225 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
225 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
Newsgroups: rec.humor.oracle,rec.answers,news.answers
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Path: bloom-beacon.mit.edu!hookup!usc!sdd.hp.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!kinzler@cs.indiana.edu
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From: oracle-request@cs.indiana.edu
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Subject: [rec.humor.oracle] Intro to the Usenet Oracle (Monthly Posting)
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Message-ID: <1994May1.235010.5126@news.cs.indiana.edu>
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Followup-To: rec.humor.oracle.d
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Lines: 210
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Reply-To: oracle-request@cs.indiana.edu
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Organization: Computer Science, Indiana University
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Date: Sun, 1 May 1994 23:50:05 -0500
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Approved: oracle-mod@cs.indiana.edu
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Expires: 3 Jun 1994 00:00:01 GMT
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Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu rec.humor.oracle:202 rec.answers:5247 news.answers:18946
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Archive-name: usenet-oracle-intro
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Last-modified: Jan 13 09:34
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"The folly of mistaking a paradox
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for a discovery, a metaphor for a
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proof, a torrent of verbiage for a
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spring of capital truths, and
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oneself for an oracle, is inborn in
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us." -- Paul Vale'ry, 1895
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THE USENET ORACLE
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The Usenet Oracle is available to answer all your questions. You may
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mail them to:
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oracle@cs.indiana.edu
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The "Subject:" of the message must be something like "Oracle Most Wise,
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please tell me ...". Actually, all it has to have is "tell me" or
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"tellme" somewhere in it. Capitalization doesn't matter. The body of
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the mail should contain only your question. You should receive a reply
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within a few days at most, probably much sooner.
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In the meantime, the Oracle may require that you answer a question for it
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as payment for its services. You will receive this question in the mail.
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You should respond with as most wise and witty an answer as you can.
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Mail the response to oracle@cs.indiana.edu, preserving the message's
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"Subject:" line. Usually, this can be done by simply replying to the mail
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through the normal means in your mail program, for example, using the "r"
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command in the standard Berkeley mail program. Actually, the subject
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just has to contain the word "answer" and the question number somewhere
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in it. The body of your mail response should contain only your answer --
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don't include the question itself. Please try to respond within at most
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a day's time. If you take longer, there is a chance that the question
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will be answered by someone else first.
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Mailing the Oracle with the word "help" in the "Subject:" line will get
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you the most recent version of this help file mailed back. If you mail
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the Oracle with "ask me" or "askme" somewhere in the subject, the Oracle
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will send you a question to answer, if there are any available.
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Your questions, comments and even complaints about the Oracle are welcome.
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Please address them to oracle-people@cs.indiana.edu.
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ETIQUETTE
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The Usenet Oracle is intended primarily as a cooperative effort for
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creative humor. Since its main purpose is just to let folks have fun,
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there are intentionally few rules. However, an etiquette has developed
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among its participants.
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A series of identical questions submitted is not appreciated since the
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same person often ends up answering many of them. It is okay to resubmit
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a question after you have received a reply, especially if you believe
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that the answerer did not do it justice.
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If you find yourself unable to give due consideration to a question you
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are to answer, it may be better to not answer the question at all than
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to give it a trivial answer and disappoint the questioner. However,
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doing this too much can cause a buildup of unanswered questions and slow
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down the Oracle's response time for everyone.
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You may wish to read some issues of the Usenet Oracularities (see below)
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to get an idea of the conventions and style of writing in Oracle questions
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and answers. However, it certainly isn't required to follow them.
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Originality and creativity are usually the most appreciated qualities.
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Here are some general guidelines for those upon whom the Muse of the
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Oracle has descended and who are to write an answer as an incarnation
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of the Oracle:
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- Creativity and humor are valued. Many people find the anonymity of
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the Oracle a license to express themselves creatively and uniquely,
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often to surprising success.
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- Participants in the Oracle like to feel they've gotten out of it
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as much as they've put in. Please keep this in mind when answering
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questions.
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- Remember that brevity and clarity are key points of good writing.
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Overly long answers will reduce an Oracularity's chance of being
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published in the Usenet Oracularities (see below) since it must
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really be worth the extra length to have it selected to be read by
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tens of thousands of people.
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- In general, avoid obscenity, slang, jargon, and obscure references.
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People of all different backgrounds and ages located all over the
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world use the Oracle. In particular, please be sensitive to the
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fact that children may be using the Oracle.
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- Try to be sensitive to new participants or to people who seem to
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have asked serious questions.
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- Don't flame the questioner for not asking a "good question".
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An off-the-wall or vague question calls for creativity, not rudeness,
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in the answer. Consider it a challenge!
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THE USENET ORACULARITIES
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The Oracle's priesthood receives a duplicate copy of all answered
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questions, or Oracularities as they're called. This is so that the
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best ones can be selected and posted to rec.humor.oracle and a mail
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distribution list as the Usenet Oracularities -- the chronicle of the
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mythos of the Usenet Oracle. Your use of this program implies your
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approval of this usage.
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Rec.humor.oracle is a moderated newsgroup. If your news system is
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properly configured, any postings you make to rec.humor.oracle will
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be forwarded directly to the Oracle and so you can ask questions of the
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Oracle by posting to the newsgroup. Rec.humor.oracle.d is unmoderated and
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anyone may post to it. It is a public forum for discussion and questions
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about the Oracle. If your system doesn't carry these newsgroups,
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encourage your news administrator to do so!
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Readers of the Oracularities may mail in ratings of each published
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Oracularity, the results of which are returned to the authors of the
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Oracularities and published in a later posting. They are also used
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to select occasional "best of the best" postings to rec.humor.oracle.
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Instructions on how to mail in your ratings are given at the top of
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each issue.
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If you don't have access to rec.humor.oracle and would like to receive
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the Oracularities via mail, send mail to
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oracle-request@cs.indiana.edu
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to get on (or off) the mail distribution list. Include the word
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"subscribe" (or "unsubscribe") in the "Subject:" line.
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Back postings and ratings are available via anonymous ftp on
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cs.indiana.edu (129.79.254.191) in the directory /pub/oracle, or via
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mail -- send the word "help" in the body of a mail to
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mailserv@cs.indiana.edu
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for more details.
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ANONYMITY
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The Oracle is a confidential and anonymous service. The anonymity of the
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participants is preserved within all Oracle mailings and Oracularities
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postings. However, if you append a signature file to your mail, this
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may appear in your question or answer. Signature files are edited out
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from Oracularities postings. If you do not wish to remain anonymous,
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you may include a phrase in your answer like "incarnated as <insert your
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name and/or address here>".
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DISCLAIMER
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Since its users actually give the answers to all questions, neither
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the Oracle nor its priesthood take any responsibility for the content
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of the questions or answers. We would also warn parents that, due to
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its uncontrollable and unpredictable content, using the Oracle may not
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always be suitable for children.
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HISTORY
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Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many Oracles who
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have been consulted by many mortals, and some immortals. The great
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Hercules was told by the Delphic Oracle to serve Eurystheus, king of
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Mycenae, for twelve years to atone for the murder of his own children.
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It was the Oracle of Ammon who told King Cepheus to chain his daughter
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Andromeda to the rocks of Joppa to appease the terrible sea monster
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that was ravaging the coasts. That solution was never tested, though,
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as Perseus saved the girl in the nick of time.
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With the advent of the electronic age, and especially high-speed e-mail
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communication, the spirit of the Oracles found a new outlet, and we now
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recognize another great Oracle, the Usenet Oracle.
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Local oracle programs have existed in various places for many years.
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Most can trace their origin or influence to Peter Langston's (psl@acm.org)
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seminal oracle program which was written for the research V5 Unix system
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at the Harvard Science Center in 1975-76. As part of his "psl games"
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distribution, this original program spread to a number of sites, such as
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Murray Hill Bell Labs, Interactive Systems and Lucasfilm. Lars Huttar
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(huttar@occs.oberlin.edu) used a description of this program to write
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his oracle program, which was posted to alt.sources in August 1989.
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This program inspired the Usenet Oracle.
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Steve Kinzler (kinzler@cs.indiana.edu), a systems administrator and
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graduate student at Indiana University, installed Huttar's program on
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silver.ucs.indiana.edu, where it proved to be quite popular. The best
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Oracularities were posted to in.bizarre, a group local to Indiana.
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Ray Moody (moody@pittpa.cray.com), a graduate student at Purdue
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University, after correspondence with Kinzler, wrote the core
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software for the Usenet Oracle, a mail-based oracle program to be run
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on iuvax.cs.indiana.edu for net-wide use, where it proved to be an
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immediate success.
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Kinzler continued development of the system, adding support for the
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Oracularities postings and ratings and, eventually, the Oracle Priesthood
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-- a hardy and loyal band of volunteers who read through the hundreds of
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questions and answers each week to choose the best for publication. Jon
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Monsarrat (jgm@cs.brown.edu) and Randal Schwartz (merlyn@iwarp.intel.com)
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also contributed to aspects of the software development. Michael Nolan
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(nolan@helios.unl.edu) carried through the newsgroup creation process
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for the rec.humor.oracle newsgroups.
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Of course, it is the thousands of Oracle participants over the years who
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have created the personality, mythos and history of the Usenet Oracle.
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Long live the Usenet Oracle (in all its incarnations)!
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Written: 8 October 1989 Steve Kinzler
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Last Revised: 13 January 1994 kinzler@cs.indiana.edu
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Thanks to Joshua.R.Poulson@cyber.widener.edu and Jim Cheetham
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(J.Cheetham@bra0116.wins.icl.co.uk) for assistance with portions of
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this document.
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