31 Mar
2017
31 Mar
'17
8:03 a.m.
On Thu, 30 Mar 2017, Warren Toomey via Uucp wrote:
To be sent privately...
--
Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will
suffer."
On 03/29/2017 11:09 PM, Dave Horsfall via Uucp wrote:
And I still bear the scars from the aus.bizarre war... And I'll bet that
not many people remember that little episode :-)
Let the cancel/rmgroup/flame wars begin :-)
:-P (Been too busy
to set up "utzoo" yet, so if anyone is desperate for it
then they can have it instead; my long-term goal is to run SimH on a
RasbPi but first I have to afford one...)
What's your address? I've got an unused Raspberry Pi that I'll send you
(or anyone else). ;-) First come, first serve. 
5 Apr
5 Apr
8:25 a.m.
New subject: [Uucp] utzoo
On 2017-Mar-31 17:03:24 +1100, Dave Horsfall <dave(a)horsfall.org> wrote:
On Thu, 30 Mar 2017, Warren Toomey via Uucp wrote:
Who is going to take the roll of "Iron Bar"?
--
Peter Jeremy
On 03/29/2017 11:09 PM, Dave Horsfall via Uucp
wrote:
And I still bear the scars from the aus.bizarre war... And I'll bet that
not many people remember that little episode :-) Let the cancel/rmgroup/flame wars begin :-)
:-P 
6 Apr
6 Apr
12:29 a.m.
New subject: [Uucp] utzoo
Ah, 'Iron Bar'. We shared an office at Sydney University, Department
of Computer Science from 1987-1990. I don't recall if John was still
engulfed in the flame wars during that period as I wasn't party to any of
it.
On Wed, Apr 5, 2017 at 4:25 PM, Peter Jeremy <peter(a)rulingia.com> wrote:
On 2017-Mar-31 17:03:24 +1100, Dave Horsfall
<dave(a)horsfall.org> wrote:
On Thu, 30 Mar 2017, Warren Toomey via Uucp
wrote:
Who is going to take the roll of "Iron Bar"?
--
Peter Jeremy
On 03/29/2017 11:09 PM, Dave Horsfall via Uucp
wrote:
And I still bear the scars from the aus.bizarre war... And I'll bet that
not many people remember that little episode :-) Let the cancel/rmgroup/flame wars begin :-)
:-P
12:52 a.m.
New subject: [Uucp] utzoo
On Wed, 5 Apr 2017, Peter Jeremy wrote:
Oh gawd... It was a sad day when we lost him; I really missed him.
--
Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will
suffer."
And I still
bear the scars from the aus.bizarre war... And I'll bet
that not many people remember that little episode :-)
Who is going to take the roll of "Iron Bar"?
1:27 a.m.
New subject: [Uucp] utzoo
John was certainly...different.
Here is a file I found in his home directory after
he was no longer with us:
A Short History
of
John Mackin
or
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and
Love the Machine
I was born in the dawn of computing, three
days after the first FORTRAN compiler became
operational. My first words were "BALR R4".
My introduction to modern computing was on
a DECsystem-10 (which shall remain nameless).
Continuing down the track with Digital
hardware, I found out about PDP-11s and acquired
a reputation as the Man who could Answer Hard
Questions. I became completely nocturnal in
order to get better system response and avoid
landlords. I ate lots of pizzas, and knew the
octal encoding for any -10 or -11 instruction.
But there was something missing.
In 1977 I saw Level 6 UNIX (a trademark, of
course, of AT&T Bell Laboratories). It was
queer, and it was very buggy, and it was
running on a very unstable 11/40. But it
had that ``je ne sais quoi''. From that
time on, it's been a never-ending progression:
through V7, system III, PWB, AUSAM and Berkeley
to System V, and now Release 2.0. Sometimes
advocating and sometimes resisting creeping
featurism, I can still Answer Hard Questions
(and amazingly trivial ones too). The secret
is to read the manuals -- but I long ago despaired
of getting others to do that.
My interests, apart from UNIX (you mean there IS
something apart from UNIX?), are -- well -- I'm
sure I USED to have some ... ...
On Thu, Apr 6, 2017 at 8:52 AM, Dave Horsfall <dave(a)horsfall.org> wrote:
On Wed, 5 Apr 2017, Peter Jeremy wrote:
Oh gawd... It was a sad day when we lost him; I really missed him.
--
Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will
suffer."
And I
still bear the scars from the aus.bizarre war... And I'll bet
that not many people remember that little episode :-)
Who is going to take the roll of "Iron Bar"?
1:44 a.m.
New subject: [Uucp] utzoo
On 2017-Apr-06 08:52:29 +1000, Dave Horsfall <dave(a)horsfall.org> wrote:
On Wed, 5 Apr 2017, Peter Jeremy wrote:
> >And I still bear the scars from the aus.bizarre war... And I'll bet
> >that not many people remember that little episode :-)
>
> Who is going to take the roll of "Iron Bar"?
That should be "role", of course.
Oh gawd... It was a sad day when we lost him; I really
missed him.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.food.cooking/0io1y7c-bTI was
the first hit I found to his obituary.
Does anyone know what happened to Rev Dr Phil Herring?
--
Peter Jeremy
2:25 a.m.
New subject: [Uucp] utzoo
On Thu, 6 Apr 2017, Peter Jeremy wrote:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.food.cooking/0io1y7c-bTI was
the first hit I found to his obituary.
Funny how much you find out about someone after they've gone; I didn't
know that he was a US citizen, and was into Amateur radio (anyone know his
callsign?) for example.
Does anyone know what happened to Rev Dr Phil Herring?
Now there was a character; last I heard (some years back) the good RevDoc
had left Wollongong Uni and was wearing a suit. It's possible that he's
the one mentioned at LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-herring-27553894 as it mentions CompSci
at Wollongong Uni...
--
Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will
suffer."
7:34 a.m.
New subject: [Uucp] utzoo
On Wed, 5 Apr 2017, Peter Jeremy wrote:
> >And I still bear the scars from the aus.bizarre war... And I'll bet
> >that not many people remember that little episode :-)
Dave Horsfall <dave(a)horsfall.org> wrote:
Who is going
to take the roll of "Iron Bar"?
Oh gawd... It was a sad day when we lost him; I really missed him.
7:42 a.m.
New subject: [Uucp] utzoo
arnold(a)skeeve.com wrote:
What's the story here, for us non-Aussies? I have no clue as to what
either aus.bizarre was or who "Iron Bar" was.
Thanks,
Arnold
OK, so now I know that Iron Bar was John Mackin, a name that rings
a bell from the distant past. What was the aus.bizarre story?
THanks,
Arnold
On Wed, 5 Apr
2017, Peter Jeremy wrote:
> >And I still bear the scars from the aus.bizarre war... And I'll bet
> >that not many people remember that little episode :-)
Dave Horsfall <dave(a)horsfall.org> wrote:
Who is
going to take the roll of "Iron Bar"?
Oh gawd... It was a sad day when we lost him; I really missed him.
8:11 a.m.
New subject: [Uucp] utzoo
On Wed, 5 Apr 2017, arnold(a)skeeve.com wrote:
OK, so now I know that Iron Bar was John Mackin, a
name that rings a
bell from the distant past. What was the aus.bizarre story?
Ah; as I said, I still bear the scars...
Basically, I tried to create aus.bizarre (modelled after alt.bizarre) but
some did not like it, and promptly removed it. To cut a long story short,
it involved a newgroup/rmgroup war, which sadly I lost :-(
It also just about brought ACSnet to its knees, because I automated my
side of things (I don't know what John did, but it was likely automated
too). I guess you had to be there...
After that, though, Iron Bar and I became friends.
--
Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will
suffer."
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days inactive
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9 comments
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participants (4)
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arnold＠skeeve.com -
Dave Horsfall -
Noel Hunt -
Peter Jeremy