Errors-To: ecto-owner@ns1.rutgers.edu Reply-To: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu Sender: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu From: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu To: ecto-request@ns1.rutgers.edu Bcc: ecto-digest-outbound@ns1.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto #941 ecto, Number 941 Sunday, 26 December 1993 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Scotland & Doom Uli's birthday! Merry Christmas! Re: IRC Help (additions) Re: Hi there! Happy Christmas! Re: IRC help irc, or for that matter,telnet A Late Birthday Greet RE: Today's your Geburtstag friend.... Access in NJ? Re: Help!!! Re: i'm doomed Fur, meat, leather etc. Re: A Few Favorites From 1993 Re: i really should be packing Re: I've Got Ewes Under My Skins (My Lips are Sealed) Re: The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram MU*s please unsubscribe me Live from the front Recoverning NIN addicts anonymous... ======================================================================== From: klaus@inphobos.wupper.de Date: Fri, 24 Dec 1993 21:19:08 Subject: Scotland & Doom Neile> All right then! > Ecto get-together Sunday, June 12th 1994 in Edinburgh. > Can anyone else be there?? Hey, can't we make that August 24th 1995 in Glasgow? (sorry Dave ;) That's in our datebook for a couple of years already. Some people here mentioned Doom, so I thought to give it a try although, from what I've heard about it, I was quite sure that I wouldn't like it. Not a minute into demo mode I interrupted it and deleted it from my hard disc. Excuse my harsh words, but this is a disgusting piece of software. :( _____ Klaus Kluge * klaus@inphobos.wupper.de * I'll be here, I'll be (in) Ecto! 3 You Are Here Marvin Camras Sat January 1 1916 Tapehead Jeanne Schreiter Tue January 3 1967 Capricorn John Sandoval Wed January 4 1967 Capricorn Paul Cohen Tue January 5 1954 Capricorn Tony Garrity Mon January 8 1962 Pool of Life Greg Bossert Tue January 9 1962 OfTheTimes Aaron Hawkins Mon January 12 1970 Capricorn Troy J. Shadbolt Thu January 14 1971 Capricorn Chris Sampson Wed January 15 1964 Void where prohibited Dennis G Parslow Fri January 17 1964 SDCN -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _____ Klaus Kluge * klaus@inphobos.wupper.de * I'll be here, I'll be (in) Ecto! ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 25 Dec 1993 15:22:38 -0500 (EST) From: HOLLY@umbc2.umbc.edu Subject: Uli's birthday! Happy birthday, Uli! I hope no one forgets it's your birthday because they're too caught up in Christmas. My brother Noel was born on 23 December and he *hates* it when people give him birthday/ Christmas presents. So, for a while, I'm going to forget it's Christmas and raise my glass to Uli, on account of it's Uli's birthday. *hug* Holly ======================================================================== From: Jeremy Corry Date: Sat, 25 Dec 93 17:13:48 -0500 Subject: Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone, and happy holidays to all no matter what you are celebrating! Sorry I missed wishing everyone a joyous winter solstice. I like remembering the abandoned holidays that our newer ones are based on. Stuart surprised me by giving me Fairground Attraction's _The First of A Million Kisses_. It surprised me how similar it was to Tracey Ullman. Also, Mark E. Nevin writes the songs on the album. He writes with Kirsty MacColl on some of her best songs. I also got the second CD to the PM Dawn / Boy George double single. Everyone should run out and buy the first one for sure. The single is a finely crafted song, and the performances are very rich. I also got a new Mercedes Lackey book, new William Gibson book, SimCity 2000, clothes from the parents, and heirloom diamond earring, RuPaul's _Little Drummer Boy_, an Enterprise tree ornament with lights (!), and a bunch of other stuff. I have a week off of work, so you can expect to hear from me a good bit, since I normally don't have much to read my mail, let alone write any. I'll leave you with a nice sacrilegious .sig for Christmas Day: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeremy J. Corry | Immaculate Conception: jcorry@erasure-sl.cc.emory.edu (NeXT) | Mary was a drag queen jcorry@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu (unix) | I've declared myself infallible. | If John Paul can why can't I? __ My opinions are my own, but I probably got them from someone else. \/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== From: neilg@sfu.ca Subject: Re: IRC Help (additions) Date: Sat, 25 Dec 1993 14:35:29 -0800 (PST) Vickie writes: > > ===================================================================== > > National Sun Yat-Sen University > > CC services > Vickie (who is *not* on her way to #hotsex) :) I'm just thinking what Dr. Sun Yat-Sen would have thought if he'd known that in 1993 not only has Taiwan renounced its plan to invade Mainland China, but that people from around the world can telnet to a university named after him and talk about hot sex. Hee hee... :) Heads would be rolling were he still alive, I'm sure! By the way, if people are wondering what all the strange hieroglyphic weirdness that pops up on the screen when you connect to this site, it's because it's displaying encoded Chinese characters. However if your computer lacks the necessary support software, these characters will come out as random ASCII characters. Either way I guess it doesn't mean much to me as I don't read Chinese. :) - Neil K. -- 49N 16' 123W 7' / Vancouver, BC, Canada / neil_k_guy@sfu.ca ======================================================================== From: neilg@sfu.ca Subject: Re: Hi there! Date: Sat, 25 Dec 1993 14:40:12 -0800 (PST) > I have had a fantastic few days so far (about a week actually), > and have had a very nice three days or say staying with Martin > Hanley in Bath. He lives a short walk from Solsbury Hill, which > is really great at midnight on the winter solstice. ou really > can see the city lights and the wind really is blowing! No eagles > though as far as I can remember. Fantastic experience. It's a nifty hill, isn't it? And I've heard theories that it's artificial, as it's so regular. > And Bath is a wonderful city. Go there if you are ever in England. I agree! I've spent lots of holiday visits there... I have fond memories of staying there at my aunt's place as a child. Speaking of which, by the way, any ectophiles wandering through the city of Bath should *really* stay at my aunt's bed and breakfast! Ten minute walk from the cathedral, one minute from the Avon-Kennet canal, lovely rooms in a Georgian terrace... very nice! That's Mrs Guy's B&B at Bath 465120! :) Although I don't know if it's open right now... she's in Venezuela right now for no particularly clear reason. - Neil K. -- 49N 16' 123W 7' / Vancouver, BC, Canada / neil_k_guy@sfu.ca ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 25 Dec 93 18:09:29 EST From: WretchAwry Subject: Happy Christmas! from Chris and I (and our cats...not that they *understand* the concept, but they're white cats and look cute with red ribbons and tinsel on them) While Chris was asleep this morning, I spent a very enjoyable morning in IRC (#ecto) with various and sundry wonderful people. Paul from Moscow, Mike from St. Petersburg (listening to Kate for the *first* time as we were "chatting"!) and Philip from New Zealand, with occasional hellays from Tim Cook in England and Scott Zimmerman in California. I had a wonderful time! It was especially fun when Mike typed out phrases he could hear from Kate songs and Paul or I (whoever was fastest) would give him the name of the song and the album (Mike hasn't yet gotten a list of what's on this compilation tape sent to him by Alex Gibbs). It was "Name That Tune" with lyrics :-) (I can name that tune in 4 words... "a sense of advent...." "TENNER! There Goes A Tenner from The Dreaming!") Btw, Mike *loved* what he was hearing!! Paul was sitting at his terminal in Moscow listening to "Equipoise" on headphones, while I was sitting at my terminal in Chicago, listening to "Equipoise" on headphones...it was *great*! (Jeffy and I did that once too, with Rhodes I. Lots o' fun!) It was a *very* nice Christmas morning, all in all. Merry and to the rest, Happy Saturday! :) Vickie ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 25 Dec 93 18:17:02 EST From: WretchAwry Subject: Re: IRC help Tripping Around Uganda writes: > Hiya!!!! Hi! Welcome to Ecto! > Sorry I am late, but anyway: Have a > > MERRY CHRISTMAS all, as well as a HAPPY NEW YEAR!! > > Here you go with 2 more things about irc: > > the first one is another telnet site (in Austria, Vienna), the scond I tried it, just for fun, and it worked for me. *Thank you* for including it and the info, which I've saved to file and haven't read all the way through yet. *HUG* Vickie ======================================================================== From: r.lovejoy1@genie.geis.com Date: Sun, 26 Dec 93 03:36:00 BST Subject: irc, or for that matter,telnet Hey there boobie! You say you have your own computer and modem? You say you can get to major services like Compuserve and Delphi which feature full internet access, but at full gouging prices? You say you see a lot of activity must be going on in #ecto but you can't reach irc on the service you have, and can't spend a fortune for the "big boys" Cserve and Delphi? Wonder, then, if any of those local big universities offer their sites to the public! Wonder if there is any chance of suburban PC clones talking to unix giants talking to Vickie and the rest of you live! I wonder. Any of you folks out there in the television lent have an idea how someone in this situation may be able to find a way to IRC without resorting to a "premium" service? Any local ectophiles with university connections know a way for civilians to log in? Just curious... BTW, Susanne White has me doing some errands to help in the distribution of Happy's music. Can any of you folks "telnet"? This might be a good one for Vickie if you're out there! Thanks for your time! +*************************************************************************+ + Robert Lovejoy + I've got a letter here postmarked Deep Space + + Deepspace + -The Firesign Theatre + + Cherry Hill, NJ + But baby I'm here and I've been quite an + + r.lovejoy1@genie.geis.co + Alien too... + + kdvn07a on Prodigy + -Happy Rhodes + +*************************************************************************+ ======================================================================== From: a.hawkins@genie.geis.com Date: Sun, 26 Dec 93 04:26:00 BST Subject: A Late Birthday Greet Happy Birthday, Uli! You probably don't remember, but you guided me to rdt about a year and a half ago, when I asked about it in one of the music newsgroups. That led me here to ecto last fall, and although I've met lots of truly wonderful people through the two groups, you were the first and I still think you're one of the best. *Hugs* and best wishes for next year! Aeren ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1993 18:20:19 +1200 From: sainty_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz Subject: RE: Today's your Geburtstag friend.... Merry Uli-tide wishes!!! Philip (I'm sorry! I'm sorry! ;) ======================================================================== From: Joe Zitt Subject: Access in NJ? Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1993 04:05:13 -0600 (CST) Hi, all. I may soon be moving temporarily to Toms River, NJ (not all that far from Ecto's gravitational center). Anyone know of a good internet/usenet/netmail site there? ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 24 Dec 1993 12:40:00 +0100 From: uli@zoodle.robin.de (Ulrich Grepel) Subject: Re: Help!!! WretchAwry says: > Oh boy! Last night was an amazing night for talk shows. David Letterman > was trading snipes with his guest Rush Dumball, while Jay Leno was > trading snipes with Howard Stern-o. What fun! We were flipping back and > forth furiously, not wanting to miss a jibe. Of course, both Dumball and > Stern-o came off looking like the assholes they are (IMHO). Hey! This is kind of good news! Why? Well, we here in Europe now do get Jay Leno (on SuperChannel that was just bought (partially) by NBC), and I already wondered how big a delay there is. The show I did see (was Monday or so) was with Howard Stern, so it's not a too big delay. We just have to figure out the exact amount of days. So, all you Americans: IF THERE'S SOMETHING IMPORTANT ON JAY LENO, TELL US! Thanks, Uli -- Das ist wie mit der Gleichung von Fermat - ein Raetsel, das wir wohl nie loesen werden - Captain Picard, StarTrek TNG, Folge 'Hotel Royal' ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 24 Dec 1993 17:20:00 +0100 From: uli@zoodle.robin.de (Ulrich Grepel) Subject: Re: i'm doomed > Ugh. have any of you played doom yet? YUP! And remember on which operating system it was availlable first! (Now if it only came for the right version of the hardware...) Ciao, Uli (NeXTmail accepted) -- Das ist wie mit der Gleichung von Fermat - ein Raetsel, das wir wohl nie loesen werden - Captain Picard, StarTrek TNG, Folge 'Hotel Royal' ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 24 Dec 1993 17:07:00 +0100 From: uli@zoodle.robin.de (Ulrich Grepel) Subject: Fur, meat, leather etc. I think there are four important areas that should be considered when talking about animals and how they're used: 1. How the animals are treated 2. How endangered the species is 3. How much of the animal is used 4. For what it is used 1. How the animals are treated The worst thing with animals being used by men often is the way the anmials are treated. Compare my down feather story. Consider hens in narrow cages. Consider baby seals hit by clubs. Consider all those animal transports from e.g. Germany to south Italy to the slaughter and then back again with the meat. Consider the stress animals have in the slaughterhouse. Consider all those nasty things men have thought up on how to be more 'efficient'. I personally don't have a problem if I use animals that have been treated in a good way. E.g. buy those eggs that are from non-cage-hens. E.g. buy those steaks that are from cows that have plenty of room to move and fresh grass to eat. E.g. buy a fur coat/leather jacket (I don't see a difference here) from an animal that has been treated well. An animal doesn't (need to) know that it's going to be slaughtered. So if it's quick and painless... Unfortunately most times you can't tell how the animal in question has lived its life. But often the product of well-treated animals is better. Meat tastes better, has less water in it, is more tender. Furs should be more 'nice' due to a healthier animal. 2. How endangered the species is I don't approve any use of animals that are from an endangered species. We have killed THAT many species that we shouldn't actively work on extinguishing more of them. 3. How much of the animal is used Even if an animal had a great live and was killed quick and painless and is from a species not exactly on the red list, if only a very small part of it is used I'd say it's spoilage. Most fur coats fall into this category. The animals aren't used for anything else besides their fur. 4. For what it is used Again, compare my previous message about this theme. When the horn of a rhino or the teeth of an elephant are used for things not strictly needed, then I do not approve it. Especially together with point 3. above. If elephants wouldn't be an endangered species and if the whole elephant would be used (leather, meat), then why not use the teeth to make a billiard player happy? -- Das ist wie mit der Gleichung von Fermat - ein Raetsel, das wir wohl nie loesen werden - Captain Picard, StarTrek TNG, Folge 'Hotel Royal' ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 24 Dec 1993 17:47:00 +0100 From: uli@zoodle.robin.de (Ulrich Grepel) Subject: Re: A Few Favorites From 1993 > Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstacy > > I'm still getting used to it. After many listens, most of the songs > still sound the same to me, I don't know the names of the songs, and I > haven't even begun to delve into the lyrics. Still, I know in my heart > that it belongs in this top tier. I've about the same 'problem' with that album. I've only had it for about a week now and listened to it about 6-8 times, but I still miss any hook in there. It's good, but until now I miss something special. I still will get Sarah's stuff without listening to it first. There ain't not too many artists where I do this. And why do all of you think about Peter Gabriel's 'US' that it is from 1993? Somehow there's a 1992 copyright on my copy, and I think I bought it last year. Ok, if everyone does a top-10-of-93, I'll do so too. But I'll do it a bit different by listing albums I've GOT in 1993. I also included only one album per artist. Alphabetical order: - Bjoerk: Debut - Bobo In White Wooden Houses: Bobo In White Wooden Houses - Mari Boine Persen: Gula Gula - Kate Bush: The Red Shoes - Loreena McKennitt: Parallel Dreams - Sarah McLachlan: Touch - Miranda Sex Garden: suspiria - Mouth Music: Mouth Music - Rainbirds: In A Different Light (which is availlable in a very nice box btw) - Happy Rhodes: equipoise Honorable mentions: - Margot Smith - I've not (yet) gotten the album, so it didn't fit in the above list. Next year! Anyone seen that the above list was almost completely suggested on Ecto? Only Kate and Bjoerk would have found their way to me without Ecto. So thanks for the list to exist! Bye, Uli -- Das ist wie mit der Gleichung von Fermat - ein Raetsel, das wir wohl nie loesen werden - Captain Picard, StarTrek TNG, Folge 'Hotel Royal' ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 25 Dec 1993 15:24:00 +0100 From: uli@zoodle.robin.de (Ulrich Grepel) Subject: Re: i really should be packing > it was along the line of "The second printing of The Tale of Peter > Rabbit contained a typographical error. What was the error and on what > page did it occur?" or something like that. Phew! And she answered > each question without hesitation, a faintly confident smile playing > across her lips. Wow! :-) What would you think: Put IED (for non-gaffa-Ectophiles: Andy Marvick) onto such a show and ask a question like 'what are those words at the beginning of song xxx that you can only hear with headphones at a deafening level because they are WAY in the background?' - you'd get an answer... Ciao, Uli -- Das ist wie mit der Gleichung von Fermat - ein Raetsel, das wir wohl nie loesen werden - Captain Picard, StarTrek TNG, Folge 'Hotel Royal' ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 25 Dec 1993 10:55:00 +0100 From: uli@zoodle.robin.de (Ulrich Grepel) Subject: Re: I've Got Ewes Under My Skins (My Lips are Sealed) > Which leads to the other nasty point in this: Is there a line between ranch- > raised animals (think cows for an example) and wild animals? If so, what > about ranch-raised mink? Or rabbit? Is this reprehensible? Or tolerable? > I don't have any answers, nor am I going to even think about passing a moral > judgement. The only conclusion I have is that my gut tells me there is a > difference, even if my head can't figure out a "good" reason why. I'd say there are two differences: 1. Wild animals usually lead a good life. They are not restricted to narrow boxes or cages etc. 2. Wild animals are often (not always) an endangered species. Ciao, Uli -- Das ist wie mit der Gleichung von Fermat - ein Raetsel, das wir wohl nie loesen werden - Captain Picard, StarTrek TNG, Folge 'Hotel Royal' ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1993 08:20:59 -0700 From: "Alex Gibbs" Subject: Re: The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram [Quotes below were cut out of previous post.] S.L.Fagg@bnr.co.uk (Steve Fagg's Mac) (Steve Fagg's Mac): > At 5:33 am 23/12/93 -0500, Vickie Mapes wrote: > >robh@cyberspace.org (Robert Henderson) writes in gaffa: > >>Pretty basic stuff here. Kate (or Kate's character in the song) > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > >*Thank you* for saying that. I *personally* (as in IMHO) think that > >it's a "character" is who is singing. I think Kate wrote her as a character, which represents herself to some degree that we do not know. It might be completely ficticious or be autobiographical but is most likely something in between these two. How can we tell? > >IMHO she just used it in the song, and there just isn't enough > >evidence to say that she actually practices the religion or ritual. I agreee there isn't enough evidence. > On the basis of the song alone I would agree with this. But Peter > Fitzgerald-Morris (not sure the name's exactly right - the "Homeground" guy > anyway) posted in gaffa that "Lily" is the name of the person who taught > KaTe the ritual as a protection from psychic attack. I've not used quote In addition one of the people at the NY Kate signing asked her about the ritual, to which she said something *like* "Oh, it's just a prayer someone taught me." However, this still isn't much evidence. Just because someone has learned something and sings about it doesn't mean they believe it (and practice it in this case). I'm sure we've all learned things we don't believe. She might or she might not. The most I conclude is that she knows the prayer or ritual she's singing about (but perhaps not so well). Also note that the song itself is more about being taught the ritual than using it. She probably was taught it by "Lily"... wether she does or doesn't believe it, used it once, or uses it all the time I have no evidence of. (Perhaps she "uses" it in the movie?) > understanding of what Peter posted. If I've misunderstood him, or if he > was mistaken, then I agree that the balance of probabilities (given the Yeah, it is probabilities. I really don't think there is much evidence either way to narrow the probability very much. --- AlexGibbs arg@kilimanjaro.opt-sci.arizona.edu |\| | (~, |-| ~|~ |-| /-\ \/\/ |< "A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." "Have you ever seen a picture of Jesus laughing? Mmm, do \ Why Should I you think He had a beautiful smile? A smile that healed." \ Love You? ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1993 11:15:01 -0700 From: "Alex Gibbs" Subject: MU*s brianb@netcom.com: > As a former MUD addict, I can vouch for how wonderful it is to > immerse yourself in a virtual world. I suggested a few > times that we invent a rrom in #Ecto but a MUD would be > even better. As long as there's room for my sofa and fridge... :) Actually at the start of the previsouly mentioned IRC-fest, and a couple other times, I asked people on #ecto if they were MU*ers, meaning MUD/MUCK/MUSHers (and MOOs, etc), with the same idea of at least talking to ectophiles in a MUSH, which I perfer to IRC. I hadn't gotten a positive response so I didn't say anymore. Guess Brian (I typed Brain first! heh) wasn't on then! > I can't set up a MUD on Netcom, but would love to help program one > somewhere if we could find a site. (Doesn't hardees already have a MUD > on it?) Anyway.. if anyone knows a possible site, I say let's do it. > The first MUD ever that's non-game and based on a musician. Go figure. Same here. I'm most familiar with MUSHes these days... more on the differences later. Well, we don't have to run our _own_ MU*. There are many MU*s out there that allow people to build, so we could build an ecto region within a MU*. Several words of CAUTION though: many campuses and what-not prohibit people "playing", much less running, MU*s and people have lost their accounts by using them (there is a big difference between game MU*s and chatting MU*s IMO though). Also, most MU* sites tend to be unstable, lasting less than a year, since they are not usually allowed by the campus. Building is therefore risky since you may lose what you built but you can dowload what you built on many of them, like MUSHes, and upload them on a new MUSH. Rutgers has two MUCKs right now, and one is the longest lasting MU* I know of, meaning since they came out in 1989 or so. Quartz Paradise (quartz.rutgers.edu 9999 [that last number is the telnet port number]) is the closest thing to ecto I have seen in the MU* worlds, meaning it is the most friendly. It is the oldest MU* I know, but it requires registering (you have to email in to get a character) and does not let people build anything. I still like it a lot. On the plus side I think people without accounts can phone in to rutgers and get on the MUCK, which is good if you are close to Rutgers as someone just posted they were going to be. The other at Rutgers that I know of is After Five (af.itd.com 9999) but it is almost an opposite to Quartz in that people are often rude and just interested in net-sex or tiny-sex as it is often called. Building isn't allowed there either. So neither is perfect for us but I still recommend Quartz in a general sense. Troy: > Second: if anyone can give me an idea of how much CPU usage this MUD thing > might use, I might be willing to let ecto operate in this form; but the times > available would be limited to off-hours 'cause ecto is my work machine. I've never run one but I know people who have. The CPU usage depends on the users connected at once of course. The amount of building can be a concern since it does take up disk space! I might be able to find out more info if I can find one guy in particular but his MUSH is down now. I might recommend his MUSH otherwise. It was actually in the UK and is the one I took Vickie to before. Vickie: > A few months ago Alex Gibbs (aka Alice1) tried to show me around I'm honored. :) > proper level of interest to delve into it. I remember that there > were some technical problems and I told Alex to forget it, but that > I'd call on him if I changed my mind and wanted to explore again. Uh-oh, what have I done! I've muddicted someone! That's another warning, these things are very addictive! Someone still blames me for dropping their GPA from 3.5 to 2.0 because I introduced them to MUDs in 1989. IMPORTANT note though: that was an LP-Mud... a *game*, which is the most addicitve type because you can't just quit anytime without losing points, treasure, etc. I have't played MUDs in a long long time. (Anyone remeber Wash Yer MUD?) BTW, the technical problem was line-wrapping. Long lines were just going off her screen instead of wrapping around. > To try to understand more about the MUD environment in which this > "EctoWorld" would exist, I went Gophering. I found Games, I found > MUDS, I found a whole *slew* of them! With Chris reading over my At the risk of muddicting more people, you can also ftp a list of them from caisr2.caisr.cwru.edu:/pub/mud. To get to a world you type in unix: telnet
in vms: telnet
/port= PLEASE REMEMBER MY CAUTIONS ABOVE. I don't want to see anyone lose their account. > than I'd known before I went a'gophering. That's a lot. Ah, but some > of these things are *so* complicated and have dozens and dozens of > commands, I didn't learn even a *fraction* of what in the hell is > going on and what you have to do and know to be able to move around > quickly and easily. Most of my time, literally, was spent typing "help" Yeah, without someone to guide you, and even then, it does take a while to get used to the virtual reality commands. Just talking and moving around is easy, basic building is not too bad, but complex creations such as robots and other devices can be pretty hairy. I haven't gone into building quite as deeply as that. > what in the world any of us are talking about. I'm not in any position > to give accurate, full descriptions of what a MUD is, what a MUSH is. > Alex did a very good job telling me about these things way back when, > but I've long since forgotten his exact descriptions. This is the > You're in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike :-). Ooops, wrong > game, though the original Adventure game seems to be a major inspiration > behind MUD and MUSH. At your prompt, you type whatever it is you have You are right, sort of! Although the mainframe Zork was closer to the start I think. Anyway, then came the PC Adventure and Zork. (Anyone remember Infocom? :) The original MUDs were Multi-User Dungeons, similar to these games except with multi-users, meaning several players (go figure :). Now there are two main types: those that are mainly intended for gaming (killing monsters, getting treasure, weapons, points, etc.) and those for *communication* in virtual reality. Gaming ones often still have the word MUD in them, like LPmuds and DikuMUDS, and etc. I personally don't game anymore although I used to buildin LPmuds. The more communication oriented types have other names like MUSH, MUCK, MOO, etc. I think these are what people here are looking for, not the games, as Vickie was also expressing. I think Vickie may have ended up on a lot of gaming ones instead of the communication ones. The definitions are blury at times though, as each one's source code can be adapted to be a game or not and the term MUD is still used to refer to all of the above pretty often. People are saying MU* a lot though to better seperate terms. The various types of MU*s differ greatly in their source code (invisible to users or players), quite a lot in their building commands and functions, a fair amount in complex user commands, and only somewhat in the basic commands (thank Zork!). I have built in MUSHes, and prefer them, but I haven't explored all the types in building detail either. I really haven't done much in a while in any of them actually and I only do it for communication. It's a virtual rality where you can express yourself by saying things, by *doing* things, by creating objects/rooms, by exploring objects/rooms, etc. I'm sure some of you already know these things but if not then there you go. :) I may have more to say about Vickie's post but I really need to go for now. Let me just say that most of what Vickie and Scott were imagining, I've seen, sort of, in MUSHes. (I think Scott has been in them for this reason.) I had my own "Satellite of Love" (MST3k refernce for those not in the US) in one MUSH and was on the Hitchhiker's MUSH when it existed. :) It's VR, the imagination is the limit (and the patience to make it). It would be cool to have our own MUSH, the net does need some more nice MU*s; there aren't many, but, as I said, we can just build a small part of an already existing one. EctoMUSH, home of *HUGS*, smops, and Happy Rhodes! If you already knew these things then I hope I didn't bore you or get too much wrong. :) --- AlexGibbs arg@kilimanjaro.opt-sci.arizona.edu |\| | (~, |-| ~|~ |-| /-\ \/\/ |< "A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." "Have you ever seen a picture of Jesus laughing? Mmm, do \ Why Should I you think He had a beautiful smile? A smile that healed." \ Love You? ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1993 17:00:08 -0500 (EST) From: "she listens like her head's on fire.." Subject: please unsubscribe me Hello, I sent an e-mail message a few days but I don't think it went through. Please unsubscribe from the list. The computer system is going down here tonight and all my mail will be queued for a week and my account cannot handle the load. thankyou -Quenby ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 26 Dec 93 19:03:31 CST From: The great obfuscator Subject: Live from the front GAFFA CENTRAL, St. Stephen's/Boxing Day: My Christmas swag included a book of Ernie Pyle's dispatches. The mindset obviously has stuck :-). This is coming to you live from Chris and Vickie's party. Their system's interface with mine is not the user-friendliest, so a considered account of the festivities will have to wait. For now, I'll limit myself to a few things I forgot to mention Thursday. WRT Neal's disappointment over his Mexican trip falling through due to bureaucratic bungles: If you're willing to settle for something a little further south of the border, I know a good Peruvian restaurant in Guyville. Just fly into O'Hare, chek out the Cool Thing, then take the Blue Line to the Damen Station and transfer to the Damen Bus, which you take north to Armitage. WRT someone's query about where El Paso was: It's at the far west end of Texas, just north of the Mexican border. In 1982, it snowed there on Xmas day, while it was 60 degrees in Chicago. The same day, there was a blizzard in Denver. My first thought was that the fundies of the day would blame it on the machinations of Krystle, Alexis and the rest of the gang on _Dynasty_. I suppose today, they'd blame it on gays :-). Last week, NPR reported that there's some kind of benefit album out by Broadway musical performers, and that the group Betty was on it. They appeared on the radio segment in question. See you when I can get to a machine where the function keys are familiar. Mitch ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1993 21:25:05 -0700 (MST) From: Kevin Knapp Subject: Recoverning NIN addicts anonymous... Greetings, fellow Ectophiles! I have a small problem. I still actively listen to NIN. Is this a problem? Can anyone refer me to an appropriate psychiatric specialist? I'm mean, I'm beginning to feel as if there's something wrong with me! (Okay... I admit it... my love life has been pretty much nonexistent lately, if that needs to be factored in anywhere) I have discovered the reason for the song "screaming slave" on _fixed_. Trent must have recorded it just so I could use it on my answering machine. You know the part where the music, er, noise stops and you hear some guy screaming for about thirty seconds? Well, I used it as a background, and left the following message: "Hi, I'm sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but I'm busy interrogating an uncooperative lab t/a. If you leave your name and number after the beep, I'll give you a ring as soon as he passes out again..." Gee, hope that didn't offend anyone on Ecto; just my sense of humor. And I give up; what movie did Trent sample from? yet another Kevin [Kevin Knapp] p.s. With all the traffic on Ecto, I'm already getting scared to read the digest that'll be coming out when jessica gets back... Yikes! ======================================================================== The ecto archives are on hardees.rutgers.edu in ~ftp/pub/hr. There is an INDEX file explaining what is where. Feel free to send me things you'd like to have added. -- jessica (jessica@ns1.rutgers.edu)