Mad Cow

Hear the healthy cow	mAd cOw	Hear the mAd cOw
Follow the story and help Monty discover information about Mad Cow Disease
What a glorious spring day on Highway 5. Okay, the scenery's not great but you're making good timeand you should be in downtown Turlock by 3:00 p.m.Your friend said she would have dinner ready but you’re feeling hungry now (glorious spring days always make you hungry...of course so do rainy winter days). You passed a Food, , and Lodging sign a few miles back, and the off-ramp is coming up. Yo quiero Taco Bell. What the heck, you're turning off and stopping at the first place you see. There it is, Lou's Diner. Looks a little greasy. Not many cars in the parking lot . Oh well, it's an adventure... Hours Later... That steak you ate at Lou’s Diner is not sitting well. Your stomach is queasy and you feel clammy and weak. As you pull into your friends’ driveway , you worry that you may throw up all over her (thereby seriously jeopardizing a promising relationship). As she comes out to meet you, you mumble a swift greeting and head for the small room off of the hall. You’re in bed , the guestroom, and your mind is spinning. You’ve spent the last hour at the Turlock Medical Clinic. You can’t get that Oprah Winfrey show you watched last month out of your mind, "Mad Cow Disease". Everyone’s worried since it comes from beef. You ate steak! Now you’re sick. What are the chances of you having the first case in the United States? Somebody’s got to be first. That doctor at the clinic didn’t seem to think it was too likely, but you would bet he’s never been to Lou’s Diner. In fact, when you mentioned you thought you might have Mad Cow Disease, he seemed to think you’d gone totally mad (well, you said, they don’t call it Mad Cow Disease for nothing). The more you think about it, the more you’re sure you’ve got it. Your only hope for a cure (or is there a cure?) is to find more information about the disease, so you can prove to the Doctor you really have it and get some treatment (or is there a treatment?). Your friend says you can get lots of information off the Internet. In addition, students in the California State University system have access to all kinds of information through their campus libraries. You’ve been meaning to buy a computer, and this looks like the time to do it. As you try to sleep, questions run through your head. What do I need to know about buying a computer? Two Days Later.... You’re home now, but you still feel bad. You managed to drag your aching body out and buy a computer , but when you turn it on (you got that far) you can’t figure out how to get any information out of it. Bob from down the street is one of those computer guys so he’s coming over tonight. He will show you what you need to know to get started, and how to hook up to the Internet and the World Wide Web . He also is brinking over a Computer Link magazine to check out various Internet Service Providers in case you get a busy signal from your campus connection. Let's see, which Internet Service Provider Looks the Best? Later That Week... That Bob sure knows what he’s doing. Your computer has been up and running for two days, and you feel like you’ve discovered the key to another universe. You’ve also discovered you don’t care much for Bob , but luckily you now know enough to work without him. Off of Highway 5 and onto the Information Superhighway ! The first thing you want to do is to find the e-mail address for your Biology instructor , and e-mail him to see if he knows where you might find some information on Mad Cow Disease. Everybody loves email so you can't wait to get started! Now that you know how to do email you can't wait to see if Lou's Diner has an email address. You're going to send him a really nasty message... Uh Oh, Time to Learn Some Netiquette Still Later That Week... Abbe, who works in the Library at school, came by last night. She spent several hours helping you get hooked up to the campus network. Can I Really Get There From Here? Now that you're hooked up to the campus network Abbe is going to show you how to use the library's electronic resources. You never realized the library had so many different things to choose from or how much information you could access from home. You've decided to take it one step at a time while you're doing your research. Abbe suggested you try to go about your research in a systematic way, at least while you're still new at this. *First* Figure Out What You're Looking For *Second* Think About What Kind Of Information You Need About What You're Looking For *Third* Find Information In Books, Periodicals, and On the World Wide Web About What You're Looking For You've hear it's important to evaluate the information you find, especially if you get it from the World Wide Web. After all this is a matter of life an death. Reputable or Reprehensible? And Yet Later That Week... Before Abbe left, she showed you a site that had a bunch of mailing groups called Listservs. You found one on diseases and you’re going to subscribe to it today. What exactly is a listserv and where do I sign up? Your brother, who’s been bugging you to get online for a year, sent you the URL for a site he found on Mad Cow Disease. When you click on the link, it tells you that you need to get something called SoundApp. You e-mailed him and he told you SoundApp is a helper application (or is it a plug-in?) and you can download it for free off the Web. Easy for him to say...How do I download helper applications and plug-ins? The Next Day... You were finally able to view the site your brother recommended you to. Turns out it was a joke and didn’t contain any valuable information. Abbe had warned you that there are some sites on the Internet with a lot of useless junkWhat a waste of time. Time to learn how to use search engines and directories and find your own sites. 24 Hours Later... You didn’t sleep well last night. Your throat feels like it’s on fire . Once more your computer is doing something strange, and all the research you did on Mad Cow Disease seems to have been lost. Abbe is coming over in a bit to see if your computer caught a computer virus. . Maybe you gave your computer Mad Cow Disease. Or maybe you shouldn’t have fished that perfectly good-looking diskette out of the trash in the campus lab. Hopefully she can fix the problem. How Do I Catch a Computer Virus Anyway (and more importantly, how do I get rid of it)? Later Than You Think... Thank goodness Abbe was able to get your computer files back that had all the references to books, articles, and Internet documents you had found. You’ve decided that the best thing to do with all of this information is to use it to write a paper . Then you’re going to put your paper on the Web so other people can read it and won’t have to do all the research you’ve done. The only problem is you’ve never really used the word processor that came with your computer. No Time like the present to learn how to use Microsoft Word. Later Yet... As part of your paper for the Web, you think it would be cool to include some statistics on Mad Cow Disease in England . How many people have had it? What is the age range? Bob called the other day, and since you didn’t have much to say, you started telling him your idea. He says you should use an electronic spreadsheet, like Excel, to make your chart. Since you still don’t feel well enough to go out, you figure you’ll do it tonight. You Can Excel at Excel and Be Really Excellent. Better Late Than Never... The Local Chapter of Hypochondriacs Anonymous called and asked you to give a presentation about Mad Cow Disease to their group (you’ve been asked to wear a mask and to come after dinner). You’re quite honored (all public speakers have to start somewhere) so you want to make it good. Bob (who still thinks you're his new best friend) had some more advice. He says your computer has a program called you can use to make a really cool slide show presentation. You check with Hypochondriacs Anonymous and find they have all the equipment you need. Everybody is so used to you being sick that nobody calls anymore, so you might as well work on it tonight. Perhaps you'll be more powerful once you master Powerpoint. The Next Day... Your presentation was a hit! Of course attendance was low, most of the members weren’t feeling well that night , but the three people who came really enjoyed it. Interestingly enough, two of them are fairly certain they have Mad Cow Disease too! You’re going to e-mail them some information so they can find out more. You’re ready now to put your paper on the Web. You’ve found some tutorials on the Web on how to create your own web page , so tonight you’re going to study up and get cracking. Besides you've always heard anybody can put information on the Web It Doesn't Get Any Later Than This... The Doctor from Turlock called today. Apparently he has been trying to get in touch with you all week, but your line has been busy (guess with this computer you might need to get another phone line). He had taken a blood test and a throat culture when you came in last week. It turns out you have strept throat. You probably had a touch of food poisoning from Lou’s Diner too. He’s prescribing antibiotics and you should feel better in a few days. Although it hasn’t been fun thinking you have Mad Cow Disease, learning about how to use a computer and to find information made it almost worthwhile. Maybe you’ll stop by Lou’s and thank him next time you’re down that way. \|\| Metis \|\| Menu \|\|