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Unfortunately, it appears that at least in the United States, there could be a tiered Internet in the near future, meaning companies with money will be able to have a better accessibility.
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It turns out that the first paragraph of my book is a fraud! You would probably think this is a bad thing, but it seems to keep the media running toward Dan Brown and Kaavya Viswanathan, so maybe I should try to publicize this as well. The only problem is that I didn't lift passages from my favorite author or pretend to invent a biblical conspiracy. I just made up something that never happened on "Andy Griffith."
Usually, I prefer to put the news in my own words, but MoveOn.Org does a pretty good job of explaining Congress' latest attempt to try to rearrange the Internet.
From MoveOn.Org:
Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an Ipod? These activities, plus MoveOn's online organizing ability, will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law that gives giant corporations more control over the Internet.
It has been a couple of long weeks, but I'm finally stepping back out on the book signing trail for The Developers. I'll be at the Evansville Barnes & Noble 10 a.m-5 p.m. April 29 for the store's AuthorFest, in support of WNIN's Ready to Learn Program.
Now that Easter has passed, it's safe to republish my Peeps column, circa. 1999 from the Crawfordsville Journal-Review.
Easter has come and gone like a gypsy caravan once again, but one thing still remains -- Easter candy. Checking expiration dates on bags and containers, 1999 Easter candy should last until 2450. People decide to buy candy following the holiday in hopes of big bargains.
A specific type of candy has intrigued many and plagued worldwide analysists with a simple question, "What is a Peep?"
From the Archive
For my third straight weekend, I'll be making a book appearance, this time in New Albany, Ind. I'll be at Destinations Booksellers (604 East Spring Street) at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4. Destinations is a relatively new bookstore, but the place definitely does great work in supporting local authors. And of course, you can find a lot of main stream books there as well.
I will also be introducing my local publicist, Elizabeth Woods, for the first time. Elizabeth is my grandma, one of the main proofreaders for 'The Developers' and an avid bingo player.
Most people know of the Internet only from the mid '90s on. But actually, the Internet started long, long ago, in a galaxy, well, that you live in.
I recently came across a page on UCLA's website that showed the first words uttered on the Internet. The day was Oct. 29, 1969, which also happens to be my mom's birthday. The researchers sent an "l" and an "o" before the system crashed. Apparently they were trying to login, and, much like any old computer I've used, it crashed almost immediately.
In a previous column, I mentioned that I might try to make the world's largest waffle, and an observant reader wondered what the record actually was.
Of course, I had no idea, so I attempted to look it up. Here's what I found:
If you're like me, you receive a large number of forwarded emails from friends;
many of them are funny, many are factually incorrect and many are just pointless.
Then again, if you are like me, you have worn an eye patch for the eighth consecutive
year at Halloween, but that's beside the point.
Another popular email forward are those in which people list a bunch of questions
about themselves. They might mention their favorite food, their middle name,
their favorite smell, anything that could help you understand who they are,
I finally returned to the Purdue campus during the weekend, and it didn't take me long to realize how much I missed it. Even though it has been five years, and a plethora of new buildings have gone up all across Lafayette and West Lafayette, there were still plenty of things to reminisce about.