Apollo BBS Archive - March 1990

Apollo BBS Archive - March 1, 1990

Message: 63603
Author: Jeff Beck
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: Twenty-five
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 01:30:15

As one abcedarian to another, I feel duty bound to inform you that the Roman
alphabet -- or rather, our modern adaptation of it -- contains twenty-six
letters.  This is equal to thirteen times two, or twelve times two plus two:
perhaps more interestingly, it is also the smallest non-palindromic number
whose square is palindromic:
26^2 = 676
 
Additionally, twenty-six is equal to the sum of the digits of its cube:
26^3 = 17576
 
I hope you have found this message edifying, rather than stultifying.
 
Be seeing you,
Jeff B.
 
(Hey, if it's good enough for Patrick McGoohan...)

Message: 63604
Author: Larry Michaels   *  This is me.
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: Zak & Dean
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 02:16:01

Consider the religious conversion of Duffey Strode, a North Carolina
schoolboy who has been suspended several times for disrupting school
activities by shouting hateful, abusive, religious comments at people.  A
Washington Post article revealed how this boy was introduced to his
inhumane faith:

His father, David Strode, came home from work one day when the boy was five
years old, and described the horrors of "hell" in graphic, terrifying
terms.  He then told his son, "You are a sinner and you are going hell." 
(The Strode's religion teaches that God is going to punish people for the
imperfections that God himself created.  The fact that this makes no sense
never seems to dawn on them.)

David Strode describes the subsequent conversion of his son in these
terms:  "Man, those tears begun to run (sic) and he looked at me and he
said, 'Daddy, I don't want to go to hell.'  I said, 'I know somebody who
will get you out of hell and his name is Jesus Christ.'"  The young boy who
had been scared out of his wits said, "Daddy, I want to be saved."

He does need to be saved, for sure -- not from the imaginary deep-fat fryer
of "hell", but from his father and the howling hobgoblins of medieval
superstition.

My point of this is when the kid turns 18 his father will no longer be
responsible for the actions of Duffey.  Yet his father is the individual
that warped his mind, possibly for the rest of his 
But who warped David, the father's mind?  The father's parents most
likely had a hand (and belt) in it.  Who is GUILTY?  Everyone of us is
guilty of something, we are an illiterate race of animals who think just
the opposite is true.

What is the solution?  It will work itself out in good time but not until
people realize that the great dividers are race, language and creed. 
Religion, even in the same Order, causes the most separation within a
so-called united land.

If there were a loving Father-God wouldn't an intelligent person realize
that the only thing necessary for successful life is to have a good time and
get along with all?  It seems so.  But the masses somehow believe that it
is necessary to worship it, all the while believing that all religions are
founded in fiction except, of course, the one that they may happen to
believe in.

Be prepared to spend the remainder of this life with the majority being 
mental defectives.  Unless of course something really good happens.

Message: 63607
Author: Sananat Birnbach
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: Toxic Parents
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 04:41:47

"THEY NEVER LET ME FORGET HOW I DISGRACED THEM"

Sandy, 28, a striking brunette who seemed to "have it all," was seriously
depressed when she first came to see me.  She told me that she was unhappy
with everything in her life.  She had been a floral designer for several
years at a prestigious shop.  She had always dreamed of opening her own
business, but she was convinced that she wasn't smart enough to succeed. 
She was terrified of failure.
     Sandy had also been trying to get pregnant for more than two years,
with no success.  As we talked, I began to see that her inability to get
pregnant was causing her to feel strong resentment toward her husband and
inadequate in their relationship, despite the fact that he sounded genuinely
understanding and loving.  A recent conversation with her mother had
aggravated the issue:
 
     This whole pregnancy has become a real obsession with me.  When I had
lunch with my mom I told her how disappointed I was.  She said to me, "I'll
bet it's that abortion you had.  The Lord works in mysterious ways."  I
haven't been able to stop crying since.  She never lets me forget.
 
I asked her about the abortion.  After some initial hesitancy, she told me
the story:
 
It happened when I was in high school.  My parents were very, very strict
Catholics, so I went to parochial school.  I developed early, and by the
time I was twelve, I was five-foot-six, weighed one hundred thirty pounds,
and wore a 36-C bra.  Boys started paying attention to me, and I really like
it.  It drove my dad crazy.  The first time he caught me kissing a boy
good-night, he called me a whore so loud that the whole neighborhood heard. 
It was downhill from there.  Every time I went out with a boy, Dad told me I
was going to hell.  He never let up.  I figured I was damned anyway, so when
I was fifteen I slept with this guy.  Just my luck, I got pregnant.  When my
folks found out, they went nuts.  Then I told them I wanted an abortion;
they totally lost it.  They must have screamed at me about "mortal sin" a
thousand times.  If I wasn't going to hell already, they were sure this
would clinch it.  The only way I could get them to sign a consent was to
threaten to kill myself.
 
I asked Sandy how things went for her after the abortion.  She slumped down
in her chair with a dejected look that made my heart ache.
 
"Talk about a fall from grace.  I mean, Dad made me feel horrible enough
before, but now I felt like I didn't even have a right to exist.  The more
ashamed I felt, the harder I tried to make things right.

"I wanted to turn back the clock, get back the love I had when I was little.
 But they never miss a chance to bring it up.  They're like a broken record
about what I did and how I disgraced them.  I can't blame them.  I should've
never done what I did--I mean, they had such high moral expectations for me.
 Now I just want to make it up to them for hurting them so bad with my sins.
So I do anything they want me to do.  It drives my husband crazy.  He and I
get in these huge fights about it.  But I can't help it.  I just want them
to forgive me."
 
As I listened to this lovely young woman, I was very touched by the
suffering her parents' behavior had caused her and by how much she needed to
deny their responsibility for that suffering.  She seemed almost desperate
to convince me that she was to blame for all that happened to her.  Sandy's
self-blame was compunded by her parents' unyielding religious beliefs.  I
knew I had my work cut out for me if Sandy was to see how genuinely cruel
and emotionally abusive her parents had been to her.  I decided this was not
a time to be nonjudgmental.
 
SUSAN:  You know something?  I'm really angry for that young girl.  I think
your parents were awful to you.  I think they misused your religion to punish
you.  I don't think you deserved any of it.
SANDY:  I committed two mortal sins!
SUSAN:  Look, you were just a kid.  Maybe you made some mistakes, but you
don't have to keep paying for them forever.  Even the Church lets you atone
and get on with your life.  If your parents were as good as you say they
are, they would have shown some compassion for you.
SANDY:  They were trying to save my soul.  If they didn't love me so much,
they wouldn't care.
SUSAN:  Let's look at this from a different perspective.  What if you hadn't
had that abortion?  And you had a little girl.  She'd be about sixteen now,
right?
 
Sandy nodded, trying to figure out where I was headed.
 
SUSAN:  Suppose she got pregnant?  Would you treat her like your parents
treated you?
SANDY:  Not in a million years!

Sandy realized the implications of what she'd said.
 
SUSAN:  You'd be more loving.  And your prents should have been more loving.
That's their failure, not yours.
 
Sandy had spent half her life constructing an elaborate wall of defense. 
Such defensive walls are all too common among adult children of toxic
parents.  They can be made of a variety of psychological blocks, but the mot
common, the primary material in Sandy's wall, is a particularly obstinate
brick called "denial."

 
"AREN'T I SUPPOSED TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WAY I AM?"
 
By now you may be thinking, "Wait a minute, Susan.  Almost all the other
books and experts say I can't blame anybody else for my problems."
     Baloney.  Your parents are accountable for what they did.  Of course,
you are responsible for your adult life, but that life was largely shaped by
experiences over which you had no control.  The fact is:
 
YOU ARE -NOT- RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT WAS DONE TO YOU AS A DEFENSELESS CHILD!
 
YOU -ARE- RESPONSIBLE FOR TAKING POSITIVE STEPS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT
NOW!

Message: 63612
Author: $ Paul Savage
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: Yellow Front
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 05:38:01

 According to the business section of yesterday's Repulsive, Y.F. is not
shutting down completely. THey have filed a plan under chapter 11, and
intend to reduce from 140 some stores to 44. (Or a number in that vicinity.)
They plan to keep their valley stores, apparently, although with the high
rate of competition here, and with Wal-Mart planning at least two stores in
the Phoenix area, I can't imagine why.
 As you said Cliff, who will miss them, really?

Message: 63613
Author: $ James Hawley
Category: Answer!
Subject: Last
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 10:10:38

I haven't shopped at YF in over 6 years.  Though my brother did work in
their warehouse (Checker is part of the same company, or it was.).

Message: 63614
Author: $ Apollo SYSOP
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: Yellow Front
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 11:55:13

        Well, if they plan to keep their Valley stores...   The two Yellow
Fronts on Bell and 43rd Ave and Bell and 19th Ave have signs  "OUT OF
BUSINESS" and are indeed, very closed!   I do believe there is a Yellow 
Front store on Camelback that all remaining goods are being transfered too.
And... 40% off EVERYTHING!

Message: 63615
Author: $ Apollo SYSOP
Category: Apollo Trivia
Subject: New Modem
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 15:00:01

        Online 03/01/90 @ 3:pm

300/1200/2400 baud...

The new Prometheus has an external power supply and consists of very few IC
chips on a rather small board.

Let's FLY......

*=* the 'Mighty' Apollo SYSOP *=*

Message: 63616
Author: $ Zak Woodruff
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: Jeff Beck
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 16:38:42

     Do you have some sort of mathemetician's book about unusual properties
of numbers (RE: 26), or are you simply an idiot savant?

Message: 63617
Author: $ Apollo SYSOP
Category: Apollo Trivia
Subject: Modem tests
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 17:27:54

        I have been logging in heavily the last two hours testing the modem
response.  So far, excellent!   And it is also very cool compared to its
older brother who is now tied to MY personal AT computer.  The 1200 I had on
the AT is now on my Sanyo 555 system.    
        
        By the way, this new modem for the BBS is sponsored by Hawley
Locksmithing, the Low Cost Mobile Locksmith.  If you have lock troubles by
golly, call Hawley!  277-9595   Fast mobile phone service.
GM Tilt Column Repair/Automotive/Commercial/Residential.........

Listed in the Yellow Pages and Apollo's  cmd in ain menu!

*=* the 'Mighty' Apollo SYSOP *=**=* the 'Mighty' Apollo SYSOP *=*

Message: 63618
Author: Mike Carter
Category: Joke
Subject: last
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 19:31:55

Last before last...
 
"Let's FLY" ??????
 
When you run a Telebit Trailblazer you can then claim speed.

Message: 63619
Author: Mike Carter
Category: Answer!
Subject: Cliff
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 19:36:05

Since our phone number was "trashed" with the printout, it musn't
be that important for you to keep friends (?) phone numbers.
Well, I guess I'll have to just mosey over and remind you one of
these days.
Well, off to work with me..
        
        -Mike

Message: 63620
Author: $ Apollo SYSOP
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: last on Mike
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 19:48:37

        Let's Fly, was not ment to mean SPEED.....  It was ment the new
modem was ready to play the game.... Speaking of SPEED...  I see you log in
at a slow 1200?   Try a faster program and... 2400 baud...

        I somehow knew you would slam my tossing out of an old printout. It
was replaced by a new one and I gave it no thought that I needed numbers
that were on it.  After I ripped it up into thousands of pieces and tossed
it, then I remembered. I lost a few other numbers I would have liked to
keep, so don't feel pregnant!

        Sure, visit me Mike...  I would like that VERY much!  Have a beer
and talk old times....  (Or Pepsi)   Maybe I will even give you a 9mm demo
bullet! ha ha ha ha

Cliff   *=* the SysOp that cares *=*   

Message: 63622
Author: Jeff Beck
Category: Answer!
Subject: Zak/idiot savant
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 20:49:29

Evidently not, but rather, a lusus naturae.  Ignotum per ignotius.

Message: 63623
Author: $ Daryl Westfall
Category: Joke
Subject:  ^^^^
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 22:19:46

 
What do you get when you cross an insomniac, an agnostic, and a dyslexic?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Someone who stays up all night wondering if there really is a dog.

Message: 63624
Author: $ Daryl Westfall
Category: Joke
Subject: Talent
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 22:24:44

"Musically, we are more talented than any Bob Dylan...than Paul McCartney.
Mick Jagger, his lines are not clear. He don't know how he should produce
a sound. I'm the new modern rock and roll. I'm the new Elvis."
 
                          - Rob Pilatus of MILLI VANILLI
 
 
 
[Don't laugh too hard now, I think he's serious.]

Message: 63625
Author: $ Apollo SYSOP
Category: Apollo Trivia
Subject: FAILURE!!!!
Date: 03/01/90  Time: 22:57:27

        The new modem bit the big one.....  well, they always say this
electronic stuff will either fail in the first few hours of life, or live
forever.   The backup is back on line till the new modem is REPLACED!

Believe me, Hawley's Locksmithing is better then the modem he supplied me.