Surfing the Net with Kids: New Years Extravaganza

Instructions on canceling this newsletter can be found in
the header of this email AND at the bottom of this message.

December 26, 1999

Dear Readers,

Welcome back. I just returned from a wonderful email-less
snow vacation with my family that included spelunking, skiing,
and snowboarding. I even found inspiration for some future columns. I hope
you and yours are also enjoying the
winter holidays.

Today’s newsletter is made possible by:

Millennium Madness Sale + $100 Giveaways Only at KBkids.com!
Ring in the New Year with Pokemon, Toy Story 2, Barbie,
and others. Your favorite toys and games are up to 70% off
Â only at KBkids.com! Plus
enter to win one of (25) $100
KBkids.com Gift Certificates. Celebrate the Millennium with
KBkids.com
today.
Happy New Year!
FREE Internet Safety Software For Your Kids! and Special
Offer!
Give your kids the perfect tool for fun and safe exploration of the
Internet.
While keeping your kids safe online, the Surf Monkey Bar
is a guide to
thousands of fun and educational activities, secure email using a parent-
approved friends system and much more!
Act now and receive an additonal 10% off and free shipping at
ShopMattel.com
on
any software products! This special offer ends January 1, 2000.
Click to get yours
today!
Get Paid to Surf the Web
Being paid to surf the Internet may sound like a ridiculous
idea at first, so what’s the catch? To earn money you
agree
to give up a little space on your desktop for a message
window — called a Viewbar — that delivers information
about products and services available online.
Take a look at AllAdvantage.com
and download their ViewBar.

New Years Extravaganza

To finish the year, I’ve collected a potpourri of fun sites all related (in
one way or another) to the New Year. Some deal with what the future may
hold for us and others have more immediate use, such as the Web cams that
will bring you the New Year countdown live from Times Square. Have a happy
and safe New Year.

Beyond
2000

“In your great-grandchildren’s lifetime, dinner might be served by robots,
and airplanes might fly without pilots. Who knows?” Futurists make
educated guesses about the future so companies and government can be can be
better prepared. But with technology changing so rapidly, the futurists
say it’s hard to imagine more than thirty years out. These predictions,
from National Geographic “World” magazine, include video-conferencing
wristwatches and driverless voice- recognition taxis.

A Moment in
Time

“When does the millennium officially begin? One would think this would be a
relatively easy question to answer. In reality, however, this is a
widely-debated topic. Some say the new millennium begins on January 1,
2000; others say it begins on January 1, 2001. Still others say the new
millennium has already passed.” This site offers the best explanation I’ve
seen yet of why mathematicians, conventional wisdom, and religious
scholars offer us three different answers to the millennium question.

Times Square
Cams

When you think of counting down to a New Year, what place comes to mind?
If you’re like me, the answer is obvious: New York’s Times Square. I grew
up watching the Times Square New Year’s countdown on television, so these
five (yes, five) Times Square Web cams just seem to shout “Happy New Year!”
I wonder how many people will be tuning in to the Net this year to watch
the ball drop. For more Web cams, click on the EarthCam logo in the upper
left hand corner. They even have a selection of Web cams just for kids.

Worldwide Observatory of the
Year 2000

“From the top of the Eiffel Tower, everything you’ve always wanted to know
about the year 2000.” And they mean everything â€” including science
fiction, news reports, electronic postcards, art, book reviews, and
predictions from futurists. The entire site is “trÃ¨s magnifique” and is my
pick of the day, but my favorite clicks are History and Science Fiction,
both found under Year Zero, Year 3000

Y2K: Year 2000
Computer Problem

“This is the first time in history the entire world has faced the same
technology problem at the same time.” This New York Times Learning Network
feature covers all aspects of the Y2K bug with clarity and without
hysteria. As you peruse the articles, try the Knowledge Tools (you’ll find
them just below the author’s byline) which give you the ability to turn on
Vocabulary (hyperlinks to dictionary definitions) and Geography (clickable
atlas references.) Menu links to the rest of the Learning Network site
run down the left-most column.