Category: Tech

X-Man

In the fun, bad old days of the Internet, technical experts were active on computer-related Usenet newsgroups. Back then, trolling someone was called flaming.

By 2000, most of the technology professionals and academics who weren’t already fed up with the commercialization of the Net, or been told by their employer to stay away from online forums, disappeared with the waning of Usenet. Since then, it’s mostly been know-nothings, usually well-meaning, trying to help those who know even less.

For a long time, I was limited to accessing the Internet using ProComm for DOS with a modem over a UNIX Shell account. Downloads were done using the XMODEM, YMODEM, and ZMODEM file transfer protocols. As you might guess, XMODEM was developed first.

I once followed a Usenet thread on comp.dcom.modems where a user was having trouble with a YMODEM transfer. Someone who seemed knowledgeable offered a suggestion that sounded solid to me.

The user flamed him, saying his suggestion was stupid and he didn’t know anything. The person he flamed was Ward Christensen, who wrote the original version of XMODEM. Ward coined the term YMODEM and he created the first Bulletin Board System. Christensen has passed away.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/10/ward-christensen-bbs-inventor-and-architect-of-our-online-age-dies-at-age-78/

Here’s a story I told on LinkedIn, about a technical heavy-hitter I connected with in 1995, when the Internet was still what it was. Before they let the rabble in.

Continue reading X-Man

Archive.Down

I am a frequent visitor to the Internet Archive. A generous amount of its content has been used here. The site, at archive.org, has been shut down since last week, following a hack.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/internet-archive-hacked-data-breach-impacts-31-million-users/

Will the archive be available again? Is Wikipedia next? If Trump is elected, what online services will he ban, with the impunity of immunity from prosecution?

Capitol Jay

This is a remembrance I have submitted for an obituary:

https://www.hochfuneralhome.com/obituaries/john-lemay-2

I have quite a few records that Capitol reissued into the early 80s. As I listened to them, I noticed that some had a consistently distinctive and appealing sound quality. It was full and smooth and, to my preference, not overly bright. In the run-out grooves, those records were all signed “Jay Lemay,” “J. Lemay,” or simply “Jay,” as seen in the photo. I always wanted to tell Lemay how much I appreciated his eminently listenable work as a mastering engineer.

West Wrong

Here’s a return to blogging form. For suggested viewing during my treatments and convalescence, my buddy Bismo recommended The West Wing, a show that — gasp! — I’d never watched.

I’ve seen the first episode, and I thought it was a classic example of “trying too hard.” As a political soap opera, the writing is gimmicky, with some silly, overwrought “film school” dialog. The first three scenes in this video are examples from S1 E1, ending with Tim “Jonny Quest” Matheson getting chewed out. The chief of staff can get away with treating the VP this way? Well, probably during Trump’s administration.

Introducing so many characters must have been a challenge, but it’s nonetheless paced much too quickly. The overuse of “walking with the camera” direction is very annoying. Maybe they thought that tours of their impressive sets would help to sell the series. It’s made worse by having way too many extras rushing back and forth in obviously choreographed timing. Seriously, there are that many people packed into the White House, running around every second of the day? The private lives and work lives of West Wing’s characters are, of course, mashed together. But every TV series does that, so I’ll give it a pass on that count. What’s up with the incongruous “you’re in a magical place” music? It reminds me of the superb series Brideshead Revisited, where the music is perfectly complementary.

West Wing’s pilot episode improves during the moments when it slows down, like in the scenes above, and when Martin Sheen’s character is introduced. Suddenly it’s less hectic and becomes more watchable. Which I suppose was the idea, highlighting how everything stops and everybody shuts up when the president walks in the room. All of the praise for the series must be deserved, so it must have found its footing, and I’ll keep watching. It’s now on the MAX streaming service.

In another TV matter, Verizon says they’re sending me a new DVR and, maybe, a router too, that I don’t want or need. Everything is exactly as I want it already, but I must install the new gear within 20 days to avoid losing television service. Which means losing all of the TCM recordings in HD I have on the old DVR. This could be when I finally drop cable TV and lose access to Watch TCM. I’m not feeling well enough to deal with it on such short notice.