| Rural Wales |
| Landscapes of Iceland |
| Brigadoon for Virtual Realists |
| You Can Still Get Your Kicks on 66 |
| Good Cruel Fun |
| This is Weird |
| Take Time to Paws and Smell the Catnip |
| Argue Better, Not Just Louder |
| An English-to-English Dictionary |
| Site of Bank Battle Moves |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
BREAKING SURF
Seventh GVU WWW User Survey: Censorship and Privacy Top Concerns
The periodic GVU Surveys provide some of the best demographic information available about Internet users. The latest incarnation, in addition to gathering basic demographics, also asked questions about larger social issues, this time focusing on cultural and language barriers, virtual banking, and electronic privacy. Users feel censorship and privacy are the most important issues facing the Internet today. They don't want to pay for content mostly because they think they can get it elsewhere on the Net, or because they think they're already paying via their connectivity charges - revealing a profound misunderstanding of content delivery and economics. 55.43% prefer Letterman vs. 24.76% for Leno. There is a large amount of fascinating data here and we urge you to read the excellent summary yourself.http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/user_surveys/survey-1997-04/
Helium Havoc in the Skies: Ballooning Around The World
As the seasons turn so does the atmospheric jet stream setting up perfect conditions for the last great aeronautical prize. Richard Bronson's Virgin Challenger was the first off the ground, though embarrassingly without any of the crew, thus killing his hopes for the year. Next, Kevin Uliassi's balloon crash landed shortly after takeoff due to a ruptured helium cell. Steve Fossett was off next, trying to better his spectacular distance record of last year, but had to bail out (figuratively - it was a controlled landing) over Russia due to low fuel and crippling cold in his unpressurized cabin. With Fosset out of the running the most formidable challenger may well be Dick Rutan, who proved his mettle some years back with the first non-stop powered flight around the world.Richard Branson: http://www.challenger.iclnet.co.uk/
Kevin Uliassi: http://j.renee.iit.edu/
Steve Fossett: http://tacoma.wustl.edu/
Dick Rutan: http://www.hilton.com/globalhilton/index.html
Yahoo Names Netsurfer Top of the Net
The kudos comes from the Yahoo and ZDNet print magazine called Yahoo Internet Life. In January's issue we got named one of the best sites for "Keeping Up with New Sites" (pg 104). And we're in fine company too. Yahoo picked us out along with the always top flight Internet Scout (which actually was one of the inspirations for the creation of Netsurfer Digest oh so many Internet years ago) and the equally fine Yahoo What's New. Thanks guys!Yahoo Internet Life: http://www.zdnet.com/yil/
Internet Scout: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/index.html
Wonder of wonders, Apple may actually make some money this quarter. To the tune of about $45 million according to Steve Jobs' keynote at the Macworld Expo. Other big news from the show is the release of a new version of the Mac OS, the release of Microsoft's Office 98 and Explorer for the Mac, and the debut of new 275 MHz PowerPC systems. In addition to the main Expo site, ZDnet has a good selection of live online coverage. Macweek has a good summary of the major announcements in their Show Picks article, organized by category, such as CPUs and upgrades, Multimedia, 3-D, Graphics Applications, Storage, Connectivity, Internet and Productivity.
Expop: http://www.macworldexpo.com/
ZDNet: http://macworld.zdnet.com/expo/
Show Picks: http://www.zdnet.com/macweek/mw_1201/nw_showpicks1.html
The Classified Prehistory of Public Key Cryptography
Did intelligence organizations know about public key cryptography before the landmark Diffie-Hellman paper of 1976? The answer appears to be a resounding yes. Steven Bellovin's Prehistory of Public Key Cryptography presents evidence that British GCHQ researchers James Ellis, Clifford Cocks and Malcolm Williamson independently came up with the idea in 1970. A recently declassified, somewhat technical paper details the story of how they evolved PKC at the U.K. Communications-Electronics Security Group. Bellovin also presents some circumstantial evidence that the U.S. NSA had the idea as much as a decade earlier then Diffie-Hellman. Bellovin notes that the field may have evolved around 1962 from efforts to deal with key distribution for nuclear weapons. Makes you kind of wonder what other mathematical magic the spooks have up their sleeves.Prehistory: http://www.research.att.com/~smb/nsam-160/
CESG Paper: http://www.cesg.gov.uk/ellisint.htm
How Much Do Newspapers Lose Online?
An interesting article in the online edition of Editor & Publisher by Robert Neuwirth has some answers. According to the article Knight-Ridder's 32 web sites cost them $27 million while generating only $11 million in ad sales. The Tribune Co. got only $12 million in online revenue against roughly $30 million in expenses. The New York Times, arguably one of the more popular online content sources, lost somewhere between $12 and $15 million. The really interesting unanswered question is where are all those millions going. It does not take a million bucks a year to run a web site - unless of course you're a big corporation and were sold a bill of goods. So is it marketing? Executive salaries? Writers? Naaaah, can't be the writers...http://www.mediainfo.com/ephome/news/newshtm/stories/122997n3.htm
It took NASA 25 years to get back to the moon. Sad, isn't it? However let us not dwell on the vissisitudes of history, but embrace the promise of the rapidly ascending future. Lunar prospector is a true bargain for a space mission coming in at $65 million. The little craft will orbit within about 60 miles of the lunar surface and look for signs of water, gas emissions, and mineral traces. The silly media line is all about water and lunar colonies, but we all know that given the foreseeable political climate and lack of a profitable incentive that's not likely to happen in our lifetime. Sad, isn't it?
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunarprosp.html
http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/
It's an old story. Artist does an explicit piece intentionally pushing cultural hot buttons, various media-clueless interests raise a hue and cry about "values" and try to censor him, artist gets entirely unwarrented publicity for something that should have died a quiet death, the public clamors for more. So goes the story of the video to the Prodigy song "Smack My Bitch Up". Is all the fuss worth it? If you've missed the video which was recently yanked from MTV, then judge for yourself at the JamTV site. It's got sex and it's got violence, so if you don't approve, don't bother looking. Why do we cover it? Well, it's a textbook demonstration of how major media outlets can no longer contain what somebody cares to label "controversial" content, and that special interest groups can no longer exercise the kind of pressure possible when big media was king.
http://www.jamtv.com/sections/special/prodigy/disclaimer.asp
Apache Server Still Gaining Share
The latest monthly Netcraft Server Survey is out. They've checked 1,834,710 sites, and found that various flavors of the Apache web server run 45.12% of those sites. Two interesting trends are evident from the graphs and numbers: Apache is still gaining share over all other servers, and Netscape servers are loosing share fractionally faster then various Microsoft servers.http://www.netcraft.com/survey/
The Family PC Poll Shows Parents Internet Concerns
This survey presentation is rather flawed since all we know about the families involved is that there are 750 of them, they read "Family PC" magazine and have been "screened and pre-qualified before completing the survey" - it's the kind of reporting which makes us want to drag the editors into a smelly chemistry lab course and teach them to write a decent report. Be that as it may, there are some interesting tidbits here. Roughly equal amounts of people were concerned with kids access to porn (68%) as with marketing to children online (67%). Even so 65% don't want government regulation of content, and in fact a large majority (73%) deal with potential problems by monitoring their kids use of the Net.http://www.zdnet.com/familypc/content/kidsafety/results.html
Microsoft Mac: Internet Explorer 4.0, Office 98, Outlook Express
Microsoft has released a version of Internet Explorer 4.0 for the Macintosh. You can download Explorer from this site, or you can order a CD-ROM if you don't want to spend hours online. The site also has information about the recently released versions of Microsoft Office 98, including a demo, and their email client Outlook Express for the Mac.Explorer: http://www.microsoft.com/ie/mac
Office: http://www.microsoft.com/macoffice/default.asp
SURFING SITES
Tobacco's winding story is the subject of A Capsule History of Tobacco, an interesting textual browse. Its snippets follow a Tobacco Timeline: Columbus' brief description of tobacco, and subsequent signal events; the great age of the pipe (the 17th century, not the 1960s); the age of snuff (18th century), the age of the cigar (19th century - unless you count today), and the rise of the cigarette (the age of Bogart and Philip Morris). Celebs old and modern abound: Francis Drake, Pocahontas, Walter Raleigh (beheaded, by the way), Peter the Great, Thomas Edison, and more. Lesson one: A lot of people have died over disputes about tobacco.http://www.tobacco.org/History/Tobacco_History.html
On October 25, 1997, Philadelphia hosted the Million Woman March, spotlighting women's issues. The Rochester Institute of Technology advanced electronic photojournalism class documents the event beautifully in its neat, crisp balance of photos and text, an impressive alternative to glib pseudo-objective network newscasts. The reportage is impressionistic, rendering an artistic you-are-there approach, with personal touches that focus more on activities and "moments" than on abstract issues. Despite acknowledged shortcomings, RIT prolongs the life and enhances the meaning of an event that will fade in memory all too soon as subsequent marches claim our attention. It's a sobering thought: For many of the reasons that TV fostered the photo op, this site may be a notable precursor to the routine Web op.
http://www.rit.edu/~jphl552/
See Java in the Hands of an Artist
Brettnet greets the visitor with a JavaScript console, so only version 4 browsers need apply. Once activated, prepare for the fastest loading, slickest Java on the Net. The entire site is viewed through a small console window; the content is that of a personal home page - the life, loves, thoughts, and work of Brett Snyder, an art director. If you'd like to see what Java can do in the hands of an artist, visit Brett.http://www.brettnet.com/
Here's one of the rare sites we'll ever review where all of the links are dead - intentionally. Welcome to Yesterland, the spot where Disneyland's rides come when they're put out to pasture. It's a charming remembrance of amazing things that you can't see anymore: the Rocket to the Moon, the PeopleMover, Michael Jackson's face as it was back in the Captain EO era. It investigates the future of the past, like reading Edward Bellamy or George Orwell. The author, Werner W. Weiss, recreates each ride with a description of what it feels like to be there, what you can see from the ride, and what's replaced it. As a bonus, admission is free and there are no lines.
http://www.mcs.net/~werner/yester.html
The dead man with the inflated resume has vacated Arlington National Cemetery and repaired to less prestigious digs, cooling another Clinton administration embarrassment. Air Force Chaplaincy pages hint at Arlington's aura. Once owned by George Washington's family, then home to Confederate General Lee, the estate was confiscated by the Lincoln administration and dedicated as a national cemetery during the Civil War. Since then, presidents dead before their time and Americans fallen in successive conflicts have consecrated the ground more fundamentally than any decree could. Find out how you may be eligible to rest eternally among the venerated. Requests for burial at Arlington rose sharply after JFK's assassination, and overseers expect plots and columbaria to be filled in about 2025.
http://www.bolling.af.mil/anc/history.htm
FixerUpper.com is a clearinghouse site for do-it-yourselfers to chat in realtime and post to the topical bulletin boards. A small but friendly user community makes this a nice place to log into if you're involved with building or renovating, and have questions to ask, or tips to share. "Citizens" can choose avatars, build homepages, shop the market, and, of course, chat with one another. This is one of a series of theme-based community sites that does a good job at making cyberspace a little warmer and more personal.
http://www.FixerUpper.com/
We at NSD understand, even appreciate, a man obsessed. Case in point: Wayne M. Hilburn, who has created a Web page devoted to bananas - recipes, nutritional information, how ripe ripe is, and other essential facts for modern living. He's collected over 100 recipes and - for reasons best known to himself - wants to have 365. If you like bananas, cookery, or humor, pay a visit to "104 things to do with a banana". When you've sated your appetite for bananas, follow the link to Wayne's home/business pages to find arcane wit, original and very funny creative writing, and even more recipes (but no more bananas).
http://www.dmgi.com/bananas.html
Fans of radio's old-time serial dramas, staccato comedy, creaking-door mystery, hard-boiled private eyes, dual-identity heroes, or somber science fiction will enjoy this collection. The timeline dishes up historic radio tidbits that happened on the date you connect to the site. Sound bites from radio shows long since disappeared recreate the fateful and noisy days of yesteryear and remind us how thrilling radio must have been before TV, shock jocks and hollow AM DJs usurped the airwaves.
http://www.otr.com/
On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guard bullets felled 13 Kent State University students. Four died. This site puts the event in context, before and after the fact, 'though the author acknowledges that the truth of those few fateful seconds may never be known. Abundantly clear, though, in chronology and background, is a sense that events and tensions had caromed beyond control several days earlier. Read the opening minute-by-minute chronology to find your heart in your throat, hoping against hope that - when you reach half-past noon - the ending will have changed. There are affecting commentaries from dead students' families, from two guardsmen (themselves little older than their targets), and from survivors and witnesses, and an astonishing record of hate mail aimed at the grieving parents.
http://www.emerson.edu/acadepts/CS/policom/kentstate/MAYDAY/
The Best Little Billy Cart We've Ever Seen
For creative tinkerers and frustrated inventors nothing beats a cotton-spool tank, crafted from scraps by their own hands, scrambling up and down an obstacle. The Mechanical Toys Page provides detailed instructions for making such clever little toys, using bits and bobs scrounged from junk. The author, writing clearly and in detail, speaks from experience, having built them all himself. Sparked by an underlying sense of fun, the site is well illustrated and laid out, and includes hints about where to find materials. Pity our poor author, though, a fan of one of the best little billy carts or soapbox frames we've ever seen, and living in the Netherlands where there's nary a hill for miles!http://www.nfra.nl/~mgoris/mechtoys/
The Kelsey Museum of Archeology focuses on Byzantium in a site short on photos but long on context, dwelling mostly on the nexus of Christianity's rise and polytheism's decline during the early empire. Artifacts of the time reflect the change. At trade and cultural crossroads, for instance, even Christian artifacts show pagan influences. We learned at least one new word. Syncretism is the mixing of religious traditions, such as Egyptians' identification of the goddess Isis with the Greek Aphrodite. There's also an oddly touching photo of artifacts retrieved from an ancient windowsill, looking for all the world as if we picked them up at a craft show just last weekend.
http://www.umich.edu/~kelseydb/Exhibits/Byzantium/MainByzantium1.html
Sideshows and Freaks: Step Right Up - If You Dare
Joe Bates has put together a unique collection of virtual sideshow memorabilia, from information on the movie "Freaks" to actual photographs like the ones you could buy from sideshow acts for a bit of added money. The pages take time to load, both because the images are big and because there's unnecessary Java flying around. The best pages are the what-they-promised/what-you-got section, but be absolutely sure you want to know the answer before you click to see it. We get the impression that Joe is familiar with Dan Mannix's autobiography (the sword swallower who wrote the children's classic "The Fox and the Hound") but perhaps not so much with Ricky Jay's work, which is really a must-read for anyone interested in bizarre examples of human abilities.http://www.joebates.com/joesfreakshow/banners1.htm
You can't quarrel with the price. The Free Art Site offers just that: freebie artwork. Goodies range from an "elegant alphabet" to snowflakes to suns. There are also tips for Photoshop users. Don't miss the excellent links to graphic, HTML, shareware, and type resources.
http://www.mccannas.com/
ONLINE TRAVEL
The best travelogue sites are written by someone who loves the country, and this certainly applies to Rural Wales. Delicious vistas of green and glorious countryside illustrate informative and affectionate text about Wales' treasures. Each town has an entry packed with details of walks, steam trains, markets, and history. The VR tour facilities are great fun; download the Apple QuickTime plug-in, and the result is a 360-degree view of famous old Welsh towns. Anyone unable to visit Wales personally will enjoy the virtual Welsh holiday at this well-crafted site.http://www.ruralwales.com/
We don't generally offer pages that are just a collection of links, but Ed Jackson's Landscapes of Iceland earns special dispensation. Ed's trolled more than 300 sites that publish photographs and paintings of the island country. Then he's categorized and commented on them to help us appreciate the land and its images as much as he does. He's made some interesting choices, including a section devoted to the mood and texture of landscapes in black and white photography. If you hadn't thought of visiting Iceland before, this site may entice you more than any commercial come-on could ever hope to do.
http://www.geog.ualberta.ca/als/icepics/iceindex.htm
Brigadoon for Virtual Realists
Listen to the haunting sound of A Summer in Skye; immerse yourself in a unique, little known, and beautiful culture. Visit the Scottish Radiance magazine site, where they greet you in Gaelic and sing you songs of love, life, and liberty. The photos alone are worth the visit for their clarity and beauty - not to mention the Whisky Connoisseur Column. Gary R. Dobson's stirring love story, "Searching for Brigadoon", is published here with other of his works. (Check out hilarious tales of his public speaking fiascos in Reflections.) Scottish Radiance has one overriding theme - a passionate love of Scotland.http://www.hebrides.com/radiance/
You Can Still Get Your Kicks on 66
The Route 66 Place is a warmly quaint site by people who live along the famous highway in Williams, Arizona. With personal remembrances, photos, a calendar of events and links to other history-filled sites, it's definitely worth clicking through, especially if you're going to be on that part of the road.http://www.route66place.com/
FLOTSAM & JETSAM
Here's your chance to vent at the world's most annoying celebrities. At one site, we slapped Ronald McDonald, and Barney took a whack. On the other hand - so to speak - if your mouse is accurate, you can dunk Mssrs. Carrey, Gates, and Limbaugh, among others, into a tank of battery acid. Slap:http://www.urban75.com/Punch/spicebelt.html Dunk:
http://www.four-corners.com/media.htm
If you enjoy the bizarre, check out This is True. Author Randy Cassingham culls the news odd and eerie events of the day, and publishes them. His own sardonic comment on each incident follows. If you're truly enamored of his choices and style, you can even subscribe.
http://www.thisistrue.com/
Take Time to Paws and Smell the Catnip
Combine cat alphabets, cat postcards, and cat portraits, and you've got CatArtz, a veritable heaven for the feline-friendly.http://members.aol.com/catartz/catartz.htm
Compiled by a young, creative, high-energy debate champ from Singapore, d-bait offers the official lowdown on the rules that govern college debating competitions, the structure behind arguments, a well-drawn example and a very good list of debate-related links, all imbued with the author's exuberant personality.
http://gaurav.simplenet.com/channelg/
An English-to-English Dictionary
Cockney's challenge enough; make it rhyming Cockney, its definitions turned inside-out, and it becomes downright impenetrable. This little site - and English-to-English dictionary, as it were - helps us translate. The rhyming origins of some terms are fairly obvious, but we wish there'd been explanation for some of the more obscure phrases.http://nrcbsa.bio.nrc.ca/~foote/cockney.html
CORRECTIONS
Sometimes we can barely keep up. Only a few weeks ago, in NSD 3.40, we told you about J.S. Stringham's fight to make a bank keep its promise not to raise interest rates. This week we have notice that the address for his Battle with Advanta National Bank has changed.http://home.earthlink.net/~cashonly/