Jeff and Sherri`s Pointless Web Page
Hello and welcome to our home page. We`ll try not to bore
you to death or innundate you with thousands of pointless links. We simply intend to cover
and connect with whatever we happen to be into at the moment here in upstate
New York. So relax and allow us to help you find ways to spend your free
time unproductively. For our friends in other parts of the country, we`ve included a photo from
our wedding on August 15, 1996 in Florida. Sherri and I are on the left with my brother,
Jerry on the right. Click on the beach graphic to the right to view the photo of our "beach
wedding". If you would like a little background music while you browse, click
here.
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| The Anime Quik Guide | Upstate Beer and Brewing | Glory Row Marketplace |
 Internet Freedom |
Political awareness |
| On June 26, 1997 the U.S. supreme court struck down the controversial Communications Decency Act which threatened to undermine free speech on the internet under the guise of protecting children from obscene or "adult" material. By preventing restriction of internet content to that suitable for a 6 year old, the court has given protection similar to that afforded traditional print media. Our government, however, is still not willing to accept this decision and vows to come up with yet another law that will attempt to restrict our ability to communicate freely on line. | It is not difficult to keep in touch with the political climate and your government. E-Mail can easily be sent to the White House, and congressional addresses are becoming a commonplace means of keeping in touch with your senator or representative. The "E-The People" organization has compiled a comprehensive listing of governmental e-mail addresses as well as online petitions and much more. Its a great resource that everyone should bookmark and use. |
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| "Thomas" the official site for congress | Congressional Quarterly`s "On the Job" | Voter`s Telecommunication Watch | Citizen`s Internet Empowerment Coalition |
| Astronomy |
Space Exploration |
The night sky is a beautiful sight to behold, especially if one can get away from the increasingly
severe light pollution around most urban and suburban areas. The fact that in the past two years
we have had not one but two bright and stunning comets (Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp) visit our skies
has rekindled my long standing interest in astronomy. So much can be seen in a dark location
with only a good pair of binoculars or even the naked eye that lack of a telescope is no barrier
to stargazing.photo of comet Hyakutake taken March 14, 1996 by Peter Staettmayer |
The current news has concerned Nasa's exploration of Mars, most recently with the
Mars Global Surveyor which is still on its
mission orbiting mars. The mission, as well as the previous pathfinder landing has returned
tremendous photographs and data from the red planet. Also, keep up to date with developments
with the planned International Space Station.
Always facinating and worth exploring is the Hubble Space Telescope site, constantly updated
with images captured by the worlds most impressive telescope. |
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| The NASA home page | The Hubble Space Telescope | The Planetary Society | Current skywatching info |
| Upstate Beer and Brewing |
Upstate Homebrewing Archives |
| What better way to spend your free time than
with a fine ale? Give up the Budmillercoors crap and try some good stuff.
Check out Upstate Beer and Brewing, our own site for tips on where
to find good beer in the Albany area. Upstate B&B covers the various area brewpubs,
taverns which specialize in beer and ale, as well as our own homebrewing archives. And thanks
to Magellan for their complementary review.
"Do you love beer? Do you live in Albany, New York? If you answered yes to both these questions, then run, don't drive to this guide to upstate brewpubs, bars and ingredients for homebrew of the month. Urrp!",...Magellan. |
All of the homebrew recipes which have appeared in Upstate Beer and Brewing`s homebrew recipe of
the month can be found at our Brewing Archive site. For the
mother of all homebrewing archives, visit
The Cat`s Meow, the internet source for literally hundreds of recipes covering every
style imaginable. |
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| The Real Beer Page | The Brewery |
| Ski the Northeast |
When the snow melts |
Skiing is without a doubt the best way to spend your time during the long northeast winters.
While everyone else is bitching about the coming noreaster, you can kick back and imagine the
fun you`ll soon be having as the snow piles up outside your door. Living in the Albany,
New York area, I have the pleasure of being a short drive from some of the best skiing in the
east. No, its not quite up to Colorado or Utah, but its very accessible even for a day
trip and due to the massive snowmaking and grooming efforts neccessary in the east, is somewhat
less dependant on mother nature. Hell, Killington is open from early October to June usually.
Is there a longer ski season anywhere else? To check out current conditions, just click on "Snow Country Reports".
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Outdoor activities abound for those of us in upstate New
York. The Adirondack, Catskill, and Vermont`s Green mountains offer unbounded opportunity for
the nature lover with hiking/climbing, canoeing, camping and more, easily reachable for weekend
or even single day activities. Check out the links below for a good sampling of the possibilities.
Current Vermont Slope Conditions |
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| GoSki | New England Cross Country Skiing | The Great Outdoor Recreation Page | The Appalachian Mountain Club |
| Glory Row |
Ultima Online |
| Comuter Gaming is yet another fine way to blow far too much time. For the past 2 years I have been playing far more than anything else, a game called Ultima Online. Drop into The Glory Row Marketplace, a web site devoted to my online guild in that alternate reality. Or better yet, look me up in UO on the Atlantic shard but be careful, it can be addective. Impress your parents or please your significant other by dropping off the face of the earth in the pursuit of the perfect character. (^_^) | 
The most exciting development (for me) recently in computer gaming was the release of Ultima
Online. The Ultima games are easily my all time favorite computer games which I have been
playing since the early days of computer gaming (1980). They have always tried (and usually
succeeded) to provide the ulitmate role playing atmosphere to allow gamers to become completely
absorbed in the game. Ultima Online takes the
familiar Ultima world and puts it online, allowing literally thousands of simultaneous
gamers to explore and interact with each other, doing whatever they see fit. The range of
opinions on this program run from 5 star raves (C/Net) to a 1 star, "Coaster of the Year"
rating (Computer Gaming World). Released with a multitude of bugs as well as severe playbalance
issues, the game has improved consistantly in the past couple of months but thats not to say
that all problems have been resolved. In the end, I think you get out of UO, what you put into
it. Search for friends and roleplay as it was intended and you will have a blast. Exploit the
bugs and play like Diablo and it will grow old quickly.
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| The Games Domain | The Adrenaline Vault | CNet`s Gamecenter | GameSpot |
| The Anime Quik Guide |
U.S. Animation |
I`ve always been a big fan of animation and have most recently developed a particular interest
in anime or japanese animation. Our Anime Quik Guide
is designed as a short, concise guide to the titles we`ve watched and our opinions on them, as
well as a list of select links to other more comprehensive sites. We`re always
looking for suggestions and recommendations so check it out and let us know what you
think. Also, be sure to catch Hayao Miyazaki's latest film
Princess Mononoke, which is currently in
limited release in North America. Look for it! Above scene from "Gunbuster" available from Manga video |
My favorite animation outside of Japan currently is that being produced by the classic
Walt Disney Studios and the long running television program,
The Simpsons. With the release of "The Little Mermaid", Disney returned to a leading position in
top notch animation art with one tremendous film after another. Their latest film, scheduled
for a Feb. 2000 video/DVD release is
Tarzan.
And of course, "The Simpsons" on Fox television just keeps on going. The
surprising thing here is that after 9 seasons, its still fresh, hip and funny. Also,
recently a strange little show has appeared on the cable Comedy Channel, Wednesdays and Saturdays
at 10PM. It is of course South Park, and in spite of its very simplistic animation,
its one of the funniest things I have seen on television in a long time. Check out the original
(and uncensored) short and just about anything else related to the show at
Mr Hat's Hell Hole.
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| The Anime Web Turnpike | The Anime Web Guide | Animation World Network | The Simpsons Archive |
email us with your comments!
Last modified: December 7, 1999
