The Cool Tricks and Trinkets Newsletter #31

 


 

Greetings,

Last week, while driving to work, I heard a radio piece about the horrors associated with working at a technical support help desk. It seems that the employees are under tremendous stress from management to keep the call length to a minimum and get us OFF the phone and move on to the next customer.

In hopes of reducing job stress and turnover, firms are offering continual psychological counseling and role-playing. The workers use stress balls, take breaks in "recovery rooms", and on average last 6 months in their jobs.

TECH SUPPORT HELL - TechTales

They're the folks who hear the horror tales in tech support. Surprise, there really are people who answer after you've spent an eternity on hold. These are their true stories dramatized for the web.


A "sig file" is a personalized ascii picture, quote or personal information that you can automatically add to the end of your email messages. If you would like to create a custom signature file, check out

COOL TOOL - SigZag (freeware)

This program will help you create your own personalized signature quickly and easily. It includes almost 7,000 ascii pictures which you can use. The pictures are in a generic library designed specifically for ascii art, which means you can access any of them instantly.

In the 60's and 70's, I turned on, tuned in and dropped out and was willing to experiment with just about anything. If your are interested in finding out the latest information about drugs, check out

DRUG LORE - Freevibe

Get the skinny on drugs. What are the facts? What's just hype? Why do people take 'em? How can I say no? In the "Get the Lowdown" section, you can name a drug, ask a question and get the facts.


I was introduced to this site by one of our readers. This online mystery serial was created with "Shockwave Flash" technology. It has excellent sound, great graphics and wonderful user interaction. It is well worth a visit. (Thanks Jeff)

VERY COOL ENTERTAINMENT - Arcane

Arcane is a horror game that enables you to penetrate into a disquieting universe, where strange characters, witchcraft, hideous monsters and diabolical riddles abound. Will you survive the perils of this terrible and forbidden world?

Our "archive page" contains a complete listing of previous cool tricks and trinkets.

My dear friend, Jeannine Parker, offers us a comical and thoughtful look at the next MUST HAVE household appliance, the Web Fridge. This is a great read.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT<g> - The PC-Enabled Fridge

I love finding sites that do one thing, and do it well. When the leather emblem fell off my key ring last week, I knew just where to go for a fix.

STICKY SITE - This to That

This site contains a practical guide for finding the right adhesive. You simply select the two types of materials that you want to bond and you will receive recommendations and information about adherence time, cost and toxicity.

To recommend this newsletter to a friend and maybe win a Palm Pilot, click here

COOL WORLD OF WORDS - Visual Thesaurus

Plumb Design Visual Thesaurus is an exploration of sense relationships within the English language. By clicking on words, you follow a thread of meaning, creating a spatial map of linguistic associations.


The media's beauty standards for women, promote a biologically unattainable ideal. This site celebrates the real beauty of women.

WOMEN ARE BEAUTIFUL - Icons of Beauty

Beauty has always preoccupied women. But over the past two centuries, as women have gained more rights, the association of self-worth and appearance has intensified. This site exposes "the conning of American women into the pursuit of a perfect body."


Two weeks ago everyone was talking about a virus called happy99.exe, and last week, the "Melissa virus" caused havoc for thousands of computer users. Melissa, was especially nasty because it attached itself to a Microsoft program and sent itself to the first fifty entries in the user's address book, so each recipient caused it to be sent to an additional fifty people.

VIRUS RESOURCE - Anti-Virus Online (a good site to bookmark!)

IBM and Symantec have created this online resource about computer viruses. It features, virus alerts, hype alerts and virus information and a virus monitor.