Hi Mike,
just dropped by to let you know that the world is a small rock: I know Alisha (albeit not in person) as she is the co-sysop of BlackICE BBS and sysop "fU"
is a good friend of mine ... so I really had to laugh out loud once I received your confirmation mail for my application to Hobby Net ... :D


Greetings, Niels Haedecke

--- MBSE BBS v1.0.8.4 (Linux-aarch64)
* Origin: Wintermute BBS - Duesseldorf, Germany (21:1/168)

On 2/27/2024 4:30 PM, Niels Haedecke wrote to Mike Dippel:

Hi Mike,
just dropped by to let you know that the world is a small rock: I know Alisha
(albeit not in person) as she is the co-sysop of BlackICE BBS and sysop "fU" is a good friend of mine ... so I really had to laugh out loud once I received
your confirmation mail for my application to Hobby Net ... :D

Greetings, Niels Haedecke

Any friend of yours apparently is a friend of mine :) HobbyNet sysOPs are very friendly.
My ancestors are from Darmstadt. How far away is that from you? I would love to fly to
Germany so I can trace my ancestry.

Mike Dippel

--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v7.0
* Origin: The Hobby Line! BBS - hobbylinebbs.com (21:4/176)

Mike Dippel wrote to Niels Haedecke:

On 2/27/2024 4:30 PM, Niels Haedecke wrote to Mike Dippel:

Any friend of yours apparently is a friend of mine :) HobbyNet sysOPs are very friendly.
My ancestors are from Darmstadt. How far away is that from you? I would love to fly to
Germany so I can trace my ancestry.

Darmstadt is about 2 1/2 hours of driving south from here, approx.
240 km / 149 Mi. which is about the same distance from here to Amsterdam.

Arriving in Frankfurt by plane, Darmstadt is just a few miles away. It is well known for hosting ESA's European Space Operations Center - so this is Europe's version of Houston's Mission Control. If you decide to come over, let me know.


Greetings, Niels Haedecke

--- MBSE BBS v1.0.8.4 (Linux-aarch64)
* Origin: Wintermute BBS - Duesseldorf, Germany (21:1/168)

On 27 Feb 2024 at 04:30p, Niels Haedecke pondered and said...

just dropped by to let you know that the world is a small rock: I know Alisha (albeit not in person) as she is the co-sysop of BlackICE BBS and sysop "fU" is a good friend of mine ... so I really had to laugh out
loud once I received your confirmation mail for my application to Hobby Net ... :D

say HI to both fU and Alisha from me next time you're chatting with them, both good folks. fU has done a lot with BlackICE BBS over the years, we're lucky to have them keeping the BBS scene alive and kicking :)

Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

My ancestors are from Darmstadt. How far away is that from you? I
would love to fly to
Germany so I can trace my ancestry.

Old message, but it's always interesting to see random things pop up that I have some connection to.

In this case, part of my graduate studies took place in Darmstadt, and this has meant that I'm more fond of the place than other random cities. Living in Münster, I'm kind of sad that there's not a nice Strassenbahn around like there is in Darmstadt.

And I miss being able to easily head over to Burg Frankenstein. Though now I'm also sad that, due to some construction work on the restaurant there, the big Halloween celebrations that happen there are now moving to some place north of Frankfurt.

But my ancestors are from Northern Germany, and places further north of that (and it was neat to find some likely distant relatives there, and then gravestones for ancestors of mine in a couple places in Denmark.).

Most grave markers don't wind up in place for that long, and given the significantly-larger size of Darmstadt than the places parts of my family came from, it'd probably be a bit less likely to find relations, but I imagine it'd still be neat to see places, and see some things that likely would've been there when your ancestors were.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)