1 If you are in need of help, you need but ask.... 2 ************************* INSTALLED: 29 JUL 86 ************************ 3 Welcome to BWMS (BackWater Message System) Mike Day System operator 4 ************************************************************ 5 GENERAL DISCLAIMER: BWMS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INFORMATION 6 PLACED ON THIS SYSTEM. 7 BWMS was created as an electronic bill board. BWMS is a privately owned 8 and operated system which is currently open for use by the general public. 9 no restrictions are placed on the use of the system. As the system is 10 privately owned, I retain the right to remove any and all messages which 11 I may find offensive. Because of the limited size of the system, it will be 12 periodically purged of messages. (only 629 lines of data can be saved) 13 to leave a message, type 'ENTER' and use ctrl/C or break to get out of the 14 ENTER mode. The message is automatically stored. If after entering the 15 message you find you made a mistake, use the replace command to replace 16 the line. To exit from the system, type 'OFF' then hang up. 17 type 'HELP' to see other commands that are available on the system. 18 *********************************************************** 19 20 I'M ON TOP!!!!!!!!!!!!! 21 I don't believe it. I, Zardoz the 22 unfathomable have reached the top!!! 23 Such rapture, such ectasy, such such 24 joy to have a clean slate to mess 25 up with my bizarre scribblings. Mikey, 26 thank you for this oppertunity!!! 27 WOW! 28 HELLO THERE OUT THERE WHO EVER IS "USEING 'MY'" NAME 29 WHY CANT WE USE THIS BOARD FOR IT'S PURPOSE PLEASE. 30 COM'ON PEOPLE THIS IS GETTING DUMB! 31 FROM HERE ON LETS USE THIS BOARD FOR WHAT IT'S FOR 32 I'LL BE NICE I'LL DRAW YOU A LINE SO YOU CAN START A NEW SLATE... 33 34 THE (REAL) FIREHAWK> 35 ________________________________________________________THE LINE! 36 FIREHAWK: PLEASE DO *NOT* USE ESCAPE SEQUENCES HERE! THEY WILL MESS UP 37 MANY TERMINALS. USE CTRL-H OR DELETE TO BACKSPACE. DO *NOT* USE YOUR 38 ARROW KEYS. (I CLEANED UP THE LINES THIS TIME). 39 ************************THE PHANTOM OF BACKWATER*************************** 40 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 41 Darkness surrounds me, sparks occasionally have occured, but 42 on the whole darkness has held fast. It isn't entirely dark, 43 there are varying shades, but it has done no good to follow the 44 lighter shades, always they have only lead to yet darker ways 45 losing what I even have. 46 I even have tried the opposite, seeking the dark ways. If 47 the light would not lead to lighter, then perhaps the darker 48 would. Yet I only achieved getting further lost in this 49 demensionless maze of nothingless. That all there is, 50 nothingness... 51 Stumbling, moving without direction, unable to stay in one 52 position, I continue to try to find a way out. The way becomes 53 rougher, what little vision I have left becomes distorted and 54 warped. The further I go the rougher it gets. Then the darkness 55 shifts suddenly, and I stumble. Then I am falling... falling... 56 falling... 57 The world crashes to a halt, and I am laying prone on my 58 stomache unable to move, unable to breath. The darkness remains 59 unbroken, no sound, only the cold hard darkness closing in. The 60 ground beneath me unyelding. My body no longer reasponds to my 61 desires. Unable to move, the tears well up unbidden. I scream out 62 into the darkness, but not even echos return, The darkness sucks 63 the cries into its ever gapping maw. 64 The loneliness always an ever present companion overwhelms 65 and enfolds me in its embrace. I am lost in both mind and soul. 66 The direction and motivation is gone. And now I can't even move. 67 A cold wetness encloses me, I give in to it sinking even lower. 68 I will my arm to move, but it doesn't. The coldness 69 encloses me tighter. I'm alone. And only the tears come, building 70 a pool around me. Where have I gone? What have I done? How did it 71 happen? Did I do this, or was it done to me? All I know is that 72 I'm alone, and the darkness offers no comfort. 73 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 74 spooky..... 75 Oh well, anyway people, this is probably my last entry on BWMS. I am 76 leaving Thursday for Seattle and will not be back. It's been great f 77 fun and I hope you enjoyed me as much as I enjoyed being here. 78 Portland is a great place. Fare thee well and live long and prosper! 79 -Dark Knight- 80 *************************************************************************** 81 AT LAST SOME ACTIVITY! 82 *********************THE PHANTOM OF BACKWATER****************************** 83 I AM SORRY I AM BREAKING MY STATMENT AS ABOUVE BUT HWO 84 $#%#$% CALLWAITING... ANYWAY WHO IS "TRIPLE FIVE" AND WHY ARE YOU MESSING 85 UP THIS BOARD ANYWAY. DONT YOU HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO??? 86 NOW BACK TO THE NORMAL PROGRAMING... 87 88 >THE FIREHAWK>> 89 ____________________________________________________________________ 90 %*@_%*_%*_%&*@##@^_%(!+(%!%_@#&^@*!_)%*!%+!_%(#*_)*%!%*!+(%_!%(!%!_*^!_)^* 91 Voyeur: Are you programming away with visions of video tape dancing in your 92 head, or should I even ask? I hope it worked out, but if not, we tried. 93 That's all that can be done sometimes. Not much eh, kinda like kissing one' 94 sister. Oh, scratch that. I didn't mean it. Honest. 95 *%*%#@)*%!)_)^*@^!_)^*!^*!^)*!^ L'homme sans Parity %*&@#(%*!*%(^&_*!)%*%*! 96 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ 97 ello, kids. Here's a little story I wrote while waiting for my roomate to wrap-up his little party. It's one a-m, and 98 this guy has to work tommorow. In any case, on with a little story about the aggrivators of the future. 99 100 SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE 101 Waves distort the flat surface of the ocean. At a distance it is a calm and 102 quiet ocean, but at the surface, gravity has its whims with it. Waves, 103 coldness and sand flow through it as a part of those slight lunar whims. 104 Above the ocean stands a man. On the rocks that tower above the 105 water, he looks down and sees more than the plain ocean alone. It is a 106 flower amidst the waves, a white and dewdrenched lotus, with a sweet scent. 107 Then on the waves is a sight of him at the lotus, enchanted with the 108 essence, and rapt with it. In one moment, it is a picture of him at the 109 lotus, aged, dirty, restless and staring at it. Another moment, the lotus 110 is gone, the man sits filthy alone. 111 The man on the rocks looks away from the ocean. The pictures there 112 fade and are gone in time. And a tear does appear at his eyelids after 113 time. Once the act of sobbing is done with, he deserts the rocks, the 114 ocean, and the tides to attend to his other duties. 115 SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE 116 117 Surprisingly refreshing! 118 I agree. 119 ____07/31/86__________Leonard_JD 2446643.5357_________17:51:27_PDT_________ 120 Well, I for one am depressed. So there. 121 ....................................... 122 {+|+} <128> 860731^2031 123 AN ARGUMENT AGAINST THE EMPIRICAL METHOD, Some haystacks don't 124 even have any needle. 125 126 THE High on a slope in New Guinea 127 the Grumman Hellcat lodges 128 MAN among bright vinesas thick as 129 arms. In 1943, the clenched 130 IN hand of a pilot glided it 131 here where no one has ever 132 THE been. 133 134 DEAD In the cockpit, the helmeted 135 skeleton sits upright, held 136 MACHINE by dry sinews at neck and 137 shoulder, and webbing that 138 straps the pelvic cross 139 to the cracked leather of the 140 seat, and the breastbone to 141 the canvas cover of the 142 parachute. 143 144 Or say that the shrapnel 145 missed him, he flew back to 146 by the back to the carrier, and 147 every morning takes the 148 Donald train, his pale hands on his 149 black case, and sits upright, 150 Hall held by the firm webbing. 151 152 IS ANYONE CONFUSED BY THE ABOVE ENTRY? IF NOT, TRY READING IT IN 40 COLS. 153 154 What a pile of crap!!! Why are such people allowed to eat up so many lines 155 with pure trash??? Why is this allowed to continue???? 156 157 Tony.... 158 159 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 160 Yes, Tony, why are you allowed to continue? 161 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ one line quipper ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 162 ********************* 14:30 ********* 8-1-86 ********************************* 163 oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo 164 Boy am I all messed up, the dates are all askew, sideways and twisted. 165 I can see what I think is Disk C; there's a new disk in A; B is ????? 166 Oh, heck with it! Making sense heads from tails is like getting teeth pulled 167 around here sometimes. I'll just wait for L'homme to dispatch the real thing 168 and stop maintaing my upstart version of the archives. Pooh. 169 so 170 oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo -oo 171 172 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ 173 174 John(530).... 175 We are all set up to do the run on Saturday. 1276.e Virdex setup will be used 176 as planned. 177 178 Also, Patsy said that the ladies will take care of any food needs. The only 179 thing we need is our guts to fill!! 180 181 Anyway, be sure to bring all of the necessary cans needed to run the 1276.e 182 system. Also, any EQ's and the like that will fit the Virdex we be needed to 183 do the nessessary setup. Other than that all you need to bring is yourself and 184 a few cold ones!!! See you there 185 186 Don(555)ald 187 188 /////////////////// 189 {+|+} <315> 860801^1915 190 341345789g 191 Looks like Aaron is back. Smorgasboard is on the horizon now. Days. It's only 192 going to be days now. TIB-TPDB 193 194 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ 195 196 Don(555)ald.... 197 198 O.K. No doubt man. 199 I found the 1296 Chips that you 200 were looking for in the 201 back of my car. The only 202 thing I have to say about 203 the run is that if we 204 can't get the new Virdex 205 Unit in to replace the old 206 one, we can't run the 207 new Telex unit.?.? or can 208 we???? I talked to the ladies 209 also and I think it should 210 work great! 211 Are you going to be at 212 the next meeting? 213 ohhh!! crap, before I forget... 214 I did get that new antenna 215 that Jim talked about 216 at the last convention. 217 It should make ionization of 218 the Sodium compounds much 219 easier, and no more Nitrogen 220 trihalides!!!! 221 So that's all from here. (This 222 BBS should work great for us!) 223 Have a good one and talk to u 224 later.... 225 226 John (530) 227 228 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ 229 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 230 231 Gentlemen, 232 An overdue thanks for a wonderful evening of hostility. We must do 233 it again in the not too distant future. I was somewhat disapointed that 234 the nameless Russian was not in attendance, as I understand there has been 235 progress in the manner he plays...But all in all...I enjoyed every minute. 236 237 As the saying goes ( with apologizes to voyeur ) 238 " Tis better to have Nuked and lost than never Nuked at all " 239 240 ::::::Alex:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 241 ____08/01/86__________________JD 2446644.7708_________23:29:58_PDT_________ 242 243 EMBASSY 244 245 246 As evening fell the day's oppression lifted; 247 Far peaks came into focus; it had rained: 248 Across wide lawns and cultured flowers drifted 249 The conversation of the highly trained. 250 251 Two gardeners watched them pass and priced their shoes: 252 A chauffeur waited, reading in the drive, 253 For them to finish their exchange of views; 254 It seemed a picture of the private life. 255 256 Far off, no matter what good they intended, 257 The armies waited for a verbal error 258 With all the instruments for causing pain: 259 260 And on the issue their charm depended 261 A land laid waste, with all its young men slain, 262 Its women weeping, and its towns in terror. 263 264 W. H. Auden 265 266 L'homme: Have you received my communique yet? -FTU- 267 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ 268 John(530).... 269 270 O.k. guy, I received your message o.k. and I have a few comments. First, we 271 will have to try the new Telex unit at some other time. Why? Because it is the 272 first of it's kind utilizing microprocessor control. The original ROM's are of 273 no use in this area. I ordered the new ones last week as so far nothing as 274 appeared. Therefore we will just have to forget using it till next session. 275 276 Also, be sure to bring that new antenna so we can try it out. It was really 277 intended for use on the Telex, but it should work on either system. I guess we 278 will find out, won't we?? However, be sure to bring the old one in the rare 279 case that the new one either won't work with the Virdex or is defective for 280 some strange reason. 281 282 One more thing.. Since you found the chips I will return the ones that I 283 picked up this week. Those damn things cost $150 a piece and I cannot forsee 284 any time in the future where I will need those little jewels again. I'd like 285 to have my $600 back in my pocket instead of being in my "spare parts" bin. Boy 286 I'm glad you found those little suckers. I have never seen any one item 287 inflate so much in any one year before. Just out of curiosity, when did you get 288 the ones you have and how much did you give for them. They ran for about $25 a 289 piece last year. 290 291 Anyway, Did you give Bob the number to this system and tell him how to leave 292 and read messages. If not do so and let's get him on here! 293 O.K.??? 294 Talk to you later 295 296 Don(555)ald... 297 298 ////////////////////// 299 JOHN (530) & DON(555)ALD: THIS SYSTEM'S STORAGE WORKS ON *LINES*, NOT CHARACTERS 300 SO YOUR 20-30 COLUMN WIDE TEXT IS WASTING ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF STORAGE. THE 301 MA COMMAND WILL ALLOW YOU TO SET MARGINS UP TO 126 CHARACTERS. PLEASE USE 302 AT LEAST 40 & PREFERABLY 80 COULUMNS. 303 IF YOU FEEL THIS IS A HARDSHIP, THEN I SUGGEST YOU MOVE TO CBBS/NW (646-5510) 304 AS IT IS A SYSTEM INTENDED PRIMARILY FOR THE EXCHANGE OF MESSAGES. 305 *********************THE PHANTOM OF BACKWATER********************************** 306 *%)(*$%*_%*_%)+*#^_)^*@+^(@^(@+^(@^*$_^*##_^&_^*$)^*(@^@+__^(@+^*_)^+*@^*@$^_ 307 Question: Does the Phantom of Backwater ever use mechanical laughter? 308 Virdex guys: I assume you are being careful with the bus arbitrators in your 309 system. You *have* read the reports on the effects of pull-down noise caused 310 by virdi in HF equipment. Also, distortion due to heat in the FFU can cause 311 logic errors, because the n^2mos wafers in the Virdex will bubble if exposed 312 to temps greater than 90 degrees centigrade. I guess the manufacturer tried 313 to cover that up, but the government uncovered the problem during Tempest 314 testing of field units. 315 FTU: No, I have not received your message yet. When did you send it? 316 )(#@%)*@#%(*@&)***$@%_^&(^&)_)&# L'homme sans Parity %*&@%)((&%*!&%@%*!)%( 317 Any day. Like, maybe monday, and Smorgasboard has got to come up. Doesn't it? 318 I mean, nobody would lie around here would they? ibtw-tpdb. 319 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ 320 Ek! Sorry about that abrupt ending on lines 96-99, I had 321 a problem with a mass of Telco equipemnt and was disconnected. 322 323 In any case, here is the actual product, if not too late 324 and too little (which has NEVER been the case at Backwater). 325 A man walked up to the Auto-Eat window and typed in his selection. He then 326 slipped his CurrencyCard into the slot just above the keyboard and just below 327 the display. The display, by the way, was proudly displaying his choice, or 328 at least it's image at what his choice should, at least, resemble. 329 The man waited impatiently for his selection to be delivered nice and 330 hot and ready for consumming. He folded his arms and waited. Soon, the 331 dispensory slotpned, motors inside whirred, the console said "Thank You!" 332 in a cheerful monotone, and his selection was coughed up. 333 The man scowled and looked under the cover bearing the words, 334 "TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS SERVED" in bold emblazend letters, and he scowled 335 ****** 336 Nope, still don't work, damn! 337 ARGH! can it, you'll have to wait till I find a 338 better way to do this (!). Ciao. 339 340 PEN NAME (yes, it's true) 341 +-+-+-+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ 342 L'homme: Sorry about that. The message was sent to Milchar. A slight 343 mixup of sorts. 344 Milchar: So have you received it yet? - FTU - 345 346 ************* 347 *Triple Five* 348 * Was Here! * 349 ************* 350 351 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + I will turn your body to dust-------- 352 Fjor I am death 353 ____08/02/86__________________JD 2446645.7388_________22:43:58_PDT_________ 354 I don't care, fjor I can spell 'for.' 355 HEY, LEONARD. WHAT DOES 2446645.7388 MEAN???!!! 356 357 Jim Z: Hi this is Pete, I finally made it on. And this is just to let 358 you know that I did! 359 Pete 360 361 <*::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::*>> 362 Vortex Guys - I recalibrated the transponder on the internal 363 thought recogninator on the Cognitive Transmogrification Gun. 364 The loop-back detection kits looks good. If the transponder 365 chips get here soon I should have it working by Friday. 366 367 Henderson LaMonte 368 <<*::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::*>> 369 Cognitive Transmogrification? 370 How interesting.... 371 372 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////////////////////////////////////// 373 My boss posted this at work and he said that he was not kidding. How would you 374 take this if you found this type of system where you work?? 375 Tony... 376 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- 377 NOTICE 378 379 380 Due to the excessive number of absences from the office, the following rules 381 and procedures will be put into effect as of this date: 382 383 SICKNESS NO EXCUSE: We will no longer accept your doctor's statement as 384 proof, as we believe that if you are able to go to the doctor, you are able 385 to come to work. 386 387 DEATH: (Other than your own) This is no excuse; there is nothing you can do 388 for them, and we are sure that someone else with a lesser position can attend 389 to the arrangements. However, if the funeral can be held in the late 390 afternoon, we will be glad to let you off one hour early, provided that your 391 share of the work is ahead enough to keep the job going in your absence. 392 393 LEAVE OF ABSENCE: (For an Operation) We are no longer allowing this practice. 394 We wish to discourage any thoughts that you may need an operation as we believe 395 as long as you are an employee here, you will need all of whatever you have and 396 you should not consider having anything removed. We hired you as you are and 397 to have anything removed would certainly make you less than we bargained for. 398 399 DEATH: (Your own) This will be accepted as an excuse, but we would like a two 400 week notice as we feel it is your duty to train someone else for your job. 401 402 Also, entirely too much time is being spent in the restrooms. In the future, 403 we will follow the practice of going in alphabetical order. For instance, 404 those whose name begins with an "A" will go from 8:00 to 8:15, "B" will go from 405 8:15 to 8:30, and so on. If you are unable to go at the designated time, it 406 will be necessary to wait until the next day when your turn comes around again. 407 408 The JD 24465.... is the current julian day #. 409 ____08/03/86__________Leonard_JD 2446646.4010_________14:37:30_PDT_______ 410 Names galore. ttt 411 412 413 DEPOT In the depot and the darkened day 414 IN the clack of an old pinball machine 415 A demands a curious notice. 416 RIVER More sleeping than not 417 TOWN a satchel faced farmer makes noises. 418 A sailor circles like a child in church. 419 420 by In the depot and the darkened day 421 Miller I surrender my back to the imperative bench, 422 Williams unlistening hear the emphatic pencil 423 tap itself on the table. 424 425 The little blond reads 426 and fingers the cloth of her blouse 427 like a nun telling beads. 428 429 Cracked across after an ancient painting 430 the face of the woman with children 431 ignores and ignores. 432 There is fog at the windows 433 and the open doors. 434 435 Within the ear's rim rises a separate sound. 436 Wood slapping side slipping water sounds 437 settle me deep. 438 I feel again the penny in my pocket 439 and the slow sleep of the river wraps me round. 440 441 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 442 Something was wrong, I could sense it. I had just returned from a 443 rather lengthy trip to nowhere, and I could tell that something was 444 wrong the minute I stepped into my apartment. Perhaps it was the barely 445 percepital smell of fine machine oil, and the faint tint of ozone in the 446 air. Or perhaps the drifting gerble hair that caused me to sneeze 447 (I always was allergic to small furry animals). 448 Tense and strung on adrenaline, I quietly closed the door and 449 looked about, I didn't see anything out f the ordinary, but still I knew 450 something was wrong. Moving down the short hall, I turned to the right 451 and stepped into the living room. Something was wrong, but I couldn't 452 put my finger on it. 453 I stood there for a moment, pondering what it was that was 454 bothering me, and then I realized that the computer was on and a CD ROM 455 was in the drive. As the impact of it struck me (I had left the computer 456 off, and I didn't even *own* a CD ROM drive!), I heard a metalic click. 457 Turning about quickly I found myself face to face with my opponent. I 458 didn't know who he was, but he seemed formidable enough. "Who are you? 459 What do you want? Why are you in my apartment? How did you get in? 460 (My journalistic instincts automatically taking over.) The only response 461 I received was laughter with metalic overtones. 462 I edged towards the door in the hopes of escaping. But quicker then 463 I could see, he grabbed my arm and spun me about. Before I could scream 464 out, I found my mouth tapped shut, and my arms tied behind me. 465 As I lay on the floor, he moved out of my vision. I heard a 466 rustling sound, then he was back a smile on his face and a sringe in his 467 hand. Wide eyed, I watched the needle enter my arm as I heard the faint 468 whine of fine tuned servos...whine? Of course! As I lay there, I felt 469 the drug begin to take effect, I tried to speak the fateful words, 470 conciousness fading in and out in a rapdly increasing pulsating 471 stream...the world began to darken, "Duex ex ma... ma... ghaaaa......" 472 0000000000 8-4-86 - 00:14 00000000000 Dern Rupes 000000000000000000000 473 474 ************* 475 *Triple Five* 476 * Was Here! * 477 ************* 478  479 480 Triple Five never enters anything. Despite the placing of his name above 481 several entries. I think we have a sort of marker here. Three lines long and 482 with a prefix you can never dial. ttt 483 484 485 ************************************* 486 * * 487 * Call the Road House BBS * 488 * * 489 * (503)286-xxxx * 490 * 300/1200/2400 * 491 *8 data bites, No parity, 1 stop bit* 492 * * 493 * Open 24 hrs a Day * 494 * 1.2mgb of disk space * 495 * * 496 * The only Portland Area Mac Board * 497 * devoted to the Macintosh! * 498 * * 499 * 'ey Mate give us a rin' * 500 * * 501 ************************************* 502 503 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 504 505 S P E C I A L N O T I C E 506 ---------------------------- 507 August 3, 1986 508 ---------------------------- 509 510 Bit Bucket BBS is now officially OFFLINE. The 'bbs' and 'bucket' logins will 511 no longer function, as of 11:00 AM on 03-AUG-86. Notification will remain 512 online through 31-AUG-86, at which time the 'bbs' login on this system will be 513 removed. Please spread word to other BBSs that Bit Bucket is no more! 514 ################################################################################ 515 516 Excerp from Current Bit Bucket Logon 517 518 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 519 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 520 "Sam? Sam get the hell in here. We just got a directive from upstairs." Fred 521 hated directives from upstairs. On top of his normal animosity towards 522 directives, this latest edict from above contained extra reasons for worry. 523 "Ya Fred, what's all the commotion in here? Can't you see I'm working on 524 important stuff?" 525 "Can it Sam, this is important. Direct from the big guy. We have a glitch 526 in the 'droids we gotta fix fast, including retro-fits on all active units. 527 It appears that some of the units's lubrication module is going way before 528 MTBF. According to this directive, 40% of the units have experienced this 529 failure in the past two weeks." 530 "But that's impossible. Those IM2's are supposed to go 6 months without 531 a checkup, worst case scenario!" 532 "Hey, I'm just reading what the guys upstairs send down. We don't question 533 why, remember?" 534 "Ok, sure, whatever you say Fred. I'll go get the floor model." Sam walked 535 out of the room while Fred turned around and unlocked a large red locker 536 with stenciled letters spelling out 'IM2' on the front of it. Opening the 537 locker, he reached down and lifted a large rectangular case up onto the 538 work bench. He dialed in a number of a special multi-combination lock. At 539 the last number, the top of the case flipped open, revealing a maze of 540 wires and switches all hooked up to a brushed stainless steel box set inside 541 he case. He pressed a green button marked 'S', and the box beeped once. 542 Fred smiled as he took two probes in his hand, and waited for Sam to return. 543 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The Mechanics ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 544 545 *$%#_@*%_@#*%_)@#*%)_@#*%)@#$*%_^)#*$@^)_*!_^)_)^*_)*^_)#$(^#)_$(^_)!#$*^&_)#$*^_#*^#)_$*^&_#$^&*#)_&*#_)&*!#)_&!#*&!_#)&* 546 Mikey: 1000 apologies for not calling Saturday. It is a long story which I 547 will relate to you via voice. On a side note, I have managed to put 548 together a nice collection of routines for the project. Is next Saturday 549 still a possibility? 550 FTU: No problem. But do I get to find out what the message is? 551 *%_)@#*%_@)#*%)_@#*%)_$^&*@)_*@_) L'homme sans Parity %*@#_%*_@#)*%_@#*%_#@*%@_#%*@_^&*@#_)*^@_^&@_)^*@#_)^*@)_^*)_*@_^@_^ 552 PARKINSON'S LAW: The bad drives out the good. 553 I remember back in the mid 60's when CB was a means of communication. When the 554 late 70's rush hit, all the "good" CB'ers either went to sidebanding, or ham 555 radio, or quit. 556 The "good buddy" types have hit the bbs's.... 557 ____08/04/86__________Leonard_JD 2446647.6011_________19:25:35_PDT_________ 558 Leonard... 559 Were you ever on C.B. in the past?? I like your realating story to 560 that lost form of fun and it got me 561 wondering if you once were?? 562 563 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Bruce ********************************** 564 565 CBER'S? OMIGAWD PLEASE NO!!!!!!!!!!! 566 .................................... 567 568 PETE: MESSAGE RECEIVED, WHOTS HAPPENING? 569 <><><><><><>><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><<><> 570 571 ttt I agree with Leonard. Nowadays, modems are convenient peripherals 572 that you can get along with your new MS-DOS machine. There is little more 573 to it. Even Commodore had the nerve to make their modems so flaky that 574 people not dedicated couldn't use them. Instead of those fun filled days 575 of yesteryear, we have repoutable companies churning out modems at a slim 576 thirty dollar price tag. So any indedicated jerk can technically screw 577 up any public system. 578 I don't know what sidebanding is. It strikes me as a method to 579 hide or scramble a signal, such that it would have to be known about in 580 advance to be heard. And -that- strikes me as what a lot of systems have 581 done. The Bit Bucket is not gone, not really. Because, most likely, there 582 is still going to be a collection of friends with Unix access. I have 583 heard that same idea thrown around about all the other Unix boards now 584 operating in town. Not public. Only friends. And new friends are made on 585 the public systems, if necessary. 586 After returning from a long trip, I was sort of stunned to find 587 that three quarters of all the old BWMS users had faded away. Stopped 588 wasting their eraly mornings or late nights on it. There are only a few 589 reasons for this. But I -don't- want to get into an argument over who is 590 to blame for the overall sad state of affairs. Its just true that Piper 591 isn't going to read this. Pam probably won't. Neither will most of the 592 people who made this system an exception to the rule. 593 The question that has been going through my mind lately, is "What 594 is going to happen to BackWater now? What about the people I met there? 595 Are we just going to fade into squalid files in those Archives?" 596 If only I had the answer. For now, the only thing I can do is 597 enjoy what writing (Of the elder style, not the recent ultraverbose and 598 overemotional sort that was pioneered by J. Silverman, and D. S. Knight. 599 As a way to preserve an old feeling. At least till it picks up again. 600 If it ever does. End of diatribe, sorry for the length... ttt 601 602 Adultery - 603 604 The air becomes thin 605 at this altitude 606 and footholds are rare 607 608 But above all else, 609 Remember not to look down 610 611 - Jackie Fox 612 613 614 ************* 615 *Triple Five* 616 * Was Here! * 617 ************* 618 619 Come on, what takes so long to change disks. Come on Mikey whats the 620 big deal??? 621 622 _______________________________________________________________________________ 623 BACKWATER will survive because the backbone users of this system will do every- 624 thing they can to save it. I am not writing about the transitory hit-and-run 625 authors so popular of late. I am talking about the oft-spoken of old-timers 626 who have gone on to other personnas and are speaking in different tongues. BW 627 will endure because they will endure. They will not let this unique and 628 enjoyable system fade away. It means too much. French Toast __________