F I D O N E W S Volume 16, Number 49 06 Dec 1999 +----------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet community | "FidoNews" | | _ | 1-717-732-6820 1:270/720 | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | | | | | \ \\ | Editor: Douglas Myers, 1:270/720 | | | (*) | \ )) | DougM@paonline.com | | |__U__| / \// | | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+---------------------------------------+ ___ _/...\ *==\ ________________ Santa Cows /::::::\ (/_\) / \ |:::::::_ (o o) | Moo, Moo, Moo | /-----+-+--- \ / /\________________/ / | | | | 0 ___/ * | _ |_| _ | || --+_+- || -- -- | |_ | |_ |____| |____| Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 Goodbye, George .......................................... 1 2. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR .................................... 3 FTSC Charter ............................................. 3 3. ARTICLES ................................................. 6 Echomail Terrorism ....................................... 6 Latency of Echomail, and why we need ..................... 6 Ex-Soviet Fido Is Alive And Kicking ...................... 7 4. COLUMNS .................................................. 8 Ol'WDB: Just a Christmas Thought ......................... 8 Fidonet-related sites .................................... 10 5. NET HUMOR ................................................ 14 Race Horses .............................................. 14 6. COMIX IN ASCII ........................................... 15 Moory Cowristmas! ........................................ 15 7. FIDONEWS INFORMATION ..................................... 16 Masthead ................................................. 16 FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 1 6 Dec 1999 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= Goodbye, George Doug Myers You don't have to hit me over the head with a two by four! It only takes me a week or so to finally get the message! So earlier this week I got netmail from George Peace telling me that he could no longer provide the dial-up connection for file and echo connections. At first it didn't occur to me that I had a problem, as I was doing the bulk of my traffic with my NC - I transferred FIDONEWS and another file area, BFDS, directly with George to get them on the Filebone as rapidly and reliably as possible, but picked up all the file areas I don't source through my NC. Similiarly with echomail. In fact, I'd never done echomail with George until just recently, when he allowed me a direct connection to his area manager as a favor so I could resolve a problem getting regional echoes. But then it occurred to me that my NC was also using George's dial-up modem to get the net feed, so I wrote George back and asked if my NC was also affected. It was starting to occur to me that I might have to adjust to the situation. That same day, I wrote a note in the FIDONEWS echo letting folks know that I'd need to change where I introduce FIDONEWS into the Filebone, as George was shutting down his dial up line. Apparantly, I touched off a spat of rumors which reached back to George: He wrote back to me the next day that John and I would be affected, but only the two of us... and wanted to know if I knew anything about the rumors that he was shutting down. I sent him a copy of what I'd written in the Fidonews echo and apologized if it touched off any rumors. Then the rumors started hitting me. At first the folks in the FIDONEWS echo asked me if George was shutting down (or expressed disbelief that he was doing so), so I spent my time "revealing" to them that George's changes were only going to affect me and my NC. Then folks started telling me I was wrong, and that he was actually shutting down all Fido traffic. "Mon," I thought, "these rumors are really getting out of control!" I'm not sure when I first found out that they weren't rumors. John Souvestre patiently explained things to me in netmail, including a copy of a message George had posted... George really was leaving Fido. Before I saw John's message, though, David Moufarrege called me to see how FIDONEWS would be distributed once George shut down... and I was telling him that George wasn't really shutting down, that it was just a rumor. But somewhere in the conversation, I could feel the two by four looming in the background, and figured I'd better shut up so as not to invite it... Durn... I didn't want to see George Peace go. He's done nothing but FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 2 6 Dec 1999 good for me since I've known him. I especially didn't want to give him any grief... George, may you find every happiness in your time after Fido. You've left some good people behind, and I'm confident they'll pick up any slack which is felt from your system missing. But you'll be missed... ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 3 6 Dec 1999 ================================================================= LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ================================================================= from David Hallford, 1:208/103 Hi Douglas! In a previous editorial you mentioned something about the FTSC. Here is a copy of FTA-1001.002 which is the Charter for the FTSC. It's pretty much plain language, but if you have any questions please feel free to ask. I may not have an answer , but I can ask the other Standing Members. I have to admit that the list of members sometimes makes me feel inadequate. Folks like Mats Wallin, Joaquim Homrighausen, and now Harald Harms and CHarles Cruden make me wonder what I am doing on that list. The conversation level, however, is pretty decent and I have learned a lot in my 1st year on the committee. with warm regards, Dave ********************************************************************* FTSC FIDONET TECHNICAL STANDARDS COMMITTEE ********************************************************************* Publication: FTA-1000 Revision: 2 Title: FTSC Charter Author: Administrator Revision Date: 29 December 1997 Expiry Date: Permanent Document --------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents: 1. Mission 2. Structure 3. Access --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Mission ---------- The Fidonet Technical Standards Committee (FTSC) is responsible for providing a thorough technical definition of FidoNet and its protocols sufficient to maintain it as a compatible electronic mail system, specifically by: 1. Documenting current practice in technical standards. 2. Encouraging new technologies in Fidonet software development. 3. Reassessing and revising FTS documents regularly. 4. Being publicly accessible to Fidonet sysops. 5. Distributing Technical Standards and Proposals. 6. Providing FTS document interpretations on software compatibility. FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 4 6 Dec 1999 The FTSC shall maintain a publication which documents only the minimum acceptable protocol for a Fidonet node to receive mail as referred to in the current FidoNet Policy Document (Policy 4.07 at this writing) The FTSC shall not take upon itself any right to increase or decrease this requirement without express direction to do so from the International Coordinator (IC). 2. Structure ------------ 2.1 Organization ---------------- 1. All members are Fidonet nodes in good standing. 2. Membership consists of no less than 7 and no more than 30. 3. Standing members are appointed Fidonet-wide as detailed in FTA-1001 (FTSC Operations). 4. An Administrator is selected by the FTSC standing members. 5. Working Group Leaders are appointed by the Administrator. 6. A freely-available list of members and Working Groups is maintained. 2.2 FTSC Administrator ---------------------- Appointed for a specific term, and responsible for coordinating the activities of the Working Groups and for the smooth operation of the FTSC as detailed in FTA-1001 (FTSC Operations). 2.3 Standing Members -------------------- Appointed for a specific term to advise and assist the Administrator in directing the technical focus of the FTSC. 2.4 Working Groups ------------------ Formed to develop and update standards. Both standing and short-term Working Groups may be formed. 2.5 Working Group Leader ------------------------ Responsible for forming an assigned Working Group and ensuring that its work is completed in a timely manner. Working Groups, and their assigned areas of expertise are detailed in FTA-1001 (FTSC Operations). 3. Access FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 5 6 Dec 1999 --------- A file distribution echo, and public and private echomail conferences are maintained, along with conferences for the various Working Groups, as detailed in FTA-1001 (FTSC Operations). A. History ---------- Rev.1, 19971009: First non-draft release. Author Adrian Walker. Rev.2, 19971229: Reformatted slightly. Author changed to Administrator. Revision number added. ******************************************************************** ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 6 6 Dec 1999 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= ECHOMAIL TERRORISM by David Hallford 1:208/103 There is a new breed of terrorist here in Fidonet - the EchoMail Terrorist. You probably know some of them. You know, the ones who only write in echomail and will never respond to your netmail. Ever wonder why? They're cowards. What they write in echomail is not covered by P4 at least here in Zone 1 (and the ZC who made that ruling is now the IC so it is logical to assume that it covers all of Fidonet). Most of us are in a quandry about what to do with these folks. Some (like me) choose to no longer participate in echomail. Some choose to leave Fidonet. Many go to either the Internet or to other FTN networks. Through our inaction these terrorists are in fact now running Fidonet. What can we do? Force the issue! If a moderator allows these actions in their echo - start another echo and ban the terrorist from it on day one! Before the "free speech' people get up in arms - these terrorists have no rights in an echo except those granted by the moderator so it is the moderators right to "refuse service". If these terrorists can't play nice then don't let them on the playground. It really is that simple - let the old echos die a natural death and refuse to allow terrorists in the new echos. Maybe then they can overcome their aversion to netmail and 'step up to the plate' like everyone else instead of cowardly hiding in the echos. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Latency of Echomail, and why we need * By Joe Jared, 1:103/301 joejared@osirusoft.com A couple weeks ago, I started campaigning heavily to improve thruput on the fidonet backbone. With George Peace leaving fidonet, latency will be a major issue, as nets find that their feeds for echomail have dried out. It also means that many of us at different levels of the backbone will have additional work to do, and unfortunately, that latency will increase. Currently, many of the FTP server hubs have scheduled events that occur once an hour, or once every 1/2 hour. Depending on your position, this can translate to as much as an hour for each hop along the backbone, and ultimately producing lags of a day or more. Until this problem is minimized at the top level hubs, we will experience slower traffic, which also translates to less messages. If it's not addressed promptly we will also see a loss of nodes, nets and possibly be watching one of the single worst disasters for fidonet, as people scramble to get their feed switched. Finding a new feed for echomail isn't difficult, but finding one that is responsive to your FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 7 6 Dec 1999 needs may be. For this reason, I have added yet another field to the list I have been maintaining, which will reflect also the responsiveness of the hub. Anyone may be added to this list just by asking, regardless of their affiliations. For purpose of definition, Latency is defined as the time in minutes that it takes for incomming mail to be processed AND enroute to the next level. If this process occurs immediately after the mail is received, then latency is 0. For a scheduled event, the time between events is what I'm looking for. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Ex-Soviet Fido Is Alive And Kicking Modern netters think now of a Fido as of a dying net. The amount of nodes decreases, echos either dry out or became the part of a Usenet, Internet has kicked Fido out. Perhaps that is true in Zone1. Why shall a new user get a point and use some obsolete FTN soft if he can get cheap unlimited Internet access? But here, in the countries of the former Soviet Union (the so-called "Zone 7") the situation is vice versa. The number of nodes increases, echomail traffic is fat, you can often meet a person, who says "Ha, I-net? I don't need it actually. I'm a Fido point and that's enough for me". Fido is even small for some, so they create dozens of local FTNs - "X-net", "DoomNet", "21-Century Net", etc... What causes such a great development? Initially it is high internet prices. Full unlimited access costs something about $70 per month. And that's very expensive here. Why pay so much for an account if you can get a point number for some bottles of beer. (Though according to the policy, Fido membership is free, it's a common tradition here to buy some beers to your node when you are getting a number.) So a fresh point can pick out any echo he want - Region 2:50 backbone will satisfy all tastes. You can have the most exotic hobby and be sure that there certainly is a corresponding echo. The problem is that "Zone 7" is mostly Russian-languge Fido. So international echos are not very popular. For example, Fidonews are read by a small quantity of nodes. That needs to be solved somehow - we must feel ourselves really a part of an Earthwide friends network. Andrei Besedin from Kyiv, Ukraine. Andrei_Besedin@p308.f566.n463.z2.fidonet.org ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 8 6 Dec 1999 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= Just a Christmas Thought... 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, HE LIVED ALL ALONE, IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE. I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE, AND TO SEE JUST WHO IN THIS HOME DID LIVE. I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE, NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS, NOT EVEN A TREE. NO STOCKING BY MANTLE, JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND, ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES OF FAR DISTANT LANDS. WITH MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS, A SOBER THOUGHT CAME THROUGH MY MIND. FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT, IT WAS DARK AND DREARY, I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER, ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY. THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING, SILENT, ALONE, CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME. THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE, THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER, NOT HOW I PICTURED A UNITED STATES SOLDIER. WAS THIS THE HERO OF WHOM I'D JUST READ? CURLED UP ON A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR A BED? I REALIZED THE FAMILIES THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT, OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT. SOON ROUND THE WORLD, THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY, FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 9 6 Dec 1999 AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY. THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR, BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS, LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE. I COULDN'T HELP WONDER HOW MANY LAY ALONE, ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME. THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE, I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND STARTED TO CRY. THE SOLDIER AWAKENED AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE, "SANTA DON'T CRY, THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE; I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON'T ASK FOR MORE, MY LIFE IS MY GOD, MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS." THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP, I COULDN'T CONTROL IT, I CONTINUED TO WEEP. I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS, SO SILENT AND STILL AND WE BOTH SHIVERED FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL. I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT, THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR SO WILLING TO FIGHT. THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER, WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE, WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA, IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE." ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT. "MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT." This poem was written by a Marine stationed in Okinawa Japan. The following is his request. I think it is reasonable..... FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 10 6 Dec 1999 PLEASE. Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us. Please, do your small part to plant this small seed. Passed along by: Ol'WDB ----------------------------------------------------------------- ! = New entries this week ? = not responding ?? = unknown content, doesn't look like fidonet . -- -- -- -- --- -- -- -- -- . | FIDONET-RELATED SITES | ` -- -- -- -- --- -- -- -- -- ' Last update: Dec 4, 1999 FidoNet Homepage: http://www.fidonet.org FidoNews: http://www.fidonews.org [HTML] ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/fidonet/fidonews/ ftp://sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/ SDS Files: http://fidobbs.dk/download (Web Access to SDS) FTSC page: http://www.ftsc.org/ General: http://owls.com/~jerrys/fidonet.html List server: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/fidonet-discussion Zone 1: http://www.z1.fidonet.org Region 10: http://www.psnw.com/~net205/region10.html http://www.tnl-online.com/andy/rgn10.htm Net 103: http://www.webworldinc.com/club103/ Region 11: http://oeonline.com/~garyg/region11/ Net 2410: http://oeonline.com/~garyg/net2410/ Region 13: http://www.net264.org/r13.htm Net 264: http://www.net264.org/ Region 14: Net 282: http://www.rxn.com/~net282/ Region 17: http://www.nwstar.com/~region17/ Region 18: http://techshop.pdn.net/fido/ Region 19: http://members.home.net/hbh3/r19 Net 124: http://www.startext.net/np/net124 http://texoma.net/~flv Net 130: http://www.startext.net/homes/net130 Net 393: http://www.chatter.com/~wb/ Zone 1 Elist http://members.xoom.com/echolist/ FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 11 6 Dec 1999 Zone 2: http://www.z2.fidonet.org Region 20: http://www.fidonet.pp.se (in Swedish) Region 23: http://www.fido.dk (in Danish) Region 24: http://www.swb.de/personal/flop/gatebau.html (German) Fido-IP: http://home.nrh.de/fido/ (English/German) Region 25: http://www.literary.freeserve.co.uk/net2502/ Region 26: http://www.nemesis.ie REC 26: http://www.nrgsys.com/orb Region 27: http://telematique.org/ft/r27.htm Region 29: http://www.rtfm.be/fidonet/ (French) Region 30: http://www.fidonet.ch (German) ? Region 33: http://www.fidoitalia.net (Italian) Region 34: http://www.pobox.com/cnb/r34.htm (Spanish) REC34: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/4552/ Region 36: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/7207/ Region 38: http://public.st.carnet.hr/~blagi/bbs/adriam.html Region 41: http://www.fidonet.gr (Greek/English) Region 42: http://www.fido.cz Region 50: http://www.fido7.com/ (Russian) Net 5010: http://fido.tu-chel.ac.ru/ (Russian) Net 5015: http://www.fido.nnov.ru/ (Russian) Net 5030: http://kenga.ru/fido/ (Russian & English) Net 5049: http://www.n5049.z2.fidonet.org (English/Russian) ?? Net 5085: http://www.fidonet.uz/ (Russian) Zone 3: http://www.z3.fidonet.org Zone 4: Region 80: http://fidobrasil.8m.com (Portuguese) Region 90: Net 904: http://members.tripod.com/~net904 (Spanish) Zone 5: http://www.eastcape.co.za/fidonet/ Zone 6: http://www.z6.fidonet.org Region 65: http://www.cfido.com/fidonet/cfidochina.html (Chinese) Fidonet Via Internet Hubs a @ preceding an individual's name implies a virtual email address. The email is translated as follows firstlast@osirusoft.com will automatically route to the appropriate individual's email. Anyone in this list will also receive routed notice of this feature. In my case, it would still be joejared@osirusoft.com, but you get the idea. Also, as information is provided to me, I will be adding a latency field to each node, which is defined as the time between when the message is received, and when it is sent on to other nodes, or available to be sent onward, defined in minutes. A latency of ! implies that there is an immediate response, and an attempt to deliver immediately after processing, or a "MinuteMail System", as it were. FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 12 6 Dec 1999 v-email flag firstnamelastname@osirusoft.com | email address or Node# | Operator | Facilities (*) | Speed,| Basic Rate | | |latency| -----------+-------------------+----------------+-------+------------ Zone 1 | | | | 10/3 @ Brenda Donovan | FTP,UUE,BinkP | T1?,30| $??/$10 12/12 | Ken Wilson | FTP | T1 | $24mo. 13/25 @ Jim Balcom | FTP | 56k | $20mo. 103/153 @ Michael Box | BinkP | aDSL | n/c 103/301 @ Joe Jared | BinkP,FTP | aDSL,!| n/c 103/328 @ Mark Luetger | BinkP | 384k,!| n/c 105/8 | Russ Johnson | FTP,BinkP,VMoT | 384k | n/c 105/72 @ Larry James | FTP | aDSL | $5/$15 mo. 106/1 @ Matt Bedynek | BinkP, FTP | DS-3,5| $5/$15 mo 106/6018 | Lawrence Garvin | FTP, VMoT | aDSL | n/c 140/1 @ Bob Seaborn | FTP | T3,60 | $5/$16 167/133 | Stephen Monteith | BinkP | 128k+ | n/c 211/417 @ Korombos | BinkD,UUE,FTP | T1 | n/c 246/160 @ Mason Vye | FTP, UUE | 56K | n/c 271/140 @ Tom Barstow | UUE,FTP | T1 | n/c 280/169 | Brian Greenstreet | FTP | 33.6 | $2mo. 342/3 | Richard Dodsworth | BinkP,FTP | 128K+ | n/c 345/0 @ Todd Cochrane | FTP | T1 | n/c 396/1 @ John Souvestre | FTP,VMoT | T1 | $10/mo 396/45 | Marc Lewis | UUE | 33.6 | $26/yr 2401/305 | Peter Rocca | FTP,UUE | T1 | unkn 2424/101 | Kari Suomela | FTP,VMoT,BinkP,UUE| T1 | $25.00/mo 2604/104 | Jim Mclaughlin | FTP,VMoT,UUE | 33.6 | $1mo 3613/2 @ jyates@bsdi.ldl.net | UUE | 28.8 | n/c 2613/404 @ David Moufarrege | BinkP,FTP,VMoT | 128k+ | n/c 2624/306 @ D. Calafrancesco | VMoT | 33.6 | n/c 3632/84 | Robert Todd |FTP,VMoT,UUE,BinkP | 57.6k | n/c 3639/93 @ Ross Cassell | FTP, BinkP |128K+,!| n/c 3651/9 | Jerry Gause | FTP,VMoT | 33.6 | $3/$6 3803/1 @ Ben Ritchey | UUE | 56k | n/c -------------------------------------------------------------- Zone 2 | 20/11 | Henrik Lindhe | BinkP | ??? | n/c 31/1 | Gabriel Plutzar | BinkP | T1+ | n/c 203/600 | Mikael Karlsson | UUE | 64k | n/c 221/360 @ Tommi Koivula | BinkP,UUE | ??? | n/c 236/205 @ Michael Kaaber | BinkP | ??? | n/c 246/2098 | Volker Imre | BinkP | ??? | n/c 284/800 | Jeroen VanDeLeur | FTP,UUE | 64k | n/c 292/626 | Filip Ruymen | Binkp, UUE | 128K+ | n/c 292/2003 | Eric Vaneberck | BinkP | 768k | n/c 301/1 | Peter Witschi | BinkP | 768k | n/c 332/807 | Roberto Mascolo | BinkP | ??? | n/c 335/535 @ Mario Mure | BinkP,VMot,UUE | 64k | n/c 335/610 | Gino Lucrezi | UUE | 33.6 | n/c 344/201 | Julio Garcia | BinkP | ??? | n/c 346/3 @ Carlos Navarro | UUE | ??? | n/c 382/100 | Sinisa Burina | BinkP | ??? | n/c 406/555 | Marius Kaizerman | BinkP | ??? | n/c 406/555 | Ofir Michaeli & | BinkP | ??? | n/c FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 13 6 Dec 1999 423/81 | Milos Bajer | BinkP | ??? | n/c 464/4077 | Serguei Trouchelle| UUE | 19.2 | n/c 465/204 | Va Milushnikov | BinkP | 33.6k | n/c 469/84 | Max Masyutin | VMoT | 256k | n/c 480/112 | Adam Sarapata| FTP, VMoT, UUE,BinkP| 128k | n/c 2411/413 @ Dennis Dittrich | UUE,BinkP | 64k | n/c 2446/301 | Lothar Behet | BinkP,VMoT,UUE,FTP | 64K | n/c 2474/275 | Christian Emig | UUE | 64k | unkn 5030/115 | Andrey Podkolzin | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5100/8 | Egons Bush | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5020/1159 | Gennady Kudryashoff | UUE | 33.6 | n/c -------------------------------------------------------------- Zone 3 633/260 @ Malcolm Miles | FTP,BinkP | 64K | n/c 640/954 | Rick Van Ruth | FTP,VMot,UUE,BinkP| 56K| n/c 774/605 @ Barry Blackford|BinkP,VMoT:10023,ifcico,FTP |33.6| n/c -------------------------------------------------------------- Zone 4 905/100 | Fabian Gervan | VMoT,UUE,BinkP | 128k | n/c 902/18 | Javier Tejedor | UUE | 33,6 | n/c -- * FTP = Internet File Transfer Protocol * VMoT = Virtual Mailer over Telnet (various) * UUE = uuencode<->email type transfers * BinkP = front end mailer for TCPIP networks ---------------------------------------------- Fidonet oriented news servers news.osirusoft.com news.tardis.net Fidonet oriented chat rooms. room #fidonet 5PM (PDT 11AM GMT) Sundays irc.isonline.com irc.killaz-r-us.com irc.korombos.org ---------------------------------------------- Please send updates, corrections and suggestions to Joe Jared, 1:103/301, joejared@osirusoft.com, and complaints to jarhead@osirusoft.com . ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 14 6 Dec 1999 ================================================================= NET HUMOR ================================================================= Race Horses Thanks to Roy Reed rcreedv@juno.com Charlie was a regular visitor at the racetrack. One afternoon he noticed an unusual site. Right before the first race, a Catholic Priest visited one of the horses in the stable area and gave it a blessing. Charlie watched the horse race very carefully, and sure enough, the blessed horse came in first! Charlie followed the Priest before the next race. Again, the Priest went to the stables and blessed another horse. Charlie quickly put two dollars on that horse and won close to fifty bucks! The Priest kept blessing horses and Charlie kept betting on them and they won! The last race of the day was the biggest and Charlie saw the Priest with that horse, also! He quickly went to his bank and withdrew his life's savings of $20,000, went back to the racetrack and put it all on that horse! He watched the race in certain anticipation of leaving a millionaire! The horse was last to cross the line and Charlie was dead broke! He couldn't believe what happened so he went looking for the Priest. He found the man and asked "What happened to that last horse you blessed? Because your blessing didn't work, I've lost all of my money!" The Priest said, "That's the trouble with you Protestants, you can't tell the difference between a blessing and the Last Rites!" ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 15 6 Dec 1999 ================================================================= COMIX IN ASCII ================================================================= O O O O Moory O * Cowristmas! ____ /|\ _____________________| |_____ /||o\ /______________________________\ /|o|||\ ~ /________________________________\ /|||||o|\ ~~ #### || | |||||||||||| | || /||o||||||\ ~(oo) ||___|___||||||||||||___|___|| /||||o||||||\ /-------\/ || | |||||||||||| | || /|o||||o|||o||\ / | || ||___|___||||||||||||___|__ || | | * ||----|| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||ooooooooo| |ooooooo oooo~~oooo~~ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 16-49 Page 16 6 Dec 1999 ================================================================= FIDONEWS INFORMATION ================================================================= Masthead + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- FIDONEWS STAFF - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Editor: Douglas Myers, 1:270/720, DougM@paonline.com | | Webmaster: Jim Barchuk, jb@fidonews.org | | Columnist: Joe Jared, 1:103/0, jarhead@osirusoft.com | | (Fido Via Internet Hubs column) | | Columnist: Warren D. Bonner, 1:103/401, wdbonner@pacbell.net | | (Warren uses the pen name "Ol'WDB") | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - EDITORS EMERITI - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince | | Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, | | Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg, Henk Wolsink | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, P.O. Box 410923, San Francisco, CA 94141, and are used with permission. Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of Fidonet. Fidonews is Copyright (C) 1999 by Douglas Myers, though authors retain rights to their contributed articles. Opinion expressed by the authors is strictly their own. Noncommercial duplication and distribution within Fidonet is encouraged. Authors are encouraged to send their articles in ASCII text to Douglas Myers at one of his addresses above. The weekly edition of Fidonews is distributed through the file area FIDONEWS, and is published as echomail in the echo FIDONEWS. These sources are normally available through your Network Coordinator. The current and past issues are also available from the following sources: + -- -- -- -- -- -- - FIDONEWS AVAILABILITY - -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Freq FIDONEWS @ 1:270/720, 1:140/1, or 1:396/1 | | ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/ | | ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/fidonet/fidonews/ | | http://www.fidonews.org | | email subscription: majordomo@fidonews.org | | (subject: help body: list) | | ftp mail: ftpmail@fidonews.org (subject: help) | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + -----------------------------------------------------------------