• Beagle down again

    From jillery@21:1/5 to All on Thu Nov 3 00:28:51 2022
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgreig@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google
    reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgreig@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to 69jp...@gmail.com on Thu Nov 3 05:07:35 2022
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down
    in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.


    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.

    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Martin Harran@21:1/5 to peter2nyikos@gmail.com on Thu Nov 3 14:02:06 2022
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2nyikos@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote: >> No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google
    reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down
    in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.

    IMBW but as I understand it, Beagle is a voluntary activity by DIG and
    has no official role in the U. of Toronto.



    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.

    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If you are that unhappy with the service, I suggest you ask for your
    money back - I'm sure they will be happy to give you a full refund.


    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From jillery@21:1/5 to peter2nyikos@gmail.com on Thu Nov 3 09:46:00 2022
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2nyikos@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote: >> No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google
    reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down
    in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.


    False equivalence. Your university almost certainly doesn't support a moderated Usenet froup which requires the use of an email server
    specifically for that purpose.


    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.

    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.


    Incorrect. The initiating events are whatever causes Beagle to become comatose. A later step is to notify a person of that initiating
    event. Another step is for a person to identify and diagnose that
    initiating event. The final step is to restore Beagle back to working condition. What you describe above is at most the penultimate step
    and in any case is of low priority to all others.


    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Access to gmail doesn't help when its inbox is overflowing.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to martin...@gmail.com on Thu Nov 3 07:33:02 2022
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:02:07 AM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote: >> No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google
    reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down >in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.

    IMBW but as I understand it, Beagle is a voluntary activity by DIG and
    has no official role in the U. of Toronto.

    Most of my use of university email is "voluntary" in that it does
    a lousy job of discriminating between spam and "official" email,
    including intra-departmental email, which it often sends to the
    "Deleted items" folder -- never notifying me of that, of course.

    Anyway, if you are correct about the use of a different server for
    Beagle and personal email, we are then left in the dark as to what
    he is using for personal email.



    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.

    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If you are that unhappy with the service, I suggest you ask for your
    money back - I'm sure they will be happy to give you a full refund.

    Looks like you aren't using Google Groups, but are instead
    using a server for which you pay a fee.

    With the original Google Groups, and the original New Google Groups,
    I was able to find such things out by accessing beaucoup d' headers,
    but with what I call "Newest Google Groups" this headers service has been eliminated.

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to Lawyer Daggett on Thu Nov 3 09:01:25 2022
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 11:37:23 AM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 8:07:36 AM UTC-4, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.

    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.
    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos


    Facts: David lives and works in Europe. Talk origins is not moderated by any computers
    present at U Toronto anymore.

    Too bad I didn't see this before I did my last post (seconds before this one came in).

    For a few years now, the computer running the servers has
    been an Amazon Web Services client (or equivalent). I don't know the full specifics but
    that's how virtualization works, the hardware becomes interchangeable. Continued references
    to the U Toronto or the Professor who used to loan space and an internet connection for the
    talk.origins moderator to run the service is outdated.

    I take it you are referring to Larry Moran, the Sandwalk man. Do you happen to know whether he is
    still at U. Toronto (not that this matters, under the circumstances)?

    That former Professor is also retired
    and no longer controls the space where the computer used to be.

    He should have some privileges as Professor Emeritus, but I don't
    know how far those reach.


    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Lawyer Daggett@21:1/5 to peter2...@gmail.com on Thu Nov 3 08:37:22 2022
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 8:07:36 AM UTC-4, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.
    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down
    in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.
    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.
    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos

    Facts: David lives and works in Europe. Talk origins is not moderated by any computers
    present at U Toronto anymore. For a few years now, the computer running the servers has
    been an Amazon Web Services client (or equivalent). I don't know the full specifics but
    that's how virtualization works, the hardware becomes interchangeable. Continued references
    to the U Toronto or the Professor who used to loan space and an internet connection for the
    talk.origins moderator to run the service is outdated. That former Professor is also retired
    and no longer controls the space where the computer used to be.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to 69jp...@gmail.com on Thu Nov 3 08:51:02 2022
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 9:46:02 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote: >> No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google
    reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down >in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.

    False equivalence. Your university almost certainly doesn't support a moderated Usenet froup which requires the use of an email server
    specifically for that purpose.

    Not clear what you mean by this. Moderated newsgroups do not require
    anything special in the way of email servers. I posted to the moderated newsgroup sci.bio.evolution (now defunct) for years with ordinary email address.

    BTW talk.origins is not moderated in the usual sense
    (which generally involves long wait times for your post to show up).


    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.

    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up

    Call the above Plan A. Now comes Plan B:

    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    Incorrect. The initiating events are whatever causes Beagle to become comatose. A later step is to notify a person of that initiating
    event. Another step is for a person to identify and diagnose that
    initiating event.

    If these steps (Plan A) take longer than 12 hours, DIG could still use Plan B, which I still think is worth the trouble.


    The final step is to restore Beagle back to working
    condition. What you describe above is at most the penultimate step
    and in any case is of low priority to all others.

    "low priority" suggests that it might be futile to try to reach DIG, but
    do keep trying if you think of other ways, please.

    Have you tried his colleague Larry Moran, the Sandwalk man,
    to see whether he could personally ask DIG about it?


    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Access to gmail doesn't help when its inbox is overflowing.

    One does not need gmail to access Google Groups; it's only that it streamlines the process.
    I accessed GG for ca. a full decade with non-Google email addresses.


    Peter Nyikos

    PS the downtime is now ca. 27 hours old, and I expect some more t.o. regulars to trickle into s.b.p.,
    which I call "talk.origins in exile" whenever Beagle is down (and before it, Darwin).

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From *Hemidactylus*@21:1/5 to Peter Nyikos on Thu Nov 3 16:19:47 2022
    Peter Nyikos <peter2nyikos@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 11:37:23 AM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 8:07:36 AM UTC-4, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November >>>> 2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google
    reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device. >>>> If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down >>> in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.

    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.
    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break
    the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos


    Facts: David lives and works in Europe. Talk origins is not moderated by any computers
    present at U Toronto anymore.

    Too bad I didn't see this before I did my last post (seconds before this one came in).

    For a few years now, the computer running the servers has
    been an Amazon Web Services client (or equivalent). I don't know the full specifics but
    that's how virtualization works, the hardware becomes interchangeable.
    Continued references
    to the U Toronto or the Professor who used to loan space and an internet
    connection for the
    talk.origins moderator to run the service is outdated.

    I take it you are referring to Larry Moran, the Sandwalk man. Do you
    happen to know whether he is
    still at U. Toronto (not that this matters, under the circumstances)?

    That former Professor is also retired
    and no longer controls the space where the computer used to be.

    He should have some privileges as Professor Emeritus, but I don't
    know how far those reach.

    He’s busy with a book and battling the dark forces of ENCODE. Being
    retired, checking into whether talk.origins is operational is probably very
    low on the list of his concerns.

    I dunno if DIG has a trigger that tells him Beagle is tits up. Apparently
    not. The active engagement I see is when he’s checking if BSD updates
    borked the system.

    Guess this adds more suspense to Chez Watt results.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Martin Harran@21:1/5 to peter2nyikos@gmail.com on Thu Nov 3 17:51:27 2022
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 07:33:02 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2nyikos@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:02:07 AM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote: >> On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google
    reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down >> >in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.

    IMBW but as I understand it, Beagle is a voluntary activity by DIG and
    has no official role in the U. of Toronto.

    Most of my use of university email is "voluntary" in that it does
    a lousy job of discriminating between spam and "official" email,
    including intra-departmental email, which it often sends to the
    "Deleted items" folder -- never notifying me of that, of course.

    Anyway, if you are correct about the use of a different server for
    Beagle and personal email, we are then left in the dark as to what
    he is using for personal email.



    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.

    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If you are that unhappy with the service, I suggest you ask for your
    money back - I'm sure they will be happy to give you a full refund.

    Looks like you aren't using Google Groups, but are instead
    using a server for which you pay a fee.


    What on earth has that to do with Beagle?

    With the original Google Groups, and the original New Google Groups,
    I was able to find such things out by accessing beaucoup d' headers,
    but with what I call "Newest Google Groups" this headers service has been eliminated.

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to All on Thu Nov 3 10:36:21 2022
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:19:53 PM UTC-4, *Hemidactylus* wrote:
    Peter Nyikos <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 11:37:23 AM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 8:07:36 AM UTC-4, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November >>>> 2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to >>>> notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google >>>> reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC >>>> the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device. >>>> If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would >>>> be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the >>>> vet.

    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down
    in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.

    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or >>>> if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice. >>> We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break >>> the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos


    Facts: David lives and works in Europe. Talk origins is not moderated by any computers
    present at U Toronto anymore.

    Too bad I didn't see this before I did my last post (seconds before this one came in).

    For a few years now, the computer running the servers has
    been an Amazon Web Services client (or equivalent). I don't know the full specifics but
    that's how virtualization works, the hardware becomes interchangeable.
    Continued references
    to the U Toronto or the Professor who used to loan space and an internet >> connection for the
    talk.origins moderator to run the service is outdated.

    I take it you are referring to Larry Moran, the Sandwalk man. Do you happen to know whether he is
    still at U. Toronto (not that this matters, under the circumstances)?

    That former Professor is also retired
    and no longer controls the space where the computer used to be.

    He should have some privileges as Professor Emeritus, but I don't
    know how far those reach.

    He’s busy with a book and battling the dark forces of ENCODE.

    In addition to Wikipedia? or in place of it?

    I'm referring to the t.o. thread,
    Re: Larry and Wikipedia go at it again
    while people were still on topic there.


    Being retired, checking into whether talk.origins is operational is probably very
    low on the list of his concerns.

    I dunno if DIG has a trigger that tells him Beagle is tits up. Apparently not. The active engagement I see is when he’s checking if BSD updates borked the system.

    IOW, there's no telling how much longer s.b.p. will double as
    "talk.origins in exile." Since I said more regulars from s.b.p.
    can be expected to trickle in, you showed up.


    And now, you've started us on one of the "exiled" topics:

    Guess this adds more suspense to Chez Watt results.

    It does. I only got around to looking at the voting thread after Beagle went down,
    and the people who had posted on the voting thread hadn't bothered to vote before it went down.


    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to martin...@gmail.com on Thu Nov 3 12:04:12 2022
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 1:51:29 PM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 07:33:02 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:02:07 AM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November >> >> 2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google >> >> reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device. >> >> If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would >> >> be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down >> >in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.

    IMBW but as I understand it, Beagle is a voluntary activity by DIG and
    has no official role in the U. of Toronto.

    Most of my use of university email is "voluntary" in that it does
    a lousy job of discriminating between spam and "official" email,
    including intra-departmental email, which it often sends to the
    "Deleted items" folder -- never notifying me of that, of course.

    Anyway, if you are correct about the use of a different server for
    Beagle and personal email, we are then left in the dark as to what
    he is using for personal email.



    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.

    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If you are that unhappy with the service, I suggest you ask for your
    money back - I'm sure they will be happy to give you a full refund.

    Looks like you aren't using Google Groups, but are instead
    using a server for which you pay a fee.

    What on earth has that to do with Beagle?

    It has about as much to do with it as your comment to which
    it is a response.

    Anyway, you might as well settle down to participating in
    "talk.origins in exile," like Hemi and I did on the topic of Chez Watt.

    With the original Google Groups, and the original New Google Groups,
    I was able to find such things out by accessing beaucoup d' headers,
    but with what I call "Newest Google Groups" this headers service has been eliminated.

    By "such things" I meant such things as header lines telling us that the posting host
    was "eternal September," etc. as well as message-IDs.

    By denying us access to message-IDs, "Newest Google Groups" is putting us at the
    mercy of what Wikipedia calls "url rot". When Google took over Deja News to turn it into
    "Old Google Groups," untold myriads of urls instantly became obsolete.
    But even that is dwarfed by what happened to all the old Netscape urls.

    Sic transit gloria mundi.


    Peter Nyikos

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Lawyer Daggett@21:1/5 to Lawyer Daggett on Thu Nov 3 12:14:35 2022
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 11:37:23 AM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 8:07:36 AM UTC-4, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.
    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.
    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.
    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos
    Facts: David lives and works in Europe. Talk origins is not moderated by any computers
    present at U Toronto anymore. For a few years now, the computer running the servers has
    been an Amazon Web Services client (or equivalent). I don't know the full specifics but
    that's how virtualization works, the hardware becomes interchangeable. Continued references
    to the U Toronto or the Professor who used to loan space and an internet connection for the
    talk.origins moderator to run the service is outdated. That former Professor is also retired
    and no longer controls the space where the computer used to be.

    I'm posting this is hopes of shutting this thread down because it doesn't belong here, certainly
    not the meta discussions and ill-informed speculations.

    talk.origins is a robo moderated newsgroup that uses a number of programs to receive, process,
    and relay usenet posts, discarding some posts that fail moderation criteria. In ancient times, it
    mattered that the software was resident on a particular physical computer so its specific
    internet connection and the hardware it ran on mattered. That was then, this is now. Now, the
    software that performs the moderation runs through an Amazon Web Services client. At least
    in concept, this is a virtualized implementation. That makes it hardware independent in the sense
    that these programs run within a hosting program that is in most respects like their operating
    system. The same physical computing device can run multiple virtual computers. Any of the
    virtual computers can be moved to a different physical computer. If physical computing hardware
    fails, babysitting software generally detects the fault and simply moves the virtual computer to
    different hardware. In some cases, the same virtual computer can span multiple physical computers
    (not important to talk.origins which has very light duty).

    I may misstate some details here but the software works like this. There is an email server component.
    This is a piece of software that receives emails addressed to it. A simple email server will typically
    process an incoming mail message, format it and save it in a database (perhaps on the same
    hardware but in a modern world often a different virtual implementation that very likely is running
    on separate hardware which saves it on network storage). Email servers are also capable of
    recognizing special types of incoming email and routing them for additional processing. For example,
    the talk.origins server is parameterized to recognize that an incoming message has the formatting
    of a usenet post to talk.origins and has further parameters to send it to another program for processing.
    I believe there is a standard bit of unix software in use as that called innd (not sure of name). That software
    in turn has parameterization that can invoke yet another piece of software to process the message.
    For talk.origins, that yet another bit of code is the robomod software. It adds the equivalent of a verification
    stamp that says the post has been approved by the moderator then sends it back out to usenet servers
    for subsequent propagation as happens with non-moderated newsgroups.

    The sequence is roughly client software takes user generated post, sends it to usenet server. Usenet
    server checks to see if post is to moderated newsgroup, if yes (and not "approved" yet), routes post to
    moderator's email. talk.origins email server gets message, processes header and passes on to next
    processing code, that code invokes robomod script and for good submissions adds approval header,
    sends back to usenet server, usenet server propagates message. Along this path, other aspects of the
    internet are working to translate routing parameters to various physical locations using the protocols
    of the internet. These protocols are capable of dynamically adjusting the mapping of named entities,
    like beagle.org to the physical or virtual location of that "computer".

    talk.origins moved to an Amazon Web Services computing solution back in 2017 for multiple reasons.
    One is that the administrator of the hardware had moved on so wasn't around to fix simple things
    in a timely manner, for example, the old physical server Darwin once had the physical internet cable
    come unattached when a cleaning crew came through to do something like clean the blinds. It took
    about a week for the admin/moderator to get access to the locked room where the box was housed
    (and given free internet access). Further, that location was being lost due to an impending retirement.
    And more reasons like the fact that virtualized services are simply the right way to go and should
    require the least maintenance, something to consider when it's all voluntary service. There is a cost
    of renting the AWS client and paying for the domain name but there was an early benefactor who
    agreed to cover the modest expense. I think the moderator picks it up these days.

    I'm sure I've scrambled a detail or two as the last time I ran a mail server doing something similar
    (send in a pair of sequences with the subject "Align" and it would run alignment software on
    properly formatted sequences in the message body and then send back the result as a return message)
    I was saying the last time I did that was in 1989. I've helped others virtualize things for bioinformatic
    needs ten years ago but wasn't as hands on.

    The fix to getting talk.origins up again will likely be simple once the moderator knows it needs to
    be done and has time to log in and restart things. Of course weirdness can occur if some admin
    blocks beagle from sending or receiving mail because of some confusion, or some automatic
    software update overwrites a parameter that needs to be custom set. But the main issue is that
    the moderator works for free in his spare time and he has a job and a life that takes precedent,
    or at least should.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From *Hemidactylus*@21:1/5 to Lawyer Daggett on Thu Nov 3 19:29:28 2022
    Lawyer Daggett <j.nobel.daggett@gmail.com> wrote:

    [snip]

    talk.origins moved to an Amazon Web Services computing solution back in
    2017 for multiple reasons.
    One is that the administrator of the hardware had moved on so wasn't
    around to fix simple things
    in a timely manner, for example, the old physical server Darwin once had
    the physical internet cable
    come unattached when a cleaning crew came through to do something like
    clean the blinds. It took
    about a week for the admin/moderator to get access to the locked room
    where the box was housed
    (and given free internet access). Further, that location was being lost
    due to an impending retirement.

    There goes my theory that Larry had “inadvertently” kicked out the power plug of the UPS from the wall socket. Or dropped a stapler on the UPS power button. Stuff Waldorf might have done from the balcony seats when Fozzie
    was on stage.

    Do you happen to know how close his pending book _What’s In Your Genome_ is to publication? Asking for a friend.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to peter2...@gmail.com on Thu Nov 3 13:24:47 2022
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:04:13 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 1:51:29 PM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 07:33:02 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:02:07 AM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to >> >> notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google >> >> reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC >> >> the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would >> >> be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the >> >> vet.

    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down
    in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.

    IMBW but as I understand it, Beagle is a voluntary activity by DIG and >> has no official role in the U. of Toronto.

    Most of my use of university email is "voluntary" in that it does
    a lousy job of discriminating between spam and "official" email, >including intra-departmental email, which it often sends to the
    "Deleted items" folder -- never notifying me of that, of course.

    Anyway, if you are correct about the use of a different server for
    Beagle and personal email, we are then left in the dark as to what
    he is using for personal email.



    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or >> >> if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice. >> >
    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If you are that unhappy with the service, I suggest you ask for your
    money back - I'm sure they will be happy to give you a full refund.

    Looks like you aren't using Google Groups, but are instead
    using a server for which you pay a fee.

    What on earth has that to do with Beagle?
    It has about as much to do with it as your comment to which
    it is a response.

    Anyway, you might as well settle down to participating in
    "talk.origins in exile," like Hemi and I did on the topic of Chez Watt.
    With the original Google Groups, and the original New Google Groups,
    I was able to find such things out by accessing beaucoup d' headers,
    but with what I call "Newest Google Groups" this headers service has been eliminated.
    By "such things" I meant such things as header lines telling us that the posting host
    was "eternal September," etc. as well as message-IDs.

    By denying us access to message-IDs, "Newest Google Groups" is putting us at the
    mercy of what Wikipedia calls "url rot". When Google took over Deja News to turn it into
    "Old Google Groups," untold myriads of urls instantly became obsolete.
    But even that is dwarfed by what happened to all the old Netscape urls.

    Sic transit gloria mundi.


    Peter Nyikos
    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both groups are nearly dead in any
    event.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From jillery@21:1/5 to j.nobel.daggett@gmail.com on Thu Nov 3 17:47:55 2022
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 12:14:35 -0700 (PDT), Lawyer Daggett <j.nobel.daggett@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 11:37:23 AM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 8:07:36 AM UTC-4, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November >> > > 2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google >> > > reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device. >> > > If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would >> > > be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.
    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down >> > in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.
    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.
    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos
    Facts: David lives and works in Europe. Talk origins is not moderated by any computers
    present at U Toronto anymore. For a few years now, the computer running the servers has
    been an Amazon Web Services client (or equivalent). I don't know the full specifics but
    that's how virtualization works, the hardware becomes interchangeable. Continued references
    to the U Toronto or the Professor who used to loan space and an internet connection for the
    talk.origins moderator to run the service is outdated. That former Professor is also retired
    and no longer controls the space where the computer used to be.

    I'm posting this is hopes of shutting this thread down because it doesn't belong here, certainly
    not the meta discussions and ill-informed speculations.

    talk.origins is a robo moderated newsgroup that uses a number of programs to receive, process,
    and relay usenet posts, discarding some posts that fail moderation criteria. In ancient times, it
    mattered that the software was resident on a particular physical computer so its specific
    internet connection and the hardware it ran on mattered. That was then, this is now. Now, the
    software that performs the moderation runs through an Amazon Web Services client. At least
    in concept, this is a virtualized implementation. That makes it hardware independent in the sense
    that these programs run within a hosting program that is in most respects like their operating
    system. The same physical computing device can run multiple virtual computers. Any of the
    virtual computers can be moved to a different physical computer. If physical computing hardware
    fails, babysitting software generally detects the fault and simply moves the virtual computer to
    different hardware. In some cases, the same virtual computer can span multiple physical computers
    (not important to talk.origins which has very light duty).

    I may misstate some details here but the software works like this. There is an email server component.
    This is a piece of software that receives emails addressed to it. A simple email server will typically
    process an incoming mail message, format it and save it in a database (perhaps on the same
    hardware but in a modern world often a different virtual implementation that very likely is running
    on separate hardware which saves it on network storage). Email servers are also capable of
    recognizing special types of incoming email and routing them for additional processing. For example,
    the talk.origins server is parameterized to recognize that an incoming message has the formatting
    of a usenet post to talk.origins and has further parameters to send it to another program for processing.
    I believe there is a standard bit of unix software in use as that called innd (not sure of name). That software
    in turn has parameterization that can invoke yet another piece of software to process the message.
    For talk.origins, that yet another bit of code is the robomod software. It adds the equivalent of a verification
    stamp that says the post has been approved by the moderator then sends it back out to usenet servers
    for subsequent propagation as happens with non-moderated newsgroups.

    The sequence is roughly client software takes user generated post, sends it to usenet server. Usenet
    server checks to see if post is to moderated newsgroup, if yes (and not "approved" yet), routes post to
    moderator's email. talk.origins email server gets message, processes header and passes on to next
    processing code, that code invokes robomod script and for good submissions adds approval header,
    sends back to usenet server, usenet server propagates message. Along this path, other aspects of the
    internet are working to translate routing parameters to various physical locations using the protocols
    of the internet. These protocols are capable of dynamically adjusting the mapping of named entities,
    like beagle.org to the physical or virtual location of that "computer".

    talk.origins moved to an Amazon Web Services computing solution back in 2017 for multiple reasons.
    One is that the administrator of the hardware had moved on so wasn't around to fix simple things
    in a timely manner, for example, the old physical server Darwin once had the physical internet cable
    come unattached when a cleaning crew came through to do something like clean the blinds. It took
    about a week for the admin/moderator to get access to the locked room where the box was housed
    (and given free internet access). Further, that location was being lost due to an impending retirement.
    And more reasons like the fact that virtualized services are simply the right way to go and should
    require the least maintenance, something to consider when it's all voluntary service. There is a cost
    of renting the AWS client and paying for the domain name but there was an early benefactor who
    agreed to cover the modest expense. I think the moderator picks it up these days.

    I'm sure I've scrambled a detail or two as the last time I ran a mail server doing something similar
    (send in a pair of sequences with the subject "Align" and it would run alignment software on
    properly formatted sequences in the message body and then send back the result as a return message)
    I was saying the last time I did that was in 1989. I've helped others virtualize things for bioinformatic
    needs ten years ago but wasn't as hands on.

    The fix to getting talk.origins up again will likely be simple once the moderator knows it needs to
    be done and has time to log in and restart things. Of course weirdness can occur if some admin
    blocks beagle from sending or receiving mail because of some confusion, or some automatic
    software update overwrites a parameter that needs to be custom set. But the main issue is that
    the moderator works for free in his spare time and he has a job and a life that takes precedent,
    or at least should.


    Thank you for the very comprehensive review of the relevant historical
    and technical issues.

    WRT to this thread being off-topic and not belonging in SBP, that is technically correct. However, for the technical reasons described in
    the OP, and because both froups have many users in common, SBP became
    a defacto back channel to reach DIG when Beagle suffers comas, as
    happens semi-regularly. A single OP is sufficient for that purpose. Considering its urgency, its off-topic nature reasonably can be
    tolerated by even the most curmudgeonly nitpickers. "meta"
    discussions inspired by the OP are incidental effects having little to
    do with its purpose.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From *Hemidactylus*@21:1/5 to jillery on Fri Nov 4 09:08:51 2022
    jillery <69jpil69@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 12:14:35 -0700 (PDT), Lawyer Daggett <j.nobel.daggett@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 11:37:23 AM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote: >>> On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 8:07:36 AM UTC-4, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November >>>>> 2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google >>>>> reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device. >>>>> If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would >>>>> be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.
    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down
    for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down >>>> in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.
    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or >>>>> if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.
    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up
    (unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break >>>> the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos
    Facts: David lives and works in Europe. Talk origins is not moderated by any computers
    present at U Toronto anymore. For a few years now, the computer running the servers has
    been an Amazon Web Services client (or equivalent). I don't know the full specifics but
    that's how virtualization works, the hardware becomes interchangeable.
    Continued references
    to the U Toronto or the Professor who used to loan space and an
    internet connection for the
    talk.origins moderator to run the service is outdated. That former
    Professor is also retired
    and no longer controls the space where the computer used to be.

    I'm posting this is hopes of shutting this thread down because it
    doesn't belong here, certainly
    not the meta discussions and ill-informed speculations.

    talk.origins is a robo moderated newsgroup that uses a number of
    programs to receive, process,
    and relay usenet posts, discarding some posts that fail moderation
    criteria. In ancient times, it
    mattered that the software was resident on a particular physical computer so its specific
    internet connection and the hardware it ran on mattered. That was then,
    this is now. Now, the
    software that performs the moderation runs through an Amazon Web Services client. At least
    in concept, this is a virtualized implementation. That makes it hardware
    independent in the sense
    that these programs run within a hosting program that is in most
    respects like their operating
    system. The same physical computing device can run multiple virtual computers. Any of the
    virtual computers can be moved to a different physical computer. If
    physical computing hardware
    fails, babysitting software generally detects the fault and simply moves
    the virtual computer to
    different hardware. In some cases, the same virtual computer can span
    multiple physical computers
    (not important to talk.origins which has very light duty).

    I may misstate some details here but the software works like this. There
    is an email server component.
    This is a piece of software that receives emails addressed to it. A
    simple email server will typically
    process an incoming mail message, format it and save it in a database (perhaps on the same
    hardware but in a modern world often a different virtual implementation
    that very likely is running
    on separate hardware which saves it on network storage). Email servers
    are also capable of
    recognizing special types of incoming email and
    routing them for additional processing. For example,
    the talk.origins server is parameterized to recognize that an incoming
    message has the formatting
    of a usenet post to talk.origins and has further parameters to send it
    to another program for processing.
    I believe there is a standard bit of unix software in use as that called
    innd (not sure of name). That software
    in turn has parameterization that can invoke yet another piece of
    software to process the message.
    For talk.origins, that yet another bit of code is the robomod software.
    It adds the equivalent of a verification
    stamp that says the post has been approved by the moderator then sends
    it back out to usenet servers
    for subsequent propagation as happens with non-moderated newsgroups.

    The sequence is roughly client software takes user generated post, sends
    it to usenet server. Usenet
    server checks to see if post is to moderated newsgroup, if yes (and not
    "approved" yet), routes post to
    moderator's email. talk.origins email server gets message, processes
    header and passes on to next
    processing code, that code invokes robomod script and for good
    submissions adds approval header,
    sends back to usenet server, usenet server propagates message. Along
    this path, other aspects of the
    internet are working to translate routing parameters to various physical
    locations using the protocols
    of the internet. These protocols are capable of dynamically adjusting
    the mapping of named entities,
    like beagle.org to the physical or virtual location of that "computer".

    talk.origins moved to an Amazon Web Services computing solution back in
    2017 for multiple reasons.
    One is that the administrator of the hardware had moved on so wasn't
    around to fix simple things
    in a timely manner, for example, the old physical server Darwin once had
    the physical internet cable
    come unattached when a cleaning crew came through to do something like
    clean the blinds. It took
    about a week for the admin/moderator to get access to the locked room
    where the box was housed
    (and given free internet access). Further, that location was being lost
    due to an impending retirement.
    And more reasons like the fact that virtualized services are simply the
    right way to go and should
    require the least maintenance, something to consider when it's all
    voluntary service. There is a cost
    of renting the AWS client and paying for the domain name but there was
    an early benefactor who
    agreed to cover the modest expense. I think the moderator picks it up these days.

    I'm sure I've scrambled a detail or two as the last time I ran a mail
    server doing something similar
    (send in a pair of sequences with the subject "Align" and it would run
    alignment software on
    properly formatted sequences in the message body and then send back the
    result as a return message)
    I was saying the last time I did that was in 1989. I've helped others
    virtualize things for bioinformatic
    needs ten years ago but wasn't as hands on.

    The fix to getting talk.origins up again will likely be simple once the
    moderator knows it needs to
    be done and has time to log in and restart things. Of course weirdness
    can occur if some admin
    blocks beagle from sending or receiving mail because of some confusion, or some automatic
    software update overwrites a parameter that needs to be custom set. But
    the main issue is that
    the moderator works for free in his spare time and he has a job and a
    life that takes precedent,
    or at least should.


    Thank you for the very comprehensive review of the relevant historical
    and technical issues.

    WRT to this thread being off-topic and not belonging in SBP, that is technically correct. However, for the technical reasons described in
    the OP, and because both froups have many users in common, SBP became
    a defacto back channel to reach DIG when Beagle suffers comas, as
    happens semi-regularly. A single OP is sufficient for that purpose. Considering its urgency, its off-topic nature reasonably can be
    tolerated by even the most curmudgeonly nitpickers. "meta"
    discussions inspired by the OP are incidental effects having little to
    do with its purpose.

    [looks around]

    Our presence does much to improve the place.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From *Hemidactylus*@21:1/5 to ecphoric@allspamis.invalid on Fri Nov 4 16:59:11 2022
    *Hemidactylus* <ecphoric@allspamis.invalid> wrote:


    I dunno if DIG has a trigger that tells him Beagle is tits up. Apparently not. The active engagement I see is when he’s checking if BSD updates borked the system.

    Looks like DIG is working on things to get t.o. back in gear.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From jillery@21:1/5 to eastside.erik@gmail.com on Fri Nov 4 17:30:14 2022
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastside.erik@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both groups are nearly dead in any
    event.


    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share
    it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he
    did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Fri Nov 4 16:02:41 2022
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 3:44:21 PM UTC-7, erik simpson wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 2:30:16 PM UTC-7, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both groups are nearly dead in any
    event.
    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share
    it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he
    did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.
    It's not for me to publish anyone else's information. I'm sure he's aware of the fact that
    it's still down. As the good Lawyer has pointed out, things have changed greatly over the
    years when someone could trip over the power cord and bring down a server. Mostly, the result
    is more reliable systems overall, at the expense of much greater interconnectivity, with lots of
    possible failure points. Security issues have also multiplied, although I can't see what implications
    that has for archaic gab groups. I'll bet it's back up sooner rather than later. If DIG gets fed up, who
    knows?

    Update: DIG's last post says "Maybe next week" in Danish, according to Google. Happy weekend!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to All on Fri Nov 4 16:08:57 2022
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 3:59:54 PM UTC-7, *Hemidactylus* wrote:
    erik simpson <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 2:30:16 PM UTC-7, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection >>> of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both
    groups are nearly dead in any
    event.
    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share
    it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he
    did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.

    It's not for me to publish anyone else's information. I'm sure he's aware of the fact that
    it's still down. As the good Lawyer has pointed out, things have changed greatly over the
    years when someone could trip over the power cord and bring down a
    server. Mostly, the result
    is more reliable systems overall, at the expense of much greater interconnectivity, with lots of
    possible failure points. Security issues have also multiplied, although
    I can't see what implications
    that has for archaic gab groups. I'll bet it's back up sooner rather than later. If DIG gets fed up, who
    knows?

    He perhaps applied a BSD update that’s causing headaches? I’m assuming part
    of this is hardware he controls, hence the BSD patching in kernel and userland. But part of it is clouded off in Amazon’s farmlands somewhere? Or
    is the BSD OS installed in a virtual machine hosted on AWS? So DIG has no hardware aside from maybe a laptop used to administrate BSD running inside ersatz “hardware” on whatever AWS is based upon?

    Who knows? Maybe this whole NG is just you talking to an elaborate bot. There actually isn''t
    any DIG and this is all a hoax. Even you might be part of the show. Come to think of it, some
    of the participants here are pretty unbelievable. Fake news, fake newsgroups, fake politics, etc.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to 69jp...@gmail.com on Fri Nov 4 15:44:20 2022
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 2:30:16 PM UTC-7, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both groups are nearly dead in any
    event.
    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share
    it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he
    did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.

    It's not for me to publish anyone else's information. I'm sure he's aware of the fact that
    it's still down. As the good Lawyer has pointed out, things have changed greatly over the
    years when someone could trip over the power cord and bring down a server. Mostly, the result
    is more reliable systems overall, at the expense of much greater interconnectivity, with lots of
    possible failure points. Security issues have also multiplied, although I can't see what implications
    that has for archaic gab groups. I'll bet it's back up sooner rather than later. If DIG gets fed up, who
    knows?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From *Hemidactylus*@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Fri Nov 4 22:59:47 2022
    erik simpson <eastside.erik@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 2:30:16 PM UTC-7, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection
    of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both
    groups are nearly dead in any
    event.
    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share
    it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he
    did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.

    It's not for me to publish anyone else's information. I'm sure he's aware of the fact that
    it's still down. As the good Lawyer has pointed out, things have changed greatly over the
    years when someone could trip over the power cord and bring down a
    server. Mostly, the result
    is more reliable systems overall, at the expense of much greater interconnectivity, with lots of
    possible failure points. Security issues have also multiplied, although
    I can't see what implications
    that has for archaic gab groups. I'll bet it's back up sooner rather than later. If DIG gets fed up, who
    knows?

    He perhaps applied a BSD update that’s causing headaches? I’m assuming part of this is hardware he controls, hence the BSD patching in kernel and
    userland. But part of it is clouded off in Amazon’s farmlands somewhere? Or is the BSD OS installed in a virtual machine hosted on AWS? So DIG has no hardware aside from maybe a laptop used to administrate BSD running inside ersatz “hardware” on whatever AWS is based upon?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From *Hemidactylus*@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Fri Nov 4 23:14:24 2022
    erik simpson <eastside.erik@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 3:44:21 PM UTC-7, erik simpson wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 2:30:16 PM UTC-7, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote: >>> On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection
    of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both
    groups are nearly dead in any
    event.
    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share
    it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he
    did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.
    It's not for me to publish anyone else's information. I'm sure he's
    aware of the fact that
    it's still down. As the good Lawyer has
    pointed out, things have changed greatly over the
    years when someone could trip over the power cord and bring down a
    server. Mostly, the result
    is more reliable systems overall, at the expense of much greater
    interconnectivity, with lots of
    possible failure points. Security issues have also multiplied, although
    I can't see what implications
    that has for archaic gab groups. I'll bet it's back up sooner rather
    than later. If DIG gets fed up, who
    knows?

    Update: DIG's last post says "Maybe next week" in Danish, according to Google. Happy weekend!

    On the separate Larry’s book issue I found this: https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Your-Genome-99-Junk/dp/148750859X/
    …which is promising but not very informative as to prospective date.

    This adds more detail: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/whats-in-your-genome-laurence-a-moran/1142545848#

    May 16? Hopefully it comes in an ebook.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to All on Fri Nov 4 16:24:28 2022
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 4:14:30 PM UTC-7, *Hemidactylus* wrote:
    erik simpson <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 3:44:21 PM UTC-7, erik simpson wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 2:30:16 PM UTC-7, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote: >>> On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection >>>> of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both
    groups are nearly dead in any
    event.
    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share >>> it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he >>> did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.
    It's not for me to publish anyone else's information. I'm sure he's
    aware of the fact that
    it's still down. As the good Lawyer has
    pointed out, things have changed greatly over the
    years when someone could trip over the power cord and bring down a
    server. Mostly, the result
    is more reliable systems overall, at the expense of much greater
    interconnectivity, with lots of
    possible failure points. Security issues have also multiplied, although >> I can't see what implications
    that has for archaic gab groups. I'll bet it's back up sooner rather
    than later. If DIG gets fed up, who
    knows?

    Update: DIG's last post says "Maybe next week" in Danish, according to Google. Happy weekend!

    On the separate Larry’s book issue I found this: https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Your-Genome-99-Junk/dp/148750859X/
    …which is promising but not very informative as to prospective date.

    This adds more detail: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/whats-in-your-genome-laurence-a-moran/1142545848#

    May 16? Hopefully it comes in an ebook.

    One man's junk is another man's treasure.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Fri Nov 4 17:00:37 2022
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 4:24:48 PM UTC-4, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:04:13 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 1:51:29 PM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 07:33:02 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:02:07 AM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to >> >> notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google
    reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC >> >> the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the >> >> vet.

    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down >> >for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down
    in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.

    IMBW but as I understand it, Beagle is a voluntary activity by DIG and >> has no official role in the U. of Toronto.

    Most of my use of university email is "voluntary" in that it does
    a lousy job of discriminating between spam and "official" email, >including intra-departmental email, which it often sends to the >"Deleted items" folder -- never notifying me of that, of course.

    Anyway, if you are correct about the use of a different server for >Beagle and personal email, we are then left in the dark as to what
    he is using for personal email.



    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.

    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up >> >(unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If you are that unhappy with the service, I suggest you ask for your >> money back - I'm sure they will be happy to give you a full refund.

    Looks like you aren't using Google Groups, but are instead
    using a server for which you pay a fee.

    What on earth has that to do with Beagle?
    It has about as much to do with it as your comment to which
    it is a response.

    Anyway, you might as well settle down to participating in
    "talk.origins in exile," like Hemi and I did on the topic of Chez Watt.
    With the original Google Groups, and the original New Google Groups,
    I was able to find such things out by accessing beaucoup d' headers, >but with what I call "Newest Google Groups" this headers service has been eliminated.
    By "such things" I meant such things as header lines telling us that the posting host
    was "eternal September," etc. as well as message-IDs.

    By denying us access to message-IDs, "Newest Google Groups" is putting us at the
    mercy of what Wikipedia calls "url rot". When Google took over Deja News to turn it into
    "Old Google Groups," untold myriads of urls instantly became obsolete.
    But even that is dwarfed by what happened to all the old Netscape urls.

    Sic transit gloria mundi.


    Peter Nyikos
    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection of nutters and trolls.

    So far, no one YOU consider to be a nutter or a troll is posting to s.b.p. except those who were
    already here before Beagle went down. You were perfectly OK with people
    coming here from t.o. with the robo-moderator being down until Glenn showed up during the last downtime, and he is no more of a troll than you are.

    For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both groups are nearly dead in any
    event.

    You aren't making matters any better. When I began the thread on pterosaur origins, you
    did a one-liner in reply:

    "Very good! Posts like this are most welcome."

    You haven't posted there since then.

    Daud Deden and I have continued the thread, but if you consider him to be a nutter, I can see
    why you aren't participating.

    However, no such excuse exists for you ignoring the thread where John Harshman and I have been
    conversing for most of this month about ancient birds. John is your best friend in both t.o. and s.b.p.,
    isn't he? Since Oxyaena disappeared, there seems to be no competition for that distinction here
    (nor, AFAIK, in talk.origins).

    In the interests of fairness, I should add that you DID give a nice update two days ago
    on the "Possible fossil?" thread when I asked you how things were going after the
    thread had been dormant since mid-September. But that was a thread in which you began with an OP about something you'd found and were seeking to find out
    what kind of thing it was. And the thread had stuck to that topic all the way.


    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From *Hemidactylus*@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Fri Nov 4 23:17:10 2022
    erik simpson <eastside.erik@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 3:59:54 PM UTC-7, *Hemidactylus* wrote:
    erik simpson <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 2:30:16 PM UTC-7, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote: >>>> On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection >>>>> of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both
    groups are nearly dead in any
    event.
    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share
    it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he
    did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.

    It's not for me to publish anyone else's information. I'm sure he's
    aware of the fact that
    it's still down. As the good Lawyer has pointed out, things have
    changed greatly over the
    years when someone could trip over the
    power cord and bring down a
    server. Mostly, the result
    is more reliable systems overall, at the expense of much greater
    interconnectivity, with lots of
    possible failure points. Security issues have also multiplied, although
    I can't see what implications
    that has for archaic gab groups. I'll bet it's back up sooner rather than >>> later. If DIG gets fed up, who
    knows?

    He perhaps applied a BSD update that’s causing headaches? I’m assuming part
    of this is hardware he controls, hence the BSD patching in kernel and
    userland. But part of it is clouded off in Amazon’s farmlands somewhere? Or
    is the BSD OS installed in a virtual machine hosted on AWS? So DIG has no
    hardware aside from maybe a laptop used to administrate BSD running inside >> ersatz “hardware” on whatever AWS is based upon?

    Who knows? Maybe this whole NG is just you talking to an elaborate bot. There actually isn''t
    any DIG and this is all a hoax. Even you might be part of the show.
    Come to think of it, some
    of the participants here are pretty unbelievable. Fake news, fake newsgroups, fake politics, etc.

    The bot glitched with The Berenstain Bears, so I’m on to its games.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to 69jp...@gmail.com on Fri Nov 4 18:26:27 2022
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 5:30:16 PM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both groups are nearly dead in any
    event.

    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share
    it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he
    did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.

    Looks like both you and erik missed the post to which I replied as follows:

    ________________________

    Re: Patch check

    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:30:04 AM UTC-4, David Greig wrote:
    Kernel and userland patches done.

    --D.
    Still no other posts besides yours show up here since Nov. 2.

    Peter Nyikos

    ========================================

    It looks like English. Does anyone reading this disagree?

    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From *Hemidactylus*@21:1/5 to Peter Nyikos on Sat Nov 5 01:54:58 2022
    Peter Nyikos <peter2nyikos@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 5:30:16 PM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection
    of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both
    groups are nearly dead in any
    event.

    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share
    it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he
    did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.

    Looks like both you and erik missed the post to which I replied as follows:

    ________________________

    Re: Patch check

    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:30:04 AM UTC-4, David Greig wrote:
    Kernel and userland patches done.

    --D.
    Still no other posts besides yours show up here since Nov. 2.

    Peter Nyikos

    ========================================

    It looks like English. Does anyone reading this disagree?

    Kernel is deep operating system stuff. Userland is more superficial: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_space_and_kernel_space

    On that mapping various “daemons” are within userspace. DIG might be exercising some daemons in how Beagle and the rest of t.o. operates when we send posts.

    DIG in some capacity is using a form of Unix called FreeBSD which has some differences from Linux, which you might be more familiar with as a desktop implementation. DIG is using this BSD variant to run a server. Linux can
    run servers too.

    Patches might mean updates to the operating system that have recently been released. If you do this on your desktop it is usually straight forward and easy through a graphical interface. DIG might be using a console or
    remoting in with arcane command line stuff and needing to navigate around
    the file system to make changes and check for breakages. Doesn’t sound fun.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From *Hemidactylus*@21:1/5 to ecphoric@allspamis.invalid on Sat Nov 5 02:07:24 2022
    *Hemidactylus* <ecphoric@allspamis.invalid> wrote:
    Peter Nyikos <peter2nyikos@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 5:30:16 PM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote: >>> On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection
    of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both
    groups are nearly dead in any
    event.

    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share
    it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he
    did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.

    Looks like both you and erik missed the post to which I replied as follows: >>
    ________________________

    Re: Patch check

    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:30:04 AM UTC-4, David Greig wrote:
    Kernel and userland patches done.

    --D.
    Still no other posts besides yours show up here since Nov. 2.

    Peter Nyikos

    ========================================

    It looks like English. Does anyone reading this disagree?

    Kernel is deep operating system stuff. Userland is more superficial: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_space_and_kernel_space

    On that mapping various “daemons” are within userspace. DIG might be exercising some daemons in how Beagle and the rest of t.o. operates when we send posts.

    DIG in some capacity is using a form of Unix called FreeBSD which has some differences from Linux, which you might be more familiar with as a desktop implementation. DIG is using this BSD variant to run a server. Linux can
    run servers too.

    Patches might mean updates to the operating system that have recently been released. If you do this on your desktop it is usually straight forward and easy through a graphical interface. DIG might be using a console or
    remoting in with arcane command line stuff and needing to navigate around
    the file system to make changes and check for breakages. Doesn’t sound fun.

    Empathy check:
    https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/cutting-edge/

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to peter2...@gmail.com on Fri Nov 4 19:16:56 2022
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 6:26:28 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 5:30:16 PM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both groups are nearly dead in any
    event.

    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share
    it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he
    did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.
    Looks like both you and erik missed the post to which I replied as follows:

    ________________________

    Re: Patch check

    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:30:04 AM UTC-4, David Greig wrote:
    Kernel and userland patches done.

    --D.
    Still no other posts besides yours show up here since Nov. 2.

    Peter Nyikos

    ========================================

    It looks like English. Does anyone reading this disagree?

    Peter Nyikos

    DIG introduced two threads. The second in in Danish (except for Daggett's response). Do you disagree?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From *Hemidactylus*@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Sat Nov 5 04:38:29 2022
    erik simpson <eastside.erik@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 6:26:28 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 5:30:16 PM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote: >>> On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection
    of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both
    groups are nearly dead in any
    event.

    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share
    it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he
    did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.
    Looks like both you and erik missed the post to which I replied as follows: >>
    ________________________

    Re: Patch check

    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:30:04 AM UTC-4, David Greig wrote:
    Kernel and userland patches done.

    --D.
    Still no other posts besides yours show up here since Nov. 2.

    Peter Nyikos

    ========================================

    It looks like English. Does anyone reading this disagree?

    Peter Nyikos

    DIG introduced two threads. The second in in Danish (except for
    Daggett's response). Do you disagree?

    More germane the headers reveal he posts using slrn on FreeBSD
    corroborating much of what I’ve written. For Peter’s edification slrn is a newsreader that doesn’t use a graphical user interface. Definitely not
    Google Groups level stuff there.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to All on Fri Nov 4 22:05:27 2022
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 9:38:35 PM UTC-7, *Hemidactylus* wrote:
    erik simpson <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 6:26:28 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 5:30:16 PM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote: >>> On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection >>>> of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both
    groups are nearly dead in any
    event.

    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share >>> it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he >>> did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.
    Looks like both you and erik missed the post to which I replied as follows:

    ________________________

    Re: Patch check

    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:30:04 AM UTC-4, David Greig wrote:
    Kernel and userland patches done.

    --D.
    Still no other posts besides yours show up here since Nov. 2.

    Peter Nyikos

    ========================================

    It looks like English. Does anyone reading this disagree?

    Peter Nyikos

    DIG introduced two threads. The second in in Danish (except for
    Daggett's response). Do you disagree?

    More germane the headers reveal he posts using slrn on FreeBSD
    corroborating much of what I’ve written. For Peter’s edification slrn is a
    newsreader that doesn’t use a graphical user interface. Definitely not Google Groups level stuff there.

    Peter thinks computers are the work (or may do the work) of the devil. Cladistics
    and other dark deeds are done with them. BTW, DIg's "maybe next week" is actually
    a reply to Daggett's suggestion that they go viking. So maybe TO will just have to wait.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From jillery@21:1/5 to eastside.erik@gmail.com on Sat Nov 5 01:31:42 2022
    On Fri, 4 Nov 2022 16:02:41 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastside.erik@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 3:44:21 PM UTC-7, erik simpson wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 2:30:16 PM UTC-7, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote: >> > On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 13:24:47 -0700 (PDT), erik simpson
    <eastsi...@gmail.com> wrote:

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection of nutters and trolls. For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both groups are nearly dead in any
    event.
    So you have a direct connect to DIG. I understand why you don't share
    it, but that you or someone like you does affirms my reasons for
    posting my OP to SBP.

    DIG posted a couple of non-English texts to T.O. However, whatever he
    did to do so has not made T.O. work for mere mortals. I ask you to
    inform him of that fact.
    It's not for me to publish anyone else's information.


    Nor did I suggest you should or would.


    I'm sure he's aware of the fact that it's still down.


    If you have a direct connect to DIG, then you should know. Despite
    the fact that he's a Usenet god, blessed be his name, history has
    shown he isn't infallible. As the good Lawyer has pointed out, DIG
    has a life beyond T.O., and it's no criticism of him to recognize and
    accept that real life tends to distract.


    As the good Lawyer has pointed out, things have changed greatly over the
    years when someone could trip over the power cord and bring down a server. Mostly, the result
    is more reliable systems overall, at the expense of much greater interconnectivity, with lots of
    possible failure points. Security issues have also multiplied, although I can't see what implications
    that has for archaic gab groups. I'll bet it's back up sooner rather than later. If DIG gets fed up, who
    knows?

    Update: DIG's last post says "Maybe next week" in Danish, according to Google. Happy weekend!


    All the better to refine my devastating retorts.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to peter2...@gmail.com on Fri Nov 4 22:31:40 2022
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 5:00:43 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 4:24:48 PM UTC-4, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:04:13 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 1:51:29 PM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 07:33:02 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:02:07 AM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:28:56 AM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgr...@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google
    reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgr...@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    It's almost unheard of in my university for mail servers to go down >> >for more than a day, yet here it is about 23 hours after Beagle went down
    in an enormously prestigious university, U. of Toronto.

    IMBW but as I understand it, Beagle is a voluntary activity by DIG and
    has no official role in the U. of Toronto.

    Most of my use of university email is "voluntary" in that it does
    a lousy job of discriminating between spam and "official" email, >including intra-departmental email, which it often sends to the >"Deleted items" folder -- never notifying me of that, of course.

    Anyway, if you are correct about the use of a different server for >Beagle and personal email, we are then left in the dark as to what
    he is using for personal email.



    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to >> >> another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if >> >> somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.

    We wouldn't have these communication troubles if DIG were to heed my perennial advice
    to post to SBP to notify us when we can expect Beagle to be back up >> >(unless he doesn't know, in which case he shouldn't be afraid to break the bad news to us).
    Then if that expectation is not fulfilled, he could send us periodic updates here.

    If you are that unhappy with the service, I suggest you ask for your >> money back - I'm sure they will be happy to give you a full refund.

    Looks like you aren't using Google Groups, but are instead
    using a server for which you pay a fee.

    What on earth has that to do with Beagle?
    It has about as much to do with it as your comment to which
    it is a response.

    Anyway, you might as well settle down to participating in
    "talk.origins in exile," like Hemi and I did on the topic of Chez Watt.
    With the original Google Groups, and the original New Google Groups, >I was able to find such things out by accessing beaucoup d' headers, >but with what I call "Newest Google Groups" this headers service has been eliminated.
    By "such things" I meant such things as header lines telling us that the posting host
    was "eternal September," etc. as well as message-IDs.

    By denying us access to message-IDs, "Newest Google Groups" is putting us at the
    mercy of what Wikipedia calls "url rot". When Google took over Deja News to turn it into
    "Old Google Groups," untold myriads of urls instantly became obsolete. But even that is dwarfed by what happened to all the old Netscape urls.

    Sic transit gloria mundi.


    Peter Nyikos
    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection of nutters and trolls.
    So far, no one YOU consider to be a nutter or a troll is posting to s.b.p. except those who were
    already here before Beagle went down. You were perfectly OK with people coming here from t.o. with the robo-moderator being down until Glenn showed up
    during the last downtime, and he is no more of a troll than you are.
    For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both groups are nearly dead in any
    event.
    You aren't making matters any better. When I began the thread on pterosaur origins, you
    did a one-liner in reply:

    "Very good! Posts like this are most welcome."

    You haven't posted there since then.

    Daud Deden and I have continued the thread, but if you consider him to be a nutter, I can see
    why you aren't participating.

    However, no such excuse exists for you ignoring the thread where John Harshman and I have been
    conversing for most of this month about ancient birds. John is your best friend in both t.o. and s.b.p.,
    isn't he? Since Oxyaena disappeared, there seems to be no competition for that distinction here
    (nor, AFAIK, in talk.origins).

    In the interests of fairness, I should add that you DID give a nice update two days ago
    on the "Possible fossil?" thread when I asked you how things were going after the
    thread had been dormant since mid-September. But that was a thread in which you
    began with an OP about something you'd found and were seeking to find out what kind of thing it was. And the thread had stuck to that topic all the way.


    Peter Nyikos

    I don't consider Daud a nutter, but someone with a very robust imagination.

    I don't feel obligated to participate in every conversation, so I don't need any "excuses"
    to withhold my counsel. I don't find anything particularly exciting about the pterosaur
    thread.

    As for your exchanges with Harshman, they have a sense of deja vu about them. As my knowledge of phylogentic trees is pretty basic, I have little to contribute. I recommend
    "Tree Thinking: An Introduction to Phylogenetic Biology" (David A. Baum and Stacey D. Smith).
    Many of your many objections would be seen as reflecting basic misunderstandings that could
    be cleared up by reading it. A review in Systematic Biology describes its intent and scope:

    https://academic.oup.com/sysbio/article/62/4/634/1615731

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From jillery@21:1/5 to All on Sun Nov 6 12:00:44 2022
    On Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:28:51 -0400, jillery <69jpil69@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgreig@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google >reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgreig@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.


    Beagle is back up and running, thank DIG.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Lawyer Daggett@21:1/5 to Lawyer Daggett on Sun Nov 6 09:33:44 2022
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 3:14:36 PM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    ...

    The fix to getting talk.origins up again will likely be simple once the moderator knows it needs to
    be done and has time to log in and restart things. Of course weirdness can occur if some admin
    blocks beagle from sending or receiving mail because of some confusion, or some automatic
    software update overwrites a parameter that needs to be custom set. But the main issue is that
    the moderator works for free in his spare time and he has a job and a life that takes precedent,
    or at least should.

    I comment on my own witty perspicacity in anticipating the sort of error that occurred. It was a block
    on sending/receiving mail because of an update in a global list of spam sites, so I was, shall we
    say, half right. I thus proudly accept the title of Half Wit and retire from this group.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to Lawyer Daggett on Sun Nov 6 10:43:39 2022
    On Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 9:33:45 AM UTC-8, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 3:14:36 PM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    ...
    The fix to getting talk.origins up again will likely be simple once the moderator knows it needs to
    be done and has time to log in and restart things. Of course weirdness can occur if some admin
    blocks beagle from sending or receiving mail because of some confusion, or some automatic
    software update overwrites a parameter that needs to be custom set. But the main issue is that
    the moderator works for free in his spare time and he has a job and a life that takes precedent,
    or at least should.
    I comment on my own witty perspicacity in anticipating the sort of error that occurred. It was a block
    on sending/receiving mail because of an update in a global list of spam sites, so I was, shall we
    say, half right. I thus proudly accept the title of Half Wit and retire from this group.

    Half a wit is better than none.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Glenn@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Sun Nov 6 11:02:21 2022
    On Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 11:43:41 AM UTC-7, erik simpson wrote:
    On Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 9:33:45 AM UTC-8, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 3:14:36 PM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote: ...
    The fix to getting talk.origins up again will likely be simple once the moderator knows it needs to
    be done and has time to log in and restart things. Of course weirdness can occur if some admin
    blocks beagle from sending or receiving mail because of some confusion, or some automatic
    software update overwrites a parameter that needs to be custom set. But the main issue is that
    the moderator works for free in his spare time and he has a job and a life that takes precedent,
    or at least should.
    I comment on my own witty perspicacity in anticipating the sort of error that occurred. It was a block
    on sending/receiving mail because of an update in a global list of spam sites, so I was, shall we
    say, half right. I thus proudly accept the title of Half Wit and retire from this group.
    Half a wit is better than none.

    Which half is better?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From jillery@21:1/5 to eastside.erik@gmail.com on Sun Nov 6 20:19:31 2022
    On Sun, 6 Nov 2022 10:43:39 -0800 (PST), erik simpson
    <eastside.erik@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 9:33:45 AM UTC-8, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 3:14:36 PM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    ...
    The fix to getting talk.origins up again will likely be simple once the moderator knows it needs to
    be done and has time to log in and restart things. Of course weirdness can occur if some admin
    blocks beagle from sending or receiving mail because of some confusion, or some automatic
    software update overwrites a parameter that needs to be custom set. But the main issue is that
    the moderator works for free in his spare time and he has a job and a life that takes precedent,
    or at least should.
    I comment on my own witty perspicacity in anticipating the sort of error that occurred. It was a block
    on sending/receiving mail because of an update in a global list of spam sites, so I was, shall we
    say, half right. I thus proudly accept the title of Half Wit and retire from this group.

    Half a wit is better than none.


    Some Creationists might ask "What good is half a wit?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to Lawyer Daggett on Tue Nov 8 16:23:53 2022
    On Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 12:33:45 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 3:14:36 PM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    ...
    The fix to getting talk.origins up again will likely be simple once the moderator knows it needs to
    be done and has time to log in and restart things. Of course weirdness can occur if some admin
    blocks beagle from sending or receiving mail because of some confusion, or some automatic
    software update overwrites a parameter that needs to be custom set. But the main issue is that
    the moderator works for free in his spare time and he has a job and a life that takes precedent,
    or at least should.
    I comment on my own witty perspicacity in anticipating the sort of error that occurred. It was a block
    on sending/receiving mail because of an update in a global list of spam sites, so I was, shall we
    say, half right. I thus proudly accept the title of Half Wit and retire from this group.

    At first I thought you were imitating Hemidactylus ("Our presence does much to improve the place")
    or jillery ("...my devastating retorts"), but you wound up being more modest than them.

    To give credit where credit is due, the rest of us were stumbling blindly in the dark,
    while, as they say,

    "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."

    But don't let it go to your head. You are king of the t.o. exiles concerned about when
    and how Beagle would be back. That's a subset of all the t.o.exiles, and the others were off
    in their own virtual land.


    Back to the rough and tumble,


    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Tue Nov 8 18:26:35 2022
    On Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 1:31:42 AM UTC-4, erik simpson wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 5:00:43 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 4:24:48 PM UTC-4, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:04:13 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 1:51:29 PM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 07:33:02 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:02:07 AM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection of nutters and trolls.

    So far, no one YOU consider to be a nutter or a troll is posting to s.b.p. except those who were
    already here before Beagle went down. You were perfectly OK with people coming here from t.o. with the robo-moderator being down until Glenn showed up
    during the last downtime, and he is no more of a troll than you are.

    For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both groups are nearly dead in any
    event.

    Erik, judging from your subsequent comments, you don't think it is all that unfortunate.

    You aren't making matters any better. When I began the thread on pterosaur origins, you
    did a one-liner in reply:

    "Very good! Posts like this are most welcome."

    You haven't posted there since then.

    Daud Deden and I have continued the thread, but if you consider him to be a nutter, I can see
    why you aren't participating.

    However, no such excuse exists for you ignoring the thread where John Harshman and I have been
    conversing for most of this month about ancient birds. John is your best friend in both t.o. and s.b.p.,
    isn't he? Since Oxyaena disappeared, there seems to be no competition for that distinction here
    (nor, AFAIK, in talk.origins).

    In the interests of fairness, I should add that you DID give a nice update two days ago
    on the "Possible fossil?" thread when I asked you how things were going after the
    thread had been dormant since mid-September. But that was a thread in which you
    began with an OP about something you'd found and were seeking to find out what kind of thing it was. And the thread had stuck to that topic all the way.


    Peter Nyikos

    I don't consider Daud a nutter, but someone with a very robust imagination.

    I don't feel obligated to participate in every conversation,

    Why don't you start another on-topic one yourself? Note what I said up there: the last one you started
    had been dormant until mid-September, and I haven't noticed any newer comments by you since then
    that are on-topic for s.b.p., unless you count that one-liner I quoted up there.


    so I don't need any "excuses"
    to withhold my counsel. I don't find anything particularly exciting about the pterosaur
    thread.

    So "nearly dead" only means "not exciting enough to tempt me, Erik Simpson, to wade in", eh?


    As for your exchanges with Harshman, they have a sense of deja vu about them.
    As my knowledge of phylogentic trees is pretty basic, I have little to contribute.

    That is painfully obvious, judging from the clueless suggestion you make next:

    I recommend "Tree Thinking: An Introduction to Phylogenetic Biology" (David A. Baum and Stacey D. Smith).

    Glenn or Hemidatylus or you might benefit from what appears to be an undergraduate level text, but I got over the misconceptions
    the review talks about at the age of 12 by studying the evolutionary trees in Romer's 1945 classic, _Vertebrate Paleontology_.

    Many of your many objections would be seen as reflecting basic misunderstandings that could
    be cleared up by reading it.

    You are blindly following Harshman as though everything he writes about my objections were gospel truth.

    Just take a look at how badly he botched the description of earlier on-topic back-and-forth between
    us earlier on the same thread. I had to correct him twice in the following post:

    https://groups.google.com/g/sci.bio.paleontology/c/U-99grFea8E/m/EHNLnO8VAgAJ Re: Hesperornid Acquisition here in Columbia ATTN: Popping mad


    A review in Systematic Biology describes its intent and scope:

    Your hero Harshman might benefit from a (possibly nonexistent!) book that fits an excerpt in the review:

    https://academic.oup.com/sysbio/article/62/4/634/1615731
    Excerpt:
    Phylogenetics is now starting to move away from trees. Many botanists, for example, have found trees problematic as a phylogenetic model, due to the widespread hybridization that is assumed to occur among many plant species, and so have many
    microbiologists, due to the prevalence among bacteria of what we now call horizontal gene transfer. These people need to understand phylogenetic networks rather than phylogenetic trees, which is a much more complex task.

    In his last two posts, Harshman was treating a couple of phylogenetic issues as being completely
    settled by trees. Stay tuned for further developments on that long-running thread I linked,
    which has long outgrown its title.


    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    University of South Carolina
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From *Hemidactylus*@21:1/5 to Peter Nyikos on Wed Nov 9 03:39:37 2022
    Peter Nyikos <peter2nyikos@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 12:33:45 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 3:14:36 PM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    ...
    The fix to getting talk.origins up again will likely be simple once the
    moderator knows it needs to
    be done and has time to log in and restart things. Of course weirdness
    can occur if some admin
    blocks beagle from sending or receiving mail because of some confusion,
    or some automatic
    software update overwrites a parameter that
    needs to be custom set. But the main issue is that
    the moderator works for free in his spare time and he has a job and a
    life that takes precedent,
    or at least should.
    I comment on my own witty perspicacity in anticipating the sort of error
    that occurred. It was a block
    on sending/receiving mail because of an update in a global list of spam
    sites, so I was, shall we
    say, half right. I thus proudly accept the title of Half Wit and retire from this group.

    At first I thought you were imitating Hemidactylus ("Our presence does
    much to improve the place")
    or jillery ("...my devastating retorts"), but you wound up being more modest than them.

    To give credit where credit is due, the rest of us were stumbling blindly in the dark,
    while, as they say,

    "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."

    But don't let it go to your head. You are king of the t.o. exiles concerned about when
    and how Beagle would be back. That's a subset of all the t.o.exiles, and
    the others were off
    in their own virtual land.


    Back to the rough and tumble,

    I did do some free advertizing for Larry’s upcoming book. But given four or five people read this place when talk.origins isn’t down and maybe 8-10
    when it is, I’m not exactly a marketing genius.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From *Hemidactylus*@21:1/5 to Peter Nyikos on Wed Nov 9 03:58:18 2022
    Peter Nyikos <peter2nyikos@gmail.com> wrote:

    [snip]

    Glenn or Hemidatylus or you might benefit from what appears to be an undergraduate level text, but I got over the misconceptions
    the review talks about at the age of 12 by studying the evolutionary
    trees in Romer's 1945 classic, _Vertebrate Paleontology_.

    Hemidatylus already has a digital copy of Vertebrate palaeontology by
    Michael J. Benton. Hemidatylus also has Radinsky’s The Evolution of Vertebrate Design and Turtles As Hopeful Monsters by Olivier Rieppel. I had read some stuff on cladistics way back when and personally met turtle
    expert Peter Pritchard multiple times and got him riled up a time or two
    just by mentioning cladistics. At the time I knew which buttons to push to elicit a passionate response. So I’ll pass on the suggestion. I also informally met Mayr when he came to my school.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From jillery@21:1/5 to peter2nyikos@gmail.com on Wed Nov 9 07:18:36 2022
    On Tue, 8 Nov 2022 16:23:53 -0800 (PST), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2nyikos@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 12:33:45 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 3:14:36 PM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    ...
    The fix to getting talk.origins up again will likely be simple once the moderator knows it needs to
    be done and has time to log in and restart things. Of course weirdness can occur if some admin
    blocks beagle from sending or receiving mail because of some confusion, or some automatic
    software update overwrites a parameter that needs to be custom set. But the main issue is that
    the moderator works for free in his spare time and he has a job and a life that takes precedent,
    or at least should.
    I comment on my own witty perspicacity in anticipating the sort of error that occurred. It was a block
    on sending/receiving mail because of an update in a global list of spam sites, so I was, shall we
    say, half right. I thus proudly accept the title of Half Wit and retire from this group.

    At first I thought you were imitating Hemidactylus ("Our presence does much to improve the place")
    or jillery ("...my devastating retorts"), but you wound up being more modest than them.

    To give credit where credit is due, the rest of us were stumbling blindly in the dark,
    while, as they say,

    "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."

    But don't let it go to your head. You are king of the t.o. exiles concerned about when
    and how Beagle would be back. That's a subset of all the t.o.exiles, and the others were off
    in their own virtual land.


    Back to the rough and tumble,


    Peter Nyikos


    My understanding is Hemi's comment is satire. The intent of my
    comment is self-deprecating exaggeration. As usual, your comments
    above demonstrate your inability to recognize either.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to peter2...@gmail.com on Wed Nov 9 08:04:21 2022
    On Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at 6:26:37 PM UTC-8, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 1:31:42 AM UTC-4, erik simpson wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 5:00:43 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 4:24:48 PM UTC-4, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:04:13 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 1:51:29 PM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 07:33:02 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:02:07 AM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection of nutters and trolls.

    So far, no one YOU consider to be a nutter or a troll is posting to s.b.p. except those who were
    already here before Beagle went down. You were perfectly OK with people coming here from t.o. with the robo-moderator being down until Glenn showed up
    during the last downtime, and he is no more of a troll than you are.

    For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both groups are nearly dead in any
    event.
    Erik, judging from your subsequent comments, you don't think it is all that unfortunate.
    You aren't making matters any better. When I began the thread on pterosaur origins, you
    did a one-liner in reply:

    "Very good! Posts like this are most welcome."

    You haven't posted there since then.

    Daud Deden and I have continued the thread, but if you consider him to be a nutter, I can see
    why you aren't participating.

    However, no such excuse exists for you ignoring the thread where John Harshman and I have been
    conversing for most of this month about ancient birds. John is your best friend in both t.o. and s.b.p.,
    isn't he? Since Oxyaena disappeared, there seems to be no competition for that distinction here
    (nor, AFAIK, in talk.origins).

    In the interests of fairness, I should add that you DID give a nice update two days ago
    on the "Possible fossil?" thread when I asked you how things were going after the
    thread had been dormant since mid-September. But that was a thread in which you
    began with an OP about something you'd found and were seeking to find out
    what kind of thing it was. And the thread had stuck to that topic all the way.


    Peter Nyikos

    I don't consider Daud a nutter, but someone with a very robust imagination.

    I don't feel obligated to participate in every conversation,
    Why don't you start another on-topic one yourself? Note what I said up there: the last one you started
    had been dormant until mid-September, and I haven't noticed any newer comments by you since then
    that are on-topic for s.b.p., unless you count that one-liner I quoted up there.
    so I don't need any "excuses"
    to withhold my counsel. I don't find anything particularly exciting about the pterosaur
    thread.
    So "nearly dead" only means "not exciting enough to tempt me, Erik Simpson, to wade in", eh?
    As for your exchanges with Harshman, they have a sense of deja vu about them.
    As my knowledge of phylogentic trees is pretty basic, I have little to contribute.
    That is painfully obvious, judging from the clueless suggestion you make next:
    I recommend "Tree Thinking: An Introduction to Phylogenetic Biology" (David A. Baum and Stacey D. Smith).
    Glenn or Hemidatylus or you might benefit from what appears to be an undergraduate level text, but I got over the misconceptions
    the review talks about at the age of 12 by studying the evolutionary trees in Romer's 1945 classic, _Vertebrate Paleontology_.
    Many of your many objections would be seen as reflecting basic misunderstandings that could
    be cleared up by reading it.
    You are blindly following Harshman as though everything he writes about my objections were gospel truth.

    Just take a look at how badly he botched the description of earlier on-topic back-and-forth between
    us earlier on the same thread. I had to correct him twice in the following post:

    https://groups.google.com/g/sci.bio.paleontology/c/U-99grFea8E/m/EHNLnO8VAgAJ
    Re: Hesperornid Acquisition here in Columbia ATTN: Popping mad
    A review in Systematic Biology describes its intent and scope:
    Your hero Harshman might benefit from a (possibly nonexistent!) book that fits an excerpt in the review:

    https://academic.oup.com/sysbio/article/62/4/634/1615731
    Excerpt:
    Phylogenetics is now starting to move away from trees. Many botanists, for example, have found trees problematic as a phylogenetic model, due to the widespread hybridization that is assumed to occur among many plant species, and so have many
    microbiologists, due to the prevalence among bacteria of what we now call horizontal gene transfer. These people need to understand phylogenetic networks rather than phylogenetic trees, which is a much more complex task.

    In his last two posts, Harshman was treating a couple of phylogenetic issues as being completely
    settled by trees. Stay tuned for further developments on that long-running thread I linked,
    which has long outgrown its title.


    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    University of South Carolina
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

    Amazing. You learned all you need to know about phylogentic trees from Romer? The 1945 edition?
    It's clear from your floundering in your conversations with Harshman that you haven't learned much
    about it since you 12, Judging from your tone, you'll hear nothing more from me for a while.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From *Hemidactylus*@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Wed Nov 9 16:57:55 2022
    erik simpson <eastside.erik@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at 6:26:37 PM UTC-8, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 1:31:42 AM UTC-4, erik simpson wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 5:00:43 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote: >>>> On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 4:24:48 PM UTC-4, erik simpson wrote: >>>>> On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:04:13 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 1:51:29 PM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 07:33:02 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:02:07 AM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from >>>>>>>>>> his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as >>>>>>>>>> adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It
    would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection >>>>> of nutters and trolls.

    So far, no one YOU consider to be a nutter or a troll is posting to
    s.b.p. except those who were
    already here before Beagle went down. You were perfectly OK with people >>>> coming here from t.o. with the robo-moderator being down until Glenn showed up
    during the last downtime, and he is no more of a troll than you are.

    For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both
    groups are nearly dead in any
    event.
    Erik, judging from your subsequent comments, you don't think it is all that unfortunate.
    You aren't making matters any better. When I began the thread on pterosaur origins, you
    did a one-liner in reply:

    "Very good! Posts like this are most welcome."

    You haven't posted there since then.

    Daud Deden and I have continued the thread, but if you consider him to >>>> be a nutter, I can see
    why you aren't participating.

    However, no such excuse exists for you ignoring the thread where John
    Harshman and I have been
    conversing for most of this month about ancient birds. John is your
    best friend in both t.o. and s.b.p.,
    isn't he? Since Oxyaena disappeared, there seems to be no competition
    for that distinction here
    (nor, AFAIK, in talk.origins).

    In the interests of fairness, I should add that you DID give a nice update two days ago
    on the "Possible fossil?" thread when I asked you how things were going after the
    thread had been dormant since mid-September. But that was a thread in which you
    began with an OP about something you'd found and were seeking to find out >>>> what kind of thing it was. And the thread had stuck to that topic all the way.


    Peter Nyikos

    I don't consider Daud a nutter, but someone with a very robust imagination. >>>
    I don't feel obligated to participate in every conversation,
    Why don't you start another on-topic one yourself? Note what I said up
    there: the last one you started
    had been dormant until mid-September, and I haven't noticed any newer
    comments by you since then
    that are on-topic for s.b.p., unless you count that one-liner I quoted up there.
    so I don't need any "excuses"
    to withhold my counsel. I don't find anything particularly exciting about the pterosaur
    thread.
    So "nearly dead" only means "not exciting enough to tempt me, Erik
    Simpson, to wade in", eh?
    As for your exchanges with Harshman, they have a sense of deja vu about them.
    As my knowledge of phylogentic trees is pretty basic, I have little to contribute.
    That is painfully obvious, judging from the clueless suggestion you make next:
    I recommend "Tree Thinking: An Introduction to Phylogenetic Biology"
    (David A. Baum and Stacey D. Smith).
    Glenn or Hemidatylus or you might benefit from what appears to be an
    undergraduate level text, but I got over the misconceptions
    the review talks about at the age of 12 by studying the evolutionary
    trees in Romer's 1945 classic, _Vertebrate Paleontology_.
    Many of your many objections would be seen as reflecting basic
    misunderstandings that could
    be cleared up by reading it.
    You are blindly following Harshman as though everything he writes about
    my objections were gospel truth.

    Just take a look at how badly he botched the description of earlier
    on-topic back-and-forth between
    us earlier on the same thread. I had to correct him twice in the following post:

    https://groups.google.com/g/sci.bio.paleontology/c/U-99grFea8E/m/EHNLnO8VAgAJ
    Re: Hesperornid Acquisition here in Columbia ATTN: Popping mad
    A review in Systematic Biology describes its intent and scope:
    Your hero Harshman might benefit from a (possibly nonexistent!) book
    that fits an excerpt in the review:

    https://academic.oup.com/sysbio/article/62/4/634/1615731
    Excerpt:
    Phylogenetics is now starting to move away from trees. Many botanists,
    for example, have found trees problematic as a phylogenetic model, due
    to the widespread hybridization that is assumed to occur among many
    plant species, and so have many microbiologists, due to the prevalence
    among bacteria of what we now call horizontal gene transfer. These
    people need to understand phylogenetic networks rather than phylogenetic
    trees, which is a much more complex task.

    In his last two posts, Harshman was treating a couple of phylogenetic
    issues as being completely
    settled by trees. Stay tuned for further developments on that
    long-running thread I linked,
    which has long outgrown its title.


    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    University of South Carolina
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

    Amazing. You learned all you need to know about phylogentic trees from Romer? The 1945 edition?
    It's clear from your floundering in your conversations with Harshman that
    you haven't learned much
    about it since you 12, Judging from your tone, you'll hear nothing more from me for a while.

    He’s been ahead of the curve since 12 by reading now really dated books.
    Next up…Galen!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to 69jp...@gmail.com on Wed Nov 9 12:05:44 2022
    On Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 7:18:38 AM UTC-5, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tue, 8 Nov 2022 16:23:53 -0800 (PST), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 12:33:45 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 3:14:36 PM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote: >> ...
    The fix to getting talk.origins up again will likely be simple once the moderator knows it needs to
    be done and has time to log in and restart things. Of course weirdness can occur if some admin
    blocks beagle from sending or receiving mail because of some confusion, or some automatic
    software update overwrites a parameter that needs to be custom set. But the main issue is that
    the moderator works for free in his spare time and he has a job and a life that takes precedent,
    or at least should.
    I comment on my own witty perspicacity in anticipating the sort of error that occurred. It was a block
    on sending/receiving mail because of an update in a global list of spam sites, so I was, shall we
    say, half right. I thus proudly accept the title of Half Wit and retire from this group.

    At first I thought you were imitating Hemidactylus ("Our presence does much to improve the place")
    or jillery ("...my devastating retorts"), but you wound up being more modest than them.

    To give credit where credit is due, the rest of us were stumbling blindly in the dark,
    while, as they say,

    "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."

    But don't let it go to your head. You are king of the t.o. exiles concerned about when
    and how Beagle would be back. That's a subset of all the t.o.exiles, and the others were off
    in their own virtual land.


    Back to the rough and tumble,

    And here is another example of that below.

    My understanding is Hemi's comment is satire.

    That's the opposite of my understanding, based partly on Hemi's reply to the post where
    I quoted his comment. Others' mileage may vary.


    The intent of my
    comment is self-deprecating exaggeration.

    You need to look up "self-deprecating." It means the opposite of what you seem to think it does.

    *I* was indulging in self-deprecating humor when I talked about me (and others) stumbling blindly in the dark
    while Lawyer Daggett was "one-eyed". All this is preserved in the text you left in above.

    A very different example: Uriah Heep was self-deprecating every time he stressed how 'umble he (supposedly) was.
    Of course, there was no humor intended or inferred when he did that.


    As usual, your comments
    above demonstrate your inability to recognize either.

    You are doing something a number of people have libeled me as doing:
    you are attacking me for disagreeing with you.

    However, I don't think even they claimed that I attacked people
    for disagreeing with me *before* they disagreed with me.


    Peter Nyikos

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  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Wed Nov 9 11:41:02 2022
    On Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 11:04:22 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at 6:26:37 PM UTC-8, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 1:31:42 AM UTC-4, erik simpson wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 5:00:43 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 4:24:48 PM UTC-4, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 12:04:13 PM UTC-7, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 1:51:29 PM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 07:33:02 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:02:07 AM UTC-4, martin...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    If DIG still has access to gmail, which should be distinct from his university server,
    he could post to SBP using Google Groups, even if he is as adverse to that posting
    resource as you are. It would set a lot of minds at ease.


    Peter Nyikos

    DIG is aware of the problem. SBP doesn't need TOs infamous collection of nutters and trolls.

    So far, no one YOU consider to be a nutter or a troll is posting to s.b.p. except those who were
    already here before Beagle went down. You were perfectly OK with people
    coming here from t.o. with the robo-moderator being down until Glenn showed up
    during the last downtime, and he is no more of a troll than you are.

    For that matter,
    neither does TO need them, but there they are. Unfortunately, both groups are nearly dead in any
    event.
    Erik, judging from your subsequent comments, you don't think it is all that unfortunate.
    You aren't making matters any better. When I began the thread on pterosaur origins, you
    did a one-liner in reply:

    "Very good! Posts like this are most welcome."

    You haven't posted there since then.

    Daud Deden and I have continued the thread, but if you consider him to be a nutter, I can see
    why you aren't participating.

    However, no such excuse exists for you ignoring the thread where John Harshman and I have been
    conversing for most of this month about ancient birds. John is your best friend in both t.o. and s.b.p.,
    isn't he? Since Oxyaena disappeared, there seems to be no competition for that distinction here
    (nor, AFAIK, in talk.origins).

    In the interests of fairness, I should add that you DID give a nice update two days ago
    on the "Possible fossil?" thread when I asked you how things were going after the
    thread had been dormant since mid-September. But that was a thread in which you
    began with an OP about something you'd found and were seeking to find out
    what kind of thing it was. And the thread had stuck to that topic all the way.


    Peter Nyikos

    I don't consider Daud a nutter, but someone with a very robust imagination.

    I don't feel obligated to participate in every conversation,

    Why don't you start another on-topic one yourself?

    <crickets>

    Note what I said up there: the last one you started
    had been dormant until mid-September, and I haven't noticed any newer comments by you since then
    that are on-topic for s.b.p., unless you count that one-liner I quoted up there.

    so I don't need any "excuses"
    to withhold my counsel. I don't find anything particularly exciting about the pterosaur
    thread.

    So "nearly dead" only means "not exciting enough to tempt me, Erik Simpson, to wade in", eh?

    <crickets>

    As for your exchanges with Harshman, they have a sense of deja vu about them.
    As my knowledge of phylogentic trees is pretty basic, I have little to contribute.

    That is painfully obvious, judging from the clueless suggestion you make next:

    I recommend "Tree Thinking: An Introduction to Phylogenetic Biology" (David A. Baum and Stacey D. Smith).
    Glenn or Hemidatylus or you might benefit from what appears to be an undergraduate level text, but I got over the misconceptions
    the review talks about at the age of 12 by studying the evolutionary trees in Romer's 1945 classic, _Vertebrate Paleontology_.


    Many of your many objections would be seen as reflecting basic misunderstandings that could
    be cleared up by reading it.

    You made this taunt up without having any idea what might constitute a
    "basic misunderstanding" by me might be, did you?

    I suspected as much when I responded:

    You are blindly following Harshman as though everything he writes about my objections were gospel truth.

    You breezed past the next four lines as though they weren't there:

    Just take a look at how badly he botched the description of earlier on-topic back-and-forth between
    us earlier on the same thread. I had to correct him twice in the following post:

    https://groups.google.com/g/sci.bio.paleontology/c/U-99grFea8E/m/EHNLnO8VAgAJ
    Re: Hesperornid Acquisition here in Columbia ATTN: Popping mad
    Nov 8, 2022, 8:31:15 PM (18 hours ago)

    Harshman didn't reply so far to this post, which has a good bit of new on-topic material in it by me. This is in addition to the corrections, which I will reproduce
    on this thread, if you don't clean up your act.


    A review in Systematic Biology describes its intent and scope:
    Your hero Harshman might benefit from a (possibly nonexistent!) book that fits an excerpt in the review:

    https://academic.oup.com/sysbio/article/62/4/634/1615731
    Excerpt:
    Phylogenetics is now starting to move away from trees. Many botanists, for example, have found trees problematic as a phylogenetic model, due to the widespread hybridization that is assumed to occur among many plant species, and so have many
    microbiologists, due to the prevalence among bacteria of what we now call horizontal gene transfer. These people need to understand phylogenetic networks rather than phylogenetic trees, which is a much more complex task.

    In his last two posts, Harshman was treating a couple of phylogenetic issues as being completely
    settled by trees. Stay tuned for further developments on that long-running thread I linked,
    which has long outgrown its title.


    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    University of South Carolina
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos


    Amazing.

    Your lack of basic English comprehension is what is amazing, unless you are feigning it,
    which would not be the least bit amazing, given your decade-long track record (except for a 2.5 year hiatus in s.b.p., see below).

    You learned all you need to know about phylogentic trees from Romer? The 1945 edition?

    What part of "the misconceptions the review talks about" did you not understand?


    It's clear from your floundering in your conversations with Harshman

    What floundering? As usual, you don't hint at any examples,
    probably because you are way out of your depth here.

    that you haven't learned much
    about it since you 12,

    You have no basis for such a claim, none whatsoever.


    Judging from your tone, you'll hear nothing more from me for a while.

    My tone so far has been nothing compared to your oft-destructive behavior in the last 4.5 years
    in sci.bio.paleontology, since you sabotaged the oasis of civilization that had been there
    for about 2.5 years.

    During those 2.5 years, I never had cause to change my tone to you even to the restrained
    extent I did now. You are reaping a bit of what you sowed in early 2018.


    Peter Nyikos

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  • From jillery@21:1/5 to peter2nyikos@gmail.com on Wed Nov 9 17:26:28 2022
    On Wed, 9 Nov 2022 12:05:44 -0800 (PST), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2nyikos@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 7:18:38 AM UTC-5, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote: >> On Tue, 8 Nov 2022 16:23:53 -0800 (PST), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 12:33:45 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 3:14:36 PM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote: >> >> ...
    The fix to getting talk.origins up again will likely be simple once the moderator knows it needs to
    be done and has time to log in and restart things. Of course weirdness can occur if some admin
    blocks beagle from sending or receiving mail because of some confusion, or some automatic
    software update overwrites a parameter that needs to be custom set. But the main issue is that
    the moderator works for free in his spare time and he has a job and a life that takes precedent,
    or at least should.
    I comment on my own witty perspicacity in anticipating the sort of error that occurred. It was a block
    on sending/receiving mail because of an update in a global list of spam sites, so I was, shall we
    say, half right. I thus proudly accept the title of Half Wit and retire from this group.

    At first I thought you were imitating Hemidactylus ("Our presence does much to improve the place")
    or jillery ("...my devastating retorts"), but you wound up being more modest than them.

    To give credit where credit is due, the rest of us were stumbling blindly in the dark,
    while, as they say,

    "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."

    But don't let it go to your head. You are king of the t.o. exiles concerned about when
    and how Beagle would be back. That's a subset of all the t.o.exiles, and the others were off
    in their own virtual land.


    Back to the rough and tumble,

    And here is another example of that below.

    My understanding is Hemi's comment is satire.

    That's the opposite of my understanding, based partly on Hemi's reply to the post where
    I quoted his comment. Others' mileage may vary.


    The intent of my
    comment is self-deprecating exaggeration.

    You need to look up "self-deprecating." It means the opposite of what you seem to think it does.


    Incorrect. It demonstrates your blindness.


    *I* was indulging in self-deprecating humor when I talked about me (and others) stumbling blindly in the dark
    while Lawyer Daggett was "one-eyed". All this is preserved in the text you left in above.


    The example to which you refer above is no exaggeration, but is
    instead an apt metaphor. There's a difference.


    A very different example: Uriah Heep was self-deprecating every time he stressed how 'umble he (supposedly) was.
    Of course, there was no humor intended or inferred when he did that.


    Uriah Heep's comment to which you refer above is an example of false
    modesty. That you claim it as self-deprecation again demonstrates
    your inability to recognize the difference.


    As usual, your comments
    above demonstrate your inability to recognize either.

    You are doing something a number of people have libeled me as doing:
    you are attacking me for disagreeing with you.

    However, I don't think even they claimed that I attacked people
    for disagreeing with me *before* they disagreed with me.


    Your baseless allusions don't count as disagreements any more than
    your baseless opinions count as facts.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Dale@21:1/5 to jillery on Wed Nov 9 18:40:06 2022
    On 11/6/2022 12:00 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:28:51 -0400, jillery <69jpil69@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgreig@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google
    reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgreig@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.



    ?

    Beagle is back up and running, thank DIG.


    DIG has gone beyond the moderation charter of no more than four
    cross-posted groups ...

    --
    Mystery? -> https://www.dalekelly.org/

    Facebook-> https://www.facebook.com/dalekellytoo/
    Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/dalekellytoo/
    Twitter -> https://twitter.com/dalekellytoo/
    YouTube-> https://www.youtube.com/@dalekellytoo
    GitHub -> https://github.com/dalekellytoo
    LinkedIn -> https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalekellytoo/
    Pinterest -> https://www.pinterest.com/dalekellytoo/

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  • From jillery@21:1/5 to Dale on Wed Nov 9 20:19:53 2022
    On Wed, 9 Nov 2022 18:40:06 -0500, Dale <dale@dalekelly.org> wrote:

    On 11/6/2022 12:00 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:28:51 -0400, jillery <69jpil69@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November
    2.

    In the past, I assumed dgreig@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google
    reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgreig@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device.
    If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.



    ?

    Beagle is back up and running, thank DIG.


    DIG has gone beyond the moderation charter of no more than four
    cross-posted groups ...


    When and where?

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  • From Dale@21:1/5 to jillery on Wed Nov 9 21:24:38 2022
    On 11/9/2022 8:19 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Wed, 9 Nov 2022 18:40:06 -0500, Dale <dale@dalekelly.org> wrote:

    On 11/6/2022 12:00 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:28:51 -0400, jillery <69jpil69@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November >>>> 2.

    In the past, I assumed dgreig@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google >>>> reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgreig@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC
    the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device. >>>> If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would
    be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or
    if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.



    ?

    Beagle is back up and running, thank DIG.


    DIG has gone beyond the moderation charter of no more than four
    cross-posted groups ...



    ?

    When and where?

    Ed Conrad ...

    --
    Mystery? -> https://www.dalekelly.org/

    Facebook-> https://www.facebook.com/dalekellytoo/
    Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/dalekellytoo/
    Twitter -> https://twitter.com/dalekellytoo/
    YouTube-> https://www.youtube.com/@dalekellytoo
    GitHub -> https://github.com/dalekellytoo
    LinkedIn -> https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalekellytoo/
    Pinterest -> https://www.pinterest.com/dalekellytoo/

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From jillery@21:1/5 to Dale on Wed Nov 9 22:23:47 2022
    On Wed, 9 Nov 2022 21:24:38 -0500, Dale <dale@dalekelly.org> wrote:

    On 11/9/2022 8:19 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Wed, 9 Nov 2022 18:40:06 -0500, Dale <dale@dalekelly.org> wrote:

    On 11/6/2022 12:00 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:28:51 -0400, jillery <69jpil69@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    No new posts have appeared in talk.origins since 12:27:35 UTC November >>>>> 2.

    In the past, I assumed dgreig@gmail.com was a legitimate address to
    notify Greig. However, the last time I posted to that address, Google >>>>> reported that mailbox was full.

    The last T.O. post from Greig used dgreig@beagle.ediacara.org. IIUC >>>>> the Beagle Usenet server and mail server are the same physical device. >>>>> If so, both would go down at the same time, and so that address would >>>>> be useless for notifying Greig that Beagle requires a vist from the
    vet.

    On the possibility Greig has forwarded/echoed these addresses to
    another mail server, I have posted a notice to both. However, if
    somebody from S.B.P has a known good method for contacting Greig, or >>>>> if Greig is an S.B.P. lurker, I hope this post will serve as notice.



    ?

    Beagle is back up and running, thank DIG.


    DIG has gone beyond the moderation charter of no more than four
    cross-posted groups ...



    ?

    When and where?

    Ed Conrad ...


    I know you know how to post whole sentences. What about Ed Conrad?

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  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to 69jp...@gmail.com on Thu Nov 10 12:39:52 2022
    The jillery is reduced to highly questionable nitpicking followed by exaggerated
    derogatory claims about me and my points. It's a pattern frequently followed
    by another person given to frequent trolling: JTEM.

    The jillery, unlike JTEM, has been successful in lining up a good many regulars in a mutual
    "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" relationship with her/them, including
    three who are active on this thread. That is the really big difference between jillery
    and JTEM, and it contributes greatly to jillery being the most dangerously dishonest regular
    in talk.origins. [Whether the jillery becomes a regular here in s.b.p. may depend on whether
    the main OP's by the jillery are about YouTube videos of highly irregular quality.]


    Peter Nyikos

    PS I've left in the whole post to which I am responding below, so that anyone reading this can decide whether to contest my opening sentence. I believe
    that the three people to whom I alluded in my second paragraph will not do so, my description of them there notwithstanding.


    On Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 5:26:29 PM UTC-5, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Wed, 9 Nov 2022 12:05:44 -0800 (PST), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 7:18:38 AM UTC-5, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote: >> On Tue, 8 Nov 2022 16:23:53 -0800 (PST), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2...@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 12:33:45 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote: >> >> On Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 3:14:36 PM UTC-4, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    ...
    The fix to getting talk.origins up again will likely be simple once the moderator knows it needs to
    be done and has time to log in and restart things. Of course weirdness can occur if some admin
    blocks beagle from sending or receiving mail because of some confusion, or some automatic
    software update overwrites a parameter that needs to be custom set. But the main issue is that
    the moderator works for free in his spare time and he has a job and a life that takes precedent,
    or at least should.
    I comment on my own witty perspicacity in anticipating the sort of error that occurred. It was a block
    on sending/receiving mail because of an update in a global list of spam sites, so I was, shall we
    say, half right. I thus proudly accept the title of Half Wit and retire from this group.

    At first I thought you were imitating Hemidactylus ("Our presence does much to improve the place")
    or jillery ("...my devastating retorts"), but you wound up being more modest than them.

    To give credit where credit is due, the rest of us were stumbling blindly in the dark,
    while, as they say,

    "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."

    But don't let it go to your head. You are king of the t.o. exiles concerned about when
    and how Beagle would be back. That's a subset of all the t.o.exiles, and the others were off
    in their own virtual land.


    Back to the rough and tumble,

    And here is another example of that below.

    My understanding is Hemi's comment is satire.

    That's the opposite of my understanding, based partly on Hemi's reply to the post where
    I quoted his comment. Others' mileage may vary.


    The intent of my
    comment is self-deprecating exaggeration.

    You need to look up "self-deprecating." It means the opposite of what you seem to think it does.
    Incorrect. It demonstrates your blindness.
    *I* was indulging in self-deprecating humor when I talked about me (and others) stumbling blindly in the dark
    while Lawyer Daggett was "one-eyed". All this is preserved in the text you left in above.
    The example to which you refer above is no exaggeration, but is
    instead an apt metaphor. There's a difference.
    A very different example: Uriah Heep was self-deprecating every time he stressed how 'umble he (supposedly) was.
    Of course, there was no humor intended or inferred when he did that.
    Uriah Heep's comment to which you refer above is an example of false
    modesty. That you claim it as self-deprecation again demonstrates
    your inability to recognize the difference.
    As usual, your comments
    above demonstrate your inability to recognize either.

    You are doing something a number of people have libeled me as doing:
    you are attacking me for disagreeing with you.

    However, I don't think even they claimed that I attacked people
    for disagreeing with me *before* they disagreed with me.
    Your baseless allusions don't count as disagreements any more than
    your baseless opinions count as facts.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From jillery@21:1/5 to peter2nyikos@gmail.com on Fri Nov 11 01:30:58 2022
    On Thu, 10 Nov 2022 12:39:52 -0800 (PST), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2nyikos@gmail.com> wrote:

    The jillery is reduced to highly questionable nitpicking followed by exaggerated
    derogatory claims about me and my points.


    As usual, PeeWee Peter accuses jilery of doing what he does even while
    he's doing it.


    It's a pattern frequently followed
    by another person given to frequent trolling: JTEM.


    If PeeWee Peter posts that name three times, his strange bedfellow
    might appear.

    <snip PeeWee Peter's transparent mindless spam, for the sake of
    readers who have no interest in it>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to Dale on Tue Nov 15 08:52:48 2022
    On Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 9:24:28 PM UTC-5, Dale wrote:
    On 11/9/2022 8:19 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Wed, 9 Nov 2022 18:40:06 -0500, Dale <da...@dalekelly.org> wrote:

    DIG has gone beyond the moderation charter of no more than four
    cross-posted groups ...

    When and where?

    Ed Conrad ...

    Ed Conrad hasn't posted to talk.origins in decades, so his t.o. posts happened before talk.origins
    became "moderated" in its unconventional robo-moderated form. Until that was set up,
    t.o. was not moderated in any sense of the word.

    OTOH sci.bio.paleontology has always been un-moderated, which is why we were able to post
    here whenever Beagle (and before it, Darwin) was down.

    Did DIG cross-post to more than four groups recently? I echo jillery's question: When and where?
    And I add: to what moderated charter are you referring?


    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Lawyer Daggett@21:1/5 to All on Tue Nov 15 10:43:34 2022
    Ed Conrad was banned for repeated nymshifting. For example, https://groups.google.com/g/talk.origins/c/W4r5gs6FZ2U/m/H5DOOl8a1R0J
    Ed posted within the current robomoderated epic.
    Nymshifting was a published cause for banishment per hte FAQ the moderator
    used to public bi-monthly.

    He has indeed passed on. https://www.truskowskyfuneralhome.com/obituary/edward-conrad

    See this for the memory hole https://groups.google.com/g/talk.origins/c/RJnJFktwOmw/m/YFen7TYJCAAJ

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to Dale on Tue Nov 15 11:45:26 2022
    On Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 9:24:28 PM UTC-5, Dale wrote:
    On 11/9/2022 8:19 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Wed, 9 Nov 2022 18:40:06 -0500, Dale <da...@dalekelly.org> wrote:

    On 11/6/2022 12:00 PM, jillery wrote:

    Beagle is back up and running, thank DIG.


    DIG has gone beyond the moderation charter of no more than four
    cross-posted groups ...

    This comment should have been posted to talk.origins, seeing as how Beagle
    had been back up for three days before it was posted.

    It is off topic for sci.bio.paleontology, which has never been moderated
    in any sense of the word. That is why we have been able to post
    here whenever Beagle (and before it, Darwin) was down.


    ?

    When and where?

    Ed Conrad ...

    You seem to be referring to events of 15 or more years ago, like the 2007 post which
    Lawyer Daggett linked in his post of about an hour ago.

    Did DIG cross-post to more than four groups RECENTLY? I echo jillery's question: When and where?
    And I add: to what moderated charter are you referring? Was there any formal charter back when robo-moderator was set up?


    Peter Nyikos

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  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to Lawyer Daggett on Tue Nov 15 13:01:24 2022
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 1:43:35 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    Ed Conrad was banned for repeated nymshifting. For example, https://groups.google.com/g/talk.origins/c/W4r5gs6FZ2U/m/H5DOOl8a1R0J
    Ed posted within the current robomoderated epic.

    Thanks for this information, which corrects some misconceptions of mine
    in the post to which you are following up. After a lot of hesitation, I decided to cancel that post and to replace it with another which tries to get Dale to answer some questions that he didn't answer, including two by jillery and another pair by myself.


    Nymshifting was a published cause for banishment per hte FAQ the moderator used to public bi-monthly.

    It still is cause for banishment, isn't it?
    [It does seem, though, that DIG hasn't been able to catch all offenders.]

    If Ed posted under a different name during my first posting stint on t.o. (mid-1995 to mid-2001)
    that could explain why I never saw any posts under that name back then.

    On the other hand, I saw numerous posts by Ted Holden in which he relayed claims
    by Ed to having found Haversian canals in claimed fossils made of coal. Ted even linked
    photographs which could be construed as indistinct fossils of Haversian canals. Perhaps, then, Ed had taken a long posting break from talk.origins during that time.

    Do you have any relevant data from those years?


    He has indeed passed on. https://www.truskowskyfuneralhome.com/obituary/edward-conrad

    Thanks for this information.

    See this for the memory hole

    "memory hole" has negative connotations suggesting feigned memory loss.
    I had honestly forgotten about some key information in the thread you've linked from 2017:

    https://groups.google.com/g/talk.origins/c/RJnJFktwOmw/m/YFen7TYJCAAJ

    Thanks for this great trip down memory lane. Your link took me to a direct reply
    by me to a post in which DIG (using his full name, David Iain Greig) not only told me a lot about the causes for banishment, but even had some nice personal comments about me. But it was also good to see some other posts along that thread.


    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From jillery@21:1/5 to peter2nyikos@gmail.com on Tue Nov 15 16:59:57 2022
    On Tue, 15 Nov 2022 08:52:48 -0800 (PST), Peter Nyikos
    <peter2nyikos@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 9:24:28 PM UTC-5, Dale wrote:
    On 11/9/2022 8:19 PM, jillery wrote:
    On Wed, 9 Nov 2022 18:40:06 -0500, Dale <da...@dalekelly.org> wrote:

    DIG has gone beyond the moderation charter of no more than four
    cross-posted groups ...

    When and where?

    Ed Conrad ...

    Ed Conrad hasn't posted to talk.origins in decades, so his t.o. posts happened before talk.origins
    became "moderated" in its unconventional robo-moderated form. Until that was set up,
    t.o. was not moderated in any sense of the word.

    OTOH sci.bio.paleontology has always been un-moderated, which is why we were able to post
    here whenever Beagle (and before it, Darwin) was down.


    To be pedantically precise, neither moderation nor Beagle's status
    informs posting "here". As I noted elsethread, posting notices of
    Beagle's status is a defacto backchannel to informing DIG. Said
    backchannel was necessary at one time when Beagle hardware was
    private. Now that Beagle lives in the cloud, DIG might be informed automatically. However, to the best of my knowledge, DIG hasn't said
    if that's the case. It would be nice if he would.


    Did DIG cross-post to more than four groups recently? I echo jillery's question: When and where?
    And I add: to what moderated charter are you referring?


    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Lawyer Daggett@21:1/5 to peter2...@gmail.com on Tue Nov 15 13:53:32 2022
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 4:01:25 PM UTC-5, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 1:43:35 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    Ed Conrad was banned for repeated nymshifting. For example, https://groups.google.com/g/talk.origins/c/W4r5gs6FZ2U/m/H5DOOl8a1R0J
    Ed posted within the current robomoderated epic.
    Thanks for this information, which corrects some misconceptions of mine
    in the post to which you are following up. After a lot of hesitation, I decided
    to cancel that post and to replace it with another which tries to get Dale to answer some questions that he didn't answer, including two by jillery and another pair by myself.
    Nymshifting was a published cause for banishment per hte FAQ the moderator used to public bi-monthly.
    It still is cause for banishment, isn't it?
    [It does seem, though, that DIG hasn't been able to catch all offenders.]

    If Ed posted under a different name during my first posting stint on t.o. (mid-1995 to mid-2001)
    that could explain why I never saw any posts under that name back then.

    On the other hand, I saw numerous posts by Ted Holden in which he relayed claims
    by Ed to having found Haversian canals in claimed fossils made of coal. Ted even linked
    photographs which could be construed as indistinct fossils of Haversian canals.
    Perhaps, then, Ed had taken a long posting break from talk.origins during that time.

    Do you have any relevant data from those years?

    https://groups.google.com/g/talk.origins/c/E-_UNazl-Rs/m/Jhj8hzT5HtoJ

    My contemporaneous impressions were as follows.
    Ed exhibited what might be characterized as "classic symptoms". I won't expand upon what I mean by that. Despite that, a number of talk.origins regulars took what might be called 'the high road' and offered their academic and technical expertise to examine Ed's claims. This included an invitation by PZ Myers to use his facilities to examine Ed's specimens with Ed present. It happened.

    The record demonstrates what I will characterize as rather extreme patience
    and indulgence for an amateur with some rather dubious claims. Deference was given to a person lacking the background to know better. Such Deference was
    not extended to any similar degree to others who ought to know better.

    Ed's samples were confirmed to be concretions by proper analytical techniques, even though that was essentially a foregone conclusion. Despite it being a foregone
    conclusion, the tests were made in case there was indeed some miracle at work. It was a moment for talk.origins to be proud of, in a way. Of course, few good deeds
    go unpunished. It was also a foregone conclusion that a conclusive demonstration
    that Ed's sample were concretions would not satisfy him, but he was given a chance.

    And I don't consider "memory hole" to be pejorative.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to Lawyer Daggett on Wed Nov 16 18:38:02 2022
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 4:53:33 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 4:01:25 PM UTC-5, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 1:43:35 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:

    Ed Conrad was banned for repeated nymshifting. For example, https://groups.google.com/g/talk.origins/c/W4r5gs6FZ2U/m/H5DOOl8a1R0J
    Ed posted within the current robomoderated epic.

    How far back did that extend? Did "Darwin" go back to its beginning? If not, what preceded Darwin?

    Thanks for this information, which corrects some misconceptions of mine
    in the post to which you are following up. After a lot of hesitation, I decided
    to cancel that post and to replace it with another which tries to get Dale to
    answer some questions that he didn't answer, including two by jillery and another pair by myself.

    Nymshifting was a published cause for banishment per hte FAQ the moderator
    used to public bi-monthly.
    It still is cause for banishment, isn't it?
    [It does seem, though, that DIG hasn't been able to catch all offenders.]

    If Ed posted under a different name during my first posting stint on t.o. (mid-1995 to mid-2001)
    that could explain why I never saw any posts under that name back then.

    On the other hand, I saw numerous posts by Ted Holden in which he relayed claims
    by Ed to having found Haversian canals in claimed fossils made of coal. Ted even linked
    photographs which could be construed as indistinct fossils of Haversian canals.
    Perhaps, then, Ed had taken a long posting break from talk.origins during that time.

    Do you have any relevant data from those years?

    https://groups.google.com/g/talk.origins/c/E-_UNazl-Rs/m/Jhj8hzT5HtoJ

    Bizarre features: (1) every single post on that thread is dated at the same time of day, 3:00:00 AM
    on the main page that lists all the posts on the thread.

    (2) When I initiate replies to the first two posts to the thread, the time remains the same but the dates
    are also identical:

    On Saturday, July 27, 1996 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Paul Myers wrote:
    On Saturday, July 27, 1996 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Ed Conrad wrote:

    but then the dates changed, as one might expect in successive posts, but the 3:00:00 AM remained unchanged.


    But even if those features have coherent explanations, the fact remains that this
    was PZM's side of the story; the thread title says as much:

    Re: MY SIDE OF THE STORY (A Visit to Temple for ``testing")

    After all, the OP was by Paul Myers, as I noted before, and we don't know
    what Ed's side of the story is except for that one post following the OP.


    My contemporaneous impressions were as follows.
    Ed exhibited what might be characterized as "classic symptoms". I won't expand
    upon what I mean by that. Despite that, a number of talk.origins regulars took
    what might be called 'the high road' and offered their academic and technical expertise to examine Ed's claims.

    I'd like to know who they were and what they offered. Was any one of them
    a certified geologist with expertise in distinguishing between fossils and things that might look like them to a layman?

    And I use "layman" very broadly: Erik Simpson is a talk.origins and sci.bio.paleontology regular
    and an avid fossil collector; and yet he did an OP in s.b.p. earlier this year asking whether
    something he had found was a fossil:

    https://groups.google.com/g/sci.bio.paleontology/c/PVBo-oVY13c/m/k_UhOObEAwAJ Possible fossil?
    Sep 1, 2022, 5:36:58 PM

    This included an invitation by PZ Myers to
    use his facilities to examine Ed's specimens with Ed present. It happened.

    PZM is a developmental biologist, a discipline far removed from the kind of expertise
    called for: a certified geologist as described above. Why didn't he invite one to
    be there during the examination?

    The record demonstrates what I will characterize as rather extreme patience and indulgence for an amateur with some rather dubious claims. Deference was given to a person lacking the background to know better. Such Deference was not extended to any similar degree to others who ought to know better.

    In fact, that kind of deference is unique in the annals of talk.origins or sci.bio.paleontology AFAIK.
    Do you know of any other examples?


    Ed's samples were confirmed to be concretions by proper analytical techniques,

    The discrepancies in the account do not lead to such a conclusion.
    Take a closer look at the description of a professionally prepared lab specimen which showed Haversian
    canals beautifully and what transpired in a number of places between Ed and PZ. Here is one excerpt:
    ________________________________________________________________________________
    I'd like to establish contact with the preparer of that particular
    slide to learn why the Haversian systems are so clearly visible yet,
    while using the same magnification and the same microscope, they are
    not visible in the scaping removed from the HUMAN pelvis.

    Those were OLD slides, and I'm not sure I'll be able to track down where
    that particular slide came from. However, it is representative. If you'd
    like a similar slide of your own, check out some of the biological supply houses (like Carolina Biological, <http://www.carosci.com/>). They can
    answer any of your specific questions about preparation, and will cheerfully sell you as many slides as you can afford.

    ============================= end of excerpt

    I'd rate PZ's response as less than satisfactory. Do you disagree?


    even though that was essentially a foregone conclusion. Despite it being a foregone
    conclusion, the tests were made in case there was indeed some miracle at work.

    WHAT tests? There was no sign of any CONTROLS in those "tests": proper controls would be scrapings made of BONE in the same manner and using the same tools that the scrapings
    from Ed's specimen were made. Ideally, using both fresh bone and fossilized bone.

    The closest thing to a control was the thing PZ excused as being "OLD slides" in the
    account excerpted above. And that particular "control" favored Ed more than it did PZ.


    It was a moment for talk.origins to be proud of, in a way. Of course, few good deeds
    go unpunished.

    That much is very true: I've seen copious good deeds being punished repeatedly in talk.origins,
    deeds much more clearly good than what the above impressions suggest.


    It was also a foregone conclusion that a conclusive demonstration
    that Ed's sample were concretions would not satisfy him, but he was given a chance.

    Since you have not yet made a case for a conclusive demonstration having
    been made, this statement of yours lacks foundation. Will you try to provide a better case than what you've made so far?


    And I don't consider "memory hole" to be pejorative.

    It is if one knows what the memory holes were used for in George Orwell's _1984_.
    Unless, of course, Orwell redefined the term from an earlier non-pejorative prior use. Did he?


    Peter Nyikos

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Lawyer Daggett@21:1/5 to peter2...@gmail.com on Wed Nov 16 23:06:43 2022
    On Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 9:38:04 PM UTC-5, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 4:53:33 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 4:01:25 PM UTC-5, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 1:43:35 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:

    Ed Conrad was banned for repeated nymshifting. For example, https://groups.google.com/g/talk.origins/c/W4r5gs6FZ2U/m/H5DOOl8a1R0J Ed posted within the current robomoderated epic.
    How far back did that extend? Did "Darwin" go back to its beginning? If not, what preceded Darwin?
    Thanks for this information, which corrects some misconceptions of mine in the post to which you are following up. After a lot of hesitation, I decided
    to cancel that post and to replace it with another which tries to get Dale to
    answer some questions that he didn't answer, including two by jillery and another pair by myself.

    Nymshifting was a published cause for banishment per hte FAQ the moderator
    used to public bi-monthly.
    It still is cause for banishment, isn't it?
    [It does seem, though, that DIG hasn't been able to catch all offenders.]

    If Ed posted under a different name during my first posting stint on t.o. (mid-1995 to mid-2001)
    that could explain why I never saw any posts under that name back then.

    On the other hand, I saw numerous posts by Ted Holden in which he relayed claims
    by Ed to having found Haversian canals in claimed fossils made of coal. Ted even linked
    photographs which could be construed as indistinct fossils of Haversian canals.
    Perhaps, then, Ed had taken a long posting break from talk.origins during that time.

    Do you have any relevant data from those years?

    https://groups.google.com/g/talk.origins/c/E-_UNazl-Rs/m/Jhj8hzT5HtoJ
    Bizarre features: (1) every single post on that thread is dated at the same time of day, 3:00:00 AM
    on the main page that lists all the posts on the thread.

    (2) When I initiate replies to the first two posts to the thread, the time remains the same but the dates
    are also identical:

    On Saturday, July 27, 1996 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Paul Myers wrote:
    On Saturday, July 27, 1996 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Ed Conrad wrote:

    but then the dates changed, as one might expect in successive posts, but the 3:00:00 AM remained unchanged.


    But even if those features have coherent explanations, the fact remains that this
    was PZM's side of the story; the thread title says as much:

    Re: MY SIDE OF THE STORY (A Visit to Temple for ``testing")

    After all, the OP was by Paul Myers, as I noted before, and we don't know what Ed's side of the story is except for that one post following the OP.
    My contemporaneous impressions were as follows.
    Ed exhibited what might be characterized as "classic symptoms". I won't expand
    upon what I mean by that. Despite that, a number of talk.origins regulars took
    what might be called 'the high road' and offered their academic and technical
    expertise to examine Ed's claims.
    I'd like to know who they were and what they offered. Was any one of them
    a certified geologist with expertise in distinguishing between fossils and things that might look like them to a layman?

    And I use "layman" very broadly: Erik Simpson is a talk.origins and sci.bio.paleontology regular
    and an avid fossil collector; and yet he did an OP in s.b.p. earlier this year asking whether
    something he had found was a fossil:

    https://groups.google.com/g/sci.bio.paleontology/c/PVBo-oVY13c/m/k_UhOObEAwAJ Possible fossil?
    Sep 1, 2022, 5:36:58 PM
    This included an invitation by PZ Myers to
    use his facilities to examine Ed's specimens with Ed present. It happened.
    PZM is a developmental biologist, a discipline far removed from the kind of expertise
    called for: a certified geologist as described above. Why didn't he invite one to
    be there during the examination?
    The record demonstrates what I will characterize as rather extreme patience and indulgence for an amateur with some rather dubious claims. Deference was
    given to a person lacking the background to know better. Such Deference was not extended to any similar degree to others who ought to know better.
    In fact, that kind of deference is unique in the annals of talk.origins or sci.bio.paleontology AFAIK.
    Do you know of any other examples?

    Ed's samples were confirmed to be concretions by proper analytical techniques,
    The discrepancies in the account do not lead to such a conclusion.
    Take a closer look at the description of a professionally prepared lab specimen which showed Haversian
    canals beautifully and what transpired in a number of places between Ed and PZ. Here is one excerpt:
    ________________________________________________________________________________
    I'd like to establish contact with the preparer of that particular
    slide to learn why the Haversian systems are so clearly visible yet,
    while using the same magnification and the same microscope, they are
    not visible in the scaping removed from the HUMAN pelvis.

    Those were OLD slides, and I'm not sure I'll be able to track down where
    that particular slide came from. However, it is representative. If you'd
    like a similar slide of your own, check out some of the biological supply houses (like Carolina Biological, <http://www.carosci.com/>). They can
    answer any of your specific questions about preparation, and will cheerfully sell you as many slides as you can afford.

    ============================= end of excerpt

    I'd rate PZ's response as less than satisfactory. Do you disagree?
    even though that was essentially a foregone conclusion. Despite it being a foregone
    conclusion, the tests were made in case there was indeed some miracle at work.
    WHAT tests? There was no sign of any CONTROLS in those "tests": proper controls
    would be scrapings made of BONE in the same manner and using the same tools that the scrapings
    from Ed's specimen were made. Ideally, using both fresh bone and fossilized bone.

    The closest thing to a control was the thing PZ excused as being "OLD slides" in the
    account excerpted above. And that particular "control" favored Ed more than it did PZ.
    It was a moment for talk.origins to be proud of, in a way. Of course, few good deeds
    go unpunished.
    That much is very true: I've seen copious good deeds being punished repeatedly in talk.origins,
    deeds much more clearly good than what the above impressions suggest.
    It was also a foregone conclusion that a conclusive demonstration
    that Ed's sample were concretions would not satisfy him, but he was given a chance.
    Since you have not yet made a case for a conclusive demonstration having
    been made, this statement of yours lacks foundation. Will you try to provide a
    better case than what you've made so far?
    And I don't consider "memory hole" to be pejorative.
    It is if one knows what the memory holes were used for in George Orwell's _1984_.
    Unless, of course, Orwell redefined the term from an earlier non-pejorative prior use. Did he?


    Peter Nyikos

    I find your responses tedious and horribly biased.

    http://web.archive.org/web/20060101010100/http://www.geo.ucalgary.ca/~macrae/t_origins/carbbones/carbbones.html

    I disagree with almost all of your personal conclusions. This thread fairly well
    documents that you are not a reliable source on issues which you nevertheless feel competent to opine upon. The above link which archives a fair record of the analysis of Ed's samples more than suffices for an honest reader to understand what occurred and how your impulses are misguided.

    And to be clear, while the analysis of Ed's samples was a high spot, no, it wasn't
    a special exception. Honest people did receive some fair treatment. They also had various hot heads virtually scream at them. Part of being honest is, in my opinion, ignoring some of the hot heads and focusing on calmer voices. Otherwise
    you're just in it for a fight and only pretending to be intellectually curious. And I beg the pardon of the group for this exchange.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From erik simpson@21:1/5 to peter2...@gmail.com on Thu Nov 17 07:45:59 2022
    On Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 6:38:04 PM UTC-8, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 4:53:33 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 4:01:25 PM UTC-5, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 1:43:35 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:

    Ed Conrad was banned for repeated nymshifting. For example, https://groups.google.com/g/talk.origins/c/W4r5gs6FZ2U/m/H5DOOl8a1R0J Ed posted within the current robomoderated epic.
    How far back did that extend? Did "Darwin" go back to its beginning? If not, what preceded Darwin?
    Thanks for this information, which corrects some misconceptions of mine in the post to which you are following up. After a lot of hesitation, I decided
    to cancel that post and to replace it with another which tries to get Dale to
    answer some questions that he didn't answer, including two by jillery and another pair by myself.

    Nymshifting was a published cause for banishment per hte FAQ the moderator
    used to public bi-monthly.
    It still is cause for banishment, isn't it?
    [It does seem, though, that DIG hasn't been able to catch all offenders.]

    If Ed posted under a different name during my first posting stint on t.o. (mid-1995 to mid-2001)
    that could explain why I never saw any posts under that name back then.

    On the other hand, I saw numerous posts by Ted Holden in which he relayed claims
    by Ed to having found Haversian canals in claimed fossils made of coal. Ted even linked
    photographs which could be construed as indistinct fossils of Haversian canals.
    Perhaps, then, Ed had taken a long posting break from talk.origins during that time.

    Do you have any relevant data from those years?

    https://groups.google.com/g/talk.origins/c/E-_UNazl-Rs/m/Jhj8hzT5HtoJ
    Bizarre features: (1) every single post on that thread is dated at the same time of day, 3:00:00 AM
    on the main page that lists all the posts on the thread.

    (2) When I initiate replies to the first two posts to the thread, the time remains the same but the dates
    are also identical:

    On Saturday, July 27, 1996 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Paul Myers wrote:
    On Saturday, July 27, 1996 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Ed Conrad wrote:

    but then the dates changed, as one might expect in successive posts, but the 3:00:00 AM remained unchanged.


    But even if those features have coherent explanations, the fact remains that this
    was PZM's side of the story; the thread title says as much:

    Re: MY SIDE OF THE STORY (A Visit to Temple for ``testing")

    After all, the OP was by Paul Myers, as I noted before, and we don't know what Ed's side of the story is except for that one post following the OP.
    My contemporaneous impressions were as follows.
    Ed exhibited what might be characterized as "classic symptoms". I won't expand
    upon what I mean by that. Despite that, a number of talk.origins regulars took
    what might be called 'the high road' and offered their academic and technical
    expertise to examine Ed's claims.
    I'd like to know who they were and what they offered. Was any one of them
    a certified geologist with expertise in distinguishing between fossils and things that might look like them to a layman?

    And I use "layman" very broadly: Erik Simpson is a talk.origins and sci.bio.paleontology regular
    and an avid fossil collector; and yet he did an OP in s.b.p. earlier this year asking whether
    something he had found was a fossil:

    https://groups.google.com/g/sci.bio.paleontology/c/PVBo-oVY13c/m/k_UhOObEAwAJ Possible fossil?
    Sep 1, 2022, 5:36:58 PM
    This included an invitation by PZ Myers to
    use his facilities to examine Ed's specimens with Ed present. It happened.
    PZM is a developmental biologist, a discipline far removed from the kind of expertise
    called for: a certified geologist as described above. Why didn't he invite one to
    be there during the examination?
    The record demonstrates what I will characterize as rather extreme patience and indulgence for an amateur with some rather dubious claims. Deference was
    given to a person lacking the background to know better. Such Deference was not extended to any similar degree to others who ought to know better.
    In fact, that kind of deference is unique in the annals of talk.origins or sci.bio.paleontology AFAIK.
    Do you know of any other examples?

    Ed's samples were confirmed to be concretions by proper analytical techniques,
    The discrepancies in the account do not lead to such a conclusion.
    Take a closer look at the description of a professionally prepared lab specimen which showed Haversian
    canals beautifully and what transpired in a number of places between Ed and PZ. Here is one excerpt:
    ________________________________________________________________________________
    I'd like to establish contact with the preparer of that particular
    slide to learn why the Haversian systems are so clearly visible yet,
    while using the same magnification and the same microscope, they are
    not visible in the scaping removed from the HUMAN pelvis.

    Those were OLD slides, and I'm not sure I'll be able to track down where
    that particular slide came from. However, it is representative. If you'd
    like a similar slide of your own, check out some of the biological supply houses (like Carolina Biological, <http://www.carosci.com/>). They can
    answer any of your specific questions about preparation, and will cheerfully sell you as many slides as you can afford.

    ============================= end of excerpt

    I'd rate PZ's response as less than satisfactory. Do you disagree?
    even though that was essentially a foregone conclusion. Despite it being a foregone
    conclusion, the tests were made in case there was indeed some miracle at work.
    WHAT tests? There was no sign of any CONTROLS in those "tests": proper controls
    would be scrapings made of BONE in the same manner and using the same tools that the scrapings
    from Ed's specimen were made. Ideally, using both fresh bone and fossilized bone.

    The closest thing to a control was the thing PZ excused as being "OLD slides" in the
    account excerpted above. And that particular "control" favored Ed more than it did PZ.
    It was a moment for talk.origins to be proud of, in a way. Of course, few good deeds
    go unpunished.
    That much is very true: I've seen copious good deeds being punished repeatedly in talk.origins,
    deeds much more clearly good than what the above impressions suggest.
    It was also a foregone conclusion that a conclusive demonstration
    that Ed's sample were concretions would not satisfy him, but he was given a chance.
    Since you have not yet made a case for a conclusive demonstration having
    been made, this statement of yours lacks foundation. Will you try to provide a
    better case than what you've made so far?
    And I don't consider "memory hole" to be pejorative.
    It is if one knows what the memory holes were used for in George Orwell's _1984_.
    Unless, of course, Orwell redefined the term from an earlier non-pejorative prior use. Did he?


    Peter Nyikos

    Where are you going with this "conversation? Do you think Ed (or his follower Lin Liangtai) had
    real fossils (man as old as coal, etc.)? Or is this just one of your abstract "truth and justice" campaigns?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to erik simpson on Mon Nov 21 15:45:40 2022
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:46:01 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 6:38:04 PM UTC-8, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 4:53:33 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:

    My contemporaneous impressions were as follows.
    Ed exhibited what might be characterized as "classic symptoms". I won't expand
    upon what I mean by that. Despite that, a number of talk.origins regulars took
    what might be called 'the high road' and offered their academic and technical
    expertise to examine Ed's claims.
    I'd like to know who they were and what they offered. Was any one of them
    a certified geologist with expertise in distinguishing between fossils and things that might look like them to a layman?

    And I use "layman" very broadly: Erik Simpson is a talk.origins and sci.bio.paleontology regular
    and an avid fossil collector; and yet he did an OP in s.b.p. earlier this year asking whether
    something he had found was a fossil:

    https://groups.google.com/g/sci.bio.paleontology/c/PVBo-oVY13c/m/k_UhOObEAwAJ
    Possible fossil?
    Sep 1, 2022, 5:36:58 PM
    This included an invitation by PZ Myers to
    use his facilities to examine Ed's specimens with Ed present. It happened.
    PZM is a developmental biologist, a discipline far removed from the kind of expertise
    called for: a certified geologist as described above. Why didn't he invite one to
    be there during the examination?
    The record demonstrates what I will characterize as rather extreme patience
    and indulgence for an amateur with some rather dubious claims. Deference was
    given to a person lacking the background to know better. Such Deference was
    not extended to any similar degree to others who ought to know better.
    In fact, that kind of deference is unique in the annals of talk.origins or sci.bio.paleontology AFAIK.
    Do you know of any other examples?

    Ed's samples were confirmed to be concretions by proper analytical techniques,
    The discrepancies in the account do not lead to such a conclusion.
    Take a closer look at the description of a professionally prepared lab specimen which showed Haversian
    canals beautifully and what transpired in a number of places between Ed and PZ. Here is one excerpt:
    ________________________________________________________________________________
    I'd like to establish contact with the preparer of that particular
    slide to learn why the Haversian systems are so clearly visible yet, while using the same magnification and the same microscope, they are
    not visible in the scaping removed from the HUMAN pelvis.

    Those were OLD slides, and I'm not sure I'll be able to track down where that particular slide came from. However, it is representative. If you'd like a similar slide of your own, check out some of the biological supply houses (like Carolina Biological, <http://www.carosci.com/>). They can answer any of your specific questions about preparation, and will cheerfully
    sell you as many slides as you can afford.

    ============================= end of excerpt

    I'd rate PZ's response as less than satisfactory. Do you disagree?
    even though that was essentially a foregone conclusion. Despite it being a foregone
    conclusion, the tests were made in case there was indeed some miracle at work.

    WHAT tests? There was no sign of any CONTROLS in those "tests": proper controls
    would be scrapings made of BONE in the same manner and using the same tools that the scrapings
    from Ed's specimen were made. Ideally, using both fresh bone and fossilized bone.

    The closest thing to a control was the thing PZ excused as being "OLD slides" in the
    account excerpted above. And that particular "control" favored Ed more than it did PZ.
    It was a moment for talk.origins to be proud of, in a way. Of course, few good deeds
    go unpunished.
    That much is very true: I've seen copious good deeds being punished repeatedly in talk.origins,
    deeds much more clearly good than what the above impressions suggest.
    It was also a foregone conclusion that a conclusive demonstration
    that Ed's sample were concretions would not satisfy him, but he was given a chance.
    Since you have not yet made a case for a conclusive demonstration having been made, this statement of yours lacks foundation. Will you try to provide a
    better case than what you've made so far?
    And I don't consider "memory hole" to be pejorative.
    It is if one knows what the memory holes were used for in George Orwell's _1984_.
    Unless, of course, Orwell redefined the term from an earlier non-pejorative prior use. Did he?


    Peter Nyikos

    Where are you going with this "conversation?

    The same direction you went last month: trying to find out whether something was a fossil or not.
    Didn't you read what I wrote about you up there?

    [repeated from above:]
    And I use "layman" very broadly: Erik Simpson is a talk.origins and sci.bio.paleontology regular
    and an avid fossil collector; and yet he did an OP in s.b.p. earlier this year asking whether
    something he had found was a fossil:

    https://groups.google.com/g/sci.bio.paleontology/c/PVBo-oVY13c/m/k_UhOObEAwAJ
    Possible fossil?
    Sep 1, 2022, 5:36:58 PM


    Do you think Ed (or his follower Lin Liangtai) had
    real fossils (man as old as coal, etc.)?

    Why this irrelevant change of topic? There was no way PZ Myers's "experiments" could
    have identified the fossil bone, if that is what it was, as a human bone or even that
    of any specific tetrapod. The tests of which "Lawyer Daggett" sang to the high heavens
    could have decided, at best, whether it was fossil bone or not, and the focus of attention
    was the existence or nonexistence of Haversian canals:

    [reposted from above:]
    Take a closer look at the description of a professionally prepared lab specimen which showed Haversian
    canals beautifully and what transpired in a number of places between Ed and PZ. Here is one excerpt:
    ________________________________________________________________________________
    I'd like to establish contact with the preparer of that particular
    slide to learn why the Haversian systems are so clearly visible yet, while using the same magnification and the same microscope, they are
    not visible in the scaping removed from the HUMAN pelvis.

    Those were Ed Conrad's words, and PZ Myers was very evasive in reply.
    Are you happy about that reply?

    Or is this just one of your abstract "truth and justice" campaigns?

    There is nothing abstract about what transpired between Conrad and Myers.
    You and "Lawyer Daggett" have only him to blame for the way I responded
    to the ONLY piece of evidence I had to work with in the post to which
    you are responding: a post by Myers (NOT Conrad) which supposedly
    told MYERS's side of the story and showing him cutting a pretty poor figure.

    If "Lawyer Daggett" hadn't pussyfooted around so much when he linked that 1996 post,
    you would have had no cause to make the snarky comment you did just now.
    Look at what he wrote at the beginning:

    Ed exhibited what might be characterized as "classic symptoms". I won't expand
    upon what I mean by that.

    If Daggett had straightforwardly written that Ed was a kook and a crank for thinking he had found *human* bones in Carboniferous strata, I would
    have wholeheartedly agreed. But I would have reiterated what I told Ed's mouthpiece Ted Holden: if he had wanted to get an unbiased reaction from professionals,
    he should have been much more modest and merely say that he found what looks to him
    like a fossil bone, and would appreciate a professional evaluation.

    And then there was this even more extreme pussy-footing by Daggett:

    The record demonstrates what I will characterize as rather extreme patience
    and indulgence for an amateur with some rather dubious claims.

    It *is* rather dubious for an amateur to claim that something that was repeatedly
    identified as a concretion was actually the fossil of a bone. Someone unfamiliar
    with these events of 1996 [does that include even you, Erik?] would never suspect from Daggett's pussyfooting that the "rather dubious" claims were outlandish claims
    that there were human bones in Carboniferous strata ca. 300 mya.


    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    University of South Carolina
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

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  • From Peter Nyikos@21:1/5 to Lawyer Daggett on Fri Nov 25 10:22:26 2022
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 2:06:44 AM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 9:38:04 PM UTC-5, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 4:53:33 PM UTC-5, Lawyer Daggett wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 4:01:25 PM UTC-5, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:

    If Ed posted under a different name during my first posting stint on t.o. (mid-1995 to mid-2001)
    that could explain why I never saw any posts under that name back then.

    On the other hand, I saw numerous posts by Ted Holden in which he relayed claims
    by Ed to having found Haversian canals in claimed fossils made of coal. Ted even linked
    photographs which could be construed as indistinct fossils of Haversian canals.
    Perhaps, then, Ed had taken a long posting break from talk.origins during that time.

    Do you have any relevant data from those years?

    https://groups.google.com/g/talk.origins/c/E-_UNazl-Rs/m/Jhj8hzT5HtoJ

    Bizarre features: (1) every single post on that thread is dated at the same time of day, 3:00:00 AM
    on the main page that lists all the posts on the thread.

    (2) When I initiate replies to the first two posts to the thread, the time remains the same but the dates
    are also identical:

    On Saturday, July 27, 1996 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Paul Myers wrote:
    On Saturday, July 27, 1996 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Ed Conrad wrote:

    but then the dates changed, as one might expect in successive posts, but the 3:00:00 AM remained unchanged.


    But even if those features have coherent explanations, the fact remains that this
    was PZM's side of the story; the thread title says as much:

    I take back what I wrote here. Paul Myers was too popular to worry about
    making a good impression on objective people. He was surrounded
    by "groupies" who had little idea of the science needed to evaluate
    what was going on, but who would back him to the hilt.

    In the linked thread, three "groupies" and Andrew MacRae participated.
    MacRae did not address the dispute directly. Two of the "groupies" confined themselves to insults
    and gave no clue as to whether they had understood a word about the scientific issues,
    while the third simply echoed back what Myers had told Ed, hence gave
    no such clue either.

    Re: MY SIDE OF THE STORY (A Visit to Temple for ``testing")

    After all, the OP was by Paul Myers, as I noted before, and we don't know what Ed's side of the story is except for that one post following the OP.


    My contemporaneous impressions were as follows.

    Ed exhibited what might be characterized as "classic symptoms". I won't expand
    upon what I mean by that. Despite that, a number of talk.origins regulars took
    what might be called 'the high road' and offered their academic and technical
    expertise to examine Ed's claims.

    I'd like to know who they were and what they offered. Was any one of them a certified geologist with expertise in distinguishing between fossils and things that might look like them to a layman?

    And I use "layman" very broadly: Erik Simpson is a talk.origins and sci.bio.paleontology regular
    and an avid fossil collector; and yet he did an OP in s.b.p. earlier this year asking whether
    something he had found was a fossil:

    https://groups.google.com/g/sci.bio.paleontology/c/PVBo-oVY13c/m/k_UhOObEAwAJ
    Possible fossil?
    Sep 1, 2022, 5:36:58 PM
    This included an invitation by PZ Myers to
    use his facilities to examine Ed's specimens with Ed present. It happened.

    PZM is a developmental biologist, a discipline far removed from the kind of expertise
    called for: a certified geologist as described above. Why didn't he invite one to
    be there during the examination?

    The record demonstrates what I will characterize as rather extreme patience
    and indulgence for an amateur with some rather dubious claims. Deference was
    given to a person lacking the background to know better. Such Deference was
    not extended to any similar degree to others who ought to know better.

    In fact, that kind of deference is unique in the annals of talk.origins or sci.bio.paleontology AFAIK.
    Do you know of any other examples?

    Ed's samples were confirmed to be concretions by proper analytical techniques,
    The discrepancies in the account do not lead to such a conclusion.
    Take a closer look at the description of a professionally prepared lab specimen which showed Haversian
    canals beautifully and what transpired in a number of places between Ed and PZ. Here is one excerpt:
    ________________________________________________________________________________
    I'd like to establish contact with the preparer of that particular
    slide to learn why the Haversian systems are so clearly visible yet, while using the same magnification and the same microscope, they are
    not visible in the scaping removed from the HUMAN pelvis.

    Those were OLD slides, and I'm not sure I'll be able to track down where that particular slide came from. However, it is representative. If you'd like a similar slide of your own, check out some of the biological supply houses (like Carolina Biological, <http://www.carosci.com/>). They can answer any of your specific questions about preparation, and will cheerfully
    sell you as many slides as you can afford.

    ============================= end of excerpt

    I'd rate PZ's response as less than satisfactory. Do you disagree?

    even though that was essentially a foregone conclusion. Despite it being a foregone
    conclusion, the tests were made in case there was indeed some miracle at work.

    WHAT tests? There was no sign of any CONTROLS in those "tests": proper controls
    would be scrapings made of BONE in the same manner and using the same tools that the scrapings
    from Ed's specimen were made. Ideally, using both fresh bone and fossilized bone.

    The closest thing to a control was the thing PZ excused as being "OLD slides" in the
    account excerpted above. And that particular "control" favored Ed more than it did PZ.

    It was a moment for talk.origins to be proud of, in a way. Of course, few good deeds
    go unpunished.

    That much is very true: I've seen copious good deeds being punished repeatedly in talk.origins,
    deeds much more clearly good than what the above impressions suggest.

    It was also a foregone conclusion that a conclusive demonstration
    that Ed's sample were concretions would not satisfy him, but he was given a chance.

    Since you have not yet made a case for a conclusive demonstration having been made, this statement of yours lacks foundation. Will you try to provide a
    better case than what you've made so far?

    And I don't consider "memory hole" to be pejorative.
    It is if one knows what the memory holes were used for in George Orwell's _1984_.
    Unless, of course, Orwell redefined the term from an earlier non-pejorative prior use. Did he?


    Peter Nyikos
    I find your responses tedious and horribly biased.

    You give no support for these alleged "findings". Judging from what you link next,
    it looks like you were under the delusion that I actually believed that Ed *might* have had
    human bone from ca. 300 million years ago.


    http://web.archive.org/web/20060101010100/http://www.geo.ucalgary.ca/~macrae/t_origins/carbbones/carbbones.html

    It's all about refuting Ed's outlandish claims about *human* bone.
    As I told Erik earlier this week, there was no way PZ Myers's "experiments" could
    have identified the fossil bone, if that is what it was, as a human bone or even that
    of any specific tetrapod. The issue was about whether there were Haversian canals, and that's
    all I talked about before you linked Myers's thread from 1996.

    I seriously doubt that you looked at the rather disorganized webpage that you linked this time around. You see, after some digging, I found a little gem that confirms that I was on the right track in what I wrote about CONTROLS [see preserved text above]:

    Paul V. Heinrich wrote:
    Greenleaf and Yemane (1993) report that the larger concretions contain the well-preserved remains of whole lycopsid stems and leaves. It is very likely, that these concretions might also contain bones and bone fragments. As a result, it could be
    possible to section one of these concretions and find well preserved cellular structure of either bone or plant remains. Thus, it might be possible to find and either misinterpret or misrepresent the inclusions of bone in these concretions as
    evidence of the concretions themselves being bones. http://www.geo.ucalgary.ca/~macrae/t_origins/carbbones/heinrich_geology.html


    I disagree with almost all of your personal conclusions. This thread fairly well
    documents that you are not a reliable source on issues which you nevertheless
    feel competent to opine upon.

    As usual, you give no clue as to how this thread is supposed to document any such thing.


    The above link which archives a fair record of
    the analysis of Ed's samples more than suffices for an honest reader to understand what occurred and how your impulses are misguided.

    This is the wrong venue for making such unsupported claims.
    The regulars of sci.bio.paleontology know me too well to think
    that I am wrong about what you simply call "the analysis of Ed's samples" without detailed explanation of why I am accused of being wrong.

    Yes, Erik Simpson demonstrated his long-time solidarity with you
    in talk.origins by asking some loaded questions, but he was too cagey
    to make any such claims as the ones you are making. And I thoroughly
    disposed of those questions. Care to dispute this, "Lawyer Daggett"?



    And to be clear, while the analysis of Ed's samples was a high spot, no, it wasn't
    a special exception.

    I doubt that you can name even one case that was even half as high as you
    make out Myers's treatment to be.

    Honest people did receive some fair treatment.

    Only if they didn't rock the boat -- remember, this was talk.origins, widely seen as one of the cesspools of Usenet.


    They also
    had various hot heads virtually scream at them. Part of being honest is, in my
    opinion, ignoring some of the hot heads and focusing on calmer voices.

    Your nihilistic concept of "honesty" is duly noted.


    <snip second half of this GIGO>


    And I beg the pardon of the group for this exchange.

    The only thing you should beg pardon for is your pussyfooting
    around before this tirade of yours, as though anyone not around in
    talk.origins in 1996 could fathom what your talk about "rather dubious claims" was all about. I told Erik about that in more detail than I am telling it here:

    https://groups.google.com/g/sci.bio.paleontology/c/piprYPdW6qg/m/ofPwsHooCQAJ Re: Beagle down again
    Nov 21, 2022, 6:45:41 PM


    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

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