The unusual behavior you observed was due to the server being set to the incorrect date. Those already logged in saw the "Board Closed" message, but those not logged in were brought to the login page, even when they only clicked on a webpage that didn't require being logged in. This is a bug I'll check on when I get home - I'm pretty sure I didn't write the software to expect the server and the user's computer to be 4 years apart in the date, but it should be more failsafe then it currently is, so I'll fix it.
The reason no one could log in is simple. When you log in the software sets the login to automatically expire in one year, which would be April 2, 2004, so the login expired at the very instant it was set, since the expiration date was in the past. I should be able to fix this so that the software won't care if the server and the user's computer are out of sync with regard to date.
Thanks to those who wished me a good time on vacation. We toured Intercourse today in the Ammish/Mennonite country of Pennsylvania. My wife is very much into quilting, and so we visited a couple of very obscure and "off-the beaten trail" quilt shops. In each case the "shop" was in the walk-in basement of a house, and the houses looked like completely normal A-frame houses except that no phone lines or power lines ran to them. Huge propane tanks about 15 feet long and maybe 2.5 feet in diameter were positioned nearby the house.
The shops had windows along one wall but were still rather dark. Both shops had propane lamps very similar to propane camping lamps. A barbecue-grill style propane tank resided in a handsome wooden box, and out the top came a pipe with the propane lantern attached to the top about 5 feet off the floor. Each shop was empty when we entered, but in short order a young girl of maybe 20 to 25 came down the stairs to attend to us. In neither shop did they turn on a light - I think they must be accustomed to very little light.
In each shop we could hear people upstairs, kids in one, and in the other both kids and adults. The ceiling was finished in both shops, but evidently the ceiling wasn't insulated because the footfalls were loud.
The girls, and all the Amish we encountered, had accents that were only noticeable on certain words like "home", which sounded as if they were a combination of British and southern US accents. Of course, the Amish and Mennonites native language is German, but their accent was definitely not German.
I was surprised that both shops used relatively modern cash registers, with the price displayed in blue LED numerals. An inquiry revealed that their cash registers are powered by batteries. I've since learned that the Amish and Mennonites do not reject technology just because it's modern, but rather reject technology because of the potential impact on their life and culture. Hence, they use power equipment (often a flat metal-wheel tractor driving a belt) to load their grain and corn into silos, and they use (often communal) phones when necessary, and it is said that cell phones are making significant inroads (how do they charge them?). The Mennonites on average are much more willing to incorporate modern technology into their lives, but there is a wide range of practice concerning this among both the Amish and the Mennonites.
We're taking our vacation now because we just yesterday dropped my daughter off to begin her freshman year of college. She had been exchanging email's with her roommate-to-be who dropped a bombshell just last week - her boyfriend proposed and she accepted. My daughter's roommate, just three weeks past 18, is engaged. I wonder now if the roommate is serious about college. And my own daughter is a bit shy and sensitive and needs encouragement to socialize, so I'm not sure having an engaged roommate is a positive development. Oh, well, we will see what happens.
Didn't mean to turn this into a personal note. I'm going to give myself and this thread a special dispensation to go off-topic since I have to type on this tiny laptop, and the small screen makes navigating difficult. I'm sure it's okay when you're used to it, but I'm not.
--Percy
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