Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999 23:51:54 -0500
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Comments: Originally-From: Patrick Douglas Crispen
From: Patrick Douglas Crispen
Subject: TOURBUS -- 1 JUNE 1999 -- BOOKSTORES / POSTAGE TAX HOAX / RCT
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TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
MORE BOOKSTORES / POSTAGE TAX HOAX / JAKOB NIELSEN / ITRACK / RCT
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESSES:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990530.html
http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com/
http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com/test/downloads/demo.html
Howdy, y'all, and greetings from sunny Alabama! Bob let me take a
little vacation last week, so I am returning the favor by writing both
of this week's TOURBUS posts.
TOURBUS remains free thanks to the financial support of our sponsors.
I want to thank the folks at "Affordable Computer Supply Marketplace,"
"Hand Technologies," and "Macro Systems" for making today's post
possible. Please take a moment to visit today's sponsors to thank
them for keeping TOURBUS on the road!
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On with the show ...
----------------------------
More Bookstore Price Engines
----------------------------
Well, I have been sifting through my email inbox -- I am down to 550
letters! -- and, thanks to our alert readers, I have a few more
bookstore price comparison engines to share with you. :)
Here is the complete list of the bookstore comparison engines
recommended by your fellow TOURBUS riders:
Acses.com
http://www.acses.com/
AddAll.com
http://www.addall.com/
Advanced Book Exchange
http://abebooks.com/
BestBookBuys.com
http://www.bestbookbuys.com/
BookFinder.com
http://www.bookfinder.com/
ISBN.NU
http://ISBN.NU/
MXBF.COM
See BookFinder
An alert TOURBUS rider (whose name escapes me right now -- sorry!)
informs me that Borders Books is now offering 50% discounts on New
York Times bestsellers in all of Borders' "brick and mortar" locations
(in other words, in all of Border's real-world stores). Let's hope
that the other major bookstores follow suit.
Finally, with the attention online book buying has received lately, it
is easy to overlook the value of local bookstores. That is a mistake.
When you purchase a book at your locally owned and operated bookstore,
you ensure that your money stays in your community. It is not unheard
of for someone to search for a book online and then order that book
through their local bookstore.
Something to keep in mind. :)
-------------------------------------
Urban Legend Update: Postage Tax Hoax
-------------------------------------
About a month ago, a story circulated around the Net warning Canadians
that
... Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt to charge a 5 cent
surcharge on every email delivered, by billing Internet Service
Providers at source. The consumer would then be billed in turn by
the ISP. Toronto lawyer Richard Stepp QC is working to prevent
this legislation from becoming law.
The Canada Post Corporation is claiming that lost revenue due to
the proliferation of email is costing nearly $23,000,000 in
revenue per year ...
The letter goes on to warn that
... One back-bencher, Liberal Tony Schnell (NB) has even
suggested a "twenty to forty dollar per month surcharge on all
Internet service" above and beyond the government's proposed
email charges ...
Unfortunately, the letter is yet another Internet hoax. According to
a recent column in the Toronto Sun,
Don't rush to the keyboards and phones. The lawyer does not
exist. The law firm whose name appears on the alert does not
exist. There is no MP named Schnell. Forget Bill 602P; that's
not even the way bills are numbered.
[quote shamelessly stolen from David Emery's "Email Tax for
Canada" column, which we will talk about in a moment ... maybe.]
Proving the old saying "everything old is new again," here is a recent
story that has been floating around the Net. See if you notice any
similarities. The story says that
Bill 602P will permit the [US] Federal Govt to charge a 5 cent
surcharge on every email delivered, by billing Internet Service
Providers at source. The consumer would then be billed in turn
by the ISP. Washington D.C. lawyer Richard Stepp is working
without pay to prevent this legislation from becoming law.
The U.S. Postal Service is claiming that lost revenue due to the
proliferation of email is costing nearly $230,000,000 in revenue
per year.
The letter goes on to warn that
One congressman, Tony Schnell (r) has even suggested a "twenty to
forty dollar per month surcharge on all Internet service" above
and beyond the government's proposed email charges
Deja vu? Yep. The message floating around the Net right now is
almost word for word the same message that floated around Canada in
May. [I particularly enjoyed the fact that Mr. Schnell was able to
switch from being a Canadian Liberal to being an American Republican
in less than a month -- ain't technology wonderful?!]
For the record, both stories are hoaxes. Neither Canada nor the US is
considering an email surcharge. Neither Canada nor the US has a
lawmaker named "Tony Schnell" [that's what happens when you jump
parties!]. Neither Canada nor the US has a bill 602P (in Canada,
bills from the Senate begin with the letter S and bills from the
Commons begin with the letter C; in the US, bills from the Senate
begin with the letter S and bills from the House begin with the letter
H). Finally, neither Toronto nor Washington has a lawyer named
Richard Stepp.
... and, no, Australia isn't considering an email surcharge either. :P
For more information about this story, visit David Emery's new site at
http://urbanlegends.about.com/ .
[MiningCo changed their name to "About." That's fine. What isn't
fine, however, is the new pop-up ad that appears when you access any
about.com directory. Be prepared to play "whack-a-mole" with the pop-
ups.]
----------------------------------------
Why can't Patrick spell "Jakob Nielsen?"
----------------------------------------
In my 23 May bonus post, I apologized for misspelling Jakob Nielsen's
name. Unfortunately, in my apology I misspelled his name ... again.
You will remember that we first talked about Mr. Nielsen in our 6 May
post [Mr. Nielsen is a world-renowned Web usability expert]. Well, as
promised, Mr. Nielsen recently published a new article titled "The Top
Ten New Mistakes of Web Design." You can find his new article at
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990530.html .
According to Nielsen, new Web technology and new applications for the
Web have introduced an entirely new class of mistakes, separate from
the mistakes Nielsen wrote about back in 1996. If you have ever
designed a Web page, or if you are in a position to hire someone to
design Web pages for you, Nielsen's newest article is a must-read.
... or is it "Neilsen?" :P
----------------
More From iTrack
----------------
Dave Taylor, the President of iTrack, asked me to share the following
with you:
A few days ago, The Internet Tourbus stopped by at iTrack.com,
where we track online auctions so you don't have to. The
delightful writeup from Bob caught the essence of the site,
except one thing has changed in the last few days: we have had to
temporarily suspend our Ebay searches. No worries, though, since
we still search through all the other top online auction sites,
including Yahoo Auctions, Amazon.com Auctions, AuctionUniverse
and OnSale. More auction sites are being added each week, and we
hope to bring Ebay back online within a week or two. If you have
a particular favorite, please let us know about it. We'll look
forward to your visit! -- Dave Taylor -- President, iTrack
--------------------
Rollercoaster Tycoon
--------------------
I'd love to tell you that I've been spending every waking minute with
my nose in a book, studying for the Microsoft Certified Systems
Engineer exams. Actually, most of my free time has been spent playing
Chris Sawyer's new US$30 game: "Rollercoaster Tycoon."
Rollercoaster Tycoon (or RCT) is similar to SimCity, but instead of
building a city you build a theme park. In fact, you create your own
theme park by placing (and even designing) rides from merry-go-rounds
to monster roller coasters, hiring staff to help you run the park, and
even setting prices on everything from park admission to hot dogs.
Then, you sit back and watch as tiny, simulated theme park guests
wander around your park.
The game's attention to detail is stunning. When little children exit
a particularly fun ride, they run around with excitement. When adults
exit the same rides, they just throw up (you'll need to hire a few
extra handymen to clean up after the adults; better still, place
bathrooms next to the exits of your thrill rides). Aside from the
mess caused by sick adults, the only real "violence" in the game
happens when you forget to inspect a roller coaster on a regular
basis. Uninspected coasters have a nasty tendency of crashing.
To play Rollercoaster Tycoon on your computer, you need to have at
least the following:
90 MHz Pentium, 16Mb RAM, 4X CD-ROM, 50MB hard disk,
1MB SVGA card Windows 95/98, Windows 95 compatible Sound Card,
DirectX 5.0 (included on CD), and a Mouse.
Unfortunately, RCT is not available for Mac or pre-Windows-95 PCs ...
although I'd be shocked if Hasbro didn't release a Mac version of RCT
sometime this year [the Mac has made quite a comeback recently.]
You may be asking, "why is TOURBUS talking about a game that isn't
free?" Well, there are two reasons:
1. After the recent tragedies in Colorado and Georgia, several
parents have asked me to recommend a computer game that is
entertaining, engaging, and doesn't require you to shoot
everything in sight. My recommendation is Rollercoaster
Tycoon. The game is fun, easy to use, non-violent, and rather
cheap (in fact, considering the detail this game offers, US$30
is quite a bargain).
2. You can download a free, demo version of Rollercoaster Tycoon.
The demo version lets you play the game for 25 minutes, and
then it dumps you back to the game's main menu.
You can find the demo in a number on online archives (like
gamecenter.com), but your best bet is to just go to
http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com/
and look for the downloads section. You can also jump to the
downloads section directly by pointing your Web browser to
http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com/test/downloads/demo.html .
The demo file itself is quite large (@20Mb), so patience is a virtue.
But, if you are looking for a fun, non-violent game that everyone in
your family will enjoy, the download is worth the wait. :)
---------------------
The Quote of the Week
---------------------
One of the coolest things about Rollercoaster Tycoon is that it lets
you read the minds of your park's guests. This is a good way to find
out what parts of your park need to be improved.
In one of my parks, I created a Merry-Go-Round and named it,
appropriately, the "Merry-Go-Round of DOOM!" When I read the minds of
my park's guests, 25 guests were thinking the same thing:
"I want ride something more exciting than the
Merry-Go-Round of DOOM!"
I have no idea why I find that funny. But I do. :)
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
MORE BOOKSTORES / POSTAGE TAX HOAX / JAKOB NIELSEN / ITRACK / RCT
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESSES:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990530.html
http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com/
http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com/test/downloads/demo.html
---------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE WEEK
---------------------------------
GRAIN (Adjective). The color between yellow and blue.
Usage: "Mercy ... I's jus grain with envy!"
[Special thanks to Richard Rupe for today's wurd]
You can find all of the old Southern Words of the day at
http://netsquirrel.com/crispen/word.html
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