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Jon Palmer writes:
> Wow.
>
> http://www.google.com/googlegroups/archive_announce_20.html
Hi All,
Please forgive my enthusiasm, but Jon's post meant something very special to me
:) You see, about 8 years ago I made a post to a Star Wars usenet group,
coining the term "Gonk" to refer to the two-legged power droid that shows up in
every movie. Within days, there was an ongoing furor of activity, and Gonk
became a national figurehead. Now, years later, it seems to be an accepted
term, both officially and colloquially.
But I could never prove this claim, so I stewed in silence. Agonizing,
anonymous silence, since I couldn't demonstrate the fact.
But now! Now it's different! Now I can prove it!
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&selm=26qfbr%24in9%40usenet.rpi.edu
Do a search for references to Gonk prior to this post (before Sept 9th, 1993).
About 40 hits come up, none of which are in a Star Wars context. But after
this ... well, proceed at your own risk. There were some massive flame wars
that sprouted up over Gonk worship ;)
I'm happy now - finally, proof! This is my brush with fame, and that's all I
wanted ... no autographs, no Today Show interviews, just the ability to prove
my outrageous claim at parties :P
-s
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That was YOU??!! If this is true, (and it looks that way) then I must say
that I feel like I am in the presence of greatness. Wow. :^D
-Jon (You??!!)
--
| The Galactic Shipyard - http://www.oklahoma.net/~jpalmer/GS/
| My website - http://www.oklahoma.net/~jpalmer/lego/
| BrickBay Store - http://www.brickbay.com/store.asp?p=jpalmer
"Shaun Sullivan" <shaun_sullivan@irco.com> wrote in message
news:Go8q0v.KL2@lugnet.com...
>
> Jon Palmer writes:
> > Wow.
> >
> > http://www.google.com/googlegroups/archive_announce_20.html
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> Please forgive my enthusiasm, but Jon's post meant something very special • to me
> :) You see, about 8 years ago I made a post to a Star Wars usenet group,
> coining the term "Gonk" to refer to the two-legged power droid that shows • up in
> every movie. Within days, there was an ongoing furor of activity, and • Gonk
> became a national figurehead. Now, years later, it seems to be an • accepted
> term, both officially and colloquially.
>
> But I could never prove this claim, so I stewed in silence. Agonizing,
> anonymous silence, since I couldn't demonstrate the fact.
>
> But now! Now it's different! Now I can prove it!
>
> http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&selm=26qfbr%24in9%40usenet.rpi.edu
>
> Do a search for references to Gonk prior to this post (before Sept 9th, • 1993).
> About 40 hits come up, none of which are in a Star Wars context. But • after
> this ... well, proceed at your own risk. There were some massive flame • wars
> that sprouted up over Gonk worship ;)
>
> I'm happy now - finally, proof! This is my brush with fame, and that's • all I
> wanted ... no autographs, no Today Show interviews, just the ability to • prove
> my outrageous claim at parties :P
>
> -s
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Wow! That was you? I thought it was a Lucasarts backstage nickname or
somethin. :D go figure.
ALL HAIL GONK!
Rick
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"Rick Hallman" <legodude725@removeaol.com> wrote in message
news:Go8t5n.6EJ@lugnet.com...
> Wow! That was you? I thought it was a Lucasarts backstage nickname or
> somethin. :D go figure.
>
> ALL HAIL GONK!
Ya see thats the beauty of it. Only after the name was created by Shaun and
embraced by other fans did Lucasfilm endorse it. This was made even more
apparant when they released a POTF2 Power Droid called "Gonk".
Good stuff.
-Jon
--
| The Galactic Shipyard - http://www.oklahoma.net/~jpalmer/GS/
| My website - http://www.oklahoma.net/~jpalmer/lego/
| BrickBay Store - http://www.brickbay.com/store.asp?p=jpalmer
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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Wow. I'm genuinely impressed. You sir, rock.
In lugnet.general, Shaun Sullivan writes:
>
> Jon Palmer writes:
> > Wow.
> >
> > http://www.google.com/googlegroups/archive_announce_20.html
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> Please forgive my enthusiasm, but Jon's post meant something very special to me
> :) You see, about 8 years ago I made a post to a Star Wars usenet group,
> coining the term "Gonk" to refer to the two-legged power droid that shows up in
> every movie. Within days, there was an ongoing furor of activity, and Gonk
> became a national figurehead. Now, years later, it seems to be an accepted
> term, both officially and colloquially.
>
> But I could never prove this claim, so I stewed in silence. Agonizing,
> anonymous silence, since I couldn't demonstrate the fact.
>
> But now! Now it's different! Now I can prove it!
>
> http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&selm=26qfbr%24in9%40usenet.rpi.edu
>
> Do a search for references to Gonk prior to this post (before Sept 9th, 1993).
> About 40 hits come up, none of which are in a Star Wars context. But after
> this ... well, proceed at your own risk. There were some massive flame wars
> that sprouted up over Gonk worship ;)
>
> I'm happy now - finally, proof! This is my brush with fame, and that's all I
> wanted ... no autographs, no Today Show interviews, just the ability to prove
> my outrageous claim at parties :P
>
> -s
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In lugnet.general, Shaun Sullivan writes:
> Re: OMG - GONK PROOF
I couldn't help but read this title and think that for some reason Shaun had
gone nutty and had something against Gonk's. "Gonk-proof" indeed.
DaveE
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, David Eaton writes:
> In lugnet.general, Shaun Sullivan writes:
> > Re: OMG - GONK PROOF
>
> I couldn't help but read this title and think that for some reason Shaun had
> gone nutty and had something against Gonk's. "Gonk-proof" indeed.
>
> DaveE
Yeah, I read the title and thought, "Could it be that someone has built
something that is utterly gonk-proof? Impossible!" Little did I know that
the body of the message would yeild news even more impressive than that.
Hearty congratulations to you, Shaun!
-The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith @8^)
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Of course, all the coolest geek stuff comes from RPI. Nason Hall, no less.
You should write to the Alumni Assn., I bet they would give you a mention in
the magazine. :)
-Alfred (RPI '94)
In lugnet.general, Shaun Sullivan writes:
>
> Jon Palmer writes:
> > Wow.
> >
> > http://www.google.com/googlegroups/archive_announce_20.html
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> Please forgive my enthusiasm, but Jon's post meant something very special to me
> :) You see, about 8 years ago I made a post to a Star Wars usenet group,
> coining the term "Gonk" to refer to the two-legged power droid that shows up in
> every movie. Within days, there was an ongoing furor of activity, and Gonk
> became a national figurehead. Now, years later, it seems to be an accepted
> term, both officially and colloquially.
>
> But I could never prove this claim, so I stewed in silence. Agonizing,
> anonymous silence, since I couldn't demonstrate the fact.
>
> But now! Now it's different! Now I can prove it!
>
> http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&selm=26qfbr%24in9%40usenet.rpi.edu
>
> Do a search for references to Gonk prior to this post (before Sept 9th, 1993).
> About 40 hits come up, none of which are in a Star Wars context. But after
> this ... well, proceed at your own risk. There were some massive flame wars
> that sprouted up over Gonk worship ;)
>
> I'm happy now - finally, proof! This is my brush with fame, and that's all I
> wanted ... no autographs, no Today Show interviews, just the ability to prove
> my outrageous claim at parties :P
>
> -s
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
spitz wrote:
>
> Of course, all the coolest geek stuff comes from RPI. Nason Hall, no less.
> You should write to the Alumni Assn., I bet they would give you a mention in
> the magazine. :)
>
> -Alfred (RPI '94)
Oh, Hi fellow Alums...
Frank (BSCSE '85, MEngCSE '89)
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Frank Filz writes:
> spitz wrote:
> >
> > Of course, all the coolest geek stuff comes from RPI. Nason Hall, no less.
> > You should write to the Alumni Assn., I bet they would give you a mention in
> > the magazine. :)
> >
> > -Alfred (RPI '94)
>
> Oh, Hi fellow Alums...
>
> Frank (BSCSE '85, MEngCSE '89)
Ahh, you guys all went a couple of years too early! The graduation speaker in
1996 was Peter Eio, who was at that time president of LEGO US. I never
actually saw the speech, but it made for a great spring! LEGO donated about
20 K8's of randomly assorted bricks from that year's production, which were
used for a contest during GM week. Teams could sign up, and receive 2 K8s with
which to construct a model of a building on campus ... the only catch was, the
contest started Wednesday morning, and all entries were due Friday morning.
I was signed up as the only male member on a sorority team - ahh, that was a
good time (some of the members knew my obsession). I literally pulled two
consecutive all-nighters, skipped massive amounts of class time, and lived at
the sorority house for that time. After some discussion, we decided to select
a building that was architecturally interesting, historically significant ...
and decidely unpopular with the student body since it was the building farthest
from civilation, West Hall.
Well, short version: we won :P Our building made the front page of the Troy
newspaper, the school newspaper, the alumni magazine, and another building from
the contest went on one of RPI's publicity posters. I have a bunch of photos
and the newspaper articles ... I really should get around to scanning them in
sometime. The best part was: first place took home 3 K8s!! (second took home
2, third took home 3, the rest were donated to local hospitals and charities)
We took the boxes back to the sorority, the ladies picked out some pieces that
they wanted (less than 1/2 of a K8 total), and donated the rest to a worthy
cause - me :)
Regularly, another AFOL will ask me what set a particular piece I used in an
MOC came from. Almost invariably, I have to answer that I don't know, since I
received them in a random assortment. It's also occasionally entertaining to
realize how *many* of some random pieces I have ... Ahh well, a small price to
pay ;)
-Shaun
(MEng '98)
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Awwwwwwwwww!!
I am assigning you all the gloating rights possible! You were the luckiest
man on campus!
I love West Hall! I would probably go insane trying to model all the twisty
little passages accurately! Did you have a ghost minifig inside? (It is
haunted, you know. Her name is Betsy and she was a nurse.)
-Erik
ECSE '94 or '95 (was class of '93)
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Shaun Sullivan wrote:
> Regularly, another AFOL will ask me what set a particular piece I used in an
> MOC came from. Almost invariably, I have to answer that I don't know, since I
> received them in a random assortment. It's also occasionally entertaining to
> realize how *many* of some random pieces I have ... Ahh well, a small price to
> pay ;)
Well, you could always answer "Set K-8"...
I wonder if I would have gotten into LEGO earlier had I seen something
like this. Which issue of the Alumni magazine was the article in? I'll
have to look and see if I still have it.
We had Genericon (the RPI SF con) in West Hall one year (I think that
was the 2nd year of the con - the first year I participated - I laid low
the first year because I was worried they would not make enough money to
cover what the Union fronted them, and that was just a year after the
great steak scandal [which Larry would probably call the big misteak
:-)] where the student government treated themselves to a steak dinner).
If they still do the con, it would be a good venue for Brickwars to keep
Clayorama company (a wargame using Playdough creations).
Frank
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Yeah, there's been a lot of rpi.edu addresses surfacing in this history stuff.
-Erik
formerly olsone@rpi.edu
I'm in the Star Wars FAQ:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&scoring=d&rnum=9&selm=3jo02o%24mpv%40felix.seas.gwu.edu
In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Alfred Speredelozzi writes:
> Of course, all the coolest geek stuff comes from RPI. Nason Hall, no less.
> You should write to the Alumni Assn., I bet they would give you a mention in
> the magazine. :)
>
> -Alfred (RPI '94)
>
> In lugnet.general, Shaun Sullivan writes:
> >
> > Jon Palmer writes:
> > > Wow.
> > >
> > > http://www.google.com/googlegroups/archive_announce_20.html
> >
> >
> > Hi All,
> >
> > Please forgive my enthusiasm, but Jon's post meant something very special to me
> > :) You see, about 8 years ago I made a post to a Star Wars usenet group,
> > coining the term "Gonk" to refer to the two-legged power droid that shows up in
> > every movie. Within days, there was an ongoing furor of activity, and Gonk
> > became a national figurehead. Now, years later, it seems to be an accepted
> > term, both officially and colloquially.
> >
> > But I could never prove this claim, so I stewed in silence. Agonizing,
> > anonymous silence, since I couldn't demonstrate the fact.
> >
> > But now! Now it's different! Now I can prove it!
> >
> > http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&selm=26qfbr%24in9%40usenet.rpi.edu
> >
> > Do a search for references to Gonk prior to this post (before Sept 9th, 1993).
> > About 40 hits come up, none of which are in a Star Wars context. But after
> > this ... well, proceed at your own risk. There were some massive flame wars
> > that sprouted up over Gonk worship ;)
> >
> > I'm happy now - finally, proof! This is my brush with fame, and that's all I
> > wanted ... no autographs, no Today Show interviews, just the ability to prove
> > my outrageous claim at parties :P
> >
> > -s
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
So......the value of an RPI education is FINALLY made clear. I've been
wondering for the past 20 years or so.......
A retired BSMgtE (no point in being a CivE in the late 70's)who's been
living off his Fine Arts degreed wife for the last decade.....lol
John Heins RPI '79
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In lugnet.general, Shaun Sullivan writes:
> I'm happy now - finally, proof! This is my brush with fame, and that's all I
> wanted ... no autographs, no Today Show interviews, just the ability to prove
> my outrageous claim at parties :P
Okay, NELUG--you've gotta come up with the $20 to have a "I Coined
'GONK'" shirt made for him. C'mon, you KNOW you want to. On the
back you can put the Google addy. ;)
best
LFB
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Lindsay Frederick Braun writes:
> In lugnet.general, Shaun Sullivan writes:
> > I'm happy now - finally, proof! This is my brush with fame, and that's all I
> > wanted ... no autographs, no Today Show interviews, just the ability to prove
> > my outrageous claim at parties :P
>
> Okay, NELUG--you've gotta come up with the $20 to have a "I Coined
> 'GONK'" shirt made for him. C'mon, you KNOW you want to. On the
> back you can put the Google addy. ;)
"Putting the GONK into Power Droids since 1993"??
Bravo Shaun.
// dave
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Lindsay Frederick Braun writes:
> In lugnet.general, Shaun Sullivan writes:
> > I'm happy now - finally, proof! This is my brush with fame, and that's all I
> > wanted ... no autographs, no Today Show interviews, just the ability to prove
> > my outrageous claim at parties :P
>
> Okay, NELUG--you've gotta come up with the $20 to have a "I Coined
> 'GONK'" shirt made for him. C'mon, you KNOW you want to. On the
> back you can put the Google addy. ;)
*blush*
Awww, c'mon guys ... you're embarrassing me ...
Ok, how about:
"I birthed GONK, and boy, am I tired"
;)
on second thought ...
-s
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In lugnet.general, Shaun Sullivan writes:
>
> Jon Palmer writes:
> > Wow.
> >
> > http://www.google.com/googlegroups/archive_announce_20.html
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> Please forgive my enthusiasm, but Jon's post meant something very special to • me
> :) You see, about 8 years ago I made a post to a Star Wars usenet group,
> coining the term "Gonk" to refer to the two-legged power droid that shows up • in
> every movie. Within days, there was an ongoing furor of activity, and Gonk
> became a national figurehead. Now, years later, it seems to be an accepted
> term, both officially and colloquially.
>
> But I could never prove this claim, so I stewed in silence. Agonizing,
> anonymous silence, since I couldn't demonstrate the fact.
>
> But now! Now it's different! Now I can prove it!
>
> http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&selm=26qfbr%24in9%40usenet.rpi.edu
Yeah but who created the first LEGO GONK... I mean EG-6 Power Droid?
http://news.lugnet.com/starwars/?n=2775
Oh Yeah that was me :-). Of course the links in that 2 1/2 year old message no
longer work but you can find it here.
http://www.nelug.org/members/kingsley/starwars/gonk/
Now these are the important things.
>
> Do a search for references to Gonk prior to this post (before Sept 9th, 1993).
> About 40 hits come up, none of which are in a Star Wars context. But after
> this ... well, proceed at your own risk. There were some massive flame wars
> that sprouted up over Gonk worship ;)
>
> I'm happy now - finally, proof! This is my brush with fame, and that's all I
> wanted ... no autographs, no Today Show interviews, just the ability to prove
> my outrageous claim at parties :P
I think you have just won yourself a commemorative GONK statue on the NELUG
layout. I will get to work on it right now. Inscription shall read...
Who put the Gonk in the Gonk?
Shaun "Gonk" Sullivan
9-10-1993
Eric Kingsley
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