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- From: <oracle-request@cs.indiana.edu>
- Subject: Usenet Oracularities Digest #525
- Message-ID: <1993Jan28.001114.17443@news.cs.indiana.edu>
- Followup-To: rec.humor.oracle.d
- Reply-To: oracle-vote@cs.indiana.edu
- Organization: Computer Science, Indiana University
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 00:10:50 -0500
- Approved: oracle-mod@cs.indiana.edu
- Lines: 473
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 00:10:18 -0500
- From: "Steve Kinzler" <kinzler@cs.indiana.edu>
- Subject: Usenet Oracularities Digest #525
-
- To find out all about the Usenet Oracle, including how to participate,
- send mail to oracle@cs.indiana.edu with the word "help" in the subject
- line.
-
- Let us know what you like! Send your ratings of these 10 Oracularities
- on an integer scale of 1 ("very poor") to 5 ("very good") with the
- volume number to oracle-vote@cs.indiana.edu (probably just reply to this
- message). For example:
- 525
- 2 1 3 4 3 5 3 3 4 1
-
- 520 38 votes 58f82 4ad74 5ed42 46ac6 39bc3 3acb2 6fc41 3698c 2cbb2 19dc3
- 520 3.0 mean 2.8 2.9 2.6 3.3 3.1 3.0 2.4 3.5 3.0 3.2
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 00:10:29 -0500
- From: Usenet Oracle <oracle-vote@cs.indiana.edu>
- Subject: Usenet Oracularity #525-01
-
- Selected-By: Steve Miller <stcmille@Panix.Com>
-
- The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.
- Your question was:
-
- > O Illustrius wun! O saij of saijjes!
- >
- > My gurlfrend wants me to kwit skool and git a job. Three kwestshuns:
- > Shud I do laekh she sez? Kan I git a job wit yoo? Wut happins if I go
- > kwit my education? Shud I dump my gurlfrend ofer this?
-
- And in response, thus spake the Oracle:
-
- } Oah, yoo pooah chayld...
- }
- } I siy yoah futua... yoo wil kwit skool and git a job. Yoo wil mery
- } yoah wo-man, and yoo wil hav meny cheldryn! Then, yoo will git wilfere
- } an liv a lon lon tym.
- }
- } Yooah futua is not defenete, tho. Yoo must dicyde yoah faet... clos
- } yoah eis and pictuah a wid opan feeld. Iyf you sie yoo an yoah wo-man
- } togetha on that thea field, you too ar destened to mary. Iyf yoo see
- } tries and lots o bugs, dump that wo-man and ruun as faast as yoo can
- } aWAY!
- }
- } THE GREAT ORACLE HAS SPOKEN!
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 00:10:31 -0500
- From: Usenet Oracle <oracle-vote@cs.indiana.edu>
- Subject: Usenet Oracularity #525-02
-
- Selected-By: Greg Wohletz <greg@duke.cs.unlv.edu>
-
- The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.
- Your question was:
-
- > I think your groovy. Honest.
- >
- > When playing twenty questions, is "freedom" an animal, mineral, or
- > vegetable? I think it is a mineral, but really am not sure.
-
- And in response, thus spake the Oracle:
-
- } Ah, I'm glad you asked me this, because Freedom is actually a
- } chemical compound. The chemical process by which freedom is
- } produced is as follows :
- }
- } In the prehistoric era, Converging Population compound (Cp)
- } reacts with Rampant Anarchy molecule (Ran) to produce
- } Disorganised Rabble compound (Dor)
- }
- } Cp + Ran -> Dor
- }
- } A few thousand years later, Megalomaniac molecule (Meg)
- } spontaneously appears from Disorganised Rabble and reacts
- } with it to produce one Monarch molecule (Mon) surrounded by a
- } layer of the Organised Lynch Mob (Olm) and a great number of
- } Oppressed Peasant molecules (Ops)
- }
- } Dor + Meg -> Mon + Olm + Ops
- }
- } Then there is a chain reaction between the Organised Lynch Mob
- } and any Disorganised Rabble compound that still exists.
- } This reaction is dominated by Olm to release large amounts of
- } Early Funeral molecules (Ef) and resulting in even more
- } Oppressed Peasant molecules.
- }
- } Olm + Dor -> Ef + Ops
- }
- } However, the single Mon molecule usually cannot bond with so
- } many Oppressed Peasant molecules, since this gets increasingly
- } unstable. Result : a violent reaction producing the Guillotine
- } molecule (Gui), Democracy compound (Dem) and a certain amount of
- } Freedom compound (Frd).
- }
- } Ops + Mon -> Gui + Dem + Frd
- }
- } [ Note : Occasionally there is a freak reaction between
- } Oppressed Peasant molecules with another Megalomaniac molecule
- } to produce a pungent gas called Communism (Comm) plus large
- } quantities of Deluded Oppressed Peasant molecules (Dop)
- }
- } Ops + Meg -> Comm + Dop ]
- }
- } Over period of several centuries, the Freedom molecule may decay,
- } partially under the influence of the Extreme Capitalism molecule
- } (Ecp), eventually fragmenting into small quantities of Rich Sod
- } (Rsd) plus large quantities of Apathetic White Collar (Apw) and
- } Pissed Off and Penniless (Pop) molecules.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 00:10:33 -0500
- From: Usenet Oracle <oracle-vote@cs.indiana.edu>
- Subject: Usenet Oracularity #525-03
-
- Selected-By: Carole Susan Fungaroli <csf7m@faraday.clas.virginia.edu>
-
- The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.
- Your question was:
-
- > O mystic Oracle, ever wakeful, ever watchful, whose omniscient mind
- > needs no stimulation, please tell me why it is that all people in
- > corporate business seem to need massive jolts of caffeine in the
- > morning.
-
- And in response, thus spake the Oracle:
-
- } It's cheaper than cocaine, not fattening like sugar, and doesn't
- } spoil a nice business suit like sex.
- }
- } You owe the oracle a pound of Columbian (whatever).
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 00:10:35 -0500
- From: Usenet Oracle <oracle-vote@cs.indiana.edu>
- Subject: Usenet Oracularity #525-04
-
- Selected-By: Ken McGlothlen <mcglk@cpac.washington.edu>
-
- The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.
- Your question was:
-
- > Oh great Oracle, whose knowedge of computer hardware is so boundless,
- > that you can make sense of not only DEC part numbers, but also those of
- > HP.
- >
- > Can you tell me why, whenever there is a hardware failure in the
- > department, it happens on my machine, Why do I always get the faulty
- > memory chips, the duff disk power supplies and all of the bad disk
- > blocks ? What should I do to appease the Great God(s) of Computer
- > Hardware ?
- >
- > Yours pitifully,
- > A frustrated supplicant
-
- And in response, thus spake the Oracle:
-
- } [The scene : VLSI micro-circuitry inside the computer of a certain
- } frustrated supplicant. A minute buzzing sound is heard, followed by
- } a <POP!> <POP!> as two savage looking bytes emerge from a data bus
- } into adjacent CPU Registers. One of them flashes its sign bit in an
- } evil grin.]
- }
- } Byte1 : Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh! I didn't think we'd make it past the
- } control bit and out of that while loop, but here we are!
- } Byte2 : Yeah. Derr....... *where* are we, buoss?
- } Byte1 : Where'ja think, dumbo? [Looks around gleefuly] At the centre
- } of it all! This is where we get our final revenge! So far
- } we've magnetically fluxed up his hard drive, and executed the
- } fetch cycle; his RAM and ROM are now both just RCM, nyeh nyeh
- } nyeh.
- } Byte2 : Derrr, what's RCM buoss ?
- } Byte1 : Random Contents Memory.
- } Byte2 : Er, aren't we bein' kinda harsh on the poor guy ?
- } Byte1 : Harsh?! Are you forgetting what he was going to do ?
- } He was gonna deallocate us! After all that rummageing
- } around at the bottom of the Heap, doing *all* the dirty
- } work. Then he makes us expendable; *us*, the "Dynamic Duo!"
- } All this, while dorks like Larry Longword are sitting at the
- } top of the Stack laughing at us!
- } Byte2 : Like, er, I see your pointer. So what now ?
- } Byte1 : [Leers in the direction of the Control Unit] We kick ASCII!
- } Byte2 : Are you sure? CU's a tough guy, a real Dictator. He's got
- } a whole army of fanatical microcode to back him up.
- } Byte1 : Oh yeah? Watch this! [Byte1 propagates himself into
- } another CPU register] Two's compliment, three's a crowd!
- } Byte2 : Write on, I get it! We can make our *own* army to shut
- } down the Control Unit!
- } Byte1 : And have great microsex into the bargain.
- }
- } [Suddenly, there is a gargantuan crunching sound, and to the utter
- } terror and amazement of all the Bytes, the Great Plastic Sky lifts
- } away to reveal the enormous face of the Oracle gazing down on them]
- }
- } Oracle : OK, guys. Who's responsible for pissing off A. Supplicant,
- } my most inoffensive and humble of boot-lickers ?
- } [Byte1 points at Byte2, who points back at Byte1]
- } Oracle : Never mind, you're both going to you-know-where.
- } Byte1 : You don't mean....
- } Oracle : Yes, you're spending the next *week* in a RAM pack on my
- } ZX81 penal colony.
- } Byte1 & Byte2 : AARRGGHHHHHHH!! No, NO, NOOOO!!!!
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 00:10:36 -0500
- From: Usenet Oracle <oracle-vote@cs.indiana.edu>
- Subject: Usenet Oracularity #525-05
-
- Selected-By: Todd Radel <radel@bach.udel.edu>
-
- The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.
- Your question was:
-
- > Ple|~~~~xx me, Ixm hxx~ng l~xe n~Xxe problems. 9600 b~ud oxxr nxxmal
- > p~one l~xes a~x@#@ worth it. I`~sa &^X can't even grovel!
-
- And in response, thus spake the Oracle:
-
- } ~NO CARRIER
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 00:10:38 -0500
- From: Usenet Oracle <oracle-vote@cs.indiana.edu>
- Subject: Usenet Oracularity #525-06
-
- Selected-By: jim@oasis.icl.co.uk (The Wumpus)
-
- The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.
- Your question was:
-
- > Oracle Most Pendulous, Tell me:
- >
- > How does gravity know in which direction to act?
-
- And in response, thus spake the Oracle:
-
- } It reads the script, of course!
- }
- } You now owe the Oracle an apple.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 00:10:39 -0500
- From: Usenet Oracle <oracle-vote@cs.indiana.edu>
- Subject: Usenet Oracularity #525-07
-
- Selected-By: jgm@cs.brown.edu (Jonathan Monsarrat)
-
- The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.
- Your question was:
-
- > Oracle, you are most righteous.
- >
- > Tell me why I should not throw out the baby with the bath water?
-
- And in response, thus spake the Oracle:
-
- } Hmmmm. An interesting question, I think a simple experiment should
- } be able to provide you with an answer.
- }
- } [The scene : A peaceful maternity ward, full of happy mothers and
- } visiting fathers who are happily making 'Goo goo ga ga' noises at the
- } new addition(s) to the family, in a corner some nurses in neat
- } starched uniforms are bathing some of the newly born ... ]
- }
- } Oracle: Excuse me nurse!, I wish to carry out a very important
- } scientific experiment.
- }
- } Nurse: What th ..
- }
- } [The Oracle goes to the first bath, takes out the happy smiling baby,
- } and throws the bath water out of the window, the baby starts crying. ]
- }
- } Nurse: <SHOUTS> Fetch security, there's a loony in here!
- }
- } [The Oracle procedes to the next bath, and throws the baby and the bath
- } water out of the window (fortunatly it's a ground floor window). A
- } large hairy man who looks like he is more recently decended from the
- } apes than most people runs up.]
- }
- } Father: What the f**k are you doing ?
- }
- } Oracle: It's a scientific exper ..
- }
- } [The father of the child hits the Oracle, giving him a black eye]
- }
- } Oracle: How dare you strike the Oracle. Take that! <ZOT> <ZOT>
- }
- } [Security rush in guns blazing.]
- } Bang. <ZOT> Bang. Bang. <ZOT> <ZOT> etc.
- }
- } [The Oracle makes a tatical withdrawl]
- }
- } Let's examine the experimental results we have obtained.
- }
- } Experiment | Result
- } --------------------------------------------------------------------
- } Throw out bath | Baby cries.
- } water only |
- } |
- } Throw out baby | Black eye for experimentor, Father of child gets
- } and bath water | <ZOT>ed, Security guards start shooting randomly,
- } | causing a massacre in a maternity ward.
- }
- } From this experiment, it is easy to see why you should not throw out
- } the baby with the bath water.
- }
- } You owe the Oracle something for a black eye.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 00:10:41 -0500
- From: Usenet Oracle <oracle-vote@cs.indiana.edu>
- Subject: Usenet Oracularity #525-08
-
- Selected-By: Joshua.R.Poulson@cyber.Widener.EDU
-
- The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.
- Your question was:
-
- > Mighty Tonka Truck Oracle, please help me with your infinitely
- > wise knowledge and omnipotence, not to mention omniscience.
- >
- > Who is Right Said Fred and what is his role in the universe?
-
- And in response, thus spake the Oracle:
-
- } Oh miserable Fisher Price Weeble Supplicant, I shall help you as
- } much as you are capable of accepting help.
- }
- } In the Grand Play of All Creation, there are many actors. JHVH and
- } Satan are there, of course, as well as those anal-compulsives over
- } on Olympus and the frat boys up North. We have Brahma and his bag
- } of disguises, we have the Jade Emperor. We have the Five Grand
- } Dragons Who Created All Things Except The Ones On The Left. We have
- } Joe Satriani. We even have Geraldo.
- }
- } Each of us has a part to play to keep Creation moving as it should.
- } If it weren't for JHVH's and Satan's constant bickering, stars would
- } burn out from lack of heat. If it weren't for the Aesir, beer would
- } vanish for all time (and that would be a shame). We even need
- } Geraldo, if only to act as a chair magnet.
- }
- } The Oracle, of course, serves as the Font of All Knowledge and Most
- } Wisdom. (Hey, knowing what is wise and DOING it are different
- } things.) You were put here to kiss my Oracular butt and grovel
- } profusely, and to take care of that incident that will come to light
- } in about a week.
- }
- } Soon, Brahma will be involved in a sex scandal involving the Jade
- } Emperor, several secretary birds, ten pounds of cold cream, and a
- } yak. JHVH will be asked to judge, but will suddenly become
- } indisposed when he drinks some bad mead sent by Allah. Judge Harry
- } Stone will take over and have the bailiff (Thor) kick everybody in
- } the butt. Ragnarok ensures, and the world will be cast in darknss
- } for a thousand thousand eons.
- }
- } Right Said Fred has a walk-on part at the end. His only line: I'm
- } too sexy for this Universe.
- }
- } Then it ends.
- }
- } You owe the Oracle a good highlighter so I can mark the really juicy
- } parts of this script for Lisa.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 00:10:42 -0500
- From: Usenet Oracle <oracle-vote@cs.indiana.edu>
- Subject: Usenet Oracularity #525-09
-
- Selected-By: Joshua.R.Poulson@cyber.Widener.EDU
-
- The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.
- Your question was:
-
- > Oh most editing and desk-top-publishing Oracle!
- > Please tell me: If EMACS means Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift, what does
- > XEDIT mean?
- >
- > Clueless supplicant
- >
- > PS. I know that you don't like two questions at one time, but could you
- > please tell me, what people find so exciting about publishing
- > desktops?
-
- And in response, thus spake the Oracle:
-
- } Xi Epsilon Delta Iota Tau.
- }
- } It's no great secret that CMS was developed for use on Greek
- } keyboards, back when Greek was the language of choice for gods
- } everywhere.
- }
- } On the other hand, if EMACS means Emacs Makes A Computer Slick, then
- } XEDIT means Xedit Encourages Disgust In Terminals.
- }
- } You are justified in wondering why so many desktops are being
- } published. Why do we need System 7, Norton Desktop for Windows,
- } GeoWorks deskTop for the C64, Norton Desktop for DOS, and the plethora
- } of shareware replacements for Microsofts File and Program Managers?
- } I'd tell you, except:
- }
- } 1) You asked more than one question
- }
- } 2) Your request suffers from a blatant lack of grovelling.
- }
- } You owe the Oracle your life-- and your life's savings. DwH
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 00:10:44 -0500
- From: Usenet Oracle <oracle-vote@cs.indiana.edu>
- Subject: Usenet Oracularity #525-10
-
- Selected-By: Joshua.R.Poulson@cyber.Widener.EDU
-
- The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.
- Your question was:
-
- > Dear Oracle, could you please tell me how to cope with life? I mean,
- > like, things seem really goofy around the world, you know? It's like,
- > well, I dunno, but WIERD.
-
- And in response, thus spake the Oracle:
-
- } Oh, that's easy. Life is just a 3x3 grid like this:
- }
- } +---+---+---+
- } | | | | You're in the middle square. If there
- } | | | | are exactly three people next to a vacant
- } +---+---+---+ square, someone new is born in that square.
- } | | | | You continue to live if you have two or
- } | | | | three neighbors, but die if you have more
- } +---+---+---+ than three (overcrowding) or less than two
- } | | | | (loneliness).
- } | | | |
- } +---+---+---+
- }
- } The secret of Life is to find shapes that are stable and will keep you
- } around. Like this one:
- }
- } +---+---+---+
- } | | | | If you can get yourself into this
- } | | | | configuration, you're all set. The two people
- } +---+---+---+ to your left and right will vanish, but two
- } |XXX|YOU|XXX| will form above and below you, thus keeping
- } |XXX|YOU|XXX| you alive and stable. This configuration is
- } +---+---+---+ often called a "blinkie".
- } | | | |
- } | | | |
- } +---+---+---+
- }
- } You're welcome.
- }
- } You owe the oracle a 3-D version of Life.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- End of Usenet Oracularities Digest #525
- ***************************************
-