Date: Wed, 3 Jan 1996 15:58:54 CST From: Patrick Douglas CrispenReply to: TOURBUS-REQUEST@LISTSERV.AOL.COM To: Multiple recipients of list TOURBUS Subject: TOURBUS - JAN 2 -- TOURBUS FAQ TOURBUS - TUESDAY, JANUARY 2 TODAY'S STOP: TOURBUS FAQ AND OTHER STUFF TODAY'S ADDRESS: http://csbh.mhv.net/~bobrankin/tourbus/ HAPPY NEW YEAR! As we begin the year of the Rat (which is quite appropriate considering the upcoming US Presidential elections), we're going to do something a little different with today's TOURBUS post. Instead of focusing on a particular Internet site or tool, today's TOURBUS post is going to answer some of TOURBUS' most frequently asked questions :) ------------------ WHAT *IS* TOURBUS? ------------------ TOURBUS is a free, on-going, bi-weekly, text-based tour of some of the neatest sites and tools on the Internet. TOURBUS' posts are written by Bob Rankin (author of "Accessing the Internet by E-mail") and me (Patrick Douglas Crispen, author of the ROADMAP workshop), and are distributed via a LISTSERV e-mail distribution list at America Online. The TOURBUS list is the fourth largest LISTSERV list in the world. What makes TOURBUS unique is that each TOURBUS post not only gives you the address of a neat Internet site or tool, but also gives you a really in-depth look at how to fully use that site or tool. A lot of the Internet's most exciting sites and tools do not come with instruction manuals or maps. The information in each TOURBUS post helps you overcome that problem. Bob and I also try to make each TOURBUS post as conversational -- and humorous -- as possible. Above everything else, the Internet is FUN ... and Bob and I try to show that in our TOURBUS posts :) --------------------------------------- WHEN ARE THE TOURBUS POSTS DISTRIBUTED? --------------------------------------- TOURBUS is distributed every Tuesday-ish and Thursday-ish. ---- ISH? ---- Well, sometimes we fall a little behind (like today) :) ---------------------------------------- HOW CAN MY FRIENDS SUBSCRIBE TO TOURBUS? ---------------------------------------- Just have them send an e-mail letter to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM with the command SUBSCRIBE TOURBUS YOURFIRSTNAME YOURLASTNAME in the body of their letter, replacing YOURFIRSTNAME and YOURLASTNAME with their first and last names. --------------------------- HOW MUCH DOES TOURBUS COST? --------------------------- TOURBUS is completely free. All of the costs associated with running TOURBUS are paid by advertisers (and by Bob and me). ------------------------------------------ IS THERE AN ARCHIVE OF PAST TOURBUS POSTS? ------------------------------------------ Yep! You can find the TOURBUS archives and other TOURBUS stuff at the TOURBUS homepage at http://csbh.mhv.net/~bobrankin/tourbus/ -------------------------------------------------------- HEY! THAT'S A WEB ADDRESS! I DON'T HAVE A WEB BROWSER!! -------------------------------------------------------- Don't panic. You can still access the TOURBUS homepage (and, for that matter, ANY other Web page) through e-mail using the information contained in Bob Rankin's free guide "Accessing the Internet by E-mail." To find out how to get this guide (and how you can still participate in the ROADMAP Internet training workshop), send an e-mail letter to LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU (that's "you-aye-won-vee-em") with the command GET NEWUSER PACKAGE F=MAIL in the body of your e-mail letter. ---------------------------------------------------------- WHERE DO YOU AND BOB GET YOUR IDEAS FOR THE TOURBUS STOPS? ---------------------------------------------------------- Bob and I receive a lot of suggestions from the TOURBUS riders (like "get a life"), but most of the sites that I write about are sites that I accidentally find while surfing the Net :) -------------------------------- HOW DID YOU AND BOB RANKIN MEET? -------------------------------- Well, actually we've never met. I know Bob from the NETTRAIN list, and Bob and I have exchanged hundreds of e-mails (and about three phone calls) over the past year, but I have no idea what Bob looks like ... and, from what I hear, that's a good thing :) Bob e-mailed me shortly after the end of my last Roadmap workshop with the idea of creating a sponsor-supported, two or three week workshop of neat Internet sites. I suggested that we make the workshop on-going ... and the rest, as they say, is history :) ---------------------------------------------------- YOU KEEP MENTIONING "SQUIRRELS" IN YOUR POSTS AND IN YOUR SIGNATURE. WHAT'S THE STORY? ---------------------------------------------------- The "squirrel story" comes from the fact that the squirrels living in the trees on the campus of the University of Alabama have developed quite a taste for power lines ... especially for the power lines leading into the University's mainframe computer center (if you are not electrically inclined, let me just add that energetic squirrels and power lines do not mix well). Back when I was running the Roadmap workshop (that online Internet training thingy that I did in 1994), I was really concerned that if the University of Alabama's mainframe was taken down by a squirrel (which was a regular occurrence at the time) and I was not able to deliver that day's Roadmap lesson to the 64,000 people in the workshop, the workshop participants would panic and mailbomb me with 64,000 "where is today's lesson?" messages. By telling the subscribers up front to expect a squirrel attack, I kept myself from being mailbombed, I elevated Alabama's squirrels to Net-legend status (people around the world were even rooting for the squirrels), and I gained a really neat "trademark." :) --------------------------------- IS THERE A SOUTHERN WORD ARCHIVE? --------------------------------- Not yet, but that is one of my New Year's resolutions. When the archive is up, I'll make an announcement on TOURBUS. ------------------------------- WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GRADUATE? ------------------------------- I dunno, mom ... soon :) ----------------------------------------------------- AND FINALLY, WHAT'S TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE DAY? ----------------------------------------------------- WARSH - verb. To clean. SQUARSH - noun. A vegetable (also verb - to flatten). Usage: "Warsh that squarsh, Bubba ... you don't know where its been!" (Special thanks goes to Barb Fogg for today's wurds) TOURBUS - (c) Copyright 1996, Patrick Crispen and Bob Rankin All rights reserved. Redistribution is allowed only with permission. (\__/) .~ ~. )) /O O ./ .' Patrick Douglas Crispen {O__, \ { pcrispe1@ua1vm.ua.edu / . . ) \ The University of Alabama |-| '-' \ } )) http://ua1vm.ua.edu/~crispen/crispen.html .( _( )_.' '---.~_ _ _& Warning: squirrels.
|
|