HOWARD RHEINGOLD'S ELECTRIC MINDS SITE OPENS
Howard Rheingold is widely acknowledged as one of the more thoughtful and articulate chroniclers of the online revolution. His new commercial site tells you it wants to "feed your mind and change the world". Howard has made his reputation with intelligent online discourse and, unsurprisingly, dialogue is the major point of his new site. A well designed infrastructure supports a series of online discussion forums on a variety of trendy topics like the evolution of liberation, media shock, and the wealth of networks. Of more than passing interest is an excellent directory of virtual communities on the Web ranging across MUDs, chat spaces, specialty forums, and virtual worlds. On the whole, this is a welcome effort at elevating the nature of online discourse above the white noise of senseless newsgroup chatter, and at promoting the idea and practice of the virtual community. Recommended. "http://www.minds.com/"
Way. It seems that Pacific Bell jumped into the hot Java pot in a big way and got just a little bit singed. Designers of Pacific Bell's AtHand site found performance problems related to thread scheduling and memory management under high, real-world access loads. The folks at JavaSoft assure us that these particular bugs are fixed in the upcoming Java 1.1 Virtual Machine beta release, available by year end. Java may be the Next Big Thing in Network Computer operating systems, but remember that it has to compete with PC, workstation, and mainframe software which has been actively debugged for decades - and is still not as stable as we would want. The Bug Story: "http://www.techweb.com/wire/news/1109bug.html" AtHand: "http://www.athand.com/"
READER'S DIGEST OPENS ALL JAVA LOOKSMART SITE
Java may have its share of problems but Reader's Digest is gambling on it, and the result is a must-see example of what can be done with the technology. The appealingly spare visual design and the overall user interface are in line with their goal of a simpler, faster site. LookSmart apparently aims to be a sort of kinder, gentler America Online, complete with a ban on content involving "tobacco, gambling, pornography, and firearms". At this time the content is thin, confined to the usual big media sites, with many empty menu slots. But then, Reader's Digest has made a fortune on what some consider bland content, which makes their adoption of such hot technology all the more interesting. "http://www.looksmart.com/"
Much has been made of the possible third-party vote in the recent US elections, but few have considered the small but growing power of the Cartoon Party. In a spasm of civic responsibility, Warner Brothers movie studio put up a presidential election polling site pitting real politicians against cartoon characters (please, that joke would be just too easy). NSD is pleased to be the first to break the news that Bill Clinton and Bob Dole were handily defeated by cartoon TV personality and benevolent supergenius mouse, the Brain. Considering that the bulk of the electorate consisted of young, impressionable future voters, one can only surmise that these results clearly point to the nature of future Oval Office inhabitants. But then, we always suspected a falling anvil could solve most international relations problems. "http://www.wbanimation.com/cmp/presbrn.htm"
NETSURFER IN COMPUTER CURRENTS, PART II
Wouldn't you know it, between the time we went to press and the time you got your issue of the Digest, the URL for Computer Currents has changed. As you recall, Computer Currents hosts a good computer resource site and now also features excerpts from NSD in its print editions. While the old URL will still take you to their new site we felt compelled to give you the new one. "http://www.currents.net/"
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: WAR AND REVOLUTION
This week marked the anniversary of two events which don't get much press anymore. They opened our century in blood and toil and still shape our world at century's twilight. November 7 marked the 79th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, and November 11 was Armistice Day (or Veterans Day), the anniversary of the end of World War I. The revolution inaugurated what may well be the greatest failure in socio-political history, a system of government vying with insane despotism and high-school administration for top honors in crushing the human spirit. The War to End all Wars resoundingly failed to live up to that epithet, and indeed was a rehearsal for round two, 30 years later. These related sites are worthy of your time. Note in particular the excellence of Trenches on the Web, a paragon of historical Web site design, and try the Kronstadt Uprising for a militantly proletarian view of the revolution's end. Trenches: "http://www.worldwar1.com/" Revolution: "http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/russ/rusrev.html"
ALL THE NET NEWS THAT'S FIT TO HTML
Want to read the latest Internet-related news? Check out Mecklermedia's World Internet News and Resources site. You'll find updates on earth-shattering topics such as "Microsoft Cracks Down on Piracy" and "'NetCard' Put to Test by NetDay Students". Plus, you can get the details on upcoming events such as Fall Internet World, Internet World Canada, and Internet World International in Singapore (now if you can just persuade your boss that a trip to Singapore would be very educational...). "http://www.iworld.com/"
CHOOSE FROM 20,000 ONLINE DISCUSSIONS
The topic? Anything from eating disorders to politics to garden mulch. Forum One indexes online discussions of more than 20,000 subjects, all yours to debate with other interested parties. It's a great way to have a decent conversation or just to find out what the world's typing about. "http://www.forumone.com/"
GNN TO BE FOLDED BY AMERICA ONLINE
America Online is reportedly pulling the plug on the pioneering GNN site. In 1994, GNN was one of the very first major commercial Web sites to go online. Later, it sought to turn itself into an Internet service provider and eventually captured a 3% market share. In 1995, AOL took over GNN for roughly $14 million in cash and stock. The estimated 200,000 current subscribers will be sucked into AOL, but there's no word on what will happen to the staff. The San Francisco Examiner has a good article about the situation. Search for the string "GNN" at this site to find it. "http://www.sfgate.com/wais/search/exam-pro.html"
THE FINE ARTS MUSEUMS OF SAN FRANCISCO
One of the best kept secrets in California is the entity known as the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, comprised of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. With an astounding database of over 60,000 online images at your disposal, you can find just about any image you could desire. A search using the word "portrait" called up over 200 images. Stop first at the Site Map and take off from there. A calendar of events, class offerings, and site tour information are also available. Very well organised and intuitively arranged, this site has everything the original does, except the fog. "http://www.thinker.org/index.html"
If your idea of a good time is seeing photographic images of America's anatomically unique plastic sweetheart about to be run over by a train, have we got a site for you. Dean Brown has taken Barbie and turned her into art. For example, there's Brown's interpretation of Manet's "Olympia", among many other brilliant spoofs on great art. These are terrific miniatures, right down to the light stands, director's chairs, and draped cables. "http://www.erols.com/browndk/"
AMSTERDAM'S STEDELIJK MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
The Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art has come online with the usual calendar of events and listing of exhibitions, but one item of interest is the ongoing restoration of a Matisse print by paper restorer, Andre Van Oort. Visitors can view the restoration as it progresses and plenty of good graphics from a variety of fine artists. Just make sure you go side to side, not up and down when you're looking for photos. "http://art.cwi.nl/"
If you secretly yearn to hide behind the camera in a tiny photo booth and peek at the patrons as they snap pictures of themselves, then you'll enjoy Wade's Photobooth Gallery. Could these plain black-and-white pictures really be art? Or is it simply boring junk? With time, patience, and an up-to-date browser, you can wade through the images and personal information to make your own decision. "http://www.concentric.net/~wadet/"
NETSURFER REVIEWS "24 HOURS IN CYBERSPACE"
As far as Net culture is concerned, this has to be the book of the year. The extremely impressive "24 Hours in Cyberspace", the latest masterpiece of the "24 Hours in..." series, is on the shelf. Read what we think about it - if that isn't obvious already - here. "http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/books/book.02.36.html"
What with all this Mars hoopla, it's a good time to be publishing a book making the case for Mars Exploration. One of our own, Richard Wagner (see the masthead below), is one such lucky fellow. It's a great book, too, but take our word for it. This link will take you to Amazon.com Books' review of "The Case for Mars". "http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0684827573/2060-1017176-840939"
INCREDIBLE DAILY SCOOPS OF NEWS
The title of this lean and mean, superbly functional gateway sounds dull, but many a journalist would love to have the Drudge Report on a pocket computer. Matt Drudge has saved us a lot of investigative drudgery, for sure. Wake up with a collection of well-heeled Web feeds, including the Associated Press, Fox News, Reuters, financial and political wires, and links to major American newspapers. Matt Drudge offers a column of his own and links to online columns by news and review celebrities such as Robert Novak, Mary McGrory, and Roger Ebert, along with mainstream and entertainment magazines. Go straight to facts without multimedia flash. Information junkies will love this site, especially if they have a few hours a day to revisit it. A kiosk with the Drudge Report should be in the hallway of every school of journalism or communications. "http://www.lainet.com/~drudge/"
Even if you're not a fan of the one-hit wonder herself, you'll like this glorious collection of bright and funny articles, interviews, and links. Anticipate their version of Susann's Valley of the Dolls, with Evan Dando as Tony Polar and Courtney Love as Neely O'Hara, read "The Militant Sissy Manifesto" (you can be one too!), or just enlighten yourself about Ms. Susann's reported lesbian encounters. Links to Nancy Drew, Dorothy Parker, and Mary Tyler Moore pages give a good indictation of its excellent perspective. "A Day in the Life of Melissa Etheridge" cracked us up. "http://www.best.com/~djsq/"
You may have stumbled across the hard copy version of "Ask Isadora", the Ann Landers for the sexually bewildered crowd. Sexologist, marriage counselor, and confidante to bi's, gays, heteros, and fetishists uncountable, Isadora Alman has landed online and brought along her usual gumbo of wise advice and weird practices. Her Advanced Birds and Bees site (definitely not for the wee ones) features a spot for personals, a chat board, past articles by Isadora and an archive of questions and answers on everything from safe sex to the nutritional value of semen. Endlessly entertaining, Isadora is sure to teach anyone who visits a thing or two (or three, or four). "http://www.askisadora.com/"
Those who think "stiff upper lip" when they think United Kingdom ought to hop over to the hip Yush Ponline, a African-Briton culture e-zine. Covering arts and culture, "slanguage", politics, entertainment, and style, Yush offers a view on British urban culture that's otherwise hard to find. The writing's sometimes flat but the subjects keep things interesting. The latest issue weaves features on conspiracy culture with "18 reasons why Tupac Shakur isn't dead" delivered by Public Enemy's Chuck D. Wrap it with meditations on ecstasy (the drug), Rastafarian culture, music and style reviews, and you have a package that's hard not to like. "http://www.ftech.net/~yush/"
SELF-PROCLAIMED EXCELLENT LITERARY JOURNAL
"Widely regarded as one of the best", the Ploughshares paper quarterly provides literary links, poems, stories, and essays based on what makes good writing and examples thereof. While dealing with its frustration at the lack of existing resources in New England, Ploughshares also features prominent writers exploring "personal visions, aesthetics and literary circles." Several samples from each issue find their way online at this site. High brow but useful. "http://www.emerson.edu/ploughshares/Ploughshares.html"
READER ROBOT FICTION RECOMMENDATIONS
Share your knowledge! Isolate your interests in the form provided and discover the favorites in your particular genre. Right now, only the science fiction, mystery, and popular science sections have a lot of choices. Do your bit and pump up the literary section from the two books listed so far. The more people who help out (that means you), the better a scheme like this gets. "http://www.tnrdlib.bc.ca/rr.html"
"THE ECONOMIST" OFFERS WEEKLY SUMMARIES BY E-MAIL
You can easily receive e-mail summaries of Politics This Week and/or Business This Week from the Economist magazine. The free summaries are sent out at 7 p.m. each Thursday evening, London time. Joining or quitting the lists is as easy as filling in the forms on their Web site. "http://www.economist.com/mailing/"
Journalists or anyone interested in online newspapers will want to investigate this site, which offers statistics on online newspapers and services. The Online Newspaper database has more than 1,500 online newspaper entries. You can search the database, or go directly to links arranged geographically. "http://www.mediainfo.com/ephome/npaper/nphtm/online.htm"
Attention dinosaur fans! The Dinosaur Eggs Web site lets you go behind the scenes of National Geographic's May 1996 article, "The Great Dinosaur Egg Hunt". You'll learn how the fossil researchers "hatch" the dinosaur eggs, tour the dinosaur hatchlings museum, and discover the details of those brave and oft-bearded dinosaur hunters. (And if you're looking for a job, doesn't dinosaur hunting sound cool?) "http://www.nationalgeographic.com/modules/dino_eggs/"
If you want to identify a recently observed whale ("Gee, Ralph, what _is_ that spouting in our swimming pool?"), this site can help. Click "Run Whale Watcher" and answer the questions to try to identify your new cetacean friend. If you haven't noticed any whales in your vicinity but like reading about the critters (excuse us, mammals), there's an ocean of whale-related Web links. "http://vvv.com/ai/demos/whale.html"
A site "dedicated to the putative future process of copying one's mind from the substrate of the brain into an artificial one, manufactured by humans", this appears to be a serious look at a set of futuristic possibilities. It reads like science fiction, and some of it is highly unlikely, but it makes for interesting speculation. Read about some of the ways in which the entire contents of a human's brain might be transferred into a new, active container. "http://sunsite.unc.edu/jstrout/uploading/MUHomePage.html"
The Staatliches Museum fur Naturkunde Stuttgart (Stuttgart Museum of Natural History) presents an interesting exhibit of fossils that have been found in and around Germany. Where do you think the "Jura" of "Jurassic Park" comes from? While the site is available in English, some knowledge of German is helpful for a few of the pages. If you have time, there's a neat AVI video of a fossil shark discovery. "http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/naturkundemuseum/home-e.htm"
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