ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 26, 1996 TAG: 9609260030
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Computer Bits
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
YOU CAN LISTEN to a sitar, catch the latest news in India, and even read it in Pig Latin on these Web sites.
You've heard the stories about socks - about how they have a secret society with the sole purpose of mixing themselves up so humans can't find a match. But have you heard these?
* That 700 odd socks were recovered from the New York apartment of a demented tenant who had been stealing them from the laundry room for more than three years as revenge against whoever was stealing one of his socks every time he did his wash?
* That a California couple found an undamaged sock - missing for 19 years - as they dug through the charred remains of their recently burned home?
Socks, especially missing ones, consume a lot of our attention, so why wouldn't there be a socks Web site? And there is - it's called the Bureau of Missing Socks. Here you can read stories about socks, read advice about socks or write and post your own sock sagas.
Plus, the letters to the editor from visitors all over the world are as good a read as anything else at this stopoff on the Internet. Apparently, missing socks are an international problem. Many of the letters also provide links to equally strange, but interesting, places.
What's up in India?
Jumping from socks to sitars, and why not? The "it's indiatime'' is a fancy resource that makes it possible for visitors to hear the sitar, view the wildlife or visit the beaches of India.
You also can read the latest news, compliments of the Daily News from Sri Lanka and the Sunday Observer, both English-language papers. Check out the story about the fence being built around the sacred tree. It's interesting.
Cyber portraits
If you've ever wanted to understand the virtual world, Stephanie Cunningham's "Character Site" might be your opportunity. She promises to examine "what it is to be a virtual personality in a virtual space."
Cunningham's site is accessed through another weird gallery of virtual people, and it's in the company of a site on the "connected human," which connects you to other sites the way a human being is connected.
Got it? We didn't, but it's out there for you to consider.
B-O-L-O-G-N-A
You're probably hungry after all that Web surfing, so stop in at Oscar Mayer's Web site for a hearty bowl of chicken noodle and a bologna on Wonder bread. September is Soup and Sandwich Month, in case you didn't know, and this site - although unabashedly commercial - includes a few fun facts about the meal that we all grew up on.
You can get yourself psychoanalyzed without visiting a therapist by taking the Soup and Sandwich Personality Test. It'll tell you what kind of person you are, based on how you eat. If you cut your sandwich into quarters, for instance, you're a kid at heart who enjoys reminiscing about the glory days of childhood. And if you drink your soup right out of the bowl, you're a free-spirited enthusiast who lives life to the fullest, never caring what others think.
The site also includes the words and music to both the Oscar Mayer Wiener song and the B-O-L-O-G-N-A ditty. Just don't sing with your mouth full.
ig-Pay atin-Lay
The World Wide Web is, as we all know, packed with educational sites designed to expand our intellectual horizons and connect us to vast stores of knowledge and advice.
And then there's the Pig Latin Converter.
Yes, it does just what the name implies. Type in the address of your favorite Web site and hit the "convert" button; the converter will connect to the site and translate the whole thing - every word, every caption, every link - into Pig Latin. And any link you follow off a converted page will be turned into gibberish, too. So, in theory, you could explore the entire Web in Pig Latin.
Just promise you won't, OK?
BUREAU OF MISSING SOCKS
http://www.jagat.com/joel/socks/html
INDIA TIME
http://www.indiatime.com
PORTRAITS IN CYBERSPACE
http://persona.www.media.mit.edu/1010/Exhibit
OSCAR MAYER
http://www.oscar-mayer.com
PIG LATIN CONVERTER
http://voyager.cns.ohiou.edu/jrantane/menu/pig.html
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