Welcome to the intellectual red-light district of USF...
Frequently Asked Questions for usf.misc
last modified 27 August 1997
This posting attempts to answer the most common questions for those who
are new to the usf.misc newsgroup and are confused as to what is actually
going on.
This FAQ was originally written by the erstwhile Benevolant Dictator (tm),
Dylan Northrup, and is now maintained by Robert "the Devil's child"
Fernandez (rfernand@chuma.cas.usf.edu).
That's me. The opinions expressed in this document are those of its authors, and
should not be construed as being the opinions of either USF or usf.misc.
If there is some information that you feel should be added or changed,
send mail to me. Technical questions not answered in this FAQ should be
directed towards someone who can answer them, and that person is not me.
--------------------
Contents of this FAQ
--------------------
1. What is usf.misc?
2. What about these other newsgroups?
3. Who is this Benevolant Dictator (tm) guy?
4. So who are you?
5. What does "the Devil's child" mean?
6. What's this stuff about you being a bartender? Where do you work?
7. So can I post my opinions here too?
8. Can I post test messages on usf.misc?
9. You guys go to lunch together?
10. Why do I sometimes get an error when I try to post that says 'no
message left on device'?
11. What does it mean when it asks for a distribution when I post?
12. So what's the deal with there being a usf.misc Mosaic Home page?
13. I want to get on cfrdc (sunlink and luis). How do I do this from my
account?
14. I am having a problem with my system. Who do I e-mail?
15. When I post to usenet, my address is reprinted incorrectly in the
header. What do I do?
16. Is the Oracle on the net?
17. Who owns this newsgroup?
18. You are kidding, right? This is all a joke, isn't it?
--------------------
1. What is usf.misc?
--------------------
Well, it's a newsgroup for the University of South Florida for people to
talk about miscellaneous stuff. You'd think there was more to the
explanation than that, but there isn't.
-------------------------------------
2. What about these other newsgroups?
-------------------------------------
Who knows? The newsgroups usf.talk and usf.talk.misc are used for pretty
much the same thing as usf.misc: nothing important. There are also a
bunch of groups created for specific engineering clubs, such as
usf.org.ieee, and announcement groups, such as the aptly named
usf.student.announce. Almost nothing is posted to these groups, however.
If you have technical questions or problems, check out the group
usf.comp.qa and it should be answered quickly enough.
Posts advertising items for sale should be posted to usf.forsale ONLY, and
not to any of the other usf groups. If you want a wider audience, try
fl.forsale.
Here a nearly complete list of the usf* groups. Thanks to Himanshu J.
Gohel for the bulk of this information:
usf.ai.announce: Announcements for the artificial intelligence research
group.
usf.aiche: American Institute of Chemical Engineers?
usf.club.radio: USF radio club.
usf.comp.csee.announce: Annoucements for computer science & engineering.
usf.comp.eng.announce: Announcements for engineering or eng. computing.
usf.comp.qa: Questions & answers regarding computing.
usf.csee.cop3000: For the CS&E course COP 3000.
usf.dialup: Discussion related to USF dialup access.
usf.fine_arts: Discussions related to fine arts.
usf.forsale: Posts for things on sale. These postings should be restricted
to this group.
usf.grad.announce: Announcements concerning graduate students.
usf.lis.internet: For the Introduction to Internet course, LIS 2002.
usf.misc: Discussion of miscellaneous topics.
usf.org.acm: Student chapter of the Assoc. for Computing Machinery.
usf.org.ieee: Student chapter of the Inst. for Electronics & Electrical
Engineers (including the IEEE-Computer Society).
usf.psychology.CSCW: For the PSY course "CSCW". Originally misnamed
"usf.psycology.CSCW".
usf.sara_news: Posts regarding the USF Sarasota campus. It's not about
Dobrin's wife, no matter what he says.
usf.student.announce: Announcements concerning undergraduates and students in
general.
usf.talk.misc: Unknown, seems like this serves the same purpose as usf.misc
usf.talk: Created to remove traffic from the USF-News listserve, but is
more often used as another misc group.
usf.test: Test posts. See question 7.
usf.vision.announce: Announcements for computer vision research group.
usf.vlsi: Announcements for VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) research
group.
usf.windows.x: Discussions concerning the X Windows system.
--------------------------------------------
3. Who is this Benevolant Dictator (tm) guy?
--------------------------------------------
The self-proclaimed Benevolant Dictator (tm) of usf.misc was Dylan
Northrup. He was a Systems Operator for the College of Arts & Sciences
who had entirely too much time on his hands.
He ruled over this newsgroup with an iron fluffy pillow until he found
the strain of his position to be too great when combined with the real
obligations of school, work, and his ongoing quest to move from acting to
directing.
Isn't he spelling "benevolant" wrong? Yes and no. Yes, he is not speling
benevolent the way that most dictionaries spell it. No, he is spelling
it the correct way as was set down before him by the Goddess Fa. Whatever.
But this is all academic, since Dylan has left our fair university for
greener pastures and a quest for a real job. He pulled up stakes and
headed for St. Louis, but apparently the weather wasn't to his liking
because he currently lives in Gainesville, working for the University of
Florida's Department of Chemistry.
If you want to find out what Dylan is up to, he has his own mailing list.
Talk about narcissism. You can subscribe by sending a message with the
word "subscribe", appropriately enough, in the subject line to:
dylinfo-request@chem.ufl.edu
Don't tell him I sent you.
------------------
4. So who are you?
------------------
I'm Robert Fernandez. I got my bachelor's in English from USF in December
1995 with university honors, which means I got a nifty hood. I'm currently
in the masters program in the Department of Humanities (so stop calling me
an English major! :) and for some godforsaken reason, they've decided to
take a chance and let me teach undergraduates. I love corrupting young
minds.
As you might of guessed from the content of my posts and forwards, I'm
passionately liberal. Voting Republican is a good way to receive
unapologetic flames from me because it's a pretty damn stupid thing to do.
Come visit me at my homepage, http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~rfernand,
or make your death threats personally in my office, Cooper Hall room 375.
--------------------------------------
5. What does "the Devil's child" mean?
--------------------------------------
It comes from this passage in Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance":
"...I remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to
a valued adviser who was wont to importune me with the dear old doctrines
of the church. On my saying, What have I to do with the sacredness of
traditions, if I live wholly from within? my friend suggested- 'But these
impulses may be from below, not from above.' I replied, 'They do not seem
to me to be such; but if I am the Devil's child, I will live then from
the Devil.' No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
6. What's this stuff about you being a bartender? Where do you work?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
No, I'm not a bartender, but my friend Bob is. He mixes some pretty potent
concoctions, which were responsible for getting me so smashed at this one
party that people tell me I tried to jump off the balcony. But people can
say some pretty outlandish things, and needless to say, I don't remember a
thing.
Anyway, I also go by the moniker "Frozen Bartender" which is an anagram of
my name. Yes, I'll wait while you check. It's true. I found that out by
checking an anagram server. I'd give you the web address, but I misplaced
it. So just use Yahoo.
I've also taken to calling myself "the Devil's Bartender", a combination
of my two most infamous nicknames. What it means, I can't say.
--------------------------------------
7. So can I post my opinions here too?
--------------------------------------
Yes, you too can post to this wonderful Nirvana. What are you waiting for?
However, when posting you must always remember one thing: the Oracle is
watching.
----------------------------------------
8. Can I post test messages on usf.misc?
----------------------------------------
No, no and no! Absolutely not! There are groups set up expressly for test
messages, such as alt.test, fl.test, and misc.test. There is even a local
group for test messages, usf.test, so there is no reason to be posting
them here.
Some people see nothing wrong with posting test messages on usf.misc, but
I think they're wrong. So there. :P
If you post a test message on a world wide test group, you will receive a
number of automatic e-mail replies from systems in the US and around the
world. If you don't wish to get these, put the word "ignore" in the
subject line.
---------------------------------
9. You guys go to lunch together?
---------------------------------
Well, on occasion a group of regular posters gets together and enjoys
some real-time conversation over a bit or two of food. Originally, the
erstwhile poster Patrick Nelson suggested that a few of us get together to
actually put faces with names. The original lunch went off so well that
there were more and eventually the word got out. Now, the usf.misc lunch
is a semi-regular thing. It happens whenever everyone can coordinate
schedules. It was formerly held in the Marshall Center (the UC for us
oldtimers), but has moved to Tarek's Cafe on the first floor of Mental
Health Building H, the northwestern-most building on campus. It's easy to
find and there's plenty of parking. We've also taken to meeting at the new
food court in the University Mall. We're always open to suggestions as to
new places where we can feast upon cullinary delights.
It usually happens on 12:30 one weekday every few weeks or so. The
usf.misc.lunch mailing list is maintained by Vicki Andrews
(andrews@hal.fmhi.usf.edu). You can get on the list and receive a
notice when the next lunch is, in case you're too lazy to read the
newsgroup.
If you watch Rush Limbaugh and enjoy it, it is suggested that you do not
attend. No one is excluded from coming, but you probably won't like the
conversation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Why do I sometimes get an error when I try to post that says 'no
message left on device'?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, this is a problem on the part of the news server here at usf. The
server stores all the articles from every newsgroup on one central
computer. This computer has a limited amount of space on it's hard
drives. Right now news articles are allocated 2-3 gigabytes of space.
If this space fills up with articles it will not allow people to write
any more on that disk until space is cleared (which happens when articles
expire). This means new articles won't appear from other sites outside
the University. This also means that people here at the University won't
be able to post. The only thing to do if you get a message like this is
wait and try again in a day or two.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
11. What does it mean when it asks for a distribution when I post?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The "Distribution:" field determines how far your humble post is
propogated. It tells the news software how far to spread your words into
the world. There are five choices* for propogation:
usf -- The usf campus and all systems herein.
tpa -- Any other Internet sites here in the Tampa area.
fl -- Any other Internet sites in the state.
usa -- All sites in America.
world -- every site in the world.
Now, one other thing determines whether or not your post will be able to
be read by your friend in Botswana. Whether his site carries this
particular group or not. If they do, and your post is set for world
distribution, then they will be able to read your posts to their heart's
content. If not, then they will be forced to live without your (and my)
pearls of wisdom.
It really doesn't matter what choice you make as far as distribution.
Every choice is inclusive of the campus machines and I don't believe this
group is propogated beyond usf. But just in case, confine your
distribution to usf to save bandwidth.
* This information was taken from David Smith .
It sounds right to me.
------------------------------------------------------------
12. So what's the deal with there being a usf.misc home page?
------------------------------------------------------------
There is a home page for usf.misc home page accessible via any WWW browser.
In order to access it, at the prompt you merely need to type:
http://www.fmhi.usf.edu/vicki/usfmisc.html or http://www.segnbora.com/usfmisc.html.
The home page was created by Dylan Northrup and is currently
maintained by Vicki Andrews and Suzanne Saunders.
If you would like to be added to this home page, email
andrews@hal.fmhi.usf.edu and express your desire to be included. If you
have a home page, please include that as well.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
13. I want to get on cfrdc (sunlink and luis). How do I do this from my
account?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can use the internet to access sunlink and check out your grades,
transcript, and registration information. You can also access luis, the
Florida university system computerized catalog, with tons of searchable
databases. At usf, you can get to these systems through cfrdc.
The best way to do this is to type:
tn3270 cfrmvs
at the system prompt. If you get a response of "host unknown", try:
tn3270 cfrmvs.cfr.usf.edu
The older way to do this (though this process will be discontinued soon) is
to telnet to luna.cas.usf.edu, sunburn.eng.usf.edu, or cfrrisc1.cfr.usf.edu.
You should then logon as "cfrdc". It should not ask for a password and
you should be automagically thrown into the wonderful world of cfrdc. The
process looks like this from my machine:
--------
chuma>telnet luna.cas.usf.edu
Trying 131.247.33.4
Connected to luna.cas.usf.edu
Escape character is '^]'.
SunOS UNIX (luna)
login: cfrdc
--------
When you want to quit, just press ^] (the control key and the
right-square bracket), type quit, and press enter. You should be back at
your home account.
You can also access luis via the University of Florida through telnet.
Just type:
telnet luis.nerdc.ufl.edu
and it will take you there.
-----------------------------------------------------------
14. I am having a problem with my system. Who do I e-mail?
-----------------------------------------------------------
If you are having a problem with your system, you should contact your
system administrator. They are the people who are in charge of the
individual machines. If they are not the right people to talk to, they
will at least be able to point you in the right direction. Please contact
them only for help with a USF system, not for technical support for your
home computer system.
Here is a partial list by domains:
acomp -- campoe@spock.acomp.usf.edu
bsn -- dankelma@groucho.bsn.usf.edu
cas -- tron@cas.usf.edu
csee -- tech@csee.usf.edu
coedu -- russell@coedu.usf.edu
eng -- root@eng.usf.edu
fmhi -- kearns@hal.fmhi.usf.edu
med -- simpson@med.usf.edu
Any help in compiling this list will be greatly appreciated.
If all else fails, writing to root@your_domain_name will usually reach
people reponsible for your system.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
15. When I post to usenet, my address is reprinted incorrectly in the
header. What do I do?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was a problem on luna and chuma, and possibly other systems. You
never know when it may crop up again. When people reply via e-mail to
your usenet postings, the mail will bounce because of the incorrect
address. Contact your system administrator and tell him or her the
problem. But don't hold your breath. State employees are overworked and
underpaid people.
A temporary solution was suggested to me by Russ Alberry of Stanford
University(thanks Russ!). Simply create your own From: line. Before you
post the message, simply go to the top of the header and type it in (with
the correct e-mail address, of course). Unfortunately, you have to do
this each time, so unless you have (long) macros on your terminal
program, it can get tiring. I usually only bother when I am expecting
e-mail replies.
-----------------------------
16. Is the Oracle on the net?
-----------------------------
Yes they are, in more ways than one. You can read the paper on-line
through the usf gopher system. Simply type "gopher" at the system prompt.
Choose the option "USF Gopher Server" followed by "Student Publications"
and there you are. Or you can go directly to the Oracle section by typing
"gopher sisyphus.acomp". If you don't know how to use gopher, don't
worry because there is plenty of on-line help documentation.
The Oracle now has a web site. Point your browser at
http://www.oracle.usf.edu or
http://131.247.46.1 to view it.
The Oracle staff can be contacted via e-mail at the following addresses:
editor@acomp.usf.edu
sports_ed@acomp.usf.edu
oracle@acomp.usf.edu
features_@acomp.usf.edu
news_ed@acomp.usf.edu
commentary_@acomp.usf.edu
The Oracle will accept "letters to the editor" via e-mail if they
include the phone number of the author for verification purposes. Send
your letter to commentary_@acomp.usf.edu.
It is known that someone at the Oracle reads, or has at one time read,
usf.misc because a post here was (illegally) reprinted in an issue of the
paper. Common sense would indicate that you do not post anything that you
would not want to see reprinted in the next day's issue.
----------------------------
17. Who owns this newsgroup?
----------------------------
I do. Deal with it.
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18. You are kidding, right? This is all a joke, isn't it?
----------------------------------------------------------
Nope. It's real. And, now that it is in a FAQ, it must be official :)
