Errors-To: owner-ecto@athos.rutgers.edu Reply-To: ecto@athos.rutgers.edu Sender: ecto@athos.rutgers.edu From: ecto@athos.rutgers.edu To: ecto-request@athos.rutgers.edu Bcc: ecto-digest-outbound@athos.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto #165 ecto, Number 165 Sunday, 16 February 1992 Today's Topics: *-----------------* blue(?) with envy Valentinue Stats Shakespear's Sister I'm told I look young for my age Ackthpth "one word", poetry from Jeanne Wow!! Robyn Hitchcock ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1992 07:33:51 EST From: eperry@kean.ucs.mun.ca Subject: blue(?) with envy Happy Valentine's Day everyone and Happy Bday Doug. I just finished reading the last of the digests (a lot more fun than reading scientific articles!). Steve V's routine has exhausted me and I need to be at top form because we're expecting another 25 cms of snow this aft'. I've done *so* much shoveling in the last couple of weeks that I'd be sure of the gold in women's arm wrestling. It has done wonders for my slapshot (now if I could only skate...). I also saw La femme Nikita last week and agree that it was great although there were a few distressing scenes. I'd recommend it to most but not those with weak stomachs. There has been a lot of talk recently about Wendy Wall. What is her music like? I'm always on the look out for new (to me) female artists. I'm pleased to say that I've had a request for AG's address as a result of a tape I sent to one of my friends. Yes another Happy lover has surfaced. Today I'll be mailing another one of these tapes to my sister. I'm sure she'll love it and want more of Happy's music. She could probably even get to the concerts... (grumble,grumble). I hope you lucky folks who will be going to the concert will tell we folks across water ALL about the concerts, right? I'll want details. Lots and lots of details. :) back to number crunching (would rather be going to the concerts), Beth P.S. Vickie: You got the tapes! Oh boy, oh boy! I'm surprised that I still haven't received your emailings. Court has managed to get through so the system must be working. Please do try again. ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 14 Feb 92 08:22:27 MST From: dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu (Doug Burks) Subject: Valentinue Greetings, A warm fuzzy blue (blue? Maybe purple (a mix of red and blue?)?) Valentine to each and every one of you! Have a happy Valentine's Day! If you're fortunate enough to have someone to love, hold on tight! The ride can get a bit wild, but it's definitely an E ticket. (Sigh! Even E tickets are history!) Doug Burks _O_ dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu |< She really is!! ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 14 Feb 92 11:39:44 EST From: spix%sparc6a@harvard.harvard.edu (Claudia Spix) Subject: Stats Goodbye USA! Goodbye Boston! Goodbye Boston-Ectophiles! Goodbye Angelos! Goodbye Greg! Goodbye Jessica! I LOVE YOU ALL! I will come back! I hope to see you sometime somewhere! Visit us! For the rest of you, I'll be just 1 terminal away, as before. Vickie, don't forget to delete my adress from your mailing list! The next resident in that cave will very likely just throw my mail away. On my last day here I allowed myself a little bit of unprofessional behaviour, some spilling over of my job into Ecto! So here it is, the ultimate statistical analysis of the birthday list! (Provided I didn't count wrong while going over it) Happy is indirectly the trigger for this, because you all discussing what FU-BLU-MA-LI means, I couldn't help having terms like FUnction, Best Limited Unbiased (estimator), Moving Average and LIkelihood popping to my mind, integral parts of my life. But I think statistics is fun, so why not share some of it with you! A) Birthdays per day. The number of birthdays per day of year, if random, should follow a Poisson distribution with parameter lambda=people/365. no of birthdays per day # occurence expected # occurence 0 312 316 1 47 46 2 3 3.3 3 2 0.2 4 1 0.006 5 0 0 So we see, while most occurrences follow the theory neatly, the number of days with 4 (four!) birthdays is much larger than expected! In fact, such a day has only a probability of 0.002 %, but there it is! This is a statistically highly significant deviation from randomness! Vickie was intuitively right, there must be sth very special about April 10th! Ok, I have a 25%-guess why that is so, can somebody explain the other 75%? B) number of birtdays per day of week Mo 6 xxxxxx Tu 12 xxxxxxxxxxxx We 9 xxxxxxxxx Th 10 xxxxxxxxxx Fr 10 xxxxxxxxxx Sa 7 xxxxxxx Su 5 xxxxx I refuse to analyse this statistically. Most likely its got nothing to do with us being ectophiles but rather reflects that some of us are victims of modern medicine, which does its best to prevent weekend babies. c) number of birthdays per month J 4 xxxx F 3 xxx M 7 xxxxxxx A 7 xxxxxxx M 6 xxxxxx J 4 xxxx J 11 xxxxxxxxxxx A 5 xxxxx S 3 xxx O 4 xxxx N 5 xxxxx D 3 xxx I don't know what the theoretical distribution is, but it's presumably not quite equal over the months. But, although those 11 (!) birthdays in July look pretty conspicious, there is no statistically detectable deviation from pure randomness. Sorry! Watch out for the sequel: The birthday list analysis broken down by sex and age! (yes, biostatisticians are!) Court: Get well soon! At least soon enough to come see us! BTW, last night I dreamed I had a cat. I told you about it in the dream! (did you dream of me telling you I had a cat ;)?) And when it got really nice, the alarm rang ... See you in Ecto! Claudia P.S.: Jessica, I don't think I want a second T-shirt. I tried mine on and lets say, it covers a lot of me plus quite a bit of air around me. One like this is ok, but two would be kinda stupid. I'm sure you'll have sold them all soon anyway! (spix@sparc6a.harvard.edu)|| "May the things that go clump in the night claudia@inphobos.w.open.de|| bless you" Claudia Spix || Harvey Jacobs - The Egg of the Glak ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1992 2:14:44 +0800 (SST) From: N_HAYS@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au Subject: Shakespear's Sister I just saw the video for the new _Shakespear's Sister_ song, "Stay". It was the first time I've heard the song, but I got them old reliable shivers up my spine... I must have liked it a lot! Martin ,-------------------------------------------+----------------------------. | A shady lady / took all my bread | Martin Dougiamas. | | Ravaged my body / and messed with my head | n_hays@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au | | Money's gone / and I got no place to go | Curtin University | | I don't believe I ever felt this low. | Perth, Western Australia | `== Call the Doctor - J.J. Cale ============+============================' ======================================================================== From: golden@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Stephen "Jokey" Golden) Subject: I'm told I look young for my age Date: Fri, 14 Feb 92 12:17:43 EST All my life, I've been told I look younger than I am. But now, the truth comes out. I haven't even been born yet! 11.12.1968 Wed Henry Kilmer 10.04.1992 Sat Stephen Golden ---- I guess I've developed a good taste of music at a very young age! That 1971 if anyone's keeping track. -- -- Stephen Golden Through the darkness of futures past, golden@eniac.seas.upenn.edu the magician longs to see, --------------------------- one chance out between two worlds... FIRE, WALK WITH ME. ======================================================================== Date: 14-FEB-1992 17:37:40.13 From: MTARR@eagle.wesleyan.edu Subject: Ackthpth Hi! kIrI, Boskone is the New England Science Fiction Convention, which used to happen in Boston, until the Boskone From Hell in '87. Since then it's been across the state in Springfield. It's a fun con, and it's really close, so I go. Actually, I would be there now, but alas, woj is having car trouble again....anybody wanna ask Happy if she'd do a benefit concert for his car? :) Fu blu ma li: isn't that a Malaysian dessert? Mitch, your bloviating is fun. It's interesting to see someone's brain twisting before one's very eyes. My best friend the sociology major goes through the same contortions- must be the field. ;) Hey- anybody know of the Fuzzy Blue Song? A friend of mine went to the Smithsonian museum of American History a couple years back when they had the Sesame Street exhibit, and there was a movie featuring all the blue monsters singing "I'm fuzzy, I'm blue, I'm a fuzzy blue monster", or something to that effect. Someone of us should contrive to get a copy of that... Vickie (and fellow bloviolators), my mailbox won't be getting as trashed any more, since I have my own computer and can download stuff to my hard disk, provided the damn dialup isn't busy. Every Wesleyan student got a modem for Christmas, I swear. My housemate's box ate my tape of "Ecto" and "Rearmament" for lunch this afternoon. I hope it enjoyed it, dammit. :P Have a nice weekend, all, and I guess Happy Valentine's Day! :) *---------------------------------------------* | Meredith Tarr | | *** | | "Living in the gap between past and future" | | *** | | mtarr@eagle.wesleyan.edu | *---------------------------------------------* ======================================================================== From: tj@cs.ucla.edu (Tom Johnson) Subject: "one word", poetry from Jeanne Date: Fri, 14 Feb 92 15:49:51 PST Hello all, Jeanne sent me this beautiful poem and asked me to transcribe and forward it to Ecto and alliance, to share it with all of you. A brief explanation follows the poem. Tom -------- one word I speak one word when the countryside blooms into a valley of flowering palms my hearth spread slowly down to the castles by the path each footstool, lamp that leads the way, light that shadows the way our bareness touches the stones, green grass that smooths itself into the moist soil like a child she laughs, dirt squishing between her toes, the blackness touching the white parched skin creating shades of grey, my mind does reel in sweetness and unclarity, where do I turn? what haste shall I make? Off balance my soul rushes in, through the wind and waters of this mellow earth, raspberry thorn thrones bite my cells, tearing the layers from the bearings, of tongues and dialects and wordless clicks, we communicate, our hands imprinting, in focus, alive, entangled in our own lives, free for a few years or moments of a eternity, where the life is swept away, voices in the night and day, stillness is our calm, laughter is our children and when I speak but one word Rushing lambs be by my sides, the sun falls silent in the raving mists, screaming our names, crying like the winds on harsh rainy nights, talons of hawks scratch at my face, dragons breathe fire and wit. Tuck through the night in pillows of comfort, tossing and turning finalities, decisions, eating away like maggots, searching for answers. Slowly as I follow upon these feels and certain fellowships, my heart draws nearer to a future of finally making certainties into realities. Slowly as I touch the hearth of warmth, so bare my heart I would reveal, so much would I want but say word of rejoining. And yet if I, were to speak of care and likeness, would betray my soul of water and craft, can I say but one word, that part as we are, reflections on paper, true as white sands in water filled gourds. in my life, love. JB Schreiter I was watching Mel Gibson's "Hamlet". Shakespeare seems to spark my tongue into words. This poem comes out of me, dwelling on life and passions. Dare I move quickly and become stuck, dare I move slowly and I'll become a turtle that walks slowly among the waves. Jeanne ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 15 Feb 92 08:54:21 CST From: vishal@ra.csc.ti.com (Vishal Markandey) Subject: Wow!! Wow!! Michael, thanks for the tape!! Love the cover, you gotta see this folks!! And the picture too!! Boy, am I embarassed now! I mailed out your tape yesterday, with just a sorry little hand written list!! Stephen, I am sending the Diamanda Galas video to Vickie. She will make you a copy. Check with her for the blank tape and postal costs. No, I am not going to the Philly concert. Still hoping she will perform in Dallas. Anyone know what is the lastest on that ? - Vish ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 16 Feb 92 01:09:16 PST From: stevev@greylady.uoregon.edu (Steve VanDevender) Subject: Robyn Hitchcock He's playing here in Eugene a week from Monday. What's he like? I have heard him mentioned by Love-Hounds and Ectophiles alike, and I'm thinking of going, so I'm wondering what I might be getting myself into. Since you all have more collective musical taste and experience than I can hope to aspire to I shall await your opinions. ======================================================================== From: xenox!inphobos!klaus@horga.ruhr.de Date: Sat, 15 Feb 92 00:45 MEZ Subject: Allerlei stuff From: klaus@inphobos.w.open.de (Cosmic Vagabond) Message-ID: <2sT6FB1w164w@inphobos.w.open.de> Date: Fri, 14 Feb 92 23:27:48 GMT Organization: Ectophiles Unlimited, Wuppertal, Germany I'm back !!! You are all back !!! The network in our part of the world has been extremely overloaded or broken. For days I didn't get mail, NetNews still hasen't recovered. So I'm happy to see you all again. I'm very glad that the archive now contains all the digests. Some of them got lost, but now I can collect them myself instead of buggering Jessica with such trivia. Oh dear, I'm lost in Ecto digests. I've read them all, but I haven't written any comments lately. So, here you see me speeding through about a dozen digests. Mitch> "Die Gedanken sind gebraten?" What does that remind me of? Oh yes, "walking toast". Jessica> Welcomes to Karl Dotzek and Keith Silver and Ken Descoteaux! Right, welcomes to you and all the other new Ectophiles! So the number of german ectophiles was increased by 50% in one second. Don't think that I had anything to do with it. The people I introduced to Happy can't be found here. Vickie: > Happy's a bit (um, make that lots) freaked that so many Ectophiles will > be in Albany. I think she wishes that Kevin hadn't told me about that > show. She really doesn't understand why anyone would want to go see it. > I explained the reasoning from a fan's point of view. Don't forget meeting other Ectophiles. I consider this an important reason. Meredith: > sitting between two French majors at the time). If you want annoying, try > watching American movies in Germany- they just don't believe in subtitling > over there, and they have the same four people with horrible voices doing > *all* the movies and TV shows. Monty Python dubbed into German is a truly > painful experience. Don't do it. But I digress. No no no, most are really done very well. That I'm watching so many films in the original version has only educational reasons. Vickie: > Court sent me the Tori Amos cassette (**THANK YOU**!) and I do like it > quite a bit. I've listened to it twice now and it's nice. I didn't care > for Tori's first album, which is why I pretty much stayed quiet while > all the Tori talk was going on, but this one is *eons* better! Is there a previous album by her? The review I read said it was her first, but maybe the other one hasn't been released in Germany. My thanks go to Court as well! After listening to her tape I had to buy the CD which had just been released here. It's still on heavy rotation, I must have listened to it about 20 times. My favourites are "Little Earthquakes", "Winter" and "Flying Dutchman" (which is not on the CD). Mitch: > or the Greens, judging from the absence of invective calling the incumbent > chancellor "Helmut the Cabbage" :-) (in the native tongue, "Helmut der Kohl"). He's well know as "Helmut die Birne" (in english tongue, "Helmut the pear") due to the shape of his head. Doug: > (Klaus, I sent you e-mail about this. Let me know if you don't get it.) Doug, I hope you don't mind if I tell you that I _did_ get it. :) Thanks. > me). Hey, if Nirvana can get an album to the top of the charts, there has to > be hope for Happy! I don't know. Think it's more like, if Nirvana can get an album to the top of the charts, there can't be hope for Happy, because of peoples taste in music. But as there are people in Ecto who like both there might be hope. But I still prefer the smell of "Truth" to "Teen Spirit". Hwoaj, not Voj: > mmmmhhhhh...9600 baud is *wonderful* - fast full screen editting and all > sorts of nifty stuff. makes my life and my logged on time much nicer! > highly recommended to all who can afford it or convince their employer > that it's good for their business-related work... ;) Actually I'm currently considering going 14400 baud and V.42bis to be able to get a bigger News-Feed in the same time, but before that I need a bigger harddisc (and some money, of course). :( Martin: > Love it... listening to "Point and Pull" right now, the groovy guitar > solo towards the end... despite what B/R may think, this is a GREAT song! Right you are! Reminds me a lot about the music Camel does. You don't hear it that often these days. Doug: > the airline ticket next week. As for the concert ticket, people have expressed > some curiosity about what it looks like. It's just your run of the mill > computer-generated piece of stiff paper. Of course, it does have something > very special on it -- the two words "Happy Rhodes". Tons of happy :) :) :) Thanks for the ticket info, as well as to Angelos who answered by e-mail. No pictures? I think I like our tickets much better, although I don't collect them. Someone want's to get my Rainbirds ticket? It's not that beautiful, but _much_ nicer than a computer printout. If someone's interested I'll send it to you. Merow!!> well..sorry folks...i have mono..thus you wont be hearing much more Merow!!> than sick weak cat mews coming out of my for a while... Get well soon, Court!!! Do you like piano music? Then you should check "Love of Colour" by Katia & Marielle Labeque, where they leave the classic tracks for some more jazzy stuff. It has some songs by John McLaughlin, Miles Davis, Chick Corea and some people I've never heard of. Mostly acoustic and midi piano (DDD-CD), but a bit of synthesizers as well. ___________________________________________________________ ( "Tell me all the plans you have for the great beyond. ) ) Will you be physical again, or be a cosmic vagabond." ( / countdown: 34 hours!!! --- Happy Rhodes --- \ / Klaus "cosmic vagabond" Kluge klaus@inphobos.w.open.de \ ======================================================================== The ecto archives are on hardees.rutgers.edu in ~ftp/pub/hr. There is a README file explaining what is where. Feel free to send me (or leave in the incoming directory, just let me know) things you'd like to have added. -- jessica (jessica@athos.rutgers.edu)