[5658] in Central_America
New quotes for Mon Nov 14
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Central America)
Mon Nov 14 03:38:03 1994
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 1994 03:37:24 -0500
From: Central America <root@charon.MIT.EDU>
To: ca-mtg@charon.MIT.EDU
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cfields (Craig Fields):
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 1994 18:12:42 -0500
From: ian@ai.mit.edu (Ian Horswill)
Subject: Existential risks of computer systems
The hotel I was in last weekend had a nifty video-based message system.
They had the standard spectra-vision pay-per-view interactive video hardware
in the rooms so they set it up so you could review your bill, check out, and
collect your messages using your TV and remote control as a terminal.
Pretty nifty.
So one night, I get back to my room and press the "check messages" button.
After a longish pause, my TV greets me with the message:
"We're sorry, but the hotel records indicate that this room does not
exist. Please contact the front desk if this is not the case."
At first, this caused a sort of Sartrian crisis within me, but then I
relaxed. According to the hotel phone directory, the front desk didn't
exist either, so I was obviously in good company.
P.S. It would seem that someone inadvertently checked me out.
[Or else the database was inaccessible; your hypothesis suggests
that someone checked out the front desk as well. PGN]
that someone checked out the front desk as well. PGN]
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fhonor (Frank Honore'):
{from system: This user's .plan file is not world-readable}
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jt1 (Jon R Tong):
{from system: This user's .plan file is not world-readable}
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marthag (Martha H Greenberg):
home address:
516 Green St. #1c
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-441-3733
work address:
Bolt Beranek and Newman
150 Cambridgepark Dr. 20/2D
Cambridge, MA 02140
617-873-4584
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
now when the paint jar tipped off the table, I watched as it started to fall.
glass pot, shattered and splattered, the paint spray hit the wall.
bright, blue, glossy enamel, across the kitchen floor,
you said, good god, look at that pattern, I've never seen that before.
leave it like it is, never mind the turpentine.
you just, leave it like it is, it's fine.
and when the paint dried, you gave it a title, you called it "kitchen blue".
a white frame, painted around it, and gallery lighting too.
rich folks come over at dinner, they all want one of their own.
they say, how much, who is the artist, and, my what a beautiful home.
leave it like it is, never mind the turpentine.
you just, leave it like it is, it's fine.
most folks suffer in sorrow, thinking they're just no good.
they don't match the magazine models, as close as they think they should.
they live just like a paint-by-numbers, the teacher would be impressed.
a lifetime of follow-the-line, so it's just like all of the rest.
leave it like it is, never mind the turpentine.
you just, leave it like it is, it's fine.
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shanhfan (Shanhui Fan):
--- End of Central America ---
