|
Home Subscriptions Netsurfer Science E-Zine Netsurfer Books E-Zine |
| Huge Microsoft Windows NT Web Server Security Hole |
| Kasparov vs. the World |
| Billionaires |
| Open Publication License |
| Excite Launches Voice Chat |
| Music Download Directory |
| Linux Ranters |
| That Evil Outlook |
| You Need Trepanation Like You Need a - Well, You Know |
| Fun with Infrared |
| Weird Stuff |
| A Real Mom Spills the Beans |
| Academic Feminism Theory |
| People-Powered Web Search |
| Netsurfer Recommendations |
| Moseying across Europe |
| Travel Sketches |
| Being and Existence on the Pacific Crest Trail |
| Brochures Bust out |
| Say No to "Say No to Third Voice Software" |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
BREAKING SURF
Huge Microsoft Windows NT Web Server Security Hole
Microsoft has fortunately already released a fix for this bug, but the bug is so bad that any Web server running Microsoft Internet Information Server (MSIIS) - the major Windows NT Web server software used by any number of major e-commerce companies - is pretty much an open book to hackers. Has every sysadmin out there installed the fix? The bug allows arbitrary code to be run on any MSIIS server. eEye offers a press release and technical details. CERT has an advisory with information about the problem and the fix. Microsoft has the fix. Boy, like we haven't written that sentence a thousand times....eEye: http://www.eEye.com/press/prretinavsiis.html
CERT: http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-99-07-IIS-Buffer-Overflow.html
MS Fix: http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/ms99-019.asp
Feel like being humiliated, crushed, utterly vanquished? Then come on down to the Kasparov vs. the World chess tournament and sign up. Well, no, it's not you against Kasparov, it's you and everybody else against him - it evens the odds a little. Sign up for MSN Gaming Zone (it's free) and you can register your vote for the right move to play against the guy many consider the strongest player in the history of chess. And you can join in at any time. Kasparov and the World move on alternate days in a showdown for world mastery. And we can't confirm reports that Deep Blue is secretly siding with the World.
http://www.zone.com/kasparov/
Forbes lists 465 billionaires globally, not a one of whom can be found in the staff listing at the bottom of this page. The list looks like the essential reference guide for writers of plaintive notes or sob stories. Or the perfect guest list for those summer garden party invitations! Forbes's The World's Richest People database has a neat little clickable globe that shows how many gazillionaires live in each country, a list of the global Top Ten, and a separate article on the kwajillionaires of Europe, which actually contains almost twice as many as North America despite US dominance of the top ten. Germany, standing head and shoulders above any other European country, has almost as many superduperillionaires as the US. The searchable database can be ordered by country, alphabetically. or by net worth. Fascinating reading, but watch the drool.
Billionaires: http://www.forbes.com/Forbes/99/0705/6401153a.htm
Database: http://www.forbes.com/tool/toolbox/billnew/
OpenContent has developed a pilot Open Publication License (OPL) similar to that used by the open source/free software community but aimed at text, music, and similar content. (Note that at least in the case of text, legal copyright ownership already automatically falls to the author, whether stated or not.) OpenContent hopes the idea will ease authors' fears and lead them to make works available for use, modification, or redistribution while an OPL protects the integrity of the original work. The license is still in draft form and up for comments, so have a look.
Read about it: http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/announce.shtml
Draft: http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/
Excite has launched Voice Chat, a chat room that allows talking rather than typing. You'll need a microphone and speakers or a headset, obviously, and Windows. After a quick and painless download of the Voice Chat client, you'll be up and chatting in under 30 seconds. Excite offers a number of rooms pre-defined by topic, but you can also create your own room. Currently, the client allows verbal chat groups of up to ten users. As this sort of thing grows in popularity, prepare for verbal spam, complicated harassment issues, and more bandwidth concerns. We're sure the long distance telcos won't be too thrilled either. In its headlong rush towards convergence and portal dominance, Excite has also rolled out Voicemail, which somehow allows users to receive voicemail, faxes, and e-mail through a toll-free number that works anywhere in the US.
Voice Chat: http://www.excite.com/communities/chat/voicechat
Voicemail: http://www.excite.com/Info/mail/vmail_welcome.html
Here's another search engine to bookmark: Listen.com, which helps users find downloadable music on the Internet. The site sifts the Net, filters the results, and adds editorial comments on the artists and links to artists' homepages. The site also provides music news from SonicNet. Users can search for an artist, surf through the content pages, or read up on artists or even music genres. Although still in beta, this excellent site already justifies what must have been a tremendous amount of work. Listen.com only points to music legally online, so record execs can breath a sigh of relief on that score.
http://www.listen.com/
Several issues back, we published a link to Linux vs. Windows NT performance benchmarks published by testing company Mindcraft. The test write-up, sponsored by Microsoft, generally favored Windows NT. Numerous members of the Linux community went nuts over the study and several sent us critical e-mails for even daring to publish the link to the write-up. You can imagine the kind of hate mail that Mindcraft itself received. Actually, you don't have to imagine because Mindcraft posted some of the juicier bits on their Web site. Don't even think of visiting unless you have a high tolerance for profound profane verbal abuse. And if you really care about Linux take the time to read the Linux Advocacy mini-HOWTO before you give all Penguin fans a bad name.
Hate mail: http://www.mindcraft.com/linux-net-rage.html
HOWTO: http://www.linux-howto.com/LDP/HOWTO/mini/Advocacy.html
Speaking of rants, readers of our Letters to the Editor pages will note a certain condescending tone taken with respect to incarnations of Microsoft's Outlook. We're proud to note that we ain't the only ones. Ziff-Davis minor deity Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols calls Melissa and other Microsoft Office Suite viruses "Outlook Transmitted Diseases". Vaughan-Nichols sums it up: "Office's feature of letting data and programs be mixed together was a bone-headed design flaw from the very beginning." Have a look.
http://www.zdnet.com/sr/stories/column/0,4712,2275850,00.html
SURFING SITES
You Need Trepanation Like You Need a - Well, You Know
To get through life it sometimes helps to have one obsessive, overarching theory that explains everything. In the case of the International Trepanation Advocacy Group (ITAG), it is the theory of bloodbrainvolume (one word). When we are young, before our cranial sutures knit and our fontanels go away, we have a great deal of creativity-enhancing blood in our brains. As time goes on, that blood is squeezed out, leaving us the dullards that we become. And to get our youthful vigor back, we only need one thing - a new hole drilled in our heads. Who knew it was that simple? Trepanation was practiced as far back as the Neolithic, and this site has a wealth of information about the operation's history, as well as about the theory of bloodbrainvolume. There is but one crack in ITAG's earnest facade: a reproduction of a Hieronymous Bosch painting showing a quack doctor cutting a buffoon's head for an imaginary stone. But maybe we're behind the power curve. People used to think nipple piercing would never take off either.http://www.trepan.com/
"Have you ever dreamed you're able to see through like Superman or James Bond?" So starts the pitch for Kaya Special Optic's Infrared See-Through Filter PF. The PF is a lens that allows most camcorders to record images not normally seen by the Mk I eyeball. Basically, you can turn your camcorder into a combination nightscope/X-ray specs. The Web site provides a great overview of the theory and the science (with thought experiments), proper applications, and a some great laughs besides. We love the warning, in the Asian-English that pervades the site: "those parts of the body where the naked eye cannot see are made to be seen starkedly-nakedly by the use of the PF.... Needless to say, these activities which invade one's privacy must be restricted."
http://www.kaya-optics.com/index.htm
"Weird sites, strange news, free stuff, weird art, home of the Weird Side e-zine, and more...". Yes, it's a veritable clearing-house of weird stuff. An honest assessment has to reveal that the site is a little light on content but what is there is danged - uh, weird. The site gives out awards for other weird sites and that, really, is its strength: a bunch of links to weird sites, all with quick reviews (hey, we're even quoted in one). We know this isn't much of a review but, what can we say, this site is just weird.
http://www.theweirdsite.com/
And you thought all moms were eternally loving and patient. Not exactly, according to this amusing Web site. From hilarious stories to a very witty, tongue-in-cheek horoscope section, The Real Mom Club Web site tells all in entertaining detail. Among the top ten things kids say that make moms quake in their slippers? "I cut my hair."
http://www.realmom.com/
This site is devoted to providing thousands of bibliographic examples on feminism, from details on individual feminist accomplishments to feminism in different countries to a huge range of references on feminism in areas such as art, ethics, and body issues. While many other sites deal with feminist articles and issues, this is an essential resource for anyone interested in the academic side of feminism or who requires reference texts.
http://www.cddc.vt.edu/feminism/
You've been Googled and Yahooed until you're dizzy. Well, prepare yourself, because we have yet another search mechanism to review. At the Official Site Register (OSR) Web site, you enter a keyword to get results from the company's staff of "cybrarians or librarians of the Internet." These folks have analyzed different categories and enter selected, and only official, Web sites into their database. We tested it with "Netsurfer Digest" as the keyword but our search "did not yield any results. However it has been forwarded to one of our Cybrarians. If an official site exists for your search then it will be included in O.S.R. within the next 24 hours. Check back soon." Well, maybe.
http://www.osr.co.uk/
|
Items our staff likes and you might too. Click on the image or title to order at a hefty discount from our affiliates Amazon.com and Beyond.com, and send a few pennies our way as well.
Euphoria (double CD import) 
|
Full Moon
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Diamond Rio PMP300 Special Edition 64MBONLINE TRAVEL
Join Sara Genn, a Canadian artist, and Richard Thompson, a computer hardware manufacturer, as they laptop across Europe. Backpacking used to be the hip thing to do for those on their post-college journey to adulthood, but laptopping is the new growing trend among the young and technosavvy traveling to "find themselves". These two are recording their peripatetic findings in an illustrated travel journal called Saraphina Mosey, which runs chronologically from September of 1998 until the beginning of this month and geographically from London to Seville - and presumably onward. The writing is serene, rendering images of places in the reader's mind, but the paintings, sketches, and photos which accompany the text are the real prize. Only one word of warning before you go. The site requests the Tempus Sans typeface which gives the page a suitably funky personality but which is hard to read at smaller sizes. If you don't have Tempus Sans installed, you'll get the more eye-relaxing Courier font.http://www.saraphina.com/mosey/
Just as a caricaturist can capture the essence of a politician's appearance with a single drawing, Gareth Price captures the spirits of places with sketches of various locales. His sparse but elegant gallery includes scenes from England, Wales, Norway, Spain, Canada, and the US. Our reviewer's favorites are "Mumbles Lighthouse" (Wales), "Toronto from Island" (Canada), and "Twin Towers" (US). For all its simplicity of isolation, there's something sad and mysterious about "Detail of Cactus Plant" (Spain). We wish the artist and traveler would post at least a little autobiographical information, if only to indicate he plans to keep drawing and add grist to his guestbook. Visit while you can. As digital images begin to dominate art, sketching may become something of a lost art.
http://freespace.virgin.net/g.home/
Being and Existence on the Pacific Crest Trail
If a tree falls in the forest, and its fall is not displayed on a Web site - oh, never mind. In yet another example of uploaded full disclosure, J and Lara have decided to let us in on the minutiae of their hike along the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). These two do hike an amazing amount, sometimes averaging near 20 miles a day. They rescue dogs, they get blisters, they do all sorts of things. They're having a great time, but regardless of what they say, following them really isn't very much like doing it yourself. But if you are thinking of hiking any part of the PCT yourself, by all means check it out. J and Lara will let you know what to expect.http://www.trektheplanet.com/
One of the best parts of many trips is drooling in anticipation over the travel brochure before you go. Get a keyboard cover - you may well drool a lot at Worldwide Brochures. Just enter a destination and search on All Listings, Cruises, Adventure Travel, Fine Hotels/Guides, or Tourism Information, or cruise alphabetical lists. Or do topical searches on Disneyland, rail travel, skiing, sports, and so on. Add as many brochures as you want to your brochure cart. We found 21 brochures about Boca Raton, 160 about Miami, 238 on Los Angeles, 425 about Paris, and 642 on New York. Wow! This is indeed, in the words of National Geographic Traveler, "an avalanche of brochures." No wonder Worldwide Brochures was recently acquired by FreeShop.com.
http://www.wwb.com/
FLOTSAM & JETSAM
Ever wish someone else would make decisions for you? Look no further! DecideNow provides just such a service with only a little background information. We asked them whether we could be a tad tardy on our NSD articles and they told us to work late tonight.http://www.decidenow.com/
Topica, which provides free e-mail lists, comes with a simple, click-through interface for both owners of and subscribers to the ever-popular Internet feature. The user-friendliness makes you wonder whether perhaps Listserv and Majordomo architecture should be fouled for unnecessary roughness.
http://www.topica.com/
It's a Wonderful, Wonderful Web - if You Can Use It.
WebWord.com focuses on the usability aspect of the Internet. Features range from information about free stuff to useful services for webmasters to a discussion of human factors. Favorite quote: "Design systems to fit people, don't design people to fit systems."http://webword.com/
If you ever have urgent need for the number of the pay phone outside the ticket booth at Disney World's Pleasure Island, the Pay Phone Directory can come to your aid. With concentration on American and Canadian phones, the listings are arranged by state or province and city.
http://www.payphone-directory.org/
The Iroquois Used Star Violets for What?!
The Gatherer Plant Use Multiple Database Search Engine should appeal to those who are into Things That Grow. Search to find out just what herbal uses your plants might harbor. Caveat gardener: the site notes that you should use Linnaen nomenclature for best results.http://www.kippewa-gardens.com/cgi-bin/Gatherer.pl
Need some advice for your tulips? Should you plant flowers or bushes? The garden tips and ideas on this site should get you through your worst brown-thumb disasters. Find out how to turn an old Christmas tree into a bird table and how to make old slippers into safe storage containers for garden shears.
http://www.geocities.com/PicketFence/4701/index.html
In many waters, sailors may have been a bit slow to catch the wave of the Web (too busy, no doubt, enjoying the scenery), but they're catching up. This personal site, fairly well-rounded with resources of its own (especially clip art and MIDI songs) and a page of links, will keep you busy quite a while.
http://www.geocities.com/yosemite/trails/2625/
CORRECTIONS
Say No to "Say No to Third Voice Software"
It happens once in a while. We check a link, it works great, we publish an issue of NSD, and the link disappears. Such happened to the anti-Third Voice site we featured last issue. Oh, well - a few judicial Web searches turned up no trace of a server move.