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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.
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FidoNews 12-34 Page: 15 21 Aug 1995
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