Are We Not Men? (& Women?)

On Mon, 26 Jan 1998, Mike Allison wrote: Very good point. And I'd like to make one more point and then I'll move on. I've been subscribed to this list longer than any of the bone-heads who are posting off-topic, since its inception in fact (I guess I could be considered a charter member). I know what the group was originally intended for because I in part helped create that intent. With the exception of the blatantly off-topic crap we've seen in the last week, and aside from the OCCASIONAL straying (the kind that is the exception rather than the norm) the quality of discussion has remained fairly high. I would hate for this discussion group to plunge into the anarchy that one would find on any common Usenet newsgroup just because some selfish assholes want to talk about their own interests. I'm sorry, but that is wholly unacceptable, and I'm not just going to allow it to happen. This discussion was created for the purposes that are clearly outlined in the FAQ. I'm not a jerk. I'm mostly reasonable and don't get offended easily, nor do I make it a point to step on anyone's toes for bending the rules a little. But what we've seen lately is a total disregard for the basic guidelines. In fact, we already went over this and it was commonly agreed that we're all here to talk about old computers and closely related topics. How discussions of acid trips, stilling alcohol and our own personal acheivements fits in I do not know. ANYHOW.... I've been picking up a lot of great books lately in thrift stores. I found a couple different volumes on the UCSD Pascal P-code system. I got the IBM Options and Adaptors Technical Reference Volume 3 (I believe I have Vols. 1&2 at home), I got a dBase II manual for the Osborne(!) but unfortunately no software. I think my best find was Zork I on 8" floppy in the original packaging with all the original inserts. Let's see...I also got the Radio Shack TRS-80 Applications Software Sourcebook. Now, I know that Ward probably knows this, but I didn't realize just how many programs were available for the TRS-80. This book is pretty big. I also found some armed forces computer coursework manuals which are pretty interesting. I found one called _Introduction to Programming in BASIC_ from a Navy traing course. I also found a manual on programming in (I forget which language) on a CDC Cyber mainframe. Both of these are Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass Coming Soon...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0 See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!