"A Powful Tool"
How come those who attempt to spread computer viruses can *never* spell or use proper grammar??

My favourite is one I got most recently. It simply says: "This is a powful tool. I hope like it."

Now, who, receiving such a missive, actually takes the attached .exe file and runs it?? Well, from what I've seen of a lot of people online (and offline), quite a few, unfortunately. These are the same folks who make me wonder at the fact that they manage to find their way home every night. Well, ok - MOST every night.

For a while I was playing games at a site called "Slingo." For over a month, in fact, I played their tournaments quite regularly. Then came the switch to Daylight Savings Time. Oh oh. Somehow I knew there would be trouble and confusion (most folks are lucky to know what time it is when it doesn't change). So two days beforehand, I asked "Do the tournament times change?" The only answer I got from those I asked was "Good question!"

So the day after the switch to DST, I went to the page where the tournaments are listed, and there, as before, it still stated in bold letters: ALL TIMES LISTED ARE IN CENTRAL STANDARD TIME

I show up for a tournament at the time listed in CST. Everyone says I'm an hour late. But how can that be? "It is 7 p.m. CST right now," I say. "No, no," someone replies, "It's 8 p.m. Did you remember to set your clock ahead last night?"

Now, try to explain that, not only does "standard" mean standard (does not change), but that Arizona (and, recently, Hawaii) doesn't go on DST, so our clocks never change. No one - and I mean no one - understood. One woman even said "OMG! It's simple! The tournament times listed are Central STANDARD time! That means whatever time it is in Central time - THAT'S the standard!" *sigh*

So, I figured there was just an oversight, and Slingo webmasters really meant to change the wording on the tourney page to read "ALL TIMES LISTED ARE CENTRAL TIME." Surely, they meant to change it. I wrote and asked. I got a reply that gave me the "standard" answer: "If you look on the tournament page, at the bottom is a time zone chart. You can find out there what time zone your (sic) in."

I wrote back and said that I was fully aware of what time zone I'm in. The question was, if the tourney page says that all times listed are CST, then why aren't they? She wrote back saying, no matter what the time *actually* *is*, if I looked on the Time Zone Chart, I could figure out how many hours ahead or behind Central Standard Time I am.

I wrote yet again, simply saying: "I should have expected this from a site owned by AOL. Sorry, I tried - I now give up."

I keep thinking that if people would only stop to "hear" a question, they might actually know what the question is. And, likewise, if they'd consider the answer, they might actually understand what they just read.

Try using your brain: It's a POWFUL TOOL.