F I D O N E W S -- Vol.11 No.32 (08-Aug-1994) +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS | | _ | +1-519-570-4176 | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | Small animal psychology and | | (_| /_) | Spiritual guidance Department: | | _`@/_ \ _ | Rev. Richard Visage 1:163/409 | | | | \ \\ | | | | (*) | \ )) | Editors: | | |__U__| / \// | Donald Tees 1:221/192 | | _//|| _\ / | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 | | (_/(_|(____/ | Tim | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: editors 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Internet addresses: | | | | Don -- don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Tim Pozar -- pozar@kumr.lns.com | | | | submissions=> 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...................................................... 3 Good press free............................................. 3 Dear Reverend Visage,....................................... 6 Always Winter and never Christmass.......................... 8 A Response to Digitial Signatures and "Fake Articles"....... 10 EDUCATOR LOOKING FOR BBS PARTNERS FOR LOCAL SCHOOLS......... 11 Helms Amendment passed...................................... 16 An Editorial Policy Is Required............................. 17 Subject: Fidonet Crackdown in Italy - Follow-up (fwd)....... 18 Can we stop telling other people what to believe, please?... 22 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 23 FidoNews 11-32 Page: 2 08 Aug 1994 ======================================================================== Editorial ======================================================================== hiya you. Goldberg variations spiralling up staircase, drifting faintly into my office/hideout. i like them when i'm trying to figure things. mind follows trails and fugues, gently ordering and revolving, multiplicity of perspective causing shapes like holographs. this feels like my old apartment on water street, where i put my first computer. it was a bit slumlike, backyard shabbly and i had to climb a fence to get to my door. the plumbing often didn't work but i didn't mind, because there were beautiful ancient hand pumps instead of taps, connected to a well. all the walls were at peculiar angles, so shadows fell in trances. at a first i had my computer in an alcove of windows on an old oak desk that i got cheap at the sally ann because a drawer was missing. empty old picture frames hung like wallpaper evereywhere. i'd watch them with my imagination instead of television. the computer was in a time warp, surrounded by victorian junk. it had a modem, and someone gave me some numbers. didn't know what they were for so i tried them. that's how i got into this magic space. i liked to move the computer around to see what affect differeing environments had on my time online. i moved it into the bathroom. giant clawfoot bathtub, candles, shadow puppets near the ceiling. then i moved it onto the roof of the kitchen, which was flat like a porch, surrounded by dead trees, a condmned building and a parking lot. then i moved it inside again, on a low table in front of an open window between two blank canvasses. Eventually the canvasses filled up and i moved. Spaces have moods to them. didn't know what bbss were supposed to be when i started calling them. i thought that the only people reading echos were the dozen or so people writing messages, so i wrote messages to them, unselfconsciously from inside my head. Chatting was a rush. using the modem was goldmining for other minds. hypnotic. mesmerizing. i finally learned about route maps and how echos work by meeting an e-friend at a donought shop at two o-clock in the morning. i came to feel bonded with people through this medium. i've heard of people meeting online and then meeting in person and being disappointed, but i've never been disappointed by real-time meeting an e-friend. when i became conscious of the vastness of the web, and how public it can be, and how socially organized some of it is, i stopped writing messages. it seemed like live theatre, and i had stage fright. all that structure made me claustrophobic. that went away when i began to admire senses of community evolving in echos and nets and i wanted to be involved, even if i was awkwardly self-conscious about it. sometimes i get fed up when the sense of magic and community FidoNews 11-32 Page: 3 08 Aug 1994 is threatened by nastier aspects of culture from which bbss can free me. i am disappointed when hierarchical concepts migrate from the technical aspect of managing nets, to social ones. years later i'm still fascinated by it all. i'm boggling through specs and manuals and wire-tap laws and issues of CUD; i'll never absorb all of it, there's more and more. i only do that because i'm looking for goldminds. A: goldminds: re new able re source. o x x x===ooooooo....#$%^! Q: i read in the most recent edition of CUD that "hackers" are being cracked down upon for "pornography". This time hackers had used a *nuclear weapons* laboratory machine in Livermore as a repository site for some pictures or something. A: huh? nuclear weapons? who's using technology pornographically? Q: What are you doing? A: i'm going to Arizona to examine part of the plant experiment. i'm going to look for a pile of dead junky metal and steering equipment, with intelligent plant life growing out of it. ======================================================================== Articles ======================================================================== Good press free NETSTOCK Sheila Lennon Whitehouse&Lennon, Art of the Possible (1:323/109) I had to write a Woodstock story or go sit in the mud again. This was first published in the Providence (Rhode Island, USA) Sunday Journal Magazine, Aug. 7, 1994, and is spreading via the New York Times News Service. The author grants permission, blah, blah, blah ... to free systems to post it or pass it on. Just keep it free. WOODSTOCK REMEMBERED HEADLINE: "The global village is finally wired'' By SHEILA LENNON ``I still get a chill through me. Woodstock happened because a lot of people believed in those things -- helping each other, sharing, making it better together.'' -- Al Fumognari. Providence Sunday Journal, August 13, 1989 You must know by now that Woodstock was more than the mud and the FidoNews 11-32 Page: 4 08 Aug 1994 stars and the music. An experience, not an album. "To the media it was a catastrophe, but to us, it was the very best life," Carmino Scaglione of Scituate, R.I., recalled in 1989. For three days in 1969 he and I and a half-million like-minded strangers had come together and created the world we wanted to live in. There were no rules, and no violence. Woodstock was as far as we could take the '60s. Freedom could work, but we were kids. We didn't know enough, and Richard Nixon's America wasn't ready for more than our dress rehearsal. We went home, different, some too different ever to fit into anywhere. Others forgot what happened at Woodstock and got lost in the glitz. I bought the "Whole Earth Catalog," the owner's manual of the counterculture, and discovered Buckminster Fuller, cheap travel and natural childbirth. Twenty-five years later, Richard Nixon is dead, our dissatisfaction with government is widespread, and the global village is finally wired. It's time to move into it. "A million small computers, linked by ordinary telephone lines, can suddenly wield formidable computing power that is extremely hard to control in a rigidly hierarchical, centralized manner." -- Howard Rheingold, "Virtual Communities." The information highway will not be televised. Learn to navigate the computer net, or be relegated to the second tier of the future -- a shopper. ``Interactive TV'' will restrict your choices to which movies you'll watch and which ATM account to debit for those cubic zirconias. True ``interactivity'' allows you to generate content from a keyboard, to send and receive. Not only celebrities get ``microphones.'' You too have a voice. You can champion an idea, object to an outrage, question authority. Like-minded people are again coming together, but this time the "virtual world" is computer-mediated. You'll have to make friends with machines, or at least learn their language, in order to enter the future. Mastering the computer may prove a stretch, harder in its own way than the mud and thirst and heat of Woodstock. But many people will help you, and ask only that you pass on what you learn to someone a few steps behind you. I haven't felt smart since I arrived online, but I'm having a great time. FidoNews 11-32 Page: 5 08 Aug 1994 Unorthodox information -- topics not seriously covered by the mainstream press -- is exchanged like contraband. Such '60s staples as herbs and alternative medicine, underground politics, altered states, organic gardening, vegetarian cooking and astrology mix with such '90s concerns as virtual reality, ACT UP, jobs wanted and health care. Politicians who venture online will find a well-informed constituency already here, and can expect to account for their actions publicly and often. ``Information wants to be free.''-- Stewart Brand, founder of the "Whole Earth Catalog" and The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, the WELL. In Woodstock's economy, your money was useless. What we had was shared, and what was ordinarily exchanged for money was given away. Many local bulletin boards offer free public access to global nets. Freelance computer programmers distribute inexpensive software through them: "shareware" that you're welcome to try before you buy. On the net, you can give away all that you have and still have it all. Electronic information is not a hard commodity. What has value here are the people who can generate information. What you know and how you'll share it is your currency. ``It was a little bit frightening to have such freedom, like another world where you could do anything, say anything, be anyone, nobody would stop you.'' Kathleen McDevitt, Providence Sunday Journal, August 13, 1989 In 1989, I went back to Bethel, New York, to what will always be called Max Yasgur's farm, to cover the 20th-anniversary celebration of Woodstock for the Journal-Bulletin, and brought along my 13-year-old daughter, Casey Dahm. I tapped on a laptop in the grass, reporting on a week of local bands lining up to play on the same spot as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, and on the climactic Saturday night when 10,000 people rekindled that spirit of goodness that pervades the place. Casey will always remember it as the scene of her first kiss. This year, Casey wants to be nowhere near the Catskills. The free, eight-day Rainbow Gathering and Megarave in Arizona's the Grand Canyon sounds more interesting. The Rainbow People, tie-dyed nomads, are gathering there with the Zippies. Zippies? One, a fashion failure wearing virtual-reality goggles, graced the May cover of Wired magazine, the 18-month-old guide to technohip that's the biggest marketing success since Rolling Stone, and already not as good as it used to be. Zippies are technohippies from England who deftly mix the music and FidoNews 11-32 Page: 6 08 Aug 1994 multimedia of the rave club scene, Druid religious roots, psychedelics and that old hippie freedom trip. Their tour is called Pronoia -- the sneaking feeling that others are conspiring to help you -- and their goal is evolution, a revolution in consciousness. (Sound familiar?) ``When cars got stuck, people would literally lift them up. We were spontaneously working together.'' John Sousa, Providence Sunday Journal, August 13, 1989 The spirit of freakdom rides again, moving as information on a global net that links nearby to nowhere special. It thrives on diversity and disdains commercialism, a movement from the Old World to the New. The net offers another chance to get it right: We empower each other by sharing information. We can create here, together, a society in which everyone has a voice, and everybody's ideas are heard. It's a different world now, 25 years later, and it's showtime. (Sheila Lennon is a section editor in the Providence Journal- Bulletin's features department.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Charles Herriot of 1:163/110 submits yet another letter from the chemically imbalanced Doc Logger to the Reverend Visage, a man of deep, probing ministries. Roll da flick, Sylvia... Moose Milk Ranch, BarBQhaven, Ontario Canada O4Q L8R Dear Reverend Visage, Oh great. I have Snooze accountants crawling all over the place. Do you think you might have been a little more subtle and *not* submitted the receipts for Consuela's counseling on edible underwear. Mercifully, every forensic scientist in the universe is working on the O.J. case and they'll never be able to match your tongue prints. I am so pleased that you are being civilized about your placement on the Snooze masthead. I am sure that neither Don nor Sylvia cheated when I lost that poker bet wherein I had to find someone who would get more Steve Winter mail than they do. Mercifully, Steve Winter hasn't heard a *thing* about your pagan rituals involving lubricants and nuns. When the inevitable flood begins, I suggest stepping on the messages with large measures of Glenlivet. FidoNews 11-32 Page: 7 08 Aug 1994 Best of luck in British Columbia. I fear that you may learn that not only the RC12 is missing, but that fellow Satti has gone AWOL as well. Keep your eyes open for glassine craters which may mark the spot where they underwent spontaneous human combustion. The RC12, who runs an alleged BBS system on alternate Wednesdays, hasn't sprinkled Holy Oil on the winner of the net250 election but we can be assured that the comatose majority continues to support him. I tried to take your advice with respect to avoiding net250 sysop echos but I can't seem to control the evil twitching in my Dr. Strangelove arm that keeps areafixing one of the best humour echos on the continent. I mean, you can't help but giggle at an endless stream of messages bragging about how they are pulling 1,000 echos into their net but they *still* can't move mail eight city blocks in less than four days. Imagine, some of their sysops go into horrible withdrawal when they haven't received Keith Robb's Dreknet advertisement message on a daily basis. What is more remarkable, is that there are still pockets of poor souls who believe that the PeeFour document is the highest and best expression of their McJob management careers. I think it would be a good and decent thing for us to help these people by sending them as the advance guard to Haiti where they can proclaim "But we gotta have rules." The TonTon Macoutes will embrace them with open arms... probably small arms, with the safeties off. The recall vote which was held in REG12 to dispense with the alleged RC was an underwhelming success in vox populi. I think all twenty four voters who exercised their franchise will be sending angry netmail to Readers Digest demanding to know if they are "already a winner." Your secretary, Ms. LaBamba has parked herself on the edge of my desk and despite my pleas for more oxygen she refuses to release me from a thighlock until I lash this thing together and get it shipped to Swamp Swine. I fear that her silicone implants have gone to her head, and we may need to send her to Mississauga to have her lobotomized. I shall be on the road next week, having promised to visit France where I will be a guest speaker at a "Save The Dwarf Tossing" rally. I understand that our moosehide parka pal, Bridgitte Bardot, will be there. I shall stop in Newfoundland to club a few baby seals so that she can be suitably attired. Regards, Doc Logger, Vegetable Philosophy Dept., Smelting University, Anaconda, Montana FidoNews 11-32 Page: 8 08 Aug 1994 Always Winter and never Christmass -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- From: Mike Riddle (1:285/27) To: Donald Tees (1:1/23) Date: August 3, 1994 Subject: PGP Re: Winter of our discontent (his title) Always Winter and never Christmass (mine) Dear Don: In your generally well considered and written editorial about the latest Winter storm, you write: DT> None that I have seen yet are practical. PGP is the most DT> common one ... but are we to refuse access to anyone not DT> using PGP? I think not. Besides, unless we poll a system DT> directly to get the public key, how does it prove anything? DT> Anybody can create a key and a PGP signature. First, I while I hope that no one suggested PGP as the ultimate (dare I say, "final"?) solution, it would be *part* of a solution to the problem of proof of authorship. Presumably you could trace the path line of the submission, or could review your inbound log, but both of those can be "hacked" so they might not prove much. But you show a bit of a misunderstanding with respect to PGP. If you receive a PGP key and process it, you will see something like the following example, using a of mine. Running the process pgp [public key filename] on my public key returns the following: File contains key(s). Contents follow... Key ring: 'mhr28527.$00' Type bits/keyID Date User ID pub 1024/FE0E156D 1994/05/18 Mike Riddle (mr@rlaw.omahug.org) sig 1158478D Jim Grubs, W8GRT sig F7ADF50D Jim Grubs sig EE38FB41 GK Pace sig F89A24F9 Christopher Baker <1:374/14@fidonet.org> 1 matching key found. Do you want to add this keyfile to keyring 'C:\PGP\pubring.pgp' (y/N)? - From this, you can see that while obtaining the key directly from FidoNews 11-32 Page: 9 08 Aug 1994 me is at least some insurance against "spoofing," the key contains within itself its own validation. Whether or not your system can decrypt the signatures is dependent upon your having obtained the public keys of the signers. The process seems slow at first, but quickly builds, and over time you establish a "web of trust" based upon keys received from a known, trusted source, plus keys obtained from unknown routes but processed and signed by known persons. Within the configuration of PGP you have the option to tailor the trust levels and requirements, so you can be very easy-going or you can be quite paranoid. Or you can take a common-sense, middle ground, approach. So if you receive a public key and a signed message in the same packet, you might still be able to verify the sender. It will depend upon who has signed the public key, whether you have any of those keys in your keyring, and what trust levels *you*, not anyone else, has assigned to the signers. PGP might not be a perfect solution for the verification of authorship, but digital signatures in a broader sense *are* the answer. The U.S. government has recently announced a Digital Signature Standard. The process, however, has been marred by technological and legal controversy and it is difficult to say, as I write, what the final outcome will be. But PGP (or PEM/RIPEM for the internet-able) are existing, relatively widespread, systems which provide for digital signatures. PGP, because of its flexible key and decentralized management, has generally won the battle for the hearts and minds of cypherpunks within Fidonet. I maintain both a RIPEM and a Fidonet public key, but I've never received anything besides test traffic in RIPEM and I don't encourage its use. The PGP front-ends are much friendlier. So that other submission you received? Maybe you could have trusted it after all! Mike -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.53 iQCVAgUBLj9gi0pSi8D+DhVtAQHeVAQA7n2KDHZU2rZxN4SC4Zd4wldo9NSBwffe 4bbcVBozTbjBEgokGI/TttNbr4frwZy5rOqYiM24A4K+Vub56OLpDADJmxbeoRWn DKNJ+kHo7MzIg4fXu2cYzAnoHRryumBI8cBoh1ZhA5T3xq9UK6FX0qgxFuZa2n8v AZpRe2AL6pE= =qjfx -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.53 mQCNAi3aOhkAAAEEAPJ8znEHIYStbdbOxTKkZhutKL+0zTFCIBO7BisWIlVQ1Vns qoLJ+pfa79DN9y8xgZH9NNr8/a5SanCtDLhniPmX/6paS0AeQxYTkKNkHRgLC6pR FidoNews 11-32 Page: 10 08 Aug 1994 8Yz3g3YPxsIRoPPaJHUIxQI/TmhkLZzEPjmgJ1StJQiN//BNi0pSi8D+DhVtAAUT tCBNaWtlIFJpZGRsZSAobXJAcmxhdy5vbWFodWcub3JnKYkAlQIFEC3o0W0w1Fqv EVhHjQEBn6gD/1PXO0R9OEau5f2issfHOYbNYCXpNauF/DO4+yo4+WAc/0DeCNsh 4y2C7AuPYZp6qOGqos1oL5E85jegteGU8qfup987uZphbWksu7qIGJqaxLn3Q95P zRTYjM9GPhBzxa4ocwsrhyQE1TNqzuTqVzYfD58W/GmrO1VyK9RWIQxkiQCVAgUQ LdpzbMmzkeX3rfUNAQE6UAQAtdSTI8b1K5ohk2DKcPWAmlMrmJUaWbeab2uz87Kv JgZq1BTFXCQAi1t+f7JE2xpF+TwF5SHQxBWrHeZq8l92z31Kgwu3Mjb0O2CJzYFS Y3tEuwMbufwtvwrN3mvPTkEn3RiTSqoAILOtReEUE9AyBR9Z0XjVuKO23jiPgXWC kc+JAJUCBRAt2uMZj0k0Hu44+0EBAeBvA/wKrl1sng1QI4mDVSO6KfS6fYmWv3y8 fxcuck9/6309Rsk9eQroY0tJSEuJNXV/fIyW9YPwyl0cWeTC/e0xF415DAb0++TD 0MjY3nFefqMwt3gVrQgbuTIHbHi4/LJL/C5wjPe1ASaCbp2zfJG4OAuK3peCpnqB H394cWlIcBT/5YkAlQIFEC3aRoTLEDwS+Jok+QEBx0ED+wQT5kDZUnlG6QioSXSx TyPudFl/II61nfrKQF+EQlhg1REKOz/OiSeFaoxJ/mMcmWbTD8RbnibJG6Y70AA9 +mgfRRZO232Qwxk8lU9uwfHbXlrqlIKdpnkOX90V3vVWxdtWpvBr0242/GylkGr3 3Z0gqthX2jTzWBp6GE6wUuBc =1vn9 -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- A Response to Digitial Signatures and "Fake Articles" by Ryan Anderson (1:120/379) Net 120 Secure Mail Hub Fidonet appears to be at the center of the controversy regarding digital signatures and encryption. With the article by Steve Winter's in at least *ONE* of the recent snooz issues we have come to a point where there is a great deal of confusion over both digital signatures and encryption. A digital signature simply attempts to authenticate the originator of the message. Therefore, an article without one has no proof at all of it's origins. Via lines and header data are easily faked. SW?> The recent article in the Snooze FIDO1129.NWS was not authored or SW?> authorized by me. This statement by Steve has no margin of proof in it right now, because we have no verification that he actually submitted the article. This is one of the many benefits of learning more about the encryption currently available to use in Fidonet. The only way to prevent this from happening in the future is for Steve to get himself a copy of PGP, create a key, make it available for file request, and get as many signatures added, as fast as possible. Then he needs to sign every message leaving his system. Maybe then we can determine if Steve Winters wrote the article in question, or if it was simply someone annoyed at him making him look like a fool. For more information on digital signatures, look for the PUBLIC_KEYS echo. It's available on the backbone, and in most nets. Or get a copy of PGP, and read the documentation. (It's amazingly informative) FidoNews 11-32 Page: 11 08 Aug 1994 Ryan Anderson -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAgUBLkM+mTc3ytqHnNyNAQEHngP/f4jOarobd+Nqn+NoZqfb2GBdhuSSZ8va hk8JEJB38VudXR9AEYKk25OnLG7BbLQQDJFOmZXs4rCw7Oc0OsYVbDF9CVI1QRTi f9QRq2Up4ZkPbu3VnFAx2PV7EykQLYdpVufzBAfwy28SeQ7sikb3tL+1OP4lD/oe L4JfP+g51KU= =aGtW -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EDUCATOR LOOKING FOR BBS PARTNERS FOR LOCAL SCHOOLS By way of introduction, I am a 6th grade teacher at Morningside Elementary School in Brownsville, Texas. I am on the organizational committee of NASSE, the National Association of Space Simulating Educators, which is comprised of a group of educators involved in the use of classroom and school space simulators (including permanent, semi-permanent, and temporary simulators). We met at University School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, (a suburb of Cleveland) during June of 1994 to establish a national organization. The purposes of the organization are: 1. To facilitate the exchange of ideas, information, and technical enhancements among simulator using educators. 2. To assist teachers interested in developing space simulators. 3. To provide consultation services to teachers and schools regarding the use of space simulators. 4. To encourage the use of the information superhighway as a tool for enhancing simulations. 5. To provide assistance regarding sources of free or low cost resources and materials from the aerospace community, government organizations, and information providers. 6. To advance the use of simulation as an educational technique in all areas of education. 7. To support the initiatives for space exploration on the part of governmental and other organizations. We currently have well over 50 subscribers to our fledgling organization. NASSE has an Internet address (nasse@shadowso.com), and I a gopher site at http://chico.rice.edu/armadillo/ for storage and retrieval of Ascii and binary files to enhance educational space simulations. I hope to begin placing public domain software on the Armadillo system very soon. FidoNews 11-32 Page: 12 08 Aug 1994 As a Fidonet/K12Net SysOp, I realize that many educators do not have full (or even partial) Internet access. I would like to provide those educators with a Fidonet echomail area devoted to discussions regarding the planning and coordination of educational space simulations. An appropriate name for the echomail area would be, simply, SPACESIM. I have been conducting simultaneous educational space simulations for the past three years. By "simultaneous," I mean that we coordinate our simulations with other sites across the country. When we launch a mission with our permanent space simulator, _Columbia II_, other schools monitor our progress via Internet email. Remote sites also utilize satellite tracking programs to monitor the "flight." A Fidonet echomail area would provide a means whereby educators could plan for simulations of their own. We could also coordinate simulations that had a much longer duration than the "traditional" space simulations conducted via Internet. Essentially, five to seven student "astronauts" perform prelaunch systems checks as indicated by their preflight launch scripts, see and hear a space shuttle launch (we have an EXCELLENT VHS video tape developed by Tim Dedula at NASA Lewis), activate switches labeled according to _The Space Shuttle Operator's Manual_ in proper sequence, perform experiments while in "orbit," communicate with Mission Control via wireless FM intercom, utilize satellite tracking programs to monitor their progress, and so on. We endeavor to make the simulations as realistic as possible. At Mission Control (my classroom), teams of students work together to make the mission successful: The Lab Team collects data from the Payload Specialists inside the simulator who are performing the experiments; The Medical Team asks the Medical Officer on board the _Columbia II_ space shuttle simulator to take blood pressure, heart rate, pulse, and respiration readings from the astronauts before and after a rest period and compares those data to readings taken before and after an exercise period; The Navigation Team follows the _Columbia II's_ progess on a Shareware satellite tracking program (STSORBIT) and records latitude, longitude, and altitude, notes the time (in CST and UTC), and plots the shuttle's current position on a large world map; The Data Team sends written data to the astronauts via "fax" (a printer inside the simulator connected to an IBM PC outside); The Public Relations Team scurries about, picking up information from all teams to post on a large bulletin board; The Communications Team relays all voice communications from the various teams to the student astronauts. Those interested in participating conduct their own missions as outlined FidoNews 11-32 Page: 13 08 Aug 1994 above OR serve as weather stations solar flare observatories Auxiliary Mission Control nodes (you could supervise the experiments YOU design for US to perform) NASA tracking stations Space Station Freedom Moonbase Alpha Mars Base 5 We communicate with each other via email, but I am working on obtaining CuSeeMe connectivity. CuSeeMe is being developed by Cornell University and allows for realtime videoconferencing on the Internet. Over the past two years, we have developed launch and landing scripts, activity guides, and experiments for the astronauts to conduct while in orbit. We have amassed a veritable curnucopia of space science-related software (e.g., satellite tracking programs, mission clocks, GIFs of the space shuttle, space flight simulators, etc.). Tim Dedula, an electrical technician at NASA Lewis, has been extremely helpful, not only to us, but to educators across the country interested in space simulations. He has provided us with a wealth of materials, including lesson plans, software, NASA videos, and VHS videos HE developed of a space shuttle launching, in orbit, and landing. We also coordinate simulations with Bob Morgan, director of the National Educational Simulations Project Utilizing Telecommunications (NESPUT) under the auspices of Academy One and the Cleveland Freenet, who coordinates several 24-hour missions every year. Bob is a pioneer in the field of student space simulations and has also provided us with lesson plans, ideas for experiments, computer software (IBM, Apple, and Mac), space science-related book titles, and much more. As you can see, the possibilities for this kind of project are practically limitless. Our permanent space simulator, the _Columbia II_, is 10 feet wide and 20 feet long. An 8 x 8 ft. section was added to provide the astronauts with a restroom and shower. The outer covering of the simulator is white 4 mil poly. The framework supporting the plastic consists of 10-foot lengths of PVC that are inserted into 1" holes drilled into the 2 by 4 base. The entire structure took about two weeks to build and cost about $1,500.00. *-------------* | Restroom | * & * | Shower | *----* *----* | |<--- tunnel | | *----* *----*----*----*----*----*---* | | |<--|--- Control Panel FidoNews 11-32 Page: 14 08 Aug 1994 | | | | | Dining / Communications Room | O <-- Outer Hatch | Room | Flightdeck | | (entrance) |Middeck | | | *---*----*----*----*----*----*----*---* Each * is a 1/2" hole in which a 10-foot section of PVC pipe is placed. A PVC "cross" joins the two opposite PVC pipes together, forming an arch. The plastic sheeting is then placed over the arch, forming a structure somewhat reminiscent of a Conastoga wagon. The plans for making the Simulator were taken from a book titled _Space Simulations_ by Jerry Bernhardt and Larry McHaney. There are two computers in the communications room. One computer, a Mac, is used as a space science encyclopedia. The Mac contains a variety of space science-related programs (e.g., The Space Educator's Handbook, GIF viewers, SatTrak, and so on). A monitor mounted behind the control panel is connected to a modem-equipped PC outside the simulator. Members from the Data Team use the PC, which is connected to a video/keyboard switcher, to run various programs for the astronauts, including a shuttle tracking program, GIF viewer, telecommunications program, and Space Flight Simulator. The third computer - an Apple IIe - is located in the Middeck area and is used for additional training on aeronautics and spaceflight. Two lengths of coax cable and a phone line from my classroom provide video and audio links to the simulator. A VHS VCR and Panasonic laserdisk player are connected to a video switcher which is, in turn, connected to the 50-foot length of coax cable so that various video segments (e.g., shuttle launch, earthviews from the shuttle, thunderstorms, atmospheric anomalies, shuttle landing, etc.) can be transmitted to a large screen TV inside the simulator. A video splitter located between the video switcher and the 50-foot length of coax allows Mission Control personnel to view the launch, earthviews, landing, and so on, on a TV inside Mission Control. A surveillance camera is mounted to the middle wall separating the Flightdeck and Middeck areas. A 60-foot length of camera cable is connected to a B/W monitor in Mission Control for continuous supervision. This particular surveillance system provides 1-way video/audio communications from the student astronauts and Mission Control technicians. A control panel was added to the simulator this year. Various aircraft instruments have been placed in the panel to add an extra touch of realism. Thirty-two switches have also been installed. Each switch is labeled and corresponds to an actual switch found inside a real space shuttle. When the switch is depressed, a bulb is lit on a control panel in Mission Control. The panel in Mission Control also contains switches that light bulbs on the control panel inside the Simulator. Two sets of wireless FM intercoms that provided for voice communications between the astronauts and Mission Control and between the astronauts in the Flightdeck and Middeck areas have been removed. FidoNews 11-32 Page: 15 08 Aug 1994 The surveillance camera described above provides one-way communications between the astronauts and Mission Control. An FM tuner connected to a stereo mixer with 3 microphone inputs (and 4 additional inputs) provides one-way communications between Mission Control and the the astronauts. We are experimenting with the mixer, using it to manage various sound inputs as sound effects (e.g., laserdisk player, CD-ROM player, cassette, etc.) Another modem-equipped computer in Mission Control classroom provides a mode of communication that allows the Public Relations Team to correspond with students, educators, and space science professionals the world over. Activities with our space simulator culminate in a simultaneous 24-hour mission in which student astronauts and Mission Control technicians conduct experiments related to space science, perform emergency evacuation drills, and correspond with students in many states and countries who also participate in the 24-hour space simulation. The project is a cooperative effort involving teachers, parent volunteers, and students of all ages, but we focus on 4th thru 6th grade students. Once the various roles have been assigned, everyone must work together to define his/her responsibilities throughout the mission. A firm chain of command must be established. For example, as Operations Director, I speak only to Team Leaders. We conduct, on average, one 8-hour long simulation every month beginning at 10:00 a.m. CST (16:00 UTC). This type of project requires careful planning in order for all teams to know what their respective duties and responsibilities are. The date for the next simulation will be announced at least two weeks prior to the simulation. It is also possible that simulations could be coordinated over a period of many days or even weeks. Such would be the case in a simulation of an extended journey to Mars. In future, additional echomail areas could be devoted to specific aspects of the educational space simulation: Planning, Resources, Lessons and Experiments, Scenarios, and so on. I understand that in order for SPACESIM to get on the backbone, I have to demonstrate a need for such distribution. If you are a Fidonet SysOp and would like to subscribe to the SPACESIM echomail area, please email chris@tenet.edu or netmail me at Chris.Rowan@f12.n397.z1.fidonet.org. I sincerely appreciate your comments and suggestions, and look forward to hearing from you. FidoNews 11-32 Page: 16 08 Aug 1994 Respectfully yours, Chris Rowan chris@tenet.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: (Flesh) Helms Amendment passed, call your Senators and House Reps (fwd) Date: Wed, 3 Aug 1994 19:55:49 -0700 (PDT) This is a forwarded message. The phone numbers are really only relevant if you live in Washington, but this is pretty significant, even if it was already voted upon ---------------------------- Critics of the Helms amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Bill are claiming that it threatens local autonomy and will increase hate and intolerance in schools and in general. Following is a large excerpt of a wire story on the vote. I called Senator Murray's office; she voted against the amendment. Please call her and let her know how important her vote was. I was unable to reach Senator Gorton's office late Tuesday. I'll call again Wednesday morning. Senator Murray's Seattle Office: 553-5545 Senator Gorton's Seattle Office: 553-0350 Sen Gorton's Opinion Hotline: 1-800-282-8095 joe -------------------------------- WASHINGTON (AP) -- School districts with programs that encourage acceptance of homosexuality would lose federal funding under a Senate proposal. Senators voted 63-36 Monday in favor of a proposal by Sens. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and Bob Smith, R-N.H., to cut federal aid to districts that ``carry out a program or activity that has either the purpose or effect of encouraging or supporting homosexuality as a positive lifestyle alternative.'' Included were distribution of instructional materials, counseling and referral of students to gay organizations. The vote occurred as the Senate debated reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which spreads $12.5 billion in federal funds among the nation's public schools. The House included a similar amendment when it passed the bill. Differences between the two versions will have to be worked out by a conference committee before the bill can be signed into law by President Clinton. Smith had a stack of pamphlets he said were typical of those purchased by school districts that teach about homosexuality in social studies or sex education programs. He said some were ``so graphic and so disgusting that I can't display them here on the floor of the United States Senate.'' But Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., called the proposal ``very mean-spirited'' and said it would forbid counseling of gay students, who he said are two to three times as likely as other FidoNews 11-32 Page: 17 08 Aug 1994 teen-agers to commit suicide. ``We simply can't do that,'' he said. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, said the proposal would inject the federal government into local decision-making and would ``remove the local discretion that is the hallmark of our educational system.'' Some school districts teach acceptance of homosexuality during social studies or sex education programs. Such a program in New York City led to the ouster of Joseph Fernandez as chancellor of the nation's largest school system last year. Publishers also are offering some books written especially for curricula that teach acceptance of gays. ``Heather Has Two Mommies'' and ``Daddy's Roommate'' depict lesbian and gay male couples in family settings with children. Other books designed for AIDS education programs are more graphic. Some describe sexual acts and advocate the use of latex condoms during intercourse. Helms denounced what he called the ``disgusting, obscene material that's laid out before school children in this country every day.'' The Elementary and Secondary Education Act also sets the distribution formula for federal dollars targeted for disadvantaged students. More than 90 percent of the nation's school districts receive funds from the so-called Chapter I program. But the money is spread so thin that many poor children are either not served or underserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- An Editorial Policy Is Required An Editorial Policy Is Required by Denis McMahon, 2:251/20 Listen up Donald & Sylvia, it's about time you put an editorial policy in place that stops the Snooze being used for flamewars.eur, flamewars.usa, flamwewars.uk etc, and dragged it back out of the gutter it seems to have fallen into. I and many others have their own ideas about who is right and who is wrong in the various local conflicts, and I probably have the same total lack of interest about the conflicts going on elsewhere as anyone else. Added to this, just about everyone distorts the truth in some way when putting across their side of a dispute, so the information posted in the Snooze often varies between the inaccurate and downright lies. +++++++++++++++++++++++ ENOUGH IS ENOUGH +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I thought that the Snooze was an important part of FidoNet, it's how we're kept up to date with what's going on. However, it seems that FidoNews 11-32 Page: 18 08 Aug 1994 the current fashion is to use the snooze for: (a) The editors to make profound comments based on their own lives - which is probably OK - editors should be able to write what they like in an editorial. (b) Flamewars.uk - an ongoing series of allegations and counter-allegations that in total contain maybe 5% true fact concerning the administration of FidoNet in Zone 2 Region 25. (c) Flamewars.usa - an ongoing series of articles about sysops in the usa by sysops in the usa who disagree with each other. (d) Sick humour - which may also be a deliberate attempt by some people to upset other people. (e) Net humour - which would be fine if the author wasn't trying to score political points with it, and (f) Occasionally something useful like a new echo announcement etc. (a) I don't mind within reason, (b) contains so much lies it could never be printed in the UK without major courtroom civil action, (c) might yet go the same way on your side of "the pond" (Atlantic Ocean), (d) is unneccessary, (e) tolerable and (f) shouild be encouraged. So, editors, are you going to allow the continued hands off and print the lot policy to continue, or do you have the courage to do what any other editor does and, at risk of upsetting contributors, chuck the rubbish in the bin. At the end of the day, if someone else wants to start up en ezine called fidowars they can do it, but lets kick this rubbish out the Snooze! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 16:02:22 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Fidonet Crackdown in Italy - Follow-up (fwd) Precedence: list To: eff-activists@eff.org (eff-activists mailing list) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 24 May 1994 12:04:27 -0700 From: Bernardo Parrella Subject: Fidonet Crackdown in Italy - Follow-up From: Bernardo Parrella To: All Subject: Fidonet Crackdown in Italy - Follow-up Date: May 23, 1994 "The crackdown needed to be done, software piracy has become a FidoNews 11-32 Page: 19 08 Aug 1994 National sport in Italy. Unfortunately, the operation rapidly became too wide for our forces: right now, here in Pesaro we are only three Prosecutors, quite busy with penal trials, in court all day long. We will try to do our best with the less possible damage for the entire community." Here are the explanatory words of Gaetano Savoldelli Pedrocchi, the Pesaro Prosecutor who is managing the investigations that last week led to a nationwide crackdown on Fidonet Italia BBSes During the operation - confidentially known as "Hardware 1" - more than 60 (some sources go up to 130) Bulletin Board Systems have been visited and searched by police officials. In the central and northern part of the country, several Fidonet nodes were closed and dozens of operators were charged of "conspiracy with unknown for distribution of illegally copied software and appropriation of secret passwords." Some figures say the seizures included more than 120 computers, 300 streamer-cassettes and CD-ROMs, 60,000 floppy disks, an imprecise number of modems and other electronic devices. In some cases, police officials sealed off rooms and garages where the BBSes were operated or closed all the hardware they found in a closet. Several Fidonet operators (generally students, professionals, small-company owners) lost their personal data because every magnetic support was "suspected to carry pirated software". Aimed to crack a distribution ring of illegal software run by two people using the publicly available Fidonet nodelist, investigators searched and seized every single site of the list - even those that had never had any contact with the two suspected. Also, many operators not inquired by police were forced to immediately shut down their systems, searching for possible illegal software covertly uploaded on their BBSes. As a consequence of such indiscriminate operations, the real, very few pirate boards had the chance to quickly hide their businesses - sources say. "I do not believe to this scenario," said the Pesaro Prosecutor in an interview by SottoVoce Magazine. "We acted after precise information about the activities of a specific data-bank: if some operators have nothing to do with the charges, we'll verify it as soon as possible." Questioned about further investigations against BBSes users, the Prosecutor said: "We'll see later....at the present, users can sleep peacefully: otherwise, I cannot imagine how many people should be investigated. I do not want to criminalize the entire population. Even if the inquiry has become so vast, this is not a subject of vital importance for our country. It is mostly a fiscal and bureaucratic issue, a matter of small-scale but spread illegality." FidoNews 11-32 Page: 20 08 Aug 1994 However, rumors say other inquires are currently underway in other cities, and even the Criminalpol is working on similar issues. Assisting the investigated people, some lawyers already asked for the immediate return of the confiscated materials, while others suggested to wait for better times. In any case, it will probably take months (years?) before receiving official answers regarding the seizures. Struggling to re-open in some way their systems, Fidonet operators are also working to get the attention of mainstream media on the issue - with little success, so far. After an article published by La Repubblica, two local newspapers, Il Mattino and Il Giornale di Brescia, run brief reports on May 15, both centered on "a wide software piracy ring cracked by police officials". But the real activity is happening inside and around electronic communities. MC-Link and especially Agora' Telematica (the biggest Italian systems) are doing a great job, offering space for news, opinions and comments - also acting as connection links between the decimated net of BBSes and worried individuals scattered in the country. Here is just one example: "....police officials seized everything, including three PCs (one broken), a couple of modem (just fixed for some friends), floppies, phone cables, phone-books. Now Dark Moon is off, hoping to have at least one line available in a few days, maybe at 2400. I fear that more raids will soon follow elsewhere. So, please, stay alert..." A catching dynamism flourishes from the BBSes linked to Cybernet. Although some of them are currently not operating, a special issue of the Corriere Telematico was just released over the net and their printed voice, Decoder Magazine, will soon distribute news, testimonies, comments on "Operation Hardware 1". PeaceLink has set up a defense committee-news center in Taranto and its spokesperson, Alessandro Marescotti, will sign an article for the next issue of the weekly magazine Avvenimenti. Promptly alerted, the International online community gave good response - quickly redistributing the news over the Net and sending supportive messages. Here is an email from Michael Baker, Chairman of Electronic Frontiers Australia: "To that end I am writing to offer assistance to anyone in Italy who wants to set up such an organisation. Recently I (along with others) have set up Electronic Frontiers Australia, and I am now its Chairman. Other national EF groups have been, or are being, set up in several other countries (Canada, Ireland, Norway, UK and Japan)....if there is anything we can do to help, please ask." Shifting toward politics, on May 19, the first working day of the new Italian Cabinet, six Members of the Reformers group presented a written question to the Ministers of Justice and Interior. FidoNews 11-32 Page: 21 08 Aug 1994 After a short introduction about telecom systems, the document gives an account of the facts and asks three final questions to the Government: "- if it will intend to open an investigation to verify if the raids ordered by the Pesaro Prosecutor's office were prejudicial to the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression; - if it is not the case to set up a better and greater team of computer experts in order to avoid further random seizures of electronic devices that lead to shut down the BBSes; - if it is not the occasion to confirm that current legislation does not charge system operators with objective responsibility for users' activities on telecom systems." Although the Fidonet sysop community (about 300 people) is still quite uncertain regarding its future, many of them feel the urgent need to overcome a sort of cultural and social isolation that clearly surrounds the telecom scene in Italy. At the moment the main issue is how to raise public interest and political pressure to obtain clear laws in support of civil rights in the electronic medium. Ideas and proposals are developing from several electronic laboratories, such as the Community Networking conference on Agora' Telematica as well as on Cybernet. "We underestimate our strength: if we could just be able to set up an Italian Association of Telecom Users we could put pressure on political and legislative bodies." "Overwhelm newspapers, radio and tv stations with faxes, letters, phone calls!" "We must attract common people, through hundreds of tables and events in the streets more than online, even if we do not have a Kapor to support us." "There should be press-conferences in several cities, with the presence of investigated people along with famous persons, politicians." "What about a 24-hours silence from any system in the country with simultaneous events in each city and village where a BBS operates?" The situation is rather fluid and in e-motion. Stay connect! - Bernardo Parrella < - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > electronic distribution of this posting is greatly encouraged, preserving its original version, including the header and this notice < - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > FidoNews 11-32 Page: 22 08 Aug 1994 Can we stop telling other people what to believe, please? Matt Clauson (1:306/54.1) CoSysOp, Message Bases, AudioVisual Resources BBS (1:306/54.0) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I have been reading the "articles" that our fellow Fidonaut Steve Winter has been posting over the past 52 issues... And I am getting VERY TIRED of what I see as "My Christianity is the only real Christianity, all the rest can go to hell!" Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what *I* believe Mr. Winter is putting into the snooze... I'm not saying that his view of Christianity is not correct, but who is he to tell us if our view of Christianity is not correct? Isn't this like why the Puritans and other religous groups came to our dear land? So they wouldn't have to be told that their views are wrong? I know, and I AM admitting, I do not go to church every weekend, or read the Bible every day for eight hours... But I do believe that He does have a plan for us... And I am willing to be a part of it. But that plan is not for you or any other human being to decide, Mr. Winter... I'm not saying that religion should not be in FidoNet, but, please, Mr. Winter, do not condemn other Christians because they are not "your brand" of Christian. And please feel free to contact me by netmail or by an open article in the snooze if you want to correct me as to the reasons behind your views... For those of you with PGP who wish to reply by netmail, please send me an encrypted message. My key lays below... Along with my signature... BTW -- I have plenty of hard drive space for the flood of messages that will arrive! Best Regards, and me He be with you, Matt -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAgUBLjdXjxLg2ZL4fdjDAQFDLwP+NTFNyeITfnM9PoGBIV7AM3+jNLArv1vQ 2LEzANwM2CeMUR/lzC/uGmnLFYuR/BrprWq88xtnBAu4ZXWwcFQYILk6/Qb63c4K XeQ6FrR3LknXt0A+YnbZDPArNJtWH5xeg0kqud9CLDdmWJ4RvQnjKccxTw9sB+ge A2PdRIfXv8s= =MIxa -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6 mQCNAi4wlvoAAAEEANd0QJRV3/AJDR3ZHfkBSbgLjEFNl+P5FgmoZnYMERll0Q+J FidoNews 11-32 Page: 23 08 Aug 1994 RwjjISwn+hSVHfmvMtzZbOImzPWjUNIfhZDqi1/emU7D3hyiDmjDkShXsoy0H9DA FJthyVbQopIftsZXpkpM/oofEoYPKMQh0JS03YhxbaG90CvP9xLg2ZL4fdjDAAUR tClNYXR0IENsYXVzb24gPE1hdHRfQ2xhdXNvbkBjbHViLm5jZGwuY29tPrQxTWF0 dCBDbGF1c29uIDxNYXR0X0NsYXVzb25AY2x1Yi5uY2RsLmNvbT4gUFJPSkVDVLQp TWF0dCBDbGF1c29uIDxNYXR0X0NsYXVzb25AY2x1Yi5uY2RsLmNvbT6JAJUCBRAu MKxoEuDZkvh92MMBAf2tA/9n72PD5sEBJ4wy1Dz2tCNGhwieahpIrgjWaAB2gHuY TDb0WtGZ011eqB3At/7p+FSpRoq8x4CcJoDKyK8ITwJL8vHu5MLm41EWpMkKce+K MgupuQsMiyLeFPW+1g9/PjIbx4M/C8K/8uPOxNIXjeKmJSQnXTcT6CdZa216bV/l hg== =qxw4 -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Fidonews Information ======================================================================== ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editors: Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar Tom Jennings "FidoNews" BBS FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS) Internet addresses: Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com (Postal Service mailing address) FidoNews 128 Church St. Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2H 2S4 Voice: (519) 570-3137 Published weekly by and for the members of the FidoNet international amateur electronic mail system. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of FidoNews. Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is Copyright 1994 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 of FidoNews in electronic form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or FidoNews 11-32 Page: 24 08 Aug 1994 Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet. PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above snail-mail address, or trade for copy of your 'zine. INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org, in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. If you would like a FAQ, or have questions regarding FidoNet, or UUCP<==>FidoNet gateways, please direct them to David Deitch (1:133/411@fidonet) at deitch@gisatl.fidonet.org. SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it. "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission. "the pulse of the cursor is the heartbeat of fidonet"... -- END ----------------------------------------------------------------------