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NETSURFER DIGEST
More Signal, Less Noise |
Volume 04, Issue 27 Friday, September 11, 1998 |
BREAKING SURF
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BREAKING SURF Just about nobody outside of Washington DC gives a rats behind about this issue anymore. The vast majority of voters want the politicians to get back to running the country. On the other hand, considering the kind of mess they usually make of it maybe a distraction is not such a bad idea. What we've got here is a public man desperately trying to keep his private life private and being crucified for it. But then, we already knew that months ago. It's inevitable that a lot of people will probably want to read the report for the dirty bits. Since reading the 450 page legalese report just for the dirt is kind of like having to read Moby Dick just to get to the section where they yell "Thar she blows!", we predict a sudden surge of sites containing just the salacious bits. At press time the official report distribution sites were totally inaccessible. You'll probably have better luck with Yahoo, Excite or Lycos, all of which have copies of the report and the White House rebuttal linked from their home pages.http://thomas.loc.gov/icreport/ http://www.house.gov/icreport/ http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/icreport/ http://www.yahoo.com/ http://www.excite.com/ http://www.lycos.com/ Until this summer, "Ran" in our minds merited the title of best war movie. It may now have a competitor in "Saving Private Ryan", but Akiro Kurosawa's adaptation of "King Lear" still leads in the category of saucy transvestite jesters. Kurosawa, whom Steven Spielberg claims as an influence, died last Sunday after excelling not only as a filmmaker but as a portal through which post-war America could grasp post-war Japan. CNN has a nice little wrap-up with pictures of the man at work and a link to the bilingual Akira Kurosawa Database, which contains a biography, filmography, and a somewhat clunky chat room. CNN: http://cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9809/07/kurosawa/index.html Database: http://www2.tky.3web.ne.jp/~adk/kurosawa/AKpage.html Section 7.09 (i) of Major League Baseball's Rules states: "It is interference by the batter or runner when in the judgment of the umpire, the base coach at third base, or first base, by touching or holding the runner, physically assists him in returning or leaving third base or first base." Anyone see Mark McGwire's 62nd homer Tuesday night? Anyone see the first base coach pull McGwire back to tag first base? Wouldn't that have been a popular call.... Ironically, McGwire's 341-foot record breaker was his shortest homer of the year, and it leaves him 51 homers short of 500 for his career. The fine folks at InfoBeat have a number of handy McGwire pages. 1998 HRs: http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555965705-ca1 Story: http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555964347-2ac In a first tiny toddle towards a Brave New World, researchers have reported a reliable method of predetermining the sex of human infants. The process uses the differing amounts of DNA in X and Y chromosomes to tag and separate X and Y-containing sperm. It appears to provide a purer X sperm sample (i.e. for girls) than a Y sperm sample. CNN has the story. http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9809/09/baby.sex/ SURFING SITES If you like facts, you'll like Information Please. The folks who created the useful site laid it out meticulously and designed the navigation to make the retrieval of answers both simple and quick. Information Please covers so vast a range, you'll be hard-pressed to find a topic not included or an answer lacking. As if that's not tantalizing enough, check out the really nifty features, such as the interesting Daily Almanac, the ability to listen to the correct pronunciation of a word, and the clever "hotwords" facility that raise the site from run-of-the-mill to the superlatives, and well worth a visit.http://www.infoplease.com/ We love the deliciously malicious "Devil's Dictionary". Allow us to direct you to a digital incarnation, and offer a few samples of why you should visit: Trial: n. A formal inquiry designed to prove and put upon record the blameless characters of judges, advocates, and jurors; Twice: adv. Once too often; Magpie: n. A bird whose thievish disposition suggested to someone that it might be taught to talk. Of course, the content cuts even more wickedly than that, but in this space we can't be as even-handedly misanthropic as Mr. Bierce was. You'll have to stop by to read the real bile that he reserved for politicians, organized religion, and editors. http://home.navisoft.com/entisoft/devildic.htm Just as portal sites help surfers visualize the Web, Usenet gateways help many sift through myriad postings on Usenet. One such gateway, Talkway, has two graphical interfaces, an HTML version and a Java Power Version. Both versions have plenty of indicators and help features that appeal to novice users who may feel intimidated by the enormity of Usenet. The HTML version may remind you of search directories, with tunnel-down navigation through menus. The Java version is a 300-kB applet. Even if your connection is slow, we recommend trying the Java version. It's really a piece of cake. One disappointment: although Usenet abounds with binary files, we found none here. Oh, well. You can rank - Spam, Adult, Flame, or Great - individual postings, and if you sign up for SneakPeek you'll get an e-mail digest of the most active threads in your favorite discussion groups. To customize the site for yourself you have to complete free registration. Sure beats a Telnet client for visual appeal! http://www.talkway.com/ We're going to do something very bad. We're going to quote a press release - but only because it so clearly expresses our quiet desperation: "The problem," says Nick Usborne, "is that about 65 million people are quietly suffering while 2.3 million horrible Web sites irritate and annoy them. The fork-o-gram finally gives people a tool with which to strike back." Please, send a deserving webmaster a fork-o-gram today. Disgorge your resentments for stupid applets, black backgrounds, broken links, etc. - and make the Web a better place to surf - for all of us. http://www.forkinthehead.com/ I Love You - Signed, Anonymous Nothing can haunt like an unspoken oath of love - or hatred. This site sheds candle light in the cave of secret passions. It posts anonymous letters addressed to anonymous recipients - secret loves, ex-spouses, bosses, parents.... These are the tangled regrets, the fragile hopes people might have used to inspire written sonnets in another era. It may remind you of all the things you really must do before you die.http://www.sothere.com/ "Pack the SCSI cable, hon - we're a-goin' to a LAN party." That's right. A party where you bring your computer and hook in with anywhere from a handful to several hundred other geeks to play games and snarf down pizza until the wee hours of the morning. Anyone remember when people got together to socialize and talk? LANparty.com dedicates itself to this growing phenomenon, providing a spot where interested gamers can list their parties, find parties near them, read the latest news, or get advice on hosting their own parties and setting up their own networks. Just remember, it's all fun and games until somebody rolfs on their keyboard. And you thought soda was hard to get out. http://lanparty.com/ Selling a computer game on a Web site is not exactly a new idea, but the Quest 2000 sales campaign is. The site, laid out as a complex puzzle, contains dark images of Merlin and masks and secret code words that have to be entered into a search engine to advance to later stages. Going by the well-populated chat rooms, Quest 2000 is proving an attraction, now that any early technical hitches have been fixed. Despite less than earthshattering odds of winning the ultimate prize, the strangely compelling game nevertheless drew us in. If it does the same to you, try to decipher the pattern in the mask, then for goodness sake tell us - we're stuck! http://quest.in2000.com/ Are you a parent? A grandparent? An aunt, uncle, or significant other of a kidlet? If you yodeled "yes" to any of those questions - or if you're just a kid at heart - surf on over to the Surfing the Net with Kids Web site for a treat. It's a treasure chest of resources for children from the author of a weekly newspaper column "Surfing the Net with Kids." Links range from "Virtual Zoos" to ballet and word games. We found it so valuable, we've added it to our list of resources. http://www.surfnetkids.com/ Negativland, Strangeness, and Copyright Fight Presented in a superb bakery theme with dopey sound files on the side, NegativWorldWideWebland (NWWW), the WWW home of primarily-audio artists Negativland, stands up for the group's aesthetic and musical principles. Most notably, the site serves as a soapbox for a protest of a Recording Industry Association Of America crackdown on the production of Negativland CDs with uncleared samples. Check out the whole story, and its surprisingly rational resolution-in-process, at the RIAA link. Despite scrapping their Another UFO CD project because "aliens have become just too popular", Negativland satisfies all your unnatural cravings for alternative viewpoints. Their latest CD/book release, "Death Sentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak", features "instrumental junk noise music - no bass lines, no melody, no dialog (sic), no singing and no beat." You'll just know if you'll like it.NWWW: http://www.negativland.com/ RIAA: http://www.negativland.com/riaa/index.html For anyone who's ever wasted an entire Saturday trying to make the stupid little lines print out right on the stupid little Avery labels finally come exact specifications. This site contains margin and layout dimensions and printing instructions for invitations, flyers, postcards, return address labels and miscellany - by Avery for Avery products. The site goes beyond the call of marketing, however, and presents some creative ideas about how to dish up standard fare in fresh ways. We recommend it for small businesses, volunteer workers, medium tech-savvy do-it-yourselfers, and anyone with more than one label stuck to a forearm. http://www.avery.com/personal_creations/ We Don't Usually Cover Finance, but We Liked This Every online investor has a favorite finance site. We guess a lot of individual investors prefer EquityAnalysis.com, which has a well-balanced selection of online staples, including new recommendations every week in tech stocks, blue chips, global equities, commodities, and overvalued stocks. In August, this site strongly recommended "that aggressive investors short major Internet stocks." If you don't know what "short" means, or if you do know but didn't profit from your knowledge, check out Beginner's Corner, the bookstore (which at our last visit highlighted "Beating the Street", by Peter Lynch and John Rothchild), or the Message Board (which requires free registration). EquityAnalysis.com is pretty low-key - for example, Windows users may have to hide their toolbar to see all the links in the left frame - but at times understatement can be attractive in itself.http://www.equityanalysis.com/ ONLINE TRAVEL Walking New Zealand's North Island Geoff Chapple is a hiker with a cause: Te Araroa Trust, which aims to establish a trail route along the length of New Zealand's North Island. He recently attempted the trek, a voyage he captured admirably with a digital camera and described in a leisurely travelogue so detailed you wonder whether he dictates as he strolls along. At times, momentum seems to carry him too quickly by the people he meets along the way. We don't think Geoff completed the walk, though. The last date we could find is July 10, a day that began a harrowing hiking experience. Did Geoff call it quits after that? Did the equipment give out? We just don't know. The site could also use a formal introduction to give us a better sense of who he is. Geoff has upped the ante for wannabe Forrest Gumps: nowadays, if you're going to cross country and grab attention, you'd better take a laptop and cellular phone along with your camera and GPS.http://www.teararoa.org.nz/Welcome.html
Agency Offers Nifty Cultural Tidbits Do you count your chickens before they're hatched? If you do, you're likely British or North American. Were you from Portugal, you would instead throw fireworks before the party; a Belgian, on the other hand, would sell the bear's skin before it's shot. These and many other fascinating little glimpses into the cultural differences of everyday language are collected at the Transimage site. You will find yourself delving into all manner of cultural info, such as calendar differences and some excellent insults. Speaking of which: Americans, never use the hand sign for "okay" in Tunisia....http://www.transimage.com Adventure Pass Australia's Guide to the Underworld So you thought a holiday in Australia meant Bondi Beach (yes, that's the inspiration for the iMac's Bondi blue color - is it a coincidence it's a nudist beach, and the iMac case is see-through?) and Ayers Rock? Visit the Adventure Pass Australia site and think again. Fancy a camel safari in Alice Springs? Or maybe a New Age Healing class (cough, cough) in Nunawading? From Absailing to Zoos, the site lists over 1000 activities you can enjoy Down Under, complete with attractive photos and fast-loading pages. The pass itself will get you reduced prices for all the activities listed. Anyone contemplating an Oz vacation has gotta at least glance here.http://www.adventurepass.com/adventure.htm FLOTSAM & JETSAM It's not everyone's idea of a good time, but those who like extreme amusement may look forward to playing Zorbonaut. You get in a big sphere, supposedly protected by an air cushion, and roll down a hill. The Web site's entertaining, and some of us would prefer to experience this new game only in virtual reality.http://www.zorb.com/
Let Somebody Else Point Your Browser for a While If you like grab-bag surprises, this site can be fun. Submit a list of your interests and ProLaunch will send you to a new corresponding Web site every time you open your browser online. ProLaunch lets you earn points toward prizes like frequent flyer miles and movie tickets every time you use it.http://www.prolaunch.com/ Fledgling webmasters could do worse than these articles and reviews, written with little jargon at a gentler technical level than many other Web design resources. A pleasant, unpretentious site, it'll help you create that home page and provide some sound ideas on all the basics, such as design and content. http://www.webmaster-resources.com/ Transsexualism/Gender Transition FAQ With general information and an emotive insight into people with a "discontinuity between their assigned sex and what they feel their core gender is", this FAQ answers any questions you'd need to ask as it details the fascinating, often painful topic of transsexualism in sensitive detail.http://my.voyager.net/supenn/tsfaq.html From the 'Why Didn't I Think of That' Files Rave Reviews compiles soundtracks and books of recent and forthcoming movies on one page. Just about the only unique content are the three-word reviews. Everything else points to a commissioned sale, partnered with Amazon and others. They even managed to throw in a software library.http://www.ravecentral.com/ The Movie Madness Web site features news, gossip, trailers, trivia, and pics about flicks. Nice graphics, and lots 'o links for those addicted to the world of the movin' groovin' picture. http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/albion/ Hippity hop, Hoppity hip. You'll start talking in rhyme after just visiting the Hip Hop Playerz. The Web site seeks "to hit ya with fresh real audio files, from both underground and mainstream artists." All together now: hip, hip, hop! http://www.hhp.simplenet.com/ Visit PollNET, a daily changing site, to see what other people who like to take polls think. When we last checked, 12 percent of them still hadn't gotten over Diana's death, if that gives you an idea. We're a little wary that the founder's e-mail address is at MatchLogic, whose motto is, "The Science of Digital Marketing." http://www.pollnet.com/ SOFTWARE RealStore Delivers Great Variety of Online Multimedia Software RealNetworks doesn't miss a beat in its drive to dominate the online multimedia market. They certainly have the retail software corner well covered with this well stocked online store. In addition to the audio and video client/server software for which RealNetworks is so well known, the store also has a wide variety of other multimedia editing and publishing tools and an impressive number of Web related tools, educational tools, and even some entertainment titles, all related by the loose concept of online multimedia. Anyone contemplating an excursion into online audio and video would do well to make this their first shopping stop. And no, we don't get a commission for plugging them. Dammit.http://www.realstore.com/ Sun Microsystems has released an important development tool for Java programmers. The Java Shared Data Toolkit (JSDT) can help create highly interactive collaborative applications. Sun has in mind programs such as interactive multi-user work spaces, chat rooms, shared virtual reality environments, and remote presentations. The toolkit costs a reasonable $99. Documentation and interface information is available at the Web site. Press release: http://java.sun.com/pr/1998/08/pr980826.html JSDT: http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/jsdt/ |
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