Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!usc!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!emd101 From: EMD101@psuvm.psu.edu Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Canasta Rule #1 Message-ID: <90033.000557EMD101@PSUVM.BITNET> Date: 2 Feb 90 05:05:57 GMT Organization: Penn State University Lines: 37 (The girl who tried to start a Virtual n-tet the other day walks up to the bulletin board and tacks up a notice...) For those interested in the Virtual n-tet but hesitant because they don't know how to play Canasta, a new project has been initiated. IFF (if and only if) there are no objections from the folk here, the Callahan's Virtual n-tet Canasta Rules Committee will post one Canasta rule every k days where k is a small integer. Should anyone object to the clutter, this project will be cheerily abandoned. At one rule per k days, we should all be ready to play in about ten months. * * * Canasta Rule #1: * * * Canasta is played with two decks of cards, including jokers; 104 cards in all. * * * * * * ------- Canasta Rules Disclaimer: These are arbitrary house rules which are different from yours. In light of the fact that Canasta has about m variants where m is a large integer, statements of the form: Aces aren't worth 15 points, they're worth 20 points! Should perhaps be converted to the following form: Hey, we always played with Aces worth 20 points. Can we maybe vote on it or something? Thanks, Callahan's Virtual n-tet Canasta Rules Committee. Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!nl.cs.cmu.edu!mjc From: mjc@nl.cs.cmu.edu (Monica Cellio) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: A Little Dream Message-ID: <7810@pt.cs.cmu.edu> Date: 2 Feb 90 17:44:13 GMT References: Organization: Carnegie Mellon University Lines: 24 Monica's eyes light up at the suggestion of a virtual n-tet. She walks toward a nearby wall and returns a moment later with a large wooden box, squared off on one end and diagonal on the other, which has somehow been leaning inconspicuously against the wall. (The box is nearly as long as she is tall, which is to say that it's fairly large but she's also fairly short.) She brings the case into the center of the room and opens it, revealing a large hammer dulcimer. "Don't want to get *too* near the fire," she says, "or I'll have to retune the beast in half an hour." She looks around at the other musicians and says, "We *are* tuning, aren't we?" Before she sets up, she takes a potato and a tube of superglue from the case and sets them on the table in front of Dani. "The glue helps keep the potato in place; don't want to rely on friction alone," she says to him. The dulcimer is soon in place on its stand (which doubles as a case). "Yes, it's definitely been too long since we've played together, Dani. Fanny Power?" When they finish, Monica turns to the girl with purple socks and says, "I'd be happy to learn how to play Canasta, but could you first tell me which cards we leave out of the decks? Or did you mean 108, rather than 104, cards?" Monica mjc@cs.cmu.edu Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!jefyoung From: jefyoung@pawl.rpi.edu (Jeffrey Young) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: A Little Dream,More Summary: Spider Robinson at Genericon VII? Message-ID: <`&3`P|@rpi.edu> Date: 2 Feb 90 19:56:47 GMT References: <7810@pt.cs.cmu.edu> Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY Lines: 67 Apparently Taldin had left without anyone noticing, for here he is again, coming in the door, snow playfully spinning around his light wool cloak and mottling his blue-grey hat. He greets people near the door with a blind nod (his glasses are fogged over) and Ironically hears the puns from Gilly. Upon seeing a challenge in the works, he chuckles. "Lens me your ears, folks, for those who come in contact with me shall have a vision.. certainly not the blind leading the blind. And didn't I see this place before? Deja' view! But still, all the good puns have been taken... out of sight, out of mind.. an 'oeil-y situation if you ask any French person." He plops himself down in a chair near the fire, looking quite the weary traveller. "Well, for anyone who's interested, the Live-Action-Role Playing Game a bunch of us insane people decided to run for Genericon VI flew higher than we dreamed.. they want us to do it again next year. We had lots of fun, little sleep, and a whole lot of laughs-- and I even got to meet Steve (Omaha) in the bargain! Next year, there are ideas floating around to see if we can't get Spider Robinson to be our GOH. (all eyes suddenly lock on the youth) We haven't decided yet. But one of the things that would make the difference would be that, according to the Con-Com, Spider Robinson isn't a big name. It occurred to me that if I could find out how many people here would be willing to come to Troy next January if Spider was here...maybe we might get him here. Anyone interested, sing out! Registration for the 3-day weekend shouldn't be more than $20, and the Live Action RPG for next year might have something to do with Callahan's if we get Spider (and it might anyway even if it doesn't work out that Spider can make it.) I've heard that there are 5200+ readers of this newsgroup out there. If even 1/100th of those people speak up, that's 52 people more.. and the Con only netted 198 people this year. " "Before you start mobbing my mailbox, let me stop you! We have'nt decided yet.. Genericon was only this past weekend, after all. We're still recovering. I'll bring it up again in a few weeks, but for now I'd like to know who is interested. DON'T DON'T DON'T reply in e-mail! I have way too many messages in there as is! What you can do, to show your interest, is to leave a note at the end of a Callahan's post saying, "Heck, yeah, I'll come if you can get Spider..." but again, make sure you have something else of interest to say as well. Can't waste bandwidth now, you know. -8) " Taldin then changes to his Unicorn form, and solemnly approaches the girl in the purple socks. "Hello, Muzzleblue..", she says softly. The 'corn tries to keep his composure, but it doesn't work, and he shifts back to human, laughing. "Now you've done it... I'm going to be called that forever...but aye, I play an instrument too.. a recorder, in fact." From his belt he produces a small instrument. "Octave, I would be honored if you would add me to your group." He uses the name she has chosen for herself, rather than her real name, which he assumes she wishes kept quiet. She nods, and he wanders back over to the table where the remaining members of the Empath's circle sit. "For now, I'll just sit in the background, (pause) and play background music, of course!" -8) -Taldin The Blue Unicorn Defender Of Light Furry At Large ..Across the bounds of time. -- "You are blue, Unicorn.. the Blue of clear, cloudless days where everything seems like it's going right and nothing could go wrong.. and the Blue of despair and lonliness." jefyoung@pawl.rpi.edu Path: mit-eddie!rutgers!njin!princeton!phoenix!jmdoyle From: jmdoyle@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jennifer Doyle) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Au revoir.... hopefully not goodbye.... Message-ID: <13515@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> Date: 2 Feb 90 20:04:00 GMT Organization: or, conversely, Chaos: Lines: 65 I had hoped I wouldn't have to do this too, but it has come to this: Goodbye, or rather, au revoir. My grades came in, and as of Sunday, February 4 (I believe) I will no longer be a student here officially. I have no idea when this account will disappear, or when I must be off campus by. I suspect that the answer to the first may be the end of this year, and the answer to the second may be this Sunday, but I'm not sure about either. Luckily, I found out about this in the midst of a tour (I was running sound for the mime company - really! No joke!) and had stuff to do, time to think, and a good friend with me on tour. I've been surrounded with friends here, (here at school and Callahan's) people to listen and talk and hug and be hugged by. I've cried some, and I'm still kind of in shock, but I'm also thinking practically as well. I hope to find an apartment in the Princeton area, and there's nursery schools and theaters in the area that I'm going to call looking for work. The roughest part will be talking to my parents about all of this. One of the main decisions I made is that it would be bad for me to live at home for a variety of reasons. The relationships need work, and it's too easy for me to be dependent at home. Going out on my own scares the hell out of me, but I think it's something I need to do. My home address currently is: 674 Overlook Ct., Brick, NJ, 08724 I'll probably be there at least a little time, and it can serve as a mailing address until another one becomes definite. A question or few... Does anyone out there know anything about the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers? Specifically, do they have a technical theater major? In fact, if any of you know of a college that offers a major in technical theater, especially if it's in New Jersey, please tell me about it. Email will still work for a while, and I'll ask a friend to check it. It'd also be nice if I could get net access somehow. I know I can probably get it once I'm on a campus somewhere, but that'll probably be 8 months from now. I have a modem and an Apple IIc at home. (Greg, maybe I can do it from quartz?) There's so many people to thank, to say a special goodbye to, I don't know where to start... To all of you at IRCallahan's, thank you, we had some, ahem, *interesting* times. Maybe we managed to teach a few lessons in the process. Particularly thank you to Taldin and Steve and Greg (who would make a good female :-) To all of you here, those I've read and responded to, thank you for sharing so much of your lives, and for for caring so much. I've talked a little with so many of you, Chris Phoenix, Jilara, Melissa Tabbifli, Magyk, Gilly, Kathy, and of course all the IRCallahanians again. You've all made me think. To Scott, who I introduced to both Callahan's Places, and who has become such a part of them both, a special thank you and a chocolate hazelnut (*HUG*). If I've forgotten anyone, I apologize profusely. I will miss all of you here tremendously. Ta ta for now, friends, I'll be back someday... Mike, the usual please. "To faith, friendship, and the future!" -- "Make mine a root beer, Mike. Thanks. To communication! " ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jennifer Doyle // Princeton '92 // jmdoyle@phoenix.princeton.edu Disclaimer: I am a student, I represent the future. Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!jefyoung From: jefyoung@pawl.rpi.edu (Jeffrey Young) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Ghost-Posting For Jilara Message-ID: <%_3A0|@rpi.edu> Date: 2 Feb 90 21:25:56 GMT References: <13515@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY Lines: 178 (Jilara can't get through, so I'm posting this for her. Apparently RPI acknowledges Motorola's existence.) Here's my Birdsall reply, if you'd be so kind as to post it. Subject: Boom, and an Observation > {Sorry about the manifestation, but recent damage has left me without >power to do better.} Jilara gets up and gives the faded green tiger a hug. "Oh, I know that imaging problem." (Her email image is a bit faded lately, too---damned mailer problems!!***$#@&%!!) Her teeth grit a little, making her look as if she might be grimacing and snarling a bit simultaneously. "Let's JUST be friends. Goddamn, I hate that phrase. Too many men have pulled it on me. What they mean is they find it impossible to be friends with me at all. Because there is no JUST in my friendships. I put more into them than most folks put into their relationships. I pointed this out to my ex-SO, and he immediately did an emotional clobber, and exitted for the door. You see, most folks don't want to be FRIENDS. They just want a very superficial relationship where they don't have to actually interact. People also use that catch-phrase about "soulmates," except that what they really don't realize is that many have no soul to find a mate to. It's very easy to find a soulmate if you have no soul, in that you look for the absence of something rather than the presence of something." > {She said things just didn't click when we met. Which means I have >failed, for above all I am Chameleon, and it is my Function to MAKE >things click. It is my Function to gather data and process it quickly >and accurately, to use that data in the most intelligent manner >possible, including adapting myself to the ambient conditions as >necessary. "I thought I was the only one with the chameleon ability. Welcome to the mirror-maze (sigh). I can fit into anything, anywhere. I can be the consummate social butterfly, and everyone likes me. But it's a virtual image, not the real Jilara. The soul-less image interacting with people who have no souls. The real Jilara is off in her lonely space, inhabiting virtual gin-joints. There are a few people who like me for me, but most don't even want to KNOW the real me... Lord Dunsany once did an interesting fantasy story about a fay who was granted a soul, and made human, and the infinite pain it caused her, because she realized that most others were like her former self, who felt and experienced very little, but just passed through the world. In the end, she gives up her soul, because she can't take any more pain. But not before she has contributed more to the world than most humans." > {It is my Function to pick up cues from people and be what they need >me to be. And I have failed. "You get really good after a while, too, huh? Me too. I, too, have my Spock side, and in my case it's a Narrator that integrates all the mess into some semblence of a Plot, and tosses in the clues I need to pick up with my Holmsian logic. The Narrator comes out when things are too stressful for me to put up with---which may be why it's so easy to write Jilara into the world-space of Callahans." > {And for all of you who are doubtless leaping forward to tell me to >relax and be myself, guess what? > {There isn't one.} "Mutated too many times, huh? My self is/was Jane. The kid who kicked dogs, got tunnel vision, and tried to hurt herself a lot. I didn't want to be me, and I don't think anyone else would, either. That's why I created Jilara, as company. If you're going to create an image for everyone else, you might as well create one for yourself. At least it give you someone to talk to. :-) After a while, Jilara became REAL. But then, she was me to begin with. I just had to believe in her." > {And thus I come to be so mutable that there is no core left, just >the odd rock or two, irrational attitudes left over from many years ago. > {But I didn't do it well enough, and now I pay the price. And I've got >to be reasonable about it, because anything else would constitute an >additional failure of accuracy, making the first that much worse.} "The problem is, you keep having to be psychic, and second-guessing all the time as to what people want. And I've found I don't have the wherewithall to do that. Nor, I suspect, do you or any of us... Every now and then, all of us find we're playing a rigged game. It's not our fault. No one plays with cheaters because they WANT to." > {What's worse is that I've just lost my last chance. "Well, maybe I just don't believe in last chances. I'm 35, and don't feel there's nothing left, as yet. I just keep on hanging on, hoping that in a few more decades, things may improve. If we don't blow up the entire world first. But then, nothing will matter then, will it? :-( " > {And out in the real world, forget it. I haven't a clue how to meet >people out there. Worse, none of my friends from earlier classes have >been able to solve the problem either. In my case, I started joining historic groups of various kinds, walking around and saying "Hey, nice fur. You tan it yourself?" I don't begin to claim it was easy. And it doesn't guarantee you interaction, even then. But it was a start.... What is the REAL world? I'm not sure I accept its premise of consentual reality." > {And consider: I'm such a social cripple that even in school, where >you're basically STUCK meeting new people whether you like it or not, I >still can't do it except via the computer. "Hey, I'm a poppet, a stick-figure that everyone knows and likes, but no one knows the REAL Jane Beckman. They know shadows and images I cast, but those are just shadows, who do not think and feel and hurt, things that are able to interact far more easily than the lonely woman who lives inside this puppet-shape. Believe me, you can be damned lonely among "friends." I have met more "real" people inside this box with glow-letters than in years in the outside world. People who know me by my thoughts, not the image they think they see. And now I meet someone who understands, and my best friend decides she wants to trash him because his external image doesn't meet specs for her. I HATE people who judge by what they THINK they see." >I can program rings around half the CS >majors here. But nobody wants to hire me. Romantically, all I want to do >is make somebody happy. But nobody wants me. "I've got a helluva lot of skills, myself, and so far, it's gotten me nowhere. If I'm so smart, why ain't I successful? After a while, I realized it's because the gods have better things for me to do than living in the so-called American Dream (which is actually pretty nightmarish)." >I have not the power to Touch another's life at all. "Are you sure? I had to have a complete mental breakdown before I found out there were people ALIVE because of me. However, it's the Tin Woodman syndrome---you may be loved by others, but your heart of hearts is still made of tin, and you know how lonely that is. (Hi, Nick! :-) ) > {There's not a damn thing any one of you can say which will change >anything. Friends are like psychologists; they can sit and listen to you >bitch, but there's nothing they can do. "True, for all healing must come from within, not without. And you, my friend, are much outer-directed, by your own admission. But sometimes, just having someone listen to you can be the difference of life and death. I know it has been so for me. It might one day be so for you. If you keep the walls up, nothing goes in or out. It was scary for me to lower the walls, expecting to get my head blown off. I've gotten it blown off a couple time, but I seem to have a couple spares, so I guess that's what matters. One bargains much pain for some small joy. Better than no bargain at all, I have felt. That may not be valid for you. I cannot say." > {Which one of you will speak the words that reorder the world to my >liking, I ask, and there is naught but silence because you and I are >both but human. > {And that's about all there is to say about that.} "None of us, I fear, for your world is your own, even as my world is my own. There are worlds we share, though, and those are the ones we can change. That's why I'm out here, reordering the world until I fall into a heap. It let me happen; it is thus my duty not to let too many more of me happen again, so much as it is in my power. May my blessings go with you, for I have been there, friend." ---Jilara the Exile (I hope.) "If I'm not home accepting what I cannot change, I'm out changing what I can't accept." ---Ashleigh Brilliant (alternate identity may be jane@fsdcupt.csd.mot.com---don't you love computers with identity crises?) --- -- "You are blue, Unicorn.. the Blue of clear, cloudless days where everything seems like it's going right and nothing could go wrong.. and the Blue of despair and lonliness." jefyoung@pawl.rpi.edu Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!apple.com!zardoz From: zardoz@apple.com (The One Eyed Man) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Evidence that god is an iron Message-ID: <6483@internal.Apple.COM> Date: 2 Feb 90 18:44:03 GMT Sender: usenet@Apple.COM Distribution: alt Organization: Apple Computer, Inc. Lines: 31 References:<4888@convex.convex.com> In article gilly@bucsf.bu.edu (Gilly Rosenthol) writes: > In article <4888@convex.convex.com> schumach@convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher) writes: > > "If there is a god, it must be an iron, to paraphase Spider. 'Know > ye them by their fruits', and so on. Coming out of my ophthalmologist > today, I get into the car, turn on the radio and hear Jackson Browne's > 'Doctor My Eyes'. This ends and goes to an ad, so I flip stations. > There's Elton John singing 'your eyes are blind, but you see more than > I...'". He sips the beer. "What else was there to do but turn off the > radio and drive straight here?" > > Gilly tries to hide a smile in her mug of hot chocolate. "Don't tell > me you're going to try to get blind drunk and make a spectacle of > yourself?" she asks, and ducks the shower of peanuts that are thrown > at her. "Ouch! Contact!" she cries as some hit her. "I didn't know > there was any prescription against puns here!" "Eye would hope not! " the One Eyed Man says, raising a PAIR of glasses, no less. "Even if there were, we would just turn ventriloquist and 'frame' someone else. It's not so much having a mouthpiece as an earpiece," he continues, dodging an oncoming empty peanut husk. "After all, were all lensmen here (Doc, forgive me that one)." ************************************* * When you do it to me, it's discrimination * When I do it to you, it's AA ************************************* -- These are my ideas. Oy vey, are they mine. -- zardoz Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!apple!agate!sandstorm.Berkeley.EDU!gwh From: gwh@sandstorm.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Evidence that god is an iron (PUNS) Message-ID: <1990Feb2.231940.27033@agate.berkeley.edu> Date: 2 Feb 90 23:19:40 GMT Sender: usenet@agate.berkeley.edu (USENET Administrator;;;;ZU44) Reply-To: gwh@ocf.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert) Distribution: alt Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 14 Summary:the parsomaniac strikes In article ckd@bu-pub.bu.edu (Christopher Davis) writes: > > > "I didn't know there was any prescription against puns here!" > >"Ah, that's shed some light on the subject... A cornea pun, true, but of a >rather... vitreous humor. Yes, we have many apt pupils here...." Eye, eye aie. Well, we're shedding some light on another aspect of the true nature of Callahans, I see. -maniac [i say, bring back the punday competitions, and some tall tales!] Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!jarthur!uci-ics!orion.oac.uci.edu!ucsd!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hplred!egly From: egly@hplred.HP.COM (Diana Egly) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Alaric Frets a Little Message-ID: <20940035@hplred.HP.COM> Date: 31 Jan 90 18:39:38 GMT References: <9001261358.AA20360@fsdcupt.csd.mot.COM> Organization: Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto CA Lines: 40 Am I addressing the thin air or is it a ghost of Alaric? Perhaps Fast Eddie can deposit folks who prey on vulnerable others - those who see someone hurting as a potential conquest - in the back alley. But there can be a similar problem as well. Let me talk a bit about what happened to me... After my sister's death I was shattered, demolished. I *needed* comfort. People - mostly men - responded. Now a few of them were like those people you were talking about. Vultures preying on the not-yet dead. But most of them were decent, caring, human beings. Even so, they didn't realize that a person whose is emotionally bankrupt isn't ready to have a relationship. And that to try to have such a relationship with such a person is an abuse of the trust you need to have between you. Now, we expect people in the helping professions -- doctors, ministers, therapists -- to understand that the people they are helping are strictly off-limits. Such a clarity of limits helps insure that no one gets abused or taken advantage of. Because otherwise it can (and sometimes does) happen, especially when dealing with people in pain. But most folks aren't in the helping professions. Most of us here at Callahans are just decent, caring human beings. But decent, caring people need to be careful. You can do damage, even though you don't intend to, if you try to mix being a supportive friend with romantic (or sexual) overatures. I should know; it has happened to me. Now I'm not saying that you can't give a lot of wonderful support to your SO. I'm not saying that someone who needs a listening ear isn't ready for romantic relationships. There's a difference between being emotionally vulnerable or devastated and having a few problems. Eh? Try to respect that difference. My toast? "To those who say 'not now. later. when you've got your life (your self?) back together.' These are true friends!" And I throw my glass which has heretofore been as ghostly as Alaric crashing into the fireplace. Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!usc!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!jarthur!uci-ics!orion.oac.uci.edu!ucsd!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hplred!egly From: egly@hplred.HP.COM (Diana Egly) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Fragility, Beauty, Resignation Message-ID: <20940036@hplred.HP.COM> Date: 31 Jan 90 19:14:22 GMT References: <9001241640.AA06606@fsdcupt.csd.mot.COM> Organization: Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto CA Lines: 24 Some reflections on roses... I remember hearing someone say once... A long while ago... Something about a rose. It was during a particular part of her cycle of ups and downs... "A rose," she said, "is a horrible thing to give me. Its colors are too bright, too vibrant. They glow with an intensity and a brilliance that will blind me. I can't bear to look on it." Beauty can be too sharp and cutting sometimes, it seems. For some people. Cynic, I agree that no philosophy can change how you feel about the transience of the beauty of a rose. But for whatever it's worth, at least you can see its beauty. Even if the beauty will not last forever. Even if you hate it for being so temporary. At least you can identify it as a source of beauty. I won't tell you that you should find comfort in this. Just be aware that there are other ways of being. Ones where a stone is far more beautiful than any rose because of the stone's very drabness. Ones where it is more natural to appreciate the coolness of a stone rather than the intensity of a flower. Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!spdcc!merk!xylogics!world!eliz From: eliz@world.std.com (Elizabeth Lear) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: A Little Dream (anyone for an (n+1)-et?) Message-ID: <1990Feb2.163338.2561@world.std.com> Date: 2 Feb 90 16:33:38 GMT References: <8wlbrad01@ULKYVX.bitnet> <90032.165839EMD101@PSUVM.BITNET> Organization: The World Lines: 16 "Well", came another voice from the side, (making the people near the speaker realize that she had been gently singing for quite a while) "I don't keep anything handy with me like a harmonica, but I always have my voice. And after singing for my whole life, 12 years of playing the French Horn, and proportionately fewer years of the trumpet, piano, mellophone, flute, recorder and penny whistle, any occasion to make music is welcome." ...eliz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the many fine staff members of THE WORLD - public access UNIX SUN 4/280 (617)739-WRLD 24 hrs. 300/1200/2400bd *Interested in musical theater? Join us! musicals-request@world.std.com*