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30 - November 2000
Virus
won't let victims get help!
A computer virus that's smart enough
to block its victims from getting help is steadily spreading
around the Internet.
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Today's MailBits
Are there any living creatures that never die?
Because there's no justice in the world, I'm sure that
my next-door neighbor, who plays his stereo at 2 a.m., will
end up in this category. Beyond him, science offers slim
pickens' when it comes to immortality.
In fact we've got just two kinds of candidates -- sort
of. Theoretically, some one-celled animals divide
indefinitely and thus maintain their biological integrity.
But scientists have not counted any such activity much beyond
10,000 generations, just about the point where the brain
cells of the scientists themselves give up the ghost.
Then there's the hydra, an aquatic creature with a
clever trick. It regenerates, replacing its cells with fresh
ones that it grows about every month or so. There's no end
to it. That's more comebacks than Richard Nixon or Bill
Clinton could ever claim.
(Source: Martin M. Goldwyn, HOW A FLY WALKS UPSIDE DOWN)
Home
2
9 - November 2000
The quiz of the math teacher:
Fred, in 2 years, will be twice as old
as he was five years ago.
How old is Fred?
Fred is :
My name is:
My email is:
My age is:
Quote
Makes you think:
People will judge you by your actions,
not your intentions.
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Volleyball !
Volleyball was invented at a Holyoke YMCA in 1895.
In 1895, William G. Morgan, an instructor there, decided to blend elements of
basketball, baseball, tennis, and handball
to create a game for his classes of businessmen which would demand less physical contact than basketball.
He created the game of Volleyball
(at that time called mintonette).
Morgan borrowed the net from tennis,
and raised it 6 feet 6 inches above the floor,
just above the average man's head.
During a demonstration game, someone remarked to Morgan that the players seemed to be volleying the ball back and forth over the net,
and perhaps "volleyball" would be a more descriptive name for the sport.
Thus, on July 7, 1896 at Springfield College
the first game of volleyball was played.
The players had to wait until 1900 for a unique ball for the sport.
Home
2
8 - November 2000Worrying about people who give you a cookie?
and somehow track you ...
A little clarification here.
First, I leave cookies on and do not worry about them.
If some company wants to track me, let
them, as I have nothing to hide. And they can't really track me in any meaningful
way. I am a developer and I visit a lot of sites to solve problems - mix this with
my normal surfing, and the surfing of others (2 sons with completely different interests
from me and each other) using my machine and what have you got?? a big mess that tells
nothing about me as an individual.
But people can and do give you a cookie so they can track your computer (not you) more
easily. The same cannot be done with the IP address for anyone who dials in since
the IP address of the individual will be different each time.
While the owners of various sites may not be interested, many of the companies that
display banner ads on these sites (like LinkExchange) are very interested. They can
associate a cookie with the banner image that is displayed from their server. This
cookie is not being set by the site that presents the page, but is set by the site that
presents the banner. Now each time a page is encountered that contains a banner ad
displayed from the same source, the ad site can check that cookie and use it to track your
computer - not really track because they can only find out which sites you visit if those
sites display their banners. But the information thus obtained can go a long way in
helping them determine which ads they should display (since they can determine what ads
you have seen and which of those you may have clicked on).
BUT: they are not really interested in you as an individual. After all, you may have
more than one person using your computer (3 different people use mine), so any information
collected does not tell anything about an individual. What they are interested in is
figuring out which ads to display to get, on average, the best response (click-through)
from your computer because that is how they make their money.
Tom Aman
Aman Software
http://www.cyberspyder.com/
Home
27 - November 2000
Archive!
A person can live without food for
about a month,
but only about a week without water.
If the amount of water in your body is reduced by just 1%, you'll feel thirsty.
If it's reduced by 10%,
you'll die.
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What's new in the world
The first locomotive achieved a speed of 8 km/h (5 mph).
New trains travel 500 km/h (300 mph).
Or try 900 km/h (560 mph) in the
new Airbus double-decker airliner.
Not enough?
Then head to a spaceport soon near you,
and take your seat in the new Venture Star.
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Four New Fathers
Four expectant fathers are in a Minneapolis hospital waiting room while their wives were in labor.
The nurse comes in and tells the first man, "Congratulations, you're the father of twins."
"What a coincidence," the man exclaims. "I work for the Minnesota Twins baseball team."
The nurse returns a short while later and tells the second man, "You are the father of triplets."
"Wow, what a coincidence," he replies. "I work for the 3M Corporation."
When the nurse comes again, she tells the third man that his wife has given birth to quadruplets.
"Another coincidence. I work for the Four Seasons Hotel."
At this point, the fourth guy faints. When he comes to, the others ask what's wrong.
"What's wrong? I work for Seven-U
Home
09 November 2000
Little Johnny
Little Johnny watched, fascinated, as his mother gently rubbed cold cream on her face.
"Why are you rubbing cold cream on you face, Mommy?" he asked.
"To make myself beautiful," said his mother.
A few minutes later, she began removing the cream with a tissue.
"What's the matter?" asked Little Johnny. "Giving up?"
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TODAY'S UPLIFTING STORY
Last week, scientists with NASA's Near-Earth Objects Program Office
at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the International Astronomical
Union announced there was a 1-in-500 chance that an object could hit
the Earth in 2030.
But Monday, they said additional observations improved predictions
of the object's path and suggest it will pass no closer to the Earth
than 2.7 million miles on that date -- 11 times the distance from the
Earth to the moon.
The object - known as SG344 - is either a small asteroid about 200
feet in diameter or a spent Apollo-era rocket booster.
ArcaMax Weird News http://www.arcamax.com
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Who invented sunglasses?
The Answer:
It was definitely not some Hollywood movie star. But
shades of Tinsel Town, the first sunglasses - there was no
single inventor -- were used to hide behind.
Fifteenth century Chinese judges didn't worry about
being recognized. But they did care, in the interests of
being even-handed, about hiding their reaction to trial
testimony. They didn't want people to follow their eye
movements so they wore smoked-tinted quartz spectacles to
conceal them.
Our modern, widespread use of sunglasses to keep out
the glare, however, stems largely from pilots in the 1930s,
who began to wear them to shield their eyes from the sun.
Civilians quickly emulated the aviators. Some even adopted
sunglasses for fashion as well as protection, hoping to make
their social life take off.
Source:
EXTRAORDINARY ORIGINS OF EVERYDAY THINGS
by Charles Panati.
Home
10 November 2000
Dear Dad, $chool i$ really great. I am
making lot$ of friend$, and $tudying very hard. With all my $tuff, I $imply can't think of
anything I need. $o you can ju$t $end me a card, a$ I would love to hear from you.
Love,Your $on
*
Dear Son, I kNOw that astroNOmy, ecoNOmics,
and oceaNOgraphy are eNOugh to keep even an hoNOr student busy. Do NOt forget that the
pursuit of kNOwledge is a NOble task. You can never study eNOugh. Love, Dad
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Today's MailBits.com Trivia Question:
How is "plastic" used in plastic surgery?
It isn't - unless you're counting silicone, the
plastic-like implant that some women have used to make themselves, shall we say, more
forward-looking. The term plastic surgery derives from the ancient Greek word
plastikos, which meant to shape and mold. A plastic surgeon does exactly that,
nudging noses back onto the straight and narrow, tucking tummies and diverting deviating
derrieres.
It's too bad plastic surgery can't also be used on
personalities. I'm thinking of people who never stop smiling and saying, "have
a nice day," "I feel terrific," and "that's terrific," even at
funerals. What could be more plastic? Who has a greater need to be bent back into
shape? Just a thought. (Source: THE WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA)
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FAST FACTS:
Disney World in Orlando, FL has only been closed one day
since it opened in 1971 and that was due to a hurricane in
1999. Even on that day, there was still a two hour wait for
most rides.
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Endurance
"Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck --
but, most of all, endurance."
-- James Arthur Baldwin
"Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the
one who endures that the final victory comes."
-- Buddha
Home
11 November 2000
Submitted By:
Mickey to joke4U
A high-school student came home one night rather depressed.
"What's the matter, Son?" asked his mother.
"Aw, gee," said the boy,
"It's my grades. They're all wet."
"What do you mean 'all wet?'"
"You know," he replied, "...below C-level."
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Joke of the Day
Q: How many psychiatrists does it take
to change a light bulb?
A: Only one, but the light bulb has to
want to change.
Quote of the Day
"Man is born to live,
not to prepare for life."
- Boris Pasternak, author (1890-1960).
Born Today
- Actor Albert Hall is 63.
- Lyricist Tim Rice is 56.
- Actress Alaina Reed-Hall is 54.
- Rock singer-musician Greg Lake
(Emerson, Lake and Palmer) is 52.
- Actress-dancer Ann Reinking is 51.
- Actor Jack Scalia is 49.
Source: Associated Press (www.infobeat.com)
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NASA's
Hubble Space Telescope has imaged a 'nearby' neutron star. Forged in a
stellar explosion that was visible to our ancestors in 1 million B.C., this interstellar
interloper is the closest neutron star to Earth ever seen--200 light years away--according
to Hubble researchers. Astronomers expect it to swing by our planet at a safe distance in
about 300,000 years. A neutron star made up of the remnants left behind after a supernova
explosion, as the material at the core collapses into a dense mass of neutrons.
The star has the mass of the sun packed into an area about 12 miles in diameter--the size of Manhattan Island.
( Full Story)
1
2 November 2000
Marriage Counseling
Submitted By:
Jen
A husband and wife were at a party
chatting with some friends when the subject
of marriage counseling came up.
"Oh, we'll never need that.
My husband and I have a great relationship,"
the wife explained. "He was
a communications major in college, and
I majored in theater arts.
He communicates really well,
and I just act like I'm listening."
Jokes4U
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1
3 November 2000
An American businessman goes to Japan on a business trip, but he hates Japanese food, so he asks the concierge at his hotel if there's any place around where he can get American food. The concierge tells him he's in luck; there's a pizza place that just opened, and they deliver. The concierge gives the businessman the phone number, and he goes back to his room and orders a pizza. Thirty minutes later, the delivery guy shows up to the door with the pizza. The businessman takes the pizza, and starts sneezing uncontrollably. He asks the delivery man, ''What the heck did you put on this pizza?'' The delivery man bows deeply and says, ''We put on the pizza what you ordered, pepper only.''
- - - - - -
Q: If a blonde and a brunette jump off a building, who hits the ground first?
A: The brunette. The blonde has to stop to ask for directions.
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12, full moon
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Leotard
1859:
Jules Leotard Performed First Flying Trapeze Act
At the Cirque Napoleon in Paris,
French acrobat Jules Leotard dazzled the audience
with the first flying trapeze act.
He leapt from a platform, swung out holding a trapeze bar, released the bar to float unsupported through the air
for about 15 feet, then reached out
to grab another trapeze bar as it swung towards him.
Leotard's daring feat revolutionized acrobatics and circus performance, and also had a lasting impact on fashion.
He was wearing an outfit of his own design:
a body-hugging suit of knitted jersey.
The
garment is now
known as a leotard.
Copyright © 2000 The Learning Kingdom, Inc.
1
4 November 2000
CNN:City
in Space
A CNN special featuring news, images, and the
latest on International Space Station progress. . .
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/space/station/
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MORNING STIFFNESS
It was 5 o'clock in the morning at the U.S. Marine boot camp, well
below freezing, and the soldiers were asleep in their barracks. The drill sergeant walks
in and bellows, "This is a birthday suit inspection. I wanna see ya'll formed up
outside butt naked now!"
So, the soldier's quickly jumped out of bed, naked and shivering, and ran outside to form
up in their three ranks. The Sarge walked out and yells, "Close up the ranks,
conserve your body heat!" So they close in slightly.
The captain comes along with his swagger stick. He goes to the first soldier and whacks
him right across the chest with it..
"Did that hurt?" he yells.
"No, Sir!" came the reply.
"Why not?"
"Because I'm a U.S. Marine, Sir!"
The captain is impressed, and walks on to the next man. He takes the stick and whacks the
soldier right across the rear.
"Did That hurt?"
"No, Sir!"
"Why not?"
"Because I'm a U.S. Marine, Sir!"
Still extremely impressed, the captain walks to the third guy, and sees he has an enormous
erection. Naturally, he gave his target a huge WHACK with the swagger stick..
"Did that hurt?"
"No, Sir!"
"Why not?"
"Because it belongs to the guy behind me, Sir!"
Home
1
5 November 2000
Chinese Proverb - MyFree.Com's Quote Of The Day -
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A minute of your time,
to locate the space shuttle!
Click here for the Java Applet
for real-time tracking of the space shuttle
-- Java applet provided by Atlantic Space Alliance
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Our capital: Beirut, Lebanon.
Latitude 33.8167 (deg)
Longitude 35.4833 (deg)
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I - the Sun;
II - the nine planets,
The inner solar system contains
1- Mercury,
2- Venus,
3- Earth
4- Mars.
The planets of the outer solar system are
5- Jupiter,
6- Saturn,
7- Uranus,
8- Neptune,
9- Pluto.
III - sixty eight (68) satellites of the planets,
IV - a large number of small bodies (the comets and asteroids),
V - and the interplanetary medium.
Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 by
William A. Arnett; last updated: 2000 Nov 1
Home
1
6 November 2000
DEARLY
DEVOTED
A devoted wife had spent her lifetime
taking care of her husband
Now he had been slipping in and out of a coma
for several months, yet she stayed by his bedside
every
single day.
When he came to senses,
he
motioned for her to come near him.
As she sat by him, he said, "You know what?
You have been with me all through the bad times.
When I got fired, you were there to support me.
When my business failed, you were there.
When I got shot, you were by my side.
When we lost the house, you gave me support.
When my health started failing, you were still by my side.
You
know what?"
"What dear?" she asks gently.
"I think you bring me bad luck."
--Submitted by Sara (Teen-Jokes.com)
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PLAY MP3S ON YOUR CELL PHONE
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article.asp?aid=34848
Samsung and Sprint merge cell phone and MP3 player to the tune of $400.
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PIONEER UNVEILS REWRITABLE DVD
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article.asp?aid=34922
Price will plummet compared to currently available DVD-R drive, but it's still not cheap.
Why do the moon and the sun look so much larger near the horizon?
Is it a coincidence that the moon's period of rotation and revolution are identical?
Home
1
7 - 18 November 2000
Makes you think:
"No one can make you feel inferior
without your consent."
---------------------
Inspiring success:
"Only those who dare to go to far
will ever know just how far
they can go."
Copyright 2000 - MyFree.com, Inc.
How can impact craters be square?
Square craters are formed when,
the
material at the impact site is
already fractured along intersecting directions
prior to the impact.
On Earth,
one of the best examples of a square crater
is Barringer Crater in Arizona,
created when a meteorite
slammed
into the desert
50,000 years ago
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Falsifattention
False, as in phony, combined with attention.
To fake interest during a meeting, lecture or presentation.
Accomplished with occasional nodding, timely eye contact
and random note-taking.
"Thanks to my falsifattention,
the boss thinks I’m ready to handle this project,
but I didn't hear a word he said."
Copyright
© 2000 LifeMinders, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Defining Music
"I think music in itself is healing.
It's an explosive expression of humanity.
It's something we are all touched by.
No matter what
culture we're from,
everyone loves music."
Billy Joel, American singer, pianist, and songwriter
Home
1
9 November 2000
Makes you think
1 - It takes a great man to be a good listener.
Calvin Coolidge
2 - It is better to light one small candle
than to curse the darkness.
Eleanor Roosevelt
At the pearly gates !
A lady dies and goes to heaven.
She arrives at the pearly gates and is greeted by Saint Peter.
There are a few people waiting,
so she strikes up a conversation with him.
Just then, she hears a blood curdling scream!
"What was that?" she asks.
"Oh, it's nothing," says St. Peter,
"It's just someone getting a hole drilled in their head
so they can be fitted for their halo."
A few seconds later, she hears another agonized scream,
this one even more terrible than the one before.
"What was that?" she asked anxiously.
"Oh, don't worry," says Saint Peter soothingly,
"Someone's getting holes drilled in their back
so they can be fitted for their wings."
The lady starts to back away.
"Where are you going?" asks St. Peter.
"I think I'll go down to Hell, if it's all the same to you," says the lady.
"But you can't go there," says the saint,
"You'll be raped and sodomized!"
"It's okay," says the lady,
"I've already got the holes for that."
from : www.collegejokes.com
Home
20-21 November 2000
Makes you think:
Never insult the alligator till after you've crossed the river.
Copyright 2000 - MyFree.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
------------------------------
Traveling In New Zealand
Submitted By:
Allinfun
There was an elderly couple from Iowa visiting New Zealand on vacation a few years ago. They rented a car and decided to tour the Nth. Island. No sooner had they reached the countryside when Mother, who was the driverand was hard of hearing, was pulled over by a traffic cop for speeding.
The traffic cop did the twirly thing with his fingers to wind down the window, which she did.
The cop said to her, "Madam, you were doing over the legal speed limit."
She said to her husband, "What did he say?" Her husband shouted, "He said you were speeding." She said to the cop, "I'm sorry officer," to which the officer replied, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to issue you with a speeding ticket." She said to her husband, "What did he say?" He shouted back, "He said he's going to cite you for speeding."
By this time the cop had become aware of her hearing problem, and as he was writing out the ticket, he asked, "Where are you from?" She said to her husband, "What did he say?" and he yelled back, "He wants to know where you're from." She said to the cop, "I'm from the United States of America." The cop then muttered to himself, "I went there once and had the worst sex I'd ever had in my life." She said to her husband (You guessed it) "What did he say?" to which he replied in a very loud voice, "HE SAID HE THINKS HE KNOWS YOU!"
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Who invented bifocals?
It could be said that American pioneer
Benjamin Franklin
did, along with many other things. Anyone looking at a list
of Benjamin Franklin's inventions would see a man of many
talents and interests. Indeed, it was the scientist in
Franklin that brought out the inventor - his natural
curiosity about things and the way they work made him try to
find ways to make them work better. For example, Franklin
had poor vision and needed glasses to read. He got tired of
constantly taking them off and putting them back on, so he
decided to figure out a way to make his glasses let him see
both near and far. He had two pairs of spectacles cut in
half and put half of each lens in a single frame. Today, we
call these types of glasses bifocals. Although he did make
many important discoveries and advancements, Ben did not
"invent" electricity. He did, however, invent the lightning
rod which protected buildings and ships from lightning
damage.
Home
22 - 23 November 2000
Makes you think:
Never insult the alligator till after you've crossed the river.
Copyright 2000 - MyFree.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
"If you're not failing every now and again,
it's a sign you're not
doing anything very innovative."
-- Woody Allen, US screenwriter, actor,
director
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THINGS WE DON'T UNDERSTAND
Italian researchers say married men who cheat on
their wives make better husbands and fathers. That's according to the
daily La Repubblica newspaper, which quotes a recent study published in the Italian
journal Psychology and Communication. According to that study, the guilt the adulterous
men experienced drove them to devote more time to their families and to pay closer
attention to their personal appearance and hygiene. The study involved
400 married men -- more than half of whom told researchers they had an affair out of fear
they were getting old or because the sexual side of their marriage had grown
stale. One aspect to the study asked what provoked the husbands to stray. 36
percent said their mistresses cooked more appealing meals than their wives. They
said the food had been as significant in causing their adultery as the sex.
----------------------
What country's flag is not rectangular?
The flag of Nepal is shaped like two fused triangles,
one above the other. Both triangles have a red background with a blue border. The top triangle contains a white moon and star, and the bottom one, contains a white sun. Nepal is a small country in the high Himalayas, between China and India.
The two triangles represent the two
rival branches of the Rana dynasty
that once ruled the country.
The moon represents the royal house,
while the sun stands for one branch of the Rana family.
The pennant became the official flag in 1962
when the government adopted
a constitution.
"Flag courtesy of www.theodora.com/flags used with permission"
Home
24 - 25 November 2000
Keeping track of space junk
There are at least 9,000 pieces of space junk floating in orbit around the earth,
including several satellites, a screwdriver and a space glove.
By Bob Sullivan.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/493305.asp
------------------------------
Nokia unveils color version of phone-organizer
November 21, 2000, 12:25 p.m. PT
Nokia on Tuesday showed off an updated wireless gadget that looks like a cell phone on the outside but opens up into a handheld computer with a full keyboard for accessing the Web and email.
Nokia's dual-band 9210 Communicator, which supports 4,096 colors, is a new version of its 9110 model.
Support for several PC office applications makes it possible to create Microsoft Word and Excel documents and view PowerPoint slides.
The 9210 boasts high-speed data transfer at 43.2 kbps (kilobits per second). This compares with the 14.4 kbps limit of the black-and-white screen 9110.
The new device, which includes Symbian's EPOC operating system and Java support, offers 10 hours of talking time and 230 hours of standby.
Nokia expects to launch the pocket-sized device during the first half of 2001. The company did not release the price tag.
Swedish rival Ericsson has already entered the cell phone and handheld computer business with the R380.
The device is already for sale in Europe and will be launched in the United States in December. It will cost just under $700.
Singapore.CNET.com's Priscilla Wong reported from Singapore.
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COMPUTERS: THE NEXT GENERATION
Sony and Microsoft have competing ideas
for what the next wave of computers will be like.
Sony's new Airboard tablet computer has a base station and a screen that can be detached.
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
Home
26 - November 2000
- Inspiring success:
You cannot discover new worlds unless you are
sometimes willing to
lose site of the shore
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Mari Matsunaga, creator of 'i-mode,' the Net-connecting mobile phone that's winning praise as the biggest hit out of Japan since the Walkman, displays her own mobile phone.
Net phone creator says
keep technology simple
Responsible for biggest hit since the
Walkman
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOKYO, Nov. 24 —
Before telecommunications powerhouse NTT DoCoMo recruited her, Mari Matsunaga had barely used a personal computer and was convinced people who chattered on cell phones were rude.
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Today's MailBits.com Trivia Question
What bird has the longest migration path?
You think that you're keen on piling up those frequent
flyer miles?
Consider the Arctic Tern.
When it flies south
it covers almost the distance
from the North to the South Pole,
11,000 miles in all.
This 17-inch winged wonder flies further than any of
its fine-feathered friends. It's habitat ranges from New
England well into the Arctic Ocean, from which it migrates
south in August. After spending part of the winter in
Antarctica it does the Tern-around, flying the 11,000 miles
back to its home, arriving in June.
Do you suppose it's ever occurred to this birdbrain
that it gains nothing by flying from one cold place to
another cold place for the winter? Who's its travel agent?
(Source: HOW A FLY WALKS UPSIDE DOWN by Martin M. Goldwyn)
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