c:\run etc.html

ecetera
last modified: 2004.3.may 18:29

[I finally changed the menus after so many years using the same old one. Well, I decided to make it look more "professional".. of course its still not so professional without any fancy windows, frames or anything.. but still..!! Its kind of symbolize my "graduation" from university.. guess its more mature kind of look.. The image used is actually an image I "took" from a saved file on the school computer lab .. probably in my freshman year! Funny isn't it? Well, its just a blueprint for some sort of building.. and i liked how it looked and merely just inverted it for the dark menu layout. hmm.. my html skills still are lacking.. .haven't much progress :D however, you can still make things looking OK if you think about how to use the basic skills! This layout was just a sudden inspiration that popped into my brain during in the computer lab. Actually I was getting bored and was thinking of going back to my apartment, but I said I'd just work a little on my homepage.. . and ended up coming back around 11PM (when they kicked us out!)] d

this is the ecetera section of this homepage.

So, you *may* be wondering.. why might be the reason for this this crazy person be working on this homepage? For what? The HTML is also not very good at all! (:D)

well, it goes a long way back.. I remember the time we got a modem.. a 2400 baud modem.. Right now, you may be thinking.. "a *2400 baud modem*?!? how can you surf the 'net?!" Back then the internet was not really known, and it wasn't really used.. It was the time of BBS's or (B)ulletin (B)oard (S)ystems... Basically, you use the modem to call a local BBS.. you could find a page full of BBS's in the CCN (California Computer News)! Calling BBS is actually calling and connecting to another person's computer. The person who runs the BBS is called a "SYSOP" or (SYS)tem (OP)erator. A BBS can have many things you can do.. such as downloading/uploading files, read and post messages in different rooms of different topics, chat with the Sysop (haha, kind of scary!!), play "DOOR GAMES", etc... The Sysop can look and see what you do on his BBS.. He can see you navigate and see you download files, etc..! I think that is kind of scary.. A couple of times, my brother got "interupted" by the Sysop who wanted to chat with him..! Some BBS's have limited hours, like a store.. What is the reason? It's that the Sysop has to leave their computer on all day just to let people call their computer.. That is why Sysops generally have a different phone line to use exclusively for the BBS.. I guess that its much more warm and friendly than the internet.

A Door game is a game (ASCII graphics,.. some are really incredible! :D) that you can play against with other BBS callers. Most of them are "text" games.. some are sort of like RPG-like text games like Legend of the Red Dragon (LoRD) , some are war games where you try to take over all the countries and compet with other players, like "Global war", and there are games like "Trade Wars", in which you control a space ship around a galaxy, build a base on a planet, trade on trade ports to make money, attack space pirates if you are a good guy, attack members of the federation if you are a bad guy, or even attack other players!! Another fun door game is "THE PIT" where you control a guy (well, actually, a little "block") and fight in the "pit", which is like a coloseum, and when you fight, you get more experience and can get items. In that game, you can even attack or challenge some of the other players who are playing this game!! Each day, you only have a certain number of turns to play..

Nowadays, it seem as if BBS's are being "extinct".. When i look at the CNN magazine now, i see maybe a listing of less than half a page of listed BBS's!! Its quite sad that it seem as if the INTERNET has taken over, and not many people call BBS's or even know there are such things. Of course, you can't use Netscape or an internet browser to call BBS's.. you need some special programs. The people today probably won't want to call BBS's.. of course, the internet has much more newer software available, where one doesn't have to upload the current versions to a BBS.. And not only that, there are no fancy graphics either.. There are only ANSII art.. which is basically a coloured "blocks" the size of the cursor. ANSII art usually look like "low resolution" pictures.

I showed my cousin one day how a BBS is like, and there was a nice ANSII drawing of a window with some plants.. The strange thing was that she was not able to see what it was! To her, it was just a messy mass of different coloured "blocks".. I guess most people are concerned with "real" pictures, and they don't have much imagination.. . You might not know, but it does take lots of time to make ANSII drawings.. hehe. actually, i am working on some ANSII drawings right now.. however, they are on my brother's computer in Berkeley.. I hope that my brother doesn't think they are rubbish and delete them!! Anyway, maybe someday, i will use a screen capture program after i'm done with the drawing, and save it as a GIF or JPG. I'm drawing Iori, Kyo, and Mai from the SNK fighting game, King of Fighters, and i drew a picture of Ayanami Rei from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Of course, the 2400 Baud modem is much too slow for the internet.. I remember that when we used the 2400 baud modem, the text appeared on screen by the cursor going down line by line! (similar to using the printer to print) When we upgraded to a 14400 baud modem, we were so impressed that all the text on the screen just "appears" on the screen! We were really impressed by the speed! But the modem was not only for BBS's.. We used it to chat/download/upload files from friends.. Such as, my brother would use the modem to call his friend (who has his modem set up to receive my brother's call) and my brother would send some homework or something!! hehe. i hope they didn't cheat or something, but of course, if you type it up, there wouldn't be any "same handwriting" to check!

hm.. anyway, my brother and I always wanted to have our own little BBS('s).. However, we didn't have another phone line and we never did make one (or came close to make one). We just thought of the name "HURRICANE BBS", which i still think its a nice name. The world has now changed so much since the period of BBS's. Computers are a common household object, and everyone is including their e-mail address or homepage on their business card.. BTW, many computer stores used to include their BBS phone number in their ads! :D

But, i still feel that the internet is "cold" compared to BBS's.. When you connect with a BBS, you know that someone is there who is sending things to your computer. (and he may be watching you :D!) Its like visiting a person's house.. Homepages are different in that people just pass by.. some people just visit a homepage once, and never go back to it again.. of course there are thousands and thousands of "personal homepages" all over the world... I feel that a BBS is sort of like a local store that you go to all the time, not like a tourist attraction.

I guess i will never really have my BBS, but right now, i have this homepage on the internet.. where, anyone from around this world, can access this page.. It still doesn't have the "warm feel" of BBS's, but i do hope you enjoy your stay... Too bad there aren't any door games on the internet..

anyway, i don't really know HTML because i learn it from my brother Tom's teachings and from looking at other pages' source code. I don't really like the idea of using a program to make a homepage by writing the HTML for you because it isn't really you who are writing the web page. I like the blood, sweat, and tears, and afterwards, the satisfaction!! (though it maybe not as well done) After taking a TURBO pascal programming class in high school, i also want to practice programming. (haha, well, its not really working since HTML is simple things, unlike programs, no compiling, not much code really!) I *admire* the work of a programmer. I used to stare at the computer screen for hours, looking for the dumb error that caused the programme to not compile!! BTW, i usually like to try to make fancy looking output! and I'm the one who names my programmes strangely that my teacher always comments on that!!! (such as using French, "type501" <= name of fighting moves of the characters Kusanagi Kyo-chan and Yagami Iori-chan of the fighting game King of Fighters!!, and lots of other fighting moves like... hmm. "negative gain", etc.. but i wouldn't want to explain that to him!!!) so, my teacher sometimes make fun of the weird names.. But names are very special to me. Some have a special aura you know? -_-.. . well, maybe not for you! @_@||

Anyway... Using a homepage composer, *anyone* can make a homepage. Even little kids!! #But#!! that is all they know, they don't *truly* know how to make a homepage because they aren't the programmer!! I like things nice and homemade, not artificial. so this is my *true* ability!!! (as little as it is!!) I recently learned the hr function and tables, so i'm using them like crazy now!! :D =D ;D >D hm.. since a [SYSOP] is the system operator for a BBS, i will call the homepage maintainer to be "homepage operator".. however [HPOP] doesn't sound very good... (sweat drop rolling down) "webmaster" is kind of an ugly name... master of what? the "web"? World Wide Web (WWW)? well, you see what i mean.

I just realised something. Looking at many people's homepages, I usually read "please do not steal any pictures". That usually makes me feel kind of bad.. why? because i "steal" most of my pictures from different sites. I can understand how they feel.. they used many efforts to get the picture, scan it, and put it up. However, it makes the internet "cold". I remember in BBSs, files are to give and take! My brother would call many BBSs and look if they have a certain file that he wants.. Sometimes, we would download many pictures, usually anime/manga related. In BBSs, no one ever writes "do not steal any files!!" or what is the use of the BBS?! A BBS is supposed to be a friendly place, with bulletin boards to talk with other people, chatting, downloading files, uploading files, playing [door games], etc.

Of course, some BBS has some fees to pay to get full access to the files and options.. I don't really remember how much it costed.. Some other BBSs also have a file download/upload ratio.. Such as uploading 5 files will allow one to download 5 files. The reason was so that new files or versions of shareware will be available. There are some people who never upload anything. However, my brother usually uploads files to his frequently visited BBSs to help people out. I remember that he uploaded a new version of the shareware game Castle Wolfenstein to the Dragon's Castle II BBS because some people asked if anyone has it.. Uploading it took more than one hour!! (It was about a couple megabytes, and modems were slow.. :D) Indeed, downloading and uploading did take a very long time before, so many BBSs have a time limit, or a number of "actions" that one can make in order to allow various people to call and to not have people hogging the phone line when downloading files.

Comparing BBSs and homepages, there is a very great difference in atmosphere. Despite homepages having fancy graphics,(while BBSs are all in text) they are also very cold, and unfriendly, similar to a museum: "look, but do not touch!" Many of our files/pictures in the hard drive are from BBSs and from postings on the rec.arts.anime.binaries. (or whatever it was.. ). Some pictures from BBSs have a label of the BBS's name and phone number.. Some homepages do the same too, except they put their name or homepage name.

What i do not "steal" from other homepages are pictures of "fan art", or non official art.. Those art are very "personal" i believe, while scanned stuff can be from magazines or comics... stuff that were published for the public. Still, i do not like using the word "steal". Am i really stealing anything? Many homepage operators write "ask for permission to use pictures". I don't really know.. but compared to Sysops, this sounds a bit selfish. I've read some pages really did steal many pictures and even text from other homepages, which really causes anger for the original homepages. However, many of these pages are "public" pages, such as ones listed in the Anime Turnpike .. I don't know what sort of people visit my homepage (sweat drop rolling down).. maybe i should put up a counter!! :D but anyway, i feel that this homepage is not like those "public advertised" homepages.. This is more like a personal homepage that maybe you have somehow (perhaps unluckily!) stumbled upon. An obsure speck in the endless sky of stars.. I do have original scanned stuff in here, but i also have some pictures from other sites. I do not have any access to any visual rock magazines, so i wouldn't be able to show any pictures at all if i didn't take them from other homepages. Sometimes, i wonder what is the use of an art gallery? Is it really like a museum? Is it to promote something like ideas and artists? or is it for entertainment? My reason is all. My [eye] page is to promote awareness of various artists (no, i'm not advertising myself!! :D :D) and my [visual KEI shock] page is to promote awareness of Japanese bands. They are also to dedicate something to those artists for their works. In fact, that doesn't only apply to my pictures.. [stands] page is to inform people about various subjects that i learned about, [world] informs people about my travels (barely anywhere! :D), [hen] is about strange/funny things i find, [etc] is about the history and background of this homepage... etc. haha... fun entertainment, ne? well, if you are still reading this, we must be both crazy! :D

I guess these restrictions that the homepage operators put up on their homepages portray the reality of the world/society today. It gives me a sweet and bitter nostalgia of the old days of BBSs.., which are pretty much 'extinct'. It is also something that they can not enforce. As i compared a homepage to a BBS before, constant shadows and sillouettes glide over homepages.. who is coming and going? The only traces are from a counter, guestbook, or messageboard. (all which i unfortunately do not have!! @_@..) In the internet, there isn't really such a thing as uploading or a file ratio like a BBS. All the visitors can do is to read or take files.. I'm not saying that people should not put "do not steal my images", but it makes me feel sad of the condition of this society. There is no mutual trust among people because many people cannot be trusted. I've heard stories of people selling a CD-ROM full of anime images, or people selling MPEGs. These people are trying to get a fast buck, with no concern about other people's work, or the artists' work. I do listen to MPEGS or Real Audio files sometimes.. I find it very useful to sample various bands or music. However, sometimes people only listen to these audio files and use them as a substitute for a CD or cassette tape. My brother records the many MPEGs to his Mini Disc player, but we end up buying the real albums for the very good songs. Respect and chivalry are no longer present in our society today. Oh well, so.. there, i tell you that i'm a "thief". I don't have a scanner, but i can use the library's scanner.. I usually think that the internet is a pool of information that one can read and take. haha.. oh yes, the reason why i don't have a real picture of me up is that i don't have a picture of myself right now. I don't really look like the Tsuchiya Kyoko's picture of Aya in my [moi] section. I'm not trying to deceive you or anything!! @_@.. . =_=.. :D.. I just want to tell you why i don't put "do not steal the images".. I, as the homepage operator, want to make this place friendly!! (well, not that i have really any great information or graphics to take..) irrashaimashite! .