Friday, March 29, 2024

October 22, 2001– Newsletter #153

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Goodies to Go ™
October 22, 2001–Newsletter #153

This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com

Please visit http://www.htmlgoodies.com
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Greetings, Weekend Silicon Warriors,


The moratorium on Internet taxes is dead. I don’t know
that state governments will immediately jump on new
taxes, but within a year new taxes will start to show up.
It’s a real shame too.


Common sense should tell lawmakers that adding high
taxes will not raise great revenue from hurting sites. It’ll
only put them out of business so no taxes whatsoever are
coming in. However, I’m afraid that logic won’t enter
into the conversation.


Did you hear…


No, you cannot get Anthrax from you computer, but you
can get Antrax. It’s a new low-level virus that’s making
it’s way around the Web. The subject line offers
information about the virus and clicking on the
attachment fires the virus. Sound familiar? Be careful.
Don’t open attachments.


NBC is jumping on the E-commerce bandwagon.
ShopNBC is up and running at
http://www.shopnbc.com/nbcstore/. There’s NASCAR
stuff galore so that alone should keep them in business.


All those videophones being used to cover the war should
help the sales of handspring’s new phone/PDA combo.
The new devices are part of the Treo 180 line and come
in at around $400.00 when you buy service also. The
phone without service is up around $550.00.


Now on to today’s topic…


Is the Web the safe place to be?


You’ll not get a strange brownish powder from an email.
Doing your shopping online allows you to stay out of the
mall. Watching Web-based movies and just plain surfing
for information are becoming Friday and Saturday night
activities.


I’m not predicting this. It’s happening. Online sales are
up 32% over the week following the attacks.


Usual dead surfing times are up. In some cases it’s a full
24 percent so says Yahoo.


News site surfing is way up. Jupiter Media Metrix Inc.
reports that news sites won the surfing wars. CNN.com
was the most visited with over 24 million unique visitors.
That’s almost 150% of the normal surfing rate. Visitors
also spent longer periods of time. The mean was over a
half hour within the site. MSNBC came in second with
Time.com and ABC.com tying for the bronze.


Email is flourishing. Direct marketing firms are nervous.
The Direct Marketing Association CEO Bob Wientzen
says the Anthrax scare will certainly take a bite out of his
and the Post Office’s business. AOL says that email has
nearly doubled from one year ago.


The Internet has become a mirror image of many of our
day-to-day activities. Afraid of a letter, send an email.
Afraid to go out, stay in and surf.


The four news stories that I pieced together to put create
the few paragraphs above proclaimed this as a good thing
for those working in the Internet sector. It is. I’m not
taking anything away from the Internet economy
improving. I run two online sites that are trying to make
money. I welcome more surfers and more buyers.


I’m just not as happy about the increase as the articles. I
would be happier if the surfing and the buying and the
emailing was done out of want and not fear. People
aren’t emailing because they want to, they’re emailing
because the alternative is scary.


I brought this up to a couple of friends before starting to
write. Someone suggested that it is a bit of a victory that
our society is so advanced that we can stay in the comfort
and relative security of our own homes and, through our
computer, keep in touch with the outside world.


Hmm…yes, but is cocooning ourselves in our homes any
better since we can do it comfortably? I mean, would jail
be much better if the cells were mauve with throw
pillows, abstract art, and comfy chairs?


Please understand I don’t mean to say that the population
is cocooning itself, but there are signs that it’s happening
in pockets. Movie ticket sales are way down for one.
Restaurants are begging for customers. Here in New
Orleans, the food industry is huge. People have stopped
coming as tourists and thus I can get a table at Emeril’s
just about any night of the week. The governor has set up
a “night out” so that locals will fill the chairs. Walking
the French Quarter is rather eerie without a hundred
people in every shop and bar.


The Internet is great, no doubt, but it’s allowing people to
stay “hidden” in relative comfort.


That’s not good.


I say, continue to buy that stuff online. Visit those news
sites. Send that email. But then, come the weekend,
thumb your nose at the people who are responsible for
your staying home.


Write a nice letter to a good friend. Get dressed up and
take in dinner and a movie.


That’ll show em’.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


That’s That. Thanks for reading. I spent this past
weekend watching the Saints get beat. It was me and
70,000 of my closest friends. The Superdome is just an
amazing place.


Joe Burns, Ph.D.


And Remember: How about some Oreo cookie facts?
First off, the original Oreo cookies were not just vanilla
cream filled. You could also get lemon. That made sense
in 1912 when Americans were obsessed with “English”
style cookies, or “biscuits.” The Oreo was created to give
the impression of being English. There are numerous
theories as to how the cookie was named. The most
common was that the “RE” came from the word “cream”
and the two “Os” came from the two cookies that held it
all together. It takes an hour and a half to produce one
single cookie. Good thing there are lots of bakeries. I
can kill a bag in a sitting.

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