childers@avsd.UUCP (Richard Childers) (08/30/89)
greenber@utoday.UUCP (Ross M. Greenberg) writes: >Richard: it was a joke! I understand this. But I didn't laugh last time it was brought up, either. If you <generic> don't want such a thing to happen, you <generic> don't bring up a topic. The presence of a smiley does not necessarily indicate the _presence_ of humor, so much as it does the _intent_ of humor, which is an entirely separate thing. Humor is used as a method of superficiality as much as it is used to share an insight or relieve the pain of the moment. As a matter of fact, I agree with many anthropologists and psychologists whom classify most humor as 'laughing at the expense of another'. Example : "Give me those scissors, I want to see if I can cut this fiber-optic building-to-building trunk, just for the hell of it. (-:" What ? Nobody's laughing ? Why not ? Certainly, there is an element of shock value in such a thing, which could be misinterpreted as humor - but try reading it a few times and I think you'll find the humor draining out of the phrase rapidly. ( Perhaps this is a truism, that 'true' humor is funny every time you encounter it, while 'false' humor is only funny once. For purposes of possible future discussions, I will classify these two types of humor, tenatively, as 'wry' and 'malicious'. ) If you <generic> bring up the topic, and stand to benefit from it, then you <generic> will probably encounter a degree of flack, as people will naturally be curious as to why _you_ brought it up, instead of another. Example : >Ross M. Greenberg >UNIX TODAY! 594 Third Avenue New York New York 10016 >Review Editor Voice:(212)-889-6431 BBS:(212)-889-6438 >uunet!utoday!greenber BIX: greenber MCI: greenber CIS: 72461,3212 I will see what I can do about laughing at the pain of others. Obviously, I am a severely emotionally crippled individual. (-: Perhaps the furor over the use of the maps for targeting sites with sales materials specific to the UNIX community was funny, in retrospective. But the idea of it becoming 'appropriate' is not. And any humor I might perceive is directly derived from the fact that some people were so hurt by such an apparently trivial thing, so angered over their abstractions ... and that's not really that funny, if you think about it. -- richard -- * Truth : the most deadly weapon ever discovered by humanity. Capable of * * destroying entire perceptual sets, cultures, and realities. Outlawed by * * all governments everywhere. Possession is normally punishable by death. * * ..{amdahl|decwrl|octopus|pyramid|ucbvax}!avsd.UUCP!childers@tycho *
brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) (08/31/89)
In article <2019@avsd.UUCP> childers@avsd.UUCP (Richard Childers) writes: >Example : > > "Give me those scissors, I want to see if I can cut this fiber-optic > building-to-building trunk, just for the hell of it. (-:" > >What ? Nobody's laughing ? Why not ? Because you don't know how to tell a joke. -- Brad T., clearly in collusion with Ross Greenberg. (further discussion of what's funny and what's not to rec.humor.d!) -- Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473
greenber@utoday.UUCP (Ross M. Greenberg) (08/31/89)
Richard: I tried. Really. I mean, I really tried to find a point in your posting. But I had to give up. On the request of others, howzabout we take this to E-mail? Just one thing: In article <2019@avsd.UUCP> childers@avsd.UUCP (Richard Childers) writes: > > >Example : > > "Give me those scissors, I want to see if I can cut this fiber-optic > building-to-building trunk, just for the hell of it. (-:" > >What ? Nobody's laughing ? Why not ? > It's obvious to me. Your smiley is backward. Sheesh! You never could tell a punchline, could you? Ross M. Greenberg UNIX TODAY! 594 Third Avenue New York New York 10016 Review Editor Voice:(212)-889-6431 BBS:(212)-889-6438 uunet!utoday!greenber BIX: greenber MCI: greenber CIS: 72461,3212 To subscribe, send mail to circ@utoday with "Subject: Request"
sl@van-bc.UUCP (Stuart Lynne) (09/01/89)
In article <2019@avsd.UUCP> childers@avsd.UUCP (Richard Childers) writes: }greenber@utoday.UUCP (Ross M. Greenberg) writes: } }>Richard: it was a joke! } }I understand this. But I didn't laugh last time it was brought up, either. } }If you <generic> don't want such a thing to happen, you <generic> don't bring }up a topic. } }The presence of a smiley does not necessarily indicate the _presence_ of humor, }so much as it does the _intent_ of humor, which is an entirely separate thing. Geez, get off your soapbox :-) -- Stuart.Lynne@wimsey.bc.ca uunet!van-bc!sl 604-937-7532(voice) 604-939-4768(fax)
tony@b17a.INGR.COM (Tony Evans) (09/01/89)
childers@avsd.UUCP (Richard Childers) writes: >greenber@utoday.UUCP (Ross M. Greenberg) writes: >>Richard: it was a joke! >Example : > "Give me those scissors, I want to see if I can cut this fiber-optic > building-to-building trunk, just for the hell of it. (-:" >What ? Nobody's laughing ? Why not ? I thought it was funny. But then again... I'm that way. B^) >Example : >I will see what I can do about laughing at the pain of others. Obviously, >I am a severely emotionally crippled individual. (-: I can always laugh at someone putting themself down. But then again... I'm that way. B^) >-- richard >-- > * Truth : the most deadly weapon ever discovered by humanity. Capable of * > * destroying entire perceptual sets, cultures, and realities. Outlawed by * > * all governments everywhere. Possession is normally punishable by death. * so whats you point? -- ____________ _____/--\____ Tony Evans 205-772-7719 //-A-\\ \______ ___) (_ _ ____)...uunet!ingr!b17a!awe!tony ___---=======---___ __| |_____/ / `--' ==__\ /.. ..\ /__== ) `(- "Who put me in the // ---\__O__/--- \\ \------------' middle of all this?" \_\ /_/
phillip@bartal.CRLABS.COM (Phillip M. Vogel) (09/02/89)
In article <236@van-bc.UUCP> sl@van-bc.UUCP (Stuart Lynne) writes: >In article <2019@avsd.UUCP> childers@avsd.UUCP (Richard Childers) writes: >}greenber@utoday.UUCP (Ross M. Greenberg) writes: >} >}>Richard: it was a joke! [stuff deleted] ENOUGH ALREADY!!! There's those of us out here that read rec.humor funny for jokes, and there's rec.humor.d for discussions about smiley faces and other such cuteness. This is news.admin, and I, for one, would greatly appreciate you keeping your inane flame throwing session out of here. Jeez, you start off with what appears to be a valid discussion of the purpose of USENET, and it degenerates into a pile of junk that isn't even worthy of talk.bizzarre. I suppose that this message will generate even more crap, but please keep in mind that there's lots of us who are paying long distance charges to move this stuff around, and while you are busy talking about responsibility, your arguments would carry much more weight if you acted responsibly. -- Phillip M. Vogel, President | #include <standard_disclaimer.h> Bartal Design Group, Inc. Englewood, NJ | (201)567-1343 FAX:(201)568-2891 UUCP: pyrnj!bartal!phillip | Domain: phillip@bartal.crlabs.com BRIDGE FREEZES BEFORE ROADWAY
mark@promark.UUCP (Mark J. DeFilippis) (09/05/89)
In article <2019@avsd.UUCP>, childers@avsd.UUCP (Richard Childers) writes: > greenber@utoday.UUCP (Ross M. Greenberg) writes: > > >Richard: it was a joke! > > >Ross M. Greenberg > >UNIX TODAY! 594 Third Avenue New York New York 10016 > >Review Editor Voice:(212)-889-6431 BBS:(212)-889-6438 > >uunet!utoday!greenber BIX: greenber MCI: greenber CIS: 72461,3212 [Bla Bla Bla....] Ya know, I hate spending my money, the universities money, the taxpayers money, and the undergraduate programmers money, who are paying tuition, on telephone costs to receive bickering between an editor, who obviously has more time on his hands than most of us do judging from the sheer bulk of news, and a few other individuals. _One_ of my responsibilities as the Administrator for Adelphi University Mathematics and Computer Science Departmental systems is to keep the various news files, software, etc. up to date. I have very little time to read any news, but consider reading news.all a part of the administration responsibility. I want to thank Ross Greenberg and everyone else for adding 10 miniutes to the news transfer times for all those sites that use UUCP. Hum... 10 min. times X systems @ $Y. I bet it cost more than "pocket money" to support the bickering... oops... I mean intelligent conversation. :-) ^^^^^^ _HUMOR INTENT ABOVE_ Some respected "Old Timers on the net" still worry about the cost of news transfer becoming the downfall of USENET. I have recently been made aware via personal conversation with other sa's that some main COM sites along our feed are complaining about costs. I myself am a very opinionated individual and have resisted the temptation to take a swipe. Others can also. How about it? How about we move it to /dev/null, as well with any flames. There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in it's success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. --Niccolo Machiavelli as reproduced by the famous Donald E. Knuth in the Art of Computer programming. -- Adelphi University, Garden City, NY 11530 (516) 663-1170 Department of Mathematics and Computer Science markd@adelphi.UUCP or mark@promark.UUCP UUCP: ...philabs!sbcs!bnlux0!adelphi!markd