[SEL] An engine tale from 1916/webshots

[Rupert Wenig]

Hello Jerry,
	Paying toll charges by the minute sure can add up. Have you checked 
into a satellite internet connection? I've been thinking about it myself.
	Dialup costs me 33.60/month for 100 hours connect time and two email 
addresses. Fortunately, I don't have to pay toll charges on top of the 
monthly fee. The satellite internet costs about $60/month with 5 email 
address (no that I'd use them all). 10 mb of web space is provided by 
both systems. The satellite company I'm considering is explornet 
<Http://www.explornet.com>. Maybe they have service in your area.
	
Rupert
Ps. I don't like Webshots or other similar sites either because of all 
the advertising.

Jerry Evans wrote:
> At 07:00 PM 10/11/2006, you wrote:
>> Message: 7
>> Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2006 20:57:32 -0000
>> From: "Dave Croft" <dave.croft at ntlworld.com>
> 
> 
>> <very big snip>
> 
> 
> 
>> Hi Jerry, I hope it isn't too big for you but I have posted it at
>> http://www.oldengine.org/members/croft/Engineers%20diary.jpg
>> Dave Croft
> 
> Hi Dave,
>         Thanks for going to the trouble - I got it and enjoyed it. 300 
> H.P. and 250 H.P. in 1916 must have been something to behold.
>         In the meantime I had help and advice from Larry Evans and can 
> now also get it off webshots  but it is still slower than a non 
> advertising supported site.
>         Dolly also gave me some advice a week or 2 ago and I went and 
> had a look at the Firefox plugins page. I found an ad blocker there 
> which installed very quickly and easily and does seem to help a bit with 
> speed but I still cannot stand Webshots :-)
>         As a point of interest Webshots shows up completely differently 
> in Firefox to what it looks like in Netscape or IE. The main thing is 
> that the small row of Icons at the bottom of the pic does not show at 
> all in Firefox (mine at least) and this has probably been one of my main 
> problems. Larry mentioned that he clicked on the magnifier to show the 
> image full size (which also breaks it out of the "Flash" thing) and 
> could then right click and "Save Image" so I looked around the page and 
> found a text link in the top right that does the same - thereafter the 
> pic loads and I can see (and save) it. In Netscape if I hover the 
> pointer over one of these icons (mouseover) a small text description of 
> the icons purpose shows yet this does not happen in IE unless I refresh 
> the page. this may have to do with the ads trying to load
> 
>         At the bottom of one of these posts from SEL (I get the digest 
> so it will be in the last 24 hours) I see someone in the States 
> advertising broadband from $13.33/month. This is about 1/4 of what my 
> slow dialup connection here in S.A. costs and then I still have the per 
> minute rate to pay to the Telkom.
> I estimate that it costs me approximately ZAR 900.00 ($125.00 approx) 
> for the privilege of being able to access the Internet. Broadband will 
> cost me about 3 to 4 times as much.
>         Our problem is that there is only 1 fixed line telephone 
> provider here and it is a monopoly (not only that but the government is 
> the main shareholder) and they charge what they like. Our telephone 
> charges have skyrocketed in the last 6 or 7 years for the simple reason 
> that there has been pressure on the government to allow a second fixed 
> line operator so the existing one has just pushed up prices to allow 
> them to "improve" their network at our cost. They agreed to allow a 
> second operator about 5 or 6  years ago but the existing operator has 
> been blocking and stalling them with legal action and court cases and 
> suchlike. A second operator has now been named but it will still take 
> them years to roll out their network and it will only start in the 
> bigger centres so may take a very long time to reach us out here in the 
> country.
>         I've been connecting to the internet since 1991 when it was 
> still just bulletin boards and a 14.4 Kbps modem on an XT. IE was not 
> even around yet and spam was something that you ate from a tin. A local 
> call cost about 29c (thats 4c US at todays rates) irrespective of how 
> long you were connected. Since then I (and all South Africans) have had 
> to endure skyrocketing prices and a service that has been getting worse 
> and worse.
>         So please forgive me if I sometimes get cranky about internet 
> connections. It's probably aimed at our rip off telephone company.
> 
> Keep the revs up (or down)
> Jerry Evans
> Near Johannesburg in Sunny South Africa.
> Tel. (016) 365-5787
> Cell: 083 293 7191
> Visit our website for old engines in South Africa.
> www.oldengine.org/members/evans 
> ---
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> 
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-- 
--
yvt

Rupert Wenig
Camrose, Alberta, Canada.	
		
http://www3.telus.net/public/rwenig/