Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 22:07:07 -0500
From: crispen@NETSQUIRREL.COM
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: TOURBUS -- 21 MAY 1998 -- FUN PEOPLE/MERCURY CENTER
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\___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOPS: FUN PEOPLE/MERCURY CENTER
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESSES:
REDEFINING PI?
http://www.infopoint.com/cgi-bin/fun-people.cgi/124
THE FUN PEOPLE ARCHIVES
http://www.empire.net/psl-bin/Fun_People.cgi
TOURBUS ON FUN PEOPLE (12 DECEMBER 1996)
http://www.tourbus.com/archive/tb121296.txt
MERCURY CENTER
http://www.mercurycenter.com/
GOOD MORNING SILICON VALLEY
http://www.mercurycenter.com/gmsv/
MERCURY CENTER TALENT SCOUT
http://www.talentscout.com/
MERCURY CENTER DAVE BARRY ARCHIVE
http://www.mercurycenter.com/columnists/barry/
MIAMI HERALD DAVE BARRY ARCHIVE
http://www.herald.com/archive/barry/
MERCURY CENTER COMICS PAGE
http://comics.mercurycenter.com/comics/
MERCURY CENTER COMICS REGISTRATION
http://comics.mercurycenter.com/comics/comics_register.htm
Howdy, y'all!
A couple of weeks ago, your fearless bus driver received the
following email message:
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- NASA engineers and mathematicians in this
high-tech city are stunned and infuriated after the Alabama
state legislature narrowly passed a law yesterday redefining pi,
a mathematical constant used in the aerospace industry. The
bill to change the value of pi to exactly three was introduced
without fanfare by Leonard Lee Lawson (R, Crossville), and
rapidly gained support after a letter-writing campaign by
members of the Solomon Society, a traditional values group.
Governor Fob James says he will sign it into law on Wednesday.
Granted, this came from Peter Langston's "Fun People" list, so I was
sure this was meant to be a joke. However, you can never be too sure
about these things. So I decided to verify the "pi redefinition"
story by calling the Governor's office in Montgomery (and yes, our
Governor's name really is "Fob").
The first person I talked to -- and I _swear_ I am not making this up
-- said "you know, I am not really good with math ... let me transfer
you to someone else who might know more about this." The second
person I spoke to also told me that she wasn't very good with math,
but she knew someone who could definitely answer my question.
Want to guess who she transferred me to? The Governor's office's
computer network administrator! :)
Actually, the network administrator was quite helpful. He conducted
a keyword search for "pi" in the legislature's database and found no
bills or resolutions that mentioned the mathematical constant. A
further search of the legislature's phone directory shows that there
is no "Leonard Lee Lawson" in either house of the Alabama
legislature.
So, for the record, we now know that:
1. Alabama's legislature did not recently vote to redefine pi;
and
2. If you are having any problems with your trigonometry
homework, you probably don't want to call the Alabama
Governor's office. :P
You can find the entire "pi story" in the Fun People archives at
http://www.infopoint.com/cgi-bin/fun-people.cgi/124
You can also find a complete archive of _every_ Fun People post at
http://www.empire.net/psl-bin/Fun_People.cgi
And, finally, you can find my 12 December 1996 TOURBUS post about
Peter Langston's Fun People list (my FAVORITE humor list anywhere) at
http://www.tourbus.com/archive/tb121296.txt
And now a word from the folks who are making today's TOURBUS stop
possible (and don't forget to look at today's bus logo too!). In
fact, take a second to check out both Automation Consulting and
Supply's (a.k.a. "Oddparts") _GREAT_ prices and Hasada's _MANY_
services (in addition to Hasada's international phone discounts, they
also offer low-cost domain name registration and reservation with
FREE email and Web site storage (check out http://www.cngs.com/)).
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----------- Inkjet Refills - http://www.oddparts.com/ink -----------
Bob also wanted me to remind you that you still have time to download
@BACKUP's free online backup software at
http://security.atbackup.com/?1780
--------------
MERCURY CENTER
--------------
Back in early 1995 I had a real problem (and yes, I am quite aware
that I just opened myself up to a whole slew of jokes ... enjoy your
chuckle and move on). I was then, and still am, a big fan of
syndicated humor columnist Dave Barry. The University of Alabama's
student newspaper "The Crimson White" (motto: "all the news that's
fittin'") would print Dave Barry's articles from time to time, but
they didn't follow any sort of regular schedule. What I really
needed was an online archive of Dave Barry's articles I could read
anytime that I wanted. Unfortunately, back in 1995, no such public
archive existed.
Then I discovered Mercury Center, an online subscription service of
the San Jose (California) Mercury News. For US$4.95 a month, I could
read all of Dave Barry's articles, get the latest news from both the
award-winning San Jose Mercury News _and_ the Associated Press, read
all my favorite comic strips, and even browse through the Silicon
Valley's help wanted ads (San Jose is in the heart of Silicon
Valley). Remember, while we take all of these online services for
granted today, this was cutting edge stuff back in 1995 ... and, for
me, it was well worth the US$4.95 a month.
Well, a few days ago, the folks at Mercury Center celebrated their
5th birthday by ... brace yourself ... dropping subscription fees.
In other words, now _EVERYONE_ can access Mercury Center's news,
crossword puzzles, forums, features, over 100 comics and much more --
all for free!
You can find Mercury Center online at
http://www.mercurycenter.com/
Like most online newspapers, Mercury Center's homepage shows you the
latest news and information, updated several times throughout the
day. Their main homepage also gives you links to other "sections"
including Business & Stocks, Technology, Sports, Opinion, Living &
Comics, and Weather.
You'll probably recognize Mercury Center's technology section -- it
is called "Good Morning Silicon Valley" (which we first visited on
October 2nd of last year). The only thing that has changed about
GMSV is its URL, which is now
http://www.mercurycenter.com/gmsv/
(although the old URL -- http://www.sjmercury.com/gmsv/ -- still
seems to work).
If you are interested in finding a job in the Silicon Valley (or in
Austin, Texas -- the other Silicon Valley), check out Mercury
Center's "Talent Scout" at
http://www.talentscout.com/
Talent Scout is probably the world's best source for job listings,
company research, and workplace news in the Silicon Valley.
Of course, what attracted me to Mercury Center in the first place was
their Dave Barry archive. Now that Mercury Center is free to
everyone, you can access that archive at
http://www.mercurycenter.com/columnists/barry/
(you can find a bigger Dave Barry archive at the Miami Herald's site
-- http://www.herald.com/archive/barry/ -- but Mercury Center's
archive has been around much longer).
Finally, you really should check out Mercury Center's comics page at
http://comics.mercurycenter.com/comics/
Mercury Center has the largest collection of comic strips on the
Internet (at last count they had over 100, including Mickey Mouse and
my personal favorite, Non Sequitur). While these comic strips are
free, you do have to register to be able to view them. To do this,
just click on the word "register" at the top of the comics page, or
point your Web browser to
http://comics.mercurycenter.com/comics/comics_register.htm
It is a pretty painless process. Type in your name, pick a user name
and password, type in your zip code (you can use the zip code for
Tuscaloosa if you want -- 35486), and type in your email address.
Within seconds of submitting this information, Mercury Center will
send you an email confirming your submission (it may take a little
while for Mercury Center to add you to their system, though -- now
that Mercury Center is free, _EVERYONE_ is trying to register for the
comics section). Once you get your user name and password, though,
you're set to read Mercury Center's daily comic strips to your heart's
content. :)
For three years, your fearless bus driver has paid US$4.95 a month to
be able to access all of the services and information at Mercury
Center. Now that Mercury Center is free, I am happy and excited to
share this wonderful site with you. :)
That's it for this week! Have a safe and happy weekend!
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOPS: FUN PEOPLE / MERCURY CENTER
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESSES:
REDEFINING PI?
http://www.infopoint.com/cgi-bin/fun-people.cgi/124
THE FUN PEOPLE ARCHIVES
http://www.empire.net/psl-bin/Fun_People.cgi
TOURBUS ON FUN PEOPLE (12 DECEMBER 1996)
http://www.tourbus.com/archive/tb121296.txt
MERCURY CENTER
http://www.mercurycenter.com/
GOOD MORNING SILICON VALLEY
http://www.mercurycenter.com/gmsv/
MERCURY CENTER TALENT SCOUT
http://www.talentscout.com/
MERCURY CENTER DAVE BARRY ARCHIVE
http://www.mercurycenter.com/columnists/barry/
MIAMI HERALD DAVE BARRY ARCHIVE
http://www.herald.com/archive/barry/
MERCURY CENTER COMICS PAGE
http://comics.mercurycenter.com/comics/
MERCURY CENTER COMICS REGISTRATION
http://comics.mercurycenter.com/comics/comics_register.htm
--------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE DAY
--------------------------------
SMAWT (adjective). Intelligent.
Usage: "People who know that pi stuff must be really smawt."
(Special thanks go to Alabama Governor Fob James -- actually, to one
of his campaign commercials -- for today's word)
You can find all of the old Southern Words of the day on the Net at
http://netsquirrel.com/crispen/word.html
=--------------------------------------------------------------------=
For info on my book "Atlas for the Information Superhighway"
Visit http://www.brigadoon.com/~crispen/atlas.html
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The Internet TOURBUS - U.S. Library of Congress ISSN #1094-2238
Copyright 1995-98, Rankin & Crispen - All rights reserved
Archives on the Web at http://www.TOURBUS.com
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(\__/) .' ) )) Patrick Douglas Crispen
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