COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY HOME PAGE AT JPL
The comet is hitting Jupiter as this issue goes to press. NASA has their page up at "http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/sl9.html". At press time the first fragments have struck and a time series image of the plume from fragment A has been posted. The show continues through July 22. Up to the minute reports, links to other astronomical sites, times of impact, and info on TV coverage of the events (peaking on July 20) is available.
NUDES WITH NUKES? LIVERMORE LAB IMAGES REMOVED
Sad news for prurient netsurfers; nearly 1,000 photos of nude women stored on a public-access site at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are now out of reach. The computer containing the nude images, many reportedly nonpornographic, though, rumor has it, 'interactive', was taken off line after the photos were discovered by an LA Times reporter casually surfing the lab's public sites. Livermore officials expressed embarrassment that the "protocol" breach was disclosed by a reporter rather than one of their own computer experts. The lab's public-access site is now back with a different kind of titilation: scientific reports on lasers and satellite photos of the moon. Lawrence Livermore is at "http://www.llnl.gov".
DAVE BARRY COLUMN PULLED DUE TO PIRACY
ClariNet has lost its right to distribute humorist Dave Barry's columns on Usenet. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services terminated their contract with ClariNet after finding widespread unauthorized copying of Dave Barry on the Net (surprise!). They first became aware of this problem when someone casually emailed a copy of a column to a Knight-Ridder employee. Not very discreet, those copyright violators.
NETCOM ELIMINATES POPULAR SLIP ACCOUNT OPTION
Netcom, one of the nations largest commercial Internet providers has eliminated the very popular $17.50 per month +$2.00/hr shell+SLIP account option. While they are no longer offering this option to new users, old users can continue on this plan. This is widely seen as a move by Netcom to convert their customer base to their new Netcruiser software and connectivity option. Not surprisingly, most of the related discussion on Usenet has been by users looking for alternatives to Netcom which offer a service similar to the eliminated pricing plan.
PATENT OFFICE TO DETERMINE WHO OWNS "INTERNET"
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has suspended applications for trademarks that include the word "Internet." The issue: does anyone have exclusive rights to this potentially valuable name? The PTO has already approved some Internet trademarks, thus blocking subsequent requests, according to a patent office attorney. However, this situation is being questioned, based on the viewpoint that no one should have exclusive rights to the name. Previously approved trademarks include Internet Inc. and Inter-Net.
PBS DOCUMENTARY SERIES 'P.O.V.' HOSTS MAILING LISTS
The award winning 'P.O.V.' documentary series has established mailing lists to provide discussion forums for their latest series of programs now airing on PBS. The list address is majordomo@igc.apc.org and here are the program specific subscription lists: The End of the Nightstick (police brutality) "subscribe pov-nightstick", The Heart of the Matter (women confronting AIDS) "subscribe pov-heart", Passin' it On (perspective on Black Panther Party) "subscribe pov-panthers", Dialogues with Madwomen (women confronting mental illness) "subscribe pov-madwomen."
ACM REPORT ON CRYPTO POLICY AVAILABLE
The Association for Computing Machinery report "Codes, Keys and Conflicts: Issues in U.S Crypto Policy," was written by a ten person panel comprised of a veritable who's who of the computer industry. The 50-page document explores the complex technical and social issues underlying the current debate over the Clipper Chip and the export control of information security technology. "http://Info.acm.org/reports/acm_crypto_study.html" "ftp://Info.acm.org/reports/acm_crypto_study/"
JOURNAL WANTS TO PROFILE SMALL BUSINESS USE OF THE NET
The Internet Business Journal wants to feature small and medium sized businesses who use the net for successful business activities. If you want to have your business profiled in one of their regular columns, send relevant information about your company and its internet related activities to Aneurin Bosley, Editor, abosley@ott.hookup.net. Sample copies, "gopher://fonorola.net".
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA PROJECT OUTLINE ON WWW
Quick...what's the annual rainfall of Bolivia? Soon, you'll be able to look up the answer to this and other equally crucial questions with Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, featuring up-to-date information on over 65,000 articles. Currently undergoing beta testing, this sizable endeavor is slated for commercial use in September of 1994. A detailed outline of the project is available at "http://www.eb.com/about.html"
DOCTRESS NEUTOPIA ELECTED "USENET KOOK OF THE MONTH"
"Doctress Neutopia" has been dubbed this month's "Usenet Kook of the Month" as a result of her flagrant cross-posting of her docressoral dissertation "True Love Instead Of World War: Rebuilding Gaia's Love," across alt.romance, alt.feminism, alt.save.the.earth, alt.consciousness and many other newsgroups. You can find the original document at "ftp://eskimo.com/fisel/neutopia/gaia[1-8]" , or ask her about her how to join the Neutopian Lovolution yourself at "neutopia@titan.ucs.umass.edu". She's aware of her status; her comment on the kook nomination was, "You'll see." Join alt.usenet.kooks for discussion and monthly elections of other official kooks.
RADICAL ART GETS A HOME (PAGE)
Public Domain Inc., a non-profit arts organization floating on the interface between art, technology, and theory, has a home page now. This group sponsored the "Destroy All Music" experimental music festival in Atlanta and puts out a quarterly E-Journal called Perforations, each issue exploring a single aspect of life hitting technology hitting post-punk stream-of-consciousness performance text. Their Working Papers forum on new artists provides some food for thought and quite a bit of amusement. Check out "The New Alien in Science Fiction." "http://noel.pd.org/"
ARTIST PUBLISHES MFA SHOW ON NET
UC San Diego grad student Belinda di Leo has electronically published her Masters degree art show containing 23 of her paintings with supporting text for each. Called 'Ancestry: Religion, Death and Culture', it documents her roots in Central Appalachian culture. Her paintings embue images of familial settings and farm land with spiritual significance enhanced by the etherial quality of her colors and brush techniques. A feast for the eyes, we're lucky to have access to this as-yet unknown talent. "http://gort.ucsd.edu/mw/bdl.html"
SERIES OF NARROWLY FOCUSED NET BOOKS LAUNCHED
Random House and Michael Wolff & Company Inc. (originators of the popular NetGuide book), plan to introduce Net Books, a series of books focusing on the content and uses of the Net. Net Games, a guide to the thousands of online games resources, will start off the series in September. Other books will follow every other month. Research by MW&Co. has shown that games, chat, personal finance, and technology are the fastest growing areas of interest on the Net and each will be the focus of a volume. The companies also plan a monthly magazine, covering the happenings and characters of the Net. Hmmm, sounds familiar....
PSYCHIC QUEST: NEW AGE ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE
Psychic Quest's charter is to teach and inform about psychic and other New Age topics. The premier issue has a "true-story" of a near death experience, a psychic explaining why election predictions don't pan out, and a recipe for a dream enhancing drink. Other features: short fiction and reviews of books and videos. There's also a free voice-mail BBS +1 818 834 8255 for interested parties to contact each other and discuss psychic issues. This of course begs the old question of why they need...oh never mind. E-mail spectrum@kaiwan.com with a subject line SUBSCRIBE PSYCHIC QUEST.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE: COMMUNICATE WITH GLASNEWS
The Spring 1994 issue of GlasNews can be found on the newsgroup soc.culture.soviet and on PeaceNet's glasnost.news. This quarterly publication is aimed at East-West communications in such fields as journalism, advertising, public relations and telecommunications. You can also access GlasNews via anonymous ftp at "ftp://eskimo.com/GlasNews/"...the ftp version is GLASNEWS-4.1.x, where x equals 1 through 4. A World-Wide Web site is in the works.
THE 'ONE BOOK' LIST: PICK ONE AND TELL THE WORLD
Paul Phillips would like all of us to choose a single book the world should read. Mail him the author and title, and he'll add your choice, your name, your E-Mail address and any commentary you include to a list he will post. E-Mail: paulp@is.internic.net (Our choices: Lawrence, who covered this item chose Faith McNulty's classic Arty the Smarty, Bill, who formatted this issue, chose John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor, and I picked Beryl Markham's West With The Night, the best damn prose ever written. - Ed) "http://www.internic.net/~paulp/one-book.txt"
INTERNATIONAL BLACK E-ZINE SEEKS WRITERS
The creators of a new Black electronic magazine/newspaper are looking for writers to submit articles, interviews, profiles and editorials for their monthly publication, the goal of which is to provide a global context for Black experience. Areas of interest are science, business, politics, art and entertainment. Send a short bio, your qualifications and your particular interest in writing for the paper to ao826@freenet.carleton.ca.
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