____ _ _ __ __ _ _
/ ___|_ __(_)_______( )___ \ \ / /__ _ __| | __| |
| | _| '__| |_ /_ /// __| \ \ /\ / / _ \| '__| |/ _` |
| |_| | | | |/ / / / \__ \ \ V V / (_) | | | | (_| |
\____|_| |_/___/___| |___/ \_/\_/ \___/|_| |_|\__,_|
\\ =o)
(o> of awesome stuff /\\
___(()_________________________________________________________\_V___
// Home Recipes Musings Fun Stuff Links Grizzbook \\
\\
,---. ,---.
/ /"`.\.--"""--./,'"\ \
\ \ _ _ / /
`./ / __ __ \ \,'
/ /_O)_(_O\ \
| .-' ___ `-. |
.--| \_/ |--.
,' \ \ | / / `.
/ `. `--^--' ,' \
.-"""""-. `--.___.--' .-"""""-.
.---------------/ \------------------/ \----------------.
| .--------------\ /------------------\ /---------------. |
| | `-`--`--' `--'--'-' | |
| | Who the heck is Grizz? | |
| | | |
| | Hello from IOWA, USA! I love computers and electronics of all kinds | |
| | and have a keen interest in infastructure such as telephone | |
| | networks and Internet Service Providers. This website is maintained | |
| | on my Compaq SLT/286 laptop running MS-DOS. To get online, I use my | |
| | own telephone exchange to connect it to via it's built in 9600 bps | |
| | modem to a dial-up server I built. If that doesn't impress you, | |
| | nothing will. | |
| | | |
| | I watch a lot of TV and movies. Some of my favourite shows are | |
| | Columbo, He-man and Transformers. The Princess Bride is probably my | |
| | favourite movie, but I have recently started watching a lot of | |
| | animation. As an autistic man north of forty, I have finally | |
| | realised that I am allowed to like whatever I want and I shouldn't | |
| | have to hide that part of myself away. | |
| | | |
| | I am also blessed with several different chronic conditions and | |
| | disorders. I am planning to add a spoonie journal at some point in | |
| | the near future. That will really be more for me than you, but you | |
| | are welcome to read it if you like. | |
| | | |
| | I have my own FTP (File Transfer Protocol) site where you can | |
| | download some cool software and even a couple programs I wrote. | |
| | mine are the ones in the GRIZZSOFT folder. Check out the Codename: | |
| | Arcturus BASIC program! There are also some photographs I scanned | |
| | in the Polaroids folders. Here is a link to my FTP. | |
| | | |
| | If you like fun stuff, maybe you like the same fun stuff as me. | |
| | Just in case you better check out the fun stuff page! | |
| | | |
| | Anyway, I hope you will enjoy my little corner of the web. | |
| |_____________________________________________________________________| |
|_________________________________________________________________________|
___ ___
(o o) Sign the (o o)
( V ) the Grizzbook ( V )
--m-m------------------------m-m--
__...--~~~~~-._ _.-~~~~~--...__
// ..--~~~~~~~._`V' _.~-~-~-~~-.. \\
// ..-~-~~~~~~~._ | _.~-~-~~-~~~-.. \\
// ...--~~~~~~-._ | _.-~~~~~~--...__\\
// .....----~~~~._\ | /_.~~~~----.....__\\
====================\\|//====================
`---`
__
\ \
\_\
\ \ ____
\ (_|____|_
'.|.-._.-._] ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
,^^^^^^^'-' '-'^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^,
| +-----------------------------------+ |
|=================| I'm a winner! |==================|
| +-----------------------------------+ |
| |
| APR-4-2026 |
| |
| Well, it was summer for a while, but we are back to spring temps now. |
| Today's high will be about 40F (just a bit above freezing). The grass |
| is starting to green up and I will be mowing before you know it. I |
| just had the table saw out and cut a bunch of cardboard striped, which |
| I fashioned into a solid round for the cat's to scratch on. You see, |
| they have this ball track that they love but I can't find a |
| replacement round for it--so I made one! That is set to dry over the |
| next hour or so and then they will get their track back with some |
| fresh nip sprinkled atop. |
| |
| In other news, I entered an won the monthly coloring contest put on by |
| the local Hormel plant. Everyone colored the same page, and apparently |
| I did it better than the rest. I received a gift basket full of fun |
| items for my efforts. We also had our final trivia night of the year, |
| this time we tied for fourth. Of the six nights we went, we finished |
| fourth twice, third once, and second three times. We received a payout |
| the times we finished top three, so we got all our entry fees back and |
| then some. |
| |
| Have you seen/heard those new Tide commericals where one shopper |
| criticizes another for buying a lesser concentrion of detergent? The |
| claim they are trying to make is that Tide is more economical because |
| you aren't paying for a bunch of water, which seems to make sense |
| until you think about it for five seconds. It doesn't matter how much |
| water is in the product, all that matters (economically speaking) is |
| the cost per load. The Tide loses against most other brand, especially |
| the generic "store brands" that they are targeting here. This reminds |
| me of the old AT&T commercials where they double-checked the |
| calculated rates of their new competitor MCI. When the numbers came |
| out more expensive than MCI's claims the spokesperson said that their |
| competitor was using"MCI math." That had stuck with me for all these |
| years and whenever an advertising claim doesn't add up, I always refer |
| to it as MCI math. |
| |
| While I had a break for writing this I cleaned the refridgerator's |
| coils. We have been having trouble with the ice maker freezing up from |
| the ice being too wet when formed and water then dripping down to the |
| bottom of the bin and then freezing. At first I wasn't even sure if I |
| had found the coils, but after removing a whole lot of cat hair I |
| confirmed that they were, in fact, present. Now that they are all |
| clean, I am expecting the maker to work as intended. Reactive- |
| maintenance is fine, but I really should have not let it get that bad |
| in the first place. I have add a note on my calendar to remind me to |
| clean the coils next spring. |
| |
| In culinary matters, I made a pretty good dinner last Wednesday. I use |
| some boxed onion soup mix and then added some onion that I cooked down |
| in vegetable broth. I also added a dash of Worchestershire sauce and |
| lemon juice at the end as well. The real joy come from the sides. On |
| the top of the soup we floated toasted sesame bagels with broiled |
| parmesean and guada. I decided that I wanted a really fresh side for |
| it and ended up making up a lovely vegatable salad. Tomatoes were |
| the star of the show, with onions, radishes mayo, olive oil, some |
| fresh herbs and seasonings all singing backup. I used a whole pint of |
| tomatoes to make a serving each for Alli and I so there were A LOT of |
| tomatoes in it. She said she really liked it, and I did too. Watch for |
| that recipe to pop up in the recipes section, I think I will call it |
| "Oops! All tomatoes!" This has been Grizz, and that's the way it was. |
| |
| View more of my ramblings |
| |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
...........................................................................
: ___ _ ___ _ ___ _ __ __ :
: / __|_ _(_)______ | _ \_____ _(_)_____ __ _____ / __| |_ _ _ / _|/ _| :
: ( (_ | '_| |_ /_ / | / -_) V / / -_) V V (_-< \__ \ _| || | _| _| :
: \___|_| |_/__/__| |_|_\___|\_/|_\___|\_/\_//__/ |___/\__|\_,_|_| |_| :
: :
: Winter in Iowa (Latest Version) :
: :
: March 14, 2026 :
: :
: Experiencing the latest version of winter, we got quite a bit of snow :
: with very low temperatures in December especially. Being mostly :
: farmland, the winds get really strong as they cross the vacant fields :
: with little to slow them down. This makes them howl, especially at :
: night. I really don't like that feature and hope that it can be :
: patched before next year. Blowing snow drifts across the roadways, :
: especially the lesser traveled roads. I primarily stick to the :
: highways and avoid the by-ways, but I have heard other users complain :
: about this. It particularly bothers those who live in the country. :
: :
: It got down to -13F (-25C) earlier in the season, and we experienced a :
: wind chill of -39F (-39F). Did you know that the two temperature :
: scales converge at -40? There have been days in previously seasons :
: where it is -40 in both farenheit and celsius. The cold air hurts my :
: skin, and really dries it out. I think this is what is called :
: chapping. I use a giant vaseline stick to keep mositure in the back of :
: my hands, they get the worst. I also get ice in my eye lashes and that :
: is unpleasant. Maybe in a future revision they could make it more :
: temperate. I think 20F (-7) would be plenty cold enough. :
: :
: I did have fun making snow angels and sliding down into the deep ditch :
: earlier in the season, but even fully bundled up I found myself :
: getting cold snow inside my gloves and on my wrists. I was so cold it :
: burned. This seems like a glitch because hot=burn and cold does not. I :
: hope the developer addresses this in the next version. :
: :
: I did appreciate the hot patch that was pushed out in January. It has :
: given us several days in the 40-50F (4-10c) range. Temperatures like :
: that are much more condusive to human life. For instance, if I got :
: stuck outdoors for a few hours, I would most likely not freeze to :
: death in that time period. :
: :
: All in all, I don't care too much for Winter in Iowa. It is too cold, :
: too windy and potentially lethal. I do enjoy playing in the snow, but :
: my enjoyment is tainted by the cold=burning bug. :
: :
: Final rating: 2/5 winter weather advisories :
: :
: Review more of my reviews :
: :
...........................................................................
.......................................................................
...................................................................
.............................................................
.......................................................
.................................................
..........................................
_____________
010101010101010101010101010101010101001010101010101010101|u| ______ | |
010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101011010101010| | ______ | |
01010 | | ______ | |
0101 ------------------------------------------------------| |________| |
0101 / TELNET Shell Update | ______ |
101 --------------------------------------------------------| | | | |
01 |__|____|_|__|
10 10
01 FEB-25-2026 01
10 10
01 A while back I wrote an entry called "Telnet shell: A new service from 01
10 my ISP." Well, I lied. I wrote the shell and was playing make-believe. 10
01 I remember when ISPs and colleges used to have such features and I 01
10 wanted to relive that experience. Specifically, I remember dialing in 10
01 to my ISP circa 1998 and finding the despite a successful handshake, I 01
10 effectively had no connectivity. I can't remember exactly how I did it 10
01 or what software I used, but I would dial back in via a terminal and 01
10 use terminal services to access the web and IRC in a text-only 10
01 interface. When the internet wasnn't down I would sometimes TELNET into 01
10 my college's system and access internet and e-mail that way. 10
01 01
10 When I was looking for a way to connect my Compaq 286/SLT (Compaq's 10
01 first laptop) to the internet, I landed on creating a dial-up server on 01
10 a Raspberry Pi 3b+. The same server also hosts my FTP server and my 10
01 TELNET/SSH shell, amongst other things that I can't think of right now. 01
10 Some of the services that I had set up are no longer working. For 10
01 instance, I used a bash script to grab showtimes for my local theatre 01
10 from the web and then filter out all the garbage I didn't want. 10
01 Eventually the site I was getting them from changed formats and I 01
10 didn't feel like rewriting it. Same for a written weather forecast. I 10
01 still have the visual forecast working, so I decided that it wasn't 01
10 worth maintaining the more verbose version. 10
01 01
10 The first two options in the shell, e-mail and web browser, are still 10
01 fully functional. This is no surprise as they are programs that are 01
10 actually running on the server. Option 3, which grabs time, date, and 10
01 moon phase got a slight update. I was previously basing the moon phase 01
10 on the Jewish calendar. This was fairly accurate, but I have since 10
01 installed a small program on the server that calculates it properly. 01
10 Now my script just calls on it for that part. 10
01 01
10 Option 4 used to be showtimes, but that has been replaced with a gopher 10
01 browser. The browser is running directly on the server, so I do not 01
10 have to worry about any maintenance for it. Option 5 remains the visual 10
01 weather forecast, but the text forecast that was option 6 has been 01
10 replaced with an IRC client. Again, this is installed on the server so 10
01 there will be no maintenance going forward. 01
10 10
01 Option 7, which I use first thing every time I login, shows me a random 01
10 joke. This is using a curl request and I hope the server never goes 10
01 down. I love jokes! Have you checked out any of my THREE jokes pages? 01
10 Option 8 remains as a geolocation service. I can't remember for sure, 10
01 but I would think that this is running locally. Option 9 remains an 01
10 online encylopedia--Gopherpedia to be exact. Great site, BTW! 10
01 01
10 Option 10, Chatbot, used to connect to ChatGPT via API. I didn't like 10
01 having to pay to keep this going, so I am now working on my own 01
10 chatbot. It is NOT true AI, it's just scripted. But I am having fun 10
01 working on it and trying to improve it. I plan to write more on this 01
10 later. Option 11 allows me to leave the shell and access the server 10
01 directly. I use this option to access the server. Option 12 quits the 01
10 session and closes the connection. 10
01 01
10 I have added one more "unadvertised" option. Option 99 quietly resets 10
01 the modem and dial-up server. This is useful for when I have an 01
10 unexpected disconnection. It never gets run from the Compaq because if 10
01 the option needs run, I won't be able to dial-in. However, I have SSH 01
10 access on my phone and can now easily reset the modem without having to 10
01 find a modern computer. 01
10 10
01 Anyway, I'm done rambling. And you're done reading too, I guess. 01
10 __________ 10
|u| ______ | | 01
| | ______ | |-------------------------------------------------------- 10
| | ______ | | View more of my computer logs / 101
| |________| |------------------------------------------------------ 0101
| ______ | 12101
| | | | |101010101010101010101010101010101010101010100100101010101010101
|__|____|_|__|010101010101010101010101010101010101010101001001010101010101010
_______.==r.___.-=======-.____r._______
__.' | || __ ;__ |; `,
/'--| |-----=+u'|--|-_______-|--|=u--. \
// /=====\ | | | | | |
(\) ========| }{ }{ _=========|_
(\) \=====/ || || | |
(\) === _||. || _._ || \____________/
(\) | \_.- ||| \|===( )===|/
(\) \_ ||| \ /
(\) `-._ ||| (=)
(\) `||' _,/|\._
(\) _,-' ___ '-._
(\) _.' .-'`_ `'-. `._
(\) / .' .-'" "'-.'. \
(\) | / .'(3)(2)(1)'. \ |
(\) | / / (4) .-. \ \ |
(\) | | |(5) ( )'==,J | |
(\) | \ \ (6) '-' (0) / / |
(\) | \ '.(7)(8)(9).' / |
(\) ___| '. '-.._..-' .' |
(\) /.--| '-._____.-' |
(\) (/) \_____________________/
(\) (\)
(\\-\\) << HOTLINE WEBRING >>
""=""
_______________________________________________
| _ _____________________________________ _ |
||_| | | |_||
| |_____________________________________| |
| | | |
| | ----------------------------------- | |
| | MEMBER OF THE | |
| | ----------------------------------- | |
| | <--- 1.44MB WEBRING ---> | |
| | ----------------------------------- | |
| | | |
| | ----------------------------------- | |
| | | |
| | ----------------------------------- | |
| |_____________________________________| |
| |
| ___________________________ |
| | _____ | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | _|_ |
| | | | | \ / |
| | | | | v |
| | '-----' | |
|_________|___________________________|_________|
Pizza sounds good right now
I like it with pineapple
green peppers and tomatoes
and some meat
pass the pepper flakes...
