Straw poll
Antony J. Shepherd
Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
had heard of the internet."
Hands up everyone who thinks he knows not of what he speaks...
Dop
No, I'm not posting this on alt.fan.douglas-adams because I don't want the
hate-mail... I know what they're like...
I may edit the Hitch-Hiker Appreciation Society magazine but that doesn't
mean I have to worship Adams. That's why we're not the Douglas Adams Fan
Club...!
Craig Macbride
>While putting together "Mostly Harmless" I read an interview with Douglas
>Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
>had heard of the internet."
>Hands up everyone who thinks he knows not of what he speaks...
If he said that any time within the last 10 years, I'd say, yep, he should
stick to things he knows something about, like explaining things from his
books.
--
Craig Macbride <cr...@glasswings.com.au>
-----------------------http://amarok.glasswings.com.au/~craig---------------
"It's a sense of humour like mine, Carla, that makes me proud
to be ashamed of myself." - Captain Kremmen
David G. Bell
d...@carcosa.demon.co.uk "Antony J. Shepherd" writes:
> While putting together "Mostly Harmless" I read an interview with Douglas
> Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
> had heard of the internet."
>
>
> Hands up everyone who thinks he knows not of what he speaks...
When exactly did he make this statement?
I'd suggest that five years ago knowledge of the Internet was quite
limited, outside of the obvious computer-enthusiasts. BBSs were what
people worried about, if anything. And I'm basing that on UK
experience.
--
David G. Bell -- Farmer, SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
Ailsa Murphy
"Antony J. Shepherd" <d...@carcosa.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> While putting together "Mostly Harmless" I read an interview with Douglas
> Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
> had heard of the internet."
>
> Hands up everyone who thinks he knows not of what he speaks...
Well, I've been on the net for around ten years. But back then, there
weren't many of us. Mostly students/academics, hardcore geeks, and .gov
types, as I recall. The problem back then wasn't spam, it was clueless
freshmen and people leaving their terminals unattended, and there were no aol
accounts.
My how time flies. I was a student, I hadn't gotten divorced yet, and my
newsgroups were alt.pagan, soc.motss, and misc.kids. I had no friends
locally because my husband didn't approve of that sort of thing, and support
from my net.friends got me through the worst of the separation. Now the net
is huge and nearly omnipresent and I post from work insted of the university
computer lab.
-Ailsa
--
But to explicitly advocate cultural relativism ailsa....@tfn.com
on the grounds that it promotes tolerance is to Ailsa N.T. Murphy
implicitly assume that tolerance is an absolute value. If there are any
absolute values, however, cultural relativism is false. -Theodore Schick
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
Loren Joseph MacGregor
: While putting together "Mostly Harmless" I read an interview with Douglas
: Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
: had heard of the internet."
: Hands up everyone who thinks he knows not of what he speaks...
I think he was using it to mean, "Hardly anyone," actually, as, for
example, "Five years ago only hobbyists and IS professionals had
heard of the internet."
But he was still wrong.
-- LJM
Alison Hopkins
Antony J. Shepherd wrote in message
<916822642.27079.0...@news.demon.co.uk>...
>While putting together "Mostly Harmless" I read an interview with Douglas
>Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago
no-one
>had heard of the internet."
>
>
>Hands up everyone who thinks he knows not of what he speaks...
>
<waves hand in air> Mind you, it *might* be a touch unfair, as I've been in
IT for a vey long time. My first brush with an Internet ancestor, as it
were, was in the late 70's when I worked for GE. We used email like fury,
and I really missed it when I left. The GEIS network was one of those that
provided some of the defence infrastructures, hence the connection. No-one
called it the Internet, of course.
I found an old Analog the other day, with an article describing what
Internet would be in a few years time. It was published, iirc, in 1994, and
tentatively suggested that it might be a Useful Thing. I am amazed at how
fast the damn thing grows. On Radio 4 two days ago, it was stated that 45
percent of the UK will have 'net access by the end of 1999 - and the fastest
growth sector is the over 50's!
Ali
Jo Walton
d...@carcosa.demon.co.uk "Antony J. Shepherd" writes:
> While putting together "Mostly Harmless" I read an interview with Douglas
> Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
> had heard of the internet."
>
>
> Hands up everyone who thinks he knows not of what he speaks...
Well if he was talking about Britain - five years ago is January 1994.
I'd _heard_ of the internet, and Ken wanted to be on it (I wasn't
sure, I thought it might waste a lot of his time, which is very
funny, considering) and I remember asking Alex McLintock at that year's
Eastercon whether Demon or Cix were better (bless him for being absolutely
dead right) so he's wrong... but only just. I was online in May of 1994,
and that was about the first time I could really afford to be - 2400
modem and long distance calls to London. I could only afford rasfw at
the weekend, oh the agony. Demon got more local PoPs for Christmas
that year, and I got this 14,400 modem, which was then new and dead
expensive. It was really unusual for people to be net aware then, in
my circles, and quite possibly in Mr. Adams'.
I'd call what he's saying "a mild exaggeration" if he was saying it
to contrast to now, when it's almost more of an exception _not_ to
have email.
--
Jo - - I kissed a kif at Kefk - - J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk
First NorAm Public Appearance: Imperiums to Order, Kitchener, March 20th
Freshly UPDATED web-page http://www.bluejo.demon.co.uk - Interstichia;
RASFW FAQ, Reviews, Fanzine, Momentum Guidelines, Blood of Kings Poetry
Janet Kegg
Shepherd wrote:
>While putting together "Mostly Harmless" I read an interview with Douglas
>Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
>had heard of the internet."
I'd translate that to mean that five years ago he hadn't heard of the
Internet. Plenty of people, over here anyway, had heard of it.
I got Internet access for the first time in November 1993 at my job at an
association. My first external email was to two family members, scientists
at universities. They had been on the Net long before those of us in the
non-academic world showed up. I didn't discover Usenet until early 1994.
And here I am 5 years later spending 75% of my time at work surfing the
Web. It's a job I couldn't have imagined 5 years ago.
-- Janet
John Richards
>
> While putting together "Mostly Harmless" I read an interview with Douglas
> Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
> had heard of the internet."
>
>
Oh come on Dop. Adams worked for the BBC and for them "no one" means
"neither I nor anyone in my immediate circle". The same is true for
"everyone". e.g. "everyone in the country is in shock at the news of the
death of Princess Dianna."
--
JFW Richards South Hants Science Fiction Group
Portsmouth, Hants 2nd and 4th Tuesdays
England. UK. The Magpie, Fratton Road, Portsmouth
Craig Macbride
>Well if he was talking about Britain - five years ago is January 1994.
That's the big "if" in the context. Britain was extremely slow to take
to the internet. I suspect it was probably due mainly to very high
telephone call costs, which in turn stifled development of the
infrastructure. The networking that was set up there which had addresses
the opposite way around to the rest of the world (ie. highest level
address component first) probably didn't help on the technical side.
By 1994, I'd been on the net for some years and over 90% of my friends
were either on the net or on a BBS that I used.
Back in the early 90's, when 2400 bps modems were the norm, it was very
much easier for people in countries with untimed (ie. free or fixed price)
local calls to use the net. Universities here had to set their modems to
drop the line every so often so that students would not stay logged in 24
hours a day.
So, yes, Bop Ad's comment is less unreasonable if he only meant Britain.
James Nicoll
John Richards <jo...@panorama.panorama.com> wrote:
>Antony J. Shepherd wrote:
>>
>> While putting together "Mostly Harmless" I read an interview with Douglas
>> Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
>> had heard of the internet."
>>
>> Hands up everyone who thinks he knows not of what he speaks...
>>
>
>Oh come on Dop. Adams worked for the BBC and for them "no one" means
>"neither I nor anyone in my immediate circle". The same is true for
>"everyone". e.g. "everyone in the country is in shock at the news of the
>death of Princess Dianna."
Is it Simon Brett who does the mysteries featuring an alcoholic
actor wandering from job to job and murder scene to murder scene? Why
the police never accuse him of being a serial killer I don't know. Any
way one of the books is set at the BBC and has details about it I wouldn't
believe except Brett work[ed/s] there.
--
March 20, 1999: Imperiums To Order's 15th Anniversary Party. Guests include
Rob Sawyer [SF author], Jo Walton [game designer and soon to be published
fantasy author] and James Gardner [SF author]. DP9 is a definite maybe.
Imperiums is at 12 Church Street, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
Ken Walton
> And here I am 5 years later spending 75% of my time at work surfing the
> Web. It's a job I couldn't have imagined 5 years ago.
I sometimes have one of those "I'm living in an SF novel!" moments when
I realise that I'm writing a book which will never be sent to the
publisher in manuscript form, sending proofs back and forth to my editor
in London, brainstorming ideas with other writers in California and
Australia - all from a small rented bedsit in a Victorian terraced
house. It sometimes seems *very* unlikely.
My other recent "SF moment" was when I realised how strange it was that
there was a street salesman standing on a corner in town shouting "Get
your cyberpets! Only 1.99!" Makes me think I'm living in a Dick novel.
--
Ken Walton http://www.sacnoth.freeserve.co.uk
================================================================
"When you visit a friend, conform to the rules of his household;
lean not upon his tables, nor rub your feet against his chairs."
- Enquire Within Upon Everything, 1883
Marilee J. Layman
Walton) wrote:
>Well if he was talking about Britain - five years ago is January 1994.
And if he wasn't talking about Britain, what was five years ago? ;)
--
Marilee J. Layman Co-Leader, The Other*Worlds*Cafe
relm...@aol.com A Science Fiction Discussion Group
Web site: http://www.webmoose.com/owc/
AOL keyword: BOOKs > Books Community > The Other*Worlds*Cafe (listbox)
Janice Gelb
>And here I am 5 years later spending 75% of my time at work surfing the
>Web. It's a job I couldn't have imagined 5 years ago.
>
The job changes brought about by the advent of personal
computers are really astonishing. I had a smaller example
of this yesterday when someone asked how people used to
index books before online word processors. He looked at me
like I was describing making a fire by rubbing two sticks
together when I started explaining the technique of sorting
3 x 5 cards in shoeboxes...
*********************************************************************
Janice Gelb | The only connection Sun has with
janic...@eng.sun.com | this message is the return address.
1999 DUFF CANDIDATE: Ballot and writing samples available at
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/8018/index.html
Gary Farber
: In <916860...@bluejo.demon.co.uk>, J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk (Jo
: Walton) wrote:
:>Well if he was talking about Britain - five years ago is January 1994.
: And if he wasn't talking about Britain, what was five years ago? ;)
Tevet 5754?
--
Copyright 1999 by Gary Farber; Web Researcher; Nonfiction Writer,
Fiction and Nonfiction Editor; gfa...@panix.com; B'klyn, NYC, US
ale...@my-dejanews.com
J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk wrote:
> In article <916822642.27079.0...@news.demon.co.uk>
> d...@carcosa.demon.co.uk "Antony J. Shepherd" writes:
>
> > Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
> > had heard of the internet."
> I'd _heard_ of the internet, and Ken wanted to be on it (I wasn't
> sure, I thought it might waste a lot of his time, which is very
> funny, considering) and I remember asking Alex McLintock at that year's
> Eastercon whether Demon or Cix were better (bless him for being absolutely
> dead right)
> Jo - - I kissed a kif at Kefk - - J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk
Well, I was a computer science graduate so I had some experience of the
Internet. (Some ten years now!) However I hadn't used the _web_ much so
in spirit he is correct.
A few years back I was one of many people who pissed DNA off by assuming
that a certain "Douglas Adams" posting from the US might in fact not
be who he claimed he was. I thought thus: DNA has a cix account - He should
not need to post using some US no-name ISP. However I shall give him the
information anyway, whether or not he is who he says he is.
Anyway my paranoia was unfounded since DNA was in the US doing a book
signing tour... So in case DNA is reading this and remembers the
incident _Sorry!_.
I get asked by alot of fans whether or not demon (a straightforward ISP)
is better than Cix (something more like a UK compuserve). I am (according
to Liam Proven) the only person he knows to have left cix :-) It is
easy to use and friendly for UK people. If you have the technical
expertise available (eg in friends) then go for demon or possibly
freeserve! Make sure however you get alot of help from friends as freeserve
technical support costs alot.
Sorry about the slightly off topic post.
ADVERT:
Come to Picocon, Imperial College, London, Feb 6th 1999.
Web page: oh bugger, I've forgotten.
Alex McLintock http://www.arcfan.demon.co.uk/alex/
John Richards
>
> In article <36A6E6...@panorama.panorama.com>,
> John Richards <jo...@panorama.panorama.com> wrote:
> >Antony J. Shepherd wrote:
> >>
> >> Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
> >> had heard of the internet."
> >>
> >>
> >
> >Oh come on Dop. Adams worked for the BBC and for them "no one" means
> >"neither I nor anyone in my immediate circle". The same is true for
> >"everyone". e.g. "everyone in the country is in shock at the news of the
> >death of Princess Dianna."
>
> Is it Simon Brett who does the mysteries featuring an alcoholic
> actor wandering from job to job and murder scene to murder scene? Why
> the police never accuse him of being a serial killer I don't know. Any
> way one of the books is set at the BBC and has details about it I wouldn't
> believe except Brett work[ed/s] there.
Yes it is and he still does. Every so often he shows up on Radio 4with a
panel game where two guest crime writers have to guess whodunnit in a
short mystery he has put together. It's called "Foul Play" and generally
leaves me completely cold.
The problem of detectives continually coming across crimes is hardly
limited to Brett's character though. You'd have though the Hercules
Poirot for one would have stopped receiving invitations years before
Christie finished with him and the problems of anyone trying to get
travel insurance once their brokers had discovered that they were
sharing a train, boat or airplane with him can only be imagined.
Jo Walton
mjla...@erols.com "Marilee J. Layman" writes:
> In <916860...@bluejo.demon.co.uk>, J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk (Jo
> Walton) wrote:
>
> >Well if he was talking about Britain - five years ago is January 1994.
>
> And if he wasn't talking about Britain, what was five years ago? ;)
<fairwitness> I can't say, I wasn't there. </fairwitness>
--
Jo - - I kissed a kif at Kefk - - J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk
Ailsa Murphy
Ken Walton <k...@sacnoth.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> Janet Kegg wrote:
> > And here I am 5 years later spending 75% of my time at work surfing the
> > Web. It's a job I couldn't have imagined 5 years ago.
>
> I realise that I'm writing a book which will never be sent to the
> publisher in manuscript form, sending proofs back and forth to my editor
> in London, brainstorming ideas with other writers in California and
> Australia - all from a small rented bedsit in a Victorian terraced
> house. It sometimes seems *very* unlikely.
>
> My other recent "SF moment" was when I realised how strange it was that
> there was a street salesman standing on a corner in town shouting "Get
> your cyberpets! Only 1.99!" Makes me think I'm living in a Dick novel.
>
nobody could get any pages and communications were all messed up. Buying
groceries via the web comes close, though.
-Ailsa
--
But to explicitly advocate cultural relativism ailsa....@tfn.com
on the grounds that it promotes tolerance is to Ailsa N.T. Murphy
implicitly assume that tolerance is an absolute value. If there are any
absolute values, however, cultural relativism is false. -Theodore Schick
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
Ailsa Murphy
John Richards <jo...@panorama.panorama.com> wrote:
> James Nicoll wrote:
> > Is it Simon Brett who does the mysteries featuring an alcoholic
> > actor wandering from job to job and murder scene to murder scene? Why
> > the police never accuse him of being a serial killer I don't know. Any
> > way one of the books is set at the BBC and has details about it I wouldn't
> > believe except Brett work[ed/s] there.
>
> Yes it is and he still does. Every so often he shows up on Radio 4with a
> panel game where two guest crime writers have to guess whodunnit in a
> short mystery he has put together. It's called "Foul Play" and generally
> leaves me completely cold.
>
> The problem of detectives continually coming across crimes is hardly
> limited to Brett's character though. You'd have though the Hercules
> Poirot for one would have stopped receiving invitations years before
> Christie finished with him and the problems of anyone trying to get
> travel insurance once their brokers had discovered that they were
> sharing a train, boat or airplane with him can only be imagined.
>
The main character on "Murder, She Wrote" _did_ get accused of being a serial
killer, IIRC.
James Nicoll
John Richards <jo...@panorama.panorama.com> wrote:
>James Nicoll wrote:
>>
>> Is it Simon Brett who does the mysteries featuring an alcoholic
>> actor wandering from job to job and murder scene to murder scene? Why
>> the police never accuse him of being a serial killer I don't know.
>
>The problem of detectives continually coming across crimes is hardly
>limited to Brett's character though. You'd have though the Hercules
>Poirot for one would have stopped receiving invitations years before
>Christie finished with him and the problems of anyone trying to get
>travel insurance once their brokers had discovered that they were
>sharing a train, boat or airplane with him can only be imagined.
I have somewhere on a readable-by-an-atari-only disc a story about
a British policeman visiting a woman based on Miss Marple to see if
he can pick up some pointers about detection from her. There's a murder
[the murder rate in Miss M's hometown accounts for something like 10%
of English murders per year during Christie's active phase of writing
about her] They investigate and the policeman [who must be just a bit
than the fellow in _The Wicker Man_. Maybe it is his brother] slowly
begins to realize that the Marple analogue is a serial killer whose
murders are always two part: the original victim and the person she frames.
He's last seen being dragged away for the current murder or possibly shot
while resisting arrest.
At the time I thought it was screamingly funny. Nobody I showed
it to agreed. I'd rewrite it but writing for me requires enough coffee
to work me up into a manic state where I am vibrating with energy, and
it screws up my sleep cycle. Needs the right music too.
OTOH, I get into a similar place at the gym. Managed to get my
heartrate up to nearly 200 by having a pot of espresso first and by
having some energetic music in the walkwman while running. Was clocking
a mile every 6 or 7 minutes, too, which is a minute faster than when
I was 10 or 11. I can write stuff in head when I do that but I tend to
forgetthem afterwards.
Marcus L. Rowland
<ailsa....@tfn.com> writes
>The main character on "Murder, She Wrote" _did_ get accused of being a serial
>killer, IIRC.
By John Constantine in the Hellblazer comic. Makes a lot of sense to me.
--
Marcus L. Rowland
http://www.ffutures.demon.co.uk/ http://www.forgottenfutures.com/
"We are all victims of this slime. They... ...fill our mailboxes with gibberish
that would get them indicted if people had time to press charges"
[Hunter S. Thompson predicts junk e-mail, 1985 (from Generation of Swine)]
Daniel Blum
> On 20 Jan 1999 13:00:16 GMT, cr...@glasswings.com.au (Craig Macbride)
> >>Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
> >>had heard of the internet."
> >
> >>Hands up everyone who thinks he knows not of what he speaks...
> >
> >stick to things he knows something about, like explaining things from his
> >books.
> "Within the last 10 years"??? Really?
> In 1984, who had heard of "the internet"? It was either 1983 or 1984
> that I had to do a super-quick fix to some in-use software when I got
> caught unprepared by the BBN-net switching from NCP to TCP/IP, and
> around then when the Arpanet split into Arpanet and Milnet, but we were
> still referring to the combined networks either as "DDN" (Defense Data
> Network) or "an internet", not "the Internet"
10 years ago was 1989, or am I slipping timestreams again? In 1989 people
certainly referred to "the Internet" - they did in 1986 (when I got my first
account) for that matter, at least at my college.
--
____________________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum to...@mcs.net
"Friends, we have passed a night in hell; but now the sun is shining, the
birds are singing, and the radiant form of the dentist consoles the world."
the Carrot-Topped
> I can write stuff in head when I do that but I tend to
> forgetthem afterwards.
I've wanted to hook a tape recorder up to my brain for years... never
mind the stories (movies, almost) that I've come up with... the music
that I've composed while riding the subway is gone forever.
The one ST:TNG toy that I really want is the machine that Barclay got
hooked up to, that let him communicate directly with the computer.
(Transporters would be nice, but I *really* want that...)
--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
http://world.std.com/~gingi
Morris M. Keesan
wrote:
>"Antony J. Shepherd" <d...@carcosa.demon.co.uk> writes:
>
>>While putting together "Mostly Harmless" I read an interview with Douglas
>>Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
>>had heard of the internet."
>
>>Hands up everyone who thinks he knows not of what he speaks...
>
>If he said that any time within the last 10 years, I'd say, yep, he should
>stick to things he knows something about, like explaining things from his
>books.
"Within the last 10 years"??? Really?
In 1984, who had heard of "the internet"? It was either 1983 or 1984
that I had to do a super-quick fix to some in-use software when I got
caught unprepared by the BBN-net switching from NCP to TCP/IP, and
around then when the Arpanet split into Arpanet and Milnet, but we were
still referring to the combined networks either as "DDN" (Defense Data
Network) or "an internet", not "the Internet"
--
Morris M. Keesan -- kee...@world.std.com
--
Gary Farber
the Carrot-Topped <gi...@world.std.com> wrote:
[. . .]
: The one ST:TNG toy that I really want is the machine that Barclay got
: hooked up to, that let him communicate directly with the computer.
: (Transporters would be nice, but I *really* want that...)
I liked it better when Delany used it in TRITON, or Cordwainer Smith used
it, or the cyberpunks used it.
I don't recall that the ST:TNG version had any improvements, unless lots
of flashing lights is an improvement. What do you prefer about the STAR
TREK version?
the Carrot-Topped
> I liked it better when Delany used it in TRITON, or Cordwainer Smith used
> it, or the cyberpunks used it.
>
> I don't recall that the ST:TNG version had any improvements, unless lots
> of flashing lights is an improvement. What do you prefer about the STAR
> TREK version?
Nothing in particular (I'll have to go look for that particular Delany
book, and finally read some Cordwainer Smith). I do like the way that
most cyberpunk deals with it... the idea of being able to have an
unobtrusive connection behind my ear is appealing.
I think one of the reasons that the ST:TNG version comes to mind is that
my mother and I had a long conversation about it. My mom reads widely
(she's a librarian, so it stands to reason), but doesn't generally read
SF unless I hand her a book and say "This is really cool!" So this was
her first contact with the concept.
Come to think of it, I really miss living with a librarian... funky
books don't keep popping up on the coffee table. (Though I could have
done without *ever* reading Hamilton's THE BOOK OF RUTH... well-written,
and highly disturbing.)
-Rachel
--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
http://world.std.com/~gingi
Doug Wickstrom
electrons adance worldwide by saying:
>In <36ada675...@news.erols.com> Marilee J. Layman <mjla...@erols.com> wrote:
>: In <916860...@bluejo.demon.co.uk>, J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk (Jo
>: Walton) wrote:
>
>:>Well if he was talking about Britain - five years ago is January 1994.
>
>: And if he wasn't talking about Britain, what was five years ago? ;)
>
>Tevet 5754?
I like 2747 AUC, myself. Heisei 6 is also nice.
--
Doug Wickstrom
"I know, indeed, the evil of that I purpose; but
my inclination gets the better of my judgement." --Euripides
*************************************************
Give as much as you can. Give until it hurts.
Give to Vulpine Paralysis.
Avedon Carol
>I get asked by alot of fans whether or not demon (a straightforward ISP)
>is better than Cix (something more like a UK compuserve). I am (according
>to Liam Proven) the only person he knows to have left cix :-) It is
>easy to use and friendly for UK people. If you have the technical
>expertise available (eg in friends) then go for demon or possibly
>freeserve! Make sure however you get alot of help from friends as freeserve
>technical support costs alot.
As I understand it, Free-Online (www.free-online.net) is even easier,
and doesn't require the use of IE4 (ick) to sign-on, or any other
special software. I think I heard Freeserve's support was something
extraordinary like a pound a minute, and if that's so F-O is a bit
cheaper at 49p/39p for their helpline (and /internet magazine/ says
their website offers comprehensive support). The buzz is that
Freeserve has more content (but then, I'm not looking for content),
but they only give you 5megs of web space (already probably more than
I need, of course) while F-O is unlimited with no restrictions on
whether it's commercial. Five POP3 mailboxes and unlimited e-mail
aliases. It actually sounds pretty good from what I've heard (I
quickly got my local alpha geek to test it for me), and I think I'll
get on it just as soon as I...get around to it.
I just have this terrible feeling that all these free servers mean
that sooner or later the people you thought the net was safe from are
going to show up and ruin your favorite newsgroups and stuff like
that. I dread that first NVLA .sig....
--
Avedon
Blars Blarson
Doug Wickstrom <xnims...@aol.com> wrote:
>On 22 Jan 1999 02:12:05 GMT, Gary Farber <gfa...@panix.com> set
>electrons adance worldwide by saying:
>>In <36ada675...@news.erols.com> Marilee J. Layman <mjla...@erols.com> wrote:
>>: In <916860...@bluejo.demon.co.uk>, J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk (Jo
>>: Walton) wrote:
>>:>Well if he was talking about Britain - five years ago is January 1994.
>>: And if he wasn't talking about Britain, what was five years ago? ;)
>>Tevet 5754?
>I like 2747 AUC, myself. Heisei 6 is also nice.
Shouldn't we be giving dates in seconds since the cutover from NCP to
TCP/IP? (I don't remember when this happened, it was before I got my
own arpanet account in 1982.) I've only had my own domain a decade or
so (when was the .us domain created?) and my web page since 1994 or so.
I'm sure to some of you this makes me a neo, and to others an old
fuddy-duddy.
--
Blars Blarson bla...@blars.la.ca.us
http://sundry.hsc.usc.edu/blars.html
How well do we use our freedom to choose the illusions we create? -- Timbuk3
David G. Bell
ave...@cix.co.uk "Avedon Carol" writes:
> I just have this terrible feeling that all these free servers mean
> that sooner or later the people you thought the net was safe from are
> going to show up and ruin your favorite newsgroups and stuff like
> that. I dread that first NVLA .sig....
With any luck, those types will hit the net, start looking for the dirty
bits to complain about, and never notice the crude, over-zealously
setup, child safety software which keeps them from even discovering
that Feminists Against Censorship even exists.
Have the archaeologists discovered Sodom yet? Reporting that on the Net
might be a perverse sort of fun, as we discover whether AOL have learned
anything from their discovery of Scunthorpe and Cockerington.
--
David G. Bell -- Farmer, SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
Antony J. Shepherd
"David G. Bell" wrote in message <917179...@zhochaka.demon.co.uk>...
During an assignment in a course at Barnsley College in 1987, someone had
the bright idea of using a five letter code for location. This was all very
well, until they tried Penistone.
Oh how we laughed!
Dop - Northerner down south.
Tom Galloway
>In article <916822642.27079.0...@news.demon.co.uk> Antony J.
>Shepherd wrote:
>>Adams in Techno-Guru mode in which he said "Of course, five years ago no-one
>>had heard of the internet."
>Internet. Plenty of people, over here anyway, had heard of it.
I wouldn't. But then, I interviewed him via email for a piece that appeared
in a 1994 issue of Internet World magazine about celebrities on the net, he
being one of the few at the time. And Adams has a good rep for being tech
(or at least computer) literate for a non-tech type.
And, for what it's worth, depending on when he made the comment (since I'd
say 1994 probably was the key year in terms of the Internet really hitting
the general public's consciousness), I'd agree with him. At the very least,
in 1994 there was still a considerable market at a user's conference for
a major highend publishing software company's customers for an "Intro to the
Internet" course which I wrote and delivered.
Reminds me of a panel on the net done at Arisia, I think in January '94.
I happened to go to it with Judy (Yduj) Anderson, who got onto what became
the Internet about the same time I did, although at different locations.
The panelists introed themselves by mentioning when they first got on the
net; the first four or so all said something like "'93" or "'92". The final
one, with obvious pride, said he got on in '89. To which Judy and I
simultaneously turned to each other and whispered "Newbie!", both of us
having gotten on around 1980 (with the exception of Ben Yalow, who has a
negative Usenet number due to being in correspondence with one of the
creators of Usenet about it before it happened, I probably have the lowest
Usenet number hereabouts, due to being a CS undergrad at UNC-CH when Usenet
was created there and at Duke).
Which reminds me that I was on an Internet panel in Fall '93 at Confrancisco
which was packed, with a considerable number of people in the audience who
wanted to find out what all this Internet stuff was about. Which reinforces
my, and apparently Adams, belief that 1994 was probably the breakthrough
year for Internet familiarity among the masses. Come to think of it, I
believe '94 was when Netscape went public as well.
For Internet familiarity among universities, either fall of '92 or '93,
both of which have been refered to as the beginning of the neverending
September.
tyg t...@netcom.com
Morris M. Keesan
>> >> Douglas Adams ... said "Of course, five years ago no-one
>> >>had heard of the internet."
cr...@glasswings.com.au (Craig Macbride):
>> >If he said that any time within the last 10 years, I'd say, yep, he should
>> >stick to things he knows something about, like explaining things from his
>> >books.
Morris M. Keesan <kee...@world.std.com> (Hey, that's me!):
>> "Within the last 10 years"??? Really?
>> In 1984, who had heard of "the internet"? ... we were
>> still referring to the combined networks either as "DDN" (Defense Data
>> Network) or "an internet", not "the Internet"
On 22 Jan 1999 23:31:52 -0600, to...@MCS.COM (Daniel Blum) wrote:
>10 years ago was 1989, or am I slipping timestreams again? In 1989 people
>certainly referred to "the Internet" - they did in 1986 (when I got my first
>account) for that matter, at least at my college.
And I respond:
The original Douglas Adams quote began "Five years ago." If he said
that ten years ago, in 1989, he would have been referring to 1984.
Craig MacBride meant to say something like, "If he was talking about any
time within the last 10 years," instead of "If he said that any time..."
Ailsa Murphy
db...@zhochaka.demon.co.uk wrote:
> In article <36b27bfb....@news.demon.co.uk>
> ave...@cix.co.uk "Avedon Carol" writes:
>
> > I just have this terrible feeling that all these free servers mean
> > that sooner or later the people you thought the net was safe from are
> > going to show up and ruin your favorite newsgroups and stuff like
> > that. I dread that first NVLA .sig....
>
> With any luck, those types will hit the net, start looking for the dirty
> bits to complain about, and never notice the crude, over-zealously
> setup, child safety software which keeps them from even discovering
> that Feminists Against Censorship even exists.
>
> Have the archaeologists discovered Sodom yet? Reporting that on the Net
> might be a perverse sort of fun, as we discover whether AOL have learned
> anything from their discovery of Scunthorpe and Cockerington.
>
mineral mining or something of that sort.
Antony J. Shepherd
Morris M. Keesan wrote in message <36ac587c...@news.std.com>...
He said it last year. Since he apparently gave up being a comic author and
became a technology guru.
Dop.
Gary Farber
Antony J. Shepherd <d...@carcosa.demon.co.uk> wrote:
[. . .]
: He said it last year. Since he apparently gave up being a comic author and
: became a technology guru.
Well, obviously it's bollocks, Dop. I thought you figured out what was
such rather rapidly. And as meaningfully.
Antony J. Shepherd
Gary Farber, Guardian Of The Internet, missed the point entirely and said:
>In <917305761.29490.0...@news.demon.co.uk>
>Antony J. Shepherd <d...@carcosa.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>[. . .]
>: He said it last year. Since he apparently gave up being a comic author
and
>: became a technology guru.
>
>Well, obviously it's bollocks, Dop. I thought you figured out what was
>such rather rapidly. And as meaningfully.
Well, *duh* I _knew_ that silly! I just thought it might entertain people
who've been on the internet even longer than seven years. People who seem to
think they own the place even.
Actually, what amuses me is that he's doing lectures at US Universities
spouting the same nonsense.
Dop.
Richard Brandt
> As I understand it, Free-Online (www.free-online.net) is even easier,
> and doesn't require the use of IE4 (ick) to sign-on, or any other
> special software.
Heck, even I signed up for it today. Although it's not likely
to be much use to me for quite a while... (But hey, it came
with all that webspace.)
--
== Richard Brandt is at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8720/ ==
"To conclude my talk: We are all doomed. You heard it here first."
-- Firewall creator Marcus Ranum, at Black Hat '98
Avedon Carol
Bell") wrote:
>In article <36b27bfb....@news.demon.co.uk>
> ave...@cix.co.uk "Avedon Carol" writes:
>
>> I just have this terrible feeling that all these free servers mean
>> that sooner or later the people you thought the net was safe from are
>> going to show up and ruin your favorite newsgroups and stuff like
>> that. I dread that first NVLA .sig....
>
>With any luck, those types will hit the net, start looking for the dirty
>bits to complain about, and never notice the crude, over-zealously
>setup, child safety software which keeps them from even discovering
>that Feminists Against Censorship even exists.
It's true, you know. Some filter the word "feminist", some filter
"censorship", and at least one that I know of specifically filters
Feminissts Against Censorship out. Okay, it's not as good as being on
Nixon's enemies list, but still....
Zev Sero
> db...@zhochaka.demon.co.uk wrote:
>> Have the archaeologists discovered Sodom yet? Reporting that on the Net
>> might be a perverse sort of fun, as we discover whether AOL have learned
>> anything from their discovery of Scunthorpe and Cockerington.
>Does it need discovering? I thought it was still in existence and a center of
>mineral mining or something of that sort.
I thought the actual site of Sedom is supposed to be under the dead sea,
and that the modern town of Sedom is merely in the same general area.
--
Zev Sero Imminent death of the net delayed, Film at 12.
zs...@bigfoot.com - Joe Greco
Ailsa Murphy
zs...@bigfoot.com (Zev Sero) wrote:
> On Mon, 25 Jan 1999 16:11:00, ailsa....@tfn.com (Ailsa Murphy) wrote:
> > db...@zhochaka.demon.co.uk wrote:
>
> >> Have the archaeologists discovered Sodom yet? Reporting that on the Net
> >> might be a perverse sort of fun, as we discover whether AOL have learned
> >> anything from their discovery of Scunthorpe and Cockerington.
>
> >Does it need discovering? I thought it was still in existence and a center
of
> >mineral mining or something of that sort.
>
> I thought the actual site of Sedom is supposed to be under the dead sea,
> and that the modern town of Sedom is merely in the same general area.
I'm sure you're completely correct. I'm pulling my knowlege from a
half-remembered report Kathy did for Hebrew school months ago.