From ed@hintz.org Fri May 3 15:46:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 3 14:46:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Britney Underground Message-ID: <20020503214511.32085@127.0.0.1> What New Yorkers did to a barrage of promotional posters for Britney Spears' Vegas/HBO concert. Part social commentary, part lewd suggestion, and part random vandalism. I found it amusing. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 9 18:18:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 9 17:18:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Broke the surly bonds of Earth Message-ID: <20020510001718.7935@127.0.0.1> First Time. Cessna 172. I did the takeoff and landing-CFI was hands off the yoke for both-and we took it out over Berkeley to the city. Ran a 360 over the city at 2k feet, then overflew Alcatraz, shot over the golden gate, out to sea a little bit, did some maneuvering, and then came back over Tamalpais and the san rafael bridge back into Concord. Almost all of that I was actually controlling it. Total airtime just over an hour, a little over 2 hrs ground instruction. Somewhat daunting. Reminded me a lot of when I first installed NetBSD on my old SE/30 back at Apple. Sitting there looking at that command prompt the first time around was a similar feeling. Certainly less instinctive for me than riding a motorcycle was. Things I'll need a lot more work on: comms. Was for the most part completely lost-although at least I already have the NATO call signs down pat from my days as a phone monkey. Taxiing. Foot controls will take some serious getting used to, as well as the engine control. Mixture control. Simply didn't deal with it at all. Instruments. Brain completely overloaded by all the data. Things I took to as a a fish to water: Rudder usage. Both on turns and to compensate for pfactor on the prop. Pretty happy that I did the takeoff and landing. Had all kinds of coaching of course, but damn it all I really flew that thing. Clumsy, yes. Hamfooted, certainly. But I did it. And I didn't even damage the plane. Yee-haw... ;-) Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 9 19:39:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 9 18:39:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Gay-O-Meter Message-ID: <20020510013834.6433@127.0.0.1> Credit to Sooz for this one: I scored 30%. Must be getting old. ;-) Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 9 20:06:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 9 19:06:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] DIY Freeway Signage Message-ID: <20020510020527.15900@127.0.0.1> This artist kept missing the I-5 offramp from the 110 in LA. He figured calling CalTrans would be a waste of time, so he made and installed the sign himself. 9months later, it was leaked to the press; CalTrans never caught on. Cute story. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 14:41:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 13:41:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Another nice LA Charger piece Message-ID: <20020510204050.14916@127.0.0.1> This guy writes some sharp stuff... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 14:43:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 13:43:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Re: Another nice LA Charger piece In-Reply-To: <20020510204050.14916@127.0.0.1> References: <20020510204050.14916@127.0.0.1> Message-ID: <20020510204237.25205@127.0.0.1> On 5/10/02, ed@hintz.org thus spake: >This guy writes some sharp stuff... > > > Bah. This wasn't supposed to go to promotum. Sorry 'bout that. Still ditzy from flying I guess. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 18:03:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 17:03:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Celine Dion kills iMacs Message-ID: <20020511000228.9657@127.0.0.1> Nice... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 18:30:04 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 17:30:04 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Lane splitting 101 Message-ID: <20020511002920.18758@127.0.0.1> I really liked this one. Probably because I spent 4 years in LA on a Suzuki GS850; I had no car at all, lane splitting for me was clearly a way of life. I have but 2 comments. In my case, I always voiced a preference for old spark plugs rather than #4 ball bearings, though I always preferred to run rather than fight. But more importantly and somewhat more seriously, consider this: while it's easy to hate the biker while you're stuck in traffic and he/she is free as a bird, he/she is constantly trying to keep from being mowed down by drivers sans clues. Furthermore, on that cold rainy afternoon, he/she is freezing, wet, and miserable; the car drivers are warm, cozy, have an optional cup of coffee, and a nice radio. There's no such thing as a free lunch; we bikers pay for that lane splitting in one way or another. Anyway, make sure to check out the mpeg movie, it's a good representation of what the biker is seeing. Just needs the wind and engine noise, and the peripheral vision. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Mon May 13 14:03:04 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Mon May 13 13:03:04 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Cogito ergo sum Message-ID: <20020513200249.10872@127.0.0.1> "I don't think so," said Rene Descartes. Just then, he vanished. Credit to /usr/games/fortune... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Wed May 15 23:54:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Wed May 15 22:54:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Classic Comedy Message-ID: <20020516055358.971@127.0.0.1> A routine done by Andy Griffith back in the mid-50's before he rose to fame on the Andy Griffith show. Describes football from the point of view of a country bumpkin who's never seen the game before. Good fun. And I suppose reasonably plausible back in the mid-50's. Football's a fairly recent phenomenon(at least at the professional level, I know it's been around at the college level since about 1869). Was reminded of it this evening when Sam was having a Big Orange Drink... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 16 21:12:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 16 20:12:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Security through stupidity Message-ID: <20020517031301.3104@127.0.0.1> Just as useless as security through obscurity... Noticed this a few months back but hadn't found any good stories on it; was reminded of it by my upcoming appointment with those highly competent $5/hr airport "security" staff: Short story: 86 year old retired USMC General and winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor for shooting down 26 japs in the battle of Guadalcanal (also was Govenor of South Dakota and President of the NRA at times) was delayed for about 45min in Jan. at Phoenix Sky Harbor because security weenies thought his Medal of Honor could be used as a weapon. Here's a few links: http://www.arizonarepublic.com/special42/articles/0216FOSS16.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/02/27/war.hero.cnna/ http://www.winstonsrock.com/foss.html Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Mon May 27 03:00:04 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Mon May 27 02:00:04 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Castle Air Museum Message-ID: <20020527085920.20777@127.0.0.1> We were in LA this week to visit Sam's Dad, who had a bypass a little over a week ago. So on the drive home we stopped in Atwater (just outside of Merced) and got a motel, got up bright and early this AM and headed over to Castle Air Museum. On memorial day weekend they open up a lot of the airplanes and let folks climb around in them, today they had about 20 open. First stop of the day was the SR71. Due to the cramped cockpit they wouldn't actually let us climb in but I was able to scope the interior. There were several holes in the panels, no doubt where ELINT and other classified stuff went, but for the most part it was all there. Engines and everything are still in it, and it flew to Castle under it's own power. A big bird, and really neat to get up next to it and ogle it. Probably my personal favorite of the aircraft to come out of the cold war. Another one that made a big impression was the B17. We got to clamber all over inside it, and we took a couple of photos of Hunter and myself in the cockpit. Observations: suprisingly small inside, even more surprisingly small bomb bay. The bomb bay itself had about the same space capacity as my 1978 VW Bus, maybe less. That's a lot of airplane for so little space. Belly gunners on these things were some dedicated guys. Getting into and out of the belly turret was an extended task, and there was no room in the turret for a parachute. In the event of a bailout there was seldom time for them to get out; they were issued a .45 for optional use on themselves if the plane was going in. Yikes. Got to talk for a while with an old geezer who flew them, lost the plane and bailed out over Germany, spent 22 months in LuftStalag 3. Very cool to not only tour the B17 but to also talk to somebody with those experiences. Last on the list of highly notables was the B52. Nice piece of engineering, that. Had 2 fellows inside giving quasi-tours, both former crew who flew missions over Vietnam. Of particular interest was the nuclear authorization equipment. Even if all 6 crewmembers decided to go nutso and start WWIII they could only drop duds, the bombs were armed with a code not known to the aircrew until Presidential authorization was issued to drop 'em. Another interesting feature was the control apparatus for the rotating landing gear; the B52 could land in a 45knot crosswind coming at 90 degrees to the airstrip by crabbing into the wind and aligning the gear with the runway. Fun cockpit in that thing. I also climbed into an F111 and had 'em snap a photo of me in the thing, figured my sis might like it as she did electronics work on 'em when she was in the AF. Of note in the F111 was the go-no go electronics for nuclear armament; spooky to see the doomsday switches (likewise in the B52 but it's more visible in the small cockpit of the F111). Grabbed a few shots of the HC131A, my stepdad was a career Coastie and I figured he'd appreciate it. Will post photos sometime next week, they're getting developed right now. Next year I want to fly out there. Castle AFB was closed in '94 and is now an (exceedingly large) GA strip. 11,802 feet long and 300 feet wide. If you land on the numbers you'll have to taxi 3000 feet just to get to the first turnout, it's gotta be fun flying in there. From the Bay Area it'd be an easy flight and a fun daytrip. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Tue May 28 13:21:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Tue May 28 12:21:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Old Sore Head Message-ID: <20020528192007.30545@127.0.0.1> The highway sign outside Rudyard Montana greets visitors with the following: "Rudyard: 596 Nice People -- One Old Sore Head". Now they're holding an election for the official post of "old sore head". Were I local, I think I'd be in the running... ;-) Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Tue May 28 19:14:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Tue May 28 18:14:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Philson Stratoblaster Air Guitar Message-ID: <20020529011349.27996@127.0.0.1> Get yours today! Rock on! Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Wed May 29 11:36:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Wed May 29 10:36:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Have a nice day Message-ID: <20020529173557.18454@127.0.0.1> The following is reportedly a real letter to NTL, a British broadband provider, from a less than pleased customer. Kinda smells like urban legend but it's funny as hell nonetheless. Dear Cretins, I have been an NTL customer since 9th July 2001, when I signed up for your 3-in-one deal for cable TV, cable modem, and telephone. During this three-month period I have encountered inadequacy of service which I had not previously considered possible, as well as ignorance and stupidity of monolithic proportions. Please allow me to provide specific details, so that you can either pursue your professional prerogative, and seek to rectify these difficulties - or more likely (I suspect) so that you can have some entertaining reading material as you while away the working day smoking B&H and drinking vendor-coffee on the bog in your office: My initial installation was cancelled without warning, resulting in my spending an entire Saturday sitting on my fat arse waiting for your technician to arrive. When he did not arrive, I spent a further 57 minutes listening to your infuriating hold music, and the even more annoying Scottish robot woman telling me to look at your helpful website.... HOW? I alleviated the boredom by playing with my testicles for a few minutes - an activity at which you are no-doubt both familiar and highly adept. The rescheduled installation then took place some two weeks later, although the technician did forget to bring a number of vital tools - such as a drill-bit, and his cerebrum. Two weeks later, my cable modem had still not arrived. After 15 telephone calls over 4 weeks my modem arrived... six weeks after I had requested it, and begun to pay for it. I estimate your internet servers downtime is roughly 35%... hours between about 6pm -midnight, Mon-Fri, and most of the weekend. I am still waiting for my telephone connection. I have made 9 calls on my mobile to your no-help line, and have been unhelpfully transferred to a variety of disinterested individuals, who are it seems also highly skilled bollock jugglers. I have been informed that a telephone line is available (and someone will call me back); that I will be transferred to someone who knows whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been cut off); that I will be transferred to someone (and then been redirected to an answer machine informing me that your office is closed); that I will be transferred to someone and then been redirected to the irritating Scottish robot woman...and several other variations on this theme. Doubtless you are no-longer reading this letter, as you have at least a thousand other dissatisfied customers to ignore, and also another one of those crucially important testicle-moments to attend to. Frankly I don't care, it's far more satisfying as a customer to voice my frustrations in print than to shout them at your unending hold music. Forgive me, therefore, if I continue. I thought BT were shit, that they had attained the holy piss-pot of god-awful customer relations, that no one, anywhere, ever, could be more disinterested, less helpful or more obstructive to delivering service to their customers. That's why I chose NTL, and because, well, there isn't anyone else is there? How surprised I therefore was, when I discovered to my considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment what a useless shower of bastards you truly are. You are sputum-filled pieces of distended rectum - incompetents of the highest order. British Telecom - wankers though they are - shine like brilliant beacons of success, in the filthy puss-filled mire of your seemingly limitless inadequacy. Suffice to say that I have now given up on my futile and foolhardy quest to receive any kind of service from you. I suggest that you cease any potential future attempts to extort payment from me for the services which you have so pointedly and catastrophically failed to deliver - any such activity will be greeted initially with hilarity and disbelief - quickly be replaced by derision, and even perhaps bemused rage. I enclose two small deposits, selected with great care from my cats litter tray, as an expression of my utter and complete contempt for both you and your pointless company. I sincerely hope that they have not become desiccated during transit - they were satisfyingly moist at the time of posting, and I would feel considerable disappointment if you did not experience both their rich aroma and delicate texture. Consider them the very embodiment of my feelings towards NTL, and its worthless employees. Have a nice day - may it be the last in your miserable short life, you irritatingly incompetent and infuriatingly unhelpful bunch of twats. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 3 15:46:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 3 14:46:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Britney Underground Message-ID: <20020503214511.32085@127.0.0.1> What New Yorkers did to a barrage of promotional posters for Britney Spears' Vegas/HBO concert. Part social commentary, part lewd suggestion, and part random vandalism. I found it amusing. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 9 18:18:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 9 17:18:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Broke the surly bonds of Earth Message-ID: <20020510001718.7935@127.0.0.1> First Time. Cessna 172. I did the takeoff and landing-CFI was hands off the yoke for both-and we took it out over Berkeley to the city. Ran a 360 over the city at 2k feet, then overflew Alcatraz, shot over the golden gate, out to sea a little bit, did some maneuvering, and then came back over Tamalpais and the san rafael bridge back into Concord. Almost all of that I was actually controlling it. Total airtime just over an hour, a little over 2 hrs ground instruction. Somewhat daunting. Reminded me a lot of when I first installed NetBSD on my old SE/30 back at Apple. Sitting there looking at that command prompt the first time around was a similar feeling. Certainly less instinctive for me than riding a motorcycle was. Things I'll need a lot more work on: comms. Was for the most part completely lost-although at least I already have the NATO call signs down pat from my days as a phone monkey. Taxiing. Foot controls will take some serious getting used to, as well as the engine control. Mixture control. Simply didn't deal with it at all. Instruments. Brain completely overloaded by all the data. Things I took to as a a fish to water: Rudder usage. Both on turns and to compensate for pfactor on the prop. Pretty happy that I did the takeoff and landing. Had all kinds of coaching of course, but damn it all I really flew that thing. Clumsy, yes. Hamfooted, certainly. But I did it. And I didn't even damage the plane. Yee-haw... ;-) Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 9 19:39:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 9 18:39:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Gay-O-Meter Message-ID: <20020510013834.6433@127.0.0.1> Credit to Sooz for this one: I scored 30%. Must be getting old. ;-) Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 9 20:06:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 9 19:06:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] DIY Freeway Signage Message-ID: <20020510020527.15900@127.0.0.1> This artist kept missing the I-5 offramp from the 110 in LA. He figured calling CalTrans would be a waste of time, so he made and installed the sign himself. 9months later, it was leaked to the press; CalTrans never caught on. Cute story. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 14:41:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 13:41:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Another nice LA Charger piece Message-ID: <20020510204050.14916@127.0.0.1> This guy writes some sharp stuff... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 14:43:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 13:43:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Re: Another nice LA Charger piece In-Reply-To: <20020510204050.14916@127.0.0.1> References: <20020510204050.14916@127.0.0.1> Message-ID: <20020510204237.25205@127.0.0.1> On 5/10/02, ed@hintz.org thus spake: >This guy writes some sharp stuff... > > > Bah. This wasn't supposed to go to promotum. Sorry 'bout that. Still ditzy from flying I guess. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 18:03:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 17:03:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Celine Dion kills iMacs Message-ID: <20020511000228.9657@127.0.0.1> Nice... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 18:30:04 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 17:30:04 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Lane splitting 101 Message-ID: <20020511002920.18758@127.0.0.1> I really liked this one. Probably because I spent 4 years in LA on a Suzuki GS850; I had no car at all, lane splitting for me was clearly a way of life. I have but 2 comments. In my case, I always voiced a preference for old spark plugs rather than #4 ball bearings, though I always preferred to run rather than fight. But more importantly and somewhat more seriously, consider this: while it's easy to hate the biker while you're stuck in traffic and he/she is free as a bird, he/she is constantly trying to keep from being mowed down by drivers sans clues. Furthermore, on that cold rainy afternoon, he/she is freezing, wet, and miserable; the car drivers are warm, cozy, have an optional cup of coffee, and a nice radio. There's no such thing as a free lunch; we bikers pay for that lane splitting in one way or another. Anyway, make sure to check out the mpeg movie, it's a good representation of what the biker is seeing. Just needs the wind and engine noise, and the peripheral vision. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Mon May 13 14:03:04 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Mon May 13 13:03:04 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Cogito ergo sum Message-ID: <20020513200249.10872@127.0.0.1> "I don't think so," said Rene Descartes. Just then, he vanished. Credit to /usr/games/fortune... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Wed May 15 23:54:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Wed May 15 22:54:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Classic Comedy Message-ID: <20020516055358.971@127.0.0.1> A routine done by Andy Griffith back in the mid-50's before he rose to fame on the Andy Griffith show. Describes football from the point of view of a country bumpkin who's never seen the game before. Good fun. And I suppose reasonably plausible back in the mid-50's. Football's a fairly recent phenomenon(at least at the professional level, I know it's been around at the college level since about 1869). Was reminded of it this evening when Sam was having a Big Orange Drink... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 16 21:12:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 16 20:12:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Security through stupidity Message-ID: <20020517031301.3104@127.0.0.1> Just as useless as security through obscurity... Noticed this a few months back but hadn't found any good stories on it; was reminded of it by my upcoming appointment with those highly competent $5/hr airport "security" staff: Short story: 86 year old retired USMC General and winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor for shooting down 26 japs in the battle of Guadalcanal (also was Govenor of South Dakota and President of the NRA at times) was delayed for about 45min in Jan. at Phoenix Sky Harbor because security weenies thought his Medal of Honor could be used as a weapon. Here's a few links: http://www.arizonarepublic.com/special42/articles/0216FOSS16.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/02/27/war.hero.cnna/ http://www.winstonsrock.com/foss.html Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Mon May 27 03:00:04 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Mon May 27 02:00:04 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Castle Air Museum Message-ID: <20020527085920.20777@127.0.0.1> We were in LA this week to visit Sam's Dad, who had a bypass a little over a week ago. So on the drive home we stopped in Atwater (just outside of Merced) and got a motel, got up bright and early this AM and headed over to Castle Air Museum. On memorial day weekend they open up a lot of the airplanes and let folks climb around in them, today they had about 20 open. First stop of the day was the SR71. Due to the cramped cockpit they wouldn't actually let us climb in but I was able to scope the interior. There were several holes in the panels, no doubt where ELINT and other classified stuff went, but for the most part it was all there. Engines and everything are still in it, and it flew to Castle under it's own power. A big bird, and really neat to get up next to it and ogle it. Probably my personal favorite of the aircraft to come out of the cold war. Another one that made a big impression was the B17. We got to clamber all over inside it, and we took a couple of photos of Hunter and myself in the cockpit. Observations: suprisingly small inside, even more surprisingly small bomb bay. The bomb bay itself had about the same space capacity as my 1978 VW Bus, maybe less. That's a lot of airplane for so little space. Belly gunners on these things were some dedicated guys. Getting into and out of the belly turret was an extended task, and there was no room in the turret for a parachute. In the event of a bailout there was seldom time for them to get out; they were issued a .45 for optional use on themselves if the plane was going in. Yikes. Got to talk for a while with an old geezer who flew them, lost the plane and bailed out over Germany, spent 22 months in LuftStalag 3. Very cool to not only tour the B17 but to also talk to somebody with those experiences. Last on the list of highly notables was the B52. Nice piece of engineering, that. Had 2 fellows inside giving quasi-tours, both former crew who flew missions over Vietnam. Of particular interest was the nuclear authorization equipment. Even if all 6 crewmembers decided to go nutso and start WWIII they could only drop duds, the bombs were armed with a code not known to the aircrew until Presidential authorization was issued to drop 'em. Another interesting feature was the control apparatus for the rotating landing gear; the B52 could land in a 45knot crosswind coming at 90 degrees to the airstrip by crabbing into the wind and aligning the gear with the runway. Fun cockpit in that thing. I also climbed into an F111 and had 'em snap a photo of me in the thing, figured my sis might like it as she did electronics work on 'em when she was in the AF. Of note in the F111 was the go-no go electronics for nuclear armament; spooky to see the doomsday switches (likewise in the B52 but it's more visible in the small cockpit of the F111). Grabbed a few shots of the HC131A, my stepdad was a career Coastie and I figured he'd appreciate it. Will post photos sometime next week, they're getting developed right now. Next year I want to fly out there. Castle AFB was closed in '94 and is now an (exceedingly large) GA strip. 11,802 feet long and 300 feet wide. If you land on the numbers you'll have to taxi 3000 feet just to get to the first turnout, it's gotta be fun flying in there. From the Bay Area it'd be an easy flight and a fun daytrip. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Tue May 28 13:21:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Tue May 28 12:21:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Old Sore Head Message-ID: <20020528192007.30545@127.0.0.1> The highway sign outside Rudyard Montana greets visitors with the following: "Rudyard: 596 Nice People -- One Old Sore Head". Now they're holding an election for the official post of "old sore head". Were I local, I think I'd be in the running... ;-) Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Tue May 28 19:14:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Tue May 28 18:14:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Philson Stratoblaster Air Guitar Message-ID: <20020529011349.27996@127.0.0.1> Get yours today! Rock on! Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Wed May 29 11:36:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Wed May 29 10:36:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Have a nice day Message-ID: <20020529173557.18454@127.0.0.1> The following is reportedly a real letter to NTL, a British broadband provider, from a less than pleased customer. Kinda smells like urban legend but it's funny as hell nonetheless. Dear Cretins, I have been an NTL customer since 9th July 2001, when I signed up for your 3-in-one deal for cable TV, cable modem, and telephone. During this three-month period I have encountered inadequacy of service which I had not previously considered possible, as well as ignorance and stupidity of monolithic proportions. Please allow me to provide specific details, so that you can either pursue your professional prerogative, and seek to rectify these difficulties - or more likely (I suspect) so that you can have some entertaining reading material as you while away the working day smoking B&H and drinking vendor-coffee on the bog in your office: My initial installation was cancelled without warning, resulting in my spending an entire Saturday sitting on my fat arse waiting for your technician to arrive. When he did not arrive, I spent a further 57 minutes listening to your infuriating hold music, and the even more annoying Scottish robot woman telling me to look at your helpful website.... HOW? I alleviated the boredom by playing with my testicles for a few minutes - an activity at which you are no-doubt both familiar and highly adept. The rescheduled installation then took place some two weeks later, although the technician did forget to bring a number of vital tools - such as a drill-bit, and his cerebrum. Two weeks later, my cable modem had still not arrived. After 15 telephone calls over 4 weeks my modem arrived... six weeks after I had requested it, and begun to pay for it. I estimate your internet servers downtime is roughly 35%... hours between about 6pm -midnight, Mon-Fri, and most of the weekend. I am still waiting for my telephone connection. I have made 9 calls on my mobile to your no-help line, and have been unhelpfully transferred to a variety of disinterested individuals, who are it seems also highly skilled bollock jugglers. I have been informed that a telephone line is available (and someone will call me back); that I will be transferred to someone who knows whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been cut off); that I will be transferred to someone (and then been redirected to an answer machine informing me that your office is closed); that I will be transferred to someone and then been redirected to the irritating Scottish robot woman...and several other variations on this theme. Doubtless you are no-longer reading this letter, as you have at least a thousand other dissatisfied customers to ignore, and also another one of those crucially important testicle-moments to attend to. Frankly I don't care, it's far more satisfying as a customer to voice my frustrations in print than to shout them at your unending hold music. Forgive me, therefore, if I continue. I thought BT were shit, that they had attained the holy piss-pot of god-awful customer relations, that no one, anywhere, ever, could be more disinterested, less helpful or more obstructive to delivering service to their customers. That's why I chose NTL, and because, well, there isn't anyone else is there? How surprised I therefore was, when I discovered to my considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment what a useless shower of bastards you truly are. You are sputum-filled pieces of distended rectum - incompetents of the highest order. British Telecom - wankers though they are - shine like brilliant beacons of success, in the filthy puss-filled mire of your seemingly limitless inadequacy. Suffice to say that I have now given up on my futile and foolhardy quest to receive any kind of service from you. I suggest that you cease any potential future attempts to extort payment from me for the services which you have so pointedly and catastrophically failed to deliver - any such activity will be greeted initially with hilarity and disbelief - quickly be replaced by derision, and even perhaps bemused rage. I enclose two small deposits, selected with great care from my cats litter tray, as an expression of my utter and complete contempt for both you and your pointless company. I sincerely hope that they have not become desiccated during transit - they were satisfyingly moist at the time of posting, and I would feel considerable disappointment if you did not experience both their rich aroma and delicate texture. Consider them the very embodiment of my feelings towards NTL, and its worthless employees. Have a nice day - may it be the last in your miserable short life, you irritatingly incompetent and infuriatingly unhelpful bunch of twats. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 3 15:46:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 3 14:46:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Britney Underground Message-ID: <20020503214511.32085@127.0.0.1> What New Yorkers did to a barrage of promotional posters for Britney Spears' Vegas/HBO concert. Part social commentary, part lewd suggestion, and part random vandalism. I found it amusing. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 9 18:18:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 9 17:18:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Broke the surly bonds of Earth Message-ID: <20020510001718.7935@127.0.0.1> First Time. Cessna 172. I did the takeoff and landing-CFI was hands off the yoke for both-and we took it out over Berkeley to the city. Ran a 360 over the city at 2k feet, then overflew Alcatraz, shot over the golden gate, out to sea a little bit, did some maneuvering, and then came back over Tamalpais and the san rafael bridge back into Concord. Almost all of that I was actually controlling it. Total airtime just over an hour, a little over 2 hrs ground instruction. Somewhat daunting. Reminded me a lot of when I first installed NetBSD on my old SE/30 back at Apple. Sitting there looking at that command prompt the first time around was a similar feeling. Certainly less instinctive for me than riding a motorcycle was. Things I'll need a lot more work on: comms. Was for the most part completely lost-although at least I already have the NATO call signs down pat from my days as a phone monkey. Taxiing. Foot controls will take some serious getting used to, as well as the engine control. Mixture control. Simply didn't deal with it at all. Instruments. Brain completely overloaded by all the data. Things I took to as a a fish to water: Rudder usage. Both on turns and to compensate for pfactor on the prop. Pretty happy that I did the takeoff and landing. Had all kinds of coaching of course, but damn it all I really flew that thing. Clumsy, yes. Hamfooted, certainly. But I did it. And I didn't even damage the plane. Yee-haw... ;-) Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 9 19:39:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 9 18:39:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Gay-O-Meter Message-ID: <20020510013834.6433@127.0.0.1> Credit to Sooz for this one: I scored 30%. Must be getting old. ;-) Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 9 20:06:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 9 19:06:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] DIY Freeway Signage Message-ID: <20020510020527.15900@127.0.0.1> This artist kept missing the I-5 offramp from the 110 in LA. He figured calling CalTrans would be a waste of time, so he made and installed the sign himself. 9months later, it was leaked to the press; CalTrans never caught on. Cute story. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 14:41:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 13:41:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Another nice LA Charger piece Message-ID: <20020510204050.14916@127.0.0.1> This guy writes some sharp stuff... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 14:43:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 13:43:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Re: Another nice LA Charger piece In-Reply-To: <20020510204050.14916@127.0.0.1> References: <20020510204050.14916@127.0.0.1> Message-ID: <20020510204237.25205@127.0.0.1> On 5/10/02, ed@hintz.org thus spake: >This guy writes some sharp stuff... > > > Bah. This wasn't supposed to go to promotum. Sorry 'bout that. Still ditzy from flying I guess. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 18:03:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 17:03:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Celine Dion kills iMacs Message-ID: <20020511000228.9657@127.0.0.1> Nice... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 18:30:04 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 17:30:04 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Lane splitting 101 Message-ID: <20020511002920.18758@127.0.0.1> I really liked this one. Probably because I spent 4 years in LA on a Suzuki GS850; I had no car at all, lane splitting for me was clearly a way of life. I have but 2 comments. In my case, I always voiced a preference for old spark plugs rather than #4 ball bearings, though I always preferred to run rather than fight. But more importantly and somewhat more seriously, consider this: while it's easy to hate the biker while you're stuck in traffic and he/she is free as a bird, he/she is constantly trying to keep from being mowed down by drivers sans clues. Furthermore, on that cold rainy afternoon, he/she is freezing, wet, and miserable; the car drivers are warm, cozy, have an optional cup of coffee, and a nice radio. There's no such thing as a free lunch; we bikers pay for that lane splitting in one way or another. Anyway, make sure to check out the mpeg movie, it's a good representation of what the biker is seeing. Just needs the wind and engine noise, and the peripheral vision. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Mon May 13 14:03:04 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Mon May 13 13:03:04 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Cogito ergo sum Message-ID: <20020513200249.10872@127.0.0.1> "I don't think so," said Rene Descartes. Just then, he vanished. Credit to /usr/games/fortune... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Wed May 15 23:54:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Wed May 15 22:54:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Classic Comedy Message-ID: <20020516055358.971@127.0.0.1> A routine done by Andy Griffith back in the mid-50's before he rose to fame on the Andy Griffith show. Describes football from the point of view of a country bumpkin who's never seen the game before. Good fun. And I suppose reasonably plausible back in the mid-50's. Football's a fairly recent phenomenon(at least at the professional level, I know it's been around at the college level since about 1869). Was reminded of it this evening when Sam was having a Big Orange Drink... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 16 21:12:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 16 20:12:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Security through stupidity Message-ID: <20020517031301.3104@127.0.0.1> Just as useless as security through obscurity... Noticed this a few months back but hadn't found any good stories on it; was reminded of it by my upcoming appointment with those highly competent $5/hr airport "security" staff: Short story: 86 year old retired USMC General and winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor for shooting down 26 japs in the battle of Guadalcanal (also was Govenor of South Dakota and President of the NRA at times) was delayed for about 45min in Jan. at Phoenix Sky Harbor because security weenies thought his Medal of Honor could be used as a weapon. Here's a few links: http://www.arizonarepublic.com/special42/articles/0216FOSS16.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/02/27/war.hero.cnna/ http://www.winstonsrock.com/foss.html Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Mon May 27 03:00:04 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Mon May 27 02:00:04 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Castle Air Museum Message-ID: <20020527085920.20777@127.0.0.1> We were in LA this week to visit Sam's Dad, who had a bypass a little over a week ago. So on the drive home we stopped in Atwater (just outside of Merced) and got a motel, got up bright and early this AM and headed over to Castle Air Museum. On memorial day weekend they open up a lot of the airplanes and let folks climb around in them, today they had about 20 open. First stop of the day was the SR71. Due to the cramped cockpit they wouldn't actually let us climb in but I was able to scope the interior. There were several holes in the panels, no doubt where ELINT and other classified stuff went, but for the most part it was all there. Engines and everything are still in it, and it flew to Castle under it's own power. A big bird, and really neat to get up next to it and ogle it. Probably my personal favorite of the aircraft to come out of the cold war. Another one that made a big impression was the B17. We got to clamber all over inside it, and we took a couple of photos of Hunter and myself in the cockpit. Observations: suprisingly small inside, even more surprisingly small bomb bay. The bomb bay itself had about the same space capacity as my 1978 VW Bus, maybe less. That's a lot of airplane for so little space. Belly gunners on these things were some dedicated guys. Getting into and out of the belly turret was an extended task, and there was no room in the turret for a parachute. In the event of a bailout there was seldom time for them to get out; they were issued a .45 for optional use on themselves if the plane was going in. Yikes. Got to talk for a while with an old geezer who flew them, lost the plane and bailed out over Germany, spent 22 months in LuftStalag 3. Very cool to not only tour the B17 but to also talk to somebody with those experiences. Last on the list of highly notables was the B52. Nice piece of engineering, that. Had 2 fellows inside giving quasi-tours, both former crew who flew missions over Vietnam. Of particular interest was the nuclear authorization equipment. Even if all 6 crewmembers decided to go nutso and start WWIII they could only drop duds, the bombs were armed with a code not known to the aircrew until Presidential authorization was issued to drop 'em. Another interesting feature was the control apparatus for the rotating landing gear; the B52 could land in a 45knot crosswind coming at 90 degrees to the airstrip by crabbing into the wind and aligning the gear with the runway. Fun cockpit in that thing. I also climbed into an F111 and had 'em snap a photo of me in the thing, figured my sis might like it as she did electronics work on 'em when she was in the AF. Of note in the F111 was the go-no go electronics for nuclear armament; spooky to see the doomsday switches (likewise in the B52 but it's more visible in the small cockpit of the F111). Grabbed a few shots of the HC131A, my stepdad was a career Coastie and I figured he'd appreciate it. Will post photos sometime next week, they're getting developed right now. Next year I want to fly out there. Castle AFB was closed in '94 and is now an (exceedingly large) GA strip. 11,802 feet long and 300 feet wide. If you land on the numbers you'll have to taxi 3000 feet just to get to the first turnout, it's gotta be fun flying in there. From the Bay Area it'd be an easy flight and a fun daytrip. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Tue May 28 13:21:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Tue May 28 12:21:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Old Sore Head Message-ID: <20020528192007.30545@127.0.0.1> The highway sign outside Rudyard Montana greets visitors with the following: "Rudyard: 596 Nice People -- One Old Sore Head". Now they're holding an election for the official post of "old sore head". Were I local, I think I'd be in the running... ;-) Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Tue May 28 19:14:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Tue May 28 18:14:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Philson Stratoblaster Air Guitar Message-ID: <20020529011349.27996@127.0.0.1> Get yours today! Rock on! Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Wed May 29 11:36:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Wed May 29 10:36:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Have a nice day Message-ID: <20020529173557.18454@127.0.0.1> The following is reportedly a real letter to NTL, a British broadband provider, from a less than pleased customer. Kinda smells like urban legend but it's funny as hell nonetheless. Dear Cretins, I have been an NTL customer since 9th July 2001, when I signed up for your 3-in-one deal for cable TV, cable modem, and telephone. During this three-month period I have encountered inadequacy of service which I had not previously considered possible, as well as ignorance and stupidity of monolithic proportions. Please allow me to provide specific details, so that you can either pursue your professional prerogative, and seek to rectify these difficulties - or more likely (I suspect) so that you can have some entertaining reading material as you while away the working day smoking B&H and drinking vendor-coffee on the bog in your office: My initial installation was cancelled without warning, resulting in my spending an entire Saturday sitting on my fat arse waiting for your technician to arrive. When he did not arrive, I spent a further 57 minutes listening to your infuriating hold music, and the even more annoying Scottish robot woman telling me to look at your helpful website.... HOW? I alleviated the boredom by playing with my testicles for a few minutes - an activity at which you are no-doubt both familiar and highly adept. The rescheduled installation then took place some two weeks later, although the technician did forget to bring a number of vital tools - such as a drill-bit, and his cerebrum. Two weeks later, my cable modem had still not arrived. After 15 telephone calls over 4 weeks my modem arrived... six weeks after I had requested it, and begun to pay for it. I estimate your internet servers downtime is roughly 35%... hours between about 6pm -midnight, Mon-Fri, and most of the weekend. I am still waiting for my telephone connection. I have made 9 calls on my mobile to your no-help line, and have been unhelpfully transferred to a variety of disinterested individuals, who are it seems also highly skilled bollock jugglers. I have been informed that a telephone line is available (and someone will call me back); that I will be transferred to someone who knows whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been cut off); that I will be transferred to someone (and then been redirected to an answer machine informing me that your office is closed); that I will be transferred to someone and then been redirected to the irritating Scottish robot woman...and several other variations on this theme. Doubtless you are no-longer reading this letter, as you have at least a thousand other dissatisfied customers to ignore, and also another one of those crucially important testicle-moments to attend to. Frankly I don't care, it's far more satisfying as a customer to voice my frustrations in print than to shout them at your unending hold music. Forgive me, therefore, if I continue. I thought BT were shit, that they had attained the holy piss-pot of god-awful customer relations, that no one, anywhere, ever, could be more disinterested, less helpful or more obstructive to delivering service to their customers. That's why I chose NTL, and because, well, there isn't anyone else is there? How surprised I therefore was, when I discovered to my considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment what a useless shower of bastards you truly are. You are sputum-filled pieces of distended rectum - incompetents of the highest order. British Telecom - wankers though they are - shine like brilliant beacons of success, in the filthy puss-filled mire of your seemingly limitless inadequacy. Suffice to say that I have now given up on my futile and foolhardy quest to receive any kind of service from you. I suggest that you cease any potential future attempts to extort payment from me for the services which you have so pointedly and catastrophically failed to deliver - any such activity will be greeted initially with hilarity and disbelief - quickly be replaced by derision, and even perhaps bemused rage. I enclose two small deposits, selected with great care from my cats litter tray, as an expression of my utter and complete contempt for both you and your pointless company. I sincerely hope that they have not become desiccated during transit - they were satisfyingly moist at the time of posting, and I would feel considerable disappointment if you did not experience both their rich aroma and delicate texture. Consider them the very embodiment of my feelings towards NTL, and its worthless employees. Have a nice day - may it be the last in your miserable short life, you irritatingly incompetent and infuriatingly unhelpful bunch of twats. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 3 15:46:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 3 14:46:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Britney Underground Message-ID: <20020503214511.32085@127.0.0.1> What New Yorkers did to a barrage of promotional posters for Britney Spears' Vegas/HBO concert. Part social commentary, part lewd suggestion, and part random vandalism. I found it amusing. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 9 18:18:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 9 17:18:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Broke the surly bonds of Earth Message-ID: <20020510001718.7935@127.0.0.1> First Time. Cessna 172. I did the takeoff and landing-CFI was hands off the yoke for both-and we took it out over Berkeley to the city. Ran a 360 over the city at 2k feet, then overflew Alcatraz, shot over the golden gate, out to sea a little bit, did some maneuvering, and then came back over Tamalpais and the san rafael bridge back into Concord. Almost all of that I was actually controlling it. Total airtime just over an hour, a little over 2 hrs ground instruction. Somewhat daunting. Reminded me a lot of when I first installed NetBSD on my old SE/30 back at Apple. Sitting there looking at that command prompt the first time around was a similar feeling. Certainly less instinctive for me than riding a motorcycle was. Things I'll need a lot more work on: comms. Was for the most part completely lost-although at least I already have the NATO call signs down pat from my days as a phone monkey. Taxiing. Foot controls will take some serious getting used to, as well as the engine control. Mixture control. Simply didn't deal with it at all. Instruments. Brain completely overloaded by all the data. Things I took to as a a fish to water: Rudder usage. Both on turns and to compensate for pfactor on the prop. Pretty happy that I did the takeoff and landing. Had all kinds of coaching of course, but damn it all I really flew that thing. Clumsy, yes. Hamfooted, certainly. But I did it. And I didn't even damage the plane. Yee-haw... ;-) Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 9 19:39:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 9 18:39:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Gay-O-Meter Message-ID: <20020510013834.6433@127.0.0.1> Credit to Sooz for this one: I scored 30%. Must be getting old. ;-) Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 9 20:06:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 9 19:06:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] DIY Freeway Signage Message-ID: <20020510020527.15900@127.0.0.1> This artist kept missing the I-5 offramp from the 110 in LA. He figured calling CalTrans would be a waste of time, so he made and installed the sign himself. 9months later, it was leaked to the press; CalTrans never caught on. Cute story. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 14:41:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 13:41:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Another nice LA Charger piece Message-ID: <20020510204050.14916@127.0.0.1> This guy writes some sharp stuff... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 14:43:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 13:43:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Re: Another nice LA Charger piece In-Reply-To: <20020510204050.14916@127.0.0.1> References: <20020510204050.14916@127.0.0.1> Message-ID: <20020510204237.25205@127.0.0.1> On 5/10/02, ed@hintz.org thus spake: >This guy writes some sharp stuff... > > > Bah. This wasn't supposed to go to promotum. Sorry 'bout that. Still ditzy from flying I guess. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 18:03:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 17:03:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Celine Dion kills iMacs Message-ID: <20020511000228.9657@127.0.0.1> Nice... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Fri May 10 18:30:04 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Fri May 10 17:30:04 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Lane splitting 101 Message-ID: <20020511002920.18758@127.0.0.1> I really liked this one. Probably because I spent 4 years in LA on a Suzuki GS850; I had no car at all, lane splitting for me was clearly a way of life. I have but 2 comments. In my case, I always voiced a preference for old spark plugs rather than #4 ball bearings, though I always preferred to run rather than fight. But more importantly and somewhat more seriously, consider this: while it's easy to hate the biker while you're stuck in traffic and he/she is free as a bird, he/she is constantly trying to keep from being mowed down by drivers sans clues. Furthermore, on that cold rainy afternoon, he/she is freezing, wet, and miserable; the car drivers are warm, cozy, have an optional cup of coffee, and a nice radio. There's no such thing as a free lunch; we bikers pay for that lane splitting in one way or another. Anyway, make sure to check out the mpeg movie, it's a good representation of what the biker is seeing. Just needs the wind and engine noise, and the peripheral vision. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Mon May 13 14:03:04 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Mon May 13 13:03:04 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Cogito ergo sum Message-ID: <20020513200249.10872@127.0.0.1> "I don't think so," said Rene Descartes. Just then, he vanished. Credit to /usr/games/fortune... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Wed May 15 23:54:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Wed May 15 22:54:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Classic Comedy Message-ID: <20020516055358.971@127.0.0.1> A routine done by Andy Griffith back in the mid-50's before he rose to fame on the Andy Griffith show. Describes football from the point of view of a country bumpkin who's never seen the game before. Good fun. And I suppose reasonably plausible back in the mid-50's. Football's a fairly recent phenomenon(at least at the professional level, I know it's been around at the college level since about 1869). Was reminded of it this evening when Sam was having a Big Orange Drink... Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Thu May 16 21:12:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Thu May 16 20:12:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Security through stupidity Message-ID: <20020517031301.3104@127.0.0.1> Just as useless as security through obscurity... Noticed this a few months back but hadn't found any good stories on it; was reminded of it by my upcoming appointment with those highly competent $5/hr airport "security" staff: Short story: 86 year old retired USMC General and winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor for shooting down 26 japs in the battle of Guadalcanal (also was Govenor of South Dakota and President of the NRA at times) was delayed for about 45min in Jan. at Phoenix Sky Harbor because security weenies thought his Medal of Honor could be used as a weapon. Here's a few links: http://www.arizonarepublic.com/special42/articles/0216FOSS16.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/02/27/war.hero.cnna/ http://www.winstonsrock.com/foss.html Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Mon May 27 03:00:04 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Mon May 27 02:00:04 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Castle Air Museum Message-ID: <20020527085920.20777@127.0.0.1> We were in LA this week to visit Sam's Dad, who had a bypass a little over a week ago. So on the drive home we stopped in Atwater (just outside of Merced) and got a motel, got up bright and early this AM and headed over to Castle Air Museum. On memorial day weekend they open up a lot of the airplanes and let folks climb around in them, today they had about 20 open. First stop of the day was the SR71. Due to the cramped cockpit they wouldn't actually let us climb in but I was able to scope the interior. There were several holes in the panels, no doubt where ELINT and other classified stuff went, but for the most part it was all there. Engines and everything are still in it, and it flew to Castle under it's own power. A big bird, and really neat to get up next to it and ogle it. Probably my personal favorite of the aircraft to come out of the cold war. Another one that made a big impression was the B17. We got to clamber all over inside it, and we took a couple of photos of Hunter and myself in the cockpit. Observations: suprisingly small inside, even more surprisingly small bomb bay. The bomb bay itself had about the same space capacity as my 1978 VW Bus, maybe less. That's a lot of airplane for so little space. Belly gunners on these things were some dedicated guys. Getting into and out of the belly turret was an extended task, and there was no room in the turret for a parachute. In the event of a bailout there was seldom time for them to get out; they were issued a .45 for optional use on themselves if the plane was going in. Yikes. Got to talk for a while with an old geezer who flew them, lost the plane and bailed out over Germany, spent 22 months in LuftStalag 3. Very cool to not only tour the B17 but to also talk to somebody with those experiences. Last on the list of highly notables was the B52. Nice piece of engineering, that. Had 2 fellows inside giving quasi-tours, both former crew who flew missions over Vietnam. Of particular interest was the nuclear authorization equipment. Even if all 6 crewmembers decided to go nutso and start WWIII they could only drop duds, the bombs were armed with a code not known to the aircrew until Presidential authorization was issued to drop 'em. Another interesting feature was the control apparatus for the rotating landing gear; the B52 could land in a 45knot crosswind coming at 90 degrees to the airstrip by crabbing into the wind and aligning the gear with the runway. Fun cockpit in that thing. I also climbed into an F111 and had 'em snap a photo of me in the thing, figured my sis might like it as she did electronics work on 'em when she was in the AF. Of note in the F111 was the go-no go electronics for nuclear armament; spooky to see the doomsday switches (likewise in the B52 but it's more visible in the small cockpit of the F111). Grabbed a few shots of the HC131A, my stepdad was a career Coastie and I figured he'd appreciate it. Will post photos sometime next week, they're getting developed right now. Next year I want to fly out there. Castle AFB was closed in '94 and is now an (exceedingly large) GA strip. 11,802 feet long and 300 feet wide. If you land on the numbers you'll have to taxi 3000 feet just to get to the first turnout, it's gotta be fun flying in there. From the Bay Area it'd be an easy flight and a fun daytrip. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Tue May 28 13:21:03 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Tue May 28 12:21:03 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Old Sore Head Message-ID: <20020528192007.30545@127.0.0.1> The highway sign outside Rudyard Montana greets visitors with the following: "Rudyard: 596 Nice People -- One Old Sore Head". Now they're holding an election for the official post of "old sore head". Were I local, I think I'd be in the running... ;-) Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Tue May 28 19:14:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Tue May 28 18:14:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Philson Stratoblaster Air Guitar Message-ID: <20020529011349.27996@127.0.0.1> Get yours today! Rock on! Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org From ed@hintz.org Wed May 29 11:36:02 2002 From: ed@hintz.org (Ed Hintz) Date: Wed May 29 10:36:02 2002 Subject: [Promotum] Have a nice day Message-ID: <20020529173557.18454@127.0.0.1> The following is reportedly a real letter to NTL, a British broadband provider, from a less than pleased customer. Kinda smells like urban legend but it's funny as hell nonetheless. Dear Cretins, I have been an NTL customer since 9th July 2001, when I signed up for your 3-in-one deal for cable TV, cable modem, and telephone. During this three-month period I have encountered inadequacy of service which I had not previously considered possible, as well as ignorance and stupidity of monolithic proportions. Please allow me to provide specific details, so that you can either pursue your professional prerogative, and seek to rectify these difficulties - or more likely (I suspect) so that you can have some entertaining reading material as you while away the working day smoking B&H and drinking vendor-coffee on the bog in your office: My initial installation was cancelled without warning, resulting in my spending an entire Saturday sitting on my fat arse waiting for your technician to arrive. When he did not arrive, I spent a further 57 minutes listening to your infuriating hold music, and the even more annoying Scottish robot woman telling me to look at your helpful website.... HOW? I alleviated the boredom by playing with my testicles for a few minutes - an activity at which you are no-doubt both familiar and highly adept. The rescheduled installation then took place some two weeks later, although the technician did forget to bring a number of vital tools - such as a drill-bit, and his cerebrum. Two weeks later, my cable modem had still not arrived. After 15 telephone calls over 4 weeks my modem arrived... six weeks after I had requested it, and begun to pay for it. I estimate your internet servers downtime is roughly 35%... hours between about 6pm -midnight, Mon-Fri, and most of the weekend. I am still waiting for my telephone connection. I have made 9 calls on my mobile to your no-help line, and have been unhelpfully transferred to a variety of disinterested individuals, who are it seems also highly skilled bollock jugglers. I have been informed that a telephone line is available (and someone will call me back); that I will be transferred to someone who knows whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been cut off); that I will be transferred to someone (and then been redirected to an answer machine informing me that your office is closed); that I will be transferred to someone and then been redirected to the irritating Scottish robot woman...and several other variations on this theme. Doubtless you are no-longer reading this letter, as you have at least a thousand other dissatisfied customers to ignore, and also another one of those crucially important testicle-moments to attend to. Frankly I don't care, it's far more satisfying as a customer to voice my frustrations in print than to shout them at your unending hold music. Forgive me, therefore, if I continue. I thought BT were shit, that they had attained the holy piss-pot of god-awful customer relations, that no one, anywhere, ever, could be more disinterested, less helpful or more obstructive to delivering service to their customers. That's why I chose NTL, and because, well, there isn't anyone else is there? How surprised I therefore was, when I discovered to my considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment what a useless shower of bastards you truly are. You are sputum-filled pieces of distended rectum - incompetents of the highest order. British Telecom - wankers though they are - shine like brilliant beacons of success, in the filthy puss-filled mire of your seemingly limitless inadequacy. Suffice to say that I have now given up on my futile and foolhardy quest to receive any kind of service from you. I suggest that you cease any potential future attempts to extort payment from me for the services which you have so pointedly and catastrophically failed to deliver - any such activity will be greeted initially with hilarity and disbelief - quickly be replaced by derision, and even perhaps bemused rage. I enclose two small deposits, selected with great care from my cats litter tray, as an expression of my utter and complete contempt for both you and your pointless company. I sincerely hope that they have not become desiccated during transit - they were satisfyingly moist at the time of posting, and I would feel considerable disappointment if you did not experience both their rich aroma and delicate texture. Consider them the very embodiment of my feelings towards NTL, and its worthless employees. Have a nice day - may it be the last in your miserable short life, you irritatingly incompetent and infuriatingly unhelpful bunch of twats. Peace, Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer, Mac Techie, Unix Geek, * | * But I'm not the only one... Mac/Unix Consultant * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us, */ | \* And the world will live as one. '78 Westy ***** Imagine." http://www.hintz.org