Date:  Thursday, 6 December 1984 17:06 mst
From:  James J. Lippard <Lippard>
Subject:  Miscellaneous Digest V3 #39
Reply-To:  {mbx >udd>Multics>Lippard>misc>misc}
To:  {list >udd>Multics>Lippard>misc>misc}

Miscellaneous Digest                              Volume 3 : Issue 39

Today's topics:
                    Administrivia: format change
                    Natural Childbirth Revisited
                    Controlling (?) a plant (from Info-COBOL)
                    interesting drug abuse statistics
                    true tale

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Date:  Thursday, 6 December 1984 16:57 mst
From:  James J. Lippard <Lippard>
Subject:  New misc format

At the beginning of next year, misc will no longer be digestified.
Submissions should still be sent to {mbx >udd>m>jjl>misc>misc} on System
M (HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS, via CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS).  Messages will not be
automatically redistributed but will be edited for typos.  On System M
they will be entered into a Miscellaneous (misc) forum meeting which
will be located in >udd>m>jjl>mtgs.  Recipients on System M will be
removed from the mailing list unless I am notified that you wish to
continue to receive submissions by mail.  Old messages will be archived
and indexed in basically the same way they are today.

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Date:  Tuesday, 4 December 1984 22:57 mst
From:  Jerry Crow
Subject:  Natural Childbirth Revisited

Interesting  coincidence:  The feature section of the 12/04 Phoenix Gazette
has an article on Dave Barry, the humor writer responsible for the vignette
on  Natural  Childbirth  posted in V3, #37.  Among other things, there is a
picture of him with his young son.

It appears that Dave has collected numerous such monographs into a new book
called  "Babys  &  Other  Hazards  of  Sex".   The  article  about  him  is
interesting, though the humor examples given are not up to the level of the
Natural  Childbirth  offering.   It  was  excellent.  Having been the route
myself, I found the treatise most enjoyable.

------------------------------

Date:  Wednesday, 5 December 1984 00:56 mst
From:  Jim Lewinson <a.Jiml at SU-GSB-WHY>
Subject:  Controlling (?) a plant

Date: 29 Nov 84  1404 PST
From: Frank Yellin <FY@SU-AI.ARPA>
Subject: from the New Yorker

The following is from the Palm Springs Desert Sun (and reprinted word
for word in the New Yorker).

          "Controlling a plant," says Theodore J.  Williams, a researcher
    at Purdue University "takes a wider attention span than any one person
    could possibly have."  But with a distributed computer system, Mr.
    Williams added, "You can increase profitability, increase
    productivity, reduce raw materials and reduce emissions, because the
    computer system is flexible, process, rather than an entire plant.
    The system is flexible, allowess, rather than an entire plant.  The
    system is flexible, allowing anather than an entire plant.  The system
    is flexible, allowing an operator to rearrange a manufacturing process
    from his seat at the console.  "If you change your mind," said Robert
    E. Otto, a technical consultant at the Monsanto Co., "you don't have
    to rewire, you can just reprogram."

          And because the systhe central computer.  Then if something goes
    wrong ing back to the central computer.  Then if something goes wrong
    ing back to the central computer.  Then if something goes wrong wit
    back to the central computer.  Then if something goes wrong with the
    main cocentral computer.  Then if something goes wrong with the main
    control l computer.  Then if something goes wrong with the main
    control room your plant is O.K."

------------------------------

Date:  Wednesday, 5 December 1984 15:01 mst
From:  James J. Lippard <Lippard>
Subject:  interesting drug abuse statistics

According to an essay by Arnold Trebach in the Wall Street Journal
called "Time to Declare a Drug Truce", abuse of tobacco causes 300,000
deaths a year, while overdoses of heroin and cocaine cause only 1,800
deaths a year.  "Deaths from marijuana overdose are not estimated
because they are virtually nonexistent." In addition, 1 of 10 users of
alcohol, heroin, and cocaine becomes dependent, while 8.5 out of 10
tobacco users become dependent.  Trebach also estimates that federal
drug-enforcement efforts will consume $1.22 billion next year.

------------------------------

Date:  Thursday, 6 December 1984 17:03 mst
From:  James J. Lippard <Lippard>
Subject:  true tale

From the San Jose Mercury News, December 6, 1984:

Los Angeles (AP) - Actress Barbara Bain's dog was killed when a delivery
person heaved a copy of the Los Angeles Times toward the actress's front
lawn and it landed on the animal, the actress's agent said Wednesday.

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End of Miscellaneous Digest
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