846 lines
38 KiB
Plaintext
846 lines
38 KiB
Plaintext
![]() |
F I D O N E W S -- Vol.12 No.34 (21-Aug-1995)
|
|||
|
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
|
|||
|
| A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
|
|||
|
| FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS |
|
|||
|
| _ | +1-519-570-4176 |
|
|||
|
| / \ | |
|
|||
|
| /|oo \ | |
|
|||
|
| (_| /_) | |
|
|||
|
| _`@/_ \ _ | |
|
|||
|
| | | \ \\ | Editors: |
|
|||
|
| | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 |
|
|||
|
| |__U__| / \// | Sylvia 1:221/194 |
|
|||
|
| _//|| _\ / | |
|
|||
|
| (_/(_|(____/ | |
|
|||
|
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
|
|||
|
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
|
|||
|
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
|
|||
|
| Submission address: editors 1:1/23 |
|
|||
|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|
|||
|
| MORE addresses: |
|
|||
|
| |
|
|||
|
| submissions=> editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
|
|||
|
| Don -- don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
|
|||
|
| Sylvia max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
|
|||
|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|
|||
|
| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
|
|||
|
| obtaining copies of fidonews or the internet gateway faq |
|
|||
|
| please refer to the end of this file. |
|
|||
|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|
|||
|
========================================================================
|
|||
|
Table of Contents
|
|||
|
========================================================================
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
1. Editorial..................................................... 1
|
|||
|
2. Articles...................................................... 2
|
|||
|
Cartoon Antics and other Standard Foolishness............... 2
|
|||
|
Defcon...................................................... 6
|
|||
|
Subject: EDX................................................ 8
|
|||
|
The Editors of the Snooze are Not Fascist!.................. 9
|
|||
|
Library Proposal............................................ 10
|
|||
|
Dear Editor-Beings,......................................... 11
|
|||
|
Please ! Not in Public..................................... 13
|
|||
|
Requiem to an Ansi Artist................................... 14
|
|||
|
3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 14
|
|||
|
========================================================================
|
|||
|
Editorial
|
|||
|
========================================================================
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 2 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Apologies to Eldridge Currie for missing his article several
|
|||
|
weeks back. It came in, I read it, I wrote him a note, but
|
|||
|
somehow it never got in the snooze. It is in this week.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
There are several good articles this today, but the one
|
|||
|
proposing a library standard hit home. We get a lot of mail
|
|||
|
here at the snooze requesting information, and while the
|
|||
|
information is usually available somewhere, it can be difficult
|
|||
|
to find. Often, we can only refer people somewhere else and
|
|||
|
hope.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It would be nice to have a site in each zone that attempted
|
|||
|
to keep an up-to-date library of "official" information. A good
|
|||
|
online nodelist searcher would probably be required, as the most
|
|||
|
common question is "How do I join Fidonet from Anytown, in the
|
|||
|
Northwest teritories". The ability to find a local node and
|
|||
|
telephone number (probably area code would be a better search
|
|||
|
code than city) is crucial to prospective members. Once that is
|
|||
|
found, all else follows.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
If we do set up such a list of sites, I would propose that
|
|||
|
the numbers be printed in the snooze on a weekly basis.
|
|||
|
========================================================================
|
|||
|
Articles
|
|||
|
========================================================================
|
|||
|
Cartoon Antics and other Standard Foolishness
|
|||
|
Matt Ion (1:153/7040.106)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
(Forwarded from netmail - a reply to Jerry Schwartz's item in
|
|||
|
ish. 1228.)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Greetings and Hallucinations, Jerry!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
As an occasional contributor to the 'snooze whose meanderings
|
|||
|
have brought forth many a netmail kudo, I must now pass the
|
|||
|
compliments on to you re: Disney Images. What a priceless
|
|||
|
piece! And from a writer's perspective, VERY nicely done, I
|
|||
|
must say.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
I, too, have been removed cold-turkey from my steady stream of
|
|||
|
echomail, as I spend a couple weeks in the boonies working and
|
|||
|
able to pick up mail only every couple days. Similarly, this
|
|||
|
gives me time to catch up on the 'snooze. I'm not nearly as far
|
|||
|
behind as you claim to have been, but I DID have the opportunity
|
|||
|
to see most of the particular thread you refer to in the same
|
|||
|
manner you did - ie. through time-lapse lenses. And I must say,
|
|||
|
your analogy is to D.D. and C&D is frighteningly accurate,
|
|||
|
although personally, I prefer Bugs Bunny vs. the Opera Singer -
|
|||
|
"of course you realize, dis means war."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Now that I think of it, in fact, there's a very similar Looney
|
|||
|
Tunes segment to your Disney example, with two squirrels trying
|
|||
|
endlessly to find a place in Porky Pig's house to store their
|
|||
|
winter supply of nuts, only to have themselves and their
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 3 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
provisions heaved out the window at every turn. Eventually they
|
|||
|
drive ol' Porky to attempt to chop down their tree... only to
|
|||
|
have his attention drawn - too late - to the rattle of
|
|||
|
gazillions of nuts, shaken from the tree, falling into a piece
|
|||
|
of gutter woven through the branches, rolling through a drain
|
|||
|
pipe to be directed into the top drawer of poor Porky's bedroom
|
|||
|
dresser, and filling the house nearly to the point of bursting
|
|||
|
the walls.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kinda leaves one to wonder if Mr. Germer and those making
|
|||
|
similar power plays will soon find they too have shaken loose
|
|||
|
more than they care to handle...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
(end forwarded message)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Okay, well, seeing as #1229 is so sparse, maybe I can add a
|
|||
|
little fuel to a fire or two to liven up future issues.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The editorial makes mention of standards. Well, I got a good
|
|||
|
one (although it's not exactly Fido-related, the end point can
|
|||
|
apply in many areas).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Don/Max (not always sure which one's writing, although this one
|
|||
|
looks a little too coherent to be Max :) writes:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Perhaps one off the problems with standards is that they
|
|||
|
also spell stagnation. Policies have the downside of
|
|||
|
preventing inovation[sic].
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Perhaps, and while pushing the limits of standards can be a good
|
|||
|
thing in some cases, stepping over them outright can wreak havoc.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
One of my pet peeves these days is the proliferation on the
|
|||
|
World Wide Web (oh no, not another net.junkie!) of "Netscape
|
|||
|
Enhanced" pages.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
For those not familiar with all this, the World Wide Web, using
|
|||
|
a system called Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and "browsers"
|
|||
|
such as Mosaic, Netscrap^H^H^Hape, Web Explorer, etc. that can
|
|||
|
read that language, makes for a nice, graphical environment with
|
|||
|
which to explore the Internet. HTML documents are plain text,
|
|||
|
embedded with formatting codes to designate text style, heading
|
|||
|
sizes, image placement, and so on, similar to the manner in
|
|||
|
which a word processor embeds formatting codes in the text.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Browsers provide the user's interface to these documents...
|
|||
|
similar to using RIPterm for graphical access to a RIP-capable
|
|||
|
BBS. These web pages appear similar to the online help files
|
|||
|
used in GUI systems such as Mac, Windows, and OS/2. Highlighted
|
|||
|
text can be clicked-on to link to another portion of text,
|
|||
|
another page, or even another site. Images can be placed in the
|
|||
|
text. Hypertext links in WWW pages can even be used to transfer
|
|||
|
files (often audio and multimedia files) to the user's system.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Naturally, all this must conform to some sort of standardized
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 4 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
specifications. Word processors all use their own proprietary
|
|||
|
formats for indicating text styles, tabs, frames, OLE links,
|
|||
|
etc. With the right filters, MS-Word can import Word Perfect
|
|||
|
files, but the two types are not directly interchangeable. To
|
|||
|
avoid such problems, HTML defines a set of standard "tags" (the
|
|||
|
formatting codes) that all compliant browsers must support.
|
|||
|
Version 2.0 is the current level, with 3.0 being on the horizon.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Now the problem is, the folks at Netscape have gone ahead - far
|
|||
|
ahead of the standards committee - and defined many features and
|
|||
|
tags of their own, to support such things as coloured and
|
|||
|
textured backgrounds, tables, image borders, wrapping text
|
|||
|
around images, animations, and so on. All good and fine if you
|
|||
|
deign to use Netscape and keep up with the very latest versions
|
|||
|
(each new release, every 3-4 weeks, seems to support
|
|||
|
new-and-improved tags). The browser itself provides (IMHO) a
|
|||
|
very clunky, unintuitive interface, and I really don't like to
|
|||
|
use it. Besides, its makers have seen fit only to develop
|
|||
|
Windows and Mac versions. I don't have a Mac, and don't want to
|
|||
|
jeopardize my system by installing Windows, so it's all pretty
|
|||
|
moot to me.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Of course, many people ARE jumping on all this pretty-faced
|
|||
|
technology and producing "Netscape Enhanced" pages galore. Most
|
|||
|
even include a note to "get the latest version now!!!" with a
|
|||
|
link to automagically download the latest version. What this
|
|||
|
means, however, is that more and more web pages are popping up
|
|||
|
with all these fancy features that are absolutely meaningless to
|
|||
|
anyone not using Netscape.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
So far, other well-behaved browsers know enough to simply ignore
|
|||
|
tags that they don't recognize. However, many of these
|
|||
|
"Netscape Enhanced" pages are starting to include things that
|
|||
|
will make sense ONLY to Netscape users, and come out as absolute
|
|||
|
gibberish to anyone else (one major ISP [Internet Service
|
|||
|
Provider] here in Vancouver uses Netscape-style tables in their
|
|||
|
page on commercial pricing info... the whole thing comes out
|
|||
|
scrambled and unreadable on my Web Explorer. And they want to
|
|||
|
sell me their services???)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
In fact, it now appears that Netscape may be shooting themselves
|
|||
|
in the foot. I can't confirm it for myself, but apparently
|
|||
|
there is a new 32-bit version of Netscape that supports a couple
|
|||
|
tags that will actually break older versions of Netscape. The
|
|||
|
cute part is, this new version will only work with the Windows
|
|||
|
95 (and presumably Windows NT) 32-bit API. It can't even be
|
|||
|
used with the Win32s add-on for Windows 3.1. So what's this?
|
|||
|
Release a new version that only works on an "operating system"
|
|||
|
(debatable in itself - new name, new face, same $#!T, different
|
|||
|
pile - but that's an argument for another day) that isn't even
|
|||
|
available yet, and make sure it breaks previous versions of the
|
|||
|
same product that WILL run on most of the personal computers in
|
|||
|
existence.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Frankly, the fine people of Netscape sound more like drug
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 5 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
pushers than software vendors. Here, here's a free/shareware
|
|||
|
version of a better, badder browser. Everyone like it? Good.
|
|||
|
Now we'll give you a timed beta of the next version, with even
|
|||
|
more bigger, badder features. That's expired? Now you can buy
|
|||
|
the commercial version with still more bigger, badder, better
|
|||
|
goodies. Of course, we've got so many people hooked on it now,
|
|||
|
most of them are rushing to create pages that take advantage of
|
|||
|
our bigger, badder browser's better features, so still more
|
|||
|
people will want to buy it...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Like I say, pushing the limits of standards is fine, for the
|
|||
|
sake of technological advancement. Many of Netscape's extended
|
|||
|
tags are planned to become part of HTML 3.0. But all this, to
|
|||
|
me, seems to go beyond that.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
What does this translate to in the Fido community? Is someone
|
|||
|
going to start using a bigger, badder, better nodelist format,
|
|||
|
echomail format, mailer format that will break most peoples'
|
|||
|
existing systems... then advise that all those still happily
|
|||
|
involved in the community using their sometimes-ancient,
|
|||
|
diverse, yet wonderfully compatible systems should throw it all
|
|||
|
out and upgrade everything so they can communicate? Heck,
|
|||
|
haven't we been through this many times with compression
|
|||
|
formats... arguing 1.3% differences in ZIP vs ARJ compression
|
|||
|
ratios when ARC is still the Fido standard, and when modem
|
|||
|
compression makes even the differences between ZIP and ARC moot?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Stodgy and stagnating as they may be, standards are there to
|
|||
|
help ensure we can all keep communicating in this global
|
|||
|
community. There's nothing wrong with forging ahead and
|
|||
|
developing new and nifty things, but perhaps a little restraint
|
|||
|
in unleashing it all on the public and making a mess of things
|
|||
|
would be in order? Netscape should have no beef - most of what
|
|||
|
they've done is due to be a part of the new, soon-to-be-released
|
|||
|
"standard". I can see little point, other than perhaps outright
|
|||
|
greed, in foisting it on everyone so haphazardly.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
But enough of my soapbox. My byte count for this message reads
|
|||
|
over 8800 at this point, so rather than clog up your mail
|
|||
|
transfers (and mine) anymore, I'll close this now.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ah, my, but isn't boredom a wonderful thing? It's a gorgeous,
|
|||
|
sunny, blisteringly hot day outside in the BC Interior...
|
|||
|
another day in paradise, as it were. I'm off now to enjoy a
|
|||
|
good nap.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Open to the realm of extreme possibility. The truth is out there.
|
|||
|
Matt Ion - 1:153/7106 - matt@ship.net
|
|||
|
[Team OS/2]
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 6 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Defcon
|
|||
|
By Elizabeth Weise
|
|||
|
Associated Press
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Las Vegas -- First they cracked into a hotel television
|
|||
|
system, reprogramming it to scroll messages reading "Hackers
|
|||
|
rule!" across screens in 1,000 rooms.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Later that night they set up a pirate radio station and
|
|||
|
began broadcasting from the roof of the Tropicana.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
But in the end, Def Con III, the computer hackers'
|
|||
|
convention, was a lot tamer than many Las Vegas conventions.
|
|||
|
The 350 or so computer hackers, crackers, phone phreaks and
|
|||
|
e-zine (electronic magazine) publishers spent most of the Aug.
|
|||
|
5-6 weekend bragging, gossiping, listening to speakers who
|
|||
|
extolled the hacker ethic and trying to debug the
|
|||
|
super-high-speed T-1 line that was supposed to give them
|
|||
|
screaming access to the Internet.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Def Con is named for the military term Defense Condition, a
|
|||
|
measure of just how close the country is to nuclear war. It
|
|||
|
began three years ago as a massive party thrown by a young
|
|||
|
bulletin board operator who goes by the name Dark Tangent.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"I was going to leave for law school and I decided to throw
|
|||
|
a huge party for everyone I've met from all the networks. Then
|
|||
|
we decided if it was going to be a colossal failure, we might as
|
|||
|
well have it someplace fun, so we chose Las Vegas."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Housed in two large rooms surreally juxtaposed with the
|
|||
|
Tropicana's wedding chapel across the hall, this year's
|
|||
|
conventioneers were mostly intensely bright young men in their
|
|||
|
late teens and early 20s -- the sort who 30 years ago might have
|
|||
|
been ham radio operators.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Hacking comes from an intellectual desire to figure out how
|
|||
|
things work, and the desire to show off just how much you know.
|
|||
|
Grace and skill count for more than sheer power, and an elegant
|
|||
|
solution to a problem gains more esteem from one's peers than
|
|||
|
"kludgy" fixes.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Hackers, according to Dark Tangent, are protrayed in the
|
|||
|
media only as marauding and destructive, when in fact they are
|
|||
|
just curious.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"(Hackers) are interested in how the network topology is
|
|||
|
laid out. They're interested in knowledge -- they're not
|
|||
|
interested in destroying things," the 25-year-old said.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Important Service?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
In fact, hackers provide an important service to the
|
|||
|
computer world by spending thousands of hours finding networks'
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 7 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
weak points, said former CIA intelligence officer Robert Steele.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The assembled crowd, some of whom kept nodding off in
|
|||
|
corners after arriving via an all-night car caravan from the San
|
|||
|
Francisco Bay area, were overwhelmingly male.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Out of 350 participants, perhaps 20 were women, most of
|
|||
|
whom appeared to be girlfriends of attendees. The attitude
|
|||
|
toward women was summed up by one man in his early 20s who was
|
|||
|
catching up with a friend at the registration desk.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"Yeah, I've had a girlfriend for a year and a half, but it
|
|||
|
hasn't gotten in the way of my hacking," he said.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The women-not-as-peers attitude was only reinforced when
|
|||
|
Sarah Gordon ("Theora") gave a presentation on female hackers
|
|||
|
Saturday afternoon that included height and weight as part of
|
|||
|
the design parameters of her survey.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The convention broke down into four main portions:
|
|||
|
bragging, drinking, hacking and information exchange.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
One speaker, an electronic privacy expert named Winn
|
|||
|
Schwartau, explained to the crowd how it was possible to obtain
|
|||
|
plans for using a television to pick up what is being typed on a
|
|||
|
remote computer screen; in effect, eavesdropping on a computer
|
|||
|
user without having to hack into their system.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"The National Security Agency unfortunately classified
|
|||
|
them, but if you want them, they're on the Internet," he told
|
|||
|
the audience.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Hackers' Jeopardy
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Amusements over the course of the weekend included the
|
|||
|
ever-popular "Spot the Fed" contest -- in which the assembled
|
|||
|
tried to guess who among them were federal undercover agents --
|
|||
|
and midnight games of Hackers' Jeopardy, which required the
|
|||
|
audience to duck flying 2,400-baud modems thrown as prizes.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jeopardy, the first official event of the con, featured
|
|||
|
Dark Tangent doing a fine impression of TV game show host Alex
|
|||
|
Trebeck. The categories ranged from "MS-DOS" to "The Internet"
|
|||
|
and "Narcs I've come to love."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The answer is: "The rudest mistake Microsoft ever made."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"What is starting business?"
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The answer is: "Famous for developing the X-ray laser,
|
|||
|
their computers held over 30,000 megs of pornographic images."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"What is Lawrence Livermore Labs?" answered Larry Lasker,
|
|||
|
co-writer and producer of the computer movies "Wargamess" and
|
|||
|
"Sneakers." He said he was attending to pick up background for
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 8 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
his latest film.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
After suitable arrangements for a beer run, the game started up
|
|||
|
again.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The answer is: "The password on every (network) router
|
|||
|
shipped by Cisco Systems."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"What is Italy?" came the answer from several teams
|
|||
|
simultaneously.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The answer is: "The lowest form of life."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"What are America Online users?" came the shouts from the
|
|||
|
audience.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Subject: EDX
|
|||
|
From: denis bider (2:380/129)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
(Before you start reading, a short linguistic apology - English
|
|||
|
isn't my native language, seems that I'll just have to live with
|
|||
|
that. :)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
This article is to inform all interested FTN developers that
|
|||
|
have not yet been reached by the word that, after a year of
|
|||
|
study and development, EDX has been released.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
EDX (Electronic Data Exchange - heck, there has to be a name)
|
|||
|
started a year ago in an enthusiastic burst of desire to provide
|
|||
|
a better mail transfer standard than the fussy Type-2 is. At the
|
|||
|
time, of course, EDX was, by design, not much better than any
|
|||
|
other Type-3 proposal, although it wasn't meant as one of them
|
|||
|
at all; later, for example, as time passed, I rewrote it at
|
|||
|
least 5 times as my views changed. After a year of development,
|
|||
|
it is here.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
EDX is a standard for transported message representation. It can
|
|||
|
be used with any type of packets, including existing Type-2,
|
|||
|
although it would be more or less nonsense to do that;
|
|||
|
currently, the best packet type to use is ERX, described in EDX
|
|||
|
Recommendations, bundled in the same document. The EDX-ERX
|
|||
|
combination was designed to be upgradeable in every imaginable
|
|||
|
way. With ERX packets, it is possible to include data other then
|
|||
|
messages in packets. A special password-protection technique
|
|||
|
avoids the possibility of someone uninvited obtaining packet
|
|||
|
passwords. With EDX messages, seemless inclusion of files in a
|
|||
|
message provides the ability to route small messages with
|
|||
|
attached files anywhere without having to fear someone will stop
|
|||
|
the files halfway. All information carried in kludges with
|
|||
|
Type-2 messages, of course, has a better place elsewhere.
|
|||
|
Addressing ambiguities are avoided by enforcing a consistent
|
|||
|
addressing scheme. Correspondence between different FTN networks
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 9 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
(domains) is seemless, as is coexistance with other message
|
|||
|
formats, making transparent transition possible. Everything is
|
|||
|
there.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
And, more than anything else, EDX is *designed to be simple*.
|
|||
|
Easiness of implementation is, together with upward, downward
|
|||
|
and horizontal compatibility, the main goal of every standard;
|
|||
|
after all, with proper kludges, Type-2 could do everything we
|
|||
|
want, too - it's just that the complexity of the resulting
|
|||
|
standard would render the actual implementation far too
|
|||
|
vulnerable to programming faults for an environment of such
|
|||
|
implementations to be considered fairly non-problematic. EDX is,
|
|||
|
on the other hand, simple and consistent. No kludges, no
|
|||
|
exceptions.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Of course, as there is no special reason to live, there as well
|
|||
|
is no special reason to be in FidoNet, to code programs or to
|
|||
|
implement EDX, either. As everything in this world, our
|
|||
|
environment, too, is driven by enthusiasm. The lack of
|
|||
|
enthusiasm causes stagnation; unfortunately, this is currently
|
|||
|
self- evident from the general atmosphere in FidoNet.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
EDX is one of the attempts to change this. My sincere hopes are
|
|||
|
that it will succeed, and time it would be; but in order for
|
|||
|
this to happen, it has to be implemented in several programs
|
|||
|
before it starts gaining success at all. Some of the major
|
|||
|
developers I sent the specifications to have already shown
|
|||
|
interest in EDX, whereas I have not yet received replies from
|
|||
|
the others.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
If you are interested, please contact me NOW (denis bider,
|
|||
|
FidoNet#2:380/129 or denis.bider@k2.net) and I will send you the
|
|||
|
specifications. I also sent the specifications to the FTSC Chair
|
|||
|
at 3:3/20; hopefully, they should be released as an FSC in a few
|
|||
|
weeks, but don't count on that - it's been almost a month since
|
|||
|
my first FTSC application, and I received no replies yet. It
|
|||
|
wouldn't be the first time for a submitter not receiving any
|
|||
|
correspondence from the FTSC at all.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The Editors of the Snooze are Not Fascist!
|
|||
|
By Eldridge Currie (1:153/962)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
This is in response to the Brendan Keyport (1:138/185) article in the
|
|||
|
Snooze of 03 Jul 1995:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
> I just got through glancing at Fidonews 12-26, and am utterly dismayed
|
|||
|
> over lack of backbone in the editors. I would like to see a paper that
|
|||
|
> is actually worth reading.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
In my opinion Fidonews, under the capable and talented stewardship of
|
|||
|
Donald Tees and Sylvia Maxwell are doing a terrific editorial job. It is
|
|||
|
definitely worth reading as it is always interesting and informative.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 10 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
> Please consider banning these topics:
|
|||
|
> o Lawsuits, and anything relating thereof.
|
|||
|
> o Bob Germer and replies
|
|||
|
> o discussions over any one person, good or bad
|
|||
|
> o discussions over anyone's actions
|
|||
|
> o Complaints to the editors (including this one)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
This is the type of fascist thinking that is sweeping the US and
|
|||
|
Canada lately.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
If your above stated topic are "banned", what is left?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
> Further, I would like to see you return any article that is considered
|
|||
|
> insulting, indecent, and/or rude.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
According to the present editors, the Snooze exists partially as
|
|||
|
" a forum of last resort, and a way of using public
|
|||
|
opinion/pressure to redress grievances. It can only do that if
|
|||
|
each person has their say. If we judge the articles, then that
|
|||
|
function dissappears." With this I, for one, fully agree and
|
|||
|
support the way they are achieving this.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
I would not like to see Fidonews become the sterile,
|
|||
|
panty-waist, colourless, forum that it would become, if the
|
|||
|
editors follwed your suggestions.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
> I for one, will be disconnecting from distribution if FidoNews doesn't
|
|||
|
> clean up. I would suggest that if you are not willing to EDIT fidonews,
|
|||
|
> then give it to someone that WILL.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
I, for one, think that Fidonews is interesting and worth
|
|||
|
reading. It certainally does not need a "clean up" nor should
|
|||
|
the Mr. Tees and/or Ms. Maxwell "EDIT" it in the restrictive and
|
|||
|
freedom-denying way you want.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Eldridge Currie
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Library Proposal
|
|||
|
by Robert LaPrise
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The following is a proposal for an addition to the policies of
|
|||
|
FIDOnet.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Documentation Libraries
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Zone Library
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
I propose that in FIDOnet each Zone be required to have
|
|||
|
one node listed as a master library of the policies and
|
|||
|
technical standards governing FIDOnet, and further that the
|
|||
|
address of this node be publicly available to all nets within
|
|||
|
that Zone.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 11 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The purpose of this Library will to provide a single
|
|||
|
location from which nets within that Zone can FREQ any and all
|
|||
|
available documentation on the rules/policies/standards
|
|||
|
governing FIDOnet.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Net Library
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Furthermore, I propose that each Net within said Zone have
|
|||
|
a node listed as the Net Library which will contain a library of
|
|||
|
all the above mentioned documents to be available for FREQ by
|
|||
|
any and all nodes listed within that net.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The address of this library should be made publicly
|
|||
|
available upon it's conception so all current nodes will be
|
|||
|
aware of it's existance, and should furthermore be pointed out
|
|||
|
specifically to all new members applying for a node. The purpose
|
|||
|
of this library being the availability of all relevant FIDOnet
|
|||
|
documentation to all nodes via a known single location.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Summary
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
I feel that given the size FIDOnet has grown to with the
|
|||
|
amount of relevant information governing it's operation and the
|
|||
|
general lack of knowledge of it's member nodes of anything
|
|||
|
beyond the information contained within Policy4 that this
|
|||
|
proposition would be beneficial to all current members as well
|
|||
|
as an aid to all new members wanting further knowledge of the
|
|||
|
the operation and requirements of FIDOnet.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
End of outline.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Could someone either inform me of the address to which I
|
|||
|
should forward this for further consideration or if so inclined
|
|||
|
forward it yourself.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Robert LaPrise
|
|||
|
1:282/4098
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Dear Editor-Beings,
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
This missive is submitted by Charles Herriot of 1:163/110
|
|||
|
who was able to bag Logger and force his paws onto the
|
|||
|
keyboard. Logger was a little distraught, standing in his
|
|||
|
tie-dyed shirt and muttering: "Gerry's dead. Gerry's dead. I
|
|||
|
can't believe it. Does this mean I have to go home now?"
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Roll da' flick, Sylvia...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Dear Reverend Visage,
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
I woke up this morning to the usual savage and ugly
|
|||
|
nightmares in my netmail directory. I feel, as a sort of
|
|||
|
African Killer Bee watch kind of public service, I should
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 12 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
note that the California Spam 'N Timmies have advanced as
|
|||
|
far as Texas. We always knew that there was an enclave of
|
|||
|
humour impaired folks in New Jersey, but this encroachment
|
|||
|
on Texas leaves me wondering whether I should store my
|
|||
|
entire Bee-Gees collection of vinyl in the salt mines.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
This is ugly stuff Visage, and I'm almost prepared to credit
|
|||
|
you with prescience for having snuck off to a Thai bordello
|
|||
|
to wait out the coming plague. This scene unfolded with the
|
|||
|
usual preludes... a comment on the dyslexia of users who
|
|||
|
quote to excess... all rendered in my usual polite and
|
|||
|
non-confrontational style. As you know, I have long
|
|||
|
suspected that when Phil Spector started producing records
|
|||
|
with his "wall of sound" effects, that he was subtly
|
|||
|
influencing future generations of people who would
|
|||
|
eventually try for the same conditions in their messages.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
In an echo that not only smelled like fish, but
|
|||
|
coincidentally is devoted to fish keeping, I posited a
|
|||
|
theory that messages which started with a waterfall cascade
|
|||
|
of drooling quotes followed by monosyllabic gruntings, might
|
|||
|
not be the best application of the medium. Who would have
|
|||
|
thought that my characterizations of such messages as
|
|||
|
"moronic, cretinous, and literately maladroit" would have
|
|||
|
provoked such near-frenzied opprobrium from users,
|
|||
|
moderators and their sheep? You'd think that these people
|
|||
|
would evince a modicum of embarrassment for allowing their
|
|||
|
communications to devolve into witless sloth, but no...
|
|||
|
molten sheets of AcetyleneMail lit up my netmail directory.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It gets worse. In an echo whose purpose is devoted to
|
|||
|
writing. An echo, I might add, which curiously has more
|
|||
|
mindlessly quoted text than a Jimmy Swaggart revival and
|
|||
|
might more appropriately be renamed the "plagiarism" echo.
|
|||
|
In this echo I have been chastised for referring obliquely
|
|||
|
to the charms of Australians. (Please try not to choke on
|
|||
|
that oxymoron, we're dealing with serious themes here and we
|
|||
|
need all the concentration we can muster.) I was castigated
|
|||
|
because my reference to the speech patterns was deemed to be
|
|||
|
a racist act. There is a politically correct warning in
|
|||
|
this...lit up in neon like Tipper Gore's moral crusade. The
|
|||
|
world is no longer safe from humourless trolls who cannot
|
|||
|
distinguish between parody and malice. I may have to move to
|
|||
|
California immediately to get it over with.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
I would write more, Visage, but a summer's vacation appears
|
|||
|
to have had no beneficial effects on your secretary. She is
|
|||
|
pointing a speargun at me and threatening mayhem. Her rage
|
|||
|
really has nothing at all to do with the fact that I
|
|||
|
returned with a brace of plattipii who have gotten into the
|
|||
|
toner fluid and have begun to make amorous advances to the
|
|||
|
fax machine. As a good a decent gesture, I think that we
|
|||
|
should send your secretary to Australia where she is sure to
|
|||
|
be won over by their social graces.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 13 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Regards,
|
|||
|
Doc Logger
|
|||
|
Giant Clam School of Windsurfing,
|
|||
|
Furlang Island, South Pacific
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Please ! Not in Public
|
|||
|
by Bob Moravsik 2606/583
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
By pontific proclamation our beloved bop a rootie died on
|
|||
|
July 31st. It was old, it was ignored, it was laughed at.
|
|||
|
IT WAS TIME to do something with an over postured waste
|
|||
|
of bandwidth. Boppy tried to be sold as a document of
|
|||
|
<organ music on, echo on> "the backbone" but most simply
|
|||
|
ignored it and went on with the routing pursuant to
|
|||
|
the two party agreements.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The "the backbone" was posture to make newbees think that
|
|||
|
this "backbone" was the mysterious source that one may suckle
|
|||
|
at to recieve one's daily fix of echo mail. In reality
|
|||
|
there is no real "backbone". Just many people stuffing
|
|||
|
messages back and forth like 100's of routers do.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
But then..what about this backbone "cult". The religion must
|
|||
|
continue. Ahhh...rethoric to the rescue. Keep the
|
|||
|
same object of control. Just change the name. After all
|
|||
|
bop a rootie wasn't policy....it was "a procedure".
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Take the same old worn out Rethoric..make believe
|
|||
|
someone cares about it. Posture it, as if lots of newsbees
|
|||
|
are "Frequently" asking these questions. Put it in the
|
|||
|
form of Answers and make it Tivial:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Frequently Answered Rethotical Trivia. Then have it authored
|
|||
|
by "Bruce" and we got:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Bruce's FART !
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The same old smell ! The same old nonsense....control control
|
|||
|
control. Fidonet is for communications....farting...well that
|
|||
|
should be done in the privacy of ones home. Its all nonsense.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Need a link ?...no FARTing here !
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Bob Moravsik
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 14 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Requiem to an Ansi Artist
|
|||
|
by Michele Stewart
|
|||
|
1:369/21
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Requiem to an Ansi Artist!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Every once in a great while, someone comes along to touch your heart
|
|||
|
and mind and maybe tickle your funny bone. It was 1990, or thereabouts,
|
|||
|
when I first "met" Violet Stymacks, an ansi artist and sysop
|
|||
|
extraordinnaire.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Violet would draw ansi's for the sysops in Fidonet and send them out
|
|||
|
on her own dime, unsolicited but not unwanted. If the name of a board
|
|||
|
struck her fancy, she would design an artful, beautiful sometimes
|
|||
|
whimsical ansi screen and file attach it along to the sysop. She never
|
|||
|
asked for money. She never asked for thanks. She never asked for
|
|||
|
anything from anyone but she managed to make alot of people feel good.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It was said about her that she freely gave of her time and talents
|
|||
|
to total strangers for nothing in return. You don't meet many people
|
|||
|
like that anywhere, let alone in "Fight-O-Net". But there you have her.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
On July 31, 1995, after a long and painful bout with cancer, Violet
|
|||
|
died in her home, surrounded by her family. The joy and love she
|
|||
|
brought to everyone during her lifetime will not be forgotten and Violet
|
|||
|
has gained a form of immortality with her unselfish giving and beautiful
|
|||
|
ansi art.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Her significant other, Ray Landers, is, of course, devastated by her
|
|||
|
passing. As are many of us. He was one of the lucky ones to know her
|
|||
|
as more than just another name in the nodelist. Together, they ran
|
|||
|
Rhinoceros Kitchen (1:125/115), Violet's quirky humor determining the
|
|||
|
perfect name to describe how she felt when in one. It was a homey place
|
|||
|
and like alot of home kitchens, made one feel welcome and warm.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Unfortunately, Ray will be taking down Rhinoceros Kitchen and has no
|
|||
|
idea if or when he will ever re-open it. Our love goes out to him, who
|
|||
|
was so close to her. Together they made a small difference in our
|
|||
|
world. We can only thank our own higher power (whatever that may be for
|
|||
|
each of us) that Violet was allowed to touch our lives. No matter how
|
|||
|
brief that touch was, it will always be remembered... as will Violet.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
A full archive of Violet's ansi art can be found at ftp.netcom.com
|
|||
|
/pub/ra/rayl/violet.zip.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
========================================================================
|
|||
|
Fidonews Information
|
|||
|
========================================================================
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 15 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ----------------
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Editors: Donald Tees, Sylvia Maxwell
|
|||
|
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)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
more addresses:
|
|||
|
Don -- 1:221/192, don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
|
|||
|
Sylvia- 1:221/194, max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
(Postal Service mailing address)
|
|||
|
FidoNews
|
|||
|
128 Church St.
|
|||
|
Kitchener, Ontario
|
|||
|
Canada
|
|||
|
N2H 2S4
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
voice: (519) 570-3137
|
|||
|
sylvia: (519) 579-8029
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Fidonews is 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 1995 Donald Tees. All rights reserved. Duplication
|
|||
|
and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use
|
|||
|
in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the eds.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic
|
|||
|
form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or
|
|||
|
Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet.
|
|||
|
PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above paper-mail
|
|||
|
address.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org,
|
|||
|
in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Anyone interested in getting a copy of the INTERNET GATEWAY FAQ may
|
|||
|
freq GISFAQ.ZIP from 1:133/411.0, or send an internet message to
|
|||
|
fidofaq@gisatl.fidonet.org. No message or text or subject is
|
|||
|
necessary. The address is a keyword that will trigger the automated
|
|||
|
response. People wishing to send inquiries directly to David Deitch
|
|||
|
should now mail to fidonet@gisatl.fidonet.org rather than the
|
|||
|
previously listed address.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
FidoNews 12-34 Page: 16 21 Aug 1995
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
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.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
' ' disgreement is actually necessary,
|
|||
|
or we'd all have to get in fights
|
|||
|
or semethin to amuse ourselves,,
|
|||
|
and create the requisite chaos."
|
|||
|
-Tom Jennings
|
|||
|
-- END
|
|||
|
---------------------------------ooh----------------------------------
|
|||
|
|