FidoNet Newsletter, Volume 11, # 12
Tim Pozar
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| A newsletter of the | |
| FidoNet BBS community | Published by: |
| _ | |
| / \ | "FidoNews" BBS |
| /|oo \ | +1-519-570-4176 1:1/23 |
| (_| /_) | |
| _`@/_ \ _ | Editors: |
| | | \ \\ | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 |
| | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 |
| |__U__| / \// | Tim Pozar 1:125/555 |
| _//|| _\ / | |
| (_/(_|(____/ | |
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Submission address: editors 1:1/23 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet addresses: |
| |
| Sylvia -- m...@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
| Donald -- don...@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
| Tim -- po...@kumr.lns.com |
| Both Don & Sylvia (submission address) |
| edi...@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
| obtaining copies and other boring but important details, |
| please refer to the end of this file. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
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Table of Contents
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1. Editorial..................................................... 1
2. Articles...................................................... 2
Keybored in Ohio............................................ 2
The history of Fidonet Words of Wisedom from the past....... 3
SCA Echoarea................................................ 6
3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 6
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Editorial
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FidoNews 11-12 Page: 2 21 Mar 1994
"Achieve world peace through BBSing" part II
Ouch. i feel utterly scragged today. i'm almost painted out blank,
fed up, trucked down, blaa and blaa. And then some of you out there
sent these entertaining articles which are happening to make me feel
better. Thanks.
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Articles
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Keybored in Ohio
by Chip Morrow - 1:226/730 (Information Overload)
Every so often I come to the undeniable conclusion that I really need
to get a life. Everyone keeps telling me this. So, I keep looking
through the department stores and catalogs, but so far haven't run
across any for sale yet. Well, there was a blue light special once,
but I didn't make it to the aisle in time, and, well... it's a pretty
ugly story.
Once in a while I get a clue as to why I spend so much time with
Fidonet and everything that goes with it, and am just about to really
come up with something awe-inspiring when an episode of Star Trek the
Next Generation comes on the tube and blows the whole thing away.
Sometimes it's just a Fidonews article. Occasionally all it takes is
one of Chevy Chase's Doritos commercials.
Has anyone spent umpteen hours hunched over the keyboard trying to
make ERRORLEVEL 925627 do what it's supposed to do in the big batch
file? Who spent time recently screaming at some TIC processor that
just ate the long-awaited 500K file that your feed sent you? Did
anyone mistakenly route a netmail in 1986 that was destined for across
the street into the great void of cyberspace, where it's probably
STILL trying to find final destination? (Well, OK... maybe it wound
up in someone's Internet mailbox in Finland last month, but we're not
here to pick nits).
What about the file sitting in some obscure directory that doesn't do
anything at all but HAS to be there or the whole thing breaks? My
answer: that file contains the secret to life itself. Do NOT delete
it under any cirumstances. It will be revealed to you on judgement
day.
My wife recently managed to pick up tickets to the Pink Floyd concert
that's coming our way out here in Central Ohio in late May this year.
This means I get to actually spend a long evening doing something
exciting that doesn't involve a keyboard for a change. I'm really
looking forward to it. Because after that's over, I can get back to
fixing that confounded FILE_ID.DIZ processor, and...
FidoNews 11-12 Page: 3 21 Mar 1994
The history of Fidonet Words of Wisedom from the past
By Marge Robbins 1:283/120 or mrob...@wps.com
A wise man once said there is nothing new under the sun. I am begining
to think that is true. Grubbing around in Fidonet's past is a lot
like watching the present pass in review. Some things never change.
Six and seven years ago the snooze was filled with gripes and bitches
about incompetant Coordinators, dire predictions about the eminent
demise of the net if is this or that precieved problem isn't addressed
immediately. My favorites; the nodelist is going to break everybody's
software, too many echos are going to choke the net. Sound familliar?
There are also voices from the past offering words of wisedom, tidbits
that are of value even today. I feel moved to share one such, a
parable of sorts with a moral that is as valid now as it was when
first printed in the snooze six years ago. But before we get into
that, I have a few requests to make of the net.
Is there anybody out there who remembers when and why David Dodell
stepped down as IC? Methinks there is more to the story than what
little appeared in the snooze.
Where are our overseas brethren in Fidonet? The history of Fidonet is
YOUR history too. Won't you please help me compile it? I really don't
want this to become a history of Zone 1.
Anybody want to do some typing for the project? I have some very old
nodelists and IFNA papers that will need to be transcribed unless
either a volunteer who can scan text comes forward, or we get lucky
and find electronic copies on tape or disk in some dusty corner. Giffs
and JPGs are nice, but not the answer for everything.
Now let us step back into time and listen to a Network Yarn that has a
moral fit for today. This was first printed in Fido524.nws 13 Jun
1988.
Indios (A Network Yarn)
(c) 1988
James Zachary 445/2
"JERKS!"
Ron jumped up from his desk and began pacing furiously.
"Stupid self-serving twits!" he bellowed at his computer
screen.
A shadow in the doorway startled him.
"Indios? Oh! I wasn't ... I mean ... sorry if I disturbed
you."
Indios was the caretaker and general handyman for the
condominium complex where Ron lived. Rarely did he pay much
FidoNews 11-12 Page: 4 21 Mar 1994
attention to anything other than his duties.
"Your sink is fixed." he said with his deep, gravely voice.
"What upsets you?" the old Indian then asked through lips that
barely moved.
"Ahhhhh, I dunno! I am sick and tired of everyone treating me
like dirt!"
His dark, withered face frowning, Indios shuffled his large
frame to an overstuffed chair and sat down.
"How do they do this? I am not understanding."
Ron was surprised. In over 2 years he had never known Indios
to solicit a conversation.
"Well, some people are real idiots and think they know it all.
They like to lord over other people, pretending they are
smarter or better. All they really have are big mouths! I am
going to start defending myself! I am going to be more
assertive!"
"Tell to me the difference of you being 'assertive' and them
having 'big mouths'?" Indios asked without expression.
Ron did not answer.
"You sit in front of this for hours," Indios continued,
pointing to the computer on Ron's desk, "and it angers you.
How can this be?"
"It started off to be fun," Ron answered, "then everyone
started flaming at each other!"
Ron could see that he was only confusing Indios.
"See, with the computer, a bunch of people can leave messages
to each other. It's like a big hobby for computer buffs.
There is an amateur network that I belong to where we can leave
mail. It was fun until it became too crowded. Now everyone
just fights with each other. If someone misspells a word,
someone jumps on him. If someone asks a question or has an
idea that someone else thinks is stupid, then the name calling
starts. We call it 'flaming'."
Indios grunted and nodded that he understood.
"So, you meet people on your machine so you can get angry at
each other. You go to work and your clubs and get angry at
others. Driving your car makes you angry at others ..."
"Exactly!" Ron exclaimed. "Unless you stand up for yourself,
someone will walk all over you! Believe me, when someone
shoves it to me I am going to pay them back in spades!"
FidoNews 11-12 Page: 5 21 Mar 1994
The Indian brushed his long, white hair back with his weathered
hands and looked sadly at Ron.
"So much anger ... This will make you better than them? Anger
can at times be a tool but, like a surgeons knife, it should
only be used when all else has failed and the cause is just ...
only then with great care and control. Most swing this blade
recklessly and wound themselves."
"I am sick and tired of reading this crap! I am sick and tired
of these pious bastards jumping on every little thing I do!"
"Maybe they have a fear ... maybe they have a need. The
smallest pups always growl the loudest. The others that are
secure will allow this because they know these pups have needs
that only can be provided for by their pretending dominance.
Even with wolves, the strongest and fastest in the pack will
allow the pretenders their moments, as they know it is their
need and all they can really achieve."
Now Ron was puzzled. "You mean I should just ignore these
twinks?! That I should let them say vile things about me and
others?!"
"Do they strip you of your honor? Are you denied all dignity?
Your family was not threatened, your ability to provide for
those that depend on you was not threatened ... your honor was
not taken."
"I have my pride!"
"Pride is not honor. You must know when NOT to fight before
you will ever know when it is proper TO fight. Your words of
anger are that of a child. Show me the burial sites of those
killed by mere words ..."
Ron knew he was losing the debate. This one was face to face
and the words had texture, tone and emphasis ... not like text
written on a flat monitor screen.
"Take what is good with this and all else in life and leave
behind what is bad." Indios continued, leaning forward, his
eyes fixed in a gaze at Ron. "I know enough about you to say
that you were granted neither the natural gift of a powerful
body nor a powerful mind at birth. You were granted a more
valuable gift, the gift to build whatever body and mind you
choose. There are no boundaries for this gift. All you do,
every day, in all walks, makes you what you are and what you
will be."
Indios then stood and walked to the doorway. Ron remained
silent.
"Will you build your body and soul of sound materials or will
FidoNews 11-12 Page: 6 21 Mar 1994
you use the waste of the earth and become all that you
despise?" Indios asked with a hint of a smile as he departed.
Ron strolled slowly back to his desk and sat down in front of
the computer. He hit a key to awaken his blank screen and then
began rereading the message that had upset him earlier. After
a moment he moved on to the next message, leaving the hate
unanswered.
"We're just puppies ... " he mumbled under his breath. "I
guess Fido grew up and had a whole lot of puppies ..."
He then began a reply to a message from a friend in Puerto
Rico. "Take what is good ..."
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SCA Echoarea
By Carl Enchelmayer
I have a new echo on my BBS that is not in the Fidonet Backbone at this
time. It is called the SCA/Medieval Discussion Echo. This Echo deals
with discussions of the SCA, which is an International Medieval
re-enactment group, and with Medieval talk in general.
Currently there has been a great response in my area for this echo. I
have had it up and running since last summer. There are currently about
ten systems that poll the echo.
I would like the echo to be spread out even farther, in hopes that
someday it can get into the Fidonet Backbone. WWIVNet has a similar
echo called "The known world herald", but that doesn't help us guys
and gals here in Fido-land.
If you wish to receive this echo on your system, please drop me a
netmail, and we can make arrangments to get this area to your system.
-Carl Enchelmayer @1:232/305
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Fidonews Information
========================================================================
------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ----------------
Editors: Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees
Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar
Tom Jennings
"FidoNews" BBS
FidoNet 1:1/23
BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS)
Internet addresses:
FidoNews 11-12 Page: 7 21 Mar 1994
Don & Sylvia (submission address)
edi...@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
Sylvia -- m...@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
Donald -- don...@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
Tim -- po...@kumr.lns.com
(Postal Service mailing address)
FidoNews
128 Church St.
Kitchener, Ontario
Canada
N2H 2S4
Published weekly by and for the members of the FidoNet international
amateur electronic mail system. It is a compilation of individual
articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The
contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the
rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in these articles are those
of the authors and not necessarily those of FidoNews.
Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
Copyright 1994 Sylvia Maxwell. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or
distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in
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OBTAINING COPIES: The-most-recent-issue-ONLY of FidoNews in electronic
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PRINTED COPIES may be obtained from Fido Software for $10.00US each
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mailed Air Mail. (US funds drawn upon a US bank only.)
INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org,
in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. If you would like a FAQ, or
have questions regarding FidoNet, or UUCP<==>FidoNet gateways, please
direct them to David Deitch (1:133/411@fidonet) at
dei...@gisatl.fidonet.org.
SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable
from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it.
"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission.
Asked what he thought of Western civilization,
M.K. Gandhi said, "I think it would be an excellent idea".
-- END
---
Remember Campers!!!
To send mail from an Internet site or smart UUCP Site TO a user
that calls a Fido-Net system.
You need to know the name of the person and node number of the
Fido-Net system that the person uses.
The address of a FidoNode looks like this: 1:105/302.0. Usually
the 1: and .0 are left off, but they are there by default. (In
Europe it is 2: and in the Pacific Basin it is 3:.) That
address can be translated as "Zone 1, Net 105, FidoNode 302,
Point 0." or p0.f302.n105.z1. Add the FidoNet domain of
.fidonet.org to the end of that, chop off the p0 (it is again,
a default) and you have f302.n105.z1.fidonet.org - the "Fully
Qualified Domain Name" of a FidoNode. Another example is
1:105/4.3 which would be written as p3.f4.n105.z1.fidonet.org
(since there is a point number other than 0, we have to specify
it). Note also that we are only using zone 1. This will also
work for zones 2 and 3, just use z2 or z3 as appropriate.
FidoNet uses full names of the callers. Multi-part name folks
(eg. First Last, ie. "Dale Weber") will have a period '.'
seperating their names. So, lets say you wanted to send mail
to Dale Weber at 1:105/55.0, you would address your letter to:
Dale....@f55.n105.z1.fidonet.org.
************************************************************************
Submissions to comp.org.fidonet should be addressed to
po...@kumr.lns.com
************************************************************************
--
Internet: po...@kumr.lns.com
Snail: Tim Pozar / KKSF / 77 Maiden Lane / San Francisco CA 94108 / USA
POTS: +1 415 788 2022 Radio: KC6GNJ / KAE6247