(More) Administrivia / SLUG plug

[TYSON@Warbucks.AI.SRI.COM (Mabry Tyson)]

Reminder:  All requests for addition and deletion should go to
SLUG-REQUEST@AI.SRI.COM.  Those get into my normal mail file and in a
separate mail file.  I typically handle address deletions or changes
immediately.  Address additions are done typically once a week.

I intend that all bounced mail messages go to a specific address
(SLUG-ADMIN).  Please don't send any other mail to that address.  I scan
through that about once every week or two.  I generally don't kill an
address that is getting random mailer errors (eg, out of quota or host
down) unless it goes on for more than a month.  (I will kill
no-such-user accounts more quickly.)

Unfortunately, DIALNET mail is the most problematic.  The "host has
not responded for 3 days" messages sometimes come back to this special
address and sometimes go back to the original sender of the message.
(I keep hoping Symbolics will fix that).  Some of these hosts (eg,
Symbolics Germany) don't probe for mail very often.

Other hosts that give me fits are ones that are running the MAILER
software on a Symbolics and don't have their software installed properly.
They will be refusing mail for days at a time.  Fortunately these
error messages always go back to the correct address.  But if you
are one of these sites, please keep your mailer loaded and running
and keep your site set up properly.

Also, there are still a number of sublists, maintained at individual
sites, that use the name "SLUG".  I no longer allow that.  A user
at your site could send mail to "SLUG" rather than "SLUG@AI.SRI.COM".
He would see the mail come back to him but would not get answers
to it.  If you have a site like this, please contact SLUG-REQUEST
to get it changed.  Suggested names are SLUG-LOCAL or MEGACORP-SLUG
or whatever.

--------------------

P.S.  Come visit us at the SLUG national meeting in June.  We should
have quite nice weather and it looks like the program (at Stanford) will
be quite good.  Stanford is about half way between San Francisco and San
Jose, so use either airport. (San Jose is a lot easier to use, in my
opinion.  You can use Oakland if you absolutely need to but it is
considerable further away.)  Santa Cruz (home of the UCSC Slugs) has a
nice beach and takes about an hour by freeway.  The water would be
probably too chilly to swim much in (but that doesn't deter surfers) but
the sun bathing should be good.  San Francisco is about an hour away for
those people who have to see a big city.  There are large open areas in
the mountains (hills?)  between Stanford and the coast for those people
who like hiking or running.  There's lots of biking trails in the area
too.

We hardly ever have more than a couple of hot (>90) days in a row.  When
it gets hot, the air rises and pulls the cool air in off the Pacific--a
natural air conditioner.  This also keeps any smog down to a negligible
amount most of the time.  I would expect the weather would be highs in
the low to mid 80s and lows in the high 50s.  (Bring a coat for being
out at night.)

Rain?  We wish!  (We've just had 3 years of drought and the average
rainfall in June is probably less than 0.5".)

There's lots to do here.  With Stanford here, there are all the usual
environments of university towns (lots of movie theaters, music, places
to eat, etc).  We also have lots of computer-related business.  You
might check out what they are doing at businesses doing work related to
yours (is your resume up to date?) or you could stop in at one of the
computer stores.  (Pick up a Sunday San Jose Mercury News to see what is
offered.  Fry's Electronics has to be seen to be believed.)

Yosemite and such mountains are about 3-4 hours drive east of here.
Monterey with its immense aquarium is 90 minutes south.  (SF also has an
interesting aquarium (swim-around).  They also have the Exploratorium
for hands-on science.)

I know someone else is doing the local arrangements but if you have any
questions about the area (where do people go to do X) or events (eg,
concerts, Giants/A's games), feel free to ask me.

So, now is the time to hit up your boss for the travel money.