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BREAKING SURF
Supreme Court Medical Marijuana Ruling
A number of US states have passed laws that allow the gravely ill to use marijuana to help them feel better. US federal law prohibits the distribution and use of the weed. A test case meant to resolve this issue, "United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative" (OCBC), wound up before the US Supreme Court, which just ruled that the law, as it currently stands, permits no exceptions to the prohibitions. The Court said it is "unwilling to view this omission as an accident, and unable in any event to override a legislative determination manifest in a statute," essentially telling Congress to deal with it. So now the medical marijuana fight heads there, while district attorneys find it almost impossible to get a jury to convict an ill person using the plant. The New York Times (NYT; requires free registration) summarizes the subtle legal issues. Wired tells us about the numerous pot delivery services sprouting up on the Web and how they're faring these days - it's got lots of interesting links.OCBC: http://www.rxcbc.org/
Ruling: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol=00-151
NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/15/national/15DRUG.html
Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,43524,00.html
Newly Declassified Clipper Chip Documents
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has obtained documents revealing US intelligence policy regarding the use of the Clipper chip. Those with good memories will recall this mid-'90s US government proposal for the development and mandated use of an encryption chip that would allow law enforcement to decrypt all data - and by law it would be all encrypted data in the US - passing through the chips. The documents, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that the US considered sharing the technology with countries like China, Syria, and Pakistan - not exactly paragons of human rights enforcement. It also makes clear that the intelligent agencies unambiguously planned to mandate the insertion of the chip into all newly manufactured US phones and computers. In the face of fierce opposition from the public, the Clipper chip died an ugly death, but this does lift the veil a bit on an important bit of computing and crypto history.Documents: http://www.epic.org/crypto/clipper/foia/
EPIC: http://www.epic.org/
So Long, and Thanks for All the Books
At just seven years more than everything, it was way too soon: Douglas Adams has died of a heart attack at the age of 49. Adams will be missed not only by his immediate family and close friends, but also by millions of fans who heard his radio series on the BBC, read his books, or saw the TV version of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". The imaginative satire and its sequels about the travels of alien Ford Prefect and human Arthur Dent after the destruction of the Earth have entertained millions around the world. One of Douglas's most interesting recent ventures was the h2g2 site, which the BBC is continuing, a kind of organic, ever-growing compendium of knowledge and information of all kinds, much like a real life Guide, with contributions from all over. The most recent postings to h2g2 are touching commentaries on Douglas's death. You can read about him and leave your own tributes at the BBC site. His own site carries merely a brief note about him and links to tributes.BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1326000/1326657.stm
h2g2: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/
Douglas: http://www.douglasadams.com/
Ray Kurzweil and Artificial Entities
Ray Kurzweil is a well known artificial intelligence researcher and author of "The Age of Spiritual Machines", among whose accomplishments is the design and coding of Aaron, an artificial artist. Aaron's work has been exhibited in international galleries and his very existence has inspired debate on the nature of creativity. A Wired story about Aaron and his creator makes a good lead in to Ray's other work at his KurzweilAI Web site. Most notably, you can interact with Ramona, the impressive photorealistic avatar host of the site. The Mind-X forums buzz with various provocative AI debates and numerous links to material touching on current AI hot topics. Much deep-think browsing.Aaron: http://www.kurzweilcyberart.com/
Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,43685,00.html
KurzweilAI: http://www.kurzweilai.net/index.html
Book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140282025/netsurferdigest
Grub: Distributed Search Engine Project
A Linux client is available for a new distributed Web search engine project. The basic idea is that the indexing client is placed right on a Web server and sends continuous updates to the central, open-source Web index. The client can also accept crawling assignments from Grub.org, thus resulting in a massively parallel effort to catalogue the Web. This is much more efficient then having some central set of servers crawling the Web periodically, hoping to catch the changes. With good design, this should result in an up-to-date, comprehensive index. The real-time nature of the index will also eliminate the indexing delays - which can run to months - of the big commercial search services. While Grub is open source, the group that came up with the idea plans to make money running the search site, selling URL update data to other search engines, and providing consulting services. Not a bad concept.http://www.grub.org/
The Number of the Worm: Scope of sadmind/IIS Worm Infections
The sadmind/IIS worm is a perfect illustration of the power of remote infection. The worm exploits a couple of old vulnerabilities in Solaris operating systems and Microsoft Web servers - both have had fixes available for years. It defaces web pages then searches for other sites to infect, carrying with it a list of the sites it visited in the past. One such worm had a file of 8,800 addresses, illustrating the vast reach of such a program. Although only about 25% of the addresses are currently pingable, this is still a large number and illustrates how rich the pickings are for enterprising worm writers.http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-5893631.html
Chapter 11 Ends Online Olympic Coverage
As CNet and Wired report, Internet coverage for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City is now a big question mark with the bankruptcy of Quokka Sports, the company contracted to put up the official site. Quokka's revenue streams never did flow the way they were supposed to and the company simply ran out of money. Meanwhile, Logictier, which had been selected to manage the site, has pulled out of the deal. The mess and muddle is a direct result of evaporating venture capital, dotcom business plans that aren't quite turning out as planned, and the difficulty of generating enough revenue over a relatively short period of time to justify the expenditures for a site robust enough to handle the expected traffic. The Salt Lake City Organizing Committee will have to hustle if it hopes to get to the finish line for this one.CNet: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5865439.html
Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,43531,00.html
Quokka: http://www.quokka.com/
Logictier: http://www.logictier.com/
Was the permanent injunction granted against posting DeCSS a reasonable decision in favor of copyright holders or an overreaching invasion of personal freedoms? That's the issue a US Court of Appeals is trying to solve and here you can read 11 questions the judges want answered in considering an appeal and 15,000 words of the argument opposing the injunction. The complete transcripts of the case are also available - great if you like to follow legal arguments, relish abstruse points of law, and seek clarity on just what exactly the issues are. In the DeCSS case, it all comes down to the question of whether posting the DVD encryption defeating program is inherently damaging or whether there may also be innocent uses, rendering the injunction a blow against freedom of expression and the right to know. This is just one of a whole host of legal entanglements and commercial land grabs that the online copyright and intellectual property struggle is spawning. The end result will ultimately impact our lives.
Questions: http://cryptome.org/mpaa-v-2600-caa.htm
Transcripts: http://www.2600.com/dvd/docs/
We assume that most of our readers are not aliterate, a word that broadly means that you can read but choose not to. An in-depth story in the Washington Post discusses the disturbing trend of increasing aliteracy. These days, it's not difficult to go through life without cracking open a book - at least after you graduate from school. Even there, sometimes teachers make reference to the movie version of a story rather than the literary source. While the trend does not appear to impact us much now, it bodes ill for the future, where many of you future Morlocks may not bother taking the time to indulge in a fine e-zine such as ours. Time for NSD-TV with patented aromalinks?
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23370-2001May13.html
RealArcade Game Downloading Service
RealNetworks has just launched a service which lets you "find, acquire, and manage games" for your computer. The service comes in the form of an application that resides on your machine and lets you test games before you buy them, and then automatically downloads them if you so choose. The games are presented in a management interface within which you can find a game's screen shots, videos, and user comments. The software can also make sure your computer can actually run a game. You can play several of the games online with others. At the moment, the Windows-only software is in open beta testing - you can download it and give it a go. There is also distribution and e-commerce information for developers who wish to publish their own games through the service - you can sell your games - and even a 3-D game development system. Worth checking out.http://www.realarcade.com/
Warning about Piggyback Software with Music Trading Programs
As Napster use declines, many people are turning to other file-sharing programs such as BearShare, Audio Galaxy Satellite, and iMesh. A ZDNet article discusses the poorly known practice of installing unrelated "piggyback" programs along with the chosen software. The piggyback programs either serve up ads or send back information about your surfing habits to the companies. Frequently, such programs are difficult to detect and uninstall and may cause your computer problems. You can also check out Cexx.org for general information on adware, spyware, and other unwantedware and how to remove it.Story: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5082867,00.html
Cexx.org: http://cexx.org/adware.htm
MP3.com Sells Online Music CDs
MP3.com, smarting from legal defeats, is trying to establish its services on a commercial basis while generating a royalty stream for music copyright holders. Last week, it introduced downloadable digital albums called NetCDs at prices a lot lower than conventionally published CDs. Tracks from purchased albums are automatically added to the purchaser's My.MP3 online storage locker and can be transferred from there to other devices or accessed from other computers. There's not yet a whole lot of choice, but it's a marketing experiment worth watching. CNet has more.NetCDs: http://www.mp3.com/cdprogram/
CNet: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5884182.html
ONLINE CULTURE
OpenCola Folders is another distributed computing idea influenced by Napster. You have a folder on your desktop, and you put some files in it, stuff you like. Many people do this. The folder "goes online" to watch what people with similar tastes to yours enjoy and automatically fetches their files for you, theoretically giving you more of what you enjoy. It's much like various Net rating services except it's totally automated and has some artificial intelligence for deciding what "enjoy" and "similar" mean. The brains behind the company, Cory Doctrow, likens it to "Tivo for the Net" in that, like the Tivo TV recorder, it recommends items automagically. Feed magazine's interview with him goes into Cory detail. We recommend browsing around the OpenCola site, it has a number of entertaining pages, notably Cory's polemics in the Press section. Oh yeah, you can also order a can of OpenCola - yes, bubbly, delicious open-source cola. Feel free to tinker.OpenCola: http://www.opencola.com/
Feed: http://www.feedmag.com/templates/default.php3?a_id=1703&page_num=1
RFC 3098: How to Advertise Responsibly
It's surprising that it took so long for somebody to write an RFC about how to advertise responsibly on the Net. This RFC is not a standard as most such documents are; it is, rather, an informative document. While it won't stop spam, it does provide some advice to legit advertisers on how not to be perceived as spammers. The write-up spells out and documents exactly why spam/perceived spam is bad and suggests how to advertise ethically and effectively via e-mail, newsgroups, or the Web. Essential reading for any online business.ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc3098.txt
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
"Startup.com", the Documentary
The climate isn't improving for dotcoms as they continue to stumble and fall, some never to rise again. "Startup.com", a new documentary film, is being hailed as an insightful look at the poor judgment and naivete that preceded the stumbling. The film chronicles the smug, self-important co-CEOs of an Internet start-up during the online gold rush. Those in the industry may find it painful to watch but it should provide an insider's view - and a lesson - as to how so much money could go so quickly.http://www.msnbc.com/news/570105.asp
Photorealistic Synthespians Return
It's been a while since debate over the value of synthespians, or digital actors, began but the "Final Fantasy" movie due this July should reinvigorate both the pro and the con sides. The producers of the movie went to great lengths to create digital actors and their setting, spending hundreds of hours rendering blowing hair, stitches in clothing, and even imperfections only seen in actual films, such as lens flare. The LA Times has a historical perspective on synthespians and the making of "Final Fantasy". Read the story (requires a free registration), then watch the trailer.LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/business/20010508/t000038670.html
Trailer: http://www.finalfantasy.com/
New Star Trek on TV, New South Park on the Web
Paramount has announced that Scott Bakula will leap into the role of captain in the fifth installment of the Star Trek franchise, called "Enterprise". Bakula will, according to the press release, "portray Captain Jonathan Archer, a physical and intensely curious captain with a bold personality." We're not sure what that means but we think it's funny. And, on the definitely funny side, South Park has a newly revamped kick-ass site with lots of content and amusing FAQs, you guys.Enterprise: http://www.startrek.com/production/seriesv/articles/051101.html
South Park: http://www.southparkstudios.com/
Everybody Was Kung Fu Flashing
Here's the latest craze to hit the e-mail rounds, and it has nothing to do with All Your Base. It's stick-figure martial arts, and if you haven't seen it yet, here's your chance to get on the bandwagon before your friends. Packed with cool moves, this version includes no stick-figure blood (well, just a bit at the beginning), so those who can't stand to see a poor innocent little drawing get mauled can still play. If you're an action video game addict, you know it's almost all over when a character comes on screen with "boss" flashing next to the figure, but that's just when this Flash piece goes all out to impress the judges. Be sure to watch to the very end for the slow-motion Matrix-esque shots.http://games.sohu.com/fightgame/fight3.swf
Which Came First, the Web Site or the EGG?
If you've seen EGG, the new, hip arts show on PBS, you'll be expecting a lot from its companion Web site - and you won't be disappointed. The site is best viewed with the latest versions of the Flash and QuickTime plug-ins although, in a refreshing change of pace, the HTML-only version is not the red-headed stepchild of the Flash version. Clearly a lot of thought and effort went into it as well. If you watch the show, check out Peeps, "the really good stuff that we saved for the Web." It's the stuff they couldn't fit into the TV version. We only had two complaints. The chicken animations show up too frequently. If you stay too long on any one page, you'll end up dreaming about chickens that night. Secondly, the intro movie in our version of Netscape had a bug. If we didn't choose whether we wanted HTML or Flash before we reloaded the page, we didn't get to enter the site. Waaah.http://www.pbs.org/wnet/egg/
We're not normally big on reviewing music, but we liked Ricky Crespo's mixes - of course, we liked C+C Music Factory too, with which he was INtimately connected. Ricky has put together a site that features his original music - very techno stuff - and more. You have options to buy the CDs for around $7.00 each, or you can listen, download, transfer to a player, or whatever. It's a very flexible setup, and the music is worth seeking out. Some of the offerings are typical club techno dance material, but others are laid back. The samples we ran through were mostly instrumental pieces, with little to no vocals. Although "I Mugged Santa Claus" does feature voices, we wouldn't go so far as to call it singing. Music is in the ear of the beholder.
http://www.planetstar.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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Developing Bioinformatics Computer Skills
Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary
The Mummy Ultimate Editionhttp://ipublish.com/
One Man's Trash Mouth Is Another Man's Treasure
Walter Jones has something to say about everything, and we do mean everything. Cloning, Bob Costas, the educational system, and Winnie the Pooh's sexual orientation are just a few of the topics he tackles (or at least accosts) on his site, the Misanthropic Humanist. For many of our readers this site is going to be too much. Our reviewer thinks Walter's language is coarse, which is something considering she used "BOHICA" in a meeting last week. Walter's opinions are never wishy-washy. Take for instance, "It is a rather fortunate reality, in my estimation, that there is no such thing as a loving God," or his description of George W. Bush as a "vacuous hillbilly who one wouldn't entrust to manage a Denny's." His commentary runs the gamut from the innovative blurb on a meta-reality show, "a reality show about reality shows", to the unrefined piece in which Strom Thurmond wets his pants. If you don't take it too seriously, you'll get a giggle out of some of it. If you do take it too seriously, you'll get an aneurysm.http://misanthropic-humanist.org/
SURFING SCIENCE
You may never look at the clock the same way again after dropping in for a visit here. This site proposes a new way to measure time, to be used concurrently with your local time. They propose New Earth Time. The premise is that Earth has suddenly become one global community. We're not sure we completely buy into the concept, given that in many places people are still hacking each other to death with machetes. Still, the point is that for a growing number of us, it's possible to view content, make purchases, and chat - all in different countries. They argue that as we move into a 24/7 culture, the old AM/PM dichotomy no longer applies. As Greenwich Mean Time has, in their opinion, already failed as a Web standard, the idea is to divide the day into 360 degrees of time; whether you're in Tennessee or Timbuktu, the time will be the same - e.g. 180 degrees (which would be the same as 1200 GMT). Simple, eh?http://newearthtime.net/
NASA's Goodard Space Flight Center site lets you experience the fruits of its remote-sensing and imaging satellite programs. Several cities and other well-known geographical areas can be seen in wide angle and close-up views. You can zoom in to a high level of detail with most of the photos. To achieve full detail, most of the files are huge and broadband access is pretty much required. The main page is made up of thumbnails that expand when clicked on. If this site doesn't have enough information on space-based imaging, the links on the page will lead you to pretty much everything there is to know about it.
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/GSFC/EARTH/imaging/landsat.htm
Comet/Asteroid Impact Hazard: A Systems Approach
That's the title of this paper which seeks to outline a more coherent approach to dealing with potential asteroid impacts than now exists. Currently, no single worldwide body coordinates response to or policy on what certainly is a global threat. Currently, the people who would detect the asteroids, the astronomers, do not have a direct hotline to the people who could deal with the threat, either military or space authorities. There's also no coherent plan for civil defense coordination to deal with either the aftermath of a strike, for example huge tsunamis or massive earthquakes in areas not already geared up to deal with them, or the reaction of human populations. This paper has several policy suggestions about how to deal with the threat, miniscule though it may be. It's good reading, and yet another instance in which science is ahead of politics when it comes to dealing with global threats.http://www.boulder.swri.edu/clark/neowp.html
Lose 30 Pounds in a Few Seconds
Been meaning to shave a few pounds off to look good in that swimsuit this summer? We have the answer for you. No fad diets are involved. Even better - you won't even have to exercise! Pack up your bags and move to Venus. Put in your weight and this site from the Exploratorium will calculate what it would be on the other planets, plus a couple of moons and stars for good measure. Instead of using the "I'm at my winter weight" excuse, you can now say, "I'm at my Neptune weight." We're thinking about heading for Saturn, though. We've been meaning to lose ten pounds, and we've heard rings are slimming. One caveat - strictly speaking, your mass doesn't change from planet to planet, so this will only work for those less enlightened countries that don't measure bodies in kilograms.http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/weight/
Interested in phenology? No, it's not about those lumps on your skull. It's the study of periodic changes in nature, and the Web site of the Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History near York, S.C. is chock full of it. There's all sorts of information about Hilton Pond itself and its floral and faunal visitors and residents, including the ruby-throated hummingbird. The site itself is not pretty, but it does contain a lot of stunning digital imagery, and if you drill down into the site you get away from the animated cursor layer. If more of the information were closer to the surface, the site would be more user friendly, but for a non-profit educational site, it does a great job.
http://www.hiltonpond.org/
CORRECTIONS
The article on the Silicon Valley repo man moved from the front pages to the archives as we let NSD 7.14 loose on the world. If you want to read the subject of "The Silicon Valley Repo Man", go to this URL now.http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/568651.asp