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PuterGeek.Com News
Issue # 50
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Hello everyone!
This is the last newsletter of 2000! I hope all of you have a happy and safe New Years eve.
() Personal stuff
We've been home since the 15th and I've done very little to the website. I'm sorry, but I just wanted to relax and veg for a while. I have been working on 7, count them... seven
'puters since I got home. Wipes, hardware changes, dead motherboards, video card upgrades on all the desktops in our house (thanks Tom), and yes, I did wipe my desktop again on top of all this
other stuff.
() Website stuff
Well my web server ran out of disk space again yesterday. I caught as it happened this time. I had 49 megs in log files! I usually delete the log files monthly, that way The
"most popular page" and the "pagestats" scripts can show the ratings on a current month total.
Since this is the second time I've ran out of disk space I'm now deleting my logs on a weekly basis. So the "Most popular pages on PuterGeek.Com" this month will be changed to "this
week". The same goes for the "Page Stats" as well. Of course, if someone (Grin) wants to pay for a server upgrade...
I have a new Poll up. The last poll got some interesting answers, only one person said their resolution was to get rid of their 'puter :-)
You know, with all the email virus problems we have now, this would be a good time to either switch to a web-based email account, or at least use one for your "public" email. Have you
checked out the free web-based email from PuterGeek.Com yet?
Just a reminder, if you like this newsletter, and/or the PuterGeek.Com website, there's a really easy way to tell your friends about it. Check out these two pages,
If you're new to PuterGeek.Com and would like to see what other people have to say about the website or myself go to,
() Now, on with the good stuff!
Top 20 ways you know if you are addicted to the internet...
1. You find yourself typing "com" after every period when using a
word processor.com
2. You turn off your modem and get this empty feeling, like you just
pulled the pin on a loved one.
3. You start introducing yourself as "Jon at AOL dot com"
4. Your wife drapes a blond wig over your monitor to remind you of
what she looks like.
5. All of your friends have an @ in their names.
6. You can't call your mother...she doesn't have a modem.
7. Your phone bill comes to your doorstep in a box.
8. You laugh at people with 14,400 baud modems.
9. You move into a new house and decide to Netscape before you
landscape.
10. You refer to going to the bathroom as downloading.
12. Your spouse makes a new rule: "The computer cannot come to bed."
13. You ask a plumber how much it would cost to replace the chair in
front of your computer with a commode.
14. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. :^)
15. You turn on your computer, and turn off your spouse.
16. Your best friend is someone you've never met.
17. Your spouse says communication is important in a marriage...so
you buy another computer, and install a second phone line so you can
chat.
18. You begin to wonder how on earth your service provider is allowed
to call 200 hours per month "unlimited."
19. Your dog has its own home page.
20. So does your gold fish.
Things you never Knew (and may not want to). These will definitely
increase your store of useless but interesting information.
Q. What occurs more often in December than any other month?
A. Conception
Q. What separates 60 Minutes on CBS from every other TV show?
A. No theme song
Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?
A. Their birthplace
Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat
name requested? A. Obsession
Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to count
until you found the letter "A"
A. One thousAnd
Q. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and
laser printers all have in common?
A. All invented by women.
Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?
A. Honey
Q. There are more collect calls on this day than any other day of the
year?
A. Father's Day
Q. What trivial fact about Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) is the most
ironic?
A. He was allergic to carrots.
Q. What is an activity performed by 40% of all people at a party?
A. Snoop in your medicine cabinet.
Did you know...
The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television
were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
Coca-Cola was originally green.
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.
Men can read smaller print than women; women can smell better.
The percentage of Africa that is wilderness :18%
The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400
The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour:
61,000.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
That San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king; from
history:
Spades - King David, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Hearts - Charlemagne,
Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in
the air, the person died in battle.If the horse has one front leg in
the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle.
If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural
causes.
Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th,
John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2,
but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
The term the whole 9 yardscame from WWII fighter the South Pacific.
When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine
gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into
the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target,
The whole 9 yards.
Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine makes them looks
like it's kissing the conveyor.
The phrase rule of thumb is derived from an old English law which stated
that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the
General Purpose vehicle, G.P.
The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each
gallon of diesel that it burns.
The only two days of the year in which there are no professional
sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the
day after the Major League all-stars Game.
The nursery rhyme Ring Around the Rosey is a rhyme about the plague.
Infected people with the plague would get red circular sores
(Ring around the rosey), these sores would smell very badly,
so common folks would put flowers on their bodies somewhere
(inconspicuously), so that it would cover the smell of the sores
( pocket full of posies). Furthermore, people who died from
the plague would be burned so as to reduce the possible spread;
of the disease (ashes, to ashes, we all fall down).
NetZero to Charge for Net Access?
----------------------------------------------------------------
"For the first time, NetZero Inc. -- the self-proclaimed 'Defenders of the
Free World' -- plans to charge patrons of its Internet access service but
only those users that exceed a threshold of 40 hours online in a single
calendar month.
In an effort to reign in costs associated with what it calls 'professional
users,' NetZero Inc. Thursday introduced a new service plan dubbed 'NetZero
Professional.'
The company said the new policy will affect a small percentage of its user
base, noting that in November 2000 only about 12 percent of NetZero members
who used its free Internet access service surpassed the 40 hour mark.
However, the company said that 12 percent of users accounted for more than
50 percent of its telecommunications costs in November."
Network Associates in Trouble
----------------------------------------------------------------
Network Associates, the company behind McAfee VirusScan, has warned
investors that they will lose up to $140 million in the 4th quarter alone.
They have a lot of unsold inventory, and sales have been slumping. They have
also lost their top 3 executives as part of some reshuffling.
In a statement, Network Associates said: "The company further believes that
the lower fourth quarter demand is not related to the general
competitiveness of its products but is due to concerns about the state of
the economy from the customer base."
Brought to you by Humor Guide Mike Durrett
PICTURE OF HEALTH
A woman walked up to a shriveled little man rocking in
a chair on his porch. "I couldn't help noticing how
happy you look," she said. "What's your secret for a
long happy life?" "I smoke three packs of cigarettes a
day," he said. "I also drink a case of whiskey a week,
eat fatty foods and never exercise!" "That's amazing,"
the woman said. "How old are you?' He thought for a
moment and replied, "Thirty-six."
Clark Howard says
Free Internet services:
Just 18 months ago there were more than 100
organizations that offered consumers free Internet
access service. Today, we're between a free lunch and
no free lunch status. That's because many of these
companies can no longer live by advertisement support.
AltaVista will continue to be a great Internet search
site, but will no longer provide free Internet access
service. What companies are dead or alive in your neck
of the woods? Check out Free ISP Search at
<
http://www.freeispsearch.com> for worldwide
accessibility.
BLUELIGHT REFOCUSES
Free Internet service is all that a lot of people need. They're
willing to put up with sponsored browsers, pushed ads and relatively
slow bandwidth in exchange for freedom from a monthly charge.
One of the bigger success stories in sponsored connecticity has been
BlueLight.com, the online component of Kmart. In less than a year --
5.5 million people signed up.
If you think about it for any length of time, of course, it should be
obvious that Kmart didn't build an online service, just so it could
give it away. Servers, modems and bandwidth are expensive, especially
when you're serving 5 million customers. No, BlueLight outsourced the
technology, as most of the free services do.
Which would have been fine, except the company BlueLight outsourced
to -- an outfit called Spinway -- shut its doors on December 1. Oops.
To keep its service going, Kmart absorbed Spinway, for an amount that
was not disclosed.
BlueLight took the opportunity to examine its business. The first
thing to change is the all-you-can-eat free service. The vast
majority of users, BlueLight says, use the service for less than 15
hours a month. Some small minority, however, stays on for way more
than 25 hours. From now on, you'll get 25 free hours a month. After
that, they're not saying if you'll be charged or kicked off, but
something's going to change.
Also, BlueLight says it will be more aggressive in pushing
interactive, timed promotions -- not unlike the Blue Light specials
that gave the service its name.
Limiting time online and making you look at ads seems like a good
tradeoff for a reliable free online service. Hey -- you can't beat
the price, right?
TRADING THE DELL WAY
Industry slump notwithstanding, there's at least a possibility that
you've got a computer lying around that you don't know what to do
with. Check it out with Dell.
Dell's Web site offers three possibilities for your old computer. You
can trade it in, auction it off, or donate it to the National
Cristina Foundation. There are some minimum system requirements, and
the systems don't have to be made by Dell.
The prices aren't terrific -- a four-year-old Pentium Pro 180 system
sitting behind my office door would fetch $36 -- but they are
realistic. And donating an old computer gets you a tax deduction and
karma points for the new year. Or, for that matter, any year.
Multi-Launch v3.0 [331k] W9x/NT/2k FREE
{Launch multiple applications} 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... launch! Oh, thank you. I'll have a tuna melt on rye. I said "launch," not "lunch." Ah yes, the classic jokes never die... because I won't
let them. Well, someone has cooked up a tasty trinket that will allow you to open several programs at once by clicking on a single shortcut. You know, like when you get online and need to run your
browser, your mail client, your FTP... yadda yadda yadda. The interface is straightforward: just tell it which programs you want to open simultaneously, name your shortcut, and you'll be ready to
rock. You can even change its icon (if so desired). The possibilities are endless... until you run out of possibilities, that is.
Issues Accessing or Using Network Resources in Windows ME
"When you try to access a network resource or when trying to browse the entire network in My Network Places... When you right-click your hard disk or a folder in Windows Me, the Sharing option
may not be available even though you installed the Microsoft File and Printer Sharing feature and the feature appears to be configured correctly... When you try to connect to a network resource
through UNC... When you try to access a previously mapped drive in My Computer or Windows Explorer... solve these problems (and others) with this update."
WinVi v2.90 [143k] W9x/NT/2k FREE
"This editor is especially useful for friends of the Vi editor, who do not want to give up the little conveniences offered by Windows. Compatibility with Windows Notepad was my main goal; a
hexadecimal edit mode is available for editing any binary files; speedy program start because it is avoiding use of DLLs, MFC, etc.; extremely large files are editable with nearly no limitation by
virtual memory; freely selectable background bitmap; any font (variable spacing, TrueType, etc.); automatic word completion in command line (tab key), etc."
Cam Chaser Pro v1.0 [39K] W9x/NT/2k FREE
{Webcam image frontend} "Man, did you watch the GnomeWEBCAM? Chris was picking a nose." "He was picking his nose?" "No... it wasn't his nose." Um... so maybe that isn't a very delightful image,
but c'mon... aren't you a little curious to see what he was talking about? Well, it's too late! Unless you have this snap shootin' program clickin' away on your Desktop. It's specially designed for
Webcams that auto-refresh every few minutes. Automatically save all of those precious Pirillo pictures; this device won't save the same picture more than once. The world of Webcam watchin' just got a
little bit easier. Webcams are nice, but you've got a life to lead, for crying out loud. So do I, as you can see.
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Last Revised: 12/30/2000
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