From DNICOL@VAX2.CSTP.UMKC.EDU Mon Apr 11 22:25:14 1994 Subject: WORD OF THE MONTH JUNK MAIL BROADSIDE ADVERTISMENT THINGY To: acmstchp@SUVM.BITNET, gregory.kucherov@loria.fr, sroliver@polyslo.calpoly.edu, bstilman@copper.denver.colorado.edu, khare@caltech.edu, vidya@astro.ocis.temple.edu, pparker@acm.org, ejnicol@root.indstate.edu, holdorph@cps.msu.edu, cdash@ludell.uccs.edu, jk@sparc0a.cs.uiuc.edu, adam@vlsi.cs.caltech.edu, acm@acuvax.acu.edu, hencheyj@merrimack.edu, wiley@hp800.lasalle.edu, vanscoy@cs.wvu.edu, EDWIN.V.SEIDEWITZ@GSFCMAIL.GSFC.sprint.com, alyxx@NADC.NADC.NAVY.MIL, zawacki@crayola.cse.psu.edu, KA71355%LTUVAX.bitnet@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU, sb75771@LTUVAX.BITNET, PPARKER@ACM.ORG, ryan@sparc0a.cs.uiuc.edu, an16736@anon.penet.fi, an1322@anon.penet.fi, an26864@anon.penet.fi, an7305@anon.penet.fi Organization: University of Missouri - Kansas City, CSTP X-Vms-To: @WOTM.DIS X-Vms-Cc: DNICOL Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT /****************************************************** * * * BLOODY PAPER: the Word Of The Month Letters Page * * * ******************************************************/ >Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness. > > -- Samuel Beckett > > Submitted by: cobrien@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (CHARLES F. O'BRIEN) > Feb. 19, 1994 > -------------------------------------------------------------- > Send quotes to qotd@ensu.ucalgary.ca > Send list changes or requests to qotd-request@ensu.ucalgary.ca Is everyone aware of the "Quote Of The Day?" It's a list maintained by this dude in Canada --- a cool quote every day. Subscribe! >From: IN%"vanscoy@cs.wvu.edu" 28-MAR-1994 10:36:28.25 >Subj: please add to list > > >Please add me to the distribution list for the Word of the Month. >I'm a computer science professor who is reigning departmental hack champion. > > Frances Van Scoy > West Virginia University We're proud for you, Frances! >From: MX%"alyxx@NADC.NADC.NAVY.MIL" 28-MAR-1994 12:58:46.62 >Subj: Re: marc h 1994 word of the month > >You come up with the most BIZZARE things to send out, David!!!!! YES I want to > be on your list!!!! > >Codepie. I never knew it had a name.... >Alyxx > >P.S. What prompted this word-of-the-month thing???? It falls heavily into >the category of wonderful, but entirely f-ed up, twisted reality, and more >than a little bent ideas!! I sometimes fear that if I were better able to >follow your brain patterns, I'd end up living in a quiet spot, wearing only >long-sleeved jackets....but then, it could be a lot more fun that way!! > >Alyxx Eat in good health! --- And remember to tip those waitresses and bartenders... >Subj: (From: IN%"ACMSTCHP@SUVM.BITNET" "ACM Student Chapters") > Re: MARCH 1994 WORD OF THE MONTH > >Please include us, IPFWACM in the word of the month! > >Thanks, >Kay Hinga Gladly. What's your e-mail address? This release is the last piece of mail that WOTM will be sending to the ACMSTCHP distribution list. From: MX%"adam@vlsi.cs.caltech.edu" 27-MAR-1994 03:33:36.45 >Cool stuff, man! Please keep me on the words of the month club. > > Adam Thanks! >From: MX%"PPARKER@ACM.ORG" 1-APR-1994 14:14:09.74 > > How are you? I like the Word-of-the-Month thing; by all means > include me in future mailings. This one might have focused a bit > too heavily on sex. Go figure... /*************************************************** * E D I T O R I A L * ***************************************************/ Next months word is still up in the air, but it certainly ISN'T "idiolect." In response to one recieved suggestion, we are NOT considering terms based on the characteristic traits of any individual, as that, IMHO, would shankel the whole project in ways that would prevent it from ever reaching beyond the status of a crazy diary of trivial and disconnected arbitrary inclusions. /*************************************************** * S U B S C R I P T I O N P O L I C Y * ***************************************************/ This is the LAST piece of e-mail WOTM is sending to the ACM Student Chapters Distribution list! The FLOOD of letters demanding that I STOP has been too much for even my persistence to endure! Therefore... I will be adding to the list anyone who asks, until April 26, 1994, at which time the cost of an enduring subscription to WOTM will go up to 1.0000 Agora Nomic marks. Full details, for those who do not yet have a marks account at Agora Nomic, will be included in the April issue. Until next time, David L. Nicol DNICOL@CSTP.UMKC.EDU ------------------------------------------- From dnicol@PRIMUS.CSTP.UMKC.EDU Wed Apr 27 00:56:11 1994 To: MOSINSK@VM1.CC.UAKRON.EDU, jmm@gandalf.baylor.edu, simms@cs.uiuc.edu, rakowski@cps.msu.edu, an7305@anon.penet.fi, an26864@anon.penet.fi, an1322@anon.penet.fi, an16736@anon.penet.fi, ryan@sparc0a.cs.uiuc.edu, PPARKER@ACM.ORG, sb75771@ltuvax.bitnet, KA71355%LTUVAX.bitnet@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU, zawacki@crayola.cse.psu.edu, alyxx@NADC.NADC.NAVY.MIL, EDWIN.V.SEIDEWITZ@sprintf.merit.edu, vanscoy@cs.wvu.edu, wiley@hp800.lasalle.edu, hencheyj@merrimack.edu, acm@acuvax.acu.edu, adam@vlsi.cs.caltech.edu, jk@sparc0a.cs.uiuc.edu, cdash@ludell.uccs.edu, holdorph@cps.msu.edu, ejnicol@root.indstate.edu, pparker@acm.org, vidya@astro.ocis.temple.edu, khare@caltech.edu, bstilman@copper.denver.colorado.edu, sroliver@polyslo.calpoly.edu, gregory.kucherov@loria.fr Cc: dnicol@PRIMUS.CSTP.UMKC.EDU Subject: April Word Of The Month April 1994 Word Of The Month. April 26, 1994. In the 17th year after the death of the king, Elvis A. Presley. *************************** WOTM table of contents: What, like I'm supposed to impress you with my fine organizational skills? The WOTM editorial policy is that since any definition of the border between one included piece and the next would be arbitrary, there is no table of contents. **************************** IDEA OF THE MONTH: FLOATING DESALINATION RAFTS TO PROVIDE DRINKING WATER FOR LOS ANGELES Okay, it's like this: The problem with solar desalination is that you need land to slosh the water up onto, and the apparatus rapidly clogs with leftover sea salt. Both of these problems can be avoided by building floating desalination apparatus off the coast of southern California. Each desalination bubble would be a small and easily manufactured unit, of a manageable size, say perhaps four or five feet across, with a clear top, and edges extending to the water to seal the air inside the bubble in. Water condenses on baffles inside the bubble and drips into a network of hoses leading into pipes which eventually lead back to the shore. The optimal dimensions of the buoys and the exact designs of the drip linkages are to be determined. Plenty of opportunity for patent titles. We imagine that a raft of desalination buoys a mile square aught to provide just as much fresh water as any aquifer, and with virtually no environmental impact. The things could of course be built from recycled plastics, why not. Completely scalable. Need more fresh water, just build more! When they fill up with algae they will need to be replaced or cleaned. For a packet containing the current complete set of rough pencil sketches, send your postal address, two dollars to cover postage and handling, and transfer three Agora Nomic marks to the Nicol account. The aquifer builders are mean when they're cornered, so be careful who you repeat this to! **************************** >Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness. > > -- Samuel Beckett > -------------------------------------------------------------- > Send quotes to qotd@ensu.ucalgary.ca > Send list changes or requests to qotd-request@ensu.ucalgary.ca ****************************** Another one is Anu Garg's A.Word.A.Day: Anu Garg sends out the "Word Of The Day" which is a vocabulary builder and daily quote service not unlike the "Quote of the day." For example, the following: From: VAX1::IN%"anu@viper.cwru.edu" 26-APR-1994 01:49:42.30 Subj: A.Word.A.Day--chrematophobia chre.ma.to.pho.bia \ kre_ma.-to_'fo_--be_--* \ n : fear of money Which naturally leads into the revised * W O T M S U B S C R I P T I O N P O L I C Y * Subscriptions to Word Of The Month now cost 1.000 Agora Nomic marks. Agora Nomic Marks can be acquired by playing Agora Nomic. Write to Oerjan@nvg.unit.no for details *********************** --------------------------------------------------- The measure of a good tool is not only what tasks may be accomplished using it, but also how much adaptation is required of the user to accomplish these tasks. --------------------------------------------------- This may be of interest: > From: VAX1::IN%"anu@viper.cwru.edu" 26-APR-1994 00:24:29.08 > To: IN%"linguaphile@viper.cwru.edu" > Subj: Thesaurus/by/Mail > Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 23:19:13 -0400 (EDT) > > Greetings. > > I'm happy to announce yet another service from my wordserver: > > Thesaurus/by/Mail > > To find out synonyms of a word, send a message to: > > wordsmith@viper.elp.cwru.edu > > Make the subject line as: > > synonym myword > > where myword is the word whose synonyms you want to find out. > Leave the body of the message blank -- it is ignored. > > I am using Project Gutenberg release of Roget's Thesaurus for > Thesaurus/by/Mail. Feel free to ask if you have any questions. > -- > Anu Garg (anu@viper.elp.cwru.edu) > > Electronic Library Project, > Case Western Reserve University, > Cleveland OH 44106 > > >"`That's a great deal to make one word mean,' Alice said in a thoughtful tone. >`When I make a word do a lot of work like that,' said Humpty Dumpty, `I always > pay it extra.'" - Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass" > ********************** From: VAX1::IN%"anu@viper.cwru.edu" 12-APR-1994 00:23:08.52 To: IN%"linguaphile@viper.cwru.edu" Subj: A.Word.A.Day--hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian Date: Tue, 12 Apr 1994 00:05:51 -0400 (EDT) X-Bonus: Bureaucrat, n.: A person who cuts red tape sideways. hip.po.poto.mon.stro.sesqui.ped.al.ian \ 'hip-*-.pot.-'ma_:n-str*s_s-'kwip_ped-* l.ian\ adj : pertaining to a very, very long word ************************************************************************ This last Anu Garg bonus brings us to this month's word, which is, of course, "Bureautic." A Bureautic is a neurotic bureaucrat. The sort of person who might be responsibl;e for spamming your organization's budget because they simply do NOT change light bulbs themselves, that's a physical plant problem, it's not a suitable task for an operations staff employee. Although the example is extreme. The first and only time I have heard bureautic used in a sentence, it was spoken by David Prebyl, the treasurer of the Computer Science and Telecommunications Student Council here at UMKC, and he may have merely been lazy in his enunciation of bureaucratics, but I clearly did hear him say that the problem in getting things accomplished quickly in a large organization was all the bureautics. This month's word has not undergone thorough fieldtesting. Use at own risk. Any attempt to hold the WOTM staff in any way responsible for damages arising from the use of the word "bureautic" will be met with laughter and derision. ************************************************************************* X-Bonus: God is REAL, unless explicitly declared INTEGER. Subj: A.Word.A.Day--highfalutin X-Bonus: Defeat is worse than death because you have to live with defeat. high.fa.lu.tin \.hi_--f*-'lu_:t- *n\ adj : PRETENTIOUS, POMPOUS From: IN%"qotd-request@ensu.ucalgary.ca" 18-APR-1994 05:53:58.93 To: IN%"qotd@ensu.ucalgary.ca" From: qotd-request@ensu.ucalgary.ca (Quote of the day) "There have never in history been so many opportunities to do so many things that aren't worth doing." - U.S. novelist William Gaddis "That line underscores an important distinction - that of failing at that which is worth doing, as opposed to succeeding at something which is not. Given that distinction, there is nothing more demoralizing than to fail at something that you knew wasn't worth doing in the first place." - William Gaddis, commenting on his above quotation Submitted by: rotaylor@nsf.gov (Roger Taylor) Send quotes to qotd@ensu.ucalgary.ca Send list changes or requests to qotd-request@ensu.ucalgary.ca *********************************************************************** WOTM MOVIE OF THE MONTH: WITH HONORS Is it just me, or in the past month or two have incidences of the construction of the been on the rise? All those autos claiming to be the Car Of The Year and so forth. Anyway this month WOTM has a movie reccomendation. _With_Honors_, starring Joe Pesci and a bunch of youths. Set in Cambridge, MA but shot somewhere with slightly more spacious driveways. Pesci plays a man who, in the course of what may possibly be his finest season, both teaches at Harvard and appears on a radio show, along with "Harvard's best cock," as "the bum of the month." All you multiple meaning enthusiasts may now revert to primal states. See you next month. That is all.