Date: Friday, 28 September 1984 14:58 mst From: James J. Lippard Subject: Miscellaneous Digest V3 #30 Reply-To: {mbx >udd>Multics>Lippard>misc>misc} To: {list >udd>Multics>Lippard>misc>misc} Miscellaneous Digest Volume 3 : Issue 30 Today's topics: Onyx BC8820 Stone Block Reader primes another glitch in the call cat food super heroes ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thursday, 27 September 1984 23:24 mst From: Jay Pattin Subject: Onyx BC8820 Stone Block Reader Forum-Transaction: [1620] in the >lib>forum>forum_dir>Bulletin_board meeting Transaction-Entered-By: SIPB_Daemon.SIPB@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Transaction-Entered-Date: 27 Sep 84 21:36 EDT Redistributed-Date: 28 September 1984 11:08 mst Redistributed-From: Pattin Redistributed-To: {mbx >udd>m>jjl>misc>misc} Date: Thursday, 27 September 1984 16:05 edt From: Walter Hamscher Subject: Onyx BC8820 Stone Block Reader Professor Petra Hechtman of the Archaeology Dept has an Egyptian tombstone written in Hieroglyphs on an Onyx C8002 system running ONYX IV.II that he needs to read. The Onyx system that the block was written with has died (legend has it that it is archived in the temple of Tymsharin). He needs to get the data off the rock soon so that the exact date of Graduate Student Lunches can be calculated (the most recent prediction fixes the date of the next "bologna eclipse" as Friday the 28th at noon in the Third Floor Playroom, hosted by David "Saz" Saslov and Mike "Mpw" Wellman). According to Data Gene-rock, the original Filer was 1/4 cubit, 6250 spd (strokes per digit), 90 RAs, up to 10K BC. Anyone who has, knows of, or has chips off the original device that might be able to decipher the stone, please contact Prof. Hechtman at x5848, or at /dev/null@mit-htvax. ------------------------------ Date: Friday, 28 September 1984 08:44 mst From: Ron Barstad Subject: misc digest Mathematician's proof that all odd numbers are prime: "3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime; therefore, by INDUCTION, all odd numbers are prime." Physicist's proof: "3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime,... uhh, experimental error ... 11 is a prime, 13 is a prime, ...." Electrical Engineer's proof: "3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 9 is a prime, 11 is a prime..." Computer Scientist's proof: "3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 7 is a prime, ..." Multician's proof: "3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime. There are no standards or resources allocated to find the remaining primes." ------------------------------ Date: Wednesday, 26 September 1984 08:09 mst From: J. Noel Chiappa Subject: Found on a 5th floor blackboard Another Glitch in the Call We don't need no indirection, We don't need no flow control, No data typing or declarations; Did you leave those lists alone? HEY! HACKER! Leave those lists alone! All in all, it's just a pure LISP function call. Sung to the tune of: 'Another Brick in the Wall', Pink Floyd. ------------------------------ Date: Thursday, 27 September 1984 12:28 mst From: Edjik Subject: [the tty of Geoffrey S. Goodfellow : Cat Food.] Return-Path: <@SRI-CSL:GEOFF@SRI-CSL.ARPA> Received: from SRI-CSL.ARPA by SU-SCORE.ARPA with TCP; Wed 26 Sep 84 10:25:48-PDT Date: 26 Sep 1984 10:18-PDT Sender: GEOFF@SRI-CSL Subject: Cat Food. From: the tty of Geoffrey S. Goodfellow To: DB-Lovers: Message-ID: <[SRI-CSL]26-Sep-84 10:18:29.GEOFF> S.F. Sunday Examiner & Chronicle BOY AND HIS PET PYTHON GIVE NEW MEANING TO `CAT FOOD' LA GRANDE, Ore. (UPI) -- A 15-year-old boy who scanned newspaper ads for free kittens to feed his pet python "doesn't look at it as being cruel," his mother says. "He looks at it as just feeding his pet snake," said Pam Lewis, whose son, Tim Barricklow, is the target of complaints. "We don't feel like we're killing pets," Lewis said of the 9-foot-long and growing snake, whose appetite is moving beyond the kittens stage. "We're keeping one alive." The boy responded to several newspaper classified ads offering free kittens earlier this summer. He picked up kittens in La Grande, Island City and Cove, Ore. He also said he received three alley cats from a La Grande pet store, two of which were fed to the snake. The third was returned to the store because the snake refused to eat it, he said. "To me, it's no more inhumane than the Humane Society gassing them," his mother said. Nevertheless, Lewis said, Barricklow stopped feeding kittens to the snake, named Apache, because the python continues to grow and needs bigger meals. Several complaints against the boy have been filed with the Oregon State Police, the La Grande Police Department and the Humane Society. Barricknow insisted that the diet is part of the natural food cycle and said using the animals as food is not as bad as making snakeskin purses and boots. He said the snake was underfed when he got it about a year ago. He began feeding it a constant diet of mice and rats, and as it returned to good health its appetite increased until he was feeding it 16 rats a week. Once the 25-pound reptile reaches full growth of about 20 feet, it will demand larger animals such as pigs or baby goats, he said. ------- ------- ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 25 September 1984 16:08 mst From: Jef Poskanzer Subject: It's getting harder to be super. [from Technology Review, February/March 1981, page 87] Superheroes from throughout the galaxy recently met in Metropolis for the First Joint Conference of Superheroes. This important event was staged in an effort to give new direction to the ailing superhero business: superheroes are falling by the wayside because of advances in technology. Conference chairperson Green Lantern summed up the problem in his opening address: "The fact is," he remarked, "it's getting harder to be a superhero." Superman gave substance to some of the problems addressed at the conference. "Leaping tall buildings at a single bound is one thing when the building is only 20 stories tall. But modern skyscrapers - some over 100 stories high - are causing me serious concern about future job security. Why, with the speed of some modern elevators, even old Perry White can get to the top of some buildings as fast as I can. Recently, I had to take four bounds to reach the top of the Sears tower in Chicago." Superman continued, "And as for being faster than a speeding bullet, the new generation of military rifles, including the M-16 and the AK-47, already gives me a close race. I wouldn't be surprised if, in five years, I just won't be able to compete." The overwhelming concerns of the other superheroes echoed Superman's worries about forthcoming obsolescence. The Flash, for example, proposed that the conferees form a joint committee to look into pension options for superheroes forced out of work. This was adopted by the conference, and the Flash was named as chairsuperhero. Also on the pension committee are Bruce Wayne of the dynamic duo, Batman and Robin. Wayne favors adoption of a plan similar to Social Security in which earnings of all superheroes are taxed to form a general fund. Aquaman, whose ability to talk to fish is not yet in technological jeopardy and whose skills are increasingly in demand as offshore drilling, shipping, fishing, and ocean-mining activities increase, had sharp words against such a plan. "If Batman and Robin don't have the skills to remain competitive in the superhero business, they should get out. They can always get work as a comedy act, like Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smith. If the free market doesn't require their services, then they should find another market - not leech an existence from those who have remained competitive in changing times. Why should I subsidize people who offer nothing in return? Sure, Superman, Flash, and some of the others want a free ride. But I have my own row to hoe. Let them take care of themselves." Scientist Bruce Banner, whose research efforts led to the development of his superstrength alter ego, the Hulk, had a different view. "A pension plan is treating the symptoms and not the causes," he said. "What we need is a concerted research effort to keep up with developing technology. Aquaman feels confident about his future now, but it won't be long before he is in the same boat as the others." Banner proposed a two-pronged research effort. One branch would look into advanced applications for super-talents already possessed. For instance, Superman could use his x-ray vision to evaluate stresses in bridges, dams, and buildings. A second and even more important research area is the development of new superpowers. "As my own work has proven," he said, "superpowers can be developed scientifically. We must strive for innovations that will keep us ahead of new developments in crime. For example, with the upsurge in electronic bank robberies, there is a serious need for someone to oversee data-processing operations around the world. 'Chipman' or 'Chipwoman' could monitor electronic pulses in the world's communications networks to lead them to the culprits. And 'Memoryman' or 'Memorywoman' could preclude the consequences of common computer failures that erase memory banks. The ramifications of these data loses are both costly and, when involving defense or crime-fighting files, dangerous." Banner's comments were met both with interest and skepticism. Remarked fellow scientist Braniac 5, "While the superheroes generally possess above-average intelligence, many are still skeptical of pursuing scientific solutions. They tend to see science as their enemy - the force that is creating their obsolescence. It is therefore hard for them to support research." But Banner's proposal did garner enough interest that Lantern also created a committee to investigate the feasibility or research-oriented solutions. And although a date has not been finalized, the conferees agreed to meet again this winter in Gotham City to review the reports of the two special committees. The conference ended on a humerous note with an annoying appearance by the imp from the fifth dimension, Mr. Mxyzptlk. However, John Jones, Martian Man Hunter, was able to induce the imp to say his name backwards, thus sending him back to his own dimension. -- Jeff Stollman ------------------------------ End of Miscellaneous Digest ***************************