--- F R E N D Z of martian --- OK you lot, when did the '.int' TLD (top level domain) come online? Has it always been there and I missed it (surely not) or is it a recent thing? If recent, WHY didn't I hear about it through 'frendz'??? Listen up, people. Can't we make this a place where we keep each other informed about stuff? OK, I've set a precedent with random weirdness from around the web, but I only started doing that because spontaneous conversation was lacking at the start. Nowadays I'm more likely to post the random weirdness to my '10 cool' list at http://marsbard.com/ - mainly because I find them in clusters of up to a hundred at a time (like I'm bored and just surf randomly for three days) and then I end up flooding the list AND discarding loads of good links. Anyway, here's a crap link, unless you're interested in EU policy, although note that it is targetted at company directors and therefore maybe an easier read than general EU policy (but probably not much) - it also may be more truthful than the stuff they feed consumers. I mainly post the link to show the existence of the '.int' TLD. The Commission's Strategic Objectives for 2000-2005 can be found at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/off/work/2000-2005/index_en.htm Besides that, I want to say that I love the fact that 'frendz' exists, and I'm very proud of it, in a fatherly sort of way, rather than 'look at this great thing I did'. It is great, but not because I did it, because you lot are happy to post and converse occasionally, and I'm certainly richer because of frendz (possibly 'meat' richer too... I have got leads from people who would never have known I was self employed had they not been on this list (Hi Alex) ok, A lead from A person...). I'd like frendz to evolve a little. People only started talking to each other when I introduced everyone via my mini-biogs. New people have since come onto the list who have neither seen the biogs, or had one published about them (remember that although the main list is publicly archived, there is a [EMAIL PROTECTED] address which duplicates the distribution but ignores the archiver's email address, so messages sent there are completely ephemeral (possibly the wrong word...) and unarchived. So ppl can post their biogs to that address and be safe in their privacy). However, the evolution I want is to have a private area on marsbard, where people can post their own biogs, saying as much or as little about themselves as they like, and that way people will get to know each other and feel more comfortable talking to each other (as evidenced by the mini-biogs experience). One idea I had at one point was 'email parties'. A temporary list you would sign up for shortly in advance of a due start time/date, in which you could feel unrestricted in how much you post (most people on the list work full time so it's easy to feel you are disturbing them if you post too much to frendz). The list would exist for a preset time, and at the end of that time (the end of the party) you would be automatically unsubscribed. Perfect for a lazy Friday afternoon, and it doesn't disturb the main list. Whaddya think? If you want it, I'll write it. If you got this far, thanks for listening. I'm in a surprisingly verbose mood tonight, as subscribers to the Bristol-based 'underscore' list may have noticed... big luv to all of you martian PS: do you know about the .nt (unknown/unclaimed territory) TLD? And my ambition to sail a boat with a server and radio transceiver 2 miles out and register the windows.nt domain? Doesn't have to be a boat, a buoy would do. And maybe I could use wave power to power it... -- Sent to you via the frendz list at marsbard.com The archive is at http://www.mail-archive.com/frendz@marsbard.com/
