Question: This question is from Dale, who writes: When I am online with AOL just checking my email etc. these strange noises come through my speakers. Sometimes a mean dog bark, a screeching cat, a squeaking screen door opening and various other sounds. Sometimes I am up at 2am and the kids have the volume up and all of a sudden..... What and where does this originate? Is there some way to erase it?
Answer: Great question, Dale. Now, I'm not sure about the dog and cat, but the squeaking door is coming from AOL itself. When people who are on your "buddy list" log on or off AOL, it makes that door sound to alert you that this has occurred. From what you've written, I get the feeling that these sounds are heard only when you are on AOL, so I suspect the other sounds are alerts of some sort coming from the AOL software as well. I'm not sure if there's a way to turn it off, but check the menus of the AOL software (or maybe give their tech support a call) for something called "Options", "Preferences", or maybe "Sounds". There you might be able to find how to turn it off.
Cool Site: Christian Answers.net: At ChristianAnswers.net, you'll find answers to all sorts of questions, like "Is there intelligent life on other planets?" In case you're wondering, the short answer is that the Bible doesn't say, but strongly implies that human life is unique in the universe. This site bills itself as, "a mega-site providing Biblical answers to contemporary questions for all ages and nationalities with over 45-thousand files". It is a valuable resource for Sunday School teachers, small group or discussion leaders, etc. because you can look here for the answers when nobody else knows. They may not know either, but it's another source. You'll find areas of the site directed at kids, teens, families, archaeology, evangelism, creation vs evolution, and a store. And because the site has resources written in 42 different languages its content should prove useful to people the world over. The site's not just about answers, though. You can also find movie & DVD reviews. Integral to the reviews is a Moral Rating given by the reviewer. You also get parental advisories as you go so you can determine whether to see a given movie. But that's not all, they also review video games. So there's something there for everyone.
Cool Gadget: Thumb Stadium Game Kit: OK, the kids are out of school for summer. What to do? Well, kids like to play games, I know mine do. It's a bit old-school, but the thumb stadium is a kit that you build. It'll set you back $20 and is a good father-son, mother-daughter project or a good learning project for homeschoolers. The project has four games that you play using the 3 LEDs and 2 buttons Jai Alai, Thumb War, SlapJack, and Reflexy, which is the only game you can play alone. You'll need a soldering iron, some solder, and three AAA batteries to assemble the kit, but everything else is included. Because it's not all that flashy, it probably won't get a lot of play after it's built, but you'll have built a wonderful summertime memory they'll have for the rest of their lives.
It's All "Geek" To Me: Captcha: Today's term is Captcha. When you fill out a form online (like to sign up for the forums), you're often shown a picture that has some letters in it. The picture isn't easy to read, but you usually can. You enter the text in the picture into a box on the form. That picture is called a captcha. Sounds like capture and it lets the computer tell whether you are human or not. What this does is prevent other computers from setting up bogus accounts on the website because it's believed that computer software isn't sophisticated enough to read the picture. Most of them also have a way to do an audio captcha for visitors with low vision.
