 | The Granite Newsletter |
Another month, another edition of the Granite Newsletter. Don't miss our regular article Tech Talk, submitted by resident guru Kevin Rattai. If you'd like to make suggestions to him for his next article, or just say hello, e-mail him at krattai@granite.mb.ca. John Scott, a local writer, has submitted his second short article for publication this month. Beware Torontonians - this article is not for you.
Granite would like to take this opportunity to introduce our newest Technical Help Service Represntative. Richard Thomson comes to us with 21 years of IT experience, the past 6 on the Help Desk at AECL. Richard has also been studying HTML at Red River Community College for the past few months. Welcome to Granite, Richard!
Speaking of Santa, don't forget to drop him a line this year to let him know what you need or just to say Merry Christmas. He has enlisted the aid of his elves and even Mrs Claus to ensure you all get an answer from him. E-mail santa at http://www.granite.mb.ca/Christmas/santa.html.
The Internet is really giving the postal service a run for its money, isn't it? How many times have you replaced snail mail with e-mail since signing on? The 1 minute or less it takes your message to arrive at its destination can not be beat. If you're anything like most people, the task of sending out all those Christmas cards is not only time consuming, its expensive! Visit www.bluemountain.com for one of the best selections of electronic cards available on the net. Spend an hour or so e-mailing those cards - no postage necessary, and do it on December 24th if you like - it will still get there in time. For those of your friends that still don't have e-mail, why not stick one of our gift certificates into their card this year so you don't have to buy the stamp next year!
There are many excellent Christmas sites on the Internet this year but heres a
couple we don't think you want to miss:
merry-christmas.com - is chocked
full of a wide variety of Christmas cheer (and with a great URL, too).
www.cookierecipe.com/cat/christmas.asp: is always a good site, but this time of year its a must see. Every day, from now until Christmas, this site features a new cookie recipe.
Let's talk email viruses.
First, there are a few things that are important to know about computer
viruses:
Now, to email viruses. There are a lot of myths regarding email viruses. Very specifically, you cannot get an email virus from standard text email messages. There are only two main types of email viruses:
As an aside, regarding email myths and misconceptions, you cannot get an email virus as a general rule, by simply "getting/receiving" an email message from a friend or other person. Only if there is an attachment which is a program or as an attachment which has a Macro Virus.
Site of the month: http://www.tucows.com
Suppose that you are standing at the aproximate longtitudinal centre of Canada
near St. Malo, Manitoba. What do you suppose the first foreign country you would
come to if you were to travel due east from that point? Ireland? England? Chile?
Nope. The answer to that question would be the United States of America.
I've always wondered about that little chunk of Minnesota that hangs off the
extreme southeastern corner of Manitoba. It juts out into Lake of the Woods and
is completely cut off by land to the state and country it belongs to. It is also
north of the 49th parallel, making it the most northerly point of the lower 48
states. The reason why it is a part of the U.S.A. and not Canada is a bit confusing,
however. It all stems from a basic lack of knowledge in geography.
The Treaty of Paris of 1783 tried to establish the northern limit of the
Louisiana territory the Americans had recently purchased from the French. At
the time they decided the northern boundary would be the normal water route
between Lake Superior, down Riviere Lac de Pluie (Rainy River) and Lac des Bois
(Lake of the Woods) to the north west limit of the lake. The line then supposedly
ran due west to the Mississippi. The treaty makers of the time mistakenly thought
that the Mississippi had its source in what is now southeastern Manitoba. The river
actually begins its long journey to the Gulf of Mexico a few miles south - well
into present day Minnesota.
Following the war of 1812 the 49th parallel was established as the international
boundary from the Pacific to the Lake of the Woods. This boundary is well known
as the longest undefended border in the world. The problem was that the two lines
marking the international border - one coming from the west - the other from the
east - did not meet.
A commission looking to fix the problem decided that the easiest way to solve it
was to drop a straight line south from the north west corner of Lake of the Woods
to the 49th parallel. This left the state of Minnesota with a piece of land some
130 square miles in size with no land access except through Manitoba. The land is
now known as the Northwest angle.
Interestingly, if not for the mistaken assumption that the headwaters of the
Mississippi were somewhere in our province, this part of Minnesota should probably
have been a part of Manitoba. La Verendrye had established a fort on the Northwest
angle for the Hudson's Bay Company in 1732. It was a busy fort lying on the main
waterway between east and west. This highway followed the normal water route described
earlier and then up the Winnipeg River, into Lake Winnipeg and the up the Red River
to present day Winnipeg. But early traders decided to bypass this water route and
head to Winnipeg by land so they cleared a "trail" from the Northwest angle to
Fort Garry. The route - known as the Dawson Trail - takes its name from Simon
Dawson, a Dominion Government surveyor sent here in the 1850's. It was also built
to speed the arrival of Wolsely's troops coming to Red River to settle the Red
River uprising. However, this meant that the Dawson Trail was to become the route
of choice for many, bypassing the river highway which flowed past Pinawa and
Lac du Bonnet.
Many years later the Trans-Canada highway was built and again the main route
of choice came through these parts following the path of present day highway 44
to highway 9 and down into Winnipeg. But once again the Winnipeg River area was
by-passed with construction of the present day #1 which follows a far less scenic
and straighter route into the prairies.
Today a new "highway" comes through this area of the world - the information
highway a.k.a. the internet. I'd like to think that we can provide people surfing
the net with obvious "off-ramps" so that we aren't by-passed again.
Network Manager’s Report
Problems
INTERNET - The month of November saw a number of DOS (Denial of Service) attacks on both MBnet and Escape. These attack usually only last an hour or so, but they tend to disrupt services to all of Escape's and MBnet's clients.
LAC DU BONNET - Granite upgraded its connection to Escape on November 5, 1998. It has relieved the congestion during peak usage. We are still waiting on a firmware upgrade from the manufacture of some of our modems. The problem with V.90 modems should be fixed when our new digital modems become active in mid-December.
WHITEMOUTH - Some minor problems with V.90 modems. We are waiting on a firmware upgrade from the manufacture.
Upgrades
LAC DU BONNET - New Digital modems (24) have been ordered for Lac du Bonnet. They should be in operation by mid-December. This will allow customers with V.90 modems to get greater than 33.6k speeds. The analog modems will remain in service. The old analog modems firmware will be upgrade when available.
WHITEMOUTH - Granite is looking at options for adding more lines. Currently, this is scheduled for late February early March.
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