ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240019
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Computer Bits
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
FROM THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTING OFFICE to the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, today's web sites offer a variety of information for the 'Net surfer.
U.S. spies may not be watching closely enough for new missile threats. This is according to the Government Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, whose reports now are available on the 'Net.
In plain language, the GAO posts findings on an alphabet soup of subjects, ranging from housing to military preparedness to school nutrition.
Recent reports also explore problems at the Department of Defense expansion of the military aircraft fleet and a controversy among school officials over meat "batching."
It seems that schools sometimes send government-donated meats to commercial processors to convert what is often plain old ground beef or poultry into such items as barbecue-flavor burger patties and nuggets. When processors blend meat from different schools for efficiency's sake, that's "batching" and that's a no-no in some school districts.
Why? You have to order this report.
* * *
Suppose a couple plans to jet to Jamaica, or a geography student is curious about Kyoto. A place to find answers to many questions about foreign countries is the Embassy Home Page.
It offers links to the offerings of dozens of U.S.-based embassies, which include maps, descriptions of laws and handy facts.
The Icelandic embassy in Washington, D.C., offers up the country's 1997 budget, links to hundreds of Icelanders' home pages and driving tips.
"Streams must be crossed slowly in first gear," foreign visitors are advised. In addition, animals have the right a way. Hit a cow, you pay for it.
* * *
Global navigation takes good aim. Pilots fly with precision using numerical representations of north, south, east and west and points in between. Zero degrees is north. The "How Far Is It" page gives the precise bearing needed for any trip imaginable and the distance.
Roanoke to, say, Moscow is a journey of 5,053 miles. Heading out of Roanoke, the direction is 31.8 degrees or roughly toward Buchanan.
This is also a handy tool for finding the elevation of any city. Users also can see maps depicting land forms, glaciers and such. A zoom-in feature is fun to play with.
* * *
The squeak of a high tops during a basketball game is replaced by the squeak of wheels in the wheelchair version of the sport. Keeping tabs on wheelchair hoops is easier since the National Wheelchair Basketball Association launched a home page with statistics, team directories and the game's history.
Paralyzed World War II veterans started playing in about 1946 at veterans administration hospitals in the U.S. Today, it is an international sport with its own olympic-style competition, held in August in Atlanta. The U.S. men's and women's teams won bronze medals.
The NWBA is composed of 165 teams in the U.S. and Canada, including four Virginia teams: the Star City Saints in Ridgeway, Virginia Beach Suns, Richmond RimRiders and a team out of Charlottesville.
GAO
http://www.gao.gov
EMBASSY HOME PAGE
http://www.embpage.org/
HOW FAR IS IT?
http://www.indo.com/distance/
NWBA
http://www.nwba.org/
You can contribute to this column or just comment by sending an E-mail to biznewsxc2roanoke.infi.net or by calling 981-3393 or 981-3237 in the Roanoke Valley, or (800) 346-1234, ext. 393, outside the Roanoke area.
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