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In last week's issues WebSkulker discussed how to buy and use an international GSM cell phone when traveling overseas to make calls in the local countries and low-cost calls back to the United States (if that is your home country).  The final part of this story is a strategy on how to have your friends back in the United States call your cell phone overseas easily and cheaply.  Remember that your cell phone will have a different phone number in each country you travel to, based on the pre-paid SIM that you purchase in each country.  One approach is to simply send email to people back home as you move from one country to another giving them your present phone number.  You might also suggest that they use 1016868 as the carrier code because it has very low rates to most countries and no minimum or monthly charges.  (See http://www.pt-1.com/qa.htm )  A lot of people in the U.S. have never made an overseas call, so we suggest that you tell people the precise digits to dial to reach you, including the 011, country code, etc.

If your pre-paid SIM has voice mail, then you might want to set up call forwarding from your home phone to your international cell phone. The voice mail is important because if someone is forwarded to your cell phone and you don't answer, you want them to be able to leave a message.  There are two important considerations in doing this call forwarding.  First, many phone companies in the United States, including Pacific Bell here in California, do not allow call forwarding to an overseas number.  Second, if you will be traveling to more than one country with different phone numbers for your cell phone, you need a way to change the forwarding as your number changes.  Many phone companies have a feature called "Remote Access to Call Forwarding" that lets you dial into the phone company equipment, enter your phone number and password, and then punch in a command to forward or unforward your phone by remote control.  Or perhaps a friend could go into your house and change the forwarding, especially if they are already going in to feed your pet.

If your phone company doesn't allow international forwarding, then consider forwarding to your Centrecom number.  You jr. skulkers do have a Centrecom number, don't you?  If not, you are missing one of the greatest free gifts on the web because they give you $50 in totally free long distance calling, as well as a lot of other features.  See the WebSkulker issues for 10/5/99 and 10/7/99 for more information.  Centrecom has a "follow me" feature that you can program to call your overseas number.  Forward your home phone to Centrecom, so when people call they will get a message inviting them to press 1 to reach you.   Centrecom will ask them to wait, then attempt to reach you on your cell phone and if you answer and acknowledge the call, it will connect you to the caller.  If you can't be reached, Centrecom will take a message.  As you move from one country to another, you can call Centrecom and re-program your follow-me number.

http://danshiki.oit.gatech.edu/~iadt3mk

http://www.alpca.org

WebSkulker has a friend in Los Angeles who has a weird hobby:  he drives around the state of California and writes down all the license plate numbers he sees.  When he gets home, he enters them into a database system on his PC, sorts them, and prints reports!  Weird.  He will probably send nasty mail explaining why he does this, and Ms. Cat might decide to share that with you.

WebSkulker remembers a college professor once saying that as people grow up, there will always be something about themselves, or something they like to think about or do, that they will keep to themselves because they believe that this thing is strange and wouldn't be accepted by others.  But as they get older, they discover that not only are there others with this special thing, but they have organized into clubs and publish a newsletter (and nowadays a web site).  The above two sites are examples of this as related to WebSkulker's friend.  The first gives information about license plates from all over the world, with sample pictures of every format.  The second is to the Automobile License Plate Collectors' Association.

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com

Jr. Skulker Steve Wells is the author of this site and submitted it to us.  In his words:  "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB) includes the entire text of the King James Version of the Bible presented from a skeptic's point of view. The SAB highlights the passages that are seldom read in Church, identifying the Bible's absurdities, cruelties, sex and vulgarities, insults to women and homosexuals, injustices, foul language, false prophecies, and contradictions. Verses are classified using a four star rating system, with cross-referenced links."

http://www.rinkworks.com/dialect

Jr. Skulker Uncle Brucie suggested this site.  Type in a URL, choose a dialect from Redneck, Jive, Cockney, Elmer Fudd, Swedish Chef, Moron, or Pig Latin, and press the Dialectize button.  The text of the web page will be converted to that dialect, with often very funny results.  You can also type in your own text and see the conversion.

Warning:  this will not work with certain sites, including all that are served by the Microsoft web server.  WebSkulker.com is such a site, so you can't use this to convert Ms. Cat's wonderful words. 

Submitted by Jr. Skulker Giovanni Navarrete

Clinton and Saddam

President Clinton visits Saddam Hussein to talk about the UNSCOM inspections in Iraq. As he sits down he sees three buttons in the armrest of Saddam's chair. When Saddam sits down, Clinton immediately asks, "Why the three buttons in your armrest?" 

"You'll see," says Saddam. 

After 10 minutes Saddam presses the first button, and WHACK a boxing glove hits Clinton in the face. Clinton grabs his nose, while Saddam just laughs. 

Clinton manages to remain calm until, after another 10 minutes, Saddam presses the second button, and another boxing glove hits Clinton in the stomach. While Clinton is gasping for air, Saddam falls out of his chair from laughing. 

Clinton is highly annoyed by now, but remains outwardly calm. After another 5 minutes, Saddam presses the third button, and from under the table another boxing glove hits Clinton, this time right in the crotch. Clinton is really fed up by it now and breaks off the talks. "We'll continue this next week in the White House," says the President. 

Saddam, has tears in his eyes from laughing, and can only nod in agreement. 

As agreed, Clinton receives Saddam in the Oval Office a week later, and as Saddam sits down, he sees three buttons in the armrest of Clinton's chair. 

As the meeting goes on, Saddam sees Clinton press the first button and immediately ducks, but nothing happens. 

This doesn't stop Clinton from laughing really loud. Clinton continues where he left off, and after a few minutes presses the second button. Saddam again reacts instinctively, and jumps up to avoid whatever is coming. 

Again absolutely nothing happens, and this time it's Clinton who falls out of his chair from laughing. 

Saddam is totally bewildered, and wonders what the heck is happening. But no harm has come to him, so he retakes his seat and the talks continue. 

After a few more minutes, Clinton presses the third button. This time, Saddam doesn't even flinch, but stays in his chair as though nothing unusual is taking place. Clinton, however, is rolling on the floor, doubled up from laughter. 

Saddam is not only bewildered-- now he is angry. He springs to his feet and shouts, "I've had enough of this, I'm going back to Baghdad!" 

Through tears of laughter, Clinton says, "Baghdad.... what Baghdad?"

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