=-=-=-=-= Society of the Rusting TARDIS Newsletter (#24, 10/10/95)
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>>> Items of interest to British media fans and Seattle-area residents,
<<<
>>> and whatever else I feel like spewing about. You have been warned.
<<<
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Another short one this week, folks. (I think Eskimo has been having some
trouble with its newsfeed.) Suimasen. Um, I mean "sorry."
In this issue:
Quick news items
Hacking into the London Underground
Upcoming SotRT events
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Subject: Quick news items
A new Mr. Bean episode aired on Monday on Channel 9 (of all
places).
No doubt it was an accident. :-)
According to "Variety", British horror and sci-fi studio Hammer
Film
Prods. Ltd. will return to the feature business with films
involving
directors Jan Dabont ("Speed") and Alex Proyas ("The Crow"). Plans
include a remake of "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" and "Quatermass
and the Pit" (a.k.a. "Five Million Years to Earth"). Other
possible
remakes include "The Devil Rides Out" and "The Vlad Dracul."
Joel Hodgson (of MST3K fame) has written an episode of "Space Ghost
Coast to Coast". It is named "Urges", and will air on the Cartoon
Network on October 20. (Zorak gets the urge, which can be deadly
for
a male mantis.)
I heard somewhere that some ex-football player was recently on
trial
for murder. I didn't catch the name, but I heard he was some sort
of
TV personality, so I'm guessing maybe Fran Tarkenton?
Sound bites:
Anglicon now has a web page! (FYI, Anglicon is an annual British
and
international media convention that takes place right here in
Seattle.) Check it out at
"http://www.eskimo.com/~rkj/anglicon.html"
Here's another Web site to check out - I've been told it includes
info on the Doctor Who 1996 Official Calendar, which includes "all
the BBC, Radio Times Doctor Who covers from the past 30 years."
Also
available are Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker signed and numbered
editions.
It was made with the full cooperation and participation of both the
BBC and the Radio Times. It's at "http://194.72.60.96/www/drwho"
Here's a pointer to an Andy Kaufman web page:
"http://fly.HiWAAY.net/~bkm/akhome.htm"
Local news:
Spike & Mike's latest Festival of Animation will be showing on
weekends through October 22 at the UW (at Kane Hall). For those
who haven't seen "The Wrong Trousers" on the big screen, get off
your spleens and go. Call 543-2277 for details.
This Thursday (October 12th) at the Varsity, "Festival Hong Kong"
features two Chow Yun-Fat films - "Treasure Hunt" and "Tiger on
Beat"
(featuring a unique chainsaw duel). Call 632-3131 for show times.
Miscellany:
Wanna have some fun with Excel? (And what geek doesn't?) Enter
"1.40737488355328" as the value of a cell. Under Excel for
Windows,
it will become "0.64". On a Mac, you'll probably get "1.28",
proving that Macs are more than six times as accurate as Windows
machines.
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Subject: Hacking into the London Underground
>From "Computing" (09/21/95)
London Underground is fighting to clean up its computer systems after one
of
its own trainees hacked in and posted an offensive message on the digital
displays located above tube platforms around the capital.
Computing can reveal that on 16 August a message appeared on displays at
Piccadily, Elephant & Castle and Regent's Park underground stations
declaring
'All signalmen are w***ers'.
The message went unnoticed by tube staff for more than 12 hours before
being
removed. There were no complaints from the thousands of commuters. But,
despite being cleared, the message reappeared on tube station displays on
29
August.
Two days later, London Underground IT staff were called in to locate the
problem. The message had apparently been saved onto the system and was
randomly generated at the later date.
A London Underground spokesman told Computing: 'When we train people we
usually take them around on an induction course. It seems one of the
trainees
obviously had more experience than the others. He managed to hack into the
computer, bypass the input codes and put a message on the dot matrix
displays.'
He added: 'The reappearance [of the message] was due to a technical glitch
and
not a deliberate action. The trainee is no longer an employee.'
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Subject: Upcoming SotRT events
Currently planned for the next Rusting Tardis video night (October 11), at
Round Table Pizza, 5111 25th Ave. NE (in Seattle):
"Stark", a three-part environmental comedy/drama written by and
starring Ben Elton.
[reflects weight before cooking, some settling of contents may occur
during shipping, offer void where prohibited, batteries not included,
your milage may vary, not to be taken internally, do not fold spindle or
mutilate, if a rash develops consult your physician, objects in mirror
are closer than they appear, offer good at participating retailers,
no warantee intended or implied, shipping and handling not included]
Starting at the video meeting after next: the new season of "Goodnight
Sweetheart" with Nicholas Lyndhurst.
The next social is Tuesday October 17 at Eastside Marios, 4730 196th SW, in
scenic Lynnwood (a few blocks west of Fred Meyer on the south side of
196th).
See you on Wednesday.
"The space in which they found themselves at
present
was a large open-looking chamber with a very high
ceiling. It gave an impression of tragic grandeur
which would have reminded Vir of old Vienna,
except
for the fact that he had never been there.
--"Nemesis", Bron Fane (actually Robert
Lionel Fanthorpe)
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The Society of the Rusting TARDIS web page - http://www.halcyon.com/sotrt/
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