Date: Sat, 6 Feb 1999 03:30:41 -0600
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Sender: The Internet TourBus - A virtual tour of cyberspace
Comments: Resent-From: crispen@netsquirrel.com
Comments: Originally-From: Patrick Douglas Crispen
From: crispen@NETSQUIRREL.COM
Subject: TOURBUS -- 6 FEBRUARY 1999 -- UPDATE ON THE MICROSOFT Y2K CD
STORY/THE SQUIRREL HUNT/ATLAS (FINALLY!)
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_________ ____________ ________ __________ _____________ ___ _
/ | / | | / | \
| Win a $500 Software Shopping Spree! / | \
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/ /______|----\
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| and other great prizes! You'll find site reviews, |//////| |
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| your chance to win by February 28! |//////| |
| http://www.familyfirst.com |//////| |
\________________________________________________________|______|____|
/ \ / \ / \
\___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
UPDATE ON THE MICROSOFT Y2K CD STORY / THE SQUIRREL HUNT /
ATLAS (FINALLY!)
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://204.118.129.122/y2kcd/y2kcd.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1999/jan99/y2krespr.htm
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,32075,00.html?st.ne.ni.lh
http://netsquirrel.com/
Howdy, y'all! :)
In yesterday's TOURBUS post, I promised to update you on the problems
some TOURBUS riders were having ordering Microsoft's free Year 2000
Resource CD. Well, here is that update (and a few extra things).
Before we get to that, though, I want to thank the folks at "Family
First," "iPong," and "Flowers Fast" for bringing today's journey of
our little bus of Internet happiness to you. Please take a moment to
visit today's sponsors and thank them for keeping TOURBUS on the road!
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are free! Earn points to be entered in drawings for TV's VCR's,
CD Players and more. Weekly winners are entered in monthly drawings
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+---- http://www.ipong.com <--- CLICK ---> http://www.ipong.com ----+
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Send the adorable Cuddle-Up Bear Bouquet, the Hershey Kiss Bouquet
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On with the show ...
----------------------------------------------------------
Netscape Users Experiencing Problems On Microsoft Y2K Site
----------------------------------------------------------
[Long story short: Microsoft has fixed its Year 2000 CD-ROM ordering
form, and now EVERYONE can subscribe to Microsoft's free, quarterly
Y2K CD service at . The story
of how this fix came about, however, is quite interesting.]
A programming error on Microsoft's Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure and
Resource Center Web site has, for the past month, prevented Netscape
Communicator users from ordering Microsoft's free Year 2000 Resource
Center CD. This CD
includes product guides, white papers and year 2000 information.
In the second quarter the CD will also include assessment tools
and information on how customers can address their end-to-end
year 2000 compliance challenge, including hardware, operating
system, applications, documents, custom code and data
interfaces.
[quote taken from a Microsoft press release at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1999/jan99/y2krespr.htm]
Communicator users who submitted an online form requesting a copy of
the CD at
http://204.118.129.122/y2kcd/y2kcd.asp .
received an "HTTP Error 400" message announcing that
Due to malformed syntax, the request could not be understood by
the server. The client should not repeat the request without
modifications.
This error message only appeared if you used Netscape Communicator;
Internet Explorer users who completed the same form received no error
message.
The "malformed syntax" was caused by a Microsoft programming error.
For Microsoft's CD ordering system to work properly, the system must
convert the information keyed in by the user into a single, continuous
line of data. This line of data cannot contain any spaces. While
Microsoft's online CD order form correctly processed information
submitted by Internet Explorer users, changing the spaces in Explorer
users' forms to "%20"s, the form did not perform the same conversion
on data submitted by Netscape Communicator users.
Over the past seven days, several TOURBUS riders have informed the
people at Microsoft's Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure Line (888-673-
8925) of the problems they had ordering the Year 2000 Resource Center
CD-ROM online, but according to TOURBUS rider Charles Bury, "[t]hey
seemed uninterested when I told them the webform was broken."
Earlier today, I informed CNET news (http://news.com/) of the problems
that Communicator users were having ordering Microsoft's Year 2000 CD-
ROM, and CNET ran a story about this a few hours later at
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,32075,00.html?st.ne.ni.lh .
CNET must have gotten Microsoft's attention -- within a few minutes of
talking to CNET, Microsoft posted the following message on its Year
2000 Resource Center CD Web page:
Attention Netscape Navigator 4.5 users: You may not be able to
submit your order due to a problem we are currently working to
correct. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Microsoft fixed the problem a few hours later. Netscape Communicator
users (along with all other Internet users) can now subscribe to
Microsoft's free, quarterly Y2K CD service by filling out an online
form at
http://204.118.129.122/y2kcd/y2kcd.asp .
[Special thanks go to Jeffrey Schwarz for his
help with this story, and to Paul Festa at CNET for
"lighting a fire" under Microsoft.]
-----------------
The Squirrel Hunt
-----------------
I am pleased to announce my latest project: The Squirrel Hunt. The
Squirrel Hunt is a free, Internet research competition. Twice a
month, we ask ten extremely contrived questions [such as "in which
city was the Magna Carta signed?"] and you have to use the Internet to
find the answers. In addition, to make the Hunt even more
challenging, you also have to explain, step-by-step, how you found
each of your answers. The first individual and first team to complete
each Hunt, answer the questions correctly, and explain how they found
the answers, wins a lovely prize pack.
The Squirrel Hunt serves three main purposes:
1. To be a learning tool -- we want to give new Internet users an
opportunity to learn from the best. The Squirrel Hunt lets
new users see the strategies and tools that the experts use to
find the answers to each Hunt's questions.
2. To be an ego tool -- we want to give you "Net experts" an
opportunity to compete against others around the world, so
that when you win the Hunt you can claim worldwide braggin'
rights for yourself (or your team), your hometown, and/or your
school.
3. To be a capitalist tool -- we want to make the "Squirrel Hunt"
name so famous that the Squirrel Hunt staff (Patrick Crispen
et al) can become filthy, stinking rich (after all, if a FISH
OIL company can do it, why can't we?).
Most importantly, though, the questions that we ask in each Hunt will
be educational. In fact, we promise that that we will never knowingly
ask a question that drives you to a particular corporate Web site. We
have all seen sham hunts that asked questions like "which XYZ widget
provides the maximum fidelity at the lowest cost-per-use?" Those
hunts are corporate frauds. This is not one of those hunts. :)
We are still in the process of rolling out the Squirrel Hunt -- the
Web site will not be ready until Monday -- but I wanted to give you an
early peek at what we will be doing. Our first Hunt will start on
February 15th, and subsequent Hunts will follow on the first and third
Mondays of every month.
We offer three separate Hunts:
1. THE SQUIRREL HUNT
The Squirrel Hunt is a free, bi-weekly, ten question Internet
scavenger hunt on any subject, open to any individual or team.
The questions are HARD, so the Squirrel Hunt is not for the
Net-faint-of-heart! To subscribe to the Squirrel Hunt list,
send a new email message to LISTSERV@GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM with
the command SUBSCRIBE SQUIRRELHUNT in the body of your email
message.
2. THE SENIOR HUNT
The Senior Hunt is a free, bi-weekly, ten question Internet
scavenger hunt, open to young people aged 13 - 17 (teenagers),
individually or in teams. To subscribe to the Senior Hunt
list, send an email message to LISTSERV@GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM
with the command SUBSCRIBE SENIORHUNT in the body of your
email message.
3. THE JUNIOR HUNT
The Junior Hunt is a free, bi-weekly, ten question Internet
scavenger hunt, open to kids 12 and under, individually or in
teams. To subscribe to the Junior Hunt list, have your
parents or instructors help you send a new email message to
LISTSERV@GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM with the command
SUBSCRIBE JUNIORHUNT in the body of your email message.
Also, starting on Monday, February 8th, you can subscribe to any of
the Hunts and find out more information about the whole Squirrel Hunt
project on the Squirrel Hunt Web site at
http://netsquirrel.com/
This site will contain sample questions, answers to your frequently
asked questions about the different Hunts, information about the
Squirrel Hunt team, and (coming soon) a collection of resources, tips,
and tricks for anyone looking for more Net searching knowledge. Also
coming soon will be free lesson plans and other information for
educators teaching Internet topics.
By the way, the Squirrel Hunt team is also looking for companies who
are interested in donating prizes to our ever-growing prize packs. If
you are interested in helping out the Hunt, or if you want some more
information about the Hunt, please contact me at crispen@netsquirrel.com.
-----
ATLAS
-----
As if that wasn't enough, alpha testing for my upcoming Web workshop
begins next week. I am looking for a few Net gurus willing to donate
a BUNCH of time to help me turn this vaporware project into reality.
Alpha testers should have at least four years Net experience and be
willing to edit about one lesson a day for approximately 8 weeks.
And, of course, there's no pay. :P
If you are interested, drop a line to LISTSERV@GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM
with the command SUBSCRIBE ATLAS-A in the body of your email message.
By the way, if you aren't quite a Net guru but still want to help out,
I'll be looking for beta testers in a few weeks. Stay tuned!
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
UPDATE ON THE MICROSOFT Y2K CD STORY / THE SQUIRREL HUNT /
ATLAS (FINALLY!)
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://204.118.129.122/y2kcd/y2kcd.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1999/jan99/y2krespr.htm
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,32075,00.html?st.ne.ni.lh
http://netsquirrel.com/
--------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE DAY
--------------------------------
MUR-VUL (Noun). A town in Tennessee.
Yesterday I wrote that "Mary" is a three syllable word ("May-uh-ree").
The exception is when the word Mary is used in the name of a town,
such as Maryville. So, Maryville is actually pronounced "Mur-vul."
[Special thanks to Hicklin A. Harrel for today's wurd]
You can find all of the old Southern Words of the day at
http://netsquirrel.com/crispen/word.html
=====================[ Tourbus Rider Information ]===================
The Internet Tourbus - U.S. Library of Congress ISSN #1094-2238
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=====================================================================
.~~~. ))
(\__/) .' ) )) Patrick Douglas Crispen
/o o \/ .~
{o_, \ { crispen@netsquirrel.com
/ , , ) \ http://www.netsquirrel.com/
`~ '-' \ } )) AOL Instant Messenger: Squirrel2K
_( ( )_.'
'---..{____} Warning: squirrels.
