j| |L»j How to avoid turning
JE& Hfl your break into a bomb
Every year thousands of students head for sandy shores and warmer climates for spring
break. And every year, some get scammed. Companies appear on campus as early as
October touting deals to places like Mexico, the Bahamas or Florida. They offer low rates on
brightly colored flyers claiming that $399 will get you to places like Jamaica with airfare, hotel
and some meals included, for a five-night stay.
Sounds too good to be true? It probably is.
We’ve all heard horror stories from students
who were stuck in airports for days, or whose
hotel room “water view” was really an algae
filled swimming pool. A couple of people I
know had their rooms robbed, and their cash
and cameras stolen, on spring break in Jamaica.
But how to know what deals are real and
which ones are going to turn your dream vaca
tion into a nightmare?
The Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov), a
governmental organization dedicated to help
ing consumers avoid being victims of fraud or
deception, has created a plan called
“Operation Trip Trap” specifically geared
toward travel-related fraud. It’s a combined
effort between law enforcement and consumer
education groups targeting companies that
misrepresent vacation packages. You can go to
ftc.gov/os/1999/9908/statecases.htm for a
list of travel companies that the FTC has filed
action against. Be sure to check out any com
pany that you’re working with before you hand
over your cash.
If you do get scammed, or want to find out
more ways to protect yourself, visit the
American Association of Travel Agents web page
rights” and “alerts for consumers" sections. •
Keep these tips in mina wnen planning
your trip:
• Be wary of charter flights. They can
change their departure times and don’t
have to provide an alternate means of
transportation to your destination.
When paying them, your check should
be made out to an escrow account
(required by federal law). Contact the
Dept, of Transportation (dot.gov) to
check if the charter company is legit.
• Pay by credit card. You have more con
sumer protection if things go wrong
when you use plastic over cash or
checks. A no-brainer: stay away from
companies that say they’ll send a
courier over to pick up your cash or
check.
• Avoid making a quick decision. Some
companies try to pressure you into
signing on right away—"good deals go
quickly,” etc. Don’t fall prey to it.
Check out the names of satisfied cus
tomers first. If the company can’t pro
vide you with any, don’t get on board.
(astanet.com) and check out the “traveler’s
Have a Healthy
Spring Break
• In Mexico and Central America, never
drink the tap water. That means no ice
in drinks, keeping your mouth closed in
the shower, and brushing teeth
with purified water. In the
same countries also avoid
raw foods, salads and milk
products.
• In Mexico and Central
America, pickpocketing is ram
pant. Men: Put wallets in your front
pocket, or wear a money belt. Women:
Wear purses with the strap running
across your chest.
Cancun has tight hotel security. If a
hotel requires a waterproof wristband,
wear it. If you have a guest in your
room, let the hotel know—you could
be kicked out otherwise.
Use the hotel safe deposit box for
valuables. And carry a photocopy of
your passport somewhere in your bags.
■ To get the best price while bargaining,
walk away when the vendor quotes a
price. Keep doing this until you get the
price you want.
Nobody (except tourists) wears shorts
in Mexico City.
• Bring your own toilet paper—a couple
rolls will get you through a week. It’s
worth it. -Gina Fraone
Advice for savvy computer users By jack Teems
NEAT NET TRICKS
Never miss a class—or a party—with
your own computer clock at
timeanddate.com. Choose up to 16 time
locations, customize a calendar and use the
meeting planner to stay organized.
• Enter the digits found beneath the bar
code of audio books, computers, DVDs,
music, software, videos, paperbacks and
so on at BarPoint (barpoint.com) and
you’ll get specs, places where you can
buy the products and price comparisons.
• A free service at pcpitstop.com examines
your computer’s configuration, performs
benchmark tests, and offers tips on solv
ing problems and improving performance.
You’ll get data on the system, memory,
disk, video, Internet, Windows, security
and other useful stuff. Needs Internet
Explorer 4.0 or higher to work.
• Until your PC has a better way of han
dling images, WinCrab will help fill the
gap. It’s a free utility for Win
95/98/NT/2000 (http://w1.2518.
telia.com/~u251800188/wg/). It cap
tures a full screen or active window with
the touch of a hotkey, and saves the
image in .jpg, .png, .tif or .bmp format. It
also creates index pages with thumbnail
images, prints a series of images or multi
ple photos on one sheet, serves as an
image viewer, and more.
Munge Those Spammers
It’s interesting that some dictionaries
have not yet picked up the word “munge.”
One source says it was in use in Scotland in
the 1940s and in Yorkshire in the 1950s to
denote munching something up in a masti
cated mass. These days the word has evolved
into altering one's email address as a defense
against spam. Give it a try, particularly if you
post a lot on newsgroups (Usenet) where
your email address can be easily harvested.
Simply change the last part of your address
so that it becomes worthless to the spam
harvesters. For example, if you are
JoeJones@mindspring.com, post your mes
sages as JoeJones@_NO_ SPAM_mind
spring.com. A bonafide correspondent will
note the need to remove _NO_SPAM_ from
the address; a bot will not. You should take
care to munge the portion of the address
after the @; otherwise, your service provider
will still get the spam. •
Jack Teems (jteems@steamtunnels.net)
publishes Neat Net Tricks from Rapid City,
S.D. For more Neat Net Tricks, visit
NeatNetTricks.com.