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Y O U T H T E C H N E W S For Kids and Teens, By Kids and Teens ================================================== Add Keyword: YT, YOUTH or YOUTHTECH to your *Favorite Places* list, or we'll hunt you down and drag you here kicking and screaming! ================================================== Sunday, December 15th, 1996 Volume 2, Edition 6 MAKING HEADLINES THIS WEEK . . . # The Excuse: sounds ominous, doesn't it?! # Teen Reviews Contest: Win! Win! Win!!! # Cha Cha Chat: back for another week of chatting! # Throw Some Snow: YT's new Winter Holiday area is here! # Geek Humor: all about the Macintosh! # Footprints: I thought it sounded spiffer than footnotes! # Exclamation Points Anonymous Support Group: naw... =========== THE EXCUSE =========== As some of you may have noticed, there was no YT News last week. Before we get to the reason why, I'd like to cover for my laziness by yelling at some of you. That way, we both look bad and I'll feel a little better. My complaint is thus: not one person sent me a letter last week sobbing in misery over their missing YT News. No one even inquired about it. Yes, I knew this would be a thankless job when I volunteered (scary word there) for it, but come ON. This is ridiculous. Now you've all made me sad. Are you proud of that? I'm crying, now. No one cares about my efforts and constant struggles every week to put out a publication that everyone enjoys. Santa's watching, y'know. He won't like it that you've made his favorite elf miserable. I expect some letters of comfort and support. If I'm feeling charitable, I may even thank each of you who sends in a note personally, in next week's YT News. <snicker> Oh, and one other little thing. For those of you who care, <sob>, the reason there was no news last week is because I wasn't quite feeling my normal cheery self. The reasons for this are confidential; I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Sounds painful, doesn't it. As usual, send your comments, suggestions, and flames to me at: YTCC Elf. =================== TEEN REVIEWS CONTEST! =================== Win! Win WIN!!! Heh, I knew that would get your attention. What is the Teen Reviews Contest, you ask? Here's what the About The Contest document has to say: "Help other kids and teens create their holiday gift wish list by providing reviews of your favorite software. You can even browse the reviews to create a wish list of your own. Be sure to submit a review to be entered into a contest to win a copy the exciting game Myst! Ten lucky winners will be selected to win a copy of this awesome game! Don't forget that these review aren't just for kids and teens, but parents as well! Point your parents this way so they can find out what's the hottest software to include as part of their holiday gift shopping list." What that really means is, you get to tell us all about the software you think is really neat, and we'll post your review in the Youth Tech area for everyone else to read. Whoever has the coolest review, wins! I can see your thoughts now: you're thinking, ick, I have to actually =write= something in order to win? Oh, and for your information, the reason I can tell what you're thinking is because I'm psychot-- er. Because I'm psychic, I mean. Anyway, yes, you do have to write something if you want to win. Horror of horrors. Well, here's a little secret. Writing isn't all that bad. Schools just give you that impression because all you ever get to write in school is a ten-page paper on the workings of the a pine tree's internal food transport system. With footnotes and references, please. The good news is that your review for the Teen Reviews Contest not only doesn't have to be more than a paragraph or two, but you don't need to include a bibleography or list of references! It just doesn't get better than this. <A HREF="aol://4344:1683.teenpik2.13644789.534318958">Teen Reviews Contest Teen Reviews!</A> ============== CHA CHA CHAT! ============== Sorry to disappoint you, but no, I will not be seen in the chatroom doing the cha-cha to promote this newsletter. I would however, like to get my hands on whoever started that particular rumor. Clearly their mind is as sick and twisted as my own, and they'd be a great help in writing this thing every week. Or at least providing inspiration for it. Moving on.. Not one person stepped forward to claim last week's Heard in the Chatroom quote. C'mon now. Obviously =someone= said it. I'm surprised that five or six people didn't try to claim the line as theirs.. I guess having your screen name in the newsletter isn't as great an honor as I like to think. Goodness knows my name (YTCC Elf) is in here often enough and I never get any mail. Speaking of, here's this week's quote: JMCabaddu: bye guys i have to go, my agent just called Don't give me that look. I thought it was quite amusing. Kind of makes me wonder if they got the job. <grin> I'm not finished yet! There's so much to say in this Cha Cha Chat section today that my head is spinning trying to remember it all. Oh yes. As some of you may have noticed, lately the Youth Tech Chat has been, well, packed. It's mostly due to new promotions; we're now at keyword: TEEN if anyone's interested. This is both a good and a bad thing. It's good because more and more people are discovering the area and how great it is! (shameless plug, I know, thwap me next time I do that). However, with the increased number of people in the chatroom constantly, things can get a little rough. I'd like to take this opportunity (no, I'm not gonna give a speech.. that's for next week) to inform you of a few chatroom rules. No cussing no scrolling no polling no harassing, YT is NOT a dating service, and please try to keep age\sex checks to a minimum. Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean you can't have any fun. It just means you need to observe TOS rules at all times. If you don't, it makes the room less fun for all the other members. Comprende? Now for what you've all been waiting for, chat promotions! I've decided this week will be Game Week at Cha Cha Chat. *Screamin Sentences, Monday 10pm Join YTCC DNA and YTCC Music for a fun game of silly sentences!!!!! Ok, overkill on the enthusiasm there. But this is a great game! Your mission, should you choose to accept it: create the funniest sentence possible with the computer term you're given. *Daffynitions, Wednesday 8:30pm YTCC CPU hosts this incredible game where the object is to lie! Yes, that's right. You're given a word, and whoever comes up with the most ridiculous and amusing fake definition for it, wins! *Word Scramble, Saturday 9:30pm You really don't need me to tell you all about word scramble, do you? YTCCTerryH has dozens of scrambled words for you to figure out! Sharpen your keyboards, 'cause there are no points for slow typists. <snicker> ================== THROW SOME SNOW! ================== Yes, throw some snow! YT's new Winter Holidays area is now open for business. Igloo space is limited, please move to the back of the igloo to make room for everyone else. No shoving, please. Don't throw iceballs, it could cause an accident. Loose snow only. Once you're inside our magically expanding Winter Holidays igloo, take a look around. We have the Teen Picks Contest, highlighted earlier in this newsletter. Lots of cool winter files to download; everything from wallpaper to midis. Download some of 'em and decorate your computer in the holiday spirit! Machines need love too, you know. Everypne's always saying their computer hates them.. well, maybe it wouldn't if you'd take the time to make it happy! A holiday computer is a happy computer. So go download those winter files and maybe this time, Windows won't GPF you just before you save that aforementioned ten-page pine tree research paper. <grin> But don't stop there! The Winter Holiday area also has plenty of winter websites for you to surf. Check them out when you can't stand the crowding in the igloo. I mean, really. I wonder which YT bigshot came up with the wonderful idea of stuffing as many people as possible into one ice-brick structure, magical as it might be. Anymore body heat in there and the whole thing will melt. So, get to the Winter Holiday area now!! <grin> <A HREF="aol://4344:1683.winter.13643701.532119377">Winter Holidays at YT!</A> ============ GEEK HUMOR! ============= This week's humor is dedicated to my favorit-- no. This week's humor is dedicated to a great compu-- no, not that either. Oh, forget it. This week's humor is dedicated to the Mac. Enjoy. <grin> This Week's Mac Humor: ##################### Violent Night ------------------- (to the tune of "Silent Night") Silent Mac, broken Mac! System bombed, screen went black. Books suggested things; I tried 'em all: Shift key, desktop file, clean reinstall. Now my deadline is tight, This Mac's been silent all night. Violent night, horrible night! Lost my cool, filled with spite, Threw my Mac through the balcony door Watched it fall from the 20th floor, Now I'm sleeping in peace; Thank God I had it on lease. Prove It's So! --------------------- (to the tune of "Let It Snow") Oh, the papers say Apple's dying, But before we start good-byeing, We should call them all up and go, "Prove it's so! Prove it's so! Prove it's so!" They say "Mac OS software's scarcer." We say, "Read those numbers, there, sir, Sales continued this year to grow. There ya go, there ya go, there ya go!" When they tell us Win 95 Made the Mac's famed advantages ebb, We'll say, "Why, then, do Macs now drive 60 percent of the Web?" We can win our PR reversal-- Make the Mac be universal-- Though we may have some years to go, Make it so, make it so, make it so! ################################# Once again, send new humor pieces to me, YTCC Elf. ============ FOOTPRINTS! ============ 1) Santa's Mailbag Ok, ok, so I didn't mean =Santa's= mailbag per se. Just one of his elves. Me, actually. I'm looking at my mailbox, and y'know what? It's empty. Does that make me happy? I don't think so. So I ask you, why is my mailbox empty? You'd think, with all the people who read this newsletter, one or two of you would have the decency to send me a little note of encouragement. <sob> I feel so unloved. Clearly, asking, begging and pleading have not worked. This time I'm going to to yelling and threatening. If I don't see at least five YT News-related emails in my box by the end of the week, I'll... I'll... er. Hmm. Well, I'll think of something nasty to do! Muahahahaaha! 2) The Shadows Know By now I hope everyone's noticed the new chat section, with new and improved stuff. I'd like to focus on the Heard in the Chatroom item. Two things to mention, here. Last newsletter, I asked if anyone happened to know the name of the other Kids Only forum that I stole the idea from. Not one person knew. Is that sad, or is it just me? Anyway.. I think it might be Blackberry Creek, but I'm not sure. Still looking for an answer, there. The next thing I need to talk about is... help. Yes, help. While I spend a great deal of time in Youth Tech Chat (they're giving me my own cot soon), I can't be there 24\7. And sometimes I miss out on the greatest quotes. So I'm thinking, it would be nice if I could have a couple spies to kind of lurk in the room and let me know when someone says something particularly amusing. No need to sign up for the job; just copy and paste that line and send it in. I'll make sure to mention your screen name in the Cha Cha Chat section if your quote is used. 3) Eeeny Meeny... Miney moe, catch a staffer by the toe! A couple people have asked why the Day in the Life section has been missing from the newsletter this past couple of weeks. To be honest, it's because I've gotten lazy. No, stop. Please, don't throw those tomat-- arrggg!!! Splat. <grumble> As I was saying.. there've been a couple little flukes that led to the temporary shut down of host interviews. One week I scheduled someone for an interview, but they had to cancel at the last minute, and I didn't have time to track down another victim that week. Another time I simply couldn't find anyone online at the time I needed an interview. And so it goes. That is quite enough tomatoes, now. Ahem. I'll be bringing back the interviews in the next issue, with luck. You can all cheer now! That's All, Folks *------------------------------------------------------------------------* Stay tuned for another exciting issue next week! ===REMEMBER, DON'T GIVE OUT YOUR PASSWORD!!!=== No AOL employee will EVER ask you for your password. If you give it out by mistake, go immediately to keyword: PASSWORD and change your password! And don't try surfing anyone, either. ***WANT TO UNSUBSCRIBE?*** The answer is: NO! Of course you don't want to unsubscribe. But if you really, truly feel that you must, I suppose we understand. Send an email with the following: TO: Listserv@listserv.aol.com SUBJECT: Signoff BODY: SIGNOFF YOUTH-TECH (Note: this is the only way to unsubscribe. Clicking Reply won't work.) |