Return to notes CVS log

Up to [CSRG BSD Unix] / 43BSDTahoe / games / fortune

Annotation of 43BSDTahoe/games/fortune/notes, revision 1.1

1.1     ! root        1: Warning:       The fortunes contained in the fortune database have
        !             2:                been collected haphazardly from a caphony of sources,
        !             3:                in number so huge it boggles the mind.  It is
        !             4:                impossible to do any meaningful quality control on
        !             5:                attributions, or lack thereof, or exactness of the
        !             6:                quote.  Since this database is not used for profit, and
        !             7:                since entire works are not published, it falls under
        !             8:                fair use, as we understand it.  However, if any
        !             9:                half-assed idiot decides to make a profit off of this,
        !            10:                they will need to double check it all, and nobody not
        !            11:                involved of such an effort makes any warranty that
        !            12:                anything in here bears any relation to the real world
        !            13:                of literature, law, or other bizzarrity.
        !            14: 
        !            15: [All examples are indented by one tab stop -- KCRCA]
        !            16: 
        !            17: Numbers should be given in parentheses, e.g.,
        !            18: 
        !            19:        (1)     Everything depends.
        !            20:        (2)     Nothing is always.
        !            21:        (3)     Everything is sometimes.
        !            22: 
        !            23: Attributions are two tab stops, followed by two hyphens, followed by a
        !            24: space, followed by the attribution, and are *not* preceded by blank
        !            25: lines.  Book, journal, movie, and all other titles are in quotes, .e.g,
        !            26: 
        !            27:        $100 invested at 7% interest for 100 years will become $100,000, at
        !            28:        which time it will be worth absolutely nothing.
        !            29:                        -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
        !            30: 
        !            31: Attributions which do not fit on one (72 char) line should be continued
        !            32: on a line which lines up below the first text of the attribution, e.g.,
        !            33: 
        !            34:                        -- A very long attribution which might not fit on one
        !            35:                           line, "Ken Arnold's Stupid Sayings"
        !            36: 
        !            37: Single paragraph fortunes are in left justified (non-indented)
        !            38: paragraphs unless they fall into another category listed below (see
        !            39: examle above).  Longer fortunes should also be in left justified
        !            40: paragraphs, but if this makes it too long, try indented paragraphs,
        !            41: with indentations of either one tab stop or 5 chars.  Indentations of
        !            42: less than 5 are too hard to read.
        !            43: 
        !            44: Laws have the title left justified and capitalized, followed by a
        !            45: colon, with all the text of the law itself indented one tab stop,
        !            46: initially capitalized, e.g.,
        !            47: 
        !            48:        A Law of Computer Programming:
        !            49:                Make it possible for programmers to write in English and you
        !            50:                will find the programmers cannot write in English.
        !            51: 
        !            52: Limericks are indented as follows, all lines capitalized:
        !            53: 
        !            54:        A computer, to print out a fact,
        !            55:        Will divide, multiply, and subtract.
        !            56:                But this output can be
        !            57:                No more than debris,
        !            58:        If the input was short of exact.
        !            59: 
        !            60: Accents precede the letter they are over, e.g., "`^He" for e with a
        !            61: grave accent.  Underlining is done on a word-by-word basis, with the
        !            62: underlines preceding the word, e.g., "__^H^Hhi ____^H^H^H^Hthere".
        !            63: 
        !            64: No fortune should run beyond 72 characters on a single line without
        !            65: good justification (er, no pun intended).  And no right margin
        !            66: justification, either.  Sorry.
        !            67: 
        !            68: Definitions are given with the word or phrase left justified, followed
        !            69: by the part of speech (if appropriate) and a colon.  The definition
        !            70: starts indented by one tab stop, with subsequent lines left justified,
        !            71: e.g.,
        !            72: 
        !            73:        Afternoon, n.:
        !            74:                That part of the day we spend worrying about how we wasted the
        !            75:        morning.
        !            76: 
        !            77: Quotes are sometimes put around statements which are funnier or make
        !            78: more sense if they are understood as being spoken, rather than written,
        !            79: communication, e.g,
        !            80: 
        !            81:        "All my friends and I are crazy.  That's the only thing that keeps us
        !            82:        sane."
        !            83: 
        !            84: Elipses are always surrounded by spaces, except when next to
        !            85: puncuation, and are three dots, unless there is a good reason not to.
        !            86: (In fact, all these rules can be broken if they make a good joke.)
        !            87: 
        !            88:        "... all the modern inconveniences ..."
        !            89:                        -- Mark Twain
        !            90: 
        !            91: Human initials always have spaces after the periods, e.g, "P. T.
        !            92: Barnum", not "P.T. Barnum".  However, "P.T.A.", not "P. T. A.".
        !            93: 
        !            94: All fortunes should be attributed, but if and only if they are original
        !            95: with somebody.  Many people have said things that are folk sayings
        !            96: (i.e., are common among the folk (i.e., us common slobs)).  There is
        !            97: nothing wrong with this, of course, but such statements should not be
        !            98: attributed to individuals who did not invent them.
        !            99: 
        !           100: Horoscopes should have the sign indented by one tab stop, followed by
        !           101: the dates of the sign, with the text left justified below it, e.g.,
        !           102: 
        !           103:                AQUARIUS (Jan 20 - Feb 18)
        !           104:        You have an inventive mind and are inclined to be progressive.  You lie
        !           105:        a great deal.  On the other hand, you are inclined to be careless and
        !           106:        impractical, causing you to make the same mistakes over and over
        !           107:        again.  People think you are stupid.
        !           108: 
        !           109: Single quotes should not be used except as quotes within quotes.  Not
        !           110: even single quotes masquerading as double quotes are to be used, e.g.,
        !           111: don't say ``hi there'' or `hi there' or 'hi there', but "hi there".
        !           112: However, you *can* say "I said, `hi there'".
        !           113: 
        !           114: A long poem or song can be ordered as follows in order to make it
        !           115: fit on a screen (fortunes should be 19 lines or less if at all
        !           116: possible):
        !           117: 
        !           118:        11111111111111111111
        !           119:        11111111111111111111
        !           120:        11111111111111111111                    22222222222222222222
        !           121:        11111111111111111111                    22222222222222222222
        !           122:                                                22222222222222222222
        !           123:        33333333333333333333                    22222222222222222222
        !           124:        33333333333333333333
        !           125:        33333333333333333333                    44444444444444444444
        !           126:        33333333333333333333                    44444444444444444444
        !           127:                                                44444444444444444444
        !           128:                                                44444444444444444444
        !           129: 
        !           130: Fortunes are split into potentially offensive and not potentially
        !           131: offensive, into the files "obscene" and "scene", respectively.
        !           132: Anything which would not make it onto network prime time programming
        !           133: should *not* go into "scene".  Also, anything which would only get on
        !           134: if some discredited kind of guy said it should *not* go in scene.
        !           135: Fortunes containing "shit", "fuck", "cock" (not the male version of a
        !           136: chicken, obviously, but "penis"), "cunt", "pussy", and such like are
        !           137: *obscene*.  Political opinions are supposed to be in "obscene", too.
        !           138: Antyhing which is blatantly racist, mysoginist, or homophobic, should
        !           139: not be in either, since they are not really funny unless *you* are
        !           140: racist, mysoginist, or homophobic.

This archive runs on limited infrastructure. Preserving old code on modern bandwidth. Automated agents are requested to crawl responsibly.