Announcements

Think You Could Survive?

I have spent the last 3 hours playing, err, testing, a fantastic game called Worst Case Scenario. It's based on the best-selling books and it's extremely fun and addicting.

Think about these questions:

Can an electric eel kill you?
How do you survive a trip over a waterfall?
How do you escape a hole in the ice?
How fatal is tarantula venom?
What do you do if a bull charges you?
How do you survive a fall onto subway tracks?
What do you do if you’re lost in the mountains?
How do you escape a car that's hanging over a cliff?
What jungle animal is the most dangerous?
How do you survive quicksand?
What do you never put on a sunburn?
How can you tell an earthquake is about to happen?
How do you escape from killer bees (or regular ones)?
What shark is the most deadly?

Want to know the answers? Then you've gotta play the game! I normally don't go for games, but this is a big exception to the rule. I absolutely love it.

The game starts by asking you ten trivia questions, giving you points for each one you answer correctly. Then you go on to the bonus round where you answer another 7 questions about a certain topic (like dealing with a tarantula that's climbed on your leg). So far, my high score is 35,500! Oh, and yes, you can play by yourself or with others.

Since many of the situations in the game occur in real life it's not only fun to play, but also educational. How about that, have a blast playing a game and learn something that may save your life one day!

The bad news is that we only have a limited quantity of these and no more are currently available to us. So, once these are gone, they're gone.

The price on this is only $12.97, and US Shipping is FREE! Retail is $29.95, so that's way over half off! Here's the link for more info:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/worst-case-scenario.htm

PS - Don't miss out! This game could literally save your life. That, and it's a lot of fun to play. Again, very limited quantities on this! Get to the site RIGHT NOW if you want yours!

Computers 101

Q:
What is my BIOS?

A:
BIOS (basic input / output system) is basically the "software" the computer uses for it's most basic operations (accessing memory, disks, processors, etc.). This "software" is built into the computer's motherboard, so don't worry about losing it if your hard drive crashes.

Note that these are NOT Windows settings, these are the "core" settings for your computer. You normally can get at them by pressing the DEL key a few seconds after you turn your computer on (this can vary from machine to machine though).

Most BIOS setups allow you to configure hard drive parameters, set the time, type of floppy disk drives, memory timing, and so on. It's probably an area that's best left alone unless you are an experienced computer user. I've seen more than one computer that was rendered useless from tampering with these settings.

Have a question for the newsletter? Submit it at the link below:
http://www.worldstart.com/submitquestion.htm

Tip of the Day

Use A New Browser Window

Know what I hate? Anchovies on my pizza and recycled browser windows. You don't know what a recycled browser window is you say? Let's illustrate this idea with an example.

You have a web page open that you're checking out. An e-mail comes in and you decide to switch to your e-mail program. As you check out the new e-mail, you see a friend has sent you a link to a cool web page. So, you click the link and it loads in place of the page you were originally looking at. You catch yourself yelling, "Hey, stop! I was lookin' at that!"

Sure, you can always hit your Back button to go back to your original page, but wouldn't it be nicer if the e-mail link would just open up in a new window?

Good news- it can with just a couple of clicks of your mouse!

1. Open up Explorer and select the Tools menu, Internet Options.

2. Under the Advanced tab, look for the Browsing section. Now, look for a check box labeled "Reuse windows for launching shortcuts". Uncheck that puppy and you're all set.

Oh, here's a note - If you're using a pre 5.0 version of Explorer, you're looking to check (not uncheck) a checkbox labeled "Browse in a new process". I know, it's cryptic, but that's what it's called.

Also, your Internet Options on older versions of Explorer may be under the view menu. I don't remember for sure...

Have a tip for the newsletter? Submit it below:
http://www.worldstart.com/writers-guidelines/index.htm

Amanda's Cool Site of the Day

City Creator

Are you a fan of Sim city? Well if so here’s a site for you. City Creator allows you to build cities online. You have a choice between Blankton and Snoland. One is a regular city, the other is, you guessed it – full of snowy items.

Build great cities, or tiny communities, it’s your choice. I’ve spent hours here just building the roads and landscapes. Definitely worth a look, and a great place to spend time.

http://www.citycreator.com/

Do you have a cool, non-commercial site that you want to share?
Send it to Amanda at amanda@worldstart.com