BREAKING SURF
| Gamble on Your Gaming Skillz |
| Guide to Road-Trip Fast Food |
| Global Sushi Restaurant Guide |
| Vatican Museums |
| The Natural History Museum's Wildlife Garden |
| Ceremonial Africa |
| Awesome Batman Fan Flic |
| Mr. Otto in "Olympics" |
| The Hate of Facades - Certain Ones, Anyway |
| Fractals in Nature |
| Technology in the High Chilean Desert |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
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BREAKING SURF
Columbia Shuttle Accident Final Report
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) has released its report and one of the more incisive comments from its members is that complex systems have complex failure modes. The proximate cause of the accident was the piece of dislodged foam that hit the shuttle wing. It created a hole in the leading edge and allowed the heat of re-entry to melt the wing on Columbia's return leg. The CAIB looked further than proximate causes, however, and rather than blaming any individual process or person for the accident, it faults NASA's organizational culture and states that the organization needs to change. The tripod of cost, schedule, and safety is out of balance, says the CAIB, and fixing it will be a long and difficult process. The CAIB Web site offers the report as a 10-MB PDF file, or as smaller chapter-by-chapter files. Video of the press briefing that accompanied the report's release is also available.CAIB: http://www.caib.us/news/report/default.html
Video: http://www.caib.us/events/press_briefings/20030826/default.html
On Aug. 27, Mars was only 55.8 million kilometers from Earth. That's the closest the two planets have been since 58,617 BCE. Not surprisingly, the close passage has prompted a burst of scientific activity. A horde of spacecraft, already taking advantage of the fuel-saving close approach, are en route to rendezvous with Mars. The Hubble Space Telescope is taking pictures just like backyard astronomers are. Two Hubble snaps were released this week. At closest approach, Hubble was able to detail the Martian surface with an image resolution of between five and ten kilometers. Hubble will be doing a bunch of imaging work on Mars over the next six months - follow the AstroFiles link on the Hubble Web page below for details. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) has released what may be the sharpest infrared picture of Mars ever. The data from its observations will be used to look for water on the Red Planet.
Hubble: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/2003/22/
UKIRT: http://outreach.jach.hawaii.edu/pressroom/2003_mars/
Tell NASA What to Photograph on Mars
The Mars Orbiter Camera Target Request Site tries to include the public in space exploration in a rather new fashion. NASA has asked the public to suggest imaging targets for the Mars Global Surveyor Mars Global Camera. Talk about democratizing science! To get NASA to act on your suggestion, you'll have to make sure that your requested image does not already exist in the photographic archive. Also, the satellite's orbit limits your options somewhat. If you are willing to do the work, if you can convince NASA your image is worth taking, and if your request passes scientific muster, NASA is willing to take the picture. Registration is required, but it is free. Given that few of us will ever get to Mars, it's amazing that we now have the possibility of photographing a tiny piece for our own scientific and technical reasons. Who would have thought this possible before the Web? Imagine asking Captain Cook to bring back a kangaroo or an aboriginal artifact? Of course, some people will ask for photos of the so-called Martian face - the satellite has been there, done that, by the way - but one can easily imagine people attempting to study Mars on their own. Now that really is amateur astronomy.http://www.msss.com/plan/intro/
On Aug. 25, NASA successfully launched the last of its four big science observatories. Lofted into orbit by a new two-stage Delta II rocket, the big-budget Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) will perform deep-range infrared observation. At the core of the spacecraft is a 33.5-inch telescope that serves an infrared-array camera, an infrared spectrograph, and a multi-band imaging photometer. To detect very faint radiation from distant, cool objects, the sensors and associated electronics must be kept extremely cold - SIRTF uses liquid helium. How long this vital cryogenic coolant lasts largely determines the life of the mission, and to conserve it, a suite of ingenious design techniques isolates the sensors and other critical components from heat sources. Strategies include a spacecraft cooling system with ammonia and propane, insulation, and reflective material. Also, all the components that need cooling cluster together in a cryostat attached directly to the helium tank. Even the fixed solar array has been pressed into the fight against heat by shielding parts of the spacecraft from sunshine. If all goes well, scientists hope to extend the life of the mission to five years. The data it gathers should expand our understanding of such phenomena as black holes, planet formation, galaxy evolution, and the Milky Way's nucleus. NASA offers a launch press release and a PDF mission press kit.
SIRTF: http://sirtf.caltech.edu/
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/sirtf_launch.html
Press kit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/sirtflaunch.pdf
California Court Rules Publication of DVD Copying Code Can Be Banned
In a closely watched free-speech case, the California Supreme Court ruled on appeal that online publication of source code that enables the copying of DVDs - the now-famous DeCSS code - can be banned under the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The court essentially said that trade-secret rights trump free-speech rights in this case. Nevertheless, the decision leaves room for yet another reversal - the California Supreme Court directed a lower court to decide if any trade secrets were, in fact, actually violated. This is a promising loophole, since the DeCSS code was widely available before the defendant in this particular case posted it online. CNET has the story. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has posted the text of the decision and spins the strong scrutiny that the court said must be applied to trade secrets in free-speech cases as a win for free speech.CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5067665.html
EFF: http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DVDCCA_case/20030825_eff_bunner_pr.php
Decision: http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DVDCCA_case/S102588_bunner_decision.txt
Georgia Election Officials Dare Coder to Try to Crack System
Ever since the 2000 US elections, the country has quested for the holy grail of chad-free voting. Striving for that goal, states such as Georgia are introducing electronic voting. Last week, at a public meeting on the vulnerability to tampering of Georgia's new touch-screen voting system, Roxanne Jekot, a computer programmer, boasted that she and a few friends could easily crack the state's system. State election officials seem unfazed, perhaps because the electronic voting process functioned smoothly in last year's voting, and one of the system's developers put the odds of tilting the results at a billion to one. Still, many people are considerably anxious over the security of such systems, and Congress is wondering about requiring all systems to provide a paper trail that could be used as a back-up if necessary. Perhaps to try to head off such awkward initiatives, Georgia officials have promised to make a voting machine available to test Jekot's dare. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the brief story in both electronic and, presumably, paper versions.http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0803/23voting.html
2003 US News & World Report College Rankings
Each year, US News & World Report sifts and sorts through mounds of data to rank US colleges. The eagerly awaited and often contentious listings are pored over by college applicants eager to select a school for financial or academic reasons and university administrators keen to find a competitive advantage to exploit. The US News & World Report ranks schools in many categories including type of program, price, and degree. Also included is a great deal of supplementary information, including advice specifically for applicants. About three-quarters of a ranking comes from objective data while the rest is derived from peer assessment. You can get a fairly good idea of what's available in the 2003 rankings by browsing the site, but most of the detailed information sits behind a pay barrier. We don't usually point to pay sites but we think the price is reasonable. The online or print versions each cost $12.95 (both for $17.95), a modest investment relative to the cost of a college education. These folks have been doing this for a number of years and have got the system worked out pretty well by now.http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php
Seventy-Five Words and $100 Can Win You Some Ritzy Property
Claudia Johnsen has some property she wants to dispose of and she figures she'll get a better price if she makes a contest of it. In the US, it's illegal to raffle off stuff for personal gain - that would be illegal gambling. Under Virginia state law, however, you can run something like the US Dream Properties contest Johnsen has set up. She asks people to write a 75-word essay that explains why they should get one of the five properties she has up for grabs and to submit it with a $100 entry fee. The essays will be thinned by Washington and Lee University students, after which the winners will be picked by three anonymous lawyers. If a property fails to garner a defined minimum number of entries, Johnsen will return each fee, less a $20 processing charge. You can enter as often as you like. The properties consist of a 124-acre tract along the Potomac River, one-third share in some apartments, a two-story home, a townhouse, and a condo. They range in value from $190,000 to $1.69 million, which makes the $100 entry fee seem paltry in comparison. The Washington Post has some quotes from Johnsen and other details.US Dream Properties: http://usdreamproperties.com/
Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50351-2003Aug26.html
Should porn publishers have their own .xxx top-level domain (TLD)? Good arguments exist, pro and con. Proponents say that unless the porn industry creates such a domain suffix, it will fall prey to restrictive government regulation. Opponents worry that such a domain will become a virtual red-light district and will also start down the slippery slope to further regulation. In fact, a .xxx TLD already exists and is being sold by New.net, although it is not part of the official root-domain-server system, and thus is not easily visible to most users. With a new round of TLD decisions in the wings, and with lawmakers making noises about mandating such domains, the idea is being vigorously debated by the adult industry. Wired has the story.
Wired: http://wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,60145,00.html
New.net: http://www.new.net/
Woman Fights RIAA Subpoena in Legal Test Case
A user known only by her handle, Nycfashiongirl, is fighting the RIAA subpoena of her identity information. The RIAA wants the information from her ISP, Verizon, because, it claims, she is a major copyright infringer who has shared more than 900 songs through Kazaa. This case is a test that may set legal precedent for or against the subpoenas the RIAA is using to fight against file sharers. Although whether or not Nycfashiongirl shared music and violated copyright is not technically relevant to the court fight over the subpoena, both sides are leaking such information through the press, presumably to influence public opinion. This fight will almost certainly influence the future of file-sharing lawsuits. CNET has the story.http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5069019.html
The Class-Action Lawsuit Web Directory
The lawyers have gone from chasing ambulances to chasing pizza delivery vans, and their clearinghouse is located on the Web. The lawyers advertising at Big Class Action claim that it's an effective use of technology for spreading word of impending class-action suits. Critics view it as chumming for plaintiffs. A Plastic contributor poses the question, and you're free to chime in with your own two cents. Just think - you might be able to sue a major corporation without ever spilling a drop of coffee in your lap.Big Class Action: http://bigclassaction.com/
Plastic: http://www.plastic.com/article.html;sid=03/08/24/12443861;sid=03/08/24/12443861
AOL, Yahoo Experiment with Blogs
It's no secret that the big Net portals and ISPs are working on extensive blog-hosting services. AOL has just unveiled its own blogging service called AOL Journals, which requires a valid AOL account to access. Meanwhile, Sven Latham of Yet Another Blog noticed that Yahoo has several URLs related to blogging - specifically blog.yahoo.com and blogs.yahoo.com, which both currently redirect to groups.yahoo.com. Yahoo also has a Korean Web site, kr.blog.yahoo.com, which sure seems to be some sort of a blogging service, although we can't tell for sure since we don't read Korean.Yet Another Blog: http://www.yetanotherblog.com/?post=507
Yahoo Blogs: http://blogs.yahoo.com/
Korean Yahoo Blogs: http://kr.blog.yahoo.com/
Corporate Manufacturers Adopt eBay
CNET has a sweet story about corporate adoption of eBay. Some heavy hitters in the tech sector, notably Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard, have embraced eBay, once regarded as nothing more than a sort of a Saturday flea market. The article doesn't mention this, but governments have looked to eBay as well; the state of Oregon has been moving merchandise there for over a year. How do these corporate moves affect you as a potential buyer or seller? Not much, as it turns out. Whether it's Sears or Dell, a company pays the same eBay fees you do. The companies don't seem to mind paying, as they can often peddle discontinued lines at prices well exceeding those commanded by a standard liquidator. This pays off for you, the consumer, as well. Without the liquidator middleman, purchasers of these goods often pay less for the same gear via a company-sponsored eBay transaction than they would at a bricks-and-mortar liquidator outlet. eBay provides manufacturers with a good source of revenue and consumers with lower prices. Too bad about the middlemen.http://news.com.com/2009-1018_3-5064040.html
Bad Feelings at the 2003 IAAF World Championships
The 2002 Olympic Winter Games saw the subjective judging of figure skating in the glare of the public spotlight. At the 2003 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships, now underway, track is stirring up controversy. Officials disqualified US sprinter Jon Drummond from his 100-meter heat for a false start. Drummond didn't believe he had moved and protested vociferously, then lay down on the track and delayed the proceedings for over 50 minutes. During the tantrum, the US team manager charged on the track from the stands and encouraged Drummond's behavior. Drummond didn't race in the 100-meter, and is out of the tournament completely - the IAAF disqualified Drummond, who had decided by himself to withdraw not only from this meet, but from all meets this year. A BBC report, a good read, draws upon the official IAAF site. A Canada.com article also has useful info. Why the BBC and Canada.com? Most Americans don't care about track and field save for the Olympics. Drummond won't ever push Kobe Bryant off American sports pages.IAAF World Championships: http://www.iaaf.org/WCH03/index.html
BBC: http://tinyurl.com/ljzr
Canada.com: http://tinyurl.com/ljzo
August Issue of Netsurfer Books
Swords, joysticks, 45s, World War I, and a bunch of sexy ads is what awaits you in the latest edition of Netsurfer Books - and that's just the non-fiction. What if we threw in Flashman, diamond-hard SF, Einstein's dreams, and some disturbing fairy tales? You could hardly resist, could you? Oh, go ahead, check it out, already.http://www.netsurf.com/nsb/sub/v05/nsb.05.08.html
ONLINE CULTURE
Tired of your current job? Like first-person-shooter (FPS) video games? Well, you may be able to put your hand-eye coordination to work to rake in bucks if several new sites such as Ultimate Arena and YouPlayGames.com take off. The premise of the sites is simple: you pay to play against others in FPS games such as Quake, Doom, or the US Army's own America's Army recruiting game. If you kill enough people, you win money that's credited to your account. Real money. The problem the sites and the regulators who want to regulate them face is simple: is this gambling? The sites say no, since skill rather than chance is involved. People in High Places are beginning to think that argument is a bit too slick. Some people may be addicted to gaming, as others are to gambling. And that may mean that killing for money is going to remain illegal, even on the Web.http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/08/21/shooting_for_cash/index_np.html
ONLINE TRAVEL
Tesg's Guide to Big Chain Road Food Consumption is an absolute must for most Americans. It covers, in detail, 73 restaurant chains that provide roadside food service. The level of detail is amazing. The author has researched each chain listed and provides a history and pertinent comments about quality. There are no ratings, but there is more than enough information presented to enable a reasoned choice. There's also a link to DietFacts.com in case you actually want to see what sort of nutrition these places don't provide.http://www.99w.com/evilsam/ff/
Sushi fans are always looking for the next new hot sushi bar. Several Web sites are devoted to this mania, and have been for a while (see NSD 3.01). One of the best is the World-Wide Sushi Restaurant Reference. Navigation is logical and quick, and the territorial coverage is decent except, oddly, in Japan, which is not covered at all. Are there just too many sushi places there? This site is more a listing than a ratings site. Visitor comments are solicited but they're few and far between. That's fine, as, for the most part, impressions of sushi bars are highly individualistic. There are copious links to sushi books and related Web sites. There's also good information for beginners on how to deal with the sushi-bar experience. This is definitely a cut above most sushi-bar listings sites.
NSD 3.01: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/sub/v03/nsd.03.01.html#OT4
World-Wide Sushi Restaurant Reference: http://sushiref.com/
You might not know that the Vatican has its own country code. Maybe you think it uses .org like most other religious institutions. On the plus side, at least the Vaticanese can sell domains to for-profit online industries if they decide to. With the quality of their Web offerings, perhaps they should think about selling Web design services as well. Take Vatican Museums as an example. The site is available in six languages (Latin is not one of them) and takes advantage of Java applets to provide 360-degree views of select rooms in the galleries. Virtual visitors can also zoom in on paintings, probably getting a closer view than they could in person. The gallery sights span a wide range. A Buddha statue and a temple to Vishnu await you in the Ethnological Missionary Museum. It's definitely worth dropping in if you don't have an audience with the Pope any time soon.
http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html
The Natural History Museum's Wildlife Garden
Most visitors to London will have heard of or visited the impressive Natural History Museum and admired the large skeletal T. rex in the entrance hall, but how many would guess that a short distance away, the same museum is hosting some living natural history on a smaller scale? Small groups of visitors are able to enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of the countryside in the heart of London. Hundreds of wild flowers grow and dragonflies flit across ponds. Set in the Museum's west lawn, the Wildlife Garden covers one acre and gives a flavor of British habitats such as oak woodland, lowland heath, chalk downland, and hedgerow, while conducting studies of air and water pollution in this city-center location. The site has a few interactive features like recordings of bat sounds from the garden and a daily pictorial record in slide show format. The garden is looking for volunteers if you want to get more involved.http://www.nhm.ac.uk/museum/garden/
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Photographers Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher share their stunning portraits of African rituals in this online gallery. Through brilliant photographs, you'll explore the sacred rites of tribes in South Africa, Niger, Ethiopia, and elsewhere on the continent. In presenting these highlights from their published book and museum exhibitions, Beckwith and Fisher offer visitors a glimpse of their enchanted excursion into the world of ancient tribes and customs. The images of these captivating places, people, and ceremonies are striking in both the vibrancy of color and the poignancy of theme. From rites such as marriage to marking passage to a new world, these images offer brief visits to worlds strange and magical. Other links on this site provide information on exhibitions, books, and additional resources.http://www.africanceremonies.com/
Instead of spending your money at "The Hulk" or "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", pull up your broadband and kick back with a few minutes of a better superhero flick, "Batman: Dead End". It's a fan film, filmed on a budget of $30,000 over four days. We'll admit it's a little over the top. How often does Batman come up against the Joker, the Alien, and the Predator in one rainy (and very bad) night? The costuming and the look are spot-on, though. It premiered to rave reviews at the 2003 San Diego ComicCon, and we give it two unspecified digits up - as long as you have a fast connection and QuickTime 6.3.
http://www.theforce.net/theater/shortfilms/batman_deadend/index.shtml
With multi-million-dollar DreamWorks extravaganzas like "Shrek" dominating the box office these days, it's sometimes easy to forget that simplicity in animation can be immensely effective. A case in point is Bruno Bozzetto's Flash animated "Olympics". Its star, Mr. Otto, is little more than a stickman, but the whole animation is sublimely expressive, with a thematic nod in the direction of cartoon classics such as Tom and Jerry. The utter savagery of Tom and Jerry is here, for sure, with each of Mr. Otto's attempts at Olympic events ending in hilarious disaster. In fact, by the time Mr. Otto comes to compete in the javelin, you just know that something is going to go very badly wrong. Quite how is anyone's guess, but in the best traditions of cartoon fare, he just keeps on coming back for more.
http://www.flashtoons.org/vedimovie.php?id=74
The Hate of Facades - Certain Ones, Anyway
The Architecture Hate Page aspires to be a community site for those with gripes about human structures, famous or otherwise. The largest section, the Most Hated Projects, appears to solicit your choice of worst architecture before displaying any of them, but scroll down the page to see what the hate is about. At our most recent visit, the most hated project was Z-Mall in Leidschenveen, the Netherlands. The submitter, Architecture Jesus, calls it "a danger to the architectural world" - a pronouncement more polite than many you'll find here. (Maybe that's why he's called Jesus.) You may want to steel yourself for some poor language, rich in Anglo-Saxon epithets. A shopping center in Portugal, "Wal-Mart and any strip mall", and public libaries in Chicago, Seattle, and Denver are among the other top ten objects of disaffection. You can submit photos and descriptions of your own choice structures and access other pages (such as those devoted to Spice Girls, Microsoft, or Disney) in the Hate family. Entering the forum (a haven for lovers of invective) pops up a window with links to pornographic sites - a curious tribute to Rotterdam, home of the Architecture Hate Page.http://www.bbvh.nl/hate/fmain.html
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/ |
Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian
Invented Eden: The Elusive, Disputed History of the Tasaday
Monkey Dancing: A Father, Two Kids, and a Journey to the Ends of the Earth
Islands of the ArcticSan Francisco Hosts Distributed Community Library
The San Francisco-based Distributed Library Project (DLP) is predicated upon fostering a sense of community and connectedness among its circa 200 (and rising) patrons. To join the DLP, create an account and list whatever books or videos you may be willing to lend to other patrons. It'll probably work best if you're in the Bay Area, as well. You don't need to be a member before you peruse the lists of goodies offered by other patrons for materials you may wish to check out. One engaging feature of the DLP site is that two people can discuss a favorite book or video without getting dirty looks from librarians. A search of the listings reveals that, unsurprisingly, Douglas Adams is a popular author among DLPers; a search for natural history revealed only one title out of the nearly 1,800 available when we dropped in.http://www.communitybooks.org/
Bringing Obscure Words to Light (and NSD)
What's all this glossolalia from grammaticasters? Gabelles begone! Kiss my jocoserious gelogenic galleass, meraculous macrismless mammocker. Macarize macrotous malleys. Savor your haysel, ye who effloresce. To the galumptious galliardise of all, let us now praise Luciferous Logolepsy, which means "an illuminating obsession with words". We're talking English words, many of them (alas) archaic, dredged to this extensive online dictionary by Kokogiak Media from the depths of history, literature, and long Alaskan nights of garboil when there's nothing better to do than resurrect siffilating sesquipedality in smalt-smitten snowstorms while slews of sexiparous Sasquatches sing of shardborn sextumvirates, slumgullion hidden from spawling smatchets, and somniloquacious stegophilists clearly suffering from hadeharia and spanogyny. O, obstrobogulous obambulator in obscurity and lambency, click away cachinnating cacaesthesia induced by caliginous cacemphatons with your macaronic mouse. Perplex pachycephalic pantoglots with a panurgic peep at this paratonic smift of deepdown delight. Cadit quaestio! Viva veriloquent venter! May your viaggiatory pleasures be ever meracious!http://www.kokogiak.com/logolepsy/
Dallas Morning News Editorial Board Blog
How do editorial pages get created? The Dallas Morning News created this blog in an attempt to show readers the behind-the-scenes thinking that goes into the creation of its editorials. On that count, the blog fails miserably. Only a few of the editorial writers post regularly, and most of what they post has too little to do with the editorial creation process. The blog does succeed admirably as an adjunct to the Letters to the Editor section, with the huge plus of major interactivity from a few staffers. This is what a Letters to the Editor column would be in the best of all worlds. Argument, controversy, and good solid reading are here for your reading pleasure. The blog would be more interesting if it met its goals, but is fascinating as it is.http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/blog/
The Red Kitchen is a group blog dedicated to sharing favorite recipes and other stuff. This is likely the exact thing that the cook in you (or in your family) would love to spend a little time perusing. Offering everything from vegetarian dishes to appetizers, with links to cookbooks and related sites, this is kind of a single-stop idea shop. If you want to cook for company but are having trouble thinking of what, visit here. Live alone and getting tired of leftover pizza and coke? Your salvation is at hand, as well. Want to toss a bunch of stuff in a bowl and walk away? Crockpot recipes are easy, and allow you to do just that. We didn't spot any low-carb recipes; presumably, they'll get all over that eventually.
http://www.theredkitchen.net/
Artificial Selection at Work on Poetry
Ever thought of applying the principle of natural selection to poetry? No? Well the people at Darwinian Poetry have and you can contribute to their experiment at this Web site. They started with 1,000 randomly generated groups of words and now are seeking readers to subject them to a form of artificial selection by killing off the "bad" ones and breeding the "good" ones with each other. You can choose between two poems on whatever basis you like. Your vote will be recorded, and two more poems will appear. Keep doing this for as long as you like. This process could go on for years, depending on how many people participate and how often. The site is currently selecting its ninth generation of poems - 4,349 poems have already been removed from the poetry pool. Current surviving poems are far from perfect so there's still time to join in. Go on, let out the poetry critic inside you....http://www.codeasart.com/poetry/darwin.html
Take "Entertainment Tonight", add a pinch of Variety, a dash of tabloid. Top off your mishmash with sprinkles of TV Guide and BBC. What do you get? Hello! Americans are generally unfamiliar with this glossy Brit celebrity-fawning mag, but think People. Hello's Web site prostrates with the same devotion to celebrity news. It's stuffed with celeb goop: The news in pictures; Fashion and models; weekly and monthly voting for most attractive woman; etc. Any site that lets you vote for Jamie Lee Curtis or Gina Lollobrigida on the same page is OK in our books. If you like fluff - and at times we all do - it's delightful. California voters might enjoy its profile of Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose mother feared the worst when she told the family doctor her kleine Conan was fascinated by pictures of men "with oiled bodies, with little posing trunks" in his bedroom. Little wonder the Terminator ended up "unencumbered by challenging lines," eh? Smashing!
http://www.hellomagazine.com/
Humor Feed selects the choicest morsels of news satire from a fine selection of online e-zines and serves them up in daily portions to humor-craving netsurfers everywhere. The site has some great stuff, and timely. Right after the Northeast blackout, one link led to a story that described the outage's effect and noted that it killed televisions, computers, and other stuff that Americans rely on to keep from having to talk to one another. The "Feed" part of "Humor Feed" refers to the fact that you can integrate this stuff into your own little Web site. Remember that place? The one you built as an experiment a while back, and even you forget to visit? Beef it up with humor. This is 100% prime American humor, by the way - none of that Canadian or Brit stuff that sticks an unnecessary "u" into everything.
http://www.humorfeed.com/
SURFING SCIENCE
If you've ever wondered how such intricate patterns emerge in a snowflake, you need to see the Dance of Chance. The gallery, a collaboration between the Center for Polymer Studies and the Boston Museum of Science, looks at the emergence of patterns in nature from physical and biological processes. Fractal patterns in nature develop from processes as small as the growth of bacteria on agar or as large as the erosion patterns of large rivers, but their astounding delicacy and similarity is undeniable. Hands-on experiments include studying the Lichtenberg patterns that form when air is forced into a gooey fluid (which you can do in person at the museum, but view online) and observing the feeding trails of termites in sand. One of the coolest things is the description of how electrocardiogram data is used to produce music that you can play in MIDI format at the Web site. That project grew out of a sound (yeah, a pun) cardiology study on looking at such data to determine health.http://polymer.bu.edu/museum/
Technology in the High Chilean Desert
A few robotic rovers have given us glimpses of Mars. More will follow. Five universities, NASA, and the SETI Institute are collaborating on a three-year field project in Chile's Atacama Desert, supposedly the most arid region on Earth. The associated Web site, Life in the Atacama, sets forth the three main goals of their research: to find and study whatever life exists there as "biological oases and microorganic communities"; to understand the barren terrestrial habitat; and to develop and test scientific instruments that can be used on missions to Mars. At centerstage is Hyperion Robot, a solar-powered contraption that looks like a Ford Model A on mountain-bike wheels with motherboards open to the wind. If the text seems too dry, at least check out some of the still photos and the eery, hyperkinetic video clips from Hyperion's stereo cameras. The team hopes to develop new robotic technologies such as over-the-horizon navigation, variable autonomy (can the rover operate on its own?), and enough self-awareness for the rover to detect faults and fix itself. Researchers are also developing EventScope, software that will convert data from Hyperion into 3-D virtual worlds for classrooms.http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/projects/atacama/