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          ,ggggggggggg,                                                       
         dP"""88""""""Y8, ,dPYb,
                                              
         Yb,  88      `8b IP'`Yb                                              
          `"  88      ,8P I8  8I                             gg
               
              88aaaad8P"  I8  8'                             ""               
              88"""""     I8 dPgg,    ,ggg,    ,ggg,,ggg,    gg      ,gg,   ,gg
             
88          I8dP" "8I  i8" "8i  ,8" "8P" "8,   88     d8""8b,dP"
              88          I8P    I8  I8, ,8I  I8   8I   8I   88    dP   ,88"
  
              88         ,d8     I8, `YbadP' ,dP   8I   Yb,_,88,_,dP  ,dP"Y8, 
              88         88P     `Y8888P"Y8888P'   8I   `Y88P""Y88"  dP"   "Y88


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[ iekommers.com | Phenix e-zine ]

After visiting the E-Zine workshop at WORM, presented by Danny Wolfers my memory kept going back to my old website.

I wrote it initially from scratch in VI because at that time i wanted to learn both HTML and the VI editor. I hosted my website on an old webserver that was donated by my employer. The theme was all black and green, much like an E-Zine on a monochrome monitor.

It reminded me of the first computers i had with green or amber on black monitors. I registered iekommers.com around 2000 in the DotCom era. It was a protest against the commercialism that fucked up the free spirit of the internet.

Domainnames were sold at bizar fees by smart guys who registered millions of them. So my joke became to be CEO of iekommers.com Sounds fancy if you pronounce it.

Where the Internet used to be a safe haven for techie introverts and weird scientists it was now being swarmed by people who wanted to make money of it. User experience got ruined by the many popups and slow traffic on websites, spam in newsgroups and mailboxes. Over a dialup modem, where you pay per minute, it is a burden to wait for 45 messages on erictile disorder medicines and fake gold watches.

The website became a place to share my little findings on the internet and i also hosted many images of my travellings and activities. At that time much about diving and kiting, tech info about Linux. As I still own the iekommers.com domain, i can still use it to my likings, since i work at a big hosting company it will be easy to find a new host for my domain.

I decided to continue with my site in the old style but with a little twist. I like the style of a E-Zine as it is a way to share important messages next to random subjects. The things you stumble upon in life or on the internet. Fun facts about my cat or maybe the silly tunes i tape at 04.20 in the morning.

As the old format rises from it ashes, it inspired me on the name for the e-zine. So i choosed to name it Phenix. And why to write it like this ? Well i like the 'Ph' style as it refers to Phracking and the 'x' is for Linux, because penguins are cool.

Content will be kind of random, between plays of the mind and real life experiences.

Input, comments or modemstrings ? Send an e-mail to phenixezine[AT]gmail.com


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[ Limitations of the Human body ]


Do you remember Twister .....?


While humans are capable of many impressive things and are relatively flexible, some things that seem easy might still be hard or even impossible to accomplish to most of us.

You might have seen the snakehuman from India that crawls into a tiny box, most of us are already happy to be able to reach down to their toes on a good day.

Impatient kids and drunk people can become annoying and this is the time where you can challenge them with a little mission:

                   "Touch the tip of your elbow with the tip o
f the nose"


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[ The Murder of Georgi Markov ]

I remember the time around my 7th birthday well because of this event. It was broadcasted on the tv and radio and as always i was curious to learn about what happened on my birthday just days ago.

It could be a scene from a dark cold war thriller. At broad daylight, at the busstop on Waterloo bridge in London, Georgi Markov was stabbed with the tip of an umbrella by an agent of the Bulgarian Secret Service.

The umbrella, developed by the KGB contained a tip with a poison, a microscopical pellet with the poison Ricin. The pellet was injected into the leg and Markov died three days later from the result.

The murder caused quite a stir as the attackers managed to perform their act at broad daylight on a bridge in London and managed to disappear.

Ricin is a poison made from Castor beans and extremely potent. It does not kill immediately so a perfect secret weapon for those who want to remain undiscovered. Just the amount of a pinhead was enough to kill Markov.

Later that year the Bulgarian dissident Vladimir Kostov was killed with the same poison after an attack in the Paris Metro.

Many years later a book revealed leaked documents from the Bulgarian Secret Service and the name “Agent Piccadilly” came to the surface. The Bulgarian KGB (Durzhavna Sigornost) had send him to London to neutralize Markov. He was questioned in Kopenhagen by intelligence services in 1993 but Danmark could not hold a case against him.

While doing the research for this item i found out that the attack was a birthday gift for the communist leader Todor Zhikov...so i share my birthday with this guy.   


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[ Planet Lonely ]

This months sponsor is Planet Lonely, the travel agency for the introvert and insecure.


Planet Lonely has send us a card with a lovely picture of one of their most popular destinations, the South Pole during the winter.


     **
Travel Tips on how to avoid forced conversations and other inconveniences **

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ||-------------------------------------------------------||------------------------||
 ||                                                       ||              --------- ||
 ||   1. Cruises are cheapest during hurricane season     ||              |     20| ||
 ||      and there are less people with children.         ||              | +||+  | ||
 ||                                                       ||              | {oo
}/
| ||
 ||   2. Beach and sun destinations are best in winter.   ||              |/{==}  | ||
 ||                                                       ||              |  ~~   | ||
 ||   3.
Business hotels offer an absense of people       ||              |  /\   | ||
 ||      during the day and most people are in a hurry.   ||               -------- ||
 ||                                                       ||                        ||
 ||   4. Bring shades, headphones and a newspaper         ||                        ||  ||      to block off people and secure your sanity.      ||     Phenix E-Zine      ||
 ||                                                       ||     On the grid 1      ||
 ||   BOOK OUR TRIP TO IRAQ AND ENJOY THE EMPTYNESS       ||     Cybercity          ||
 ||   OF THE DESERT ----> 10% off using 'PHENIX10%'       ||                        ||
 ||                                                       ||                        ||
 ||                                                       ||                        ||
 ||                                                       ||                        ||
 ||-------------------------------------------------------
||------------------------||
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South Pole, no daylight for 4 months!

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 |          '         '                 ^                      .                     |
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 |        +        .             /    \    / \         ..            .               |
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[ DIY Everything ]

I cannot express more the freedom you enjoy when you build something yourself. If you own a certain amount of will and time and are not afraid to learn and try new things you might become suprised of yourself.

Some opportunities come by themself as you need to fix something or work on the house needs to be done. If you are like me and like new things, you will find great joy in starting little projects for the fun doing them and not for the outcome.

Often motivations are based on' how does this work ?' or not being able to find something that fits to your needs. Having little money or not willing to overspend is also i reason. Often inspiration comes from someone elses project, a workshop or maybe even a youtube video or article in an e-zine like this.

Finding a cheaper resolution for your problem is also a good base to start exploring options. Repairing stuff brings you some experience and insights. You will find it easier to pickup something new after you have already done some fixups. Being handy with tools comes with time but it is a plus if you have this from yourself.

Modern media provides for hours of learning, workshop and howto video's are all over the internet and just some time and will can bring you a lot.

Besides building fun projects it is also a way to do a bit of recycle, bit and pieces you have as scrap might become usefull. That old cupboard can easily be turned into something to keep your tools in and an old door cam be a perfect workbench.o's are all over the internet and just some time and will can bring you a lot.

Just be creative and enjoy!


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[ Games i could have owned ]


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            1up                        HIGH SCORE                         2up

----------- 3932 ------------------------ 42000 ------------------------- 000 ---------
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\  /                                                                               /
 ==                                                                                 ==
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\  /               A                                              A                /
 --               / \                                            / \                --
/  \                           A                                        -[]-       /  \
\  /                          / \              A           -[]-                    \  /
 --              -[]-                         / \                      A            --
/  \                                                 ^^^              / \          /  \
\  /                        -[]-    ^^^             <@@@>               
         
 
\  /
 --                                <@@@>                       -[]-                 --
/  \           ^^^                            -[]-                                 /  \
\  /        ><#####><                                   A                          \  /
 --            |||             A                       / \             -[]-         --
/  \            |             / \          ^^^                 ~++~                \
\  /            |                         <@@@>                 ||                 \  /
 --             |                                    ^^^        ||      A           --
\                                              ><#####><     ||     / \         /  \
\  /            |   |                                |||                |    
 
     \  /
 --                                                                     |           --
/  \            |   |                                                              /  \
\  /                                                                               \  /
 --        [--- x]      [   ==]         [--- -]        [-  --]         [=    ]      --
/  \       [--- -]  |   [  ---]         [--- -]        [-----]         [-- --]     /  \
\  /       [-----]   |  [ ----]         [-----]        [-----]         [-----]     \  /
 --                  |                                                              --
/  \                ***                                                            /  \
/              {{{=}}}                                                          \  /
 --                {{=}}                                                            --
/  \                                                                               /  \
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------------------------------------ CrapCom 1982 -------------------------------------


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[ Lucky Shots ]

Recently i got some long term 'guests'. A friend of my moved in with his girlfriend and in their new home there is little place for his music equipment. As i just felt renewed love for my midi machines i welcomed the idea of having his synths to my availability.

As always when i get back to something i feel the need to make something more of it. As i worked with a computer to make music, using Fast Tracker and Rebirth later i knew about it's limitations for recording. I used to do that using a MiniDisc player but unfortunately it just died over the time i did not use it.

So I started to look into other means of recoring and scooped up a MiniDisc player from a guy that sold a couple. The first one would not record at all so i returned it. As he had another one i took it but untill today i am still fighting with the input level.

Somewhere i picked up little info about using a tapedeck for echoes and my mind started to travel in that direction. I was doubting between a reel tape or a tapedeck as both offer the option to use it for looping, provided it has three or at least proper separated heads.

I went shopping and as often i went to a nearby thriftstore first. In their audio section i found a nice Technics 630T cassete deck. My eyes immediately fell in love with the recessed chamber and slidedoor next too huge output meters. A quick look on the internets learned me that it was a 40 year old top of the range model.

So next home I setup the deck and dug up some old tapes from the attic, good sound and happy spacing on the output meters. Watching the tape run is also fun, it looks like it is in some kind of oven.

Since i wanted to record my attempts to make some music i needed some tapes. I did not want to tape over the tapes i kept for so many years and also the quality of some is rather bad.

So i put up a request on a local facebook group for some tapes, most often without any response because most things i ask are rather weird i guess. Yet this time i was lucky and i got a weak spot for Maxell tapes i was happy to find many of them.

When i played them i was suprised to find music of Jean Michel Jarre and Isao Tomita. Some nice 70's synthesizer music along with top of the charts crap. Most tapes are more suited to be reused as the music on them is not to my taste but only recored once. Meanwhile i had also found out that it is a bit difficult to find new tapes, and even more difficult, good qualityy. MMMost of them are Type Normal and not many places that still sell them.

The more i was surprised to find out about a couple of guys that still produce new cassetes and even better, in small batches as well. Prices and quality you can not imagine. Where people are putting strong bids on tapes at auctions i could buy brand new ones for under 2 euro. Made on order, delivered by mail. Life can be fun!

Read on in Volume 2 : Volume2.htmlVolume 2222223

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@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Volume 1 @@ Feb 2018 @@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@