Just like one of MrC's growth AVIs.
And I moved everything to the new server. New computer, new domain name. The computer is 3-4 times as powerful (for the technogeeks who want to know the details, it's called a "computer" and it's name is Diana), the domain name is www.TheValkyrie.com.
The move went remarkably painlessly, but I had problems with email (now sorted, I think, but AOL doesn't like it if you email embers with a domain name that's spelled wrong), the news feed arrived a bit later than it should have (but it's there now), cron wasn't installed (and Sandra *relies* on cron) until recently. I don't think members will have noticed much after the move. I doubt if you'd even notice that it was faster; the need for speed was in anticipation of the future, not catching up with the past.
I learned something about Microsoft Internet Explorer. It stores the password so you don't have to remember it. But when I changed the domain name, poor little Explorer didn't know to use the same password as for diana.announce.com, so lots of people emailed me that their browser couldn't access the site. And guess what - they didn't know the password anymore, having entrusted it to Explorer to remember.
Which proves that you should never trust a computer with anything important. Pen and ink, that's the stuff. Reliable.
Fountain pen. Quink.
New Galleries for Valerie Basilone, Judy Benz, Chris Bongiovanni, Carmen brady, Kasie Kavanough, Melanie Chisholm, Valerie Collosi, Deborah Diana, Lili Ewing, Alison Eyres, Aylissa Ferrari, Laurie Fierstein. Valerie Scott, Schwartz (uh, what's her other name?), Lori Sarkisian, Mishay Santos, Salad (whats her real name?) Giselle Sass, Anja Schreiber, Margo Selin, Eva Supukova,Doughdee Marie, Janet Marchi, Ellen Van Maris, Rachel Matthias, Shonna McCarver, Debbie McKnight, Melinda McNabb, Cyndie Meintzer, Gretchen Stipp kickboxing, Vicky Pratt, Sam's Jungle Women, Vascularity and the Cavalry.
I updated Kim Chizevsky and Zuzana Korinkova.
You might disagree that Anita Ekberg belongs on a Valkyrie site, but after you've seen her Gallery, you might change your mind. I also put Irish McKella and Brigitte Neilsen in with her. And I gave Jayne Mansfield her own Gallery. You can argue all you like about the definition of an Amazon - this site is for Valkyries, and the definition of a Valkyrie is what I say it is.
Four new themed Galleries - the Galleries of Contortion. It's amazing the shapes that they can twist themselves into, you wonder if they have any bones at all!
The Cavalry have arrived. Three Galleries of cavalry, making reference to Lady Godiva, Queen Boadicea and, of course, the Valkyries. I'm rather pleased with the way they came out. And thanks to MountingUp and Rocca for their help with getting the pictures I used.
And also a Gallery for riders of two legged horses.
And Dr Otto did me a new picture of Sandra, which you'll see if you ask her to search the library.
She also took some authors out of the miscellaneous section, and started a second miscellaneous section.
And finally she added a Bookshelf for new stories, so that as they come in, she can get them on the web site faster without having to rewrite the page, there's something that looks at the files once per hour and makes a web page based on what's there.
That last area will see stories coming in, and stories moving out as they go to a more permanent home, on one of the author bookshelves or the miscellaneous section. Think of it as a motel for stories, not a permanent home.
And because the menu only re-makes once per hour (and your browser caches menus), you might occasionally click on an item and find "File not found". That's because it's been moved.
The new structure should be able to stand expansion for quite some time. I hope. On a web site that's growing as fast as this one, it is sometimes necessary to make structural changes to take the weight.
There's also a link to show you new stories; those added within a week, and those added within the last 48 hours. Sandra will be updating that once every 24 hours in the small hours while you're asleep.
You can see Sandra's added sections for stories in Dutch, French, German, Italian and Spanish. So far, I have a few stories in Italian, a couple in German, and various people have promised to do things in Spanish, Dutch and French. But I need more volunteers to translate stories. The internet is truly international, and for many people, it's far easier to read stories in their mother tongue than to struggle with English. Preferably, I need people whose mother tongue is one of the above.
Why just those languages? Well, it's a start. If someone volunteered to do some translations into any other language, I'd be interested in opening up a section for that too.
Michele LeMuscle has done a major illustrated story about Annie and her
friend Su Lee. That's up as far as chapter four now.
The AWA newsgroup has been getting so many postings in the last month, I've not been adding to the
level. You can see for yourself if you go to the news area, simply oodles and oodles of postings.
What's the reason? I don't know. People have just started posting pictures (it's nearly all pictures)
like it's raining.
Following a teleconferencing software idea from ~con~, I suggested that we
open a channel on IRC, just for chit chat. There's usually a few of the regulars
there, and the topics of conversation are various. To get to it, go to Undernet, and
/join #awa. If you don't know how to do that, get a Valkyrie near you to show you how. You
need IRC (Internet Relay Chat) software (I use Mirc). Once it's set up, it's very
easy to use.
Make sure you have a large trout with you when you go. You'll find out why...
It looks like Annie Rivieccio is the winner in June. Am I seeing a trend here, a trend towards
bigness? I guess that isn't too surprising really.
Cheryl Harris, FBB and president of Iron Belles now has her own Message Board,
and you can go and ask her whatever questions about wrestling with a woman you've been
wondering about.
Gretchen Stipp, the man-destroyer from Brasil now has her own message board. Be nice
to her, people, brasil is closer than you might have thought. She's been practising
her kick-boxing - see the new pictures.
Heather Fine, a mized wrestler from New York has a Message Board also. Her reverse
scissors are legendary, and she has some great ways to apply a smother.
I saw something at www.chatsystems.com (and bumped into tduggan while I was there,
small world isn't it?) that looks like it might be better than what I'm using now.
Mr C has done some enhancments, but he's taken the idea one step further.
He's made AVI files out of the growth process. I made a Gallery for his pictures
and the AVIs.
Here's a suggestion. If you like an artist's work, then tell him so. Tell him loudly, and
tell him often, and it will encourage him to do more.
If there's an artist whose work you don't like, say nothing. Other people may like it,
and there's no point in upsetting people who put their heart and soul into creating.
I decided not to go to the Las Vegas nationals. I called them to get a press pass, and
they seemed to think that a web site that's getting a million visits per year (look
at the main page counter) isn't worthy of a press pass, so I'd be stuck right at the
back where I couldn't get any worthwhile pictures. The guy I spoke to sounded so
unenthusiastic, I felt that maybe they have all the people attending that they need and
aren't interested in getting any more, which I suppose must be excellent for them.
So if you're going, I'd be delighted if you took your camera with telephoto lens,
and took several dozen (or several hundred) pictures; I'll pay for the film
and processing.
News from the Newsgroup
Vote for your favourite
Tina Lockwood won the first vote, and would have won the second, except that
I don't allow that. So Zuzana Korinkova won the vote in May (which means she
can't win in June).
Secure server
I now have a secure server for financial transactions. People joining can use it for
sending their credit card details.
The Message Boards
Chat
The new chat software is working, but I'm still not happy with it. I'll leave it in place for now, I don't
want to change it just before I go on hols, but if anyone has any suggestions ...
Artwork
Back Page
I'm worried about going on vacation; how are all you people going to cope without
a Valkyrie to look after you? I guess I'll have a mountain of email when I get back.
To the Library