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Learn the Net News--a free weekly service from Learn the Net.com
http://www.learnthenet.comVol. 2, No. 20 -- Week of May 28, 2000
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Welcome to Learn the Net News.
For our American subscribers, best wishes for Memorial Day, the unofficial beginning of summer. School is out and the kids are home. Kids and the Net can be a potent combination. Many parents are undoubtedly concerned about them encountering offensive content--sites that show sexually explicit and violent material. For years, filtering software has been available to block access to these kinds of sites. More recently, certain family-oriented Internet service providers have begun to offer this screening service. How well do they block smut? This week, we evaluate them.
Living in Northern California, just 75 miles from one of the world's great wine-growing regions has given me a keen appreciation of this ancient beverage. So do recent medical studies showing that a daily glass of wine has medicinal benefits! For those interested in learning more about wine and seeking tips on starting a collection, our Web Tour offers an intoxicating journey through the World of Wine.
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http://www.learnthenet.com.------------------------------------------------
"Top Ten Things You Can Do on the Net This Week" include:
1. Stroll down the Hollywood Walk of Fame:
http://www.hollywoodchamber.net/walkoffame/frameset.html2. Build your own animated models:
http://sodaplay.com/constructor/index.htm3. Get the buzz on bees:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bees/buzz.html4. Improve your golf game with some online instruction:
http://www.thegolfchannel.com/instruction/lessons/home.htm5. Marvel at great engineering feats of the 20th century:
http://www.greatachievements.org/6. See how Latin characters evolved:
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~rfradkin/latin.html7. View the Earth from the moon:
http://www.fourmilab.to/cgi-bin/uncgi/Earth/action?opt=-p8. Watch Ananova, the first digital news anchor:
http://www.ananova.com/9. Use vintage patterns to sew classic clothing:
http://www.vpll.org/10. Explore 18th and 19th century maps of the Americas:
http://www.davidrumsey.com/
Have a site you like? Tell us.
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When webcams went online a few years ago, they created a small sensation. If I recall correctly, some enterprising students at MIT trained a camera on a coffee pot so they could see if there was any left before they made the trek down the hall to re-caffeinate themselves. Who could imagine that soon thousands of cameras around the world would be webcasting live images of the mundane and the sublime--everything from the action around the company water cooler (great for telecommuters languishing in their home offices) to a CAT scan of a mummy. (Sponsored by San Francisco's de Young Museum, the mummy, once thought to be an Egyptian princess, turned out to be a man!)
Today, you can tune-in to thousands of these live Truman Shows. But unlike the character played by actor Jim Carey, the stars of these online dramas are willing participants. I've been fascinated by people's desire to expose their lives to worldwide scrutiny. I have to admit that I've spent hours clicking through personal webcams trying to understand this intriguing 21st century phenomenon. Maybe seeing dozens of other people spending hours in front of their computers makes me feel less isolated. And maybe it's the suspense of the live, uncensored images. Who knows what I may see? (Not much, frankly).
Should you have some time on your hands and you want to peer into personal lives, visit Cammunity at
www.cammunity.com for links to hundreds of webcams. What does this all mean and where is it going? For some thoughtful analysis, read Marshall Sella's absorbing article, "The Electronic Fishbowl" at http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000521mag-internet.html-----------------
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Michael Lerner
Publisher
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