
>who'd post long rants about how the Armenians slaughtered the Turks in
>WW1. He was widely believed to be a 'bot. Dunno about meow.
Speaking of 'bots, who remembers Henry Cates III?
--
Paul Brinkley
ga...@clark.net
Jack Winslade
>Incidently, it is also the name of a street somewhere outside of Las Vegas
>in the surrounding desert. perhaps 45 minutes from the California/Nevada
>stat line if I recall correctly. It took two trips by it before I was
>sure I had read it correctly
The road is not xyzzy, but us very similar, like zzyzx.
I thought of the connection too, but have been by that exit many times,
off I-15 between Primm and Baker.
Good day JSW
Joe Morris
>: <gnohm...@my-dejanews.com> wrote:
>:>5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
> Turkey refers to Serdar Argaic
>who'd post long rants about how the Armenians slaughtered the Turks in
>WW1. He was widely believed to be a 'bot.
Did you *really* have to remind us of Serdar Argaic? I had managed
to forget him (and even had allowed his entry to drop out of my killfile)
until your comment... <g>
As for the Green Card Shysters mentioned elsewhere, if it's any consolation
the legal community didn't think much of them either. Burgess Allison
had a scathing summary of their doings in his _Technology Update_ column
in the ABA publication _Law Office Practice_, and I get the distinct
impression that he was echoing the opinion of the vast majority of
lawyers.
ObFullDisclosure: I've known Burgess for several years, and he works
in an adjacent building. The column *is* entertaining; although
the Green Card incident was covered before he started archiving the
columns you might enjoy the technical-comments-with-an-attitude that he
writes; see http://www.abanet.org/lpm/magazine/tu_index.html .
Joe Morris
Joe Morris
Lars Duening
> In article <fbi.gov-1002...@user-37ka4ha.dialup.mindspring.com>,
> fbi...@orion-com.com (Joe Thompson) wrote:
> > In article <1999Feb10.1...@lorelei.approve.se>,
> > h...@approve.se.NO_JUNK_EMAIL (Goran Larsson) wrote:
> > Do I count as an old-timer since I remember the first time this went around?
>
> These days you count as an old-timer if you remember last Tuesday, but....
>
> Remember when people posting from AOL were the worst on usenet? (2 points; 1
> point for web TV, ten points for "September")
>
> 5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
5 points when you were around when 'YKYHBHTLW' threads took up a good
part of the traffic in this group. 100 points if you coined that acronym
:-)
--
Lars Duening; la...@bearnip.com
Derek Peschel
>>5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
>Definitely Cantor and Siegel. That was when the Darkness came.
How many points for "It's always Dark. Light only hides the Darkness."?
I think Mr. McKiernan (?) popped up here a while ago, but I haven't seen him
much recently.
BTW, I basically started using the 'Net in September 1992. The _effects_ of
"meow" sound familiar, but I never bothered to track it down. The others I
read about in the net.kooks FAQ list.
And how many points for seeing the older set of questions (which asks if
you remember the Stupid People's Court, mod.ber (?), and other things)? How
many points (now) for _getting_ the older questions right? :)
The problem is that attention span is dropping and the acceleration of time is
accelerating. Maybe I shouldn't have written that smiley above.
-- Derek
Joseph Allen Dane
> stev...@freenet.msp.mn.us wrote:
> : Does the 'secret code word' "XYZZY" that one sees used in various text fields
> : originate with the text Adventure game? That is where I first recall
> : encountering it (it's the secret password to immediately jump from the hut
> : outside into the tunnel/passageway). One sees it used in various ways
> : throughout computer literature, and I am just wondering if it started in
> : Adventure or if it was brought into that game (which was created in the mid
> : 70's, I believe..) from some other folkloric source.
>
> Incidently, it is also the name of a street somewhere outside of Las Vegas
> in the surrounding desert. perhaps 45 minutes from the California/Nevada
> stat line if I recall correctly. It took two trips by it before I was
> sure I had read it correctly
>
> jeremy
It's been many years, but I thought that was "Zyzzyx" or something
like that. Anyhow, I remember it being pronouced "ziz icks".
--
joe
Joe Thompson
> In article <36C2D90A...@trailing-edge.com>,
> Tim Shoppa <sho...@trailing-edge.com> wrote:
> > gnohm...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> > > um, my foggy brain can't finish the list. I know there should be hundreds
> > > more items.
> >
> > You count as an old-timer if you remember when all the major
> > software repositories/FTP sites were PDP-10's.
> >
> > It was only a few years ago that SIMTEL20 was shut down!
>
> Oh, wow! They shut it down?
Not really. The original SIMTEL20 machine is gone, but the maintainer
migrated the archive to simtel.net. -- Joe
Joe Thompson
> 5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
What about that professor from Iowa State or someplace like that in the
Midwest, who kept talking about how Venus could be just like Earth through
application of time-dilation effects or some such rubbish? Sounded almost
Velikovskian. -- Joe
fs...@mindless.com
> In article <79veak$q72$1...@clarknet.clark.net>, Gamma <ga...@clark.net> wrote:
>
> >>5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
>
> >Definitely Cantor and Siegel. That was when the Darkness came.
>
> How many points for "It's always Dark. Light only hides the Darkness."?
>
> I think Mr. McKiernan (?) popped up here a while ago, but I haven't seen him
> much recently.
>
> BTW, I basically started using the 'Net in September 1992. The _effects_ of
> "meow" sound familiar, but I never bothered to track it down. The others I
> read about in the net.kooks FAQ list.
<...snip...>
It just struck me what 'meow' probably is. Gotta be alt.tasteless's attack
on rec.pets.cats a while back.
It's depressing enough reminiscing about the 'good old days'. Right now,
I'll take the days a few years ago when most everyone quoted appropriately,
in context, using no more lines than necessary, with the #$*&^ text
*following* the quoted text.
*sigh*
--
Mark C. Langston
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagn'nagl fhtagn.
Cthulhu for President in 2000: Why choose the lesser evil?
jmfb...@aol.com
Tom Ayers <t...@SPAMBEGONE.polyflow.com> wrote:
>who? wrote:
>>
>>
>> Incidently, it is also the name of a street somewhere outside of Las
Vegas
>> in the surrounding desert. perhaps 45 minutes from the
California/Nevada
>> stat line if I recall correctly. It took two trips by it before I was
>> sure I had read it correctly
>>
>> jeremy
>
Does anyone know where that name came from?
/BAH
Subtract a hundred and four for e-mail.
David Given
Joe Thompson <fbi...@orion-com.com> wrote:
>In article <79v589$6vf$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, gnohm...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
>
>> 5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
>
>Midwest, who kept talking about how Venus could be just like Earth through
>application of time-dilation effects or some such rubbish? Sounded almost
>Velikovskian. -- Joe
This was Alexander Abian, right? He's still around (and seems to have got
saner).
How many people shudder when I mention "VAN GOGH IN SPACE !!!"?
Eric J. Korpela
> fbi...@orion-com.com (Joe Thompson) wrote:
>> In article <1999Feb10.1...@lorelei.approve.se>,
>> h...@approve.se.NO_JUNK_EMAIL (Goran Larsson) wrote:
>> Do I count as an old-timer since I remember the first time this went around?
>
I'd say you're only an old timer if you can remember when Usenet was
predominantly distributed by UUCP.
If you still occasionally put bangs in E-mail addresses you may be
an old-timer.
If you still remember 5 paths to ucbvax from your machine you may be
an old-timer.
If not, you're a newbie like the rest of us. (Actually I got my first
news feed over a 1200 baud UUCP connection, but the big sites had gone
IP by then.)
Eric
--
Eric Korpela | An object at rest can never be
kor...@ssl.berkeley.edu | stopped.
<a href="http://sag-www.ssl.berkeley.edu/~korpela">Click for home page.</a>
Eric J. Korpela
Lars Duening <la...@bearnip.com> wrote:
>5 points when you were around when 'YKYHBHTLW' threads took up a good
>part of the traffic in this group. 100 points if you coined that acronym
>:-)
25 points if you added /YKY/j to your kill file within 3 days of the
coining of that acronym.
:)
Eric Chomko
: gnohm...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
: > um, my foggy brain can't finish the list. I know there should be hundreds
: > more items.
: You count as an old-timer if you remember when all the major
: software repositories/FTP sites were PDP-10's.
I'd say YAOTI you've ever used a PDP-anything.
Eric
Eric Chomko
Distribution:
Roger Blake <rogg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
: On Thu, 11 Feb 1999 13:20:11 -0400, Tim Shoppa <sho...@trailing-edge.com> wrote:
: >You count as an old-timer if you remember when all the major
: >software repositories/FTP sites were PDP-10's.
: Actually, I'd say you're an old-timer if you remember a time when most
: of the people using the Internet and/or Usenet actually knew what the
: hell they were doing... :-)
Before SPAM became the norm, rather than an annoyance.
Eric
Tom Harrington
: In article <fbi.gov-1002...@user-37ka4ha.dialup.mindspring.com>,
: fbi...@orion-com.com (Joe Thompson) wrote:
: > In article <1999Feb10.1...@lorelei.approve.se>,
: > h...@approve.se.NO_JUNK_EMAIL (Goran Larsson) wrote:
: > Do I count as an old-timer since I remember the first time this went around?
: These days you count as an old-timer if you remember last Tuesday, but....
: Remember when people posting from AOL were the worst on usenet? (2 points; 1
: point for web TV, ten points for "September")
Extra points if you recall who the most-hated group on Usenet was back
before AOL arrived. IIRC it was delphi.com, for basically the same
reason. Before that it was-- PSUVM? In September, of course.
: 5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
I was lucky enough to avoid meow, though I heard about it. As for Turkey,
Serdar Argic only finally disappeared a couple of years ago. ISTR that
UUNET finally cut him off, but I'm not sure anymore.
--
Tom Harrington --------- t...@rmii.com -------- http://rainbow.rmii.com/~tph
"That which does not kill me makes me stranger." -Larry Wall
Cookie's Revenge: ftp://ftp.rmi.net/pub2/tph/cookie/cookies-revenge.sit.hqx
Tom Harrington
: ...what's the date, in Usenet time?
Let's have a look:
% sepdate
Fri Sep 1991 09:51:34 MST 1993
Hey, cool! In two days it'll be the 1993rd day of September 1993!
--
Tom Harrington --------- t...@rmii.com -------- http://rainbow.rmii.com/~tph
"A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but
only a fool trusts either of them." -P.J. O'Rourke
Tom Harrington
: > 5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
: What about that professor from Iowa State or someplace like that in the
: Midwest, who kept talking about how Venus could be just like Earth through
: application of time-dilation effects or some such rubbish? Sounded almost
: Velikovskian. -- Joe
Alexandar Abian. I think the plan was to relocate Venus into Earth's
orbit, with the idea that it would then become Earth-like. He also
posited the equivalence of time and mass-- going from the archives,
this was "(1/T)+(1/log M) = 1 (ABIAN)". Fortunately he seemed pretty
harmless for a loony.
--
Tom Harrington --------- t...@rmii.com -------- http://rainbow.rmii.com/~tph
"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car
keys to teen-age boys." -P.J. O'Rourke
Richard E. Hawkins Esq.
>Remember when people posting from AOL were the worst on usenet? (2 points; 1
>point for web TV, ten points for "September")
me too
[duck]
--
These opinions will not be those of ISU until it pays my retainer.
Richard E. Hawkins Esq.
>: Remember when people posting from AOL were the worst on usenet? (2 points; 1
>: point for web TV, ten points for "September")
>Extra points if you recall who the most-hated group on Usenet was back
>before AOL arrived. IIRC it was delphi.com, for basically the same
>reason. Before that it was-- PSUVM? In September, of course.
How about for remembering rlr? and wombats . . .
Peter Seebach
Tom Harrington <t...@rmi.net> wrote:
>Extra points if you recall who the most-hated group on Usenet was back
>before AOL arrived. IIRC it was delphi.com, for basically the same
>reason. Before that it was-- PSUVM? In September, of course.
Portal!
'CUP.PORTAL.COM' was like a "kick me" sign.
PSU was before Portal.
-s
--
Copyright 1999, All rights reserved. Peter Seebach / se...@plethora.net
C/Unix wizard, Pro-commerce radical, Spam fighter. Boycott Spamazon!
Send me money - get cool programs and hardware! No commuting, please.
Visit my new ISP <URL:http://www.plethora.net/> --- More Net, Less Spam!
Peter Seebach
Goran Larsson <h...@approve.se.NO_JUNK_EMAIL> wrote:
>To be an old-timer you have to have used "Line eater, eat me" lines
>and also be able to explain why. :-)
Does it matter that, by the time I was doing them, they no longer had any
effect?
Ethan Dicks
>Joe Thompson <fbi...@orion-com.com> wrote:
>
>> Do I count as an old-timer since I remember the first time this went
>
>To be an old-timer you have to have used "Line eater, eat me" lines
>and also be able to explain why. :-)
I always preferred...
###### Purina Line-Eater Chow ########################################
... but that was when I was ...ihnp4!cbosdg!osu-eddie!erd (ihnp4 and cbosgd
were AT&T UUCP nodes, of which cbosgd was an AT&T 3b2 running in the building
I'm in now! ihnp4 was at Indian Hill)
The first UUCP machine I set up was a VAX-11/730 running VAX Ultrix 1.x, w/5Mb
RAM, 121Mb disk and a 1200 baud modem to Ohio State *before* the Great
Renaming. I still have some archived posts from net.micro.amiga. I also
picked up that exact 11/730 (k-panda) when the company went bust.
And I'm not even a boomer.
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks http://www.infinet.com/~erd/
(dicks) at (math) . (ohio-state) . (edu) sellto: postmaster@[127.0.0.1]
harvestbot fodder: pres...@whitehouse.gov fcc...@fcc.gov root@[127.0.0.1]
stev...@freenet.msp.mn.us
Eric Chomko <cho...@IDT.NET> wrote:
> Tim Shoppa <sho...@trailing-edge.com> wrote:
> : gnohm...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> : > um, my foggy brain can't finish the list. I know there should be hundreds
> : > more items.
>
> : software repositories/FTP sites were PDP-10's.
>
>
> Eric
>
I would say YAOTI you've ever connected to an online service with a < 1200
baud modem. You're especially a pioneer if you connected back when it was
still possible to connect at 110 baud or less (by the time I got heavily
involved most dialups wouldn't connect at less than 300 baud). I remember
when there was a discounted price on CompuServ if you connected at less than
1200 baud. I believe it was about $6 an hour instead of the normal $12.
I can remember when I actually OWNED a small slice of cyberspace. Back when I
ran a WWIV-based BBS on a non-turbo PC-XT machine. It had a 1200 baud modem,
all 640K of RAM, and a 5 MB hard drive. And it took dozens of calls a day.
Scott Stevens
stev...@tcfreenet.org
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
gnohm...@my-dejanews.com
Eh? No bot, he. Normal person -- had no business on the internet, but was
fairly well-intentioned.
I exchanged a few emails with him when he was just starting up; but he's
another one -- now there are hundreds of clones of him, ppl with not much
sense of humor who collect old stale jokes and send them out to all and
sundry. What do they get out of it?
I suppose it's a harmless hobby.
gnohm...@my-dejanews.com
Eric Chomko <cho...@IDT.NET> wrote:
> Tim Shoppa <sho...@trailing-edge.com> wrote:
> : gnohm...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> : > um, my foggy brain can't finish the list. I know there should be hundreds
> : > more items.
>
> : You count as an old-timer if you remember when all the major
> : software repositories/FTP sites were PDP-10's.
>
> I'd say YAOTI you've ever used a PDP-anything.
Don't be silly. A PDP-11/70 doesn't make you a real old-timer.
If you had internet access with a brand-new PDP-11, now *that* makes an
old-timer!
Joe Morris
>How many people shudder when I mention "VAN GOGH IN SPACE !!!"?
{shudder}
Joe Morris
Alexandre Pechtchanski
>Tim Shoppa <sho...@trailing-edge.com> wrote:
>: gnohm...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
>: > um, my foggy brain can't finish the list. I know there should be hundreds
>: > more items.
>
>: You count as an old-timer if you remember when all the major
>: software repositories/FTP sites were PDP-10's.
>
>I'd say YAOTI you've ever used a PDP-anything.
Cool! Then I qualify! ;-)
Unfortunately, it doesn't compensate for my daughter's "Ohh, here he goes again
about PDP-8" when I feel nostalgic ;-)
[ When replying, remove *'s from address ]
Alexandre Pechtchanski, Systems Manager, RUH, NY
Sergej Roytman
> <gnohm...@my-dejanews.com> wrote:
>>In article <fbi.gov-1002...@user-37ka4ha.dialup.mindspring.com>,
>>> Do I count as an old-timer since I remember the first time this went around?
>>Remember when people posting from AOL were the worst on usenet? (2 points; 1
>>point for web TV, ten points for "September")
>incoming college freshmen... is this what you meant by "September"?
I should think so. Alas, 'tis perpetual September now.
>>5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
>Dunno meow and turkey. But I think you meant MacElwaine. Ugh.
>That doesn't look right either. I know his first name was Robert...
Serdar Agaric (or something like?) I remember him, back when I was but
a Usenet newbie, when I was helping make September the fun time it was!
Long-winded. Ranting. Killfiled. Robert McElwaine, SCIENTIST sounds
about right. I don't think he was from Michigan, as someone in another
post thought, though. At least, I hope not.
--
Sergej Roytman, GRAD STUDENT
Joe Morris
>In article <7a1n71$k...@nnrp2.farm.idt.net>,
> Eric Chomko <cho...@IDT.NET> wrote:
>> : You count as an old-timer if you remember when all the major
>> : software repositories/FTP sites were PDP-10's.
>> I'd say YAOTI you've ever used a PDP-anything.
>I would say YAOTI you've ever connected to an online service with a < 1200
>baud modem. You're especially a pioneer if you connected back when it was
>still possible to connect at 110 baud or less (by the time I got heavily
>involved most dialups wouldn't connect at less than 300 baud). I remember
>when there was a discounted price on CompuServ if you connected at less than
>1200 baud.
A few (self-qualifying) suggestions to be added to the list: YAOTI
- you were amazed at the blazing speed of a TTY33 (compared to
the TTY28 you had been using)
- you worked in a facility that had lots of shelves to hold
the Bell 103A2 modems, each of which had a (never-used) 804B1
handset and control unit attached. Extra credit if you recall the
Data Set 103G. Double extra credit if you can recall the rental
price for a 103A2. Triple extra credit if you still have the
documentation for the 103A2 even if you can't find it.
- you were outraged by the absurdity of the Data Access Arrangement.
(Clue: it was part of Ma Bell's response to _Carterphone_.)
- You know what _Carterphone_ refers to.
- had business cards showing your e-mail address which ended in .ARPA
- still keep a card saw in your desk.
- read the Kludge Capers when they were first published. (No, this
does *not* refer to anything on USENET)
- attended SIGBOOZE in its early days.
Joe Morris
Sergej Roytman
>BTW, I basically started using the 'Net in September 1992.
September '91 for me, you insolent young whippersnapper!
> The _effects_ of
>"meow" sound familiar, but I never bothered to track it down.
What _was_ "meow"? The other stuff, I've seen, but I have no memories
of "meow".
>And how many points for seeing the older set of questions (which asks if
>you remember the Stupid People's Court, mod.ber (?), and other things)?
Stupid People's Court, mod.ber and bandygrams. Hackers' Test. I've
got a copy, if you want one (and please don't follow up this posting to
say so, so that others can do the same, only adding "ME 2!!!1!!!!!" on
the end after quoting about 10e6 lines!
By the way, can anyone who actually does remember these please tell us
newbies what they were?
> How
>many points (now) for _getting_ the older questions right? :)
Well, I've only ever made it up to Geek...
>The problem is that attention span is dropping and the acceleration of time is
>accelerating. Maybe I shouldn't have written that smiley above.
Huh? What were you talking about? Speak up, sonny-boy!
Hm, doesn't "acceleration of time accelerating" have something to do
with jerks?
--
Sergej Roytman
Lars Duening
> In article <1dn332o.w5e...@usr316-edi.cableinet.co.uk>,
> Lars Duening <la...@bearnip.com> wrote:
> >5 points when you were around when 'YKYHBHTLW' threads took up a good
> >part of the traffic in this group. 100 points if you coined that acronym
> >:-)
>
> 25 points if you added /YKY/j to your kill file within 3 days of the
> coining of that acronym.
But then I wouldn't have been able to read my own posts! But you better
add 'YAOTI' to your killfile - quick, you have just three days!
(Besides, I don't use kill- or scorefiles. Selective reading and a good
memory have been sufficient so far :-)
--
Lars Duening; la...@bearnip.com
Julian Thomas
--
Julian Thomas: jt at epix dot net http://home.epix.net/~jt
Boardmember of POSSI.org - Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc http://www.possi.org
In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State!
-- --
COFFEE.EXE Missing - Insert Cup and Press Any Key
Mike Swaim
: * My blood pressure goes up when someone sends me e-mail in
: anything but pure ASCII. Ditto when people post HTML to
: Usenet newsgroups.
I know several people who do so just to annoy the outlook/netscape
crowd. One guy puts his posts inside comment tags. The other one should
have a big, blinking signature, if I read the tags right.
: * The idea of "Internet Commerce" still rubs me the wrong way. Ditto
: when I hear terms like "surfing," "cyberspace," and "information
: superhighway."
What about "Extranet"
--
Mike Swaim, Avatar of Chaos: Disclaimer:I sometimes lie.
Home: sw...@c-com.net
Alum: sw...@alumni.rice.edu Quote: "Boingie"^4 Y,W&D
Don Stokes
>In article <7a1n71$k...@nnrp2.farm.idt.net>, Eric Chomko <cho...@IDT.NET> writes:
>>I'd say YAOTI you've ever used a PDP-anything.
>
I think if you're gonna count 11s, it had to have a real front panel.
Extra OT points for core memory.
And it should be labelled "pdp11", not "PDP-11"... "Micro PDP-11" is
right out.
--
Don Stokes, Networking Consultant http://www.daedalus.co.nz +64 25 739 724
fluffY
> What _was_ "meow"? The other stuff, I've seen, but I have no memories
> of "meow".
*sniff* Still alive and already forgotten.
<URL:http://afk-mn.eist.co.jp/meow.html>
fluffY
> >5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
>
> Dunno meow
Interesting, since the meowing never really stopped. In the space of
three years it's gone from a major scandal to a nearly unnoticed
feature of the background.
How 'bout moose poetry?
> and turkey.
That one seems to be gone for good.
> But I think you meant MacElwaine. Ugh.
> That doesn't look right either. I know his first name was Robert...
He still turns up on occasion, posts from AOL.
Meow!
Fluffy
UN-altered REPRODUCTION and DISSEMINATION of this
IMPORTANT Information is ENCOURAGED, ESPECIALLY to COMPUTER
BULLETIN BOARDS.
Tim Shoppa
>
> Hugh Davies <hu...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> >In article <7a1n71$k...@nnrp2.farm.idt.net>, Eric Chomko <cho...@IDT.NET> writes:
> >>I'd say YAOTI you've ever used a PDP-anything.
> >
> >Used? I can see an 11/23 now this very minute....
>
> I think if you're gonna count 11s, it had to have a real front panel.
Absolutely. With millions of -11's made into everything
from terminal servers to cash registers to MRI and CAT scanners to
lathes and milling machines, I can't see how anyone involved
in any industry can go a day without using one.
--
Tim Shoppa Email: sho...@trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
Luc Van der Veken
Peschel)(11 Feb 1999 23:31:05 GMT);
> >>5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
<snip>
> ... The _effects_ of
> "meow" sound familiar, but I never bothered to track it down. The others I
> read about in the net.kooks FAQ list.
Talk about coincidence: just while reading this, I hear a woman
(Sandra Bullock) calling a name on the TV behind me. Turned
around, and saw that she was indeed calling... a cat.
1 bonus pts for the first one to guess what that name was...
(BTW, nobody's watching that TV. I needed to remember what city
the plane in Con Air landed in for another thread, and I didn't
turn it off after checking the video)
Luc Van der Veken
Korpela)(12 Feb 1999 17:05:48 GMT);
> In article <1dn332o.w5e...@usr316-edi.cableinet.co.uk>,
> Lars Duening <la...@bearnip.com> wrote:
> >5 points when you were around when 'YKYHBHTLW' threads took up a good
> >part of the traffic in this group. 100 points if you coined that acronym
> >:-)
>
> 25 points if you added /YKY/j to your kill file within 3 days of the
> coining of that acronym.
And just to bring in some recursion:
: :YKYBHTLW: // /abbrev./ Abbreviation of `You know you've been
: hacking too long when...', which became established on the Usenet
: group alt.folklore.computers during extended discussion of the
: indicated entry in the Jargon File.
Where from? The Jargon file, of course.
Luc Van der Veken
Hawkins Esq.)(12 Feb 1999 12:00:22 -0600);
> In article <79v589$6vf$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
> <gnohm...@my-dejanews.com> wrote:
>
> >Remember when people posting from AOL were the worst on usenet? (2 points; 1
> >point for web TV, ten points for "September")
>
> me too
>
> [duck]
No, ducks don't say "meow".
Samael
Mike Swaim wrote in message <0oGw2.1144$lx....@news2.giganews.com>...
>David Given <dg@> wrote:
>: In article <79v589$6vf$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
>: <gnohm...@my-dejanews.com> wrote:
>: [...]
>:>5 points for meow, 10 points for turkey, and 20 points for McIlwane.
>
>: McIlwane rings a bell, but I forget how. I don't recognise the others.
>
> He'd post odd rants (from the University of Michigan?) with random words
>capitalized. He'd close with something like "UNALTERED dissemination of
>this VALUABLE information is appreciated." Turkey refers to Serdar Argaic
>who'd post long rants about how the Armenians slaughtered the Turks in
>WW1. He was widely believed to be a 'bot. Dunno about meow.
Meowers hang about in a couple of newsgroups
(alt.alien.vampire.flonk.flonk.flonk being one of them) and occasionally
launch attacks elsewhere (by vigorous crossposting). Mostly not an
unreasonable bunch of people, they just enjoy causing confusion. I've
actually received good advice from one or two of them (one of them mentioned
tte news server I currently run to me).
They can stuill be annoying if you're trying to hold a conversation in a
newsgroup they decide to invade.
Samael
Don Stokes
fluffY <hipQ...@myremarQ.coM> wrote:
>*sniff* Still alive and already forgotten.
><URL:http://afk-mn.eist.co.jp/meow.html>
199*6*?!?!? That's positively futuristic!
I never saw newsgroup invasions as funny, just stupid and immature.
Except one, when the alt.shenanigans lot invaded alt.clearing.technology
(a piece of weirdness perpetrated by the Scientologists). The posts
were serious looking discussion about financial transaction clearing,
done absolutely deadpan (although a few wannabes spoiled it later in the
piece, but by then the joke had pretty much run its course). The
reactions from the scientologists was just priceless -- they just didn't
know what hit them...
Dan Ros
>In article <fbi.gov-1002...@user-37ka4ha.dialup.mindspring.com>,
> fbi...@orion-com.com (Joe Thompson) wrote:
>> In article <1999Feb10.1...@lorelei.approve.se>,
>> h...@approve.se.NO_JUNK_EMAIL (Goran Larsson) wrote:
>> Do I count as an old-timer since I remember the first time this went around?
>
>These days you count as an old-timer if you remember last Tuesday, but....
But what of the future? What will the oldies of the future remember of now?
--
dan...@bigfoot.com - http://members.xoom.com/danros/
ICQ: 15212336
Sam Yorko
>
> On Thu, 11 Feb 1999 17:50:06 GMT, gnohm...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
>
> >In article <fbi.gov-1002...@user-37ka4ha.dialup.mindspring.com>,
> > fbi...@orion-com.com (Joe Thompson) wrote:
> >> In article <1999Feb10.1...@lorelei.approve.se>,
> >> h...@approve.se.NO_JUNK_EMAIL (Goran Larsson) wrote:
> >> Do I count as an old-timer since I remember the first time this went around?
> >
> keypunch) turns up in a collection of historical artifacts in a museum
I used to assemble IMSAIs for a computer shop when I was in high school,
and I remember hacking PDP-8s. I also have my T-Shirt from the First
West Coast Computer Faire. Also, we still had 029s in college when I
started (for that matter, when I finished; we were slow in replacing the
360/40).
Micheal H. McCabe
>
> Tim Shoppa <sho...@trailing-edge.com> wrote:
> : gnohm...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> : > um, my foggy brain can't finish the list. I know there should be hundreds
> : > more items.
>
> : software repositories/FTP sites were PDP-10's.
>
>
Wow! I'm an old timer!
Still a clueless AOL user at heart!
St. Suika Roberts
RB> On Thu, 11 Feb 1999 13:20:11 -0400, Tim Shoppa
RB> <sho...@trailing-edge.com> wrote:
>> You count as an old-timer if you remember when all the major
>> software repositories/FTP sites were PDP-10's.
RB> Actually, I'd say you're an old-timer if you remember a time when most
RB> of the people using the Internet and/or Usenet actually knew what the
RB> hell they were doing... :-)
Which lowers the bar enough for me to count as an old-timer ^^;;
Mildly scary, that.
Suika (and just how do the spammers go about address
harvesting, anyway?)
--
ss...@unm.edu
"The dew fell with a particularly sickening thud this morning."
-Rhonda Rubin
<a href="http://www.unm.edu/~ssfr/">Suika no homepage</a>
Sergej Roytman
Mike Swaim <sw...@gemini.c-com.net> wrote:
>Roger Blake <rogg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>: * My blood pressure goes up when someone sends me e-mail in
>: anything but pure ASCII. Ditto when people post HTML to
>: Usenet newsgroups.
> I know several people who do so just to annoy the outlook/netscape
>crowd. One guy puts his posts inside comment tags. The other one should
>have a big, blinking signature, if I read the tags right.
Hm, sounds like an interesting idea...
>: * The idea of "Internet Commerce" still rubs me the wrong way. Ditto
>: when I hear terms like "surfing," "cyberspace," and "information
>: superhighway."
>What about "Extranet"
What gets me is when people (who obviously lack any semblence of a
clue) say "thuh Innernet" when they mean to say is, "thuh web". E.g.,
"I'm surfin' thuh Innernet, D00D".
--
Sergej Roytman
:wq
C-x C-c
^Q
^X
SUM0N3 GET ME 0UT UV HEER3 PL33ZE!!!!1!!!!!11!!!!!
BBReynolds
In article <79u6c9$gn0$1...@hades.csu.net>, jk...@ultrix6.cs.csubak.edu (who?)
writes:
>: Does the 'secret code word' "XYZZY" that one sees used in various text
>fields
>: originate with the text Adventure game? That is where I first recall
>: encountering it (it's the secret password to immediately jump from the hut
>: outside into the tunnel/passageway). One sees it used in various ways
>: throughout computer literature, and I am just wondering if it started in
>: Adventure or if it was brought into that game (which was created in the mid
>: 70's, I believe..) from some other folkloric source.
>
>Incidently, it is also the name of a street somewhere outside of Las Vegas
>in the surrounding desert. perhaps 45 minutes from the California/Nevada
>stat line if I recall correctly. It took two trips by it before I was
>sure I had read it correctly
>
>
for many years, and maybe still and yet, the last entry in the NYC and Brooklyn
phone books was a legitimate business: the Zzyzzy Zzyzzy Ztamp Company...
--
Bruce B. Reynolds, Systems Consultant:
Founder of Trailing Edge Technologies, Glenside PA and Niles IL:
Sweeping Up Behind Data Processing Dinosaurs
Robert Billing
> I'd say YAOTI you've ever used a PDP-anything.
And what if you still do?
--
I am Robert Billing, Christian, inventor, traveller, cook and animal
lover, I live near 0:46W 51:22N. http://www.tnglwood.demon.co.uk/
"Bother," said Pooh, "Eeyore, ready two photon torpedoes and lock
phasers on the Heffalump, Piglet, meet me in transporter room three"
Robert Billing
> still possible to connect at 110 baud or less (by the time I got heavily
> involved most dialups wouldn't connect at less than 300 baud). I remember
When I started 110 baud was The Industry Standard, 300 baud came years
later.
Robert Billing
> - you worked in a facility that had lots of shelves to hold
> the Bell 103A2 modems, each of which had a (never-used) 804B1
What if your first modem said "Post Office Telephones", complete with
the little crown, on the front, not even, "British Telecom"?
What if you had to use the handset to get the call going, and then
press the data button on the phone, drop the handset on the desk, and
hit RETURN all in one smooth movement, before the Honeywell G265 at the
other end timed out?
What if you can still remember how to hack the G265's terminal handler,
using FORTRAN?
jmfb...@aol.com
>> Tim Shoppa <sho...@trailing-edge.com> wrote:
>> : gnohm...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
>> : > um, my foggy brain can't finish the list. I know there should be
hundreds
>> : > more items.
>>
>> : software repositories/FTP sites were PDP-10's.
>>
>>
>>
>
>I would say YAOTI you've ever connected to an online service with a < 1200
>baud modem. You're especially a pioneer if you connected back when it was
>involved most dialups wouldn't connect at less than 300 baud). I remember
than
How would one classify those who never paid?
/BAH
Subtract a hundred and four for e-mail.
jmfb...@aol.com
Robert Billing <uncl...@tnglwood.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>Eric Chomko wrote:
>
>> I'd say YAOTI you've ever used a PDP-anything.
>
>
Michael Will
>>Incidently, it is also the name of a street somewhere outside of Las Vegas
>>in the surrounding desert. perhaps 45 minutes from the California/Nevada
>>stat line if I recall correctly. It took two trips by it before I was
>>sure I had read it correctly
You read close - it's Zzyzx Rd.
Been years since I've driven there - had to check TerraServer to verify
the name. Try around Lat 36.0200 & Long -114.7929.
- Michael
Juergen Nickelsen
> It was only a few years ago that SIMTEL20 was shut down!
About 10 or 12 years ago a friend of mine used the TRICKLE(*) server
network on BITNET to get software from SIMTEL20 (when we hadn't barely
heard of the Internet); he sent e-mail requests from DB0TUZ01(*) to the
nearest TRICKLE server, which either sent him the software or asked his
neighbors. When none of the european TRICKLE servers had the requested
file, CUNYVM FTPed it from SIMTEL20 and mailed it to the TRICKLE server,
which mailed it to him. This was the first time that I encountered the
concept that has evolved into Web caches. :-)
Ah yes, and the UUencoded files survived even NOS/BE's 64-character
ASCII subset on DB0TUZ01.
(*) I may be slightly wrong about the names.
This was slightly related to the way I read unix-wizards then; he
received the digests on his account, printed them out, and handed them
to me.
--
Juergen Nickelsen
Carl R. Friend
>
> Hugh Davies <hu...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> >In article <7a1n71$k...@nnrp2.farm.idt.net>, Eric Chomko writes:
> >>I'd say YAOTI you've ever used a PDP-anything.
> >
>
> I think if you're gonna count 11s, it had to have a real front panel.
Hmm.... If I tilt my head to look around the large pile of newer
stuff I can see my purple and magenta pdp11/20. 12kW of core memory
and lots of lights and switches. Does that count?
--
______________________________________________________________________
| | |
| Carl Richard Friend (UNIX Sysadmin) | West Boylston |
| Minicomputer Collector / Enthusiast | Massachusetts, USA |
| mailto:carl....@stoneweb.com | |
| http://www.ultranet.com/~crfriend/museum | ICBM: N42:22 W71:47 |
|________________________________________________|_____________________|
Howard S Shubs
>If you had internet access with a brand-new PDP-11, now *that* makes an
>old-timer!
So, how about a new PDP-11/93? <grin> No, I've never seen one, but I
-have- seen a running 11/83.
--
Howard S Shubs The Denim Adept
J. Chris Hausler
obvious, you wrote code on a machine which used vacuum tubes
for logic elements....
Chris (who qualifies by just a hair thanks to a brief
experience with a Bendix G-15).....
Other things people haven't mentioned:
1. Used an acoustic coupler at 110 baud, extra points if
it was connected to a Teletype (from where I sit I can
see a couple of ASR-33's and an Anderson Jacobson acoustic
couple model ADC 300 with both current loop and RS232
interfaces)
2. Used DECTAPES to store their data, extra points if you
still have them (I do :-)
3. Wrote code in Algol and still have Dan McCracken's "a
guide to ALGOL programming" (once again...)
lis...@zetnet.co.uk
On 1999-02-11 jcmo...@mwunix.mitre.org(JoeMorris) said:
:Did you *really* have to remind us of Serdar Argaic? I had managed
:to forget him (and even had allowed his entry to drop out of my
:killfile) until your comment... <g>
I never saw Argaic - what era? But some newsgroups seem to harvest
kooks; I used to dwell in alt.atheism, and we got a particularly fine
specimen in the shape of Publius. I believe he popped up elsewhere, but
he seemed to regard a.a as his stomping ground. He got his own newsgroup
in the end.
Thanks for the recollection of hazier days. ;>
--
Communa (lis...@zetnet.co.uk) -- you know soft spoken changes nothing
lis...@zetnet.co.uk
On 1999-02-12 fs...@mindless.com said:
:It just struck me what 'meow' probably is. Gotta be alt.
:tasteless's attack on rec.pets.cats a while back.
I have a very dim form in the back of my mind that might just possibly
be a memory of someone called meow. Dunno why.
:Right now, I'll take the days a few years ago when most everyone
:quoted appropriately, in context, using no more lines than
:necessary, with the #$*&^ text *following* the quoted text.
Amen, brother! You know, it's becoming a kind of age test in itself.
Newbies always type before the dotted line (as it were). Those from a
couple of years back tend to alternate. They'll put a couple of lines at
the top if it is just a couple of lines and they can't see an easy trim,
but for longer responses they'll do it properly. Those from about 4
years and back do it properly.
(I lost it on October 1993. September was the feared date then. I guess
my mistakes were seen as charming - or something.)
Heinz W. Wiggeshoff
Anne & Lynn Wheeler (ly...@garlic.com) writes:
> * could whistle and get a 110 acoustic modem to talk back to you
> * had AJ(?) "portable terminal" in two 30lb(?) cases at home
* Once carried (ouch), set up and connected a "portible" 2741 Selectric
(golf ball) terminal to CMS/360.
Heinz W. Wiggeshoff
Heinz W. Wiggeshoff (ab...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA) writes:
> Anne & Lynn Wheeler (ly...@garlic.com) writes:
>> * could whistle and get a 110 acoustic modem to talk back to you
>> * had AJ(?) "portable terminal" in two 30lb(?) cases at home
>
Pete Fenelon
> On 1999-02-11 jcmo...@mwunix.mitre.org(JoeMorris) said:
> :Did you *really* have to remind us of Serdar Argaic? I had managed
> :to forget him (and even had allowed his entry to drop out of my
> :killfile) until your comment... <g>
> I never saw Argaic - what era? But some newsgroups seem to harvest
> kooks; I used to dwell in alt.atheism, and we got a particularly fine
> specimen in the shape of Publius. I believe he popped up elsewhere, but
> he seemed to regard a.a as his stomping ground. He got his own newsgroup
> in the end.
Let me think... I still had a Sun3 on my desk but I was in the Big Hut so
it'd be '91 or '92... did anyone actually buy a Serdar Argic World Tour
t-shirt?
pete
--
Pete Fenelon, 3 Beckside Gardens, York, YO10 3TX, UK (pete.f...@zetnet.co.uk)
``there's no room for enigmas in built-up areas''
Julian Thomas
at 11:03 AM, Anne & Lynn Wheeler <ly...@garlic.com> said:
>* programmed on (709 or other) tube machine
- Wrote a program for the 709 and then had to convert it to run on the
704.
- Used SOS and squoze decks.
--
Julian Thomas: jt at epix dot net http://home.epix.net/~jt
Boardmember of POSSI.org - Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc http://www.possi.org
In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State!
-- --
Stupidity is NOT a survival trait.
Don Stokes
Carl R. Friend <carl....@stoneweb.com> wrote:
> Hmm.... If I tilt my head to look around the large pile of newer
>stuff I can see my purple and magenta pdp11/20. 12kW of core memory
>and lots of lights and switches. Does that count?
Of course, assuming you've been using it since it was in its original
installation doing real work and not just rescued from the trash.
Rescuing an old machine doesn't get you old-timer points, although it
probably gets you other kinds ...
Is the label "pdp11" or "pdp11/20"? (The former being the label given
when there wasn't any other kind.)
Howard S Shubs
<ly...@garlic.com> wrote:
>* bought golden's Fortran IV programming and computing ('65) new.
New fangled. I have a copy of the original IBM FORTRAN II manual. Does
that count?
Julian Thomas
at 09:25 PM, rogg...@hotmail.com (Roger Blake) said:
>Do we have anyone here who worked with acoustic delay-line memory?
Yes, on Univac I. Only as a user/programmer, not as a designer.
--
Julian Thomas: jt at epix dot net http://home.epix.net/~jt
Boardmember of POSSI.org - Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc http://www.possi.org
In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State!
-- --
Air conditioned environment - Do not open Windows.
Jack Winslade
>for many years, and maybe still and yet, the last entry in the NYC and Brooklyn
>phone books was a legitimate business: the Zzyzzy Zzyzzy Ztamp Company...
When I lived there, the last entry in the Manhattan directory was for
a Zzzyandottie (yep, 3 z's).
I always wondered if it was a real person. It had a seemingly real
address in Midtown.
No, I was not curious enough to call it. ;-)
Good day JSW
David K. Bryant
> :Did you *really* have to remind us of Serdar Argaic? I had managed
> :to forget him (and even had allowed his entry to drop out of my
> :killfile) until your comment... <g>
Let us not forget that Net Urchin, Little Danny Drucker.
fluffY
> In article <36c3f...@192.168.0.20>, "Samael" <Sam...@dial.pipex.com> writes:
> >Meowers hang about in a couple of newsgroups
> >(alt.alien.vampire.flonk.flonk.flonk being one of them) and occasionally
> >launch attacks elsewhere (by vigorous crossposting).
>
> Err, no. By running the HipCrime 'bot, which forge supersedes all the
> postings in a group. In a couple of the groups I'm in which they've
> attacked, we had to write and run a resurrector until the tedious
> little shits got bored and went away.
Er, no. You haven't the faintest idea what has been happening. The
"tedious little shits" running the HipCrime software went away because
friends of Meow and meowers shut them down.
The bulk of the HC flooding not perpetrated by the bot's writer was
performed by some alt.flame people who call themselves HFW.
Pete Fenelon
He's active again, somewhere or other. Probably an 18 year old Java and NT
Wizard now. <sigh>
Bill Vermillion
Roger Blake <rogg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>On Sat, 13 Feb 99 13:06:59 -0500, J. Chris Hausler <jcha...@delphi.com> wrote:
>>I can see that "old" is relative. No one has mentioned the
>
>then isn't ground zero sometime in 1979? (Of course Internet/ARPAnet
>goes back further than that.)
>
>>obvious, you wrote code on a machine which used vacuum tubes
>>for logic elements....
>
>processing system which used a magnetic drum as main memory! (You're
>really only old if your code needed to take into account which part of
>the drum would be under the heads for the next instruction in order to
>get maximum performance! :-)
>Do we have anyone here who worked with acoustic delay-line memory?
Who knows about here - but I was doing some contract programming
for a local school and they had one 'old-timer' who is one of the
best programmers I've seen. He told me details about his early
days with CRT tube memory, some weird 3-bit stuff, mercury delays
and drums. He's still actively program at least 20 hours per
week and he's 76 years old. He told me he wrote the first program
the Army used for inventory control.
--
Bill Vermillion bv @ wjv.com
Bill Vermillion
>
>
>On 1999-02-11 jcmo...@mwunix.mitre.org(JoeMorris) said:
> :Did you *really* have to remind us of Serdar Argaic? I had managed
> :to forget him (and even had allowed his entry to drop out of my
> :killfile) until your comment... <g>
>I never saw Argaic - what era?
As I recall it was about the late 1980s. The only poster I really
miss was the original BIFF - all other attempts were quite lame.
Derek Peschel
Don Stokes <d...@news.daedalus.co.nz> wrote:
>I never saw newsgroup invasions as funny, just stupid and immature.
>Except one, when the alt.shenanigans lot invaded alt.clearing.technology
This could be another mark of being an old-timer.
Part of the reason I missed out on the whole "meow" thing is that I didn't
read the relevant newsgroups. But also I tend to ignore messages with weird
inside jokes. The attitude of the writers on the Japanese "meow" tribute
site is *creepy*. It's along the lines of, "USENET is my oyster -- I can do
whatever I want and people will love it." Has that attitude existed since
1992, and I just missed it? Has it become more prevalent?
-- Derek
fluffY
> Part of the reason I missed out on the whole "meow" thing is that I didn't
> read the relevant newsgroups. But also I tend to ignore messages with weird
> inside jokes. The attitude of the writers on the Japanese "meow" tribute
> site is *creepy*. It's along the lines of, "USENET is my oyster -- I can do
> whatever I want and people will love it." Has that attitude existed since
> 1992, and I just missed it? Has it become more prevalent?
Well, the 2-Belo (who wrote that page) didn't come along until after
the initial, er, festivities, and enjoys putting a bit of his own spin
on things. But he gets the chronology about right.
Fact is, most of the people _participating_ at the time really didn't
know what the hell was going on. It was one of those "hey, this is
incredibly dumb, so I think I'll join in" things, sort of like moshing.
I suppose it's not too different from those inane little catchphrases
people pick up from TV shows and repeat for months (or years) on end.
One aspect the 2's piece glosses over is that some of news' Really Bad
Dudes (Vulis etc.) decided to join in after a couple months, and that's
what turned the whole thing ugly. These are the guys that gave meowing
a rep for being The Cause of All That is Wrong with Today's Usenet.
It gets even goofier than that, but, um, enough.
Gene Wirchenko
>In article <slrn7c999e....@meowhost.meow.invalid>,
>fluffY <hipQ...@myremarQ.coM> wrote:
>>*sniff* Still alive and already forgotten.
>><URL:http://afk-mn.eist.co.jp/meow.html>
>
>199*6*?!?!? That's positively futuristic!
>
>I never saw newsgroup invasions as funny, just stupid and immature.
>Except one, when the alt.shenanigans lot invaded alt.clearing.technology
>(a piece of weirdness perpetrated by the Scientologists). The posts
>were serious looking discussion about financial transaction clearing,
>done absolutely deadpan (although a few wannabes spoiled it later in the
>piece, but by then the joke had pretty much run its course). The
>reactions from the scientologists was just priceless -- they just didn't
>know what hit them...
I took a look at alt.clearing.technology. It isn't by
Scientologists but rather a bunch of people in offbeat practices.
From what I saw, yes, they could be easily whacked.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:
I have preferences.
You have biases.
He/She has prejudices.
Luc Van der Veken
<jcha...@delphi.com>(Sat, 13 Feb 99 13:06:59 -0500);
> 3. Wrote code in Algol and still have Dan McCracken's "a
> guide to ALGOL programming" (once again...)
Do Fortran and McCracken's Fortran book count too?
Forgot the exact title - I've got it boxed somewhere, in one of
the boxes at the bottom. It was a letter sized one with a
brownish cover IIRC, John Wiley & Sons.
Another one (to be less proud of): Kemeny & Kurtz'es BASIC book.
Also Wiley, same size, green cover (and it's in the same box).
If that first one doesn't count, a PDP-8 with 8K words of core
memory must do :-)
And an acoustic modem - I once owned one, threw it away (in the
direction of an interested person) when my phone was replaced by
one with a more modern-looking handset, that wouldn't fit.
Don Stokes
Gene Wirchenko <ge...@shuswap.net> wrote:
>d...@news.daedalus.co.nz (Don Stokes) wrote:
>>Except one, when the alt.shenanigans lot invaded alt.clearing.technology
>>(a piece of weirdness perpetrated by the Scientologists). The posts
>>were serious looking discussion about financial transaction clearing,
>Scientologists but rather a bunch of people in offbeat practices.
>From what I saw, yes, they could be easily whacked.
http://www.islandnet.com/~martinh/scn/13.htm
| 1.3 Basic Scientology/Dianetics Definitions
...
| ACT, alt.clearing.technology. Often in small letters, "act", or with
| periods, "a.c.t." The hangout for the relics of the cult who still
| practice the strange "technology" or rituals developed by Hubbard, but
| who have left the cult of Scientology proper. Of course, some people
| have it that the group actually deals with acne pimple remedies... See
| also ARS.
Whatever. It was helluva funny....
Luc Van der Veken
Feb 1999 23:39:10 GMT);
> I never saw newsgroup invasions as funny, just stupid and immature.
> Except one, when the alt.shenanigans lot invaded alt.clearing.technology
> (a piece of weirdness perpetrated by the Scientologists). The posts
<snip>
Except one: but that's one too many.
Someone else could say with the same right:
"Except one, when the alt.xyzzy lot invaded a.f.c, where those
senile old bitbiters talk about fossile computers...
(Not that many regulars here would take the bait - but that's
another matter)
Hypothetically speaking, of course. Any similarity to recent
threads is purely coincidental.
lis...@zetnet.co.uk
On 1999-02-12 rogg...@hotmail.com(RogerBlake) said:
:I guess for myself, the following makes me think I might be
:an old-timer, though certainly there are folks who have been
:around considerably longer:
[8<]
:* As mentioned, I recall when nearly everyone, whether using
:Usenet or Internet, had some level of technical expertise
:and basically knew what they were doing. (The major exception
:was the new crop of college kids each year.) Of course today
:it's difficult to find anyone who has even mastered the
:use of a simple text editor, and most couldn't manage even
:the simplest computing chores (i.e., copying a file) to save
:their lives. (Does the term "clueless newbie" have any
:relevance when 98% of the Internet's users fall into that
:category?) How many today even know what the phrase "send it
:to /dev/null" means?
:* My blood pressure goes up when someone sends me e-mail in
:anything but pure ASCII. Ditto when people post HTML to
:Usenet newsgroups.
:* I still use a terminal emulator dialing into a Unix host
:for my Net access and consider the Internet to be an ASCII
:medium. I dislike "point and click" user interfaces and
:avoid them like the plague.
:* The idea of "Internet Commerce" still rubs me the wrong way.
:Ditto when I hear terms like "surfing," "cyberspace," and
:"information superhighway."
[8<]
:So, do I qualify as an old fart or what? :-)
Well, I'd love to say yes, but I was part of 1993's September influx and
I basically hold the same opinions, so I don't know. The technical stuff
is different - thank god for @ if the alternative is remembering the
path, given that the net's a little bigger these days - but the actual
content of the net sets off the same alarm bells for me as it does for
you. It's a question of the most efficient means of delivering
information, and whilst the idea of hypertext was a logical step
forward, there's a valid reason for the existence of so much text. A
picture may be worth a thousand words, but if it takes up ten times the
space of those words (and so often they do)...
On the other hand, I'm regularly sneered at for only using a 486 with
270Mb hard drive for browsing / netting. Silly really.
lis...@zetnet.co.uk
On 1999-02-12 sw...@gemini.c-com.net said:
:: * The idea of "Internet Commerce" still rubs me the wrong way.
:Ditto : when I hear terms like "surfing," "cyberspace," and
:"information : superhighway."
:What about "Extranet"
AARGH!!! Bad memories of a work project. Imagine trying to do database
access from web pages with the two explicit requirements that (a) you
can't be online indefinitely, and (b) you can't directly talk to a
database when you do connect...
lis...@zetnet.co.uk
On 1999-02-12 d...@news.daedalus.co.nz(DonStokes) said:
:I never saw newsgroup invasions as funny, just stupid and immature.
:Except one, when the alt.shenanigans lot invaded alt.clearing.
:technology (a piece of weirdness perpetrated by the Scientologists).
:The posts were serious looking discussion about financial
:transaction clearing, done absolutely deadpan (although a few
:wannabes spoiled it later in the piece, but by then the joke had
:pretty much run its course). The reactions from the scientologists
:was just priceless -- they just didn't know what hit them...
Beautiful! I heard something along the same lines from a friend a few
years ago. Apparently the online gay clique of Bradford University
invaded some group with a disparaging reference to "faggots" in its
name and started holding protracted discussions on the merits of bundled
twigs and spicy meatballs... No evidence for this, because I never saw
it, but it *should* be true. ;>
Lars Duening
> On 12 Feb 1999 17:11:04 GMT, Eric Chomko <cho...@IDT.NET> wrote:
> >Before SPAM became the norm, rather than an annoyance.
>
> Cripes, I can remember when even *thinking* about doing half the
> stuff some of these clowns pull off would have been enough to get
> one tossed out on one's ear in a heartbeat!
Hmm, I admit I think of everybody who was around when the eternal
September began as an 'old-timer'. But this tag doesn't really do those
people justice who, for example, vividly remember the Great Renaming - a
name like 'Old Ones' seems more appropriate to me.
And now I wonder just how many people would still remember
'BLAZEMONGER!'.... hang on, a strange black van just turned into my
drivewF#$&(*7dX#@ Connection closed.
Bill Vermillion
>It's a question of the most efficient means of delivering
>information, and whilst the idea of hypertext was a logical step
>forward, there's a valid reason for the existence of so much text. A
>picture may be worth a thousand words, but if it takes up ten times the
>space of those words (and so often they do)...
So many of these graphics convey no information at all that perhaps
the phrase should be changed to "A picture is like a 1000 warts".
Bill Vermillion
Luc Van der Veken <luc...@null.net> wrote:
>Another one (to be less proud of): Kemeny & Kurtz'es BASIC book.
>Also Wiley, same size, green cover (and it's in the same box).
Still sitting on my shelf, along with the original Computer Lib /
Dream Machines.