| The Late Phil Hartman |
| Atomic Hacking |
| World Cup 98 |
| Domain Name White Paper Released |
| Which News Is Your News? New Survey of American News Consumption |
| Bad Day Video |
| Old-Fashioned European Road Signs |
| Montreal on Camera |
| If One City Isn't Enough, Try the Whole World |
| UK Online's UK Info |
| Trade Homes for a Vacation |
| Make a Blind Date for Others (or Yourself) |
| Uhhhhh, OK... |
| Guide to Live Online Events |
| Win Stuff |
| Dutch Submarines |
| Civilian Airliners |
| The People's Court |
| Car Parts Hotline |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
BREAKING SURF
Most of you will remember Phil Hartman as part of The Simpsons or on Saturday Night Live. We'll cherish his truly sublime performance on the most underrated comedy on TV, NewsRadio. Here are two pages which capture frozen moments of his fandom. The Phil Hartman Show has original material and some links to the Hartman-idolizing outside world. So does the cumbersomely named Phil Hartman, Man of 1,000 Faces and Voices. Phil had smarmy down to a science, arguably matched only by Jon Lovitz (whom we think would be a great NewsRadio replacement) and comedy will be the poorer for his absence. If, like Phil did as a kid, you need to swear around the disapproving, you can use his own technique - a variation of Ubbi Dubbi.1,000 Faces: http://members.aol.com/kathster1/
Show: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/6422/hartman.html
Swearing: http://www.skypoint.com/members/howland/hartman.html
Last week, hackers broke into India's Bhabha Atomic Research Centre to protest that country's recent nuclear tests. The hackers claimed, anonymously via IRC, that they downloaded a large volume of the nuclear researchers' stored e-mail and then erased files on several servers. Indian officials acknowledged the break-in, but, as officials do, downplayed the severity of the security breach. The swiped e-mail, believed to contain mostly information about civilian nuclear uses, seems to have found its way into the hands of US intelligence agencies, according to unnamed senior officials quoted in Wired. Newsbytes also covered the story, but you'll need to be a member to read its items. At press time, the Bhabha Web site would not load.
Wired 1: http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/12717.html
Wired 2: http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/12814.html
Newsbytes: http://www.newsbytes.com/
Bhabha: http://www.barc.ernet.in/
World Cup: http://www.france98.com/
ESPN: http://espn.sportszone.com/soccer/worldcup98/
BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldcup/
Domain Name White Paper Released
The White House has released a second revision of a plan dealing with a new domain name administration method. A proposed non-profit corporation governed by an eclectic Board of Directors would make most of the hard decisions. These directors would represent the numerous parties with stakes in the domain name game. It sounds like the US government is trying hard to duck the difficult issues, which is not neccesarily a bad thing. The paper is dense, and half of it just reviews what came before, but it summarizes well all the criticisms heaped upon its predecessor and the last few pages neatly abstract the White House position.http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/6_5_98dns.htm
Which News Is Your News? New Survey of American News Consumption
Online news access is taking off. A phone survey conducted by the Pew Research Center indicates that the percentage of Americans getting news from the Internet at least once a week has more than tripled over the past two years: from 11 to 36 million news users. Science, health, finance, and technology seem to be the favored categories. The survey also indicates that network news continues to decline in popularity at least partly because cable news shows are stealing the TV audience. And despite the proliferation of news outlets, younger people seem less interested in following the news. Too much choice perhaps? The survey takes an interesting snapshot of an important aspect of American culture - we need an informed electorate, after all - so it's worth taking a look.http://www.people-press.org/med98rpt.htm
http://www.zdnet.de/download/library/deACA-wf.htm
SURFING SITES
Don't Try This at Home - Try It at Work
If you're a fan of Pop Tart blowtorches, grills lit with liquid oxygen, or the TWINKIES project, the AGD Antics and Mayhem Page is for you. The most fascinating "experiment" conducted by these guys (at Silicon Graphics) was a test of whether or not a large Fresnel lens would, as advertised, melt asphalt. It did indeed, but you'll have to visit the page to see what got caught in the crossfire. One can only hope this page will join with its incendiary siblings-in-arms and take its rightful place in the archives of pages of experiments in inflammatory curiosity which haven't been updated in years, but are still worth a gander.http://207.113.214.3/~dbg/antics/
The Anomalist: a Sensible Look at the Mysteries of the Universe
That tag line is code for "we're not those people wearing stained pajama tops to work, writing letters to the president about space-alien defense systems". This is for people who are sensible enough to respect the laws of physics, but also smart enough to wonder about stuff thats just, well... weird. Bylines go to experts outside the orthodox, not cranks. Take the essay by the scientist who's been cast out for defending experiments which could not be duplicated by arbitrators in the scientific community. Or the essay asking why instances of UFO abduction literature featuring giant alien grasshoppers popped up - seemingly independently - in 1965. Is this a cultural phenomenon, and what could it mean? Put it this way: Art Bell might surf here, but if the his call-in line occupies one of your speed-dial buttons, you might not get that totally tubular abduction you may crave.http://www.cloud9.net/~patrick/anomalist/
What is this dangnab Net coming to? Yes, there's a ton of porn on the Net, but most of that is relatively harmless. This Washington, D.C. couple, naked as jaybirds, wasn't content to show off their own nudity on a webcam - noooo, they had to parade their young'uns too. As the children waddled around the home, the lens took in even their innocent nakedness. For reasons that may or may not have to do with good taste and a crowing public (it wasn't mentioned at the Web site), this family moved and the webcam no longer transmits live images. Yet pictures - webcam captures and photographs taken by friends (is no one safe from their web of perversion?) - remain online to be viewed by anyone who wants to dabble in that sort of thing. Let's hope some kinder foster parents take these youngsters under their wings.
http://www.jamesmartin.com/goose/index.htm
ICQ, the popular multiplatform chat software, has always been plagued with the same kind of brain-lock that lurks on Usenet and in e-mail, clogging the bandwidth with dire warnings about Good Times and the like. On ICQ, these misled souls forward hoaxes warning that the free ICQ service will soon cost money or some incorrect virus warning. This page lists some of these ridiculous messages and adds witty, scathing commentary. The page highlights, laughs at, and devalues the inept misspellings and embarrassingly illiterate contents, a highly satisfying way of handing spam. Most ICQ nonsense messages proliferate through people new to the system, so anyone downloading ICQ should visit this site first. The rest of us can visit for the smiles. Last minute, breaking non-rumor: ICQ has been bought by AOL.
Rumors: http://members.xoom.com/DiamondB/icqlies.html
ICQ: http://www.icq.com/
Lynda's page starts with that ol' home page sensation, and then gives you a gleeful kick up the arse. Click on the image of a girl in a hankerchief-style bathing suit and get sent to a page of her watercolors, with some well deserved teasing. "The Rules" on the Women page had us in stitches and her penchant for Dorothy Parker speaks volumes for the quality of the site.
http://www.electricbody.com/
Bad Date Stories and Advice for Geeks
Brenda's site will satisfy even the most smitten and well balanced lovers of the world (all three of them). It offers tales of disastrous high-school stories and hideous first dates, advice for the lovelorn, and even reviews of really lame movies (presumably to help you avoid taking your beloved to one). With comments like "If you grade by mental scarring then I win," you'll surely get a belly laugh and feel a whole lot better about just about every dopey thing you've ever done.http://home.earthlink.net/~brendar/index.htm
Macromedia came out with Shockwave technology a few years ago to allow small multimedia clips to download and play in your Web browser. This site highlights the best Shockwave to come out, in categories like games, cartoons, and music. The pieces take from 30 seconds to three minutes to download at 28.8 kbps, but they're worth it - especially for the games.
http://www.shockrave.com/
As notorious as its residents, the Rock gets the beginnings of an airing at Alcatraz: The Warden Johnston Years. Johnston was the prison's first warden, custodian of many of the Depression's most famous malfeasants: Alvin Karpis, Machine Gun Kelly, Al Capone. Although Johnston, the man, doesn't come through on the pages, one thing is clear: retributive justice drove his penal philosophy. He was dubbed a "duly-constituted Torquemada". The history is fascinating, particularly in Alcatraz's origins as an anomaly of New Deal thinking. Unfortunately, the site cannot be completed in many respects because of a frustratingly illogical barrier. The US Department of Justice has apparently placed almost every scrap of archival material into the hands of a single academic who, for the past 20 years, has refused access to anyone else - but who has himself failed to offer evidence that he's doing any research. The site's author, Joel Gazis-Sax, a serious history buff, invites you to help him move the Justice Department to act on the problem.
http://www.alsirat.com/alcatraz.html
Few Internet sites approach even the ambition of this site from the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. From Ba'hai to Taoism, Asatru to Wicca, and Caodaism to Zoroastrianism, through neoPaganism, Satanism, Humanism, and Gnosticism, these pages describe some 63 religions and systems of belief and ethics. They also tackle a balanced presentation of some of the most contentious issues that find voice in personal belief: abortion; homosexuality; school prayer; premarital sex; women in religious roles; euthanasia; and more. The site won't win any design awards, but that's not its job. All you find here are tolerant and nonjudgemental descriptions, histories, and issues in religion and ethics. And that's a lot.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/welcome.htm
The Scandalous US Bureau of Indian Affairs
When is stealing not stealing? When it's called an "unreconciled transaction" and it is committed by the government. The US Bureau of Indian Affairs is accused on this Web site of stealing billions of dollars from the Native American population. Dollars that should be building houses or funding health initiatives are said to find their way into the capacious pockets of bureaucrats and politicians. Oil companies pay millions to the Bureau for the right to drill oil on Native land, but according to Jennifer Hicks, the article's author, the Indians do not see a dime of it. Allegedly, appallingly bad management and sloppy accounting mean vast sums owed to the Bureau go uncollected, and when a Bureau accountant tried to take action, he was fired. The site provides the fired accountant's words on the matter.http://www.minorities-jb.com/native/fraud.html
Bake Me a Cake as Fast as You Can
And you can bake your favorite more quickly when you can find the recipe through a rapid search engine. This site features everything from "dump cakes" (great for those who hate washing lots of bowls and pans) to laboriously prepared cakes with a zillion egg whites that need to be whipped. The International Cake Glossary lets you add a foreign flavor to your baked goodies. Other features include the Recipe Roulette, which gives you a randomly generated recipe (Guess what, honey? I'm making worm cake tonight!), and a Hints and Tips section.http://www.cakerecipe.com/
Long-term Care Info Source to Provide Customized Netscape
Martin Bayne, the guy responsible for an exceptionally complete Web site focusing on long-term care for the elderly and disabled, definitely believes in the future of Netscape. On July 1, he plans to release two customized Netscape Communicator browsers: Netscape - Senior Edition and Netscape - PC (Physically Challenged). They will be available free. The Web site itself is worth checking out before then, with topics ranging from Social Security to Nursing Home News to to Consumer Resource Guides and Book Reviews.http://www.mr-longtermcare.com/
ONLINE TRAVEL
Old-Fashioned European Road Signs
As the world gets smaller, faster and more connected, it becomes homogenized. Europe is standardizing so many of the features of everyday life, it's becoming difficult to tell where one country starts and another ends. Visconde Toucinho Castanhas has spent the last few years screeching to a halt on country roads across Europe to photograph road signs with character. Instead of the dull silhouette of a dummy on most crosswalk signs, Castanhas's sample features two children racing across the street, pigtails flying. A digging workman silhouette wears his hat at a rakish tilt. Castanhas records anything different and quirky for posterity. Visit and enjoy them now, before they vanish in the forest of mediocre, unimaginative, average road signs of Europe.http://www.iut-orsay.fr/~guet/Pietons.html
Americans once loved Montrealers for harboring draft dodgers and for wearing sexy clothes and French cologne when Yankee hippies wore Birkenstocks and smelled bad. These days, the city's reputation smells un peu provincial, especially since 60 Minutes presented embattled bureaucrats busting bourgeoisies for using English on shop signs instead of French. But let us not forget the cosmopolitan charms of a land that produced the Montreal Protocol environmental agreement and William Shatner. Montreal Cam's ten live cameras observe the island from prime perches. See penguins at the Biodome, where four different ecosystems are recreated for study and delight. Go to the restored 17th century port and imagine what Leonard Cohen saw when he wrote Suzanne. Links give solid tourist information about architecture, arts, entertainment, hotels and hostels, and five festivals scheduled for this summer. French rusty? Ca ne fait rien. English spoken here.
http://www.montrealcam.com/
If One City Isn't Enough, Try the Whole World
Yes, yet another Internet camera site, to fulfill all your voyeuristic needs. EarthCam, however, is well arranged and completely searchable. Another great feature is its listing of the top ten cams requested from the site. When we visited, the illustrious ten included Edinburgh, Italy's Torino, and Tampere in Finland, as well as cams of people and things. Places are the most popular, possibly because the Scenic section of the EarthCam site is the most tempting, divided as it is into Beaches, Mountains, Resorts, Tourist Attractions, and Water. There's something for everyone at EarthCam, and you don't even have to leave your desk to visit.http://www.earthcam.com/
The small, original UK Online (UKOL) Web site aimed inwards at subscribers of the service, cheerfully decorated with little ducks but not very useful. The revamped UKOL site hosts a wide range of useful UK services, including a powerful location finder, theatre and hotel bookings, and a plethora of phone directories. All these services can be found elsewhere on the Net, but UKOL have created a one-stop site with easy access to everything. The member pages, which contain some excellent sites amongst the usual "hello world" stuff, come neatly indexed and well worth a browse. UKOL's useful and easily navigated resources make sense for anyone wanting information about Britain but, sadly, it's no longer a friendly place for fans of little rubber ducks.
http://www.ukonline.co.uk/
HomeExchange is a broker among families living "here" and looking to visit "there". People post descriptions of their homes and local environs as well as where in the world they would like to homestay rather than vacation in a hotel. E-mail addresses found on each page allow for personal contact. The rate for listing is a reasonable $30 per year. If you are the kind who'd rather experience a place as a local than a as tourist, then this could be an ideal arrangement. World Bed and Breakfast Channel With vacation season upon us, one of the sites that may help with your lodging plans is the Bed and Breakfast Channel. It lists information on over 20,000 bed and breakfasts and inns throughout the world in a well organized, easily navigated site. The variety of useful information includes pictures and maps, rates, classifieds, and specials. The Bed and Breakfast Channel content can also be found on other travel cornucopia such as Microsoft Expedia, Travelocity, and Planet Direct, so at least you know someone else likes it, too.
http://www.homeexchange.com/
http://www.bbchannel.com/
FLOTSAM & JETSAM
Make a Blind Date for Others (or Yourself)
Want to meet that spunk in the next office? To set up your best friend with your kid's teacher? Just tempted to dabble in the lives of others and make some mischief? Blind date is for you. All you have to do is get e-mail addresses and work out a place, day and time - "after that it's up to love to decide".http://www.blinddate.org/
Well, this is just completely bizarre. Someone send us the manual.
http://www.theschwacorporation.com/
OnNow is a guide to what live events are on the Internet, intuitively enough, right now, and in the not so distant future. You can set it to automatically display all event times in your local zone, plus it tells you what software you'll need to participate in an event and where to download it.
http://www.onnow.com/
Arranged by an odd combination of what you win and how you play, Win on the Net provides links along with a paragraph of context. Definitely not the best contest, sweepstakes, or free stuff site out there, it does reach a happy medium as a viable combination of the three.
http://www.winonthe.net/
The Submarines of the Royal Netherlands Navy presents historic and current information on the Dutch submarine fleet with news, book references, and pictures. Probably more than most of us ever wanted to know about Dutch submarines.
http://users.bart.nl/~bramotto/index.htm
The could be the biggest and most info-packed aviation photo and aircraft statistics site online. Whatever you're looking for in civil aviation, you should be able to find it here. The photos are reasonably sized with full size views only a click and short wait away.
http://www.airliners.net/
Watch justice in action, vote for defendant or plaintiff, and watch your decision count. Talk to fans or test your legal knowledge. You know the drill. What is it with former mayors and trash TV, anyway?
http://www.peoplescourt.com/
This site hosts a commercial confederation of car parts yards that lets you search for a part, order it, and have it delivered overnight. Most of the yards are in Arizona, the sacred vortex for anti-oxidation spirits known for protection from the ravages of rust.
http://www.bnbhotline.com/