Copyright 1990, Fido Software. All rights reserved. Duplication
and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only.
For use in other circumstances, please contact Fido Software.
FidoNews is published weekly by the System Operators of the
FidoNet (r) International BBS Network. It is a compilation of
individual articles contributed by their authors or authorized
agents of the authors. The contribution of articles to this
compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors.
You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
FidoNews. Article submission standards are contained in the file
ARTSPEC.DOC, available from node 1:1/1. 1:1/1 is a Continuous
Mail system, available for network mail 24 hours a day.
Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of
Fido Software, Box 77731, San Francisco CA 94107, USA and are
used with permission.
Opinions expressed in FidoNews articles are those of the authors
and are not necessarily those of the Editor or of Fido Software.
Most articles are unsolicited. Our policy is to publish every
responsible submission received.
Table of Contents
1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1
Call New York! ........................................... 1
Garbage in, but no garbage out ........................... 2
LHArc and FidoNet ........................................ 5
A LISTING OF KNOWN OTHERNETS ............................. 7
ANNOUNCING THE "OTHERNET" NODELIST ....................... 10
OTHERNETS: An Echo for Information on OtherNets .......... 12
PDN Distribution ......................................... 13
Popcorn packing? ......................................... 16
2. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 18
Latest Software Versions ................................. 18
And more!
FidoNews 7-39 Page 1 24 Sep 1990
Ronnie Toth
FidoNet 1:135/71
September 22, 1990
CALLNY......The Echo
Have you been to NY lately? Would you like to go? Are you from
NY originally? Would you just like to chat with folks in the
Big Apple?
There are thousands of transplanted New Yorkers. People, like
me, who grew up in the Big Apple and moved away. We left alot
of friends behind. And you folks in NY, how about visiting with
us transplanted NYers? We're sure you've friends you grew up
with but have since lost touch with when they moved away.
Perhaps we can help you find each other again. You know it's
very true what they say, "You can take the person out of NY but
you can't take NY out of the person!" We who left will always
have a little of NY in us.
Seems there is a whole bunch of us ex-Nyers scattered all over
the place and we want to have a nice place to get together. And
there are some folks who just want to see what NY is like, the
armchair way.
Here's the way to do it! CALLNY is the echo for you! We have
been chatting away for about a month down in the Southeast and
it's time to share with everyone else.
Join us and CALLNY.
Though working on getting this echo on the backbone, we need to
know who you are who want to take this echo and we're PC
Pursuitable!
Send session and areafix passwords to:
Ronnie Toth, Moderator
2400 baud...1:135/71 (PC Pursuit) or
Humans have always had garbage. For most of the past two-and-a-
half million years, they left it where it fell and moved on.
Garbage first became a crisis as humans became sedentary - when,
rather than move themselves, they decided to move their trash.
That pivotal decision gave rise to a need for a class of people
that could deal with the mountains of rubbish. This solution
worked so well it is still in place today. In Cairo, for
example, generations of rural immigrant families eke out a living
in the municipal dumps, salvaging everything useable.
Modern landfills are quite different.
Visualize a landfill. Do you imagine it as a monstrous mountain
of smoldering food, yard waste, and building materials, mixed
with piles of polystyrene foam packaging and plastic junk? How
much of a landfill is made up of plastic packaging? Ask the
person on the street and the answers may be 20, 30, even 50
percent.
Those figures could make a solid waste educator feel smug and
self-righteous. If only it were true!
Dr. William Rathje is a renowned anthropologist/archaeologist.
For decades he has been excavating landfills to see what,
exactly, is in them. His conclusions are quite different than
what we may imagine.
Rathje's "Garbage Project" spent two years exhuming 16,000 pounds
of trash, weighing all items and sorting them into 27 basic
categories and then into 162 subcategories.
* In those eight tons of garbage he found only 16 pounds of fast-
food packaging, about a tenth of 1 percent.
* The entire category of plastic was less than 5 percent of the
landfill's contents by weight and 12 percent by volume.
He determined the real culprit in landfills is paper. Paper
accounts for 40 percent to 50 percent of everything we throw
away. He wrote in The Atlantic Monthly, December, 1989:
"If fast-food packaging is the Emperor's New Clothes of garbage,
then a number of categories of paper goods collectively deserve
the role of Invisible Man. Dig a trench through a landfill and
you will see layers of phone books, like geological strata or
layers of cake. Just as conspicuous as telephone books are new-
FidoNews 7-39 Page 3 24 Sep 1990
papers, which make up 10 percent to 18 percent of the contents
of a typical municipal landfill by volume. Even after several
years of burial they are usually well preserved. During a recent
dig in Phoenix, I found newspapers dating back to 1952 that
looked so fresh you might read one over breakfast. Deep within
landfills, copies of that New York Times editorial about fast-
food containers will remain legible until well into the next
century."
Another shocking discovery: The concept of biodegradability in a
landfill environment is myth.
The reality is that the garbage is entombed and mummified. This
destroys the credibility of degradable plastics. Rathje's team
has found perfectly preserved ears of corn dating from 1971. If
the landfill microbes don't eat these, they won't be drawn to the
minuscule amount of edible corn starch in a "biodegradable"
plastic bag or diaper.
What does an eco-warrior say when confronted with such proof? I
say RECYCLING is still the answer.
That New York Times has no business in the landfill! Newspaper
recycling is in place in virtually every city and town. In some
areas it is currently worthless to the recycler, but that will
change as the demand catches up with the supply. In Washington,
legislation is in place to revise freight rates, making it
cheaper to transport recycled paper than to transport wood for
pulp.
U.S. West of Washington State has responded to public pressure
and is exploring new markets for recycled phone books, such as
animal bedding and insulation. The books could be made recyclable
by using a better grade of paper and having only a strip of yellow
mark the Yellow Pages. The phone company can help municipalities
set up recycling programs for these predictable yearly waves of
waste.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
* Become part of the pressure and call your telephone company
and/or producer of your telephone book.
* Purchase recycled paper products at home and at work. These
are typically more expensive, but that will only change when
more people demand recycled products. Available materials range
from computer paper to toilet tissue.
* Talk or write to the government. Government agencies use far
more paper than any other institutions. They have a
responsibility to use recycled paper.
FidoNews 7-39 Page 4 24 Sep 1990
* How about your children's schools? In a pilot program at a
local Junior High, the students have recycled more than a ton of
high-grade paper in six months. The loop will be complete when
the paper we recycle is recycled paper. Volunteer to help.
* Continue to reject plastic that is not in the form of a
durable, reusable item. Know that any "biodegradable" plastic
is a scam.
* Since landfill garbage just sits around, make sure only things
that belong in landfills go there. Support the recycling
industry by purchasing recycled products. Choose containers with
proven value in the world marketplace; cardboard, glass and
metal.
When we are truly committed to these actions, we can begin to see
ourselves as masters of our garbage not slaves of a "Throw away
society".
Extracted from article by Molly Pearson, Port Townsend,
Washington. Transcribed by Mike Robeson.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 7-39 Page 5 24 Sep 1990
On Lharc and FidoNet - my three bits' worth
Luke Kolin, 1:250/1@fidonet
I must admit that I got quite a surprise when I started re-
ceiving my FidoNews in LHARC format. Now I've always been one
to advocate the progression of standards, but I'm afraid that
this entire lharc FIASCO has shown to FidoNet the pitfalls
of political games.
Vince Periello wears two hats, that of programmer, and that
of network official, namely, Editor of FidoNews. As a pro-
grammer, he has the choice to use whichever compression util-
ity he chooses for his software. Out of his own beliefs, he
chooses LHARC. I choose PKZIP, but again, this is my personal
decision.
However, as Editor of FidoNews, he is not allowed to make
personal decisions. Any technical changes that he wishes to
implement MUST be made after lengthy consultations with others.
Vince, you're no longer acting according to your own beliefs.
It's a much higher calling. More is expected of you. It is
up to you to put the network's best interests to heart.
And using LHARC is not in the network's best interest. Many
people have risen up to complain about the way this switch was
done. Vince, listen to them! This discussion isn't closed, not
by a long shot. They don't appreciate the fact that LHARC is
"portable". If they're not programmers, portability means
about as much to them as the cost of green cheese.
They don't appreciate the fact that no consultations were
made. Three people running DOS systems? Give me a break! Does
that constitute an acceptable amount of opinions on the
matter? No one could possibly say yes to that.
What rationale did you use, Vince? That ARC 7.0 is now
commercial software? As far as I can tell, ARC 5.12 is public
domain. People I know have been passing it around for years,
without mention of cost. So why drop a perfectly good standard,
which has already been ported over successfully to almost
every environment in sight? I'll say it now:
" Using the present commerical status of ARC 7.0
appears to me to be the least logical rationale
possible to eliminate the use of ARC 5.12. "
We've already got a standard! Why change it? It works! It
works real good. It's been ported. So what if further versions
are commercial?
Vince, you've allowed personal sentiment to come ahead of
your responsibilities. Being the Editor of FidoNews does allow
a good amount of personal sentiment and ideology to come into
the job. It's essential to being a good editor. But you've
got to make sure that the network comes out ahead in the end.
FidoNews 7-39 Page 6 24 Sep 1990
It is clear to me that you have failed to do so. If you wish
to stand permanently beside your views, I would reccomend that
you resign. But I hope that rather than that, you will listen
to reason (and a host of other sysops) and re-institute ARC
5.12 as the standard compression method for FidoNews.
Here is some info on various networks (that occupy zones) which
I've compiled from multiple sources. Hope you find it useful/
informative! The working copy of this textfile can be file-
requested as NETSALL.ART.
Zone (Zone/0) Fidonet FREQ from
Network Name Zone Coordinator Address 1:269/111
================== ==== ================ ========== =========
FidoNet N. America 1 George Peace 1:13/13 NODELIST
Fidonet Europe 2 Ron Dwight 2:515/1 "
Fidonet Oceania 3 Bill Bolton 3:711/403 "
Fidonet S. America 4 Pablo Kleinman 4:900/107 "
Fidonet Africa 5 Henk Wolsink 5:494/2 "
MacList 6 Tom Heffernan 1:107/554 MACLIST
AlterNet 7 Karl Schinke 1:107/516 ANETLIST
RbbsNet 8 Rod Bowman 1:10/8 RBBSLIST
The NETWORK 8 Bob Hoffman 1:129/34 NETLIST
Paranet 9 Michael Corbin 1:207/109 PARANET
PhoenixNet 9 Glen Cranford PHNXLIST
OPCN 11 Jim Grubs 1:234/1 OPCNLIST
KesherNet 18 Jason Frokin 1:108/185 KNETLIST
SIGnet 24 Jamie Penner 1:153/169 SIGNODES
" 25 William Mastop 1:153/170 "
" 26 Tom Mcgivern 1:103/328 "
" 27 Fabiano Fabris 2:310/11.22 "
" 28 J. Homerighausen 3:362/308 "
" 29 Borlong Lin 3:722/5 "
" 34 Andrew Farmer 1:163/115 "
USCATCOM 31
EmergencyNet 31 Guy Hokanson 1:212/107 ENLIST
" 32 Vacant "
" 33 Vacant "
" 34 Vacant "
" 35 Vacant "
" 36 Vacant "
" 37 Vacant "
IS-Net 40
CandyNet 42 Dr Pepper CANDYNET
EchoNet 50 Ed Lawyer 1:261/3000 ENETLIST
GhotiNet (USA) 60 John Marlett 1:116/18
GhotiNet (Australia) 61 Graeme Nichols 3:714/404
ADULT_LINKS 69 Jim Deputy 1:103/158 69LIST
APINET 69 Robert Eckert 1:269/304 APINET
FinancialNet 72 D. Cadwallader 1:363/363
HAMLINK 73 Jim Grubs 1:234/1
LCRNET 77 Tom Sirianni 1:105/301
SpectroNet 77 David Musick 1:363/61 SPECLIST
BBSnet 86 Tom Hendricks 1:261/662
TrekNet 87 Rob Lehrman 1:203/57 TREKLIST
Alternet CDN 89 John Dunn n/a ANETLIST
Eggnet_Asia 96 Bob Germer 1:266/21 n/a
Eggnet_Europe 97 Bob Germer 1:266/21 EEGGLIST
MIL_NET 98 Kerry Buckingham 1:123/22
FidoNews 7-39 Page 8 24 Sep 1990
EggNet 99 Johnny Pulliam n/a EGGLIST
DENVNET 200
MetroNet 200 Jason Steck 1:104/424 METRONET
69LIST Adult_Links Nodelist
ANETLIST Current Alternet nodelist
ANETDIFF Current Alternet nodediff
APINET Current APINET nodelist
CANDYNET CandyNet nodelist
ECHOLIST Current ELIST (by Mike Fuchs)
ECHOPOL 4/22/89 Fidonet Echopol1 document
ECHOVNET Current Vervan's Gaming Network newsletter
EEGGLIST Eggnet Europe Nodelist
EGGLIST Current EggNet nodelist
EGGNEWS Current EggNet newsletter
EGGPOL Current EggNet Policy
EN_INFO Info on Emergency Network
ENETLIST Current EchoNet nodelist
ENETNEWS Current EchoNet newsletter
ENETPOL Current EchoNet policy
ENLIST EmergencyNet nodelist
EN_INFO Info on Emergency Network
FIDONEWS Current Fidonet newsletter
KNETLIST KesherNet Nodelist
LT_INFO Info on The Learning Tree Network
MAC_INFO Info on MACLIST
MACLIST Current MACLIST nodelist
METRONET MetroNet nodelist
NETLIST The Network nodelist
NODELIST Current Fidonet nodelist
NODEDIFF Current Fidonet nodediff
OPCNLIST OPCN nodelist
OTHERNET Nodelist of many OtherNets combined
PARANET Paranet nodelist
PHNXLIST PhoenixNet nodelist
POLICY4 Current Fidonet Policy
RBBSLIST Current RBBS-NET nodelist
RBBSECHO Current RBBS-NET echos listing
SIGECHO Current SIGnet echos listing
SIGNEWS Current SIGnet newsletter
SIGNODES Current SIGnet nodelist
SIGPOL Curernt SIGnet policy
SPECLIST SpectroNet nodelist
TREKLIST TrekNet nodelist
TREKNEWS TrekNet newsletter
Note: If it doesn't say "Current" there's no guarantee it is!
I am pleased to say that as of 9/21/90, the OTHERNET nodelist is
available (OTHERNET.264).
The OtherNet NodeList is a nodelist of selected networks other
than Fidonet (Zones 1-5). It is a compilation of individual
nodelist segments contributed by the drafters and compilers of
those segments. Contribution of these segments to this
compilation does not diminish the rights of the contributors.
This nodelist has been compiled by myself for my personal use,
due to Parselist's limitation that 6 nodelists be compiled.
Due to public interest, this nodelist is being made available
via the FREQ magic name of OTHERNET.
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RESULTS OF USING THIS NODELIST. BY
COMPILING THIS NODELIST YOU AGREE THAT I CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE
FOR IT'S USE BY YOURSELF. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES
OR COSTS THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OF THIS NODELIST, INCLUDING THE
DIALING OF A WRONG NUMBER DUE TO OVERLAPPING ZONE/NET/NODE
ADDRESS USAGE!!!
The contents of the OtherNet.264 nodelist are as follows:
Nodelist Name Network Zone(s)
------------- -------------------------------------- ---------
ANETLIST.264 AlterNet 7
RBBSLIST.259 RBBS-NET 8
NETLIST.236 The Network 8
PARANET.187 ParaNet 9
PHNX.237 PhoenixNet 9
OPCNLIST.243 Official Public Computer Network 11
KNETLIST.091 KesherNet 18
ENLIST.236 EmergencyNet 31-37
CANDYNET.250 CandyNet 42
PHUCKLST.257 Another Phuckyn International Network 69
69LIST.236 Adult_Links 69
LCRNET.243 Least Cost Recovery Network 77
SPECLIST.007 SpectroNet 77
TREKLIST.229 TrekNet 87
EEGGLIST.250 EggNet Europe 97
EGGLIST.264 EggNet 99
METRO.250 MetroNet 200
I don't compile the MACLIST (Zone 6), SIGNODES (Zones 24-29,34),
and ENETLIST (Zone 50) nodelists into the OTHERNET nodelist; I
compile those three along with the NODELIST (Zones 1-5), the
OTHERNET nodelist (this file) and a PRIVATE nodelist, to max
out at the six nodelists Parselst allows.
FidoNews 7-39 Page 11 24 Sep 1990
I update the OtherNet nodelist as often as I can, please don't
flamemail me if it's outta date. Remember, this is something I
do for my own personal use, I'm simply sharing it with others.
I wish to thank everyone who has contributed to this effort by
providing information and nodelists for OtherNets.
If you have some additional info, or corrections, I can be
reached at the following addresses:
Have you ever wondered about "OtherNets"? You know, all those
other networks out there besides Fidonet (yeah, yeah, there are
OtherNets!). What are their names? Who runs them? What is
their purpose? What can they offer?
Many of us have heard of some "well-known" OtherNets, like
Alternet, RBBS-NET, SigNet and EggNet. But did you know that
there is MACLIST, for Macintosh sysops? How about EchoNet, a
network dedicated to quality echos? Or The Network? Have you
heard of SpectroNet? Paranet? Candynet? LCRNet? Emergency
Net? There's more ....
It's questions like this in my mind that led me to begin doing
some research into the OtherNets. Two other articles in this
issue of Fidonews ("Announcing the OtherNet Nodelist" and "A
Listing of Known OtherNets") represent the results of that
research.
Apparently, judging from the number of file-requests in my
fd.log, there is a lot of interest out there in OtherNets.
That's why I've decided to establish a new echo, area tag name
OTHERNETS, for the disemmination and sharing of information
on OtherNets.
OTHERNETS will originate from my Fidonet system, 1:269/111. It
is my hope that there will be sufficient interest to place it on
the distribution systems for Fidonet, RBBS-NET, SigNet and any
of the OtherNet "backbone" distribution systems.
For more information on OtherNets, or to obtain a link to the
OTHERNETS echo, please contact me at one of the addresses below:
Distribution Sites for the Programmers Distribution Network
-----------------------------------------------------------
A couple of months ago, I started a Distribution Network
for Programmers. I had no idea that this would take off into
what it has today. I get requests three or four times a week
asking to locate a link for a node into the PDN. This has become
a task in itself! I figured that the best way for me to reach
the maximum amount of people would be to publish another article
here and list a FEW of the current PDN sites. There are more,
but I thought "They will get the point!". If you are interested
in picking up the PDN for your Net, or for yourself, please
contact one of the below listed nodes. They will be more then
happy to help out. Probably, the best way for you to get a good
link, (If you are in Zone 1) is to contact one of the Regional
Coordinators listed first. For other zones, choose a node listed
for your Zone, and they should be able to direct you to the
CHEAPEST link. I have tried to set things up so that it is
inexpensive as possible to move these files around. If you are
an in-state, long distance node to one of these coordinators,
then go to another region. Keeps your costs down! If you have
any general questions about the PDN, feel free to send me a
NetMail message and ask away! I will be more then happy in
aiding you to set up. I am truely sorry if the below information
is incorrect, and I have mis-guided you, but these things change
so fast (Baud rates, etc) that I cannot keep up with all of them!
If you are carrying the PDN, and you are not listed below, I am
sorry. I listed only those that are 9600 baud and above. This
does not mean that you cannot carry the PDN, I am sure that
people will be more then happy to support you at 1200/2400 baud.
Popcorn packing?
The popcorn padding: an ecological packaging can replace
plastic.
Alexander Fruit & Trading Co of Geyserville Calif has come
up with an environmentaly correct packaging idea -
substituting popped popcorn for plastic foam.
Steve Sommer, president of the 5-year-old gourmet wine and
food company 75 miles north of San Francisco, began to pack
everything from ginger honey sauce to cabernet sauvignon in
popcorn after his five kids lobbied for more ecologically
sound packaging material.
Unlike plastic foam, popcorn "is naturally biodegradable, so
you may feed it to birds or use it as mulch in your garden,"
Sommer said. He does not advise that customers eat the
packaging.
"We want to avoid any liability problems," he said. "Besides
its usually stale by the time it arrives in the mail."
Sommer hopes his sales of popcorn for packaging purposes may
soon rival his $500,000-a-year food and wine business.
Prospective customers are excited by the idea of snubbing
plastic foam, but they want to make sure popcorn contains
all the right cushioning properties.
Janet Churchill, in charge of packaging for Montessori
Services in nearby Santa Rosa, said she wonders how much the
popcorn breaks down in transit. "We've just started using
it and we haven't had any complaints from customers yet."
she said.
Joan Graham, who with her husband Gary, owns a Sonoma crafts
gallery called Good Day Sunshine, said she started looking
for a plastic foam substitute a couple of years ago when
customers noted that using the ecologically unsound plastic
kernels reflected badly on her store.
She is now awaiting her shipment of popcorn from Sommer.
"I think using this will make me feel a whole lot less
guilty about how I send my goods," she said.
John Clark, a buyer in charge of packaging materials for
Santa Rosa Paper, which currently distributes plastic foam
packaging, said his company also is interested in switching
to popcorn.
FidoNews 7-39 Page 17 24 Sep 1990
However, he is awaiting a ruling from United Parcel Service
for approval of popcorn's use in shipping all goods.
"I know Sommer's company has recieved UPS approval to ship
his goods, and others may independently have received such
approvals, but they haven't issued a general ruling to cover
all shipped goods yet," he said.
"If they do, popcorn may become the packaging material of
choice," he added, putting a major dent in the multimillion
dollar plastic foam packaging market.
Transcribed from NY Times newsservice, by Mike Robeson.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 7-39 Page 18 24 Sep 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.
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,
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.
1 Dec 1993
Tenth anniversary of Fido Version 1 release.
5 Jun 1997
David Dodell's 40th Birthday
If you have something which you would like to see on this
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.
