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BREAKING SURF
The Theory and Practice of Stealthy Hacker Attacks
This well written piece lays out the extremely sophisticated methods used by actual hackers to penetrate sites. The author works for a security company and uses honey pots, systems placed on the network specifically to attract cracking attempts, in a systematic study of attacks The document bluntly and chillingly implies that any determined and sophisticated hacker will penetrate your network and you'll never know it. Jot this down as required reading for all site owners, particularly any who think their site is secure. Forget the common security monitoring tools and firewalls. They might keep out script kiddies, but they're useless against the professional methods outlined here.http://www.securityfocus.com/templates/forum_message.html?forum=2&head=168&id=168
Ted Nelson's Legendary Project Xanadu Source Code Released
Ted Nelson is a bit of a legend in the Web pantheon. His Xanadu hypertext system is widely credited as a major inspiration for the Web, though his legendarily complicated conception of hypertext Utopia borders on Byzantine. Despite over 25 years of work, the software embodiment of the hypertext ideas still rests in what can charitably be described as early beta. Nevertheless, Xanadu, now christened Udanax, is finally being released in source code. Some of the fascinating concepts are actually embodied in working code available for dissection. Xanadu has Ted Nelson's original vision and Udanax has the source code. Jon Udel summarizes the state of the project and what you actually get; it's a good place to start.Xanadu: http://xanadu.com/aboutXU.html
Udanax: http://www.udanax.com/
Jon Udel Summary: http://www.byte.com/nntp/joncon?comment_id=1701
Purchase Circles Pose Privacy Concerns
Amazon.com has compiled from purchase records lists of individuals that share a common origin - New York City, Harvard Business School, or Intel, for example. The company calls these records Purchase Circles and wants you to check out what folks in these Circles are buying. "No matter where you work, live, or go to school, we'll likely have a Purchase Circle for you," Amazon boasts. Apparently, "aggregate" purchase info doesn't violate Amazon's privacy policy, Wired News reports. Compiling these records internally is one thing, but flaunting the info in public is another. Does Intel really want AMD to know what its staff is reading about? We don't think so. We think Amazon has crossed the line here, and - hold the presses! So do they! Check out the Amazon PR at Yahoo news for word that purchasers and companies can opt out.Circles: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/community/community.html/002-5840906-1935438
Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/21417.html
Amazon PR: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/990826/wa_amazon__2.html
Yet Another Serious Security Problem with Internet Explorer 5.0
We're getting tired of writing weekly about browser security problems, but we figure it's better to spread the word than not. Georgi Guninski, discoverer of a large number of browser problems in both Explorer and Netscape, came up with this one, too. Hackers can use Explorer's ActiveX controls to overwrite local PC files and capture control of your machine. Microsoft is working on a fix. Georgi's Web page has a long list of Explorer security problems with this and other scary exploits. For the moment, you ought to disable ActiveX in Explorer (disable "Active Scripting" and "Run ActiveX Controls and plug-ins").http://www.nat.bg/~joro/browsers.html
New Windows E-Mail Security Problem
Another serious e-mail security bug has popped outta Windows. Users of Outlook, Outlook Express, and Eudora on Windows 95/98 are vulnerable; Netscape users are immune. The exploit floods Java threads with messages until Java security goes belly up, presumably due to some buffer overflow. Microsoft has issued a security bulletin and a patch, which you should apply ASAP. Based on a long history of such security messes, we advise you to read your e-mail and surf the Web with Java and JavaScript turned off, and only turn them on for visiting Web sites you trust.http://www.microsoft.com/Security/Bulletins/MS99-031faq.asp
That's the question-de-jour after news broke that an outbreak of syphilis in San Francisco had been traced to contact between members of a gay chat room on AOL. Participants of the chat room physically met and mingled and traded bacteria. It would be easy to take potshots at this from any number of sardonic angles - though we'd never do that, would we? - but instead let us note a serious point. As far as we know, nobody has had the foresight to predict or measure the Net's impact on public health, particularly on the spread of disease. This certainly is the best documented case so far, but there may have been some precedents in the old computer BBS days. Wired has the story, Yahoo has a neat pocket overview of syphilis, and Lesley A. Hall's "Syphilis as a medical problem and moral metaphor, 1880-1916" offers some cultural background.
Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/21397.html
Yahoo: http://health.yahoo.com/health/Diseases_and_Conditions/Disease_Feed_Data/Syphilis/
Hall: http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~lesleyah/grtscrge.htm
Web Visitors Concentrating on Fewer Sites
An article in the LA Times told where visitors are going on the Web. Last year, 27% of Web visitors visited the top 50 sites; this year that figure climbed to 35%. The big sites are attracting a progressively larger chunk of the Web audience. The article played up the declining diversity, arguing surfers skip over the alternative Web sites in favor of the big mainstream portals. The newspaper used Media Metrix as a source of statistics. Media Metrix regularly releases stats on numbers of visitors to the top 50 Web sites.LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/HOME/BUSINESS/t000075103.html
Media Metrix: http://www.mediametrix.com/PressRoom/PressReleases.html
Linux Software Ascending: Linux Developer Survey Results
This Borland/Inprise survey may be the first organized look into the collective mind of the Linux developer community. With Linux likely to explode as a consumer operating system, this survey provides an invaluable look into the future. Roughly 60% of respondents said Linux applications are of moderate to critical importance for supporting their customers. Over 30% of developers plan on switching most of their development solely to Linux, while another 60% will develop for both Windows and Linux. Clearly Linux is about to experience a flood of applications from developers willing to pay real bucks for a good development environment such as Borland's Delphi. Over 30% are willing to pay up to $300 for such software, which implies serious professional interest in Linux application development.http://www.borland.com/linux/survey/
Ted "Unabomber" Kaczynski's written a story. We found it boring. And while you may not like our verse, in our opinion, his prose is worse. It's "Ship of Fools", a parable. Sorry, we found it terrible. Ted has also written a book, a memoir called "Truth versus Lies". You can read all about it at the publisher's site. Do we recommend it? Nope. We just bring you the news - what you do with it is your business. Still, we don't think it'll be in any Purchase Circle any time soon.
Story: http://www.contextbooks.com/TJK2255/TJKstory.html
Book: http://www.contextbooks.com/TvL/TvLjacketF.html
What a backlog. We got through most, but not all. Monkey business will have to wait for now, but there are some world-class gripes for you to read.
http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/letters/letter.05.27.html
SURFING SITES
The Fate of the Phenakistiscope
Ever wonder what happened to the phenakistiscope? Or Incan quipu? Bruce Sterling and company, the people behind the Dead Media site, sure do. The rich past of media contains numerous fascinating extinct forms, some representing promising lines of evolution not followed. If a medium that transmits and stores thoughts transforms those ideas in the process, as the media become extinct, the forms of thought they enabled become inaccessible. The Dead Media site is an open-source work in progress, accepting contributions and displaying the results, hoping, someday, to be a comprehensive history of all media, living and dead. Come see the Amiga piled next to Frith's cosmoscope, and wonder what will happen next.http://www.islandnet.com/~ianc/dm/dm.html
Odd Street Signs Pop up in Eastern US
Anyone looking for strange signs or portents as we approach the end of the millennium might find vindication in a recent rash of sign sightings. A number of multi-colored plaques have started appearing seemingly at random, many of which bear the message: "Toynbee ideas in Kubrick's 2001 resurrect dead on planet Jupiter." So far, the cryptic signs have been spotted in Philadelphia and New York and, thanks to publicity such as this and a recent feature in the New York Times, they have begun to show up in Boston and Atlantic City, N.J., and Washington, D.C. as well. What does it all mean? The jury's still out, but for some reason we're reminded of the battle cry of the Firesign Theatre: If you lived here, you'd be home by now.http://www.pobox.com/~woneill/sidewalk.html
At the Cardhouse Gallery of Found Photos, you constantly feel like you've inadvertently bypassed some sort of introduction. What exactly is going on? This motley collection of musings, links, and general nonsense has a strangely addictive quality - partly because of its random structure. The found photos section is exactly that - a collection of photos that readers have - er, found, and sent in. You can view kitschy pictures of family Christmases (actually too many of one particular family's Christmas), sidewalk shots, and our favorite, a poodle and a pumpkin (no.112). Most pics have captions, but why not invite your friends round and enjoy endless hours of amusement in the form of a caption competition. Stuff like this happens, too - one Netsurfer found a video of his apartment's previous tenants' wedding when he moved in. It had fallen down the back of a radiator.
http://www.cardhouse.com/pix/found/
Down with capitalism! Or maybe just write funny things on ads. The Billboard Liberation Front (BLF) believes that until all people can afford their own billboard, we should be allowed to alter existing billboards as the whim suits us. The whim suits the BLF quite regularly. The site has plenty of pictures of altered billboards, such as a one-finger salute by Billy Graham, and an incredibly detailed how-to guide written by people who clearly have considerable experience. BLF's manifesto puts forth some thought-provoking arguments about advertising and in case anyone is still lingering under the impression that this is all a bit of a laugh, the manual kicks off by pointing out that billboards have become as ubiquitous as human suffering. Fair point.
http://www.billboardliberation.com/
The First Amendment to the US Constitution, though short, lists a number of rights. Only a handful of words refer to freedoms of speech and the press, but those words are of incalculable significance. To understand the current subtleties and controversies surrounding this right, check out this First Amendment site. This detailed handbook of legal information, mostly intended for journalists, should be of interest to anyone who reads or writes. For example, the chapter Invasion of Privacy shows the limits of First Amendment rights, and the balance between the rights of the individual and the rights of the public - or, more crudely, the balance of Tabloid vs. Celebrity. Each section is carefully emended with relevant legal decisions. Examine the anatomy of this complex and subtle beast here.
http://www.rcfp.org/handbook/viewpage.cgi
Look up the Presidential Election Issues You Care About
The non-partisan Politics 2000's database is for voters who want to approach next November's American presidential election and the primaries leading up to it armed with candidates' voting records and position statements on issues. Look up information by candidate name or by issue (Welfare Reform, Free Trade, Strategic Defense Initiative, etc.). This is no place for detail or context - the statements are usually one-liners - but in comparing candidates' remarks on issues, there is a limited kind of perspective you sure won't find on the 6:00 news.http://issues2000.org/
When even instant gratification seems to come too slowly, ironically we can often derive a great deal of pleasure in the slow and steady work of solitary men as they inch slowly toward their goals. Gary Zwissler's site chronicles his building of a Jack Tar. For the past five years, construction of this Maine lobster boat has progressed with unyielding dedication, while all along the boatbuilder has offered this online diary of his work, consisting of a wonderful narration and beautiful photographs. As construction nears its conclusion, it is hoped that websurfers worldwide will join in the hard-fought celebration. As well they should.
http://www.vista-webs.com/myweb/JackMain.htm
The word "asylum" means a safe place, a haven - yet for mentally ill people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it meant a place of horror. Thomas Kirkbride, a 19th century American doctor, devised a new plan for asylums, hoping to make them places of peace and beauty which would aid the healing process. He banned shackles, strait-jackets, and chains in favor of kindness. The resulting Kirkbride hospitals were way ahead of their time. Now mostly gone, or renamed and rebuilt, their memory lives on in quirky postcards and photos, ground plans and a few rare photos and archive entries. This site collects them all, and provides a revealing glimpse of a forgotten past
http://members.dencity.com/asylums/
If a question stumps you, there's hardly a better place to check for an answer than Stumpers. Stumpers originated as a listserv with (mostly) librarians turning to other librarians for help in answering those pesky "why is the sky blue" sorts of questions that have become the bane of all public researchers. Rather than re-inventing the wheel every time a thousand teachers assign the same project, the Stumperers created this wonderful, searchable database filled with answers to hundreds of such questions. If you'd rather, you can subscribe to the e-mail list, but be forewarned that the volume of questions might at times overwhelm you.
http://www.cuis.edu/~stumpers/
It's not an easy life, being small cute and furry. Hamsters are forced to use wire wheels (instead of safe, comfortable plastic ones), sleep in furry bedding (fatal for the smaller hamster), and have other unmentionable indignities heaped upon them without mercy. The Hamster Liberation Front was formed to liberate hamsters everywhere from slavery and oppression. They live by their motto - "Be nice or we'll kill you" - so while we don't condone terrorism, maybe you should visit the site, just in case.
http://home.earthlink.net/~gbohon/
"Why did god create men? Because dildos can't dance." If you're laughing, this site's for you. Submit a jerk, laugh at jerks, marvel at the stories about jerks and their foibles, wonder at the madness of relationships that feed this jerk-like behavior, and be astonished at the suddenly apparent contrast between these jerks and just about anyone you know. This page can make jocks seem sorta cute, making it an invaluable aid in day-to-day relations, but if generalizations (even in fun) annoy you, steer clear.
http://www.mensuck.org/
Imagine a world where the color of your magic is an important choice, a world in which you can build a nation, destroy a continent, and interact with mystical characters in real time. Populate that world with settings and people, and then put it online as a free service. That is Archmage, a complex and fascinating role-playing game with an added bonus. Unlike Real Life, if you get hopelessly messed up, you can burn him to a crisp and start all over again. Non-players are not advised to try this.
http://arch5.magewar.com/archmage/main.html
High-Water Mark for Hydrant Fans
Ever turned onto a street to be greeted at the corner by an alien fire hydrant, unlike any you've ever seen before? From the Sentinel to the Darling Valve, FireHydrant.org records all for posterity in photographs. FireHydrant.org proudly boasts the largest and fastest growing fire hydrant resource on the Web, because, you know, there's so much competition. Although the site caters to a niche market, the simply curious can find all sorts of trivia here, like the origin of the term "fire plug" or the definition of "frangible stem coupling".http://www.firehydrant.org/
Do you want to complain when yet again your inbox is filled with dollar-signed, capital-letter-riddled spam? Now you have someone who'll listen - the SpamCop. To use it, set up a throwaway e-mail address on Hotmail or any similar service. Then register that address with SpamCop, which will e-mail you a special URL. Use a box on that page to report spam with a cut-and-paste. SpamCop parses the spam, identifies the real source, and generates an e-mail for you to send off to the appropriate authority. Simple, quick, and incredibly satisfying. Subscribers gain access to some valuable extra services.
http://spamcop.net/
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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.
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Run Lola Run: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Running Linux 3rd Edition
To Say Nothing of the Dog
Virtuosa GoldONLINE TRAVEL
The UN has provided an invaluable source of up-to-date statistical information on almost any country you can imagine. We chose to compare Iceland and Australia for women in parliament and for population growth, but the choices are vast and the technique incredibly easy. Just tick the relevant country boxes, the information you want (choose from anything from infant mortality to maximum temperature), and it's all there for you.http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/infonation/e_infonation.htm
Flighty, fabulous Florence, cradle of the Renaissance, lays claim to some of the most beautiful and ancient art in the world. Unfortunately, when you visit the Baptistery, you have to try to peer over the heads of hundreds of tourists just to get a glimpse of the golden magnificence and intricate details of its world-famous doors. Go to this well presented and information-rich Florence guide site and you can see the expression on the face of Ghiberti, read the history of each panel, and examine the doors for as long as you like. Not all the treasures of Florence are here, and you cannot sip coffee in the Palazzo Vecchio, but you can get a real taste of Firenze.
http://www.mega.it/eng/egui/hogui.htm
The elegant, class-conscious world of Jane Austen can now be rediscovered in Bath, the setting of many of her novels. The new Jane Austen Centre, which opened in May, occupies an authentic Georgian building on Gay street. Everyone who fell in love with Mr. Darcy, or anyone who simply enjoys good writing, will find plenty of information about the new Centre at this attractive Web site, as well as useful links to other Austen sites.
http://www.janeausten.co.uk/
FLOTSAM & JETSAM
Cheryl Thompson has apparently been using her epidemiology skills to discover one of the latest plagues of the Web: dating applications. She has one too, with a special twist. Prospects apply to be an ex-boyfriend. Tell her all about how you two met and broke up to see if you qualify.http://www.tigergirl.com/cyberslut/boyfriend/
Want to read celeb interviews? This page offers gossip and wide range of interviewees from alternative culture to mainstream, although the frequent Q/A style may annoy some. We found out about Milla Jovovich's recording career, learnt all about Skid Row and Uncle $am, and sent in a few suggestions for interviews (us).
http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/
Don't visit if you're hungry. We got restless looking at the authentic, delicious-sounding recipes. We even learnt how to make African Chai, which made our reviewer rather over-beveraged. From Sukuma Wiki (a chicken or beef dish using leftovers) to Fufu (African mashed potatoes), you'll find new takes on old items.
http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/Vineyard/9119/
Does your dog get jealous of your Web site? He does? Seriously? Then you should join the 300 other strange but endearing people who have set up Web sites for their beloved pets.
http://burnerkitty.com/
SOFTWARE
A new version of the Web's favorite server came out this week. Mostly a bug fix release, this contains over 130 improvements such as portability and security fixes, documentation enhancements, performance improvements, and other minor goodies. The changes file has details.Apache: http://www.apache.org/dist/Announcement.html
Changes: http://www.apache.org/dist/CHANGES_1.3
HardEncrypt One-Time Pad Encryption Software
A group called the Hardened Criminals has released open source encryption software based on the one-time pad idea. This kind of encryption can be useful in certain situations, but it suffers from significant limitations, best understood by reading the One Time Pad section of the excellent "Snake Oil Warning Signs: Encryption Software to Avoid".HardEncrypt: http://www.csuglab.cornell.edu/Info/People/jcr13/HardenedCriminal/main.html
Snake Oil: http://www.interhack.net/people/cmcurtin/snake-oil-faq.html