Thursday, July 25, 2002

Thursday Coffee Talk: Wrap Up and CompuServe Yesterday was one of those days. If I didn't know better, I'd swear I'd been stuck in traffic with Doc as he toured the LA Freeway system. The only thing he didn't have was his email while he was on the SB-2-LA-2-SD tour. Glad to hear he finally got to the hotel. Once I drop off the kids... er dogs at daycare, I'll be down in the morning. What began as a comment from Doc about CompuServe, turned into a quick personal point-of-view essay or op-ed piece "I am an AOL Survivor," which got more attention, thanks to Dave, Doc and Scott than I ever thought possible. In many respects I feel like I came out of the closet. A couple years ago another Wizop who was leaving CompuServe, told me that he had discussed what they had seen CompuServe become with his wife. It was no longer the wholesome, professional and family environment they wanted to be associated with in their personal and professional lives.  Those were wise words I've never forgot and has made me maintain the high road with my forum members. For those of you who have asked-- what remains of the CompuServe forums are now available to everyone via the web. [You do not need to be a CompuServe member to join in.] However CompuServe in another one of its hair brain ideas has buried the links to the forums so deeply it takes a GPS to find them. One of the sites that lists the links to the forums is Mythical City, maintained and paid for by a group of loyal volunteer Sysops. I'm considering firing another CIS-type domain I own for CompuServe Alumni with news and information. From the emails and comments I've gotten it sounds like it might have some interest.  God knows there are more of us Alumni than there are of them! Send me your comments and I'll consider it. Later folks. It's naptime. 3:20:47 AM

NASA NEWS is reporting Beginning this week the International Space Station (ISS) will make a series of eye-catching passes over North America. So instead of complaining your lacking an interesting summer, get out the lawn chairs a pair of field glasses and go camp out in the back yard. For more information, you can listen to the story via streaming audio, a downloadable file, or get help. Everyone can see the ISS-- even if you don't own a telescope. NASA News reports that between now and mid-August the space station will make several passes over the United States and Canada. Spotting it is easy, all you need are your eyes, a clear sky and a flyby schedule for your hometown which can be located by visiting one of these three popular web sites: Chris Peat's Heavens Above, Science@NASA's J-Pass [excellent site] or NASA's SkyWatch. By typing in some simple information, like your city or zip code, the sites will respond with a list of suggested spotting times, accurate within a few minutes. 12:35:52 AM

© Copyright 2002 Mary Wehmeier. Last update: 8/1/02; 2:52:26 AM. Comments by: YACCS