Is there anyone still alive out there?

[Juergen Nieveler]

With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?

*sound of waving chicken around...*

[Michel]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

Careful where you swing that thing please

[Gallian]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

Alive is relative, these days...

Mart

[Kerr-Mudd,John]

Post by Gallian

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

Alive is relative, these days...
Mart

Are Zombies welcome?

[Juergen Nieveler]

Post by Kerr-Mudd,John

Post by Gallian

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

Alive is relative, these days...
Mart

Are Zombies welcome?

Of course... otherwise Usenet would be empty...

[Invalid Syntax in Subject Header]

Post by Juergen Nieveler

Post by Kerr-Mudd,John

Post by Gallian

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

Alive is relative, these days...
Mart

Are Zombies welcome?

Of course... otherwise Usenet would be empty...

[lurking Zombie materialises in puff of green smoke]

[Gallian]

Post by Invalid Syntax in Subject Header

Post by Juergen Nieveler

Post by Kerr-Mudd,John
Are Zombies welcome?

Of course... otherwise Usenet would be empty...

[lurking Zombie materialises in puff of green smoke]

Braaaiins?

[Ina Faye-Lund]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

Mine is bigger than yours!

*pulls out a bigger chicken*

[Alexander Schreiber]

Post by Ina Faye-Lund

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

Mine is bigger than yours!
*pulls out a bigger chicken*

That looks suspiciously like a turkey, though ...

SCNR,
Alex.

[Stephen Harris]

Post by Alexander Schreiber
That looks suspiciously like a turkey, though ...

That's no way to talk about our elected leaders...

Umm, on second thoughts, go right ahead!

[Roger Bell_West]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?

Hiding from the foolkiller.

[David Cameron Staples]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

Negative. I am a meat popsicle.

[ptomblin+ (Paul Tomblin)]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?

Are you on the other place?

[Juergen Nieveler]

In a previous article, Juergen Nieveler

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?

Are you on the other place?

Yes, but even there I've seen voting-related content...

[Niklas Karlsson]

Post by ptomblin+ (Paul Tomblin)

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?

Are you on the other place?

I was there for a while, years ago, thanks to a helpful Monk. That
newsserver went up in smoke, though - I suppose there were other demands
on his time, don't really blame him.

Niklas

[Mans Nilsson]

Post by Niklas Karlsson

Post by ptomblin+ (Paul Tomblin)

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?

Are you on the other place?

I was there for a while, years ago, thanks to a helpful Monk. That
newsserver went up in smoke, though - I suppose there were other demands
on his time, don't really blame him.

Congratulations(?) on your unrecovery.

[Niklas Karlsson]

Post by Mans Nilsson
Congratulations(?) on your unrecovery.

Thanks. No reason for a question mark so far.

Niklas

[Wojciech Derechowski]

Post by ptomblin+ (Paul Tomblin)

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?

Are you on the other place?

I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
of which you speak?

WD
--
Who is Entscheidungs and what is his problem?

[The Horny Goat]

On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:11:47 -0000, Wojciech Derechowski

Post by Wojciech Derechowski

Post by ptomblin+ (Paul Tomblin)

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?

Are you on the other place?

I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
of which you speak?
WD

Shall we tell him it's Zvpebfbsg???

[Ina Faye-Lund]

Post by The Horny Goat
On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:11:47 -0000, Wojciech Derechowski

Post by Wojciech Derechowski
I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
of which you speak?
WD

Shall we tell him it's Zvpebfbsg???

You mean Erqzbaq, also known as R'Lyeh.

[Wojciech Derechowski]

Post by Ina Faye-Lund

Post by The Horny Goat
On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:11:47 -0000, Wojciech Derechowski

Post by Wojciech Derechowski
I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
of which you speak?
WD

Shall we tell him it's Zvpebfbsg???

You mean Erqzbaq, also known as R'Lyeh.

That would be almost Systemd offense.

WD
--
Who is Entscheidungs and what is his problem?

[Alexander Schreiber]

Post by Wojciech Derechowski

Post by Ina Faye-Lund

Post by The Horny Goat
On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:11:47 -0000, Wojciech Derechowski

Post by Wojciech Derechowski
I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
of which you speak?
WD

Shall we tell him it's Zvpebfbsg???

You mean Erqzbaq, also known as R'Lyeh.

That would be almost Systemd offense.

We don't speak about this thing here, lest knifes come out and that would
irrate everyone.

HTH,
Alex.

[Gallian]

Post by Alexander Schreiber

Post by Wojciech Derechowski

Post by Ina Faye-Lund

Post by The Horny Goat
On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:11:47 -0000, Wojciech Derechowski

Post by Wojciech Derechowski
I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
of which you speak?
WD

Shall we tell him it's Zvpebfbsg???

You mean Erqzbaq, also known as R'Lyeh.

That would be almost Systemd offense.

We don't speak about this thing here, lest knifes come out and that would
irrate everyone.

It's advocacy either way. If this group is going to go "braaaainzz!"
then maybe reposting the FAQ might be a good idea.

Mart

[Wojciech Derechowski]

Post by Gallian

Post by Alexander Schreiber

Post by Wojciech Derechowski

Post by Ina Faye-Lund

Post by The Horny Goat
On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:11:47 -0000, Wojciech Derechowski

Post by Wojciech Derechowski
I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
of which you speak?
WD

Shall we tell him it's Zvpebfbsg???

You mean Erqzbaq, also known as R'Lyeh.

That would be almost Systemd offense.

We don't speak about this thing here, lest knifes come out and that would
irrate everyone.

It's advocacy either way.

No it isn't but you can always killfile or score or whatever.

[Roger Bell_West]

Post by Wojciech Derechowski
No it isn't but you can always killfile or score or whatever.

That is the way of the outer darkness.

[Gallian]

Post by Wojciech Derechowski
No it isn't but you can always killfile or score or whatever.

"It is fine for me to dump carcinogenic pollution in your upstream
water. You can always sue me once you're riddled with tumours".

Are you a Libertarian by any chance?

Mart

[Roger Bell_West]

Post by Alexander Schreiber
We don't speak about this thing here, lest knifes come out and that would
irrate everyone.

But it's when the knife comes _out_ that the arterial spray starts.

[Juergen Nieveler]

Post by Ina Faye-Lund

Post by The Horny Goat
On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:11:47 -0000, Wojciech Derechowski

Post by Wojciech Derechowski
I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
of which you speak?
WD

Shall we tell him it's Zvpebfbsg???

You mean Erqzbaq, also known as R'Lyeh.

I thought it's Gra-Fvkgl Jrfg Nqqvfba, Puvpntb?

[Wojciech Derechowski]

Post by Juergen Nieveler

Post by Ina Faye-Lund

Post by The Horny Goat
On Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:11:47 -0000, Wojciech Derechowski

Post by Wojciech Derechowski
I was always meaning to ask at the monastery where is this other place
of which you speak?
WD

Shall we tell him it's Zvpebfbsg???

You mean Erqzbaq, also known as R'Lyeh.

I thought it's Gra-Fvkgl Jrfg Nqqvfba, Puvpntb?

Yes, it most certainly is.

WD
--
Who is Entscheidungs and what is his problem?

[Alan J. Wylie]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
*sound of waving chicken around...*

Damn your eyes, sir. Now I have *that song* going round in my head.

[Kerr-Mudd,John]

Post by Alan J. Wylie

Post by Juergen Nieveler
*sound of waving chicken around...*

Damn your eyes, sir. Now I have *that song* going round in my head.

Oops, might be better outside your head, I said oops outside your head.

(I try not to code too many nops these days)

[Grant Taylor]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?

Monitor: Yes.

Post: Occasionally.

Post by Juergen Nieveler
*sound of waving chicken around...*

Don't threaten me with a R.I.T.A. I don't care how reliable it is.

[Garrett Wollman]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?

I am still alive. Unfortunately I am also becoming unusable due to US
elections, but hopefully that will pass in a couple of weeks.

-GAWollman

[Niklas Karlsson]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

*hand*

Niklas

[c***@nospam.com]

Post by Niklas Karlsson

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

*hand*
Niklas

Still alive and kicking after 15 years of recovery.

[Chris Adams]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?

Internet meltdown - USENET forever!

[Stephen Harris]

Post by Chris Adams

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?

Internet meltdown - USENET forever!

I think I've still got a modem somewhere, and I'm sure I can resurrect the
brain cells that archived my UUCP knowledge.

[Grant Taylor]

Post by Stephen Harris
I think I've still got a modem somewhere, and I'm sure I can resurrect
the brain cells that archived my UUCP knowledge.

UUCP is one thing. <whatever> over modem is something entirely different.

Much of Usenet rides over the Internet today. Sure, UUCP could carry
Usenet, particularly text groups. But how many people could transition
to modem connections? What's more, how many people could establish a
UUCP network? That's going to take some work to boot strap. Plus you
won't have good communications with others to do so.

You can also carry TCP/IP over modem. But that going to take even more
effort to boot strap. It's also going to take more resources (phone
lines / modems / etc.) to establish multi-hop communications. IMHO,
UUCP would be easier than TCP/IP over a modem.

[The Horny Goat]

On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 23:44:34 -0600, Grant Taylor

Post by Grant Taylor
You can also carry TCP/IP over modem. But that going to take even more
effort to boot strap. It's also going to take more resources (phone
lines / modems / etc.) to establish multi-hop communications. IMHO,
UUCP would be easier than TCP/IP over a modem.

I actually set that up back in the day. Probably not something I'd
want to re-learn and implement now.

Of course that was back in the day when 32k was a fast modem heh heh

[Ina Faye-Lund]

Post by The Horny Goat
On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 23:44:34 -0600, Grant Taylor

Post by Grant Taylor
You can also carry TCP/IP over modem. But that going to take even more
effort to boot strap. It's also going to take more resources (phone
lines / modems / etc.) to establish multi-hop communications. IMHO,
UUCP would be easier than TCP/IP over a modem.

I actually set that up back in the day. Probably not something I'd
want to re-learn and implement now.
Of course that was back in the day when 32k was a fast modem heh heh

Thank you so very much for making me feel old.

When I started out, the common was 14400, but we still had customers
using 9600.

[Zebee Johnstone]

In alt.sysadmin.recovery on Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:00:18 +0200

Post by Ina Faye-Lund

Post by The Horny Goat
On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 23:44:34 -0600, Grant Taylor

Post by Grant Taylor
You can also carry TCP/IP over modem. But that going to take even more
effort to boot strap. It's also going to take more resources (phone
lines / modems / etc.) to establish multi-hop communications. IMHO,
UUCP would be easier than TCP/IP over a modem.

I actually set that up back in the day. Probably not something I'd
want to re-learn and implement now.
Of course that was back in the day when 32k was a fast modem heh heh

Thank you so very much for making me feel old.
When I started out, the common was 14400, but we still had customers
using 9600.

And suddenly out of the mists of the past comes the memory of the
modem you used by putting your telephone handset onto two rubber cups.


Zebee

[Niklas Karlsson]

Post by Zebee Johnstone
In alt.sysadmin.recovery on Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:00:18 +0200

Post by Ina Faye-Lund
When I started out, the common was 14400, but we still had customers
using 9600.

And suddenly out of the mists of the past comes the memory of the
modem you used by putting your telephone handset onto two rubber cups.

Ah yes, the acoustic coupler. I'm a bit too young to have seen one in
the flesh (well, it's possible I did at a museum somewhere, but have
forgotten).

The first modem I used was 2400 bps, but I was a little kid then. By the
time I actually got paid to do IT, cable modems and DSL were typical for
home users, at about 500 Kb.

Niklas

[Gary Barnes]

On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:55:56 -0000 (UTC), Zebee Johnstone
<***@gmail.com> wrote:
: And suddenly out of the mists of the past comes the memory of the
: modem you used by putting your telephone handset onto two rubber cups.

That's my afternoon sorted. Rewatching WarGames it is...

Gaz

[The Horny Goat]

On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 13:13:14 -0000 (UTC), Gary Barnes

Post by Gary Barnes
On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:55:56 -0000 (UTC), Zebee Johnstone
: And suddenly out of the mists of the past comes the memory of the
: modem you used by putting your telephone handset onto two rubber cups.
That's my afternoon sorted. Rewatching WarGames it is...

Never saw that one but did the first. How about a game of 'Global
Thermonuclear War?"

[Michel]

Post by Gary Barnes
On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:55:56 -0000 (UTC), Zebee Johnstone
: And suddenly out of the mists of the past comes the memory of the
: modem you used by putting your telephone handset onto two rubber cups.
That's my afternoon sorted. Rewatching WarGames it is...

At least it's not Hackers...

[Gary Barnes]

On Sat, 24 Oct 2020 22:46:41 +0200, Michel
<***@rubberchicken.nl> wrote:
: On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 13:13:14 -0000 (UTC), Gary Barnes wrote:
: > On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:55:56 -0000 (UTC), Zebee Johnstone
: ><***@gmail.com> wrote:
: >: And suddenly out of the mists of the past comes the memory of the
: >: modem you used by putting your telephone handset onto two rubber cups.
: >
: > That's my afternoon sorted. Rewatching WarGames it is...
:
: At least it's not Hackers...

Hey, that's Angelina Jolie's best performance, and Voodoo People made a
great Nokia ringtone.

I'm showing my age.

Gaz

[Peter Corlett]

[...]

Post by Gary Barnes

Post by Michel
At least it's not Hackers...

Hey, that's Angelina Jolie's best performance

Ha, I get a twofer perving over Jonny Lee Miller's performance, since he also
did Trainspotting too before vanishing into obscurity. I should get round to
watching T2, what with Irvine Welsh's writing being relentlessly optimistic by
2020 standards, and I could use a pick-me-up.

Post by Gary Barnes
and Voodoo People made a great Nokia ringtone.

My ringtone is a recording of a GPO 706, with proper UK briiing-briiing
cadence. It will suffice until I can lay my hands on an actual GPO 706 and
doctor the innards so it works on a VoIP ATA, what with BT not in any hurry to
install a POTS line in this corner of the Netherlands. Even KPN (who put me
rather more in mind of the GPO than BT) was somewhat reluctant.

Post by Gary Barnes
I'm showing my age.

For that, you want Sneakers, which is Hackers but in late middle-age.

[Roger Bell_West]

Post by Peter Corlett
My ringtone is a recording of a GPO 706, with proper UK briiing-briiing
cadence.

Well, _obviously_. Doesn't half confuse people, I've found.

For the _other_ program, the Lincolnshire Poacher, of course.

Post by Peter Corlett
It will suffice until I can lay my hands on an actual GPO 706 and
doctor the innards so it works on a VoIP ATA,

I think Mr S may have done something along those lines.

Post by Peter Corlett
For that, you want Sneakers, which is Hackers but in late middle-age.

And, of course, The Net.

[Peter Corlett]

Post by Roger Bell_West

Post by Peter Corlett
My ringtone is a recording of a GPO 706, with proper UK briiing-briiing
cadence.

Well, _obviously_. Doesn't half confuse people, I've found.

Also, ye olde Nokia bleeps on an iPhone. Although I'd be mildly more impressed
by somebody getting an old Nokia to play the iPhone's default ringtone.

Hmm, I have an old Nokia and ringtone-composition software somewhere...

Post by Roger Bell_West
For the _other_ program, the Lincolnshire Poacher, of course.

ISTR that's in my phone's ringtone library, although I currently use the Amiga
1000 WCS-bootstrap chime. If one is going to go obscure, make it *really*
obscure.

Post by Roger Bell_West

Post by Peter Corlett
It will suffice until I can lay my hands on an actual GPO 706 and doctor the
innards so it works on a VoIP ATA,

I think Mr S may have done something along those lines.

It's a relatively obvious thing to do, only marred by thirsty 1970s British
electronics combined with American-designed VoIP tat which assumes that all
phones are crappy plastic bleepy things, and neither support pulse dialling nor
provide enough RICH CHUNKY VOLTS required to get a GPO 706 to pay attention.

I had convinced my last ATA to do the proper UK cadence, but it blew up after a
while, possibly due to the realisation there's a world outside of the NANP.

Post by Roger Bell_West

Post by Peter Corlett
For that, you want Sneakers, which is Hackers but in late middle-age.

And, of course, The Net.

I got that in a DVD box set with The Net 2.0 for two quid. And now I want my
three quid back.

At least it's not as awful as Joy Sticks, which was 50 cents and again several
euros too expensive. It's a proper pressed disk and presumably licensed, but
looks like a cam rip. BREIN could reduce piracy in the Netherlands by getting
Dutch FilmWorks et al to use proper digital sources instead of an old Betamax
tape. The film's content is as awful as the picture quality, although the first
few minutes has some nice footage of late-70s and early 80s arcade machines.

[Gary Barnes]

On Sun, 25 Oct 2020 10:40:31 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett
<***@mooli.org.uk> wrote:
:
: At least it's not as awful as Joy Sticks, which was 50 cents and again several
: euros too expensive. It's a proper pressed disk and presumably licensed, but
: looks like a cam rip.

I just want to interject with The Blair Witch Project.

The one film where I didn't just want my money back but
the 105 minutes of my life back.

Gaz

[Roger Bell_West]

Post by Gary Barnes
I just want to interject with The Blair Witch Project.

Read that first as "interact"...

Post by Gary Barnes
The one film where I didn't just want my money back but
the 105 minutes of my life back.

My wife saw that in a student film club.

After a bit someone asked "why don't they follow the river downhill".

"Because they're Americans."

[Gary Barnes]

On Sun, 25 Oct 2020 11:02:54 -0000 (UTC), Roger Bell_West
<roger+***@nospam.firedrake.org> wrote:
: On 2020-10-25, Gary Barnes wrote:
: >I just want to interject with The Blair Witch Project.
:
: Read that first as "interact"...

No. Fuck no.

We've already far exceeded the quota of shits I am willing to give that
"film", anyway.

Gaz

[Alan J. Wylie]

Post by Roger Bell_West
After a bit someone asked "why don't they follow the river downhill".
"Because they're Americans."

OTOH, Don't do what James Kim did and leave the road to descend a
ravine in search of the nearest town.

Climbing a ridge in search of a mobile phone signal, whilst staying near
to your vehicle, is, however a non-luserish thing to do.

[Roger Bell_West]

Post by Alan J. Wylie
OTOH, Don't do what James Kim did and leave the road to descend a
ravine in search of the nearest town.

Shit Maps Cost Lives.

(~All US maps are shit. Y'all need an Ordnance Survey.)

[Michel]

Post by Alan J. Wylie
OTOH, Don't do what James Kim did and leave the road to descend a
ravine in search of the nearest town.
Climbing a ridge in search of a mobile phone signal, whilst staying near
to your vehicle, is, however a non-luserish thing to do.

Friend of mine once broke his leg or ankle or something while out hiking
in the mountains by himself. No phone signal and several miles of tricky
descent back to his car. Instead he went further up the mountain to where
there might be a phone signal. Crawling on hands and knees. And there was.

[Peter Corlett]

Michel <***@rubberchicken.nl> wrote:
[...]

Friend of mine once broke his leg or ankle or something while out hiking in
the mountains by himself. No phone signal and several miles of tricky descent
back to his car. Instead he went further up the mountain to where there might
be a phone signal. Crawling on hands and knees. And there was.

That can't have been here in the Netherlands. The closest most of the Dutch get
to a mountain is a landfill site, and you have to get lost very deep in
cowfucker country for the phone signal to drop as low as three bars.

A few kilometres away from here is a "mountain bike track". It sometimes rises
as high as fifty centimetres, and is smoother than a lot of British roads.

[Michel]

Post by Peter Corlett
[...]

Friend of mine once broke his leg or ankle or something while out hiking in
the mountains by himself. No phone signal and several miles of tricky descent
back to his car. Instead he went further up the mountain to where there might
be a phone signal. Crawling on hands and knees. And there was.

That can't have been here in the Netherlands. The closest most of the Dutch get
to a mountain is a landfill site, and you have to get lost very deep in
cowfucker country for the phone signal to drop as low as three bars.

I think it was Wales.

Post by Peter Corlett
A few kilometres away from here is a "mountain bike track". It sometimes rises
as high as fifty centimetres, and is smoother than a lot of British roads.

And hey, there's a couple of mean little hills around here if you're
cycling, and I'm not even in the southeast.

[Peter Corlett]

Post by Michel

Post by Peter Corlett
[...]

Friend of mine once broke his leg or ankle or something while out hiking in
the mountains by himself. No phone signal and several miles of tricky
descent back to his car. Instead he went further up the mountain to where
there might be a phone signal. Crawling on hands and knees. And there was.

That can't have been here in the Netherlands. The closest most of the Dutch
get to a mountain is a landfill site, and you have to get lost very deep in
cowfucker country for the phone signal to drop as low as three bars.

I think it was Wales.

In that case, given the piss-poor British phone infrastructure, I'm surprised
he could get any phone service at all short of actually standing outside of the
Vodafone shop in Cardiff -- where there will be a payphone nearby.

Post by Michel

Post by Peter Corlett
A few kilometres away from here is a "mountain bike track". It sometimes
rises as high as fifty centimetres, and is smoother than a lot of British
roads.

And hey, there's a couple of mean little hills around here if you're cycling,
and I'm not even in the southeast.

I miss hills, although perhaps not some of those in London which, while not
particularly steep per se, inevitably involve a double-decker crawling up your
arse.

This corner of the country is sometimes called "Low Holland" by the various
tourist boards, presumably to distinguish it from that more famous Holland with
the high mountain tops[0]. The A7 motorway through here is on a raised viaduct
and its "Laag Holland" road sign is ironically pretty much the tallest point
for miles around.

Said sign also contains pictures of the obligatory windmill, some wading birds
which are not floating upside down in a filthy canal, and for some inexplicable
reason, a lighthouse even though this is right in the centre of the peninsula
and the sea is an hour away.

I am occasionally amused by Google Maps claiming I'll climb 10-20m in a 50km
bike ride. How? Are they counting the thickness of the paint in the road
markings on the otherwise perfectly-flat surface?


[0] Gung'q or Unneyrz, fcrpvsvpnyyl gur Gbc bs gur Zbag Oynap va gur Grlyref
Zhfrhz.

[Michel]

Post by Peter Corlett

Post by Michel
And hey, there's a couple of mean little hills around here if you're cycling,
and I'm not even in the southeast.

I miss hills, although perhaps not some of those in London which, while not
particularly steep per se, inevitably involve a double-decker crawling up your
arse.
This corner of the country is sometimes called "Low Holland" by the various
tourist boards, presumably to distinguish it from that more famous Holland with
the high mountain tops[0].

Half of it is below sea level even. It is awfully flat around there,
other than the various bits of infrastructure to keep the water out.

Post by Peter Corlett
I am occasionally amused by Google Maps claiming I'll climb 10-20m in a 50km
bike ride. How? Are they counting the thickness of the paint in the road
markings on the otherwise perfectly-flat surface?

Dykes. The occasional bit of bridge.
20m is well within the margin of error on 50 km.

[Peter Corlett]

Michel <***@rubberchicken.nl> wrote:
[...]

Half of it is below sea level even. It is awfully flat around there, other
than the various bits of infrastructure to keep the water out.

I'm at about -0.5m MSL. The surrounding countryside tends to be nearer -1.5m
MSL, except for a bit that's -4m MSL.

[...]

Post by Peter Corlett
I am occasionally amused by Google Maps claiming I'll climb 10-20m in a 50km
bike ride. How? Are they counting the thickness of the paint in the road
markings on the otherwise perfectly-flat surface?

Dykes. The occasional bit of bridge. 20m is well within the margin of error
on 50 km.

I suspect the actual reason is that they are using elevation data from
satellite scans which measure the tops of large buildings and tree cover rather
than the land. Some climate scientists recently discovered this flaw in a
dataset they were using, and went "bugger, the Netherlands is lower than we
thought". Yeah, well, these aren't called the Low Countries for nothing.

One of the Zaanstad circulars talking about proposed building works and other
infrastructure improvments in the area posed the question "Where do you think
Kogerveld will be in 2040?" (in Dutch, obviously; this isn't Amsterdam.) My
answer of "underwater" is perhaps not the one they were looking for, but more
likely than any of their suggestions.

[Michel]

Post by Peter Corlett
I suspect the actual reason is that they are using elevation data from
satellite scans which measure the tops of large buildings and tree cover rather
than the land. Some climate scientists recently discovered this flaw in a
dataset they were using, and went "bugger, the Netherlands is lower than we
thought". Yeah, well, these aren't called the Low Countries for nothing.

Oh that is a bit daft.

Nobody noticed that Manhattan was kinda high up for an island?

Post by Peter Corlett
One of the Zaanstad circulars talking about proposed building works and other
infrastructure improvments in the area posed the question "Where do you think
Kogerveld will be in 2040?" (in Dutch, obviously; this isn't Amsterdam.) My
answer of "underwater" is perhaps not the one they were looking for, but more
likely than any of their suggestions.

At least you didn't add "hopefully"...?

[Gary Barnes]

On Tue, 27 Oct 2020 14:11:33 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett
<***@mooli.org.uk> wrote:
: Michel <***@rubberchicken.nl> wrote:
: [...]
: > Half of it is below sea level even. It is awfully flat around there, other
: > than the various bits of infrastructure to keep the water out.
:
: I'm at about -0.5m MSL. The surrounding countryside tends to be nearer -1.5m
: MSL, except for a bit that's -4m

Hie thee hither, to quote the great bard. In this county, our hills are
designated an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

https://www.shropshirehillsaonb.co.uk/

Gaz

[Michel]

Post by Gary Barnes
On Tue, 27 Oct 2020 14:11:33 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett
: I'm at about -0.5m MSL. The surrounding countryside tends to be nearer -1.5m
: MSL, except for a bit that's -4m
Hie thee hither, to quote the great bard. In this county, our hills are
designated an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
https://www.shropshirehillsaonb.co.uk/

That might be, but your water tastes foul.

Spent a weekend camping once near Wentnor. Surprised at them selling
multi-gallon jugs of mineral water, until I tasted the local stuff.

But yeah, very nice hills.

[Kerr-Mudd,John]

Post by Gary Barnes
On Tue, 27 Oct 2020 14:11:33 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett
: [...]
: > Half of it is below sea level even. It is awfully flat around
: > there, other than the various bits of infrastructure to keep the
: > water out.
: I'm at about -0.5m MSL. The surrounding countryside tends to be
: nearer -1.5m MSL, except for a bit that's -4m
Hie thee hither, to quote the great bard. In this county, our hills
are designated an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
https://www.shropshirehillsaonb.co.uk/

'snice around there; and several breweries to hand.

[Gary Barnes]

On Mon, 26 Oct 2020 22:33:52 +0100, Michel
<***@rubberchicken.nl> wrote:
: On Mon, 26 Oct 2020 18:46:01 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett wrote:
: > That can't have been here in the Netherlands. The closest most of the Dutch get
: > to a mountain is a landfill site, and you have to get lost very deep in
: > cowfucker country for the phone signal to drop as low as three bars.
:
: I think it was Wales.

I have a photograph of a Royal Air Force Search and Rescue Force Sea King
helicopter flying *below* me near Pen-Y-Pass.

That is all.

Gaz

[Michel]

Post by Gary Barnes
On Mon, 26 Oct 2020 22:33:52 +0100, Michel
: I think it was Wales.
I have a photograph of a Royal Air Force Search and Rescue Force Sea King
helicopter flying *below* me near Pen-Y-Pass.
That is all.

I remember standing one valley over on a little bitty road parallell
to the A5 when a couple of Tornadoes came screaming around the corner
at Llyn Ogwen and passed[0] right overhead.

Not enough time to get the camera out sadly, they don't hang about
those things.

[0] Dammit took me 5 attempts to not type "passwd"

[Alexander Schreiber]

Post by Michel

Post by Alan J. Wylie
OTOH, Don't do what James Kim did and leave the road to descend a
ravine in search of the nearest town.
Climbing a ridge in search of a mobile phone signal, whilst staying near
to your vehicle, is, however a non-luserish thing to do.

Friend of mine once broke his leg or ankle or something while out hiking
in the mountains by himself. No phone signal and several miles of tricky
descent back to his car. Instead he went further up the mountain to where
there might be a phone signal. Crawling on hands and knees. And there was.

Thanks for reminding me that one of the nice things of .ch is that while spots
with not cellphone signal do exist, you _do_ have to look for them, even
in the mountains. Hiking around the mountains and signal rarely drops below
two bars of 4G.


Yes, small, rich countries can be nice.

Kind regards,
Alex.

[Gary Barnes]

On Sun, 25 Oct 2020 11:02:54 -0000 (UTC), Roger Bell_West
<roger+***@nospam.firedrake.org> wrote:
:
: After a bit someone asked "why don't they follow the river downhill".

After all, that way Deliverance lies. Oh, wait.

Gaz

[Stephen Harris]

Post by Gary Barnes
On Sun, 25 Oct 2020 10:40:31 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett
: At least it's not as awful as Joy Sticks, which was 50 cents and again several
: euros too expensive. It's a proper pressed disk and presumably licensed, but
: looks like a cam rip.
I just want to interject with The Blair Witch Project.
The one film where I didn't just want my money back but
the 105 minutes of my life back.

Back in 2012 I needed a three more dollars for free Amazon shipping and
Sucker Punch BluRay was $3.99. I figured it was worth it for that.

I was wrong; I should have paid the $2 shipping fee.

[Gary Barnes]

On Sun, 25 Oct 2020 07:54:12 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett
<***@mooli.org.uk> wrote:
: Gary Barnes <***@adminspotting.org> wrote:
: > and Voodoo People made a great Nokia ringtone.
:
: My ringtone is a recording of a GPO 706

Natch.

It took me a lot of searching to find it, so here it is for anyone who wants
a proper cadence: https://adminspotting.org/ringt706.wav

Since it became a standard for SMS notifications to be ... -- ..., I have
extended that so that my phone alerts me with .... --- -- . or .-- --- .-.
-.- or -- .. ... -.-. or -... . - .... depending[0].

Even if you don't know morse, you soon learn to differentiate the
categories, and it used to save me getting the phone out of my pocket to
know the sender, even before my watch provided a little more functionality.

Nagios alerts get https://adminspotting.org/upanddown.wav for proper 90s
Motorola pager nostalgia,

: > I'm showing my age.
:
: For that, you want Sneakers, which is Hackers but in late middle-age.

Also a great film. I shall pretend that I didn't see Roger's suggestion, but
he may need a Covid test as loss of taste is a symptom.

Gaz
[0] home, work, misc, beth

[Gary Barnes]

On Sun, 25 Oct 2020 09:35:08 -0000 (UTC), Gary Barnes
<***@adminspotting.org> wrote:
: On Sun, 25 Oct 2020 07:54:12 -0000 (UTC), Peter Corlett
: <***@mooli.org.uk> wrote:
: : Gary Barnes <***@adminspotting.org> wrote:
: : > and Voodoo People made a great Nokia ringtone.
: :
: : My ringtone is a recording of a GPO 706
:
: Natch.
:
: It took me a lot of searching to find it, so here it is for anyone who wants
: a proper cadence: https://adminspotting.org/ringt706.wav

In case it's not clear, I didn't just search for this now, this was already
my ringtone.

Yes, this is a self-followup. No, I don't care. Fuck you.

Gaz

[Roger Bell_West]

Post by Gary Barnes
It took me a lot of searching to find it, so here it is for anyone who wants
a proper cadence: https://adminspotting.org/ringt706.wav

Yeah, I think that version is the one I have installed.

Post by Gary Barnes
Also a great film. I shall pretend that I didn't see Roger's suggestion, but
he may need a Covid test as loss of taste is a symptom.

Sandra Bullock, the thinking man's Saffron Burrows?

[Stephen Harris]

Post by Gary Barnes
It took me a lot of searching to find it, so here it is for anyone who wants
a proper cadence: https://adminspotting.org/ringt706.wav

Heh, thats identical to the file I use on my phone :-)

[Garrett Wollman]

Post by Gary Barnes
Since it became a standard for SMS notifications to be ... -- ..., I have
extended that so that my phone alerts me with .... --- -- . or .-- --- .-.
-.- or -- .. ... -.-. or -... . - .... depending[0].
Nagios alerts get https://adminspotting.org/upanddown.wav for proper 90s
Motorola pager nostalgia,

I had a recording of my old Motorola pager for that, but unfortunately
P*g*rD**ty's[1] Android app is too stupid to be able to use it,
because Android categorizes it as "music" rather than "ringtone".
I've found that the default P....D... alert tone is sufficiently
irritating that I don't need the extra oomph of the beeper.

<https://bimajority.org/%7Ewollman/Motorola%20pager%20alert.wav>

It was recorded in my bedroom using my Marantz PMD620's internal
microphone; I didn't do anything clever like extract it from the ROM
of the pager or what have you.

-GAWollman

[1] Which in our group is the canonical example of "minimum viable
product", accent on "minimum". It still can't do the basic scheduling
algorithm that I implemented in our old internal scheduler fifteen
years ago. We'd still be using it if it wasn't a Rails 1 app that
nobody had the time or inclination to rewrite.

[Gary Barnes]

On Mon, 26 Oct 2020 00:16:52 +0000 (UTC), Garrett Wollman
<***@bimajority.org> wrote:
: In article <***@logan.adminspotting.org>,
: Gary Barnes <***@adminspotting.org> wrote:
: >Nagios alerts get https://adminspotting.org/upanddown.wav for proper 90s
: >Motorola pager nostalgia,
:
: I had a recording of my old Motorola pager for that, but unfortunately
: P*g*rD**ty's[1] Android app is too stupid to be able to use it,
: because Android categorizes it as "music" rather than "ringtone".
: I've found that the default P....D... alert tone is sufficiently
: irritating that I don't need the extra oomph of the beeper.

I personally recommend (and I'm not being paid to say this) using "Handcent
Next SMS" if you're an Android user, as this allows for repeating reminders
until acknowledged, just like those 90s Motorola pagers did.

Gaz

[Gallian]

Post by Peter Corlett
this corner of the Netherlands.

That corner still being that old industrial/repurposed as a suburb town
north of Amsterdam?

Which would put you right around the corner of SWMCurrentlyBO.

Regards,

Mart

[Peter Corlett]

Post by Peter Corlett
this corner of the Netherlands.

That corner still being that old industrial/repurposed as a suburb town north
of Amsterdam?

On the wrong side of the tracks and underneath the motorway, yes.

Which would put you right around the corner of SWMCurrentlyBO.

You should come and help us with this overstock of booze.

[Gallian]

Post by Peter Corlett

Post by Peter Corlett
this corner of the Netherlands.

That corner still being that old industrial/repurposed as a suburb town north
of Amsterdam?

On the wrong side of the tracks and underneath the motorway, yes.

Hah. Being in Zaanstad counts as the wrong side wherever you are.

Post by Peter Corlett

Which would put you right around the corner of SWMCurrentlyBO.

You should come and help us with this overstock of booze.

Don't mind helping with that. $HERSELF is not a drinker, so I think
she'll stick to her parents' house, but if this pandemic lets up or we
finally get decent shots against this particular beastie, I expect to be
spending a lot of time in that area again.

Mart

[Mans Nilsson]

Post by Peter Corlett
My ringtone is a recording of a GPO 706, with proper UK briiing-briiing
cadence. It will suffice until I can lay my hands on an actual GPO 706 and
doctor the innards so it works on a VoIP ATA, what with BT not in any hurry to
install a POTS line in this corner of the Netherlands. Even KPN (who put me
rather more in mind of the GPO than BT) was somewhat reluctant.

I've got a swedish Model 1937 Field Telephone, recorded in my living room,
as ringtone. Cadence, then, is a matter of taste, since it was set up in
local-battery mode, and all cadence is by inductor cranking. Said phone
now has a VoIP ATA box that does Swedish pulse dial (counting from 0 up)
bodged onto it, and is connected to the local IP PABX. Being something
of a cautious person, I did not resign my actual (pulse compatible) land
line until I'd debugged and built an IP telephony system that is not
tied to my ISP in any way, and makes it possible to call locally inside
the house.

This CAN'T be UI, except for recreational purposes, but I'll refrain
ebz gryyvat lbh gung vg vf dhvgr cenpgvpny gb hfr Nfgrevfx gb frg hc n
ybpny cubar arg naq vg pna or hfrq sbe npghny jbex.

[The Horny Goat]

On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:55:56 -0000 (UTC), Zebee Johnstone

Post by Zebee Johnstone

Post by Ina Faye-Lund
When I started out, the common was 14400, but we still had customers
using 9600.

And suddenly out of the mists of the past comes the memory of the
modem you used by putting your telephone handset onto two rubber cups.

Did the acoustic coupler models you're referring to ever go north of
300 baud? Never used a coupler in the business world but did at
university - played way too much "Star Trek" on the Decwrite off the
mainframe.....

I remember dating the TA in the computer lab - broke up with her
mostly because I had thought she was divorced rather than separated
(as was actually the case) and knew I was getting way too emotionally
involved too fast....hope she's doing well and that life has been kind
to her! (Nearly 40 years now)

[Stephen Harris]

Post by The Horny Goat
Did the acoustic coupler models you're referring to ever go north of
300 baud? Never used a coupler in the business world but did at

They commonly also did 1200/75 for things like Viewdata. My cousin had
one.

My first modem was a PACE, which didn't use Hayes commands. "DSN" for
"Dial Stored Number", instead, if memory serves. It could do 300/300.
The second was another PACE that did 1200/1200. They were both discards
from the company I worked for :-)

[Zebee Johnstone]

In alt.sysadmin.recovery on Fri, 23 Oct 2020 07:23:14 -0400

Post by Stephen Harris

Post by The Horny Goat
Did the acoustic coupler models you're referring to ever go north of
300 baud? Never used a coupler in the business world but did at

They commonly also did 1200/75 for things like Viewdata. My cousin had
one.

yeah I think I did get 1200/75 out of one at one point but what for I
can't recall. I just got a jolt of recognition when seeing 1200/75.

Zebee

[ptomblin+ (Paul Tomblin)]

Post by Ina Faye-Lund

Post by The Horny Goat
Of course that was back in the day when 32k was a fast modem heh heh

Thank you so very much for making me feel old.
When I started out, the common was 14400, but we still had customers
using 9600.

My first news setup was at the company I worked for (GeoVision) and it soley
exchanged Usenet via UUCP with Cognos over a 2400bps modem. They dropped all
of alt when it started taking more than 24 hours to transfer a day's worth of
news, but I got them to re-add all of alt except alt.binaries and everybody
was happy.

We also exchanged a much lower volume of email with UUnet over a Telebit Trailblazer,
also over UUCP. We had the fast modem because we exchanged big files with our
Denver and Syndey Australia offices.

True Story: I once sent a gigantic file (by the standards of the day) with our
Sydney office over the Trailblazer, and when it was done I picked up the line
to talk to the developer on the other end, and the line was so noisy that we
couldn't hear each other. Those Trailblazers were amazing.

[Stephen Harris]

Post by ptomblin+ (Paul Tomblin)
True Story: I once sent a gigantic file (by the standards of the day) with our
Sydney office over the Trailblazer, and when it was done I picked up the line
to talk to the developer on the other end, and the line was so noisy that we
couldn't hear each other. Those Trailblazers were amazing.

When I was setting up computer connections over Inmarsat A we tried
using Telebit modems in UUCP spoofing mode. They worked... but wasn't
very performant because it only supported the g protocol with a small
window.

After tests with standard modems (2400, 9600, 14400) and various UUCP configs
we settled on 2400 baud with Taylor UUCP i protocol. The time it took a
9600 baud model to complete negotiations meant the 2400 baud could connect,
login, send/receive email and logout again. Since calls were $6/minute
that was a big saving :-)

[Michel]

Post by Ina Faye-Lund

Post by The Horny Goat
Of course that was back in the day when 32k was a fast modem heh heh

Thank you so very much for making me feel old.
When I started out, the common was 14400, but we still had customers
using 9600.

My first modem (that I actually owned and used) was 28k8.

First modem I played with a bit was 2400, when I was 12 or so, but
didn't really use it because dialup cost was hideous and I had no
clue where to go with it anyway.

I do remember taping software off the radio for the Acorn Electron.

Or typing in stuff by hand from a book, usually with a friend with
one reading and one typing. One day after a long session, we ran it
and discovered that whenever I had said "slash" my friend had typed
a "\". I think it's funny that I ended up in unixland and he went
on to do windowsy things.

[Jay E. Morris]

Post by Michel

Post by Ina Faye-Lund

Post by The Horny Goat
Of course that was back in the day when 32k was a fast modem heh heh

Thank you so very much for making me feel old.
When I started out, the common was 14400, but we still had customers
using 9600.

My first modem (that I actually owned and used) was 28k8.
First modem I played with a bit was 2400, when I was 12 or so, but
didn't really use it because dialup cost was hideous and I had no
clue where to go with it anyway.
I do remember taping software off the radio for the Acorn Electron.
Or typing in stuff by hand from a book, usually with a friend with
one reading and one typing. One day after a long session, we ran it
and discovered that whenever I had said "slash" my friend had typed
a "\". I think it's funny that I ended up in unixland and he went
on to do windowsy things.

300 with a Tandy Model 100.

[Gary Barnes]

On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 16:22:28 -0500, Jay E. Morris
<***@epsilon3.com> wrote:
:
: 300 with a Tandy Model 100.

Oh man, I used to really want one of those back in the 80's.

The first computer I owned was from that family, a TRS-80 Color Computer 2.

The Amstrad CPC 464 was my next computer, and the first upon which I wrote a
program which was published and I was paid (£100!) for by Amstrad Action.
That made me a computer professional, and it was all downhill from there.

Holy shit! I didn't know that this was out there:

https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=14996

As a 19-year-old I used to dream of upgrading to a 486 connected to a Unix
mainframe, apparently...

I got my 486 and installed MCC Interim Linux on it a little after that. I
even visited MCC Interim Linux's maintainer, Owen Le Blanc, in person to ask
how one created a swapfile.

Gaz

[Jay E. Morris]

Post by Gary Barnes
On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 16:22:28 -0500, Jay E. Morris
: 300 with a Tandy Model 100.
Oh man, I used to really want one of those back in the 80's.

In a box in the closet, along with the cassette tape drive and thermal
printer.

Post by Gary Barnes
The first computer I owned was from that family, a TRS-80 Color Computer 2.
The Amstrad CPC 464 was my next computer, and the first upon which I wrote a
program which was published and I was paid (£100!) for by Amstrad Action.
That made me a computer professional, and it was all downhill from there.
https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=14996
As a 19-year-old I used to dream of upgrading to a 486 connected to a Unix
mainframe, apparently...
I got my 486 and installed MCC Interim Linux on it a little after that. I
even visited MCC Interim Linux's maintainer, Owen Le Blanc, in person to ask
how one created a swapfile.
Gaz

[The Horny Goat]

On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:00:18 +0200, Ina Faye-Lund

Post by Ina Faye-Lund

Post by The Horny Goat
On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 23:44:34 -0600, Grant Taylor

Post by Grant Taylor
You can also carry TCP/IP over modem. But that going to take even more
effort to boot strap. It's also going to take more resources (phone
lines / modems / etc.) to establish multi-hop communications. IMHO,
UUCP would be easier than TCP/IP over a modem.

I actually set that up back in the day. Probably not something I'd
want to re-learn and implement now.
Of course that was back in the day when 32k was a fast modem heh heh

Thank you so very much for making me feel old.
When I started out, the common was 14400, but we still had customers
using 9600.

Yup - my first modem was a 1200 and went through several before going
broadband. My current home pipe is 300 mbps but then we're comparing
1985 vs 2020.

Never had a 9600 - went from 1200 => 2400 => 14.4 => 56 => broadband

The first two were on an Apple II, the third was what I had when I
joined the MSDOS world and Window 3.11.......

There are you feeling old enough?

My first personal machine was an Apple II which was my graduation
present to myself in 1979. I learned a lot on the old Amdahl
(basically a cloned IBM 370 series) and learned to program on punched
cards and DecWriters once our school adopted "timeshare".

I only got rid of my last student punch cards about 2 years ago -
found the box and thought "hmmm I thought I got rid of these years
ago!" My first experience with a terminal was as a student to the U of
Alberta's (Edmonton) lab in 1972 as a high school junior....it looked
interesting and it didn't occur to me till much later that one could
actually make a living doing this.

I well remembering convering a US medical records database for
Canadian use and being told in no uncertain terms that it was illegal
in Canada to collect racial information in a medical records database
and that no it was NOT good enough to remove it from the data entry
screen it HAD to be gone from the patient database record altogether.

Now in 2020 the truly woke are insisting that "POC" (persons of color)
CAN'T get proper medical care unless their racial identity is
flagged....sigh - good thing I turned 65 last month.

[Jonathan McDowell]

Post by Grant Taylor
You can also carry TCP/IP over modem. But that going to take even more
effort to boot strap. It's also going to take more resources (phone
lines / modems / etc.) to establish multi-hop communications. IMHO,
UUCP would be easier than TCP/IP over a modem.

I used to do UUCP over TCP/IP over modem. Do I get a prize? Therapy?

J.

[Grant Taylor]

Post by Jonathan McDowell
I used to do UUCP over TCP/IP over modem. Do I get a prize? Therapy?

Bragging rights and therapy probably are the most likely candidate.

[Gallian]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

So, let's update then. Down here the Internet is melting down with
literal viral disinformation, while our government is waffling between
doing nothing and half-assed measures.

Which means that new SWMBO, who is living one province over with her
elderly parents right now, has decided, understandably, that any kind of
contact closer than 'across the table at dinner' is out of bounds until
the damn disease has either run its course or we've been successfully
vaccinated. And since restaurants that are open are getting rarer...

This does not help decrease my grumpiness at the the general stupidity
of the world.

OTOH, after spending 2 years as a Dead Rat Instructor, I'm back at some
sort of sysadminning. Writing Chccrg code for a big government org. At
least I'm working from home, so people can't hear my cursing at Chccrg's
various stupidities. Well, my neighbours might hear me, but at least
they don't understand it.

Mart

[Claudio Calvelli]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

I used to post here when the world was young and antisocial networks did
not ruin it for the sensible people (that would have been circa 1999).

I actually recovered for a few years, getting to the point of sending
anything which could carry IP packets to recycling. Didn't last that
long but it was good.

I occasionally read here, when there's something to read.

Just testing if the rubber chicken is big enough, not really posting
here, you know.

C.

[Gary Barnes]

On Tue, 20 Oct 2020 12:32:25 -0000 (UTC), Claudio Calvelli
<***@w42.org.invalid> wrote:
:
: I used to post here when the world was young and antisocial networks did
: not ruin it for the sensible people (that would have been circa 1999).

Bloody newcomers.

Gaz

[Roger Bell_West]

Post by Gary Barnes
On Tue, 20 Oct 2020 12:32:25 -0000 (UTC), Claudio Calvelli
: I used to post here when the world was young and antisocial networks did
: not ruin it for the sensible people (that would have been circa 1999).
Bloody newcomers.

Sorry...

[Jim]

On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 10:44:52 +0200, Juergen Nieveler

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

I check occasionally for anything new. Hasn't been much of late.

[Paul Colquhoun]

On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 10:44:52 +0200, Juergen Nieveler <***@arcor.de> wrote:
| With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
| does anyone still read here?
|
| *sound of waving chicken around...*


Like a lot of people, I keep an eye on the group out of old habit...

[Julian Turnbull]

That post has shaken a remarkable number of us out of the woodwork.

A special obeisance to Claudio - if you don't know why he deserves it,
you're too young.

Julian.

[Alexander Schreiber]

Post by Paul Colquhoun
| With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
| does anyone still read here?
|
| *sound of waving chicken around...*
Like a lot of people, I keep an eye on the group out of old habit...

Yup, same here. Traffic sure ain't what is was a long time ago.

Kind regards,
Alex.

[Alexander Schreiber]

Post by Juergen Nieveler
With the rest of the Internet becoming unusable due to US elections...
does anyone still read here?
*sound of waving chicken around...*

Yes.

Do we need to chase someone off the lawn?

Kind regards,
Alex.