Volume 1, Number 6, November 20, 2001
From The Editor:
I hear from a spattering of our members each week who did not, for whatever reason receive their
copy of The Arrow. One of the problems I think is that certain email programs (AOL for one) are
identifying the newsletter as a mass-mailing or SPAM and rejecting it. But rest assured that any
copies sent back to the Arrow mailbox are immediately investigated and re-sent if possible. For
those whom I might miss please don't hesitate to contact me. I really don't mind sending out
individual copies - it goes with the territory.Dilbert's Corner:
I would like to start out by saying that I am so happy that Amy has a new joband that I hope she enjoys it a lot more than what she was doing before. She
did a lot of work on the site in the 3 weeks that she was between jobs and I
know that it wasn't an easy time for her. She is now back doing what she
loves to do and hopefully these are much happier times for her. I have seen
several people that have been somewhat critical of the site lately. I have
also seen a few that have been demanding that changes be made to the site to
suit their personal tastes. I would like to remind those people of a couple
of things. First, Amy does the programming of the site totally out of the
generosity of her heart. She gets paid nothing for all the hard work that she
put into it. The programming that you see is her and her alone. She is a one
person team when it comes to the programming of the site. Second, the site is
a very low budget site. I pay the costs of hosting the site out of my Social
Security disability check. With the costs of the site being held low it
insures the future of the site. I would like to ask that a few of the
members take into consideration what Amy has done for the site when they post
things that are critical of the site and the functionality of the site.
Stickman Willy Dishes It Out:I've been standing around on the front page doing nothing (yet looking handsome) for long
enough. Since I know each one of you intimately, what better job for me than dishing out some
advice? Every week I will post a question on AIH requesting your query for advice and from those
I will choose a few which touch me in some way. This week's questions are from jennaKat,
psykomom, LANA9, Sylph and Award.jennaKat writes, "Please reassure me that you aren't the guy stalking me at my college, please?
SMW: I can assure you I am not the guy stalking you at college. I've never been farther than the
front page of AIH. As far as any stalking is concerned, is that anything like plucking?psykomom writes: "Do you know Shotgun Willie?"
SMW: Not yet but Thanksgiving isn't until Thursday, right? How about giving a poor turkey a
break and eat pork? Or fish - you can stuff fish ya know.LANA9 writes, "Are you an alias or are you for real?"
SMW: I'm a real alias.Sylph writes, "What site or book do you recommend for a beginner learning HTML, including
creating headlines and centering?"
SMW: Even though I do not have one clue about what you're talking about, I asked my buddy
Skeleton Willy and he told me he learned everything he knows about HTML from Teresa.Award writes, "Do you sleep in a bed ? and what do you wear, nothing, anything ?"
SMW: I'm a stick-turkey! Until recently I've been standing around wearing nothing. Someone was
kind enough to give me some feathers or I would have frozen by now. I'm way too busy
eavesdropping on all you AIHers to sleep!Amy's Corner - On The Tech Front:Hey everyone! Some of you have probably been having some issues with the questions turning up red eventhough all the answers have been rated. I believe I have finally gotten this problem fixed, however,I could be wrong, so I want everyone to help out by notifying me as soon as you again notice thatyou have red questions which don’t have any unrated answers.Also, some of you more technically inclined members may have noticed the change in the numberingscheme. Now, instead of questions being numbered 1 … n, they are numbered 1…n according to whichuser asked them, as they now have a buddy ID associated with them. So, questions are now identifiedby the question ID AND the buddy ID of the person who asked them. Answers are similar, identifiedby the user ID of who answered them, and the ID of the answer… So, as an example, I’ll use my account.For my buddy ID, which is 1, I have questions 1 through n, and answers 1 through n, whereas anotherperson would also have questions 1 through n and answers 1 through n. This I believe will alleviateany future issues with maxInt being reached, and crashing the site because of integer overflow.After all, how likely is one individual person to ask 2,000,000+ questions in their lifetime? Not verylikely… I’d say. (And yes I know, maxInt is not 2,000,000, but I was just using a number as reference,and for those non-techies of us, maxInt is a value somewhere over 2 million.)Because of this new numbering scheme, unfortunately, a loophole in the anonymous feature was uncovered,so I have since disabled it and posted a survey as to whether or not the majority of the site wantsto keep it. Every user can only vote once, so if you do by accident vote more than once, it won’taccept your second entry. If and only if over half the site really wants this feature, I will spendthe time necessary to re-code it so that users can once again be truly anonymous, and close theloophole in the code. Until then, nobody will be able to ask or answer anonymously. I posted the surveybecause as I have just started a new job, and I have just signed on an extra contract above and beyondmy full time job, my time is strictly limited, so I don’t want to have to spend hours coding somethingthat most of you don’t really want anyway, if that’s the way the vote turns out. That seems just a bitwasteful to me, and I’m sure most of you would agree.
Great Quotes?Which AIHer uttered these words of wisdom?
"When we were little, believe it or not, we called it "boom-booms". My brother and his family call it
"futzing". Never asked why. And I called it, with my kids when they were little, "gassy bubbles".
And I can't believe I am answering this question at all."
Useful Freebie:
Harry Potter is hugely popular not only with the kids but with their parents. Download this nice
Harry Potter Screensaver for a little magic right on your desktop. Want a free graphics editor? 20/20
is an image viewer, screen capture and annotation application. It is also capable of creating slide
shows, generating thumbnails, and creating muted backgrounds for web pages and stationery.
This 3.6 MB program is one of the better Editors!
The Target:
This weeks targets are Patrice and Wvulf! Patrice lives in Camelot, has asked 67 questions and
answered 323. Wvulf calls Sherwood Forest home, has asked 10 questions and answered 209.
Patrice
Hi there I am Patrice. I am supposed to tell you something about me so here you go. Both my
parents are alive and well. My father graduated from Fordham University with a bachelor's degree
in engineering and worked for 30 years as an engineer, now retired he is a "master" at fixing
things... and... He can do it using nothing but a role of duct tape. My Mom is also retired, but is
presenting serving her full term as a "weight watchers lifetime member."... I am afraid that there is
no hope due to the fact she is constantly denied parole secondary to a fudge chocolate cake with
chocolate chips that she keeps making for dessert. Then there is me. I was born in a blizzard two
weeks early.... which should give you some idea about my sense of humor (please note...My
parents weren't laughing at the time) I did some modeling for a while and was engaged in high
school and married at an early age......My spouse turned out to be very jealous. After a few years I
got tired of people telling me how to dress and act so I dropped my job and husband for a better
life. I went back to school and became a registered nurse. I worked in all areas of the hospital
including ICU, Open Heart and Diabetic, Drug studies... I presently work in home care. I do believe
in a good sense of humor leads to healing. I try to make my patients laugh a lot and we have fun.
Once a patient tried to pin my down to a time frame.."when do can I expect this wound to fill in and
heal?" I told him "I got some wood putty or some spackle in the care and a roll of my Dad's duct
tape .... We can fill it in right now, I just have to call the doctor and get and order ".... and we just
laughed about it. I am presently married to a man who I adore and am content with my life. I love
music and can cook up a storm. I have two great kids my daughter from my first marriage is a
sweetheart is older and my son is 8, he is my entertainment and makes me smile all the time. Here
are some of my philosophies on life. 1. We are all entitled to wallowing days....days in which we
feel bad for ourselves... only 12 days a year. But that's it ....( you can have 4 in a row if you like.....
or spread them out......) however.... then we must move on ..... 2. I think that life is too complicated
with all these new computer games Nintendo, TV, VCR tapes,Playstation, game boy etc...... we need
to go back to the basics sometimes ... board games, baseball, kickball, baking building a model or
making a snowman .... making a cake. These are the things in which we interact with others and are
quality issues of making memories. The others are fine once and a while too, but just remember
....they are busy distractions to busy our children and allow us to have more time to do things that
"don't "involve them.... We need to do things together with them......for our time with them is so
short. 3. I don't believe in electric cars toys for children.... bikes and scooters and roller-skates are
fine and help kids exercise and develop healthy exercise habits, as well as strong bones. 4. I believe
in eating healthy. I am not saying I never eating a cookies or a having fast food, I do eat that once
and a while too. Children must learn good eating habits when they are young and not when they
are older. Always read your labels ... learn what you put in your mouth and in the mouths of your
family. 5. Have a kind words for all, even those who are cranky, yours may be the only kind word
they ever heard..... and maybe tomorrow they will be have a kind word for someone else. Thanks
for your time and for reading this...... I am online mostly in the morning .. please feel free to amail me
at any time., I love making new friends......
Wvulf
I live in Oak Grove, KY, just north of Nashville, TN. I am a soldier in the U.S. Army, serving with
the 101st Airborne Division. My name is Marc, and my nickname is Wolf, or Wvulf (because wolf
is usually taken at the websites I visit). My nick name comes from my middle name, which means
"Little Wolf" in Celtic. I have been married for 15 1/2 years, and I have two girls, 11, and 5. My
eldest has a Siberian Husky (named Hailey) and an African Dwarf Frog (named Aqua) for pets. My
hobbies are Computer programming, Carpentry, building computers, and shooting. I hope to add
skydiving to the list soon.Are you an extrovert or an introvert? Would others agree with your assessment of yourself?
I consider myself an optimist, and also a realist. I am a conservative, and the older I get, the more
conservative I get. I am also a Christian, despite the fact that my mother raised me as an atheist.What would be the title of your official biography?
Don't really know, but something with humor, such as "Diary of a Mad Man" would be good.What is your all-time favourite movie, book, song, music group, author or actor?
My all time favorite movies are "Silence of the Lambs", "The Matrix", and "Alien". Favorite books
are anything written by David Drake.If a fellow AIHer were to meet you face-to-face for the first time, what do you think would be their
initial mental impression of you?
Probably that I'm nuts.Where do you go if you want some peace and quiet?
I usually don't seek peace and quiet, but I do sit at the computer and zone out for a time from time
to time.Do you have a life-long best friend?
Other than my wife, my lifelong best friend lives in California, and is a State Trooper in Ventura
county there. He and I met originally in the Army back in 1986. I would do anything for him, and
vice-versa.What instantly comes to mind when you hear someone say, "Let's go camping!"?
I think, "GREAT!". I love going out into the woods and "living rough".Can you think of a book that has directly influenced your life?
The Holy Bible.Cell phones - necessity or annoyance?
Both. I have to have one, for my job as a platoon sergeant, but I really hate it too, because it just
won't quit ringing sometimes.In what ways has the Internet impacted your life?
It has greatly enhanced my knowledge, and my ability to do my job.Do you have any heroes?
My hero's are the men who put their lives on the line, serving in Special Forces.Have you ever taken a trip alone?
I take trips alone all the time, too much in fact. When I was younger, I used to visit my
grandparents in Germany every year. Now I travel all over the world, with the Army as my travel
agent, and frequently get to go places that I never would go as a civilian.
This coming year, I will be stationed overseas, in S. Korea, and I am looking forward to it.Do you have a particular pet peeve?
My biggest pet peeve is people who can't back up what they are talking about, with hard, realistic
facts and figures (instead of using facts and figures that only represent the point of view of the
group that compiled them).What is your favourite sandwich?
My favorite sandwich is a Philly Cheese steak, made at Zero's in Newport News, VA, or one of my
homemade hamburgers, grilled to perfection on my grill at home.
When you look in a mirror, what do you see?
I see someone who is happy with his life (for the most part), who could use a little more money, and
who is proud to be doing the right thing, for his country, and for everyone I meet.If you were asked to volunteer to fight for your country, would you?
I already did and do volunteer. I will gladly give my life to defend the freedom of all, even if they
don't agree with me all of my conservative views. I would like to volunteer even more, by joining
Special Forces, and hope to be able to do so in the next year or two.
AIH Tips & Tricks:
Amy has added a couple of new question categories - two which have been requested many times
by our members. We now have an AIH Questions category and a Cooking/Baking category. Let's
all put them to good use! **Be on the lookout for some brand new avatars to purchase!**
Thanks for tuning into The Arrow! See you next week. Sincerely, The Editorial Staff of AIH's The
Arrow.
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Copyright © 2001 TheArrow.
mkmkm uttered this week's Great Quote!