lcc.jbrown@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU (Jordan Brown) (03/03/86)
> There really IS a bizarre religious cult in net.space! And what do you > plan to do when people object? Shoot them and tell them it's for their > greatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreat > (etc) > children? You make Hitler sound reasonable. > ucbvax!brahms!weemba Matthew P Wiener/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720 ten, twenty, maybe thirty lines would have been funny. 400 wasn't. It wasn't even accurate - 400 lines x 15 per line x about 25 years/generation is only 150k years, not 200k. You also left out the "grand". I calculate that our site probably spent five minutes receiving that wonderful message, at a cost of probably 25 cents. Now multiply that by the THOUSANDS of sites on usenet, not all with local connections. Not bad, you just made AT&T several hundred dollars.
weemba@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (Matthew P. Wiener) (03/04/86)
In article <8603032118.AA09438@s1-b.arpa> lcc.jbrown@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU (Jordan Brown) writes: >ten, twenty, maybe thirty lines would have been funny. 400 wasn't. It >wasn't even accurate - 400 lines x 15 per line x about 25 >years/generation is only 150k years, not 200k. You also left out the >"grand". I calculate that our site probably spent five minutes >receiving that wonderful message, at a cost of probably 25 cents. Now >multiply that by the THOUSANDS of sites on usenet, not all with local >connections. Not bad, you just made AT&T several hundred dollars. I wish to extend my apologies to the entire network. I have received megabytes of fan mail, overflowing my quota severely. Most of it was remarkably polite. I suspect a lot more of it was bounced: if you really want to send me <rude phrase> repeated 8000 times, roll a die and wait that many days, to reduce clashes and give me a daily chance to clear out my busted quota. In my (pitiful) defense, I am disturbed by people talking about 200000 and 2000000 and 200000000 years of the future as though they were tomorrow, and am frightened by appeals to totalitarianism. I, and I suspect most of the network, do not believe in straightforward linear extrapolations. I find it questionable even whether we will still be flesh and blood humans 20000+ years from now. Adding zeroes here and there is NOT a trivial operation. The difference between saying great**8000 and what I did (sorry again) was to emphasize the need for care and thought. But most of you clearly don't need help from me in that department. And the first ten sites that send me a SSAE get their quarter back. :-) ucbvax!brahms!weemba Matthew P Wiener/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720
weemba@BRAHMS.BERKELEY.EDU (Matthew P. Wiener) (03/04/86)
In article <8603032118.AA09438@s1-b.arpa> you write: >ten, twenty, maybe thirty lines would have been funny. 400 wasn't. It >wasn't even accurate - 400 lines x 15 per line x about 25 >years/generation is only 150k years, not 200k. You also left out the >"grand". I calculate that our site probably spent five minutes >receiving that wonderful message, at a cost of probably 25 cents. Now >multiply that by the THOUSANDS of sites on usenet, not all with local >connections. Not bad, you just made AT&T several hundred dollars. Thank you for providing the most painless out possible. Several of the letters asked me if I knew how much it cost, and I couldn't believe it was that expensive, but I didn't know. I wasn't even TRYING to be funny. Guess I succeeded. (If you don't believe me, think about it in a year. No newcomer will believe you when you tell him that someone posted 400 lines of great**15. NO one!) I assumed 33 1/3 years/generation. And I am more embarrassed about leaving out the "grand" than having done the posting itself! I mean, if one (=me) is going to be asinine, do it right! I once posted a >800 line article to net.math and net.philosophy on the philosophy of math. I got ONE reply, asking me to summarize. But no one flamed me for costing their site money! I've also been told not to argue too seriously with REM. Oh well. At least REM didn't say 20000000 years. :-) And next time, I'll buy up AT&T stock first. :-) -- ucbvax!brahms!weemba Matthew P Wiener/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720
cushner@ttidcb.UUCP (Jeffrey Cushner) (03/06/86)
With reading (scanning) your original article and then being astonished
by your "explanations", I have no recourse but to not continue on an
intellectual level and just end this by calling you an:
ASSHOLE!
--
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Citicorp-TTI
Santa Monica CA 90405
(213) 450-9111 x2273
{randvax,trwrb,vortex,philabs}!ttidca!ttidcb!cushner
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