BREAKING SURF
| P2P File-Trading Goes Private |
| The History of Computing Project |
| Panoramas of the North American West |
| Lost Indiana |
| The Budget Traveller's Guide to Sleeping in Airports |
| The Caltrans Blooper Page |
| Collages 800 Pixels by 600 Pixels |
| Phyllis Wattis and the Meaning of Art |
| Netsurfer Recommendations |
| No, It Isn't Ironic - This Is |
| Ed Lu's Space Blog |
| Medical Examiner Intern Blog |
| Wordsmithing in California |
| Trolling the Deep Tasman Sea |
| Very Subjective Cockeyed Science |
| Python 2.3: Speed and Stability |
| Almanach de Bruxelles Mis-Scoped |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
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BREAKING SURF
The Birth and Quick Death of Terrorism Futures
People like to make fun of public-relations flacks, but a talented one might have helped the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) avoid one heck of a mess. The US government agency established the Policy Analysis Market (PAM). PAM would allow users to play a futures market based on terrorism. Think Jordan's King Abdullah will be assassinated? Buy a futures contract and hope it pays off. The science behind this concept is sound. The market aggregates investors into a distributed supercomputer of sorts. The results of such an activity can be amazingly accurate - Wired notes that orange juice futures can be used to accurately predict the weather. While the science is sound, the moral ambiguity of betting on deaths has killed the PAM project. Not wishing to juggle yet another political hot potato, the White House has put a stop to it. The analysts involved predictably decry the move as politically motivated. Slashdotters knock out a range of other complaints. The BBC and the New York Times have more.Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59818,00.html
Slashdot: http://slashdot.org/articles/03/07/29/1249247.shtml
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3106559.stm
Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/29/politics/29TERR.html
Working Scenario of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board
The final report of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) won't be available until late August, but you can download the board's working scenario today. The 12-MB download details the doomed Space Shuttle's last moments and analyzes the external-tank foam that struck the wing and apparently led to the craft's destruction upon re-entry. If the 12-MB PDF download is too much for you, read the transcript of a recent CAIB press conference. The panel quite clearly asserts that NASA's concept of Space Shuttle as space truck never had merit and that the Space Shuttle has always been and will remain an experimental vehicle. Most striking is an aside mentioned during the press conference. In the course of flight testing the F-22 fighter, the prototypes have flown nearly 1,600 times. The Space Shuttles have only launched 113 times. The sample size for our understanding of Space Shuttle behavior is woefully limited. Given that the CAIB takes aim at NASA's culture and its inability to deal with bad news, the final report should make great, albeit depressing, reading.CAIB: http://www.caib.us/
Scenario: http://boss.streamos.com/download/caib/documents/20030711/sts107workingscenario.pdf
Transcript: http://www.caib.us/events/press_briefings/20030711/default.html
SETI@Home Re-observations Sky Map
Over the past few years, the SETI@Home project has turned up 5 billion candidate signals in gaussian, triplet, or pulse formats, any of which could be a sign of extraterrestrial intelligence. Given current limited observational resources, however, the research team can't follow up on every one. Last March, the SETI@Home team more closely examined the apparent sources of 150 finely selected candidate signals with the giant Arecibo Observatory radio dish. The candidate selection criteria included a strong radio signal, a signal observed more than once in the same spot and frequency range, the signal's proximity to a known star, and whether that star is known to have planets. The data gathered are being analyzed now. Meanwhile, SETI@Home has released a map of the selected star systems. Could one of these star systems contain intelligent life? Astrobiology Magazine has some good background.SETI@Home: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/candidates.html
Astrobiology: http://www.astrobio.net/news/article535.html
Cringely's $2-Million Plan to Destroy the RIAA
Robert X. Cringely can usually be counted on for a good read, and his July 24 effort ranks among his best. As we noted last issue, the RIAA is going after individual music downloaders, and Cringely remarks that the music labels, "fat, rich, and having everything to lose," are trying mightily to bend culture to their will. His answer: a $2-million startup that he calls Son of Napster, or Snapster. Cleverly, Snapster rests on a solid foundation of US copyright law. Snapster investors are owners of the company, which purchases one retail copy of every music CD on the market. The company owns these CDs, therefore the investors do, too. and under fair use provisions, the investors are thus permitted to make back-up copies of all or part of that content. With a business model of charging five cents per back-up and selling shares, Snapster seems like a valid proposition. If it takes off, RIAA will go absolutely rabid. Of course, some argue that they already have. Since the original piece, Cringeley has written a followup tweaking his plan and documenting reader reaction.Cringely 1: http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030724.html
Cringely 2: http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030731.html
NSD 9.28: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/sub/v09/nsd.09.28.html#BS9
While a few media outlets did some digging to find a handful of the file-sharers subpoenaed by the RIAA, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has established a database of targets, searchable by username or IP address. The EFF has only catalogued the first 125 subpoenas - the RIAA has sent out another 750 since. Wired has the EFF's point of view, but check out Slyck for an analysis of the method to the RIAA's madness. Slyck analyzed the subpoenas at the EFF and recorded patterns in the music listed thereon. Some songs and artists are mentioned more often than others. We can't draw too many conclusions from this - all we have are questions. Is the RIAA targeting only certain, possibly seeded files? Do the number of downloads correspond to sales? Do they differ drastically? We can tell you one thing - Avril Lavigne has by far more downloads than any other artist.
EFF: http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/riaasubpoenas/
Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,59785,00.html
Slyck: http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=207
Q and A with Government Intellectual Property Lawyers
Lawyers with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) graciously took time to answer a dozen questions relating to piracy and IP crimes in general from Slashdot denizens. If you've ever wondered what the term "fair use" actually means under US law, you'll find an informative discussion here. While many tend to equate the DoJ with RIAA and multinational corporations, the DoJ Deputy Chief for Intellectual Property takes pains to clarify that the DoJ's mandate is criminal prosecution, not civil (they aren't involved in recent RIAA activity, for example), and goes on to describe how small companies and individuals benefit from the DoJ's efforts. Unsurprisingly, the Q and A session generates a tremendous amount of commentary. Some find the arguments persuasive, others view all lawyers as vipers. Others are just pleased to see some discussion on the issues. Regardless of your own preconceptions, there's much to stoke your brain cells.http://interviews.slashdot.org/interviews/03/07/24/1326224.shtml
Internet Voice Comms: Iraqi Use and FBI Access
These two stories are not directly related, but they are certainly thematically coupled. A Wired story tells how Iraq's unreliable phone service is driving Iraqis to substitute Internet voice communications, in particular using the voice functions of instant messaging clients such as Yahoo Messenger. Iraqi cybercafes charge roughly 60 times less per minute of computer use than international phone calls cost, and the service is more reliable. A long and detailed CNET story looks at the FBI's recent moves to ensure its ability to bug Internet phone calls. The FBI has been lobbying the FCC for regulations that would force ISPs and Net phone companies to allow the FBI to tap their data streams. These online phone companies routinely comply with requests for call records under current law, but are not known yet to provide live streams of phone conversations to the FBI. This complex legislative, security, and privacy issue is well covered in the article. Meanwhile, any bets on whether the Internet voice chats in Iraq are already tapped?Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,59786,00.html
CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5056424.html
Electronic Voting Machines Insecure
Remember the 2000 US Presidential election? In the wake of the Florida butterfly-ballot fiasco, many pundits held computerized voting to be the wave of the future. Not so fast.... Researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Rice University have analyzed the software running the voting machines made by Diebold, a major player in the field of electronic voting. The academics were able to successfully manipulate vote counts as well as vote repeatedly with the software. Diebold claims that the software has been fixed; the researchers respond that the problems they uncovered would require a wholesale rewriting of the code from scratch. Maybe we should just hope that there are no more butterfly ballots.... The analysis is available in a PDF paper, and the New York Times, CNET, and Wired have coverage.Paper: http://avirubin.com/vote.pdf
Times: http://nytimes.com/2003/07/24/technology/24VOTE.html
CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1009-5054088.html
Wired: http://wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59774,00.html
About 550 years ago, in a small shop in Mainz, Germany, Johann Gutenberg was experimenting with printing using metal type and a wooden press. After trying his hand with single sheets and some small documents, he felt confident enough to tackle a really big project, the Bible. Nobody knows how many copies he made, but it was enough to hint at how this revolutionary technology would lead to the spread of literacy and knowledge, and change the world. The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas has one of only five complete copies of the Gutenberg Bible in the US. You can look at it there, carefully preserved under glass, if you wish, or you can examine it at home, thanks to its digitization. A Ransom Center team has scanned and posted nearly 1,300 digital images of the Gutenberg Bible online. The pages are clear and legible (well, we can't vouch for every one, exactly, but we assume the others equal the ones we looked at), although if you want to understand them, of course, you'll have to brush up on your Latin. The images are important but the site also presents quite a bit on Gutenberg and his transforming invention.
http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/gutenberg/
KeepMedia Launches Online News and Magazine Archive
KeepMedia is an online newsstand that provides unlimited access to archived material (everything except the current issue) of some 140 magazines and newspapers for a single monthly fee of $4.95. It's sort of like a LexisNexis for the public. Magazine publishers hope the new business will encourage users to subscribe but they'll also benefit from a share of the revenue. As noted, this is not a new idea. Besides LexisNexis's pricey full-text service, many magazines sell access to their own online archives. But KeepMedia will let you do more than just read articles. You'll also be able to store annotated versions of articles you've read and the service will suggest additional material based on your reading habits. Can KeepMedia attract a critical mass of users, even without any Conde Nast or AOL Time Warner publications to offer? KeepMedia may have nailed the timing, and the price is certainly attractive. CNET and the Washington Post have the details.KeepMedia: http://www.keepmedia.com/
CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1026_3-5055614.html
Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35506-2003Jul23.html
The PBS science show "Nova" has revamped its Web site. If the opening page doesn't fill you with a thirst to learn about a whole lot of topics - well, you must have had your curiosity chip disconnected a long time ago. "Super Bridge", "Secrets, Lies and Atomic Spies", and "Treasures of the Sunken City" are just some of the episodes that vie for your attention. Each title links to a separate section with further details, video clips in many cases, and sometimes quizzes to test what you've learned. Best of all, the site provides an archive of over 120 Web site companions to programs going back to 1996. The site also has excellent educational resources, transcripts of shows, an option to subscribe to e-mail alerts about new programs, and, natch, a store. One or two mismatched links provided some frustration, but that's just a minor blemish on a fascinating resource.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/
Mailinator Eliminates Sign-Up Spam
We all know the drill. You have to give a valid e-mail address to a Web site in order to register, so that the site can e-mail you a confirmation message with further instructions. Some sites, you just know, will then turn around and sell your address to a spam mailing list. In a few days' time, you'll be getting spammed like crazy. Mailinator wants to help you avoid that fate. When registering, enter any user name you can think of at mailinator.com. Retrieve any confirmation e-mail at Mailinator, and do what you have to to make your registration go through. Note that your Mailinator address won't be there for long. Security? There isn't any. This isn't about being your new private in-box - it's about killing spam. It's a cool concept, well worth a look.http://www.mailinator.com/mailinator/Welcome.do
Star Wars Kid Leaves School, Parents Sue
Remember Ghyslain Raza, the kid who filmed himself pretending to wield a double-ended light sabre and who unexpectedly and agonizingly found his pantomime online? The agony may have cut a little deeper than the online world suspected. Raza's parents are suing the four students who supposedly uploaded the video to Kazaa for $160,000. The parents say their son has been traumatized and requires serious psychiatric help to get on with his life and deal with his unexpected and embarrassing celebrity. According to the Globe and Mail, the teen left his school and completed the year at a child psychiatry ward. It doesn't seem that the Force was very strong in this one. Wired also has a brief.Globe and Mail: http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030723.uboyyn/BNStory/National/
Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59757,00.html
ONLINE CULTURE
In the midst of the current file-sharing frenzy, it's easy to forget that we've been through all of this before. There was a time when folks browsed large collections of online music and lyrics databases at anonymous FTP sites. The music industry cracked down and these public FTP sites closed. Sure enough, the file-sharing traffic moved to private FTP sites, which required you to know the right people, have the right passwords, and share files in order to get files. Once Napster appeared, the FTP file-trading scene faded away. History is repeating. As the music industry cracks down on public peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing, the file-traders are moving to private P2P networks that require you to know the right people, have the right passwords, and share files in order to get files. CNN has a story about several of these very private file-trading nets, possibly the immediate future of online file-trading.http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/07/29/private.fileshare/index.html
The History of Computing Project
The History of Computing Project may be helpful to students of the field, as it presents some comprehensive indices on varying issues related to the history of computing. Of obvious interest to many is this site's in-depth chronology of the history of computer games, in the Software section. An extensive list of hardware is available in Hardware (What? You were thinking Recipes?), another of the six sections this site's divided into. One, Chronology, is packed with information that you probably didn't know. The link to the quiz is fun, as well.http://www.thocp.net/
ONLINE TRAVEL
Panoramas of the North American West
Don Bain's Virtual Guidebooks offers up some 3,000 amazing QuickTime VR panoramas from sites all over western North America and, as the site correctly notes, it's the next best thing to being there. It's no wonder that the site's got sponsorships from such prestigious stars as REI and Cameraworld. You can tour the site through thematic lists - if you're looking for a view of an alluvial plain, for instance - or go for the geographical or alphabetical listings. You're sure to find something of interest without breaking a sweat. A link to books brings up suggested reading. Prefer art prints and posters? Covered. Click on the Prints button to see a wide range of suggestions, thanks to the site's affiliation with AllPosters. Caution is strongly recommended, however - once you're in, it's difficult to get out. Not because of any problem with the site, it's just because the content is so darned interesting. Allow at least an hour for a virtual vacation here.http://www.virtualguidebooks.com/PanoramasTOC.html
Indiana: home to corn and soybeans, yes, and once a hub of the American economy. Really, some nifty stuff came out of this corner of the northern Midwest while the farmers were waiting on the crops. Once the center of population in the US and a major rail hub, Indiana still has remnants of its former glory for you to rediscover, much of it at this Web site. Some of the featured history didn't happen all that long ago; in 1971, two major burger dealers were duking it out. Indianapolis-based Burger Chef lost out, but left behind a fascinating story. The state has other distinctive attractions: Indianapolis's Crown Hill is the third-largest public cemetery in the US, which ought to count for something. You can also explore the ruined US 30 Auto Dragstrip, once touted in booming-voiced announcements over the airwaves as "the racing capital of Chicagoland!" Once you're done here, you may continue to watch the corn grow.
http://www.in.net/~mcdonajp/lostindiana/index.html
The Budget Traveller's Guide to Sleeping in Airports
If you're a frequent flier or find yourself stranded in an airport without suitable sleeping accommodations, you'll want to familiarize yourself with this site. Here you'll find everything you need to know about sleeping in airports, whether by accident or design. Most of the information has been submitted by visitors who've had experience sleeping (or attempting to sleep) in airports all over the world. You can view data collected by surveys and submitted stories. Want to know the absolute most disgraceful airport bathrooms? You'll find that here, along with information on prayer rooms, food concessions, and much more. Before your next vacation or business trip, browse through this site to get all the information you'll need in the event of an all-night layover.http://www.sleepinginairports.net/
Blooper is a strong word, implying humor, and unintended humor at that. The Caltrans (the California Department of Transportation) is a favorite California scapegoat, and the Caltrans Blooper Page documents, in excruciating detail, the department's incorrect and plain stupid roadway signage. Caltrans has worked hard to earn its local reputation. Most of the examples presented at the site are simply goofs and shortcuts that didn't quite cut it. Here and there though there are some true gems (280 North right over 280 South Detour?). The site intelligently divides the state into 12 areas so checking out local bloopers is a snap. Of course, while researching Caltrans bloopers, a fair number of local (city and county) bloopers were also discovered. They're also on the site.
http://www.highwayman-routes.com/Caltrans_Bloopers_Page.html
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Collages 800 Pixels by 600 Pixels
Do you remember as a child making collages from photos cut from magazines and newspapers? The 800x600 Project is also about making collages, but in a more tech-savvy way. To meet the project's requirements, a digital image it must be composed from 64 smaller pictures arranged in an eight-picture by eight-picture grid. The final collage should measure 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high. Some of the submissions available for viewing are of a high standard indeed. "24 Hours in Santorini", for example, evokes the glorious sunshine and clean blue and white lines of the Greek islands in loving detail, while "Baby Baby" chronicles the various expressions of a newborn. Any subject can be beautiful when documented in this fashion; others explored include ornamental rhubarb, Rotterdam docks, queuing for concert tickets, and even an extremely atmospheric, dusty, dried out, and rusty collage entitled "Landfill".http://abe.midco.net/baike/800x600project/
Phyllis Wattis and the Meaning of Art
How do we find meaning in art and how does art connect us to the artist? These are some of the questions explored at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's (SFMOMA) online multimedia exhibition entitled the Legacy of Phyllis Wattis, she being a philanthropist and art collector. Take a closer look at key pieces in SFMOMA's collection that entered the museum by way of Wattis's generosity and vision. Explore the work of Warhol, Duchamp, Rauschenberg, and a few others, as you take an in-depth look at their work such as "Red Liz" and "Automobile Tire Print". Also, you can view a video clip of Wattis discussing both the museum and the pieces she helped acquire. You'll need Flash to view this online multimedia feature.http://www.sfmoma.org/wattis/content_web.html
BOOKS & E-ZINES
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Feed
Ice Hunt
Cold War Hot: Alternative Decisions of the Third World War
Schott's Original MiscellanyMorissette: http://www.lyricsmansion.com/result.php?number=633
Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,985375,00.html
Blogging really has literally reached new heights with Ed Lu's blog. With orbital missions overshadowed by disaster, you're pardoned if his name only rings the faintest of bells. Lu blogs from the International Space Station, where he serves as the NASA Science Officer for Expedition 7. He discusses here the launch into space, or as he calls it, "the Soyuz Ride". So far, there are six other chapters, dealing with his impressions of flight (which is how you move in space) to space dining to space workouts. Got questions? Feel free to ask; there's a handy link to Ed and Commander Yuri Malenchenko. Ed's really got a good handle on words, and his blogs are a pure joy to read. Photos are included, with links to many more.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp7/luletters/
If your stomach doesn't churn while watching forensic science documentaries and your bedside reading material features gory thrillers, this blog by a medical examiner intern may be for you. The aptly named Autopsy Report does not spare any detail. It's suitably ghoulish for any horror fan while also suitably clinical for anyone visiting for the forensic medicine. All the medical details are carefully documented and explained - if you've ever wondered how an autopsy can identify a drug overdose victim, what subarachnoid hemorrhaging means, or even exactly how decomposition occurs, just dive right in. There are few accompanying images, and the blogger presents his work stories informally. It reads more like what he would say to his friends over a drink later than as a medical report. It isn't an easy read for everyone, but it is certainly informative and unusual. Just don't read it during lunch.
http://www.autopsyreport.netfirms.com/
In answer to a New York publishing scene that they feel sees California as something dim at the end of the Pony Express route, a group of Californian writers have formed a cleanly designed, well filled site as an online literary hub for the West Coast's finest writers and their readers. You'll find an author directory, listings of local literary events, details of the most recently published offerings from around the state, and more. An intriguing feature is the First Person section, where various authors publish extracts from their diaries and thoughts. Be prepared to envy the author who finds time to write of pelicans surfing on Malibu beach. There's plenty here for fans of the writers but there are also volumes of links for novice and experienced writers alike, from bestseller lists through to California-based publishers' contact information.
http://www.californiaauthors.com/
SURFING SCIENCE
In May, the scientific research vessel R.V. Tangaroa set off on a month-long voyage to the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand to explore deep-sea habitats and report on the marine life and biodiversity found there. This NORFANZ Voyage (we can figure out the O, the R, the ANZ, and maybe the F, but the N perplexes us) was the most complex and multi-faceted marine research expedition ever conducted in Australasia, and in the course of its 5,000-mile venture, researchers collected over 500 species of fish and 1,300 invertebrates, many of which were previously unknown to science. This site contains photographs of many of the extraordinary finds, including a fossilized tooth as big as your hand, from a Megalodon, a shark twice the size of a great white that's been extinct for some 30 million years. Particularly fascinating is the crew's Voyage Diary, which supplies intriguing insight into both the excitement and the hard work involved in a scientific project such as this.http://www.oceans.gov.au/norfanz/
Very Subjective Cockeyed Science
Three people with an awful lot of free time on their hands have spent parts of the last few years doing elaborate experiments with common household items. Experiments range widely, and include measuring the viscosity of household liquids, observing falling buttered toast, and Hot Pocket dissection. The science varies from fairly normal to truly out there. The experiments are thoroughly detailed in both text and numerous photos. References and appendices are attached as appropriate. While some of the results are seriously questionable (the authors admit these cases), the error analyses are thorough and well done.http://www.cockeyed.com/science/scienceclub.html
SOFTWARE
Python 2.3: Speed and Stability
This major new release of the Python programming language is all about speed and stability. That's why we wrote that headline up there that way. Python 2.3 can perform up to 30% faster than Python 2.2. Wow - and it's more stable too! Numerous bug fixes have eliminated memory leaks and dramatically improved the stability of the new type/class system introduced in Python 2.2. A number of new standard modules have also been added to the base distribution. The developers recommend that Python users upgrade to this version.http://www.python.org/2.3/
CORRECTIONS
Almanach de Bruxelles Mis-Scoped
An outrageous editing error last week led you to believe that the Almanach de Bruxelles indexed royalty from all over the world. In fact, it is restricted to royalty outside Europe. We humbly apologize, bow deeply, and shuffle off stage left.http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/sub/v09/nsd.09.28.html#SS3