April 11th, 2002. For most everyone on the planet a typical thursday. If any
of you have ever done a domain search on team.net, you may have seen something
along the lines of
Record last updated on blah-blah-blah
Record expires on blah-blah-blah
Record Created on 11-Apr-1991.
Yep, April 11th, 1991. Eleven years ago the Team.Net domain hit the ether.
Both the british-cars and the autox list existed in various forms for a few
years before this, but I happen to like the April 11th date. And who will
soon forget another 11th, that dark day seven months ago? Seven come eleven.
Seven come eleven - a phrase I've heard before in relation to throwing dice.
I'm not a gambler, so I can't say what the phrase really means. Of course
one could argue that just about everything we do, even if we just cower under
the covers all day, is a gamble of some sort or another.
Seven, eleven, just numbers - numbers that designate some of my favorite
Lotus cars, and if you throw in a '4' for April, you can make 1147, the
displacement of the early Spitfires, like the one I drove to Tinker Day last
saturday. Gee, 4 plus 7 is 11. One could prattle on for some time about
numbers, that is not my intention.
What I'm after is continued funding of the autox.team.net services. Old
hands on the lists may have been expecting this message for a while, folks
who've just joined probably have no idea who I am or what I'm going on about.
Basically, the roughly 100 lists served here under various domains are run
from a motley collection of various computer bits I've gathered over the
years, some scrounged from my job at the University of Utah, some purchased
with funds from previous funding drives. I'm the man behind the curtain.
Anyone remember my 'rats in the coffee' post?
And the pile of hardware is hooked to a DSL line in my basement, sending out
automotive related information around the globe. Network connectivity
pulls roughly $75 per month out of my wallet. Not an outrageous amount, but
it does add up. So twice a year, spring and fall, I solicit funds from
subscribers to the lists to cover the monthly charges and possibly get some
new hardware or another box of backup tapes or something.
This year, the 'something' could be fairly significant. As many of you have
noticed the archiving which had been taking place at Listquest no longer is
an option, they've gone belly.up it appears. If you point your web browser
to http://www.team.net/archive you may see that some of the lists have some
of the postings available in a browseable, searchable form. All lists using
Mailman for list management ( http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo ) have
archives in place, though they aren't yet searchable.
What I'd like to do is get ALL the posts from ALL the lists on line and
available. Doing so will require more disk space and more processing power.
I did get a clean, one owner, slightly used machine from a Triumph and
autocross fan who's been with the lists since the earth's crust cooled.
Trouble is, the box didn't have any CPUs in it. A Supermicro SGXP6DEG dual
CPU motherboard, nice redundant power supplies, 70 gigs of disk under a RAID
controller, but no CPUs and only 128 megs of RAM. So the plan for this
spring is to get some CPU chips and more memory in the box, and try to bring
it on line as the archive and web server. Or maybe the archive, web and mail
server, we shall see. All I need is a pair of 500 - 700 MHz SECC (Slot 1?
I'm not that up on Intel platform hardware) CPU boards, some more memory
and some time to get it all set up.
Which is where you come in. If you feel the benefit of being a subscriber to
one of the roughly 100 lists I manage is of value to you, and you happen to
have some dollars burning a hole in your pocket, consider donating them to
the cause. If you happen to be an American citizen who just sent off a nice
fat check to Uncle Sam, don't worry about sending in a contribution. If you
just signed up and don't yet have an idea of what you are getting into, don't
worry. If you think that the policies and procedures I've put in place
governing list behavior must be the work of the devil himself, or you gave
last time, or you still don't have an idea of who I am and what I do for the
lists don't worry. If you don't have any spare funds at the moment, or live
outside the US of A, or whatever, don't worry.
But if you do feel that what you are getting through this pile of old computer
stuff stashed in a Salt Lake City basement is actually worthwhile, consider
making a contribution to the fund drive. There are several ways to do so.
Send a check for $4 or $7 or $11.47 or $77.11 or whatever amount of US Dollars
you feel comfortable with, made out to Fat Chance Garage, to the address
Fat Chance Garage
PO Box 58333
Salt Lake City, UT 84158
==
Send a note with Visa or Mastercard info to the above address as well.
==
FAX Visa or Mastercard info to me at 801-355-5438
==
Contribute via PayPal [ http://www.paypal.com ] using the address
donations@autox.team.net
==
Point your web browser to http://www.team.net/posting.html which I promise to
update RealSoonNow, go to the bottom of the page and click on the 'Donate'
button. The logo only shows Visa and Mastercard, but I think they [Paypal]
accept Discover and American Express now. I'd try it to find out for sure,
but I can't pay my account from my account. Imagine that.
==
You can order Triumph parts from The Fat Chance Garage and the profit will
in one way or another assist in keeping the lists going. Of course, those
of you who may have sent a parts query my way are no doubt aware of the
level of customer service I provide when I'm wearing *that* hat. I'll
work on being more timely with my responses.
==
I'll also work on being more timely in acknowledging contributions of any
type, and not procrastinate so long. If you don't provide an email address
with your contribution, though, it could take a while.
One thought I've had regarding funding for the basic operations of the lists
is making archives for the various lists available on CDs for some nominal fee.
It is one possibility, assuming issues with format and such are worked out to
everyone's satisfaction. Any interest in that approach?
If you're willing to contribute, thanks in advance. If for whatever reason
you won't be contributing, don't worry, we'll keep on keepin' on.
mjb.
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