TIPS Volume 3, No. 2
October, 2002

     Grade Level Key 
     = Elem,  = Middle
     = High, = Teachers

The (not so) Complete List of Bogus Websites

The Internet is a wonderful tool, but since it's pretty easy and cheap to put up a site, it's also a place for weirdo's, flakes, and scoundrels! Help your students learn how to ascertain the truthfulness of sites by having them evaluate these big fat lies!

Scholars Reveal Centuries-Old Hoax - Pi is actually equal to 3!

The Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie - Your sure-fire protection against mind control!

Velcro Crop at Risk! - Read what is threatening fastener farmers in California!

Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide! - Learn how this odorless, colorless substance threatens our lives every day!

Mankato, Minnesota - Make it your next vacation getaway destination!

Canada - the Next Challenge to World Peace - This site is a call to arms for Canadian world domination!

The Live Continental Drift Cam - Keep up with the fast-paced world of plate tectonics - on line! Slo-Mo Cam!

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus - Learn how you can help save this endangered species!

But seriously, folks...here's a website with resources on teaching website evaluation, maintained by teacher Mark Exworthy.

A sign on the Bryan Station High cafeteria kitchen wall declares "It's good to take a tumble, if it helps to make us humble." We've all done those "tumbles" - things that no right-minded human would ever do...when we're not in our right minds! Technology seems to be crawling with such reality sandwiches, and our appetite for them never seems to wane.

Enter the Royal Order of HYE (pronounced "hi-YEE"), which stands for "Have you ever...?" HYE's are humbling experiences. Here's a few that come just from my experiences with technology. The important fact to remember about this is...they're all true stories!

...cursed a non-functioning (and unplugged) mouse?
...resized your screen icons too large to resize them back? (Students used to take particular delight in doing this on purpose, but a teacher I knew managed it without any help.)
...turned in a service request for a sound card before noticing the sound was muted or turned down?
...or, even better, tried to induce a software application into solving the fact that things are plugged in wrong?
...saved a completely empty document over the top of a finished one?

This editor has a particularly long and glorious history of HYE's. Here's a few personal ones from "real life."

Have you ever...

...weed-eated your bare foot? (Or is that "weed-ate?" Microsoft seems to like that better...)
...Wondered why your headlights don't seem to be working, only to discover sunglasses on your face?
...gone to work wearing two different athletic shoes after dressing in the dark? (Dressing in the dark is, of course, an enterprise guaranteed to entertain students and colleagues alike!)

Yup, they're all true! Do you have a HYE? Are you willing to 'fess up, and join the ranks of the humble? Send us your humbling experience, and we'll send you an electronic copy of the crest of the Royal Order of HYE!