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F I D O N E W S -- Vol.13 No.12 (18-Mar-1996) +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS | | _ | +1-519-570-4176 | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | | | | | \ \\ | Editor: | | | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 | | |__U__| / \// | | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: editors 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | MORE addresses: | | | | submissions=> editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Don -- don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies of fidonews or the internet gateway faq | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== 1. Editorial..................................................... 2 2. Articles...................................................... 2 Da SNooZe................................................... 2 C I A (1:2623/71)........................................... 3 Technology Freeze........................................... 4 TFSN........................................................ 4 Internet killing Fido? A view from Germany.................. 6 Modernizing FIDONet......................................... 8 InterNews Editor?........................................... 9 The Future of Fidonet as we know it......................... 10 The future of Fidonet....................................... 11 Social Constipation Part XXVII.............................. 13 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 16 FidoNews 13-12 Page: 2 18 Mar 1996 ======================================================================== Editorial ======================================================================== It never ceases to amaze me how someone, when given a gift, can complain bitterly that it is not good enough. We have another article by C.I.A. today, denigrating the new fido/internet gate because there are rules she does not like. The rules are there for the convenience of the operator of the gate. That operator is an amateur, running hardware that is paid for out of their own pocket. That the gate has limits not imposed by AT&T should come as no surprise to anyone, at least to no one with a modicum of sense. Each sysop in fidonet offers what services they can, and what services they have the time and talent to offer. They are not obligated to offer any. To be sure, some services carry an obligation. I, for example, am often obligated to format and work with articles that I disagree with. Nevertheless, there is such a thing as common courtesy. Fidonet would run much better if some of our members were capable of learning basic table manners. Last but not least, this not meant as a cheap shot against the other article calling for my resignation. On bad days, *I* could have written *that* article. The reason that Sylvia's absence has not been explained is that she has not explained it. I never attempt explanations for other people. I consider it rude. ;<) ======================================================================== Articles ======================================================================== Da SNooZe The Terminator (1:2805/1) I just finished reading that last three issues of FidoSnooze. I had no idea that there were so many reasonable people in FidoNet. Why won't anyone listen to them? FidoNews 13-12 Page: 3 18 Mar 1996 bighub.org C I A (1:2623/71) Greetings Wes! I just wanted to write and speak my view of your altruistic gateway service, as stated in this weeks fidonews: "\ By learning from the mistakes and mishaps of the former default gateway, we have put in this set of rules: 1) DO NOT, FOR ANY REASON, AT ANY TIME ATTEMPT TO BYPASS THE BANNED ADDRESSES ON THIS GATEWAY. 2) Subscribing to any mailing lists is prohibited. 3) Exchanging of files is prohibited. 4) No mail is private. " These are the same rules that caused Burt Juda such strife and discontent.. Except, I do not think he went as far as to eschew the protection afforded by ECPA in regards to private mail.. I infer from your prohibition that PGP mail will be auto-deleted, also? As I told Burt in the Snews a few weeks ago, these rules are anal and hamper communication... I admire your effort in offering the gateway, but, what use is it? You don't even grant respect for private mail.. Since you will not allow files or mailing lists, its just as useless as Juda's gate was, except for msgs that could easily be sent as echomail or netmail.. As for not circumventing your little netmgr twit filter to get around 'banned' sites, well, unless you intend to pursue legal action (and can find the perpetrator) you're just blowing smoke.. It's trivial to get around those twit filters from the Internet, you are aware of that? Sigh... Why is it necessary to forbid mailing lists, when your downlinks will be the ones paying LD to pick them up? Why is it necessary to violate the ECPA, and throw away its protections, by claiming to disallow private mail? Why is it necessary to have 'twit filters' to keep people YOU don't like from using your supposedly open gateway? Y'all just don't get it, still haven't figured out what an OPEN communications net is about... Thankfully, Superlink is opening very soon (April) in our area :) FidoNews 13-12 Page: 4 18 Mar 1996 CiAo ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Technology Freeze by Colin Zimmer, 1:140/62 Well my brother, Scott, was home over the Christmas holidays we started to discuss computers, like we always do. We got in to how much ever thing was changing, like most of us do. And then he said something that made some sense. What if Intel and every one else stopped coming out with new products for five years. Now before you think "Great, the makings of the next unibomber.", just read. Think about it, a five year freeze on technology upgrades. You wouldn't have to upgrade every time something new came out. It would give the manufacturers five years to come up with new products and to beta test them. This would not only save money, but there would be some sort of industry standard for software. All the programers in the world would no long have to worry about if it would work with ever one elses system because of system requirements. And one mass produced product would drop in price. No more, this many 486s, and this many 100Mhz P5s, but all one CPU. Think about it, if you knew that the P6-200Mhz was going to be the top CPU for five years, would you go out and get one. I sure would. You wouldn't have to even think, "Gee, do I have enough power to run that new program" for five years. Then finally in five years there would be a new setup. (I'm not going to say CPU, because in five years, who knows) The company could make millions of one system, that would keep the price down, as I said before. Just a thought. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TFSN Cindy Ingersoll (1:2623/71) A Search For The Free Speech Net In our search for a net that supports freedom of speech we have found many that claim to be free speech but NONE that really follow through. It has been our experience with these other nets that their definition of free speech is * different * than the Constitutional definition. It was our goal to find a network that provided a forum for * TRUE * freedom of speech. Allowing all speech except "illegal speech". A net where people are * RESPONSIBLE * for what they wrote yet were NOT in danger of losing their access purely on how others chose to react to those writings. A net FidoNews 13-12 Page: 5 18 Mar 1996 that supported and protected Free Speech even if that speech was unpopular. We never found such a net. We were told you can't have true freedom of speech on a net, that if a net supported real free speech it would become chaos because the callers would abuse it. We didn't believe that...we still don't. We believe that most callers are mature and intelligent and are able to handle a net that supports free speech. Our belief is so strong in the ability of the callers to handle Free Speech, that we have started our own net. Some people think that * BIG BROTHER * needs to be always present to protect callers from seeing this or that opinion, or to protect them from what might offend them. We don't believe that. We want to give that power to the caller. We want the caller to be able to decide what discussions they will or will not read. We want the caller to be able to decide if he will or will not participate. So we started a net to support that ideal. We believe that the individual caller is the one to decide if some subject or someone is offensive, and if it is, they can just skip that discussion or ignore that person. But the banning of subjects or people, for being offensive, is not an option on this net. In our search to find a Free Speech Net we found our own beliefs...and our beliefs have turned into a reality. In order to share our beliefs with you and to make our beliefs real, we ... present: T H E * F R E E S P E E C H * N E T o@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@ -oOOOOOOOOO oOOOOOOOOOOOOo =8@@O- OOO: o@@@@@### ###@@@@@ O########### #############0 O######+ @##- O## ##O =###' ###' ###@O###- @##- O## ##O +##@ooooooooo ###@0000000008 ###: -###- @##- O## ##O +###########@ +@####@####### ###: o###: @##- O## ##o +##0 ;@#@ ###: O@#0+##@- o#@ ##o :@#o @0@@@@0@@@###0 0#@: o##@#88 +80 0O+ :0@- OO8080OOO08'0' OO8.mc .O008+- .-O -: :O -O=-o -+- +.oo- - . . . - . .= . Ad Version 7.0 . . ============================================================== Supporting * All * That * The * Law * Will * Allow ============================================================== The Free Speech Net FidoNews 13-12 Page: 6 18 Mar 1996 Is The Only Net To Allow You The Freedom To Explore Beyond The Confines Of Your Own Thoughts. The Freedom To Ask Questions Of Others And Yourself. - Janet Russell - "Those not busy being born are busy dying." - Bob Dylan - ============================================================== The Free Speech Network is the combined creation of the SysOp and callers of the Miskatonic University BBS, Rising Force sysop of VVSI, and several local systems that have the same goal of supporting Free Speech. Joining The Free Speech net IS easy! Just fill out the application that should be following this ad. If you can't find the application, just netmail me at Fidonet 1:103/207 or Infinet 69:2/7140 and I will crash it to you. =Rising Force= at Fido 1:103/207 Infinet 69:2/7140 or Grimm at His BBS Miskatonic University 310-404-6363 CiAo ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet killing Fido? A view from Germany by Klaus 'Kaba' Bader, 2:2480/7, currently 1:109/333.3 Tired from it all? Here's my perspective towards this whole "Fidonet is dying" stuff. I am a rather central echomail- and file distribution system for Augsburg, a town in Germany in net 2480. I hear this "song" at home, too. Users going away from the BBSes and towards the Internet, lines constantly getting less busy, echo attendance poor,... These opinions aren't published in FIDONEWS, tho, 'coz most of our FidoNews 13-12 Page: 7 18 Mar 1996 people don't or cannot read 'em because their English isn't that good. These discussions take place at meetings in pubs or bars, it's mostly 1:30AM, we're all quite drunk and everybody's eyes are watering from all the smoke in the bar (Hi Joe!)... I listen to that for some time and then I speak up and remember the folx WHAT went on in "the good old days". Yeah, the lines were busy all the time. And the messageboards were just FULL. And there were chats.. BOY that was cool... But weren't 90% of these users the NTDL-type: 'NewFiles-Tag-Download-Logoff' ? In these days, local messageboards carried more traffic, yeah. But apart from that really awesome cucumber-sex-thread, most of the stuff (and this special thread, too) was basically crap. Ok, partially, it was fun to read, I must admit. And the chats were't that bad, too. Except that my dinner regularly burned into the pan, I never got to go to bed the time I actually wanted to go and my girlfriend casually asked who is more important for me... Yeah, and we were just one family: Everybody was busy beefing up his system: Another line, another ISDN, another Gig-Volume, another CD-ROM, another door. Lotsa adult-stuff was clogging up diskspace, megabyte-clusters of soundclips, more or less colorful pictures and tons of outdated EGA- or CGA-games. Doesn't matter what's actually ON there, MY filelist is biggest. (And mine is longest, too...) The actual diskspace needed for echomail distribution has remained the same on my system, tho: I still use my oldest volume for my personal stuff, the complete mailbase AND the packets. (my average mail outbound is 'round 100MB per day). The only thing that really soared were the fileechoes. And the only reason for that (imho in Germany) is ISDN. When I compare the time spent for polling, I now have the same times on ISDN I had a few years back with 14.4. People seem to have an implanted threshold for phonecost, they only stop hatching when that magical barrier is reached... The poularity of the Internet hasn't changed that much from my personal, sysop's point of view. The real morons, the people that were reckless enough to page you at 3 AM when you forgot to switch the speaker off, the ones who did NOT use the guest login, but logged in as HAGAR THE HORRIBLE or PETER PAN or worse names and filled up your TRASHCAN.CTL, these have miraculously dissapeared (mostly). For me, the times have acutally gotten _better_. The people that remained in Fidonet know why. Most of the German newsgroups have shrinked to a "readable" size again, the junk is ignorable and even some of the international echos (=backbone echos) get interesting enough to participate. I did not see the "worthy" people turning their backs on FidoNet BECAUSE OF THE INTERNET. The ones that leave in Germany are the FidoNews 13-12 Page: 8 18 Mar 1996 power-mongers or those disappointed or attacked by the former. And those people that joined Fido in the days when there was an air of hackerism with it, a kind of trailblazer feeling, a strange sort of arrogance towards all newbies and those who never ran OPUS or FIDO. AND of course the dissapointed teenagers (and there are LOTS of them!!!) leve after they found out that FidoNet acutally is no substitution for lacking self-esteem, that the other sysops do NOT look on how big your system is or how many insulting mails you can produce in one day, but on what you are at the sysop meetings (if you decide to show up there in the first place). And that is another advantage of FidoNet: Due to its structure, it implies a kind of "togetherness" that Internet will never have. Ok, there are IRC-parties, but hardly anyone from the IN would organize a party or a meeting and invite all people that "do" Internet in his neighborhood, wouldn't he? In FidoNet, this is part of it. I cannot imagine being in FidoNet and NEVER seeing anyone, NOT going to the weekly sysop-meetings now and then, NOT attending the monthly "Net-Stammtisch" in Munich, NOT going to EUROCon once a year (and return rather wrecked...). Ok, I get pissed too, when *Cs start playing power games or the whole thing that f****d up Fido Germany not so long ago starts again (overlapping nets). But now after years have passed since the German FidoNet war, I am really proud having been part of that AND HAVING STAYED (which is much more important). Problems and Deathbell rings come and go. What's important is that you never forget who you're doing this for: YOURSELF! :-) The basic feeling I've seen here is that the USERS go away. Well, if your BBS isn't attended anymore, just close it down or simply don't care, you're doing this because YOU want to communicate, don't you??? Puh. As usual, I got MASSIVELY carried away... Happens to me every time I decide to speak up. Hum. Perhaps it's better that it's usually 2AM, everybody wanted to go home HOURS ago and the lady with the mop comes to clean up the pub. That way, I never have the feeling they all leave because of me... :-) "Say good night, Kaba." Good night...kaba. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Modernizing FIDONet Title: Modernizing FIDONet By: Mark Kobussen, 1:282/4097 I have finally taken the time to actually, <GASP>, read the snooze, and the first thing I noticed was all the articles talking about FIDO and the Internet. One that caught my attention was the article about using HTML type tags in our FidoNews 13-12 Page: 9 18 Mar 1996 mail. Now, I don't think we need to duplicate the Internet, it's as good as it's gonna get (and with the appearance of such languages as Java and Microsoft's VB Script, the WWW becomes more and more interactive!). From what I see, there is one thing to do. Modernize FIDONet. We need standards on message bases and software so it's easy for first time sysops to setup a FIDO node. Here is a list of a few things I think is essential in reviving FIDONet: - Standardized Message Formats: One format used by ALL FIDONodes. The messages themselves are packed as in the current procedure, but by a special FIDO interface, which takes them DIRECTLY from the BBS's message base and packs them, no converting needed, so it can be easily sent out. - FIDONet GNU Projects: I know how many programmers are out there! What we need is good, quality software. But cheap, FREE. Look at the internet. How much is Netscape, one of the most used WWW Browsers? Free. How much does it cost to operate a WWW site? I have 1mb of space and 24 hour service, all for free. This had a big thing to do with the first time I took my BBS down and disconnected from FIDO. I couldn't afford the software! These new programs would be tailored for the new mail system, standardized message formats and all. And with the advent of free software, I'm sure alot of the smaller 1 node systems would join FIDONet. For FIDONet, I do not see the need to duplicate the Internet, or even base our entire system on the internet. We need updated software, standard formats, and most of all, a lot of hard work from existing FIDONet sysops. Mark, Cygnus Spaceworks 1:282/4097 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- InterNews Editor? Ron Bemis 1:124/1113 Our FidoNews Editor January 15, 1996. FidoNews Volume 13, Number 3. Sylvia Maxwell's name is mysteriously missing from the "Editors" heading and other places, and is added to the "Editors Emerittii" section. No explanation to be found. And in this three page document, the only other information is the editorial, which says in whole "There were no articles submited [sic] this week". And so it goes. Our remaining lone editor seems about as excited about writing an editorial as he does about being a member of Fidonet. Maybe it's time to start a search for a new editor. An editor that can convey a sense of interest FidoNews 13-12 Page: 10 18 Mar 1996 in what he or she is doing. It's been pointed out in our regional echo that most new Fidonet members read at least a few issues of FidoNews. It's mentioned in Policy 4, and they have to read Policy 4, and some of it actually sinks in sometimes. :-) Most newbies are "sponsored" or at least helped along by another Fidonet sysop. Unless they read about Fidonet in a magazine and got a nodelist from a shareware disk vendor, they know somebody that's already in the nodelist. That person probably urged them to apply for a node number, telling them all the benefits of being a "CM" node in the nodelist. They're excited, and ready to get involved. Then they read FidoNews, and find out that Fidonet is dying, and that hooking into the Internet is so much better... Sure, there are a few problems. I think the biggest one is that we're currently without an IC, and some decisions are not being made because of it. But can't we let the members decide for themselves if "Fidonet is dying" or not? I think it's time for a new FidoNews Editor. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Future of Fidonet as we know it by Fredrik Bennison 2:205/300, d93fbe@blg.du.se When I first received the last two FidoNews issues, I was glad. Finally some life again, finally issues filled with articles. After reading them, I'm not quite as happy about it. Most of it was filled with doom, gloom and stories of Fidonet shrinking in size. With exception for the Patrick Driscoll and Damian Stamm who seem to have some faith left. To all you 'Fidonet is shrinking'-proclaimers out there, I can tell you that at least here in Zone2, the nodelist is still growing. The growth of Z2 currently outweighs the shrinking trend in Z1. Sadly, it seems that our diffs doesn't reach the Z1 nodelist any more... Another thing that seems to work better in Z2 than Z1 is netmail routing. I've never had an intra-Z2 netmail disappear. True, it might take a week or so for the netmail to reach it's destination, but it gets there. And here in Region20, a routed netmail most often reaches it's destination in less than 24 hours. And again, I was surprised to hear about 'for-profit' cost sharing operations... I can't imagine such a thing even being thinkable here. We are all in this net to communicate with each other, to help each other. At least I am. If someone tried a FidoNews 13-12 Page: 11 18 Mar 1996 stunt like that here, someone else would simply take up the mail feed somewhere else. I know I would. We have a cost sharing plan going in my net, but that is distinctly non-profit oriented. What all this suggests to me is that Bob Satti and the Z1 RCs should take a long hard think through of what needs to be done to reinstate Fidonet into the state it was from the beginning. A place where we meet to discuss problems and help others solve theirs, and not this selfish 'grab all I can' mentality that seems to have taken over. It's very noticable here in R20 as well, and I am saddened by it. Conclusion: I don't think that Internet necessarily needs to be the end for Fidonet. Fidonet is so much more than Internet. Sure, Internet may have fast links, but it is also very impersonal and barren. Fidonet has a great advantage in that it has the local connection and friendliness of a nice neighbourhood pub or restaurant, but with an international cuisine on the menu as an added bonus. As for the future, I think that a new Policy is long overdue, but at the same time in reality unreachable unless we, the Fido sysops, somehow bridge our differences and pull in one direction, the only direction available, the one which contains a meaningful future for Fidonet. Fidonet as we know it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The future of Fidonet Lee Lefler (1:280/5) It's not really anything new, but I don't agree with some of your conclusions in a recent editorial. (Fido1309) Over the years I have heard many rumors of the death of Fidonet. (Almost as many rumors as there are about a certain operating system's death) And two years ago I might have agreed with you that the Internet would be the death of Fido. Now, having a lot more experience with the Internet, to go with my 8 years of experience with Fido, I no longer maintain that opinion. And there are several reasons for thinking otherwise: Internet technology is moving ahead while Fido remains stagnant. Actually, there is very little new technology in the Internet if you look at the big picture. TCP/IP is older than many of the people who read Fidonews or access the Internet. Old enough that we're facing a shortage of IP addresses and fixing that problem may mean rebuilding the Internet from the ground up. The Internet is also so far into the future that, despite severe problems of limited bandwidth, the majority of articles transmitted do so in an uncompressed form. The Web is one of the few bleeding edge applications, and it adds a tremendous load to the net while not really being all that useful. And yes, using Internet Phone to make free long distance calls is neat, but if I wanted to talk on the phone, I wouldn't FidoNews 13-12 Page: 12 18 Mar 1996 be playing with computers in the first place. Why should sysops pay to call out and pick up echomail when you can get newsgroups (essentially) for free? Why should it be an either/or situation. The Internet can be a medium for transmitting Echomail just like it is for usenet. With absolutely no modification of the current mail processing software. Having spent some time 'surfing the net', playing with the web, FTPing the latest and greatest, and slogging my way through various newsgroups, I can honestly tell you that Fido has things to offer that Usenet doesn't want. And that's the real comparison isn't it, Fido vs Usenet? Fido may have gone into the file transfer business, but it is still a MAIL network. I like the fact that Fido echos require moderators. I don't always agree with them, but regardless of how you feel about moderators they do maintain the quality of an echo. I should also say here that I may be a little biased since I moderate a Fido echo, but not because I enjoy doing it. Well moderated Fido echos rarely have the 'my OS is better than yours' debate that still rages on. Get a clue people, the one that works for you is the best one. It's just software. Fido doesn't get messages crossposted in every echo under the sun. Echos, and newsgroups, have topics so that people can select the ones that interest them, not so some individual can have a multitude of chances to annoy everyone else. Fido messages are also addressed TO someone. If we were standing in a group and I was responding to you, I would be looking AT you. Addressing my response TO you. Everyone else in that group would be free to comment on the topic being discussed at any time, but it would still be a focused conversation between YOU and ME. Usenet is more like millions of people standing on 18,000 soapboxes announcing their opinions. I'd rather have conversations. Here's the way I see it, Fido has gone through many changes over the years. I can only comment on the ones I have seen, but when I first joined Fidonet I used to keep the nodelist ARChived on a 360k floppy. I have seen individuals refuse to pay the freight to supply the rest of the net with free echomail, and the birth of cost recovery plans. I have seen a satellite company offer Fido traffic for what, at the time, was an unbelievably small price. I have also seen Zone 1's backbone stars become Internet Service Providers and start transferring all the Fido traffic via FTP. I see the Internet as just another medium to advance my hobby, Fidonet. There is no reason why Fido traffic cannot be transferred across the Internet using (IMO) advanced Fido mailers. I can do it now thanks to my operating system and Ray FidoNews 13-12 Page: 13 18 Mar 1996 Guinn's VModem. I have a full TCP stack that I can connect to the Internet on a whim, VModem allows me to redirect ANY Mailer/Terminal/BBS to a virtual comport, and I can push that data across the Internet to a similarly configured system or Telnet daemon. And with a static IP I could hub mail for systems anywhere in the world for the cost of a local Internet connection. So there's your migration path. Pick up a little new software. Recruit a few mail hubs. And while you're at it, get rid of some of these silly political boundaries that generate so many amusing articles for you to publish. It costs no more to feed mail to a system in Europe than it does to the guy next door. Internet isn't the death of Fido, it's a means to promote it. Lee Lefler Fido 1:280/5 infinity@sound.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Social Constipation Part XXVII By The Closet Head The Re-arrangement of Michael ------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, here I find myself again wondering just who the heck is our own worst enemy? ------------------------------------------------------------------- Just yesterday, I had to repair a toilet that had become a pestering nuisance to my wife of 10 years and my two daughters, aged eight and six. See, in my house we have two toilets. One is sequestered away and is "mommy's" bathroom. It is in the master bathroom and is considered sacred ground. The other is the "house" bathroom, and like many other homes found today is convenient to the common areas of the house. It is in a hallway right off of the living room. It's the one that all the guests have to use, or they will intrude upon the lady's piles of Revlon and other goops and secret potions and drying pantyhose in the "other bathroom". The problem was the toilet in the commons bathroom. It leaked, it squealed, whined, squeaked, whistled and made a curious fluttering noise that resembled a fart. It annoyed everyone. I ignored it....promised to fix it, work on it....and gave it the usual "ignore it til' you can't stand it anymore" routine that we husbands and fathers learn as a matter of survival. I ignored, the toilet squealed....I ignored, the toilet whined... FidoNews 13-12 Page: 14 18 Mar 1996 Finally, a week ago....February 16th, 1996 at 11:25AM, the toilet could be ignored no more. It groaned heavily after my youngest flushed a basketball-sized wad of paper down the hole....It backed up for a second and then flushed it's last load before the ballcock mechanism disintegrated into a heap of polypropylene shards, spraying water onto the lid of the closet and for all the world looking like Noah's flood was recurring in my bathroom. I waded in and shut down the water and handed my wife a pail and a mop as I excused myself to go buy new replacement parts for the toilet. She was not very happy about this, and still isn't to this day. That's where it got interesting. I jumped into my 91' Ford Escort and revved up all 130 cubic inches of raw power that the little station wagon had to muster and puttered off to the Builder's Square to get my toilet things. I pulled into the parking lot and then headed in to the store when all of a sudden I was frozen into my tracks. I saw something I had seen before, but it was just a little different. Not exactly the same, but an incarnation or reincarnation of a distant memory. The sign said "We test all applicants for illegal drugs. If you do drugs we don't want you here." I was stunned. The sign itself was easily 4 feet by 8 feet...with letters 6" tall painted in a very loud orange with black outlines. Wow. I found myself at a crossroad of life at that very moment, at that very place in time...in the parking lot of a Builder's Square, in need of a ballcock and spindle piece to please those who love me....I found religion. See, I have smoked marijuana all of my adult life. I have smoked to relax for 28 years. During that time I have developed a career and established a family, bought a home and quietly gone on with having a life. I work hard, sometimes too much and I bring home a decent income. I earn money and I spend money....and a lot of it is spent on fixing up the home. I decided that crossing the threshold of that store was the same as sticking a knife into my own body, a form of self-immolation and that I was actually paying for it. I started to see the front of that store as a Mason-Dixon line......a Berlin Wall.... a source of ultimate division. I winced. I needed the toilet parts..in fact, I could hear them inside the store calling to me. I wanted to go in, but I couldn't. For the first time since 1970, I felt a surge of life....a breath of fresh air...a clear cut decision that I could make in full faith and clear judgement. I got back in my car, started it up and headed to Home Depot....only to be confronted with an even larger sign of the same exact wording. On to Furrow's, FidoNews 13-12 Page: 15 18 Mar 1996 McCoy's, Loew's...etc...etc.. same shit. It is absolutely amazing how many chains of home stores there are in a town like Houston.....and every goddamned one of them have big agressive drug-signs just like Builder's Square. Finally, I wheeled into a lumber yard/plumbing supply store in desperation. As I approached the front, I examined all of the signs, and the voodoo sign was not there. I actually finally entered a building at 6:12PM, and behind the counter was a guy named Al. Al was a head, it was obvious. He had the tell-tale dead shirt on, the ponytail, the elaborate stereo cranking out whining leads from Ten Years After. I knew his name was Al because he wore a big red button that said "My name is Al". "What can I do you for?" Al asked me. "I need a bullcock whatchamajigger kit, Al" I replied. "My toilet exploded and it developed into a shitty situation." Al sized me up in my jeans and turtle shirt, sidewall haircut and greasy ballcap and replied "Man, that's the pits.....$6.95 for the kit" and he produced a complete toilet-gut kit. I grasped the plasticine bubble in almost orgasmic adoration and then said "I'll take two, Al." "Why, man? You think another one is going out?" he said. "No chances, Al. I have been looking all damn day for one of these things. Hey, can I ask you something?" "Shoot" Al replied. "Do you guys drug test your employees?" I asked, abruptly. Al looked me over and started to sack up my purchase seemingly ignoring my question and mulling it over when he returned my question "Why, man?" "Why am I asking or why test your employees?" I retorted. "Yeah" he returned. "I am not too thrilled with people abusing other people's rights, Al. I mean that drug testing stuff. I don't like it. I don't want to do business with anyone who is screwing over their employees rights. As for why should you test your employees, that is a good question....why do it? What's in it for you?" I struck a pose of hardness, and then Al beamed at me with a big smile..."Yeah, why?" he said. "You come back anytime, fellah. You can spend your money here, no problem man. In fact, come on back even if you aren't in the mood to shop." I handed Al a twenty and he passed the sack of parts to me.....and I turned to leave, stuffing the change in my pocket without even counting...and then I did something I cannot explain. I turned and looked Al straight in the eye and then slowly raised my right hand into a fist...and I let out a rebel yell..."right on, Al...let's take it on home now, brother." AL returned my salute...the long-forgotten salute of my youth, the hidden heart I had always had but pushed aside. I turned and I left. FidoNews 13-12 Page: 16 18 Mar 1996 In my car, on the way home my mind rambled back to my youth in the early sixties....the first girl I kissed and groped, my first surfboard, my first motorcycle, my first job..........job....my first job. That was as a dishwasher at the Rexall Drugstore in Eau Gallie, Florida. Yes, I remember. Washing dishes, mopping floors, $1.44 an hour was big bucks back then.....the sign. The sign. The sign on the door of the Rexall said "We do not hire communists or communist sympathyzers." Yeah, that sign.....and the oath you had to sign, that you "were not nor never had been a communist". Jesus, I had almost forgotten. The missiles, the soldiers, Castro, the oath, the signs. It was the same, but different...an incarnation or reincarnation of a distant past....maybe not so distant after all, in the toss of life's chips. I stopped in a mom and pop convenience store to avoid the 7-11's and the Stop-N-Go's, McDonalds, Burger King who displayed the offending signs. I found my choice easy as I scanned the iced-down sodas and I grabbed a Coke and then thrust it onto the counter for the lady to ring up. I pulled one of the dollars out of my pocket and noticed that George Washington had a stamp on his face like a thought balloon that said "I grew hemp." Al, you old rascal.....bring it on home brother, bring it on home. Wonder where I can get one of them stamps? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Fidonews Information ======================================================================== ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editor: Donald Tees Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar Tom Jennings, Sylvia Maxwell "FidoNews" BBS FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS) more addresses: Don -- 1:221/192, don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (Postal Service mailing address) FidoNews 154 Victoria St. S. Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2H 2b5 voice: (519) 570-4899 FidoNews 13-12 Page: 17 18 Mar 1996 Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. 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' ' disgreement is actually necessary, or we'd all have to get in fights or semethin to amuse ourselves,, and create the requisite chaos." -Tom Jennings -- END -------------------------------------------------------------------