519 lines
23 KiB
Plaintext
519 lines
23 KiB
Plaintext
F I D O N E W S -- Vol.12 No.33 (14-Aug-1995)
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+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
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| A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
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| FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS |
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| _ | +1-519-570-4176 |
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| / \ | |
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| /|oo \ | |
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| (_| /_) | |
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| _`@/_ \ _ | |
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| | | \ \\ | Editors: |
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| | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 |
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| |__U__| / \// | Sylvia MAXWEL 1:221/194 |
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| _//|| _\ / | |
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| (_/(_|(____/ | |
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| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
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| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
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+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
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| Submission address: editors 1:1/23 |
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+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
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| MORE addresses: |
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| |
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| submissions=> editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
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| Don -- don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
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| Sylvia max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
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+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
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| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
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| obtaining copies of fidonews or the internet gateway faq |
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| please refer to the end of this file. |
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+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
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========================================================================
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Table of Contents
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========================================================================
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1. Editorial..................................................... 1
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2. Articles...................................................... 2
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Toys, Tools, and King Ludd.................................. 2
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Making Cyberspace Safe...................................... 5
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good news and funny for you, too............................ 6
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HexOnExon................................................... 6
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Proposal: Change FidoNet to Enternet....................... 8
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3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 9
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========================================================================
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Editorial
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========================================================================
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FidoNews 12-33 Page: 2 14 Aug 1995
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Freedom of Perception = Freedom of Expression?
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While waiting in line to spend the contents of my wallet on some cat
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litter and a soda pop, my eyes strayed to the magazine shelf near
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the check-out counter, and my feet followed them, slightly. The
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day's heat caused escalation of impatience and inclination towards
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distractions.
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A small, blonde boy on roller blades sucking a pink slush stick
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who was clearly not distracted form his personal goals darted
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in front of me to the cash register. He smugly but not
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condescendingly explained that "SHE stepped out of line".
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I spent a considered expanse of time thereafter worrying, that i had
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not stepped to the very back of the line in applause for this boy's
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brazen self assertion, and wondering if i was becoming some kind of
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wierdo for thinking so much about children, before deciding that what
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I had not done hadn't mattered,
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anyway,
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The moral of this story is that if you step out of line, angels
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will put you in your place, if you let them.
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---ooo e y e W a n t c A K e ooo---
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========================================================================
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Articles
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========================================================================
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Toys, Tools, and King Ludd.
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By Langton Goldfinch, SysOp of 1:396/17, Psychotherapist in New
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Orleans, La. lgoldfinch@nopc.org
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Article is an analytic review of "The Net", a movie.
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No, I'm not proposing another Mardi Gras parade. King Ludd was
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the mythical "leader" of a movement in England during the early
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1800's. Workers put out of work by the early mechanical looms
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took vengeance on the machinery. They believed in destroying the
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tools but not people. Successful, and popular, the government
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finally crushed them with tools of their own. "Luddite" now means
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those opposed to modern inventions often destroying them in the
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name of humanity.
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Now my thoughts about the Luddites got stimulated by the movie
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"The Net." To save some of you some dollars better spent on
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shareware registration, let me ruin the movie for you rather than
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have it done by the film itself. Unless you salivate (as do I) at
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Sandra Bullock, of course.
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In the plot Sandra (whose movie name got erased from my memory)
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is a computer whiz. Gee, talk about type casting. Her work is
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done at home, filled with more computers than the local CompUSA.
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Even her fireplace is a monitor running a burning log program (no
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sound of crackling, maybe v1.2?). She has no actual life, even
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order's take out Pizza with her modem. Her own mother has
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FidoNews 12-33 Page: 3 14 Aug 1995
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developed Alzheimer's to avoid identifying her. The only other
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human in the "real" world who knows her is her ex-shrink. This
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guy, played by the oh so Analytic Dennis Miller, has of course
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had an affair with her. Gee, 20 years of practice, and no Sandras
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ever on my couch! An aside, but my mentor once told me it was
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O.K. to have sex with my patients, provided I had sex with all of
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them. Talk about prevention!
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Anyway Sandra gets her identity wiped out and replaced by the
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evil Luddites. (Thought I wasn't going to tie this together,
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eh?). Not that this seems a total tragedy mind you. Of course she
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somehow, with no identity, credit cards, or proof of who she is,
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manages to get the fanciest laptop and stay at decent hotels.
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Movies, gee! The bad guys find it easy to kill all their other
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problem folks. With Sandra they go about using computers and the
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wonders of mega databases and the InterNet to make her over into
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another person. They kill the shrink with computers managing to
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change prescriptions at Walgreen's and the local Hospital. Gee,
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these evil new machines. That the shrink should die as a
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derivation of having violated his professional code seems fair.
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Now of course the bad guys in the movie aren't really Luddites.
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The bad guys are the same old bad guys in every Western I ever
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saw, or Eastern, for that matter: Big business tycoons taking
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over the world with a few psychopaths on their payroll to do the
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dirty work. The deaths are clever. One guy commits suicide upon
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discovering he has AIDS (phoney medical database). Only later
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does the script let us know the plan depended on his being
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homophobic. Maybe this is a sure cure for homophobia? Copying the
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movie "Watermelon Man" where a racist wakes up black?
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Anyhow, the bad guys are smarter than governments, other
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businesses, and have ways of doing things near now miraculous.
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They can track your terminal through several International Web
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sites and can spread viruses into every major computer network in
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the world. Why? Well who really understands hackers. For though
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rich and powerful, the main enemies are computers and those who
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play with them. It is the producers of this movie who are the
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modern day Luddites, warning us about the sneaky incursions and
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evil pervasiveness of the machines of Armageddon.
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And our savior? This is the final faith to save you. The good guy
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is our gal, Sandra. She manifests innocence while not quite a
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virgin. She is non-social rather than inept. Yet not only a whiz
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with computers, but in a pinch can drive a bus over 50 miles per
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hour down the freeway (no that was her other movie). She manages
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if not to save the world, at least her own persona. How? A heroic
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tap on the "Esc" key saves the day! That's right, for those who
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love old Greek "deus ex machina" solutions to impossible plot
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tangles, we now have the "key." At least they could have used
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"Ctrl Break"!
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Now to continue in analytical mode.
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Two kinds of people in the world, someone said: "Those who
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FidoNews 12-33 Page: 4 14 Aug 1995
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believe there are two kinds of people in the world and Those who
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don't." Then those of us who believe there are more than two
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kinds fall into which kind? Well never mind. Start with two
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kinds you know about already:
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C+ computer people and
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-C non-computer people,
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The above two are usually married to one another. Of course with
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this movie the audience is limited. Bullock lovers' and C people.
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Now I think that there is a genetic basis, a C+dna say,
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determining whether one turns out to be a C+ or a -C type. This
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gene is probably linked to the Y chromosome in some way, since by
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far more men seem to have it than women. Take a look at the
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average audience in the club, or in any penny arcade, for that
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matter. But appearances are a wee bit deceptive, for as we all
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know more women actually use computers than do men. Oh, you
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didn't know that?
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Well, walk into any office, are the desks with computers run by
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men or women? If men are at the computer they are playing some
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game. This is because of a simple classification error on my
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part. You see, we must distinguish the C type people into genuine
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C types, those to whom the computer is a toy; and crypto C types,
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for whom it is a tool. This distinction is very easy to make.
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If a person uses the computer because it is part of their job, or
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uses and knows one program, say WP6.0, and has no interest or
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idea in how to set anything up, or why it works even, then these
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are Crypto C types, or toolers. To this person the computer is a
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fancy typewriter, or a good sewing machine, or a fast copier, an
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object that gets some task accomplished, in short a "tool". Don't
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scoff, humans, and others chimpanzees, are superior because they
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use tools. Superior to what, well, we drew the chart, so of
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course we are at the top.
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Now of course the default position you know. Pure C types know
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that a computer is a toy. A toy can be mastered like a slinky, or
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a Rubik cube, or dallied with late into the night as were ham
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radios, tinkered with like cars, or marbles, or whatever. Now of
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course some pure C types use computers in their work, or even
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work on computers in their use. But every new gizmo, channel,
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track, bit or byte, peaks their interest. The Crypto C type
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cringes with an upgrade, many I know still using WordPerfect v
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2.3 (oh?). Certainly DOS 3.1 and quite happy on their familiar
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turf even if an 8088.
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There is one further distinction, I call these Pseudo Pure C
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types. Not quite Crypto, these are the Window's users. Of course
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to the pure C type Windows can be a toy, and Win95 a supertoy I
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guess. But Windows are to purists what new Cadillacs are to car
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buffs. Fancy, nice to ride in (when they work), but who wants to
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tinker with a new Cadillac?
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FidoNews 12-33 Page: 5 14 Aug 1995
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Now the refined among you will differentiate Deutero, Ortho, and
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Meta C types, and who knows what other Greek peculiarities can be
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found. I suspect a relationship to all this with psychological
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types, you know, Introverts, Extroverts, Schizoids, and Bananas.
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Let me end with one therapeutic (ie you can ignore this as well)
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observation. Opposites do attract and marry each other. The trick
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is not to convert the other (why bother to marry) but to learn to
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live complimentary roles, and see if you can come to enjoy some
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movie about covered bridges more than she did this one.
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We finish with a quiz. Which member of the following "pairs" are
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the C+ type?
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1. Lone Ranger and Tonto
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2. Abbott and Costello
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3. Eleanor ad Franklin
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4. Perry and Paul
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5. Edith and Archie
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6. Cain and Abel
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7. Don Quixote and Sancho
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8. Kirk and Spock
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9. Thelma and Louise
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10. Tarzan and Jane
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Give yurself one point for each correct answer. My choices are
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such that the C+ is the left name of odd numbers. Since this is
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my quiz I must be right. Happy modeming.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Dennis W. Webb
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Making Cyberspace Safe
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-----------------------
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ANGELS TO PATROL THE NET
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The red-bereted Guardian Angels, a volunteer group formed in 1979 to
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patrol the streets and subways of the Bronx, have created CyberAngels,
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because "there is such a similar need on the Internet as there was in
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New York when we started. There is a similar void where the police are
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unwilling or unable to make it safe." CyberAngels will form organized
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patrols to look around cyberspace for "suspicious activity" that might
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indicate crimes against children or acts of fraud, hate and
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pornography. (Atlanta Journal-Consititution 8/6/95 H7)
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FidoNews 12-33 Page: 6 14 Aug 1995
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From: Blaine Garst <Blaine_Garst>
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good news and funny for you, too.
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JUDGE RULES ON E-MAIL PRIVACY CASE
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TULSA, OKLA -- The Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled on a case that
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many legal experts believe clearly delineates the e-mail privacy
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rights of computer users in the workplace. Judge Stan Musing declared
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that employees have a right to expect that their employers will
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refrain from monitoring e-mail messages transmitted on company
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systems. The case went to court after programmer Augustus Lindsey's
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supervisor monitored his e-mail and intercepted a message from
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Lindsey to a colleague. The message read: "That little sex kitten has
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been driving me wild. She's moaning and begging for it every minute.
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Last night I was afraid someone would hear, and we'd be thrown out of
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the building. But don't worry -- all is arranged. Wednesday she gets
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the knife". Lindsey's supervisor alerted authorities, suspecting that
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a crime was in the making. Lindsey was arrested on the spot and spent
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an uncomfortable night discussing the situation with the police.
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However, he was released in the morning, just in time to get his
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female cat to the vet for spaying. Lindsey sued his boss for invasion
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of privacy and sought punitive damages as well.
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- Origin: Net 109 Fidonet<->Internet gateway (1:109/41.0)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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HexOnExon
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SOME RESPONSES TO THE RECENTLY PURPORTED SCABBAGE:
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[ This compilation is EDITED! It is NOT IN IT's ENTIREITY! Please
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direct all nasty and bad but interesting reactions to Madam Emilia
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(Sylvia Maxwell) at 1:221/194]
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- - - o o o 000 o o o - - -
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This is from Carol at CFlake@aol.com. Please respond to that address
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and not this message source.
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My congratulations to the ILF for the hilarious revision of the MGM
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movie Hackers home page. Is this the first known instance of
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electronic graffiti on the Web, by any chance? Also--just curious,
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why is the movie The Net superior to Hackers? (I haven't seen
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Hackers yet--and maybe I shouldn't, given the dissing on the home
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page.) Carol
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- - - o o o 000 o o o - - -
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Hey, I just got some mail letting me know that the hackers home page
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got worked over by the ILF. It's at
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www.digiplanet.com/hackers/index.html and I have yet to check it
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out.. doesn't work well on my 386 sx laptop.
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- - - o o o 000 o o o - - -
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FidoNews 12-33 Page: 7 14 Aug 1995
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Jack Devlin wrote... > Hah. You fools installed Gatekeeper,
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thinking it would protect you from the more evil denizens of
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cyberspace. But no. We, The Praetorians, have been forced to
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prove our worth to the lesser mortals at MGM/UA.
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[...]
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>
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> http://www.digiplanet.com/hackers/index.html
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- - - o o o 000 o o o - - -
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REAL HACKERS VANDALIZE WEB SITE
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By Yardena Arar
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Daily News Staff Writer
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[Photo of altered WWW picture with caption: "A World Wide Web site
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for the movie 'Hackers' was not viewed kindly by some real-life
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hackers who defaced the promotion."]
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....[repeat stuff and glorification of those with bucks invested
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generally deleted for brevity according to intense editorial
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biases -mdm em]
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UA parent Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer learned of the cyberspace vandalism
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when a reporter called to inquire about some strange graphics and
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startling text on the month-old page teasing the film, due for
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release Sept. 15.
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A picture of the film's co-stars had been defaced with computer
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crayon scribbles.
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Much of the copy had been changed. For example, the line "This
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is going to be an entertaining, fun promotional site for a movie"
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was replaced by "This is going to be a lame, cheesy promotional site
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for a movie."
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"Click here for a video preview of 'Hackers'" had been replaced
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by "Click here for a Big Waste of Bandwidth." And next to the credit
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"Created by Digital Planet," was the claim "Hacked by ILF" --
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followed by "Go see 'The Net' instead of this dog."
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Also included were links to web sites for Defcon, the recently
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concluded hacker convention in Las Vegas, and other hacker
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hangouts...
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The "Hackers" page is located at
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http://www.digiplanet.com/hackers/index.html
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- - - o o o 000 o o o - - -
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Hah. You fools installed Gatekeeper, thinking it would protect you
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from the more evil denizens of cyberspace. But no. We, The
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Praetorians, have been forced to prove our worth to the lesser
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mortals at MGM/UA.
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FidoNews 12-33 Page: 8 14 Aug 1995
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They ignored our screenplay for the movie 'Praetorians', choosing
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instead to call it 'Hackers' and base it upon some adolescent
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compulsive masturbators who hold not one-tenth of our supreme skills
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in their puny hands. Regrettably I was forced to fake my death at
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the hands of Sandra Bullock, but now I have wreaked revenge upon
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those who doubted my technique (which, incidentally, is very good)
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as an independant contractor for the Internet Liberation Front
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(ILF). While they offer no medical or dental insurance schemes,
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they supply me with the neccessary ub3rt00lz to bust root on your
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puny boxes. GreatCircle, I urinate upon your firewall. Sidewinder,
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I defecate in your general direction.
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Oh, to the point. To prove to the movie-going chimps that my
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technique is supremely advanced, I have taken cybercontrol of
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MGM/UA's so called 'home-page' for the 'movie' (and I use the term
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loosely) HACKERS, a cinematic abortion riding the wave of
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cyberriffic techno-thriller uber-gen-x flicks.
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http://www.digiplanet.com/hackers/index.html
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Point your puny webtools in this direction for confirmation of my k-rad
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ubertechnique(tm). Beware, this is only the beginning...
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Jack Devlin, ex-Praetorian, current ILF contractor.
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---End of transmission---
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Hex on Exon
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Free Mitnick.
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Fashion Rules Nature
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Rules Fahsion
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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From: Ed Ridgley (1:3613/14)
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Proposal: Change FidoNet to Enternet
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Hello Editor!
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This is just a thought since I get strange looks and smurking
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chuckles from the word FidoNet. I propose to change the word FidoNet
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to Enternet (since the Enter key is used so much on the computer).
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This would make sense because of the diversity of BBSs in the world,
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i.e., Christianity, Programming, Disabilities, etc.
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At the very least, it would give BBSs the prestige they deserve
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without sounding like a dog.
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Please, no flames on this. It's just a proposal, not a mandate.
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Don't get me wrong, I love FidoNet and all it has to offer and I
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don't intend to quit FidoNet if this change is not made or even
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FidoNews 12-33 Page: 9 14 Aug 1995
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considered.
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Ed Ridgley
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Sysop, THE disABILITY NETWORK BBS (1:3613/14)
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========================================================================
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Fidonews Information
|
||
========================================================================
|
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|
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------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ----------------
|
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|
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Editors: Donald Tees, Sylvia Maxwell
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Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
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Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar
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Tom Jennings
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"FidoNews" BBS
|
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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
|
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||
(Postal Service mailing address)
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FidoNews
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128 Church St.
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Kitchener, Ontario
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Canada
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N2H 2S4
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voice: (519) 570-3137
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||
sylvia: (519) 579-8029
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|
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Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET
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INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system. It is a compilation
|
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of individual articles contributed by their authors or their
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authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation
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||
does not diminish the rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in
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these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of
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FidoNews.
|
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|
||
Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
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Copyright 1995 Donald Tees. All rights reserved. Duplication
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||
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
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||
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,
|
||
FidoNews 12-33 Page: 10 14 Aug 1995
|
||
|
||
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
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||
necessary. The address is a keyword that will trigger the automated
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||
response. People wishing to send inquiries directly to David Deitch
|
||
should now mail to fidonet@gisatl.fidonet.org rather than the
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||
previously listed address.
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||
|
||
SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
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||
FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
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||
ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable
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||
from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it.
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||
|
||
"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
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||
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----------------------------------
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