From crispen@CAMPUS.MCI.NET Mon Apr 7 22:05:30 1997
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 1997 18:05:02 -0700
From: Patrick Douglas Crispen
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: TOURBUS -- 8 APRIL 1997 -- SWITCHEROONIE / RESEARCH-IT
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\___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/
TODAY'S STOPS: SWITCHEROONIE / RESEARCH-IT
TODAY'S ADDRESSES: http://www.tourbus.com/archive/tb121296.txt
http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/switchmain.html
http://www.iTools.com/research-it/
Hi, kids! Bob was kind enough to let me take a little vacation last week,
so your fearless, perpetual-college-student bus driver is going to be
writing both of this week's TOURBUS posts ("Yippee! *TWO* Southern Words
in one week!")
Before we pull our little, 80,000-passenger bus of Internet happiness into
the oncoming traffic lane of the Information Supercollider, I have
something funny that I *have* to share with you. The following is from a
post that appeared on Peter Langston's Fun_People list last week (you can
find the complete text of TOURBUS' recent tour of the Fun_People list at
http://www.tourbus.com/archive/tb121296.txt ):
ABC's overnight news show, World News Now, has a recurring
segment called "World News Then", where they air pieces of ABC
News broadcasts as they covered various important events of the
past. Last night being April 1st, they decided that instead of
running a piece from a few decades ago, it would be more
interesting to go back a few millennia. One of the stories they
rebroadcast was the following report from 2400 BC:
"Egypt's emerging papyrus technology continues to alarm parents
and law enforcement. A new bill introduced today would let the
government regulate material found on papyrus. Legislators said
paperspace, as it is known to so-called 'writers,' is becoming a
haven for monotheists, con artists and worse hoping to prey on
the young and gullible. A little bit later in this broadcast we
will have some tips on how to shield your children from offensive
and dangerous material found on the dangerous papyrus."
I thought you'd get a kick out of that. Anyway, let's pay a few bills and
get today's tour under way ...
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And now, on with the show!
THE GREAT COMIC SWITCHEROONIE
-----------------------------
I really don't read the newspaper that often, but did you notice that your
local newspaper's entire comic strip page looked downright odd on April
1st? Something about the comic strips just didn't look right.
Well, it seems that *ALL* of us were victims of one of the greatest April
Fool's jokes in history. In honor of April Fool's Day, a whole bunch of
the United States' most popular syndicated cartoonists quietly swapped
comic strips for the day. For example, Dilbert was drawn by Bill Keane
(Family Circus) and Family Circus was drawn by Scott Adams (Dilbert). The
results were downright hysterical!
If you missed the "Great April Fools Day Comic Switcheroonie," thanks to
the wonder of technology you can still find the "switched" comics on the
Web at
http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/switchmain.html
I'd hurry, though ... the "switcheroonie" page says that the switched comic
strips will only be available until Friday, April 4th (but, since it is
currently Monday, April 7th, and since I am currently looking at the
"switcheroonie" page on my Web browser, I think it is safe to assume that
they are going to leave this page up for a few more days).
RESEARCH-IT!
------------
You have to see this page to believe it! Imagine if someone took every
major language, library, geographical, financial, shipping, and Internet
search tool and put them all on one page.
Well, imagine no longer. Such a page exists, it is called "Research-It,"
and it can be found on the Web at
http://www.iTools.com/research-it/
The Research-It page takes a little while to load (oddly, I have never been
able to get the page to load any faster than 1K a second), but if you are
looking for the essential, one-stop shop of search tools, the wait is well
worth the reward.
Here are the different search tools available in Research-It's "Language"
section alone:
Dictionaries
English (Merriam Webster)
Computing (FOLDOC)
Rhyme (Rhyming Dictionary)
Pronounce (CMU Pronouncing Dictionary)
Thesauruses (or is that "thesauri?")
English (Merriam Webster)
English (Roget's -- headwords only)
English (Roget's -- full text)
Language Translators
Universal (LOGOS)
Specific
Other Language Stuff
Language Identifier (CMU Language Identifier)
French Conjugator (Various)
Anagram (Internet Anagram Server)
English Acronym (WWWAS)
Say that you want to find out what the word "cavitate" means (remember that
one?). Well, just point your Web browser to
http://www.iTools.com/research-it/
and then type in the word "cavitate" in the Merriam Webster English
Dictionary search box. Once you hit the "look it up!" button, Research-It
submits your query to the appropriate search tool and then displays the
results.
By the way, here's Webster's definition of "cavitate:"
Main Entry: cav·i·tate
Pronunciation: 'ka-v&-"tAt
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): -tat·ed; -tat·ing
Date: 1909
intransitive senses : to form cavities or bubbles
transitive senses : to cavitate in
My only complaint about Research-It's choice of search tools is that its
language translator only translates words, not sentences (I wanted to see
if "Cogito Eggo Sum" really is the Latin translation for "I think I am a
waffle."). Other than that one small flaw, Research-It's choice of search
tools is exceptional!
Added up, Research-It gives you access to over 30 different search tools,
ranging from GNN/Koblas Currency Exchange Table to the Bible. If the
mega-search engines like Lycos, Alta-Vista, and Dogpile are overwhelming
you with "hits," you really should check out the smaller, specific search
tools that can be found on Research-It's homepage.
TODAY'S STOPS: SWITCHEROONIE / RESEARCH-IT
TODAY'S ADDRESSES: http://www.tourbus.com/archive/tb121296.txt
http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/switchmain.html
http://www.iTools.com/research-it/
--------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE DAY
--------------------------------
BLEEVE (verb). To accept as true.
Usage: "Ah bleeve ah'll have another moon pah!"
(Special thanks to Bernie Santos for today's wurd -- by the way, Bernie
originally sent this word in back in December of 1995! Bleeve me, folks, I
keep *every* Southern Word that is sent to me!) :)
YOU CAN FIND ALL OF THE OLD SOUTHERN WORDS OF THE DAY ON THE SOUTHERN WORD
HOMEPAGE AT http://ua1vm.ua.edu/~crispen/word.html
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TOURBUS - (c) Copyright 1997, Patrick Crispen and Bob Rankin
All rights reserved. Redistribution is allowed only with permission.
Send this copy to 3 friends and tell them to get on the Bus!
(\__/) .~ ~. ))
/O O ./ .' Patrick Douglas Crispen
{O__, \ { The University of Alabama
/ . . ) \ crispen@campus.mci.net
|-| '-' \ } http://ua1vm.ua.edu/~crispen/
.( _( )_.'
'---.~_ _ _& Warning: squirrels.
