Best I can tell from google research to tunnel port 5050 data for the
purpose of getting empathy to work I would type:

     netcat -L port:host:hostport

in my case it would be:

     netcat -L 5050:?:?

how would I figure out the last two variables?

I was told by Ed to see what is listening to 5050 after I am set up....
WAIT!
This is the command I was told to issue:

mike@mike-desktop:~$ netstat -ta
Active Internet connections (servers and established)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address
State
tcp        0      0 localhost:ipp           *:*
LISTEN
tcp        0      0 mike-desktop.loca:56160 nuq04s01-in-f83.1:https
TIME_WAIT
tcp        0      0 mike-desktop.loca:33693 mail.google.com:https
ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 mike-desktop.loca:34311 webcs207.msg.sp1.y:mmcc
ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 mike-desktop.loca:50208 mail.google.com:https
ESTABLISHED
tcp6       0      0 localhost:ipp           [::]:*
LISTEN
mike@mike-desktop:~$

and it seems to me that I would type :

     netcat -L 5050:localhost:?

I am lost again. Would it possibly be 'ipp'?
-- 
:-)~MIKE~(-: