These are fortunes collected by Tim MacKenzie (tym@cs.monash.edu.au) from various sources over the past 3 years. Some of the attributions for quotes are incorrect/missing... sorry. I have attempted to remove as many duplicates from the database as is possible but some surely still remain.
The .fgz files in this directory are compressed using gzip. (They are a little larger than they might otherwise be because they are compressed with a modified gzip which compresses each block separately thus allowing efficient random access into the fortunes... see the src directory).
If you want to add quotes to this collection, or have any bodies of quotes which I do not have please send them to me and I would be happy to add them to my collection.
All these volumes are fortunes separated by '%%' and the first fortune is a description of the database.
Yes, I do have code for handling large numbers of fortunes in separate databases. Most fortunes are obtained from this collection using a server which accepts tcp connections and gives appropriate fortunes. This saves loading indexes all the time etc.
The Makefile and Buildidx files are for building indexes for my fortune program. These allow all types of access to be done efficiently [that is O(1) disk accesses]. Query types supported are: random fortunes less than a particular length from a particular collection of databases, specific fortunes, and fortunes from a collection in order.
I'll make a 'fortune' program available in the near future [once I find the code for the stand-alone version].
-Tim MacKenzie (tym@cs.monash.edu.au)
Currently available volumes: volume number Description altq 728 Extracts from the alt.quotation archives b7 72 Blakes 7 quotes ba 398 The Blackadder quotes badge 2036 Fortunes from off badges. redfive gave these to me. crm1 6601 Crumbs: a gigantic fortune file from elsewhere part 1 crm2 6601 Crumbs: a gigantic fortune file from elsewhere part 2 crm3 6601 Crumbs: a gigantic fortune file from elsewhere part 3 crm4 6601 Crumbs: a gigantic fortune file from elsewhere part 4 crm5 6601 Crumbs: a gigantic fortune file from elsewhere part 5 crm6 6524 Crumbs: a gigantic fortune file from elsewhere part 6 deep 118 * DEEP THOUGHTS * by Jack Handey devils 1158 THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY (entered by aloysius@west.darkside.com) disney 196 Quotes from alt.fan.disney.afternoon dw 195 Doctor Who quotes dwarf 300 Red Dwarf quotes, from Karl. f0 1599 The USEnet fortunes file, obtainable via ftp from many locations. f1 215 Fortunes obtained early in 1991 from miscellaneous sources f2 897 Still more fortunes obtained in early-mid 1991 f3 882 A few more fortunes f4 912 If you can tell me where these fortunes are from, please do. f5 343 Please tell me where these fortunes are from f8 249 Karl Geppart gave me a lot of these fortune (I think) fern 62 Excerpts from "FernGully: The Last Rainforest" ft 246 Fawlty Towers quotes hack 124 You know you've been hacking too long when... (zik) hg 144 Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy quotes holy 234 Quotes from "The Quest for the Holy Grail" by Monty Python illum 189 Fortunes from the Illuminatus! trilogy jar 2018 The jargon file, version 3.0.0 kibo 717 Quotes from Kibo lewd 939 Some may consider these offensive. local 437 Fortunes collected from around monash lost 809 The Lost Souls Discordian quotes file (a MUD) love 145 With Love - compiled by Dave Braithwaite ( dwb@CS.nott.AC.Uk ) mer 117 Mermaid things from quetzal@yoyo. misc 610 Miscellaneous quotes found floating around daz's directory. mork 1779 Fortunes I got off mork (Simon Raik)... ne 895 Northern Exposure quotes new 922 More fortunes gathered from around the place... new1 1202 New fortunes that come from various places as single fortunes nor 2040 From sources via Jon Noring (noring@netcom.com) phone 221 Answering phone messages collected from rec.humor princ 281 Fortunes from the Principia Discordia quayle 352 Dan Quayle quotes [Copyright (c) 1992 Michael Goldsman I think] quetz 560 Fortunes obtained from quetzal (ins534z@aurora) res 17 Quotes on research. rez0 694 Quotes I got off rez@yoyo... ask him where he got them from roth 52 David Lee Roth quotes sail 222 "A Sailing Dictionary" by Henry Beard & Roy McKie seminars 86 Seminars for Men/Women. shoot 75 The "How to shoot yourself in the foot with" fortunes st 2040 Star trek quotes, from rec.arts.startrek.misc sw 71 Star Wars stuff - from Vian. tcwf 348 From Daniel Bowen's Toxic Custard Workshop files. tlm 124 Excerpts from Disney's "The Little Mermaid." tp 293 Quotes from books by Terry Pratchett wings 122 Wings, by Terry Pratchett, The Third Book of the Nomes. wright 280 Steve Wright quotes zippy 536 "Zippy the pinhead" quotes (ripped from GNU emacs by Zik)