Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1999 02:06:34 -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: Patrick Douglas Crispen
Subject: TOURBUS -- 4 DECEMBER 1999 -- WOMEN OF NASA / EXAMPLE.COM
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_________ ____________ ________ __________ ____________ ___ _
/ | / | | / | \
| FLYING NOODLE PASTA OF THE MONTH CLUB / | \
|__________|__________/__________|__________|__________/ | \
/ |//////|----\
| $27.50 includes shipping - 2 Gourmet PASTAS, 2 SAUCES |//////| |
| and recipes. A great gift or a small |//////| |
| indulgence for yourself. |//////| |
| ---> http://www.FlyingNoodle.com/tourbus <--- |//////| |
\________________________________________________________|______|____|
/ \ / \ / \
\___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
Women of NASA / Example.com
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/
Howdy, y'all, and greetings from the balmy city of Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, home of the 1999 Southeastern Conference champion Crimson
Tide football team! I apologize for the tardiness of today's post. I
was going to send you a post on Thursday about the Mars Polar Lander
Web site [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/ ], but it looks like the
lander mysteriously disappeared. I personally blame the disappearance
on a large, white, singing monolith.
By the way, this is the same Mars Polar Lander we talked about way
back on 9 July 1999 [ http://www.tourbus.com/archive/tb070998.htm ].
Anyway, since the lander is now missing in action, I'm going to file
my Mars Polar Lander Web site post in my "giant rat of Sumatra" file
and write a new TOURBUS post from scratch. :)
TOURBUS is made possible by the kind support of our sponsors. I thank
the folks at "The Flying Noodle," "OfficeClick.com" and "Macro
Systems" for making today's post possible. As always, please visit
our wonderful sponsors and thank them for keeping the bus rolling!
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On with the show ...
-------------
Women of NASA
-------------
About a squillion years ago I was a Simulations Director at the United
States Space Camp. One of the things I learned at Camp was the
importance of encouraging young people to explore the world of
engineering and science.
It seems that I am not alone. NASA recently created a "Women of NASA"
Web site at
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/
to encourage more young women to pursue careers in math, science, and
technology.
What makes the site so fantastic is that instead of offering the
requisite "here are the classes you need to take in high school"
handouts that we all threw out when we were growing up, the Women of
NASA site offers in-depth, personal profiles of women who currently
work for the space agency. Most of the profiles are actually first
person -- the scientist or engineer explains what she does for NASA,
what inspired her to pursue her particular career path, and even what
obstacles she had to overcome along the way. Most of the women
profiled also participate in regularly scheduled Web chats with
students and teachers, answering every question imaginable. Archives
of previous chats are scattered throughout the site.
Words cannot describe how thrilled I am about this site. The Women of
NASA site gives young women around the world the opportunity to learn
and gain inspiration from the best mentors imaginable: the women
scientists and engineers who currently work for NASA. If you have a
young lady in your life who is interested in a career in math,
science, or technology, share this site with them! I can't think of a
more inspirational site for them to visit.
-----------
Example.com
-----------
In my Thanksgiving spam post, I mentioned that one way to hide your
address in Usenet newsgroups is to use a fake email address in your
posts. While I have been guilty of using the fake email address
foo@bar.com, several alert TOURBUS riders point out that there are
three fake addresses that will work even better:
anyword@example.com
anyword@example.org
anyword@example.net
You can replace the word "anyword" with any word at all. The folks at
the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) recently reserved these
second level domain names for experimentation and testing. There are
two benefits to this:
1. Web programmers and technical writers can use example domain
addresses in their work without the fear of pointing their
audience to a real, working address; and
2. People like you and me can use the example domain addresses
when nosy Web sites ask us to key in our email addresses or
Web page addresses.
Ain't technology grand?
----------------------------
How I Pick Sites for the Bus
----------------------------
From time to time, people ask me to explain how I choose the sites I
write about in our little bus of Internet happiness. I find most of
the sites through random surfing or by visiting sites suggested to me
by TOURBUS riders like you. Before I will write about a particular
site, though, it has to pass three tests:
1. IS THE WEB SITE "UNIVERSAL?"
TOURBUS has subscribers in over 134 countries, so as exciting
as an archive of the minutes of the Tulsa City Commission may
be to folks in northeast Oklahoma, it probably won't mean much
to our readers in Croatia. [Today's "Women of NASA" site
passes the 'universality' test because it appeals to young
women everywhere, regardless of nationality.]
2. WOULD ANYONE OBJECT IF I SHOWED THIS SITE TO THEIR TEENAGER?
Actually, I usually ask myself "would CNN display this page
on the air?" Broadcasters in the US are bound to some pretty
strict standards (see FCC v. Pacifica), and I try to apply
those same standards in my posts. For example, as much as I
would like to write about a site like that humor newspaper
named after a pungent bulb, I won't because the site uses
language that many communities find offensive.
In other words, if someone is offended by a TOURBUS post, it
probably isn't because of the sites I am writing about.
Rather, it is probably because of some stupid mistake on my
part (like that gypsy quip a few weeks ago, for which I am
immensely sorry).
3. IS THE SITE NEW, UNIQUE, IMPORTANT, INTERESTING, OR FUN?
There are a BAJILLION Web sites out there. Only a few of them
are cool. :)
Why do I mention all of this? Well, I'd love to hear about some of
YOUR favorite Web sites, the ones you'd like me to write about in a
future TOURBUS post. If you have any sites you'd like to share with
the other 100,000 passengers on the bus, send me an email at
crispen@netsquirrel.com
I can't promise that I will use your suggestion, but I do promise to
read your email and look at the sites you suggest. :)
Have a safe and happy weekend, and ROLL TIDE!
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
Women of NASA / Example.com
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/
---------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE WEEK
---------------------------------
PEA CUP (noun). A light truck having an enclosed cab and an open body
with low sides and tailgate.
Usage: "My brother from Jawjuh still aint retuned my pea cup!"
[Special thanks to Raymond Kornele 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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(\__/) .' ) )) Patrick Douglas Crispen
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