|
What is the Save
the Cent campaign?
On a chilly night
in January 1998, the co-founders of the campaign made a discovery
that would alter the course of their lives, however briefly.
What did they find? Well, perhaps a better question to ask, intrepid
reader, would be 'What didn't they find?'
To their utter astonishment, the cent sign, a stalwart
companion, perched neatly above the 6 on electric typewriters
for so long, had disappeared! It had insidiously been
replaced by a greater than or less than sign that couldn't make
up it's mind. On that night, a solemn vow was made to bleed and
draw blood until the cent was brought back.
Now in it's second
year, the grassroots support to bring the ¢ back continues
to grow. Dozens of emails of support have come to us, and we
definitely want to keep hearing from you! Email us with your comments, stories and support!
Keep reading to find out how you can do a part in bringing the
cent sign back.
Participate!
There are several ways you can help
bring the cent sign back to its proper place on the keyboard.
Use the ¢:
Show the snobby compuer makers that
we want the cent sign back! Use the sign in everyday correspondence.
I mean, let's be serious: which is easier to write - "A
copy of USA Today costs $0.50," or "A copy of
USA Today costs 50¢" Use it in conversation as
well. For example: "Excuse me, could you break this two-thousand
cent bill I have?" See how easy this is???
I can hear you saying, "Alright,
tough guy... I'd love to use the cent sign, but it ain't
on the keyboard! Now what, Einstein?"
Well I'm glad you asked. There are
a couple of different ways around this obvious oversight.
Mac
users have it really easy. In whatever application you are in,
type option-4. Viola!
Windows
folks... well, you don't have it so lucky. Fortunately, there
are a couple of different ways for you, so pick the one that
works the best for you.
- Choose "Symbol..." from Word's Insert menu,
choose the appropriate font and locate the cent sign, OR
- Select the cent sign from anywhere
on this page, then select Copy. In a Notepad document,
choose Paste, then save the file. Now you have a ¢ whenever you need it - just copy & paste from your text
file. (Thanks to George Wells.)
- From your Start menu, choose Programs > Accessories > Character Map. Then double click on
the ¢ character. Click Select... click copy, then paste
it wherever you need the sign. (Thanks to Milena.)
- If you're really desperate, some
programs will let you press the ALT key and the ASCII combination
for the special character you're looking for. The ¢ is ALT+0162. This works very well for those of you
running DOS-based text-only email clients and word processing
programs. (Thanks to Carrie Beth.)
The latest
news:
31.May.99:
Well, the most important piece of news to relay today is that
I've finally updated everything! Aren't you proud?
Also, right before I got caught up
in moving across country last year, Save the Cent received a
couple of honors that I feel compelled to repeat. First, we were
voted the funniest site on the Internet in June of '98. I'd link
there now, but the whole site seems to have dissappeared. Just
as well. It was probably a very unfunny day on the internet to
bgin with anyway.
But but but! I do want to remind you that we did receive
mention in an honest-to-God magazine. One that uses paper and
everything. Computer Dealer News wrote about us in their
June 4, 1998 issue. You can see a copy of the article here
(thanks to CDN and Plesman Publications for the reprint permissions).
Talk to us!
We love getting mail, especially
if you, like so many other internet users, have derived some
benefit from us. Tell
us your tales! We won't bite. Hard.
Become a supporter!
Do you have a web site? Link to us!
Use the graphic at the bottom of the page, and then link to:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jsmilner1/savethecent.html
In the near future, we'll be posting
a list of sites that want to Save the Cent. Send us your we site's
address, and be sure to get on that list!
Reader Feedback, or Your 2¢
From a reader in Texas comes this
warm fuzzy:
"I was making a sign with the
need of a ¢ sign for a bubble gum machine in a school carnival
and realized, there's no ¢ sign on my board. Searching
"cent sign" took me to your collaboration Save Page
which gave me not only the alt-0162 I so desperately needed,
but made me realize, I was not alone, and following your link
to your home page proves.... There is Intelligent Life
out there."
Kind words... we're blushing. Really.
|
