1 # $NetBSD: Notes,v 1.3 2024/09/08 09:36:47 rillig Exp $ 2 # @(#)Notes 8.1 (Berkeley) 5/31/93 3 4 Warning: 5 The fortunes contained in the fortune database have been collected 6 haphazardly from a cacophony of sources, in number so huge it 7 boggles the mind. It is impossible to do any meaningful quality 8 control on attributions, or lack thereof, or exactness of the quote. 9 Since this database is not used for profit, and since entire works 10 are not published, it falls under fair use, as we understand it. 11 However, if any half-assed idiot decides to make a profit off of 12 this, they will need to double check it all, and nobody not involved 13 of such an effort makes any warranty that anything in the database 14 bears any relation to the real world of literature, law, or other 15 bizzarrity. 16 17 ==> GENERAL INFORMATION 18 By default, fortune retrieves its fortune files from the directory 19 /usr/share/games/fortune. A fortune file has two parts: the source file 20 (which contains the fortunes themselves) and the data file which describes 21 the fortunes. The data fil always has the same name as the fortune file 22 with the string ".dat" concatenated, i.e. "fort" is the standard fortune 23 database, and "fort.dat" is the data file which describes it. See 24 strfile(8) for more information on creating the data files. 25 Fortunes are split into potentially offensive and not potentially 26 offensive parts. The offensive version of a file has the same name as the 27 non-offensive version with "-o" concatenated, i.e. "fort" is the standard 28 fortune database, and "fort-o" is the standard offensive database. The 29 fortune program automatically assumes that any file with a name ending in 30 "-o" is potentially offensive, and should therefore only be displayed if 31 explicitly requested, either with the -o option or by specifying a file name 32 on the command line. 33 Potentially offensive fortune files should NEVER be maintained in 34 clear text on the system. They are rotated (see caesar(6)) 13 positions. 35 To create a new, potentially offensive database, use caesar to rotate it, 36 and then create its data file with the -x option to strfile(8). The fortune 37 program automatically decrypts the text when it prints entries from such 38 databases. 39 Anything which would not make it onto network prime time programming 40 (or which would only be broadcast if some discredited kind of guy said it) 41 MUST be in the potentially offensive database. Fortunes containing any 42 explicit language (see George Carlin's recent updated list) MUST be in the 43 potentially offensive database. Political and religious opinions are often 44 sequestered in the potentially offensive section as well. Anything which 45 assumes as a world view blatantly racist, mysogynist (sexist), or homophobic 46 ideas should not be in either, since they are not really funny unless *you* 47 are racist, mysogynist, or homophobic. 48 The point of this is that people have should have a reasonable 49 expectation that, should they just run "fortune", they will not be offended. 50 We know that some people take offense at anything, but normal people do have 51 opinions, too, and have a right not to have their sensibilities offended by 52 a program which is supposed to be entertaining. People who run "fortune 53 -o" or "fortune -a" are saying, in effect, that they are willing to have 54 their sensibilities tweaked. However, they should not have their personal 55 worth seriously (i.e., not in jest) assaulted. Jokes which depend for their 56 humor on racist, mysogynist, or homophobic stereotypes *do* seriously 57 assault individual personal worth, and in a general entertainment medium 58 we should be able to get by without it. 59 60 ==> FORMATTING 61 This file describes the format for fortunes in the database. This 62 is done in detail to make it easier to keep track of things. Any rule given 63 here may be broken to make a better joke. 64 65 [All examples are indented by one tab stop -- KCRCA] 66 67 Numbers should be given in parentheses, e.g., 68 69 (1) Everything depends. 70 (2) Nothing is always. 71 (3) Everything is sometimes. 72 73 Attributions are two tab stops, followed by two hyphens, followed by a 74 space, followed by the attribution, and are *not* preceded by blank 75 lines. Book, journal, movie, and all other titles are in quotes, e.g., 76 77 $100 invested at 7% interest for 100 years will become $100,000, at 78 which time it will be worth absolutely nothing. 79 -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love" 80 81 Attributions which do not fit on one (72 char) line should be continued 82 on a line which lines up below the first text of the attribution, e.g., 83 84 -- A very long attribution which might not fit on one 85 line, "Ken Arnold's Stupid Sayings" 86 87 Single paragraph fortunes are in left justified (non-indented) paragraphs 88 unless they fall into another category listed below (see example above). 89 Longer fortunes should also be in left justified paragraphs, but if this 90 makes it too long, try indented paragraphs, with indentations of either one 91 tab stop or 5 chars. Indentations of less than 5 are too hard to read. 92 93 Laws have the title left justified and capitalized, followed by a colon, 94 with all the text of the law itself indented one tab stop, initially 95 capitalized, e.g., 96 97 A Law of Computer Programming: 98 Make it possible for programmers to write in English and 99 you will find the programmers cannot write in English. 100 101 Limericks are indented as follows, all lines capitalized: 102 103 A computer, to print out a fact, 104 Will divide, multiply, and subtract. 105 But this output can be 106 No more than debris, 107 If the input was short of exact. 108 109 Accents precede the letter they are over, e.g., "`^He" for e with a grave 110 accent. Underlining is done on a word-by-word basis, with the underlines 111 preceding the word, e.g., "__^H^Hhi ____^H^H^H^Hthere". 112 113 No fortune should run beyond 72 characters on a single line without good 114 justification (er, no pun intended). And no right margin justification, 115 either. Sorry. For BSD people, there is a program called "fmt" which can 116 make this kind of formatting easier. 117 118 Definitions are given with the word or phrase left justified, followed by 119 the part of speech (if appropriate) and a colon. The definition starts 120 indented by one tab stop, with subsequent lines left justified, e.g., 121 122 Afternoon, n.: 123 That part of the day we spend worrying about how we wasted 124 the morning. 125 126 Quotes are sometimes put around statements which are funnier or make more 127 sense if they are understood as being spoken, rather than written, 128 communication, e.g., 129 130 "All my friends and I are crazy. That's the only thing that 131 keeps us sane." 132 133 Ellipses are always surrounded by spaces, except when next to punctuation, 134 and are three dots long. 135 136 "... all the modern inconveniences ..." 137 -- Mark Twain 138 139 Human initials always have spaces after the periods, e.g, "P. T. Barnum", 140 not "P.T. Barnum". However, "P.T.A.", not "P. T. A.". 141 142 All fortunes should be attributed, but if and only if they are original with 143 somebody. Many people have said things that are folk sayings (i.e., are 144 common among the folk (i.e., us common slobs)). There is nothing wrong with 145 this, of course, but such statements should not be attributed to individuals 146 who did not invent them. 147 148 Horoscopes should have the sign indented by one tab stop, followed by the 149 dates of the sign, with the text left justified below it, e.g., 150 151 AQUARIUS (Jan 20 - Feb 18) 152 You have an inventive mind and are inclined to be progressive. You 153 lie a great deal. On the other hand, you are inclined to be 154 careless and impractical, causing you to make the same mistakes over 155 and over again. People think you are stupid. 156 157 Single quotes should not be used except as quotes within quotes. Not even 158 single quotes masquerading as double quotes are to be used, e.g., don't say 159 ``hi there'' or `hi there' or 'hi there', but "hi there". However, you 160 *can* say "I said, `hi there'". 161 162 A long poem or song can be ordered as follows in order to make it fit on a 163 screen (fortunes should be 19 lines or less if at all possible) (numbers 164 here are stanza numbers): 165 166 11111111111111111111 167 11111111111111111111 168 11111111111111111111 22222222222222222222 169 11111111111111111111 22222222222222222222 170 22222222222222222222 171 33333333333333333333 22222222222222222222 172 33333333333333333333 173 33333333333333333333 44444444444444444444 174 33333333333333333333 44444444444444444444 175 44444444444444444444 176 44444444444444444444 177 178 179
Indexes created Sat Sep 20 22:09:52 GMT 2025