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| The Shifman-Schwartzman Resume Spam War |
| The Rise and Fall of Automatic Media |
| The Techniques of Wildlife Painting |
| New Chuck Jones at Atomic Cartoons |
| High-Flyin' Aviation Art |
| Netsurfer Recommendations |
| Broken Saints - High Concept, High Bandwidth Graphic Novel |
| Tech Newsbites |
| Are You a Glossy, Happy Woman? |
| Novels, Five Minutes a Day |
| NOVA Makes Science Teaching Easier |
| And on His Farm He Had Some Oysters... |
| Confusing Bacteria with Mold |
| Southwest Archeology Moves to a New Pueblo |
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OUR AFFILIATE RECOMMENDATIONS
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Moet & Chandon NV Champagne Brut Imperial
wine.com
Add to the romance with champagne. Moet & Chandon transforms the
Champagne region's unique grapes, soil, and microclimates into the
world's most famous celebration wine. Pale yellow with shades of green
and thin bubbles, this champagne has a distinctive nose of fresh lime.
Very ample on the palate with a subtle finish. The ideal champagne to
start your dinner with a happy, sparkling note.
Vindel 8 oz.Champagne Flute - Set of 6
wine.com - $59.99
Enhance your champagne in these finely crafted glasses. Made with 24%
lead with Micro-Crystal Dispersion using a special glass-blowing
process, the result is a glass with more surface area, bringing out the
complex flavors and bouquets. Each flute is also shaped to direct the
flow of wine to the "taste zone", showcasing each wine's style and
variety.
Wine Appreciation Guild Champagne Bucket
wine.com - $39.99
Elegant in black with ring handles, this bucket fits standard champagne
bottles and brings a distinctive touch to your Valentine Day's table.
Stuffed Sole with Scallops & Crabmeat
a la zing - $19.99
A seafood delight for 2 that won't be forgotten. Hand0-rolled sole
fillets, wrapped around a delicately seasoned blend of scallops and
crabmeat, this is the perfect combination of flavors. Julienned
carrots glazed with a light sauce of maple syrup and whole green beans
with red peppers complete this delicious meal for light eaters.
Filet Mignon Feast
a la zing - $29.99
A hearty feast for two! Fork tender and delicious, Omaha Steaks filet
mignons are accompanied by potato shells filled with a luscious blend
of whipped potatoes, sour cream, cheddar cheese and bacon. A medley of
roasted vegetables in a delicately seasoned butter sauce rounds out the
treat.
David Glass New York Cheesecake
a la zing - $13.99
End your meal on a high note with this incredible cheesecake. A rich
concotion of cream cheese and sour cream sits on a unique crust of
graham crumbs, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Each mouthful is
sensuous and full of possibilities.
David Glass Chocolate Truffle Cake
a la zing
This sumptious truffle cake is both elegant and intense. Made of the
finest fresh ingredients, it packs a punch of bittersweet chocolate
laced with expresso and hints of Grand Marnier. Nibble. Savor.
Devour. Love and chocolate, how can it be better?
Valentine Chocolates Shop
BODEGA Chocolates
Select from heart shaped boxes in red and gold filled with traditional
and "Demi" fudge truffle bars and Caramelo Delicias. Add a
take-me-with-you cuddly bear to provide a touch of whimsy.
CD Shower Companion
The Sharper Image - $149.95
Sing in the shower with Mariah, Willie, or Luciano. This stereo CD
player can go with you into the shower, outdoors, and anywhere else in
your house. It comes with a digital tuner with 10 presets and single
CD player and a wireless IR remote control. And the ramp-up alarm wakes
you with a buzzer, radio or any CD track.
Car Cell Phone System with Digital Recording
The Sharper Image - $99.95
Turn your cell phone into a hands-free car speakerphone and capture
what you just heard with the Hear It Again recorder. Hear It Again
records and stores the last 20 seconds of conversation. The system
stores four memos and can record a 30-second "forward" voice memo. It
plugs into car's lighter socket, and, as a bonus, continuously charges
the cell phone's batteries.
Leatherman Juice CS4 Multitool
The Sharper Image - $79.95
Swiss Army knives pale beside this rugged 14-in-1 tool from
Leatherman. Take care of daily needs with the serrated scissors,
can/bottle opener, corkscrew and straight knife. Or take off your
glasses and become SuperMechanic with needlenose pliers, extra-small,
small, medium/large and Phillips screwdrivers, saw, wire cutters,
hard-wire cutters, and handy lanyard. Anodized glacier blue aluminum
handles completes the superhero image.
Winemaker's Corkscrew
The Sharper Image - $79.95
Uncork any bottle with a confident, debonair flourish. Just hold the
bottle's neck between the two comfortable handles, and press the top
lever down. The non-stick steel worm burrows into center of cork. Lift
lever back up and Presto! Even the most stubborn or fragile corks slip
out effortlessly. Bravo!
Skagen Stainless Steel Pocket Watch
The Sharper Image - $99.95
Pocket watches are back. Skagen combines tradition with technology to
create a stylish, brushed stainless steel watch only 1/4" thick. The 1
1/8" face, charcoal gray with luminous arms and number markers,
displays the day discreetly at 6:00 o'clock. The watch comes with a
generous 16" chain and spring-loaded clasp. Japanese quartz movement
and water resistant to 100 feet.
Women's Watch with Diamond Mesh Strap
The Sharper Image - $99.95
Delight her with this elegant women's watch from Skagen of Denmark.
The slim, charcoal watch with its minimalist styling is paired with a
shimmering mesh strap. Both case and band are hypoallergenic, with a
scratch-resistant mineral crystal face. Japanese quartz movement and
water resistant to 100 feet.
"Talking Pictures" Photo Album for 24 Pictures & 24 Messages
The Sharper Image - $29.95
The "Talking Pictures" photo album preserves the sights and sounds of
cherished memories. A 10-second message is digitally recorded for each
of 24 4x6-inch photos bound with a soft, leather-like cover. Make it
a gift to cherish by filling it with photos and personalized
recordings. Flash memory preserves recordings, even when changing
batteries.
Ionic Hair Wand 2.0 and Ionic Conditioning Quiet Hair Dryer Combo
The Sharper Image - $69.95
Pamper your hair by blow-drying? The Ionic system actually conditions
hair by smoothing and tightening its protective cuticle layer. The
Ionic Conditioning Quiet Hair Dryer features a mighty 1,875 watts of
power and three heat/speed settings. The Ionic Hair Wand 2.0 adds
styling versatility.
Foot Spa with Remote Control
The Sharper Image - $119.95
Soothe and restore tired, aching feet with a luxurious soak in the
heated foot spa. Complete spa treatment includes vibration massage,
jet-action bubbles or water jet, pumice, gel pads, and more. Create a
symphony of pampering treatments via the wireless, programmable
remote.
Body-Fat Analyzer/Scale
The Sharper Image - $99.95
You're not overweight - it's all muscle. Body fat percentage matters,
and now measuring it is as easy as stepping on a scale. This device
uses harmless bioelectric current to measure body fat and displays
total weight and estimated body-fat percentage. Make it a joint
effort: keep track of two regular users by pre-programming information
with the built-key keypad.
Lighted 5x Travel Mirror
The Sharper Image - $49.95
What's handier than a slim mirror with adjustable lighting for day and
evening? Optical-quality, distortion-free mirror is perfect for
applying makeup, checking the 5 o'clock shadow, and everything in
between. 5x magnification makes it easy to use even without wearing
glasses. Just 2" thick when folded, it's a perfect gift for someone
who travels - or who just has a cluttered bathroom counter.
BREAKING SURF
Motley Fool to Charge for Access to Discussion Boards
What is arguably one of the most innovative and popular online investing forums will be charging for access after Feb. 14. Access to the Motley Fool discussion boards will cost $4.95 per month, or $29.95 per year. They'll also offer a free, read-only, 30-day trial membership. Additionally, if you sign up by midnight, Feb. 13, you'll get two years of membership for the price of one. It's a good deal if you're interested in investing, as the Fool has a history of hosting generally high-quality discussions on its boards.http://www.fool.com/features/2002/a020128.htm
Wonder of wonders, a major commercial Web venture has the cojones to reject one of the major environmental blights on the online landscape - pop-up advertising. This Google FAQ bluntly states, "We find them annoying." It goes on to explain that if you sometimes see an ad pop up or under while using Google, it is because you have mistyped a URL and visited a cybersquatting Google mimic (and you can then scratch that off your life list), another Web site has opened them in the background, or you have spyware - such as was famously included with AudioGalaxy and BearShare music sharing programs - acting on your computer. Can Google get any better? It's a rhetorical question, surely, since the search engine is already a paragon of the user experience.
http://www.google.com/help/nopopupads.html
Electromagnetic Pulses Reach Three Times Light Speed
"Set course for 299.5, Warp 6." While such commands won't be occurring on starships anytime soon, researchers using what they call a "coaxial photonic crystal" have managed to send electromagnetic pulses a significant distance at three times the speed of light. They claim that the project, although remarkable, breaks no laws of physics. In essence, they use cavitation at the tail of the pulse to drive the front wave forward, similar in principle to the use of cavitation to drive superfast underwater torpedo systems. Their work appears capable of exerting profound influence upon information networking systems. PhysicsWeb has a brief but still extremely technical discussion and the full paper is available as a PDF.PhysicsWeb: http://physicsweb.org/article/news/6/1/13
PDF: http://www.umoncton.ca/sciences/physique/personnel/hachea/CAH6Q38S.pdf
The Real Economics of a Virtual World
In an entertaining and informative 41-page report, economics researcher Edward Castronova has turned his talents to a study of the people, customs, and particularly the economy of the world of Norrath, the virtual playground of Everquest role-players. The population is swelling, the virtual currency is worth about the same as the real-life Yen, and the GDP per capita exceeds that of China or India. Interest rates are steep and deflation, not inflation, is the order of the day. Aside from the obvious interest to those who play online games, the real-world economic impact of Norrath and its ilk isn't to be sneezed at either. Here is a rival to porn as an online revenue generator. Almost a million subscribers have active accounts in online games and revenues, already sizable, are increasing rapidly. Some 60,000 people visit Norrath every hour and many spend more time in the virtual world than they do working in the real one. Avatars, scarcity, and social constraints are at the heart of the phenomenon. The summary has a link to the full, PDF format report. There's some interesting natter on Slashdot about the study. At press time, the report was offline for traffic reasons, but should be up soon.Castronova: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828
Slashdot: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/01/23/2131259
At the start of 2001, Bay Microsystems set out to build the industry's first 10-gigabit network processor on a single chip. Mike Cassidy followed the ups and downs of the high-intensity engineering effort and tells the story in this seven-part series at SiliconValley.com. This is the quintessential Silicon Valley hardware engineering experience, as distilled by a journalist. The human element and the ticking clock of a burn-rate start-up are as much parts of the story as the engineering challenges. Cassidy lets us look over the shoulder of Bay Microsystems and glimpse the hardware start-up environment of Silicon Valley, a perspective that has been overshadowed by the stories of the software tsunami that hogged the Net revolution spotlight. Incidentally, we can't let this item go without plugging what is perhaps the archetypal computer hardware design experience, as documented in Tracy Kidder's superb book, "The Soul of a New Machine".
SiliconValley.com: http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/special/baymicro/index.htm
Kidder: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316491977/netsurferdigest/
Star Wars vs. Lord of the Rings
It's going to be debated in dorm rooms and bars for years to come. Which series is better - Star Wars or Lord of the Rings (LotR)? Given that we have only seen the first of the LotR trilogy and many eagerly await Episode Two of the Star Wars prequels (and hope it's more mature than Episode One), any debate may seem premature to some. But for readers at Salon, the debate has begun in earnest, with articles by Jessica Tang and Eric Lipton. Each offers a persuasive mix of personal history and film-going experience to justify their favorites, but the real arguments take place in the letters to the editor. You are going to hear a lot more about this, for better or worse.Tang: http://salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2002/01/09/lotr_starwars/index.html
Lipton: http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2002/01/18/lotr/
Letters: http://salon.com/ent/letters/2002/01/18/lotr/index.html
A Survey of Talking Heads and Public Intellectuals
Richard Posner, a federal judge and University of Chicago law professor, writes books like most people write e-mail. He is incredibly prolific and a key player in the famous law and economic school. Readers may recall that he was brought in to bring about a settlement in the Microsoft case. His latest book, "Public Intellectuals: A Study in Decline", is creating a furor for its list of the top 100 public intellectuals - in other words, who gets referenced the most. In large part, the debate centers on the merit of the method of selecting the list, one which uses hits from Internet search engines as a major ingredient; and the fact that Henry Kissinger is Posner's number one public intellectual (apparently the result of Christopher Hitchen's recent book on Kissinger's alleged war crimes being discussed in a variety of media). The discussion at Plastic is insightful and funny; the list itself is worth reading if only to see the actual value of such lists. Posner's own Web page is worth a visit, too.Posner: http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/posner-r/
Book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/067400633X/netsurferdigest/
List: http://home.uchicago.edu/~rposner/publicintellect.htm
Plastic: http://www.plastic.com/article.pl?sid=02/01/23/1658201
Recovering Enron's Electronic Evidence Trail
The Enron debacle is just a story hook for this survey of the many ways that forensic computer investigators can go after data during a legal investigation. A BusinessWeek article, aimed at the general reader, adopts a bird's-eye view of data recovery in legal situations, discussing recovering data from desktops, servers, back-up media, and other devices which might retain electronic evidence. The article also discusses the difficulty of fully destroying electronic data, even for professionals. Keep it in mind when you're dealing with sensitive corporate records. A Computerworld article also goes into detail.BusinessWeek: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2002/nf20020129_3701.htm
Computerworld: http://www.computerworld.com/storyba/0,4125,NAV47_STO67583,00.html
Reactions to Microsoft's New Focus on "Trustworthy Computing"
A couple of weeks ago, Bill Gates called for a renewed focus on security and "Trustworthy Computing" within Microsoft (see the memo and a MSNBC article). The security community has reacted to the apparent shift in philosophy. Bruce Schneier and Adam Shostack have published a technical article about how we can judge Microsoft's technical progress in the security area. Tim Mullen wants a new security chief at Microsoft. David Morgenstern summarized some reader feedback to the memo. Even Microsoft vice-president Craig Mundie threw in his comments on the subject. Our favorite is the eminently readable Robert X. Cringely, who weighed in with equal parts humor, observation, and cynicism.Memo: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-817343.html
MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.com/news/689243.asp
Schneier and Shostack: http://www.securityfocus.com/news/315
Mullen: http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/54
Morgenstern: http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2841275,00.html
Mundie: http://news.com.com/2010-1078-818543.html
Cringely: http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20020117.html
Riptech Analyzes Corporate Hack Attack Trends
Riptech, a security company, has analyzed six months of online hack attacks that hit over 300 companies around the world. It reports that a small number of nations is responsible for the vast majority of attacks: the US (30%); South Korea (9%); and China (8%). It also finds that attack activity has increased, by a whopping 79% from July to December 2001, and that many attacks deliberately target specific companies - hackers most frequently zeroed in on power and energy companies. In general, larger companies suffered more attacks. Where is the hacker culture strongest? On a per capita basis, Israelis launch hack attacks almost twice as often as anyone else. This summary page has a link to the whole report, available after free registration.http://www.riptech.com/newsevents/release020127.html
The very nomenclature of software "viruses" that "infect" online networks begs the comparison of silicon technology to living systems. The comparison is more than semantic - there's been serious thought among security professionals about exploiting biological methods in computer security applications. This article discusses these issues, addressing security schemas beyond the traditional barrier approaches of firewalls and virus scanners. If there is a flaw in the scheme advocated by the author, Brandon Gillespie, it is that his approach depends on some central authority to analyze and respond to threats. It's well known that such approaches are not very robust. Such a plan does not fall within the spirit of complex biological networks, like populations of organisms or cells, which respond to threats in a distributed fashion. No central organ or system directs immune responses, for example. The paper provides provocative reading nonetheless.
http://www.securityfocus.com/guest/10094
Interview with Wayback Machine Director Brewster Kahle
Have you lost some crucial Web page to the vagaries of the Internet ether? If you're lucky, it's available on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, a 100 terabyte collection of Web pages from the past five years (and don't forget to check Google's cached results). Enter the URL of the site you are looking for and travel back in time. Brewster Kahle directs the Wayback machine and an interview with him on the O'Reilly site is particularly interesting for the discussion of how the Wayback Machine works and its open-source design. Open source means that it is far less likely that the Wayback Machine will require yet another such machine to access its data in the future. In the meantime, let the time travel begin!Archive: http://www.archive.org/
Interview: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/webservices/2002/01/18/brewster.html
Ultra Wide Band Communication in Limbo
Ultra wide band (UWB) communication uses very brief, precisely timed radio pulses spread across the entire radio spectrum to send wireless data. The technology is limited in range to about a kilometer, but requires little energy, is hard to jam or intercept, and can transmit oodles of data. It can also work like GPS, only more accurately and indoors as well as outside. UWB technology might do wonders for content providers but could make the existing communication infrastructure of telcos and ISPs suddenly obsolete. UWB offers a low-cost way to overcome the bandwidth choke points that stifle the razzle-dazzle high-bandwidth future, specifically the last-mile hurdle in connecting individuals to the big optical backbone. So Robert X. Cringely tells us in his intriguing description of this new technology and its implications. The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in June 2000 announced that it planned to test the new technology to ensure its readiness for commercial adoption, but the plans have languished for a year after some initial promising results. Some wonder if the delay has anything to do with lobbying by companies whose existing infrastructure is threatened.Cringely: http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20020124.html
Plan Announcement: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/2000/uwbpr62900.htm
Plan: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/uwbtestplan/
Free Wireless Network Coming to Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport
This short article talks about a free wireless network being installed at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, due to come online in March. The network will allow travelers with wireless cards in their laptops to surf the Net for free while in transit. Anyone lacking a wireless card or laptop will be able to use a kiosk for $6 to $8 a day. Six major airports are going to provide this service. The other networks will be installed at Newark, JFK, LaGuardia, and Detroit Metro. Free is a very low price and we can only applaud the decision to treat such access as a basic necessary commodity, kind of like water or phone access. Or coffee. Except that phone access and coffee aren't free. Come to think of it, water isn't usually, either. Hmmm.http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/1130636.html
The idea that the Web is a free or even an inexpensive alternative to other media for content-driven activity runs face-first into the wall when it comes to streaming video, as a number of artists have discovered. The cost of bandwidth is rising and sponsors for high-bandwidth exhibitions are in increasingly short supply. These and other reasons explain why PeepShow 28, an adult-oriented multimedia exhibit, won't be found online - it will be exhibited in peep-show booths in Seattle and San Francisco. The lines dividing art from erotica from pornography have always been blurry, and perhaps that's the point, but will people visit a porn shop to view an art installation? PeepShow 28 may draw from the best of both models: patrons, pockets overflowing with quarters, will enter darkened peep booths and drop around a quarter for a minute of film that features not hardcore porn, but what is billed as artistic exploration. They won't be seeing it stream through the Web site, though. Too expensive! One Wired story looks at the artistic aspect of the exhibit and a second covers the hunt for bandwidth.
Peepshow 28: http://www.nolivegirls.org/
Wired 1: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,49575,00.html
Wired 2: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,49891,00.html
Quick: What company's operating system runs the vast majority of personal workstations? Right, Microsoft. But most of the big iron, the huge servers that carry the traffic load, run on various Unix flavors. So, when IBM decides to offer two servers - including one worth $400,000 - with only Linux as an operating system, it's a safe bet that it considers the operating system fully ready for prime-time. IBM should know - it developed the first operating system. IBM has press release and a Linux resources page.
Release: http://www.ibm.com/news/us/2002/01/25.html
Resources: http://www-1.ibm.com/linux/
Hierarchical File Systems Are Outmoded: Now What?
That's essentially the question asked by Hans Reiser, the man behind the highly regarded ReiserFS Unix file system design. In this paper, Reiser argues for a paradigm shift in the theory of file system design on modern operating systems. While anybody with tens of thousands of files on their machine will appreciate the goal, it does take a bit of computer science and math savvy to understand this fairly abstract paper.http://www.namesys.com/whitepaper.html
The third issue of our Netsurfer Robotics is out: all new Battlebots, some musings on whether there's money in robotics, the ever elusive sucking, clipping, and blowing problems, a cornucopia of cyborg bits, and some odd nano art. Not to mention all those cool robot toys. Oh, all right, we'll mention them. Check it out, and subscribe if you like it.
NSR 01.03: http://www.netsurf.com/nsr/
Subscribe: http://www.netsurf.com/nsr/subscribe.html
ONLINE CULTURE
In April 2001, John Sullivan presciently warned companies to prepare for an onslaught of spammed resumes. Now, the flood of e-mail resumes has become a real problem not only for corporate human resources staff but also for individuals who get stuck on the lists of aggressive job seekers (q.v. "The Shifman-Schwartzman Resume Spam War"). Sullivan realized that e-mail's ease of use and low cost was ripe for abuse and urged companies to prepare to handle the junk while preserving their ability to recruit and hire. Indiscriminate e-mailing of resumes seems stupid and pointless but some job seekers argue that it costs nothing to add names to e-mail lists and figure that someone somewhere who gets their message might just open the door to a new job. Sure, it's easy to do, but what are the odds? The Washington Post adds more.Sullivan: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gately/pp15s145.htm
Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34840-2002Jan24.html
The Shifman-Schwartzman Resume Spam War
For a guy who portrays himself as an IT professional, Bernie Shifman doesn't seem to come across as such. He sent out his resume as spam, and you could write that off as just cluelessness when it comes to netiquette. But it goes beyond that, and the sorry saga is documented here for all to see. The details of exchanges between Bernie and antispam advocate Neil Schwartzman gets uglier and uglier, as Bernie threatens legal action and the story is picked up by sources as diverse as the Washington Post and New Zealand's "Computer Chat". Worldwide, people are having fun with this - one contributor characterizes the exchange as being worthy of a Monty Python episode. The Bernard Shifman Is a Moron Spammer page has certainly been receiving a lot of press; we feel it only fair to jump on the pile.http://petemoss.com/spamflames/ShifmanIsAMoronSpammer.html
The Rise and Fall of Automatic Media
The story of Plastic began with the story of Automatic Media. That company's properties read like the who's who of hip new online media: Suck; Feed; Alt.Culture; and a roster of equally illustrious affiliates. Of course, it all went south because nobody could sell enough ad space to cover the operating costs. The lone legacy of the Automatic Media empire is Plastic, in the hands of one Carl Steadman, who reportedly shelled out $40,000 of his own hard-earned cash for the site. The Online Journalism Review (OJR) has the first of a two-part story about Plastic and its fate. For background, it's also worth reading about the demise of Suck and Feed at NetSlaves. Plastic itself, though perhaps not making any money, is certainly still operating, and still delivering its caustic brand of reader-contributed media commentary.OJR: http://ojr.usc.edu/content/story.cfm?request=687
NetSlaves: http://www.netslaves.com/comments/992046803.shtml
Plastic: http://www.plastic.com/
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Techniques of Wildlife Painting
Carl Rungius (1869-1959) was a German-born hunter, wilderness camper, and impressionist who painted wildlife in the American West and Canada. His favorite subjects were moose, elk, and other big game animals of the Rockies. The National Museum of Wildlife Art, in Jackson Hole, Wyo., houses the largest American collection of his art and maintains a superb educational Web site devoted to his works and principles of wildlife art, called A Brush with Wildlife: Create a Composition with Carl Rungius. The Art Principles Animated section, designed like a slideshow, illustrates artistic techniques with outstanding simplicity in Flash. The main attraction is the Composition Studio, an easy-to-use teaching tool with an illustrated, multi-page pop-up glossary of art elements; a pop-up gallery of works by Rungius; and a Java-based interactive lesson in composition. You can drag and drop animals into a wilderness photo and move and resize them. (The Java applets are unpredictably particular about platform and browser.) You can submit your creations to the Critique Gallery. As you move through the site, the instructions are clear and inviting. Even if you're not a teacher, student, or museum-goer, you're likely to learn something here.http://www.wildlifeart.org/Rungius/index.html
New Chuck Jones at Atomic Cartoons
You know it's going to be a bizarre site to review when the first link you brave leads to a cartoon named "Dog in a Box with 2 Wheels", about a paraplegic mutt who has made it his life's mission to eradicate the elderly driver population from our nation's roadways. Atomic Cartoons doesn't get much more normal than that, which is just fine with us. From "Thugs on Film" to "Timberwolf", Atomic Cartoons does the absurd with panache and unique flair. If you recognize "Timberwolf", it's because it's the work of Chuck Jones and Warner Bros., Chuck Jones, the creator of Wile E. Coyote? Chuck Jones, director of "What's Opera, Doc?"? "Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century"? "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"? Chuck Jones, Super Genius.http://www.atomiccartoons.com/
Riveting Images is a gallery of high-quality military aircraft art. Most of the big aviation artists are well represented in the prints and other objects for sale on the site. Most pages are devoted to a specific plane (e.g. the B-25) or event (e.g. Pearl Harbor). Each of the items offered can be viewed at fairly high resolution, making a journey through the site very enjoyable. The site is a bonanza for browsers as well as buyers.
http://www.riveting-images.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.
 For more selections, check out the Netsurfer Library at http://www.netsurf.com/nsl/ |
When the Elephants Dance
Medieval Children
Programming Web Services with SOAP
Ladies of the Grand Tour: British Women in Pursuit of Enlightenment and Adventure in Eighteenth-Century Europe
Black CoffeeBroken Saints - High Concept, High Bandwidth Graphic Novel
If you're into anime, graphic novels, or comics in general, Broken Saints is a site you'll want to check out. It's a planned 24-part online graphic novel with, at the time of this review, 15 completed chapters. You'll want to be sure you have Macromedia Flash player installed and a broadband connection. Otherwise, it's like you're trying to read "War and Peace" in the format of a baby's cardboard page book - one painful word at a time. The animation can get quite unwieldy at times but we do have to admit it has the best use of a trailing cursor we've seen so far. Fortunately, an estimated run time is posted for each chapter prior to the download. You cannot do this site justice in under an hour's time your first visit, so plan accordingly.http://www.brokensaints.com/
Interested in the rationale supporting the concept of a remote listening station on the far side of the moon? Perhaps a brief discussion of the upcoming bionic eye, scheduled for testing later this year? Are you greenies up-to-date on Iceland's self-sufficient energy plan? Ever heard of ULTra (Urban Light Transport)? Perhaps the idea of 3-D printing intrigues you, or maybe the Trekker in you thirsts for a look at the prototypes for AIM (Antimatter-Induced Microfusion) transport systems. All of the above, and much more, can be found here. Try not to get lost, and be sure to set your alarm so you'll know when it's time to leave.
http://zzz.com.ru/
Are You a Glossy, Happy Woman?
At the checkout counters, there are always smiling, happy women taunting the shoppers in line, pointing out that inside the pages of their $5-a-pop mags are the secrets to losing weight, making men happy, and solving world peace. Now you can mock back in the privacy of your own home with Happy Woman, a satirical online version of just about any popular women's magazine. It's jam-packed with helpful real-world education on matters like, like, "Learn how to prevent your kidneys from being stolen!" or building your own piano.http://www.happywomanmagazine.com/
In the good old days, writing was etched into wet clay. Later came drawing with quill and ink. Eventually, a guy named Gutenberg invented the printing press. All was well. Now, we have Classic Novels in 5 Minutes a Day (CN5MD). CN5MD e-mails daily installments of fiction (mostly novels), each readable in five minutes. You can subscribe to classics from Dickens or Twain or original works. Whether this is a good thing or not rather remains to be seen. The site's easy to navigate. Just click to subscribe. Is this the next new great thing? It's your time and your resources. You decide.
http://classic-novels.com/
SURFING SCIENCE
NOVA Makes Science Teaching Easier
Last November, NOVA Online expanded its teachers' site with a searchable database for quick access to more than 500 educational resources like program information, activities, and classroom tools. This ever-growing site is even more useful now. The alphabetical Search by Program Title is a wonderful, if intimidating, way to jump into everything from aircraft carriers to Loch Ness to Siamese twins - and other fascinating topics covered on the popular PBS show. From the home page, you can now search by keyword and narrow your search to program contents, printable or online activities, Web-site overviews, or teachers' ideas. A menu of program transcripts is only a click away, as is This Week on NOVA. One visit, and you'll see how PBS continues to pioneer the convergence of TV and the Internet. Wow!http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/
And on His Farm He Had Some Oysters...
Right around Valentine's Day is a perfect time to explore the American Museum of Natural History's online exhibit on pearls. In addition to offering an easy way to distinguish a real pearl from an imitation one, the feature helps a potential buyer understand why it is that some pearls are round while others are not, or why they seem to shine with a light from within. Did you know today's gems are often cultivated on a pearl farm? How about the tidbit that natural pearls only infrequently result from a grain of sand working its way into an oyster shell? Educate yourself on the ins and outs of your pearly whites (and golds, blacks, and purples...).http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/pearls/
CORRECTIONS
In last issue's "Extreme Life on Earth", we let the blind lead the blind. The BBC had reported that "researchers found fungi and a common species of Penicillium bacteria" in Antarctic soil and we let that stand, perhaps because we were amazed they capitalized the genus and because Penicillium sounds like penicillin and that has to do with bacteria. Of course, Penicillium is a genus of mold (some species of which produce penicillin), not bacteria. We now have toothpicks propping up our eyelids.Southwest Archeology Moves to a New Pueblo
James Q. Jacobs, our favorite American Southwest archeology professor, has moved his informative Web site from GeoCities to his own domain. Clap, clap. He tells us he has some 28 MB of information now.http://www.jqjacobs.net/