README for alt.backrubs archive Last-Updated: 4 April 1995 Author: J. Blustein The alt.backrubs archive is my personal collection of postings from the Usenet newsgroup alt.backrubs. Although the archive is chock full of interesting and informative postings I can't guarantee that anyone will find what they want there. All the files in this archive (other than this one) have been compressed. They can only be properly transfered in binary form and you'll need some kind of uncompress to read them (the GNU unzip, gunzip, works fine). The files are in mailbox format (so you can read them as ordinary text files or use any standard mail reader to treat them as a list of mail messages). Detailed information about how to obtain an uncompress program appears below. N.B.: The ftp.csd.uwo.ca site has special access features that uncompress files as they are transferred -- read the file ~ftp/pub/README at that site for details. I, and probably many others, would be very grateful if someone would create an index to the postings in the files. Also, please send me mail if you find something wrong with the files. The file Archive.Index is a list of some categories in the archive and files that fit those categories. It is far from a complete index (and it was hand made). The filenames are meant to be self explanatory (and short enough to allow ls -C to fit three of them into an 80 character line). Files with -> in their name are for indexing only. For example the file `ticklish->front' means that information about massaging ticklish people can be found in the file `front.rubs'. Some postings appear in more than one file because I thought they applied to more than one topic. Special Files ------------- Abstracts brief descriptions of every file for the archiver's use Archive.Info posting to alt.backrubs, etc. describing archive Archive.Index list of files and major categories in archive 00README this file *->* these files are for indexing only (they are zero-length) .Keep-Until for FTP site administrator's use [only at ftp.csd.uwo.ca] .Note for FTP site administrator's use [only at ftp.csd.uwo.ca] Where can I find gunzip? [This section was current as of 4 April 1995.] ------------------------ The files were compressed using the Free Software Foundation's gzip. The FSF's gunzip will make a normal file from the compressed version. You may be more familiar with the name GNU. For the purposes of this section they are the same. Read the information at one of the GNU FTP sites (below) for more information. GNU products (from the FSF) are available from many FTP sites. The main site is prep.ai.mit.edu. The main mirror sites (and directories) are: gatekeeper.dec.com:/pub/GNU, ftp.uu.net:/systems/gnu, wuarchive.wustl.edu:/systems/gnu and nic.funet.fi:/pub/gnu. The boycott of A---e Computers has ended so there might be a version of gunzip for the Macintrash by the time you read this. (Fear of lawsuits prevents me from using the correct names for companies and products in this file. If you can't figure out which ones I'm talking about then you don't need the information here.) According to version 2.3.3 of the `Introductory Macintosh frequently asked questions (FAQ)' posted by elharo@shock.njit.edu (Elliotte Rusty Harold) to comp.sys.mac.apps, comp.sys.mac.misc, comp.sys.mac.system, comp.sys.mac.wanted, comp.sys.mac.hardware, comp.answers, news.answers on 22 March 1995 (but last modified on 4 November 1994): StuffIt 3.0 and MacGzip will reverse the gzip compression. Also according to that document it is available for at URL http://rever.nmsu.edu/faq/generalfaq.html The version posted to news.answers is available for FTP from the rtfm.mit.edu site in the pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/comp/sys/mac/misc (and others). Info About Archive ------------------ The anonymous FTP site is ftp.csd.uwo.ca which has IP address 129.100.11.252. Please connect during off-peak hours (between 7pm and 7am), the server's timezone is 5 hours behind GMT during standard time (it is in Ontario, Canada). The files are in the directory pub/news/alt.backrubs. The file ~ftp/pub/README tells about special methods for transfering files from the ftp.csd.uwo.ca archive site. One of the methods will allow you to have the files uncompressed during transfer! The archive is mirrored at the sunsite.unc.edu anonymous FTP site which has IP address 198.86.40.81. The files are in the directory pub/academic/medicine/alternative-healthcare/massage-therapy/alt.backrubs. The server's timezone is 5 hours behind GMT during standard time (it is in in North Carolina, USA). A regular posting about the archive appears in the alt.backrubs newsgroup every ten days and every 30 days in the alt.answers and news.answers newsgroups. A version of that posting is in the file Archive.Info in the archive. Current copies of the file can be obtained from the rtfm.mit.edu ftp site (and its mirror sites). Suggestions/Complaints/Comments/Compliments ------------------------------------------- Please send any of the above by e-mail to . ----------------- ----------------- ----------------- ----------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- End of README End of README End of README End of README --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- ----------------- ----------------- ----------------- -----------------