Copyright 1991, 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 and for the Members of the
FidoNet (r) International Amateur Electronic Mail System. 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. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
So, how about them Giants? ............................... 1
2. ARTICLES ................................................. 3
War in the Gulf .......................................... 3
Just a quickie ........................................... 5
3. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 7
Latest Software Versions ................................. 7
4. NOTICES .................................................. 12
The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 12
FidoNews 8-03 Page 1 21 Jan 1991
For those of you who objected to last week's editorial: you
are a minority (or at least you're a minority of those messages
I received). But your point is well taken. I'll try to keep
these outbursts to a minimum.
It's sort of funny, though. There are really no particular
restrictions on subject matter in FidoNews articles. The
objections I heard seemed to suggest that the Editor has to
apply restrictions to his(her) own contributions that nobody
else need be concerned with.
Balderdash.
Let me tell you what I did today. I watched two football games on
my projection TV system, fully enjoying the effects of Dolby
Surround in each case. I played about 10 games of pinball down in
the basement. I took the family out to dinner. I moved a bunch of
files from a scragged Rainbow to one of my clones over a serial
line. I watched coverage of you-know-what on CNN.
What does all that have to do with FidoNet? Nothing and
everything.
You see, there was really no particular relationship between what
I did and the technical aspects of operating a FidoNet node. So
it is logical to assume that there was no relationship between
today's activities and FidoNet.
However, in the new social manifestation of FidoNet, the person
who sits behind the keyboard is an integral part of the network.
The contribution made to the network by this person is a function
of everything that person experiences and performs. This leads to
a logical conclusion that there is a relationship between my trip
to Chili's with the kids and FidoNet.
Last week, this tension in the Persian Gulf was occupying my
mind. I was pissed off that things had reached the stage where
war was inevitable. I needed to get it off my chest. I did so.
An amazing number of people shared my feelings and many of them
indicated that my core dump had been helpful to their own thought
process.
When I was finished, I felt better. So did others. I made a
positive contribution. That makes me feel even more better.
Perhaps a few of you media critics could try writing the perfect
article. It would sure be a gas to see someone in FidoNet win a
Pulitzer Prize. It should be easy. Your only real competition
would be some war correspondent, and who cares about wars anyway?
FidoNews 8-03 Page 2 21 Jan 1991
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 8-03 Page 3 21 Jan 1991
Wedneday, Jan. 16, 1991. I had just finished the readings for a
Political Science course on International Relations. Scanning
through the channels on the vcr I hit CFPL and see they are
transmitting the live feed from CNN about something from Iraq.
Wait a minute, it's 7:37pm. Why is CFPL running a feed from CNN
in prime time? Better switch over to CNN and see what's
happening. In a lightning swift move, US President George Bush
has launched an allied air strike on Iraq, and CNN, the little
network that grew, is the only US or Canadian network that is
transmitting live. For the next three and a half hours I sit
and watch what seems to be a very one sided battle. As I go
to sleep, wondering what is going to happen while I sleep, I
can't help but think that I should have filled up my car's gas
tank as the price of oil is likely to go through the roof when
the stock exchanges open.
Thursday, Jan. 17, 1991. The hike in the price of oil that all
the bankers and analists have been forcasting should war erupt
never happens, but the price of Light-Sweet Crude (the U.S.
Benchmark crude) has hit a low that only existed before Iraq's
leader Saddam Hussain moved to illegally annex neighboring
Kuwait. And the NYSE rises over 100 points. What's going on
here? From what I can piece together, it looks like Iraq,
Kuwait, and/or Saudi Arabia will now have a permanent U.S.
millitary presence, be it in the form of bases to "protect" the
oil wells in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, or a multi-national
occupation force will move into Iraq, dividing it into zones
similiar to what happened to Berlin after WWII.
Finally, almost 24 hours after the initial allied air attack on
Iraq, some of the missles that escaped destruction have been
fired at Israel. What launching missles at Israel will
accomplish, has yet to be discovered. Israel did not take part
in the initial attack, but has been singled out as the first
nation to be attacked in retaliation. Given the current
feelings between the Arabs and the Jews, Saddam may have just
signed his own death warrant. Israel has repetedly demonstrated
that it can and will defend itself.
Now that conflict has begun, we can only hope that it will be
over soon, and not plunge us into WWIII and/or a religious war
composed of people of the Arabic faith vs. most other faiths.
FidoNews 8-03 Page 4 21 Jan 1991
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 8-03 Page 5 21 Jan 1991
Garth Kidd
3:680/828
profuse apologies
=================
Apologies if the formatting on this one is bad, but I'm doing it
by hand in FroDo. I may even take the time to do it properly
later, but since it's just a short one...
on with the story...
====================
... in any case, on with the story. As far as non-geographical
nets are concerned: they're really not needed. There is NOTHING
in POLICY4 that says you can't get your echomail from whoever
you want. So, you can get your feed from the net next door if
you like, and all you have to do is poll your real host every
now and again to pick up your routed netmail.
Seeing as the main reason people want to switch nets is to do
with echomail distribution in some way or another, that little
realisation should fix quite a few problems.
Why am I bringing this up? Well, as it was pointed out to me:
> Giving people a choice of which net they can belong to
> makes it a social choice, and once a group gets together
> they can just as easily 'socially choose' to not have you
> in their net.
Now, there could be ways in which you could restrict this kind
of thing happening under a new POLICY (like WORLDPOL), but it
seems to me that it'd be mightily unwieldy. By the way, the
worry about this kind of thing happening isn't just opinion --
it's happening, live. Here's a simplified version of what's
happening in one area of FidoNet. It's not arranged on the
ol' geographical boundary system, and...
> What would you say if, in your area of FidoNet, you had
> two choices:
> 1) Run a specific type of machine, 24-hours-a-day only, and
> pay membership fees to a non-FidoNet-related club and honour
> that club's rules/decisions about how you run your board.
> 2) Run in an alternative independent network where you are
> forced to pay _heavy_ contributions to the net's echomail
> bill whether you take any or not, and operate under a local
> policy (which you must sign) which forbids you complaining
> outside the net without first going before the net's
FidoNews 8-03 Page 6 21 Jan 1991
> "committee". (Among many other restrictions . . .)
Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty worrying to
me, especially as I really can see that kind of thing happening
in many areas of Australia, said areas already having shown
some pretty spectacular displays of applied politics and in-
fighting.
The POLICY4 we're all so "fond" of is quite explicit about what
you have to do to join FidoNet. It's nice to know that if I move
house, I'm not going to get locked out of the local network
because of a personality conflict with my new area's host.
As before, I'm just throwing stuff around to stir debate. Whilst
WORLDPOL may be better than POLICY4 in a lot of respects, it's
not perfect yet, and I'd hate to make a hasty decision on the
matter.
gk
post script
===========
PS. I love mail. If \ANYONE\ has any comments to make, send 'em
in to me! International crashmail is not required -- nor would
it work (me being a -pvt- node and all). The zonegate, on the
other hand, seems to be functioning perfectly. Once it hits
there, the beautifully efficient netmail routing we have here
in ZONE 3 will get your message to me with loving care.
Now, the amusing bit -- I leave for the big end of RG50 in a few
days, and will be there for a couple of weeks. Don't expect any
huge numbers of replies until then. Sorry.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 8-03 Page 7 21 Jan 1991
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 8-03 Page 12 21 Jan 1991
16 Feb 1991
Fifth anniversary of the introduction of Echomail, by Jeff Rush.
30 Mar 1991
Jim Grubs (W8GRT) was issued his first ham radio license forty
years ago today. His first station was made from an ARC-5
"Command Set" removed from a B-17 bomber.
12 May 1991
Fourth anniversary of FidoNet operations in Latin America and
second anniversary of the creation of Zone-4.
8 Sep 1991
25th anniversary of first airing of Star Trek on NBC!
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.
