Hi folks - Wondering when we'd start the discussion rolling? Wondering when you'd get a response to that mail you'd sent? Wondering what the heck was going on with that new list that you thought you'd signed up for? Me too. I have tried to log on to the FreeLists page for the past two days. Finally, a little while ago, I did so, only to find the following: /7/2003 On the weekend of July 4th, the Indianapolis, IN area expierenced two days of severe thunderstorms. At some point during these storms, our data center lost power for several hours. When we finally regained power, we found a lot of damaged hardware (including UPS's). It is suspected that we took a direct lightning hit. The main FreeLists server is currently out of commission and we'e scrounging for replacements. The extent of data loss is currently unknown, but we'e hoping to not have lost any. Several other servers (name servers, file servers, etc.) are also apparently a total loss. Until replacement hardware can be put in place, both FreeLists and its sister service, MailandFiles.com, will be unavailable -- that includes all web and email services. I can be contacted at my work address, jmadden@xxxxxxxxxxx, if anyone can offer any assistance. We're currently in need of: a.. High-grade motherboards (dual or quad cpu, Xeon / P4) b.. CPU's to fit those motherboards c.. UPS's to replace our pile of burnt plastic. APC preferred, each at least 1000 watts. d.. Storage: The state of our storage is unknown with no way of accessing it, but we're thinking it may be a total loss. SCSI, JBOD, 250+GB needed. e.. Money: it feels dirty, but we'll need to buy whatever we can't get in donations. This stuff costs several thousands of dollars. I'll keep this page updated whenever possible. -- John Madden, Avenir Technologies, LLC "Pile of burnt plastic?" Ouch. That sounds nasty. And obviously this applies to VA-BIRD and some other birding lists as well. For the time being I think I'll wait to see if FreeLists is resurrected. If not, I'll hunt for a replacement and sign you all on there. I have no way of knowing who might have tried to post to the list the past two days, so let me know if you did. In any case, I hope your holiday experience did not otherwise involve piles of burnt plastic. Talk to you soon - Mike Stinson va_co_birding is hosted by FreeLists. To change your settings or unsubscribe, visit www.freelists.org To post to the list (subscribers only), send email to va_co_birding@xxxxxxxxxxxxx