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Table of Contents
1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1
386 Memory Manager - a Quick Look ........................ 1
Counter-Propaganda for Mr. Witherspoon ................... 4
Universal Mayhem Update .................................. 6
2. COLUMNS .................................................. 15
The Veterinarian's Corner: Fleas! ........................ 15
Notes From Bureaucracy South (Part 2) .................... 17
A Public Service Announcement ............................ 19
3. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 20
Latest Software Versions ................................. 20
And more!
FidoNews 6-18 Page 1 1 May 1989
386MAX Memory Manager
A BBS Application Oriented Product Peek
I was after a way to get more Transient Program Area on the 386
server on the Software Tools BBS LAN that supports 3:711/403 and
3:3/113. There are maintenance tasks that run on the server and
some of them are quite memory hungry. I have been using a plethora
of small utilities to shadow ROMs and squeeze the maximum grunt out
of the 386 but felt that there had to be more that could be done.
I'd seen the ads from Qualitas for a utility called "386MAX" that
promised to do some wonderful things with 386 memory management, so
I decided to buy a copy and have a look at it.
386MAX allows you to fill the empty memory spaces between the ROMs
above 640K with memory that can be used for a variety of purposes.
It automatically moves any BIOS or EGA ROMS into fast RAM in this
area and then makes the rest available for whatever use you can put
it too. This area between 640K (A0000 hex) and 1M (10000 hex) is
termed "high memory" by 386MAX.
I found I was able to load the Lantastic REDIR program into the
high memory, along with OPUSCOMM, SHARE and FASTOPEN... increasing
my TPA in low memory from 450K to 486K. It looks as though other
TSRs could also be loaded up there. The 386MAX documentation has
some advice about what you should and shouldn't attempt to load in
high memory.
386MAX uses F0000 to 100000 for showing the BIOS ROMs etc and with
my EGA, Perstor and Lantastic card installed at their default
locations, the high memory area was split into three chunks of 16K,
48K and 64K. It turned out that this was less than optimum for
loading some of the things I wanted to get into high memory.
A quick look at the Lantastic documentation showed that I could
readdress the Lantastic card memory space, so I moved it from the
default of D8000 to E8000 (so it sits right under the shadowed ROM
area) and this gave me a 112K contiguous area of high memory that
allowed me to load all the things I wanted.
The batch files that load to the network had to be modified to
indicate to the LANBIOS where the LAN card was addressed but that
was a few moments work with an editor. 386MAX also had to be told
that the Lantastic card was using the space from E8000 to F0000 by
using a "RAM=E800-F000" statement on its command line.
I found that some programs seem to need quite a bit of free space
in high memory to load, even though they don't actually use a lot
of space once loaded. FASTOPEN, for instance, only occupies about
9K when loaded with a generous amount of buffer space, but would
FidoNews 6-18 Page 2 1 May 1989
not load at all into high memory when the largest contiguous chunk
was only 64K. When I increased that to 112K I had no problem
loading FASTOPEN.
386MAX can give a number of useful displays of memory utilisation.
Unfortunately most of them cannot be reproduced in Fidonews. I
have modified several to get a reasonable approximation of the
information displayed on the screen, though in each case
information had to be deleted in order to meet Fidonews
presentation requirements.
Figure 1 is part of the overall system memory assignment display,
the nice graphic part on the top had to be chopped....
Extended memory usage...
ROM mapping region = 80 KB, C000-C400, F000-10000
Program storage = 88 KB
EMS memory = 0 KB
Remaining ext memory = 872 KB
High DOS memory = 128 KB, C400-C800, CC00-E800
Low DOS memory = 0 KB
Total extended memory = 1168 KB, shadow RAM recovered = 144KB
Total expanded memory = 0 KB, in use = 0 KB,
available = 0 KB
==> Loading programs in LOW memory...
==> 88 KB available in HIGH memory, largest block is 75 KB.
The current state is ON.
FIGURE 1.
The Figure 2 shows how the memory area from 0K to 1M is utilised...
386MAX can do a lot of other tricks with extended memory in a 386
PC, including making it look like EMS memory. I don't have a need
for most of it's other facilities for my BBS LAN applications so I
haven't investigated them thoroughly, though they all seem to work
well in a brief test.
The "high memory" capability alone has made 386MAX a very useful
tool for me and it is certainly worth a look for anyone using a 386
PC.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-18 Page 4 1 May 1989
Daniel Tobias
1:380/2
I'm not sure if political propaganda is a particularly
appropriate topic for FidoNews (TJ himself got flamed quite
a bit for his foray in that area last year), but since
Claude F. Witherspoon started it...
In FidoNews 609, Mr. Witherspoon, of node 1:288/525,
reprinted an allegorical tale lifted (I'm not sure with or
without copyright permission) from Reader's Digest,
paralleling the collapse of Chinese civilization under heavy
opium use, to a predicted collapse of American civilization
due to the present illegal drug culture.
Such "moral" stories always oversimplify facts for the
purpose of propaganda. I'm sure the causes of the decline
in China were many and varied, and it's possible the
widespread drug use was more a symptom of the society's
decadence than the direct cause of its fall. But I'm no
history student, so I won't claim to know the answers there.
But I do object to the attempt by conservatives to claim
that the fabric of society will be damaged beyond repair if
people are allowed to freely pursue "immoral" lifestyles.
Whether the subject be sex, drugs, or rock-and-roll, the
forces of social repression are always agitating for
restrictions on individual liberty in the name of preserving
civilization against decadence.
My position, however, is that one of the most important
parts of American civilization is its general tradition of
personal freedom, social tolerance, and individualism. If
these are trampled on in the name of "morality", more will
be lost than gained.
Drugs can cause much harm to their users. Cocaine,
heroin, and nicotine are all addictive and harmful to the
health, and people would be best off staying away from them
altogether. Alcohol and marijuana might perhaps be safely
used in moderation, but can be abused with harmful effects
to the user (and to others if the user drives under the
influence), so shouldn't be regarded as "harmless." I
myself don't make regular use of any of these substances.
Yet, the "war on drugs" causes even more harm than the
drugs themselves. It doesn't stop users from getting their
drugs, but it does create a great crime problem surrounding
the distribution of drugs and their artificially-high cost
which leads users to steal to pay for their next fix. (When
is the last time you saw somebody commit burglary to support
his cigarette smoking habit?)
Various hysterical measures now being practiced or
proposed in the name of the "war on drugs" are harmful to
the Constitutional principles of this country. For
FidoNews 6-18 Page 5 1 May 1989
instance, cars, boats, and planes are being seized without
due process of law if minute quantities of pot are found.
Drug agents ruthlessly ransack houses of anyone suspected of
involvement in drugs, and often innocent people get
victimized in error. Increasing invasions of personal
privacy are becoming commonplace.
The correct solution is not repression, but education.
Teach people of the true effects of various substances, and
most will choose to stay away from the harmful ones. Those
who still use drugs will be making an informed choice to
trade off the possibility of health damage for what they
regard as a pleasurable activity, which should be their
right in a free society. They should fully bear the costs
and risks of their choice, as does somebody who chooses to
eat unhealthy foods or engage in risky activities like
skiing or skydiving. You are the self-owner of your own
body, and it is your right and responsibility to decide what
substances get placed in it.
The war on drugs is a war against liberty. We should
return to the system that prevailed in the nineteenth
century, when all drugs were legal; incidentally, that was a
time of unprecedented economic growth in this country,
disproving the implication of Witherspoon's story that
allowing drug use will inevitably cause the decay of a
civilization. Support free enterprise: re-legalize drugs!
Questions, comments, and constructive criticism can be
sent to me at 1:380/2. Ad-hominem attacks ("...I hope some
druggie runs over you and your mother and all you commies go
to hell for your idiotic beliefs...") can be sent to
/dev/nul on UNIX machines, or NUL: on MS-DOS machines.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-18 Page 6 1 May 1989
Fredric L. Rice
(103/503.3 Astro-Net)
(714) 662-2294
- The abandoned Part 1:
Hundreds of light years from the nearest planet or star a small,
cylindrical craft slices its' way through the void, searching
for landfall. Its' only companion for these last seven years has
been the hyperspace radio link; a talkative companion who has
offered a certain measure of comfort on such a long journey as
this; orders which tell it where to turn and which speeds and
cross trajectories to perform in its endless search.
Reporting failures to locate habitable planets has caused the
remote robot sensor to wonder if it has been forgotten by those
God-like creatures who created it. A quick nanosecond of panic
scurries its' way through the remotes' circuitry at this unworthy
numerical thought and it faithfully continues its search.
- Battleship SCOR:
CAPTAIN MALCON OF the battleship SCOR recording, 881128.20.
"I am uneasy at the recent alliance with SANO and BONP. I know
that Central High Command feels such an alliance is in the best
interest of the Republic but still, I have heard certain rumors,
and attack swarm four, commanded by my brother Divad, hasn't
reported in last shift. Attempts to gain radio contact have met
with failure and I must assume the swarm destroyed. No mayday
was received so perhaps they have met with equipment failure.
"Meanwhile, SANO and BONP are scheduled to be on patrol along
the Optemerder arm of the Galaxy, watching for intrusions into
the Republic, allowing SCOR time to refit and rebuild after our
encounter with TRIL.
"Still I am uneasy. SANO's Captain Marker is a clever one and I
would be hard pressed to fight well against him. BONP's Captain
I don't know but have heard he is ruthless and isn't adverse to
buying biological weapons from pirates and using them against
his enemies.
"They are too strong and I don't trust them."
"Meanwhile, we are still making slow progress to our repair
station and expect to make landfall within two months.
"Captain Malcon etc... etc..."
---
The old and war-scarred battleship SCOR was heavily damaged and
leaking air as it made its way to spacedock. Many of the crew
had been killed this time out and many were still in critical
FidoNews 6-18 Page 7 1 May 1989
condition down in sick bay. The survivors of the fight were in
low spirits and there had been talk of mutiny. The instigators
had been ferreted out and vacuumed as a televised event on all
ships channels to serve as a reminder to any dissenters of the
captains authority.
The bridge was a wreck. Fluid state components smashed by the
many concussions were leaking and dripping from consoles to
the floor. Whole control stations had been ripped from the
flooring braces when the deck plates had buckled upwards and the
bridge had a slight slant which made the bridge crew
uncomfortable.
The air scrubbers had been damaged early in the fight and a
thick blanket of smoke still hung overhead. Many sections of the
ship had caught fire when the volatile antimatter intermix
chambers coolant containment vessels had ruptured, and the fire
control chief was unable to contain the fires. In a desperate
measure to stop the fires, three entire decks had been
vacuumed, killing the fire, and the majority of the crew.
Some had to die.
"Here's the casualty list, sir, and a list of religious
affiliations. More than eighteen hundred missing."
Captain Malcon took the list from the sick bay officer and shook
his head, "More than half of the casualties want to be buried
in the ships' antimatter compressors. 'Can't do that until we
get them back on line, of course. Put them on ice and ask
planetary command if we can bury the rest here."
"Aye, sir". The sick bay officer turned on her heal and left,
her feet crunching on carbonized plastics. It's hard to memorize
all the names, Malcon thought. So many of them die so hard and
so fast, I can't keep up with them.
Captain Malcon stepped over his dead steward and nearly fell
when his foot slipped out from under him. Grabbing onto the bent
arm of his command chair, he looked down to see the blood that
was still spreading, noting the contrast of the red against the
black, and wondering at the perfect red foot print he had made.
The intercom controls on the chair had been smashed. "Ensign,
get someone up here to clear away the bodies. I want this bridge
to be cleared as soon as Johnson finishes up with engineering.
The ensign, who had been called to the bridge to take over for
an injured pilot, strode down hill to the workman access hatch
and slid down the ladder to the decks below to carry out his
orders.
Malcon sat down in his chair and pressed against the arm, trying
to push it out to keep it from pressing against his side. The
steward had been thrown into it early in the battle and had bent
the arm badly. Finally giving up, Malcon looked around his
bridge.
FidoNews 6-18 Page 8 1 May 1989
The air was running out and with the antimatter engines still
out, would not be replaceable. All ships systems which were
absolutely required were operating in low-power modes which made
the ship uncomfortably cold. If many of the crew members had
survived, the accumulative body heat would have made the ship
very hot. Captain Malcon wondered if his ship would survive
another two months to landfall.
---
The Vultures:
Not far away, two battle ships lay, watching the bent and broken
SCOR limp away. SANO and BONP sat outside of SCORs' remaining
sensor range and held a discussion:
BONP: "I tell you, we attack now! While they are at their
weakest! In a few more hours they may be able to regain some
of their armament capability!"
SANO: "Steve, wait a minute. Let's see if they are able to make
it to landfall first. If they don't, that fool ship TRIL will
have done our work for us."
BONP: "And if they do make landfall? What then? They will
rebuild and find the people who hired TRIL! Are you so sure
we won't be found out! Of course we will; I say attack now
and finish them!"
Captain Marker of the Republic battleship SANO sat back in his
command chair and looked at the image of Captain Steve Baltine.
Just for a moment, Marker had considered taking him out
permanently. Though he thought he could easily defeat the BONP,
it was entirely possible that Baltine had made alliances outside
of the Republic. Such things had been known to happen and if it
had happened once, it could easily happen again.
SANO: "We wait. We wait and see if they make it. If they are
still alive by the end of the solar month, we will move in
but not until then."
Marker hit the ship-to-ship on his command chair and noted the
look on Baltines' face as the screen darkened. It was clear that
Baltine had entertained similar thoughts he himself had been
considering.
"Lt. Maklin, bring our shields up to half power."
"But sir, the SCOR will be able to pick us up if we do so, even
with the shape their sensor array is in!"
"I know that, Lt., but I don't thrust that Baltine. Better
to have a crippled enemy know of our whereabouts than have a
friend turn unfriendly."
"Yes, sir. Defense screens at half power."
FidoNews 6-18 Page 9 1 May 1989
The SANOs' bridge lights flickered briefly as the power was
channeled from ships systems to the defense screens. Almost as
soon as the screen were up, Lt. Maklin reported, "Sir,
BONP has raised his shields to full power and is hailing us
on ship-to-ship. He demands an explanation and swears he will
destroy us. Shall I answer?"
"No, Lt.", Marker switched visual tie-ins on the chairs'
console, bringing up a split-screen of the broken ship, with
its glittering trail of frozen air crystals, and the view of the
BONP, the corona discharge of full shields menacing. "Let him
listen to static for awhile."
---
"Captain! Two reading!" Malcons' eyes snapped open and sat bolt
upright in his chair. Engineering had come two hours ago and
replaced it for him, vowing that they would do there best with
the rest of the ship. "They're directly in our wake, sir, trying
to hide in our gamma trail! One's considerable brighter than the
other... Must be defense shielding!"
Private Johnson brought the aft view up on the highest
magnification possible. Captain Malcon jumped forward out of his
chair and strode left to the navigators console. "Something
shielded... I can compute the volume of the objects by the
envelope against distance, sir. Strange, they didn't come up
on us, just suddenly appeared."
"They are following us, I can see that much. Anything yet on the
identification, Johnson?"
"Just a moment, sir," Johnson brought up one ship identification
profile after another, using the computer to compare the distant
readings against those stored in his computer. "It looks like
both bogeys might be Republic battleships but I can't be sure
with the way you've reprogrammed our arrays." Malcon let the
comment pass. "Confirmed, sir, same class as us, no positive
identification on the ships transponders."
"Bring up hyperspace channels for ship-to-ship. Let's see what
they're up to. Perhaps they can offer assistance though I
wonder why they haven't done so so far. With both of them
towing, we could make port within a week."
Johnson reached under the console and pulled several levers
upwards, raising the communications dias from the floor next to
his console. Bending over it, he said, "The gigasponder it still
missaligned, sir, no communications is possible."
On the view screen, both objects hung in space, surrounded by a
faint and hazy glow. The tactical computers had arbitrarily
named the brighter of the objects as "Primary" and the dimmer as
"Secondary". To the left side of the view screen, on a much
smaller screen, was displayed the configuration of a Republic
Battleship, a configuration Captain Malcon knew all too well.
FidoNews 6-18 Page 10 1 May 1989
"How about sending protocol codes over ships running lights?"
"I'll have to write that in, sir." Malcon watched with some
amusement while Johnson quickly brought up the computers line
editor and wrote several filters, a sorter, and compression
algorithm, all within minutes. "Sending." Most navigators would
have talked the program in as a request these days. Some of the
academy graduates, though, were luck enough to be taught under
the guidance of professor Cadens, who also taught history and
stressed a little of the old ways. "No response, sir."
The Captain was about to issue an order to keep trying when
Johnson said, "Activity, sir!" Even as Captain Malcons' eyes
went to the view screen, the radar return of the navigational
fixes strengthened as the Primary ship moved towards them. The
second ship on the viewer brightened as its shields were
brought up to full power.
---
"What's that fool doing!" Captain Marker exclaimed as he watched
the BONP move towards the crippled SCOR. "Shields up! Full
power, Maklin! Position ourselves between SCOR and BONP, keep
our primary shields up at all cost! Brings us about at full
speed and stay ready on those phasers!"
As Maklin hammered out the commands on his navigation console,
Captain Johnson struck the ship-to-ship on his command chair.
Within seconds, Captain Baltine of the battleship BONP came on
the view screen, "Why Captain... You finally choose to return
my calls! What can I do for you?"
"I can not allow you to come within identification range of
SCOR! You idiot! There communications may be repaired soon and
we'll be hunted down like dogs! I'll stop your if I must!"
Captain Baltine simply smiled, "Captain, captain, captain... You
are in no condition to stop a Salinian show cat from biting,
much less stop me! Move aside or I shall split you in two!" With
a slap to his command chair arm, the channel was closed.
"Sir, we are directly between SCOR and BONP. BONP's speed and
course has not altered! Collision in sixteen seconds." Captain
Johnson considered. Should he allow the BONP to destroy SCOR and
make a run from this sector, disavowing his involvement in case
SCOR should somehow get a message off? His time was running out.
He knew a collision with BONP would be equally as disastrous
to both ships.
"Stand here, Maklin, let's see if he's got the guts for it!"
Johnson considered counting the seconds but looked around the
bridge. Several engineers from the lower decks had stopped
their repairs and were watching the swelling ship coming at
them at near light speeds. A count down was pointless.
As BONP came close, it veered off under them, merging the
FidoNews 6-18 Page 11 1 May 1989
defense screens on the less shielded portions of SANO. On
BONP, the heavily shielded command sections brushed against
the SANO's shields. Aboard both ships death blossomed.
---
"What in Aernaths' name are they doing!" Captain Malcon watched
the near fatal collision of the two distant ships. "Get a man
top side on those gigasponders! I want to know what's
happening!"
Johnson called down to engineering, "Get me ensign Sanders!" A
few moments passed and "Sanders! Know how to align the
gigasponders on this ship?"
"Of course, sir!"
"Get on it, right away!"
"Now sir?" The fear was evident in the ensigns voice. He knew
that with a battle taking place in this sector, his chances of
survival were slim if he took a gamma bath.
"That's an order, ensign. Now!" And Johnson switched off.
Ensign Sanders ran to the environmental lockers and drew out a
full suit, taking time to check its functioning and still get
in as fast as possible. ''I must be nuts'', he thought to
himself. ''Climb outside with a battle taking place just meters
from our hull! I should hide, that's what I should do, hide in
the mess stores until planet fall. Then catch a shuttle to some
commerce planet!''
Sanders grabbed the optical alignment tools he needed for the
job, ''From there I could sign on as a food taster at some
palace... Safer than this idiot nonsense!''
Sanders stood in air lock 17 and cycled his air out. The deck
turned under him and the outer door opened, allowing him to face
the stars. His suit was tugged a little as the remaining air
shot into vacuum, At this speed, none could be seen to move.
"Awww, fuck it!", he said, and reached overhead and rolled out
of the lock until he was standing on the outer hull.
Looking over the command bubble extending a hundred meters
before him, he swore, "What a mess! What an Aernath mess!" The
bubble was bent and had melted along the entire length of the
command section. Out over the drive clusters, he could see the
thrust guides had been bent clear out of alignment. It was
clear to Sanders that this ship would never space again.
"If it gets us to dock", he said to himself.
Walking around jagged holes in the hull, he made his way forward
to the gigisponder network. Though badly bent, it could still
be made operational if he could align it. He checked his
intrasuit monitors and noticed the radiation count as he walked
FidoNews 6-18 Page 12 1 May 1989
forward. As he crested the bubble, the count rose to hazard
levels and Sanders cursed again. Looking up, he cursed again.
Screaming towards the SCOR, SANO and BONP's death embrace was
clearly visible and growing perceptible larger even as he
watched. High energy phasers shot out and cut through the two
ships, slicing off huge streamers of high energy particles
like curls of shaven wood. Immediately after the phaser strike,
the attacking ship would follow with damaging torpedoes which
dug deep into the enemy ships hull. Both ships were trailing
huge chunks of unidentifiable wreckage.
SANO turned over the BONP and raked the command sections with
a withering score of phasers, pressing in close to affect the
maximum damage possible. Quickly following with a barrage of
torpedoes, BONP had learned dearly of SANOs' tactics and used
its tractors to pivot, bringing its forward shields to meet the
torpedoes. As it did so, SANO loosed a torpedo which went
unnoticed into the void, directly heading towards SCOR.
---
Captain Johnson was slammed down against the deck, almost black-
ing out under the force of the other ships collision. Though it
lasted only seconds, Johnson saw it all in slow motion; the
liquid state components spraying down under the control
consoles; crewmem dropping as if there legs had been chopped
out from under them; and above all the noise, the quickly
silenced screams from several crushed crewmen who had been
unlucky enough to be caught in the path of the view screen.
As BONP passed underneath, Johnson propped himself up and
quickly fell on his face. He sat up and took his right hand
in his left and stuffed his crushed arm into his jumpers pocket.
"Maklin! Maklin! Drop shields and channel full power to the
tractor beam! Lock onto that ship and stop them cold!" Maklin
took a few swipes at the blood flowing from his nose and
colored his console as he punched up the commands. When the
computer had been programmed, Maklin got on an intraship
channel, "All hand, stand tight! Ready captain!"
"Do it!" As the captain held onto the arms of his chair,
Maklin slapped in a button and the lights brightened then
dimmed within a flicker of an eye lash. Immediately after that,
the SANO was again subjected to high gravities in a forward
direction. Before them, BONP snapped to a standstill and
swung back, almost without loosing speed. SANO snapped
forward and again they met.
---
On the outer hull of the SCOR, Sanders was running away from the
onrushing torpedo, trying in a vain attempt to get back into the
safety of the air lock. He didn't need to turn around to know
that he had lost his race as he felt the ship buckle under him
a whisper before he knew nothing but blackness.
FidoNews 6-18 Page 13 1 May 1989
Within SCOR, emergency bulkheads slammed down all over the ship,
causing it to ring unbearably throughout. In the forward armory,
the outer hull pealed away and a half a million tons of torpedoes
leaped towards space. They didn't go very far, however, before
the whole room exploded. SCOR was in its death throws now and
very few survived. On what was left of the bridge, Captain Malcon
was slowly waking up. Around him he could see no one but him
was alive. Lying on his side, he watched the shattered view
screen as one of the battling objects broke away from the
other and came towards him. ''It's BONP, by Aernath! BONP come
to save us!'' On the view screen, BONP came in, some sections of
it glowing red. Behind it, SANO pivoted on its side and came
up behind the BONP, again locking tractors with it.
Puzzlement was Malcons expression as he saw BONP fire the final
torpedo that would finish him. Realization slowly dawned as the
torpedo swelled in the view screen, quickly blotting out the
picture of SANO and BONP locked in death struggle.
Malcons arm buckled under him and he fell back onto his side.
The fires raging behind him and the blood pooling underneath
him went unnoticed as his eyes closed then slowly opened.
His lips opened, cracking through the dried blood and a small
river of blood poured down his cheek. "It's Mayhem", he
whispered, and the darkness took him.
- The abandoned Part 2:
It had long since stopped wondering where its companion had
gone. Out here in the wilderness of space, the remote robot
sensor could hardly remember the hyperspace radio link which
had vanished so long ago; it only knew that it longed for
something it had once had.
---
Universal Mayhem Version 1 will be released in a week or so. The
problems which have been reported have been fixed and many
updates have been made according to what has been suggested by
the beta test sites.
As usual, I will mail the program directly to your system when
the time comes. If you are not on my distribution list and would
like to receive Universal Mayhem, let me know.
I have mailed a package to Israel containing Beta Version 1. I
have also mailed two packages of 16 floppies to a couple of
nodes in Australia. All three of these nodes have sent me the
postage for the floppies and I must thank them. I don't know,
however, if they received them because I failed to attach any
kind of customs form to them. If you guys didn't receive them,
let me know and I will take them directly to the post office
in Los Angeles and get them properly conditioned for
intra-country transport.
FidoNews 6-18 Page 14 1 May 1989
Fredric L. Rice
674 East Bridwell
Glendora, California.
91740
By the way: If you are a ham radio operator and have the
capability of getting packet into LADPX, (Los Angeles Duplex),
try connecting to N6BGW-9 and leave me some mail! N6APD for
now but looking forward to an upgrade soon.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-18 Page 15 1 May 1989
The Veterinarian's Corner
Excerpts from the ANIMED GroupMail Conference
by Don Thomson, 1:102/1005
Fleas!
> Thought we had gotten rid of the problem, but are finding a few
> [fleas.] Wife says they are coming from the yard. Have used a
> flea spray from pet store, and diazanon, repeatedly, without
> lasting success. Do not find the fleas in the house, seems like
> they should be here?
> [Orig Msg from Charles Holland on 02 Jan 89 12:21]
That's one all too common problem, Charles. This year
especially, the flea season seem to have lasted longer than
usual, well into December. If you are having a flea infestation
problem, then I would recommend a couple of things:
1) For the back yard alternate between diazanon and malathion at
the dilutions stated on the back of the bottle. I generally
recommend a repeat application every 3 weeks, usually as early in
the morning as possible, while there is little wind and you can
keep the animals in away from the spray. As the problem is
controlled, and as the weather cools, you may increase the
interval between sprayings.
Do not let your pets into the yard until well after the spray is
dry. Some pets, especially cats are sensitive to the effects of
insecticide spays if absorbed through the skin or coat. Making
sure the ground is dry before letting them out will prevent this
type of problem.
2) If the problem is persistant in the winter months, I would
worry that the fleas may have colonized your carpets and those
favorite sleeping places of your pets. You will need to also have
your indoors sprayed. ' I personally prefer a hand-held pump
spray bottle that I can lightly ist 'high risk' areas like
carpets, certain chairs, under beds, etc. Indoor premise sprays
specially formulated to be safe in indoor areas such as homes,
even resteraunts....
"Bombs" can be effective too, but because you have to leave the
house for several hours, the spray is everywhere and the fact
that your can't be sure the spray penetrated all areas, makes me
prefer to use a hand held pump spray.
With the hand spray, you can just do one room at a time, close
the door to keep you pets out until dry. And dries completely in
20 minutes. Takes about 3 minutes to spritz the room. Just like
the yard spray, repeat every 3 weeks until the problem is
controlled and then you can increase the interval between
FidoNews 6-18 Page 16 1 May 1989
sprayings.
3) For your pet, I use either a powder or a spray meant for
pets. I feel that Pyrethrin based sprays are easy, effective, and
have a very rapid bio-degradability time period - about 6-8 hours
after application on your pet. Toxic reactions are extremely
rare.
DB Thomson, DVM
1:102/1005
9:871/16
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FidoNews 6-18 Page 17 1 May 1989
The following is the second in a series of four columns Fred Grosby
(a federal government employee, and a user on "The Falcon's Rock")
has written. He deserves all the credit for writing them. I
suggested that he upload them to my system, because I enjoyed
reading them in our local Mensa newsletter, Capital M. I hope you
enjoy reading them, too. The archive of all four is available for
file request from 1:109/501 as BSOUTH.ZIP.
Notes From Bureaucracy South (Part 2)
By Fred Grosby, a user on 1:109/501
It is the beginning of the month. Budget Briefing time. Panic
time.
Preparing the monthly Budget Briefing is one of the most important
things we do here at Bureaucracy South. Actually, I don't know why
They call it Budget Briefing, because it doesn't have anything to
do with the budget. It is really a program briefing. What happens
is that our Deputy Administrator briefs the Administrator on the
status of our Program Indicators. Now, you might think that the
Administrator, or at least our Deputy Administrator, would decide
what the Program Indicators are to be, right? Not quite. They are
politicos, which means that they don't really know what we do, so
we get to come up with our own Program Indicators. This sounds
like a pretty good deal, except that what we come up with never
seems to be quite what They want. We never know exactly what is
wrong with it, only that They don't like it and we will have to
come up with something else. It's sort of like being in the
organizational equivalent of a singles bar: the other person says
"Tell me about yourself," and you know that whatever you say is
going to be grounds for rejection. No matter how hard we try,
sooner or later we will get the dreaded word: They want more
charts.
Ah yes, the charts. Preparing material for the Budget Briefing
involves taking raw data and portraying it in chart form. They
call this Analysis. No, I am not kidding. Those charts are taken
very seriously around here. Screw one up and you will hear about
it. You have to follow the rules, of which there are several:
Make sure your charts have lots of colors, the more the better.
They are impressed by colors. Remember, the goal is to achieve a
victory of style over substance.
Some types of charts are better than other types. Pie charts are
the best; exploded pie charts, with pieces pulled out from the
rest of the pie, are extra good. Bar charts are good, because They
are used to bar charts. Line graphs are not good. I don't know
why, but They don't like line graphs. I suspect that They are
confused by all those squiggly lines. Don't even think about those
fancy scatter plots or stuff like that. One of my coworkers did a
regression one time and they recoiled in fear.
Don't call the regions, even if they have data that you need. They
might think that we are spying on them. They might object to our
Program Indicators. They might actually have a good idea.
FidoNews 6-18 Page 18 1 May 1989
Whatever you do, DON'T CALL THE REGIONS!!!
Always get your data from the computer. It is a basic tenet of
life here at Bureaucracy South that computers are perfect. They
never make mistakes. Therefore, if you can say that you got your
data from the computer, it will never be questioned.
Before we can do the Program Indicator charts, we have to do The
Download, were we transmit our very raw data from the minicomputer
in the computer room to the microcomputer in my office. Once we
have it on the micro, the data is appended, replaced, sorted, and
otherwise masticated into output suitable for being turned into
charts. This is where the panic comes in. Remember, our computers
are perfect. They never make mistakes. The fact that the mini is
an obsolete clunker with a mind of it's own does not matter. The
fact that our phone connections go through the GSA centrex (!)
doesn't matter. The fact that nobody has checked to see whether
the old update program will work on our brand-new micro doesn't
matter. Our computers are perfect. They never make mistakes.
That's why we don't have to worry about doing The Download until a
couple of days before the charts are due.
Well guess what. Every month The Download bombs out. The reasons
are several. Lately, the mini has developed the nasty habit of
refusing to download almost exactly half the data. Anyway, THe
Download fails and the whole place goes into a blind panic. The
clerks who do The Download panic because they fully expect
everything to go perfectly and have no idea what to do when
something goes wrong. One of my co-workers, an otherwise lovely
woman who I call The Ultimate Bureaucrat, gets mad because without
that raw data she will miss her deadline for preparing the charts.
The supervisors run around with harried looks on their faces. The
two people who are supposed to know everything about how The
Download works run for cover, because they actually don't know
anything. But for real world-class panic you would have to see
Fluffy. Fluffy is our Deputy Director, and it is she who has
overall responsibility for the Program Indicator charts. Fluffy
does not handle adversity well. The least little setback sends her
into a fit. When the Program Indicator charts are late, which is
usually, she absolutely goes into orbit.
Eventually, we always manage to persuade the computers to yield up
their data and the charts are prepared and submitted, which leaves
just one final task before the monthly Budget Briefing cycle is
complete: assessment of blame. By definition, the failure of The
Download cannot be blamed on the computers. Remember, the
computers are perfect. They never make mistakes. The problem must
have been caused by some dumb human. Fingers must be pointed at
the person who caused the failure of The Download. Names must be
called. Bucks must be passed. Only then can calm return to
Bureaucracy South. Until next month.
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FidoNews 6-18 Page 19 1 May 1989
A Public Service Announcement
Proper and Conscientious Use of ARCmail
Although my system is ARCmail capable, I receive an amazing
amount of mail from systems with whom I have never made
contact that arrives in ARCmail form. Sure, my system can
handle it. So why am I complaining?
1) ARCmail capability is NOT a requirement to have a
node address.
2) Many systems in the network are not currently ARCmail
capable. Generally, these are mailers that work on
platforms other than the IBM PC and compatibles.
When sending NetMail to another system in the network with
whom you have NOT previously had contact, DO NOT SEND ARCMAIL.
If that mail happens to be sent to a system that is not
ARCmail capable, the system will not be able to unpack your
mail.
ARCmail should only be used on links with whom you have
established ARCmail capability. In other words, unless you
have verified in advance that a particular system is ARCmail
capable, then you should NEVER send ARCmail to that system.
In summary, the sending of ARCmail should NEVER be considered
the default. Send ARCmail only to systems that you have
verified as ARCmail capable.
NOTE: This warning should apply equally to other archived
mail forms that are making their way into common use:
ZOOmail, ZIPmail, PAKmail, LHARCmail, and whatever other type
of archived mail might be released tomorrow.
A message brought to you by your local FidoNet watchdog.
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FidoNews 6-18 Page 20 1 May 1989
Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by
reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list
all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 6-18 Page 21 1 May 1989
8 May 1989
Digital Equipment Corporations User Society (DECUS) will be
holding its semi-annual symposium in Atlanta, GA. Runs
through May 12. As usual sysop's will get together and chat.
15 May 1989
Denmark changes telephone numbers from 7 to 8 digits.
19 May 1989
Start of EuroCon III at Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Contact
Hans Ligthelm of 2:500/3 for details.
5 Jun 1989
David Dodell's 32nd Birthday
24 Aug 1989
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
24 Aug 1989
FidoCon '89 starts at the Holiday Inn in San Jose,
California. Trade show, seminars, etc. Contact 1/89
for info.
5 Oct 1989
20th Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
11 Nov 1989
A new area code forms in northern Illinois at 12:01 am.
Chicago proper will remain area code 312; suburban areas
formerly served with that code will become area code 708.
If you have something which you would like to see on this
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.
Mort Sternheim 1:321/109 Chairman of the Board
Bob Rudolph 1:261/628 President
Matt Whelan 3:3/1 Vice President
Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Vice President-Technical Coordinator
Linda Grennan 1:147/1 Secretary
Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Treasurer
IFNA COMMITTEE AND BOARD CHAIRS
Administration and Finance Mark Grennan 1:147/1
Board of Directors Mort Sternheim 1:321/109
Bylaws Don Daniels 1:107/210
Ethics Vic Hill 1:147/4
Executive Committee Bob Rudolph 1:261/628
International Affairs Rob Gonsalves 2:500/1
Membership Services David Drexler 1:147/1
Nominations & Elections David Melnick 1:107/233
Public Affairs David Drexler 1:147/1
Publications Rick Siegel 1:107/27
Security & Individual Rights Jim Cannell 1:143/21
Technical Standards Rick Moore 1:115/333
IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DIVISION AT-LARGE
10 Courtney Harris 1:102/732 Don Daniels 1:107/210
11 Bill Allbritten 1:11/301 Mort Sternheim 1:321/109
12 Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Mark Grennan 1:147/1
13 Irene Henderson 1:107/9 (vacant)
14 Ken Kaplan 1:100/22 Ted Polczyinski 1:154/5
15 Scott Miller 1:128/12 Matt Whelan 3:3/1
16 Ivan Schaffel 1:141/390 Robert Rudolph 1:261/628
17 Neal Curtin 1:343/1 Steve Jordan 1:206/2871
18 Andrew Adler 1:135/47 Kris Veitch 1:147/30
19 David Drexler 1:147/1 (vacant)
2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 David Melnik 1:107/233
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FidoNews 6-18 Page 23 1 May 1989
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Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to
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Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization
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membership in January 1987. The second elected Board of Directors
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