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Whltby Free Press, Wednesday, October 13, 1993. Page 7 I hve ettheBB 1 hae me thefuture and it... Please hold on, Mr. Swan witl be right with >yr... Where were we? Oh, yeah. The future. As 1 was saying, the future, in the hands of certain people, looks as though it might... Please stand by, we have monwntarily blo contact. Our sysop wilt connect you uery soon.. We on again? Good. As 1 was saying, the future is with us and it starts today. Wellmaye afew years back. But don't worry that you missed some of it. You likely wouldn't understand itanyway. .-- Let me introduce you to my Bulletin Board Service. BBS: it has to do with computers. You get a modem, and someone. gives you aà phone number, and you cail Up that phone nuxnber through your com- puter and y ou get connected te some dweeb's com- puter network. That's it, a world-wide network of computer people just like you working away in their. basement office/recreation rooni/billiard parlouir/you name it and just, like, sort of sharing information. And opinions. Don't forget the opinions. Last week,. one TV newscast carried an item about"9 INT, which is one such BBS, and how it speanned the ;wo;id with its connections. How people who use such networks will dominate the future because of their knfowledge. Now I don't want te, bust anyone's balloon. And I do see, ýyes, there are powerful uses te which computers can e put. Sendi.ng messages (that is, Electronic Mail, or E-mail) *:) is the bestkxnown. I In five months since I joined Canada RemoteI Systems (a computer bulletin board), I have actually signed on 22 times. In those 22 times, I have learned several things. ' For one thing, those cute like di.ngbat things, like this :)or :-(, are secret messages which convey subtie _ emotional tones about written words. Thus :)is happy, and :-( is sad. Try looking at them sideways anda you'l eventually get the drift. 8-) is a smiing guy with glasses. (*8-&< -- tongue-tied guy with glasses. So anyway, ail those are secret messages, designed te convey the subtieties that those who are inept with the English language cannot convey. I have also learned that most people who hack around withn. computers can neither speli nor write. But that's another matter. N GB1RTEf ANR9AG t13 futre.Tse whole nowrsa village well ko that This brick tannery, established in 1863, stood at the southeast corner f Brock and DunlOp futur, e hs an maious rumouislare ellmkore llhey streets where the No Fille store je now. The tannery cloeed in 1953, after 90 years in gsh settins an trciuh, utyanouste.mr ieyi business, and was deniolished the following year. The horse and carniage in the foreground I have aiso learned though that affirmative action epatothWibySetFiraadpsnghetnry progra.ms have not helped one solitary coloured 1 ER G person, woman, native, w hat have you. At aIl. Ever. fo10e enedy, oeARS1, AGO diin f h TIhe. authority?. Some baiding, white maie teacherfrmteWdsdYOtor1298ecton0th wriin o te ductin eric. Inoane -asits- WflI1Y FI PRE SSr utono o.4 begun for the dirdng hall. So, wil BBS be the revolution of the century? * Sixty-three rate yers have petitioned the Town council to abolish the Light and Water Yeah, if you believe in CB radios, ou will be sold on Commission and nake it part of the council. sainbsbe edu eas ffut BBS. However, if they can make E -mail as easy as a Work n thenwCnde aii ala ttonhsbe edu eas ffu telephone, then the post office will be good only for 0 The Toronto and EaLstern Railway construction gang ie building a bridge over the marehy deliveringjunk mail. land at Mary and Ash treets.