F I D O N E W S Volume 17, Number 48 20 Nov 2000 +----------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet community | "FidoNews" | | _ | 1-714-639-0377 1:1/23 | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | | | | | \ \\ | Editor: Warren Bonner | | | (*) | \ )) | editor@fidonews.org | | |__U__| / \// | fidonews@netscape.net | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+---------------------------------------+ Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 * EDITORAL * ............................................. 1 2. GUEST EDITORIAL .......................................... 4 -=*GUEST EDITORAL*=- ..................................... 4 3. CORRECTIONS .............................................. 6 CORRECTIONS & RECORRECTIONS .............................. 6 4. ARTICLES ................................................. 10 * ARTICLES * ............................................. 10 5. COLUMNS .................................................. 14 Column By: Stewart Honsberger ............................ 14 6. FIDONET HISTORY .......................................... 20 -=*History*=- ............................................ 20 7. GETTING TECHNICAL ........................................ 25 TECHNOTES ................................................ 25 8. NET HUMOR ................................................ 27 *HUMOR* .................................................. 27 9. QUESTION OF THE WEEK ..................................... 31 THIS WEEKS QUESTION ...................................... 31 10. NOTICES ................................................. 32 NOTICES .................................................. 32 11. FIDONET BY INTERNET ..................................... 34 12. FIDONEWS INFORMATION .................................... 39 FIDONEWS INFORMATION ..................................... 39 FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 1 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= WDBonner@fidonews.org Your editor has been following the P4 discussions and learning what many think on the subject. Some want to dump it, some want to ignore it, some want to `work around it', and believe it or not some want to work to modify it only in a couple of places to make it democratic in nature. I've taken the liberty to take excerpts of some messages in open echoes, to develop an understanding for the global reader that may not have access to these echoes. With that foundation for this editoral in mind, and the knowledge that the Policy known as P4, being a bone of contention in many Regions since it was presented to replace Policy 1.0; plus (I am informed) was never ratified by the sysops as was Policy 1.0. That coupled with the necessity of all Zones to approve any ammendments has made it a catch 22 that is the quagmire, bone of contention, etc. that plagues Fidonet and perpetuates it's nick name,"Fight-O-net". ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By: Dallas Hinton To: Stewart Honsberger Re: ZC Election Procedures ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Stewart -- on Nov 15 2000 at 22:24, you wrote: SH> If nobody agrees to policy 4; why do people still agree to abide by SH> it? It's called being honourable, Stewart. It's the same issue as obeying speed limits at 2 AM when you know there are no cops around. Either you live an ethical and honourable life or you don't. Policy 4 is the policy that FidoNet uses. There is much of it I don't like, but until it's changed I will follow it. To do otherwise is to have anarchy, and while that was very enjoyable in the early days of FidoNet it rapidly became obvious that we couldn't continue in that pattern once we got beyond a few dozen members. Cheers... Dallas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By: Steven Leeman To: All Re: American elections solved :-) May also equate to PEEFOUR until modified and ratified-Ed. 8^) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello everybody. NOTICE OF REVOCATION OF INDEPENDENCE To the citizens of the United States of America, In the light of your failure to elect a President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today. Her Sovereign FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 2 20 Nov 2000 Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchial duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime minister (The rt. hon. Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: 1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium". Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up "vocabulary". Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up "interspersed". 2. There is no such thing as "US English". We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. 3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard. 4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys. Although it comes as a bit of a shock, the USA did not pilot the "Battle of Britain" spitfires during the war against Germany. Likewise, Rommel was defeated by the British & Australian Armies in Africa,.... not Sylvester Stallone & Bruce Willis. Probably your biggest shock will be the fact that the US didn't enter World War 2 until halfway through the war when the Germans mistakenly sank a few US ships. By then the war was decided by the Commonwealth countries troops ..... and your guys just helped to speed the end up. 5. You should relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through. 6. You should stop playing American "football". There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American "football" is not a very good game. The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your border may have noticed that no one else plays "American" football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football. Initially, it would be best if you FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 3 20 Nov 2000 played with the girls. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies). We are hoping to get together at least a US rugby sevens side by 2005. 7. You should declare war on Quebec and France, using nuclear weapons if they give you any merde. The 98.85% of you who were not aware that there is a world outside your borders should count yourselves lucky. The Russians have never been the bad guys. "Merde" is French for "sh*t". 8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 8th will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called "Indecisive Day". 9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean. 10. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy. Thank you for your cooperation. o Steven Leeman Thanks for the funny Steven. ~~~~~~~~~~end~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 4 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= GUEST EDITORIAL ================================================================= By David Morferrage dated 11-14-00 19:46 The ZC Election Coordinator has submitted the following election outline for publication: Draft 4, 13NOV Version C- RC's vote based on region input. (notes, timetable to be adjusted later- mostly out of nomination time) ZONE 1 COORDINATOR ELECTION - 2000 The Z1C has announced an election, for a new Z1C. Per Policy4, the ZC is elected by the RC's under them. It is the choice of the RC's to do this by the following method per P4 section 6.2. A Z1 Sysop is defined as any Sysop who is nodelisted in Z1 and physically located within the normal geographical boundries of zone 1. The nodelist used will be the nodelist.### version. Reasonable exceptions will be made during the nomination phase by the election coordinator if a node, net or region is accidently dropped from this version and this is validated by the RC or NC of the affected node. The term 'nodelisted' means listed in this version of the nodelist. Nominations Nominating time table: NOV 17-25, 2000 All dates start at 00:00 and end at 11:59 EST Any nodelisted Z1 Sysop of Fidonet may nominate themselves or another nodelisted Sysop of of Z1 Fidonet for the position of Z1C. The nomination must be made in the Z1_Election echo and should be addressed to the Election Coordinator. The nomination must include the name of the nominee and their Fidonet node number. Once a nomination has been received by the election coordinator, the name will be added to the list of nominees. The nomination must then be accepted by the nominee and seconded by a Z1 Sysop in the echo to become a fully eligible candidate. Discussion Period NOV 26- DEC 02, 2000 All dates start at 00:00 and end at 11:59 EST Following the nomination period, a period shall be allowed for each candidate to campaign for the position. During this period, questioning of the candidates is encouraged. Regional Feedback Period DEC 03-16, 2000 All dates start at 00:00 and end at 11:59 EST FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 5 20 Nov 2000 Following the campaign period, the above period shall be allowed for each region to conduct selection proceedings in accordance with regional policy and such methods as are determined as appropriate based on regional policy or the desires of the Sysops within that region. All voting or other feedback including what is desired if there is a run-off election and the primary candidate your region selected is eliminated, must be concluded no later than 16 DEC. No time is alloted to conduct secondary polls of regional input once RC voting commences. Regional Coordinator Voting - DEC 17-22, 2000 All dates start at 00:00 and end at 11:59 EST Following collection of regional input, the RC's shall cast their vote. (Location TBD at this time). Initial voting will be from 17-18 DEC. The candidate with the most votes, wins. This will be calculated by a simple majority where if any one candidate receives 6 RC votes, they will be announced as the winner. If no candidate achieves 6 RC votes, a run-off election will take place from 19-20 DEC between the top 2 candidates. Contesting of the vote will take place from 21-22 DEC. Once finalized and with no RC's contesting the vote, the results will be posted in the Z1_ELECTION echo. Note, this section may be ammended after the initial Z1C election process has begun, in order to finalize the location of the RC votes. Term begin/end: Turnover date to May 2003 Upon completion of the election, the newly elected Z1C's term begins as soon as turnover can be accomplished but no later than 5 January 2001. Due to early turnover, the normal 2 year period will be extended 5 months and end May 2003. This is in order to avoid mandating a vote over the holiday season in 2 years. Z1C Election Coordinator - 2000 -=David=- TCP/IP Node kraut.dyndns.org IBN & ITN:60177 David@you-have-mail.com ... Double your pleasure, Double your fun. Xerox your pay-cheques. --- * Origin: Kraut Haus * telnet://kraut.dyndns.org (1:2613/404) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~end~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 6 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= CORRECTIONS ================================================================= The editor accepts articles, but does not accept any responsibility for their accuracy, that's why a corrections column is necessary. ~~~~~~~~~~~ By: Winston Smith To: All Re: [--- Linux OS N/A's ? ---] --------------------------------------------------------------------- I wish to correct a few of the "not applicable" n/a designations of the "LINUX OS" (moving from *DOS to *NIX) FidoNews article by Janis Kracht. n/a chsh Change shell While there is no --DIRECTLY-- applicable 'chsh' command via *DOS, as all that 'chsh' is is a batch shell script that modifies the user record in the '/etc' directory folder, one can easily write a batch script under *DOS called 'CHSH.BAT' to modify the "start up" shell selection for *DOS, which in this case is stored in the CO