Copyright 1990, Fido Software. All rights reserved. Duplication
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FidoNews is published weekly by the System Operators of the
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Table of Contents
1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1
FIDOCON 1990 REGISTRATION FORM ........................... 1
You Love State Socialism (You just don't know it) ........ 5
DADS ECHO ................................................ 8
2. COLUMNS .................................................. 10
Talk Me Through It, Honey ................................ 10
3. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 13
Latest Software Versions ................................. 13
4. NOTICES .................................................. 16
The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 16
FidoNews 7-12 Page 1 19 Mar 1990
The Secret Sysop Society presents __
*** Conclave '90 *** / \
The SYSOPS Convention /|oo \
Home of FidoCon 1990 (_| /_)
Lyndhurst, New Jersey _`@/_ \ _
August 1-5, 1990 | | \ \\
| (*) | \ ))
______ |__U__| / \//
/ Fido \ _//|| _\ /
(________) (_/(_|(____/ (tm)
Rate Plan Schedule: Before 6/1/90: Before 4/1/90:
-------------- --------------
A. Single Occupancy.......$595.00 $545.00 $495.00
B. Double Occupancy.......$450.00 $400.00 $350.00
C. Conference w/ meals....$300.00 $250.00 $200.00
D. Conference w/ Banquet..$205.00 $155.00 $105.00
E. Conference only........$175.00 $125.00 $ 75.00
F. Banquet only...........$130.00 $80.00 $ 30.00
(All rate plans except plan F include all conference and hotel
fees. Those registering before 4/1/90 get a $100.00 discount,
those registering before 6/1/90 get a $50.00 discount.)
You must pay by Check, Money Order, or Credit Card. Please send
no cash. All monies must be in U.S. Funds. Checks should be
made out to: "Conclave '90"
The following registration form must be completed and mailed to:
PO Box 12
Lyndhurst, NJ 07071
You may register by Netmailing this completed form to 1:1/90 for
processing. Rename it to ZNNNXXXX.REG where Z is your Zone
number, N is your Net number, and X is your Node number. US Mail
confirmation is required within 72 hours of electronic filing.
If you are paying by credit card, please include the required
information. For your own security, do not route any message
with your credit card number on it. Crash it directly to 1:1/90.
The official Conclave '90 airline is American Airlines.
American offers a 5% discount the lowest applicable round-trip
fare, including 1st class travel, subject to availability of
inventory. All fare rules and restrictions apply. In addition,
American offers 40% off their round trip unrestricted day coach
fare. International travelers qualify for special benefits,
including complimentary admittance to the Admiral's Club Lounge
at any American Airlines terminal. Newark is an American Air-
lines city with direct flights to most major cities. When making
reservations, you must call American's Toll-free reservation
FidoNews 7-12 Page 2 19 Mar 1990
number at 800-433-1790, and reference Star number 13704F.
FidoNews 7-12 Page 3 19 Mar 1990
C O N C L A V E '90 R E G I S T R A T I O N F O R M
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FidoNews 7-12 Page 5 19 Mar 1990
You Love State Socialism (You just don't know it)
Tom Jennings 1:125/111
The essay below speaks for itself. It's not an exercise in
commie-bashing, in case you were wondering. Taken from a book of
essays written by Miklos Haraszti, a Hungarian dissident, it is
on the surface a harsh criticism of state socialism, told in
terms of western capitalism.
(The manuscript for the book was smuggled out of Hungary, to be
published first in France as "L'artiste d'Etat" then as "The
Velvet Prison: Artists Under State Socialism" in the U.S. (Basic
Books Inc, New York).)
* * *
"Outside the capitalist corporation's walls there is still an
ideal free market where total freedom of opinion and speech, the
right to assembly, and the freedom to organize flourish. Everyone
goes his own way and can become a proud and independent artist,
free of censorship. But inside the company it is a different
story. There; the employee must reckon with a microcosm of
socialism. His human rights are severely circumscribed -- except
of course, his right to work. He cannot go outside the walls,
cannot wander at will around the factory, cannot say, write or
organize whatever he wants. In these matters, it is the firm's
interests, conveyed by its owners and managers, that determine
right from wrong within the corporate culture. The employee may
love his work, but he cannot do what he likes *unless* his ideas
have first been approved by his superiors. His skills have no
value in themselves; they exists to sustain the fiscal health of
the corporation. His relations with other members of the company
are not strictly private; they are defined by the hierarchy of
professional skills. If he does not live for his work, the
company will let him go. As long as there are other corporations
for whom he can work, he is all right, even if he is fired. He
could even, if he wishes, leave of his own accord!
"How is this (admittedly simplified) state of affairs different
from state socialism? Only one aspect is truly different: the
existence of other companies. Under socialism it is the same
giant firm everywhere.
"Suppose that the company for which you work buys and sells art.
The board of directors, faithful to the owner's wishes, seeks
free and independent art. Anyone can come in from the street. If
his art is marketable, the whole company will work for him; no
one will intervene in his business. If his artistic freedom is
curtailed, he can threaten to leave the company and look for
another, or he can choose to become self-employed.
FidoNews 7-12 Page 6 19 Mar 1990
"Now consider the free artist who is asked by the company to
paint a portrait of the owner, or to create a sculpture that
symbolizes the company's ideals, or simply say something nice
about the firm on television. The money he is paid is not a part
of profits; it is renumeration for having complied with the ideas
of the firm's management. Creative freedom has undergone a subtle
change: the more successfully the artist has identified himself
and his ideas with the interests of management, the more creative
freedom he can retain. He has become a *directed artist*. He has
become a company artist.
"How is this state of affairs different from socialism? Only to
the extent that, under capitalism, the artist is free to resign
and go to another company. On our part of the world artists can
only find employment with the artistic department of the national
company or with one if its branches. All artists are the firm's
employees, and their colleagues (the other employees in other
departments and branches) are their audience.
"The distinction between directed and free artists, between
directed and free art, disappears at a stroke. The artists'
existential uncertainty is over. A steady paycheck is assured.
The rent will be paid, food on the table, and a roof overhead.
But artists' creative freedom is also over. Nevertheless they
have gained a great deal: by becoming state employees they are
given special attention. Their position is not competitive but
hierarchical: they gain a measure of control over the consumers
of their art in exchange for being controlled themselves by the
coordinating authority of the state. The company's neutrality in
the thorny question of aesthetics is over.
"The ethics of state socialism resemble the ethics of a large
company. Its discipline and freedom are like those of the
company's workers. Further, if you will imagine the greatest
possible "industrial democracy" that such a concern might achieve
within the constraints of its corporate culture, you will have
arrived at an almost exact model of freedom in today's modern
socialist society.
"Is it censorship that guarantees that the employees of Twentieth
Century Fox will create movies that serve the interests of the
entire company? Do relationships within the film studio require
censoring? Is the unavoidable process of creative compromise and
self-correction properly called censorship? Voluntary discipline,
identification, and devotion are essential elements in the
professional's acceptance of the company as his own/ Is this not
freedom? After all, didn't someone once observe that freedom is
simply the recognition of necessity?
"It does not matter whether the answer is yes or no: we know what
this is all about. This form of censorship is far more effective
than a negative, externally imposed restriction of private
freedom. It is quite irresistible when it bathes the employees of
the socialist supermonopoly -- the nation -- in its amniotic
warmth. Don't forget: under socialism, there are no longer any
owners."
FidoNews 7-12 Page 7 19 Mar 1990
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FidoNews 7-12 Page 8 19 Mar 1990
DADS ECHO
by Bob Hirschfeld, Moderator
(Sysop of National Congress for Men BBS 114/74 (602) 840 4752 )
The National Congress for Men, a coalition of Fathers Rights and
Divorce Reform organizations founded in 1981, is sponsoring the
new DADS ECHO. NCM, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has an
elected board of directors, holds annual national conventions,
provides resources for DADS nationwide, and is active in lobbying
Congress and state legislatures regarding parental access and
support issues.
DADS Echo is primarily focused on the relationship between DADS
and their children. This is not limited to any category of DAD;
that is, happily (or unhappily) married DADS, unwed DADS,
Divorced DADS, adoptive DADS.....and women who sympathize with
them and the needs of children for relationships with BOTH
parents, are welcome to participate.
Messages on DADS ECHO deal with DADS' difficulties in dealing
with or preserving "The Promise of Fatherhood". As such, messages
dealing with all aspects of Fathers' Rights as they relate to
children, are fair game. That is: Divorce upsets the
relationship; the relationship includes a financial
responsibility as well as a psychological/emotional bond;
allegations of child abuse (true or false) can adversely impact
the father-child relationship, etc.
Subjects that the DADS Echo is especially intended to address
differ from the focus of other Fidonet Echos:
*** Parenting Skills
*** Role Reversal, Gender Stereotyping: "Superdads" and "Mr. Mom"
*** Homemaking Skills: the Father's viewpoint
*** Psychological Bonding between fathers and children
*** Recreation involving fathers and children
*** Scouting (Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Indian Guides, Campfire)
*** Dealing with problem children at various ages
*** Dealing with government agencies regarding children
*** Prenatal and Delivery-Room participation by DADS
*** The Father's relationship with his unborn child
*** Historical perspective of Fathers and Paternal Status
*** Strengthening the nuclear family
*** Sex Education of children
*** Education generally; the father's participation
*** Care of infants
*** Self Esteem, Transactional Analysis of Relationships, etc.
*** DADS special problems raising children alone
*** Distance isolation between DADS and children
*** Parental Alienation Syndrome
*** Dealing with 3rd-party interference in father-child relations
*** Teaching DAD'S values to the child
*** Father-bashing in the legislatures and courts
*** Experience-sharing between DADS who've been there
*** Discipline of children; what is reasonable, who does it?
*** Resources available to DADS
FidoNews 7-12 Page 9 19 Mar 1990
*** Nearly-adult teenagers: leaving the nest
*** Effect of divorced dads new female relationships on children
*** Step-parenting
*** AND MUCH MORE
Moderator Bob Hirschfeld is an attorney in Phoenix, AZ who
specializes in representing Fathers in contested custody cases. A
long-time Fathers Rights activist and NCM board member, he
published "Single Dads Lifestyle" magazine between 1978 and 1983
DADS initially is distributed by direct polling of the NCM BBS,
114/74, and at this writing reaches Texas and Tennessee as well
as area 114 (Arizona) distribution. Once there is enough
coverage, it is intended that permission to place DADS on the
backbone will be obtained.
There are other Echos available for "flaming", such as LAW,
FEMINISM, MENS_ISSUES, RIGHTS (Men's Rights). Please use this
Echo for constructive, topical messages. If you're a divorced
Dad, you're probably legitimately angry about some aspect of how
the system treats you. But you're sharing this Echo, hopefully,
with happily married DADS, or DADS for whom the anger has
subsided and the challenge of promoting/maintaining the
father/child bond is now of major importance. Keep that in mind,
please.
To arrange your BBS's direct link, please Netmail Bob Hirschfeld
at 114/74, so that DADS can be picked up by you via subsequent
periodic polling. In genuine hardship situations, NCM may be
willing to bear the long distance cost to your BBS initially
until backbone status is obtained. This Echo offers hope to
Fathers separated or alienated from their children, and practical
help to that great majority of responsible Dads who want to
continue and improve their relationships with their children.
Therefore, please consider providing this echo to users of your
local BBS.
PATERNALLY and FRATERNALLY,
BOB HIRSCHFELD, MODERATOR, DADS ECHO 114/74 (602) 840 4752
"Make Every Day Father's Day"
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FidoNews 7-12 Page 10 19 Mar 1990
SQL and C. What do they have in common ? SQL is the 4-GL
language for database manipulation. C is the 3-GL language of
systems and applications programmers. Both provide a
convenient means of deceiving management, and especially IM
departments.
C is really ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE in disguise. Management doesn't
want you coding in assembler, but C is OK because it's a 3-GL
language. SQL is how user's maintain programming control over
their database systems; while IM thinks it's in control because
it has control of the 3-GL languages. SQL is an effective tool
because our databases are organized for SQL.
We get away with these white lies because a) management and IM
really don't know what's going on; b) the user community is
really pretty sharp; c) both a and b.
"Plug Away" --
I'll steal this SNL theme for a while. I have completed,
somewhat, a new Call Statistics Reporter utility, it's called
CallStat, and you can get the program and source by f'req. :
namely CFL.ZIP.
I needed something to tell me how well I was doing in my attempt
to slow down Bink's call timer. I was making over 400 calls
per day. I know you do, but I don't.
Any way, it's got some bells and whistles, writes message
format reports, and tells you about individual nodes, and hours
in the day. Net 124 has a Machine echo, specifically for those
computer generated kinds of info that vaguely interests the
human members of the network.
Ron Bemis has a large suite of utilities under the ANALYZE
moniker, and credit for the Machine echo goes to him. I am
looking forward to the computer reading of these echoes for
some kind of consolation reporting.
This is the network, in and of itself.
Interface 90 --
Dallas, TX. What happened to OSI ? The Interface 90 expo was
dotted with conferences on OSI, yet there was only 1 vendor with
an OSI product. I find this somewhat misleading. IBM spends
more on OSI research than all other players combined. I find
this totally misleading.
One could argue that OSI is very active, but the big players
have taken over and that's that. Another point of view is that
OSI itself is free ( it's CCITT and it's public domain ). A
company can't make money selling OSI, just like you wouldn't
normally pay for breathing air. You to sell completely
vertical applications, off the shelf.
This alone has brought the cost of direct OSI connects down to
the point that the 'PAD' facilities are not cost effective.
I think it's very revealing to find the big manufactures with
the big OSI networks forcing it's suppliers to use OSI
protocols for all communications, including filling orders. If
you can't 'talk' to me, you can't *talk* to me. Look out for
'old-boy'-ism.
Tax Time, Honey --
Do you know the Number 1 tax shelter for the past 9 years ?
Sure, it's the Foreign Earned Income Deduction. This is HOT.
If you earn income while physically present in a foreign
country, and you stay out of country 330 days out of 365, the
IRS gives you a whopping $ 75,000 deduction. Notice the words
"physically present".
This is a bunch different than the bona fide residence criteria.
You don't want to become a resident of a foreign country
because then you will surely have to pay income tax there, and
that's a whole lot more expensive than here.
The earnings can come from anywhere. So here's what you do :
get a 1 year project, buy a laptop, and see the world. Don't
stay in any one country too long, and send completed works back
via modem.
FidoNews 7-12 Page 12 19 Mar 1990
"Can we speak English?"
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FidoNews 7-12 Page 13 19 Mar 1990
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.
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FidoNews 7-12 Page 16 19 Mar 1990
3 Jun 1990
Comdex/Spring, which will run from June 3-6 in Atlanta, will be
held at the World Congress Center and other locations.
5 Jun 1990
David Dodell's 33rd Birthday
12 Jun 1990
Fifth anniversary of FidoNet's switch to multiple nets.
13 Jul 1990
Start of Eurocon / Techcon conference in Antwerp, Belgium.
Further information will follow.
27 Jul 1990
The beginning of the REGION 17 Convention at Menucha Resort in
the Columbia Gorge, Oregon. For details contact Ken Zwaschka,
1:105/54.
1 Aug 1990
Start of FidoCon '90. Contact Bill Vanglahn at 1:1/90 for
details.
5 Oct 1990
21st Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
6 Nov 1990
First anniversary of Van Diepen Automatiseert, 2:500/28
14 Nov 1990
Marco Maccaferri's 21rd Birthday. Send greetings to him at
2:332/16.0
1 Jan 1991
Implementation of 7% Goods and Services Tax in Canada. Contact
Joe Lindstrom at 1:134/55 for a more colorful description.
16 Feb 1991
Fifth anniversary of the introduction of Echomail, by Jeff Rush.
7 Oct 1991
Area code 415 fragments. Alameda and Contra Costa Counties
will begin using area code 510. This includes Oakland,
Concord, Berkeley and Hayward. San Francisco, San Mateo,
FidoNews 7-12 Page 17 19 Mar 1990
Marin, parts of Santa Clara County, and the San Francisco Bay
Islands will retain area code 415.
1 Feb 1992
Area code 213 fragments. Western, coastal, southern and
eastern portions of Los Angeles County will begin using area
code 310. This includes Los Angeles International Airport,
West Los Angeles, San Pedro and Whittier. Downtown Los
Angeles and surrounding communities (such as Hollywood and
Montebello) will retain area code 213.
If you have something which you would like to see on this
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.
