Natural markings.

My A/C went out for the fifth time in 1 month.  That's thrice for the
past week.  Needless to say, I've been hostile today, but I'll do my
best to leave it in the real world and only bring joy and complacenecy
her in vurtuality.

Speaking of virtuality...

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I tried two new products for the internet this week.  They were both
entertaining and not _too_ difficult to set up, but could use lots of
improvement.

Take a look at http://www.worlds.net to find Worlds Incorporated's
cutting edge version of 'chat'.  The client software will always be
free and the server at worlds.net will always be around for public use.
If you aren't familiar with 'chat' or 'irc', it's a way to "talk" with
many people at once.  Someone types what they have to say and it shows
up on everyone else's screen.  Chat (as well as kaworlds chat) works
best if you set up a time and "place" to meet friends, that is unless
you enjoy talking to complete strangers (not this chicken!).  This app 
puts a new face on chat...you could say that this app simply puts a 
face on chat.  Before entering the worlds chat you pick a 3-d icon
(kind of like choosing a Monopoly(c) piece) and then enter at the main
gate.  You get a DOOM-style 3-d playground in one section and a list
of the conversation beneath it.  You simply walk around (Doom-style, 
again) and type what you want to say.  It's _very_ hip and even works
well at 14.4 baud.

If talking one-on-one is more your style, then try the Internet Phone.
This adorable little app connects you to a server that then gives you 
a list of people who you can talk to.  Using the microphone and audio
out from your sound card you can actually talk to people.  If you've
got a plain jane sound card (which most of us do) then it works very
much like a voice activated walkie-talkie.  You can't both speak at 
once.  If you have a 'full duplex' sound card (don't ask _me_ where
to find one) you can do real converations.  My roomie and I played
with this one and it has a neat-o 70's style delay to it, but is
fun nonetheless.  This app _does cost money (the demo allows for max.
60 seconds of talk time), about $70).  (There are already boot-leg
version of this that give full time but I wouldn't know where to
find such things.)

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I recently bought a wallet down in the Outlet Malls of San Marcos (the
wounderous inlets, outlets, islands, and sidewalks of the San Marcos
Outlet Malls.)  I should lead into this and then make some smart-ass
remark, but this quote from the card inside my wallet should say enough.

     "...[your] wallets may show natural variations in color
       and have healed scars...."

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I was on a (regular) chat session with my neighbors @eden.com and 
I couldn't help noticing the true slacker-ness that was displyed:

" #1:C1) [Someone said], "I had one job practically in my pocket, but
 when they flew me up from Austin (a coupla months ago) I crashed their
 rental car. Decided I was not a good candidate after all, even though
 the job had nothing to do with driving."

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If you've been dying for some boot-leg software (or are willing to
live with the guilt because you can't afford the real thing) then
you should check out the newsgroup alt.binaries.warez.ibm-pc (make
sure you get one of the serial number files.)  This group is every 
software manufacturer's nightmare.  Thanks to the nigh-untraceability
of news posts, this newsgroup allows young (and old) warez dealers
to spread copies of expensize software for free.  Let me state this
right here and now:  I firmly believe in paying for good software.
If you catch yourself playing that game more than once a week, or
using that utility often, then save up and buy the damn thing.  A
lot of people will say that this group is stealing software, but
IMHO the finger should be pointing at the s/w companies.  Maybe this
will help them understand that all the protection schemes in the
world won't stop a hacker.  What you really need to protect your
software is good code and a gimmick, like ID did with DOOM - "..here
try this out and when you're addicted buy the rest of the fix for
$20 a piece..."

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I'll be out of pocket for several weekends in July, so be sure
and keep the WU full with YOUR submissions!!!