Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 16:25:50 +0000
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Sender: The Internet TourBus - A virtual tour of cyberspace
From: Bob Rankin
Subject: TOURBUS - 17 Apr 01 - Dots / Internet Filtering
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TOURBUS Volume 6, Number 73 -- 17 April 2001
----------------------------------------------------------------------
_________ ____________ ________ __________ _____________ ___ _
/ | / | | / | \
| *FREE* *FREE* INKJET CARTRIDGES / | \
|__________|__________/__________|__________|___________/_____| \
/ |----\
| BUY 1 GET 2 FREE ON ALL EPSON AND MOST CANON. WOULD LOVE |////|
| TO GIVE THEM ALL AWAY BUT THE BOSS WON'T LET ME. SEPARATE |////|
| PRICING FOR HP AND LEXMARK. CALL TOLL FREE 877-906-2884 OR |////|
| CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE LIST OF CARTRIDGES AND INFORMATION. |////|
| |////|
| CLICK! |
\_______________________________________________________________|____|
/ \ / \ / \
\___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/
FIVE YEARS of Searchable Archives at http://www.TOURBUS.com !!
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
Dots / Intel Download Calculator / Internet Filters
Howdy, y'all, and greetings once again from Patrick and the beautiful
city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, conveniently located by the shores of
Gitche Gumee and only a few short minutes away from the shining
Big-Sea-Water. :)
+-------- Like the TOURBUS? You'll Love THE POCKET INTERNET -------+
Tad and I (two Irish/Am lads) have been hunting down the most
useful and fascinating Web sites, Sounds, Executables, Downloads,
Greeting Cards, & Cool Products since 1996. Our FREE monthly
newsletter will keep you on the Internet's cutting edge. Hey, we
fell in love with the Internet from day one. So, stop on by after
you get off the bus. All the best, George.
Click Here
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+----- SAVE BIG BUCKS! - HUNDREDS OF COUPONS FOR ONLINE STORES ----+
Whether you're buying Movies, Music, Books, Electronics, Toys or
just about anything, start your shopping at Rather-Be-Shopping and
you'll find the best coupons, discounts and freebies. We guarantee
that you will save money!! Use our coupon and take $5 off your $20
order at CDNOW, or take $10 off your $40 purchase at Barnes & Noble.
Just two of the great bargains you'll find at Rather-Be-Shopping.com.
Start saving money today - CLICK HERE TO VISIT US NOW!
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
TOURBUS is made possible by the kind support of our sponsors. PLEASE
take a moment to visit today's sponsors to thank them for keeping
TOURBUS on the road.
----
Dots
----
Did you actually think you'd get some WORK done today? HA-HA-HA! Kiss
THAT idea goodbye, Chester. You're going to be playing "Dots" all
day:
http://www.well.com/user/argv/java/dots.html .
Created by Dan Heller, "Dots" (or "Dots and Boxes") is a java applet
that lets you play the children's game of the same name. Remember
that game where you drew a bunch of dots on a piece of paper, you and
a friend took turns drawing lines between the dots, and if you
completed a box you got a point? This is that game, Internet-
enhanced. :)
Instead of playing against a friend (who needs them anyway?), you play
against your computer. Click on the "New Game" button and pop-up box
will appear, letting you choose how many rows and columns of dots you
want as well as the game's difficulty level. [The computer keeps
TROUNCING me in the easy level, so I think I'll be avoiding the "hard"
and "killer" difficulty levels for the time being.]
The game play takes a second to figure out, but I can attest that it
is one of the best time sponges I have encountered in a LONG while. .
Enjoy. :)
-------------------------
Intel Download Calculator
-------------------------
Here's a question for you: how long would it take to download a 1.19
megabyte file over a 28.8 modem? This is a surprisingly complicated
question, because to find the answer you have to:
1. Convert the file size into kilobytes (1.19 * 1024 = 1218.56)
2. Convert the result of that from kilobytes into bytes (1218.56
* 1024 = 1247805.44)
3. Convert the result of that from bytes to bits (1247805 * 8 =
9982443.52)
4. Divide that result by 28,800 to see how many total seconds it
will take that particular file to download (9982443.52 / 28800
= 346.61)
5. Divide that result by 60 to see how many minutes it will take
to download (346.61 / 60 = 5.78)
6. We aren't done yet. We need to convert that .78 back into
seconds (.78 * 60 = 46.8)
7. So, if we combine our answers to steps 5 and 6, the total
download times for this 1.19 Mb file would be about 5 minutes
and 47 seconds.
Ow. My head hurts. There has GOT to be a better way!
There is.
Our friends at Intel recently created a free download calculator at
http://www.intel.com/home/tech-center/calculate_download/
that does all of the number crunching for you. You can either access
the calculator on Intel's Web site (through a JavaScript pop-up
window), or you can download and install the calculator onto your PC.
Either way, fire up the calculator, enter the size of the file you
wish to download, press the calculate button, and the calculator shows
you how long it will take to download that file over a BUNCH of
different connections speeds. You can even use Intel's download
calculator to automatically measure YOUR connection speed.
Neat, huh?
Intel's Download Calculator is a great tool for anyone who wants to
know how long it will take to download something or for Web designers
who want to show the download times for any big files they place on
their Web sites. For example ...
----------------- Internet Filters? -----------------
Have you been thinking about using an Internet content filter to
protect your little kiddies from the some of the nastier stuff on the
Internet? This next stop is for you! Your mostly-fearless bus driver
has created yet ANOTHER PowerPoint presentation that you are welcome
to steal:
The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly -- How Internet Filters Work, How
They Don't Work, and How Students Bypass Them"
Internet filters -- those little programs that keep the students
from looking at alt.sex.beastiality, hampsters.duct-tape or
www.whitehouse.com -- are all the rage. But how do they work,
are they as "perfect" as we have been led to believe, and how can
your students or kids get around them? This one-hour
presentation takes you into the deep underworld of Internet
filters.
You can download this presentation for free at
http://bama.ua.edu/~squirrel/filter.zip .
The file is 1.19 Mb in size, so it should take about 5 minutes and 47
seconds to download over a 28.8 modem (and about 6 seconds to download
over a 1.5 Mb cable or DSL connection). Like all of my PowerPoint
presentations, this one has been zipped to make it a little easier to
download. If you are unfamiliar with how to unzip a file, please take
a look at
http://www.netsquirrel.com/classroom/zip.html .
Also, all of my PowerPoint presentations are, obviously, Microsoft
PowerPoint files. To view a PowerPoint file you'll need either a copy
of Microsoft PowerPoint (which is part of Microsoft Office) or a copy
of Microsoft's PowerPoint viewer. You can downloaded Microsoft's
PowerPoint viewer for the PC at
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/downloadDetails/Ppview97.htm
and you can find the Mac version of the viewer at
http://www.microsoft.com/MAC/download/OFFICE98/powerpoint98viewer.asp .
Both versions of the PowerPoint viewer are free.
By the way, if you want to nab any of my other PowerPoint
presentations, hop on over to my Classroom Resources page at
http://www.netsquirrel.com/classroom/
You are free to reuse ANY of my PowerPoint presentations provided that
you
1. Not make any money from them;
2. Give credit where credit is due; and
3. Invite your audience to subscribe to TOURBUS (information about
TOURBUS appears near the end of every one of my presentations).
Oh, one last thing. Keen-eyed observers will notice that my "Internet
Filters" presentation is missing from my Classroom Resources page.
That's deliberate. One sure-fire way to get your site blocked by the
filtering companies is to point out some of the problems with the
current batch of filtering programs. For that reason, the *ONLY* way
that you can get my filtering presentation is to download it from
http://bama.ua.edu/~squirrel/filter.zip. (That's my staff account at
the University of Alabama, and I don't mind if THAT account gets
filtered.) :)
That's it for today. Have a safe and happy next couple of days, and
we'll talk again on Thursday-ish.
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
Dots / Intel Download Calculator / Internet Filters
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://www.well.com/user/argv/java/dots.html
http://www.intel.com/home/tech-center/calculate_download/
http://bama.ua.edu/~squirrel/filter.zip
http://www.netsquirrel.com/classroom/zip.html
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/downloadDetails/Ppview97.htm
---------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE WEEK
---------------------------------
URINE (adjective) Occurring or done at the end of the year.
Usage: "Y'all come on down for our unrine clearance."
[Special thanks to Heather Headrick 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
Copyright 1995-2001, Crispen & Rankin - All rights reserved
Help the hungry, poor and sick - for free! http://FreeDonation.com
Subscribe, Signoff, Archives, Free Stuff and More at the
Tourbus Website - http://www.TOURBUS.com
=====================================================================
.~~~. ))
(\__/) .' ) )) Patrick Douglas Crispen
/o o \/ .~
{o_, \ { crispen@netsquirrel.com
/ , , ) \ http://www.netsquirrel.com/
`~ '-' \ } )) AOL Instant Messenger: Squirrel2K
_( ( )_.'
'---..{____} Warning: squirrels.
