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Home Subscriptions Netsurfer Science E-Zine Netsurfer Education E-Zine Netsurfer Books E-Zine |
| The Ups and Downs of Sex Survivor |
| Ian Clark, Freenet Inventor, and Other Peer-to-Peer Tidbits |
| Grizzly Peak Nature Photography |
| For Tech-Shy Shutterbugs |
| Netsurfer Recommendations |
| Bedtime and Other Stories |
| Electronic Texts |
| LA Times' Technology |
| The E-Zine Site |
| Quantum Unitary Field Dynamics and the Meaning of Life |
| What's a Planet? |
| Urban Legend Explorer |
| To Peer, or Not to Peer? |
| Bind 9.0.1 Released |
| FreeBSD 4.2 Released |
| Charlestonites Versus FedEx, Charlestonites Win |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
BREAKING SURF
As widely reported in the press, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has finally agreed to create several new top level domains. ICANN blessed .biz, .pro, .aero, .info, .name, .museum, and .coop. The only surprise in the widely anticipated move was the lack of approval for several domains which seemed to enjoy consensus support in the user community. Many people thought ICANN would approve .web, .kids, and .xxx. Here's the text of the ICANN resolution, and some background from Wired.Resolution: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/icann/la2000/archive/new-tld-res.html
Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,40270,00.html
Yahoo Must Block French Users from Nazi Auctions
In last week's big Net legal story, a French court ordered Yahoo to block French users from auctions that feature Nazi artifacts. Yahoo contends it can't practically block users from accessing their Web site based solely on geographical criteria. For the moment, it seems that Yahoo will simply ignore the ruling and the resulting fines. If the ruling sticks in some form or other, it could set a dangerous precedent with which any government could attempt to prevent its citizens from viewing portions of the Net - i.e. censorship. Wired expands the discussion beyond the actual ruling.Ruling: http://www.juriscom.net/txt/jurisfr/cti/yauctions20000522.htm
Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40285,00.html
What an awesome idea. Many producers have tried to grab a bite of the "Survivor" pie, locking ordinary Janes and Joes (or porn stars; see below) in houses or contemplating sending people up to Mir. The latest best member of this genre is being broadcast on Canada's History Television network. In "Pioneer Quest", cameras follow two couples who started the summer on a patch of wild prairie, supplied only with the tools, animals, and illusions of typical homesteaders circa 1875. Their tour runs a year, and if they last the year, they take home a measly $100,000, and those are Canadian dollars, per couple. The Web site doesn't quite live up to the show, but it does expose the hardscrabble life and decisions of the times. Follow along this winter as the four pioneers try to stave off starvation.
http://pioneer.history.ca/splash.cfm
Remember your history? The Gutenberg Bible was the first book created with a printing press and movable type. The invention of the printing press was of course one of the defining moments of human civilization. The British Library, in collaboration with researchers from Keio University in Japan, are making images of two of the 180 pressings of the Gutenberg Bible available online. Experts scanned the Bibles at extreme resolution to arrive at electronic copies that for many purposes provide a better way to examine the documents than by physically handling them. In addition to saving wear and tear on the originals, the project, and its Web site, makes the books available to the whole wired world. The BBC covered the site launch.
Gutenberg Bible: http://prodigi.bl.uk/gutenbg/default.asp
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1035000/1035014.stm
Compiling a Database of Australian Public Toilets
Of all the great reasons to own a GPS receiver, this may well be one of the best. An Australian company is compiling a geographical database of all 13,000 public toilets in that nation. The project grew from a collaboration between the Australian Minister for Aged Care and the Continence Foundation of Australia. Clearly, people with a medical condition will be grateful for the information, but the project stands on its own merits as a genuine public service. While the database is not yet complete, we figured publicizing the effort might spur similar projects in other places around the world. From there it's only a short step to the traveler's nirvana of a wireless PDA and on-demand directions to the nearest public convenience. Wired has more details.http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,40331,00.html
Problems with the International Space Station
The International Space Station is finally permanently occupied - for now, at least. Getting to this point did have its share of problems. This article summarizes some of the problems that have cropped up during the deployment of the station to date. Software problems head the list of glitches, but other worrisome issues include power shortages, shock hazards, degradation of fiber optic cables, and concern over lack of training. Good reading for spaceheads.http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/publicfeature/nov00/spac.html
A spate of recent legislation in the US at both state and federal levels has made the use of digital signatures a viable option for signing contracts and other legal documents. Unfortunately, as noted by crypto-expert Bruce Schneier, digital signatures don't really provide the same function as old-fashioned ink signatures. Unlike a John Hancock, digital signatures don't establish the relationship between a document and a specific person. Digital signatures can only prove that somebody with the right key - or hacking access to a particular computer - may have digitally signed a document, which is different from proving identity. The piece offers a good bird's eye view of what digital signatures are and are not.
http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0011.html
Online Game Cheating and How to Develop around It
This first-class technical article looks at what developers of interactive games such as Quake III or Elf Quest can do to thwart the inevitable cheaters. Matt Pritchard, part of the programming team for Microsoft's Age of Empires game, dissects the different types of cheating which plague online games - some of it technically sophisticated indeed. He goes on to suggest a variety of coding which can make such cheating difficult, while acknowledging that it may never be entirely eliminated. Recommended reading for serious game developers - and presumably also for those who write cheating software.http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20000724/pritchard_pfv.htm
For the average consumer, the debut of Intel's new chip mostly means lower prices on machines containing the Pentium III. Yes, somewhere down the road applications will take advantage of the new P4's enhanced multimedia instructions, but that's at least a year away. For the moment, the techies are well on the way to geek satori as they minutely dissect the architecture and performance of the new processor. We bring you a collection of technical reviews of the new chip, including GamePC's focus on the P4's performance with the latest games and HotHardware's comparison with the AMD Athlon processor line, while Tom's Hardware - the 800-pound gorilla of PC hardware sites - has too many pages to list.
Sharky Extreme: http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/guides/pentium4/
HotHardware: http://www.hothardware.com/hh_files/CCAM/p4.htm
GamePC: http://www.gamepc.com/reviews/hardware_review.asp?review=pentium4&page=1
Tom's: http://www.tomshardware.com/
The US Department of Justice has released the preliminary text of a report on the FBI's Carnivore e-mail bugging system. Some technical and operational material in the appendices has been held back for security reasons, though the redacted text is still under review and may yet become available. Numerous academic institutions had refused to review Carnivore under the restrictive rules the Justice Department had laid down. The current review team did not entirely endorse the tool and does call for changes to the tool's methods and deployment.
http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/publications/carniv_entry.htm
Technical Report on the State of the Gnutella Network
Over the last few months, plenty of anecdotal reports have wondered about the decline in performance in the peer-to-peer file trading network based on open-source Gnutella software. This impressive technical report quantifies that perception based on five months worth of data gathered throughout the Gnutella network. When the total bandwidth of file searches and downloads on the network exceeded the capacity of its slowest links - the dialup accounts used by most consumers - the network underwent a phase transition. It did not die, but rather fragmented into a number of dynamic large segments which continue to function but without the connectivity of the old unified network. The report has more details on this fascinating transition, as well as a great many other statistics about the network, its users, and the content it carries.http://dss.clip2.com/gnutella.html
We can't count the number of letters we get that say, "The NSD page says I'm subscribed but I'm not getting NSD." About 90% of those complaints come from Hotmail and atHome users, who are unaware that, because of the efficient method we use to deliver NSD, we are filtered. Hotmail users can find us in their bulk mail folder, hidden among the spam. We're not really sure what happens at atHome. Anyway, we've waved the white flag of surrender to the ivory-tower hooligans who set such things at the head offices. We're going back to an archaic, bandwidth-wasting mailing method for those addresses, like we do now with AOL addresses - if not with this issue, then soon. Congrats to the Luddites.
ONLINE CULTURE
The Ups and Downs of Sex Survivor
The idea was foolproof. Lock a bunch of porn stars in a house wired to the rafters with webcams, have them play assorted sex games, eliminate them one by one, and charge netsurfers $70 for the privilege of watching. How could it fail? Well, the inevitable technical problems cropped up, with webcams and servers failing left and right. Too few netsurfers voted to eliminate the talent. Then the cast started behaving like they were auditioning for tabloid TV, using their fists in distinctly un-erotic ways. It seems that porn performers are not known for the stability of their emotional lives. The final outcome was a total debacle of unpaid bills, unhappy users demanding their money back, and lawsuits flying left and right. Wired has the whole laughable story, which proves that you can lead porn stars to the bedroom but you can't make them - well, actually that was the least of the problems. You don't have to make them....http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,40332,00.html
Ian Clark, Freenet Inventor, and Other Peer-to-Peer Tidbits
Freenet is an attempt to create a dispersed, censor-proof network on top of the Internet. Ian Clark originated and leads the project. In an O'Reilly Network interview, he discusses the current status of Freenet, his new company, Uprizer, and the challenge of setting new standards in the anarchic atmosphere of the Net. Fans of peer-to-peer computing will doubtless eagerly consume the entire extensive thing. While you're at it, check out the Byte article which discusses the difficulties of peer-to-peer connections in a NATed and firewalled world.O'Reilly: http://www.oreillynet.com/lpt/a/457
Byte: http://www.byte.com/column/BYT20001117S0015
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Grizzly Peak Nature Photography
The name pretty well says it all: this is strictly nature photography. And stunningly well-done. This site is filled with amazing examples of nature at its finest, and a lot more. This group of photographers offers tours geared toward enhancing your skills at capturing a bit of the natural world around you, photography tips, and - for the couch-potatoes among us - fine art prints for purchase at their online store. The simple layout makes getting around easy, and we can't help but re-emphasize the amazingness of many of the images. You could fill a wall with these, and likely never tire of viewing them. If you're a bit more active, the tips pages are a must-visit. Festooned with striking example photos, they give you the how-and-why information without burying you in detail. If you enjoy nature photography, you'll want to visit this place more than a few times.http://www.grizzlypeakphoto.com/
Beginning photographers - many of whom are middle-aged - learn all too soon there's more to photography than snapping pictures. Explore Photography is designed to help casual and amateur photographers, especially those inclined to be intimidated by technical aspects of their pastime. For many, the best place to start will be Buying a Camera and Lens, a brief introduction to focus, aperture, and other hardware features. Site designer Neal Olson lists ten technical tips with at least several paragraphs for each. We can't help but wonder why he has yet to post a photograph here.... We were a bit disappointed that General Photography Topics contains only one topic (travel photography, and that but one page), but Neal promises more. The ambitious might also bookmark the Hyperfocal Distance and Depth-of-Field Charts. The advice here should help. A good photo is often a result of study, so put aside some time to get the most from these practical pages.
http://www.explorephotography.com/
BOOKS & E-ZINES
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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 affiliate Amazon.com, and send a few pennies our way as well.
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Talking Dirty With the Queen of Clean
Windows 2000 MCSE Study System (with CD-ROM)
First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
The Beatles 1http://www.goodnightstories.com/
The freedom of speech is directly mappable to the relative freedom of the written word. You can (or should be able to) write anything you want - and, if you so choose, distribute it so anyone can read your words. The Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts is similar to other past projects, by bringing to easy access a variety of different texts of American and English literature, as well as pieces of Western philosophy. (In fact, it is itself a past project. We covered it back in 1994, in NSD 0.13, when it was a Gopher site.) Books you read in school and others you've seen on library shelves are available to be downloaded, in a number of formats. Have a long train ride to work? Read "The Wizard of Oz" on your Palm. "Dracula" on an eBook can complete a dark rainy weekend away from home. For those who find the computer screen in some ways more enjoyable than a printed page, Alex has enough reading to placate any idle afternoon's boredom.
http://www.infomotions.com/alex/
Want proof that major newspapers are joining the Web clue train? Check out LA Times Technology. On a recent Sunday, we found free articles on college sites (with useful links for virtual tours and admission applications), travel (an archive with ample sections on California, Mexico, Hawaii, and other destinations, along with a "Frommer's Travel Guides" directory), digital music players, Napster, police radios, local dot-coms, tech preferences of an earthquake expert, satellite TV, and electronic trading for investors. Some archived articles require payment. An abundance of side links lets you jump to other sections of LA Times. Banner ads seem to slow page downloads. Should we expect more of the Times, though, when three-quarters of the content of most hardcopy newspapers consists of ads? Our Midwestern reviewer likes LA Times Technology better than the tech sections of the Chicago Tribune and Wall Street Journal and almost as much as the tech section of the New York Times. Awesome!
http://www.latimes.com/tech/
The Newsletter Site, with "Lots of Newsletters in Lots of Languages", aspires to be a hub for both publishers and readers of free e-mail newsletters, arranged in several categories. Publishers are invited to submit their newsletters for onsite posting and searching. (Although at our last visit, the search engine didn't work.) Readers can sign up to receive the e-mail version. Titles of hundreds of newsletters are listed, but it would be nice to be able to browse the newsletters themselves. As of this writing, none have been posted. There's no advertising yet, so our guess is that this site is supposed to attract a lot of content before some large content company buys it. For now, call it an ambitious experiment.
http://www.thenewslettersite.com/
Quantum Unitary Field Dynamics and the Meaning of Life
QUFD is a Web site that claims to have, "NO religion or religious dogma and NO specious reasoning." May we add, NO editor? This big and convoluted site espouses the theories of Father Jerome, who has taken Einstein's Unified Field research and claims to have created a philosophical model of Quantum Unitary Field Dynamics, whence QUFD. Father Jerome explains the workings of cosmic consciousness by presenting research that "has never been presented anywhere... in this civilization" except on his main page, which apparently takes 37 hours to read. It also takes 37 hours to load. Let's for the moment ignore the other 1,500 pages. Father Jerome quotes Socrates and discusses positive quantum axion particles with the flair of an academic, while managing to claim that this epic will explain the meaning of life. He has adapted QUFD from his 8,973-page book, and we can only say thank you, Father Jerome, for condensing that tome into this one - there's only so much room left on the Web.http://www.angelfire.com/ca/sanmateoissues/Qufd.html
SURFING SCIENCE
Quick, now: for a passing grade in school, perhaps, or a million dollars on a quiz show, what's a planet? The answer, according to Space.com, is that the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which represents astronomers around the world, will soon change the definition of a planet that you probably learned eons ago. It may have done so already. As Space.com's "What is a Planet?" pages point out, research with terrestrial telescopes in just the past five years has revealed celestial bodies such as gas giants, brown dwarfs, and companion objects with puzzling similarities to the nine planets in our solar system. Criteria for classification include genesis, orbit, and size. The IAU has concluded that the current definition must change to reflect once unexpected discoveries and new realities. (For example, Pluto may not be a planet at all.) We highly recommend this newsy educational area for quick background to form your own views on a growing cosmic debate.http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/planet_confusion_001101.html
We found this site to be a tad on the busy side. Nonetheless, it carries some great urban legend stuff, complete with references. Turns out that there really is a small basketball "court" at the top of Disneyland's Matterhorn, though not for the reasons commonly attributed to its existence. There are some 27 different areas of urban legends to explore, and plugging your way through all of them will take a fair amount of time. There's a veritable mountain of information in here. Who'd have known that Coca-Cola didn't become completely cocaine-free until 1929? And how about all those "quotes" that you know are true? You'll probably find that most of them aren't. What of the problems relating to the lethal - and omnipresent - dihydrogen monoxide compound? Oddly, it seems that a junior high student did indeed win a science fair by preparing a report about this substance. It's safe to say that there's something in here for almost everyone - although it may take a bit of drilling to find it. For the most part, however, this place is both entertaining and educational. Occasionally, that phrase isn't an oxymoron, and this is one of those occasions.
http://www.snopes.com/ulindex.htm
That is the question. And it's a tough one to try to answer, because these people have some dead-on-target serious issues in regard to the peer-review process as it applies to publication and dissemination of scientific literature. It's a tough call. Peer review indicates that one's material has passed the critical eye of others in the field. However, the process inevitably drags out the time between finding and publication. Moreover, as these folks correctly note, politics can adversely influence acceptance of material presented for publication. This site intends to circumvent these problems, but it raises others in the sense that poor or erroneous material may be speedily and widely disseminated. The folks running this site have attempted to put in place some safeguards, but how well they work remains open to question, at present. In view of the fact that this is a beta site, it seems possible that safeguards will be further refined before final release into the wild. In any event, this qualifies as one of the most ambitious and interesting sites we've seen in some time. We'll be watching.
http://martianuscapella.com/
SOFTWARE
The latest release of Bind, the software which powers most Internet domain name servers, has been released. This version is mostly a maintenance release fixing a number of obscure bugs and enhancing some tools that are part of the Bind bundle. You can read the details of the release here. If you're running the 9.x Bind series on your DNS servers, you're encouraged to upgrade to this version.http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bind/current/0022.html
This major release of one of the popular Unix alternatives to Linux has the usual raft of bug fixes, security fixes, and enhancements. Read the release notes to find out the full details.
Announcement: http://www.freebsd.org/releases/4.2R/announce.html
Release Notes: http://www.freebsd.org/releases/4.2R/notes.html
Download: ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Charlestonites Versus FedEx, Charlestonites Win
The roar of jets landing and taking off is perfect theme music for this textbook example of citizen muckraking. FedEx decided to try to build a hub in Charleston, S.C., and lined up the necessary politicians to get their plans approved. A citizen group organized to fight the plans. The locals were concerned about the extreme noise pollution the FedEx flights would cause late at night. FedEx pulled out all the stops and tried all the tricks detailed here. The activists fought them all, demonstrated the inaccuracies, and showed that the damages would be real and quite widespread. The Boycott FedEx site is the story of a nearly perfect campaign to stop the building of the hub. Follow these people as they gather their data, confront the authorities, and eventually defeat the pro-FedEx pols at the polls. There are many well-illustrated lessons for citizen activists nationwide here.http://www.boycottfedex.com/