Re: Is there anyone still alive out there?

[Kerr-Mudd,John]

On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 09:32:16 GMT, Gallian <gal...@linuxmail.org> wrote:

> Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> writes:
>
>> With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
>> does anyone still read here?
>>
>> *sound of waving chicken around...*
>
> Alive is relative, these days...
>
> Mart
>
Are Zombies welcome?


--
Bah, and indeed, Humbug.

[Ina Faye-Lund]

Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> writes:

> With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
> does anyone still read here?
>
> *sound of waving chicken around...*

Mine is bigger than yours!

*pulls out a bigger chicken*

--
Happiness is a scratch for every itch.

[David Cameron Staples]

On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 10:44:52 +0200, Juergen Nieveler wrote:

> With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
> does anyone still read here?
>
> *sound of waving chicken around...*

Negative. I am a meat popsicle.

[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> said:
>With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
>does anyone still read here?

Are you on the other place?


--
Paul Tomblin <ptom...@xcski.com> http://blog.xcski.com/
"I spend 2/3's of every conference call trying to keep him from opening
his mouth and letting stupid pour out of it." - Joe Hetrick

[Alan J. Wylie]

Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> writes:

> *sound of waving chicken around...*

Damn your eyes, sir. Now I have *that song* going round in my head.

--
Alan J. Wylie https://www.wylie.me.uk/

Dance like no-one's watching. / Encrypt like everyone is.
Security is inversely proportional to convenience

[Kerr-Mudd,John]

On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 18:40:22 GMT, "Alan J. Wylie" <al...@wylie.me.uk> wrote:

> Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> writes:
>
>> *sound of waving chicken around...*
>
> Damn your eyes, sir. Now I have *that song* going round in my head.
>

Oops, might be better outside your head, I said oops outside your head.

(I try not to code too many nops these days)

[Grant Taylor]

On 10/19/20 2:44 AM, Juergen Nieveler wrote:
> With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
> does anyone still read here?

Monitor: Yes.

Post: Occasionally.

> *sound of waving chicken around...*

Don't threaten me with a R.I.T.A. I don't care how reliable it is.



--
Grant. . . .
unix || die

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <XnsAC5B64556F48...@nieveler.org>,

Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:
>With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
>does anyone still read here?

I am still alive. Unfortunately I am also becoming unusable due to US
elections, but hopefully that will pass in a couple of weeks.

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can,
wol...@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future. This is
Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together."
my employers. | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015)

[Niklas Karlsson]

On 2020-10-19, Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:
> With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
> does anyone still read here?
>

> *sound of waving chicken around...*

*hand*

Niklas
--
The Internet is totally out of control, impossible to map accurately, and
being used far beyond its original intentions. So far, so good.
-- Dr. Dobb's Journal May 1993

[Niklas Karlsson]

On 2020-10-19, Paul Tomblin <ptomblin...@xcski.com> wrote:
> In a previous article, Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> said:
>>With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
>>does anyone still read here?
>
> Are you on the other place?

I was there for a while, years ago, thanks to a helpful Monk. That
newsserver went up in smoke, though - I suppose there were other demands
on his time, don't really blame him.

Niklas
--
I find it ironic that women are happy that their men shell out big bucks
for Viagra, but yet when rigor mortis sets in they want no part of it.
-- Daniel E. Macks, in rec.humor.oracle.d

[Chris Adams]

Once upon a time, Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> said:
>With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
>does anyone still read here?

Internet meltdown - USENET forever!
--
Chris Adams <cma...@cmadams.net>

[Stephen Harris]

Chris Adams <cma...@cmadams.net> wrote:
> Once upon a time, Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> said:
> >With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
> >does anyone still read here?

> Internet meltdown - USENET forever!

I think I've still got a modem somewhere, and I'm sure I can resurrect the
brain cells that archived my UUCP knowledge.

--

rgds
Stephen

[Grant Taylor]

On 10/19/20 5:04 PM, Stephen Harris wrote:
> I think I've still got a modem somewhere, and I'm sure I can resurrect
> the brain cells that archived my UUCP knowledge.

UUCP is one thing. <whatever> over modem is something entirely different.

Much of Usenet rides over the Internet today. Sure, UUCP could carry
Usenet, particularly text groups. But how many people could transition
to modem connections? What's more, how many people could establish a
UUCP network? That's going to take some work to boot strap. Plus you
won't have good communications with others to do so.

You can also carry TCP/IP over modem. But that going to take even more
effort to boot strap. It's also going to take more resources (phone
lines / modems / etc.) to establish multi-hop communications. IMHO,
UUCP would be easier than TCP/IP over a modem.

[c...@nospam.com]

Niklas Karlsson <ank...@yahoo.se> wrote:
> On 2020-10-19, Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:
>> With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
>> does anyone still read here?
>>
>> *sound of waving chicken around...*
>
> *hand*
> Niklas

Still alive and kicking after 15 years of recovery.

--
http://www.netunix.com/

[Claudio Calvelli]

On 2020-10-19, Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:
> With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
> does anyone still read here?
>
> *sound of waving chicken around...*

I used to post here when the world was young and antisocial networks did
not ruin it for the sensible people (that would have been circa 1999).

I actually recovered for a few years, getting to the point of sending
anything which could carry IP packets to recycling. Didn't last that
long but it was good.

I occasionally read here, when there's something to read.

Just testing if the rubber chicken is big enough, not really posting
here, you know.

C.

[The Horny Goat]

On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 23:44:34 -0600, Grant Taylor
<gta...@tnetconsulting.net> wrote:

>You can also carry TCP/IP over modem. But that going to take even more
>effort to boot strap. It's also going to take more resources (phone
>lines / modems / etc.) to establish multi-hop communications. IMHO,
>UUCP would be easier than TCP/IP over a modem.

I actually set that up back in the day. Probably not something I'd
want to re-learn and implement now.

Of course that was back in the day when 32k was a fast modem heh heh

[Ina Faye-Lund]

Thank you so very much for making me feel old.

When I started out, the common was 14400, but we still had customers
using 9600.

[Zebee Johnstone]

In alt.sysadmin.recovery on Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:00:18 +0200

And suddenly out of the mists of the past comes the memory of the
modem you used by putting your telephone handset onto two rubber cups.


Zebee

[Niklas Karlsson]

Ah yes, the acoustic coupler. I'm a bit too young to have seen one in
the flesh (well, it's possible I did at a museum somewhere, but have
forgotten).

The first modem I used was 2400 bps, but I was a little kid then. By the
time I actually got paid to do IT, cable modems and DSL were typical for
home users, at about 500 Kb.

Niklas
--
Reportedly, a thumbtack glued point-up to the 'job cancel' button must have
had some effect, for there were red spots on and about the printer
the next morning.
-- Brian Kantor on print queue lusers

[Paul Tomblin]

My first news setup was at the company I worked for (GeoVision) and it soley
exchanged Usenet via UUCP with Cognos over a 2400bps modem. They dropped all
of alt when it started taking more than 24 hours to transfer a day's worth of
news, but I got them to re-add all of alt except alt.binaries and everybody
was happy.

We also exchanged a much lower volume of email with UUnet over a Telebit Trailblazer,
also over UUCP. We had the fast modem because we exchanged big files with our
Denver and Syndey Australia offices.

True Story: I once sent a gigantic file (by the standards of the day) with our
Sydney office over the Trailblazer, and when it was done I picked up the line
to talk to the developer on the other end, and the line was so noisy that we
couldn't hear each other. Those Trailblazers were amazing.

--
Paul Tomblin <ptom...@xcski.com> http://blog.xcski.com/

"SPARC" is "CRAPS" backwards --Rob Pike

[Stephen Harris]

Paul Tomblin <ptomblin...@xcski.com> wrote:
> True Story: I once sent a gigantic file (by the standards of the day) with our
> Sydney office over the Trailblazer, and when it was done I picked up the line
> to talk to the developer on the other end, and the line was so noisy that we
> couldn't hear each other. Those Trailblazers were amazing.

When I was setting up computer connections over Inmarsat A we tried
using Telebit modems in UUCP spoofing mode. They worked... but wasn't
very performant because it only supported the g protocol with a small
window.

After tests with standard modems (2400, 9600, 14400) and various UUCP configs
we settled on 2400 baud with Taylor UUCP i protocol. The time it took a
9600 baud model to complete negotiations meant the 2400 baud could connect,
login, send/receive email and logout again. Since calls were $6/minute
that was a big saving :-)

--

rgds BOFHnet search: https://bofh.spuddy.org/
Stephen (Contact me if you want access)

[Jim]

On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 10:44:52 +0200, Juergen Nieveler

<juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:

>With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
>does anyone still read here?
>
>*sound of waving chicken around...*

I check occasionally for anything new. Hasn't been much of late.

[Jonathan McDowell]

Grant Taylor <gta...@tnetconsulting.net> wrote:

> You can also carry TCP/IP over modem. But that going to take even more
> effort to boot strap. It's also going to take more resources (phone
> lines / modems / etc.) to establish multi-hop communications. IMHO,
> UUCP would be easier than TCP/IP over a modem.

I used to do UUCP over TCP/IP over modem. Do I get a prize? Therapy?

J.

--
Web [ "evilwm - we sold our souls to the window manager" -- ]
site: https:// [ http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/ ] Made by
www.earth.li/~noodles/ [ ] HuggieTag 0.0.24

[Grant Taylor]

On 10/22/20 2:31 AM, Jonathan McDowell wrote:
> I used to do UUCP over TCP/IP over modem. Do I get a prize? Therapy?

Bragging rights and therapy probably are the most likely candidate.

[Jay E. Morris]

On 10/22/2020 02:19 AM, Michel wrote:

> My first modem (that I actually owned and used) was 28k8.
>
> First modem I played with a bit was 2400, when I was 12 or so, but
> didn't really use it because dialup cost was hideous and I had no
> clue where to go with it anyway.
>
> I do remember taping software off the radio for the Acorn Electron.
>
> Or typing in stuff by hand from a book, usually with a friend with
> one reading and one typing. One day after a long session, we ran it
> and discovered that whenever I had said "slash" my friend had typed
> a "\". I think it's funny that I ended up in unixland and he went
> on to do windowsy things.
>

300 with a Tandy Model 100.

[The Horny Goat]

On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:00:18 +0200, Ina Faye-Lund

Yup - my first modem was a 1200 and went through several before going
broadband. My current home pipe is 300 mbps but then we're comparing
1985 vs 2020.

Never had a 9600 - went from 1200 => 2400 => 14.4 => 56 => broadband

The first two were on an Apple II, the third was what I had when I
joined the MSDOS world and Window 3.11.......

There are you feeling old enough?

My first personal machine was an Apple II which was my graduation
present to myself in 1979. I learned a lot on the old Amdahl
(basically a cloned IBM 370 series) and learned to program on punched
cards and DecWriters once our school adopted "timeshare".

I only got rid of my last student punch cards about 2 years ago -
found the box and thought "hmmm I thought I got rid of these years
ago!" My first experience with a terminal was as a student to the U of
Alberta's (Edmonton) lab in 1972 as a high school junior....it looked
interesting and it didn't occur to me till much later that one could
actually make a living doing this.

I well remembering convering a US medical records database for
Canadian use and being told in no uncertain terms that it was illegal
in Canada to collect racial information in a medical records database
and that no it was NOT good enough to remove it from the data entry
screen it HAD to be gone from the patient database record altogether.

Now in 2020 the truly woke are insisting that "POC" (persons of color)
CAN'T get proper medical care unless their racial identity is
flagged....sigh - good thing I turned 65 last month.

[The Horny Goat]

On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:55:56 -0000 (UTC), Zebee Johnstone
<zeb...@gmail.com> wrote:

>> When I started out, the common was 14400, but we still had customers
>> using 9600.
>
>And suddenly out of the mists of the past comes the memory of the
>modem you used by putting your telephone handset onto two rubber cups.

Did the acoustic coupler models you're referring to ever go north of
300 baud? Never used a coupler in the business world but did at
university - played way too much "Star Trek" on the Decwrite off the
mainframe.....

I remember dating the TA in the computer lab - broke up with her
mostly because I had thought she was divorced rather than separated
(as was actually the case) and knew I was getting way too emotionally
involved too fast....hope she's doing well and that life has been kind
to her! (Nearly 40 years now)

[The Horny Goat]

On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 13:13:14 -0000 (UTC), Gary Barnes
<g...@adminspotting.org> wrote:

>On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:55:56 -0000 (UTC), Zebee Johnstone
><zeb...@gmail.com> wrote:

>: And suddenly out of the mists of the past comes the memory of the

>: modem you used by putting your telephone handset onto two rubber cups.
>

>That's my afternoon sorted. Rewatching WarGames it is...

Never saw that one but did the first. How about a game of 'Global
Thermonuclear War?"

[Stephen Harris]

The Horny Goat <lcr...@home.ca> wrote:
> Did the acoustic coupler models you're referring to ever go north of
> 300 baud? Never used a coupler in the business world but did at

They commonly also did 1200/75 for things like Viewdata. My cousin had
one.

My first modem was a PACE, which didn't use Hayes commands. "DSN" for
"Dial Stored Number", instead, if memory serves. It could do 300/300.
The second was another PACE that did 1200/1200. They were both discards
from the company I worked for :-)

[Paul Colquhoun]

On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 10:44:52 +0200, Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:
| With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
| does anyone still read here?
|
| *sound of waving chicken around...*

Like a lot of people, I keep an eye on the group out of old habit...


--
Reverend Paul Colquhoun, ULC. http://andor.dropbear.id.au/
Asking for technical help in newsgroups? Read this first:
http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#intro

[Jay E. Morris]

On 10/22/2020 11:15 PM, Gary Barnes wrote:
> On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 16:22:28 -0500, Jay E. Morris
> <mor...@epsilon3.com> wrote:
> :
> : 300 with a Tandy Model 100.
>
> Oh man, I used to really want one of those back in the 80's.
>

In a box in the closet, along with the cassette tape drive and thermal
printer.


> The first computer I owned was from that family, a TRS-80 Color Computer 2.
>
> The Amstrad CPC 464 was my next computer, and the first upon which I wrote a
> program which was published and I was paid (£100!) for by Amstrad Action.
> That made me a computer professional, and it was all downhill from there.
>
> Holy shit! I didn't know that this was out there:
>
> https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=14996
>
> As a 19-year-old I used to dream of upgrading to a 486 connected to a Unix
> mainframe, apparently...
>
> I got my 486 and installed MCC Interim Linux on it a little after that. I
> even visited MCC Interim Linux's maintainer, Owen Le Blanc, in person to ask
> how one created a swapfile.
>
> Gaz
>

[Julian Turnbull]

That post has shaken a remarkable number of us out of the woodwork.

A special obeisance to Claudio - if you don't know why he deserves it,
you're too young.

Julian.

[Zebee Johnstone]

In alt.sysadmin.recovery on Fri, 23 Oct 2020 07:23:14 -0400

Stephen Harris <bo...@spuddy.org> wrote:
> The Horny Goat <lcr...@home.ca> wrote:
>> Did the acoustic coupler models you're referring to ever go north of
>> 300 baud? Never used a coupler in the business world but did at
>
> They commonly also did 1200/75 for things like Viewdata. My cousin had
> one.
>

yeah I think I did get 1200/75 out of one at one point but what for I
can't recall. I just got a jolt of recognition when seeing 1200/75.

Zebee

[Peter Corlett]

Gary Barnes <g...@adminspotting.org> wrote:
> On Sat, 24 Oct 2020 22:46:41 +0200, Michel <ab...@rubberchicken.nl> wrote:
[...]
>> At least it's not Hackers...
> Hey, that's Angelina Jolie's best performance

Ha, I get a twofer perving over Jonny Lee Miller's performance, since he also
did Trainspotting too before vanishing into obscurity. I should get round to
watching T2, what with Irvine Welsh's writing being relentlessly optimistic by
2020 standards, and I could use a pick-me-up.

> and Voodoo People made a great Nokia ringtone.

My ringtone is a recording of a GPO 706, with proper UK briiing-briiing
cadence. It will suffice until I can lay my hands on an actual GPO 706 and
doctor the innards so it works on a VoIP ATA, what with BT not in any hurry to
install a POTS line in this corner of the Netherlands. Even KPN (who put me
rather more in mind of the GPO than BT) was somewhat reluctant.

> I'm showing my age.

For that, you want Sneakers, which is Hackers but in late middle-age.

[Peter Corlett]

Roger Bell_West <roger+a...@nospam.firedrake.org> wrote:

> On 2020-10-25, Peter Corlett wrote:
>> My ringtone is a recording of a GPO 706, with proper UK briiing-briiing
>> cadence.

> Well, _obviously_. Doesn't half confuse people, I've found.

Also, ye olde Nokia bleeps on an iPhone. Although I'd be mildly more impressed
by somebody getting an old Nokia to play the iPhone's default ringtone.

Hmm, I have an old Nokia and ringtone-composition software somewhere...

> For the _other_ program, the Lincolnshire Poacher, of course.

ISTR that's in my phone's ringtone library, although I currently use the Amiga
1000 WCS-bootstrap chime. If one is going to go obscure, make it *really*
obscure.

>> It will suffice until I can lay my hands on an actual GPO 706 and doctor the
>> innards so it works on a VoIP ATA,

> I think Mr S may have done something along those lines.

It's a relatively obvious thing to do, only marred by thirsty 1970s British
electronics combined with American-designed VoIP tat which assumes that all
phones are crappy plastic bleepy things, and neither support pulse dialling nor
provide enough RICH CHUNKY VOLTS required to get a GPO 706 to pay attention.

I had convinced my last ATA to do the proper UK cadence, but it blew up after a
while, possibly due to the realisation there's a world outside of the NANP.

>> For that, you want Sneakers, which is Hackers but in late middle-age.

> And, of course, The Net.

I got that in a DVD box set with The Net 2.0 for two quid. And now I want my
three quid back.

At least it's not as awful as Joy Sticks, which was 50 cents and again several
euros too expensive. It's a proper pressed disk and presumably licensed, but
looks like a cam rip. BREIN could reduce piracy in the Netherlands by getting
Dutch FilmWorks et al to use proper digital sources instead of an old Betamax
tape. The film's content is as awful as the picture quality, although the first
few minutes has some nice footage of late-70s and early 80s arcade machines.

[Alan J. Wylie]

Roger Bell_West <roger+a...@nospam.firedrake.org> writes:

> After a bit someone asked "why don't they follow the river downhill".
>
> "Because they're Americans."

OTOH, Don't do what James Kim did and leave the road to descend a
ravine in search of the nearest town.

Climbing a ridge in search of a mobile phone signal, whilst staying near
to your vehicle, is, however a non-luserish thing to do.

--
Alan J. Wylie https://www.wylie.me.uk/

Dance like no-one's watching. / Encrypt like everyone is.
Security is inversely proportional to convenience

[Stephen Harris]

Gary Barnes <g...@adminspotting.org> wrote:
> It took me a lot of searching to find it, so here it is for anyone who wants
> a proper cadence: https://adminspotting.org/ringt706.wav

Heh, thats identical to the file I use on my phone :-)

--

rgds
Stephen

[Stephen Harris]

Gary Barnes <g...@adminspotting.org> wrote:
> On Sun, 25 Oct 2020 10:40:31 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett
> <ab...@mooli.org.uk> wrote:
> :
> : At least it's not as awful as Joy Sticks, which was 50 cents and again several

> : euros too expensive. It's a proper pressed disk and presumably licensed, but
> : looks like a cam rip.

> I just want to interject with The Blair Witch Project.

> The one film where I didn't just want my money back but
> the 105 minutes of my life back.

Back in 2012 I needed a three more dollars for free Amazon shipping and
Sucker Punch BluRay was $3.99. I figured it was worth it for that.

I was wrong; I should have paid the $2 shipping fee.

--

rgds
Stephen

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <slrnrpahm...@logan.adminspotting.org>,
Gary Barnes <g...@adminspotting.org> wrote:
>Since it became a standard for SMS notifications to be ... -- ..., I have
>extended that so that my phone alerts me with .... --- -- . or .-- --- .-.
>-.- or -- .. ... -.-. or -... . - .... depending[0].

>Nagios alerts get https://adminspotting.org/upanddown.wav for proper 90s
>Motorola pager nostalgia,

I had a recording of my old Motorola pager for that, but unfortunately
P*g*rD**ty's[1] Android app is too stupid to be able to use it,
because Android categorizes it as "music" rather than "ringtone".
I've found that the default P....D... alert tone is sufficiently
irritating that I don't need the extra oomph of the beeper.

<https://bimajority.org/%7Ewollman/Motorola%20pager%20alert.wav>

It was recorded in my bedroom using my Marantz PMD620's internal
microphone; I didn't do anything clever like extract it from the ROM
of the pager or what have you.

-GAWollman

[1] Which in our group is the canonical example of "minimum viable
product", accent on "minimum". It still can't do the basic scheduling
algorithm that I implemented in our old internal scheduler fifteen
years ago. We'd still be using it if it wasn't a Rails 1 app that
nobody had the time or inclination to rewrite.
--
Garrett A. Wollman | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can,
wol...@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future. This is
Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together."
my employers. | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015)

[Peter Corlett]

Michel <ab...@rubberchicken.nl> wrote:
[...]
> Friend of mine once broke his leg or ankle or something while out hiking in
> the mountains by himself. No phone signal and several miles of tricky descent
> back to his car. Instead he went further up the mountain to where there might
> be a phone signal. Crawling on hands and knees. And there was.

That can't have been here in the Netherlands. The closest most of the Dutch get
to a mountain is a landfill site, and you have to get lost very deep in
cowfucker country for the phone signal to drop as low as three bars.

A few kilometres away from here is a "mountain bike track". It sometimes rises
as high as fifty centimetres, and is smoother than a lot of British roads.

[Peter Corlett]

Gallian <gal...@to-be-done.invalid> wrote:

> ab...@mooli.org.uk (Peter Corlett) writes:
>> this corner of the Netherlands.

> That corner still being that old industrial/repurposed as a suburb town north
> of Amsterdam?

On the wrong side of the tracks and underneath the motorway, yes.

> Which would put you right around the corner of SWMCurrentlyBO.

You should come and help us with this overstock of booze.

[Peter Corlett]

Michel <ab...@rubberchicken.nl> wrote:

> On Mon, 26 Oct 2020 18:46:01 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett wrote:
>> Michel <ab...@rubberchicken.nl> wrote:
>> [...]
>>> Friend of mine once broke his leg or ankle or something while out hiking in
>>> the mountains by himself. No phone signal and several miles of tricky
>>> descent back to his car. Instead he went further up the mountain to where
>>> there might be a phone signal. Crawling on hands and knees. And there was.
>> That can't have been here in the Netherlands. The closest most of the Dutch
>> get to a mountain is a landfill site, and you have to get lost very deep in
>> cowfucker country for the phone signal to drop as low as three bars.

> I think it was Wales.

In that case, given the piss-poor British phone infrastructure, I'm surprised
he could get any phone service at all short of actually standing outside of the
Vodafone shop in Cardiff -- where there will be a payphone nearby.

>> A few kilometres away from here is a "mountain bike track". It sometimes
>> rises as high as fifty centimetres, and is smoother than a lot of British
>> roads.

> And hey, there's a couple of mean little hills around here if you're cycling,
> and I'm not even in the southeast.

I miss hills, although perhaps not some of those in London which, while not
particularly steep per se, inevitably involve a double-decker crawling up your
arse.

This corner of the country is sometimes called "Low Holland" by the various
tourist boards, presumably to distinguish it from that more famous Holland with
the high mountain tops[0]. The A7 motorway through here is on a raised viaduct
and its "Laag Holland" road sign is ironically pretty much the tallest point
for miles around.

Said sign also contains pictures of the obligatory windmill, some wading birds
which are not floating upside down in a filthy canal, and for some inexplicable
reason, a lighthouse even though this is right in the centre of the peninsula
and the sea is an hour away.

I am occasionally amused by Google Maps claiming I'll climb 10-20m in a 50km
bike ride. How? Are they counting the thickness of the paint in the road
markings on the otherwise perfectly-flat surface?


[0] Gung'q or Unneyrz, fcrpvsvpnyyl gur Gbc bs gur Zbag Oynap va gur Grlyref
Zhfrhz.

[Peter Corlett]

Michel <ab...@rubberchicken.nl> wrote:
[...]
> Half of it is below sea level even. It is awfully flat around there, other
> than the various bits of infrastructure to keep the water out.

I'm at about -0.5m MSL. The surrounding countryside tends to be nearer -1.5m
MSL, except for a bit that's -4m MSL.

[...]

>> I am occasionally amused by Google Maps claiming I'll climb 10-20m in a 50km
>> bike ride. How? Are they counting the thickness of the paint in the road
>> markings on the otherwise perfectly-flat surface?

> Dykes. The occasional bit of bridge. 20m is well within the margin of error
> on 50 km.

I suspect the actual reason is that they are using elevation data from
satellite scans which measure the tops of large buildings and tree cover rather
than the land. Some climate scientists recently discovered this flaw in a
dataset they were using, and went "bugger, the Netherlands is lower than we
thought". Yeah, well, these aren't called the Low Countries for nothing.

One of the Zaanstad circulars talking about proposed building works and other
infrastructure improvments in the area posed the question "Where do you think
Kogerveld will be in 2040?" (in Dutch, obviously; this isn't Amsterdam.) My
answer of "underwater" is perhaps not the one they were looking for, but more
likely than any of their suggestions.

[Kerr-Mudd,John]

On Tue, 27 Oct 2020 18:00:49 GMT, Gary Barnes <g...@adminspotting.org>
wrote:

> On Tue, 27 Oct 2020 14:11:33 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett
> <ab...@mooli.org.uk> wrote:

>: Michel <ab...@rubberchicken.nl> wrote:
>: [...]
>: > Half of it is below sea level even. It is awfully flat around
>: > there, other than the various bits of infrastructure to keep the
>: > water out.
>:
>: I'm at about -0.5m MSL. The surrounding countryside tends to be
>: nearer -1.5m MSL, except for a bit that's -4m
>

> Hie thee hither, to quote the great bard. In this county, our hills
> are designated an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
>
> https://www.shropshirehillsaonb.co.uk/
>
'snice around there; and several breweries to hand.


--
Bah, and indeed, Humbug.

[Mans Nilsson]

Den 2020-10-19 skrev Niklas Karlsson <ank...@yahoo.se>:
> On 2020-10-19, Paul Tomblin <ptomblin...@xcski.com> wrote:

>> In a previous article, Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> said:
>>>With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
>>>does anyone still read here?
>>

>> Are you on the other place?
>
> I was there for a while, years ago, thanks to a helpful Monk. That
> newsserver went up in smoke, though - I suppose there were other demands
> on his time, don't really blame him.

Congratulations(?) on your unrecovery.

--
Måns Nilsson primary/secondary/besserwisser/machina
MN-1334-RIPE SA0XLR +46 705 989668
I left my WALLET in the BATHROOM!!

[Mans Nilsson]

Den 2020-10-25 skrev Peter Corlett <ab...@mooli.org.uk>:

> My ringtone is a recording of a GPO 706, with proper UK briiing-briiing
> cadence. It will suffice until I can lay my hands on an actual GPO 706 and
> doctor the innards so it works on a VoIP ATA, what with BT not in any hurry to
> install a POTS line in this corner of the Netherlands. Even KPN (who put me
> rather more in mind of the GPO than BT) was somewhat reluctant.

I've got a swedish Model 1937 Field Telephone, recorded in my living room,
as ringtone. Cadence, then, is a matter of taste, since it was set up in
local-battery mode, and all cadence is by inductor cranking. Said phone
now has a VoIP ATA box that does Swedish pulse dial (counting from 0 up)
bodged onto it, and is connected to the local IP PABX. Being something
of a cautious person, I did not resign my actual (pulse compatible) land
line until I'd debugged and built an IP telephony system that is not
tied to my ISP in any way, and makes it possible to call locally inside
the house.

This CAN'T be UI, except for recreational purposes, but I'll refrain
ebz gryyvat lbh gung vg vf dhvgr cenpgvpny gb hfr Nfgrevfx gb frg hc n
ybpny cubar arg naq vg pna or hfrq sbe npghny jbex.

--
Måns Nilsson primary/secondary/besserwisser/machina
MN-1334-RIPE SA0XLR +46 705 989668

Hello, GORRY-O!! I'm a GENIUS from HARVARD!!

[Niklas Karlsson]

On 2020-10-28, Mans Nilsson <mans...@besserwisser.org> wrote:
>
> Congratulations(?) on your unrecovery.

Thanks. No reason for a question mark so far.

Niklas
--
Reportedly, a thumbtack glued point-up to the 'job cancel' button must have
had some effect, for there were red spots on and about the printer
the next morning.
-- Brian Kantor on print queue lusers

[Wojciech Derechowski]

On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 12:39:32 +0000, Paul Tomblin wrote:
> In a previous article, Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de>
> said:
>>With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
>>does anyone still read here?
>
> Are you on the other place?

I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
of which you speak?

WD
--
Who is Entscheidungs and what is his problem?

[The Horny Goat]

On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:11:47 -0000, Wojciech Derechowski
<wdd...@um5000.mystora.com> wrote:

>On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 12:39:32 +0000, Paul Tomblin wrote:
>> In a previous article, Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de>
>> said:
>>>With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
>>>does anyone still read here?
>>
>> Are you on the other place?
>
>I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
>of which you speak?
>
>WD

Shall we tell him it's Zvpebfbsg???

[Ina Faye-Lund]

Gur Ubeal Tbng <ype...@ubzr.pn> jevgrf:

You mean Erqzbaq, also known as R'Lyeh.

--
Unccvarff vf n fpengpu sbe rirel vgpu.

[Wojciech Derechowski]

On Sat, 31 Oct 2020 13:50:17 +0000, Ina Faye-Lund wrote:
> Gur Ubeal Tbng <ype...@ubzr.pn> jevgrf:
>
>> On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:11:47 -0000, Wojciech Derechowski
>> <wdd...@um5000.mystora.com> wrote:
>>
>>>I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
>>>of which you speak?
>>>
>>>WD
>>
>> Shall we tell him it's Zvpebfbsg???
>
> You mean Erqzbaq, also known as R'Lyeh.
>

That would be almost Systemd offense.

[Alexander Schreiber]

Paul Colquhoun <newsp...@andor.dropbear.id.au> wrote:
> On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 10:44:52 +0200, Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:
>| With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
>| does anyone still read here?
>|
>| *sound of waving chicken around...*
>
>
> Like a lot of people, I keep an eye on the group out of old habit...

Yup, same here. Traffic sure ain't what is was a long time ago.

Kind regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison

[Alexander Schreiber]

Michel <ab...@rubberchicken.nl> wrote:

> On Sun, 25 Oct 2020 11:19:48 +0000, Alan J. Wylie wrote:
>> OTOH, Don't do what James Kim did and leave the road to descend a
>> ravine in search of the nearest town.
>>
>> Climbing a ridge in search of a mobile phone signal, whilst staying near
>> to your vehicle, is, however a non-luserish thing to do.
>

> Friend of mine once broke his leg or ankle or something while out hiking
> in the mountains by himself. No phone signal and several miles of tricky
> descent back to his car. Instead he went further up the mountain to where
> there might be a phone signal. Crawling on hands and knees. And there was.

Thanks for reminding me that one of the nice things of .ch is that while spots
with not cellphone signal do exist, you _do_ have to look for them, even
in the mountains. Hiking around the mountains and signal rarely drops below
two bars of 4G.


Yes, small, rich countries can be nice.

[Alexander Schreiber]

Wojciech Derechowski <wdd...@um5000.mystora.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 31 Oct 2020 13:50:17 +0000, Ina Faye-Lund wrote:
>> Gur Ubeal Tbng <ype...@ubzr.pn> jevgrf:
>>
>>> On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:11:47 -0000, Wojciech Derechowski
>>> <wdd...@um5000.mystora.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
>>>>of which you speak?
>>>>
>>>>WD
>>>
>>> Shall we tell him it's Zvpebfbsg???
>>
>> You mean Erqzbaq, also known as R'Lyeh.
>>
>
> That would be almost Systemd offense.

We don't speak about this thing here, lest knifes come out and that would
irrate everyone.

HTH,

[Alexander Schreiber]

Ina Faye-Lund <sta...@starcat.rlyeh.net> wrote:

> Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> writes:
>
>> With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
>> does anyone still read here?
>>
>> *sound of waving chicken around...*
>

> Mine is bigger than yours!
>
> *pulls out a bigger chicken*

That looks suspiciously like a turkey, though ...

SCNR,

[Alexander Schreiber]

Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:
> With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
> does anyone still read here?
>
> *sound of waving chicken around...*

Yes.

Do we need to chase someone off the lawn?

Kind regards,

[Stephen Harris]

Alexander Schreiber <a...@usenet.thangorodrim.de> wrote:
> That looks suspiciously like a turkey, though ...

That's no way to talk about our elected leaders...

Umm, on second thoughts, go right ahead!

--

rgds
Stephen

[Wojciech Derechowski]

On Mon, 02 Nov 2020 07:49:25 +0000, Juergen Nieveler wrote:
> Ina Faye-Lund <sta...@starcat.rlyeh.net> wrote:
>
>> Gur Ubeal Tbng <ype...@ubzr.pn> jevgrf:
>>
>>> On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:11:47 -0000, Wojciech Derechowski
>>> <wdd...@um5000.mystora.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
>>>>of which you speak?
>>>>
>>>>WD
>>>
>>> Shall we tell him it's Zvpebfbsg???
>>
>> You mean Erqzbaq, also known as R'Lyeh.
>

> I thought it's Gra-Fvkgl Jrfg Nqqvfba, Puvpntb?

Yes, it most certainly is.

[Wojciech Derechowski]

On Mon, 02 Nov 2020 07:46:29 +0000, Gallian wrote:
> Alexander Schreiber <a...@usenet.thangorodrim.de> writes:
>
>> Wojciech Derechowski <wdd...@um5000.mystora.com> wrote:
>>> On Sat, 31 Oct 2020 13:50:17 +0000, Ina Faye-Lund wrote:
>>>> Gur Ubeal Tbng <ype...@ubzr.pn> jevgrf:
>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:11:47 -0000, Wojciech Derechowski
>>>>> <wdd...@um5000.mystora.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
>>>>>>of which you speak?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>WD
>>>>>
>>>>> Shall we tell him it's Zvpebfbsg???
>>>>
>>>> You mean Erqzbaq, also known as R'Lyeh.
>>>>
>>>
>>> That would be almost Systemd offense.
>>
>> We don't speak about this thing here, lest knifes come out and that would
>> irrate everyone.
>>

> It's advocacy either way.

No it isn't but you can always killfile or score or whatever.

--

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <XnsAC6959A45696...@nieveler.org>,

Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:

>I thought it's Gra-Fvkgl Jrfg Nqqvfba, Puvpntb?

Most facilities of that variety these days have vanity addresses --
pretty much all the new ones do, and there's only one older one still
in existence, whose address was just changed because the street it's
on is no longer named after a famous racist -- and with those two
exceptions, they tend to get replaced at public expense as soon as
they're fully depreciated, so they don't tend to feature in classic
films.

Usually, movie-famous addresses mean very little to me -- political
institutions aside -- but that's one of the small subset that I've
actually been to. Maybe the only one, now that I think of it; the
intersection between "famous places that I've been in" and "places
that are well-known by their street address" is not large. (OK, in
this September froup, Guvegl-Gjb Nirahr bs gur Nzrevpnf may be a bit
more well-known than Bar Svefg Fgerrg AR but neither of those are
famous in the way that Fgr.-Pngurevar naq Ngjngre is famous.) I guess
Guvegl Ebpxrsryyre Cynmn is another one. I guess all of these have
the property that you don't really need to mention what city they're
in; the address alone is famous enough.

-GAWollman

[Stephen Harris]

Gary Barnes <g...@adminspotting.org> wrote:
> I still can't decide on who I think made the best use of an ex-police car,
> those two, or the KLF.

You wot?
You wot?
You wot?
You wot?
You wot?

--

rgds
Stephen

[Wojciech Derechowski]

On Tue, 03 Nov 2020 02:35:22 +0000, Gary Barnes wrote:
> On Tue, 3 Nov 2020 01:59:53 -0000 (UTC), Gary Barnes
><g...@adminspotting.org> wrote:
[...]

> I still can't decide on who I think made the best use of an ex-police car,
> those two, or the KLF.

IMHO there cannot be any real competition between the Bluesmobile and Ford
Timelord. Consider the use of other police cars. Besides, Galaxie looks
rather camp compared to Dodge Monaco even without CLM Model 92729DP air
raid siren on the roof.

[Niklas Karlsson]

On 2020-11-03, Garrett Wollman <wol...@bimajority.org> wrote:
> Usually, movie-famous addresses mean very little to me -- political
> institutions aside -- but that's one of the small subset that I've

I can't think of any place that's famous by its street address other
than 10 Downing Street.

Niklas
--
On the other hand, if you had a problem with a big SCSI RAID system,
could you fix it by crashing a truckload of goats into your data center?
-- Steve VanDevender

[Alan J. Wylie]

Gary Barnes <g...@adminspotting.org> writes:

> the KLF.

Which prompts me to remind you that Charlie Stross (late of this
monastery) has a new book out.

Alan "Justified and Ancient" Wylie.

--
Alan J. Wylie https://www.wylie.me.uk/

Dance like no-one's watching. / Encrypt like everyone is.
Security is inversely proportional to convenience

[David Cameron Staples]

On Tue, 03 Nov 2020 07:58:05 +0000, Niklas Karlsson wrote:

> On 2020-11-03, Garrett Wollman <wol...@bimajority.org> wrote:
>> Usually, movie-famous addresses mean very little to me -- political
>> institutions aside -- but that's one of the small subset that I've
>
> I can't think of any place that's famous by its street address other
> than 10 Downing Street.
>
> Niklas

221B Baker st

[Peter Corlett]

David Cameron Staples <sta...@unimelb.edu.au.NOSPAM> wrote:
> On Tue, 03 Nov 2020 07:58:05 +0000, Niklas Karlsson wrote:

[...]

>> I can't think of any place that's famous by its street address other
>> than 10 Downing Street.

> 221B Baker st

An address which is as famous and real as Narnia.

[David Cameron Staples]

I didn't realise "real" was a relevant factor here.

[Alan J. Wylie]

"Alan J. Wylie" <al...@wylie.me.uk> writes:

> Which prompts me to remind you that Charlie Stross (late of this
> monastery) has a new book out.

And spookily, I see in today's news that a couple of *very* expensive
houses in London have collapsed whilst under re-development, the
hoarding outside says "Basement Construction and Cellar Conversion". I
bet there's a Komatsu mini-excavator buried in the rubble.

[Kerr-Mudd,John]

On Tue, 03 Nov 2020 08:01:53 GMT, "Alan J. Wylie" <al...@wylie.me.uk> wrote:

> Gary Barnes <g...@adminspotting.org> writes:
>
>> the KLF.
>
> Which prompts me to remind you that Charlie Stross (late of this
> monastery) has a new book out.
>
> Alan "Justified and Ancient" Wylie.
>

We are the knights who say "mu".

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <i0cgsd...@mid.individual.net>,

Niklas Karlsson <ank...@yahoo.se> wrote:
>On 2020-11-03, Garrett Wollman <wol...@bimajority.org> wrote:
>> Usually, movie-famous addresses mean very little to me -- political
>> institutions aside -- but that's one of the small subset that I've
>
>I can't think of any place that's famous by its street address other
>than 10 Downing Street.

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW is pretty famous to Americans; One
Observatory Circle somewhat less so. Canadians will know 24 Sussex
Drive. A lot of other political "addresses" are building or district
names (Elysee Palace, the Palace of Westminster, Queen's Park, Hart
Senate Office Building, Beacon Hill) rather than street addresses.

(Of course, there are lots of places that are "famous" within a region
or a field that almost no one outside has ever heard of, like 1170
Soldiers Field Road, 350 Cedar St., 1000 Providence Highway, 142 Cabot
St, and 7 Bulfinch Place would all mean something to the people on a
mailing-list that I run but I don't expect anyone else to recognize
them, except perhaps the first.)

[Stephen Harris]

Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:
> I thought it's Gra-Fvkgl Jrfg Nqqvfba, Puvpntb?

That's the complaints department.

--

rgds
Stephen

[Stephen Harris]

Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:
> "Alan J. Wylie" <al...@wylie.me.uk> wrote:

> > Which prompts me to remind you that Charlie Stross (late of this
> > monastery) has a new book out.

> Oh, he was a monk? I just discovered his books and merely started on
> Jennifer Morgue, but I DID wonder...

He even vistited the other place in 2002 for a short while.

--

rgds
Stephen

[Ina Faye-Lund]

Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> writes:

> "Alan J. Wylie" <al...@wylie.me.uk> wrote:
>

>> Which prompts me to remind you that Charlie Stross (late of this
>> monastery) has a new book out.
>

> Oh, he was a monk? I just discovered his books and merely started on
> Jennifer Morgue, but I DID wonder...

He actually references to it at some point, mentioning Bob's Monastery
T-shirt, if I remember correctly.


--
Happiness is a scratch for every itch.

[Ina Faye-Lund]

Michel <ab...@rubberchicken.nl> writes:

> Bob's full name is Robert Oliver Francis Howard, IIRC.
>
> As STRs go, not _that_ subtle.

There's that, but he could have picked that up from The Register.
Reading The Register doesn't necessarily mean you're familiar with the
Monastery or the Other Place.

[Peter Corlett]

Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:
> "Alan J. Wylie" <al...@wylie.me.uk> wrote:

>> Which prompts me to remind you that Charlie Stross (late of this monastery)
>> has a new book out.

> Oh, he was a monk? I just discovered his books and merely started on Jennifer
> Morgue, but I DID wonder...

If you are the kind of person who habitually collects every work by a favourite
author, including their notes to the milkman, you might still want to skip
"Crey/GX: Perngvat Tencuvpny Nccyvpngvbaf va Crey". He will surely thank you
for it.

Charlie's blog still runs on a Crey engine which was ancient and baroque even
by Crey standards when I was fixing it for one of the fishwraps way back in
2008. Indeed I've just started some fresh Unrecovery to deal with some
(different) decades-old Crey, because it just won't die out, dammit.

[Ina Faye-Lund]

Gallian <gal...@to-be-done.invalid> writes:

> Ina Faye-Lund <sta...@starcat.rlyeh.net> writes:

>
>> Michel <ab...@rubberchicken.nl> writes:
>>
>
>>> Bob's full name is Robert Oliver Francis Howard, IIRC.
>>>
>>> As STRs go, not _that_ subtle.
>>
>> There's that, but he could have picked that up from The Register.
>> Reading The Register doesn't necessarily mean you're familiar with the
>> Monastery or the Other Place.
>

> Charlie's CV includes wrangling SCO (surely in 2020 I don't have to ROT
> that?).
>
> I think it is more likely that he is directly referencing the
> monastery instead of The Register.

Sorry, I was not exactly clear there.

I'm trying to say that the T-shirt is a more obvious clue, where he
specifically mentions the Monastery. His name could have been (I know
it's not) solely based on the series on The Register.

Charlie did hang out here for a while, yes. That's ... a while ago. At
least he hasn't posted in forever and a half.

Granted, until last week or so, neither had I, so I suppose that doesn't
mean much. :P

[Claudio Calvelli]

On 2020-11-04, Ina Faye-Lund <sta...@starcat.rlyeh.net> wrote:
> Charlie did hang out here for a while, yes. That's ... a while ago. At
> least he hasn't posted in forever and a half.

I'm fairly sure he does not even know where to find a news server these
days although I mentioned to him something being posted here at some point
in the "recent" (pre-lockdown when one could actually talk to people in
person) past.

C

[Ina Faye-Lund]

Michel <ab...@rubberchicken.nl> writes:

> Charlie's been around a while. I'd be highly surprised if he didn't
> catch the original BOFHs as they got posted to usenet.

The Register is where the BOFH stories are now, but yes, you're right,
he most likely read them before The Register got them.

*sigh* not sure why I can't get this out right, but the point I'm trying
to make is that the BOFH stories are probably more commonly known than
the Monastery. Not that it actually matters, of course.

[Ina Faye-Lund]

I'm pretty sure that if he really wants access to a newsserver,
something could be arranged...

[Alexander Schreiber]

Alan J. Wylie <al...@wylie.me.uk> wrote:

> "Alan J. Wylie" <al...@wylie.me.uk> writes:
>
>> Which prompts me to remind you that Charlie Stross (late of this
>> monastery) has a new book out.
>
> And spookily, I see in today's news that a couple of *very* expensive
> houses in London have collapsed whilst under re-development, the
> hoarding outside says "Basement Construction and Cellar Conversion". I
> bet there's a Komatsu mini-excavator buried in the rubble.

Since adding floors on top is apparently frowned upon by the authorities
or something, the trend among the more-money-than-sense folks in London
has apparently for quite some time to add floors in the opposite
direction. I guess it doesn't always go so well.

[Alexander Schreiber]

Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:

> "Alan J. Wylie" <al...@wylie.me.uk> wrote:
>
>> Which prompts me to remind you that Charlie Stross (late of this
>> monastery) has a new book out.
>

> Oh, he was a monk? I just discovered his books and merely started on
> Jennifer Morgue, but I DID wonder...

Indeed he was. But _was_ a ... while ago, though, he shows up as active
in the Monastery at least in 2007.

[David Gersic]

On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 23:44:34 -0600, Grant Taylor <gta...@tnetconsulting.net> wrote:
> On 10/19/20 5:04 PM, Stephen Harris wrote:
>> I think I've still got a modem somewhere, and I'm sure I can resurrect
>> the brain cells that archived my UUCP knowledge.
>
> UUCP is one thing. <whatever> over modem is something entirely different.
>
> Much of Usenet rides over the Internet today. Sure, UUCP could carry
> Usenet, particularly text groups. But how many people could transition
> to modem connections? What's more, how many people could establish a
> UUCP network? That's going to take some work to boot strap. Plus you
> won't have good communications with others to do so.
>
> You can also carry TCP/IP over modem. But that going to take even more
> effort to boot strap. It's also going to take more resources (phone
> lines / modems / etc.) to establish multi-hop communications. IMHO,
> UUCP would be easier than TCP/IP over a modem.

Bah. If we're going back to modems, I'll have to resurrect my Fight-o-Net node.
I'd rather not have to do that.

[David Gersic]

On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:00:18 +0200, Ina Faye-Lund <sta...@starcat.rlyeh.net> wrote:
> The Horny Goat <lcr...@home.ca> writes:
>
>> On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 23:44:34 -0600, Grant Taylor
>> <gta...@tnetconsulting.net> wrote:
>>
>>>You can also carry TCP/IP over modem. But that going to take even more
>>>effort to boot strap. It's also going to take more resources (phone
>>>lines / modems / etc.) to establish multi-hop communications. IMHO,
>>>UUCP would be easier than TCP/IP over a modem.
>>

>> I actually set that up back in the day. Probably not something I'd
>> want to re-learn and implement now.
>>
>> Of course that was back in the day when 32k was a fast modem heh heh
>
> Thank you so very much for making me feel old.
>
> When I started out, the common was 14400, but we still had customers
> using 9600.

The first modem I used did 110. The first one I owned was 300/1200, but
nothing I could connect to at the time did 1200. The next one I owned
was 300/1200/2400. Then HST. Standards for 14,400 and faster came later.

[The Horny Goat]

On 3 Nov 2020 07:58:05 GMT, Niklas Karlsson <ank...@yahoo.se> wrote:

>On 2020-11-03, Garrett Wollman <wol...@bimajority.org> wrote:
>> Usually, movie-famous addresses mean very little to me -- political
>> institutions aside -- but that's one of the small subset that I've
>
>I can't think of any place that's famous by its street address other
>than 10 Downing Street.

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington and 22 Sussex Drive in Ottawa
both come to mind here. (Same reason but for the US and Canada
respectively)

[The Horny Goat]

On Tue, 3 Nov 2020 18:01:41 +0000 (UTC), wol...@bimajority.org
(Garrett Wollman) wrote:

>1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW is pretty famous to Americans; One
>Observatory Circle somewhat less so. Canadians will know 24 Sussex
>Drive. A lot of other political "addresses" are building or district
>names (Elysee Palace, the Palace of Westminster, Queen's Park, Hart
>Senate Office Building, Beacon Hill) rather than street addresses.

Oops - you are of course right. 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue is the US
Environmental Protection Agency which is of course much less well
known than the White House! (sigh)

I think most of us know that 1 Microsoft Way is in Redmond, WA.

[Chris Adams]

Once upon a time, The Horny Goat <lcr...@home.ca> said:
>I think most of us know that 1 Microsoft Way is in Redmond, WA.

I spent a couple of college summers working at 1 Tranquility Base...
--
Chris Adams <cma...@cmadams.net>

[Mans Nilsson]

Den 2020-11-04 skrev Gallian <gal...@to-be-done.invalid>:

> Charlie's CV includes wrangling SCO (surely in 2020 I don't have to ROT
> that?).

And I am thrown back to the employee survey company that ran their report
generator on FPB, building CbfgFpevcg hfvat njx gb znatyr gnohyngrq qngn
vagb CUO-nggenpgvir cvrpunegf. Vg jnf n irel cevag-urnil fubc, orpnhfr
svany qryvirel jnf va ovaqref, naq gurl arrqrq cbbyf bs YnfreWrgf naq
Cunfref gb cevag vg nyy. N irel fgevat-naq-purjvat-thz bcrengvba.

That took a lot of single malt to cope with. The wounds. The holes in my soul.

--
Måns Nilsson primary/secondary/besserwisser/machina
MN-1334-RIPE SA0XLR +46 705 989668
... I want a COLOR T.V. and a VIBRATING BED!!!

[Lee Ann Goldstein]

On 11/4/20 10:19, Gallian wrote:
> Charlie's CV includes wrangling SCO (surely in 2020 I don't have to ROT
> that?).

It's all rotted.

--
Lee Ann Goldstein - lee...@auntiquark.net
Caffeine is *not* a substitute for sleep.

[Julian Macassey]

On Mon, 2 Nov 2020 00:32:32 +0100, Alexander Schreiber
<a...@usenet.thangorodrim.de> wrote:

> Ina Faye-Lund <sta...@starcat.rlyeh.net> wrote:
>> Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> writes:
>>

>>> With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
>>> does anyone still read here?
>>>
>>> *sound of waving chicken around...*
>>
>> Mine is bigger than yours!
>>
>> *pulls out a bigger chicken*
>
> That looks suspiciously like a turkey, though ...

Its a capon.


--
"He that wishes to see his country robbed of its rights cannot be
a patriot. - Samuel Johnson: The Patriot

[Julian Macassey]

On Wed, 4 Nov 2020 10:04:16 +0100, Juergen Nieveler <juergen.nie...@arcor.de> wrote:
> "Alan J. Wylie" <al...@wylie.me.uk> wrote:
>
>> Which prompts me to remind you that Charlie Stross (late of this
>> monastery) has a new book out.
>
> Oh, he was a monk? I just discovered his books and merely started on
> Jennifer Morgue, but I DID wonder...

Trained as a phamacist, worked as a sysadmin, wrote in computer mags.


--
"We used to quip that "password" is the most common password. Now it's
'password1. ' Who said users haven't learned anything about security?"
-- Bruce Schneier

[Stephen Harris]

Julian Macassey <jul...@tele.com> wrote:
> Its a capon.

Capon
Capoff
Capon
Capoff -- The Cockerel Kid

--

rgds
Stephen

[Julian Macassey]

On Wed, 04 Nov 2020 19:19:40 +0100, Gallian <gal...@to-be-done.invalid> wrote:
> Ina Faye-Lund <sta...@starcat.rlyeh.net> writes:
>
>> Michel <ab...@rubberchicken.nl> writes:
>>
>

>>> Bob's full name is Robert Oliver Francis Howard, IIRC.
>>>
>>> As STRs go, not _that_ subtle.
>>
>> There's that, but he could have picked that up from The Register.
>> Reading The Register doesn't necessarily mean you're familiar with the
>> Monastery or the Other Place.
>

> Charlie's CV includes wrangling SCO (surely in 2020 I don't have to ROT
> that?).
>

> I think it is more likely that he is directly referencing the monastery
> instead of The Register.

There is a mailing list filled with ex SCO types, although that is not the
purpose of the list.


--
"We tend to forget. Ours is a society where things are like instant, so
therefore, history almost is like so far back it doesn't count."
- GW Bush, 3/29/06

[Julian Macassey]

On Mon, 26 Oct 2020 18:46:01 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett
<ab...@mooli.org.uk> wrote:
>
> That can't have been here in the Netherlands. The closest most of the Dutch get
> to a mountain is a landfill site, and you have to get lost very deep in
> cowfucker country for the phone signal to drop as low as three bars.

I live in Oregon cowfucker country. We have lots of places with no signal. When
I point out to Verizon Customer Service that there is NO SIGNAL in many areas, they
offer to tell me how to use my cell phone. Sigh. They seem to think I am fibbing when I
say NO ONE has a signal, they go back to offering to tell me how to use a cell phone.


--
Remember when multi-billion dollar corporations actually employed
tech support? Yeah, those were the days. - Jamie Zawinski <j...@jwz.org>

[Stephen Harris]

Julian Macassey <jul...@tele.com> wrote:
> I live in Oregon cowfucker country. We have lots of places with no signal. When
> I point out to Verizon Customer Service that there is NO SIGNAL in many areas, they
> offer to tell me how to use my cell phone. Sigh. They seem to think I am fibbing when I
> say NO ONE has a signal, they go back to offering to tell me how to use a cell phone.

"NO FUCKING SIGNAL! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW, ASSHOLE!"

--

rgds
Stephen

[Stephen Harris]

Julian Macassey <jul...@tele.com> wrote:
> I live in Oregon cowfucker country. We have lots of places with no signal. When

PS, what with the excessively long lines?

--

rgds
Stephen

[Julian Macassey]

On Tue, 17 Nov 2020 20:37:08 -0500, Stephen Harris <bo...@spuddy.org> wrote:
> Julian Macassey <jul...@tele.com> wrote:
>> I live in Oregon cowfucker country. We have lots of places with no signal. When
>
> PS, what with the excessively long lines?

Round here we have more fiber than a vegan potluck. When I tell the local govt
that owns a ton of it that they should offer Fiber To The Home to the electorate they
say "We can't afford it".

Lots of Transpacific cable comes ashore here. Even Microsnot and Fartbook have
cable coming ashore down the road from me.

--
"Poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the United States.” -
Mexican President Porfirio Díaz

[Lee Ann Goldstein]

On 10/24/20 09:26, Julian Turnbull wrote:
> That post has shaken a remarkable number of us out of the woodwork.

Even me. Twice now.

> A special obeisance to Claudio - if you don't know why he deserves it,
> you're too young.

At least I'm younger than somebody besides mikea.

[The Horny Goat]

On Wed, 18 Nov 2020 01:07:59 -0000 (UTC), Julian Macassey
<jul...@tele.com> wrote:

>On Mon, 26 Oct 2020 18:46:01 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett
><ab...@mooli.org.uk> wrote:
>>
>> That can't have been here in the Netherlands. The closest most of the Dutch get
>> to a mountain is a landfill site, and you have to get lost very deep in
>> cowfucker country for the phone signal to drop as low as three bars.
>
> I live in Oregon cowfucker country. We have lots of places with no signal. When
>I point out to Verizon Customer Service that there is NO SIGNAL in many areas, they
>offer to tell me how to use my cell phone. Sigh. They seem to think I am fibbing when I
>say NO ONE has a signal, they go back to offering to tell me how to use a cell phone.

Suggest they come show you how in person. Should be entertaining at
least

[Mans Nilsson]

Den 2020-11-18 skrev Michel <ab...@rubberchicken.nl>:
> On Mon, 26 Oct 2020 18:46:01 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett wrote:

> In the past, they would've gone "Hello? HELLO? HELLO??!?" but actual
> voice calls aren't that big a thing anymore so it's now mostly a visual
> spectacle.

The voice/data plans on our phones in the family are "free domestic calls,
free SMS, 20GiB data per month.". The youngest bofhlet has taken to run
his online gaming voice chat over cellular. For hours. It's actually
cheaper than using his "landline" extension, because that is not free
calls.

--
Måns Nilsson primary/secondary/besserwisser/machina
MN-1334-RIPE SA0XLR +46 705 989668

Now KEN and BARBIE are PERMANENTLY ADDICTED to MIND-ALTERING DRUGS ...

[Wojciech Derechowski]

On Tue, 24 Nov 2020 19:45:12 +0000, Michel wrote:
> [1] Went back, added the B, just to make sure

Not long ago added iB and immediately got questions which, as it became
apparent, I couldn't answer convincingly using powers of two.

WD
--
Who is Entscheidungs and what is his problem?