Conference turris::womannotes-v2

    from the poem by Lewis Carroll "The Hunting of the Snark"
    
    I mean it as a metaphor for life.
                                                   
                  /
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                 /                                    
    
    P.S. just in case anyone is still wondering, my other trademark,
         my signature, is just that; the closest approximation I can
         come up with to my handwritten initials, S.M.
                                                      

    Today's (my Note's personal names don't change as often as my MAIL
    ones because they need be much shorter...) is courtesy of Late Night
    with David Letterman...
    
    					--D

       dilettante - "one who merely dabbles in art or science, chiefly
       for diversion"
       debutante - "a young girl making her first formal appearance in
       society"

       I dabble in many things, music, riding, needle point, etc, no one
       thing takes me in a 'mad passion'. Even my job is that way. I'm a
       generalist at heart, a little system mangement, a little coding,
       a bit of politics. I wish sometimes that a passion would take me.
       The job I WOULD LIVE FOR, the hobby I would drop everything else
       to pursue, but, it doesn't happen. It seems most great people
       have a passion that enables them to drive through the
       disapointments and stay on the path to their goal. That just
       doesn't seem to be my road.

       Ah yes, 'the Deb', that's me after 15 years of marriage. Just now
       growing up and learning to rely on myself, entering life again
       after so many years of emotional dependance, never really knowing
       that I could go it alone...learning about men all over again. liesl

After "Thank you for using AT&T"... 


					Tom_K

The perfect way out:
There's no past/present/future.
Dawn after dawn - the Sun!
Night after night - the Moon!
  
   - Getsudo

    Most of mine are quotes from one place or another. The one above
    (which I just changed) is from the musical STARLIGHT EXPRESS.
    
    The previous one ("Millrat in training") I adopted when I started
    working in the Mill for the first time in my DEC career.
    
    --- jerry

Not quite sure why I chose it, can't remember when I first thought of it, but
it's my favourite personal name of the many I've had.

Many of the others have been lines from songs, often Talking Heads songs.

    
    
    I like the lyrics and music of Jackson Browne.  The above name
    
    is from the "Late for the Sky" album.
    
    
    

    I don't write much here (or anywhere else, in fact) and it troubles
    me that my P.N. might tick people off when only seen once in a blue
    moon. So, this is a great opportunity to publicly rationalize it!
    It might still tick people off, but *I'll* feel better about it :-)

    I'm not outrageously pedantic, and I can't remember correcting anyone's
    spelling or grammar lately without being asked. But I find the, let's
    say, unconventional usage of certain words to be really distracting.
    The most troublesome words are the ones pronounced like "your" and like
    "there". They seem to get a LOT of non-standard use these days.

    So, the point of my personal name(s) is to serve as an occasional
    reminder to the general public - NEVER as a criticism of any one
    note/noter.
    
    Thanks for the opportunity to get that off my chest!
    
    Chuck 

    "Le poete a toujours raison,
     et je dis avec Aragon,
     La femme est l'avenir de l'homme."
    
    "The poet is always right,
     and I agree with Aragon,
     Woman is the future of man."
    
    This is a quotation from a song by Jean Ferrat. It refers to the
    poet and writer Louis Aragon. Aragon was married with Elsa Triolet,
    also a writer. 
                   
    Both Jean Ferrat and Louis Aragon are/were (Aragon is dead) strong
    believers in the women's right to equality. They also defended
    minorities and participated in movements for the betterment of the
    working conditions of the "working classes" - at least that's what
    they were known as ("les classes laborieuses") until around 1960.
    
    I have participated in Notes for more than 3 years, but did not
    adopt a personal name until now ... I was, like a blushing maiden,
    waiting for "Mr Right Personal Name" to come along!
    
    Joana

    what you see above is my wailing in the wilderness, to speak.
    
    I acquired it in a fit of childish pique, after the third time I
    tried to send/author with the old personal and got the following
    error message:
    
    	'14 steps to enlightenment' is an illegal personal name!
    
    	Well, I never!!!
    
      Ann

    
    
    I love summer and the sun.  I don't like winter and I don't ski.
    So I turned this around from "Think Snow" to *my* way of thinking!
    #:) #:) #:) 

    re .12  I believe the Notes will only accept a letter for the
    first character of a personal name. I tried a '.....' and it
    was rejected also. 
    
    Dana

    My "real" personal name is "Food, Shelter & Diamonds."  It's from
    a sign I saw at an antique show, "Food, Shelter & Diamonds ...
    All the rest are luxuries."  It's a little joke to myself about
    how much I love antique jewelry.  I love it so much that it's become
    a necessity in my own mind.  It's also not so much of a joke that
    I think that beauty of some kind *is* a necessity of life.  (food
    for the soul)
    
    Every so often I change it to a line from a song or movie that catches
    my fancy.  The personal name I have today is from a line in a short
    story ("The Lone Pilgrim" by Laurie Moore), "Nobody fantasizes about
    despair, chaos and boredom."  
    
    Lorna
    

    re.14
    
    '14 steps....'  worked perfectly well for more than a week, the
    only time I got the error message was when I tried to send/author.

    I love the Myth Adventure fantasy books by Robert Aspin. (I know
    someone will correct me if I spelled that wrong)  sometimes I think
    I am mything something when I read some notes entries........
    
    vivian

    
    	Mine comes from a ring.  In Irish culture, a claddaugh ring
    is usually given as an engagement and/or wedding ring.  The ring
    has 2 hands holding a heart with a crown on top of the heart.  The
    heart is love, the crown is loyalty and the hands are friendship.
    Many of my friends, as well as my sisters, own rings like these
    and they were usually given to them by someone very close. They're
    rather special.  To me, the ideas of love, loyalty and friendship
    emobody everything that I want to be.  I need love, personal for
    family and friends, altruistic for all other forms of life, loyalty
    which to me is the willingness to risk yourself and all that you
    own for someone or something that is dear to you (The US and the
    ideals that is represents) and friendship is the greatest gift that
    can be given or received.
    	It took me a while to get it on the system because I had the
    hardest time figuring out how to do it.  They don't teach us about
    personal names under the Dome or in the AF.
    
    GO IRISH!
    
    Rachel

In the attempt to put the entire experience of electronic communication into
perspective, I chose the above for the new year. It's from Homer's The Iliad. 
	Mez

Usually mine are musical quotes, but this one actually came from a birthday card
that I sent to my sister-in-law. The outside of the card said something like:
"One way to tell you're getting older is that the little things in life stop
making sense." And the inside of the card said "Isn't it" The funny part was
that neither she nor my brother could make sense of it until a couple hours
later. 

Jenna 

    
    Mine refers to an anecdote from Linda Ellerbee's "And So It Goes"
    - a constant reminder of the bewildering and Byzantine lengths people
    will go to try to solve a problem.
    
    My current mail tag - "How tall is King Kong?" - is a quote from
    the movie "Stuntman".

    I have absolutely no idea where my personal name came from.
    
    Bruce

    It's the Notes to Mail interface that doesn't like personal
    names that start with numbers. Don't know why.
    
    My current one is because people keep asking me notes questions.
    
    When I was trying to give up Notes (fat chance) I used "Famous
    Ex-Noter". For a long time, before my node -  LSTARK:: joined
    a cluster, I was "The Noter of the LoST ARK" after the movie
    with a similar name even though my node was actually named after
    an other node, the ARK. But that's another story.
    
    		Alfred

    My current personal name is latin for 'marvelous to say'.
    
    I used to use that a bit tongue in check or sarcastically
    when somebody said something that was really obvious...it
    is sort of a teasing remark.
    
    My first personal name was 'down with bench biology' which
    referred to the philosophy of the college biology dept where
    I studied...they were an early proponent of field and lab 
    rather than just book studying.
    
    Other personal names have come from Elliot's 4 Quartets, "The
    fire and the rose are one', "figured in the drift of stars'
    from a collection of poems for children 'where the side walk
    ends'  from a feminist science fiction book "as true as
    water, as true as light', and from a collection of english poetry,
    "there was once a road through these woods".
    
    Bonnie

    I *really* like both Marge's ("Eat dessert first....") and Jody's
    ("I'm so wired...")!
    
    						=maggie

I have two personal names, one just for WOMANNOTES, and one for other
conferences.  Here's the explanation I wrote in a previous note...
  
    In other conferences, my personal name string reads "Ad Astra", 
    Latin for "To the Stars" - which shows my eternal optimism.  But 
    here, I have chosen "One Voice", taken from the words spoken by 
    Barbra Streisand to introduce her benefit concert in 1985:

	"Sometimes we forget the importance of one voice, of each
	of all of our voices, and the enormous difference it can
	make in all our lives - in history."

    Nobody will every pay $5000 per ticket to hear me sing, but I am
    an individual with one voice, and if I don't speak up for what I
    believe in, and against what I feel are injustices, I can't expect
    anyone else to do it for me.  I'm not here playing for points -
    I'm here because I care.

			Steve

        My current PN is the title of an article in a local magazine
    that covers the local music scene.  The article is about a San
    Francisco band called The Donner Party.  The Donner party was the
    group of early western settlers that got caught in California's
    Sierra Nevada mountain range in the winter and supposedly resorted
    to cannibalism to stay alive.  Yes I like sick humor.
    
        Most of my PN's come from music, but I'll use any source.  I
    like to change my PN weekly, but don't always find something new
    to use.
    
    ASP

    From the movie "Diner".
    
    I'm not sure why now, but I really liked this movie when it came
    out (although I think it was Mickey Rourke!).  I always thought
    it was NOT part of the script and I liked it.  Forward...yea...
    
    Re: .29  The Donner Party stands out in my mind and I guess I like
    sick humor too!
    

Wow! It's The Abyss!            
      
     After we use all of our logic and experience to try to 
     understand the universe, we find ourselves standing
     on the brink of the unknown, the void, the abyss.  
     The soul commits it's own reaction:  Mine is Wow.


Peel me a grape, Tarzan.

     A swap on a line my mother often quoted when feeling 
     happy and whimsical.  The line was delivered by Mae West
     to Hattie McDaniel:  Peel me a grape, Beaulah.

        Meigs

    My current personal name ("Secure systems for insecure people") is
    a  pointed  comment  about  my work. I work for the secure systems
    group,  who  can  be described as "professional paranoids", people
    who  have to worry about every possible attack on the systems that
    we build.

    Several previous  names:  "The Rug is not an Inertial Frame" -- An
    inertial  frame  is one in which Newton's laws apply (an object at
    rest  remains  at  rest  ...)  A coworker complained about the rug
    being pulled out from under him, and I translated it to this name.

    "Delta long  =  d  sin(lat)  *  cos  (theta)" is the formula (if I
    reconstruct it correctly) for calculating the longitude of a point
    given  the  range  and  bearing  from  a  given  point.  I did the
    calculation all the time while navigating for a racing boat.

    "The stimulation  of  eccentricity"  is  a  line  that I like from
    "Biloxi Blues", a Neal Simon play.

    I've always  liked Mez's personal names, and started changing mine
    after I saw what fun hers could be.

--David

    I "borrowed" mine from a notepad with a cartoon of a working woman
    juggling phone, briefcase, tennis shoe and a few other items with
    "Lifestyles of the rushed and frazzled" as the caption.  It sort
    of aptly describes my life as working mom of two not-yet-of-driving-age
    teenagers who usually have to be at opposite ends of town at the
    same time on any given night.  Sometimes you just plain run out
    of hours.
    
    Judy
    

	The personal names I have used refer to some reference to
	a personality trait that I have or would like to have.  They
	have come from computer games, books, comics, and sometimes
	are just made up on the spot.

	I usually don't even remember what it is until I feel the 
	need to change it.

	_peggy
		(-)
		 |
			Wish I could do a multi-line personal name.    

    	This one is derived from a Christine Lavin song I was listening
    to the other day.  I realized I've been on both sides of this...
    
    	...she's a thousand miles gone and that's fine,
    	'cuz you're fond of the shimmer
    	that distance lends to these things.
    	And tonight when you sleep,
    	You'll be dreaming of the love and the happiness
    	you're so sure she will bring...
    
    						--D

    
    I've been in various notes for at least a year now and never, until
    now, bothered to create personal name for my noting account even
    though I have one for my personal account.
    
    I've decided to take the opening phrase from my favorite lyrics
    of all time by my favorite group - Procol Harum.
    
    "Some say that I'm a wise man,
       Some think that I'm a fool.
    But it doesn't matter either way
       For I'll be a wise man's fool.
    
    For the lesson lies in learning,
       And by teaching I'll be taught.
    For there's nothing hidden anywhere
       It's all there to be sought."
    
    
    LRG
    
    
    

    I'm a science fiction fan, as are most of my friends.  Some of
    them had heard a radio serial by Douglas Adams before I did.
    In part, the serial was about an advisor book which had "Don't
    Panic" written on its front in large, friendly letters.  So my
    friends would go around giving the sage advice:  Don't panic.
    
    But there were times when the advisees were *really* on the verge
    of panic; they *wanted* to panic.  So I would assure them that
    they could have what they wanted if they were patient just a
    little longer, by saying, "Don't panic yet."  Oddly enough, this
    had a definite cheering effect, which in itself helped the situation,
    as well as giving me and others a breathing space in which to
    rummage up a solution.
    
    						Ann B.

   When I first started reading conferences, I noticed personal names
   as one more "identity tag" along with the node::username and less
   frequent sign-off tag, as a clue to WHO my fellow noters were; 
   I recognized people's notes from the PN as much as from their
   nodename.  So I try to pick something very distinctive, that will
   help people recognize my notes.  Also, taking a cue from Steve
   Marshall, I make my Mail and Notes PNs complementary.

   My first long-standing PN, "green chile crusader!" reflected my
   recent transplant away from New Mexico (the complementary Mail PN
   mentioned red chile) and my failing search for good green chile
   in Northern California.

   My current PNs are derived from the short story extracted and 
   condensed below.

        "Spud and Cochise" by Oliver La Farge

[ Spud has met Miss Elvira Hartshorn on a dusty trail heading out of 
  Spareribs.  Miss Hartshorn has had a checkered past but saved money, 
  bought a mine in Spareribs and tried to start over.  The local strongman 
  (Snakeweed) expropriated her mine and tried to force her to marry him.
  Spud decides to try to solve the problem, and takes his leave of her.]

  "You can expect me in about- well- a week from tomorrow."
  "Thursday week?"
  "Thursday?  You shore keep track.  I kind o' thought it was Monday,
but I hadn't really noticed.  Thursday week, then."
  She rose and they shook hands.  "I'm pleased to have met you,
Miss Hartshorn."
  "I'm pleased to know you, Mr Flynn.  Wait a minute; I got something 
for you.  It ain't much, but it's- well- something to show I appreciate
what you're doin'."
  From her saddlebags she took two peculiar flat, blue bottles.  Spud's
eyes widened.
  "Take them along," she said, "they might be handy, or comfortin'."
  Spud knew the form of those bottles from dim memory.  Four-Eye
Monongahela, liquor so good even barkeeps can't help drinking it,
so rare that only twice in his life had he ever tasted it.  Two bottles!
Just thinking about them, he felt the springs of his old youth welling
inside him.  It's so long since I really been drunk, he thought, drunk
like a hero.
  "Thank you kindly, Miss Hartshorn," he said, lifting his hat.  "Well,
I'll be seein' you Thursday week.  Hasta la vista."
  "Take care o' yourself."
  The roan raised its head, awoke, felt injured, knew the spurs and
returned to its fast, somnambulistic walk.  The dust rose around them
again, the little rocks and changes of kinds of sand and ineffectual
cactus growths slid by, dropped behind.  A man needs a hatbrim under
his chin, Spud thought, feeling the heat strike upward from the desert.
Saves shavin'; all my whiskers is sizzled off.
  And I'm through with gettin drunk like a hero.  Hell, ain't I made
up my mind to my age?  The ageless men is long gone; Pa allus said so.
Flynn or no Flynn, my youth is gone.  And now I'm in for it.  Snakeweed.
Well, it's worth it if he could be took away.  He shore spoils the climate
where he's at.

[...Spud takes a look-see around Spareribs, eats, and encounters Snakeweed.]

  "Hello, Snakeweed."
  "Spud Flynn!  Why, hello, Spud."
  "How about a little nosepaint?"
  "Suits me."
  "Barkeep, a couple o' fingers o' tanglefoot."
  The barkeep set them out.  They poured, raised glasses.
  "How!"
  "How!"
  They drank.  Snakeweed said, "Hell, that stuff's so much milk.  Doctor, 
give us some Tiger Bone."
  Tiger Bone is a Chinese drink, distilled from tigers.  It is all but
black, and it is dreadful.  It is the backward of Four-Eye Monongahela.
I knew it, Spud thought, I knew it.  I'm in for it now.
  The barkeep unearthed the long, strange bottle from a cupboard.  He set
the glasses out first and poured into them, not wanting a drop to fall on
his hands and burn him.  Snakeweed struck a match and lit his drink.
Raising the flaming jigger, he said, "How."
  Spud groaned internally.  He lit his drink and answered.  Snakeweed blew
out as he drank, but Spud had almost forgotten, and he was worried about
having his mustache burnt off, so he drew inward and gulped, thus getting
the full benefit of it.  He coughed, spat, and wiped his mouth with the
back of his hand.  Snakeweed just spat, without manners.
  "That does it," the big man said.
  Spud nodded.  His pulse picked up, he felt the warmth, his perceptions
became clearer.  He saw that Snakeweed was a mite upset that he had been
able to take the drink.

[ The rest of the story involves Spud and his use of magic to find Cochise,
a powerful Apache chieftan from whom Spud would like help.  Spud and Cochise
conduct an incredible duel of magic over the Four-Eye (the duel is the best 
part of the story), gain respect in each other's eyes, and come to agreement 
on the matter of Snakeweed.  Then, whilst sharing Four-Eye all night long...]

  It would take a book to tell what Cochise and Spud discussed as the stars 
moved westward and the bottle was emptied, as stars crossed over and they
went into the second bottle.  They talked far, wide, high and deep.  Under
the influence of the Four-Eye Monongahela they reached out and embraced 
mankind, understanding, pitying, loving.  They touched on the past and the
future, and poured wisdoms and vision back and forth into each other.  It
was a great night, a great talk.

[ ...with the help of the Apaches, Spud becomes prepared to counter 
 Snakeweed's magic, and the story closes as Spud is challenging 
 Snakeweed to "Come on out and get it." ]
============================================================================
My current PNs are "Tiger Bone-the backwards of Four-Eye Monongahela"
and "Doctor, give us some Tiger Bone.", courtesy of Mr La Farge.

DougO

    My current one is a from an awareness campaign that started in
    another Notesfile. Others have been from books, songs, dumb_but_
    original jokes, etc...
    
    "Mos Eisley, it ain't" was from "Becoming Alien," by Rebecca Ore.
    Hysterical in context, but then I never said my sense of humor
    was normal.
    
    dana

    
    I've always been big on the outdoors and animals, particularly small
    animals.  My personal name stems from my partiality to mice.  I have
    always liked mice and have a large collection of both figurines and 
    assorted stuffed animals.
    
    More recently someone related my personal name to my size as I am 
    very thin.
    
    Beckie

    I change my PN all the time.  My current one comes from the fact
    that life was dealing my some crappy cards there for awhile, and
    but I've bounced back and better than ever.
    
    It also has to do with the fact that while I was in high school,
    I had a hot pink streak in my hair (really, I'm not a punk rocker
    or anything, I just have long blonde hair and decided to get a pink
    streak, it's not as offensive looking as you might think).  Anyway,
    my former SO didn't like it, and I people made me feel self-conscious
    of it here at DEC, so I got it taken out.
    
    Well, my former SO and I parted ways, and I came back to DEC, and
    am really into being "myself" these days, which means not "censoring"
    my hair for anyone, so I'm In The Pink Again!
    
    I've also used "Cold Blood Is All You Bleed" which nis a line from
    a Kix song, "Dilly Bar," my SO's pet name for me, and "Don't Mind
    Me, Low Brain Cell Count" when appropriate.
    
    Dilly Bar

    referring to .38:
    
    Just to clarify Doug's reference to my MAIL personal name, it too
    is drawn from Lewis Carroll, this time from the poem Jabberwocky.
    It is "Beware the Jabberwock". It's simply my favorite poem.
    
    Once my NOTES personal name was "Beware the Fractal Dragon" which
    referred to my then obsession with generating fractal images, some
    of which are called dragons.      
    
                                                   
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    Garlic and sapphires in the mud
    Clot the bedded axle-tree.
    The trilling wire in the blood
    Sings below inveterate scars
    And reconciles forgotten wars.
    The dance along the artery
    The circulation of the lymph
    Are figured in the drift of stars
    Ascend to summer in the tree
    We move above the moving tree
    In light upon the figured leaf
    And hear upon the sodden floor
    Below, the boarhound and the boar
    Pursue their pattern as before
    But reconciled among the stars.

	from "Burnt Norton", (one of the _Four Quartets_),
	by T. S. Eliot

I've been using this personal name for a very long time.

In 1986 I found myself thrust out of the best job situation I've ever had 
in Digital into one of the worst.  No, I didn't change jobs; it was totally 
the result of a shuffle/reorganization/geographic realignment within 
Digital.  Anyway, I hung a little sign in my office that read "Toto, I 
don't believe we're in Kansas anymore."  I was receiving a lot of support 
from my friends within Digital at that time, 'cause they knew what I was 
going through, and a number of them started calling me Dorothy as a result 
of my little sign.  A very wise and good friend advised me over and over to
just go from day to day, not worrying about tomorrow but just trying to get
through one day at a time.  In other words, just "follow the yellow brick
road." And that's my personal name to this day. 

							Pat

    My favorites never seem to fit!
    
    Current one: "DECwindows .NE. Mill Pond View" should have been
    "DECwindows is NOT what you look out of to see the Mill Pond"
    
    Other Favorites: "SMILE! It increases your Face value"
    "I don't know what Apathy is and I don't care!"
    "Incurable DECcie/Trekkie"
    
    Otto.

     
    From 10,000 Maniac's "In My Tribe":
      
      Gun Shy (Natalie Merchant) 

      "Well I knew, I could see, it was all cut
       and dried to me there was soldier's blue 
       blood streaming inside your veins.  There
       is a world outside this room and when you
       meet it promise me you won't meet it with
       your gun taking aim. I don't mean to argue,
       they've made a decent boy of you and I don't 
       mean to spoil your homecoming my baby brother
       Jude and I don't mean to hurt you by saying this 
       again, they're so good at making soldiers but
       they're not so good at making men."
       
am    

    
    One that always sticks out in my mind was that of a noter
    in a different conference.
    
    I upped my standards... Now up yours!!
    
    LRG

    re:.50 re:.49
    
    I don't know if Paulsen used it back then, but he used it last year
    during his campaign.
    
    --- jerry

    The current PN is a reference to a luxurious, fabulously equipped
    recording studio which, by pure coincidence, sits in my basement.
    
    Past names:
    
    "Split Decision" - name of a band I worked with for a while
    
    "Situation hopeless but not serious" - the way things often become
    after they've initially been described as "Situation serious but
    not hopeless"; applies well to much/most of my life.
    
    "Philosopher Foole" - fits me much better than Philosopher King
    
    Steve
    

I picked my current personal name because I haven't quite figured out
the wilds of Dracut. When I want to go somewhere new I call up my
friend Nancy (she's lived there for 29 years) and ask her how to get
there and back. I could invest in a map, but I don't know where the
map store is ;*). For a while, Nancy's personal name was "When in
doubt, turn left." 

"Nouveau poor" showed up when I was scraping up every last dime for
closing costs and luxuries like a washer/dryer.

"So long and thanks for the fiche" was used when I was transferred.

I like to use lines from songs too. Laurie Anderson, Talking Heads,
Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Bruce Cockburn ... 

- Patti

    My personal name came from my husband.
    
    	Igloo.
    
    (I'm always cold !)
    
    -Michelle-

    
    I've read all the entries hoping (in vein) that someone would mention
    how you did it... you know all the right commands..
    
    I hope you don't think I'm stupid (I know you don't but...) I feel
    a little stupid for not knowing how.....
    
    And I've got some GREAT ideas
    
    Thanks,
    
    Kathie
      ~

    modify profile/personal_name="       "
    
    type this at any time after the notes prompt.
    
    You should have roughly 30-35 characters to play with, and it doesn't
    like any personal name that doesn't start with a letter (in my
    experience).
    
    have fun!
    
    -Jody
    

>	and it doesn't like any personal name that doesn't start with 
>	a letter (in my experience).

	See above.

	However, VAXnotes doesn't seem to like to do a SEND or
	FORWARD of such a note, or from a person with such a name.

						Tom_K

	Just tried it. If your personal name begins with a number,
	SEND and FORWARD won't work. But you can post a note
	with such a personal name, and that note can be forwarded.

						Tom_K

    For what it's worth, the magic word "HELP" usually works wonders.

    I would second Chelsea's note about the help command. I would
    encourage any new noter to peruse the information available
    in the notes help area. "Set" for example will lead you not
    only to how to set your personal name, but how to 'set seen'
    so that you can read the current conversations without doing
    a directory.
    
    Bonnie

I've found folks who aren't as deeply steeped in DEC-ese have more problems
with help than those of us who know "I want to set something, so I'll check out
SET." It's great that DCL is consistent, once you get the hang of it.
	Mez

    My P.N. comes from Lewis Carroll's _Through the Looking Glass_.
    Being a single parent and an over-acheiver I try to make it a
    policy to do 6 impossible things before breakfast.  (Sometimes
    opening my eyes is at the top of the list.)
    
    Nanci

    I have 2 personal names; one for NOTES, one for MAIL.
    
    "Amalthea, the Silver Unicorn" is a 2-parter.  I was once told 
    that I had the personality of a Unicorn, and I prefer silver jewelry,
    so my hub started to call me The Silver Unicorn.  Amalthea comes
    from the animated movie "The Last Unicorn".  When the unicorn took
    on the form of a human girl, she was referred to as "The Lady
    Amalthea".
    
    My MAIL PN is "Just Like the White-Winged Dove" from Stevie Nicks's
    song "Edge of 17".  I have always felt (long before I heard the
    song) that Unicorns and doves had a special kinship, so when the
    song came out (when I was on the "edge of 17" myself), it took on
    a meaning for me.
    
    K.C.

    "Another I is beginning..." is a quote from George Sand which
    reads in full: 
       The old woman I shall become will be quite different from the
       woman I am now.  Another I is beginning...
    
    I am getting older, and I have much work to do to get ready for
    that older woman who is coming into existence.  Learning to let
    go of some things and people, learning to take on other
    responsibilities.  Growing older is a challenge--to grow older
    with grace and style isn't for the cowardly--and so another I
    really *is* beginning.
    
    Marilyn

    Clarification:
    
    A friend indicated that a personal name I had for a few replies
    might have been misconstrued as offensive.  It read:
    
    	Abolish network partner abortions
    
    Just for the record, the name refers to the error message that
    one sometimes gets when trying to access a conference (the message
    reads: Network partner aborted).
    
    Murphy's law being what it is, this seems to happen most frequently
    when attempting to write a long note/reply into the conference 
    interactively (i.e. not entering an already-created text file).
    When it happens, it evokes the desire to enter a reply in the
    "I hate it when this happens" note; but, of course, one can't do
    that because one's damn network partner has aborted. . .
    
    In any case, I realized it was one kind of "abortion" that I could
    support abolishing in all cases.  Neither offense nor reflection
    on the issue of human abortion was intended.
    
    Steve
    

    Most of my PNs come from what I read, occasionally from
    songs.

    "[He] Who Enters the Dance Must Dance" -- a Brazilian
	proverb, quoted in a story I recently read.  I'm most
	comfortable with metaphors referencing tactile or
	kinesthetic (sp?) perceptions, and often use dance as a
	metaphor for life or interpersonal relationships.

    "dancing light" -- from a song (Don Quixote?) by Gordon
	Lightfoot, the passage goes something like "see the youth
	in ghetto blasting, dancing light upon the street", which
	sounded like a good metaphor for trying to make the best
	of a sometimes cruddy situation.

    "Thick Quinker" -- an old family joke

    "Listen to My Heartbeat" -- the title of an SF story I read
	about a year ago which *really* pushed my buttons

    There's a line in the Billy Joel song, "Stranger," which I
    like, that goes something like "...they're the faces of the
    stranger, and we love to try them on."  Speaks to me of
    roles, and trying out different roles than people sometimes
    expect of us, and also of the good and bad things about
    wearing a "mask."  I just can't figure out how to shorten it
    and keep the sense of it.

    One of my favorites that I've seen recently is Bonnie
    Reinke's "as true as water, as true as light".  Now that I
    know it's from something both feminist and SF (and I missed
    it!?) I'll have to track it down!

    -- Linda

    in re .67
    
    'As true as water, as true as light' came from a feminist
    SF book that I borrowed from a good friend last summer. 
    The book if Native Tongue by Dr. Suzette Hadine Elgin. The
    phrase that attraced me came as part of a dialogue between two 
    women. One character said something to the effect of 'when 
    women truely speak from their own reality and experiences,
    from their own personal truth, then we will change the world'
    and the person she was speaking to answered 'as true as water,
    as true as light'. I think that when all people speak in their
    own honest voices then we will indeed change what is percieved
    as reality.
    
    Bonnie

    
    for a very long time i had rules written on my white board. as it
    happens, rule #1 might be construed as offensive by a segment of the
    =wn= readership. i will furnish the text of rule #1 only by mail
    request. i can, however, give you rules #2 and #3:
    
    #2 Never hang out with anyone crazier than you are.
    
    #3 Never do acid more than 50 times.
    
    [i should also mention that *someone* crossed out the 50 and wrote 51]
    
    i confess it's all very childish...
    

I have the "rules of programming" written on my whiteboard, too.  So far:

 0. Fortran for Precedent.
 1. Never test for an error you don't know how to handle.
 2. Never do anything clever on a Friday afternoon.
 3. No matter how large the computer system, 32Kbytes is always reserved
    for the user.
 4. The gods commanded Hercules to clean out the Augean Stables.  Not even
    the gods demanded that Hercules fill them up again.
 5. "I'm sorry, but there is a severe opportunity with the system."
 6. It's easy to make decisions if you don't have the facts.
 7. It's easier to write programs than to debug them.
 8. Sometimes it's better to have 20 million instructions by Friday than
    20 million instructions per second.
 9. Because Dave Clutler did it that way, that's why!
10. The difference between a GOTO and a finite-state automata
    is $40,000 per year.

(You have to be a programmer or a Dec historian to understand some, sorry.)

The list gets lengthened as I stumble over new bugs in my code.

Martin.

    re .70  "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"
    
    And we proponents of the Second Amendment do thank ya :-)

           
    re: .71
    
    You do mean "misinterpreters" of the 2nd amendment, don't you? 
    :^)
    
    Roberta

    no
    

    If this is going to develop into a full-fledged debate, perhaps
    it should be moved to a topic of its own.  (I want to be able to
    NEXT UNSEEN the gun debate while not missing the personal names
    stuff, you see.)

                          <** Moderator Response **>

    I support Chelsea's position.  Anyone who wants to hassle Second
    Amendment interpretation, please take it elsewhere.
    
    Thank you.
    
    						=maggie

    My NOTES personal name is pretty boring (unless you collect pole
    locations), but my MAIL personal name is better:
    
    	"Ignorance is the mother of adventure"
    
    I saw it on a USENET posting and adopted it for my own after spending 3
    weeks in January driving from Massachusetts to Arizona and back.
    Yeeehaah!

Gee, thanks, Pamela, I never noticed this note.  Neat to go back and read
about those personal names I have always wondered about.

My own comes from a very personal interest in the song by Eurythmics of
the same title.  I've been waiting for someone who knows the song to
ask/comment about it, but alas, no one has, so I remain alone....

D!

(Oh yeah, my signature is just an abbreviation of my *real* signature, 
D!ana.  Someone once pointed out to me that when writing phonetic spellings
of words used by Australian aboriginals [I think] there is no letter for the
strange clicking sound they make in their throats, so people use a "!".
Looked at that way my name is *very* difficult for most people to pronounce.
:-)

    re: .78
    
    Well, D!, "I've travelled [part of] the world and the seven
    seas," so, naturally I'm a mite curious as to your preference.
    I mean, it's said that:
    
       "Some of them want to use you,
    	Some of them want to be used by you,
    	Some of them want to abuse you,
    	Some of them want to be abused."
    
    I s'pose the next logical question might be, "My dungeon or yours?"
    
    Steve (who sez, "Beat me!  Whip me!  Make me *know* that you love me!)
    

         My PN is informational, it's an aid to proper pronuncuation of my
    name.  It came from a standup comedian who was a member of an improv
    group that I did lights for.  When it came time to introduce me they
    always forgot my last name, so this guy, Greg Proops, made up this little
    memory tool to remember my last name.  They'd always end the show with
    "And on lights is Tony Purmal, and that rhymes with thermal, and thats
    cool".
    
    ASP

    Re .78,.79:
    
    "Everybody's  looking for something..."
    
    I guess Annie Lennox just ran into people looking for some of the
    more unfortunate "somethings."
    
    Keith

    re: .81
    
    � . . .some of the more unfortunate "somethings."
    
    One person's trash is another's treasure, I reckon. . .
    
    Steve

Keith Dicker (.81)
    
>    I guess Annie Lennox just ran into people looking for some of the
>    more unfortunate "somethings."

Careful, Keith, you are treading on some sore and sensitive toes.
And on *that* note, I think I will refrain from any more public discussion
of this, and return to email.

D!

    Now, is this a rathole, or a return to the original topic?
    
    							Ann B.

    I'd been looking for a new personal name for a while and I've finaly
    found a very appropriate one. People that know me & my DECmate (my new
    word for SO but that's another topic) will understand it. The title of
    the song was not as accurate (at this time).
    
    ;^)
    
    Gail

    My current personal name is one I've used before, but it fits me
    so well, given my propensity for answering questions in so many
    different notesfiles.  It's meant to remind people that just because
    you have an answer, that doesn't mean it's correct.  (Luckily, I'm
    correct enough of the time that people seem willing to overlook the
    occasions when I'm not!)
    
    				Steve

    I don't use "clever" personal names on mail, or in serious
    (work-oriented) conferences, but for the other conferences which I'm
    afraid I still follow I couldn't resist this personal name. It's a
    literary allusion with a complementary hex on it...

	Paul

    at the bottom of Ken's mail you will find...
    
    

Paul, how do you do that? Turn it on and off?
	Mez

         Mez,
        
        There is  a  switch  to  turn  the P_N on or off on a temporary
        basis;
        
        mod prof/personal_name="xyzzy"/temporary  
        
        which  will    last    for   the  notes  session,  or  use  the
        /nopersonal_name qualifier for an individual note.
        
        Hope this helps,
        
        Andy
        
        
        Andy
        

re .89,.90

That's not my approach. I maintain two separate notebooks: the default 
(NOTES$NOTEBOOK.NOTE) in which I maintain my primary (work-related) conferences,
and a secondary (OTHER.NOTE) in which I keep secondary work-related (i.e. work,
but not my work) and personal interest conferences. Different notebook files,
different profiles.

To access the secondary conferences, all you do is

	$ DEFINE/USER NOTES$NOTEBOOK OTHER
	$ NOTES

 - Paul

    From "Being Alien", the sequel to "Becoming Alien", both by
    Rebecca Ore. Science fiction with unique characters and
    no starship battles, death-rays, etc. 
    
    The line in question cracked me up, but I won't give the
    context. Spend the $3.95
    
    Dana

    
    	From something that recently happened to me that
    	I wish would have happened 2 years ago..
    
    	JJ
    

    'Real men.....'
    
    My non favorite is '...don't eat quiche'.  I do, and like it.
    
    So I decided to have something that 'real men do' as a pun (for
    lack of a better word) on those who think 'real men <fill in>'
    
    So I came up with 'Real men double clutch'
    
    I double clutch all the time when I drive my 1943 GMC truck. You
    have to or else you will ruin the transmission. Most people don't
    know what that means. I will explain:
    
    Think of the noise your car (standard transmission) makes if you
    put it into reverse if you are not stopped. Now imagine the
    transmission  making the same noise when you go from 1st to 2nd,
    or 2nd to 3rd (and back down too) etc. In older trucks, and newer
    large trucks you must double clutch because the transmission has
    no synchronisers (sp) to make the gears speed up or slow down to
    match the speed of the next gear you intend to use. These prevent
    the shifting into reverse noise.
    	When you double-clutch, you accelerate, step on the clutch,
    move the shifter into neutral, let the clutch out for a learned
    amount of time (this is very subjective and depends upon many factors
    that change all the time), step on the clutch again and push the
    shifter into the next higher gear. Down shifting is somewhat different,
    but you can see the principal. It _IS_ an art to be able to do it
    well! If you are not an artist, you will pay for it with a
    transmission.
    
    That is why 'Real men (and more women lately) double-clutch'
    
    Steve

    <--(.94)
    
    I never did understand why it's called that when it's actually double
    DEclutching!
    
    						=maggie who learnt on a
    						1951 VW crash-box in Germany

    I have two:
    
    "If men can run the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties?"
    (A quote from Linda Elerbee)
    
    "Genghis, Kubla, Chakka.....
    (Because no one ever spells my last name right....it's like Genghis
    Khan, not Kahns hot dogs!)

Actually, it's one of the Shakespearean cliches that is 'ever fresh' in
production, and part of a truly beautiful speach. I saw my favoritist ever
production of "Merchant of Venice" in Stratford Ontario this season. Finally,
they made perfectly good sense of Antonio, who has all this wierd stuff he
does! However, they also cut a lot of the Christian cruelty, and so weazeled
out of some of the most difficult bits.

I could go on and on...
	Mez

    
    FYI:  Dustin Hoffman is coming to broadway as Shylock in the Merchant
    	  of Venice.
           
    We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion..
           
    Phyllis

    

    
    There is a course at MIT called 6.002, which is the first circuits
    course that electrical engineers take.
    
    I didn't take it, but I knew a slew of people who did.  One year,
    notes for a soon-to-be-published book were used as the text for the
    class.  The problem set for one week contained several questions about
    Zener diodes.  The topic was not covered in lecture, so people needed
    to use the notes.  The only reference to Zener diodes was one small
    phrase in parentheses:
    
    			insert Zener diodes here  
    
    It was funny to watch them run around tearing their hair out.  I assume
    that the Zener diode chapter finally made it into the book when it was 
    published.
    
    Lisa

    The most common answer zonies give (as well as the chamber of
    commerce) for the question:  Doesn't it get awfully HOT in
    the Summer?.......
    
    pat
    

a "zonie"  I love it!!!!!!!!   :-)  But it IS a dry heat!   

/kath_transplanted_Zonie

    
    reflects recent change...
    
    grins,
    mdh

    
    time to grab the spotlight....
    
    
    recently, after lunch with some friends, discussing what to do for
    dessert before heading back in....one friend commented on "icecream" and
    another said "But I'm not in a-la-mode mode..."
    
    ack.
    
    or maybe that isn't what she said, but that is close enough.
    
    jonathan
    

    To Maggie Tarbet:
    
    I've noticed your current P/N - Sama budu polevat - and have
    wondered if it's anything like "Kisch Mein Tuchas"? :-)
    
      Alan

    Knowing Maggie, I figured it for Same Old Bullstuff

	Yeah, I am rather curious myself, but I think I have this
one figured out (xlated?).  Are you a poet???

				Kbear

    My personal name in notes comes from Tracy Chapman... Its the last song
    on her new album.. when I first heard the song, I didn't like it...
    but, as it played more and more...  it really is true, no matter what
    happens to you in life - never sell your soul to anyone... cuz that's
    really all that you have that is really yours...

    My mail personal name comes from Miracle on 34th Street...

    FAITH, is believing in things when Common Sense tells you not to...

    They were talking about Santa Claus, but I thought it really was a lot
    more than just Santa Claus... as Christmas comes and has becomes so
    commercialized, we sometimes forget that what we are celebrating is the
    birth of Jesus Christ. That takes a lot of faith to believe - even when
    people say no, that common sense says not too...

    Mine comes from the fact that people take too many things too
    seriously, especially in NOTES ... so here's my response to the
    thin skinned ones ....
    
    
    
    
    				Jerry

    re: .109 (Jerry)
    
    ". . .the fact that people take too many things too seriously,
    
    Fact?  What fact?  I don't see no fact?  Anybody see a fact?
    
    Steve

    Yeah, like get serious, guy...
    
    --- (the other) jerry

     My new name comes from the fack(tm) that next week a *DOG* will
    be residing in my house! Just ask any old soaper I HATE DOGS!!!
    
    
    
      REK

    REK with a *dog*??? 
    
    
    A new decade has dawned fer sher.
    
    grins,
    Marge

      Yeah Marge Donna has decieded that we need a dog... Of course
    the rest of the family will take care of it....
    
                   REK

    true love.... 
    
    :^) Congratulations on your latest family addition, REK... (^:
    
    Grins

    
    My heart is still not beating - REK with a dog. I can die in peace now
    I have seen all. :-)
    
    Debbi
    
    P.S. Rick who's sleeping in the doghouse you or it?? :-)

Seems that we were not meant to have a dog after all. The day before we 
were to get a *DOG* the dog ran out into the road and the family that was 
giving us this dog had to put it asleep. The boys (Dan and Jesse) are very 
sad about this...... My loving wife wants to know if I went any where near
their house last tuesday....

               REK

    From the movie ALWAYS....  what you do with a plane....
    
    just flying....

    
    Well Rick, did you?????
    
    D. :-)

    I had nothing to do with it... Honest, we called to pick it up and
    the husband said it got hit by a car... Not a truck!!!
    
                      REK

    thought waves killed that dog, REK.  ;^)
    
    

    re .120 (etc) to follow up on .121's point -

    You hadn't just been watching A Fish Called Wanda, perchance?

I'm just burning with curiosity...Doug (G) and Mike (Z)...what *have* your 
recent personal names been about, anyway??  :-)

*Just* curious.  ;-)

D!

>	The "human bandage" p_n is part of a very long and boring story.

Awww...  Try me!  I have a *high* tolerence for boredom.  (It makes up 90%
of my waking hours.)

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

D!

Hate to cut you down, Mike, but that was *not* boring.  Look, I'm an
expert on boredom...I can recognize it instantly. I am a boredom
connesouir (sp!)...and I hate to tell you that, but that doesn't
even fall into the McDonald's catagory of "boring".  Sorry, pal.  Guess
I'll have to look elsewhere for my evening's fix of boredom.  

:-)

D!

D!>Sorry, pal.  Guess I'll have to look elsewhere for my evening's
D!>fix of boredom.  


	 Well, I could tell you all about my Six Sigma course I took
	 today.

	 ;-)

	 kath

    Mine comes from having to fly out to California to prove that I do
    enjoy hot water :-)...
    
    

    re> .127
    
    there's a "boring" notes file D!.  has some pretty funny stuff in it.

    From "MEN DON'T LEAVE" comes my mail personal name of:
    
    		"Heartbreak is life educating us" 
    
    My notes personal name is a response to my mail header...
    
    BTW: If you are planning on going to see the movie, I'd recommend
    bringing a box of tissues... there was not a dry eye in the cinema
    during the movie...  men and women both...