NetBloke.com - Tornado Terror
Publication Date: 6th September 2001
ISSN 1445-1360
Publication Date: 6th September 2001
ISSN 1445-1360
G'day!
I would like to thank all the Iowans and others that welcomed me to the state! It sure is a friendly place. It looks like I will get to meet a few of you at Gnomedex, where I will be helping out my friends at Lockergnome.
We are gradually settling in here, and besides finding out that the house had three gas leaks (which were just fixed) the house is turning out to be a nice home. We aren't living out of too many boxes and my office is now free of them all together!
Well as I write this there is this annoying siren blasting. Karissa just turned on the television and it appears it is a tornado. Well I suppose I better take shelter. I am glad they fixed those gas leaks otherwise we would be sheltering in a time bomb!
Hey that was a lot of hooting and hollering over nothing. Appears they get warnings here all the time but the actual tornados only hit the towns up north. So my wish to be the first human to achieve unassisted flight won't be granted today. At least I will live to finish this issue and load it up on the net for all to see!
Talking about terrors, does anyone want to buy a two and a half year old girl? Actually if you are the bargaining type you could probably beat me down and get her for free. I think I might have to do a parenting issue of NetBloke sometime soon.
This week I have thrown together some of your favorite Web sites in the Question and Answer section. Remember everyone that I love to hear from you with your suggestions for other issues of NetBloke. If you think there is a theme I could run with for an issue please let me know, it is as simple as emailing me!
So until next week seeya later!
Nathan Allan
I don't know about the rest of you, but as I grew up everyone in the household wanted to know what the weather was going to be like. And now with my own family the question still remains - what's the weather going to be like today? Well if you are connected to the Internet you can quickly access this information and have an accurate answer. You will probably find that your local television or radio station will have it on their web site. The ones here in Iowa even have Doppler radar live, which shows you where the weather is and what way it is going. Other sites even allow you to subscribe to a daily newsletter that contains the day's weather information.
Now isn't that a lot cheaper, quicker and more convenient than waiting for the television news to come on or to search for the newspaper (which won't be as up to date anyway)?
Quite a few people wrote in and asked what I meant by the term bot, as in "bot off my friends"
In particular Nigel Ryan wrote in and gave me the Australian Macquarie Dictionary definition which is:
BOT/ noun 1. an insect larva infecting the skin, sinuses, nose, eye, stomach, or other parts of animals or humans. 2. Australian, NZ Colloquial a person who cadges persistently.
--verb (botted; botting) --verb (t), verb (i) 3. Australian, NZ Colloquial cadge. --phrase 4. On the bot, Australian, NZ Colloquial cadging: on the bot for a cigarette. 5. The bot, Australian, NZ Colloquial a minor ailment, as a bad cold. [origin uncertain]
Obviously I meant the second definition!
The Iowa Channel
With the constant eye on the weather here in Iowa I have turned to this local television station for their weather content. I think it is cool and worth a look simply for the live Doppler radar. It is so detailed that you can really predict if you are going to be hit by storms or simply a shower! Correct me if I am wrong but I have never seen this detail in weather reports in Australia.
http://www.theiowachannel.com
NineMSN
Ok I haven't sold out to the media moguls of Australia, but I thought I would eventually have to mention this site. With all of my recent mentions of Iowa based sites I thought those Americans amongst you might like to see a snapshot of what Australians see on the Web.
This site is a collaboration of MSN and the Nine Television Network. Australian web traffic reports say that a large chunk of Australian Web surfers go to this site. It is a mix of news and local television programming. However, a lot of the sections could be useful to people no matter where in the world they are situated.
http://www.ninemsn.com
I have been playing around with different Instant Messaging programs lately. I would like to know what instant messaging program you use, if any. Next issue I intend on explaining to everyone just what they are, and why you need them!
So do you use ICQ, AIM, IRC, MSN or Yahoo Instant Messaging (IM) services? If so email me at netbloke@netbloke.com
ANSWER
Last issue I asked what your favorite Web site was. I received quite a variety of answers. Here are a few of them that I thought you all might find interesting.
Linda recommends RefDesk very highly and uses it as her start page in Internet Explorer
http://refdesk.com
Ernie suggests:
http://freewarehome.com
Ernie had this to say about the site: "Any time I need software to perform a new task, I look here first. No sense in spending cash, when there is such a rich assortment of free software available on the net. This place is well organised, and still being updated regularly".
Paul C. Jess likes this Iowan based Guitar Shop Web site:
http://www.yeoldeguitar.com
Anne likes Rootsweb as it does the best job for genealogical research connections.
http://www.rootsweb.com
If you have a question of your own, contact me.
Now I was looking around for something funny related to tornados. I found a lame joke which is to follow. I stopped searching when I saw these pictures:
http://www.netbloke.com/images/handsofgod.jpg
So now for the lame joke!
What is a tornado?
Mother Nature doing the twist.
