F I D O N E W S -- Vol.10 No.19 (10-May-1993) +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | A newsletter of the | | | FidoNet BBS community | Published by: | | _ | | | / \ | "FidoNews" BBS | | /|oo \ | +1-519-570-4176 1:1/23 | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | Editors: | | | | \ \\ | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 | | | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 | | |__U__| / \// | Tim Pozar 1:125/555 | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: editors 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Internet addresses: | | | | Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Donald -- donald@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com | | Both Don & Sylvia (submission address) | | editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies and other boring but important details, | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== 1. Editorial..................................................... 2 2. Articles...................................................... 2 OBTasteless joke............................................ 2 Deleted and ignored and annoyed............................. 3 Whirlybirds echo............................................ 6 Area ESPERANTO.............................................. 7 Trade Wars Echo Net Available!.............................. 8 Visual Player 2.0 : Good Vibrations......................... 9 Texas Employment Commission................................. 9 I like Eurocon, by Pablito.................................. 10 SUNDAY MORNING TELEVISION REVISITED......................... 12 VENDINFO Concept Paper...................................... 17 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 18 FidoNews 10-19 Page: 2 10 May 1993 ======================================================================== Editorial ======================================================================== The snooze is hefty this week, with several good articles. For the lead article, "Deleted and ignored and annoyed" we owe the author an apology. It should have been in last week's issue, but did not arrive in our inbound for some reason. All we received was a covering letter from the author. When we tried to respond, the letter was bounced (for obvious reasons once you read the article). Though the author included a phone number, we did not phone. Regardless, it is in this issue, and we consider it a quite serious matter. It should be required reading for all the policy mongers out there. While I am sure that they will all respond by claiming it proves the need for still more rules and regulations, I will simply suggest that the entire matter could be cleared up in seconds if the writer had the right to join any net that he wanted. Dictators only retain power when they have the ability of preventing anybody from alternatives. Having said that, I will make one more comment. We have heard only one side of this so far. I, for one, am awaiting a response with bated breath. ======================================================================== Articles ======================================================================== The Cynic's Sandbox, II.IV.XXX R.Cynic I took last week off. Lack of material and a near heart attack will do that for you. Besides, I figured SOMEONE would break the chain of boring articles we'd been having lately. Ahh, sweet scent of napalm. Hey, kids, it's ConWars time here on Fight-O-Toon Adventures. It all began back in FNEWSA15. Well, to be more precise, it all began back around the time of the Big Bang, but those famous ConWars (Especially the DinoCon vs. MammalCon War) are, sadly, forgotten by most. It started off innocently enough. A rather unprofessional Con announcement begat an anonymous flame begat a very unprofessional flame return. Checking my notes, Francois Thunus is one of the bigwigs of LuxCon/EuroCon '93. That's kinda the impression I'd gotten from his article. Anonymous Article Writer, insofar as the Cynic can tell, ain't associated with any Con. Keep in mind that, unlike JoHo, I ain't that big of a Con man. I took in Fight-O-Con '91 and the-Con-that-wasn't, Fight-O-Con '92. I also went to a Region Con way back in '90, but telling you which one would be... revealing. JoHo skipped both Cons, so we never met. FidoNews 10-19 Page: 3 10 May 1993 Now that the facts are outta the way, on with the innuendo! First off, Thunus starts off his article with "Dear madam." Not bad. Better than starting off with "Dear sir" and making the age old mistake of ass-u-ming that everyone's male. Of course, a "Dear sir or madam" would have handled either case, and a "Dear Anonymous flamer" would have done so without the potential for insult. (Anyone that starts off by calling ME "Dear sir" (or "Dear madam") usually follows up with an attack. Thunus is no exception. Wowsers, can this boy flame! He's going on my list of notable flames of '93. Everything from implying that dumb Americans can't find exchange rates to just plain name calling ("ugly american"). He's right, you know. Lot of Americans haven't even heard of itty bitty countries like Luxembourg. Plenty more couldn't even find the thing on a globe (of course, you need a magnifying glass.) I give Thunus's flame a big thumbs up. Lousy spelling, weak debate style, and not a smiley in sight. Only thing he doesn't do is reply to any of the questions in Ye Olde anonymous flame. Pity, I kinda wanted to see a list of speakers myself, or even decent travel instructions. At least it'll provide a meeting place for that 60% of Belgium/ German/Luxembourg sysops who are under 20. Gee, does that mean that 3 of the Con organizers are under 20? Enough about LittleCon '93. Where's Fight-O-Con? Will there be one this year? Last I heard of it was about 3 in the morning of the last day of Fight-O-Con '92. Hope it's held higher up north this year. Closer and not as hot. Maybe I'll go to the ONE BBSCON. Shouldn't that be the TWO BBSCON now? Next week in the Cynic's Sandbox: Religion in Da Snooze. Boy, can those Branch Davidians flame* or what? OBTasteless joke. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Deleted and ignored and annoyed By: Derek Balling, Sysop, Mega-City One BBS 914-338-6495 [formerly 1:272/69] Greetings, friends and neighbours. I have a story to tell. Some of you will read this story, and think I am your average cry-baby. Some of you will read it and say, "Yeah, I've seen that kind of situation". A few of you, you know who you are, will feel that I am flaming you fiercely. To the last few, you may or may not be right. I joined Fidonet about 6 months ago. Maybe more, maybe less, my memory is failing even at the ripe age of 21. I had gotten into Fidonet mostly FidoNews 10-19 Page: 4 10 May 1993 for the 'availability', that my friends out in cyberspace could reach me from literally anywhere. Echos held no real great thrill for me, I have 800+ now, what do I want more for? After a few weeks, I decided to poll my two 'local' echos, SENY_SYSOP, and SENYNET (SouthEast NY). Anyhow, I was a bit miffed already when I learned that my 'local' hub was a long-distance call for me across a LATA, so I was making an AT&T call to an in-state location, which is probably about the WORST rate you can get. But, ok, I can live with that, its a quick connect once every day or every other day. Well, I am calling, and my hub is refusing to send me files. I was getting REALLY weird errors that I had never had before, ie. I could send to him fine, but he couldn't send to me. The file would start, then abort instantly. When I brought it to his attention, I was told, very bluntly, that his system operated 100% perfect, and that my system was 'screwed up'. I found this rather difficult to believe, seeing as how I was in 6 other networks at the time, and was tranferring roughly 4-5MB in echomail per day to and from various locations and modem-types. However, it should be noted, after about a week, the problem mysteriously vanished, and I had made NO changes to software or hardware on my end, however, I was still the one at fault. A few weeks later, I found a copy of FrontDoor 2.10 on another BBS. Being a bit foolish and inexperienced, I set it up, not realizing that 2.10 was a commercial version. About a week later, I get a netmail message from I-don't-remember-who from the makers of Frodo, asking that I remove it. Very polite, very informative, and with 30 seconds of work, I was back running 2.02NC, a bit wiser, and the board I had gotten it from had promptly deleted it from their download directory. The mail I received from my NC (1:272/0, Janis Kracht), was much less tactful, threatening to delete my node number, and pretty much make every attempt to ruin my sysop life. Maybe she was quieted some by the politeness in the letter from Frodo, I don't know, but that pretty much vanished into the dust as well. Everything was quiet again. Then came a discussion of everybody's favorite topic, cost recovery for echos, specifically, everybody made the usual complaint that it was too high. However, after a slightly heated debate in the local sysop echo concerning it, Janis ruled that to discuss alternatives to the current CR plan was 'excessively annoying' and was grounds for node deletion. I was a bit put off by that, but kept relatively quiet about it afterward, as, hey, I wasn't going to pay CR -AND- long-distance fees to get echomail, so there was no point to my being involved, really, unless the topic turned to creating a local hub, a plan offered by fellow sysop Dave Calafrancesco (1:272/54, also former), and never garnished a reply from Janis. Finally, came a discussion of NODEDIFF's. Specifically, Janis had made a 'ruling' that no system in Net 272 could have back NODEDIFF's available for download. IE. if the current nodelist is .106, then the only nodediff you could have available would be .106. If a sysop had MISSED the nodediff for .099, (which we all know happens, glitches in the system, .TIC files get lost, etc.) then that sysop would have to download the whole nodelist from Janis's system. The only problem I saw with this was the fact that for 85% of the network, Janis's system was a FidoNews 10-19 Page: 5 10 May 1993 long-distance call, so I tried to convince her that there was an error in her logic, to which I was told, point-blank, that if I violated her edict, I would be deleted. At this point, I asked her to show me where in Policy 4 she had any kind of authority over my file areas, so long as I did not distribute copyrighted software, or anything of the sort. For days, I received no echomail. Eight days, to be exact. On the eighth day, I received a voice call from a fellow sysop, who wanted to know 'Why I had quit Fidonet'? I hadn't quit, I said. I mean, we're in the process of trying to split from 272 and form our own network, but it hasn't HAPPENED yet, to my knowledge, why? 'Because your node is coming up unlisted', he says. That's odd. I start looking at the nodelist through my handy text editor and realize that, sure enough, I had been removed, and Dave Calafrancesco with me. Trying still to be diplomatic, I jot off a nice polite note to Janis, asking why I have been deleted. I received no response. With the NEXT nodediff (I had been freq'ing them from 1:1/0), I sent another note to Janis, this time with a Carbon Copy to Bill Andrus (1:13/0, Regional Coordinator), asking again why my node number had been deleted. No response. I then jotted off a THIRD note with CC to Bill. This time I found that I had been locked out of Janis' mailer. The CC to Bill was deleted, and a new note was written to him, reminding him of the previous messages I had sent him, and asking him to get back to me as to what was going on. No response. A week later, I sent another message directed to Bill, which again garnished no reply. All the letters thus far had contained a replica of my previous nodelist entry, so that the *C in question could contact me. The later note to Bill also contained my voice number, should he feel that he wanted to help out. To this date (1 May 1993, 14:45) I have not received a reply. Finally, extremely annoyed at this point, I wrote a note to Bob Satti, our new Zone Coordinator, explaining much the same as this story here, and asking that he look into the problem. I received a reply from him stating that I had to formally file an appeal with Bill and that he couldn't act until then. Thinking that my earlier messages would have constituted an appeal, I went back to Bill Andrus and sent him a netmail quoting section and paragraph of Policy 4.07 stating that I was formally appealing Janis' decision, and would eagerly await his reply, etc. etc. Again, no response. After a week of waiting for him to respond, I sent a note up to Bob Satti again, requesting that I be summarily reinstated, based on section 9.7 of Policy, the right to a speedy decision, and to be notified of said decision. Bill Andrus had 30 days from my first complaint (not necessarily my 'formal' appeal) to make a FidoNews 10-19 Page: 6 10 May 1993 decision, and to this day has not. I sent that note to Bob Satti approximately 5 days ago, and have not, as yet, received a reply from him, although my impression is that I eventually will, as he seems to be the only *C in my chain of command with common courtesy. I am beginning to get discouraged with the checks-and-balances system of Policy4. I said I wanted to file an appeal, which apparently is being ignored. When a system is being excommunicated, and files an appeal, shouldn't the *C's in question at least have the courtesy to reply to the complaintant? Comments, suggestions, flames? This is really your call, people, I am not currently a member of Fido, despite my best wishes to BE a member. Replies may be made to any of the following addresses: Fido ---none--- AmigaNet 40:714/13 VNet 45:586/920 WINCNet 49:914/250 Kinknet 69:2601/704 NexusNet 70:393/0 DoorNet 75:7914/104 USTG/ITC 85:860/213 TrekNet 87:6007/9017 TrekNet 87:6007/11 MagNet 100:900/59 RPGNet 190:3000/6 Syndicate 151:914/50 SKY 375:914/1400 ICN 91:914/150 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Whirlybirds echo Rick Lembree (1:326/209) WHIRLYBIRDS is an echo involving any aspect of helicopter flying, from full blown "war birds" to Radio Controlled helis and is the ONLY echo of its type. We encourage pilots and anyone else interested in joining. Simple, huh? Anyone interested in grabbing this echo, please netmail me and I will add you in. Rick Lembree, Moderator 1:326/209.0 Harbour Lights BBS - Oldest BBS in the State of Maine! (207) 967-3719 - 16.8 DS FidoNews 10-19 Page: 7 10 May 1993 Area ESPERANTO Mario Mueller 2:242/323.9 Since january 93 a new international area ESPERANTO exists. Esperanto is a very international language, which is spoken in more than 100 countries. Now the area is read in Germany, Netherlands and Portugal. Also the area is available on the US-Backbone 1:13/13. Rules: Area : ESPERANTO Topic : About the language ESPERANTO Language : Esperanto, German, English Moderator : Mario Mueller of 2:242/323.9 Rules : ESPERANT.RUL -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 . 1 : This area is used to make the language Esperanto known and : disseminate it. Reciprocal information and support are : the main objective. : : INFOS Information about future meetings, : reports about meetings, : publications in radio, tv and press, : dates for meetings or courses, : give beginners a start : available programs, : possibility of dissemination of Esperanto : : DISCUSSIONS Esperanto and computer : Esperanto in politics and science : 1 . 2 : Off-Topic in this area are all contributions with commercial : objective. (Advertising) : With New publications (especially new books) may be and shall : be dealt, but without the name of source of supply. : A list of sources of supply have to be managed by ONE person. : This complete list has to be published periodically. : : Undesirable are language-innovators, who e.g. put Esperanto : at risk by further simplification or by substituting new words : for existing words. : 1 . 3 : A periodical publication of articles or information-services : needs the agreement of the area-community. : Because of that money matters; a 2/3 - majority is required. : Suggestions are generally welcome. : 1 . 4 : Mails with no information for the community have to be : NETMAIL. : The special status of beginners requires public help. : 1 . 5 : The languages of this area are Esperanto, German and English. : Beginners and people helping them are allowed to write in : their native-language. The mail from people, who can speak FidoNews 10-19 Page: 8 10 May 1993 : Esperanto has to be written in Esperanto, too ! : Thus the community can utilize the correspondence. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Trade Wars Echo Net Available! by Robert Green 1:345/4 Fido or bbs 808-423-9788 (14,400 baud) I would like to take a second to let everyone know that the Trade Wars echo net is now available and seeking out new nodes and hubs. The net deals primarily with the popular door game Trade Wars 2002 as well as other versions of Trade Wars and similar games (Trade Wars ][, Yankee Trader, etc). Currently, the net supports Fido-type mail transfers as well as QWK net mail transfer, with a GT-Power hub soon to be in operation. Here is a quick summary of the conferences: Player Chit-Chat General discussions about how to play the game. Targeted more for the new player to learn the rules and objectives of TradeWars but advanced players can exchange ideas as well. Sysop Chit-Chat Place where all the sysops can discuss setup and administration of TradeWars games. This conference should be open to ALL callers so they can get a better understanding of what is involved with running a game. If sysops need to send private messages, they should use the Admin conference. Bugs & Cheats Discussions on the various BUGS in TradeWars. Conversations will cover their use as well as ways to prevent their use if desired. Also other "short cuts" that are available. Rumor Has It ... Stay up to date on the latest rumors concerning new versions of TradeWars and other hot topics. Utilities & Aides Find out about the latest utilities, scripts, and programs for use with TradeWars. This area will cover both player and game utilities. TW Variations This is the place for all those modified TradeWars games to be discussed. Everything from new ships to planets and enemies. BBS Player Ratings Post your TWTrader.Txt files here and let all the other callers see how your game(s) are progressing. Great place to brag about your board, too! (Ads will be allowed but limited to once per week please). TW ANSI Share some of those awesome ansi screens and other artwork with the net. FidoNews 10-19 Page: 9 10 May 1993 Administration Net Sysops ONLY * For private discussions between sysops concerning TWNet. Aliases are allowed in all conferences EXCEPT Administration. Conference # 9 - Administration is MANDATORY! All TWNet nodes must carry this conference. Nodes may carry any other conferences they desire. HUBS MUST CARRY ALL CONFERENCES !!!! Interested sysops can obtain the net application packet via File Requesting "TWNET.ARJ" from fido address 1:345/4 or logging on to The Crow's Nest (808-423-9788, 14.4 k bps) or Wire Head (808-486-2565 or 808-486-6682, USR 14.4 Dual standard and 19.2 bps Zyxel, respectively.) and downloading the file. All hubs support 14.4 or higher baud rates. See ya in the spacelanes! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Visual Player 2.0 : Good Vibrations Carlos Terre 2:343/108 - = V I S U A L P L A Y E R = - Wow! That's good programming indeed! Hector Martinez, Luis Crespo, Luis Ubeda, David Lopez & Angel Trigo have produced one of the finest and best presented MOD players around the world: Visual Player 2.0 Visual Player combines excellent sound hardware support with astonishing graphics and mouse support to let you *FEEL* what you are listening to through your sound card or PC speaker. All in a shareware package that works even in the unregistered version. But Visual Player isn't just lights & sounds... This team of programmers come from engineering schools, and have used signal processing concepts to display true music-sound spectrum and true music-sound time representation. Using different resolution real-time FFTs (Fast Fourier Transforms), Visual Player is much more than a psycho-light pannel... It is a digital MOD oscilloscope! The experience is so thrilling that you can hardly close your mouth... You can contact Luis Crespo at 2:343/108.21 You can File Request the magicname VP for the latest version of Visual Player from 2:343/108 (CM,XA,v32b,v42b,H16). Carlos Terre ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Texas Employment Commission Larry Loiselle (1:382/16) FidoNews 10-19 Page: 10 10 May 1993 The Texas Education Agency has embarked on an aggressive recruitment program in order to reach the broadest possible population. In order to accomplish this mission, the agency will be posting its job vacancies with the Texas Employment Commission and the twenty Education Service Centers. We will also be posting our job vacancies on TENET and the following public bulletin board system (BBS) networks: FidoNet (Jobs-Now message echo), FamilyNet (Jobseek message echo), and KesherNet (Education echo). The messages (job vacancy notices) posted on these networks are gated to EchoNet, UseNet, and InterNet. TENET may be accessed at (512) 472-0602. Public BBSes carrying FidoNet, FamilyNet, and KesherNet message echos can be found all across the U.S.A., Canada, and many foreign countries. These public BBSes may be found in most major cities and many smaller communities. To assist those who do not have access to these TENET or these public BBSes, the Texas Education Agency, Human Resource Division, is running its own BBS: TEA-HR BBS (512) 475-3689 300-9600 Baud N-8-1 V32, V42, V42bis 24 hours per day 7 days per week FidoNet Net/Node Number: 1:382/16 FamilyNet Net/Node Number: 8:71/5 Please call our BBS at your convenience. Information on types of jobs, salaries, and fringe benefits is available. The current job vacancy notices are available for review and downloading. You may also receive and/or leave messages for the Human Resources Division. Also, you will be able to download copies of the job vacancy notices and upload copies of your resumes to us. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I like Eurocon, by Pablito Pablo Kleinman, 1:10/100 (also pablito@scf.usc.edu) Hollywood, California Republic " Reply to a Coward Bigoted Arschloch " I was quite irritated (not excessively so, as some of you may wonder) by the article written by some coward, anonymous dunce about LuxCon/EuroCon 1993 on FidoNews A15 (titled "NON-con"). This article was bigoted in essence because it was purely ethnocentric and unrespectful, and it looked to me more like a personal vendetta FidoNews 10-19 Page: 11 10 May 1993 against Joaquim Homrighausen than anything about the event being organized. It was wrong; it was despicable. I attended EuroCon '92 in July of last year, in Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. I was able to see some old faces and quite a bunch of new faces yet not necessarily new names. It was nice meeting people that I had been in touch with for several years, some of which I had joked with via mail or perhaps debated quite aggressively. We talked, partied, and got to know better. It was definitely tons of fun (hey, I even met the worldfamous sysop from the Canary Islands, otherwise known as Alfredo "Freddy" Krueger!). The event was sponsored by the government of the province of Lleida, as well as the city government. It had interesting speakers, and the informal atmosphere did not prevent us attendees from being welcomed by the city's mayor with a banquet at City Hall, or being thrown a farewell dinner by the generous provincial legislature (which by the way had plenty of free booze, like you won't see here in any FidoCon or in any regular "Unitedstatean party"). The local press was there too (they had an "EuroCon update" in the main local paper for the 3 days of the gathering) and the organizing team led by Sisco Sapena was superb. Still, what stroke me as the most interesting thing about EuroCon in Spain is the fact that it was a social gathering, and that it was like a big reunion of friends. This was similar to those old Region 90 barbecues I still miss, from the times in which I was a 4: node. Because yes, for many of us in FidoNet for several years, there are friends on the other side of the line; there is socializing and a great deal of "humanity," not just computers. When I became a 1: node, I had the opportunity to attend two quite boring local gatherings. In both occasions, everyone was sitting around a long table in a pizza parlor, doing small talk with the one sitting in the next chair. When the "net secretary" would determine so, the almost inanimate bodies would get up one by one saying something like "hi, I'm John Schmoe, 1:102/666, I run Opus 1.03c and BinkleyTerm 2.6788-super-secret-beta on a 386/12 with eight hard drives and a CD rom. Thank you." Once they were all done, the meeting was adjourned, and I thought to myself: man, what the hell is this? Android sysops? What I mean to say here is that this is a heterogeneous world with many cultures and customs, and they are all contained in FidoNet. Some people may like big, formal gatherings with lotsa speakers, sponsors, software companies, and banquets. Others like me like to get together, spend some time taking care of the techie stuff, and then get to know our fellows and perhaps when it gets late just go out, get drunk, party on. Nothing wrong about either thing, is there? So, Mr. NON-con, I would suggest you shut down your shit-throwing machine and enter the real world. Look around, see different things, and be happy. You don't have to like them all (for instance, it's very unlikely you'll ever see me at a Zone 1 FidoNews 10-19 Page: 12 10 May 1993 gathering. I read the schedule of events and usually find it... tiresome and bourgeois, like a friend o' mine would say) but just respect whatever others are doing because they help our FidoNet anyway. EuroCons and all these similar gatherings fuel life into the network and make it more interesting for the many of us that go. For me, EuroCons are fun... they are the best thing around since FTS-001... or perhaps EMSI. I will probably not make it to this year's EuroCon because I'll probably have to be in Mexico that week, but otherwise (money permitting of course), I wouldn't miss it. And I mean it. Now dear, if your problem is with Joaquim Homrighausen, then I suggest you take it to private instead of resorting to this kind of cheap tricks. Organizers very often end up losing money with these events, and they deserve our gratitude and respect for taking care of making it all possible. Besides (and this doesn't really vary that much from place to place) it's very bad manners to make statements like yours from anonymity. I said. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SUNDAY MORNING TELEVISION REVISITED by Jack Decker, 1:154/8 Here we go again, folks. In FidoNews 10-18 there was a long diatribe by Tyler Wunder entitled SUNDAY MORNING TELEVISION. Now, I have said before and will say again that in my opinion, some subjects just don't belong in Fidonews, and religion is one of them. Everyone has their own beliefs, and while there are appropriate forums for discussing one's beliefs, I don't think Fidonews should be that place. In the past (when TJ was editor) we saw not only a lot of articles from the anti-religious crowd, but also (strangely) a few articles from one cult that called itself "Christian" but in my opinion was almost as far out as the Waco wackos. I had rather hoped that with new editors, some of this irrelevant discussion might disappear. Well, the article was printed so let me just make a few points, some in agreement and some in strong disagreement. In that article by Tyler Wunder of 1:221/279.4, he says (in reference to Sunday morning television) that "there are a multitude of television preachers, but who actually watches them?"... and then he goes on to describe how HE watched most of one of Jerry Falwell's broadcasts. Okay. Point number one: Television is one of the surest ways I know of to corrupt a good preacher. Jerry Falwell may have been a good preacher at one time, but as Mr. Wunder notes: ".....And what was Mr. Falwell talking about? Was he preaching the love of Jesus? Was he talking about the scriptures? Reading from the bible? Leading his viewers in prayer, pleading with God to cure the sick and lessen the suffering of those in pain? FidoNews 10-19 Page: 13 10 May 1993 "If Mr. Falwell was doing any of these things, I must have blinked and missed it, because for the entire segment of the show that I observed (I must admit, I missed the first ten minutes of the program) Mr. Falwell was attempting to sell a $35 video tape that explained the problems of America as he saw them; the tape also laid out his proposed solutions to these problems (frankly, if Mr. Falwell is so concerned with rescuing America and solving these 'problems', I would think that he'd be eager to distribute the information as widely as possible, free of charge -- certainly, I would like a copy, but I have better things to spend $35 on)." What you need to understand is that television time is VERY expensive. While liberals often get a free ride on various programs (and on the so-called "Public Broadcasting System"), with a few exceptions conservatives and proponents of various religions usually have to BUY their airtime. As it happens, Sunday mornings offer some of the cheapest airtime available, since there are so few in the viewing audience (folks tend to sleep in, go to a house of worship, or go to the golf course, or do just about anything but watch TV). But it is still VERY expensive to buy a half hour or an hour on TV, especially if you do it on stations all over the nation. What I fear usually happens to TV preachers is that the airtime is SO expensive that soon they are faced with a choice: Either ignore the financial needs and go off the air, or resort to just about any fundraising technique that will work to try and salvage the program. Unfortunately, that means that some religious shows have become, in effect, program-length commercials, and whatever the ORIGINAL reason for going on the air was, it has long since been lost. The TV preacher may have started out with the best of intentions, but new-found fame (anyone on TV is "famous", aren't they?) coupled with the need to raise funds "to keep this program on the air" has corrupted many a good man. The bottom line is, if you are looking for true Christianity, don't look to a TV preacher... most likely he's been corrupted by the medium (I'd also add that you may have to try several different churches to find a true man of God; many local pastors have become corrupted for other reasons. However, I'm not here to proselytize so I'm not going to make a recommendation, nor could I at this distance from most readers... other than to say that you should avoid the cults that claim that their group is the ONLY one going to Heaven at all costs!). Mr. Wunder then notes: "In particular, Mr. Falwell seemed extremely concerned with a piece of legislation that Bill Clinton is apparently going to sign soon, known as the Freedom of Choice Act. According to Falwell, this act will establish homosexuals as a bona-fied (sic) minority, and work to increase their rights within America, and although Mr. Falwell didn't word it this way, the act will prevent many forms of discrimination against the homosexual community. FidoNews 10-19 Page: 14 10 May 1993 "Obviously, Mr. Falwell is all for discrimination......" The problem here is that we run into a conflict between basic rights. Whatever you may think about TV preachers in general or Mr. Falwell in particular, he does have one fact going for him: The Bible condemns homosexuality in the strongest possible way (for just one example, see Romans 1:27, and the surrounding verses). Some may not choose to interpret the Bible that way, but if you read the aforementioned verse you can at least see where folks like Mr. Falwell would get the idea that homosexuality (the act) is truly sinful (of course, so is heterosexual adultery, which is a far more common sin yet is far less likely to be mentioned by TV preachers, for some odd reason). Anyway, assuming that Mr. Falwell truly believes the Bible (which, after all, has managed to survive for nearly two centuries), does he not have the right to say what he believes? The U.S. Constitution guarantees both freedom of religion and freedom of speech, yet both these rights seem to get trampled on regularly, often by those who claim to be the defenders of the Constitution! Many diehard liberals (not all) will support freedom of speech for even the vilest forms of pornography, but when it comes to a preacher, they would not lift a finger to defend his freedom of speech. Is there a double standard here? You can't have it both ways. Either you have freedom of speech for all, or no one truly has freedom of speech. If you want freedom of speech for all, that means that folks have to be allowed to express ideas that you disagree with. One of the reason that some of us are opposed to the "political correctness" movement on many college campuses is that it is actually censorship... if you express an idea that is not in line with whatever is currently in fashion, you may be marked down on a paper, or fail a class entirely. It's no less censorship if you try to silence someone because you think they are wrong. Freedom of speech means that you have the right to express an idea that may turn out to be wrong once in a while. I'm not saying that Mr. Falwell is wrong, though I certainly disagree with his approach. But even if you think he is, isn't he still entitled to express his viewpoint? I won't defend Jerry Falwell's 1-900 numbers... frankly, I think 99.9% of all 900 numbers are a scam, and it doesn't improve Mr. Falwell's credibility that he uses them, in my opinion. But, he didn't ask my opinion. Mr. Wunder then notes (regarding the 900 numbers): "As well, a number is provided for viewers who support the Freedom of Choice Act. At first, this surprised me; I almost thought that perhaps Mr. Falwell was concerned with allowing everyone to represent their views, whether they agreed with him or not, until I realized that only the number which represented opposition to the legislation in question involved a petition. To call the number supporting the Freedom of Choice Act cost $1.95/minute like the other number, but no FidoNews 10-19 Page: 15 10 May 1993 petition was involved. "In reality, to support the Freedom of Choice Act through the Old Time Gospel Hour seemed rather a useless gesture." Actually, I think this is a concession to some TV stations that feel that the FCC requires "fairness" on all shows. Of course, it seems this only applies to "religious" shows. I suspect that a tally is kept of calls to both numbers and that in the letter accompanying the petition, some reference is made to the number of calls received on both numbers (e.g. "In a recent telephone poll conducted by the Old Time Gospel Hour, 99.2% of our viewers were opposed to the Freedom of Choice act while only 0.8% were in favor of it", or something like that). Side note: I'm immediately suspicious of ANY legislation that contains the word "choice". Almost always, the real intent is to DEPRIVE someone of a choice. In this case, for example, the intent might be to deprive you of the choice to rent an extra room in you home to whomever you want to rent it to. Now, at first blush that might seem only fair, BUT consider that it's YOUR HOME we're talking about here. Let's suppose, for example, that you were a homosexual couple living together, and a law was passed that said you could not discriminate by refusing to rent a room in your home to a real Bible-thumping preacher (someone who would preach at you about living in sin day and night!). The trouble is that Bible-thumping preachers don't have big lobbying organizations in Washington that could get such a ridiculous law passed (nor would most want such a law), but homosexuals (whom make up only about 1% to at most 3% of the population, according to the latest information on the news) have organized in such a way as to give them political clout far beyond what they deserve. Mr. Wunder then goes into a list of reasons why Jerry Falwell frightens him. Well, I hate to tell him this, but there are a LOT of people who, while perhaps not in agreement with Mr. Falwell's tactics, do agree with his views on various subjects. It's not that they got these views from Jerry Falwell in the first place, either. One darker view of the matter would be to say that Mr. Falwell is just saying the things that a lot of folks agree with in order to increase contributions. I'm not sure I would go that far, but don't delude yourself into thinking he's some sort of lone nut. I do take issue with two things that Mr. Wunder said: "His wish for the teaching of biblical Creationism in American public schools, despite the fact that as a scientific theory biblical Creationism does not exist ("God did it" is not a testable, verifiable/falsifiable scientific theory -- it is religious dogma, and it does NOT belong in a science classroom), frightens me." First, I don't think that Mr. Falwell is asking that BIBLICAL creationism be taught in the public schools... that is, no one's asking anyone to read the book of Genesis in the public school classroom. On the other hand, there are a LOT of holes in the theory FidoNews 10-19 Page: 16 10 May 1993 of evolution (note it's still called a "theory" and not a "law"), and for the most part the inconsistencies are NOT being revealed to public school students (at least not at the high school level or below). Certainly, it's valid to propose the notion that our earth and our universe was created by SOMEONE, without necessarily teaching that it was the God of the Bible (that's where "religious dogma" comes in). Glossing over the problems in the theory of evolution, and other theories about how we got here, is also not appropriate in a science classroom, yet it is done routinely. "It frightens me that Mr. Falwell wishes to have people believe that the separation of Church and State is a myth..." One need only read the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights to find that the concept of "separation of Church and State" just isn't found there. The desire was to prevent the federal government from establishing a state church (such as the Church of England), and even after the Bill of Rights was enacted into law, many individual STATES had state-run churches for quite some time. The only injunction in the Bill of Rights was that the federal government could neither establish a religion, nor inhibit the free expression of religion. The first part of that is widely misquoted to come up with the imaginary "separation of Church and State", while the latter part is all but ignored by the so-called "civil libertarians". Mr. Wunder concludes: "As citizens of a country that professes to be free, the moment that the rights of one minority are overtly oppressed, the rights of all minorities are in increased jeopardy. And in some way, we are all in a minority. "Heaven help you if it's a minority that Jerry Falwell disapproves of." What I'm wondering is, why should I fear if I'm in a minority that Jerry Falwell disapproves of, since he has relatively little "clout", particularly with the current administration? I suspect that far worse consequences could potentially befall one by being overtly "politically incorrect", or being in a minority that Bill Clinton (and those with liberal leanings similar to his) disapprove of. And, please be careful about cheapening the word "discrimination." There ARE cases of true discrimination in the world, but if you try to say that every group that comes down the pike is a victim of discrimination, no one is even going to care anymore after a while. That, in turn, will create an atmosphere where some of the uglier forms of true discrimination will once again be allowed to flourish. I believe this may already be happening in some areas, and it is not a good thing at all. In conclusion: There are two sides (and sometimes more than two sides) to every issue. Unless you hear all of them, you cannot make truly informed judgements. Unfortunately, a lot of folks in our society are doing all they can to see that some of the sides don't have as much access to the media as some others. Electronic networks FidoNews 10-19 Page: 17 10 May 1993 such as Fidonet can be an equalizer, but only if we are careful to allow both popular and dissenting opinions to be expressed here. Don't think it's not censorship just because someone you "know" is wrong is being silenced. You could be the next victim! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- VENDINFO Concept Paper FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE VENDINFO Concept Paper Released for Public Comment Parker, Colorado -- May 8, 1993 -- Rudy Ramsey, of Rams' Island Software, has released the document, "VENDINFO Software Distribu- tion Information System: Conceptual Approach", for public infor- mation and comment. This document describes the conceptual approach for a system called VENDINFO. VENDINFO is intended to convey software product information and distribution permissions from the author to distributors. A standard (public) file format carries extensive information in a compressed, efficient form. The associated toolset will aid the author in constructing the record, and will allow the distributor to extract portions of the record, or make distribution decisions based on its content, in a highly auto- mated way. VENDINFO will allow automation of many operations now performed manually by BBS Sysops, disk vendors, etc. One of the goals of the VENDINFO project is to provide a substan- tial opportunity for public input prior to final definition of a file format standard and completion of the associated toolset. All interested parties are invited to obtain a copy of the con- cept document and provide comments, criticisms, and suggestions. Comments are solicited from all parts of the shareware industry, including authors, sysops, disk vendors, CD-ROM publishers, etc. We want to make the VENDINFO system work well for all! Comments will be welcome anytime, but the "deadline" is June 30, 1993. The VENDINFO concept document is available electronically as VENDINFO.ZIP (VNDINF.ZIP on CompuServe), and is about 18K in size. It is available by download or FidoNet/RIME file request from the author's BBS (see below) and from: CompuServe SHAREWARE forum CompuServe UKSHARE forum GENIE Home Office/Small Business Roundtable Public Brand Software BBS Further distribution is encouraged, so long as the complete VENDINFO.ZIP is distributed unaltered. You may therefore be able to find it via other sources, such as local BBSes. If you prefer to obtain the paper in hardcopy form within in the United States, please send a request with a self-addressed mail- ing label and a one dollar bill, to Rams' Island Software at the FidoNews 10-19 Page: 18 10 May 1993 address below. Rams' Island Software 7644 E. Lakecliff Way _______ Parker, CO 80134-5904 (USA) ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- Voice: (303) 841-2848 | ____|__ | Association of BBS: (303) 841-6269 | | |_| Shareware CompuServe: 76244,324 |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- FidoNet: 1:104/333 |___|___| MEMBER RIME: RAMSISLE Internet: 76244.324@CompuServe.Com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Fidonews Information ======================================================================== ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editors: Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, Tim Pozar Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tom Jennings IMPORTANT NOTE: The FidoNet address of the FidoNews BBS has been changed!!! Please make a note of this. "FidoNews" BBS FidoNet 1:1/23 <---- NEW ADDRESS!!!! BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14200/V.32bis/HST(DS) Internet addresses: Don & Sylvia (submission address) editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Donald -- donald@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com (Postal Service mailing address) (have extreme patience) FidoNews 172 Duke St. E. Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2H 1A7 Published weekly by and for the members of the FidoNet international amateur electronic mail system. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of FidoNews. Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is FidoNews 10-19 Page: 19 10 May 1993 copyright 1993 Sylvia Maxwell. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or FidoNews (we're easy). OBTAINING COPIES: The-most-recent-issue-ONLY of FidoNews in electronic form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet. PRINTED COPIES may be obtained from Fido Software for $10.00US each PostPaid First Class within North America, or $13.00US elsewhere, mailed Air Mail. (US funds drawn upon a US bank only.) BACK ISSUES: Available from FidoNet nodes 1:102/138, 1:216/21, 1:125/1212, (and probably others), via filerequest or download (consult a recent nodelist for phone numbers). A very nice index to the Tables of Contents to all FidoNews volumes can be filerequested from 1:396/1 or 1:216/21. The name(s) to request are FNEWSxTC.ZIP, where 'x' is the volume number; 1=1984, 2=1985... through 8=1991. INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.ieee.org, in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. If you have questions regarding FidoNet, please direct them to deitch@gisatl.fidonet.org, not the FidoNews BBS. (Be kind and patient; David Deitch is generously volunteering to handle FidoNet/Internet questions.) SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it. "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, Box 77731, San Francisco CA 94107, USA and are used with permission. Asked what he thought of Western civilization, M.K. Gandhi said, "I think it would be an excellent idea". -- END ----------------------------------------------------------------------