Welcome to this week's selection of Picks, where we humbly offer two small pieces of advice: 1. don't worry if your lamb chops curl, and 2. don't use your feet to navigate this page.
The first piece of advice is easy enough to understand and we'll explain it shortly, but to understand the second you'll need to read Tech Support Tales, which is exactly what it sounds like: a collection of sometimes hilarious anecdotes and jokes from the Land of Tech Support. It was in our favorite, the first issue, that we read the cautionary tale of the little foot pedal that couldn't. An exasperated customer once called her helpful hotline complaining that she couldn't turn her computer on. She'd pushed and pushed on the foot pedal, but nothing happened. You know, the little white foot pedal with the on switch? You guessed it. The one that not only resembled but actually turned out to be the mouse.
For an entirely different look at the world of computers, try Shaping Our Communities: The Impacts of Information-Technology. Provided by the Planning Commissioners Journal, the site is an impressive index of web resources that deal with the influence of telecommunications and information technology on our lives. Using a table of contents and interesting summaries, the project points to a diverse collection of online documents: from the history of Gutenberg's printing press to an introduction to ISDN, from Howard Rheingold on Virtual Communities to a look at electronic commerce. Although somewhat lacking in the field of foot pedals, Shaping Our Communities offers a worthwhile look at the direction we're taking at the close of this century.
But hey (shameless plug time), if it's more immediate directions you want, try the new and oh so cool Yahoo! Maps. Enter an address in the United States, or even just part of an address (city and state), and you'll get back... well, you'll get back a map. A nice yellow map of the address in question. You also have the option to zoom in or out of an area, or move North, South, East and West. We've had hours of fun playing with this new feature. If you've ever wondered where we are located, wonder no more, click here instead. For more of this kind of fun, consult Tommy's List of Live Cams Worldwide. Catch the view at Mawson Station, Antarctica, follow traffic patterns in the Washington, D.C. area, hang out on Bourbon Street, see the weather in Bermuda, thanks to this large collection of links to live cameras on the web.
Great news: MCI and Rock the Vote recently announced (sounds of trumpets and fanfare) that at the NetVote '96 site you can now register to vote online. Submit the necessary information and the folks at NetVote '96 take care of the rest. In a couple of weeks, you'll receive your official, completed registration application card in the mail. Read it. Sign it. Stick it back in the mail. The postage is on NetVote; they'll even address the envelope to your state elections official. No more excuses, and thank you NetVote people.
In sporting news, ESPNET SportsZone and the NFL last week unveiled their new '96 NFL Draft site, offering the latest coverage of this year's draft. Peruse through the results of each round of picks that took place this past weekend. Read about the players, teams, positions and schools, or follow the transcripts of live chats on the floor of Madison Square Garden, as the draft unfolded. Chat stars included NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, St. Louis Rams owner Georgia Frontiere and first-round picks Kevin Hardy, Marcus Jones, Jonathan Ogden and many more. And, why yes, in more sporting news, the University of Teesside Union Surf Club is now online. The club braves the cold waters off the east coast of England, mainly in Saltburn, although recently a group of ten people traveled to Cornwall, a journey of almost 450 miles each way. Is it cold in those parts? Apparently so: "This is no Baywatch!!!"
Edward Lear, the father of the limerick, was born on May 12, 1812. Now you can celebrate this fact, thanks to the First Annual Lear Limerick Contest. Find out more about limericks and the rhyming scheme they follow, then submit your own. Only, do it by May 11; winners will be announced on Lear's birthday. For more poetry, take a spin with The Taco Shop Poets, who declare that " Cappuccino and poetry are no more!" As of August last year, these "cultural guerrillas" have been taking over taco shops in San Diego, Tijuana, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose, "taking poetry to an audience not usually exposed to the spoken word." Performances consist of music, poetry, prose, storytelling and ritual. And of course burritos. The site includes bios of the group of artists, as well as links to samples of their work.
So what exactly does a person do about curled lamb chops? Try The Internet Chef, an electronic archive dedicated to the worship of food. The site includes a growing collection of all kinds of recipes, an online discussion forum, cooking links, and tips for utensils, food preparation and food repair. Here we found that if your chops are curling you should "slash the fat on the edges every half inch or so, and turn the chops over once." See how easy it is? We told you not to worry.
Finally, don't forget, Take Our Daughters to Work Day is this April 25th. Over 40 million participants are expected to be involved this year. Find out more about the day and learn how you can take part in it. There are a number of fun and worthwhile activities. Take your pick(s).