Letters to the Editor

From: "Ardith Hinton" <ajhinton@home.com>
To: <wdbonner@pacbell.net>
Subject: FidoNews Poem
Date: Sunday, October 29, 2000 10:18 AM

Hi Warren:

You perhaps didn't receive my resend of my submission? I'll try it this way:

*Ed:(Sorry this is the first time I've received this request).

Surf(ac)ing

London, Frankfurt, and New York
Are very faraway...
But lots of people that
I know Access them every day.

With all these far-flung places,
They've great libraries there...
And one can go and visit them
Without moving from one's chair.

Special equipment for Her Nibs??
That's on a web page, too.
There are so many things to see...
So many things to do!

But while you're busy surfing,
We beg you... don't forget
The good times that you've had with us,
Your friends in Fidonet.

A.H. 2000
Ardith

ENGLISH

Centuries ago, English was mostly spoken by a few million people in the British Isles, and there were a few local dialects such as Irish English. But in the last century, the language has exploded across the world and diversified, picking up many words and pronunciation styles from local tongues.

Measured by the number of people for whom English is their first language, 72% speak American English and 16% use British English. 6% use Canadian English, 5% use Australian English and 1% use New Zealand English. There are also dozens of minor dialects, including Caribbean, South African, (Asian) Indian, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh.

Even within American English there are significant regional differences. Boston English is different from the language spoken in Atlanta, and Chicago English is different from both of them.

81) Sun 29 Oct 00 8:21p
By: michael kleerbaum
To: Warren
Re: FidoNews [03/03] Internet info

Hi Warren,

FIDONEWS AVAILABILITY

Freq FIDONEWS @ 1:140/1, or 1:396/1
ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/
ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/fidonet/fidonews/
http://www.fidonews.org
email subscription: majordomo@fidonews.org (subject: help body: list)
ftp mail: ftpmail@fidonews.org (subject: help)

All issues from 1984 to 2000 are also available at http://www.was-ist-fido.de
You can get them, without speaking a word german. :)
Just klick on the FidoNews-Button.

Michael

--- CrossPoint v3.20 R
* Origin: http://www.was-ist-fido.de: Sag's weiter! (2:2432/203)

(9056) Mon 30 Oct 00 11:22a
By: Winston Smith
To: All
Re: [--- Tick And Hatch ---]
St:

I would just like to take this opportunity to say, "Thank you, FidoNews!" for your article on "Tick" and "Hatch". For a while now, I thought that all of this talk about "Tick" referred to the SMTP ".TIC" protocol handshaking. I was not aware that there was actually a separate program for FidoNET file propagation that was literally called "Tick", or for that matter, that "Hatch" was more than just a metaphor. Thank you for your excellent article!

--- Platinum Xpress/Win/Wildcat5! v3.0pr3
* Origin: Lost in the SuperMarket - Peabody, MA - 978-531-8416 (1:101/101)

From: HDBrass@aol.com
Full-name: HDBrass
Subject: God's answering machine
To: WarBonD777@aol.com

Hope you enjoy!

Thought you might enjoy this one.
It's for those who have tried to get service or help via the phone. We have all learned to live with voice mail as a necessary part of modern life. But have you ever wondered what it would be like if God decided to install voice mail? Imagine praying and hearing this:

Thank you for calling My Father's House. Please select one of the following options: Press 1 for Requests. Press 2 for Thanksgiving. Press 3 for Complaints. Press 4 for All Other Inquiries.

I am sorry, all of our angels are busy helping other sinners right now. However, your prayer is important to us and will be answered in the order in which it was received, so please stay on the line.

If you would like to speak to:
God - press 1.
Jesus - press 2.
The Holy Spirit - press 3.

If you would like to hear King David sing a Psalm while you are holding, please press 4.

To find out if a loved one has been assigned to Heaven, press 5.
Enter his or her Social Security number, then press the pound key.
If you get a negative response, try area code 666.

For reservations at My Father's House, please enter:
JOHN followed by 3-16.

For nagging questions about dinosaurs, the age of the earth and where Noah's Ark is, please wait until you arrive here.

Our computers show that you have already prayed once today. Please hang up and try again tomorrow.

If you need emergency assistance dial 1(900) GOD-WHYME (This is a toll call.)

From: HDBrass@aol.com
Subject:Pass this on
To: <wdbonner@pacbell.net>

Glass of Milk

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door.

Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so brought him a large glass of milk. He Drank it slowly, and then asked, "How much do I owe you?" "You don't owe me anything," she replied. "Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness."

He said..... "Then I thank you from my heart." As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and Quit school.

Year's later that young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease.

Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room.

Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special attention to the case.

After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge and the bill was sent it to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all.

Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these words..... "Paid in full with one glass of milk".

(Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly.

Tears of joy flooded her eyes as her happy heart prayed: "Thank You, God, that Your love has spread abroad through human hearts and hands."

From: "darrell" <darrell@sprk.com>
To: <editor@fidonews.org>
Subject: An article for you
Date: Saturday, November 04, 2000 6:51 AM

Here is my submitted article.

Hello Warren! Seems a rather confused sysop submitted an article to you last week. In my usual hospitable manner, I would like to help him out and introduce him to the concept of reality. Hence I submit this to you for publishing in next week's 'Snooze.

First of all, nobody here in Region 12 seems to know what Mr. Grant is talking about. Now while that doesn't surprise me, it may surprise some of our readers, who may have mistakenly thought that Mr. Grant knows what he is talking about. Fortunately I am here to set the record straight. :)

As best as I can figure, someone from Region 12 became disgruntled with the R12EC and moved away. It seems he found an ear with Mr. Grant and told a rather unbelievable tale of woe regarding his time here. Either that or Mr. Grant made it all up. Either way, it's the stuff fairy tales are made of. :)

We in Region 12 allow sysops to come and go from here as they please, so if one chooses to go somewhere else, this is not particularly shocking to us in any way, especially considering the fact that certain sysops don't get along too well with some of the other kids in the sandbox. As you know, Warren, we in Region 12 have long been advocates of free geographical movement of sysops.

On to Mr. Grant's fantasies ...

- He alleges that if a sysop in Region 12 doesn't agree with the way things are done here he is looked down upon.

What does this mean? Sysops here have differing opinions all the time, nothing shocking or newsworthy there.

- Mr. Grant alleges that if a sysop in Region 12 chooses not to vote in the annual elections, he's apparently casted as an "outsider", and his nodelisting may even get pulled for "inactivity in the R12 echos, or some other foolishness.

This is very strange, Warren, and not surprisingly, apparently nobody here knows anything about this either. The R12C certainly didn't pull any node numbers, and I don't know of any Region 12 NCs that have done this either. I'd have to say Mr. Grant is again delusional on this one.

- Mr. Grant alleges that "It seems the elfishness even extends to the holy and anointed mail mover and "defender of the dogma" of Region 12, to whom someone apparently forgot to mention that the moving of echomail should not involve politics. Heaven forbid that an R12 node might try to crash route a netmail; the Fido "free region" is internet aware, don't you know; and has perfect routed netmail lines that never lose mail. Why bother with a silly little thing like POTS connectivity? Who still uses modems these days anyhow?"

Hmm ... more delusions apparently, Warren, and just who is Mr. Grant quoting? Himself? ROTFL! Many of us have modems here and we route netmail all the time. Poor Mr. Grant.

- Mr. Grant further alleges that "the elfin antics of the top banana in the R12 bunch; it seems recently this "nodelist clerk" took a dislike to the sudden appearance of a certain node number of which he did not approve, in the path lines of a certain member of his region's echomail. Now this little detail perturbed this nodelist clerk so much that he just felt he had to fire off an immediate netmail to the offending node in order to voice his displeasure.

Huh? Is he talking about me, Warren? I've read quite a few nose-stretchers in my time in this hobby, and while I certainly do consider Michael Grant to be a few bricks short of a full load, I could care less who chooses to exchange mail with him. I fear Mr. Grant needs help. I sincerely hope he finds it.

As for firing off a netmail to the offending node, poor Mr. Grant has completely lost it here, since I have sent no such netmail and would challenge Mr. Grant to produce this netmail. He can't of course, unless he fabricates one, something he seems quite good at, fabrication that is. :)

- Mr. Grant wonders "Now is it just me, or does anyone else out there wonder just what business it is for a "nodelist clerk" where one of his regions sysops pulls his echomail from?

To answer his question, this nodelist clerk could not care less where a sysop pulls their mail, but he knew that.

- Mr. Grant further wonders aloud "The last time I checked, getting an echomail feed from a different source than the "approved" one was not a Fido crime, and not even against any policy that a region might choose not to recognize.

Mr. Grant is delusional yet again, Warren, as we have no "approved" source. Our sysops freely get their mail anywhere they please. One need only check the routing charts for evidence of that. Perhaps Mr. Grant can produce proof of this bit of imagination as well. :)

- Here Mr. Grant identifies himself and makes another rather dubious statement, "Yes, Ol' WDB, you guessed right; the node number which the R12 ElfLo-* err, "nodelist clerk" objected to so much to was none other than 1:134/11; my own happy Fido home on the range.

Again, Warren, I have made no such objection, and challenge Mr. Grant to provide proof of this. Oh dear, if he cannot, we'll be forced to believe he is a liar, or extremely delusional, or both. Too bad, so sad.

Uhm, Warren, a friendly bit of advice for you, you might want to reconsider publishing "supermarket tabloid" articles like the one Mr. Grant sent you. It really makes Fidonet look cheap and sleazy, and heaven knows, Fidonet is in enough trouble as it is.

That's it Ol' WDB! Have a great day and keep up the good work!

Signed: The Region12 Nodelist Clerk!