555 lines
25 KiB
Plaintext
555 lines
25 KiB
Plaintext
F I D O N E W S Volume 17, Number 13 27 Mar 2000
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+----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
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| The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
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| FidoNet community | "FidoNews" |
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| _ | 1-717-732-6820 1:270/720 |
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| / \ | |
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| /|oo \ | |
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| (_| /_) | |
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| _`@/_ \ _ | |
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| | | \ \\ | Editor: Douglas Myers, 1:270/720 |
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| | (*) | \ )) | DougM@paonline.com |
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| |__U__| / \// | |
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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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Table of Contents
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1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1
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The Dash ................................................. 1
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The Future of Fidonet on the Internet! ................... 2
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2. COLUMNS .................................................. 5
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Ol'WDB: Correction ....................................... 5
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This Weeks Web Page ...................................... 6
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3. NET HUMOR ................................................ 8
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Golf Humor ............................................... 8
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Coincidences ............................................. 8
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4. COMIX IN ASCII ........................................... 10
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cool cows ................................................ 10
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5. FIDONEWS INFO ............................................ 11
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Masthead ................................................. 11
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FIDONEWS 17-13 Page 1 27 Mar 2000
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=================================================================
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ARTICLES
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=================================================================
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Note: The January 31st issue of Fidonews contained a poem derived
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from the original below. At the time, we did not know that Linda
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Ellis was the original author, nor that her fine poem was
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copyrighted material. Linda has looked on our inadvertant copyright
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infringement graciously, asking only that we reprint her original
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poem with the copyright notice and properly credited. We are proud
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to reprint the original below (taken from her web site noted below
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and converted to ASCII format).
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The Dash (1998)
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(Original copyright 1996)
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by Linda Ellis
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www.lindaslyrics.com
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I read of a reverend who stood to speak
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at the funeral of his friend.
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He referred to the dates on her tombstone
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from the beginning...to the end.
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He noted that first came the date of her birth
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and spoke of the following date with tears,
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but he said what mattered most of all
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was the dash between those years.
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For that dash represents all the time
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that she spent alive on earth
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and now only those who loved her
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know what that little line is worth.
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For it matters not, how much we own;
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the cars the house the cash.
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What matters is how we live and love
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and how we spend our dash.
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So think about this long and hard
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are there things you'd like to change?
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For you never know how much time is left.
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(You could be at "dash mid-range.")
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If we could just slow down enough
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to consider what's true and real,
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and always try to understand
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the way other people feel.
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And be less quick to anger,
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and show appreciation more
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and love the people in our lives
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like we've never loved before.
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FIDONEWS 17-13 Page 2 27 Mar 2000
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If we treat each other with respect,
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and more often wear a smile
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remembering that this special dash
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might only last a little while.
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So, when your eulogy's being read
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with your life's actions to rehash...
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would you be proud of the things they say
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about how you spent your dash?
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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The Future of Fidonet on the Internet!
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Ed Williams
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Internet security seems to be a big buzz word these day's. I'm left
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wondering, what if... What if in a year or maybe less, Internet
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Security was addressed as a major issue, and only secure connections
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were allowed on browsers because to allow otherwise was a security
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breach? The industry is moving toward an era where software will be
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licensed or accessed via the Internet, so that you won't have to
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purchase Word to use Word, you'll just pay for it when you use it.
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Where ISP's will eventually offer specials in their networks where
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"With the cost of Internet Connection you get unlimited Word For
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Windows access, 3 open Access projects, and 2 free Shockwave
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Projects per month!" how far can the offer of "Secure Web Hosting
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for your web page" be behind? And what would that mean for the
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content you have there already?
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Is the Internet really about free speech? Or is it about money, of
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money, and solely about money? Is the structure used by people to
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exchange that free speech something that lies in the interests of
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those with the money who run it? Or is it more likely that such
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activities are some of the very first mentions at DotCom's Internet
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Security Briefing? If Microsoft licenses Word to every ISP who
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provides only secure connections, how likely is that ISP to host
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your IP address or the web page that you have which links to your
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BBS? How likely is it that we will suddenly see a change which
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could be called SecureIP which could be easily added (at least on
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the users side, not the providers) with software patches and
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drivers? How much as well would these companies be to making
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SecureIP compatible with old TCP/IP connections with Telnet and FTP
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compatiblities if they are the very reason for the SecureIP change?
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And with those secure connections, and their requisite browser
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changes, will Telnet fall the way of UUCP? Try to find Shell
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Internet Access from an ISP in your area, and you'll end up in the
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same boat as if you looked for UUCP. How much farther down the road
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is basic FTP and Telnet access? Isn't Telnet access one of the most
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common forms hackers use to attack other systems? Isn't FTP access
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how many oversights on individual PC's allow information to be
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leaked and organizations to be hacked? Would a company be more or
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FIDONEWS 17-13 Page 3 27 Mar 2000
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less inclined to "Secure itself" by going SecureIP and blocking
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these common attack forms completely and thus securing all inbound
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and outbound connections?
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Is all this attention on the Internet more or less likely to
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associate the individual provider with the content acquired from
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their service? How many more times does AOL have to be linked with
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some horrific content on their service before they take measures to
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combat it? And would those efforts to control the content be based
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on a technological basis wherein Telnet like services were suddenly
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no longer available because this new SecureIP connection denies all
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Telnet access? Or would AOL be more likely to have machines or even
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real people sift through each individual bit of information
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available to protect their customers at the same level a SecureIP
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connection would?
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When all the software on your machine is now licensed and rests
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physically on another server, where does the data itself lie? Much
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is now being discussed about having your data lie on a secure site,
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where it can be encoded, encrypted, and locked up to a degree where
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with a SecureIP connection you have nothing to fear. With
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BroadBand connections arriving daily, is the computer you work on
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more likely or less likely to actually hold data itself to include
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the Operating System? Is it possible that someday shortly here you
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will literally boot your WorkStation to the Network itself?
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If that happens, I wonder, what will become of the price of Hard
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Drives? Would the sudden and dramatic decrease in Hard Drive
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technology make them more or less affordable? Or would the demands
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of these now Secure ISP's create Hard Drive technology that is no
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longer affordable or usable to someone with a PC? What about
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modems? Will there be some technology to allow continued direct pc
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to pc access which will be easily affordable to the common man or
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will all their intellectual efforts be confined to the limits of the
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Internet and it's ever changing rules and standards making
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information obsolete unless carried in a certain fashion?
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What would all of this mean to FidoNet? Would there be a sudden
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outcry to allow Telnet accesses to BBS's or would there be some
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FidoNet Sysop's who forked out the money to have SecureIP BBS's who
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would proclaim it as the wave of the future and how in a few years
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Telnet BBS's would all be dead? Would that help Fidonet or would it
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continue to reduce the Amateur nature of the network itself? Are
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those BBS's that can run in a SecureIP nature more or less likely to
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promote the rest of Fidonet? Or will they more likely shut it off
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entirely insisting that anyone who is left in Fidonet is backwards,
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clueless, and unconnected from reality.
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And what of those that say "This is the future man, it is a place of
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change! There will be another way for us to run our BBS's." I am
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so well reminded of the early day's of Windows. When one of the
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largest complaints was the "Ease of Use. Everything you ever need to
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do with your PC has been pre-determined and optimized for Windows"
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nature of this new "unconfigurable, and reduced option software
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trend." I wonder at what point of reducing your options does it
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become blatantly apparent you have lost control over your BBS or
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FIDONEWS 17-13 Page 4 27 Mar 2000
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your "Free Speech"
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Is it before or after it is already too late to fix it?
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What if there was another way?
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Ed Williams
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The Goblin's Reach BBS
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1:128/148
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS 17-13 Page 5 27 Mar 2000
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=================================================================
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COLUMNS
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=================================================================
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Ol'WDB COLUMN
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Correction Please Note:
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The modified poem I presented in a previous newsletter is
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copyrighted. Although I received it in one of several "Joke" type
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echoes, labeled as "Author Unknown", the true author has contacted
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me to make known her authorship. I visited her web page :
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http://www.lindaslyrics.com , and am completely satisfied that she
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is the author. As an author myself, I do understand her concern
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about her work being distributed and possibaly decreasing her book
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of poems sales on her web site.
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I hope most sincerely that all Fidofolks who read my column
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containing the poem,will visit her web site and inspect the many
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things she has to offer for your Mothers, Sweethearts, and friends.
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You will be very pleasantly surprised at some of her
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"Signed/autographed" heirloom presents for special calender events.
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I feel I owe this announcement to all FidoNews readers, to correct a
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accidental wrong to Linda Ellis, and correct the record. Copy below
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of e-mail Linda sent to me. I don't yet know what she may charge me
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for modifying her poem, hoping to pull Fido Sysops closer as a
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family. I hope she will be kind to Ol'WDB.
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===============8<--------------her e-mail notice to me-------------
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To: <wdbonner@pacbell.net>
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Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2000 5:26 PM
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Subject: The Dash poem is copyrighted
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> Hello,
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>
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> I am the author and copyright owner of "The Dash" poem that
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> was in your January 31, 2000 column, I believe. I found it on
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> the web site: http://www.fidonews.org/prev/1705/columns.html
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>
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> There is a charge to reprint or distribute this poem in any way.
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>
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> Please contact me regarding the unauthorized use of my
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> copyrighted poem "The Dash."
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>
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> Thank you.
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>
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> Linda Ellis
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> Linda's Lyrics
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> http://www.lindaslyrics.com
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>
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=================8<-----------------------------------------------
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Editor's Note: The message below was recieved from Linda Ellis by
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Warren Bonner after he sent his column for publication. It is
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appended here to complete the story, and as a tribute to Linda's
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FIDONEWS 17-13 Page 6 27 Mar 2000
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grace :)
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> Sorry I'm late responding! I understand your mistake was
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> unintentional. If we could just repost the poem in this newsletter
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> with proper credit and www.lindaslyrics.com, all will be fine.
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>
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> Thank you for writing me back.
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>
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> Linda Ellis
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> Linda's Lyrics
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> http://www.lindaslyrics.com
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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This Weeks Web Page
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by Frank Vest
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1:124/6308(.1)
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What: Welcome to Fidonet Zone 3
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Where: http://www.z3.fidonet.org
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What's there?:
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If you haven't figured out yet... This is the Fidonet Zone 3 web
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page. Here's the description from the page:
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"This is the home page for Fidonet Zone 3 (Oceania) which covers
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Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea."
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The page starts out with an animated picture of a dog wagging it's
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tail and a diskette in it's mouth. Opposite this is the "Welcome to
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Fidonet Zone 3" graphic. The page goes on to give a short
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description of what Fidonet is and then list Zones 1 - 6 with links
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where available. Next, it gives the E-Mail address of the Zone 3
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coordinator (nice idea) and then lists the Regions covered by Zone
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3. Under each Region are Nets in that Region with links where
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available.
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There is a section for "Other Fidonet links" that include "The Zone3
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Fidonet IP Web Site", "What is FidoNet?", "FidoNet Standards and
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Protocols", "Old Fidonet Papers", "FidoNet Nodelists and Node
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difference files", "FidoNet Zone 3 Nodelisting", "FidoNews Homepage"
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and more. I looked at some of these links and they have some
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interesting stuff in them.
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All in all, this is a good web page for a Zone. It has information
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for the Zone first and other Fidonet stuff later. A good thought for
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getting information "up front" to someone interested in the Zone.
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I did notice this note at the bottom of the page:
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"Note: I am finally returned from hospital after a very long stay
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FIDONEWS 17-13 Page 7 27 Mar 2000
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and am not aware of all the changes in Zone 3. Please let me know
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everything that needs fixing on this page."
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I assume this means that changes and updates will be forthcoming.
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The page indicates that it was last updated on Dec. 31, 1999.
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Check this page out and give some encouragement to Zone 3 and Peter
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Lane-Collett 3:640/306
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Till next time,
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Frank - flv@texoma.net
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS 17-13 Page 8 27 Mar 2000
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=================================================================
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NET HUMOR
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=================================================================
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Golf Humor
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Repeated by Ol'WDB
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Once upon a time a guy was talking with his girlfriend and she
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invited him over to dinner the next night. He graciously accepted
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and then she proclaimed after this big event she would make love to
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him.
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So before dinnertime, he was out getting a golf lesson at the club,
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but he couldn't concentrate at all. The pro asked him what was on
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his mind. So he told him that his girlfriend wanted to make love
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with him tonight. The pro was excited for the young man, and instead
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of giving him golf lessons he gave him lessons on making love. He
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taught him everything and by the end of the lesson he was an expert.
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So later that evening the boy arrived at his girlfriends' house.
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They sat down for dinner and the girl said grace.
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The boyfriend just kept his head down. Finally after 20 minutes the
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girlfriend whispered "I never knew you were so religious", and the
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boy whispered back, "I never knew your dad was a golf pro."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Coincidences
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As told to Ol'WDB
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A father put his three year old daughter to bed, told her a story
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and listened to her prayers - which she ended by saying "God bless
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mommy, God bless daddy, God bless grandma, and good-bye grandpa."
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The father said, "Why did you say good-bye grandpa?" The little girl
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said "I don't know daddy, it just seemed like the thing to do."
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The next day grandpa died. Father thought it was a strange
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coincidence. A few months later the father put the girl to bed and
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listened to her prayers,which went like this - "God bless mommy, God
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bless daddy and good-bye grandma.
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Next day the grandmother died. My gosh, thought the father, this kid
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is in contact with the other side. Several weeks later when the girl
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was going to bed the dad heard her say "God bless mommy and good-bye
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daddy."
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He practically went into shock. Couldn't sleep all night and got up
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at the crack of dawn to go to his office. He was nervous as a cat
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all day, had lunch sent in and watched the clock. He figured if he
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could get by until midnight he would be OK. He felt safe in the
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office, so instead of going home at the end of the day he stayed
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there, drinking coffee, looking at his watch and jumping at every
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sound. Finally midnight arrived, he breathed a sigh of relief and
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FIDONEWS 17-13 Page 9 27 Mar 2000
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went home.
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When he got home his wife said "I've never seen you work so late,
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what's the matter?" He said "I don't want to talk about it, I've
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just spent the worst day of my life." She said "You think you had a
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bad day, you'll never believe what happened to me. This morning the
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mailman dropped dead on our porch."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS 17-13 Page 10 27 Mar 2000
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=================================================================
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COMIX IN ASCII
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=================================================================
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cool cows....
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(__( .-<
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(oo) |
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(______) ___\/___|
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( o o ) | | |
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/-----\ / | | |
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/ | |\/ >-' | |
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* ||----|| *----/\
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^^ ^^ / \
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/ \
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Conceited ^ ^
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Cow Egyptian Cow
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(__)
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(oo) ____________________
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/-------\/ | |
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/ | |\ / | o o o o o o |
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* ||----| / ======================
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^^ ^ || ||
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Cowncillor his cowch
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\___/
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(O O)
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\ /
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O
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Cow exclaiming
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"Holy Cow"
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(__) |====|
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(oo) \oo/
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/-------\/ /-------\/
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/ | ||----> / | ||
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* ||----|| * ||----||
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___/ ___/ ^^ ^^
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Cowcatcher
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Cow waterskiing (Major league)
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS 17-13 Page 11 27 Mar 2000
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=================================================================
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FIDONEWS INFO
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||
=================================================================
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|
||
Masthead
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||
|
||
+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- FIDONEWS STAFF - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
|
||
| |
|
||
| Editor: Douglas Myers, 1:270/720, DougM@paonline.com |
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| Webmaster: Jim Barchuk, jb@fidonews.org |
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| Columnist: Joe Jared, 1:103/0, jarhead@osirusoft.com |
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| (Fido Via Internet Hubs column) |
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| Columnist: Warren D. Bonner, 1:103/401, wdbonner@pacbell.net |
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| (Warren uses the pen name "Ol'WDB") |
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| Humor: Roy Reed, rcreedv@juno.com |
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| Features: Frank Vest, 1:124/6308.1 |
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| |
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+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
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+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - EDITORS EMERITI - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
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| |
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| Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince |
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| Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, |
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| Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg, Henk Wolsink |
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||
| |
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+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
|
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"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
|
||
trademarks of Tom Jennings, P.O. Box 410923, San Francisco, CA
|
||
94141, and are used with permission.
|
||
|
||
Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of Fidonet.
|
||
Fidonews is Copyright (C) 2000 by Douglas Myers, though authors
|
||
retain rights to their contributed articles. Opinion expressed by
|
||
the authors is strictly their own. Noncommercial duplication and
|
||
distribution within Fidonet is encouraged. Authors are encouraged
|
||
to send their articles in ASCII text to Douglas Myers at one of his
|
||
addresses above.
|
||
|
||
The weekly edition of Fidonews is distributed through the file area
|
||
FIDONEWS, and is published as echomail in the echo FIDONEWS. These
|
||
sources are normally available through your Network Coordinator.
|
||
The current and past issues are also available from the following
|
||
sources:
|
||
|
||
+ -- -- -- -- -- -- - FIDONEWS AVAILABILITY - -- -- -- -- -- -- +
|
||
| |
|
||
| Freq FIDONEWS @ 1:270/720, 1:140/1, or 1:396/1 |
|
||
| ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/ |
|
||
| ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/fidonet/fidonews/ |
|
||
| http://www.fidonews.org |
|
||
| email subscription: majordomo@fidonews.org |
|
||
| (subject: help body: list) |
|
||
| ftp mail: ftpmail@fidonews.org (subject: help) |
|
||
| |
|
||
+ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
|
||
FIDONEWS 17-13 Page 12 27 Mar 2000
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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