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NETSURFER DIGEST
More Signal, Less Noise |
Volume 04, Issue 25 Monday, August 24, 1998 |
BREAKING SURF
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BREAKING SURF Netscape 4.06 Supports Web Ratings, Hack Disables Same You may recall that Netscape recently released version 4.06 of Netscape Communicator to fix a serious e-mail security problem. In addition to squashing some bugs, Netscape tossed some new features into this version, notably support for PICS, a Web page rating system. Parents can use the NetWatch feature (see the Help*NetWatch menu) to limit kids' access to pages with acceptable ratings. Almost as soon as the new Communicator hit the streets, Brian Ristuccia, a computer science student, posted a method that will beat the system. His page also links to the Anti-Censorware Proxy which allows you to view sites blocked by Web filter software.Communicator: http://home.netscape.com/browsers/index.html Hack: http://www.osiris.ml.org/~brianr/nopics-snapshot/
Microsoft Releases Windows 98 Update The new update includes new DirectX 6.0 graphics rendering code used heavily in games, a new Media Player, a Microsoft Chat application, some Web fonts, and a bunch of bug fixes. Amusingly, Microsoft called this update a "multimedia update" rather than a "service pack", a euphemism for a bug fix package. Did Microsoft feel they needed yet another level of obscurity to avoid admitting to bugs in Windows 98? Aside from the amusing marketing newspeak, this looks like an eminently worthwhile upgrade.http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/News/August1998/W98Updates.asp Another New Internet Explorer Security Bug Involving JScript Fresh on the heels of problems with Explorer and Outlook e-mail systems, Microsoft has been notified of another bug with its JScript (a.k.a. JavaScript) engine. When Explorer encounters a Web page that uses JScript to invoke the Window.External function with a very long string, Internet Explorer could terminate or malicious code could execute on your machine. Philosophically, it's a variation on the earlier e-mail problem in which a long file-name string on an attachment could lead to problems. Overflowing input strings in a program are a well known security problem. You don't have to understand the technical details to download the fix.http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/ms98-011.htm SURFING SITES Take a trip to your nearest pioneer village or real historic site. Don't you feel the least bit like you're trespassing, as if you really oughtn't to be in someone else's parlor without invitation or introduction? Back yet? OK, now take a look at Alan Jacobs' photographs from the ovens and dormitories of Auschwitz and Birkenau. Even the photos feel like trespass. There are stacks and rows of shoes and prayer shawls. The Nazis, unable to even steal honestly, instead encouraged their victims to bring valuables with them for use in their relocation. Two fence posts bristle with tiny glass transformers and barbed wire. The burning pits and train ramp are, in truth, pastoral - except for our knowledge of who stood, or lay, there and why. It feels like trespass, and even if this isn't what physicists have in mind, it tells us exactly why time really is another dimension.http://remember.org/jacobs/index.html
Making and Breaking Baseball's Color Line Jackie Robinson wasn't the first black baseball player in American professional ranks - just the first one in 60-odd years. This Library of Congress site details not only the events of the 1947 season in which Robinson joined major league baseball, but also the century of events that preceded it, and nearly 30 years that followed it. Robinson was already a seasoned civil rights activist when Dodgers owner Branch Rickey asked him to join the majors. Racism wasn't just systemic in the sport; it was also enshrined in rules and reinforced by economics. Extraordinary artifacts populate this exhibit: programs featuring integrated teams from the 19th century; the text of Rickey's rambling but historically informed speech to the One Hundred Percent Wrong Club; and letters handwritten by Robinson. Robinson continued his activism after retiring from the diamond with strong ties to the NAACP and Southern Christian Leadership Conference through some of their most turbulent times in the 1960s. Still, decades later, some people continue to pay for lessons not learned by others. Just ask Hank Aaron and Tiger Woods.http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/jrhtml/jrhome.html We reviewed the US Patent Database, courtesy of IBM, back in NSD 3.07. "Zany" was not one of the words we used to describe it at the time, but we're going to add it now. Welcome to the Gallery of Obscure Patents, no curators required. Each - well, they don't actually say how often, but every once in a while, IBM adds three new crazy patents, nominated by visitors, to the hallowed halls of the gallery. Visit today so you can be the first on your block to add to your wardrobe the smokeless ashtray hat and pneumatic shoe lacer. Warning: You may get caught up and spend extended amounts of time at this site. Go when you're not working against a deadline. http://www.patents.ibm.com/gallery.html We're more than just a bunch of pretty faces, you know. Besides NSD (and NSS and even NSF), we sometimes freelance outside the Netsurfer community. Joanne Eglash recently wrote a piece for TechWeek on the eating habits of geeks and prop-heads, including some of our own staffers. If you have a strong stomach, you may want to check it out. http://www.techweek.com/articles/8-10-98/click.htm Odd Collection of Rants and '80s Stuff If you writhe with excitement at the thought of '80s videos, scoring with chicks online, and poking polite fun at one-hit wonders, try not to drool while waiting for this site to download. Remember the poignant magic of "Blinded Me with Science"? The review here pulls no punches, stamping the video with a thumbs up but lamenting that "there are no midgets... (a) big part of a good '80s video." From the chick-scoring hints comes "Even a butt-ugly guy can have one good moment in front of a camera," so select your photo choices well. All in all, great fun.http://members.aol.com/mojorisenn/ You've got company. Hundreds (OK, maybe dozens) of morons visit this site to share their stories and take the Moron Test just like we did. You'll also find the special Moron-a-gram for that special someone who's special in a special sort of way. You can browse the Famous Morons list or submit the name of your favorite celebrity morons along with the events that earned them the designation. A really cool place to visit in a warped sort of way - read the editorial if you don't believe us. http://www.erols.com/axeman2u/index.htm In fantasy sports leagues, you acquire players and how well your team does depends on the stats your players accumulate. Virtual Prime Time works on the same principle except instead of a team you own a network and instead of players you acquire TV shows. You win by accumulating more Neilsen rating points than your competition. If this sounds like your bag, you can take it for a free four-week test drive before forking over $25 for the real deal, which lasts nine months. Should you win, you can quadruple your "investment". http://virtualprimetime.com/ You know how to fix your car, lawnmower, furnace, and camera, right? How about your VCR? You might, if you visit VCR Repair Instruction, a site so practical it might prove better than your print manual. The Online Service Manual describes what makes for a good repair bench, symptoms of and cures for 15 common problems, and troubleshooting for mechanical or electronic defects, among other tidbits. We like its clear comparison between the components of a VCR and those of a PC (which - sigh - you must go elsewhere to fix). The real treasures here are the Database Pages which list VCRs by manufacturer and model number, symptoms of problems common to each machine, and repair tips. Unfortunately, under Parts Available, the news is all too often, "Sorry, no parts available yet for this model." http://www.fixer.com/ Radio Shows from the '20s through the '50s The old punch line about why a person would prefer radio to TV is because the pictures are better. At the Yesterday USA site, hear the pictures that were on the air before TV: Batman and Robin, The Damon Runyon Theatre, The Cisco Kid, The Green Hornet - these are some of the early radio serials listed in the programming guide. YUSA is a subscriber-supported, volunteer-operated, non-profit organization. A $60 annual pledge also supports the The National Museum Of Communications, a radio preservation archive founded in 1979, from which the programming service evolved.http://otr.uwsp.edu/ TopHosts provides an innovative way to find someone to host your Web page. TopHosts maintains a database of over 500 Web hosts, searchable by location, price, and amenities you'd like your site to have (shell account, CGI support, etc.). What's better, while looking for a host, you can click on "Test This Host" to run a traceroute and see how responsive the server is. Keep in mind, however, that on the TopHosts search engine Web hosts can buy preferential positioning to ensure they come up first in a search request. Sneaky, eh? First might not always be best in this case. http://www.tophosts.com/ James Hogan and Alternative Science This fascinating, well designed site focuses on James Hogan, an author of science fiction and science fact-based books - as it should, since it's his own page. Hogan has produced over 20 books and many short stories, comics, and non-fiction articles. Interested readers can cross-reference a large list of topics of interest and the material in his books. Of more particular interest, Hogan places for public view his non-conformist perceptions of standard scientific paradigms such as evolution, global warming, and HIV.http://global.org/jphogan/index.html Ahhh, the magic of the commuter barcar. Apparantly romance is alive and kicking butt in these mobile capsules of fun . A gorgeous looking site, with tales of seduction, "Blue Lagoon" horror stories (such when a trainee "pulled the wrong cord and 150 gallons of urine and feces spilled out onto the floor"), and other commuting high jinx. Protesting a recent call for alcohol-free cars as well as a possible suspension of service, the bar car site celebrates everything good about public transport. http://www.barcar.com/ Online Community Moderated by You Webflies, although it's a message board community, operates much like the Mining Company. You find a topic you like and volunteer to moderate discussion on it. Discussion pages are intuitively arranged with the most recent messages at the top, and each message concludes with a link to the author's self-description. Glancing through the profiles, we noticed an uncommonly large group of members born December 31, 1969, which means that no one checks the profile fields and all the lazy folks end up with the default date. On the other hand, perhaps the March 26, 1969 "Marcus Welby" TV movie acted as an aphrodisiac, leading to a spate of end-of-the-year newborns and the series' inexplicable seven-year run. You decide.http://www.webflies.com/ Show Those Embarrassing Baby Pictures to the World Is your extended family geographically separated? Family Shoebox will provide you with a nook in cyberspace you can call your own. One family member heads up the Web site creation project, using publishing tools provided by Family Shoebox, then invites others to join in. Each family has its own newsletter, calendar, and set of threaded message boards, free of charge. There's a 15 MB limit to the size of the "box", but we can't imagine anyone reaching that limit unless they include videos of the latest wedding, which they could do, since Family Shoebox allows uploads of QuickTime movies and Shockwave Director files.http://www.familyshoebox.com/ Whatever your opinion of lawyers, sooner or later you'll need one, and what better place to find one on the Web than Lawyers.com? Its search results may not be comprehensive, but talk about ease of use! Choose an area of practice (such as animal or agricultural law, immigration, or bankruptcy), key in a city, select a state, and off to the poorhouse you go... (just kidding). This site can help you find a nearby attorney with the expertise you need and more. Witness its extensive offerings such as About the Law, which offers descriptions of basic legal concepts, and Hiring a Lawyer, a how-to FAQ. Ask A Lawyer, a series of canned questions and answers, may not contain your question, but we bet Bill Clinton could use it. It's all free, by the way. http://www.lawyers.com/ ONLINE TRAVEL If you receive clothing catalogues in the mail, you've no doubt seen and perhaps read articles about outdoor lifestyles you might easily associate with the retailer's merchandise. Land's End has taken the next step with Beyond Lands' End, a site devoted to adventure. On our last visit, we found plenty to make us forget the thinness of our wallet. Viking Voyage 1000 is the online travelogue of a group of latterday Vikings who recreated a voyage by Leif Eriksson. Historical background pages such as Viking Material Culture and Viking Age Women also held our attention. Matt and Ted's Arctic Summer features reports from two teenagers who help tag whales, maintain a lodge, and explore the Northwest Passage. Jim Fowler's Wild Planet is about animals encountered by a naturalist in places "where animals far outnumber people." Photos also populate Will Stegler's Wilderness Journals, which addresses outdoor doings of neighborly folks possessed of outdoor gear, quite possibly from a certain retailer with a fine sense of tradition and community.http://www.beyond.landsend.com/index.html
Stomp Some Romp, New Orleans Style Y'all pass by this site to remember how sweet life can be. No hissy fits, just toolin' around in that hysterical, what-the-hell-dawlin'-life's-too-short-love-letter style that makes you wish you, too, could stand the heat and make money in N'awlins. The Southern Yat Hysterical Society (Yat, from the greeting, "where y'at?" refers to a person from New Orleans) offers a Yatbonics dictionary so you can figure out what the Sam Hill muffeletta is, high HDL cholesterol recipes, and other cultural information, so you can learn to live right, Cap, wherever y'all pay your taxes.http://www.southernyatclub.com/ Even if you've walked the Emerald City till the sight of Starbucks made you hanker for Seattle's Best, you'll get a kick out of Seattle in the Round, a city guide with an interactive heart. You'll need a free IPIX plug-in (an ActiveX control on PCs) to enjoy the main attraction, a collection of 3-D cityscapes. Each photo here gives you 360-degree horizontal and vertical zoomable views that you rotate with your mouse or arrow keys. Locals and tourists alike can see Seattle in a new light but they may not learn much about the city because they're too busy having fun manipulating graphics or sending e-postcards. Of course, if you're in Seattle and you spend a lot of time on the Web site, you may want to perhaps engage the services of the local photography studio behind this technical gem. http://www.seattleintheround.com/ Fossil Butte National Monument This site describes Fossil Butte National Monument, located in southwestern Wyoming, and the range of visitor activities that take place there. The monument features a 50-million-year-old lake bed, one of the richest fossil localities in the world. Many of the rust-colored fish in white stone you see in rock shops come from the site's Green River formation. Deposits here span two million years and preservation is so complete that it allows for detailed study of climate change and its effects on biological communities. Visitors can view the interrelationships of plants, insects, fishes, reptiles and mammals.http://www.nps.gov/fobu/ Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, to Africa We Go It's not everyone's idea of the ideal vacation but if you're feeling adventurous, check out the Just Backpacking - Southern Africa Web site. It offers a collection of links that includes travel publications, other backpacking-related sites, and information on activities.http://www.backpacking.co.za/index.html FLOTSAM & JETSAM Here's One for the Stork-Visited The Pregnancy and Parenting Resource: Labor of Love Web site is a bookmarkable link for parental types. You can read and post tips, poems, and more about every aspect of the parenting process. There's even a Cute Kid photo contest. The site also has a search engine, free coupons, and a newsletter.http://www.thelaboroflove.com/ This comic strip chronicles the adventures and tribulations of an angst-ridden lycanthrope and his, uh, unique 20-something friends. Steven Artelle 's Lycanthropete began in 1992 as a feature in the University of Ottawa's weekly newspaper and has grown in popularity ever since. http://www.writewrights.com/Lycanthropete/ Looking for a British CD never released in America? Crave a decent Yorkshire brack? Enterprise City acts as a portal to every secure-transaction-certified merchant in the UK. It offers some great info about what constitutes secure transactions, and check the Mayor's office for the evolving rules of Web commerce. http://www.enterprisecity.co.uk/ Assembly provides forums for meetings between work colleagues or for personal relationships. You can create free forums and personalized Web discussions in less than three minutes, and all are encouraged to post messages in Assembly discussions. http://assembly.nerdworld.com/plans.asp SOFTWARE Keep track of the latest software upgrades in three ways. First, at the Softwatcher site, surf by to see who's got what and why you might consider upgrading. Links give the latest from Apple and Microsoft, plus general news. Second, register once at the Versions site, describing which software you use. When news breaks concerning the software you registered with them, you'll get e-mail. Third, go to the Softwatcher/Version combo site and do a search. Results return all recent developments regarding the product you specify.Softwatcher: http://www.softwatcher.com/ Versions: http://www.versions.com/ Combo: http://www.softwatcher.com/versions/
CORRECTIONS "The Hotlist - Global Issues That Affect Almost Everyone" (NSD 4.21) has ever so slightly changed URLs. Here's the new one.http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/8066/index.html |
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