[10993] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Ask Dr. Internet 3 of 3
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Public-Access Computer Systems For)
Wed Jan 22 23:08:23 1997
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 21:22:52 -0600 (CST)
From: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
PART III OF III
*-----
A little more on the proposed copyright laws to copyright
virtually everything for a virtual permanent time period.
What if they pass the new copyright law that says all statistics
can be copyrighted, including those for sports events. . . ?
Here is an example:
They want to copyright this box score:
Quarter: 1 2 3 4 Total
Green Bay Packers: 7 7 7 7 28
New England Patriots: 0 3 0 7 10
Now what happens. . .if these two teams ever play again
and get the same quarterly scores, you can't write them
down or publish them because this was already written--
about a game that happened years ago?
Under the new copyright law the number of years here is
going to approach a century.
***
More on Cookies. . .
As if there hasn't already been more than enough.
ZD Net's CookieMaster
Barefoot Productions
12-18-96
http://www.hotfiles.com/swbrowse/000/C/K/swlib-000CKP.html
Compressed Size
243,768 bytes
ZD Net's CookieMaster provides a quick and easy way to monitor
cookie activity on your computer. Compatible with both Netscape
Navigator and Internet Explorer, it allows you to log various cookie
and browser events. CookieMaster even lets you delete existing cookies.
The Newark (NJ) Star Ledger, 13 Jan 97, has an article entitled "That
booping sound is two million busy signals". It states that, as a result of
AOL offering $19.95 flat rate (unlimited access) as of 1 Dec 96, the
average online session is up from 19 min. in Nov to 33 min.
There were also reports that 8 million people tried to register for
this the first day is was announced. This would be twice as people
as the maximum AOL has ever reported as members, and would be in my
humble estimation, more sessions than AOL could support in addition
to its regular members logging in.
I asked AOL about this, and they refused to comment.
Here is more that came in while we were preparing the Newsletter.
My question is: "If they were spending so much on advertising
that they could cut $300 million from their ad campaigns, what
is the comparison of adveritising to their actual cost to run,
if they are only spending one third of the advertising cuts on
improving their performance?"
Does that mean they spend three times as much on advertising??
And three times less on their actual system?
Read on to see if you can tell.
AOL PLANS TO BUILD UP NETWORK CAPACITY
America Online says it will reduce its ad campaign budget by $300 million
and plow an extra $100 million into bulking up its network capacity to
accommodate higher traffic loads. By downgrading marketing efforts, the
company hopes to stem the flow of new subscribers that has overwhelmed AOL's
ability to provide prompt connectivity. The amount of time a member
typically spends online has more than doubled, from 14 to 32 minutes, since
AOL reluctantly adopted flat-rate pricing last month. By the time the
company completes its network expansion next June, it will be capable of
handling 16 million online sessions each day, up from 10 million. (Wall
Street Journal 17 Jan 97 B7)
***
And finally, a note for all you who think the World Wide Web is
taking over. . .whether you think this is good. . .or bad:
GRADE REPORTING AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
The University of Utah has discontinued using the U.S. Mail to send students
their grade reports, and will instead distribute grade information
exclusively by the World Wide Web or by telephone request. The university
will save $10,000 a month. Grades can only be obtained only with a
confidential identification number. (AP 17 Jan 96)
and
THE MOST WELL-CONNECTED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD? FINLAND!
In Finland there are 62 Internet host computers for each 1,000 people, twice
the proportion in the U.S. Nearly 30% of Finnish homes have portable
computers and about 60% have access to the Internet. (New York Times 20 Jan
97 A1)
General Information about "Ask Dr. Internet."
You can reach the Dr. Internet Web Sites as follows:
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***
You may be interested in the following free Etext books
about computers and the Internet from Project Gutenberg:
Mon Year Title and Author [filename.ext] ###
Nov 1996 Hackers/Computer Revolution Heroes, by Steven Levy[hckrsxxx.xxx] 729C
Sep 1996 The Secret Guide to Computers, by Russ Walter WP51[sgcwpxxx.xxx] 672C
Sep 1996 The Secret Guide to Computers, by Russ Walter .txt[sgcpvxxx.xxx] 672C
Jul 1995 HomeBrew HomePages Put YOU On The World Wide Web [homebxxx.zip] 303C
Apr 1995 A Brief History of the Internet by Michael S. Hart[bhotixxx.xxx] 250-
Jan 1994 Hacker Crackdown by Bruce Sterling [hack10xx.xxx] 101C
Jul 1993 Email 101 by John Goodwin [email025.xxx] 75C
Mar 1993 NREN, by Jean Armour Polly [nren210x.xxx] 56C
Jan 1993 Surfing the Internet, Jean Armour Polly [surfxxxx.xxx] 49C
[The Plain Vanilla ASCII Etext has been withdrawn at the request of NUSIRG]
Sep 1992 NorthWestNet NUSIRG Internet Guide [nusirgxx.xxx] 40C
Sep 1992 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet, Ed Krol [hhgixxxx.xxx] 39C
Aug 1992 The Hackers' Dictionary of Computer Jargon [jargnxxx.xxx] 38
Jun 1992 Zen & the Art of Internet, Brendan P. Kehoe [zenxxxxx.xxx] 34C
You can get the Project Gutenberg books via FTP and the Web:
ftp uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu or ftp 128.174.5.14
login: anonymous
password: yourname@your.machine
cd pub
cd etext
cd gutenberg
cd etext95 [or 94, 93, 92, 91 or 90. 70's and 80's are in /etext90]
get filename (be sure to set bin, if you get the .zip files)
get more files
quit
get INDEX?00.GUT ? = 1,2,4,8
New files in etext96, of course.
***
ftp ftp.prairienet.org or ftp 192.17.3.4
username: anonymous
password: yourlogin@your.machine.domain
[this is your email address where you are]
cd pub/providers/gutenberg/etext96 [etc, as above]
ls or dir for a listing of files
get filename.txt (ascii files)
get filename.zip (binary zipped files)
be sure to type "binary" before retrieving the .zip files!
Project Gutenberg Web Sites can now be reached at:
http://promo.net/pg/ [This is the definitive site for now]
ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/etext/gutenberg/pg_home.html
http://www.prairienet.org/pg
http://gutenberg.etext.org
http://gutenberg.net [same as promo.net]
The Gutenberg archive can also be accessed from Singapore at
http://www.sol.com.sg/pg
and from Silicon Valley at
ftp://cdrom.com/pub/gutenberg
and
ftp://archive.org/pub/gutenberg/etext/etext96
and etext95/94/93/92/91 and etext90, of course.
In Europe, please try our newest site at:
Bucharest High School of Computer Science
Serving Central and Eastern Europe
ftp://ftp.lbi.ro/pub/Books/Gutenberg
Please let us know if you need more information.
DISCLAIMER!! WE ARE NOT EXPERTS!! WE JUST LIKE TO HELP!!
[This is not an "Advice" column: we merely try to answer
the questions of general interest people send us, period.
We reply directly to all messages we receive directly....
if we do not reply directly, then please presume the note
you sent did not reach us: and send it to us again. Not
all questions can be answered in the column, of course.
We try to send a note in those cases, explaining that the
question does not fall in our areas/levels of expertise--
and we often try to suggest where answers can be found.
As in our disclaimer which comes out twice a year, or so,
we do not believe in being authorities, or authoritative,
so we throw in something once in a while that is not true
We want you to do you your own research if interested----
not just take our word for anything.
