T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 +--------------------------+------------------------------------------+ | .----------------------. | dr.debug: dr.debug@filegate.net | | | A monthly E-Zine | | bbslists: bbslists@filegate.net | | | published by Fidonet | | articles: fidogazette@filegate.net | | to promote BBSing | +------------------------------------------+ | | ____________. | | | | / __ | "Anyone who has never made a mistake | | | / / \ | has never tried anything new." | | | WOOF! ( /|oo \ | Albert Einstein | | \_______\(_| /_) | | | \@/ \ | Got Something To Say? | | .---.\ _ | Say it in the | | (jk) _ |usb| \ \\ | =The FidoGazette= | | / | .___. \ ))| | | / | /_ | / \// | Editor: Janis Kracht | | |___| // || _\ / | janis @ filegate . net | | .--`-. (_|(_|(____/ | janis kracht 1:261/38 | | |____| (jm) | | +--------------------------+------------------------------------------+ ======================================================================= ==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Contents=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ======================================================================= T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ======================================================================= News: New Members (Z1) .............A list of new members! (3) In the Works (Z1)..........................................(3) A Hardy Net 129 Welcome....................................(3) Region 13 Election.........................................(3) Support your favorite FDN and promote your BBS!............(4) FidoGazette BBS List.......................................(5) Dr.Debug Answers Your Questions............................(8) BBS Gamecorner.............................................(9) The Old School Toolbox: Bots Part 2........................() Food......................................................(13) Info (Where to Send Articles).............................(14) Page 2 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ===================================================================== New & Returning Members ============================ By Janis Kracht New SysOps -- Welcome to Fidonet! ================================= Region 12: Dimitri Papadopoulos Region 18: Austin Phelps Region 13: Jonathan Schreiter ================================= In the Works: ================================= Region 11: Eugene Joseph Region 11: Gordon Meyer Region 12: Matthew Bellerose ================================= Returning SysOps - Welcome Back! ================================ Region 18: Austin C Phelps ================================ A Hardy Net 129 Welcome By Michael Luko, 1:129/0 As temporary NC for net 129, I proudly and hardily welcome Jonathan Schreiter from Macungie, PA and the members of his BBS, Convolution, to Fidonet 129. Page 3 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================ Region 13 - Regional Coordinator Election By Michael Luko, 1:13/0 As some of you may know Robert Wolfe the current Election Moderator is in the process of packing and moving. To help him out he gave me permission to get the announcement of the upcoming Regional Coordinator election out on his behalf to keep things on schedule. He will still be handing the other parts of the election process and still monitor and moderate the election itself. The election this year, 2009, is for Regional Coordinator. Here is the schedule for the election: A. Schedule: all schedules start at 00:01 hours and end at 24:00 hours 1. Announcement of the election: April 22nd through April 28th 2. Declarations of Candidacy: April 29th through May 12th 3. Questions to the Candidates: May 13th through June 2nd 4. Vote: June 3rd through June 9th 5. Announcement of the results: within three days of the end of the vote, or by June 12th The full election policy can be found on the Region 13 website: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze2db48/r13/R13EPOL.TXT Discussion and all election business except the sending in of ballots are to be conducted in the R13_Election echo. If you need access to the echo and are a R13 sysop please contact one of the following hubs for access: R13 Hubs Frank Reid 1:109/500, Janis Kracht 1:261/100, Michael Luko 1:266/512, Robert Wolfe 1:261/20 Outside R13 hubs Northwest star 1:140/1, West Star 1:10/3, East star 1:123/500 Respectfully submitted by Michael Luko, RC13, 1:13/0 on behalf of Robert Wolfe, Election Coordinator, 1:13/2 Page 4 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================ Support your favorite FDN and Promote Your BBS! by Richard Webb, 1:116/901 In watching a few systems announce available files just received in more than one file announcement echo over the last couple of years I've noticed something. Numerous systems telling me they've got the Nasa picture of the day, or the latest nodediff or fidonews. NOt that there's anything wrong with the picture of the day, nodediffs or fidonews. But, I think that many of us miss a great opportunity to promote our bulletin boards, for those of us who operate publicly available boards anyway. I also think some of our file distribution networks don't get near the promotion they might otherwise get, and not the support either. WE're missing an opportunity here I think, and it's one we all see right there in front of us. People involved in numerous hobbies other than computing utilize computers as part of their hobby. Crafters exchange patterns and other files; ham radio folks are always looking for logging programs; satellite tracking software and data; newsletters; antenna design programs; schematic diagrams of circuits, etc. If a major theme of your system is ham radio, or if you've got the disk space to devote to the ham-fdn and some ham radio related conferences you've a ready made promotional opportunity. In most parts of the country there are a few local ham clubs. These clubs are always looking for interesting program items. so, get on the agenda then talk about your bbs and what fidonet offers the busy ham. Page 5 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================ Support your favorite FDN, Con't One stop shopping: It's nice to not need a whole bunch of bookmarks to get the files you want for your hobby or avocation. The active ham will appreciate the echomail areas as well as one stop for logging software, satellite tracking elements, antenna design software and the like. THe same can be said of crafters of all sorts. USe thesehobby clubs and groups to promote related file distribution networks, and by extension your bbs. But, to make it work the file distribution networks you carry need support from you as well. sYsops with an interest in ham radio should, for example, be sure to upload their favorite demo and shareware logging software, satellite trackers, etc. WHen updates to these come out be sure to submit them to the coordinator of your favorite fdn for hatching. How do you contribute to your favorite fdn? See filegate.zxx or other info which will tell you who the coordinator of your favorite fdn is. Many file distribution networks offer a "back channel" area for submitting files for distribution. If your connection doesn't carry it ask him or her to link to it for you. or establish a link elsewhere for it. A backchannel area simply is an area which flows "backwards".. from _your_ system back to the _coordinator_. That way, the Coordinator of the FDN can take a look at your file, test it and see if it's of the proper type, not a duplicate file, etc. and then release it into the general "file-stream" of the FDN for all to enjoy. Page 6 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================ Support your favorite FDN, Con't Be sure to read and understand the submission guidelines for your favorite file distribution network. Most will offer a document which will provide them. If you don't know how to find it netmail the fdn coordinator. You'll find contact info for the coordinator in the filegate.zxx file, the filegate's list of file offerings. Read and follow the submission guidelines. Chances are good that your favorite fdn hatches files in compressed archives using pkzip, etc. OFten these files have a comment which, when the file is decompressed will display to the user. Quite often these archive comments display information about the international filegate project and contact information for the fdn coordinator. Capture this archiver comment to a text file, and use it when creating archives or modifying them for submittal to your fdn coordinator. Be sure that all the requirements of your target fdn are met. Many will require that the archive contain a file_id.diz or other such descriptor file. If one is not provided in your upload you can create one with any text editor. Good shareware and public domain authors often provide one so you won't have to. If not, it's not difficult to do. The standard format of a file_id.diz should be followed: 45 characters in width, no blank lines, no high ascii characters, 12 lines total. Some file_id.diz generation programs or .tic hatching programs will generate what is called "long-description" tics in which the file_id.diz is much longer than 12 lines long. If you use one of these type programs, be aware that many bbs software programs will truncate long descriptions anyway so your best bet is to stay within the 12 line limit. If there is no fdn for the main theme of your bbs, and there are many files and programs associated with it then start one of your own. Remember that file distribution networks aren't just for computer programmers and other hobbyists whose main hobby is the computer in and for itself. Crafters, woodworkers, quilters, outdoor types, many can benefit from a high quality file distribution network offering interested folks one stop shopping for items of interest. But, these distribution networks only work if sysops who carry them support them by submitting files for distribution as well. Sysops of specialty boards should also endeavor to make it widely known that they carry these files. There are a variety of file announcement echomail conferences in fidonet. Instead of announcing that you have the latest nodediff (doesn't everybody?) announce files received in these specialty file distribution networks. If there are echomail conferences associated with these file distribution networks be sure to post occasionally in those conferences that you carry and support the fdn. -end- Page 7 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= !!! G A Z E T T E B B S L I S T !!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-= System.......<. This installment will hopefully answerthe question you're probably asking which is "what can this do for me to promote my bbs?" In this column last month we looked at these little tools, and we'll have a closer look at them in these next two. Before we do that however I'd like you to take a little trip down memory lane with me. Yes, this little peek into the past is relevant. I recall writing an article for fidonews about a decade ago lamenting the loss of some old familiar search tools, wais, archie, gopher. Also the loss of ftpmail. I really liked waismail, used a couple of waismail servers to get all sorts of interesting things. The same with other search tools usable from email. Yes I used them through the fidonet gateway back in the day, and taught my users how to as well. Using bots such as I described in my last article can bring a world of such capability to the fidonet sysop. When coupled with the tools we'll discuss in the next installment they can equal the power of these search tools of yesteryear that I remember so fondly. Why do I still miss them? To be honest with you, I wouldn't mind so much if the hosts of those old search tools wanted to send me an advertisement along with my return email. But, I really don't find many search tools as currently implemented that user friendly to me, even when I am near a computer with a web browser that they support. But, with an email search tool I'll generate my search request, then go on about my business knowing that the results of my query will return to me sometime later that day or early the next depending on the hour. Page 11 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================ The Old School Toolbox, Con't. I utilize just such an email search server to look up amateur radio call signs for the U.s. and Canada as well as many other countries in the Americas. IT works the way I work, i hear the call sign, want to send the operator a card in the mail to verify the contact, or just want to see if the operator has privileges to be operating where he is. A simple little batch file appends my look up request to a file. When there are five requests pending an email is generated, and back come the results in a few hours. Many like that same organization's web site. Yes the web site offers you capabilities not available via the email server. You can get all the call signs in a zip or postal code, search on first and last names, etc. But you've also got the advertising that pays for the site, an exhortation to join their forums, all sorts of good stuff. I think there may even be popup ads and other fun stuff you have to jump through to enter your search parameters. But, all you want is your four or five call signs that you worked in a session of chasing awards on ham radio. You scribbled them down on a piece of paper, but your spouse is nagging that the grandkids will be over soon and you promised little Joe you'd take him fishing this evening. So, you sigh, forego the web search and walk away from your den. The next day you maybe find that scratch paper and go to the site to look up those calls, and maybe you don't until you look at your logs months later and see that you haven't followed up on those contacts with the desired qsl card (a post card with data confirming a contact redeemable for operating awards) and now you've got a bunch to do. Contrast that with the email server approach I use. I work the station, and while we're still talking I add the station I'm in contact with to the queue of call signs to be looked up. I can even force the email to go out before there are five waiting in the queue. I've done further automation. When the email comes back to my fidonet system with the results of the call signs it is exported to a text file from my message base and a process triggered which parses this file and puts the information in the proper places. I might, for example, be looking up the call sign of an operator off the coast of South America; two stations for awards pursuit contacts needing a qsl card; an operator on a public service net and just an operator I heard while tuning around. Page 12 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================ The Old School Toolbox, Con't When the message with my results returns the call sign of the vessel operator will be search for, and that information placed in a special file that corresponds with ham radio operators operating while out to sea. The two that need a postcard will go into another file, and the others elsewhere, depending on the need. Then, a backup of the whole file will be appended to my station log file. Another one of my favorites back in the day was a waismail server from a university. I can't even recall which university these days it's been so long. This waismail server had the latest CIA world fact book as one of its resources. You sent a message to waismail followed by the rest of the university's address, and put your desired source to be utilized in the subject line. For our example again, the CIA world fact book. In the body of the message you typed your query. For example, you want to retrieve information on Liberia. You send off your email, and soon an email returns telling you which documents encompassing the World Fact Book have information on Liberia. You can then send another message and retrieve the full text of those documents. At this point you're asking yourself "But what does this have to do with my bbs? I really want folks to come by and check it out, maybe use the message bases, play a door game ... " Don't tune out just yet. Some folks still like these old email response query engines, and by offering such services you have a ready made promotion tool for your bbs. Heck you do it anyway if you offer freqs via email, file requests with binkd etc. These little bots can bring more traffic to your board by promoting it to people who may not otherwise use telnet anymore. Some bots that you might wish to create will require a bit of ingenuity to get the information requested compiled and sent to the user. An example of this is the response function I've built which sends the requester information on missing or overdue vessels which I have available. Page 13 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================ My missing/overdue/attempt to locate list purges by day of the week. IN other words, if it's TUesday only information received since last TUesday will be sent the requester. All these alerts are held as individual files with the name watch and an extension corresponding with the three letter abbreviation of the day of the week. FOr example, if it's Tuesday and we received a missing overdue or attempt to locate for a vessel today it will be named watch.tue. All the "watch" files are combined into one file in a different directory which is called watch.txt and is rebuilt whenever an additional alert is received, or at midnight universal time daily. What if there are no alerts on file this week? Well then, our requester will get no response at all, and we can't have that. tHe requester *must* receive a response. NEtmgr is well suited for building response bots that are fairly complex because of its capability to invoke an external program from a shell whenever an appropriate search mask is encountered. OF course, one must have the registered version of artware's netmgr to do this, but that isn't really a big issue these days. So, back to my vessel alert response function. When netmgr encounters a netmail or email requesting "boat watch" it shells out and runs a batch file. The batch file time stamps the appropriate file which will be sent to the requester and thanks him/her for the request. THen the batch looks for watch.txt in the appropriate directory. IF watch.txt is not found there it branches to a section which then appends text to the proper file telling the requester that we have no missing, overdue or attempts to locate a vessel active at this time. This one's fairly simple, the batch file can accomplish its mission even within the limited memory confines of a shell from netmgr. but, if the batch file must be quite complex and store numerous environment variables then this isn't going to work. FOr this sort of job we store such details as the sender's name, address and other details elsewhere, in this case creating a batch from within a batch file. When this batch is invoked later the appropriate response will be created, and sent to the requester using the automatic message posting utility of one's choice. SOme make it easier to do this than others, and we'll discuss them in the next installment. An example of a rather complex response would be my nodelist search mailbot. The batch file which does the nodelist search itself is quite memory intensive and utilizes several different environment variables. SO, we must receive the request, create a batch which invokes the nodelist search batch, then invoke the batch which sends the response.I can be done, it just took some tinkering. WIthout those automatic message posting utilities it wouldn't be possible however. In the next installment we'll talk about some of these, and look at the advantages and disadvantages of a few automatic message posting offerings. So, gear up your brain. IF you're like many of us your bbs has a theme, be it restoring classic cars; ham radio; gaming, etc. IT's easy enough to develop some email and netmail response bots which will be useful to folks who might have an interest in the topical focus of your bbs but haven't paid a visit to your system. Along with the response you can send him or her a blurbadvertising your bbs and possibly gain another regular user. Page 14 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================ WHodunit? Who tried to kill fidonet? By Richard Webb, 1:116/901 I began this piece on an April night in 2009. FIdonet will soon be 30 years old. IN this thirty year span it has grown from the humble beginnings of two tinkerers who wanted their bulletin boards to exchange mail during the small hours of the day when they were in their bed to keep costs down to the largest amateur compputer network that ever existed to a fraction of that size. IT went from those humble beginnings to a position where it could have demanded its place in the forefront of the online world to a footnote in the histories of computer wide area networking and online communities. How did this happen, and why did it happen? IT's easy to explain the exponential growth of the years of its first decade. Fidonet was in a unique position to reach those new computer users, a demographic that was growing as fast as fidonet itself, if not faster. Computers in homes, in kitchens and family rooms, on childrens' desks were going mainstream. NO longer was the computer that unfriendly box at the office you blamed when the irate customer couldn't be placated any other way. Computers weren't tended by men and women in lab jackets mumbling arcane jargon and carrying stacks of punch cards, watching over large reels of tape. Computers were everywhere. Computer games; computer magazines; scan that picture of the mountain meadow that you took on your last vacation and display it on your screen. Play music, share your writings with others. Fidonet was there, in the small villages, and in the big cities. Not enough money to pay while the meter runs as you'd have to if you used the pay to play online services? fidonet offered the same level of satisfaction at little or no cost. Dial a friendly local bbs. Get that update to your favorite computer game or database manager. Unlock the hidden power of that box on your desk, all with a local phone call. But, then the internet came to town. AT least, that's the excuse we hear. That familiar mantra has been heard since 1994. IT was being heard when my fidonet bulletin board was still quite busy. IT was trotted out so often that it's one of those answers you hear before you even get the question fully formulated. What happened to fidonet? The internet killed it. Not so fast! The members of the fidonet community, i.e. those listed in its nodelist or phone book killed fidonet. At least, they gave it a real good try. They argued to the point of hateful words flying across the network aimed at each other, filed complaints; called those whom they disagreed with vile names you would never call somebody face to face unless you expected the war to become physical. They hurled insults and epithets, but when the war of words or flame war was done they sat back and did nothing. IT was too much trouble to move past the flame wars to actually working to promote an avocation they professed to love and said they wished to nurture. They brought out the ascii weapons of mass destruction, sowing the death of fidonet by flame war in the echoes and in fidonews, the official journal of fidonet. SO-and-so is an autocratic coordinator who won't listen to reason, and won't hold an election for his replacement, he's scum. the moderator's a power tripping hitler wanna be. she's a witch. Mention backbone operating policy, or echopol, or Steve Winter in a fidonet echo and listen to the oldtimers. How does this happen to a hobby or avocation that is supposed to be about communication? Quite easily. Tune around the ham radio frequencies and you'll note some of the same behavior, but toned down a bit thanks to rules and regulations and forbidden language. But, the rules and regs are only part of the equation. These folks on the ham bands still are voices, or a "fist" or style of sending Morse Code. IT's hard to call a man a Charlatan scumbag when you're face to face with him, or when you've heard his voice. When you've heard him laugh at a joke, or heard the sadness in his voice when he tells a friend about a mutual buddy who's died after a long illness. IT's hard to discount that voice or that face and call him a reprehensible Charlatan scumbag ... These flames were launched into that early form of cyberspace because the target of the flame wasn't a man or a woman. IT was just words on a screen, just pixellated dots. Besides, sticks and stones may break my bones ... But, those words cut as deep as the sharpest knife. Those words inflicted deep wounds, mental wounds that could not be easily healed when it came time to sit down and look for solutions. When it came to working together to promote this endeavor they professed to love and wished to nurture the flames had already done their work. The words had destroyed friendships, the words had caused good people to decide that if this was what they had to endure to endeavor to be a leader in fidonet then they'd just pull the plug on Fidonet, walk away from it. some good potential leaders never got a chance to show what they could do as fidonet leaders, because they were driven away by the high octane flamethrower with his need to belittle, to pummel, even if only using words. The bullies who couldn't have their way in the schoolyard because a teacher or hall monitor stepped in got their way. Not that all the leaders who remained weren't good leaders. They did their jobs. The mail moved, the files moved. Broken links were fixed, duplicate loops corrected, new sysops mentored. Still, after doing the day to day work of keeping the network humming along and doing one's day job there wasn't a lot of time left to actually sit down and devise ways to promote fidonet. That's what pr people do. The coordinators, after all were just "nodelist clerks" and were reminded of that at every opportunity. The pioneers of Fidonet understood that these coordinators were to be "nodelist clerks" who occasionally had to be a judge when there was a policy complaint. But, for the most part, their duties were that of said "nodelist clerk" and there was an organization, yes an organization called IFna which was supposed to take care of those little details. Ifna was supposed to devise ways to promote fidonet, to polish its public image; get the word ouWHEre the network itself needed net region and zone coordinators Ifna needed a board of directors, a secretary, treasurer, president, public relations people. Ifna needed people who could write a press release; conduct a seminar; chair a meeting. Had Ifna still been in existence when the growth had peaked and the decline began a possible different outcome could have resulted. Had Ifna existed at that time the PR folks would have been writing those press releases, talking up fidonet in communities large and small, sending out mailings via old snail mail, and yes, collecting dues. Those dues would have helped organize national and international conferences, subsidize travel expenses of speakers to visit meetings of networking professionals and other special interest organizations. The Scuba diving instructor would have gone to a meeting of like minded folks to talk up the scuba diving conference, and been able to bring along professionally prepared literature provided by ifna. Ifna would have been able to do what the Fidonet structure could not, spend money to run that full page ad in the ham radio magazine touting the friendly folks in the ham_tech conference that will help you understand how a log periodic antenna works, or the ham file distribution network where you can download that trainer program to help you get your Morse code speed up. Recently the registered trademark for FIdonet expired. Your author also noted a commercial product using the term echomail, which has been the term used to describe a major part of fidonet now for over two decades. Ifna, or an organization like it could have been spearheading the effort to contact TOm JEnnings and see to the renewal of that copyright or trademark. SUch an organization could have taken the lead on alerting the "echomail" folks with the commercial product that although we aren't lawsuit crazy we can prove prior use of the term for two decades plus. LEt the clerks clerk, the programmers program, and the organization folks organize. OUr fidonet pioneers showed some wisdom, and quite a bit of smarts when you really think about it. It was not to be however. The fidonet sysops gave Ifna a resounding thumbs down, and in so doing lost what could have been the best promotional tool they ever had. But, nobody needed promotion anyway. After all, the nodelist was growing by leaps and bounds. The program which made the nodelist they all used had to be patched and reworked because Fidonet's phone book had outgrown the capabilities of the software which was used to create it. Who needs promotion? All we've got to do is more of the same, it's like a perpetual motion machine. But, as any good physicist will tell you, there is no perpetual motion machine. The laws of physics apply, especially the law of inertia. AT first it is a thing at rest, and to get it into motion you had to apply quite a bit of energy to set it into motion. Then to keep it in motion you'll have to supply a bit of energy occasionally. After all, things in motion tend to remain in motion, but a machine by its very definition is supposed to do work. Doing work takes energy, and energy taken to do the work of the machine is not available to keep the machine running. Without an organization such as Ifna to do that work the machine chugged along, eventually slowing down, declining if you will. The big mainspring wound down and there was nobody there to wind it up again. After all, the coordinators were the gears that were driven by the mainspring, and the mail must move. Nodelist segments need to be submitted to the level above, nodediffs and fidonews as well as other files and mail need to be distributed to downlinks. systems need maintenance, and sometimes rebuilding from scratch. After all this, said coordinator still has a job, a family, other interests. WHO has time to become a promoter too? Would Ifna, or a replacement organization have contributed to the growth of fidonet as I asserted earlier? we can't know for sure, because there never was an actual organization formulated to replace it. But, one can only think that separating the functions as described above would have made a positive difference. Page 15 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================ -=-=-=-=-=- F O O D Even sysops have to eat! -=-=-=-=-=- By Janis Kracht, 1:261/38 Family Grain Mill. So you wonder what I spend my money on when I'm not buying computers? This is one thing. What a difference it makes. Hand ground flour will make a difference beyond your wildest imaginations - healthwise! This is the one I use. I've got the electric motor base and the hand crank base, the grain mill and the flaker. I also bought the same for my daughter, along with the vegetable processor for her - I figured I could wait for that for me, since I have other tools that already do the same job. Recently I was told my trigycerides had jumped to (catch this ) 530.. my doc had connipitions to say the least.. called me on the phone and in a bit of a panic needless to say .. So along with some Niacin, fish oil, and a breakfast of flaked whole wheat cereal or flaked oatmeal, I was able to get that count down to 140.. and so he requested my permission to brag to all his other patients about my accomplishment . As a sysop, I sure wasn't going to give up beer. Let's be real here! Information from http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/: Any component of the Family Grain Mill ("FGM") may be purchased either individually or in multi-component packages. You can purchase the hand base or the electric drive base (or both), and all accessories will interchange between the two, locking in place easily with a twist of the wrist. The grind is infinitely adjustable, from fine for bread flour, to medium for "Cream Of Wheat" style cereals, or coarse for steel cut or cracked grain. The milling head grinds corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, rye, barley, rice, spelt, flax, buckwheat, millet, coffee, kamut, quinoa, and sesame (doesn't grind popcorn.) It will also mill some chopped, dry, non-oily herbs and spices. The Family Grain Mill grinds cool to preserve nutrients. Large 5 cup hopper capacity. Available options for the Family Grain Mill include The Vegetable Processor which slices and shreds vegetables, nuts, fruits and cheese with 3 included stainless steel drums. The Flaker Mill head flakes soft grains and is popular for fresh homemade oatmeal, making a hearty flake from oat groats (oats with the hulls removed) that's thicker and chewier than store-bought flaked oats. Manufactured in Germany by Messerschmidt, the Family Grain Mill is built with high carbon steel and premium Lexan polycarbonate (football helmets and industrial safety shields are made of Lexan) with great attention to detail. It's a durable grain mill capable of a lifetime of dependable use. The milling head's "conical steel burrs shear grain without friction, avoiding the heat created by most grain mills heat that can destroy many of the nutrients in your flour". And unlike stone burrs, steel burrs won't gum up or glaze, and don't add grit to your flour. The Family Grain Mill's high carbon steel burrs are long lasting and easily replaceable. See my note about how my daughter has already seen a need for this towards the end of this review . A cup of fine flour is produced in just 2-4 minutes in hand operation, or 1.5 minutes with the electric drive. Because the Family Grain Mill grinds with a cutting action rather than with friction, its hand operated base turns much easier than most hand operated mills. Overall time/effort is 4X less than required by most hand mills that produce a coarser flour. Hopper has generous 5 cup capacity. I don't use the hand mill, but it's nice to know that I have it if the power goes out.. especially around here in no man's land . What it Mills: Wheat flour, corn meal flour, oat flour, rye flour, barley flour, rice flour, spelt flour, flax flour, buckwheat flour, millet flour, coffee, kamut flour, sesame, and more. Also cracks grain to any size - you can set the adjustment dial to any size from flour or meal to cereal grind or cracked grain. Electrical: 110-120V, 150W, 60HZ Warranty: Manufacturer's lifetime warranty. (excluding replaceable burrs) Motor base and grain mill $259.95 Motor base and flaker $250.95 Motor base Grain Mill and Flaker $328.95 Motor base Grain Mill, Flaker, Veg. Processor and free hand crank base $396.95 http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/ Recipe: Cream of Wheat [ Made with Flaker and Grain Mill Base] 3-4 servings 2 cups Flaked Wheat berries or Oat groats, flaked. 3 cups water Place water in medium size pot, add flaked wheat, bring to a boil. Simmer 3 minutes on low heat. Let stand 2 minutes until thickened, serve with honey if desired. Recipe: Spiced Hot Cereal: [Made with Flaker and Grain Mill Base] 2 servings 1/3 cup Flaked wheat berries 2 cups milk 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1/4 tsp cloves 1/4 cup raisins 1/4 tsp. salt Combine ingredients and bring to boil on high heat. Simmer for 2 minutes on low heat. One note from my daughter: The burr on this machine will not survive your 3 year old throwing a fork down the grain mill's hopper but it's proof of how easily and cheaply it is replaced :) :) (it still worked, but was rather dull she says ). -end- Page 16 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================ Crossword Solution: M MAXIMUS J P O I R TAG B R F R B E I S B SYNCHRONET B E E A SHOTGUN R A C WILDCAT H E R L I I B G B H XBBS T WWIV S B B M S QUICKBBS S E Page 17 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================ (The following information was submitted by RC candidate Michael Luko to FidoGazette for publication. The Gazette does not back any candidate. All candidates for election are encouraged to forward information for publication and I'll be glad to publish additional copies of the gazette, weekly if necessary Ed. ) = Region 13 Coordinator Election - Candidate Background and Plans. By Michael Luko, 1:266/512 I Michael Luko am running as a candidate for the Regional Coordinator position for Region 13. Here is some info about my background as well as plans and actions that I will perform if re-elected to the RC13 position. Personal Info: Name: Michael Luko Sysop, Christian Fellowship 1:266/512 Net Coordinator - Net266 Regional Coordinator - Region 13 Age: 40 Email: Michael.Luko@verizon.net Background: Been a member BBS in fidonet since April of 1997. Took over as NC for Net 266 June of 2005. Cleaned up Net 266's node list segment. Assisted with the regionalization process in 2006. Expanded Net 266 to include all of New Jersey and Delaware. Currently serve and perform duties as RC13. Function as a regional POTS netmail gate for systems that need it. Provide echomail feeds for those who need a feed. Help new sysops with getting their system setup and promote growth. Duties to continue to perform if re-elected as RC13: 1. Provide NC's with any help the may need or request. 2. Let NC's handle their network matters unless asked to become involved. 3. Promote growth to the region by directing potential BBSs to their Networks within our region. 4. Provide Fido Nodelist's Nodediff's and Fidonews to any node that request it. 5. Maintain the Independent node list segment and process Network segments, sending the regions segment to the Zone Coordinator. 6. Ensure smooth operation of the region and the networks that make up the region as per policy 4. 7. Act as Temporary NC for a network that is without one, and rise up a suitable NC from within that network. 8. Provide Netmail routing for the region. 9. Maintain contact with NC's within the region and the ZC1. 10. Webmaster and host the Region 13 website. 11. Appoint and support the election coordinator. 12. Perform all other specific RC duties policy4 mandates. 13. Will abide by the terms and conditions of approved regional policy, so that it can be maintained in perpetuity for the benefit of the members of the region as stated in section 6 in the R13 election policy. Action Plan: 1. Seek out NC's for net 129 and 261 even if from a new member bbs with proper teaching and coaching on my part. 2. Seek out BBSes that are with in our region and invite them to be part of fidonet and link them up with the NC that covers their location. 3. Continue to maintain and update the Region 13 website with the current nodelist, nodediff, fidonews and gazette. If any member of Region 13 needs a copy of the election policy or a feed to the region 13 election or sysop echoes let me know and I will get you connected personally or put you in touch with an alternate feed. Thanks for taking the time to read though. If you are a member sysop of Region 13 I look forward to seeing you in the Region 13 echos and taking part of this election. Page 18 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================ INFO: Where to Send Your Articles Unlike most editors, I surely do not mind running my mouth when there is a sparcity of articles for the 'zine. I'd MUCH rather you sent in material but I think until someone starts a discussion you feel like commenting about, you evil dullards (just kidding!!!) will no doubt complain about "no issues" So I will fill these issues with my meanderings and thoughts and hopefully we will grow into something of consequence here :) Don't be offended.. write an article! If you WOULD like to submit an article and prove me wrong about the dullard aspect of you guys and gals , feel free to drop your article off at: By email attach to address: janis@filegate.net Fidonet attach: Janis Kracht 1:261/38 Modem: 607-655-5652 1:261/100 filegate.net via telnet mailer filegate.net via binkp mailer (don't send articles as routed attaches, send them direct to filegate.net). Give it a title, sign your name and network address if you have one and send it along! Don't worry about the format, I can take anything you send me and mutilate it further as you can see above. Linux is nice that way . Spell checking your own work will help though (something I'm typically guilty of ). More specifics with this issue :) To send a question to Dr. Debug, email a question to dr.debug@filegate.net or post in the fidogazette echo! :) To send a listing to the fidogazette internet bbs list, send your bbs listing to bbslist@filegate.net or post it in the fidogazette echo! :) Page 19 T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number III May 2009 ================================================================