Cobol - OT: Usenet CLC server

Author

OT: Usenet CLC server

Pete Dashwood

2005-03-09, 8:55 am

Does anybody know of a reliable FREE usenet CLC server?

Most of the ones I have found are either not free, or not reliable. (There
are any number that will relay CLC .... occasionally...)

news.individual.net which runs out of Germany has been fantastic for some
time and is reliable. Sadly they are now going to charge for the service (I
don't blame them at all).

It's not that I'm a cheapskate or even mean by nature, it's just that
actually PAYING for the rubbish that goes on here kind of sticks in my craw
a bit... :-)

I'll see how much I miss it at the end of this month, when the period of
grace they have given us all, expires.

Maybe it's time I let it go...

I fnd GOOGLE groups too slow. I s'pose I could set up my own Usenet
server.... but it is doubtful I'll have the time from next month. I'm moving
to our nation's capital for a while so I can share some thoughts with what
passes for a Government here...;-) It will be interesting and could be
satisfying, but I'll miss my beloved Bay of Plenty.

Gosh, if I have to lose the Mount beaches AND CLC...well, it might just all
prove too much <gulp>

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about please take a few minutes to
peruse the completely revamped (and hopefully more non-IE Browser friendly)
Tauranga Writers site: http://taurangawriters.org.nz which I have invested
several hundred hours in rewriting. If you are into literature, try the
quiz on the INTERACT page. Mail me a screen shot of your score and, if you
get 100%, send me your home address and receive a prize from the Land of the
Long White Cloud...'Ao-tea-roa' (New Zealand).(Limited offer: only while
stocks last :-)) Although some of the questions are very difficult,
everything you need to know to complete the quiz is available on the net, or
in previous editions of our newsletter (accessible via the ARCHIVES button
on the home page). One guy so far has had 8 attempts...I'm considering
giving him a prize just for perseverence...:-)

If you hit the NEWSLETTER button you'll see a picture on this month's cover
of Mount Maunganui. Those of you with broadband will also see a scanning
movie of it.

It's quite a remarkable place. On one side you have rolling Pacific breakers
that provide superb surfing (Ocean Beach) and about 200 metres away you have
sheltered harbour beach (Pilot Bay), where kids can paddle and parents can
picnic. In between the two is a public swimming bath where sea water mixes
underground with steam and hot mineral water, rushes to the surface, where
it is

ed and fed to several swimming pools and jacuzzi type spas, at
different temperatures. (One pool is

enough for serious swimming, but
still warm all year round.) There are massaging aquajets of hot salt water
as well and you feel pretty good after a sesssion under these.

It's just over an hour's flight from Wellington.... Guess I can get home for
the odd w

end...:-)

Pete.

LX-i

2005-03-09, 3:55 pm

Pete Dashwood wrote:
> It's not that I'm a cheapskate or even mean by nature, it's just that
> actually PAYING for the rubbish that goes on here kind of sticks in my craw
> a bit... :-)

I don't know why this strikes me as extremely funny, but it does. :)

> I fnd GOOGLE groups too slow. I s'pose I could set up my own Usenet
> server.... but it is doubtful I'll have the time from next month. I'm moving
> to our nation's capital for a while so I can share some thoughts with what
> passes for a Government here...;-) It will be interesting and could be
> satisfying, but I'll miss my beloved Bay of Plenty.

Is this in an elected fashion, or just as a citizen?

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ / \ / ~ Live from Montgomery, AL! ~
~ / \/ o ~ ~
~ / /\ - | ~ daniel@thebelowdomain ~
~ _____ / \ | ~ http://www.djs-consulting.com ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ GEEKCODE 3.12 GCS/IT d s-:+ a C++ L++ E--- W++ N++ o? K- w$ ~
~ !O M-- V PS+ PE++ Y? !PGP t+ 5? X+ R* tv b+ DI++ D+ G- e ~
~ h---- r+++ z++++ ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James J. Gavan

2005-03-09, 3:55 pm

Pete Dashwood wrote:
> Does anybody know of a reliable FREE usenet CLC server?
>
> Most of the ones I have found are either not free, or not reliable. (There
> are any number that will relay CLC .... occasionally...)
>
> news.individual.net which runs out of Germany has been fantastic for some
> time and is reliable. Sadly they are now going to charge for the service (I
> don't blame them at all).
>
> It's not that I'm a cheapskate or even mean by nature, it's just that
> actually PAYING for the rubbish that goes on here kind of sticks in my craw
> a bit... :-)

As you said to me, "Then don't read it" :-)

Hope you solve your problem.

Jimmy

Pete Dashwood

2005-03-09, 8:55 pm

"LX-i" <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:2edde$422f1677$45491f85$24526@KNOLO
GY.NET...
> Pete Dashwood wrote:
craw[color=darkred]
>
> I don't know why this strikes me as extremely funny, but it does. :)

Good. That's how it was intended :-)
>
moving[color=darkred]
what[color=darkred]
>
> Is this in an elected fashion, or just as a citizen?

Funny you should say that... There was a suggestion I might stand in local
elections but I declined. I believe, in a democracy we may not get the
politicians we want, but we certainly get the ones we deserve.

I don't believe the people of New Zealand have done anything bad enough to
warrant having me represent them :-)

So it is just as a citizen. I'll be providing advice and will probably do
some project management on key projects. I don't want to be there too long
as I really will miss the Bay, so I'll be looking to effect a skills
transfer to some of their own people (and, besides, it is part of what I've
agreed to do).

Apart from that, I am really quite pleased to be able to apply my acquired
skill and experience to something that is not just about corporate profit
(and for corporations outside NZ). If this hadn't happened (and I didn't
apply for it; I was asked) I would have been back to Europe at the end of
April. I'd MUCH rather be in Wellington than London or Birmingham (no
offence to people living in those cities...It's just that I've done my time
there and I really want to be home now.)

Pete.
>
>
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ~ / \ / ~ Live from Montgomery, AL! ~
> ~ / \/ o ~ ~
> ~ / /\ - | ~ daniel@thebelowdomain ~
> ~ _____ / \ | ~ http://www.djs-consulting.com ~
> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
> ~ GEEKCODE 3.12 GCS/IT d s-:+ a C++ L++ E--- W++ N++ o? K- w$ ~
> ~ !O M-- V PS+ PE++ Y? !PGP t+ 5? X+ R* tv b+ DI++ D+ G- e ~
> ~ h---- r+++ z++++ ~
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>

Pete Dashwood

2005-03-09, 8:55 pm

"James J. Gavan" <jgavandeletethis@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:Z5HXd.621871$8l.202288@pd7tw1no...
> Pete Dashwood wrote:
(There[color=darkred]
some[color=darkred]
(I[color=darkred]
craw[color=darkred]
>
> As you said to me, "Then don't read it" :-)
>
That is certainly one solution.

> Hope you solve your problem.

Thanks. I usually do...

Pete.

LX-i

2005-03-10, 3:55 pm

Pete Dashwood wrote:
> "LX-i" <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote in message
> news:2edde$422f1677$45491f85$24526@KNOLO
GY.NET...
>
>
> Funny you should say that... There was a suggestion I might stand in local
> elections but I declined. I believe, in a democracy we may not get the
> politicians we want, but we certainly get the ones we deserve.
>
> I don't believe the people of New Zealand have done anything bad enough to
> warrant having me represent them :-)

heh - I think you're underestimating yourself...

> So it is just as a citizen. I'll be providing advice and will probably do
> some project management on key projects. I don't want to be there too long
> as I really will miss the Bay, so I'll be looking to effect a skills
> transfer to some of their own people (and, besides, it is part of what I've
> agreed to do).

So this is a programming-type job, not a policy-making one? :)

> Apart from that, I am really quite pleased to be able to apply my acquired
> skill and experience to something that is not just about corporate profit
> (and for corporations outside NZ). If this hadn't happened (and I didn't
> apply for it; I was asked) I would have been back to Europe at the end of
> April. I'd MUCH rather be in Wellington than London or Birmingham (no
> offence to people living in those cities...It's just that I've done my time
> there and I really want to be home now.)

I understand that. What of the lovely young lady with whom you've been
gallivanting about the countryside (or lounging on the beach - whatever
;> )?

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ / \ / ~ Live from Montgomery, AL! ~
~ / \/ o ~ ~
~ / /\ - | ~ daniel@thebelowdomain ~
~ _____ / \ | ~ http://www.djs-consulting.com ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ GEEKCODE 3.12 GCS/IT d s-:+ a C++ L++ E--- W++ N++ o? K- w$ ~
~ !O M-- V PS+ PE++ Y? !PGP t+ 5? X+ R* tv b+ DI++ D+ G- e ~
~ h---- r+++ z++++ ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pete Dashwood

2005-03-10, 8:55 pm

"LX-i" <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:b1922$42305cc5$45491f85$31263@KNOLO
GY.NET...
> Pete Dashwood wrote:
local[color=darkred]
to[color=darkred]
>
> heh - I think you're underestimating yourself...
>
That is better than the opposite... :-)

do[color=darkred]
long[color=darkred]
I've[color=darkred]
>
> So this is a programming-type job, not a policy-making one? :)

Not entirely. I'll certainly be helping to shape the IT policy and it is
unlikely I'll do any programming. It is technically a consulting and
management role, but these days that word covers such a multitude of sins, I
don't like using it. This particular area has suffered from a fairly long
period of under investment and mismanagement under successive governments.
In some ways, it is almost like a greenfield site; there will be a fair
amount of starting over. It is a very diverse environment (mainframes,
client/server, J2E, COBOL, WebSphere, packages, standalone systems, the
works...) Some of it is excellent; some of it isn't. All of it will be
reviewed and, where necessary, fixed or replaced.

It is quite exciting and I'm looking forward to it.

>
acquired[color=darkred]
profit[color=darkred]
of[color=darkred]
time[color=darkred]
>
> I understand that. What of the lovely young lady with whom you've been
> gallivanting about the countryside (or lounging on the beach - whatever
> ;> )?

So the US DOES have spies everywhere... :-)

My lips are sealed. But I think there'll be some commuting between
Wellington and Tauranga.

Pete.

HeyBub

2005-03-11, 3:55 am

Pete Dashwood wrote:
>
> My lips are sealed.

That's not what the VHR (very-high-resolution) satellite photos from our
Dagonet II system show!

LX-i

2005-03-11, 8:55 pm

Pete Dashwood wrote:
> "LX-i" <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote in message
> news:b1922$42305cc5$45491f85$31263@KNOLO
GY.NET...
>
>
> That is better than the opposite... :-)

Reminds me of a joke - you know what the redneck's last words were?
"Hey Bubba, check this out!"

>
>
> Not entirely. I'll certainly be helping to shape the IT policy

Ah - that's what I meant. IT policy, as opposed to, say, economic
policy or foreign policy. :)

> and it is
> unlikely I'll do any programming. It is technically a consulting and
> management role, but these days that word covers such a multitude of sins, I
> don't like using it. This particular area has suffered from a fairly long
> period of under investment and mismanagement under successive governments.
> In some ways, it is almost like a greenfield site; there will be a fair
> amount of starting over. It is a very diverse environment (mainframes,
> client/server, J2E, COBOL, WebSphere, packages, standalone systems, the
> works...) Some of it is excellent; some of it isn't. All of it will be
> reviewed and, where necessary, fixed or replaced.
>
> It is quite exciting and I'm looking forward to it.

Sounds like fun. It's a shame I stuck over here in the states... :)

>
> So the US DOES have spies everywhere... :-)

Just in this newsgroup - you've alluded to her before....

> My lips are sealed. But I think there'll be some commuting between
> Wellington and Tauranga.

.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ / \ / ~ Live from Montgomery, AL! ~
~ / \/ o ~ ~
~ / /\ - | ~ daniel@thebelowdomain ~
~ _____ / \ | ~ http://www.djs-consulting.com ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ GEEKCODE 3.12 GCS/IT d s-:+ a C++ L++ E--- W++ N++ o? K- w$ ~
~ !O M-- V PS+ PE++ Y? !PGP t+ 5? X+ R* tv b+ DI++ D+ G- e ~
~ h---- r+++ z++++ ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LX-i

2005-03-12, 3:55 am

Pete Dashwood

2005-03-12, 3:55 am

"HeyBub" <heybubNOSPAM@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1131pk4r8lsbke1@news.supernews.com...
> Pete Dashwood wrote:
>
> That's not what the VHR (very-high-resolution) satellite photos from our
> Dagonet II system show!
>
>
>
Maybe they are looking at the wrong lips... :-)

Pete Dashwood

2005-03-12, 3:55 am

"LX-i" <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:79118$42321b21$45491f85$26179@KNOLO
GY.NET...
> Pete Dashwood wrote:
>
> Reminds me of a joke - you know what the redneck's last words were?
> "Hey Bubba, check this out!"
>
>
> Ah - that's what I meant. IT policy, as opposed to, say, economic
> policy or foreign policy. :)
>
sins, I[color=darkred]
long[color=darkred]
governments.[color=darkred]
>
> Sounds like fun. It's a shame I stuck over here in the states... :)
>
>
> Just in this newsgroup - you've alluded to her before....

It must have been a slip... I have a kind of rule about that. As my love
life is pretty unstable I tend not to write about it... :-) Besides, I try
not to get too seriously involved as it limits my mobility, although, since
I have been home and have more or less decided to STAY home, that is less of
a consideration now. The last serious relationship I was in (marriage)
ended about 12 years ago and since then I have remained pretty much fancy
free. (I got severely burned and it took me a number of years before I could
even look at anther woman. Fortunately, I am now cured :-)). I have a good
circle of friends, some of whom are female and some of whom I spend more
time with than others... That is positively as much as I intend to say on
the matter. :-)

>
>

.
>
>
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ~ / \ / ~ Live from Montgomery, AL! ~
> ~ / \/ o ~ ~
> ~ / /\ - | ~ daniel@thebelowdomain ~
> ~ _____ / \ | ~ http://www.djs-consulting.com ~
> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
> ~ GEEKCODE 3.12 GCS/IT d s-:+ a C++ L++ E--- W++ N++ o? K- w$ ~
> ~ !O M-- V PS+ PE++ Y? !PGP t+ 5? X+ R* tv b+ DI++ D+ G- e ~
> ~ h---- r+++ z++++ ~
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>

James J. Gavan

2005-03-12, 3:55 am

James J. Gavan

2005-03-12, 3:55 am

Pete Dashwood wrote:[color=darkred]
> "LX-i" <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote in message
> news:79118$42321b21$45491f85$26179@KNOLO
GY.NET...
>
>
>
> It must have been a slip... I have a kind of rule about that. As my love
> life is pretty unstable I tend not to write about it... :-) Besides, I try
> not to get too seriously involved as it limits my mobility, although, since
> I have been home and have more or less decided to STAY home, that is less of
> a consideration now. The last serious relationship I was in (marriage)
> ended about 12 years ago and since then I have remained pretty much fancy
> free. (I got severely burned and it took me a number of years before I could
> even look at anther woman. Fortunately, I am now cured :-)). I have a good
> circle of friends, some of whom are female and some of whom I spend more
> time with than others... That is positively as much as I intend to say on
> the matter. :-)
>
>

OK. So you wont be particularly thrilled to hear from me - but Daniel's
allusion. You sure have firm memory for things decades ago. Perhaps you
have, for want of a name 'Current topic memory loss ?'.

Allusion # 1 - I wrote/you wrote - don't know who kick-started - but you
could cut a neat lambada with a lady friend. Me I'm still with Victor
Sylvester and a foxtrot - slow, slow, quick, quick, slow.

Allusion # 2 - I warned "Watch the portable on the beach - can cause
impotence". Your reply, something like, "No fear there, my latest girl
friend already has a son".

See ? But anyway this is not a 'Show and Tell Forum", although I just
did it myself indicating to Doc on the difference between his love for
his mother and my 'indifference'. So by all means keep your lips sealed.
No obligation to tell us :-).

If it's any consolation - some two years or more back, 'Time' did an
article on Alzheimer's. Bunch of nuns, possibly a teaching order, all
clicking over seventy years of age. Still learning - keeps their minds
supple. Then only yesterday same theme proposed in local paper - keep
your mind active and you most certainly put off Alzheimer's happening
quickly, if at all.

The human brain/memory is a mysterious mechanism. Eileen does the
crossword from the w

ly (International) Express - that's the
right-wing version of the left-wing Daily Mirror tabloid. (Poor old Max
Aitkin, Lord Beaverbrook, the Canuck who became Winston's Minister of
War Production, would turn in his grave seeing how his 'Express' has gone).

Anyway Eileen is puzzling away - turns to me when she gets stuck on
historical clues - most of the time I'm lucky. Occasionally she'll ask
for help on literature. Clue was 'The 39 Steps' they wanted the 'hero'.
A little thought, remembered author was John Buchan. Then I can
visualize Robert Donat in the late Thirties black and white movie. Can
also visualize Kenneth More doing a coloured version around the '50s. I
believe the heroine was an attractive blond Continental actress - have
absolutely no idea of her name.

Didn't come like BAM ! Then remembered 'Richard Hannah'. "That's it",
says Eileen, "It fits". I can chalk one up. (The letter combination was
correct, but as it was a 'vertical' no way to verify the usage of the
last two or three letters).

Get into bed and lying there, Richard Hannah, Richard Hannah.... well
sort of.... THEN ! Richard Hannay ! I'm not even sure I've even read the
book - although name recall would suggest I have. How in Heaven's name
did I manage to recall that minute piece of trivia - never used it
before and very likely will never use it again.

Jimmy

LX-i

2005-03-12, 3:55 pm

docdwarf@panix.com

2005-03-12, 3:55 pm

In article <8WtYd.646461$Xk.181699@pd7tw3no>,
James J. Gavan <jgavandeletethis@shaw.ca> wrote:

[snip]

>If it's any consolation - some two years or more back, 'Time' did an
>article on Alzheimer's. Bunch of nuns, possibly a teaching order, all
>clicking over seventy years of age. Still learning - keeps their minds
>supple. Then only yesterday same theme proposed in local paper - keep
>your mind active and you most certainly put off Alzheimer's happening
>quickly, if at all.
>
>The human brain/memory is a mysterious mechanism.

Not only the human one, Mr Gavan... a few decades back, must have been in
the mid-late 1980s, I remember speaking with a fellow I knew, a geriatric
psychiatrist who was, in his mid-60's, quitting his private practise and
designing/building - well, *he* wasn't building it, the building
contractors were - a nursing-home/home-for-the-elderly/geezertorium. One
of the touches he included was large boxes built out of railroad-ties,
about 6 feet (1.8 meters) on a side and a bit less than 4 feet (1.2m)
high, filled with dirt (earth)... boxes to which wheelchair-bound folks
could roll up and do a little gardening, those old folks just love to get
their fingers in the dirt with growing things... and it keeps the brain
moving, as well.

Anyhow, he told me of a study with geriatric mice, one group was put in a
stimulus-rich environment - wheels to run on, tunnels and tubes, cunning
devices which, when whacked just right, would yield up a pellet of special
treat - and the other group in a stimulus-poor environment. Upon death
the mice were autopsied/necropsied and their brains examined... and the
ones in the stimulus-rich environment had brains with healthier, denser,
more complex neurons and synapses while those from the poorer neighborhood
had less-healthy, more 'senile' brains.

*Then*... the experimenters took mice from the stimulus-poor environment
and put some in the stimulus-rich one... and after death the ones in the
poor environment still showed bad brains but the ones from the richer
environment showed improvement... not as good as the ones who'd been there
all along, granted, but still better than their sensorily-deprived
neighbors.

Curious, eh? 'Keep active and stay active' seems to be the lesson here...
but there's a subtext of 'never too late' to be seen, also.

[snip]

>Get into bed and lying there, Richard Hannah, Richard Hannah.... well
>sort of.... THEN ! Richard Hannay ! I'm not even sure I've even read the
>book - although name recall would suggest I have. How in Heaven's name
>did I manage to recall that minute piece of trivia - never used it
>before and very likely will never use it again.

As I mentioned in a post recently... there are some folks who have those
2:am 'thunderbolts' to solve problems and answer questions and there are
others who sleep the night away in bliss... me, I hope to strive for a
balance between the two.

(Oh... and last year I finally purchased a digital video-disc (DVD)
player... and just a few w

s ago I purchased from a discount-house bin a
two-disc set, the Alfred Hitchcock Collector's Edition Vol. 2, with five
films on two DVDs:

The Thirty-Nine Steps
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Secret Agent
Murder
Young & Innocent

The first two are the ones I know best... but it came to me, when watching
Secret Agent, that back in those days Robert Young really *was* young, not
the 'Marcus Welby, MD' Robert 'Old' so many folks knew.

DD

Pete Dashwood

2005-03-12, 8:55 pm

LX-i

2005-03-12, 8:55 pm

docdwarf@panix.com wrote:
> Anyhow, he told me of a study with geriatric mice, one group was put in a
> stimulus-rich environment - wheels to run on, tunnels and tubes, cunning
> devices which, when whacked just right, would yield up a pellet of special
> treat - and the other group in a stimulus-poor environment. Upon death
> the mice were autopsied/necropsied and their brains examined... and the
> ones in the stimulus-rich environment had brains with healthier, denser,
> more complex neurons and synapses while those from the poorer neighborhood
> had less-healthy, more 'senile' brains.

But they were both just as dead... ;)

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ / \ / ~ Live from Montgomery, AL! ~
~ / \/ o ~ ~
~ / /\ - | ~ daniel@thebelowdomain ~
~ _____ / \ | ~ http://www.djs-consulting.com ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ GEEKCODE 3.12 GCS/IT d s-:+ a C++ L++ E--- W++ N++ o? K- w$ ~
~ !O M-- V PS+ PE++ Y? !PGP t+ 5? X+ R* tv b+ DI++ D+ G- e ~
~ h---- r+++ z++++ ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pete Dashwood

2005-03-12, 8:55 pm

"James J. Gavan" <jgavandeletethis@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:8WtYd.646461$Xk.181699@pd7tw3no...
> Pete Dashwood wrote:
try[color=darkred]
since[color=darkred]
less of[color=darkred]
fancy[color=darkred]
could[color=darkred]
good[color=darkred]
on[color=darkred]
>
> OK. So you wont be particularly thrilled to hear from me - but Daniel's
> allusion. You sure have firm memory for things decades ago. Perhaps you
> have, for want of a name 'Current topic memory loss ?'.

I don't think so. Can't remember...

>
> Allusion # 1 - I wrote/you wrote - don't know who kick-started - but you
> could cut a neat lambada with a lady friend. Me I'm still with Victor
> Sylvester and a foxtrot - slow, slow, quick, quick, slow.

And your point is...?
>
> Allusion # 2 - I warned "Watch the portable on the beach - can cause
> impotence". Your reply, something like, "No fear there, my latest girl
> friend already has a son".

That is hardly a detailed exposition on the lady in question. More of an
aside that was pertinent to the conversation.

>
> See ?

No. I have no idea what you are talking about. But that's fairly usual as
far as I am concerned, with what passes for communication from you...

>But anyway this is not a 'Show and Tell Forum", although I just
> did it myself indicating to Doc on the difference between his love for
> his mother and my 'indifference'. So by all means keep your lips sealed.
> No obligation to tell us :-).

That's right. I do try to keep my responses pertinent to what I'm responding
to. I don't see any need to add to what I wrote to Daniel and I don't even
begin to understand how your post is supposed to add value to it, or even
what point you are trying to make. I said already, that if I had alluded to
ladies here, it was a slip. I then explained, (as much as I am ever going
to) what my position on that is. You seem to be saying I made a slip. As I
already acknowledged that thatwas a possibility, I fail to see your point.
>
> If it's any consolation - some two years or more back, 'Time' did an
> article on Alzheimer's. Bunch of nuns, possibly a teaching order, all
> clicking over seventy years of age. Still learning - keeps their minds
> supple. Then only yesterday same theme proposed in local paper - keep
> your mind active and you most certainly put off Alzheimer's happening
> quickly, if at all.

As I am not in need of consoling, it isn't. I do not need the example of a
group of elderly religious adherents to inspire me to keep my mind active.

>
> The human brain/memory is a mysterious mechanism.

Gosh. Really? Those poor brain surgeons who thought it is was all
straightforward...

>Eileen does the
> crossword from the w

ly (International) Express - that's the
> right-wing version of the left-wing Daily Mirror tabloid. (Poor old Max
> Aitkin, Lord Beaverbrook, the Canuck who became Winston's Minister of
> War Production, would turn in his grave seeing how his 'Express' has
gone).
>

Do you even realise you are babbling? It's like your thought process is a
runaway train that has to go down each and every siding.

You had my interest when you spoke about Eileen doing the crossword, lost it
totally when you digressed into Beaverbrook and newspaper ownership.

> Anyway Eileen is puzzling away - turns to me when she gets stuck on
> historical clues - most of the time I'm lucky. Occasionally she'll ask
> for help on literature. Clue was 'The 39 Steps' they wanted the 'hero'.
> A little thought, remembered author was John Buchan. Then I can
> visualize Robert Donat in the late Thirties black and white movie. Can
> also visualize Kenneth More doing a coloured version around the '50s. I
> believe the heroine was an attractive blond Continental actress - have
> absolutely no idea of her name.
>

That would be the very attractive Finnish lady, Taina Elg. (And no, I didn't
GOOGLE for it, my brain is not so impoverished by Alzheimers, as you appear
to suggest above, that I cannot remember it.)

> Didn't come like BAM ! Then remembered 'Richard Hannah'. "That's it",
> says Eileen, "It fits". I can chalk one up. (The letter combination was
> correct, but as it was a 'vertical' no way to verify the usage of the
> last two or three letters).
>
> Get into bed and lying there, Richard Hannah, Richard Hannah.... well
> sort of.... THEN ! Richard Hannay ! I'm not even sure I've even read the
> book - although name recall would suggest I have. How in Heaven's name
> did I manage to recall that minute piece of trivia - never used it
> before and very likely will never use it again.

It wouldn't matter whether you had read the book or not, if you saw the
movie, the name Richard Hannay would be part of your experience. Our brains
are not so mysterious that the mechanism of conscious versus subconscious is
not well understood.

What IS interesting (well, to me at least) is that you would obsess on the
solution after having believed you found it. Obviously, a part of you
realised the 'solution', wasn't. I think we all do that sometimes.

Could be advance symptoms of Alzheimers... if I could only remember what
they are....

Pete.

Pete Dashwood

2005-03-12, 8:55 pm

<docdwarf@panix.com> wrote in message news:d0urp8$314$1@panix5.panix.com...
> In article <8WtYd.646461$Xk.181699@pd7tw3no>,
> James J. Gavan <jgavandeletethis@shaw.ca> wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>
> Not only the human one, Mr Gavan... a few decades back, must have been in
> the mid-late 1980s, I remember speaking with a fellow I knew, a geriatric
> psychiatrist who was, in his mid-60's, quitting his private practise and
> designing/building - well, *he* wasn't building it, the building
> contractors were - a nursing-home/home-for-the-elderly/geezertorium. One
> of the touches he included was large boxes built out of railroad-ties,
> about 6 feet (1.8 meters) on a side and a bit less than 4 feet (1.2m)
> high, filled with dirt (earth)... boxes to which wheelchair-bound folks
> could roll up and do a little gardening, those old folks just love to get
> their fingers in the dirt with growing things... and it keeps the brain
> moving, as well.
>
> Anyhow, he told me of a study with geriatric mice, one group was put in a
> stimulus-rich environment - wheels to run on, tunnels and tubes, cunning
> devices which, when whacked just right, would yield up a pellet of special
> treat - and the other group in a stimulus-poor environment. Upon death
> the mice were autopsied/necropsied and their brains examined... and the
> ones in the stimulus-rich environment had brains with healthier, denser,
> more complex neurons and synapses while those from the poorer neighborhood
> had less-healthy, more 'senile' brains.
>
> *Then*... the experimenters took mice from the stimulus-poor environment
> and put some in the stimulus-rich one... and after death the ones in the
> poor environment still showed bad brains but the ones from the richer
> environment showed improvement... not as good as the ones who'd been there
> all along, granted, but still better than their sensorily-deprived
> neighbors.
>
> Curious, eh? 'Keep active and stay active' seems to be the lesson here...
> but there's a subtext of 'never too late' to be seen, also.
>

It is certainly the lesson for mice... :-) It MIGHT be a lesson for us as
well...

> [snip]
>
>
> As I mentioned in a post recently... there are some folks who have those
> 2:am 'thunderbolts' to solve problems and answer questions and there are
> others who sleep the night away in bliss... me, I hope to strive for a
> balance between the two.
>
> (Oh... and last year I finally purchased a digital video-disc (DVD)
> player... and just a few w

s ago I purchased from a discount-house bin a
> two-disc set, the Alfred Hitchcock Collector's Edition Vol. 2, with five
> films on two DVDs:
>
> The Thirty-Nine Steps
> The Man Who Knew Too Much
> Secret Agent
> Murder
> Young & Innocent
>
> The first two are the ones I know best... but it came to me, when watching
> Secret Agent, that back in those days Robert Young really *was* young, not
> the 'Marcus Welby, MD' Robert 'Old' so many folks knew.
>

They are running an Alfred Hitchcock season here late on Friday nights.
Recently it was "Yong & Innocent". I'd never seen it and was enthralled by
it. Apparently the 140 foot continuous pan to the twitching face of the
drummer was a movie first and gained Hitchcock much respect... (this was
1937). The manners and speech of the time, not to mention the clothes, cars,
trains, and hairdos were just a delight. It was also very apparent that the
gap between rich and priveleged and poor and not, was even wider then than
it is now. The Class system is still being dismantled in the UK, but
entertainment like this can show us that progress has definitely been made.

Pete.

James J. Gavan

2005-03-12, 8:55 pm

Pete Dashwood wrote:
> "James J. Gavan" <jgavandeletethis@shaw.ca> wrote in message
> news:8WtYd.646461$Xk.181699@pd7tw3no...
>
>
> try
>
>
> since
>
>
> less of
>
>
> fancy
>
>
> could
>
>
> good
>
>
> on
>
>
>
> I don't think so. Can't remember...
>
>
>
>
> And your point is...?
>
>
>
> That is hardly a detailed exposition on the lady in question. More of an
> aside that was pertinent to the conversation.
>
>
>
>
> No. I have no idea what you are talking about. But that's fairly usual as
> far as I am concerned, with what passes for communication from you...
>
>
>
>
> That's right. I do try to keep my responses pertinent to what I'm responding
> to. I don't see any need to add to what I wrote to Daniel and I don't even
> begin to understand how your post is supposed to add value to it, or even
> what point you are trying to make. I said already, that if I had alluded to
> ladies here, it was a slip. I then explained, (as much as I am ever going
> to) what my position on that is. You seem to be saying I made a slip. As I
> already acknowledged that thatwas a possibility, I fail to see your point.
>
>
>
> As I am not in need of consoling, it isn't. I do not need the example of a
> group of elderly religious adherents to inspire me to keep my mind active.
>
>
>
>
> Gosh. Really? Those poor brain surgeons who thought it is was all
> straightforward...
>
>
>
> gone).
>
>
> Do you even realise you are babbling? It's like your thought process is a
> runaway train that has to go down each and every siding.
>
> You had my interest when you spoke about Eileen doing the crossword, lost it
> totally when you digressed into Beaverbrook and newspaper ownership.
>
>
>
>
> That would be the very attractive Finnish lady, Taina Elg. (And no, I didn't
> GOOGLE for it, my brain is not so impoverished by Alzheimers, as you appear
> to suggest above, that I cannot remember it.)
>
>
>
>
> It wouldn't matter whether you had read the book or not, if you saw the
> movie, the name Richard Hannay would be part of your experience. Our brains
> are not so mysterious that the mechanism of conscious versus subconscious is
> not well understood.
>
> What IS interesting (well, to me at least) is that you would obsess on the
> solution after having believed you found it. Obviously, a part of you
> realised the 'solution', wasn't. I think we all do that sometimes.
>
> Could be advance symptoms of Alzheimers... if I could only remember what
> they are....
>
> Pete.
>
>
>
And of course as you would say, "I'm not your enemy, Jimmy. Really".

We sure have a real love-fest going on here. But I take your point. "I
musn't comment on the Oracle's wise words, nor the demise of COBOL, nor
components, nor.........".

Pete Dashwood

2005-03-13, 3:55 am

"LX-i" <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:dbb6e$423371fe$45491f85$25452@KNOLO
GY.NET...
> docdwarf@panix.com wrote:
a[color=darkred]
special[color=darkred]
neighborhood[color=darkred]
>
> But they were both just as dead... ;)
>
>
Reminded me of something I learned many years ago when I was young and
reckless (rather than just 'reckless'... :-))

I belonged to a car club and held a competition licence for rallying. There
was something the club instructors used to repeat to us over and over. (We
were supposed to be model drivers when off track, or non-competing, and
behave ourselves in a manner that no one could point the finger at our
driving on public roads...)

"This is the grave of Eustace Grey
Who died maintaining his right of way.
He was in the right
So he carried on...
But he's just as dead
As if he'd been wrong."

Still pertinent today, I think...

Pete.

> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ~ / \ / ~ Live from Montgomery, AL! ~
> ~ / \/ o ~ ~
> ~ / /\ - | ~ daniel@thebelowdomain ~
> ~ _____ / \ | ~ http://www.djs-consulting.com ~
> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
> ~ GEEKCODE 3.12 GCS/IT d s-:+ a C++ L++ E--- W++ N++ o? K- w$ ~
> ~ !O M-- V PS+ PE++ Y? !PGP t+ 5? X+ R* tv b+ DI++ D+ G- e ~
> ~ h---- r+++ z++++ ~
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>

Pete Dashwood

2005-03-13, 3:55 am

"James J. Gavan" <jgavandeletethis@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:4qLYd.655558$Xk.569818@pd7tw3no...
> Pete Dashwood wrote:
<snipped stupid exchanges>

>But I take your point. "I
> musn't comment on the Oracle's wise words, nor the demise of COBOL, nor
> components, nor.........".
>
On the contrary. Comment on whatever you want to. I have ALWAYS supported
CLC as an open forum for free speech.

(In fact, I see that role of this forum as being even more important than
discussing COBOL. That's why I don't get unwrapped about long off topic
passages that are of no interest to me whatsoever... like Canadian politics,
f'r'instance. I respect the rights of others, including you, to write about
whatever they want to write about, although it is probably good to at least
mention COBOL occasionally...)

I am not your enemy and I am not 'looking for trouble' but if your comments
are hostile, I shall probably respond in kind. The degree of sharpness will
depend on the original intention.

Pete.

docdwarf@panix.com

2005-03-13, 3:55 am

In article <dbb6e$423371fe$45491f85$25452@KNOLOGY.NET>,
LX-i <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote:
>docdwarf@panix.com wrote:
>
>But they were both just as dead... ;)

Kind of difficult to do cross-sectional studies on brains when they
aren't, last I looked.

DD

Pete Dashwood

2005-03-13, 8:55 am

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