To use the links in this newsletter, you must be connected to the Internet.  PC Eudora users: to see this and other html mail properly you must check the box "Use Microsoft's Viewer" in the "Viewing Mail" options.

http://www.tvbarn.com

http://www.tvbarn.com/030900.html

In our 3/1/00 issue, WebSkulker told you that your fellow Jr. Skulker Stuart Shostak would be on the Greed TV show last Friday.  For those of you who didn't see the show, we are happy to tell you that his team won $200,000 and Stuart's share was $40,000; not bad for an evening's work.  That can pay for a lot of cat food!  The second link above is an article Stuart wrote giving the behind-the-scenes details about what it's like to be on a quiz show and why he was back on the show at the end of the hour, even though he lost a qualifying round near the beginning of the broadcast.

The first link is the home page for TV Barn, which carries articles like this, reviews, and rating information every day about the TV business.

http://www.workspot.net

WebSkulker found a use for this site that has nothing to do with its official purpose: they give you a free web site with no ads.  More about that below, but here is what the site is supposed to be for:  they let you play with a Linux machine by remote control so you can see exactly what it is like to have that operating system on your machine.  This isn't a simulation of Linux, but the real thing with a Java interface for your web browser that lets you run a real Linux desktop by remote control.  Warning:  if you are on a slow dialup modem, this will be so slow that you might not want to bother.  If you have a DSL line or cable modem the speed is still a little slow, but tolerable and worth playing with.

Go to the site, click on "Sign Up Free", and fill out the registration form.  Make sure you put in your real email address, because they have a backlog and will email you the sign-in information several days later.  Be patient, you won't be able to use the site right away, so save this issue of WebSkulker and go back to this article when you have the information and are ready to login.

When you are able to, enter your username and password and login to the site.  You will see five tabs:  HTML Desktop, Email, Linux Desktop, Preferences, and Logout.  The site gives you some disk space (they don't say how much, but it seems to be a lot) on a Linux machine that you can organize into folders.  When you first sign on, you will see a root directory represented by a "/" which is similar to the root directory on a PC that would use the "\" character instead.  There will be two folders: "Desktop" and "public_html", but you can build whatever others you want.  This function can be useful just for the free disk space: upload important files from your computer as a backup!

The folder "public_html" is very important.  Remember up above we said you get a free web site?  Anything you put in this special folder will be on your site.  Notice that there is a file "index.html" in there.  That is a sample that you customize with the HTML code you want.  Use the editor on this page, or write your HTML on your own machine and upload it.  Upload pictures and anything else you want to finish your site.  Note the "cgi-bin" folder inside "public_html".  If you know how to write CGI programs in Perl or other languages, you can put them in there and invoke them from your HTML.

The public reaches your web site via the URL http://www.workspot.net/~yourname and you can see a sample of this from WebSkulker's test site on this system:
http://www.workspot.net/~webskulker .  Note that there are no ads!  Remember the "~" character!

See our 2/21/00 issue for instructions on how to register a domain name cheaply and point it to a free web site like this.

The Email tab gets you to a free web-based email system where your email address will be  yourname@workspot.net .  

Here's the fun part:  click on the Linux Desktop tab, wait a while, and you should get a form to Create a New Linux Desktop.  Expand your browser to full-screen and if possible choose a desktop size smaller than your browser window so the whole thing will fit.  Choose 8-bit low color because even with a DSL line, the 16-bit color is too slow.  Press the Create Desktop button and hopefully in a few seconds a Linux desktop running the user-friendly K Desktop Environment will appear in your browser.  WebSkulker had a lot of problems at this step.  Most of the time it works, but sometimes you sit there forever and nothing happens.  Just keep trying.

WebSkulker is not going to teach you Linux so you are now on your own.  Try moving your mouse over all the icons at the bottom and a message will pop up showing what each does.  Play with everything.  Notice that you have lots of games, utility programs, even a web browser!  You are free to install other Linux software that you find on the web, either through the Linux web browser, or by downloading files to your home computer and uploading them to WorkSpot viat the HTML Desktop tab.

When done, click on the Logout tab.  The next time you login to WorkSpot and go back to the Linux Desktop tab, you will see your desktop still active.  Click on the Connect button to get back into it.  You can create a second desktop if you want and switch back and forth.

http://www.notesfromtheroad.com

Jr. Skulker Erik Gauger runs this site.  He travels with a large-format camera and "tours the deserts, jungles, mountains and cities of the world and brings it back illustrated and photographed like no other travel site has done before."

http://www.localbizwiz.com/california/default.asp

WebSkulker currently lives in San Francisco and used to live in Los Angeles for many years.  You can experience the charm of these and other areas of California at the above site.  Go there and press the button "Click here to experience Livin' In California" and you will see what we go through from time to time.  Note: this will only work with modern browsers that handle Java Script, so if nothing happens, try with a different browser or from a friend's machine.

Submitted by Jr. Skulker Greg Morkovin

A little old lady went into the Bank of Canada one day, carrying a bag of money. She insisted that she must speak with the president of the bank to open a savings account because, "It's a lot of money!" After much hemming and hawing, the bank staff finally ushered her into the president's office (the customer is always right!). The bank president then asked her how much she would like to deposit. She replied, "$165,000" and dumped the cash out of her bag onto his desk. The president was of course curious as to how she came by all this cash, so he asked her, 

"Ma'am, I'm surprised you're carrying so much cash around. Where did you get this money?" 

The old lady replied, "I make bets." 

The president then asked, "Bets? What kind of bets?" 

The old woman said, "Well, for example, I'll bet you $25,000 that your balls are square." 

"Ha!" laughed the president, "That's a stupid bet. You can never win that kind of bet!" 

The old lady challenged, "So, would you like to take my bet?" 

"Sure," said the president, "I'll bet $25,000 that my balls are not square!" 

The little old lady then said, "Okay, but since there is a lot of money involved, may I bring my lawyer with me tomorrow at 10:00 AM as a witness?" 

"Sure!" replied the confident president. 

That night, the president got very nervous about the bet and spent a long time in front of a mirror checking his balls, turning from side to side, again and again. He thoroughly checked them out until he was sure that there was absolutely no way his balls were square and that he would win the bet. 

The next morning, at precisely 10:00 am, the little old lady appeared with her lawyer at the president's office. She introduced the lawyer to the president and repeated the bet: "$25,000 says the president's balls are square!" 

The president agreed with the bet again and the old lady asked him to drop his pants so they could all see. The president complied. The little old lady peered closely at his balls and then asked if she could feel them. "Well, Okay," said the president, "$25,000 is a lot of money, so I guess you should be absolutely sure." Just then, he noticed that the lawyer was quietly banging his head against the wall. 

The president asked the old lady, "What the hell's the matter with your lawyer?" 

She replied, "Nothing, except I bet him $100,000 that at 10:00 AM today, I'd have The Bank of Canada's president's balls in my hand."

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