April 2003

I have added a page to my web site at www.thecomputerman.biz where you can find all of my past and present newsletters so you can refer to them at any time you wish, or tell your friends about them too....

Welcome to the Spring edition of my Tips Newsletter.
 I hope you find something in it that interests you. I try to provide informative, interesting, and some fun things for you to explore. I should mention that I check out all web sites I mention and believe they are functioning at the time I created this news letter. Perhaps at a later time when you try them they may be out of service or no longer available on the web.  Enjoy.... Jules

     If this is still a problem for you perhaps you can use this tip:

     Go to my web site at www.thecomputerman.biz. Click on the link to More Pages. Then click on the Newsletters Link. Click on the link to the newsletter you want to view and print. In the Internet Explorer menu at the top of the page click on File. Click on Print Preview. If the page looks like it is all fitting on the page width then you can safely print it. If it is not fitting on the width of the page in the preview window....you need to adjust the page margins.

    To adjust the page margins, Click on "Close" to exit the print preview screen. Once again click on File and then click on Page Setup. In the window that pops up, change the left and right margins each to "0" (zero) and the top and bottom margins to .25 each. Now go back and try the Print Preview and see if all the page is showing. If so, then it is safe to print.

     This tip is useful to try before printing any web page. By the way, this setting should remain like that when you return to Internet Explorer, so you should not have to re-set it again. Hope this helps.... 

I just wanted to pass along some helpful sites for parents, caregivers, and teachers with kids who are worried about the war in Iraq.

Mister Rogers Neighborhood has RealVideo clips of everyone's favorite neighbor talking about "Dealing with scary news" and more. http://pbskids.org/rogers/parents/war.html

There is also an article by Mister Rogers written in 1991 during Gulf War I with helpful tips for helping children during a time like this.
http://pbskids.org/rogers/parents/war-thoughts.html

Nick Jr. has information on its parenting site for soothing kids' worries.
http://www.nickjr.com/grownups/parenting/parenting_expert/kids_worries.jhtml

Sesame Street can help you talk with children during stressful times with age breakdowns up to 11 years old. There is also a reading list of books that can help start a discussion on what your child is feeling.
http://www.sesamestreet.org/parents/advice/article.php?contentId=8354163

Parenting.com can help you answer your preschooler when she asks, "What is war?"
http://www.parenting.com/parenting/experts/sears/news031303.html

Parents.com offers expert answers to urgent questions about kids and war. Some of the topics include, "How should a normally 'anti-war' parent explain the idea of violence for a justified cause?" and "What are common differences boys and girls experience in response to violence and war?"
http://www.parents.com/articles/ages_and_stages/3259.jsp

Listen to your kids and help them feel safe.

A:
Newsgroups (also known as Usenet) make up a world wide message system for discussion and instant libraries of information. If you have an interest in a certain topic, chances are it has its own newsgroup. This is an excellent use of the internet and also a great tip for those of you who love interacting with people online.

Usenet was started in 1979 at the University of North Carolina and Duke University to create a place where anyone could post messages about virtually every topic known. Eventually as the internet exploded in popularity, more and more places now host newsgroups and millions upon millions of people use them every day from all over the world.

To give you a better idea of what this is, I'll give ya a "for-instance."

Let's say you're a newbie on the internet and you'd like to know a little more about what's going on. Since there's no specific person or company that owns the internet, there's not really any official website you can go to see the latest on the net. However, you could head on over to "comp.insternet.net-happenings" and see what that group has to say (I'll show you how tomorrow, don't type that into your browser now).

Oh, if you're an expert on a topic, this is a great way to share your information with others, too.

I need to mention that since there's a newsgroup topic for virtually everything in this world, you should practice advisory measures when viewing and using newsgroups. There's some wacky stuff out there. But it's not much different than walking out your front door either. Since anyone can post, I suggest that only mature readers use newsgroups.

St. Nicholas: Discovering the Truth about Santa Claus

Just who is Santa Claus? Are St. Nicolas and Santa Claus the same person? What are the myths of Santa Clause from different parts of the world?

Are you curious? Do you need this information for a report? Well if so this is the site that will answer your questions. Delve deep into the history of the Santa Claus Myth and find out the truth. You can also find information on Santa throughout the world and how different cultures see him.

There are also sections on how to celebrate, and games for your kids. Check it out!

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=23

Spring brings "March Madness" to the Basketball lovers with the NCAA tournament. Here are a couple of animated graphics you can copy or save for you use!

Now for some interesting Web Sites:

Paper Toys

Want some free entertainment for your children, grandchildren (or for yourself...)? Well, why don’t you try paper toys?

At paper toys you can find paper toys, models, cutouts, trains, airplanes, paper party gifts, party hats, paper cars, paper motorcycles, cards, and lots more. Hours of fun paper cutting, folding, and gluing.

For example - choose Neuschwanstein Castle, print it out with the instructions, then cut and fold and glue it to your heart's content and get a pretty decent replica of the castle. Enjoy!

http://www.papertoys.com/

Hardie House

Welcome to "Hardie House: A Gallimaufry of Art, Spirit, and Illusion!" Boy, are there lots of goodies for you here. Why don’t we start on the home page?!

You will see links to the Arts, Books, Interviews, Our Town, The Word, The Last Word, and the End. Here's a description of three of those links:

Art a la Carte – take a gander at today’s art picks. These might actually get updated daily, so I’ll just tell you that I got to see Porzio's VIDEOIDS, The Murals!, and the Pixel Palace.

The Last Word – Plan your Epitaph Day! What will your last words be? What will rest on your tombstone?

The End- This is where you will find the FAQ and some other interesting sayings.

http://hardiehouse.org/

Extra Sensing Abilities of Cats

OK, you are probably reading the title of this piece and saying to yourself, “What?!?” Well, I found this interesting little article about cats...

According to this site, cats were used in World War II to predict or detect (however you choose to believe) the air bombing over the Southern coast of England. Still curious? Read this page and find out all the details for yourself. You will also find other links to interesting cat pages from this site. Enjoy, I know I did!

http://greenfield.fortunecity.com/rattler/281/abilities/abilitiesengl.html

Webster's Dictionary Online

For those of you who can’t ever find your dictionary or thesaurus, like myself, this site will prove a marvelous asset to your life. Finally, an online dictionary and thesaurus that is free and only a mouse click away!

Use their handy search engine to look up the word you need defined. Then click "Look It Up" and you get not only the first definition, but other tenses of the word - just like a hard copy of a dictionary. Hope you enjoy this handy site!

http://www.m-w.com/home.htm

Epicurious

Yeah I know, right now you’re wondering what the heck a site with the name of Epicurious is about. Well, why don’t I just tell you about it...

It’s all about food, baby! And surfing this site made me hungry.

What did I love about this site? Well other than the fantastic content, it has a fabulous and easy navigation system. Just scroll over the words on the top and then down to the topic you’d like to check out.

You can choose from Home, Eat, Drink, Learn, Shop, Recipes, Restaurants, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, TV, and Forums. Hours of exploration and fabulous food fun, get hungry and enjoy!

http://eat.epicurious.com/

It’s getting to be winter and that means the holidays are coming and you have to find someone to watch Fido and Fluffy while you visit Aunt Betty for Christmas. Well why not include the entire family? Find out where your pet is welcome before you travel and take them with you.

Choose "Listings" and you’ll find a lot of different choices in the US, Canada, and abroad as well as Ski Resorts, Emergency Vets, Bed and Breakfasts, Cabins and Cottages, Amusement Parks, and many other places that are pet friendly. Choose one of these options and then search by state.

This site is definitely a welcome addition to your travel plans. Enjoy!

http://www.petswelcome.com/

Sounds absolutely unappetizing, but according to this site you’ve probably “inadvertently consumed over a pound of insects in your lifetime.” So why not find out which ones are actually good for you!

You’ll find recipes on this site as well as instructions on preparing and making food out of insects. You can even learn how to raise your own insects for eating on this site. Let me tell you this one will not only gross you out, but fascinate you at the same time.

http://www.eatbug.com/

This site is touted to be an “experiment in language and interface” and a thesaurus that is “both an artistic exploration and a tool to explore, study, and analyze the structure of language.” By far one of the nicest visual online thesauruses.

Take the guided tour provided by the site to fully grasp the uses of this thesaurus. It spider webs out from the word you’ve provided, making it easier to see other words and making it more interesting then reading an entry in some musty old book.

Get visual and check out this thesaurus!

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/index.jsp

1. www.overstock.com  - Brand name merchandise at bargain prices

2. www.smartbargains.com  - Special prices and sales on all types of merchandise

3. www.dealtime.com  - Shopping web site where you can compare prices on merchandise

Don't spend all your money in one place....

Need to know how much something is but the price is in a foreign currency? Planning an international vacation and need to know how much cash to take? Well, never fear - just click on this link and convert it. Enter the amount, choose the type of currency, and then select the currency that you need it converted into.

For example, on December 11, 2002, $1.00 USA dollars was 1.56 Canadian Dollars (CAD) or 0.99 Euro Dollars (EUR).

Remember, values change several times a day so keep checking before you head across the border! Have fun with this easy way to convert your currency.

http://www.xe.com/ucc/

This is a site for those of you who enjoy oldies music. At least 1900 full length, real audio songs for your listening pleasure. You can even get Christmas music here! Your choices are Classic Christmas, Country Christmas, and Doo Wop Christmas.

Or you can surf through the rest of the music where your choices are lot larger:

• Oldies Diner
• Oldies Mix
• Oldies Café
• Doo Wop
• Beach Music
• Swing
• Disco Fever
• Instrumental
• Country
• Reggae
• And many more!

I hope you enjoy this site!

http://www.hhdarma.addr.com/index.html

Traveling this year? Want to check out some tourist attractions while your visiting with your family? Well then you should visit this site, it boasts that it is “your online guide to offbeat tourist attractions.”

Better yet, are you curious what kinds of places are in your area that you can visit with your kids, or make a day trip to when you need to vacation and get out of the house after a stressful work week. Well, check out locations near you with this site.

Check out the Hyper-tours for some online fun without ever leaving home. Enjoy this site, or you’ll have to buy a cheese hat.

 http://www.roadsideamerica.com/

Space

Welcome to Space.com the perfect site for all you space nuts out there. Do you want up to date space news and odd stories, well you'll find them at this site.

Spaceflight — get up to date news on worldwide space launches, and view mission archives as well.

Spaceviews — View image galleries, get wallpaper and screen savers, and use the universal viewer.

A space site that is beautifully put together. Enjoy.

http://www.space.com/

http://www.flustar.com

The Artchive

Like fine art? Well if you do this site has it, and it's free. You can find everything from tribalism to modernism here, and all the good stuff in between like expressionism and romanticism. They even have a section of just women artists. You can take a tour or stroll through only the sections you like.

Perfect for school reports, or just if your trying to find a picture you like. This is art-tastic. There is a theory and criticism section and much, much more, check it out.

http://www.artchive.com/

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

This is the official web site of the late, great Mister Rogers who passed on to a "better neighborhood" last week (+2/26/2003).

You can take a virtual tour of his house, visit the Neighborhood of Make-believe, or sing along to his songs in RealAudio. Play games and get activity ideas, or read many inspirational quotes from his neighborliness, such as this one, "People have said 'Don't cry' to other people for years and years, and all it has ever meant is 'I'm too uncomfortable when you show your feelings: Don't cry.' I'd rather have them say, 'Go ahead and cry. I'm here to be with you.'

There are even resources for parents and teachers, including a special link to help discuss the death of America's favorite neighbor with children.

So, put on your cardigan, change your shoes, and head on over.

http://pbskids.org/rogers/

Stafanki

You're going to love this site brought to you by John-Paul Gouett. You can listen to news, comedy, talk shows, and discussion programs from all over the globe. From cultural updates and information on the war in Iraq, the latest comedy and free speech you're going to enjoy just listening.
What's even better is that they have programs archived so if you're looking for a specific program you may still be able to catch it. This is a live stream blessing, in this world where old news is lost and forgotten.Enjoy!

http://www.stafanki.com

Now For Some Fun and Games:

Hangaroo

How about a little bit more fun this week with Hangaroo? The Hangman game with the kangaroo. I know you’ve played Hangman before, but have you played it with a kangaroo?

This Hangman game even has neat subjects like - Movie Titles, Popular Quotes, etc. And the animated Kangaroo is a cutie! So, get busy, guess some letters, and save that kangaroo. Oh, and you can play a sliding puzzle while you wait for the game to load.

*No kangaroos were harmed in the making, playing, or viewing of this game.

http://www.humorhaus.com/hh148-ea.htm

Yup, you read that right... When you arrive at this site, let the arrow line up so that you get a strike, and then use your spacebar to bowl.

The goal is to squash as many cats as you can. You only have ten frames. (I was never meant to bowl in any type of bowling 'cause I still got gutter balls.)

Also, FYI, no cats were harmed in the making and bowling of this game. (Our cat Miranda did not object at all)

http://www.bravoz.com/cat/

Would life be fun without some games? Another entertaining and free game site for your enjoyment.

You have to register and give them a password, but as soon as that’s finished you can log in and get to those games. 

The nice thing about this games site is that the How to Play is a nice text section you can read before you even begin the game. So relax, sign up and start playing games today. I’m off to play some Poppit!

http://www.pogo.com/

This site is soooo neat! You can create wire frame models that move and walk. You can spend hours here just constructing and deconstructing little wire guys!

Once you create a wire frame model (it’s a good idea to read the how to build your own section), you can save them, send them to the site, and they’ll put them in the SodaZoo.

Check out the SodaZoo to see what other constructions have been made, or you can check out their main page and the neat little wire guys that the site has already made. This one is super spiffy. So try your hand at it and enjoy!

http://www.sodaplay.com/constructor/

This site has nothing to do with brightly colored edible eggs and everything to do with those little surprises that are programmed into software that you use on the computer. Their definition of an Easter egg is “any amusing tidbit that creators hid in their creations. They could be in computer software, movies, music, art, books, or even your watch. There are thousands of them, and they can be quite entertaining, if you know where to look.”

This site is an archive of different Easter eggs. I checked out their top 25 and was greatly surprised at some of them. I’d never even think to do some of things to find these critters. Ready to start your Easter egg hunt?

http://www.eeggs.com/

This is a fun-filled site for those of you who love caves. Virtually visit caves from all over the world from this site. You can visit Solution Caves, Lava Tube Caves, Sea Caves, and Erosional Caves.

Choose a section and then read the information, scroll down and then you can choose different items off the list – like some of the things that grow in caves. Look inside these caves and have a virtual experience. You can even look at a list of caves that you could visit on your road trips. Have fun!

http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave/

This is one game that has seen a lot of me today. Do you like picture games? Well, this is a fun one. This is a test of your vision. Can you figure out what the difference between the two pictures is?

There are six different pictures and some of them are really hard. You have 45 seconds to find all the discrepancies. Click on the spot that’s different and it gets circled. Find all the differences and move on to the next picture. But, if you click on something that’s the same in both pictures you loose time and before you know it, boom baby, game over! Enjoy!

http://www.lilgames.com/snapshotz.shtml

Are you in the mood to take some online tests? If so, here’s a site you’ll most likely enjoy. There are nine quizzes. Just click on the quiz you want to take and click on the answers you like and then it will tabulate which grouping for that test that you fall into.
Are you curious as to what kind of tests there are and just what you can find out about yourself in them? Well I’ll tell you about two of them:

The Sea Critters – This short quiz will let you discover what kind of sea critter you are. (I was a dolphin.)

The Natural Wonders – See which of the natural wonders of the earth you are. This one had several questions and I found out I was a Tropical Rainforest.
Enjoy!

http://www.zenhex.com/tests/

Can you see through these optical illusions? Can you tell what is real and what your mind is imagining? Go through these optical illusions and see if you past the test.

A well-rounded collection of optical illusions from all over the world for you, including the ever-famous old lady/young woman picture! I challenge you try the optical illusions for yourself. Have fun!

http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Port/2701/illusions.htm

http://cybersurfari.com/

Be your own "Choir Director" at this web site. Click on the "choir members" when you want them to sing.

http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.swf

Can you make this cow land on the bullseye? Can you take the farmers flak if you don’t succeed? Are you willing to give cow flinging a try? Good. Then get ready to toss your cow.

You can play the classic version or the flash version. If you have flash I suggest that option since it's neater. The old classic version is a little harder too and lacks the fun of the farmer heckling you.

My best score is 145 in the classic version and 300 in the flash.

No cows were harmed in the making or flinging in this game.

http://www.flingthecow.com/flash/

Are you a pool player? Don’t have time to get down to the pool hall or game room? Well here’s a way to get your cue fix - play 3d pool. You have a choice between screen sizes of 600X800, 1024X768, and 1280X1224.

Make your choice of screen size and then be ready to rack up those balls. You get to play both players so you win either way. Or you can play with someone else, hot seat as they call it, and have a free pool tournament from the convenience of your own home.

http://www.play3dpool.com/

What’s more fun than free games? Why Phat Phish free games, of course.

What games will you find here? Battleship, Asteroids, Fishin’, Snakepit, Word Search, Phat Chex, and more!

You don’t need to download anything to play these; you computer just needs to be enabled to use JavaScript. They recommend at least Internet Explorer 4 or Netscape 3 or higher. Each game is very simple and usually easy to play and enjoy. My favorite is Battleship.

Enjoy your Phish!

http://phatphish.com/games/

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