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643 lines
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Electronic Humor Magazine.
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Issue020, (Volume V, Number 2). October, 1987.
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NutWorks is published semi-monthly-ish by
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Brent C.J. Britton, <Brent@Maine.BITNET>
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Know what we hate most? Rhetorical questions.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Contents
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========
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NewsWorks ...................... Points of Interest
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Nuts & Bolts ................... Commentary
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On Computers ................... Essay
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D-Ned .......................... Story
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Metabolic Fascism .............. Health Tips
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All-Purpose Joke ............... Joke
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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NewsWorks
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=========
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Good evening and welcome to NutWorks, the humor magazine that has
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been called "offensive", "sexist", "sophomoric" and many other words
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beginning with "o" or "s" (but not both), by people who are certainly
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loads more qualified to judge than we are.
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This is the first gala issue of the season, containing a more or
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less random sampling of the sort of material NutWorks is infamous for
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wasting your precious time with. So, without further ado, we'll just
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say thanks for reading: "Thanks for reading." We hope you consider it
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time well wasted.
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We'd like to thank "JRP" and his gang from across the pond for the
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massive amount of material they have sent to us over the summer. We
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will be printing bits and pieces of it here and there in forthcoming
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issues.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Nuts & Bolts
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==============
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by Brent C.J. Britton
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Instead of boring you with another one of my silly commentaries,
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I'd like to devote this month's Nuts & Bolts to something I think is
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pretty darn neat...
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Hazards of Deafness
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===================
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Excerpted from the book, "HAZARDS OF DEAFNESS"
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by Roy K. Holcomb (@1977 Joyce Media, Inc)
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Distributed by Scott Allen Steinbrink <11SSTEINBRIN @ GALLUA>
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(Before you send flames, please note that both the author
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and the submitter are deaf.)
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"You" refers to a deaf person.
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-- You buy a car with the world's best radio and never use it until you
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trade your car in.
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-- A pebble gets into your hubcap and you go 800 miles before someone
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brings it to your attention
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-- You stop for gas. The serviceman asks if you want to fill her up?
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He then asks if you want him to check your oil? Yes, again. Your
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water? Yes. Then he says something which you don't quite "catch"
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but assume that it is tires this time and answer in the affirmative,
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again. However, the last question may be something to do with your
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liking the blizzard or wanting to buy his filling station.
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-- In the hospital you can't call your loved ones, but neither can the
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bill collectors call you.
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-- You can't phone friends to wish them a happy birthday or invite them
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to a poker party. But then, neither can anyone phone you while you're
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in the bathtub.
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-- You are introduced to a stranger. You do not "catch" the name after
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several repetitions. You try to alibi your way out of the embarras-
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sing situation by saying that people's names are often difficult to
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speechread unless they are easy ones like Smith, Brown, Reed or
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Jones. Then the stranger's name turns out to be Smith, Brown, Reed
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or Jones.
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-- You are stopped by a policeman. When you reach for your pad, he
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reaches for his gun - he can't take a chance. If you talk, your deaf
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speech may make him think you are a dangerous character. So, you
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could be in trouble either way. The best thing to do, it seems, is to
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act both deaf and dumb and not say or do anything.
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-- You judge a person to be very nice by his appearance and manners,
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never knowing that his voice labels him as a big phoney.
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-- You are enjoying yourself with some deaf friends and some hearing guy
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gives you a note inquiring, "Can you read and write?" Of course, you
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write back to him that you can neither read nor write.
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-- Announcements of special sales are made over a public system in a
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store. You save yourself a fortune by not hearing the announcements.
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-- At the movies you laugh aloud when others cry and cry when others
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laugh, because you don't see things the same as other people hear
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them in the movies.
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-- Birds sing their song of Spring. You know that Spring is here, too,
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not from the song of the birds but from their mess on your car wind-
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shield.
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-- When walking down on the sidewalk someone attempts to pass you on the
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right, then on the left, and then on the right again. Each time the
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person tries to pass you, you unconsciously move in that direction
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and lock him not hearing the person behind you, let alone knowing his
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intentions and your football coach told you that you were a poor
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blocker.
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-- Your barber gets a "mouth rest" while cutting your hair as he doesn't
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have to chatter. However, you lose out on the latest barber news and
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jokes.
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-- In the kitchen you don't dare ask your wife something when she has
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the butcher knife in her hand and she might answer in sign language
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and you might be minus one head.
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-- You let a friend out of your car. Your car door slams on her coat.
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You start up; your friends runs for dear life, hollering all the
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time. You finally glance to the right and wonder what in the world a
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60-year lady is doing racing your car on foot before you realize what
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has happened.
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-- At a meeting you try to "sh" people and make more noise with your
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"sh" than the people who are making the noise.
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-- You pay a thousand dollars to take a tour through Europe. You get
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nothing from your guides, except for watching the petite French one,
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the pretty German lassie, and oh, yes, the Dutch girl you couldn't
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take your eyes off for more than two minutes at a time.
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-- Breaking your arm becomes a type of laryngitis.
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-- Someone tells you that you are a very good lipreader and you reply,
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"What did you say?
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-- You always get up early on Saturday mornings to cut your lawn. You
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never know how happy your neighbors are when your lawn mower breaks
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down.
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-- You go to a restaurant with your gang. Since you have good speech,
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you do all of the ordering and talking with the waitress. After
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eating, who do you think gets the check every time?
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-- You can't tap a watermelon to see if it is ripe and ready to eat.
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-- You sign some dirty words. Your parents get angry. You laugh and say
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it will not do any good to wash your mouth with soap as you signed
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the dirty words. Your parents then wash your hands with soap.
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-- Dial-a-Prayer
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Dial-a-Friend
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Dial-for-Help
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All of those are out of reach for you except your Dial Soap.
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-- You go to a dark, public toilet. You push the door open to go to a
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stool. A guy in there hollers. You keep going. The guy keeps holler-
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ing. You keep going.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Q: How many Monty Python fans does it take to change a lightbulb?
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A: Eleven. One to say that it is an ex-bulb and it is no more. Another
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to claim that it's resting. One to put a paper bag on his head at the
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mention of the word lightbulb. Another to say that he didn't expect
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the Spanish Inquisition. Three to burst in and say that their main
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weapons are fear, surprise and ruthless electricity. Another to have
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his head nailed to the lightbulb. Finally, one to do a silly walk,
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one to say "And now for something completely different...", and one
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to change the bulb.
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-- jrp et al
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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On Computers
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============
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by: Michael Moscovitch, Rob Milette and Eugene Gershtein
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WARNING: Parts of the following text deal with microcomputers.
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(You know, those small boxes your kids leave lying around in the
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driveway so you can back over them with the car). None of this
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is virtual, in fact its almost real.
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Many people are fascinated by computers. This is only natural since they
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offer a release from the repetitive manual labour required for some tasks
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such as filing and sorting. All good things, however can be taken too
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far. Before we try to utilize a computer for a certain task we must
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first decide if it is worth the effort. Will the computer be more effi-
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cient than our present scheme? For example, a common selling point of
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home computers is recipe filing. Now just imagine how stupid this really
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is.
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First of all, you need to have the machine nearby so you place it on the
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kitchen counter. At this point, it is extremely important that you are
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careful to avoid spilling things like coffee, chicken soup, or tomato
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juice inside the computer. These foods are not necessary for it, and
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might even cause some damage if you are lucky. If you are not lucky then
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you will be the first person to cook chicken soup on a hot cathode ray
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tube. Do not even put cereal in the serial interface, unless you have a
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very strong vacuum cleaner.
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So now that you have gotten your computer back after paying the $384.57
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repair bill because you used it to defrost a chicken, you can start using
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it for recipe filing. First of all you must remember to put the disks in
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the drives and the bread in the toaster, not the other way around. This
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will avoid burning all your data and formatting your breakfast. Another
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thing to remember is never touch the computer with sticky hands. You'll
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understand this when you have to walk around with a RETURN key stuck to
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your hand. Unfortunatly, we can't tell you any more about recipe filing
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because we accidentally used the wordprocessor on a milkshake and the
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food processor on this column. Needless to say, the computer did not
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survive and this is whats left of the column. Not very pleasant is it?
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Next time we will show you how to get choclate siroup out of a keyboard.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Q: How many theoretical computer scientists does it take to change a
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lightbulb?
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A: One, who fetches eleven Monty Python fans, thereby reducing the
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problem to an earlier joke.
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-- jrp et al
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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D-Ned
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=====
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by Andy Zaslow
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This is not copyrighted (c) 1984 by D. Griffith. If you really want to
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use it for commercial purposes, go ahead. Keep in mind(s), however,
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that everyone else in this world has the right to make as many copies of
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this document as they see fit.
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"meln torp prot nabble, nabble zot nab" - Richard Terrill, D. Griffith
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"bork" - Roland Bevan
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Once upon a time, there was a potato. This potato was however not a
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potato but a pink and green striped flea named Ned. Unfortunately, Ned
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was color-blind and unable to smell that he was pink and green (or green
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and pink depending how you looked at him, but it did not matter when he
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looked at him because he was color-blind or so he thought and we thought
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because it said so above). He jumped off a cliff (with a velocity, v
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and acceleration, a). Because Ned (or Joe as his enemies called him)
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took Physics I and he (or she) was unable to calculate his velocity upon
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impact, he survived even though the C compiler will not arrive until
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next week. So, it was just as well that he did know what the SWITCHe
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statement did because Moon Jockey Chung could not even be understood by
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Sam (also known as Ned or Joe or Sam or Ned or Joe or Sylvia or Bob or
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the cold little crumpled little piece of white little small piece of
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paper on the old large wooden dirty floor while MJC explains the C lan-
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guage). Suddenly!!! ( <-- not a real sentence) An oncoming train hit
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Ned (or...) and due to his background in physics and materials Ned
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(or...) destroyed the train with its poorly calculated momentum and was
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sentenced to life in prison for N years as N -> oo (infinity, that is)
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and there he stays whoever he really is.
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Part II (oo years later)
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Ned, who happened to be dead, was walking around his cell for he (or
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she) was a one celled organism and became entangled in his DNA and in
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the process split one of his genes into one piece two thirds as long as
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the original, one pi/4 as long as the original, one sqr(e/3.2) as long
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as the original, and one 0/1342 as long as the original. This would
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have created quite remarkable affects but as we said, Ned was dead.
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A few days or weeks or years or bergs (a unit of measurement named after
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Chris Berg) later it was still oo years later and Ned was released from
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prison. Ned was excited and frolicked through fields of flowers because
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he went and stored that in location 505, realizing at the same time that
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he did not know whether the location was expressed in decimal, hex,
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octal or any other integer base K, where K>5. This matter did not
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trouble Joe long for he looked up and saw the JMS (Jump to Subroutine)
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on the screen and his mind(s) or lack thereof was totally filled with
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the question "Why is the letter M used in the JMS statement?" He may
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have realized that it was the "M" from the word Jump, but his parser was
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unable to decode the question because he used double quotes around the
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'M' and not single quotes. His brain then hung and he walked around
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aimlessly until he tripped over a cold boot and found himself vaca-
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tioning in Africa. Not having any ROM he had to wait many years while
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hundreds of monkeys randomly keyed in code until power-up was achieved.
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Joe lived happily for many years until a slave ship picked him up and
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brought him to America. He was not sold however because the code that
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Fred monkey keyed in had a minor flaw which caused Ned to play movie
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tape of a princess asking for help from Obie Wan, but the message was
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preempted by a homework assignment "Homework Assignment #1 Due 20 Sept
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1984 2.7 and 2.10." In the confusion Odie (not Obie) was called and he
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flipped many pointy objects and he then blew up the world, but Ned sur-
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vived because he was not there because the supreme being got tired of
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writing.
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Part III (the next day in Intro to Micro)
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When the supreme being finally started to write again Ned was in an
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empty void, for the world had been blown up. Sam did not explode in the
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vacuum due to his impossibly strong pink and green outer shell. As he
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was near death he said, "Let there be light." The supreme being, who can
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even hear in a vacuum replied by saying "You lose, bill." However, since
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the supreme being was not used to his supreme power had made a mistake.
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Because there was no Bill (an old reference to Bill Casino, a real
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loser) to lose and since all things that the supreme being says must
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occur by some process which even he (or she or...) does not necessarily
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know, an anti-Bill (Note: Bill, when preceded by You lose is in lower
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case) was created (or not created depending on your universe). Seeing
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the problem, the supreme supreme being also known as The Twos Complement
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Which Goes All The Way to 255 (0FF in hex) complemented Bill's bits,
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which happened to produce the bit representation of the world in the
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year 1971 some time in the beginning of May. Sam (who from now on may
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be called Greg, or jim for short) was quite relieved and was so joyful
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that he added 973 and the twos-complement of 654 to get the result of
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346. Being his supreme self, the supreme supreme supreme being saw a
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major flaw in the world. This was that there were two Jims in the world
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(or Jim or Ned or...), so he destroyed the Sam who had just learned of
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twos-complements. That was ok (pronounced as it is spelled, with one
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syllable) though, because the wise supreme supreme supreme being knew
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that by Sylvia existing for the short time that he (or she) did he
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changed the course of some air molecules which would eventually be used
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in the machinery that Odie would use to blow up the world. In fact this
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change would cause a malfunction in the detonator apparatus, to which
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Odie would reply, "Skippy eatee bow wow snarf" or something to this
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effect. The net effect of this chapter is that the world really was not
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blown up and that the H (1) bit in the accumulator (known as the half-
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carry) was set.
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----------
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1. This is a carry over (pardon the pun (haha)) from the 4 bit computer.
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Part IV (the CAOS begins)
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Ned, who knew nothing of the world's destruction or any of the events
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leading to the recreation of the world was still having problems with
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the code keyed in by Fred (an allusion to D. Griffith) the monkey But,
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suddenly before much happened the supreme being became interested in
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something other that the world, and the world stopped for a while.
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Intermission (lights, music plays, smoking in the lobby only, please)
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Spuddy Soap --- The Soap with Spud
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And here we are in a supermarket with some famous athlete who claims to
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use Spuddy Soap.
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JOCK - Excuse me sir or miss... Yes, you in the pink and green.
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NED - Uhh, me?
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JOCK - Yes you! Do you use Spuddy...uh...Soup..uh, no...Soap?
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NED - Well, I can't speak English but I... zap ZZzzing!... Help
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me Obie Wan Kenobi; you're my only hope...Help me Obie Wan
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Kenobi...You're my only...Zzlard..Zing pop!
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JOCK - Well, uh there (scratches his balls) you have it. Spuddy
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Soap - the Spuddiest Soap around... Are we done y
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Now for something really funny!
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Knock, knock. Who's there? Who's there!?! Damn deaf people with their
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white canes. (opening door) Wow!! It's a baby with a note. (acci-
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dently sticking the baby with the pin which held the note, the baby
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deflates spewing blood and other wonderful things all over the place.
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Oh, Shit! (A green and pink or pink and green Ned or Jor or... walks
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around the corner). You called? Who are YOU! Yes I am. (Note: The
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answer makes sense as he can be called by just about any name and "Who
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are YOU!" is good enough and therefore passes as a boolean TRUE.) (A
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||
|
total solar eclipse occurs and when the light returns something happens
|
||
|
which the supreme being has not thought of yet... but since he is in
|
||
|
CAOS a transistor drives by but does not make it much further because
|
||
|
its inputs were low.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Shocked, Ned barely jumps out of the way of the transistor in time (much
|
||
|
less space) and asks for a picanic basket, eh Booboo? Realizing that he
|
||
|
is not a bear Ned rides off into the sunset while converting AND-OR
|
||
|
expressions into NAND expressions.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Going a little faster than he wanted, Ned, moving faster than the
|
||
|
angular velocity of the earth's rotation finds himself in mid-morning
|
||
|
the same day. All of a sudden, Ned felt quite strange as his colors
|
||
|
changed.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The end of this part of the story I guess since it is almost time for
|
||
|
lunch and my arm and mind(s) are getting weak while the construction of
|
||
|
the CII is still being built and people walk by outside the lecture hall
|
||
|
and the prof continues to talk as someone sneezes and other people talk
|
||
|
and rumple papers and close paper binders while I stop writing.
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
Three women are discussing how their husbands make love. The first says,
|
||
|
"My husband is a footbal player. He is really powerful and energetic in
|
||
|
bed, and this is a real turn on for me." The second says, "My husband is
|
||
|
a musician, and when we make love it's as if he were playing me. He al-
|
||
|
ways knows exactly what I want and gives it to me without my asking."
|
||
|
The third says, "Well, my husband is a sales representative for IBM.
|
||
|
When we make love all he does is sit on the edge of the bed and tell me
|
||
|
how good it's going to be when I finally get it."
|
||
|
|
||
|
-- Richard Solensky <RSOLENSKY@SBCCMAIL>
|
||
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Metabolic Fascism
|
||
|
=================
|
||
|
(or Amanda, We're Outta Chock Full O' Nuts Again.)
|
||
|
by Basil Hosmer
|
||
|
Submitted by Dave Boyes
|
||
|
|
||
|
Every programmer has some experience with bodily abuse. Sooner or
|
||
|
later, all of us do things to ourselves we wouldn't admit to Mom. Most
|
||
|
of the time we say we're provoked by circumstances: whether it's the
|
||
|
representative from your client's company -- a not pleasant man who
|
||
|
looks a lot like Herman Munster, breathing heavily on your neck -- or
|
||
|
some towering, unstoppable endorphin rush that threatens to rip your
|
||
|
medulla out of its socket if you don't code up that monstro algorithm
|
||
|
RIGHT NOW and forget about your wedding. We generally attribute our
|
||
|
protracted binges to some external force.
|
||
|
|
||
|
This attitude bespeaks a hideous wrong-headedness among programmers. We
|
||
|
seem to get some masochistic pleasure out of responding to pressure by
|
||
|
sitting in front of our machines until our fingernails are too long to
|
||
|
type. Our eyes get varicose veins. We run fingers through our hair
|
||
|
until we get split ends. We drool. Why?
|
||
|
|
||
|
Because, the deluded among us would answer, we have to. Some specter is
|
||
|
chaining us to our chairs, making strangers of our families, removing us
|
||
|
from the throb of humanity. It's not a pretty job, we sigh nobly, but
|
||
|
someone has to do it. This is, as my sister used to say, pompous fudge-
|
||
|
cakes. We do it because we like it.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In view of this, I submit a philosophy of life which has served me well
|
||
|
for the past couple of years. I call it Metabolic Fascism.
|
||
|
|
||
|
There are several basic tenets to this philosophy, but one provides the
|
||
|
foundation for the rest: You Are At War With Your Body.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Picture a table. A lobbyist for your brain sits on one side, a lobbyist
|
||
|
for your body on the other. They are pushing their respective interests
|
||
|
as you go through your life. In a democratic regime, one might overhear
|
||
|
something like this during a normal day:
|
||
|
|
||
|
BODY: Nothing like a good, hearty breakfast to kick-start the day.
|
||
|
BRAIN: Yeah...I feel some serious creativity coming on. It's gonna be a
|
||
|
banner day for original thought. Can we arrange a little rush
|
||
|
from a relevant gland to start things off?
|
||
|
BODY: Why, sure. (Drains a mug of java...) There we go.
|
||
|
BRAIN: Thanks.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(Some eight hours later.)
|
||
|
|
||
|
BODY: Okay, it's about time to wind things down.
|
||
|
BRAIN: But...
|
||
|
BODY: C'mon, it'll be better in the morning if we quit now.
|
||
|
BRAIN: Aw, okay.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(After some interval, sleep, then repeat cycle.)
|
||
|
|
||
|
Now, this has its obvious advantages. Brain and body maintain a working
|
||
|
camaraderie, the cycle of ups and downs is never too extreme or debili-
|
||
|
tating, and the productivity of the two working in tandem is fairly
|
||
|
consistent and predictable.
|
||
|
|
||
|
On the other hand, come the day when Herman Munster is breathing down
|
||
|
your neck, you might HAVE to trash that comfy little system for some-
|
||
|
thing a little more, well, authoritarian. My solution is simple:
|
||
|
metabolic fascism. Not when you have to crank it out, but ALL the time.
|
||
|
To wit:
|
||
|
|
||
|
BODY: Not coffee AGAIN.
|
||
|
BRAIN: You don't want it, throw it up. But don't bother me. Have some
|
||
|
dessert.
|
||
|
BODY: Lucky Strikes a la carte. Delectable. My lungs look like Fire-
|
||
|
stones.
|
||
|
BRAIN: Listen. I'm on the verge of a universe-tilting breakthrough. I
|
||
|
don't need your sniveling.
|
||
|
BODY: Are we gonna get some sleep this week?
|
||
|
BRAIN: Yeah, yeah.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(Some 14 hours later.)
|
||
|
|
||
|
BODY: Look, man, I'm gonna die here. I wanna go to bed.
|
||
|
BRAIN: SILENCE!
|
||
|
|
||
|
(Rains vicious blows upon the Body Lobbyist until he sinks beneath the
|
||
|
table, a simpering lump of protoplasm.)
|
||
|
|
||
|
Philistine.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(Some 10 hours later, the Body Lobbyist has risen from beneath the
|
||
|
table, wearing full body armor and a catcher's mask.)
|
||
|
|
||
|
BODY: Sleep. Now.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(The Brain lobbyist produces a dreadnought Louisville Slugger, festooned
|
||
|
with nails, and clubs the Body Lobbyist senseless.)
|
||
|
|
||
|
BRAIN: Where was I?
|
||
|
|
||
|
(Some eight hours later, the Body Lobbyist rises and leaves the room.
|
||
|
The Brain Lobbyist, deep in some amphetamine-induced trance, fails to
|
||
|
notice. Several minutes later the Body Lobbyist re-enters, carrying a
|
||
|
bazooka. He liberally distributes the Brain Lobbyist about the room.)
|
||
|
|
||
|
BODY: Sleep. Now.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(Perhaps 20 hours later, another Brain Lobbyist enters the room. Repeat
|
||
|
cycle.)
|
||
|
|
||
|
There are tradeoffs to this methodology, sure. But the advantages are
|
||
|
overwhelming.
|
||
|
|
||
|
First, it's more honest. After all, the first time a deadline or a good
|
||
|
idea rolls around, you're gonna shaft your body anyway, right? Why not
|
||
|
accustom yourself to those inevitable caffeine fests BEFORE they descend
|
||
|
on your unsuspecting, pampered physiognomy?
|
||
|
|
||
|
Second, there is no better way to accumulate a comprehensive, detailed
|
||
|
knowledge of one's body than by abusing it regularly. Whereas most
|
||
|
humans can only recognize vague, ambiguous bodily states and apply
|
||
|
almost meaningless words like "good," "bad," "tired" and "rested" to the
|
||
|
way they feel, a metabolic fascist becomes sensitive to the most subtle
|
||
|
changes in his system. He learns to check his pulse by noting the fre-
|
||
|
quency of the shaking in his hands. He learns to check his blood
|
||
|
pressure by gauging the accuracy with whichhe hits the reboot switch.
|
||
|
|
||
|
To a metabolic fascist, the body is a finely-tuned machine operating
|
||
|
somewhere past the ragged edge. One pays much more attention to an
|
||
|
engine about to explode than to one that is idling, and a metabolic fas-
|
||
|
cist knows his body to adegree of detail that, among other humans, only
|
||
|
long-distance runners and new mothers achieve.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(Not to mention the fact that this mode of living produces a certain
|
||
|
manic lookabout the eyes that is useful for everything from terrifying
|
||
|
muggers to staring down that fossilized waitress who never, EVER, takes
|
||
|
back a cheeseburger because it's too well- done.)
|
||
|
|
||
|
The peripheral benefits are legion. When was the last time you really
|
||
|
wondered what day it was? A genuine scratch-your-head-and-call-up-
|
||
|
Sidekick kind of puzzlement? When was the last time you were truly
|
||
|
surprised that the sun decided to rise? When was the last time you
|
||
|
stared, entranced, as the sort routine you just wrote turned into little
|
||
|
green soldiers that danced across your screen? To the metabolic fascist,
|
||
|
life once more becomes that fascinating, unpredictable thing most humans
|
||
|
never see after they graduate from diapers.
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
A high ranking manager responded to a subordinates request for a pay
|
||
|
raise by saying:
|
||
|
|
||
|
"Because of the fluctuational predisposition of your position's
|
||
|
productive capacity as juxtaposed to government standards, it
|
||
|
would be monetarily injudicious to advocate an increment."
|
||
|
|
||
|
The subordinate listened carefully and said, "I don't get it."
|
||
|
|
||
|
The manager responded, "That's right."
|
||
|
|
||
|
-- John 'Goblin' Gavin <SCST3001@IRUCCIBM>
|
||
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
All-Purpose Joke
|
||
|
================
|
||
|
Submitted by Alan B. Clegg
|
||
|
|
||
|
These three strings go into a bar and order a martini. One string
|
||
|
notices a horse with a sign that says "Make me laugh, make me cry, win a
|
||
|
$1000" on it. Meanwhile, a bell starts ringing in the clock tower over-
|
||
|
head, and suddenly there is a loud thud as a body falls to the street in
|
||
|
front of the bar. "I'm a Frayed Knot!" screams one enraged string at
|
||
|
the bartender, and then disappears. Kant leaves via the back door. The
|
||
|
other string stands in front of the horse and pulls down his pants. It
|
||
|
isn't clear at this point why the horse is wearing pants.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The Inspector walks in the front door and says to no one in particular,
|
||
|
"I can't remember his name, but his face rings a bell." Several dozen
|
||
|
customers instinctively stab their F keys. The remaining string gulps
|
||
|
down the rest of his martini and says "And at these prices, you're not
|
||
|
likely to see many more!"
|
||
|
|
||
|
At the table in the back, the Doctor looks intently at his patient and
|
||
|
says "And if you don't quit jerking off, your elbow's never going to get
|
||
|
any better!" "You think your thore," the patient screams back, "I can't
|
||
|
even thit!"
|
||
|
|
||
|
There's a loud thud as another body hits the pavement in front of the
|
||
|
bar, and a Purdue freshman runs in the door and says "And now his broth-
|
||
|
er's a dead ringer, too!"
|
||
|
|
||
|
The door to the bathroom opens and a young boy in a vaguely Medieval
|
||
|
costume wanders out. "Do you know where some Yellow Fingers are?" he
|
||
|
asks.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Suddenly, there is a loud crash outside and a bleeding man comes stum-
|
||
|
bling into the bar. "Was that a penguin I just ran over, or a nun with
|
||
|
sunglasses?" he asks. "I think not," says the bartender, and disappears.
|
||
|
|
||
|
A yokel gets up from a corner booth and asks the bartender (who has mys-
|
||
|
teriously reappeared), "Bartender, where is the library at?" The
|
||
|
bartender looks askance at the hick and replies "We don't serve people
|
||
|
from Purdue, *ASSHOLE*!" and hits him over the head with a bat, killing
|
||
|
him instantly.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Immediately, several people scream out "I'm a dead ringer for my
|
||
|
brother!"
|
||
|
|
||
|
(Fortunately, at this point the election results came in and Ferdinand
|
||
|
Marcos won 512 to 2.)
|
||
|
|
||
|
An Indian walks into the bar and asks the bartender for a Q-tip. "Wax
|
||
|
problem?" the solicitious bartender asks. "No, buffalo come," replies
|
||
|
the red man.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The bartender notices a man scrawling grafitti on the wall and levels
|
||
|
him with both barrels of a sawed-off shotgun. The first part of the
|
||
|
grafitti reads:
|
||
|
|
||
|
>>>Electricians do it for the halibut.
|
||
|
>>I have a haddock.
|
||
|
>Cod, I hate this.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The bar explodes into spontaneous applause.
|
||
|
|
||
|
A prison convict stands on his chair, clears his throat and says "57!".
|
||
|
The room is dead silent. The silence is broken by screams from the man
|
||
|
trying to remove his appendix with the scalpel he found underneath his
|
||
|
chair. There are several examples of Universes scattered about the
|
||
|
floor beside him.
|
||
|
|
||
|
A disgruntled reader gets up and leaves via the front door...
|
||
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
Issue020, (Volume V, Number 2). October, 1987.
|