Ardith Hinton to James Bradley on 06-21-11 14:42 re: Secret part of the BBS

 JB>  I *still* need to swap fridges here, but I lost my keys
 JB>  while trying to affect that. Now I have something *else*
 JB>  to fret about. 

 AH>           Hmm.  In that regard, your loss is our gain....  :-Q

NOT!!! I still need to find my keys!  

 JB>  I'm sure I mentioned a *long* time ago - but I'll repeat
 JB>  myself for the benefit of those who don't know how nutty
 JB>  I can be  -

 AH>           And for those who know how nutty you can be, but may have
 AH> forgotten or failed to grasp the technical details.  Works for me...
 AH> [chuckle].

Ya... Let me remind you to my "depth". 

 JB>  I had a gratis dial-up I-net account for about thirteen
 JB>  years.

 AH>           I thought you were using the public library but had some
 AH> difficulty getting there... perhaps I drew a false analogy with Wayne
 AH> from another echo.

That's what I did too after my favor-for-a-favor time ran out in 2003. I was
using a United Way sponsored setup in favor to the library (lack of) setup. I
would go to the library if my stack of things-to-do extended past closing time
to my preferred place. My aunt who had just retired as a librarian asked me,
"What IT department?" (Yup... In rhetoric! ;-) when I was asking
some simple
questions about how that department was run, so I trusted them even *less* than
I did until then.

 JB>  Most of that time was spent *trying* to keep Windows
 JB>  secure and up to date. Now that I can plug a router
 JB>  between me and that "nastyness", and use *only* Linux
 JB>  for my online chores, I feel MUCH more secure spending
 JB>  all my money on eBay. O-8*


 AH>           While I'm not a techie, I understand your unhappiness with
 AH> Windows. From where I sit it appears that Linux is probably quite safe
 AH> if only because so few people understand it.  Same goes for Fidonet
 AH> nowadays... anybody who's interested in finding out more about me has
 AH> to know where & how to look.  :-)

Like I told an x-fighter jockey for the RCAF, "Take an internal modem and
network interface card to your corner store to ask the first ten people you
meet to identify each. THEN, I will allow you profess your ignorance *if* you
get 10/10 correct answers."

Linux *is* less secure today for exactly the reason you site, but it is *so*
much harder to break into, and FAR less damage can be done once there. It's not
impossible to get "nasty", just SO much more work for the
malcontents for so
little "gain". 


...
 JB>  You KNOW I was asking in rhetoric, right? 


 AH>           A rhetorical question is asked for effect, not for
 AH> information, and doesn't require an answer.  I think you knew the
 AH> answer already.  But for the benefit of newcomers who might not be so
 AH> clear on the concept, I explained it again in a somewhat different way.

Oh... I forgot there were people that read and follow "rules".


 AH>  You've been here longer than anybody else except for Dallas & me...
 AH> and you understand what we're trying to accomplish. If others are
 AH> team-teaching effectively he doesn't need the big hammer.  :-))

As a blanket apology, I know how I was raised to push boundaries. Ignoring my
recent typo, (Back to the old keyboard excuse AGAIN! I purchased a laptop with
a busted lid hinge bracket for $70, and it's a "Breath on it just right, and
it'll write for you" model. Now that I'm on my fido machine again, I have to
*pound* the keys to attempt to get to my point.) I pray I was never too far
from the "spirit" of the community you two built here, and if I
was, I trust I
wasn't too hard to lead back to enlightenment? My words to Shilo stand if so. I
didn't notice Dallas wielding a big stick, and if he did, I barely noticed the
gentle tap he administered to smarten me up.

I used to read echo rules diligently, until I formed my code of conduct that I
thought should be "acceptable". I talk in fido how I like to talk to the
neighbours across our fence, and how I'd like to be talked to. "Don't be
offensive, OR easily offended..." and all that good stuff. To quote Bonnie
Rait, "I aint no porcupine. Take off your kid-gloves." should be my tagline
too. I know I can be gruff and crass at times and I need to be more sensitive
to others, but I *think* of myself as the guy too willing to lend my neighbour
my garden hose if his house is on fire, but I'm not above giving him a hard
time about it if it comes back all kinked up. 


 AH>           Steve isn't a kid... he's been posting in various Fidonet

... And I need to work on my "Oh ya?" attitude. 

 AH> echoes for quite awhile.  Shiloh is about the age you were when you
 AH> started posting here. I'm not sure about Nathan, but I reckon your
 AH> guess is as good as mine....  ;-)

I hope I don't scare them away with my bombastic attitude. Yes, I've shared
laughs with Atheists and Agnostics as easily as Pastors, so I hope Steve is
able to "consider the source" when he first read my words. For
the record, I
did today bark at my neighbour with levity about his grumpy nature, so I hope
your new readers here can feel half as welcomed as you two have made me. 

 JB>  about slipping under the radar *alone* would make his
 JB>  hair stand on end WITHOUT "product". 

 AH>           I imagine you & I could both go on at length about that.
 AH> Meanwhile, give yourself a gold star for making me laugh!  I really
 AH> enjoy your tongue-in- cheek allusions to the whims of fashion & to the
 AH> jargon of advertising.  :-)))

Dad was a GREAT assessor of popular culture and intra-personal relations. I'm
just as pleased as a pickle when I find someone who "gets" the
smidgen of his
humour I was able to adorn. Oh... Give Dallas a Happy belated Fathers Day for
me. My Vancouver sister and I just exchanged a volley of HILARIOUS reminiscent
emails about Dad and our upbringing in his honor. He had some bad traits, but
MANY more good. Knowing what I know about you, I'm secure in calling your
husband a "keeper".

I should toss you her contact info, if I remember to mention you to her in
August. My Calgary sister is being wed then, and I'll wager a drunken barn
dance will break out so I might have to write it down before I remember to do
so.

 JB>  Oh, *so* glad to find the time to garner your thoughts
 JB>  again!   rocker" for laughing so hard!>


 AH>           Oops.  Is my NT (preferred reasoning style) showing again??
 AH> Anyway, I'm glad you're glad!  As for the neighbours... I guess you
 AH> could say "You had to be there."  But I doubt you're
overly concerned
 AH> about what they think.  :-)

Oh, if they had no grounds for their suspicion before this week, they were
blind to the notion.  Despite my best efforts, my worst psych evaluation
remains "Perhaps mildly paranoid." And that was after I BEGGED
for their full
treatment and before they sent me home to "convalesce". 

For the record - and in the interim from my last post - I *did* have to check
my anger when discussing my medical complications to a person who was
expressing nothing but compassion towards me. In my defence it took me MANY
requests for her to stop before I turned immature in order to change the topic.
So, even after twenty-years almost to the date, I *do* have to realize how
tender my fragility is, but take heart others here. I'm learning that I have
PLENTY left to learn about the muck we are all in.


For Shilo (I don't recall seeing the other name you mentioned, but I missed
reading a lot of the posts I downloaded.) and even the Godless Steve, (I have
your new nickname, Steve. I hope you have thick enough skin?) I suffer from an
iatrogenic fibroid neuroma. Once we settle back into our chairs behind a warm
cup of tea and fuzzy slippers, I have no problems going through the details,
but I trust we can have mutual respect for our emotions if things become
"sensitive"? 



... Don't be silly. We can't have everybody living happily ever
after.-Horton,E.
___ MultiMail/Linux v0.49

--- Maximus 3.01