EXCAVATE BURIED ARTIFACTS VIA WWW TELE-OPERATED ROBOT ARM
A team at the University of Southern California has set up a robot arm which can be operated by a WWW client that handles forms and will display graphics. The project lets you move the arm and direct a blast of air which uncovers buried artifacts. Judging by the comments found on the operating log, many of the more than 844 registered operators and over 3,000 users since Aug. 1 believe that this is the best site on the World Wide Web. Check the logs for references to other robotics sites. Try this one for yourself at "http://www.usc.edu/dept/raiders/"
VAMPIRE ALERT: DON'T VISIT THIS SITE AT MIDNIGHT
Those who idolize Anne Rice, gothic novels, and graveyards can rejoice: the new WWW site "Vampyres Only" is online. Your eerie options include the Point du Lac Gallery, filled with nightmarish and Elvira-ish images; book and film reviews; and electronic versions of such popular vampire fiction as Bram Stoker's 1897 "Dracula." Although the site is still under construction, those bloodthirsty for vampire lore and legend will find enough to quell their thirst - for a while. Don't miss the "Vampyre Probability Test" ("Does garlic bother you in any way?"). "http://www.wimsey.com/~bmiddlet/vampyre/vampyre.html"
CYBERMIND MAILING LIST OFFERS ASTUTE LOOK AT CYBERSPACE
Cyberspace is what you're reading this in, but have you thought much about what it actually is? Cybermind, a mailing list from the Spoon Collective, discusses the implications of the electronic universe. The discussion (recently, whether electronic communication will help pollution) is almost always well-reasoned and a pleasure to read. The Spoon Collective also offers other moderated mailing lists: Foucault; Marxism; and Fiction-of-Philosophy, to name a few. We covered the beginning of Cybermind in issue #12, when the discussion included, among other things, Cybervampires (how's that for a segue?). For more info send E-Mail to "majordomo@world.std.com", with a single line in the body: "info cybermind". Or contact Alan Sondheim, "sondheim@panix.com", who moderates Cybermind and Fiction-of-Philosophy.
JPL NASA SITE CONTINUES AS A GREAT SOURCE OF FAR OUT IMAGES
The latest images to be posted at this site are radar images from the just concluded Shuttle mission and final updates of Magellan's mission to Venus. You can also find the NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission; a photo of the landing site (great image); three artists' renderings of the landing sequence; and a photo of the Mars Pathfinder rover before launch. This site has much to offer, including information about the SL9 comet(s) that crashed into Jupiter and updates on the Ulysses and Galileo spacecraft. First-class browsing site at "http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/", click on "News Flashes". Also "ftp://jplinfo.jpl.nasa.gov/News".
GAELIC PAGES: ALL SIGNAL, NO BLARNEY
The Gaelic Homepage is one of the best topic-specific Web sites available. Don't let the rather simple design fool you. Click on "General Celtic Information" for a nice collection of Gaelic, Irish, Scottish, and Celtic info. You can find Celtic music resources with concert listings, learn about the Gaelic language, find out where to buy a kilt in Edinburgh (or, for that matter, in San Francisco), get Irish news online, find poetry, view tartans, and go to "Irish and Celtic thingies," a page containing the immortal "10 Disgusting Things Irish Traditional Flute Players Do." The list of resurces is large and highly intriguing. Note that Sunsite is hard to reach and slow, so turn off image download and keep trying; it's worth it. Or try the thingie page at orangutan.cv.nrao.edu instead. "http://sunsite.unc.edu/gaelic/gaelic.html" "ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/academic/languages/gaelic/INDEX" "http://orangutan.cv.nrao.edu/irish.html"
ASIAN AND HONG KONG MOVIES BLOW AWAY HOLLYWOOD
So you think Hollywood can make an action picture? We laugh in your face! Hong Kong movies are to Hollywood action flicks what WW II is to a game of miniature golf. The comedies and dramas which come out of Asia are also quite good, and you can find out more about the whole genre by checking out the "Asian Movies Homepage." You get great actor and actress personal profiles, some neat photos of the actresses, movie lists, FAQs, filmographies, and more. A related "Hong Kong Movies Homepage" is somewhat less comprehensive but it does include a link to the Hong Kong Popstars Archive, a Jackie Chan interview, and MPEGs of the movies. A great resource for fans as well as newbies. Also try alt.asian-movies. And never, ever miss a Jackie Chan flick. Asian Movies Homepage: "http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~luwang/lu.html" Hong Kong Movies Homepage: "http://www.mdstud.chalmers.se/hkmovie/"
SUMERIA A SITE FOR THE ALTERNATIVE PARANOID ANARCHIST
This site is presented by an earnest bunch with a printing press and a Net connection in a Melbourne, Australia, basement. You've met the type - very alternative, very anarchist, passionate, still think they can change the world (bless them), maybe need a bath. Their material covers such things as Immanuel Velikovsky, free-energy cover-up, Nikolai Tesla, natural childbirth, fasting, ozone clinics, anarchist resources, the top 25 censored news stories, animal rights, Bovine Growth Hormone, and aliens. Also a nice collection of alternative surfing sites. Check out the neat ASCII web of connections between various world banking institutions. Nice fringe site. "http://werple.apana.org.au:80/sumeria/" "ftp://werple.apana.org.au/sumeria/politics/bankers.txt"
LANGUAGE GOPHER: COLLEGE SLANG, SPOONERISMS, AND A DASH OF URDU
Need to learn to speak Urdu in a hurry? Want to fix computers in Vietnam? Need to learn Welsh? All this is covered at the languages Gopher. You're out of luck if you're interested in anything standard, but then, most of us aren't. This interesting miscellany includes a guide to spoonerisms, Shaw's proposal for regularizing English, an Esperanto dictionary, the "Quick & Dirty Guide to Japanese Grammar," Taeis Languages (??), and a guide to college slang. "gopher://wiretap.spies.com/Library/Articles/Languages"
SIGGRAPH SITE HOSTS GRAPHICS, CONFERENCES, AND TOOLS
SIGGRAPH is the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics. From their WWW site, you can access general information about SIGGRAPH conferences, workshops and educational resources. Plus, you can tap into their library, featuring slide sets of computer-generated art. Obviously, with such a visually oriented site, you'll want to use Mosaic to get the full effect. The SIGGRAPH Web site is located at "http://siggraph.org". You can also "gopher://siggraph.org" or anonymous ftp to "ftp://siggraph.org"
THE TEXAS 500 AND THE BUBBA 10
Texas is in many ways unique, and this site certainly feels like Texas. No, not big, dusty, and smelling of cow dung, just Texan. Take a look and you'll know what we mean. This service, set up with a grant from the State of Texas, supports business with information and links of all kinds in the "TEXAS-ONE Project." One offering is "The Texas 500," contact info and rankings for the top 500 Texas companies and comprehensive information on 55 companies. The site also contains some colorful stories. Check out the King Ranch and Baker Hughes stories under menu item #3, "The BUBBA 10." We think this is a must-see business site. "gopher://gopher.texas-one.org:500"
BANK OF IRELAND, A FULLY WIRED INSTITUTION
OK, so why would you care that a bank in Ireland is on the Web? On the other hand, how often do you get a chance to visit a bank in Ireland? We thought, what the heck - let's take a look. The bank is offering foreign exchange information, a limited number of services, and relevant news items. In a recent poll of customers, the bank discovered that folks want to be able to receive statements of their accounts, pay their bills, transfer funds, and get information on current interest rates, all without having to leave their desks. Doesn't anyone go out anymore? In any event, it's a bank, it's in Ireland, and it's on the Web. "http://www.webnet.ie/cust/boi/index.html"
Microsoft Corporation has announced the creation of its newest Internet endeavor, the Microsoft Gopher. This promising test site, designed for software owners and developers, offers general information, several searchable indexes, and the Microsoft Software Library with 1,500 files. "gopher://gopher.microsoft.com:70/1"
CHICAGO: WINDY CITY OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
Tezcat Communications plays host to "Chicago!" - a terrific home page focused on the Windy City. From here you can link up with information about local entertainment, libraries, bands, art galleries, museums, weather, elected officials, and more. If you're looking for an off-the-beaten-track list of stuff to do, be sure to stop by "Bianca's Internet Chicago Guide," in the "Steppin' Out" category. Bianca lets you in on hip-and-funky Chicago secrets like the best place to get a tattoo and where to find "Brew & View," a sort of beer garden/movie theatre. Better than your average tourist information booth. "http://tezcat.com"
FUN FROM FLORIDA: THE MARGARITAVILLE CAFE
Even if you're not a Jimmy Buffet fan, you can't help but warm up to
the Margaritaville Cafe. Among the other sunny tidbits at this site,
you'll find a recipe for margarita jello, loads of Caribbean and
Florida travel information, a list of Florida gophers and information
servers, "Parrothead Corner" (a salute to Jimmy Buffet), plus an
amusing but helpful category entitled "The Weather is Here, Wish You
Were Beautiful." Typing in the long-winded URL is no party, but the
end result is worth it.
%20Bag/Margaritaville%Cafe
%20%28under%construction"
E-SPAN has joined the WWW with the Interactive Employment Network (IEN).
The IEN provides a searchable database of over 1,000 high-tech job openings
as well as a wide variety of resources for the job seeker.
"http://www.espan.com/"
WWW TUTORIAL AID AVAILABLE ON - YOU GUESSED IT - WWW
A set of WWW Tutorial Slides written in HTML is now available. The slides
are potentially interesting to anyone giving or wanting to see a WWW
tutorial. "http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/afs/cs/usr/mwm/www/tutorial/"
TRACK YOUR MUTUAL FUND PORTFOLIO ON THE WEB
Despite some dubious advertising by Galt president Robert Frasca, the
company is worth a look for NetWorth, their free end-of-day pricing
info on over 4500 mutual funds. They also offer a portfolio
builder/tracker and historical graphing on all the funds.
"http://networth.galt.com"
CABLE TV RESOURCE LIST ON THE NET
For a complete listing of just about every cable-related Internet resource
along with a short description, ask John Higgins, finance editor of
MultiChannel News, who has put together a dandy. E-Mail: John Higgins
"higgins@dorsai.dorsai.org"
MISSING/STOLEN BOOKS CLEARINGHOUSE NOW AVAILABLE
Collectable books and other valuable items are often stolen to be sold to
unsuspecting buyers. The Interloc "Missing and Stolen Books" database is
offered as a free service to the antiquarian, library, and collector
communities. Access is currently limited to E-Mail, but Telnet and FTP
capability will be added by year's end. E-Mail: "interloc@shaysnet.com"
NEW VERSION OF MOSAIC FOR WINDOWS (SURPRISE), V2.0 ALPHA 7
Those amazing folks at NCSA just keep on cranking out new copies of 32-bit
Mosaic for Windows. They have new features and (surprise again)
bug fixes. It is a great product, the price is right (free), and it
is pretty to look at... if only they would fix the bugs as fast as they
add fancy colors and features. It is still not stable on some 486
machines running WFW and the latest 32-bit extensions. Last working
version for 16-bit Windows 3.1 (most of us) was v2.0a4. The old 16-bit
Mosaic is OK most of the time, but is lacking in several features. The
home page URL will give you writer's cramp:
"http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/WinMosaic/HomePage.html"
PERLWWW PAGES UPDATED WITH MORE & BETTER TOOLS, HTML 2.0 SPEC
Earl Hood's collection of Perl programs has been updated with a number
of useful tools. Most significant is the replacement of mail2html by
MHonArc, a somewhat more capable program which supports MH folders, MIME,
and mail archive collections. There is also the addition of MifMucker,
which will convert FrameMaker documents to HTML. Numerous other
utilities are also available on the PerlWWW page, while Earl's home page
sports links to the new HTML 2.0 standard documentation, and a library
of Perl development routines. This site is indispensible to WWW hackers
and we thank Earl for his contribution to the community.
Earl's Home Page: "http://www.oac.uci.edu/indiv/ehood/"
PerlWWW Page: "http://www.oac.uci.edu/indiv/ehood/perlWWW/"
MOSAIC-L - MOSAIC USERS AND DEVELOPERS MAILING LIST
The list is intended for Mosaic users and developers. MOSAIC-L offers a
forum for communication with those who use and develop NCSA Mosaic
applications. To subscribe, send a message to either:
"listserv@uicvm.bitnet" or "listserv@uicvm.uic.edu". In the first line of the
message (not in the subject) enter the following:
SUBSCRIBE MOSAIC-L Your Name
UNCGI 1.1 MAKES FORMS PROCESSING A BREEZE
Uncgi 1.1 is a front end for processing queries and forms from the Web
on UNIX systems. It decodes all the form fields and sticks them into
environment variables for easy perusal by a shell script, C program, or
Perl script, then executes whatever other program you specify. This is
much easier then dealing with the URL encoding which has to be translated
to whatever your program can read. A nifty and useful program. A warning,
though: there is no support for checkboxes. Bummer.
"ftp://ftp.hyperion.com/pub/uncgi-1.1.shar.Z"
"http://www.hyperion.com/~koreth/uncgi.html"
PROGRAM CHECKS GOPHER LINKS ON GOPHER0 AND GOPHER+ SERVERS
The Perl script, go4check 1.0, works by probing each connection and
testing the output received. It handles most types of links, reporting
whether the link is OK, the host serving it is down/refusing connections,
or if its pathname has changed. It is not 100% successful at this,
especially when it comes to Gopher0 servers, but does help you keep on top
of links in your server(s). Look around the FTP site below for what
looks like a bunch of other useful gopher tools.
"ftp://boombox.micro.umn.edu/pub/gopher/Unix/GopherTools/go4check"
BBEDIT EXTENSIONS UPDATE FOR MAC HTML EDITING
BBEdit is a nifty Mac text editor which makes a great alternative
to both the underpowered TeachText and the bloated word processors
churned out by the big boys. The HTML extensions are a set of
modules which enable the program to become a powerful HTML editor.
The recently released version 5.0 has some updates to paragraph
handling and template generation. A useful and capable editor, made even
more so by HTML capability. Also note the nice Web page design with inserts
of Mac screen shots.
Info: "http://www.uji.es/bbedit-html-extensions.html"
Package: "ftp://ftp.uji.es/pub/mac/util/bbedit-html-ext.sea.hqx"
The popular document search software has recently been released. Your best
bet to find out about features is to check out the documentation, which is
rather dismally organized on their WWW server. Looks like they added a
bunch of features associated with structured fields, as well as some easy
setup scripts which supposedly make the install a breeze
on numerous platforms.
"http://ls6-www.informatik.uni-dortmund.de/freeWAIS-sf/freeWAIS-sf.html"
"ftp://ls6-www.informatik.uni-dortmund.de/pub/wais/freeWAIS-sf-1.0.tgz"
HTML-EDITOR AND LISTSERVHELPER FOR NEXTSTEP
James Powell has a page up where you can fetch the two programs for
Nextstep OS. HTML-Editor does what you would expect, while
ListservHelper seems to be a utility to deal with mailing list
subscribers. If you run Nextstep, try this page out. Check out the
cool skull and crossbones icon near the bottom.
"http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/jpowell.html"
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