BTN: Birmingham Telecommunications News COPYRIGHT 1990 November 1990 Volume 3, Issue 10 Table Of Contents ----------------- Article Title Author Policy Statement and Disclaimer................Staff Editorial Column...............................Mark Maisel Top Ten List...................................Tyros SLMR 1.0: A Review............................Steven Wheeler BTN/Matrix Halloween Party Wrap................Tricky Dick Birmingham On Less Than One Dollar Per Day.....Tyros ProFile: Edwin Million........................Chris Mohney ? Why I Compute ?..............................Dean Costello Colby's Peer Music Survey......................Colby Gibson A Game Review..................................Karsten Propper Known BBS Numbers..............................Staff ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer and Statement of Policy for BTN We at BTN try our best to assure the accuracy of articles and information in our publication. We assume no responsibility for damage due to errors, omissions, etc. The liability,if any for BTN, its editors and writers, for damages relating to any errors or omissions, etc., shall be limited to the cost of a one year subscription to BTN, even if BTN, its editors or writers have been advised of the likelihood of such damages occurring. With the conclusion of that nasty business, we can get on with our policy for publication and reproduction of BTN articles. We publish monthly with a deadline of the fifteenth of the month prior to publication. If you wish to submit an article, you may do so at any time but bear in mind the deadline if you wish for your work to appear in a particular issue. It is not our purpose to slander or otherwise harm a person or reputation and we accept no responsibility for the content of the articles prepared by our writers. Our writers own their work and it is protected by copyright. We allow reprinting of articles from BTN with only a few restrictions. The author may object to a reprint, in which case he will specify in the content of his article. Otherwise, please feel free to reproduce any article from BTN as long as the source, BTN, is specified, and as long as the author's name and the article's original title are retained. If you use one of our articles, please forward a copy of your publication to: Mark Maisel Editor, BTN 221 Chestnut St. BHM, AL 35210-3219 We thank you for taking the time to read our offering and we hope that you like it. We also reserve the right to have a good time while doing all of this and not get too serious about it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W S F L A S H If you have any news, especially you sysops, that you want to get out to the readership of this august publication, let me know and it will be placed in this space. MM ----------------------------------------------------------------------- F R E E B I E : G E T I T W H I L E I T S H O T ! The following boards allow BTN to be downloaded freely, that is with no charge to any existing upload/download ratios. The Connection LZ Birmingham Alter-Ego Channel 8250 Bus System Joker's Castle Crunchy Frog Myth Drannor Posys BBS If you are a sysop and you allow BTN to be downloaded freely, please let me know via EzNet so that I can post your board as a free BTN distributor. Thanks. MM ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Editorial by Mark Maisel, sort of I hope that all of you who attended our most recent party have recuperated. Those of you who did not attend don't know what you missed. It was great fun. As always, it was nice to see old friends and make new ones as we do at every party. Other than the party, I really don't have a whole lot to say this time around so I will be brief. If you have something to say and would like to use this editorial column as a means of doing it, please let me know and perhaps we can accomodate you. Hell, we let Dean do it so you know it can't be that difficult. Next on the agenda is a letter from a columnist soon, we hope, to be a regular and long lasting feature writer for us here at BTN. Please address your mail to me on EZNet, MetroNet Netchat, or Crunchy Frog BBS. Hi, all you happy and unhappy people; I don't know if everyone is like me, but since I spend lots of time on my computer and in school I don't have time to read the papers. So I have decided to put a bit of the papers into BTN. I don't mean the news, as we all argue that in the conferences on the various networks, but to add a little lively question and answer column. Just say hello to Mary M., that's me, hopefully I'll become the "Dear Abby" of the computer set. I don't know everything and won't even try to pretend that I do. What I'd like is to answer questions on whatever subjects you all can come up with. You need help in your love life, out of your love life, with your computer, modem and just about anything. I will try to come up with answers. With some computer and BBS problems, I will find the people to give the answers. On your life (love) I will try to come up with answers. This will not be a completely serious column. You want to trip me up go ahead. I usually can come up with a joke for just about anything. I even have a better cure for a hangover than a "royal sieve". Be adventurous people, give me your questions. Let's get some interesting reading for light entertainment going. Keep in mind that everyone needs to have problems solved, and just to have fun. That's what this column is for me. I want to have fun, learn new things, and be able to entertain people. GIVE ME QUESTIONS, PLEASE !!!! Thanks and good computing; Mary M. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Top Ten Things Overheard At The BTN Halloween Party by Tyros 10. "There it is again! Do you hear that thumping upstairs?" 9. "Excuse me, sir - routine FBI neighborhood software piracy check. May we come in?" 8. "Wait a minute - you're not my wife!" 7. "Hey baby, let's blow this joint and hit an Omelette Shoppe." 6. "Hi, I'm Satan!! Ha ha, just kidding." 5. "Tell Mark that I'm not falling for it this time." 4. "Say pal, where are all the chicks?" 3. "Everyone, guess who I'm supposed to be! No, come on, guess!" 2. "So which one's Dean Costello?" 1. "GOOD EVENING, HUMANS. I AM *THE MATRIX* - AND YOU ARE ALL MY PRISONERS." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Review: Silly Little Mail Reader (SLMR 1.0), Offline Mail Reader by Steven Wheeler After subtle hints from my wife ("Are you gonna stay on that computer all night?") and good-natured ribbing from our illustrious (?) editor concerning the time I spent online, it seemed like a good time to try out one of the offline mail readers. At the time, the choices were EZReader and ..... well, EZReader. So of course I downloaded it from one of the local boards and muddled through the excruciating task of FINALLY configuring it to run, somewhat. Then one day along came a tagline that said "SLMR 1.0" and curiosity overcame me. After questioning the author of the message I was allowed a copy of SLMR, with the condition that I write this review. So here it is! Nothing's free anymore! Remember this for later reference. SLMR was astoundingly fast on the donor's system. But I kept in mind that he is running a 386 and I'm still using a prehistoric 10 mhz XT clone. So my hopes weren't exceptionally high. But it was new and I always like to at least try out new software. Upon returning home I plopped into my chair, unzipped SLMR to my machine and scrolled through the documentation. "Oh boy! Comical, lighthearted docs. This should be REAL GOOD," I thought sarcastically. Much to my chagrin, and delight, it took about five minutes to configure SLMR. It would have taken less if I had only remembered to include a complete path to my editor. So far, so good. Now for the good stuff. SLMR is for use with .QWK packets created by the Qmail and MarkMail doors for PCBoard and other .QWK compatible systems. Just a few of the features are: * THE fastest mail reader around! -- Much faster than EZReader. * Easy to install, configure and use. -- Take it from a numbskull. * Built-in mouse support. -- I don't have one so I'll take their word for this. * LAN compatible/DesqView aware. -- See above. * Auto-detects video mode, with mono, CGA, 43 line EGA and 50 line VGA support. -- Did notice a problem with snow on my CGA, but not enough to make me not want to use SLMR. The configuration program includes an option for suppressing snow, but I've had previous problems with my CGA and can't attribute it to SLMR. * Swaps to disk or EMS to save memory when running external programs. -- Again, I'll take their word for this. * Unlimited number of taglines, up to 57 characters each. -- EZReader is limited to 50 taglines. * Add, edit, delete or steal taglines "on the fly". -- I love it. No tagline is safe. Plagiarism raise thy ugly head. * Automatic screen pauses for Welcome Files. * Scrollable Bulletins and New File lists. * "Animated" text displays for color ANSI messages and Welcome screens. * Prompts user to delete replies older than current .QWK packet. * Delete or rename packets from main menu. -- Great if you like to save your mail packets. * Configurable .QWK and .REP directories, or select any drive or subdirectory from main menu. * Access to unlimited number of mail packets. * Allows "Personal" directories for reply packets if more than one person uses SLMR on your computer. -- Now I've just got to teach my wife how to use the MarkMail door. SLMR will be a breeze! The hardest part will be creating new directories for our mail packets. * Pick Lists (Piglets) for text search strings, message subject, taglines, conference or file save/view. -- Use F2 key. * Context-sensitive help available at any point with F1 key. * Uses your own text editor or word processor (includes TED.COM if you don't already have a favorite). * Automatically loads text of message you're replying to into editor, with "quoting" -- simply delete unneeded text, add your reply and save the message. * Edit or kill replies easily. Deleted messages are NOT included in a reply packet. -- I had one heck of a time deleting replies with EZReader. * Automatically prompts for recovery of unarchived replies in case of a system crash. * User-definable "hot keys" to execute other programs from within SLMR. * Re-sorts messages by subject (default), number, sender and addressee. In short, SLMR is the fastest and easiest offline mail reader I've seen. All that is necessary to use SLMR is to make a subdirectory for SLMR, extract the files into it and type SLMR . Hit C to configure, F1 for help screens and F10 to save the settings. SLMR is so simple that the documents that accompany it are really not necessary. But for those that just love to read documents and burn up printer ribbon and paper there are documents included. You really should read the docs, they're quite amusing. Just about everything is user configurable: editor, colors, directories, taglines, packers, macros (F3 thru F9) and picklists (or Piglets as they are affectionately referred to). Picklists are available in a number of places where choices are offered by pressing F2. Often SLMR automatically adds other items to the picklist, such as the original author of a message in the TOLIST or a newly created TAGLINE. SLMR is the first to offer Exploding Piglet Technology as a standard item. If "Stupid Windows" are enabled, via configuration, the Piglets will explode and create arcade type noises. Otherwise they're quiet and behave nicely. The following are some of SLMR's Exploding Piglets: Taglines -- list of taglines, no limit. Tolist -- list of people to whom you frequently send messages. This is like EZReader's address book, which is only available on registered versions. Subjlist -- list of favorite topics and "control message" topics for offline configuration of your mail door. Findlist -- list of 'FIND' keywords. Savelist -- save messages to a text file and view during mail reading session. A feature I especially like is that SLMR enables you to edit the FROM: field when entering messages or replies. This is useful if you use your real name on a board but also use the POOF door found on many boards to leave nasty messages under an alias. Most mail doors will NOT allow you to upload replies not from the person currently logged on unless you are the Sysop. In my opinion, the biggest improvement is that SLMR is not limited to 200 messages per conference. EZReader would go haywire if there was more than 200 messages in a conference. And this is not unusual for some of the national echoes. SLMR does not have this problem. So if you frequent some of the national echoed conferences, you definitely need SLMR. The only problem I have with SLMR is that my source gave me sole distribution rights locally. Now do I take his advice and withhold it until I get some good offers or do I go ahead and upload it to the local boards? Do I hear anyone out there begging and willing to barter? SLMR 1.0 is fully functional "Shareware" from Greg Hewgill and Technique Computer Systems. Registration is $20. Add $2 if you would like it on 3-1/2" diskette. The bottom line is that SLMR is the best thing since zippers or edible underwear, take your pick. If you're using any other offline mail reader (and I'm sure you are) you're in the Stone Age. Presently I only know of two people in the Birmingham area that have it and I'm one of them. (NYAH, NYAH, NYAH.) Anybody got a spare Mercedes they want to trade? Seriously though (?), watch for it on your favorite local board soon. But don't hold your breath. I think I feel a greedy streak coming. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- BTN/Matrix Halloween Party Wrap by Tricky Dick "Hey Tricky, how was the party?" Well............... O.K. folks, the party's over (done, fin, history), the street sweepers and the riot police are gone. Birmingham is safe once again, well at least till the next party. If you missed the party, SHAME ON YOU. But in all fairness (and a little baiting to entice you to come to the NEXT one), I'll tell you a bit about it. Lessee now, when I arrived, I was greeted on the porch by a Teddy Kennedy with Mary Jo (Jeff Freeman and his wife) at his side, passing out money. Another Rev., Dean Costello (Cardinal, Pope, God, whatever) was passing out advice, which fortunately was ignored by all. On the porch swing was a two-headed pumpkin that had consumed Sid and Michelle Browning (wonder what the other two hands were doing inside the costume....). Somebody said it was a shame we couldn't see more of Michelles' legs? Is `dat true, Michelle? Scattered inside the house and out were the occasional "plain faces", those who did not wear a costume, a few of which were Kim, Julie, Rose, and others. Masks and noses were provided at the door for those who had forgotten their costume. Ooops! sorry, didn't notice the guys too much. Inside I was greeted by a walking Wall (really!! I'm not drunk) played by a very cool Marlin "Stoneface" Johnson; he even had paint cans so you could add your own graffiti! There sat the "Crunhcy Frog" herself! Kathy, you look mah-velous in green with big google eyes! Venturing toward the kitchen I met a Satyr (Steve Wheeler) a Leopard (Kathy Wheeler), a Priest (the immortal Rocky Rawlins himself!) and even Commander Riker with a lovely lady from the past (Lee and Maggie Harden). Maggie, dear, LOVED the scenery. Lee put that Phaser down! Uh-oh! Look! A belly dancer and her sheik (Lady Aurora and Mike Tyner), with a gen-u-ine jewel in her navel (just admiring the Jewel sir, please put that scimitar down!). And there's Cleopatra with a feather mask and a werewolf stalking her (Brenda and Randall Dickerson). Randall, is that werewolf makeup or have you been playing with radioactive recombinant DNA back at the lab? Among many others were Arthur Jarrett and Kelly Rosato; as what I'm not sure. But guys I loved your masks, they were REALLY gruesome . The control room of this party ship stayed quite crowded with young`uns and old`uns watching and playing computer games, and watching folks call in to the Matrix. If you called during that time, I hope you didn't have anything you wanted kept private, `cause it ain't private no more!! Some of these local lurkers included Colby Gibson (a walking bbs), and Matt Albritton (a mad, I'm sure, doctor). Oh, yes, around the refreshments (hic) was the Joker from Jokers' Castle and his LadyBird friend (Joe and Connie Kearley). A chimney sweep (Wayne Boshell) and Lisa Richards as Priestess of the Dark in a long red cloak. Jet Thomas was literally lit up for the party with his costume. It was a crown of lights in his hair. If we had experienced a power failure, he would have been very popular. Randy Hilliard showed up as our resident biker type. The refreshment table had a, well, um, let's just say it was a LARGE and UNUSUAL centerpiece (this is a PG newsletter). If you really want to know, ask somebody who was there. Also ask them how it got cleaned up when some dip splattered on it. Dr. EBCDIC graced our presence later on in the evening as a Horny Little Devil (we knew THAT!). Claimed he had stumbled into the wrong party by mistake and stayed for an hour, yea sure! Then the rest of the Georgia crew breezed in, KE-VIN Buchan (the neo-nazi ridgehead) with his party partner Neville (Dracula). Rev. Gary Hasty arrived as the painter Salvador Dali with his friend Lisa done up as his artistic canvas. The lithe and very lovely Lisa promptly found the couch and communed with the sandman while others communed with recently departed spirits (Jack Daniels among others, many many others!). Ty Ros (or was that Kelly) fired up a Barbecue grill in the front yard, causing some worry as to whether they were going to sacrifice a computer (not to mention questions of their sanity,it was cold out there!). But it was determined that they were all computer nuts, not computer wizards, so the sacrifice was off. They then opted to grill steaks. Even later (!) breezed in Richard Foshee as a security guard. He looked so authentic!! And a lovely Morticia arrived with her warlock (Lisa Patterson and Patrick McCain) who blessed us around 1 or 2 a.m. with fresh pizzas! Several others were there that I did not get the chance to chat with; *Kim (who was she with), the "bag lady" with the label "white trash" on her, a Chef, and many others. The most enigmatic costume of all was worn by a pygmy, he came dressed as a giant Holland lop-eared bunny, about 20 inches long and very furry. He sat in the cage all night long, even ate rabbit food (yeesh!), and had the act down pat! You can't fool me fella (hic), I'll find out who you are eventually! There were also alleged sightings of many outrageous costumes, giant pink bunnys, blue snakes, miniature elephants, etc. but only very late in the evening. Do we have any pictures of these???? We kept our eyes peeled for "Red Neckerson, software pirate" and Mark Maisel captured him when he tried to sneak into the sacred Matrix Room for some heavy duty file copying. After he was caught, he agreed to finally give up his evil ways and start anew. There was much rejoicing, among other things. And of course, the infamous "BTN .GIFs" were on constant display for everyones' amusement/embarrassment. Those who were unfortunate enough to be caught by Tom "Country Boy" Egan's' roving camera will be in the next set of GIFs. His faithful scout for these nefarious photos, I might add, was his lovely Indian guide, Gail "Pocahontas" Egan. To those I missed at the party, I apologize. To any I embarrassed by writing about you, if you want to get even write the next column about the Christmas party! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Birmingham On Less Than One Dollar Per Day (Minus Gasoline) by Tyros Birmingham may not be the most interesting city to live in or even to visit, but in my opinion, one could still call it tolerable. This city exists just one shade safe of being completely mundane, on a thin line between the valleys of torpid and lively. However, like most aspects of life, living here requires money, a curious but vital part of the personal portfolio that few of us ever seem to have enough of, myself in particular. My own personal poverty has grown to be the stuff of near-legend, getting more proverbial with each passing day that I spend stomping the hot streets in search of a steady job. However, there are pearls to be gleaned from even the most homely looking oyster, and as such, my experience has provided me with certain tips and techniques that can be used to somewhat dull the painful money crunch, if not wipe out a decent-sized swath of it. And so, here are a few invaluable ideas, semi-precious nuggets of financial wisdom, that you, the hapless consumer, might find useful in simply living from day to day without dying of boredom or starvation. LOW-BUDGET SOFT DRINKS Let's start off with a simple yet almost unknown idea to beat the rising cost of carbonated cola. Tired of paying fifty cents, sixty cents, or MORE at the vending machine for something that really, honestly, cannot be called anything more charitable than "junk food"? Take a trip to your local supermarket. There's an entire aisle devoted to soft drinks of every color and persuasion, and we may delight in the secret knowledge that not ALL of them cost two bucks for a 3-liter plastic jug - in fact, here there is caffeinated and non-caffeinated consummation for almost any price range. The bottom of the ladder is Vess brand cola. Vess comes in nearly every flavor imaginable, and remarkably enough, you can find it for only 18 cents per twelve-ounce can, if you look. (That's one dollar for a six-pack, mohicans.) As you might expect, the taste of the drink is not the highlight of this thrifty venture, but you really can't tell the difference between low and high brow colas if you're thirsty enough, trust me. And, if your tastes lean towards root beer, virtually ALL root beers taste enough alike to make no nevermind. Vess drinks also profess to be sodium-free, unlike Pepsi and the rest. If you've got a few extra pennies jingling merrily in your pocket, you might want to splurge a little more and go for slightly costlier alternatives - Faygo and the ever venerable Shasta are swell options, and are not only noticeably tastier, but also line the shelves in a fantastic rainbow of flavors like Vess. Faygo also comes in snazzy-looking 16-ounce glass bottles, which, like their 12-ounce aluminum brothers, are also wonderfully inexpensive, at about a quarter a pop. HIGH CULTURE, ABSOLUTELY FREE The thrifty entertainment seeker may not know much about art, but he always knows what he likes, and there's something for nearly everyone to like at the Birmingham Museum of Art. The best part about this particular bit of penny-pinching, friends, is that it takes no pennies at all, much less any pinching. The museum's doors do not discriminate on the rich, poor, smug, humble or even funny-looking - nor is there a time limit, and let's face it, the number of places in the city you can stand for hours at a time absolutely freely are getting fewer and fewer. Then there is the art. Of course, there are down sides to anything free; you may not find much to enrapture you at the museum if you don't like looking at interesting or pretty things, and there IS a closing time. But the place is big, it's air-conditioned, it's crammed full of neat stuff to look at, and it's absolutely positively free. AT-HOME EATING Normally, for the purposes of this article, I would frown on mentioning anything that you can do at home and is therefore probably already obvious. However, there is an exception that I still hold to be a classic in its own time: the homemade sandwich. When you go to the deli or sandwich shop, a sandwich can cost as much as three to four dollars - and imagine your chagrin when you receive your order sitting pertly on a small paper plate using the SAME kind of square boring white bread you can get at home, which is the case in many delis. The solution, then, is to hit your friendly grocery store again, and snap up a loaf of supermarket-brand bread. It's as good as any other kind, and they usually slap it with a 65-cent sticker, a factor which simply can't be beat upon. Add to that, small cheap containers of peanut butter, jelly, mayonnaise, mustard and/or a little lunch meat, if you're feeling extravagant - and you have the makings for over ten or eleven sandwiches, all for a few measley green slips. That translates to about thirty cents per sandwich, a price that you'll appreciate even more while you're wolfing these things down to the tasty trickle of neighborhood tap water - in itself, one of nature's truly miraculous bargains, if you have other family members to pay the bill. LIBRARY DAYS If you don't feel up to standing or walking around all day at the museum - which you may well not, having stomped the sidewalk beforehand - try the Birmingham Public Library. Like its canvass- chocked counterpart, the Library is completely free, and is located in the heart of downtown. Here too, you can while away hours and hours without being told to get lost, unless it's to be lost within the pages of an absorbing book or periodical. Yes, this is a treasure trove for people who like to read magazines but hate to buy them, subscribe to them, or hang around newsstands. Although the Library's organization is not the best, all the major magazines are here, and a darn sight many of the minor ones too - all sitting on the shelf waiting to be read and enjoyed. After you finish your magazines, look up books on the library's neat computerized catalog system - it's an easy and engrossing way to spend the afternoon. Special tip: no drinks are allowed in the library, but there IS free water to be found at fountains stationed on each floor. As an aside, if you're a news fiend and like to KEEP the paper you read, newspapers are still astoundingly cheap - a quarter for the local daily, fifty cents for USA Today - and you can help the environment by recycling the newspaper you buy. The Library also allows you to apply for a card, virtually free of charge last time I checked, which will allow you to check out items and hoot with enjoyment at them within the comfort of your own home, for an unprecedented interval of THREE weeks, as of October 1, 1989. And, there is one additional advantage that I am coming to: CITY PARKING It is hard to find parking spots downtown, especially around noontime when the average poor person is wont to wander listlessly - however, if you're accustomed to wandering listlessly, take heart: Library parking is completely and utterly free. No meters, no dollar fees, no surly checkbooth officials - just a friendly-looking man in a badge who smiles at you as you drive triumphantly through the parking lot perimeter. You can easily get away with parking here for nearly anything you need to do in the downtown area, and even if the man is still smiling at you - just walk into the library and directly back out the other side, then go about your own business. If it's a nice warm day, you can easily appreciate the splendor of Birmingham's downtown area as you traverse the blocks and sidewalks, beaming all the while in the satisfaction that no coin left your pocket when you left your vehicle. And you will ALWAYS remember where you parked. AGHAST AT GAS Once you learn to take in free entertainment from around the city, your main concern so far as money goes will shift from admission to transportation. We're all feeling the current pinch, but those of us with less money are being pinched a little closer to the bone, and it doesn't feel too pleasurable. Unfortunately, there are not any really nifty tricks you can use to save money on fuel, short of laying siege to the local mom-and-pop filling station after midnight and cutting the pump-chains with acetylene, but there are small things that you can do that help a lot more than they hurt. Of course, you should always be on the lookout for places that charge less by the gallon. Persuade your favorite radio station to freely advertise the most inexpensive place they know of - this is a tactic that has worked in the past. Careful with your own car - jackrabbit starts use more gas, and idling should be avoided too. If possible, use a relative or friend's car that gets better mileage - or best of all, pool it. The friendly man in the Texaco cap can give you more pointers on how to conserve that smelly stuff once you get to the station. Beware, though - snacks and colas at service stations are notoriously more expensive than similar goods at regular stores. Shop around for such things - and in this hot weather, be on the lookout for stations whose banners advertise low prices for fountain drinks. If you simply can't live without your favorite name brand of soft drink, fountain drinks are a fantastic bargain, and taste for taste, ounce for ounce, beat even the low-level canned stuff at the store. GUERILLA CINEMA One of the biggest economic contradictions in this town is the price of going to the movies. If you go at night, it's going to cost you $5.25, which, while being well below what most Americans pay for their moviegoing enjoyment, is still a darn sight expensive here. However, there exists at most theatres an AFTERNOON matinee, at which you can watch the same movies, in the same theatre, with even less of a crowd, for only three dollars. An incredible bargain, especially when one considers that all you have to do to save the money is get out of your house a couple hours earlier. If three lousy dollars is STILL out of bounds as far as your budget is concerned, take heart - if you're willing to brave the Friday night sociophiles and the lateness of the hour, your movie enjoyment may be afforded you as low a price as 95-cents. This is due to one of the saving graces of a local radio station, which sponsers the cheapo cinema on Friday at midnight. This amazing deal is available at the Galleria 10 and at the Festival 12. There is one catch, however - at each theater, there is only one movie specified for the 95-cent deal, and it's usually one that's been in release for some time. The cunning consumer can circumvent this obstacle, however, by purchasing a 95-cent ticket for the sponsered movie - and walking, instead, into another movie of your choice. It's not entirely ethical, but then again, neither is poverty, and who says the despondent movie-lover has to suffer when he can see the feature film of his choice for only a little pocket change. Tip: Never never buy concession stand refreshments. The prices are so outrageously high that even the well-off theater patrons don't like it. Instead, eat before you go, or, as a last resort, smuggle food or drink inside a roomy jacket pocket. These are just a few of the ways that I save money keeping myself entertained on the streets of Birmingham; anyone that possesses the merest iota of creativity, inventiveness or just plain adaptability will surely be able to come up with many more, until that glorious day when we are once again on our financial feet again. Until that triumphant moment arrives, Be Thrifty. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ProFile by Chris Mohney The ProFile is a short, half-serious biographical sketch given to various computer telecommunications personalities around Birmingham. Victims are selected randomly from a group of names put into the notorious Hat. Anyone who thinks himself brave or witty enough may petition for admittance to the Hat by leaving E-Mail to me (Chris Mohney, most boards around town) to that effect. Anyone who wishes to suggest more questions or sneakily nominate someone without their knowledge may take the same route.... (Yet another one of our Metronet brothers from Georgia comes in from the cold this month ... ) --------- Pro File on EDWIN MILLON --------- Age: 17 Birthplace: Dalton, GA Occupation: Student My hobbies include: (Edwin left this blank. Draw your own conclusions.) Years telecomputing: 4 months Sysop, past/present/future of: Co-Sysop of Carpet Capital BBS My oddest habit is: Banging my head on the wall My greatest unfulfilled ambition is: To play Varsity Basketball The single accomplishment of which I am most proud is: Learning to use computers (especially modems) My favorite performers are: Slaughter, Nelson, Giant, Faith No More The last good movie I saw was: Young Guns II The last good book I read was: Clear and Present Danger If they were making a movie of my life, I'd like to see my part played by: Corey Feldman My pet peeves are: People who think anyone with a 4.0 are nerds!!! When nobody's looking, I like to: (Not answer questions, apparently. Edwin left this one blank as well. One must assume that whatever Edwin does when nobody's looking is so hideous that it defies translation into ASCII.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Why I Compute By Dean Costello Exclusive to BTN As many of you probably know, I am fairly active on a couple of the local boards here in Birmingham. I know more than a couple people have come up to me and ask me why I fool with it. My brother, for instance, has more than once asked me to 'get a life', since if I spend this much time with my computer, something must be fundamentally wrong. As of the present, I have been able to dodge the slings and arrows of bastard siblings, uncomprehending parents, unimpressed friends and associates, etc. So, a good question here is that being that I have become quite the pariah over my use of the modem and such, why do I continue to fool with it? Well, there are several reasons. Briefly listed, they are enjoyment, curiosity, and it beats boredom. There are probably a number of other reasons why I fool with it, but I think the above couple are primary reasons. In person, I am usually a fairly quiet person by nature. But one of the things that I like about BBSs in particular is that you don't have the shield of body language, or sloppy speaking ability, or whatever. What you type is what the other person sees, and you cannot put a spin on what they are seeing. This was very liberating for me, since that was one of the big problems I have in associating with 'real' people; that I need to take so much time deciphering what they really mean when they say something. And there is no way around it. I have enjoyed this national reputation that I have generated in the last year or so. I called into a board in Washington, D.C. last weekend (the cosysop there gave me an account, and so I figured I should at least log on). Imagine my surprise to find that one of the message threads had my name as the subject. That is one of those things that you just don't see very much. I get a visceral thrill out of seeing things like that. Like when I was reading the stuff in the sysop's conference right here in Birmingham, I was surprised to find out that I was mentioned at a fairly regular interval. Just things like that, I suppose. Since my stay in Birmingham is probably going to be temporary, it kind of makes me feel happy inside to know that I probably won't be referred to in 1992 as, "Let me think for a sec...Dean COSTELLO? Hmm, didn't he run one of those WWIV boards a couple of years back?" I think it was Oscar Wilde that said, "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about." Another factor of the enjoyment (other than reading messages about me) is to exchange messages with other people. For example, I have been involved in a number of gun control debates. About the only thing that they have done is to sharpen my debating abilities. I always get a kick out of people that ask me how many debate classes I have taken (none, so there). But there is still that enjoyment about strapping on the metaphorical armour, breaking out the rhetorical Blade of Slashing Logic (Randy Hilliard's creation, I believe; that and the Chainsaw of Illogical Argument Crushing, but that is another story, or at least would take another couple of paragraphs). When I was at my peak of debating, I always had at hand on my desk a Bible, an Almanac, a Guiness Book of World Records, the complete scripts to all of the Monty Python shows, a Toxicology book, a Merck Index (a book that has most of the more common chemicals that one would run into, and what they can do to you), a vertebrate anatomy book, a parasitology book, and The Modern Man's Guide To Life (A book of all the stuff that an uncle should have taught you, but didn't quite get). The other extreme is probably what is seen on Crunchy Frog, the Anarchist's Board. A nice place to drop your logical debating abilities, and just say (relatively) clever things, insult the piss out of people, or whatever. I was feeling particularly abrasive one fine day (right after the BBS article came out, BHM News), and a new person was on. An exchange between he and Arthur Jarrett commenced, something about the newboy saying something stupid, Arthur replying that he doesn't fool with virgins, and to take your sexual inadequacies elsewhere. Newboy replied with something snotty to Arthur, and I replied to Newboy, "I'd take care of your virginity. I will gouge out your eyes and skull (euphemism for mate) you." Ahh, one of my better repartier shots, I feel. On to curiosity. I have always had a desire to know things. Everything. Just about anything. So, one of the things that I have gotten out of the BBSs is a lot of neat arcane data. Especially from some of the echoes on Randy's board. I learn a fair amount out of those things. Of course, you have to seperate the wheat from the completely wrong, but no problem. I just subject the new datum to my Graduate Student Qualitative/ Quantitative Suspicious New Fact Checker, and away we go. And if you factor in the OLS (On-Line Services, like CompuServe, Delphi, GEnie), there is access to all kinds of things. Especially something called Dialog, which gives me access to hundreds of databases that are mostly science-related. Unfortunately, it costs a fair amount, like $400/hour, depending on the database being accessed and the time. We now come to the last subject, boredom. I have not had anything substantial to do in more than a year. Without these BBSs to call, I would have slit a wrist by this stage. Cinemax can only do so much, you know. I have actually been involved in the BBS scene in Birmingham for about 2 years. When I first arrived down here, I had a list of Birmingham boards to call, so I tried them out. I remember having an account on Point of No Return, Michele Cahoon's board, to give you an idea of my time here. I think it was on Bill Freeman's board that I started to experiment. That is where I discovered Doors (well, only ProDoor at the time, and that didn't really help me much at the time), but I hadn't discovered the beauty of messages at the time. I also discovered conferences on Bill's board. Well then, with my new-found power, I started calling other boards, including Ziggy's (where I first read BTN, I remember reading a column by Ron Albright, and then I decided it was too cerebral for me at the time), from which I got Channel 8250 and Bus Station. When I discovered that BBSs had other BBSs...ahh, life was full. So anyway, I called 8250 and J(oin)-ed a conference. And what conferences they had. The first one that I delved into was the religion conference. I read about 100 messages to get the feel for the place. And then it happened. I left my first message. It was to All, I believe, asking about predestination. Imagine my surprise when I got back a message! Yes, somebody replied to me! This is great! So I read the message. It was from someone named Sysop (well, I knew that Sysop was a system operator, since I was one of those on my college Vax 11/780). And he addressed my subject, also. I was blown out of the water. I couldn't believe this...this...this TREATISE that someone left me. It was about 4 screen-fulls, and it hit everything. He talked about the different ideologies and philosophies, he compared and contrasted different belief systems, he even quoted Thomas Aquinas. Needless to say, I thought that this was not good, being that I was definitely overclassed, undereducated, and outgunned there. And that was the last message I ever left for about 6 months, I would say. By this time, I needed something, though. It was summer '89, and I was bored out of my skull. So I started up again. Started reading some messages on Tim S.'s board. A bunch of people were talking about how wonderful it was to be packing heat, bopping down the street "8-feet tall and covered with hair" (Randy Hilliard). This just would not do, so I injected my opinion in and waited... Well, I found out that 8250 was apparently the anomaly, since I was cursed at, abused, insulted, etc. for those views. And then things have kind of gotten carried away from there. One last reminiscence, and I will leave you. One night I was on Crunchy Frog deep in the middle of the abortion debate, when all of the sudden the screen freezes for a moment, and a message snapped up saying something like, 'Break out the beer, here's Monty!'. Hello, what's this? Come to find out, Mark Maisel, whom I was trading comments about Bang & Oluffsen equipment in the Listener's Conference was asking for me to drop by the house. Well, I thought, why not. So, after getting directions, I made it there, where I found out who Monty was, and other arcane factoids. And the Birmingham Telecommunication Scene (and me) have never been the same. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Colby's Peer Music Survey by Colby Gibson Recently, at my school, the President and the Principal decided that they would run a little survey to see what the teens there listened to and what groups thereof. Surprisingly, the survey also included several questions about how many R rated movies you had see in the past month, past 2 months, etc. There were various and sundry replies, and one of the most popular Rap bands was, of course, the 2 Live Crew. I decided to run a little survey around myself about what music the student body liked and what bands thereof. By far, they were more open with me than they were with the school survey. Listed below are the results of the poll. I interviewed 15-20 people and classified the music type liked and bands in that category. Metal (All sorts) ------------------------------------ There were 5 people in this category. Bands listed with number of votes. Metallica 2 Death Angel 1 Anthrax 2 Bon Jovi 1 Iron Maiden 2 Motley Crue 1 Megadeth 1 Poison 1 Testament 1 Warrant 1 The Cult 1 Skid Row 1 Slaughter 1 I am quite sure that some of these people are unaware of what Heavy Metal actually is, for Poison isn't. But, this is right from the poll sheet. Hard Rock ------------------------------------ There were 3 people in this category. Bon Jovi 2 Motley Crue 2 Slaughter 2 Skid Row 2 INXS 1 The results are better, but I hardly think INXS is hard rock. Rap ------------------------------------ There were 6 people in this category. The 2 Live Crew 4 Eazy E 3 Public Enemy 3 N.W.A. 4 Vanilla Ice 4 Bell Biv Devoe 1 Kyper 1 M.C. Ric 1 Eric B. & Rakin 1 The one entitled "M.C. Ric" was one of the people themselves. This guy is a part time rapper that performs with his friends for nobody but themselves. He sits in class and writes raps. Old Rock ------------------------------------ There were 2 people in this category. The Beatles 3 Rolling Stones 2 Dire Straits 1 Pixies 1 Steve Miller Band 1 Pop/Dance ------------------------------------ There were 3 people in this category. Information Society 2 Janet Jackson 3 Paula Abdul 1 New Kids on the Block 1 Bobby Brown 1 Bell Biv Devoe 1 I should have erased the New Kids from the page. Overall, there are MANY different tastes in the music world. I was disturbed by the fact that Aerosmith and Madonna weren't even mentioned. Hopefully in the next issue of BTN, I'll be able to review serparate albums of popular bands and tell background information about them. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A Game Review by Karsten Propper The Kingdom of Kroz II, sequel to the well-known Kingdom of Kroz, is your typical ANSI graphic game. It takes after the old Rogue game, or the newer version, Moria. In this game, you are a smiley face who moves around various level of a dungeon. Sound easy? Well, the geniuses who made the game have put a variety of monsters to block your path and stop all the fun that you seem to be having. The monsters come in three different formats. Monsters which steal only one gem, monsters which steal two, or monsters that steal three. When you have no more gems to be stolen, the monsters will then take your life. Gems may be collected in various parts of a screen. When you have finished collecting the many things that are in the dungeon, you find the stairs and take them. They will take you to a new level in the dungeon. Things which may be collected include whips, gems, spells, chests, keys, rings, tablets, etc. The game, being in ANSI graphics, needs only a a color monitor. When you boot up the game, it will ask to select a Color or Monochrome format. Then, it asks you whether your computer is slow or fast. It will then take that information to adjust the speed of the game. After you have completed all levels, you may ask if there are any more great games such as this one. Well, yes, there are. Sequels are Kingdom of Kroz I, Caverns of Kroz, Dungeons of Kroz, Return to Kroz, Temple of Kroz, and the Final Crusade (Thank God) of Kroz. The author asks that you send him $7.50 for this wonderful find, or all six of the games may be purchased for $35.00. The game may be found on the Matrix under #1KROZ2.ZIP. I actually found myself enjoying this game after a few days of serious playing. The style and graphics tend to annoy me after that period of time. However, if you are looking for something to pass the time for a few days, I would suggest this game. If you are looking for a game that will satisfy you for a few months, I'd suggest something else. As for the sequels, I think that I would get sick of hearing Kroz, much less anything close to the same spelling, such as Boz, Froz, Sloz, etc. Finally, the author describes the sequels to you so that you may choose which Kroz is the best for you. Here are his descriptions. - Caverns of Kroz - The first discovery of Kroz. - Dungeons of Kroz - The dark side of Kroz. Fast paced action. - Kingdom of Kroz I - National best game contest winner in 1988. - Return to Kroz - Discovery of all new underground chambers. - Temple of Kroz - Bizarre side of Kroz. Nothing is what it seems. - Final Crusade of Kroz - The surprising finish? If there is any Sysop that has any of the above games on his BBS, please leave me, Karsten Propper, mail on The Matrix or Crunchy Frog. I have a vague interest in reviewing those games. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Known BBS Numbers For The Birmingham Area NAME NUMBER BAUD RATES MODEM BBS SOFTWARE SUPPORTED TYPE * Alter-Ego BBS 925-0707 300-2400 ProBBS/ProDoor * American BBS 674-1851 300-2400 PC Board 14.5 * Bus System BBS 595-1627 300-2400 PC Board 14.2 * Byte Me! 979-BYTE! 9600 HST/V.42 WWIV 4.07 Camelot BBS 856-0679 300-2400 Teleguard 2.5 -* Channel 8250 Node 1 744-8546 300-9600 HST/V.32 PC Board 14.5 -* Channel 8250 Node 2 744-5166 300-9600 HST PC Board 14.5 * Crunchy Frog 956-1755 300-2400 PC Board 14.0 D3 Systems BBS 663-2759 300-9600 HST/V.32 Quick BBS 2.04 + Duck Pond BBS 822-0956 300-9600 HST/V.32 Opus-CBCS 1.03c EzNet Central 785-7417 1200-9600 HST PC Board 14.2 Graphics Zone Node 1 870-5306 300-9600 V.42 TBBS 2.1(16) Graphics Zone Node 2 870-5329 300-9600 V.42 TBBS 2.1(16) + I.S.A. BBS 995-6590 300-9600 HST TCOMM * Joker's Castle 744-6120 300-2400 PC Board 14.0 K-9 Corner 424-8202 300-2400 Image 1.2 * Little Kingdom Node 1 969-0007 300-9600 HST/V.42 PC Board 14.5 * Little Kingdom Node 2 969-0008 300-2400 MNP4 PC Board 14.5 LZ Birmingham 870-7770 300-2400 PC Board 14.5 * Magnolia BBS 854-6407 300-9600 HST PC Board 14.2 @ Missing Link 853-1257 300-2400 Image 1.2 ^ Myth Drannor 699-5811 1200-2400 MNP4 WWIV 4.11 Outside It's America 951-2473 300-2400 MNP4 WWIV 4.11 Owl's Nest 680-0851 300-2400 PC Board 14.2 @ Pirate's Cove 942-7429 300-1200 Image 1.2 Posys BBS 854-5131 1200-2400 RBBS CPC17.3 * Radio Free Troad 979-6183 300-9600 HST/V.42 PC Board 14.2 Safe Harbor 665-4355 300-2400 GT Power 15.00 Shadetree BBS 787-6723 300-2400 Phoenix 1.36 Sperry BBS 853-6144 300-9600 Hayes PC Board 14.5 * ST BBS 836-9311 300-2400 PC Board 14.2 @ The Commodore Zone 856-3783 300-2400 Image 1.2 The Connection 854-9074 1200-2400 PC Board 14.1 The Dog House 425-9255 300-1200 Image 1.2 The Dragon's Hoard 833-3790 300-2400 WWIV 4.12 The Hanging Tree 938-2145 300-2400 WWIV 4.11 - The Matrix Nodes 1-4 323-2016 300-2400 PC Board 14.5 - The Matrix Node 5 251-2344 300-9600 HST PC Board 14.5 The Outer Limits 985-1725 1200-2400 Teleguard 2.5i VCM(ee) BBS Node 1 655-4059 300-2400 Oracomm Plus VCM(ee) BBS Node 2 655-4065 300-1200 Oracomm Plus Victory Express 425-0821 300-1200 Image 1.2 Willie's DYM Node 1 979-1629 300-2400 Oracomm Plus Willie's DYM Node 2 979-7739 300-2400 Oracomm Plus Willie's DYM Node 3 979-7743 300-1200 Oracomm Plus Willie's DYM Node 4 979-8156 300-1200 Oracomm Plus Ziggy Unaxess 991-5696 300-1200 Unaxess Boards with a "*" before their name are members of our local network, EzNet, and public messages left in the EzNet Conferences of any of these boards will be echoed to all members. Boards with a "@" before their name are members of our local Commodore network, Image Network, and e-mail left on any member board may be directed to any other member board. Boards with a "+" before their name are members of FidoNet, an international network that provides a variety of public forums as well as private mail services all over the world. Boards with a "-" before their name are members of MetroNet, an international network that provides a variety of public forums as well as private mail services all over the world. Boards with a "^" before their name are members of WWIV-Net, an international network that provides a variety of public forums as well as private mail services all over the world. If you have any corrections, additions, deletions, etc., please let us know via EzNet. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- EzNet Multiple Echo List EzNet now supports multiple conference echoing but there are a few things you should be aware of regarding private mail. A. You have one 'address' for private mail. If you are registered for private mail on Channel 8250 and someone sends you a private message in the MS-DOS conference from Crunchy Frog it will wind up in the Hardware conference on Channel 8250 as it should. However, if you were registered for private mail on Magnolia and someone sends you a private message in a conference that Magnolia does not support (echo) then the message will wind up in the twilight zone. B. If you go by a handle on one BBS and your real name on another even if the private message goes where it is supposed to, you will not be able to read it because it is addressed to someone else as far as PC Board is concerned. PC Board has no way of knowing that Red Foxx and John Doe are the same person. No tickee, no washee. Advice on sending private mail: If you don't know if the person you are sending private mail to is registered for private mail then keep a copy of the message in case you have to find an alternate route. EzNet Central will delete your private, undelivered message and inform you that the user you attempted to reach is not registered for private mail on any EzNet Node. This is a list of the current echoes that I am aware of. More are in the making and will be posted in future issues. If you are a sysop and are running an echo not listed for your board, please make us aware of it so we may correct it next issue. Eznet Program IBM Adult Scitech BTNWA Alter-Ego ........... * ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .. American BBS ........ * ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .. Bus System BBS ...... * ..... * ..... * ..... ..... * ..... * .. Byte Me! ............ * ..... * ..... * ..... * ..... ..... .. Channel 8250 ........ * ..... * ..... * ..... ..... * ..... * .. Crunchy Frog ........ * ..... ..... * ..... * ..... ..... * .. Joker's Castle ...... * ..... ..... * ..... ..... ..... .. Little Kingdom ...... * ..... * ..... * ..... * ..... * ..... .. Magnolia BBS ........ * ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .. Radio Free Troad .... * ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .. ST BBS .............. * ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..