ллл ллл лллл ллл ллл ллл May ллл ллллл ллл ллл ллл Volume 02 1995 ллл ллл лллллл ллл ллл ллл Number 04 ллл ллл ллл ллл ллл ллллл ллл ллл ллл лллллл ллл ллл ллл ллл ллл ллллл ллл ллл ллллллллл ллл ллл лллл ллл ллл ллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллл "The electronic magazine filled with Interesting & Informative Articles" Editor Mark Bylok Data (416)663-7044 EMail link@tor250.org Fax (416)663-4113 FidoNet 1:250/808 Copyright 1995 by Mark Bylok, All Rights Reserved Views expressed do not necessarilly express the views of the Editor The Last Regular Issue of LiNK by Mark Bylok LiNK, originally started under EMag, has been around since December of 1993. On a personal level, I believe the electronic magazine to be successful, but on a global level I'm not sure how many people I've actually reached. There have been many that have supported the magazine and that has offered me their comments, but on the grand scale I was never sure what kind of effect I was having on the readers of this magazine. It has been great, and I have had a good deal of fun publishing the magazine, but people and priorities change. Nothing drastic has occurred in my life to turn my attention elsewhere, but I found myself not having as much fun doing this as I once did. I guess my main goal for this publication was to write my opinions down, and hopefully attract the opinions of others, and maybe that need has lessoned with time. I won't say this is the last publication ever, I'll just say it's the last regular one. Any issues after this will be available from my BBS, ftp.etext.org, gopher.etext.org, and through e-mail subscriptions. The biggest regret I have about this is losing the loyal readers of LiNK. Those of you that have written in and thanked me for the publication, I thank you especially. Although magazines like LiNK usually only communicate one way (writer to reader), it was good to receive something back making everything that much more worth while. I guess I'll be signing off, but hopefully not forever. Thanks for reading! Mark Bylok, mb@tor250.org, FidoNet 1:250/808. ACHIEVING SECURITY by John D. McCarthy Recently in my neighborhood, a burglary occurred. It happened in the midst of a weekday, during the daylight hours of 9-5, while the owners were conveniently away at work. The thief or thieves, who must have known when the occupants would not be home, gained access to the house by way of a rear, basement window, which they first had to smash, before crawling through. Once inside, they wandered about, for who knows how long a period of time until, after collecting enough to suit their needs, left. Now, what really bothers me about all of this, is not that it occurred throughout the course of an afternoon, or that no one witnessed even a portion of its goings-on. What really bothers me about it, is the fact that it took place, directly across the street from where I live. There but for the grace of God, go I. And once a crime, any crime this close in proximity to you occurs, you begin to wonder, (as I did), about how well protected your home actually is. Did they hit the house across the street because they were unsure of mine? Did it seem too risky for them to chance, or was it just in the luck of the draw and could mine be possibly next? With paranoia from these thoughts racing swiftly throughout my mind, causing a heavy feeling to swirl up in my stomach, similar to having swallowed a large bag full of marbles, I began searching my home for possible areas of criminal penetration. Now, in order to do this effectively, you must go through your home, be it an apartment or house, thinking as a burglar would. In other words, if you were going to break into your own home, how would you go about it? Would you go in during the day, or wait for night? Would you use a window, or one of the doors? Would you make your attempt from the front, side, or back; and so on. After completing a very thorough search of my place and discovering, (much to my dismay), just how little of a stronghold my home really has against the elements of crime, I decided the time had finally come to add some much needed security. Now, depending on how much you're willing to spend, is how far you can actually go with this thing. You can invest a few bucks, and reinforce some of the weaker points of your home, placing stickers on the front windows and/or doors, depicting the existence of an alarm system within, or by adding more illumination to the darker, less secure areas; and though this won't guaranty the complete prevention of a robbery, it will hinder most would-be thieves into reconsidering their proposed intentions. Or, you can spend a few hundred dollars, and get some of the very best in electronic surveillance equipment, monitored by a 24 hour service. Silent sentries, continuously safeguarding your home, throughout the night and day. Or, if money is no object, you can always go for the ultimate, a virtual fortress of security. With bulletproof glass replacing every window, including the ones upstairs, and steel metal bars surrounding those that might be more susceptible to a burglar's choosing. Infrared sensors projecting sightless beams of light throughout every inch of your home, able to detect even the slightest sound or movement, with direct hook-up to the police for immediate response. Two-inch thick, metal panels that instantaneously drop from their hiding place above the doorways and windows, concealed within the walls that surround them, producing an impenetrable seal around the room in which the alarm's been triggered, and thus trapping the burglar within. And, as an extra added bonus, a hidden room, safely concealed behind a false wall in your bedroom, that's both fireproof and bulletproof, supplied with its own source of oxygen and cellular phone. A secret trapdoor may also be added, just in case you might want or need to evacuate it, (via a different route), at any given time. The ultimate in security, all for the asking, but at what the cost? I wonder, is it really worth it to lock yourself so securely within your own home, that you seclude yourself from all others? Because face it, no matter how good a security system is, there will always be a way around it that the burglar will eventually find. Remember, burglars are consumers to. Plus, installing such elaborate alarm systems might only add to the problem instead of solving it. I mean, with bars on the windows and alarmed sensors all about, the potential burglar staking out the place, might become curious as to what lies within, that would warrant such security. No, I think the only proper solution to securing one's home, and for that matter our lives, will have to come from again looking out for each other. Each one of us doing his or her part to provide help for one another. I remember when I was young, knowing the names of everybody that lived on our street. Being greeted with a personal response as you passed someone by, was a common occurrence. Nowadays, it no longer seems to be. Most people today, can't even tell you the names of their three closest neighbors, let alone the rest of the people that reside nearby. And to signify any type of a greeting, produces only confused, sometimes irritated expressions on the faces of the receiver. We, as a society, have gone through an era of drastic change that has, at its outcome, left us totally opposite to what we were when we originally went in. Now, instead of being considerate of others, we fend for ourselves, always looking out for number one. Instead of loving and caring for our neighbors, we have become apprehensive of them, always wondering in the back of our minds, about who they are, and what they're doing when they draw their blinds at night. Could they be the next closet serial killer, or child molester to be apprehended and exposed before the media's eye? We have, (without really realizing it), built invisible walls to surround us and protect us from the ever present evil that is plaguing our world, making us hermits within ourselves. And now, as the evil continues to grow and flourish, we have extended our walls to reach out past ourselves, and into the confines of our home. We have ventured out of a decade full of prosperity, hope and unlimited opportunity, to one of adversity, doubt, and fear. And if we are to survive it, truly survive it, then we must, (as a society), band together to help one another. Because, if left unchecked, it will eventually consume us. That night, as expected, a white van with the sign, Simon's Security adhered to its side, pulled into the driveway of the house across the street. Will we ever learn? Copyright (C) -- 1994 by John D. McCarthy E-Mail Virus, Completely Bogus by Mark Bylok I'm not sure who starts all these nasty rumours, but let me just say that you can't get a virus through reading a message! No person can infect you with a virus by e-mail, so you can rest easy. There is a simple explanation why. For a virus to work it's code must be executed in some way. When reading a message, it is simply displayed, and in no way executed. It would be like writing the BASIC command PRINT "DELETE *.*". Unless the line was executed directly to DOS, the code is harmless. When executing a program, your are always in risk, so be certain to have the latest in virus checkers! A Look Into the Mystical by Mark Bylok Being a very realistic person, I have very little belief in the 'unexplained'. I'm not one of those people that will say certain things don't exist because I simply don't know. I can say, however, that certain things are highly improbable. It amazes me that in our society today everything that can exist, does exist. People can be found believing in everything from ESP, to UFOs, to elevation, to reincarnation, to ghosts, to bigfoot and large sea creatures. Everything our creative minds can come up with, someone will believe. Some of these ideas make for good movies, while others have their own hour specials. One thing I had learned over time is our minds are very fragile. Sometimes we give ourselves more credit then is deserved, as generally the human species isn't as intelligent as we believe it to be. Our minds constantly try to process things through billions of electrical charges that make up the most complex and mysterious thing we can examine. The brain is powerful, but not perfect. When the human brain comes across something it doesn't understand, it tries to match it with something it does know. Our minds make assumptions, and those can sometimes be wrong. Let me give you an example from my life. When I was much younger, I had a strange experience. At around the age of twelve I woke up in a very delirious state of mind. Without a doubt in my mind I was fighting a war in the trenches. Trying to stay alive, I let out a few rounds from my M-16, but it was a losing battle. Eventually I retreated, and watched many men around me die from gun fire and explosions. This was occurring in my head, and soon I realized that I was actually laying on my bed in a cold sweat. I needed water, and so I tried making my way to the kitchen. I past out as soon as I got up, so I was forced to crawl most of the way to the kitchen in order to allow enough blood to flow to my head. The sounds of war were still around me, but with determined force I got something to drink, took a few aspirins, and went back to bed. It was difficult to fall asleep, but eventually the noises died down. The next morning I woke up feeling fine. It occurred to me not to long ago that the events of that night could have been perceived in a very different way then what I had seen them as. I figured I had a strong fever that caused some delusions, and the fact that I had been watching a regular Vietnam show on television probably explained the subject of the delusion. Even to this day, whenever I have the smallest fever my mind will do strange things. Granted that I haven't experienced any powerful images like I did that day, but my mind still plays funny tricks when I try to fall asleep with a high fever. I'm convinced this is what happened, and have never thought differently. On the other hand, if I was a person that studied past lives more carefully, or was more open minded toward the unexplained, chances are the delusions would have been seen in a much different content. It only occurred to me a little while ago that someone would interpret that as images from a past life. Another example. Not too long ago I had a strange experience when waking up. For a brief moment, probably less then a second, I was completely paralyzed to the point where I couldn't open my eyes. I felt myself falling, and then my eyes opened and everything was all right. This seemed to be strange as well, and since my girlfriend is a believer in some mystics, for a few moments I thought this was a strange experience. I find out that it's all very common. There is a stage during our sleep where the body becomes paralyzed and the sensation of falling occurs. It happens to me sometimes when I begin to fall asleep, but it just never occurred to me when waking up. I guess by now my point is very clear. People interpret things very differently, and sometimes these interpretations can be wrong. Our brain attempts to constantly put things together from what it knows. There are even theories that suggest dreaming is nothing more then random pulsations from the brain stem which the brain tries to interpret (the brain stem is responsible for sensory input, and is always active even when a person sleeps and is not moving). I'm not an expert on any of this, but there are certain things that I can say with a degree of certainty. I'll let you draw your own conclusions, although I think my point has been made clearly, but just remember two things: Isn't it weird that there are so many unexplained mysteries that are completely unrelated, and isn't it strange that most of these can be explained scientifically.