| Web Developer's Journal |
| Haunting Dreams in Black and White |
| Hello, Dolly |
| The Fine Art of the Former Captain Beefheart |
| Stealing from the Best |
| Restroom Graffiti |
| Movie Scripts for Cultish Tastes |
| Image Recognition Technology Keeps Tabs on Sundial |
| Quantum Computer Simulation |
| Optical Illusions |
| Organ Donor How-To Site |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
BREAKING SURF
The (Intermittent) View From Space: Microsoft Terra Server
The new Microsoft Terra Server contains over a terabyte of satellite and aerial image data depicting our planet, some at a resolution of one meter per pixel. One of the main points of this new site is to demonstrate Microsoft database technology and its ability to handle such large amounts of data in a real time web environment. Ironically, the site was so besieged with visitors that many were locked out. Microsoft planned for about 1 million hits per day and they were getting 8-10 million. The database software could handle the load, but more web servers had to be added to deal with all those visitors. At this time only a small fraction of the globe is represented in the database so you won't necessarily be able to zoom in on your Uncle Bert's farm in the Midwest and count the cows. The site also allows you to buy images, either as downloadable files or hardcopy photo prints.http://terraserver.microsoft.com/
Even though it's called the Tour de France, it begins in Dublin, Ireland, then hops a plan on the third day to cross the Channel to France. With a little imagination, the race organizers could have made the cyclists do the crossing in pedal powered ultralight aircraft. Live coverage this year begins July 11 through VeloCity, one of the better online cycling e-zines. VeloCity also opens an expanded shop site on July 10 featuring the CD-ROM "Tour Encyclopedia", a history of the Tour de France from 1903 to the present, T-shirts, cycling equipment, and other trinkets.
Tour: http://www.worldmedia.fr/velo/tour98/
Shop: http://www.worldmedia.fr/velo/boutique/
Karen Finley: US vs. Bare Boobs and Chocolate
It was a sad day when Congress decided it would not subsidize nude women covered in chocolate. That was, at least philosophically, the outcome of a recent Supreme Court decision in a case brought by Karen Finley, a well known performance artist. Ms. Finley first gained notoriety for her chocolate covered nudity on stage. In 1990, the legislature passed law mandating that the National Endowment for the Arts "[take] into consideration general standards of decency" in awarding cash grants to artists. Ms. Finley et. al. filed a lawsuit objecting to this law and after the usual appeals the case reached the Supreme Court. Alas, by an 8-1 vote, the Court ruled that the government can indeed deny grants to artists it deems indecent. MSNBC has a very thorough analysis of the case, while Womynlynx has a series of interesting articles about Ms. Finley. We'd be remiss if we did not mention her latest art project, a pay phone line with Ms. Finley's spoken word ramblings on many topics at $1.75 for the first minute, $1.25 per minute thereafter. The intro is a riot, and if it helps pay her legal bills it's definitely worth it.MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.com/news/154689.asp
Womynlynks: http://www.netins.net/showcase/slake/women/finley.html
1-900-ALL-KAREN: http://asuam.fa.asu.edu/finley/main.htm
World's Richest Working Billionaires
Forbes Magazine annually compiles a list of the world's richest people. A recent issue featured 200 of the world's richest people who are still earning their money or are actively working their inherited fortunes. The poorest (hah!) individual on the list is worth a paltry $1.5 billion. This page contains links to a database of these Type-A billionaires, complete with short profiles and notes about the source of their wealth. Study the list for clues about how you can join them. Fun stuff.http://www.forbes.com/tool/toolbox/billnew/1998.asp
Microsoft Web Server Bug Shows Script Data, Fixes Available
A fairly serious security bug has been discovered in the Microsoft web server, the Internet Information Server (IIS). Using the right magic incantation, it's possible to expose the details of executable scripts that run on the server, thus potentially exposing confidential details about your network, software, and passwords. Fortunately, a series of fixes and workarounds for various revisions of the server is available on the bug description page. In other news, Microsoft has also set up a new mailing list for security issues. Details about how to subscribe to the security bulletin are below.Bug Description: http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/ms98-003.htm
Security List: http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletin.htm
Microsoft Security: http://www.microsoft.com/security/
Skipjack Crypto Algorithm Published and Analyzed
Late last month, the Department of Defense announced the declassification of the algorithm that was to be used in the notorious Clipper chip. You may recall that the government wanted to mandate the use of Clipper encryption, which would allow intelligence agencies to decode intercepted communications that used the chip. We held off writing about this item until we could find the actual description of the algorithm online. As a bonus we also found some early and rather technical analysis of the code produced by high powered crypto researchers in Israel. After a week of analysis, they show several attacks on variants of the algorithm and conclude that "SkipJack does not have a conservative design with a large margin of safety". Which brings to mind an old saying: "We're from the government and we're here to help you". Both links are quite technical.Algorithm: http://csrc.nist.gov/encryption/skipjack-kea.htm
Analysis: http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/~biham/Reports/SkipJack/
ONLINE CULTURE
Everyone who ever had to find tools or guidance to develop Web pages should bookmark Web Developer's Journal (WDJ). For those without access to Usenet, as well as for convenience, there are discussion groups on Web commerce, Windows 95 and NT, HTML, CGI, Java, JavaScript, and Web audio. Whether you are, in WDJ terms, a "suit" (businessperson), "ponytail" (a creative), or "prophead" (nerd), you'll find a fairly wide range of book and software reviews, as well as an excellent selection of downloads - "The Essential Top 5", design tools, editors, graphics utilities, site management tools, and others. Bruce and Charlie Morris contribute sound, practical monthly columns that even creative suits can understand. If you're serious about Web development, sign up for the free site newsletter. ARTS & ENTERTAINMENThttp://webdevelopersjournal.com/
Haunting Dreams in Black and White
Since the 1970s, teacher-photographer Wendy Ewald has been encouraging children in her classes in Kentucky, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, and India to evoke their dreams using photographs and words. The results will leave you gasping. These are beautiful photographs with graceful natural composition and subtle imagination. Don't expect self-censorship from these kids. The images dreamed, then interpreted, photographed, and captioned by the children themselves, are extremely disturbing in their innocent suggestions of violence, sex, crisis of identify, and fear. What will you see here? A little girl in blonde wig, who imagines a snake wrapped around her neck. A boy "punished for eight hours". An uncle with a gun to his head. A best friend, dead and displayed in the fork of a tree. We're left wondering what fears drove these images. And, what fears drive our own fantasies?http://aaswebsv.aas.duke.edu/docstudies/doubletake/issues/01/ewald/
First Beanie Babies, now dolls. Lest you assume that this magazine hopes to become the online version of "Jack and Jill" or "Child Digest", please note: we're talking art here. The Art of the Doll Web site, presented by the Mann Gallery, contends that these dolled-up dolls are "the newest and rapidly expanding art form." Get all the dahling details at the site.
http://www.manngallery.org/
The Fine Art of the Former Captain Beefheart
In 1966, with the callow summer of love in the not-too-distant future, A&M Records rejected Captain Beefheart's first album because it was too negative. That didn't stop the avant garde musician from releasing 12 wildly innovative, financially unrewarding albums before he quit the biz in 1982. Since then, 57-year-old Don Van Vliet has achieved international acclaim as a painter. There are more than 60 paintings displayed at the Web site, in addition to articles and paeans by art curators, promoters, and journalists. Van Vliet has always inspired almost embarrassing devotion in those moved by his expressive aural and visual language, but there's nothing excessive here. The site has the warmth and meticulousness that come from mature, reverent appreciation.http://www.beefheart.com/
Accomplished computer artist Stephen Linhart figures if you're going to steal - or "sample" as modern musicians bereft of creativity call it - steal from the best, and be up front about it. In his computer-created collages, Linhart explores the artistic possibilities the digital age inevitably offers. He samples, combines and transforms elements of paintings by the mainly European modernists who move him: Degas, Monet, Berthe Morisot, Renoir, and others. Some may say this is not art. Whatever it is, take a look. Linhart's compositions may surprise you with the unique identity and impact they create. Prints, ranging in price from $400 to $600,
are offered for sale at the site. http://www.stephen.com/collage/
Latrinalia is a term meaning toilet wall graffiti, denoting anything from obscenities scrawled on toilet walls about who will do it for a dime to neat pointed epigrams on the meaning of life. The Head devotes itself to the more erudite scribbler, and has collected photos of the often disturbing words from lavatories all over the United States. Oddly, despite the unlikely location, there is some deep meaning on those walls, reflective of society. Maybe it's all taken a bit too seriously, but there is more to it than you might think. Well worth a look.
http://home.earthlink.net/~thehead/
Movie Scripts for Cultish Tastes
For your pleasure, we offer two sites that carry movie scripts. Drew's Script-o-Rama was due to unveil its spiffy redesign shortly after our visit, so we won't comment on presentation. We will say, however, that any list that includes "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai", "Heathers", and "This is Spinal Tap" gets our vote. Blues End devotes itself more to recently cool films: "The Usual Suspects", "Fargo", or "Jackie Brown".Drew's: http://www.script-o-rama.com/trans.shtml
Blues End: http://www.bluesend.com/scripts.htm
BOOKS & E-ZINES
A Day in the Life of Intel Processors
In the fine tradition of recent "24 Hours in..." photo books, Intel commissioned 100 top photojournalists to capture on film stories of how the microchip has transformed nearly every aspect of civilization. It's impossible not to be fascinated by the stories behind these great photos, despite teasingly short photo captions. Consider the Chinese family without running water - but with several chip-containing items in their home including PC, VCR, and cell phone. As you'd expect, the site design is slick and provides a myriad of ways in which to browse through the material. Naturally, you can order the book online. It's a great snapshot of digital technology on the verge of the 21st century. As a bonus, Netsurfer reviews the book.Site: http://www.intel.com/OneDigitalDay/
Book review: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/books/book.04.20.html
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Netsurfer Book Recommendations Books our staff likes and you might too. Click on the cover or title to order the books at a hefty discount from Amazon.com and send a few pennies our way as well.
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Bitch : In Praise of Difficult Women
The Fortune Sellers : The Big Business of Selling
and Buying Predictionshttp://www.scripps.ohiou.edu/mediahistory/
Ungroomed: Help for Monogamous Men with Their Boxers in a Bunch
Ungroomed is an e-zine that attempts to humorously and gracefully straddle the chasm of long-term sexual polarity. You know: marriage. Editors say their goal is to approach the wedding day as the beginning of a process - including fatherhood. First-person pieces dramatize many seasons of male-female relationships, but the magazine concentrates on that juncture when a man officially goes from being a buck to a monog. Every Wednesday, the Groom Room live chat provides a boom-boom-room in which to thrash about. The site offers the nuts and bolts of wedding and honeymoon planning. And don't miss the cautionary tale, Why My Lesbian Fantasy Was Such a Bad Idea.http://www.ungroomd.com/
Mercury News for a Mercurial Industry
The San Jose Mercury News is the local newspaper at ground zero for Silicon Valley. So it's no surprise that most of its news, updates, opinions and classifieds have to do with the computer industry there. Same goes for its Web site, now available without charge for the first time since it began in 1993. The full content of the paper is available online, plus access to issues as far back as 1985, when the silicon world was still naive. A must-see resource for anyone with interests in computers or the Silicon Valley area.http://www.mercurycenter.com/
All the News, Much of the Time
For people who need their media in large doses, All American Internet Press is a very busy site that provides links to the media all over North America. For each state you can link to daily and weekly newspapers, radio and TV stations, even Web cameras in your area, all while listening to netradio. It's perhaps a little window-happy, with new ones popping up on your screen unbidden every time you click and lots of screaming banner ads. This site attracts a large chat crowd as well.http://gallery.uunet.be/internetpress/american.htm
Tag: Running Around New York Without Breaking a Sweat
Tag is a good name for this e-zine because it's a romp, not a workout. No how-to experts hyperventilating here. It's mostly short, Big Apple adventure stories. One guy tells how he fought his landlord and won. Read about being celibate, good ways to strike up intimate relations with strangers real quick and dirty, volunteering for charity, how to buy big-ticket household items, good Latin Blues, and generally why certain popular people, places and things may or may not have lost their juice. A form with each story lets you easily e-mail a copy to a friend, which reinforces the feeling of a front stoop on the Internet where New Yorkers shoot the breeze.http://www.tagmag.com/
This reading diary is worthy - and not just for its use of the word "loquacious". The creator has read and critiqued an extensive range of books, and offers links to a vast range of similar information. We checked out the King James version of the Old Testament and ventured through the library to sites on John Steinbeck, Dorothy Parker, Patricia Cornwell and SF. A great resource and inspiration.
http://www.sfsite.com/fi/
This is a full-blown illustrated book online, detailing probable technological advances and their likely socioeconomic impact over coming decades and centuries. Ten years in the making - so far - this book continues to be updated and expanded on a regular basis. The site splits its content into two distinct sections: Timeline, which is more conservative and science based; and, Perspectives which is science-fiction based. It is fascinating reading, even if you don't agree with or like what you see.
http://members.aol.com/kurellian/spint.html
Mass Media and American Culture
Mr. Mike is a self-described journalist with a chip on his shoulder who believes that the media has become the universal scapegoat for all that's wrong with society (and that the media only partly deserve the blame for that). His column deals with mass media and American culture. It looks at current events and how they're portrayed on TV, in the press and on radio. He offers a lot of advice on how to be a savvy media and advertising consumer of both commercial and editorial products. See if you agree.http://personal.bna.bellsouth.net/bna/j/u/jutopia/index.html
Does you life lack a bit of racy canoodling? The romance novel may just fill that void. With over 1400 reviews of romance books, as well as interviews with authors, a top ten, readers helpline, author address book, and a wide range of the various genres within genres, this site discusses issues such as male romance readers and authors on the road. If books with titles like "Midsummer Knight" and "Dare to Love" tickle you, this site could leave you completely smitten.
http://www.theromancereader.com/
SURFING SCIENCE
Image Recognition Technology Keeps Tabs on Sundial
This is a very interesting twist in timekeeping. According to the story, Pembroke College at Cambridge put up a new building last year with a large sundial on the wall. The Oliveti & Oracle research lab is about half a mile down the road, and staff there noticed the sundial. They took a TV camera with a frame grabber, put a powerful telephoto lens on the end, and used it as a webcam. Image recognition software finds the shadow if it's there, and works out the time from it. A clock wouldn't do?http://www.orl.co.uk/sundial/
Quantum computing - that is, using the quantum states of electrons to function as processing switches rather than the conventional electron flow - may be the wave of the distant future. To get an idea of how it works, you can either read the San Jose Mercury News article we cite below or, if you have a Mac, you can run a quantum computer simulation. Quantum Fog costs up to $100, but there is a free demo available. We tried it, and though we can't claim to understand it too well, it sure does look cool. If the prop on your beanie is actually an electron probability cloud and you have a Mac (any Mac with System 7.1 or greater), give this a whirl.
Article: http://www1.sjmercury.com/scitech/center/quantum0428.htm
Fog: http://www.ar-tiste.com/index.html
How many legs does the elephant have? Which line is longer? How many colors are there in this picture? Is this line bent? Are you bent? You've seen some of these illusions before, but unless you're an aficionado you've not seen them all. It's a service to humanity to collect them all in one spot like this. One observation, though: If there really are two people kissing in that picture of the old man with holly in his hair, then they've got to be about the two ugliest people we've ever seen! COMMUNITY SERVICE
http://members.aol.com/Ryanbut/illusion1.html
For those of us who do not imagine that we will need our livers and corneas and kidneys and other meaty bits when we finally swim that golden river one fine morning - take a minute and learn how you can help some body still stranded on shore, bound by extreme pain and suffering. The site is sponsored by two federal government agencies: The Department of Health and Human Services and Health Resources and Services Administration.
http://www.organdonor.gov/