Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1995 12:03:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: Doctor Bob
To: TOURBUS@colossus.net
Subject: TOURBUS Hijacked! (Bus Trip to Petville)
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TOURBUS - 14 Sep 1995
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\___/ \___/ "Why Surf When U Can Ride The Bus?" \___/
Today's Stop: Pets on the Net
by Guest Driver Dave Taylor
It'd been weeks I had been hanging at the bus stop waiting for the bus
to pick up me and my dogs, but each time it'd drive up the driver would
lean over, see the dogs, and zoom on past! "Alright," I figured, "they
don't allow any pets on the bus."
I wasn't about to just leave the hounds, however, so I changed my strategy
and put hats and coats on the two slavering beasts, pretending that they
were my foreign cousins visiting for a few months. Surprisingly, it worked!
Now I'm not only on the bus, but I'm DRIVING!
Hahahahahahahahaha (in my best evil tone)
Well, uh, seriously, Bob asked me if I'd like to take the Virtual Bus for
a spin through cyberspace and I couldn't resist, especially when I could
talk about general pet resources on the Internet, of which there are a lot!
And so, without further ado, let's take a cruise through the wires and see
what we can find about cats, dogs, gerbils, snakes, hampsters, birds, and
just about any other pet you might have.
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Our first stop is Usenet, the free-wheeling cocktail party of the airwaves,
where you can find thousands of people talking about all aspects of pet
ownership, from purchase price to vet bills to dumb pet tricks. I'd suggest
you start out with "rec.pets" then diversify your interests with:
rec.pets.birds The culture and care of indoor birds.
rec.pets.cats Discussion about domestic cats.
rec.pets.dogs Any and all subjects relating to dogs as pets.
rec.pets.herp Reptiles, amphibians and other exotic vivarium pets.
rec.pets.rabbits Bunnys online!
alt.pets.ferrets These guys can probably help you find info too!
alt.pets.hamsters Pretty popular rodent pets
alt.pets.rabbits The alternative to 'rec.pets.rabbits' for some folk
There are also a lot of specific dog groups:
rec.pets.dogs.activities Dog events: showing, obedience, agility
rec.pets.dogs.behavior Behaviors and problems: housetraining, chewing
rec.pets.dogs.breeds Breed specific -- breed traits, finding breeders
rec.pets.dogs.health Info about health problems & how to care for dogs
rec.pets.dogs.info General information and FAQs posted here
rec.pets.dogs.misc All other topics, chat, humor,
rec.pets.dogs.rescue Information about breed rescue, placing and adopting
As you can see already, dogs are the most popular pets for people to
discuss on the Internet, though the cats newsgroup is quite popular and
is probably ready to split into a couple of subgroups.
One area of pet ownership that's historically been a source of dispute and
politics on the Internet (for no apparent reason) is the care of fish and
fishtanks. Instead of something sensible like 'rec.pets.fish' or similar,
the groups are actually split into the hobbyist and scientific heirarchies.
Here's the scoop:
alt.aquaria Fish and Aquarium discussion
alt.aquaria.killies Killifish, members of family cyprinodontidae
alt.aquaria.marketplace Buying and selling aquarium-related items
rec.aquaria Keeping fish and aquaria as a hobby
sci.aquaria Scientifically-oriented postings about aquaria
So what kind of stuff is discussed in a scientific aquarium-related
group? Here's a head's up on some of the hot topics this week:
[M][Q] What is a maximum dKH value for fish Philip Deitiker
N forcer, get rid of nitrates Gary V. Deutschman
RO vs. DI vs. AP Water Filter Survey Gary V. Deutschman
Recommended Lugols dosage Don Ahee
Scintillating stuff, as you can see!
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Let's move on to more fun resources. How about some Frequently Asked
Questions files? They're always a great source of the combined wisdom
and experience of folk on the net. Here's a list of some of my
favorites:
Frequently Asked Questions about Cats
gopher://sailor.lib.md.us/1/FindInfo/.rec/.pet/.cat/.faq
Feline Leukemia Virus FAQ
http://www.tezcat.com/~ermiller/FeLV2.html
Dog Breeds FAQ Home Page
http://www.zmall.com/pet_talk/dog-faqs/breeds/homepage.html
rec.pets.dogs FAQ
http://www.zmall.com/pet_talk/dog-faqs/homepage.html
Guinea Pig FAQ
http://www.princeton.edu/~ecrocke/html/gpfaq.html
Chinchilla Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.waisman.wisc.edu/~macpherson/chin/chinfaq.html
About the Ferret FAQ
http://www.optics.rochester.edu:8080/users/pgreene/central.html
or gopher://gopher.cs.uregina.ca/0/cs_dept_sys_info/faq/alt.pets.ferrets
Pet Rats Frequently Asked Questions
http://chat.carleton.ca/~mrtribe/rat-faq.html
That's just a sampling - there are dozens of other FAQ files available, and
most of them are posted each month in the appropriate Usenet groups as
listed earlier.
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If there's this much discussion, it'll come as no surprise to you that
there are also lots of mailing lists about pets too. After all, pets
are part of the family, and on the Internet, no-one knows you're a ___!
aquatic-plants mailing list
To join, send mail to "majordomo@actwin.com"
with message "subscribe aquatic-plants"
Learn about all aspects of growing aquatic plants as a hobby, both
aquarium and pond. Discussion includes species of plants
(identification, propagation, cultivation), aquascaping, substrates,
water conditioners, needed hardware (filters, heaters) and
compatibility of fish and other organisms.
CANINE-L mailing list
To join, send mail to "LISTSERV@PSUVM.PSU.EDU"
with message: "SUBSCRIBE CANINE-L Your Name"
Covers a wide variety of dog-related topics, including care and feeding
to scientific research about wild or canine populations. Members also
talk about training, dog 'ghosts', or human-canine psychic experiences,
and share a support network for people who have lost a cherished pet.
FELINE-L mailing list
To join, send mail to 'listserv@listserv.net'
with message "subscribe feline-l Your Name"
A mailing list for people who have cats as companions in their lives,
and members swap cat stories, jokes, share amusing (and sometimes
not-so-amusing) tricks, cat care advice, and just about anything else
related to cats and their care.
Pet-Info-L Mailing List
Send mail to 'listserv@netcom.com'
with message "subscribe pet-info-l"
While most of the Internet is somewhat anti-commercial use, the
pet-info-l mailing list was created to provide a forum for people to
post announcements of new pet products, seminars, shows, lectures, and
even information on new litters. (MAY BE DEFUNCT)
---------
I know I can't get away without listing some cool Web pages for pet
fanciers (or fanatics), and I'll tell you, it's truly amazing just how
many cool Web pages are out there for any sort of pet lover!
The Electronic Zoo
One of my favorites is NetVet, now know as the "Animal Archives &
Information". It's on the Web at http://netvet.wustl.edu/ or you can
also use gopher to connect to netvet.wustl.edu. This is just an
amazing site, featuring their Electronic Zoo, a compendium of animal
related information, as well as a wealth of information available from
the Veterinary school at the college. From pigs and primates to marine
mammals and sheep goats, if it's an animal that might be domesticated,
it's listed at this excellent site.
Endangered Species
A fabulous site, the Endangered Species page on the Web is actually run
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Wildlife Service
and focused on the Endangered Species Act. What kind of animals are on
their list? More than you might realize, including Sea otters, giant
pandas, bottlenose dolphin, tigers, bengal tigers, and many more
animals. This is also a good site to visit with your kids. Pop over to:
http://www.nceet.snre.umich.edu/EndSpp/Endangered.html
Fish Information Network
The Fish Information Network, at http://www.actwin.com/fish, is also a
remarkable achievement, with its wealth of information on all topics
fish-related, including a glossary of terms, reefkeeping information,
catalogs of marine and freshwater fish, the archive for the aquatic
plants mailing list, information about anemones and freshwater
angelfish, pictures of aquaria setup and even some movies of
aquariums!
Cat Fanciers Home Page
If you're a cat fan, you'll want to immediately pop over to the Web
page at MIT http://www.ai.mit.edu/fanciers/fanciers.html including a
plethora of frequently asked questions about all issues cat-related,
ranging from a schedule of cat shows to questions about cat breeds and
colors, a glossary, an FAQ about feline leukemia virus, and even
pointers to two online cat clubs, Online Feline Fanciers and the
Western Abyssinian Cat Club.
World Wide Cats
The World Wide Cats page (http://www.xs4all.nl/~dmuller/wwc.html) is
hosted in the Netherlands, is a terrific starting point for any
exploration of feline resources on the Net. It includes a cat Hall of
Fame, the Cat of the Week, and an exhaustive list of other spots on the
Web that have something - anything - to do with cats, kittens or other
felines.
The Cornell Canine Page
Cornell University runs this terrific Web siteoffering a wide variety
of heath-related information about dogs, including questions of
heartworm, lyme disease, seizures, hip dysplasia, a discussion of
whether to spay or neuter your dog, and lots of tips on picking the
best breed. At http://zoo.vet.cornell.edu/~dlm7/canine.html
EquiLinQ
EquiLinQ is a great source of information about horses, and you can
find them at http://www.wsmith.com/equilinq/, from breeding to care,
riding styles to books and magazines. EquiLinQ also includes a calendar
of upcoming events, classified adverts, organizations on the net,
information on horse racing and wagering, and even the scoop on how to
travel and take vacations with your equestrian friends.
Hay.Net
Horse fanatic Karen Pautz of the University of Missouri has a terrific
Web page offering a comprehensive place to find information on all
topics horse-related. She lists veterinary resources, stable management
resources, Usenet newsgroups, mailing lists, model horses, breeds and
associations, and even has some special information available on rodeos
and commercial equestrian resources online. Visit and enjoy:
http://www.missouri.edu/~jourkap/usdf/othersites.html
Turtle Trax
Sea turtles -- or marine turtles -- are some of the most amazing and
beautiful creatures, and this terrific page (http://www.io.org/~bunrab/)
offers quite a lot of information in a fun way. All species of these
animals are either endangered or threatened, and there are various
environmental threats that are explained here, along with lots of fun
pictures and cartoons about turtles.
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There are also just some fun quasi-pet-related Web pages on the Internet too,
pages that are worth a visit just to see how creative people can get:
1995 Iditarod Home Page http://www.alaska.net:80/~Iditarod/
Learn about history, entrants, and winners to this grueling man & dog
race held annually in Alaska.
Feline Conservation Center http://www.cathouse-fcc.org/
Tied to the Exotic Feline Breeding Compound, way cool.
Canadian World Parrot Trust http://wchat.on.ca/parrot/cwparrot.htm
Parrots are valued for their beauty, exceptional intelligence
and ability to speak. Not always a good thing: read about it here.
Dog Genome Project http://mendel.berkeley.edu/dog.html
The next step to genetically engineered pups?
Beekeeping Home Page http://weber.u.washington.edu/~jlks/bee.html
Lots of info, entomological data and even recipies for mead.
Racoon Web Page http://deja-vu.oldiron.cornell.edu/~sjm1/raccoons/
A beautifully done Web page, with lots of info on these critters too!
Dog Bite http://www.web-link.com/dog-bite.htm
The zany antics of our canine friends!
-------
Finally, don't miss your chance to actually meet my own two dogs,
Jasmine and Karma! They're standard poodles (white and black, respectively)
and while they don't have their own home page (we're working on teaching
them how to type) they do have their pictures in my online photo album!
Check it out: http://www.iw.com/~taylor/photo-gallery.html
------
"Hey! You can't drive the bus!" "Who IS that guy?" "Ohmigod We're
All Going to Die!" "Oh shut UP lady!" "Down in Front!" "What's
going on here?" "POLICE!!! POLICE!!!"
Uh oh, I'm outta here! Bye!!!
-- Dave Taylor
*** About Dave Taylor ***
Dave Taylor is an Internet pioneer, consultant and author of several
books, including Global Software, Teach Yourself Unix in a Week, The
Internet Business Guide and most recently, Creating Cool Web Pages with
HTML. Dave is also the creator of The Internet Mall, a virtual mall with
over 2000 storefronts. Visit the Mall at http://www.iw.com/imall or pop
into Dave's home page at http://www.iw.com/~taylor to see his photos,
books and other fun stuff.
We're pleased to have Dave as our guest busdriver, dogs and all! -Bob
And to keep you from suffering from Southern Word Withdrawl Syndrome, here
are *TWO* Southern words from Patrick to hold you over until his next post.
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORDS OF THE DAY
---------------------------------
TAR - noun. A rubber wheel.
Usage: "Gee, I hope that brother of mine from Jawjuh doesn't
git a flat tar in my pickup truck."
TIRE - noun. A tall monument.
Usage: "Lord willing and the creeks don't rise, I sure do hope
to see that Eifel Tire in Paris sometime."
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TOURBUS - (c) Copyright 1995, Patrick Crispen and Bob Rankin
All rights reserved. Redistribution is allowed only with permission.
