BREAKING SURF
| Corporate Executives Start Blogging, Lawyers Aghast |
| The ZoZa Post Mortem |
| Thedeacon Strikes Back |
| Book Your Flight, Then Book Your Meal |
| Signs of Chicagoland |
| Run, Forrest, Run |
| Great Lakes Shipping |
| Take the Little, Yellow, Different Pill |
| Pictures of my English Garden |
| Bad Design |
| Sausage Sculpture |
| Netsurfer Recommendations |
| Latest Netsurfer Books, and an Experiment |
| Which Book Should You Read? |
| Barenaked Ladies Online |
| Conservative Canuck Blog |
| Appreciation of Beauty Goes More than Skin Deep |
| What's That Bug? |
| Arachnophilia |
| Graylisting: a Method of Spam Control |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
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BREAKING SURF
Is the electricity back on in Baghdad? Who's living in Saddam Hussein's palaces? Does anyone know how many people died in the war? Is the airport functional? Just what is the state of things in post-war Iraq? Mark MacKinnon of the Globe and Mail answers 20 questions, and his answers succinctly inform us more about the situation then we'd learn from several weeks of TV coverage. Why can't more reporting be this efficient and informative?http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20030621/FCIRAQ/TPComment/TopStories
Stimulating the Savant in All of Us
A fascinating article in the New York Times (NYT) highlights the research of Allan Snyder at the Centre for the Mind. Using electrodes, he is able to provoke average people into displaying aspects of savants, people with an overall reduced suite of behavioral skills who excel in narrow areas of expertise. Neuroscience is still an unknown frontier open to explorers, and Snyder is on the cutting edge. The account in the NYT of the experiment into this bizarre mental phenomenon is compelling, and so is a similar feature in the February 2002 issue of Discover. Look at that horse picture - a three-year-old drew it.NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/22/magazine/22SAVANT.html
Centre: http://www.centreforthemind.com/
Discover: http://www.discover.com/feb_02/featsavant.html
Star Wars Galaxies is the newest entry in the Star Wars franchise, an ambitious and highly anticipated online game produced by Sony Online Entertainment. The game went on sale this week and, as is almost traditional with these kind of complex online environments, there were problems. On the whole though, fans are not fazed and are willing to cut Sony some slack. Once all the glitches are ironed out players will get to become their favorite Star Wars character in a complex persistent online world based on the movies. For the legions of true Star Wars fans this is worth enduring some login delays and in-game glitches. The game costs $50 to buy, with a $12 per month subscription cost to keep playing after the introductory period. CNet has the story of the launch problems, while Amazon.com has the game itself.
Star Wars Galaxies Website: http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/
Purchase SWG: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000067FDY/netsurferdigest
CNet: http://news.com.com/2100-1043_3-1021900.html
Results of First Ever Online Democratic Party Primary
Political and Internet history of a sort was made this week when a Democratic political organization held an online primary to gauge popular support among the nine contenders for the Democratic Presidential nomination. MoveOn.org said that it would officially support any candidate who brought in 50% of the vote. In about 48 hours 317,647 people votes, making this vote larger than both the New Hampshire Democratic primary and Iowa caucuses combined. The top three vote getters were Howard Dean (43.87%), Dennis Kucinich (23.93%) and John Kerry (15.73%). MoveOn.org did a telephone sampling poll of the voters afterwards to verify that there was no cheating. Since nobody got over 50% of the vote, MoveOn.org will not officially endorse anybody at this time. However the leading candidates are expected to get a financial windfall from political donations. Further results including the voters favorite write-in choices, are on the Web site.http://moveon.org/pac/primary/report.html
Staffers at the Chicago Tribune have put together an informal list of what they think are the top 50 magazines. Ranked first is Cook's Illustrated - to us, a surprising pick not because of that magazine's impeccable credentials but because we didn't think it had such broad appeal. NSD looked at Cook's Illustrated in NSD 6.17. Numbers two and three are more conventional New Yorker and Martha Stewart Living. Readers who disputed the choices submitted their own picks, and the winner, far and away, was the Economist. The lists, and their contents, make for some nifty reading.
Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/showcase/chi-0306120068jun12.story
NSD: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/sub/v06/nsd.06.17.html#BEZ6
Readers: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/showcase/chi-0306240042jun24.story
The New Mac G5s: Are They Fast or What?
Apple is as well known for its pitches as for its products. When the company announced its upcoming line of G5 computers, it hailed them, with graphs and demonstrations, as the world's fastest computers, bar none. No doubt, these machines push desktop computing's envelope with 64-bit CPUs, 1-GHz frontside bus, and more, but detractors have disputed Apple's claim to the title of "world's fastest personal computer" and the benchmarks used to back it up. The main detractor is Spl, who claims Apple rigged the benchmarks. Geek consensus on Slashdot, however, is that while Apple's claims might be excessive, there's no question that the G5 ranks up there with the best of the best. Also on Slashdot, an Apple executive defended the claims. ExtremeTech has a sober look at the debate, and is cautiously positive.Apple: http://www.apple.com/powermac/
Spl: http://www.haxial.com/spls-soapbox/apple-powermac-G5/
Slashdot: http://apple.slashdot.org/apple/03/06/24/1232237.shtml
Executive: http://apple.slashdot.org/apple/03/06/24/2154256.shtml
ExtremeTech: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1136018,00.asp
Iraq Internet Back in Business
After two months without Net access, Iraq will come online again. The government's State Company for Internet Services plans to soon provide Internet service through Uruklink, formerly an organ of deposed despot Saddam Hussein. One thorn in the side of reformers is Uruklink general manager Shakir Abdulla, who arrived at the ISP in 1991, shortly before the mysterious firing of the company's founder. Following Abdulla's arrival, Hussein stationed two Ba'ath party flunkies at the company to monitor the service. Abdulla recently appointed both these men to Uruklink's new staff, much to the astonishment and mistrust of other employees. Uruklink hopes to activate Iraq's official Internet suffix, .iq, but fortunately for skeptical Iraqis, a host of private ISPs are springing up to provide competition and choice. Wired has more.Uruklink: http://www.uruklink.net/
Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59183,00.html
The Internet under Surveillance
In closing the introduction to this report of that name, Vinton Cerf notes that "Free flow of information has a price and responsible Internauts will shoulder the burden of paying it." He's alluding to our collective responsibility to counter misinformation and to resist efforts to censor the Net. The report, prepared by Reporters Without Borders, summarizes the state of Internet censorship and freedom, country by country. It's mostly a sad litany of governments that blithely pass laws to award themselves powers to monitor and, in many cases, censor e-mail and the content of Web sites. Each entry in the report has links to various organizations that are concerned with regulating the Net and assuring the free flow of online information.http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=378
Affirmative Action, Library Filters, Sodomy Laws: US Supreme Court Decides
The US Supreme Court handed down three important decisions this week, all of which have been extensively covered in the media. Of importance to free-speech advocates, the court ruled that government could require libraries to filter adult content out of their Internet access in order to receive Federal funds. The court additionally handed down a balanced decision on affirmative action, upholding part and striking down part of the race-related admissions process at the University of Michigan. Finally, the court ruled that laws against sodomy taking place in private were unconstitutional. Since these decisions have been so widely covered in the standard press, we'll point you to the excellent SCOTUSBlog, a legal weblog with plenty of links to the actual decisions, online commentary, and media coverage.http://goldsteinhowe.com/blog/
US Supreme Court Voting Patterns
The current Rehnquist Supreme Court votes as if it were composed of 4.68 ideal justices, "where ideal is defined as someone who exhibits near equal odds for voting in a consenting or dissenting manner in relation to the majority vote." That's the conclusion of an ingenious study by Lawrence Sirovich, chair of biomathematical sciences at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. His fancy mathematical footwork analyzed the voting combinations of the justices while carefully avoiding any political or ideological interpretation of the data. The Discovery Channel has a summary and some quotes on the results, while the full technical paper (available for a fee) is published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).PNAS: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/100/13/7432
Discovery Channel: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20030623/supreme.html
Newest Harry Potter Book Scanned and Shared
It's been widely reported that the first printing of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" broke all kinds of publishing records and sold 5 million copies on its first day of release. Such a level of popularity means it should be no surprise that scanned copies of the book found their way online within hours of the release. The online file-trading networks host not only scanned text copies, but also various e-book and audio versions of the book. CNET asks if peer-to-peer file-sharing is about to force the book publishing industry to consider its options the way the music industry is doing.Order of the Phoenix: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/043935806X/netsurferdigest
CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-1020984.html
The French, the Americans, and Sex
For Americans, French remains the language of love. A new study in the Journal of Sex Research compares American and French attitudes towards sex and sexuality and reveals some remarkable results. Americans consider the French masters of the affair, but it seems that Americans take part in far more adultery than the French. Furthermore, French affairs tend to be long-term relationships, with few one-night stands. One amazing point is that French women over 50 have much more sex than their American counterparts. As the Baby Boomers age, that's something to think about. Read the Salon interview with one of the study's authors, but read the article as well. Despite its sociological veneer, it's both pleasant and entertaining.Study: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2372/1_38/75820035/p1/article.jhtml
Salon: http://www.salon.com/sex/feature/2003/06/20/french/index.html
Federal Do Not Call List Now Active
Thanks to the passage of a recent law, telemarketers in the US can be liable for up to $11,000 per phone call if they telephone users who signed themselves up on the national Do Not Call Registry. The Registry went online this week and was immediately overwhelmed with traffic. A manager of the site is quoted as saying "We were logging in 1,000 transactions per second, and by noon 370,000 users had registered". The signup process generates a confirmation email to the user, who must then respond within 72 hours to get on the list. Ironically, spam filters at major ISPs like Hotmail, AOL, and Yahoo! were either refusing to accept the mail or steering it into spam folders where users might miss it. CNet has the spam story. The list itself becomes official on October 1.DNC: http://www.donotcall.gov/
CNet: http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-1021904.html
Dayparting - Tailoring Content to Time of Day
What you look for when you surf varies depending upon the time of day, according to a study released in January by Minnesota Opinion Research. The study shows that visits to online news sites drop dramatically during the evening, a trend long acknowledged by the news sites themselves. Morning visitors seek breaking news, business information and sports. Afternoon visitors are after movie and entertainment info, offbeat news, and maps. The main interests of evening surfers are jobs, cars, and online shopping. Armed with details like these, some sites are now adjusting emphasis and content through the day to match the trends. The Lawrence Journal-World, for one, has launched an evening edition that emphasizes entertainment, blog reports, and fun news. The Online Journalism Review (OJR) reports that it's a great success. Not all news outlets are embracing dayparting quite so aggressively, but few are ignoring it. The Boston Globe, for example, makes subtle changes during the day, maintaining look and feel but moving news items around a bit. Marketing and promotion are important in attracting users back again later in the day. The OJR has more on the new technique.http://www.ojr.org/ojr/aboutojr/1055792590.php
Is there nothing Google cannot do? The search engine's latest, Google AdSense, is a marketing program in which Google customizes ads to suit and run on your Web site. If you produce a sports site, say, Google will target your site with ads for, say, sports memorabilia or tickets to sporting events. AdSense participants earn a small fee for every visitor who clicks on an ad. Google's take on what is essentially an old business model is worth mentioning because it re-opens the ad-revenue stream to the little fellers of the Web. Sites that don't yet or no longer have advertising - can you think of any? - might reap some benefit. Google is attempting to make the placement of ads painless for Web page authors. Whether this is a good thing is an entirely different question. https://www.google.com/adsense/
Researching Planetary Scale Networks
PlanetLab is a new Intel-backed network "designed to serve as an open, globally distributed testbed for developing, deploying and accessing planetary-scale network services." A number of universities and corporations are part of the network. Each participant deploys PCs running heavily modified Linux software. Researchers can obtain time on the resulting distributed network and use it to carry out all sorts of advanced number-crunching in a controlled environment. Apparently, anyone willing to set up and dedicate two PCs to the effort can host a node on PlanetLab and carry out their own research. PlanetLab has a policy of acceptable use: no hacking; keep the machines running; push the power button when asked to; and play nice with the other members. PlanetLab offers plenty of documentation and academic papers about the effort on its Web site.http://www.planet-lab.org/
For 20 years, Unisys (and its predecessors) held US patent 4558302, commonly known as the GIF patent. On June 20, 2003, the patent expired. The patent, or rather the know-how, has entered the public domain where it can spend the rest of its days happily ever after. Widely adopted, the GIF format was also widely cursed because Unisys waited about ten years while the format developed considerable popularity before demanding royalties from the invention and licensing its use. Equivalent patents are still in force in Canada, Europe, and Japan, and will have to wait another year for freedom. Kuro5hin offers a useful chronology of the life of the invention and a great set of links, along with lots of celebratory and caustic posts.
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/6/19/35919/4079
The Vatican domain is the target of about 30 hacking attempts per day, mostly of American origin. Additionally, some 10,000 viruses per month barrage the domain, presumably via e-mail. These stats come from Archbishop Claudio Celli, secretary for the administration of the Holy See's heritage. This Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) blurb offers no technical detail, but does note that the Vatican is hiring experts to protect its network from e-mail-based and other hacking attempts.
ABC: http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/scitech/SciTechRepublish_887398.htm
Vatican: http://www.vatican.va/
The world's shortest stories of love and death, in fact the world's shortest stories, period, can be found in a couple of inexpensive books. New Times has recently published the winning entries in this, its 16th annual mini-short-story contest. The stories are short reads; each entry runs 55 words or fewer. You'll doubtless find a couple that you like, and even if you don't, it's not like you wasted your time on Joyce. While you're visiting, check out the interview with Weird Al Yankovic. It's the cover story button.
http://www.newtimes-slo.com/55_fiction/55_story.html
2003 is quickly becoming the year of the blog. Watchblog, a recent offering, features three different American political blogs on one screen - Democrat, Third Party, and Republican. While it's a cute idea to have the blogs side-by-side, the real test is content, and so far Watchblog doesn't appear likely to replace the political blogs you already visit.
http://www.watchblog.com/
ONLINE CULTURE
Corporate Executives Start Blogging, Lawyers Aghast
It's amazing that any corporate executive would decide to keep a blog, considering the litigious climate in the US. But blog they do, and the New York Times (NYT) gives us a half-dozen high-profile execs who do just that. You won't find executives from the likes of GM, IBM, or Bank of America blogging, but smaller company execs do maintain blogs of varying quality. The most prominent Internet-related bloggers are tech publisher and prolific blogger Tim O'Reilly and Alan Meckler of the online research firm Jupitermedia. Sure enough, lawyers are urging caution, but none of the bloggers cited seem to worry too much about the legal consequences. That's likely to change the moment a lawsuit is filed. When will we see government leaders blog? Forget it. President Bush isn't even allowed to use e-mail for fear of creating a subpoenable record.http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/22/business/yourmoney/22EXLI.html
We first heard about ZoZa on an "up and coming tech" segment a few years ago on some news program. ZoZa, the brainchild of the creators of Banana Republic and the Republic of Tea, was a place where geeks could land chic outdoor clothing without setting foot outdoors. This is all past tense - the company is history. Nevertheless, its former chief technology officer has put together an online autopsy. He's surprisingly unbitter about the whole thing. Rubberneckers who want to know how and why the company died will only find a few hints ("'We are the customer,' was the regular response to any questions about market analysis."). Especially fascinating is the Back Office section that reveals the man (and computing power) behind the curtain.
http://www.well.com/~caseyd/zoza/
Rick Stenlund, a.k.a. Thedeacon, is unhappy with the New York Times (NYT) article on his Anarchy Online (AO) exploits (see NSD 9.24). The article's author did not disclose that he is an avid AO player as well, and was already acquainted with Thedeacon on a first-name-and-many-other-names basis. From what we can piece together (the Storm site with the juice has been unavailable for several days), Thedeacon objects to being portrayed as a reclusive, financially strapped, societal dropout. We can understand that; he's likely no more reclusive than we are. It's a drag to be misrepresented in major media, and certainly the NYT has been wearing a lot of egg of late. Stenlund is angry, but to no end. The story will die a quicker death if he just quiets down and learns from the mistake.
NSD 9.24: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/sub/v09/nsd.09.24.html#BS9
Storm: http://nanoclan.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=4729
AO: http://forums.anarchy-online.com/showthread.php?threadid=144792
ONLINE TRAVEL
Book Your Flight, Then Book Your Meal
At first we thought Carry-On Cuisine was a hoax, a takeoff on the infamous dreck served by various airlines over the years, but it's not. The concept is great. Go online and pre-order a meal from an airport restaurant. When traveling, eat at the gate or on the plane. Jeepers! Why didn't anyone think of this before? The site has all the elements you'd expect: "Order Meal" options for individuals, travel agents, and tour groups; screens to view, modify, or cancel existing orders; and an invitation for restaurants to partner with the business. There's one catch: at the moment, Carry-on Cuisine serves only Reagan National and Dulles International Airports in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia International. Two other airports are scheduled to join this summer. Our hopeful guess is that many lawyers and lobbyists eat better now. So might you. Bon appetit.http://www.carryoncuisine.com/
Some have an eye for features of daily life that many of us ignore. Tracy Jo Seneca seems obsessed with business signs. Her Mildred's House of Signage is a large photo gallery of retail and business signs, most of them in greater Chicago. Many of these signs are pedestrian (read: boring), but there are some eyecatchers here, such as "Pigeons" and "Native American Eyecare" in her New Signs section. Some of her photos document signs that no longer exist. For example, "Magikist Lips" in the Ghost collection, which, Seneca writes, is "the most beloved sign in all of Chicago." Our Midwestern reviewer notes that many consider a 1990s billboard with Dennis Rodman the most familiar (if not beloved) sign in Chicago, but that's a cavil. Mildred's House of Signs may prompt entrepreneurs to take a closer look at their own signs.
http://signs.misstracyjo.com/
When we at NSD run, it's only just far enough and just fast enough to get away from whatever is chasing us. Recognizing, however, that many people actually choose to run, we'll bring you a resource here that's worth its weight in Nikes. You can get the scoop on the best trails and other places to run, anywhere on the planet. Want to run Antarctica? You can. Just last year, McMurdo Station hosted the world's first marathon to the South Pole. Running in -25 degrees isn't your cuppa? Try Papua-New Guinea, under Oceania. Want more? Just select a place - practically any place - click, and check out the recommended courses. Last time the site tallied up the list, it found 2,853 routes in 2,133 cities around the world. The site also offers a nice photo gallery, for those of us who like to see the sights without the sweat.
http://www.runtheplanet.com/
Millions of North Americans depend on shipping in the Great Lakes, but few know much about its history or culture. Frankly, that's because most of us aren't boat nerds - but those who are will enjoy Great Lakes and Seaway Shipping. A quick look at What's New gives you a taste of the site. The content here isn't exactly the meat and potatoes of People magazine, but nautical buffs will find a large photo gallery, raffles ("Cruise the Great Lakes on a Working Freighter"), and links to real-time vessel locations on the St. Lawrence Seaway. As befits a site with "nerd" in the URL, you get plenty of statistics and updates. A discussion board covers traffic regulations, specific vessels, and a variety of other topics uppermost in the minds of those whose livelihood or leisure depends on natural gifts from the Ice Age.
http://www.boatnerd.com/
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Take the Little, Yellow, Different Pill
One thing both Matrix movies have missed so far, which the audience is just craving, is a fancy stop-motion, thrown cream pie. "Matrix XP" is here to give that to you, the slapstick-loving audience. This parody comes in a variety of sizes and in German or English. It's not a feature-length film, only a trailer for a non-existent longer work, but that's OK. You'll undoubtedly find this flick more amusing if you're a Windows user acquainted with the Blue Screen of Death. Impressively, this flick was created almost entirely on a home computer.http://www.matrix-xp.com/
This is a lovely little site. An Englishman with a love of gardens but a loathing for gardening has taken his camera into his tiny, overgrown backyard and chronicled the abundance of flying, walking, and crawling wildlife he has found there. The close-up photographs of assorted insects, snails, and other creatures are superb, and a click-and-drag magnifying glass lets you examine the animals in even finer detail. Each photograph is accompanied by a brief description; often it's just a whimsical account of what lazy pottering the site's owner was up to when he came across the specimen, or a childhood memory of making model airplanes whose tissue-paper wings looked like those of a blow fly. Those with an eye for design will admire the clean Flash-based interface that allows for easy navigation through this virtual bug sanctuary and makes it even more of a delight to spend some time here.
http://www.mytinygarden.com/
The examples of bad design collected by the author of this Web site illustrate how not to design tools, signs, and other items. One example is the pair of identical doors at each end of a corridor. Although the two doors have the same handle, one pulls open while the second must be pushed. The design has trapped many people in the corridor. For each case of bad design, the author describes and usually illustrates how a simple change would make the same design foolproof. Everything from how to plan your sidewalks, to what text to use on restroom signs, to how to design the lid for a tub of oatmeal is covered. Designers take note - there are dangerous amounts of common sense available here.
http://www.baddesigns.com/
When you go to a fancy party, you expect to see an ice sculpture. Only the extremely swank, however, get into hot dog sculptures. This Japanese site focuses on just that, frightening as it sounds. Learn how to make a daisy or reindeer out of processed meat products. The graphics are pretty self-explanatory, but if you need a translation, the version below from AltaVista's Babelfish might help ("The eye is attached with the black sesame."). Our favorite is either the shark or the koala bear. Make them both, and have them go at it Darwinian-style to determine the "wiener".
Hot Dog Art: http://www.sub.nipponham.co.jp/winny/kazari/
Translation: http://tinyurl.com/fi38
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: Netsurfer Books: http://www.netsurf.com/nsb/ Netsurfer Library: http://www.netsurf.com/nsl/ |
Developing Online Games: An Insiders Guide
Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings
The Book of Spies: An Anthology of Literary Espionage
The Shameless Diary of an Explorer: A Story of Failure on Mt. McKinleyLatest Netsurfer Books, and an Experiment
Yes, it's full of summer reading goodness, but it's also an experiment on our part. We're giving Google AdSense (see above) a try in Netsurfer Books. We were curious to see how well Google's technology could characterize our book e-zine. Would Google serve book related ads? Well, you'll just have to take a peek if you're curious. Who knows, you might even find a book you like.http://www.netsurf.com/nsb/sub/v05/nsb.05.06.html
Say you're in the mood to read a book, but you don't have anything specific in mind. You have but a vague idea of what you want to read - say, something short, happy, a little funny, and with just a dash of sex. You probably want "Ladies' Night at Finbar's Hotel". If you'd prefer disturbing, unpredictable, and violent, try "Yonder Stands Your Orphan". Visit Whichbook.net, adjust some sliders to indicate your preference, and the Web site will recommend a list of books that more or less fit your mood. Whichbook.net lets you also indicate preferences for character, plot, and setting. It's a great way to browse books you may not have ever heard about but ought to have. A team of 150 trained readers puts together the database mostly out of fiction and poetry published since 1995. The About pages have lots of information about the project and who's behind it.
Whichbook.net: http://www.whichbook.net/index.jsp
Finbar's Hotel: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0156008661/netsurferdigest
Your Orphan: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0802138934/netsurferdigest
That headline would normally fall into the "duh!" category, except we're talking about the energetic Canadian band and not porn. Barenaked Ladies builds tight, rocking music around offbeat themes that range from seeing a doctor about a pentagram-shaped rash to Kraft Dinner-loving wealth. The bandmembers display no fake angst, no soulful mourning; they're just down-to-Earth boys, and this is their weblog. If you like the band, you'll like the blog. If you don't know anything about them, spend some time here and get to know them. The band's blog links to QuickTime videos, record shops, and the North Carolina Teachers' Network, among piles of other material. Read long enough, and you'll find something that will hack you off, whether you're of liberal or conservative persuasion. Bear in mind, though: these Ladies are basically stand-up comedians, with great sound.
http://www.bnlblog.com/
Colby Cosh is a conservative Canadian who's not afraid to speak his mind. He writes for various publications, but his own Web site is the forum for his most frank opinions. Recently, his wrath has been aroused by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fandom, which he sees as "an overanalyzed cult", the gay-marriage debate, and the handling of SARS cases in Toronto. He delights in pointing out mistakes at other online venues and has an eye for detail that reveals, among other tidbits, that Viggo Mortensen played one of the Amish in the film "Witness". You may not agree with Cosh's opinions, but they are well argued, linked to appropriate additional reading, and will definitely educate you about current affairs. NSD particularly supports his plea for an end to unintelligent reporting about Web-related matters by those who "don't know the difference between e-mail and the Internet."
http://www.colbycosh.com/
SURFING SCIENCE
Appreciation of Beauty Goes More than Skin Deep
Is beauty really in the eye of the beholder? Perhaps not, according to recent research. Researchers used morphing software to generate compound images from various male and female faces, and test subjects were asked to rank the resulting facial images in order of beauty. It seems we all assess facial beauty in much the same way: we favor tanned skin, full lips, widely spaced eyes, narrow noses, and high cheekbones - male or female. The study concludes that we rely on well defined social stereotypes of attractiveness and that we assess beautiful people as being more likely to be intelligent, exciting, and successful. Surprisingly, real supermodels could not beat the compound virtual babes in the beauty tests. A composite face made up from the faces of 22 Miss Germany finalists was rated significantly more beautiful than any of the real-life contestants. It appears that our ideals of physical perfection really are unrealistic and unattainable, and that most of us share them.http://pcptpp030.psychologie.uni-regensburg.de/beautycheck/english/index.htm
If you're squeamish about insects and other creepy-crawlies, you should definitely avoid this Web site. If, however, you have any curiosity about small, multi-legged animals then this is the place to find out about them. The self-proclaimed "bug man" who runs the site answers a variety of questions, from anxious homeowners with infestations and keen insect-spotters alike. Here, you can learn what a black widow really looks like, what to do if your bathroom is home to silverfish, and how to identify the caterpillar you just found crawling on your plants. The list of bugs is not comprehensive but it does cover most of the common insects encountered in the western world. Most of the content adopts a primarily American viewpoint and uses the common names prevalent there as well as binomial nomenclature. The advice is practical, concise, and usually well illustrated. Just be prepared for some scary/ooky images.
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/
The class Arachnida comprises numerous orders, such as Ascari (mites and ticks) and various orders of scorpions - including the Uropygi (whip-tailed scorpions and the delightfully named vinegaroons) - as well as Araneae (spiders.) This site covers them all; it's the biggest source of arachnological info on the Net, with links to more than 2,000 sites about these creatures. Undoubtedly, some will find this site something of a clearinghouse for worst nightmares, and if life-sized photographs of fanged, hairy spiders as big as your hand are not for you, then stay away from the Tarantulas section. Seriously. The site caters to all levels of interest and experience, and links are organized by Arachnid order as well as by subject matter. There's stuff here for kids and teachers as well as for the serious arachnologist, and a section, which we hope you never need, on bites, venom, and toxicology. Oh, and have we mentioned the tarantulas?
http://www.arachnology.org/Arachnology/Arachnology.html
SOFTWARE
Graylisting: a Method of Spam Control
Graylisting is a relatively simple algorithm that can control spam. A graylisting mailserver notes three pieces of information about incoming e-mail: sender; recipient; and IP address of the originating mail machine. If the triplet has never been seen before, the mail server simply tells the sender to try later. The next time this combination shows up, the mail is accepted. The process relies on the premise that spam software never retries failed addresses. While the algorithm is easy to graft onto current mail systems, it is certainly not a long-term solution. Spammers could probably adapt to it without too much effort, and the implicit delay in e-mail delivery may also be disadvantageous. Despite such drawbacks, graylisting is another potential weapon in the spam arms race. Graylisting is not a new idea, and was once called "tempfailing" - do a Web search on that term for some history. The project page has a lucid explanation and sample software.http://projects.puremagic.com/greylisting/