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http://www.freediskspace.com

WebSkulker apologized last week for possibly misleading jr. skulkers into thinking that they could get 500 Mb of web-based backup disk space for free (although he is still working on this, and it might yet happen).  Jr. Skulker MediaHound told us about another site that is definitely giving away 300 Mb of online backup space, if you are willing to answer a few questions in a survey, otherwise they only give 25 Mb.  WebSkulker did the survey and told the truth and hasn't received any spam that appears to come from that site, so it's probably safe.  If you are concerned, you can always think like a skulker and make up answers, but that wouldn't be nice!

FreeDiskSpace.com doesn't do automatic backups or synchronizations, but they make it pretty easy to upload files that you want to backup or share with others.  If you refer friends to this site, you can get even more free space.  When you sign up, please give them WebSkulker's referral code: U000F10FF.

http://joe.mehaffey.com

http://wwwhost.cc.utexas.edu/ftp/pub/grg/gcraft/notes/gps/gps.html

WebSkulker bought a GPS receiver four or five years ago when he went with a yacht-owning friend to a West Marine store.  He had heard of GPS, but thought they were very complicated, very expensive, very large units.  He was blown away by a Garmin unit that was small, simple, and only several hundred dollars.  He bought it and thought it was fun to play with, but not that useful for driving because it had no maps.  A couple of years later he upgraded to the Garmin Street Pilot which is specifically meant for cars, with a large display and detailed street maps.

GPS units are now as cheap as $120 -- the tiny Garmin eTrex -- although ones with maps are more.  The first link above has a huge amount of information on GPS units, including reviews of most of the handheld units on the market.  The second link has technical details about the satellite system that makes GPS possible.

West Marine stores, located all over the country, are still the best places WebSkulker knows to see GPS units in person.  They have a lot of handheld models meant for hikers and drivers, as well as the models meant for boats.

http://www.learnlots.com

Jr. Skulker MediaHound also told us about this site that has a lot of free tutorials on many topics, including fairly technical computer topics.  Many of them can be downloaded to a Palm or Windows CE device so you can study when you have free time on a bus, etc.

http://www.asweseeit.com/616LicenseForm.htm

WebSkulker is amazed that this site is free, and to some extent amazed that it exists at all.  It gives the kind of information that would normally not be available to the public, or if it was available in some states, it would normally be a chargeable search.

"For decades, police and investigators have been able to get information about citizens through DMV searches. Thanks to a favorable FOI court ruling last month, AsWeSeeIt is now able to give you the same opportunity. We have nearly all (about 97%) of the photos from each state in our database. Start by doing a search of your own name by using the form."

Thanks to Jr. Skulker Stuart Shostak for telling us about this.

Submitted by Jr. Skulker Goat Boy.  (WebSkulker doesn't believe it, but supposes it might be true if the "ground post" wasn't installed properly and wasn't actually making contact with the ground.)

This story was related by a telephone repair person, Pat, and is about a repair call he handled while living in England. 

It's common practice in England to ring a telephone by signaling extra voltage across one side of the two wire circuit and ground (earth in England). When the subscriber answers the phone, it switches to the two wire circuit for the conversation. This method allows two parties on the same line to be signaled without disturbing each other. 

Anyway, an elderly lady with several pets called to say that her telephone failed to ring when her friends called; and that on the few occasions when it did ring her dog always barked first. Pat proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog. 

He climbed a nearby telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring. He tried again. The dog barked loudly, followed by a ringing telephone. Climbing down from the pole, Pat found: 

a. A dog was tied to the telephone system's ground post via an iron chain and collar. 

b. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current. 

c. After several such jolts, the dog would start barking and urinating on the ground. 

d. The wet ground now completed the circuit and the phone would ring. 

Which shows that some problems can be fixed by just pissing on them.

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