 Poster: A snowHead
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A guess: A bunch a middle class English people who are the sort of people who stand at the top of steep slopes and look open-mouthed (either at the slopes or the people who can ski).
Sort of reminds me of the attitude put out by the bloke who told his kid that blades were just "Just skis for fun, not like proper skis."
I could be wrong, though. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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skanky, you are wrong. If you read the labels on your ski kit you will see that it must be washed at 30 degrees. Not all people read the labels. If you wash your skis at a higher temperature they shrink, and you get blades. 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Jonpim, ah my badly written post. The quote was a genuine quote I overheard, the bit about me being wrong was my interpretation of
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middle England gaperfest |
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Of course, it could just be a typo and they may have meant "grape fest",...?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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gaperfest - something worth gaping at?
Snowheads at a snowdome?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Gaperfest is here .
This is a fun site - well worth exploring.
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While were considering the dyslexic angle - Pagerfest?
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Jonpim, how did you find that? "gaperfest" got me no hits on google. Anyway, for what it's worth, I guess that means that I was right, I was wrong. (c Murray Walker)
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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skanky, if at first you don't succeed: try another search engine.
AltaVista got me Gaperfest.
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Jonpim, good point. I've bookmarked 7 or 8 but just keep forgetting to use the others.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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skanky, try using Copernic if you want a good search.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| admin wrote: |
| I don't really understand why the whole forum needs to be shut down while they put their new one together. The only reason i can think of off-hand for taking it out would be a major restructuring of the database but still, once the process has been tested off-line, it should only take an hour or two at most to apply to the live system. |
Once usage of the EpicSki forum increased past a certain point (somewhere around 4000 users, if I recall), there was an onslaught of incidents where parts of their database of users and messages would suddenly become corrupted for no obvious reason. Apparently this was a known limitation of the forum software that Epic used.
A few months ago, a skier joined Epic who happened to work for the company that wrote the forum software. He apparently helped AC upgrade to a newer version of the SW and iron out some of the bugs. The frequency of problems did indeed take a step function downward, but unfortunately, not all the way to zero. Since then, the incidents have once again started to increase in frequency and magnitude. I suspect that the most recent incident is just another one in this series and not a virus or HW problem, as was suggested.
My understanding is that the sysop feels that this particular forum software was simply not designed to handle such a large volume of traffic, and apparently, he has wanted to migrate everything over to completely different software for quite some time.
In the past, whenever a DB corruption occurred, in order to preserve any posts made between the previous backup and the detection of a problem, the sysop would always semi-manually salvage as many of these messages as he could. This process usually took a few hours, during which he would shut things down so that hundreds of new posts wouldn't keep streaming in. This is slightly different from the method you postulated in your post involving both a live and an off-line system.
It sounds like he is handling the present incident similarly, except that now he is also engaged in a major SW change/upgrade. As in the past, he probably once again shut the forums down so that he doesn't have to worry about new messages coming in during the upgrade, and, even worse, coming in to a system which is over its limit and might fail again at any moment. This time of the year (the end of ski season in the US) sees some of the lowest traffic volume on Epic, so not too many users would be disturbed by a several day hiatus in operation.
While he probably could do the upgrade the way you suggest (ie, involving a live system and an off-line system), compared to simply shutting things down, this would be more work for him and his asst. sysop, guys who both have day jobs, so I don't fault them for trying to make things a bit easier on themselves.
Just my $0.02, some of which is based on guesses, so take it with the proverbial grain of salt.
Tom / PM
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| skanky wrote: |
| A guess: A bunch a middle class English people who are the sort of people who stand at the top of steep slopes and look open-mouthed (either at the slopes or the people who can ski). Sort of reminds me of the attitude put out by the bloke who told his kid that blades were just "Just skis for fun, not like proper skis." I could be wrong, though. |
Besides the open-mouthed definition given above, the term, "gaper" seems to have become extended to any overly awkward or thoughtless newbie skier, eg, the fellow who can't carry his skis around the base area without falling out of his arms, whacking them into other people, the person who asks, "Where do they store the moguls in the summer?", etc.
As far as I can tell, the term "gaper" as applied to skiers originated with the young, cool doods on PowderMag.com and more recently, TGR. Over the past couple of years, the term seems to have migrated to a limited extent over to Epic, but, if you do the suggested search (once Epic is back in operation), I think that you will see that it isn't used on Epic anywhere near as harshly or as often as on these other ski forums. Among its 6000+ members, unfortunately, Epic also some folks who are a bit overinflated with self-importance.
Tom / PM
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You know it makes sense.
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| admin wrote: |
| Physicsman wrote: |
A co-op arrangement would certainly lessen the chance of something like this, but IMHO, the only guaranteed way to preserve such info is to copy threads of particular interest onto your own machine.
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I must disagree here I'm afraid. I think such arrangements have little bearing on data integrity. Good IT policy is very straightforward when based around the simple principle that "One can not rely on Data existing until it is in more than one place".... |
It looks like we are in total agreement about needing to have important / useful data in multiple locations to ensure its continued existence.
OTOH, with respect to my first claim, I have to stand my ground in feeling that multiple person control over any operation (ie, with its built-in checks and balances) is less likely to result in some generally unexpected / unintended / unwanted event ocurring.
I am much too new on this forum to even comment on the specific suggestion of co-op ownership/operation for Snowheads, let alone make a suggestion, but I think that few would argue with the general principle I outlined in the previous paragraph. That's all I mean in my previous post.
Tom / PM
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Physicsman wrote: |
| the term, "gaper" seems to have become extended to.... the person who asks "Where do they store the moguls in the summer?" |
Ground-breaking research by snowHeads discovered moguls are made by the Mogul Monster , but we have yeet to discover what happens to moguls in the summer. Your post suggests you might know the answer to this great mystery. Are you able to divulge this information?
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Poster: A snowHead
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> ...Are you able to divulge this information?...
Dual-use technology is the current buzz over here in the states. We have large dome shaped hollow structures (inverted parabolas of revolution, perhaps 60 feet high by 100 ft. across at the base) used to store salt for the roads in the winter.
Although I can't confirm this myself, my sources tell me that during the other three seasons, these unassuming structures sometimes are used as the top-secret storage location of moguls.
As an interesting aside, friends of missing snowboarders who are presumed to have stopped in the middle of the trail, been covered over by snow spray from skiers, and who form the nucleus of each mogul, have unsuccessfully petitioned the courts for access to these structures.
Tom / PM
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Are you able to divulge this information?
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Ha, the question's been asked: looks like we may be Gapers after all - does London count as middle England? If so then it looks like it's a fair cop guv.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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As a chronic insomniac, I've always been quite pleased by the British, European and Aussie presence on Epic. It means I never lack for "conversation" on those sleepless nights!  Likewise, I was thrilled to find this forum. The Monty Python type humor combined with a sense of uniquely British civility makes for some good reading. And I love English accents! 
I did mention Snowheads in an article I wrote for The Professional Skier, which is the trade journal for the PSIA. I hope they accept the article, and keep the link. Given the many Brits I meet at US ski schools, I think it would be good to "hear" how potential students from across the pond view ski instruction.
While many Epic participants may tend to delve deeply into technical discussions, that pretty much only happens in the tecnique forum. Otherwise, the "climate" of the 2 forums is somewhat similar. The maggots probably hate both of us, and consider all of us to be "gapers." Oh well!
What makes Epic unique is the fact that many of us have met each other in person. Between the 3 Epicski Academies as well as various large, small, official and unofficial gatherings, I must have met about 100 forum members. Ironically, I miss the Supporters Lounge more than the ski forum. I finally had my first driving lesson {please don't laugh, spent my entire life in NYC and Boston  }
Infinitely worse than my worst ski lesson ever, and I'm in desperate need of a rant.
Oh well, guess I'll just have to be an adult!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Hi LM - Welcome!!!
Tom / PM
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hi Lisamer and welcome,
Sorry I cant do an english accent for you but would scottish do?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Scottish is wonderful, and of course, Irish too! 
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Lisamer, I tried driving and I didn't like it so I stopped doing it!
(Don't forget the Welsh - they'll get tetching if you ignore them and start speaking in a language with too many consonants...)
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Chroesawa Lisamer at Bwrw Eira bennau
Ni pawb blesir at ca chilydd enthusiasts chan 'n fabolgamp at siarad â 'n arbennig Americanwyr
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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LM, rant all you want here, we'll listen and politely nod while sipping tea and scones (to clarify: we eat the scones, not sip them).
I hope my accent comes across in this post. 
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Of course, the best thing about being a gaper is that you collect so many flies, you don't have to stop for lunch.
admin, depends on which part of London.
Ah...tiffin's here...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Wear The Fox Hat, not sure if you said sc-on-es or sc-own-es there?
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definitely the former. (or am I ON my OWN for pronouncing the word correctly? )
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You know it makes sense.
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I'd go with the former, too.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Well I would say that if we are trying to posh it up a bit for any American
visitors we should consider the latter. For show only of course.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Although I've heard plenty of people use the latter with very regional accents (Geordies, cockneys and brummies).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I say 'fruit bun'...to avoid any difficulties
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Ian Hopkinson,
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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A French kid I was teaching confused me once when he pronounced it "Skwun". When I eventually worked out what he was talking about, he explained he'd put the 'SC' with 'ONE' (as in number 1). Think he failed his GCSE equivalent despite my best efforts.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I have one word to explain EpicSki's current troubles: Earthlink. Back in the day I had a ski website of my own. I placed it on an Earthlink server. Even though it's hell to migrate a website from one server to another, after 6 weeks with Earthlink, I found a new host. Once EpicSki migrates from Earthlink to its new home, we'll be back to our Gaperfestivities again!
I have two words for scones: very tasty!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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This is a public service announcement for everyone but especially for the thousands of lost souls from Epic who are currently sufffering from withdrawal symptons.
Gaperholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from their addiction to Ski Sites on the internet. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop wearing fluorescent one piece ski suits.
GAPERHOLISM is a rough word to deal with. Yet nobody is too young (or too old) to have trouble with style.
That's because GAPERHOLISM is an illness. It can hit anyone. Young, old. Rich, poor. Black, white.
And it doesn't matter how long you've been skiing or what you've been sking. It's what being a gaper does to you that counts.
To help you decide whether you might have a problem, we've prepared some questions. The answers are nobody's business but your own.
If you can answer yes to any one of these questions, maybe it's time you took a serious look at what you are doing and get a life.
1. Was the last time you had a real friend before 1984?
2. Do you spend more time on internet ski sites than sleeping?
3. Did you ever try to stop surfing ski sites or surf less — and fail?
4. Do you use certain effect words in your login name to impress (e.g. Steep and Deep, Physics, Dangerous etc) ?
5. Do you act like a complete gaper when you ski, even when you don't mean to?
6. Do you "drop in parralell"?
7. Do you think it's cool to be able to hold your skis horizontally in the lift line?
8. Do you prefer your snow to be like your Sunday trousers (Corduroy).
9. Is the number of posts you make on ski sites per day higher than your IQ?
10. Do you have hundreds of internet ski 'friends' all over the globe but still haven't said hello to your 'new' neighbour sinnce he moved during the summer of 98'?
11. Would you wear this? - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=16060&item=3677056653&rd=1#ebayphotohosting
And, if you do need help or if you'd just like to talk to someone about your Gaping, call us (but please not you again Fox). We're in the phone book under Gaperholics Anonymous (alternatively just log on to Snowheads).
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Dear oh dear oh dear. 
And I thought I was conversing with an educated and enlightened bunch here.
Hyacinth Bouquet may call them "skoans". Australians call them "skoans" (strooth mate: fancy a skoan?")
But in civilised society they are "skons"
(I thought WTFH would know better)
And IanH: proper skons do not have fruit in them, as this recipe from Divine Delia shows.
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Jonpim, what would you know about civilised society? 
with regards to accents my mum constantly phones me to tell me that I "used to speak so beautifully and now I sound horrid" - i blame weegification
and epic- well i looked but it was boring- so i didnt bother looking again
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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3. Did you ever try to stop surfing ski sites or surf less — and fail?
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Do you ski surf sites?
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6. Do you "drop in parralell"?
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Some of us can't even spell it, let alone drop in it.
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DB,
To answer your questions:
2, 3, 4, 9 & 10 would definitely get a "yes" vote from me.
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FAQ
