Diana the Valkyrie's Newsletter - February 2001
A hard man is good to beat
We had more snow, nearly half an inch! And half my duckpond froze over, but everything's thawed now, and the snowdrops are peeking out again. Spring is on the way!
Galleries added this month.
Stories added this month.
Nothing new.
Movies added this month.
Oprah seems to have solved the problems with the NewsThumbs server. In the longer run, I'm replacing the News server (part of the reason for that, is that it's filling up somewhat) and I'll also be replacing Joan, the main WWW server (same reason). Joan is storing 61gb, leaving 34gb available, and she's 2 1/2 years old now.
I've shipped the Valkyrie Mark Two's to the US, and they're running fine (but not being surfed yet). Mark Twos are what everyone else calls "Network Attached Storage", but actually it's just a plain old PC with a bunch of cheap IDE drives, running Linux. And I've built the first Mark Three; the Mark Threes are going to be the computers that surfers actually see, the front office, as it were. I never thought when I started this web site that I'd wind up building computers, but the problem is, I can't find on sale anything that's powerful, cheap and reliable. I say "building computers", actually it's less than an hour's work with a screwdriver.
Uh, how do you make a computer reliable? I have no idea. But I do know that two computers are more reliable than one, so I'm putting two Mark Twos where I might have put one. This does not guarantee reliability, of course. A power cut to the whole site will take the site down (the UPS's will only stay up for under an hour). But such a long power cut isn't very likely (outside of California). And everything goes out through one router, down one telecoms link ... 100% reliability is an objective, not a given.
New feature! I was buying a book on Amazon.com, and I made use of the feature "People who bought that book also bought ...", because it can lead to books that you'd want. And then someone said in the chatroom, there was only one newsgroup that was worth following. Now I'm pretty sure that isn't true for most people; if you're interested in one, then there's usually a few related ones worth checking out.
So I analysed everyone's list of favourite newsgroups, and came up with a list that "People who follow this newsgroup, also follow ..."
You can see it here, and you can use it to expand your list of Favourites.
The picture count is about 7.1 million now.
To be precise the current figure is
And now there's another 7.5 million on the other server,
- to be precise the current figure is
Why does your computer keep crashing? Maybe you accept this as the way that things are - computers always crash all the time? Well, it isn't like that.
One of my servers, diana.thevalkyrie.com, has been up for 371 days non-stop. No crash in all that time. It's running Linux. That's more like it, that's what you can expect. So, how come you're not getting that level of reliability?
One reason might be that you're running buggy software. All software is buggy, the only question is how bad. And the more software that you run, the more likely it is that one of the things you're running, will crash, and bring your whole system down with it (although with a serious operating system, buggy software can only crash itself, not the whole system). So, my first piece of advice, is don't just run software just because it looks like it might be cool. And don't assume that you can uninstall things cleanly. The more things you pile onto your computer, the more likely it is that the whole thing can fall over.
This isn't a theoretical issue, it can affect you. Here's an example of how.
This came up when Blaster asked in the chatroom, "Why do I keep getting bumped?". I asked him about the exact symptom, and he said it was a total system crash, blank black screen. Then I asked what he'd installed recently. "RealPlayer" was one of them, and I remembered about the Comet Cursor article, and told him to read it.
So then he told it to uninstall, and it told him that he's have to do it "manually" (whatever that means". Or, to put it another way, "I'll help you put me on your computer, but I won't help you get me off again".
Eventually, he did a "rollback" to a month previous, and that seems to have helped.
When you install something (such as RealPlayer), they can often offer to install other things at the same time. You might think "why not?", and do it. Well, now you know why not. When you buy software or hardware, it often comes with various free stuff, and you might be tempted ... resist temptation!
But it isn't just shovelware (software that they shovel onto your computer because you wouldn't actually go and buy it yourself). Windows itself is inherently unstable. How dare I say that! What evidence do I have! Well, Microsoft have commissioned a study, and you can read it yourself. It says that the average time that Windows 98 kept running without crashing, was just 216 hours. Uh - nine days. A Nine Day Wonder. And that's the average. Some might last longer, some will last less time before crashing. I seem to remember being told that Win 98 was better (including more stable) than Win 95, so presumably that means that Win 95 crashes even more.
Well, thank you to Microsoft for telling us about how often Win 98 crashes, although it would have been nice if you'd told us all that back when you were telling us how great Win 98 was. You know, I remember being told, when Win 95 came out, about how it was much superior in stability to Win 3.1. And now they're telling us that what we should all be using is Win 2000 Professional. OK, I hear you. But I also know the pain that you get from changing operating system, and finding all the things that don't work because there isn't a Win 2000 Professional driver yet.
So what can you do? For most people, I think the best thing to do is ... nothing. Don't change operating systems, or you'll discover the meaning of the words "regret" and "no way back". Don't install every cool-looking chunk of software that drifts through the internet looking for computers to infest, don't upgrade any software that you have, and which works just fine, unless you have a *really good* reason to do so.
Me - I'll stick with Linux. 371 days non-stop now ...
by Andrez de Tijuana
This is a follow-up article to my November 2000 newsletter article about ePilot.com, the search engine that pays YOU 3 cents for each web search you conduct.
I recently sent the following e-mail to support@epilot.com:
I'm username aep888. I joined ePilot on October 11, 2000, well over three months ago. I have yet to see any evidence that your 3 cents per web search offer is indeed genuine rather than fictitious.
I'm aware that no checks are drawn for balances under $20 but my balance has reached that amount quite a long time ago.
Give me one good reason why I should NOT unsubscribe, remove the ePilot bookmark from my PC and move on.
Their reply:
Over the past couple of months, ePilot has been busy upgrading our payment system and we are currently in the process of issuing member payments. A portion of the member payments has recently been sent out and we will continue to quickly process these payments until we are 100% caught up with all legitimate member earnings. Once the goal is achieved, we will begin to issue current member payments on the 15th of every month for any member who has exceeded at least $20 in member earnings.
As paraphrased by the wise Valkyrie:
"We didn't pay you because we screwed up. But we're fixing that, so soon we will pay you."
Or, more succintly ...
"The check is in the post"
My synopsis:
In order for a web site like this to continue to profit and remain fiscally solvent, they must keep their revolving door spinning with a steady stream of NEW members.
After about three months, the average member will e-mail the site to inquire about his/her payment. They will get this reassuring line of torocaca (that's Espanol) which will keep them hanging on for about one more month at which time he/she will give up and move on. What are you going to do? Take them to small claims court?
Here's another "free money fun site" that seems to be on the level...
http://www.freelotto.com
It's based in New York City. I've been using it for 15 months and have received many $1 checks in the mail for 3-of-6 matches (and the occasional $5 check for a 4-of-6 match).
You can sign up and play six different lotto games seven days per week. Instead of paying $1 per wager, as in the typical state lottery, you're only required to view one of their sponsor's banner adverts for about 30 seconds - an excellent deal in my humble opinion!
You "MAY" earn up to $11 million every day if you win the jackpot in all six lotto games every day. lol. (There's that stupid meaningless word "MAY" that PCH and Reader's Digest Sweeps are so damn fond of).
If you can successfully schmooze the Gods of Odds, you can win one $10 million jackpot in game #6, the 7/50 lotto game with odds of about 1:100,000,000.
I will take a look at RadioFreeCash.com and comment on that in about a month or two - same Bat time, same Bat channel.
Hugs, smooches, etc.
Andrez :)
-- the muscular Venus who defies French indifference
By Wessex Man
PERPIGNAN, France, Feb 1st -- French sensibilities continue to ignore the aesthetic magic of female muscle, but the cult remains vibrant among a sophisticated hard core. Valerie Creux, aged 37 and a bodybuilder for 13 years, is becoming one of its most vigorous promoters, as she explains in a frank interview.
The Internet is now carrying her message round the world and American admirers, in particular, are eager with their e-mails.
Valerie is unusual. She emerges as a muscled mermaid of innocent pristine beauty. The eye-catching development of her arms and shoulders, subtly tattooed, tells her special story. She's a true female but one whose sexuality radiates in the virile extravagance of her unashamed muscles. Her expression glows in triumph as she flexes ripely majestic biceps.
As a person Valerie is down to earth, working nights as a security guard in southern France; single with no children and free to make her own choices. She's also a 'physionomist' at a local discotheque.
Not surprisingly she's developing a wrestling and muscle worship clientele in Western Europe from her home base near Perpignan. Her star qualities are in demand. She travels frequently.
The newly arrived client usually feels stunned when his eyes first behold Valerie in her wrestling briefs -- topless with bold pectorals. "Muscles, muscles, dumbells, dumbells" are the kind of words which tremble through his mind. But she puts him at his ease with a girl-next-door smile. And before things get more lively he's allowed a gentle moment in paradise as she invites him to caress her sumptuously aroused 16" biceps.
At 5' 3" in height and weighing about 150 lbs she's a serious strength contender. Valerie can bench 190 lbs for three reps and she squats easily under 265 lbs. Not a powerlifting champion but a lithe and vigorous athlete. She trains five days a week, Monday to Friday.
SHE WRESTLES BECAUSE IT'S FUN, SESSIONS VARY
Valerie: "There's role playing theatrical stuff. A lot of little games are possible...fans are looking for contact with a muscular body. It's a kind of sensuous wrestling.
"I also do semi-competitive -- in this type of wrestling I use my strength to make you realise that I'm stronger than you...but we're not looking for injuries.
"Also Domination -- some men like powerful women... they just want to be overpowered by a strong amazon. They like to be crushed between thighs and feel that I'm stronger than they are."
VALERIE OVERCOMES FAMILY PREJUDICE
She told me about her earlier life and bodybuilding struggles.
"My little boyfriend when I started weight training dropped me after two years because I'd become too muscular for him....Also my parents didn't appreciate my body at all and it was my grandmother who said I was horribly deformed and that I'd suffered 'un coup de taureau' " (a bull-like transformation) !
"But no matter what was said to me I never wished to give it up and I never wanted my physique to become 'normal' and feeble again. And even now, all these years later, I can't imagine a life without training."
Valerie, a native of Grenoble, began building muscle when she was 24. Previously she'd been a gymnast and track athlete. "Also I was into car rallying as both driver and co-driver.. I loved pushing my car to the limits of its adherence to the road..I experienced some searing exits from the piste."
In her first gym she trained along side Gloria Bouvier, a French and European champion in the 1980s. "The strong muscular look pleased me and I continued to train with this objective."
I asked if she was still adding more muscle inches. "I'm trying to gain more mass while maintaining my figure, my muscle quality and above all my femininity....I have a minor weakness in my pectorals after an injury but I'm making up ground."
Valerie's spectacular chest appears to be more than 90% pectoral muscle, as all can see.
She's not actually prioritizing muscle groups at the moment and is wary of overdoing her arms because they've developed so readily. "I don't want to build arms which are out of proportion to the rest of my body."
FRANCE AND AMERICA DIFFER OVER MUSCLED WOMEN
We discussed the reactions of ordinary people in France when she moves around in public.
"I encounter mainly hostile glances, sometimes mockery and even disgust -- particularly from other women...But it's very difficult to know what people are thinking. They don't say things to my face. But the attitude is generally negative, even towards Fitness girls who are much more slimly muscled than me. Most people still find them too muscular."
However Valerie finds that many males are in fact intensely attracted to female muscle, not least in the United States. "Seven out of 10 of my e-mails originate from the U.S. and it's always a pleasure for me to talk to them. They contact me because they know I'm a bodybuilder. They've seen my website or my profile and like the way I'm built."
She's also noticed how men often try to conceal or repress their interest in muscular women. "Above all they won't speak about it at home in the family or with colleagues at work. They see themselves as failed or unfulfilled homosexuals. I know of a divorce case where the judge condemned the husband's strong interest in muscular women as sexual deviance."
VALERIE CONDEMNS FRENCH BODYBUILDING CONTESTS
We talked about female bodybuilding contests in France. Valerie is outspoken. "Competition doesn't interest me at all. Too much sacrifice for no reward. No recognition by sports federations, no serious media reporting... Only a few poor photos where you can't always recognise the athletes."
"The whole scene is lousy and the commentaries pathetic. The contest venues are often second rate viIlage halls...the audiences only consist of friends and families of the competitors. I'm sad to have to make these points but I can only describe things as they are. I've been in the sport for 13 years and I fully understand the problems.
"In Spain things are much better, also in Germany."
VALERIE LOOKS AT THE FITNESS VS MUSCLE ARGUMENTS
"Fitness is a very different discipline to true bodybuilding -- everyone has their own preference. Fitness girls have magnificent bodies but they're not driven by the same vision of muscle as we are.
"I won't comment on the Weider organisation's position on this issue....but I'm happy that Andrulla Blanchette won her Ms Olympia title. She was my candidate, I find her magnifcent."
Valerie would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in her views at her email address valeriecreux@hotmail.com.
Each day, I get sent a bunch of spam. Of course, I don't bother reading them. Not usually. But here's one I did read, and I'm glad I did. It's pretty funny. And it made me think - quite a lot of these spams are actually quite funny. Some because of the writing style, some because of the educational level displayed, some because of the utter optimism from the sender in thinking that anyone is going to buy what he's peddling, and some are just plain funny (without meaning to be, of course).
And we all know that waste is wrong. In these dark days of the internet, with dotcom's crashing and smashing every week, surely we shouldn't try to preserve and archive some of the more precious bytes that flow our way?
Here's a couple of spams that I was sent recently.
Imagine in the space of a few seconds with virtually no effort on your part, your mind and body suddenly increases in feelings of strength and power by a thousand percent! Depression and stress lifts, your mind is instantly crystal clear instead of confused and fuzzy. Your speech and writing becomes eloquent, intelligent and appealing. What seemed to be a horribly unlucky day is now suddenly replaced by good fortune! People smile and are happy to see you, you are constantly 'on' and everything you do and say is rewarded with positive feedback. You are in the flow, at your peak. If a Kinesiologist were to test you, she would discover an amazing improvement - your muscles would actually show MUCH greater strength to resistance! All you did was write a simple sentence on a piece of paper! What's the secret?
This book is your opportunity to powerfully scatter the darkness and shadows from your path. The ideas in the book will change your life and protect you from psychic stress, damage and attack.
Learn the secret of Transparent Viewing. Detect the presence of dark flowing streams of consciousness energy in individuals and groups of people who are oppressed by invisible tendrils of fear, anxiety, guilt control, exhaustion, confusion, forgetfulness, stress, bad habits and negative thought patterns, so you can AVOID having your own vitality drained.
Defend against the worst parasitical energy women face, where the natural power of her true self is replaced by an artificial duplicate which drains emotions, physical energy and vitality. Learn what a daughter can do to escape the clutches of the choking, draining, grasping influence of the dark side of a mother who is suffering under psychic pressure. Cancel repeating destructive family patterns and meta-programs.
Discover the properties of the 'Artifact', an easily made device that allows you to liquefy the effects of bad intent from other presence's, examine motives, create intimate connections with the right people, neutralize unwanted admirers in seconds, avoid dangerous scenarios and gain uncanny perspectives on your own life.
Pay only $19.95 (U.S.D) if you order by February 15th, 2001. After February 5th,
2001 the normal retail price of $29.95 will apply.
I haven't sent off for the book.
Here's another one that caught my eye. Don't these guys read their own spam?
No long term contract
No activation fee
No big prepayment of airtime
No credit check
PAGING AMERICA is going to give you absolutely Free the Brand new 2-Way Motorola pager. This top of the line pager will even receive your E-MAIL! Included with your new pager is the technology that allows you to respond to the E-mails you receive.
Don't pass this offer up! Call 800-381-5922 TODAY while supplies last
Why pay $189.00 at a retail store when we're giving you this pager absolutely FREE. Your new pager will come with its own e-mail address so you can receive your e-mails as well as alpha-numeric and numeric messages instantly where ever you are.
Your new two-way pager has features like 50,000 character memory, message time stamping, automatic garbled message correction, beeps or vibrates, incandescent backlight, saved message folder, a unique never out of range feature that allows your pager to retrieve messages sent earlier when your pager was out of range or turned completely off. You can also receive weather, news and sports.
This Motorola pager is small and light weight. All we ask before we'll ship you your new Free pager is for you to allow us to provide some airtime for you. There is no long term contract or credit check. Airtime is month to month and can be cancelled at any time.
This pager will come pre-programmed with its own e-mail address as well as a local telephone number to receive numeric pages. This pager comes with a complete 30 day money back guarantee, if after receiving this pager you're not completely happy, send it back and receive a full refund.
So. It's free. Plus, you can get a refund if you're not completely happy. And I'm sure that I don't need to point out that "incandescent" means "white-hot", and you don't want a white-hot pager clipped to your belt.
You guessed it. Call me cynical, but - I haven't asked them to send me a free pager, even though I'd get a refund of my $0 if not completely happy.
Besides. I doubt if it works in the UK.
We currently have seven running; Nicole Bass, Andrulla Blanchette, Sheila Burgess, Christine Envall, Marilyn Perret, Julia Santana and Peggy Schoolcraft.
Nicole is very ill right now. She has pancreatitis, and was in hospital for some weeks. Read the Message Boards for updates. She's out of hospital and convalescing at home now. But she's not going to be 100% for a while.
Peggy will be competing at the Arnold (Ms International). She's going to compete totally shredded, she's under 5% bodyfat right now. Peggy is known as "Ms Shredded", and we hope that the judges like her look. But if they don't, tough. Because Peggy isn't doing this for the judges, she's doing this for Peggy. Anyhow, please cheer her each time she comes on stage.
Sheila is also planning to be at the Arnold. And so are lots of other web site folks, it looks like a good place to meet up and see the people you chat and message with. Gaily is planning to bring along some of her famous Valkyrie Cookies, guaranteed to attract Valkyrie for miles around.
Andrulla is aiming to use her Ms Olympia title to progress her career. She's looking at writing for magazines, sponsorships, maybe even a book. She's in LA right now, trying to make stuff happen.
Clepydra would like to thank Blaster for the Bush jokes. Since the Clintons don't seem to have entirely disappeared, she's hanging on to the Clinton jokes, too.
Member | Posts |
| gaily304 | 6579 |
| mrk001 | 4881 |
| ginny2442 | 4559 |
| jabb6328 | 4529 |
| 007tko | 4291 |
| Diana the Valkyrie | 3932 |
| boomer444 | 3267 |
| Blast222 | 3142 |
| mit19237 | 3113 |
| tre1313 | 3038 |
| mike1965 | 3018 |
| lpdorman69 | 2922 |
| TomNine | 2759 |
| dgt321 | 1977 |
| hiram2000 | 1724 |
| cry2cin | 1667 |
| js829 | 1496 |
| fistman | 1436 |
| steve8888 | 1359 |
| stu666 | 1319 |
Gaily retains her rightful place as Top Chatter, with mrk, Ginny, Jabber and TKO in a tight group behind. Congratulations to mrk for sticking to his resolution to give up smoking, that's not an easy thing to do.
I added a "Total Messages this month" counter, it's at the top of the main message board page. There were 5448 posts in January 2001.
Most posted Board of the month | Poster of the month | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Plenty of controversy this month in TomNine, Politics, Vi's and Diana's message boards. Boomer's board got split, into the old "Celebrity Flexing" and the new "Sports". | Jabber is easily the most loquatious poster; I can barely manage 2/3's of a jabber. And the next four in the list are jabber/3. |
Mavis is counting the number of times the message list is checked for each board, and the number of times that a posting is read. This gives a very different picture from the one above.
Most listed Board of the month |
Most read Board of the month | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Fistman's discussions on which are the best pictures on the web make the most often listed board, althought TomNine's Tussles aren't far behind. | Much the same picture. |
Well, now that I can "liquefy the effects of bad intent from other presence's" and achieve "increases in feelings of strength and power by a thousand percent" I feel so much better. It turns out that you don't actually need the book, just knowing that it exists is all it takes.
Our intrepid Andrej continues his quest for free money, undeterred by the fact that everything he's tried so far has turned out to be fairy gold. But he's having fun in investigating these, and his reports should help other folks who might have taken some get-rich-quick scheme at face value.
And if you liked the Fufme, then you'll want your very own Bonsai Kitten. The really, really funny part of Bonsai Kitten is the outraged letters from cat lovers who can't recognise a joke when they see one.
I checked the site statistics that Sandra counts up each night.
At the end of January 2001, there were about 318,000 pictures (15.6 gigabytes), 41 gigabytes of video, 4300 text files (mostly stories) and a total of about 57 gigabytes.
On Oprah, the Newsthumbs server, there's the NewsThumbs, which is another 7.1 million pictures in 424 gigabytes and 9.8 million text files, a total of 448 gigabytes. Plus another 7.5 million pictures on the older NewsThumbs server