BREAKING SURF
| Strippers 1, Nerds 0 |
| Googlebombing "Miserable Failure" |
| Flash Snowball Fights |
| Lewis and Clark |
| London Street Map, 1827 |
| Local Histories in the UK |
| A Variety of Journeys through Vietnam |
| Arab Culture |
| Why Krishna Gets the Ladies |
| Thrift Store Art |
| Wing Sings |
| Netsurfer Recommendations |
| Today in Literary History |
| A Look Back at the Stanford Prison Experiment |
| Plants in Motion |
| Watching the World Go by |
| Special Numbers |
| Mozilla Thunderbird 0.4 Mail Client Released |
| A Deeper Origin of "Computer Virus" |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
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BREAKING SURF
Eight Years after Calvin and Hobbes
Just as we know Calvin and Hobbes are still out there somewhere, so too is Bill Watterson, their beloved creator. The Cleveland Scene's James Renner nosed around Chagrin Falls, Ohio, hoping for a glimpse of Watterson, and Renner likes to think he found his target in a little room at the back of the Fireside Book Shop. Renner reviews Watterson's career as he pokes around in the little town with the book shop. Watterson withstood pressure to turn Calvin and Hobbes into a merchandising brand, but felt plagued by newspaper publishers who reduced the space given over to comics. In the end, he quit, and his poignant last strip appeared December 1995. Renner speculates about Watterson's possible return to to the public eye, especially now that one comic strip, Berkeley Breathed's Opus, has been given half a page to work with. Before turning recluse, Watterson had made it clear that he just wanted to be left alone, and everyone who wants more Calvin and Hobbes has to wonder how much he meant it.Cleveland Scene: http://www.clevescene.com/issues/2003-11-26/feature.html/1/index.html
Calvin and Hobbes: http://www.ucomics.com/calvinandhobbes/
Colorful Presidential Popularity Polls
There are probably far better things to do than pore over the results of polls of President Bush's popularity, but Professor Pollkatz's graphs aren't quite like others and are worth a peek or two. Stare at them for a while, and they tell a vivid story. Professor Pollkatz doesn't hide the fact that he personally vigorously disapproves of the current American government, but he also doesn't let that interfere with his analysis of polling data. He plots presidential approval/disapproval ratings from 14 different pollsters. There's also a revealing comparison with six previous more-than-one-termed presidents. One thing we learned is that President Bush isn't as wildly popular as he is sometimes made out to be, at least not comparatively speaking. His approval ratings trend consistently downward, save for precipitous leaps upward immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq. It's quite amazing to see, actually.http://www.pollkatz.homestead.com/files/pollkatzcontentpage.html
Canadians Fight over Music Copyright Fees...
The Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada has argued before the Canadian Supreme Court that ISPs should pay a tax into a nationwide pool to compensate the music industry for widespread music downloading. An article in the Montreal Gazette, however, points out that such music-sharing may be legal in Canada. Canada assesses a levy on all blank audio media, and when that fee was made law, the government amended its copyright law. The government cannot tax an illegal activity, so to collect the fee, it had to legalize the duplication of recorded music. Some legal experts proclaim the changes that were made legalize peer-to-peer sharing of music. Meanwhile, the Copyright Board of Canada, which oversees the levy, will any minute now rule on whether to extend the fee to include MP3 players and other electronics, apply it to blank DVDs, and embiggen the current fee.Gazette: http://tinyurl.com/yxtd
Canada.com 1: http://tinyurl.com/yxtb
Canada.com 2: http://tinyurl.com/yxt8
Meanwhile, back at the ranch.... The Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA), a mishmash of companies with interest in file-sharing, has proposed that ISPs target any identified peer-to-peer (P2P) users and slap them with an additional fee, which would be funneled back to music publishers. There are a few problems with all of this. First, P2P software is used to do a whole lot of things that have nothing to do with the music industry. Second, ISPs are simply functioning, according to them, as information conduits. Proposed rules would likely require them to determine who is part of, say, SETI@home, and who is trading copyrighted music. That's a big hairball to digest, right there, before we even get to privacy issues. ISPs have already been sued by industry interests for guaranteeing their users' privacy (see NSD 9.22), and civil libertarians may sue ISPs for violating user privacy. This is a classic no-win situation for service providers, and CNET has a good start on the issues involved.
DCIA: http://www.dcia.info/News/newsletter_2003-12-08.htm
NSD 9.22: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/sub/v09/nsd.09.22.html#BS4
CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5113638.html
"Love for sale, love for sale," crooned Cole Porter, and now AOL wants a piece of that action. AOL has just opened its Love.com matchmaking personals portal for a trial run. There's nothing particularly surprising here, other than perhaps just how much of the vast AOL marketing muscle is flexing in support of the service. If you've ever used any online matchmaking service, you know exactly what to expect. In fact, if you've ever used Nerve or Salon personals, you'll see that AOL uses the same back-end software/database, with an AOL look and feel slapped on top. You'll need an AOL or AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) screen name to play, which presumably is the main draw of the service - instant chat connections via the ubiquitous AIM software. A new beta version of AIM that integrates with Love.com is available for download.
Love.com: http://love.com/
Love for Sale: http://www.cherylspelts.com/ruthetting/songs/love_for_sale.htm
Ah, synergy. Love.com goes live and here we have penis news from the frontiers of science. While the newly discovered world's oldest penis is tiny in absolute dimension, it is quite large relative to the body size of its presumably proud possessor. The member in question belongs to a 425-million-year old, 5-millimeter-long crustacean called Colymbosathon ecplecticos, which aptly means "swimmer with a large penis". It boasts the oldest penis on record, though earlier males were swinging their bits around long before it lived. Sadly, the penis in question is entirely virtual now since scientists had to destroy the fossil in question in order to document it. The researchers captured the small ostracode (which look like shrimp in clam shells, basically) in unprecedented photographic detail by grinding away 20-micrometer layers of rock, one at a time, and photographing the specimen along the way. This let them see details of soft tissues not generally visible using traditional fossil extraction methods. MSNBC has more, with a cool pic.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/1000901.asp
Did you hear the one about Heisenberg's speeding ticket? When the cop asked him if he knew how fast he was going, he responded with his exact location. Funny? If you know your physics, maybe. All fields have their own sensibilities and physicists have their own sense of humor, but it is often largely for insiders. Two articles at PhysicsWeb attempt to explicate the nature of physics humor. Let's face it - when you have to explain a joke, it really isn't much of a joke. On the other hand, if you have friends who are practicing physicists, you'll learn enough to be a hit at their next party.
PhysicsWeb 1: http://physicsweb.org/article/world/16/9/2
PhysicsWeb 2: http://physicsweb.org/article/world/16/12/2
Interviewing with the Spooks: Comedy and Tragedy
Worried about the US intelligence agencies and their ability to recruit the right people? You should be. Read this thoughtful and incredibly humorous account of being interviewed by the NSA. The poor guy turned down a good job to await his never-to-be-offered security clearance. It's enough to make you wonder if the inmates really are running the asylum. The only problem is that it isn't an asylum, its national security. The PDF report comes from the Federation of American Scientists.http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/nsa-interview.pdf
The BBC reports that the success of anti-spamming software has spurred spammers to develop wordy ruses to disguise their electronic garbage. At first, spammers tried long strings of ordinary words combined in ways that didn't necessarily make sense, but a newer tactic uses long blocks of legit text to try to fool spam filters into clearing the message as legitimate. Clive Thompson found a long extract from L. Frank Baum in a recent spam - spammers are now including text from public-domain novels. Meanwhile, some folks have found a use for all those come-ons for bigger organs, cheap pills, and instant wealth. They turn them into poetry, or so they call it. Even worse, the BBC article provides examples, as does the Spam Poetry site. Elsewhere, Ben Brown last year wrote an essay on using a text dissociator to effortlessly and automatically convert junk into... - um, well, different junk. It's a bit like taking snail-mail flyers and credit card offers, cutting them up, and expecting the snippets to coalesce somehow into the great American novel.
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3247200.stm
Spam Poetry: http://www.sperare.com/spam_poetry/blogger.html
Brown: http://uber.nu/archive/2002/08/02
New Anti-Spam Legislation in US and UK
Two important milestones in anti-spam legislation occurred this week. First, the US Congress passed, and President Bush said he would sign, S.877, the so-called Can-Spam Act. The law encourages but doesn't mandate the creation of a "do not spam" list by the Federal Trade Commission, requires the inclusion of unsubscribe information in direct e-mail, and makes it easier to prosecute spam sent through unauthorized means (e.g. compromised computers). On the minus side, it preempts many more restrictive state laws already on the books. CNET weighs the plusses and minuses. Meanwhile, across the pond, the UK implemented an EU anti-spam directive Dec. 11. The law is much stricter than the US legislation and makes spamming illegal and subject to moderate fines. ZDNet UK reports that AOL UK seems eager to take on spammers, but the Register reports that there are still glitches in the reporting system. Nobody believes that legislation will do much to stem the flow of spam, but the laws do give mass-marketers a fig leaf to hide behind and some firm rules about what is and is not permissible.CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5116940.html
Can-Spam: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:s.00877:
UK directive: http://www.dti.gov.uk/industries/ecommunications/directive_on_privacy_electronic_communications_200258ec.html
ZDNet UK: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39118439,00.htm
Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34463.html
Teracrack: Unix's Crypt() Function Manifestly Outdated
One of the cornerstones of Unix security has been the crypt() function, which protects user passwords. While more secure alternatives exist, and are included in modern versions of Unix, crypt() is still widely used. But in these days of terascale computing and huge storage capacities, it's time to retire that veteran function. As a proof of concept, researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) have used a supercomputer to pre-compute the 207 billion crypt() hashes for about 50 million possible passwords in about 80 minutes. The feat reduces the problem of cracking such encrypted passwords to one of simply looking them up in a pre-computed table. Furthermore, the researchers conclude that anybody with about $10,000 and a few months of time could do the same with a single-processor machine. So much for venerable crypt() as a security mechanism for passwords. The SDSC team has released a technical paper that details how and why they did it.http://security.sdsc.edu/publications/teracrack.pdf
China Mandates Own WiFi Security Standard
In an important development for the wireless world, China announced it will prohibit the import, manufacture, and sale of wireless gear that does not meet its own new security standard, called Wired Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI). The announcement virtually forces manufacturers of such gear to support more than the current single global standard, to the detriment of their bottom lines. Some analysts speculate that China took this step because it doesn't trust the security protocol set up by the mostly Western members of wireless standards bodies. It's not at all clear that WAPI is any more secure than the current Swiss-cheese standards, or even the next generation of wireless security standards. CNET has the layman's story, Infoworld has a more informative and jargon-heavy industry-centric take, while the Slashdot crowd wears the always entertaining tinfoil hats.CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-7351-5112832.html
Infoworld: http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/12/09/HNchinesestandard_1.html
Slashdot: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=88767
Close-ups of DHL's Baghdad Missile Target
You may have seen a photo online or in your newspaper of a DHL aircraft that was nearly brought down by a missile or two Nov. 22 as it took off from Baghdad International. We've stumbled on a note allegedly from one of DHL's investigators, along with close-up photos of the damaged Airbus. It's amazing that the aircraft didn't lose a wing or engine, but reports that the crew was able to land using only engine power differential to steer tops even that.http://tinyurl.com/yqp7
The Stroll That Led to Middle Earth and Narnia
Back in 1931, a couple of guys finished dinner and went for a walk. They got into an argument, so the story goes, and it was an all-nighter. The result? A couple of little items that changed the world of literature. One of the gents, J.R.R. Tolkien, came up with "The Lord of the Rings". His friend C.S. Lewis penned "The Chronicles of Narnia". The works made both men famous, yet likely would have never occurred but for that fateful stroll. Salon offers a story of that night. Read the ad, get a daypass, and check out the story.http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2003/12/03/tolkien_lewis/index_np.html
Eric Idle's Greedy Bastard Blog
Blogs really are everywhere. Eric Idle, once part of the famous Monty Python's Flying Circus, has been keeping an online diary during his Greedy Ba$tard Tour. It's really quite fascinating, with topics ranging from women who give him specially prepared underwear to elaborate discussions of the weather in various North American cities. There are also photos from the tour and various other bits for the fans. And if you live in LA you might still be able to catch him next week. Otherwise, you can read about it after the show.http://www.pythonline.com/eric_idle.html
Geeks are, and have always been, socially dysfunctional. The term, after all, has its roots in a circus world in which oddballs displayed themselves for a few pennies a pop. Over time, geeks went from biting the heads off chickens to spending large amounts of time with computer systems, and so the term morphed into its present form: technogod and social idiot. Michael Suileabhain-Wilson suspects geeks do themselves in, socially, and tries to help with a little diatribe on Geek Social Fallacies. It's not all that helpful, but it's an interesting read, nonetheless. Discussion follows over on the ol' Metafilter.
Suileabhain-Wilson: http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html
Metafilter: http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/30058
Jenni Announces JenniCam's Retirement
If you don't know about JenniCam, you really don't know about the Web. Jenni Ringley has lived her life online for the past seven years, and you got to see all of Jenni, from the exciting to the mundane. Apparently, the occasional adult content is causing her such problems that she will be taking down the site Dec. 31. We take webcams and the like for granted, but Jenni is one of the people who made that possible. We called her a legend nearly six years ago, in NSD 4.02. Although we can't say we ever watched her, we're still going to miss her.Jennicam: http://www.jennicam.org/jennicam/
Slashdot: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/05/0536233
NSD 4.02: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/sub/v04/nsd.04.02.html#AO1
Looks like the fantasy market for weblogs is back up. Blogshares recovered from its technical problems with most of its data intact, and found a sponsor to take over the site. If you have a premium membership, it will be extended by one month to make up for the downtime. The announcement has details.
http://blogshares.got.net/
ONLINE CULTURE
Anybody who inhabits any online forum community knows that such places can angry up the blood. Normally, these forums remain insular, but on rare occasions, you can watch the fur and feathers and sequined bras fly when they interact. A few flight sim nerds who frequent the bulletin board of Aces High (an online flight sim) found Stripper Web, a community for strippers. A couple of the gamers decided to have a bit of fun at the strippers' expense. They registered false identities at Stripper Web and posted made-up messages. The strippers spotted the hoax almost immediately and figured out where the invaders had come from. They then registered at the Aces High board and started posting there.... In a battle of wits, the strippers definitely came out on top - no question. You can follow the action on the main threads at each site. Amazingly, Sapphire, one of the strippers, seems keen to take up flight simming. If she does, we'll happily amend our score to Strippers 1, Nerds 1.Aces High: http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=102839&perpage=50&pagenumber=1
Stripper Web: http://www.stripperweb.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=general_ladiesonly;action=display;num=1070836096;action=display;num=1070836096
Googlebombing "Miserable Failure"
A number of bloggers have been participating in a project to googlebomb the phrase "miserable failure". As you may recall, googlebombing is the act of influencing the results returned by Google by judicious usage of links and phrases on a large number of Web sites. At press time, a Google search for "miserable failure" brings up the White House biography of George Bush. The world press has picked up on the story - conveniently, there are plenty of links in the Google search itself - which got started with a suggestion in the Oct. 27 entry of the Old Fashioned Patriot blog. Can the forces of Republicanism take back the phrase "miserable failure" and make it their own? Stay tuned....Google: http://www.google.com/search?q=miserable+failure
Old Fashioned Patriot: http://oldfashionedpatriot.blogspot.com/
Now that the fad of flash mobs has run its course, something a bit more seasonal is ready to take its place - flash snowball fights, of course! The very first of them, the Great Manhattan Snowball Fight, took place Dec. 6 and launched the tres-chic fad of the moment. Judging by the pictures, and with the glorious cooperation of Mother Nature, it was lots of fun.
http://mcohen.com/snowballfight/
ONLINE TRAVEL
If you have a passing interest in American history, you'll know that the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition is coming up. In 1805, nearly all land west of the Mississippi River was wild and uncharted, home to huge herds of buffalo, savages, and other undesirable elements, according to the feeling of the times. When Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and their party set off to investigate the interior, most of their compatriots were certain that they'd never return. The Library of Congress documents the trek and the discoveries here. This is fascinating material that you'd be hard-pressed to find at all, let alone so cogently presented, anywhere else. When Thomas Jefferson was preparing to send the expedition, he told Lewis "it will now be proper you should inform those through whose country you will pass... that henceforth we become their fathers and friends." It seems a bit patronizing; in no small part because the US acted as neither friend nor father, but simply took over the lands. This site makes you stop and take stock of just all that has happened in North America in the 200 years since. And in that, it's kind of scary.http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/lewisandclark.html
London has long been one of the world's great cities, and as such has long been a major tourist destination. Getting around London can be a challenge for today's visitor, as the streets in the center of the city are much the same as they were in 1827. Proof is the map on the Greenwood's Map of London 1827 Web site. The map is highly detailed, and presented in a way that lets you easily find the small area of London you're interested in. The level of detail is so great that even viewers with large screens will only be able to see small areas at a time. Good map scrolling tools alleviate that problem. Careful observers will note that London has changed over time, but not all that much.
http://users.bathspa.ac.uk/greenwood/
The BBC has been a little beleaguered of late; Tony Blair's government has questioned the balance of its reporting of Gulf War II and the corporation anxiously awaits the verdict of a judicial inquiry that will touch upon its claims that Blair "sexed-up" the case for war. Still, its online output is usually first rate, as can be seen in its Legacies page, devoted to local history in the UK. Click on one of the regions on the map of Britain for a slice of regional history - this month the theme is Local Legends, and so, for example, selecting London will take you to an article about the city's most famous mayor, Dick Whittington. Don't miss the archives, either. Last month's theme was immigration and emigration and our reporter clogged up his keyboard with drool reading about Birmingham's Indian restaurant quarter, the Balti Triangle.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/
A Variety of Journeys through Vietnam
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology have collaborated to present Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind and Spirit. At the online companion to this physical exhibition, visitors can explore the culture and history of Vietnam through a series of written articles and video clips. This online glimpse of the AMNH exhibition highlights important history and developments of the Vietnamese culture. This journey through Vietnam consists of various elements including Life and Death, Heroes and Deities, and Other Worlds. Easy to navigate and well designed, the site treats visitors to a stunning portrayal of this ancient society. Educators, anthropologists, and students will find this an invaluable resource.http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/vietnam/
Western society often misunderstands the culture and heritage of Eastern societies, particularly the Middle East. At Arab Culture and Civilization, visitors can explore a collaborative Web project that seeks to educate people on the Arab world. Begin your exploration with the history of Arab culture and the forces that shaped Arab society, then move on to the ethnicity and identity of Arabs, Muslim and non-Muslim. Delve further into ideology by exploring the Islamic faith as the site reviews the basic values of Islam and how faith shapes the Arab society. Other aspects of Arabic culture to explore include Literature and Philosophy, Family and Society, and Art and Architecture. Visitors will gain insight into one of the most widely misunderstood cultures.
http://www.nitle.org/arabworld/main_menu.php
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Why's that blue-skinned Krishna guy such a turn-on for the girls? Dude, being a Hindu god can do that for a guy. Click, watch the little elephant run back and forth while the Flash presentation loads, then kick back and learn. Tales of Krishna go back some 7,000 years, and if it weren't for him, you might be bowing before evil demons this afternoon. OK, you're sort of doing that anyway, but we understand you have to earn a paycheck somehow. The Seattle Art Museum follows Krishna's adventures with a fabulously illustrated - it's an art museum, you know - multimedia adventure. Prompted by the Mother of All Cows, Krishna is born on Earth. To prove his divinity, he turns himself into a bunch of cows and villagers, and the story moves on. But why do the girls love him? To accommodate them all, he multiplies himself - which he seems to do a lot of - and each woman thinks she and she alone dances with Krishna. This really pisses his girlfriend off, but she seems to get over it. Afterward, Krishna kills a demon. Cows look on in terror.http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/interactives/intimateWorlds/enter.asp#
Online art galleries have advantages over the real thing. You can view the exhibits from the comfort of your own home or office, you can crack open a beer while you do so, and you can shout obscenities at the paintings if you don't like them. This gallery is a testament to thrift shops; all the exhibits were bought at such stores. Obviously, there are no Van Goghs or Monets, but there really are some charming paintings here. Good luck finding them among the mass of clown and pet pictures - as all connoisseurs of the genre know, those are pretty representative of the kind of stuff you'll find in thrift stores. How can you not admire classic kitsch, such as "Need to Potty", which shows a doe-eyed spaniel patiently begging at the back door with its leash in its mouth, and "Our Adele Howard", a painting of a cat so ugly we advise children not to look at it. The organization is easily navigated, but we really wish there were some commentary attached to the paintings.
http://www.hugemagazine.com/thrift/index.html
Wing Music is the Web site of Hong Kong-born New Zealander Wing, a noted chanteuse on the New Zealand rest home and hospital circuit. Wing is looking to e-commerce to bring her work to a wider audience and boost sales. With six albums behind her, including "Everyone Sings Carols with Wing" and "Wing Sings the Carpenters", she says she has her fans to thank for being where she is today. "Your belief in me gives me courage. It is for you that I will do my best to bring you popular songs in different languages so we can all experience these masterpieces from various cultures," she says. "I have worked hard and I hope you have all found I am improving." There is a selection of samples from Wing's CDs here, and if you like what you hear you can buy her albums, though "Musical Memories of Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera" and "I Could Have Danced All Night" are currently sold out. Postage is free for New Zealand orders, and overseas rates are available on request.
http://www.wingmusic.co.nz/
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/ |
For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs
1,000 Places to See Before You Die
Dating Design Patterns
Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativityhttp://www.todayinliterature.com/
SURFING SCIENCE
A Look Back at the Stanford Prison Experiment
In 1971, Stanford University psychologist Phil Zimbardo ran a planned two-week-long experiment in simulating prison life with student volunteers as guards and convicts. Zimbardo aborted the experiment after six days. "Prisoners" went through dehumanizing processes such as being undressed, fingerprinted, and photographed. They then occupied the simulated jail at Stanford, with astonishing results. This all took only a few days. Bear in mind that the description and explanation of events proffered here support the sale of videos of the experiment. No alternate views are available for the commentary and judgments, so you either take it at face value or you leave it. If this site really bothers you, we have one suggestion for North American readers: take some time to hike into a prison. As long as you aren't toting drugs or weapons, you can cruise a bit. You're a taxpayer; you pay for this stuff. Then, go check out a nursing home. Where would you rather be?http://www.prisonexp.org/
Plants-In-Motion is an online project created by Roger Hangarter of the Indiana University Department of Biology. Using time-lapse photography, it explores the movement of a variety of plants in different stages of growth. Akin to a plant cinema, the site lets you discover the incredible movements of plants, which usually go unnoticed due to their slow scale. The video clips in QuickTime format star plants such as morning glories, passion flowers, and star lilies. This brilliant display of horticulture shows plants as living organisms full of movement, grace, and beauty. Be sure to check out the Flash installment, entitled Flower Play, in the Plant Art section. Inspired by this Web site, British/Canadian artist Babel has created a visual and audio odyssey to tantalize your senses.
http://sunflower.bio.indiana.edu/~rhangart/plantmotion/PlantsInMotion.html
When most people say, "One of my favorite things to do when I have time off is to just watch the world go by," they mean it synecdochically. They're not actually watching the whole world go by; they really just intend to express that they're seeing part of it. Astronaut Ed Lu, however, means it quite literally, as he gazes out the windows of the International Space Station. Read his account of what it's like to experience a single orbit (which he does once every 90 minutes) around the Earth. It's brief and quite astonishing the different meteorological things going on around the world at virtually the same time.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/EdLu/
The What's Special about This Number site explores the definition of too much information. It starts with 1 and ends at 9,999, and most of the numbers have a short factoid that indicates what makes them unique, other than their inherent uniqueness, that is. In many cases, the factoid contains a link to a detailed explanation. Many of the factoids are common knowledge, but many will be new to all but the most dedicated numerophile. For example, few could say with certainty that 9995 has a square formed by inserting a block of digits inside itself. On the other hand, we hope everyone knows that 102 is the smallest integer with three different digits.
http://www.stetson.edu/%7Eefriedma/numbers.html
SOFTWARE
Mozilla Thunderbird 0.4 Mail Client Released
The latest version of the stand-alone Mozilla e-mail application has a new look and improvements to the user interface. It plays nicer with the operating systems it runs on (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X), allows better customization of toolbars, and has a working implementation of Palm PDA syncing. The project is really shaping up into a very nice e-mail client, although it's still beta software, so read all the install notes carefully. You'll find more details in the release notes.Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/
Release Notes: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/release-notes.html
CORRECTIONS
A Deeper Origin of "Computer Virus"
Reader Howard Modell informs us that we were in error when we stated in last issue's "A Short History of Computer Virii" that "The first person to introduce the term "virus" into the computing lexicon was Fred Cohen, in 1984." Modell informs us that John Brunner introduced the subject and name of "computer virus" and "worm" in his prescient 1973 novel "The Shockwave Rider" - an SF classic and well worth reading.NSD 9.47: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/sub/v09/nsd.09.47.html#BS4
"The Shockwave Rider": http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345467175/netsurferdigest