From: crispen@NETSQUIRREL.COM
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: TOURBUS -- 14 MAY 1998 -- ANOTHER STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS POST
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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: ANOTHER STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS POST
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESSES: YEP ... THEY'RE ADDRESSES ALRIGHT
Howdy, y'all, and brace yourself for yet another "stream of
consciousness" TOURBUS post (in other words, a TOURBUS post that has
absolutely no comprehensible outline or plan whatsoever). As always,
we have a bunch of stuff to talk about today. Before we do that,
though, I want to give a tip of the hat to the folks who are making
today's TOURBUS post possible: "hasada.com" and "oddparts.com." Make
sure you stop by and thank both of these sites for sponsoring this
week's post.
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And now, if you look out the left window, you can see our first stop
...
--------------------------------------------
URBAN LEGEND #1 -- A FREE MODEM FROM PC MALL
--------------------------------------------
Alert TOURBUS rider Jo Ann Pfeiffer asked me to investigate the
following email message she recently received:
From: modemX2@premiumproducts.com
Subject: PC Mall Inc.
Dear Internet User,
You're the first person from our list of thousands, to win a FREE
US Robotics 56K bps with new x2 technology, voice modem from PC
Mall. PC Mall has been randomly giving selected internet users
FREE 56K x2 bps voice modems ... [stuff deleted]
We will need you to pay for the Shipping and Handling with your
Credit Card Only. For FedEx 2nd Day it is only $10.95. For UPS
GroundTrac it is only $3.95. We will not charge for the shipping
until the item is shipped ... [more stuff deleted]
Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Unfortunately, it is. While
PC Mall (http://www.pcmall.com/) has over 45,000 PC and Mac products
and over US$1.8 billion in available inventory, they are not giving
away any free 56K modems:
If you receive e-mail notifying you that you have won a modem or
other prize from PC Mall or MacMall that asks for your credit
card number, please be aware that PC Mall or MacMall did not send
this e-mail. Please do not reply with your credit card number or
any other information!
[quoted from http://www.cc-inc.com/cfm/frames/creative/info/warning2.cfm]
So, for the record, the "free modem" message is yet another Internet
hoax. Remember, folks, if you receive an email message (or a phone
call or a snail mail letter) saying you have to pay a shipping fee (or
an administrative charge or a processing fee) for something you have
"won," it is a scam.
------------------------------------------------------
URBAN LEGENDS #2 AND #3 -- THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION
------------------------------------------------------
There are two "new" urban legends floating around the Net that target
United States veterans. The first message says that veterans will
permanently lose their benefits if they don't register at a local
veterans medical center by October first. The story is an simply not
true. According to the US Veterans Administration
VA is required by law to establish an enrollment system for
health-care services to be in place by Oct. 1, 1998. While
veterans must be enrolled to receive care, it does not mean that
veterans who have not applied for enrollment by that date will
lose their eligibility for VA health care. Veterans can apply and
be enrolled at the time they are in need of VA health care.
Veterans who have received VA health-care services since Oct. 1,
1996, will have an application processed automatically on their
behalf.
US veterans can find out more about this by visiting the VA's super-
confusing "The Facts About Enrollment for VA Health Care" page at
http://www.va.gov/pubaff/enroll.htm
or by visiting the VA's much-easier-to-understand "VA Clarifies Rules
For Health-Care Enrollment" press release at
http://www.va.gov/pressrel/enroll98.htm
If I were you, I'd visit the latter (that's where I nabbed the quote
from). :)
The second veterans hoax says that
Congress recently passed a bill that entitles veterans to a
dividend on GI insurance (SGLI) which military personnel held
while in the service. Any current or former military service man
or woman is entitled to this dividend regardless of whether they
still carry the insurance.
The Veterans Administration will not be reviewing each case
individually to determine eligibility ... [stuff deleted] ... If
you think you are eligible, you must apply for the dividend.
The message goes on to say that to apply for your dividend you must
send your name, address, GI number, and branch of service to a post
office box in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, this too is a hoax ...
FROM THE VIETNAM ERA!!
Here's the real story: in 1950, the Department of Veterans
Affairs' predecessor, the Veterans Administration, did pay
dividends to the World War II veterans who held the World War II
version of the current Servicemens' Group Life Insurance plan. In
1965, the 1950 announcements inadvertently reappeared and were
published in a few newspapers, and the story has going around
ever since although as time progressed the scope of the of the
supposed dividend was enlarged to encompass all veterans.
Alas, even the original dividend program has been done away with
(by act of Congress in 1970) and the current life insurance plans
only rarely pay dividends to veterans but only to veterans who
kept their policies in force after leaving the military, and
those payments are made automatically.
Special thanks goes to David Emery at the Mining Company for debunking
this urban legend. You can find David's complete article on this hoax
(including the above quote) at
http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa050698.htm
While you are at it, you really should check out David's main page at
http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/
Hands down, David runs one of the best urban legends sites on the Net
(even though he looks like David Copperfield).
----------------------------
THE NEW NETSQUIRREL.COM SITE
----------------------------
I am happy to announce that my Web site
http://netsquirrel.com/
has been completely redesigned! I changed the site's look by dumping
a LOT of graphics (including the infamous "skunk"), so the pages
should load pretty quickly now (my main page, including graphics, is
under 10K).
I am also happy to announce that _ALL_ of my Web pages now reside on
my new site, including:
- Information about the Atlas workshop;
- Every lesson from my Roadmap96 workshop;
- A searchable archive of every Advanced HTML (ADV-HTML) mailing
list post since October 1995;
- My "personal" pages, including a copy of my bookmarks file, my
resume, and even a picture of yours truly; and
- A COMPLETELY UPDATED "SOUTHERN WORD" PAGE (FINALLY)!
By the way, the new "official" address for the Southern Word homepage
is
http://netsquirrel.com/crispen/word.html
The page is kind of big (51.86 K), but it contains every Southern Word
we have used over the past three years (as of 30 April 1998).
--------------------------
THE TUDOR ENGLAND HOMEPAGE
--------------------------
By now, you should know that both my dad and I have been using the
Internet for years. Well, I am happy to announce that my mom has
taken her first steps onto the Information Superhighway. You can see
her new Web site at
http://hiwaay.net/~crispen/tudor/index.html
What's unique about my mother's first Web site is it actually contains
some _CONTENT_ (each of her Web pages discusses a particular aspect of
Tudor England). My mother's Tudor Menu is still a work in progress,
but the 8 pages she has completed are absolutely amazing:
- The Tudor Family Tree
- Tudor Chronology
- The Arts in Tudor England
- The Six Wives of Henry VIII
- Tudor Heraldry
- Cause of Death of Henry VIII
- The Music of Henry VIII
- The Duke of Norfolk Worship Page
One word of warning: most of these pages are pretty graphics-intensive
(it is kind of hard to show Tudor Heraldry without using a bunch of
graphics). If you have a slow Internet connection, it may take a little
while for these pages to load. Trust me, it is worth the wait.
(And I am not just saying this because these pages were created by my
mom).
I also have to tell you that I disagree with my mom on the cause of
death of Henry VIII. I think he died from a combination of Ebola and
rabid squirrels. My mom thinks ... well, I'll let you visit my mom's
"Cause of Death of Henry VIII" page to discover what my mom thinks.
I have a favor to ask of you. If you know anyone who might be
interested in Tudor England (literature or history teachers, history
buffs, etc.), give them the address of my mom's new Web site. You can
even forward them a copy of today's TOURBUS post if you like. :)
That's it for this week. Have a safe and happy weekend, and watch out
for squirrels!
--------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE DAY
--------------------------------
MAYTER (noun). A red vegetable used in ketchup.
Usage: "I'm hungry. Git me a mayter sandwich!"
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
---------------------------------------------------------------------
=====================[ TOURBUS Rider Information ]===================
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
=====================================================================
.~~~. ))
(\__/) .' ) )) Patrick Douglas Crispen
/o o \/ .~
{o_, \ { **NEW** crispen@netsquirrel.com **NEW**
/ , , ) \ http://www.netsquirrel.com/
`~ '-' \ } ))
_( ( )_.' Warning: squirrels.
'---..{____}
