BREAKING SURF
| The Evolution of Unix Disunity |
| Photos of Paris, a Hundred Years Apart |
| Planning Levittown, Pa. |
| Signs of New York |
| Monterey Bay Aquarium Webcams |
| Bodie, Calif. |
| "King Kong: Don't Mess with the Monkey" |
| Eric Joyner's Robot and Other Art |
| Museum of Advertising and Design |
| Gallery of the Strangeco |
| Love, Poetry, and Persian Art |
| Netsurfer Recommendations |
| Covering the Cable News Wars |
| Liberals Do Have a Sense of Humor |
| Titan Observations |
| Online Studies of Morphology |
| Fun with Massive Amounts of Electricity |
| Calculate Earth Impacts |
| Holding Pattern |
| BluePhoneMenu 1.0 |
| Visual Aid Plugs into Internet Explorer |
| NSD Insults Fictional Character |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
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BREAKING SURF
This headline requires almost no follow-up, since if you're reading this you already know that Google has been planning an IPO for months. No one knows exactly how popular the security offering will be, but it appears that the company is seeking to raise $2.7 billion dollars in an auction-based IPO, specifically $2,718,281,828 for all you math geeks out there (don't ask). If you read the IPO application to the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), you'll find a letter from founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in which they tell prospective shareholders that Google "is not a conventional company" and will not be driven by quarterly profit targets. The application is worth reading, as is the financial data on the company, which includes details on earnings, cash on hand, top salaries, and major investor holdings. CNET has a digested version of what it all means. To get in on the IPO, you need an account with one of the underwriters, Morgan Stanley or Credit Suisse First Boston, after which you get to bid on how many shares you want and how much you're willing to pay for them.SEC: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1288776/000119312504073639/ds1.htm
CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1024-5201978.html
US Prescription-Drug Price Comparison
This week, the US Government launched a Web site where you can compare the price of various medical prescription drugs. You enter a ZIP Code, choose your drug of choice, and the site will give you a list of prices from local and mail-order pharmacies. The provided information also includes prices sorted by different types of Medicare drug-discount cards (Medicare is a US-government-backed health plan). This is clearly an incredibly useful resource for anybody who needs to spend money on prescription drugs, and a fine example of tax dollars well spent.http://www.medicare.gov/AssistancePrograms/home.asp
Last week, we mentioned that CNET's new Download.com Music section was looking for content. This week, we can report that Download.com Music has officially launched. At press time, the site was hosting roughly 2,500 songs, entirely free for your downloading and listening pleasure. Ordinarily, the debut of yet another music site is not particularly newsworthy, but Download.com is one of the largest shareware repositories on the Net. It has the visibility and the clout to become a major player in free music distribution. The site itself is cleanly designed and easy to use, with an interface that lends itself to browsing through a variety of tunes. Give it a try, and remember that if you have music you want to circulate, this is a good place to do it.
http://music.download.com/
On the first anniversary of the iTunes Music Store (70 million served), Apple released an update to the popular associated music software. Key new features include the ability to publish playlists for other people to see and review, the ability to design and print CD inserts (at last!), and a Party Shuffle playback option. Apple also increased the number of computers you can share your playlist with from three to five, but decreased the number of times you can burn your playlist to CD from ten to seven. Another new "feature" disabled the recently released PlayFair decryption software (see NSD 10.15) by changing how iTunes handles digital-rights management. Within hours of the release of iTunes 4.5, a hacker named David Hammerton had already reverse-engineered the new encryption. See Slashdot for a related discussion.
iTunes 4.5: http://www.apple.com/itunes/
NSD 10.15: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/sub/v10/nsd.10.15.html#SW1
Hammerton: http://craz.net/programs/itunes/
Slashdot: http://apple.slashdot.org/apple/04/04/29/1554231.shtml
The Clash's album London Calling is right up there on just about everybody's list of the 10 greatest albums of the 1980s, even if it was released in 1979. Back in February, inspired by the DJ Danger Mouse remix of the Beatles' White Album (see NSD 10.07), Richie Deluxe suggested that his friends on the Get Your Bootleg On forum attempt to remix London Calling. A couple of months later, London Booted is circulating widely on the Net. Some might conclude that this is just another middle finger waving at the RIAA and major music labels, but a more sophisticated analysis suggests that album-remixing is here to stay. We think more remixes of classic albums are inevitable, and we feel obligated to suggest that Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon be next on the list. Anybody care to start the ball rolling?
NSD 10.07: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/sub/v10/nsd.10.07.html#BS7
London Booted: http://www.culturedeluxe.co.uk/londonbooted.htm
Dark Side of the Moon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008CLOA/netsurferdigest
Operation Take One for the Country
We can only be impressed by the patriotism displayed by the civic-minded citizens taking part in Operation Take One for the Country (OTOFTC). Every day, troops are leaving American shores to defend democracy or something in Iraq. Usually, they stop in a bar on the way, which is where OTOFTC comes in. OTOFTC features squads of initially upright citizens, wholly female so far, who pledge to comfort the outbound troops in the most patriotic way possible, even if the lucky soldier/sailor/marine/airman isn't quite their type. The idea appears to have taken off in the way that these things tend to do, and local chapters of OTOFTC have been spontaneously erected in bars adjacent to military bases all over the country. The Web site and the T-shirts speak for themselves.http://www.takeoneforthecountry.com/
The Impact of the Internet on Politics
Some think that these days there's more bite and more unabashed bias to American political commentary than ever before. Does that kind of extremism represent the American public? Probably not, Online Journalism Review (OCR) concludes in this examination of the Internet's impact on political discussion. Although blogging has opened up a vitriolic can of worms and the communication channels are full of inflammatory commentary, most people appreciate it mainly as theatre. News with an edge, a steeply opinionated slant, is stimulating and entertaining, but there's no compelling evidence that it drives voters towards political extremes. Despite the apparent flood of flames and flammery, blogs and bloggery, OJR found plenty of objective journalism and nuanced reporting. Still, OJR does see some indication that prolonged exposure to biased commentary hardens established attitudes and opinions. At one time, Net idealists dreamed the great dream that the Net would inform us and turn us into sophisticated citizens. That seems hopelessly naive now, but even if the Net hasn't quite turned out the way we once imagined, the picture of online political discourse has grown complex, and this new face of journalism is still too young for us to gauge accurately its long term influence.http://ojr.org/ojr/glaser/1082521278.php
Coalition Provisional Authority: "Iraq Is a Mess"
Iraq is a mess. That's not our opinion, it's the view from within the American-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). The Village Voice has the text of a confidential CPA memo on the state of the Iraqi occupation and its future. As the memo's content makes clear, its author supports the war but starkly and directly criticizes US efforts in Iraq since conquering the country. Corruption is rampant and the Iraqis fear their nation is drifting towards civil war. The memo writer is not certain that the CPA can even prevent a civil war, and more depressingly notes that the CPA's actions appear to make civil war inevitable. Finally, the memo details the extent to which Iran has made inroads in post-Hussein Iraq. It's a real mess and this time the CPA appears to be telling themselves the truth.Village Voice: http://villagevoice.com/issues/0416/vest.php
Freedom gains a foothold, authorities crack down, freedom withers - that's a sadly familiar plotline, one now being acted out in Iran. Suppression once aimed to shut down conventional presses, but now it must confront bloggers who oppose the repressive regimes. About two years ago, Hossein Derakhshan started a blog in Farsi, the language of Iran. His feat of blogging with a non-ASCII character set spurred other Farsi speakers to try, and today there are thousands of Farsi blogs. Blogging has allowed once taboo topics like hejab, the Muslim modest dress for women, to be discussed and debated, revealing a surprising diversity of opinion. Until recently, Iran has left the Internet uncensored but monitored. Following the Apr. 19 arrest of journalist Sina Motallebi for the offense of undermining society through blogging, a chill has descended on discussion of controversial topics. Motallebi's blog remains shut down. Wired has a brief piece on the situation.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,58976,00.html
The Net's premier humor e-zine is now selling subscriptions. Most content is still free and just as hilarious as ever, but paid subscribers ($30 annually) can enjoy ad-free browsing, unlimited archive access, early release of Onion "news", exclusive coverage of the upcoming US election, and various other perks - one of which is the satisfaction of supporting one of the oldest and best Web resources. https://subscribe.theonion.com/index.php
Salon Interviews Neal Stephenson
What's a science-fiction writer doing basing his books on events and characters in the 17th century? In his Baroque Cycle, first with "Quicksilver" and more recently with newly published "The Confusion" (see Salon's review), Neal Stephenson is doing just that. In a Salon interview, he persuasively explains why that particular time is such a rich vein to mine, with its larger than life characters and stupendous events crowded into a few key decades. The modern banking system was created, the foundations of modern science were being established, Newton and Leibniz were bitterly feuding, and religious people were ironically creating the basis for the secular society that exists in the West today. Stephenson also exposes the surprisingly deep roots of computing. Reading this interview, with Stephenson's thumbnail sketch of the time and its huge influence, will make you itch to read his stuff if you haven't scratched already. Stephenson is not at all happy that science fiction is maligned, misunderstood, and ignored the way it is. Beyond the genre, his novels are just great cracking yarns in which he illuminates historical figures and fictional characters alike. Along the way, he manages to provide a heck of a lot of information about the ferment that was bubbling in Europe at the time."The Confusion": http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060523867/netsurferdigest
Salon review: http://www.salon.com/books/review/2004/04/21/confusion/index.html
Salon interview: http://www.salon.com/books/int/2004/04/21/stephenson/index.html
Can you work in Australia? We write this to give kudos to eQuus IT Resources of Melbourne. Many of this job-placement company's ads, posted at the Australian SEEK job boards, are brilliant comedy. Here's a sample: "Ah, Unix. Its cheapass cousin, Linux, is what all Microsoft users turn to just as their sanity reaches a crossroads. Did you know that Microsoft Word stills spellchecks 'Unix' as 'UNIX'? Man, how 80's (sic) does that look? I can imagine something like that flickering on the screen of a computer you assembled yourself from a crystal radio kit." Here's another: "I'm looking at this '.NET Explained!' graphic on the Microsoft site and what it is is an Apple II computer next to the sort of outdated mobile phone that you can get if you send in three barcodes from your Wheeties (sic) box. These are attached by dumb-looking triangles to computers that don't even have screens. This is a next-generation software platform? I can do better than that with a stripped cable and some chewing gum, and the love of a good woman." Here's a URL to the master list of the company's ads.
http://tinyurl.com/2l2by
StationRipper Records Streaming Digital Radio
Much to the consternation of the RIAA, the digital genie is out of the bottle. A new tool in the music-downloader's arsenal is StationRipper, which converts streaming music into reusable MP3s. StationRipper lets you record as many as 300 streams at a time. It's geared to Shoutcast digital radio stations for now, although its coder, Greg Ratajik, is open to the possibility for greater inclusion down the road. In a P2Pnet.net interview, Ratajik notes that he's been buying the music he likes a lot, just to get a clean copy. One problem with ripping songs from the radio, as anyone who tried it with a tape cassette knows, is tendency for songs to crossfade and for DJs to talk over the end of a cut. Still, Ratajik has come up with a versatile and configurable tool that you can comfortably run while snoozing, and somebody somewhere doubtless doesn't like it.StationRipper: http://www.ratajik.com/stationripper/
P2Pnet.net: http://www.p2pnet.net/story/1270/
People are actively avoiding advertisements. They skip over print ads, they block pop-ups, they pee during TV commercials. Part of this avoidance may be due to the sheer level of marketing noise. Think of your habits, and it's clear that water-cooler or similar discussions, not TV or radio ads, provide the most effective buzz. This revelation has launched a new company, BzzAgent, whose product is buzz. BzzAgent's modus operandum resembles a Tupperware party, where one markets with, not at, consumers. The company seeks BzzAgents, so sign up if you want. You don't get paid in cash, but you get test samples of the products to use and the company does give away prizes. If you like a product, you just yak about it. One BzzAgent buzzes, "Wow! I can do what I'm doing anyway, get some points, and score some free stuff." No word as yet on how federal and state tax authorities consider these exchanges. The BzzAgent site offers a PDF of a Fast Company article on the company.
http://www.bzzagent.com/index.jsp
Premiere's Greatest Movie Characters of All Time
Premiere's announcement has taken us by surprise, as we had until this point been completely unaware that time has ended. According to the mag, these are the 100 greatest movie characters of all time. Unsurprisingly, some disagree with their assessment - as do we. The little clock things in the corners of our monitors continue to turn over, which seems to indicate that time has not yet ended, which renders Premiere's list suspect. Best to cruise through the list for a look at the yelps and whines as those whose favorite characters were omitted take their petty revenge. Either way, it's a good read.http://www.premiere.com/article.asp?article_id=1539
Best-of lists are a dime a dozen, but Rolling Stone has put together a list of the 50 greatest artists of all time (see whine, above) with a twist. Instead of letting music critics compose the list and write the blurbs, Rolling Stone had this list written by other musicians. Elvis Costello writes on the Beatles, Eddie Vedder pontificates on the Who, and Little Richard is a little bitter when he discusses the history of Little Richard. Nearly every entry reveals something of how musicians think of each other and what they value. Bono on Elvis Presley is simply a delight to read; who knew he recorded in Elvis's old studio? Even Britney Spears sounds thoughtful writing on her hero, Madonna. This was a great idea; it will be your pleasure to read it.
http://www.rollingstone.com/features/coverstory/featuregen.asp?pid=2900
Media Conglomeration Gone Wild
If you had any doubts about media consolidation, check out this remarkable site from the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR). Click on a conglomerate and see what media properties it owns. Disney gets its own timeline, but click on some of the less familiar names and learn why this site is so valuable. The site also has links to CJR articles on the topic of media concentration, but nothing captures the imagination like the list of Clear Channel stations across the US.http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/
CNN reports on Lulu, a pet eastern grey kangaroo who saved the life of her master and who will receive the RSPCA's National Animal Valor Award as a result. Lulu's owner, an occupational health and safety consultant named Len Richards, was knocked out by a falling tree branch on his farm. Lulu allegedly turned the vomiting Richards onto his side so that he wouldn't choke, then hippity-hopped back to the family dwelling to alert others. When asked to explain her extraordinary feat, Lulu replied with a modest "Huk huk hurk huk hurk," then groomed her flank with a claw.
CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/04/28/australia.luluroo/index.html
Lulu: http://www.luluthekangaroo.com.au/
Huk: http://abc.net.au/archives/sound/egk7.ram
ONLINE CULTURE
The Evolution of Unix Disunity
When it appeared in 1969, Unix was supposed to be a simpler replacement for mainframe operating systems. In 1974, programmers spiced up the mix with Unix variants. At that point, sysadmins with long memories might argue, all heck broke loose in information technology. Unix History depicts the diversification - and, some would say, the downfall - of Unix in an evolutionary tree that may be a masterpiece of research and compression, but is likely to arouse feelings of amazement, dismay, and even disbelief. What a tangle of good intentions! One look at this bizarre historical web and you can see why Windows attracted so many users for whom standardization was important if not essential. Fragmentation may have been Unix's greatest weakness, for while Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and other companies fought over Unix, a simpler, less capable alternative from Microsoft won the war. Nevertheless, many major companies still rely on a version of the much-maligned four-letter OS, which has fed the children of many consultants. However robust new operating systems may be, they may not last as long as Unix has.http://www.levenez.com/unix/
ONLINE TRAVEL
Photos of Paris, a Hundred Years Apart
Eugene Atget was a photographer and keen documentarian of Paris at the turn of the 20th century. Students taking part in the University of South Florida School of Art and Art History's Summer Program in Paris have recreated some of Atget's shots at the turn of the 21st century. The students try to snap their photographs from the same vantage point that Atget used. The juxtaposition of the century-separated photos is art in itself, a statement about time and change. Note that your best way to navigate through the site is by clicking "Next pair" through the exhibit. The "Return to Paris home page" link describes the study abroad opportunities and the "Return to gallery home page" link is broken.http://www.art.usf.edu/marcus/atgetrephoto.html
Levittown, Pa. was the first American suburban community planned and constructed by a single builder. Its 5,500 acres boast churches, schools, shopping centers, and over 70,000 family homes. It was a tangible suburban American dream of the 1950s, which the State Museum of Pennsylvania explores in an online exhibition. The well illustrated site describes how developer William Levitt became the Henry Ford of housing by building domiciles small and affordable - his model homes cost a mere $67 dollars per month. The site's most enlightening sections discuss how this housing idyll operated. New residents received a homeowner manual that explained how to maintain the homes and which included community rules that prohibited the hanging of a clothesline across the lawn. The predictably gender-biased advertising for the homes' kitchen features is hard to believe now, but even more incredible is that the current trend for open-plan living began in the 1950s. Some things never change.
http://www.fandm.edu/levittown/default.html
New York City's 42nd Street may have a musical named after it (you know, "Lullaby of Broadway", et al) but not all streets in the Big Apple are so lucky. We hope that if 14th Street were to have its own musical, one big number would center around Disco Donut, one of the featured signs of New York City at Walter Grutchfield's New York City Signs. Grutchfield dedicates his site to some of the unique and/or more indicative signs lining the city's avenues from 14th to 42nd. He captures marketing campaigns present and past in states of disarray and, well, array on the sides of buildings and hanging from roofs. By selecting to navigate by the map, you can build your own walking tour of the signs, but be aware that some of them no longer exist. Geocaching navigators beware.
http://www.14to42.net/
At the Monterey Bay Aquarium site, you can visit the sea otters, penguins, and sharks without leaving your desktop. The aquarium, impressive in person not just for the surrounding taffy shops, offers these equally impressive live cam setups. Each webcam page lists the specific times for feedings and/or shows where applicable, so you can plan when to check back and catch some action. The aquarium only offers live feeds from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Pacific time, so we're afraid you can't watch the penguins kick back as they check out the latest episode of "American Idol" in their down time.
http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/cam_menu.asp
Bodie? What's Bodie? It turns out that Bodie is a frontier town that's currently in a state of arrested decay, preserved as a California State Historical Park. A Gold Rush town, Bodie grew quickly to encompass some 10,000 people and 65 saloons, to say nothing of the brothels and opium dens and other frontier delights. The undertaker had a thriving business, as somebody was killed every day. If you're into history, you'll find a lot worth seeing at this here Bodie site over here. Bodie the town still has a couple hundred structures more or less standing, so it's a great place to study the architecture of the Wild West. The site has many great photos and tales, and the code is tight, so you won't waste a lot of time.
http://www.bodie.com/
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
"King Kong: Don't Mess with the Monkey"
Movies are team efforts. More than 30 volunteers worked on the funny indie film "King Kong: Don't Mess with the Monkey", an eight-minute near-masterpiece dedicated to Peter Jackson, director of the "Lord of the Rings" films, who is scheduled to begin filming a "King Kong" remake with a budget of $200 million this August. This online film is primarily a showcase for Eden Phillips, who claims producer, screenwriter, actor (two roles), and editor credits in this well crafted takeoff of the Hollywood classic. This Web site provides excellent background on his cheeky production. The film was shot Dec. 5, 2003, in Auckland, New Zealand. A group of archaeologists make an astonishing discovery on Skull Island just before they run into and away from King Kong. The build-up is terrific, but the gag ending is a bit of a letdown. Still, the movie is free and worth the time spent downloading either the 85-MB or 137-MB version. You'll need DivX 5.1. Phillips aims for amusement. Jackson has the resources, of course, to go for far bigger game.http://www.kongmovie.com/
Eric Joyner's Robot and Other Art
San Francisco artist Eric Joyner presents his colorful and rich paintings of several subjects, but his images of tinplate toys caught our eye. These quirky toys - robots, mostly - were popularized from the 1940s to 1960s and mirrored the golden age of science fiction. Using vivid colors and the illusion of movement, Joyner seemingly brings these toys back to life with his brush. We adore the Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots freed of their levered constraints. You can view this and other works by Joyner at his online gallery. Feel free to check out Joyner's tribute to urban landscapes, as well as his illustrations of everything from animals to religious ideology. You can buy prints at the site, and get more detailed information about upcoming gallery showings and events.http://www.ericjoyner.com/index.php
Museum of Advertising and Design
If a trip to Milwaukee to visit the William F. Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design isn't in your immediate future - and we can understand your reluctance to tell your kids that instead of going to see Mickey this year, summer vacation's going to be spent watching advertisements in a museum - you can visit it online. The online exhibits are different from the in-person ones. Not surprisingly, considering the subject, the online layout is spectacular, tailored for each exhibit instead of having a one-size-fits-all interface. Check out the interactive vinyl in the album cover exhibit and remember the tension of dropping the needle in the arm on the right spot without scratching anything.http://www.eisnermuseum.org/exhibits/online.shtm
In the world of the creative arts, there's no shortage of strange and unusual work. The crew behind the Strangeco site call themselves "purveyors of the peculiar", so it's little wonder they treat visitors to some truly eccentric works of art. Coverage of odd characters such as Extreme Elvis, a twisted perversion of the real deal, establish the claim. The outlandish works by some of the visual artists featured here provide further evidence of the strangeness of it all. Guests can browse the otherworldly work of Gary Baseman and his Happy Idiot assemblage. Further exploration yields other unusual artists with even more bizarre subject matter, such as Spazz, the nom de brosse of Mike Echlin. While the layout of this site is overwhelming and hard to navigate, patience while surfing here will lead you to a creative underworld screaming for attention.
http://www.strangeco.com/curiosities.html
The epic poetry of 15th-century Persia is brought to life in this interactive display of paintings, engravings and calligraphy inspired by the "Hawft Awrang" ("Seven Thrones"), a series of poems composed by Abdul-Rahman Jami (d. 1492). The poems include the tragic love story "Salaman and Absal" - an impossible romance followed by suicide - and the moral and philosophical musings of "The Gift of the Free". Best of all is the site's zoom feature, which allows a close examination of the beautiful calligraphy and illustrations that accompany the poems and the incredible detail of the illuminations. Originally commissioned by a member of the Persian royal house, the "Hawft Awrang" manuscript is still breathtaking 500 years later, and now it's yours to enjoy. The site thoughtfully supplies suitable background music for your listening pleasure while you read.
http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/loveyearning/
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/ |
The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating
Tree Houses You Can Actually Build: A Weekend Project Book
How Not to Say What You Mean: A Dictionary of Euphemisms
Far Cryhttp://www.cablenewser.com/
Liberals Do Have a Sense of Humor
Humor Gazette is a satire e-zine with a decidedly left-leaning perspective. That said, it's laced with great photos and balloon comments, and some side-splitting stories. When last we cruised through, Donald Rumsfeld was allegedly challenging the publisher to produce evidence for the allegation that the President suffers from a Pinocchio-like condition involving his nose. The publisher claimed to have been distracted by the Blackhawk helicopter hovering outside his window, but a spokesman noted that the publication painstakingly fabricates every word prior to heading into distribution.http://www.humorgazette.com/
SURFING SCIENCE
People with an interest in such things know that Saturn's moon Titan is the only moon in the Solar System with a substantial atmosphere. On Jan. 5, 2003, Titan made a rare transit in front of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant surrounding a pulsar that spews out X-rays. The Chandra X-Ray Observatory spacecraft tracked the transit and used the occultation of the nebula's X-ray source to collect data on Titan's atmosphere. In other Titanic news, the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope (ESOVLT) has gathered the most detailed observations of Titan's surface yet obtained. The images are clear enough to reveal surface features big enough for scientists to give them names: "lying H"; "dog chasing a ball"; and "dragon's head". The Cassini spacecraft team is keenly examining the Chandra and ESOVLT observations in anticipation of the probe Cassini will drop into Titan's atmosphere later this year. Both the Chandra and ESOVLT sites offer nice eye candy.Chandra: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/titan/index.html
ESOVLT: http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2004/pr-09-04.html#phot-11a-04
Cassini: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
This ambitious project has, unlike many ambitious projects, made it past the talk phase and into the Net. And it looks very cool, so far. Offering interactive visualizations and animation, MorphologyNet has the potential to render typical biology dissections obsolete. In essence, this is a library of reconstructions generated from MRI or CT scans. Although the offerings are presently restricted to a half-dozen views of frogs, plans to roll out similar venues for many species are in the works. The rotatable, dissectible images don't smell of formaldehyde. This is clearly a site worth bookmarking for those with any interest in biological sciences or 3-D applications, but make sure you fall within the range of capable platforms to avoid frustration.
http://www.morphologynet.org/
Fun with Massive Amounts of Electricity
Nikola Tesla knew just what lots of tiny electrons could do if they could be persuaded to go somewhere other than where they were and to go - as electrons tend to go - very, very fast. The Teslamania site is homage to the works of the great man, and also has sections on his ideas and machines. Some of the experiments can be done at home, but no one should ever underestimate the power of a swarm of electrons with a destiniation in mind. A hair-raising sensation, both physically and psychologically, is merely the first symptom that you may have goofed. Our reviewer was particularly fascinated by the effects of Tesla devices on coinage. The results nearly defy comprehension.http://www.teslamania.com/
We have a certain fascination with apocalyptic scenarios, and one which has captured Hollywood's imagination on a number of occasions is the prospect of Earth being struck by an asteroid or comet. At the Earth Impact Effect Program site, you can key in the size, speed, and density of an inbound projectile and have it calculate the effects of the resultant Earth-shattering (or not) kaboom. For example, by inputting the details of the 50-m iron meteorite that caused the Barrington Crater in northern Arizona and keying in "100 miles" into the "Distance from Impact" box, the site will calculate how the residents of Phoenix would have experienced that impact. According to calculations, "Standing motor cars rock. Windows, dishes, doors rattle. Glasses clink. Crockery clashes." That really isn't so bad, but submit the details of the mile-and-a-half-wide monster that caused the Chesapeake Crater and you'll see why the world needs Bruce Willis.
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/
SOFTWARE
Holding Pattern is a screensaver, but an exceptionally clever one that works on both Windows and Mac OS X. What does it do? Holding Pattern simulates the view out an aircraft window during flight. You get to see the landscape move beyond the wings and engines. According the Web site, "Holding Pattern generates a random flight every time your computer plays it. Sometimes you will encounter special rare views that have a low probability." It's made with the help of actual digital photos taken out of airplane windows - a surprisingly popular photo subject. It's clever and entertaining, in its own slow kind of way. And yes, the flights do have a destination.http://www.idle-time.org/download.html
BluePhoneMenu is yet another reason to switch to the Mac, as if you really needed another. It's a small application that adds Caller ID functionality to your Bluetooth-enabled phone through your Mac. Whenever your Bluetooth phone receives a call, it will communicate with your Mac and BluePhoneMenu will display Caller ID information in your menu bar. This is useful if you're working and don't want Aunt Tilly interrupting you with her fascinating rants about bad open-source user interfaces. BluePhoneMenu also displays all sorts of handset information it can extract from compatible Bluetooth-equipped phones. Vary cool.
http://www.reelintelligence.com/BluePhoneMenu/
Visual Aid Plugs into Internet Explorer
Among the attributes Infowalker offers is the ability to read sentences aloud, to display sentences in large type, and to highlight the sentence you're reading. This freeware tool is a quick download and install, and offers a number of configuration tools. Unfortunately, Infowalker only works in Internet Explorer 5.x and above on Windows 2000 or Windows XP, although the coders plan to support older Windows operating systems as well. Infowalker doesn't support frames, secure pages, or PDF files. Some pop-up blockers also interfere with Infowalker because it displays in a separate browser window. If you can live with the caveats, it's a promising freeware solution for many problems that an aging computer user may face.http://www.naturallyopen.com/infowalker/index.html
CORRECTIONS
NSD Insults Fictional Character
In a slip we swear is not Freudian, we misspelled the name of character John Bigboote, from "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension", in NSD 10.16. If you can't figure out our mistake, you can check it at the following URL if you must.http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/sub/v10/nsd.10.16.html#BS15