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OUR AFFILIATE RECOMMENDATIONS
Click on the image
Superman
The Sharper Image - $5,000
The Man of Steel himself, in a larger then life 2.13 meter (7 foot)
statue. Buy one of those, show us the proof of purchase, and we'll
throw in a free lifetime Netsurfer subscription. Yep, you heard us
right.
Radio-Controlled Atomic Alarm Clock
The Sharper Image - $49.95
Hey, it's Atomic! It glows! With Atomic energy!... Well OK, it's not
quite as exciting as all that. The only atomic things involved are the
clocks at the National Bureau of Standards in Colorado. This clock uses
the radio signals from the national time standard radio station WWVB to
keep ultra-accurate time. Actually, the glowing LCD is atomic in nature
isn't it? Cool looking, flat panel clock you'll never need to set.
Personal Warm+Cool System Wearable Peltier Effect Climate Control
The Sharper Image - $69.95
So you've got the electric socks to keep your feet warm, but what about
the other end? Heat up all that blood running through your neck and the
rest of your body will warm right up also. With this gizmo you've got
summer covered as well since it cools as well as it warms. Now all you
need is ice in your shoes on those hot August days and you're truly in
body comfort nirvana. Runs on 3 C batteries in a portable 3 x 4-inch
battery pack with belt clip (order batteries separately). Also plugs
into outlet with included AC adapter, or into the power socket of a
car, boat or RV. One-year warranty.
CD Shower Companion
The Sharper Image - $149.95
Sing in the shower with Mariah, Willie, or Luciano. This stereo CD
player can go with you into the shower, outdoors, and anywhere else in
your house. It comes with a digital tuner with 10 presets and single
CD player and a wireless IR remote control. And the ramp-up alarm wakes
you with a buzzer, radio or any CD track.
Leatherman Juice CS4 Multitool
The Sharper Image - $79.95
Swiss Army knives pale beside this rugged 14-in-1 tool from
Leatherman. Take care of daily needs with the serrated scissors,
can/bottle opener, corkscrew and straight knife. Or take off your
glasses and become SuperMechanic with needlenose pliers, extra-small,
small, medium/large and Phillips screwdrivers, saw, wire cutters,
hard-wire cutters, and handy lanyard. Anodized glacier blue aluminum
handles completes the superhero image.
BREAKING SURF
Skategate! (And Ice Babes, Too!)
The Gods of Journalism have truly smiled on the media masses at the Olympics, blessing them with a juicy figure skating scandal. In case you've been living in a cave, the Russians took the pairs gold medal, even though the Canadians are widely considered to have skated the cleaner program. Were the judges on the take or unduly pressured? Apparently, it's happened before. Needless to say, the media are all over this like Tonya on Nancy, and at press time the Canadians were also awarded a Gold Medal while the investigation goes on. For popular discussion, try the rec.sport.skating.ice.figure newsgroup (also available on Google Groups). MSNBC and the CBC have numerous breaking stories online while Yahoo has full news coverage with lots of links. All we gotta say is what the heck kind of sport uses subjective judging? Even Bridge (a Winter Olympics demo event that Canada won) is more robustly scored. To cleanse the palate, in the best tabloid tradition we bring you Irina Slutskaya, Michelle Kwan, and Sarah Hughes, the Ice Babes.Google: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=group%3Arec.sport.skating.ice.figure
MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.com/news/Oly2002FS_front.asp
CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/
Yahoo: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/Sports/Figure_Skating/
Ice Babes: http://www.championsonice.com/cardimages/cards_3girls.jpg
Bohr-Heisenberg Meeting Documents Released
In September 1941, Werner Heisenberg, a German, visited former mentor Niels Bohr in German-occupied Copenhagen. What happened at that meeting has been the source of speculation for over half a century. After Germany's defeat, Heisenberg maintained that he'd visited Bohr to express qualms about his involvement in the Nazi atomic bomb effort and to urge a worldwide ban on such weapons. But if that's what Heisenberg came to say, that's not the message Bohr heard. Bohr's thoughts are now public, thanks to the online release of some of his letters from the Niels Bohr Archive. What Bohr understood may or may not have been reality. We can't ask Heisenberg, even though he's pretty easy to pin down these days, but we found the comments (in German only) of a third man present during that Copenhagen trip, Carl Friedrich von Weizsacker. The New York Times has a good article (and this is the last time we're saying you need to register for free there) and there's an unusually literate discussion on Slashdot. Take a look at our Book Recommendations section for some fascinating related reading.Bohr Archive: http://www.nba.nbi.dk/
Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/07/science/07BOMB.html
von Weizsacker: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/index.php?url=/kultur/themen/36246&datei=index.php
Slashdot: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/02/07/162223
The fall of Enron has brought ruin to investors and employees alike, and damaged our already shaky faith in auditors, analysts, and accountants. The smoke from the wreckage reeks of shady dealings, hopelessly compromised business ethics, political corruption, and the acrid taint of cronyism. This isn't a company that tried and failed in the proud tradition of capitalism but something far worse, a corporate power house that arrogantly broke all the rules. We've assembled a selection of sites that help explain why the company failed - the exam comes in the next issue. First up, the New York Times and BBC each gathered a comprehensive set of links to Enron stories. Salon zeroes in on Arthur Anderson, whose auditors certainly have some explaining to do. Rediff has a story about EnronX, a site set up to provide help and community for ex-Enron employees (although it's as dead as Enron at the moment). Finally, the Enron site itself meekly offers sad sections to former employees.
Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/14/business/_ENRON-PRIMER.html
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/business/2002/enron/
Salon: http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/02/07/arthur_andersen/index.html
Rediff: http://www.rediff.com/search/2002/feb/07enron.htm
EnronX: http://www.enronx.org/
Enron: http://www.enron.com/corp/
States Want Windows Source Code
The state attorneys-general who haven't accepted the Microsoft settlement with the US Department of Justice have proposed as one of the antitrust trial remedies that Microsoft offer a version of Windows stripped of its associated applications, such as Internet Explorer. Microsoft claims that doing so is impossible because such applications are embedded too deeply in Windows code. The states now have filed a motion with Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that asks her to order Microsoft to release its Windows source code so that they can judge Microsoft's claim for themselves. Microsoft has rebuffed previous such attempts. ZDNet has the nitty-gritty while the Register smirks at the affair.ZDNet: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-836421.html
Register: http://theregister.co.uk/content/4/24051.html
Patterns of Microsoft Lobbying and Donation
Speaking of Enron, a couple of other companies seem to like putting money in politicians' pockets - take Microsoft, for example. The company and its employees donated more than $6.1 million toward the 2000 US elections and gave more in soft money - unregulated cash not allotted to a specific candidate - than did Enron. Given the size of Microsoft, it's not much cash, but the patterns are disturbing, according to a recent report submitted to the judge in charge of the Microsoft antitrust trial. In the week before the original Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson antitrust ruling, Microsoft went on a soft money spending binge. Furthermore, the company, with 30,000 employees, retains more lobbyists than the handful of companies with more than 300,000 employees. Microsoft has allegedly hired many law firms with antitrust expertise to work in unrelated areas simply to prevent these experts from helping the opposition. Is it coincidence that South Carolina withdrew from the antitrust suit after that state's attorney-general won re-election in 1998 with the help of Microsoft's donation, the largest unsolicited donation ever received in that state? ZDNet has the analysis.http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-835267.html
At the best of times, censors aren't our favorite species of beast, but censors who act secretly threaten the deepest principles of a free society. That's why Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) went after the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA), demanding it inform them what action it has taken under an Australian law that permits it to order the removal of Web content deemed too sexually explicit or violent. Months later, the ABA disdainfully handed over largely meaningless, heavily blacked-out copies of documents. The EFA has appealed this uninformative response to Australia's Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which has yet to rule on the issue. The new censorship law was to make online content subject to the same kind of regulation as print, video, and film, but offline actions are disclosed. The ABA refuses to make its online removal actions public, arguing that doing so hinders the fight against child pornography. The EFA thinks that's a cop-out to justify allowing the virtual censors to remain unimpeded by public scrutiny. We say, good on you EFA, and keep at it. Wired has the story.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,50177,00.html
Streaming Movies from Taiwan Draw Attention of MPAA
Hollywood is running scared, again. Movie 88, a Taiwanese site, has beaten the big studios to the video-on-demand goldmine. For one dollar, or perhaps for free, users can download and view full-length feature films in RealPlayer format for three days. This is everything Hollywood wants, including disabling the user's ability to save the movie on their hard disk. Regardless of the debate over the legality of this with respect to Taiwanese copyright law, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is zeroing in on this site. Despite the reluctance of Taiwanese authorities to prosecute locals for copyright piracy, something's going to give when this simmering situation blows up. CNET and Wired have more.Movie 88: http://www.movie88.com/
CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1023-831383.html
Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,50225,00.html
"The Fellowship of the Ring" is this year's big winner with 13 nominations, including best picture, best director, and best supporting actor. Incidentally, wouldn't "Moulin Rouge" have been a better film if the director had been shot before the picture was? We think so. The full list is at the official Oscar site.
http://www.oscar.com/nominees/nominees_index.html
Flyby for Pearl Harbor Pilot "Gabby" Gabreski
Speaking of the Oscars, "Pearl Harbor" received nominations in only four categories, and technical ones (plus best song) at that. Had the filmmakers decided to stick with real heroes rather than make up ludicrous love triangles, they might have fared better. There were American heroes at Pearl Harbor, such as Francis "Gabby" Gabreski, who really did fly combat during the Pearl Harbor attack and, later, with the RAF (and, then, back with the US Army). Gabreski ended World War II with 28 victories and tacked on another six-and-a-half in Korea. Gabreski passed away two weeks ago, and was buried Feb. 6 while honored by a USAF missing man formation of F-15s. While not part of the formation proper, F-15 pilot Randall Haskin was assigned to the mission as a picture taker. He's posted his pictures and experience online.Gabreski: http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_gabby.html
Haskin: http://www.aafo.com/library/mil/gabreski/
IOC Tiptoes into Online Coverage
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) refuses to allow any unsanctioned Web site to cover Olympic events, and even maintains a database of several thousand sites it classes as violators (or potential violators). Most of the sites are just plain old fan sites that happened to get caught using things like the trademark five-ring Olympic logo. A number of factors contribute to the IOC's strict stance, not least of which is the cash it gains from selling its TV broadcast rights. Tentatively, in a move that has been described as dipping a toe in the water, the IOC has granted Television Suisse Romande the rights to feature live streams on its Web site. This is a first, and if it works out, it could change things - in 2008, when the current TV contracts expire. Wired tells the story.TSR: http://www.tsr.ch/TSR/TSRindex.html
Wired: http://wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,50275,00.html
Object-Oriented Programming Pioneers Awarded Turing
In the 1960s, Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard had no idea fame awaited them four decades on. They were busy developing Simula I and Simula 67, the first two object-oriented languages. Simula 67 is still in use today, but its main value lies in introducing the object-oriented approach to programming, now the dominant way to build complex software with many interacting components and solidly enshrined in such languages as C++ and Java. The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) has recognized Dahl and Nygaard in awarding them the A.M. Turing prize for 2001, an award the Association considers the Nobel prize in computing although it's nowhere near as financially rewarding. Given the lag between invention and recognition, we doubt anyone ever strives for the Turing, but no doubt the award is appreciated. You can read the press release from the ACM or peruse the duo's description of how they did it.ACM: http://www.acm.org/announcements/turing_2001.html
Duo: http://www.ifi.uio.no/~kristen/FORSKNINGSDOK_MAPPE/F_OO_start.html
Interview with Michael Williams, Computer Historian
The Computer Museum History Center (CMHC), despite the fine name, is presently limited to a well dressed Web site and a warehouse in Mountain View, Calif. Bigger things lie ahead, however, as the CMHC last summer selected a design for its future museum building (expected to open its doors in 2005). New Scientist has posted an interview with Michael Williams, who will lead the effort to turn the archive into a museum, in which his passion for obsolete machines shines through. If that sounds too staid for you, you might be enticed by the computer trivia with which Williams responds to many questions. Did you know that in 1965 you could buy a kitchen computer for $10,500? You had to take a two-week training course to use it, and read the output from a row of blinking lights. Estimated sales were zero.CMHC: http://www.computerhistory.org/
New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opinterview.jsp?id=ns23295
Phil Kaplan, a.k.a. Pud, creator of FuckedCompany.com, a site that tracks dotcom downfall, has turned his attention to other things. He builds tools that he finds useful, then opens them up. Recent editions of his toolset include AmazonScan.com, which allows users to compare sales rates of items on Amazon's Web site. It's not all work for Kaplan, however, as he's also released LuckedCompany.com, a similarly designed antithesis to FuckedCompany.com that spotlights businesses that've been making the right moves. The bottom line is that this prolific coder has come up with free tools and analysis that industry insiders have paid for. The model seems to indicate that the tools will remain free for the average user, although industrial consumers may yet end up paying for the product, which we imagine they will do cheerfully. Meanwhile, Kaplan's taking on for-pay opponents such as DoubleClick in the adserver arena. DoubleClick plays down Kaplan's automated endeavor, but given Kaplan's track record to date, they'd better take a close look at the rug they've been standing on. CNET has more, and you can access all of Kaplan's sites through his PK Interactive gateway.
CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1023-831214.html
PK Interactive: http://www.pkinteractive.com/
Bill Joy On Microsoft Software and Security
Bill Joy is the head thinker at Sun Microsystems, so anything he says about the competition should be taken with a grain of salt. But Joy is also a deep thinker who likes to tackle difficult issues. In this brief CNET article, he addresses security and common Microsoft programming practice. There's little new here for security pros, but the piece is a decent summary of the philosophical issues with Microsoft software design for the tech-literate layman.http://news.com.com/2010-1072-831385.html
Mommy, Where Does Spam Come from?
Everyone with an e-mail account, some more than others, gets spam, those unwanted and often undesirable e-mail pitches that promise everything from hardcore pornography to wealth to weight-loss and even to university degrees. At least the paper junk mail we toss into the recycling bin mostly relates to legitimate products; electronic spam often makes promises that literally are too good to be true. A recent Wall Street Journal story (available on the MSNBC site) follows one reporter's attempt to find the sources of spam she received and her limited results. Contrast it with a Los Angeles Times piece from last year (which we covered in NSD 7.14). Spam is not going to go away soon - it's too cost effective to send a mass e-mail so that even an extremely low rate of return lets the spammer make a profit. Spammers use programs, such as Target 2001, that harvest e-mail addresses from the Web whether we like it or not. The Slashdot crowd has discussed what the individual can do to help stem the tide. In related news, the US Federal Trade Commission has announced that it is going after spam scams, which should cut down on the dangerous spam if nothing else. Yahoo has that.MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.com/news/702322.asp
Times: http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-000037171jun30.story
Slashdot: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/02/09/190242&mode=thread
Yahoo: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020212/wr_nm/tech_spam_dc_13
Suppose you had an operating system which spanned millions of independent networked PCs. What would it look like? How would it deal with security, reliability, and economy? While the contemporary global Web is a largely static structure, the future of the Net is likely to lie in distributed computing. Your computer might be involved in numerous distributed computing tasks, earning you cash while smoothly cooperating with millions of other machines. The challenge of designing an operating system to manage such a worldwide net of computing nodes is what this readable article is all about. A nice collection of reference links leads to current worldwide operating system projects, and several good sidebars cover related topics. Worthwhile reading.
http://www.sciam.com/2002/0302issue/0302anderson.html
Suffering from some serious techno-lust? See if ExtremeTech's dissection of the Itanium chip can soothe you. This, or some other 64-bit processor might just revolutionize computing, break your wallet, and run all your existing software so slowly that you might want to stick with your current set-up. Eventually, 64-bit architecture will change computing, but it will also require a whole new generation of software to take advantage of the new processing capacity. See the future now, but wait to play with it for a while.
http://www.extremetech.com/article/0,3396,s%253D1005%2526a%253D22477,00.asp
ArsDigita was a pioneering open-source software firm that made database software and profits from day one. Now, at roughly day 1,330, the firm no longer exists and Red Hat may have acquired its few remaining assets. Service and support were the source of ArsDigita's profits. How the firm wound up going under is a tale of avarice and miscommunication between software designers and venture capitalists. Read Eve Andersson's history for an insider's account of the company's rise and fall, plus the interesting comments from some readers of the story. Mass High Tech (MHT) has news of the fall.
MHT: http://www.masshightech.com/displayarticledetail.asp?Art_ID=54496
Andersson: http://eveander.com/arsdigita-history
Price/Earnings Ratio Hits All-Time High
Wouldn't it be cool if someone gave you $60 for every dollar you made after taxes? That's sorta how a stock's price/earnings ratio (PE) works. At the beginning of February, investors in S&P 500 stocks were paying an average of $60 a share for every dollar's worth of corporate earnings during the past 12 months, posting an all-time high PE of 60. During the so-called Internet bubble, PE measured a measly 25, by comparison. Earnings by NASDAQ companies are still in negative territory, following the burst of that bubble, so PE doesn't make a whole lotta sense in that context - most analysts will tell you PE ratio actually takes future earnings into account. Some analysts believe that these apparently inflated PE ratios portend another coming decline in the market, but at least one economist is more sanguine. The San Jose Mercury News explains, and a page at Florida State University (FSU) has a brief explanation of what PE really means.S&P 500: http://www.spglobal.com/indexmain500.html
NASDAQ: http://www.nasdaq.com/
Mercury News: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/local/2599933.htm
FSU: http://www.cpd.fsu.edu/fp101/MoreOnP-E.htm
ONLINE CULTURE
Tracking a Thief with AppleScript
MacScripter.net is the hangout of many of the best AppleScript programmers and scripters. A recent article recounts the story of the amazing recovery of a stolen iMac. The iMac had Timbuktu installed, allowing it to be remotely controlled. The script gurus first created a "suicide script" that successfully removed all the personal data on the iMac. A second brilliant script changed the AOL dial-up numbers the new, unauthorized user was using to cause the iMac to instead call the brother of the computer's owner. With that phone call, caller ID nailed the location of the stolen iMac and led to its recovery. If this true story doesn't sell you on the power and value of AppleScript, nothing will. The site also offers 700 free and possibly useful scripts for the downloading.MacScripter.net: http://www.macscripter.net/unscripted.html
iMac tale: http://www.macscripter.net/un_ilojack.html
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
A Native American Walk with Beauty
The Navajo have long held in reverence the concept of walking with beauty. It's a spiritual concept, and there has been no documentation in any Native American language of a word for art (so this site claims). Yet art they and other American aboriginals create, and you can find some examples here. Unlike Europeans, who defined art and craft as separate entities, Native Americans melded the two; resulting in utilitarian craftsmanship that to this day is renowned for its artistry and beauty. This site presents a good overview of Native American history and culture, emphasizing the cultural aspect. In view of the recent hubbub surrounding the Makah tribe's decision to resume hunting the gray whale off the coast of Washington, we found the link to the tribal Web site most illuminating. Perhaps the link that merges Native American tribes is the incorporation of artistry into everyday objects. Walking with beauty.http://www.artsmia.org/surrounded-by-beauty/
Industrial Sculpture and Interior Design
The Facility, in Atlanta, designs and builds sculpture. The designs are modern, and use metals (steel, typically), wood, plastic, glass, and stone. The originals can be seen in many places in the eastern US. The style ranges from whimsical recycling of motorcycle parts to industrial reception desks to sleekly smooth and elegant furniture. The site is a pleasure to view and navigate if you have a broadband connection, as it relies heavily on Flash and large graphics.http://www.westendfacility.com/
What's the difference between a blacksmith and a farrier? Farriers engage in the art of shoeing horses. Blacksmiths engage in an art, frequently on horses, sometimes not. For the Artist-Blacksmiths' Association of North America, it's all about the art of the art. With vision and skill they convince metal to take the shape of their imaginations. Be sure to check out the gallery so you can see why blacksmithing is so much more than just shoeing horses.
http://abana.org/
BOOKS & E-ZINES
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Heisenberg's War: The Secret History of the German Bomb
Genes, Girls, and Gamow: After the Double Helix
Red Dirt Girl
Non Campus Mentis: World History According to College Students
We Scream for the Scream Online
You can tune in stunning photos, art, and literature at sites all over the Web, but the Scream Online offers them more consistently than most. This quarterly is the closest thing we've seen to an online coffee-table magazine. The Winter 2002 issue features the art of Ken Brown, from Vancouver, B.C., and incredible photography from United Nations photographer John Isaac, Scottish photographer Alex Hamilton, and much, much more. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, commentary, music, technology - a brief blurb in an e-zine like ours really can't do the site justice. You'll want to bookmark the Scream Online and return often. "A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory," quotes the home page. Truer words have never appeared onscreen. Thrashing through the underbrush as we do, we see a lot of sites. It is rare to see one this impressive.http://www.thescreamonline.com/
I Want Media may sound like the scream of a precocious marketing guru, but it's the title of an ambitious site for would-be media moguls in need of news and industry data, and for insiders and outsiders in search of gossip. Editor Patrick Phillips intends I Want Media to be a hub for "everything media". He covers the major media industries: books, entertainment, the Internet, magazines, newspapers, TV and radio. The Daily News by Industry page is a fine collection of links to well known sources such as Billboard, the Financial Times, and the Columbia Journalism Review. Those in need of credentials, a job, or both can check out the lists of media organizations and employment leads. If you aren't in the media industry, you'll still find the General News page an excellent portal with links to news outlets, online publications, and media directories but you're likely to find this site most useful if you are. The site is updated daily. Of course, you can register for free morning e-mail if you crave headlines with your Starbucks.
http://iwantmedia.com/
Free Book Summaries Provides Free Book Summaries
Once a month, Free Book Summaries will send you a summary of business and personal-development books on the New York Times best-seller lists by e-mail. For free, of course - hence the name. Submit your name and e-mail address, select your interests, and you're signed up. The summaries try to help you "absorb the key points of the book" in 15 minutes. Not convinced? Try the substantial sample summary, about four screens of paragraphs condensing "Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!" We were reminded that the rich don't work for money, and that to be rich you need to develop financial literacy, build assets, and take every potential tax write-off. We learned that the rich invent money and were told four of five obstacles to wealth. (Guess you have to buy the book to get the fifth. Who's supporting this sparse site, anyway?) Our reviewer signed up and within a couple of hours received a summary of "First Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently." Get the gist through Free Book Summaries. The price is right.http://www.freebooksummaries.com/
SURFING SCIENCE
HealthAtoZ lives up to its own all-inclusive billing with style and authority to help you manage and maintain your health. With guidance from its highly degreed medical advisory board, this humongous site - part encyclopedia, part community, part portal - has accumulated quite a collection of resources for patients as well as for medical professionals. Personalized tools include eMate, a family calendar and health organizer that lets you keep track of prescriptions, immunization schedules, and appointments online and with e-mail reminders. The many other interactive tools include wellness/illness diaries, calculators (e.g. body mass index), and guides to drugs. You can join disease-specific discussions in Condition Forums and, in Ask the Experts, get e-mail answers from a fitness trainer, nutritionist, pediatrician, or nurse. Need more? Reading Room's question-and-answer pages cover a variety of topics in greater detail. We can only touch the surface here. Our sole cavil is that the pull-down menu on the home page lists topics from acupuncture to yoga. Where's "z"? Hey, what if you get caught in a zipper? What if a zebra kicks you in a sensitive spot?http://www.healthatoz.com/
If you've got the bandwidth, the Molecular Expressions site has the details. Do they ever. In a tour de force, a Java presentation called Powers of Ten starts with an extreme macro view of space and reduces views stepwise in magnitude to a single proton in an oak leaf on the Florida State University campus. There are hundreds of stunning images here of drugs alone. Who ever imagined that ordinary drugs were so awesome when magnified thousands of times. The site isn't all pretty pictures. Excellent explanations illuminate the theory and techniques of extreme microphotography. Interactive pages allow users to experiment with the many lighting, focus, and magnification variables in the micro art on many silicon chips. You'll spend hours here.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/
Wallace Carothers and His Synthetic Materials
Have you thanked Wallace Carothers today? Do you own a Neoprene wetsuit? Are you wearing nylon clothing? Carothers drove these discoveries while in the employ of DuPont. The photo gallery of Spinning the Elements: Wallace Carothers and the Nylon Legacy is an archival exhibit about the creation and mystique of nylon, the world's first totally synthetic fiber. The text, tailored for online presentation, is basic. Probably the most interesting parts of the exhibit are called Building Molecules and The Science of Nylon, which serve as a high-school chemistry class for visitors who have forgotten everything they never knew about polymers and macromolecules.http://www.chemheritage.org/EducationalServices/nylon/nylon.html
SOFTWARE
Quantum Programming on Your Desktop
Our minds evolved in the relatively predictable reality of the large-scale universe. This can make it difficult to wrap our heads around the unfamiliar properties of the quantum domain. Take, for example, the odd notion that quantum variables may hold many values at once, and only yield a unique value when they are observed. Manipulate a network of such variables and you have some gnarly computational possibilities. You can't quite do real quantum computing on the desktop just yet - give it a few years - but you can play around with the next best thing, the Quantum::Entanglement Perl module which simulates the real thing. Perl.com has an article explaining the module, of interest to programmers and quantum groupies everywhere.http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2001/08/08/quantum.html
Opera Browser 6.01 for Windows, and a Beta for Mac OS X
The Windows version is mostly tweaks to various features, nothing major, plus the usual bug fixes. There's also a beta version of Opera 5.0 for Mac OS X. The OS X beta has a 30-day, ad-free trial period (free copies of Opera are usually ad supported). There's a non-OS X Mac version as well.http://www.opera.com/