The LINGO Thread

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

This is a variation of a game we used to play on Michigan's internal forum system (called MEET:Students) back in 1990. We called it Word Mastermind.

Man, they had that back in '90? I was on that for a little bit in '95 -- killed time on it when I was working as a consultant in the computer lab at MoJo. The forum system was called 'confer' then, but it sounds like pretty much the same thing.

[Solecismic]

N U C L E A R (0,4)
R E A C T E D (1,1)
T R A I L E R (0,2)
N E R V O U S (0,2)
C U R L I E R (1,3)
C O U R I E R (2,1)
R A U N C H Y (1,2)
U N I C O R N (1,1)
N U C U L A R (0,3)
E N Q U I R E (1,1)
C A L L E R S (1,2)
E N T R O P Y (0,1)
R E A C T O R (1,1)
E X C L U D E (1,3)

[digamma]

EXCLUDE

[Solecismic]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Man, they had that back in '90? I was on that for a little bit in '95 -- killed time on it when I was working as a consultant in the computer lab at MoJo. The forum system was called 'confer' then, but it sounds like pretty much the same thing.

I joined in 1988 when I returned to Michigan for grad school, and was part of the group that met weekly to play cards. Met a lot of good friends through that card game.

The whole system was called Confer from the beginning, which was invented by Bob Parnes in 1975. The conferences (MEET:STUDENTS and MEET:PLANNERS - I moderated M:P for one semester) started up in 1985. Kathy Aupperle, who helped start the conferencing system, is the person who taught me to play bridge.

Back then, you received $30 in computing time every month. It was a little sad toward the end of the month, because people would run out of money and be off the system for a week or two. Moderating was a good gig because you'd get an account with $200 a month (not that you could use all that).

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

I joined in 1988 when I returned to Michigan for grad school, and was part of the group that met weekly to play cards. Met a lot of good friends through that card game.

The whole system was called Confer from the beginning, which was invented by Bob Parnes in 1975. The conferences (MEET:STUDENTS and MEET:PLANNERS - I moderated M:P for one semester) started up in 1985. Kathy Aupperle, who helped start the conferencing system, is the person who taught me to play bridge.

Back then, you received $30 in computing time every month. It was a little sad toward the end of the month, because people would run out of money and be off the system for a week or two. Moderating was a good gig because you'd get an account with $200 a month (not that you could use all that).

I don't know if they have it now, but we had ITD "funny money" when I was there, too. I forget how much they gave you, but they charged you for dial-up access, and for printing from the computer labs. I think that if you spent all your "funny money" then they just started charging your tuition account. I remember a couple stories about people not knowing they were being charged for dial-up, and getting screwed when it was time to register for classes.

[Solecismic]

Back then, registering for classes meant standing in line for three hours and hoping you'd be next to a pretty girl, and not some acne-scarred idiot with a runny nose and a cough.

If your student number range was late in the lottery, you'd never get any of the classes you wanted. I remember carrying a stack of blank add-drop slips with me the entire first week of classes, my ID number was cursed.