"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods." - Albert Einstein ====================================================================== BBB III TTT SSS BBB Y Y TTT EEE SSS ONLINE EDITION: B B I T S B B Y Y T E S =THE ELECTRONIC BBB I T SSS AND BBB YYY T EEE SSS =NEWSLETTER FOR B B I T S B B Y T E S =HIGH-TECH BBB III T SSS BBB Y T EEE SSS =DUMPSTER DIVERS ====================================================================== Volume 1, Number 14 (November 4, 1993) ====================================================================== CONTENTS = Woman's Online Service Launched -|- Ig Nobel Prizes Awarded = Changing Corporate Boundaries -|- (Not so) Stupid E-mail Tricks = ... AND MORE HI-TECH NEWS THAN YOU CAN SHAKE A STICK AT ... = ====================================================================== MINI EDITORIAL Briefly, here's what's happening. I am engaged in a major programming effort at my (real) job, a larger than life, client/server styled, message-based architecture-like system. A real mess, in other words. I won't bore you with the details, but we are making progress, and that feels good. I do have, however, less time to spend on B&B. Hence this issue, basically an all news issue, with some cool quotes and pointers to resources thrown in to round out the mix. There some important stories I would have liked to cover, but time does not permit it at present: in particular the ongoing battle for Paramount Communications, the announced Bell Atlantic/TCI merger, both of which are creating major new players in the ongoing digital sweepstakes, and the recent furor over a recent step on the road to cloning human beings. I am reminded of the Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times." I think this qualifies. WIRED Magazine 1.5 (November 1993) is out. They've gone monthly. It's at your newsstand, and you should check it out. Too cool for words. On the B&B front, I got more letters regarding the last issue of B&B than for any other previous issue. Which, I think, tells you something about human nature. More on that next issue, along with more high tech news (I'm still not caught up yet), and the usual eclectic selections from the dataverse. See you in about 10 days. ====================================================================== Woman's Online Service Launched Women's Information Resource & Exchange (WIRE), the first international, interactive computer network dedicated to women, came online on October 1. WIRE provides women with an easily accessed centralized source of women-oriented information and conversation. For the first time, individuals and organizations can quickly and easily access up-to-date databases, discussions, alerts, abstracts, resources and experts on health, politics, career, finance, technology, parenting, education, lifestyle and many other issues of interest to women. Women and men can log onto WIRE and discuss topics of interest with each other, network to solve problems, instantly access information, keep in touch with family and friends via email, and participate in newsgroups and mailing lists from other systems on the Internet. "We think WIRE will be a great new destination on the information superhighway," explained Ellen Pack, co-founder and president of WIRE. "There's a wealth of information for women to tap into -- health studies, tips on starting a business or traveling alone, parenting stories, legislative updates, funding sources, and discussions about art and literature. WIRE is excited to bring resources and dialog directly to people's home and office computers. WIRE is providing a place for women around the world to get connected to what's happening and to each other. While many subscribers will already be familiar with computer conferencing, our goal is to make it so easy to get around online that it's completely unnecessary to be technologically sophisticated." For more information contact WIRE at 415/615-8989 or send email to info@wire.net. ====================================================================== NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES: => RECYCLED FLOPPIES. Eco Tech, Inc. buys floppies from major software manufacturers and reformats them into blank, high quality diskettes. A portion of the proceeds from each sale go to the Wilderness Society. (ACCESS: Eco Tech 713/444-6074) (SOURCE: WIRED 1.5) => PHONE COMPANY BY-PASS OPERATION. Cox Cable Communications has begun a service which will use fiber-optic cable to allow major local (Atlanta, GA) companies to transmit voice, data and video nationwide without going through the local phone company... No doubt the local Bells are not happy about this development. (SOURCE: Atlanta Journal- Constitution, EDUPAGE) => ELECTRONIC STYLE GUIDE. Meckler has published a 65-page book called "Electronic Style: A Guide to Citing Electronic Information," that gives guidelines for citing online resources in ways that will make them easier for others to find. It costs $15 and is available from Meckler Publ., 11 Ferry Lane West, Westport, CT 06880. Meckler also began publishing Internet World, a new bimonthly magazine, which I'll review next issue. (SOURCE: EDUPAGE 10/14/93) => NEW DEC WORKSTATION PACKS POWERFUL PUNCH. Digital Equipment Corp. announced a new top-of-the-line workstation as powerful as one announced by IBM last month, but at half the price. Digital's model costs $36,000, compared to $70,000 for the IBM's model. Start saving your pennies. A DEC spokesman attributed the low cost to the tight integration of the Alpha chip used in the machine. IBM's machine uses 8 chips to do what the Alpha chip accomplishes with a single chip. Price/performance ratios continue to drop. The desktop supercomputer is not that far off. (SOURCE: WSJ 10/12/93) => CRAY UNVEILS DOWNSIZED SUPERCOMPUTER. Cray Research is moving into the commercial computing market with a downsized version of its supercomputer. The Cray Superserver 6400 is based on Sun Microsystem's Sparc chip and runs software based on Sun's Solaris operating system. Cray reported that a $1 million model handled 500 users as fast as a $5 million midsize mainframe computer. System base prices range from $400,000 to $2.5 million. Hmm, that desktop supercomputer is a little farther off than I thought. (SOURCE: WSJ 10/26/93, p. B7) => IS THAT A TV? NO, IT'S OUR NEW MACINTOSH. Apple's new Macintosh TV incorporates a Macintosh computer, a 14" color television and a stereo CD/CD-ROM player all in one unit. It can be connected to VCRs, cam- corders, video disk or video game players, and comes with a suite of word processing, spreadsheet and database software. The new product, geared toward the home and educational market, will be available at selected retail stores, college campuses and through the Apple Catalog. The Macintosh TV is priced at $2,079. (SOURCE: Wall Street Journal 10/26/93 B2) => IS THAT A MACINTOSH? NO, IT'S OUR NEW PHONE SYSTEM. The 2Way Talker, from 2Way Computing, is real-time voice communications software that works on networked Macintosh computers, effectively turning them into your inter-office phone system. Just add a microphone. The 2Way Talker costs $49.95 per Macintosh. Site licenses are available as well. (ACCESS: 2 Way Computing 619-452-3888) (SOURCE: Newsbytes 10/26/93) => INTERNET BUSINESS JOURNAL. The Sept/Oct issue of the IBJ features articles about Internet facilitated advertising, including a listing of Internet advertising services; a commentary on cultural limitations surrounding Internet advertising; a profile of a company that advertises software on USENET, and a review of e-mail advertising techniques. Additionally, IBJ's editors have compiled a summary, "How to Advertise on the Internet: An Introduction to Internet-Facilitated Marketing." It'll be available December 1st. Contact Strangelove Press for ordering info or a FREE sample copy of the IBJ. (ACCESS: Strangelove Press (mstrange@fonorola.net), 613/747-6106, 613/564-6641 Fax) (SOURCE: NET-HAPPENINGS) => RHYMING DICTIONARY. Eccentric Software has introduced A Zillion Kajillion Rhymes, a rhyming dictionary for Windows-based personal computers. If you are a poet (but don't know it), or merely a scholar, give them a holler: list price is $49.95, or order it direct from the company for $39.95.(ACCESS: Eccentric Software, 206/628-2687 or 800/436-6758, fax 206-628-2681) (SOURCE: Newsbytes 10/25/93) => (ALMOST) FREE TAX SOFTWARE. Computer Associates, who earlier this year gave away (for shipping and handling charges) their personal financial management software package, CA-Simply Money, are at it again. This time the package in question is called CA-Simply Tax. CA says it will send an (almost) FREE copy of Simply Tax to anyone in the U.S. who calls its toll-FREE order line -- 1-800-7-FREE-TAX -- before April 15, 1994 (You will pay $9.95 for s/h). Simply Tax uses a Q and A approach to walk users through the tax preparation process. It automatically fills data in on the correct form. CA-Simply Money got good reviews. CA-Simply Tax can import data from Simply Money, and can file your return electronically via modem. The company hopes to make money on upgrades and add-on products. Both products can be ordered (almost) FREE thru April 15,1994. (SOURCE: Newsbytes, 10/28/93) => BUSINESS CARD SCANNERS. These three small OCR (optical character recognition) scanners do one thing, but they do it well. They scan in business cards and transfer the information to a computer database. That way business cards don't end up in that graveyard in your desk drawer. The CardGrabber from Pacific Crest Technologies, the CypherScan, and the Scan-in-Dex from Mustek Line are one small step on the march towards the paperless office. (ACCESS: Mustek 800/654-4160, Pacific Crest Technologies 714/261-6444, CypherScan 408/734-8765) => SMALL FOOTPRINT LASER PRINTER. If your office space is at a premium, you might want to check out the new Panasonic KXP-4400 laser printer. This tower style 4 page-per-minute printer sports a diminutive 5" x 15" footprint. Suggested list price is $650. Other models feature fax capability and Postscript level 2. (ACCESS: Panasonic 800/742-8086) ====================================================================== Changing Corporate Boundaries Via Email Sara Kiesler, a social psychologist who studied how e-mail systems changed the nature of organizations, was one of the first to observe businesses systematically and study the impact of CMC on the organization. Dr. Kiesler confirmed and legitimated what CMC pioneers had known from personal experience when she noted in Harvard Business Review that "computer-mediated communications can break down hierarchical and departmental barriers, standard operating procedures, and organizational norms." Kiesler's observations supported the theory long popular among online enthusiasts that people who often dominate conversations face-to-face, because of rank or aggressive demeanor, are no more visible than those who would remain silent or say little in a face-to-face meeting but say a lot via CMC. Businesses are the next organizations to be subjected to the same new kinds of social forces that were experienced by the research and academic communities when they went online. Kiesler also offered evidence that people communicate across and around traditional hierarchical organizational boundaries if their mutual interest in a particular subject matter is strong enough; groups make more daring decisions via CMC than they do face-to-face; work that later turns out to be important is sometimes accomplished in informal conversations as well as in structured online meetings. (Excerpted from Virtual Communities by Howard Rheingold [Addison Wesley, 1993] p. 62-3) ====================================================================== In Brief... => NII AGENDA: REQUEST FOR COMMENTS. If you've read "The National Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Action" document released by the Administration recently and wish to comment on it, send comments directly to the administration at: nii@ntia.doc.gov. => SCULLEY LEAVES APPLE, JOINS SPECTRUM. It's the end of an era at Apple. John Sculley, who took the company to new heights, has left the company, to be replaced as Chairman by A.C. Markkula Jr, one of the three co-founders of Apple. He had relinquished his position as CEO to the president, Michael Spindler, in June. A few days later, in a move that surprised many, Sculley became chairman and CEO of Spectrum, a small East Coast company that controls a series of patents related to the wireless transmission of computer data. It seems Mr. Sculley has set his visionary sights on a new horizon. (New York Times 10/16/93 p.17,10/19/93, p. C1) => SEC FILINGS ON INTERNET. The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced a pilot project to distribute corporate filings at no cost over the Internet by year's end. The project, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, is seen as a victory for advocates of free public access to government data. Previously, the feds had planned to contract with information services vendors to provide the public access to this data for a fee. (SOURCES: EDUPAGE, Information Week 10/25/93) => WINDOWS 4.0. An alpha version of the next version of Microsoft's Windows is making the rounds. Basically this is a brand new operating system, with 32-bit addressing, pre-emptive multitasking, and support for threaded processes. Don't you love it when I talk technical? It means more power for the end user, but MS is also taking pains to shield some of the complexity where possible, using context-sensitive menus and a software registry database that that should simplify the installation and management of Windows software and it's associated .INI files. Info World (10/25/93, p.1) takes a look and reports that the product still needs some work, but that the product will obviously have "far more functionality and sophistication than Windows 3.1 when it ships in the latter half of 1994." Windows 4 has been codenamed Chicago. Also in the works: the next version of DOS, DOS 7.0, codenamed Cairo, which promises to be a complete overhaul of that venerable operating system. We'll keep you posted. (SOURCE: Infoworld 10/25/93) => UP THE CABLE. Cable fees are going up rather than down, according to an analysis prepared to understand how cable companies have responded to new federal legislation that had been intended to reduce cable rates for most consumers. Imagine that. (SOURCE: NY Times 10/21/93, EDUPAGE) => COMPUTER CAPERS. 100 Spanish Olive growers complained they had not received their European Community subsidies, even though they'd filled out the required paperwork. Authorities in Andalucia discovered their computer wasn't programmed to recognize the letter "n" with a tilde. All the farmers affected had names with tildes. Stupid computer! (SOURCE: City Paper) => ADVENTURES IN TELEPHONY II: CAN YOU HOLD FOR TWO WEEKS? A recent survey of 150 high level execs at Fortune 500 companies by placement firm Robert Half International reveals that the average exec spends about 15 minutes a day on hold. While that doesn't sound like much, it adds up to 2 weeks per year of potentially wasted time. The firm suggests that perhaps you can line up routine tasks to tackle while you're listening to the muzak, mindless chores like signing forms or memos, organizing files and drawers, or perhaps straightening up your desk. (SOURCE: John P. McPartlin, "Please Hold -- For Two Weeks." Information Week 8/23/93, p. 80) => NEW APPLE MACHINES ON THE HORIZON. Apple is slated to introduce a powerful new line of computers in mid-march. The new Macintoshes, based on a new PowerPC microprocessor, will be aggressively priced, and are reported to be the biggest transition for the company since the introduction of the Macintosh. In the meantime, Apple is expected to consolidate its current product line, and to offer price cuts of up to 20% (SOURCE: NYT 10/18/93, p. B1) => STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN. On October 15th, the world's longest escalator link, designed to carry 26,000 commuters daily, opened in Hong Kong. The half-mile long "Hillside Elevator Link" will connect Hong Kong's waterfront business area to Mid-Levels, a chic residential district 450 feet up the slopes of Victoria Peak. The 20 minute ride is free, and is designed to alleviate traffic jams on the overcrowded island. (SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/15/93, p. A17) ====================================================================== Good News For Modern Man (This one is counterpoint to last issue's point) In an interview in the October Freedom Review, author Nicholas Eberstadt is asked whether the rich, industrialized nations are responsible for the poverty of less developed countries: It is not the right question. There is nothing new about poverty -- it is as old as the human condition. What's new, radically new about the human condition, is long life spans and high levels of per capita productivity. The progress mankind has made over the past two centuries is amazing. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there was hardly a population in the world with a life expectancy as long as forty-five years. At the end of the twentieth century, there is hardly a population in the world with a life expectancy that short. Figures for the world as a whole are problematic, but some efforts to compute global GDP suggest an increase by a factor of four in per capita output on this planet during this century. Progress has not been scant, even for what we consider the most impoverished populations. (SOURCE: Wall Street Journal) ====================================================================== Statistically Speaking.... => SOFTWARE SALES SOAR. The Computists Communique reports that from 1982 to 1992, the US software industry grew by 269 percent -- compared with only 30 percent for the rest of the economy. Today, it is larger than all but five manufacturing industries and holds a 75% worldwide market share for prepackaged software sales. => U.S SEMICONDUCTOR COMPANIES DO BOFFO BIZ. The Semiconductor Industry Association says personal computers (PCs) and related products will spur a 29% growth in the 1993 world market to $77.3 billion with a continuing climb to $103.4 billion by 1996. The North American market is expected to lead even the Japanese by the end of this year, with $24.8 billion in shipments in 1993, as compared to Japanese shipments of $23.7 billion, Asia Pacific shipments of $14.4 billion, and European shipments of $11.5 billion. This will be the first year since 1985 that the North American shipments will be larger than Japan's. (SOURCE: Newsbytes 10/28/93) => AND YET...AND YET... Both Datamation and Computerworld report that pay raises for IS workers are averaging around 4% this year. Datamation (August 5, 1993) reports that a fortunate few in "glamour jobs" are seeing average raises in the 10% (Director of IS) to 22% range (CIOs). Of course CIO (Corporate Information Officer), as one pundit pointed out, often translates to "Career Is Over." It's a high turnover position. In fact, although the top spots are very well paid, there is strong pressure to produce results as companies realize the importance of information technologies in their business. In the lower ranks, Datamation noted a strong trend towards staying put, as opposed to the two-year job hops that were fairly common career moves until recently. People are afraid to move, realizing that it's not worth a few thousand dollars to become "low person on the seniority list in another shop." Computerworld's Annual Salary Survey (September 6, 1993) came up with the same basic figures regarding pay raises. They did have some good news for women, reporting that females are closing the pay gap between their earnings and the higher salaries typically paid to their male counterparts. Women are also moving into more responsible, higher paying jobs in great numbers. They now comprise one-third of the computing work force. Other trends: many companies are using bonuses rather than pay increases to reward workers. The healthiest pay increases were to be had in Atlanta, Phoenix, and Dallas, while some salaries in Baltimore, Denver, New York, Minneapolis, and Northern California actually fell. Banking, securities, and utilities firms took the biggest pay hits, and insurance companies got better than average pay increases. ====================================================================== "The beauty of mechanical problems is that they are often visible to the naked and untrained eye. If white smoke is rising from a disk drive, that is probably where the problem lies (unless your disk drive has just elected the new Pope)." - John Bear, Computer Wimp ====================================================================== Chip Wars (prices are retail per chip unless otherwise noted) => INTEL. This month at Comdex in Las Vegas, INTEL will introduce a new Pentium chip, the 60-MHz Pentium II, or P54C. The chip features a 3.3 volt design, which means it will run cooler than current Pentium chips, and pave the way for planned 80- and 100-MHz models. Pricing for the 80-MHz chip will be around $1,300, though officials say this could change. Available in 1st quarter '94 will be the clock tripling 486DX3/100 ($600-700) chip. On November 1, the company will release a low-cost version of its i750 video capture and compression chip ($500 street price), which could cut prices of video boards in half. ATI will produce a board using the chip, and IBM has agreed to use the chip in a video teleconferencing product. Just recently, Intel announced volume shipments of its flash chips -- memory chips that retain data in the absence of electrical power, and can be easily erased and reprogrammed. The company expects to ship 33 million flash chips in 1993, more than double the amount they shipped in 1992. (SOURCES: Wall Street Journal, Infoworld) => INFO METER. The "information meter" chip developed by Wave Systems can be installed in any computer and used to bill users for the amount of software and/or data they actually make use of. The chip costs less than $30. (Forbes 10/18 93, EDUPAGE 10/19/93) ====================================================================== Kultchur Korner => STAR TREK: VOYAGER. Paramount Communications and Chris-Craft Industries have announced they will launch the Paramount Network in January 1995. Among the shows announced for the new network is a new Star Trek franchise called Star Trek: Voyager. This is the last season for ST:The Next Generation (on TV -- there will TNG movies), and I heard they were considering a new show. Does anyone out there know anything about this? (SOURCE: NYT, Philadephia Inquirer) => TIME WARNER TO LAUNCH NEW NETWORK. Time Warner announced this week that it would be launching its new network in the fall of '94. The network will start with 2 hours of prime-time programming 2 nights a week and build from there. No word as to what they will be offering program-wise. (SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer 11/3/93) => STEVEN KING ON THE NET. A new short story from horror schlock- meister Stephen King will be available through the Internet. It will appear through the Online Bookstore; users can search, browse, or read the story on their screens or download a copy for a fee of $5/hour or $5/download. (ACCESS: Online Bookstore, 508/546-7346) (SOURCE: Publishers Weekly, 9/27, p. 12, EDUPAGE 10/19/93) => I WANT MY VTV. Kaiser Electro-Optics and VRI Entertainment plan to deliver high-resolution virtual reality programming over cable TV within the next few months. A head-mounted display would be used to see 3-D views of games and programs. They hope to license the technology to cable TV companies. (SOURCE: Atlanta Constitution 10/14/93, p. E2, EDUPAGE) => I WANT MY MTV.COM! That's right...MTV is officially on the net. At present, VJ Adam Curry is running an ftp and gopher site through a T1 connection with Digital Express. Since the folks at MTV are not yet ready to commit financially to the project, Adam is paying for the connection himself. The anonymous ftp connection is ftp.mtv.com and cd /pub/ The pub directory contains a README file explaining the setup and what's available. Things like charts, audio, schedules, video, etc. Look for a weekly newsletter and programming grids soon. => VIRTUAL ART SHOW. The Guggenheim museum in New York is holding an exhibit of virtual reality as art. One display is a reconstruction of Egyptian antiquities; viewers will be able to walk like an egyptian through the Temple of Horus using special 3-D goggles. (SOURCE: Atlanta Constitution 10/21/93, p. D2, EDUPAGE) => PROTECTING THE INNOCENT. In Phoenixville, Pa., a local newspaper reporting on the arrest of a man accused of sexually molesting his teenage daughter noted twice that it was witholding the man's name to protect the alleged victim's identity. However, the article was accompanied by a color photo of the family's house and a caption naming the street it's on. (SOURCE: City Paper) ====================================================================== Future Tech... => I GIVE YOU THE CYBER FINGER. Researchers at NTT's Human Interface Lab in Tokyo have developed the Cyber Finger, an artificial hand which simulates the movement of a human hand. A neuro chip, employing neural net technology, enables the artificial hand to move its fingers according to instructions given by lab technicians after being trained for only two minutes. NTT reported that the robot was able to move nearly all its individual fingers correctly. With a computer and radio transmitter, users will ultimately be able to control this robot at remote locations, making possible fine detail work not previously possible with remote robots, perhaps in outer space, deep sea exploration or nuclear power plants. NTT continues to improve the system and hopes to employ it commercially in the near future. (SOURCE: Newsbytes) ====================================================================== PDA NEWS => ZOOMER. Tandy's entry in the PDA sweepstakes is now available at Radio Shack for $699. It uses pen-based input, but unlike Apple's Newton, the Zoomer requires that a user print on the screen, rather than write. Zoomer uses the GEOS operating system (that's good), has a built-in dictionary/thesaurus/spell checker, a 26 language trans- lator (!), and a version of Quicken financial software. A modem can be added, optional software lets you transfer software from and to a PC, and a paging service is available thru Motorola. Software is included that will let you access America Online. Tandy is claiming a battery life of 120 hours. Sounds pretty neat, but B&B wisdom says wait for the next generation of PDAs unless you really need (or want) one now. => NEWTON NEWS: SALES GOOD, WIRELESS SERVICE AVAILABLE. Early last month, Apple reported that it had sold 50,000 Newton Messagepads in the US and Europe since the unit's introduction just under two months ago. This makes the Messagepad one of the fastest selling products Apple has ever introduced. Apple resellers said they don't expect to see much profit in sales of the Messagepad itself, but expect to do well on peripheral items like leather cases, extra memory, and the fax modem. One interesting item is the new Connectivity Connection Kit for the Macintosh. Shipped early in September, the connection kit enables information to be synchronized and updated automagically between the Macintosh and Newton when the two are connected. Apple also announced that users will be able to receive a message the length of a postcard from anywhere in the nation and eventually in other countries too. The Apple Wireless Messaging Service will be delivered by Bellsouth's paging network subsidiary, Mobilecomm, and will become available to Newton "soon". To access the service, you'll need the Newton Messaging Card, a $229 credit card-sized receiver that inserts into the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) slot. The Messaging Card can receive messages whether or not it is inserted into the Newton, meaning it can be picking up transmissions while in a jacket pocket and inserted into the Newton at the users' convenience to retrieve the messages. (SOURCE: Newsbytes) => IBM'S SIMON. IBM is set to ship Simon, their entry into the PDA market. The product is about the size of a cellular phone and weighs a pound. It's set to ship in December, and will provide wireless connections via BellSouth's cellular phone network right out of the box. Both Simon and Newton cost about $1000. (SOURCE: Information Week, 11/1/93, p. 10) ====================================================================== (Not so) Stupid E-mail Tricks Note: Some of these retrieved documents can be quite large. Please make sure your mailer can handle these documents, and in the case of commercial service providers make sure it won't cost you more than you want to pay. => NAFTA DOCUMENTS. Information on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is available via email from the USDA Extension Service. The report is divided into sections, which allows you to select sections of interest. To retrieve all or part of these documents send one or more of the lower-case commands listed below on the right, to: almanac@ace.esusda.gov TO RETRIEVE: TYPE: - List of all NAFTA documents released on 9/29/93 send nafta catalog - List of all NAFTA-related Press Releases, since 4/93 send nafta-press catalog - List of daily NAFTA Notes from the White House send nafta-notes catalog => NATIONAL HEALTH CARE DOCUMENTS. To retrieve instructions on getting the Health Security Act, and/or the The President's Report to the American People, send an e-mail message to: health@ace.esusda.gov (You don't need to put any text in the body of the message) Alternately, you can send the following lower-case command: "send hsa help" (omit the quotes) to: almanac@ace.esusda.gov => MOVIE SERVER. The server at movie@ibmpcug.co.uk accesses a movie database to return information about movies, actors, directors, etc. To get a help file, just send a note to the server with HELP in the subject line. A reader sent this one in. Anybody else know any other cool ftpmail services? ====================================================================== Ig Nobel Prizes Awarded The winners of the prestigious Ig Nobel Prizes for 1993 were announced in a ceremony held on October 7 at MIT in Cambridge, MA. The Prizes honor individuals whose achievements cannot or should not be repro- duced. Eleven Ig Nobel Prizes were given this year, and the winners came from 16 different countries. This year's highlights include: The prize for consumer engineering went to Ron Popeil, incessant inventor and perpetual pitchman of late night television, for redefining the industrial revolution with such devices as the Veg-O-Matic, the Pocket Fisherman, the Cap Snaffler, Mr. Microphone, and (my personal favorite) the Inside-the-Shell Egg Scrambler. We have so much to be thankful for. The Pepsi-Cola Company of the Phillipines was awarded the Ig Nobel Peace prize. Seems they sponsored a contest to create a millionaire, and then announced the wrong winning number, a number held by 800,000 people who rioted in the streets. These people, members of different warring factions, were brought together for the first time in history by this strange turn of events. I'd like to teach the world to sing... A joint award went to Jay Schiffman of Farmington Hills, MI, inventor of AutoVision, an image projection device that makes it possible to drive a car and watch television at the same time, and to the Michigan state legislature, for making it legal to do so. In chemistry, James Campbell and Gaines Campbell of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, were recognized for their contribution to society, the scent strips found in better magazines everywhere. Robert Faid of Greenville, South Carolina, won the award for mathematics. It seems he calculated the exact odds (8,606,091,751,882:1) that Mikhail Gorbachev is the Antichrist. I knew it! Finally, in physics, Louis Kervran of France, received his award for concluding that the calcium in chickens' eggshells is created by a process of cold fusion. The Ig Nobel ceremony was produced, as usual, by The Journal of Irreproducible Results and The MIT Museum. A complete list of winners may be obtained from kindly Dr. Chaos by sending email to and asking him for the Ig Nobel prize winners list. (SOURCE: Dr. Chaos ) ====================================================================== ### ADMINISTRIVIA ### NEW INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBSCRIBING AND UNSUBSCRIBING: I am pleased to announce that B&B is now available via listserver. Subscribe to it by mailing listserv@acad1.dana.edu, no subject, text: SUBSCRIBE bits-n-bytes. A confirmation will be mailed to you. To unsubscribe send a message to listserv@acad1.dana.edu, no subject, text: UNSUBSCRIBE bits-n-bytes . Note that your email address is no longer necessary in the message body. THANKS to everyone who wrote in inquiring about my mental health after reading issue #13 of B&B. Rest assured I am as happy as can be an amazingly large percentage of the time. We'll be discussing reaction to issue 13 next time 'round. Thanks to John Wenrich for telling me about the MTV gopher. Everyone and their mother is invited to send in material for possible inclusion in B&B. A big B&B tip of the hat to Kim Small and Dan Walker for providing me with the Wall Street Journal. Capitalism Rules! Lastly but not leastly, thanks to cub reporter Gary Lewis for "pre-reading" Info World for me and acting as an intelligent front end. We'll be back in about a week with more high tech news, hard hitting commentary, and whimsical ravings. ACCESS. B&B is available for downloading on America Online in their telecom files area, and in Compuserve's telecom forum library. INTERNET ANONYMOUS FTP SITES: ftp.dana.edu in /periodic directory INTERNET GOPHER ACCESS. - gopher.law.cornell.edu in the Discussions and Listserv archives/ Teknoids directory - gopher.dana.edu in the Electronic Journals directory ====================================================================== BITS AND BYTES ONLINE, an electronic newsletter for text-based life- forms, is the UNOFFICIAL voice of Kuthumi in this sector of your universe. It is published at the editor's whim, 2 or 3 times a month. *This newsletter is printed on 100% recycled electrons* ====================================================================== Jay Machado = (Copyright 1993 Jay Machado) *unaltered* = 1529 Dogwood Drive = ELECTRONIC distribution of this file for = Cherry Hill, NJ 08003 = non-profit purposes is encouraged. = ph (eve) 609/795-0998 = The editor is solely responsible for the = ======================== editorial content. Contents under pressure = =============== End of Bits and Bytes Online V1, #14 =================