ISSUE 13 - RELEASED 23/10/1998 Updated: --------------------------------------------------------------------- S E N I O R * C I T I Z E N ! ! ! --------------------------------------------------------------------- http://seniordads.home.ml.org/features/citizen SENIOR CITIZEN is a flippin' good read of other people's flippin' good read!!! Peruse the wierd and wacky each week thru the miracle that is the megamighty super-information edutainment multimedia ultra-highway Webby thingy!!!!! Any interesting stories, feedback, suggestions?? Mail us!! at senior@forfree.net!!! Subscribe via email!!! Go to our website and register, or mail us! BACK ISSUES: http://seniordads.home.ml.org/features/citizen/ezine/ ftp://etext.archive.umich.edu/pub/Zines/Senior_Citizen/ The soundtrack for this issue is available at: http://seniordads.home.ml.org/features/citizen/music/13.mid ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ISSUE 13 (23/10/1998) "It's not a problem- it's just a small rounding error!!!!" Written by: Old Fart!!! of the SD!!! Contributors: Colostomy Bag!! of the SD!!!, PAndroid!!! of Page 670!!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cough!!! Cough!!!!! Splutter!!!! That was me last weekend!!!!! Sniffle!!!!! Atchoo!!!!! etc. OK, you get the idea now!!!!! Anyway, I'm much better this week, so here's issue 13 of SENIOR CITIZEN!!!! Thirteen!!! They say it's unlucky!!!!!! But I don't believe all that ru ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Transfer Interrupted! BTW That was just a joke!!!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ == Wired for MP3 (Sound)!!!!! == Remember that classic landmark popular music videogram from the 1980s by Cliff Richard called "Wired For Sound"??!?!?! For all you young people, it was a jolly little song about listening to one's walkman!!! And the video was full of really "hip" people on roller-skates listening to their walkmans!!! Because listening to walkmans were really hip in the 1980s!!!! Well, I wonder how the 90s equivalent of Cliff Richard (eg that young man out of popular beat group Oasis- at least he can sing, eh Chris Evans?!?!) would approach the 90s equivalent here!!!!! Some combo called Saehan Information systems have done a walkman- for MP3 files!!!!!! You can upload loadsa MP3 files from your compute to this thingy, and you have a portable MP3 walkman, and you can put on your roller skates and look really hip like in the 80s!!!!!! I can imagine the sort of songs Noddy Gallagher from Oasis is probably thinking up like: "Shaker MP3er", "Do you know what I MP3?" "You Gotta Roll with MP3", "Don't MP3 Back In Anger", and Erm...!! I've run out of ideas!!!!! http://www.mpman.com If you're a Unix person, you can use this proggy to upload your files to the thingy.... http://www.world.co.uk/sba But they'd better be quick, because Samsung is on the case!!!!! According to this story from the Korean Times, Samsung, are bringing out their own MP3 player!!! When a name like Samsung enters the market, they must be taking it seriously!!!! http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/14_5/9810/t455166.htm Samsung might run into a bit of a legal clash with the American record company moguls, who have already managed to delay one MP3 walkman. But check this one out!!!! A UK company is planning to release an MP3 player, which is actually a little PC running Linux!!!!! Because it's a PC, it might skirt round the legal probs!!!! And since it's Linux, you can probably connect it to the Internet, and run a webserver from it to tell people what you're playing!!!!!! http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19981021S0003 == Chem Bros remix- in mp3!!! == And if you want something to play on your MP3Man, apart from Cliff and Oasis of course, then you might be interested in this Chemical Brothers remix of some Mecury Rev thingy... Because they've releasedas an MP3!!!!!!!! This is courtesy of of the Ultimate Band Website, apparently !!!!!! Unfortunately you have to enter your email addr or something, so just put in "po@tellytubbies.co.uk" you arrive at this page!!!! http://content.ubl.com/cca/mercury_rev/download/download.html Sorry, UBL, if you really want people to put in their email addrs in to get the MP3, then don't put the downloads on a publicly accessible page like that!!!!!! Of course, if they've got wind of this small point, you may find that that URL doesn't work for you!!!! In which case, you'll have to go here, and think of an "imaginative" email address... http://content.ubl.com/cca/mercury_rev/ == Nintendo can't be too pleased!!!! == Apparently The "Big N" delayed plans for their colour edition of the spiffy little brick-shaped console piece of electronics magic that is the Gameboy, (I still thought the Atari Lynx was much better tho!!!) because they wanted to wait until technology actually advanced to the point when the sort of thing they wanted it to do wasn't to expensive to produce!!!! So now they're doing it- but if they waited a few months, they could have used this spiffy little 1280x1024 colour LCD for their display!!!!! http://www.comicro.com/ == Do U(HF) know the way to San Jose?!?!?!?! == Well, some people might be new to packet-radio internet connection, but we aren't!!!!!! (See issue 12...) So here's another one- apparently some people in San Jose are setting up a "UHF" radio connection wheeze!!!! Funny thing is... I thought UHF was the frequency rage they broadcast the TV on!!!!!! Won't that muck up the telly pictures in the area?!?!?! http://computernewsdaily.com/live/Latest/259_091697_112207_9941.html == More really good publicity for Linux games!!!! == Well, you spotty Linux nerd-geek-anorack-propeller-heads (As Future Publishing might say!!!) will no doubt be on the lookout for new gamez to stick on your Ultra-Stealth-Ninja PC "box" which will test the 3D hardware a bit more than a console text display!!!!! Unfortunately one of the early ones didn't last very long- which might have something to do with the fact that the object of the game was to kill priests!!!!! Now there's a linux game called Sin!!!! So we'll probably get some "expose" by the Daily Mail two years from now about an "evil computer cult" called "Linox" because of this!!!!! http://www.linuxpower.org/display_item.phtml?id=65 == Twiddle about on tha NetWeb!!! == If you like "double entendres", then you'll like this!!!!! We're talking about something that a lot of people on the InfoPipeWebHighway do a lot when they're surfing!!!! Everytime they point and click at a link, it's because they're wanting to do "it"!!!! In fact, they can't really surf without doing "it"!!!!! I am of course talking about using the mouse, you dirty people!!!! But you can do something else with your hands, believe it or not!!!!! You can "twiddle" with your "Twiddler"!!!!! That's because the "Twiddler" is an intresting combination of the a mouse and that neat 5-key keyboard replacement thingy that came out in the 80s!!!!! I notice you have to "grip" it in a certain way.... http://www.handykey.com/ == The atmos in this nightclub is non-existant!!!!! == Imagine for a moment that you actually are in the world of Mario 64, jumping around and rescuing penguins or something, and then suddenly from nowhere, someone plays "Because We Want To" by Billie!!!! What would you do?!?!? Well, you would of course say: "Aha!!! I must be in Waikiki in Hawaii!!!!!" this would be because that's where the world's first virtual nightclub is expected to be opened!!!!!! The one thing I don't understand is why they put an exciting virtual nightclub world in Hawaii!!!! Surely it would be better to open in somewhere not very exciting, like Bolton!!!!!!! http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/981009/six_d_1.html == Repeat after me: '%^&&'!!!!!!!! == Some Daily Mail readers were a bit put "out" by the Teletubbies because they thought that they might teach children to talk funny!!!! Well, most young people today talk funny anyway, so I don't think the stuck up prigs would notice any difference, would they?!?!?! I mean, these no-good busybodies really get right up my noses, and ... erm, anyway!!!!!! At least the wonderful tubby creatures didn't teach the kids to swear!!!!! But a bit of US educational softs has!!!!! In fact, the programmer deliberately put words like "masterb&^*" into a spelling game as a political point about parental responsibility!!!!!!!! "I wanted to wake parents up to reality -- here's what happens if you hand your responsibility to some machine" http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/15533.html == We're Nerds and we're proud!!!!! == Well, if you're still not smarting from being called a "spotty Linux nerd-geek-anorack-propeller-head" then perhaps you ought to!!!!!! This lot certainly would!!! That's because this lot behind the "Nerd Herd" are fighting against "*nix oppression"!!!!!! http://www.nerdherd.net/ == Slashdot gets a kick in the pants!!!!! == Well,as you might know, Slashdot is a really good place for finding pointers to the latest news!!!!! But occasionally, they can slip up!!!! Like for example in this case, when they posted a "joke" news item about someone dying without saying it was a joke item!!!!! http://mandrake.net/1825258.html After the furore, the "joke" piece was amended to say that it was really a clever ruse to expose "problems with Slashdot's editorial policies"!!! == Flies won't like this development!!!! == Can you imagine a spider getting together with a goat to produce an extremely strong material to replace the plastic used in fishing nets?!?!? No, I couldn't either!!!!! But obviously some scientests did!!!!! These dudes from Quebec are putting synthesised spider protiens into goats milk to make ultra strong material called "biosteel"!!! I would like to be a fly hitting of those webs!!!!! http://www.yahoo.co.uk/headlines/19981012/newscien/908150460-202186796.html == And I thought my gramophones were old!!!!! == So, how old are your records?!?!?! 10, 20, 30 year old?!?!?!? Well, some crew called the "Mayans" have a record that is over a thousand years old!!!!!! Obviously this dates from the time before gramophones, so it's not available on CD!!!!! In fact, it's in the extremely unportable form of a big cave!!!!! These clever Mayan dudes actually carved the inside parts of the cave in such as way that if you make a noise, the echo that comes back is actually a recording of a bird from the local area!!!!!!! Pretty neat, huh??!?!? I would like to see them try and emulate a record by Fatboy Slim, tho!!!!! http://www.yahoo.co.uk/headlines/19981012/newscien/908150460-201867272.html == Yet more really obvious Internet reporting!!!!! == Well, it appears that October 1998 is State The Bleeding Obvious Month in Internet reporting terms!!! (See issue 12...) But here's something new!!!!!! Apparently internet veterans surf tha w3 differently to newbies!!!!! And some people even listen to music whilst surfing!!!! At least so says a presumably really expensive survey mentioned in this story, but I wouldn't believe it- it sounds just so ultra hyper wacky!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/15538.html == Your web page is on the line!!!!! == If you *really* want a different way to browse, how does this grab you- telephone based web browsing!!!! Yes, thank's to these bright sparks, you can now surf da web using voice commands, and then listen to "synthesised" web pages!!! So in future you can shout down the phone: "Get me the latest issue of Senior Citizen, my good man!!!" and, erm, hear it... http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/15557.html But they'd better watch out, because IBM has developed a Web browser for the blind, which also reads out pages from tha megamighty inphopipe!!!! Let's not also forget that audio style sheets for the web are also being developed... So in future our web page is going to be very noisy!!!! http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/981021/ibm_softwa_1.html == Silicon Art!!! == Well, you might be thinking that when we say "Silicon Art", we mean art drawn on a Silicon Graphics workstation!!!!!!! But you'd be wrong!!!!!!! We actually mean art drawn on a *Silicon chip*!!!!!!!!!!!!! And here is some brillibobs examples of this brilliant art- we think Mr T is the neatest!!!! http://www.chipworks.com/SiliconGallery/07main.htm == Whizz!!! Bang!!!!! Click!!!!! == If you're getting annoyed by those little banner ads that crop up on webpages... Well, bully for you, Mr Stalin!!!!! I happen to think they're really great, and if one or two start appearing on my pages, and I get some money/audience then it's be really brilliant!!!!! Erm, anyway, if you're annoyed, then you're going to be even more annoyed by this development- ad banners with sound!!! Hmmmm.... (Imagines a "Senior Citizen" ad banner with the words "IT ROX- DADDIO!!!" booming out of the speakers in 45bit 6452Kzh sound!!!!) http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19981012S0029 == Buy Missy Elliot- it'll help the shipbuilders!!!!! == We've recently been looking at the MTV UK website, and although it looks like a Shockwave nightmare, it does have one little interesting feature- Fantasy Bands!!!! It's like that Fantasy Football, expect that, er, instead of football, it's bands!!!!!!! We're now entering the fray with our own heavy metal band called Vigilante Shipbuilders, composed of Danbert from Chumbawumba, Danny Macnamara from Embrace, and Missy Elliot!!! We hope to get to no. 1 with that line-up!!!!! http://www.mtv.co.uk:80/point4?ac=000093387127875&rtmo=f3vfofls&atmo=99999999&manager=0000933871&artist=228&FBM_ACTION=addartist&comment=0.inc&pg=/mtve/mtve/fbm/setup/fbmhomeaction.html == Snotty Vomit Bully-Boys!!!!! == But we wished we got to this site first before we thought up the name!!!!!! The Band Name Generator is a really great invention which chucks out loads of random names for those people who don't know what to call their band!!!!! Before long, we can expect to see the following names in the hit-parade... BEGIN TEXT ==================================================== Whiskey Bacon Iris Crap Atom Hideous Diamond Carpet Sprocket Consumption Rerun Yeast Cellar Pink Bacon Angry Reckless Ink Harp White Devil Lobster Captain Lighter Crispy Burgundy Madness Anarchists Snotty Vomit Bully-Boys END TEXT ======================================================= http://www.mp3.com/artist/bng/ == Web TV Watches you!!!! == Well, they say digital telly is really brilliant, but what they might not say it that every move you make on it can be logged back at "Control"!!!!!! The peeps in WebTV-lans are just starting to find this out... http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/zd/zd7.htm == Free Radio stations?!?!?!?! == If you're one of those young people that raised a "stink" about the business at XFM, you might be interested in this!!!!!! "The Eclectic Radio Company" want people to beta-test it's Reaulaudio webcasting softs!! So, if you want to have your own radio station, and play Gitbox or whatever you whippersnappers listen to these days, then this is a neat idea!!!!! http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/981014/erc_eclect_1.html == Astronomers become midwifes!!!!! == "Black holes have a kind of mystic appeal." says some astronomer!!!! Well, they would know about that, as they've just seen the birth of one of them!!!!!!! Apparently they saw some "very powerful and unusual supernova", and thought- "Aha!!!!!" Er, that's it!!!!! http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/wr/story.html?s=v/nm/19981015/wr/blackhole_2.html == Something to get cut-up by?!?!?!? (Doh!!!!!!) == Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hack away at someone with an assortment of lethal surgical instruments!??!?!?!? Well, now you can find out!!!!!!! Don't worry, you don't have to become a serial killer!!!!!! Just go along to this stomach-churning site, and you can perform a Virtual Autopsy!!!!! I bet Linda Planpot will be visiting this site for tips when she's writing a sequel to Killer Net!!!!! http://www.le.ac.uk/pathology/teach/VA/ == The Shamen are dead!!!! == Yes!!!!! It's true!!!!! No more Mr C raps!!!!! They're dead!!!! The next album UV is their last!!!!! What you mean, you thought they were dead already!!!!!!!! http://www.nemeton.com/ == Y2K may lead to breaks- literally!!!!!! == If you're in jail, and your release date is December 31st 1999, then you're probably going to feel really cheesed off!!!! Why!?!? Well, just a few hours later, the rest of the criminal establishment may be let out!!!! This is because there are fears that some embedded systems in jails may mess up due to the millenium bug, and loads of criminals might break out as a result!!!!!!!!! http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/15627.html == PAndroid bounces back again!!!! == Yep!!! After the mass suicide in news://alt.digitiser , Dave Deans/PAndroid has started a new website.... BEGIN TEXT ==================================================== Subject: MILLENIUM DOME TO HAVE "ADULT ZONE" [British Satirical Broadcasting: Launch Post] Date: 25 Sep 1998 00:00:00 GMT From: David Deans/PAndroid Newsgroups: alt.digitiser,alt.games.video.digitiser,alt.ezine Peter Mandelson announced this week that the Millenium Dome will feature a very special testament to the British Porn Industry, called the "Adult Zone." Televisions thoughout the brotheliimeancomplex will show 24 runs of Television X, The Adult Channel and Playbox TV. Also a large 24 foot vibrating penis will be erected, to demonstrate the effect of the sex-toys industry on the world. Free Viagra will be availible also. (British Satirical Broadcasting. A weekly look at the news in some way or another.Nothing to do with the Backstreetboys. Go there, whilst you have half a life. BTW, the sites currently in beta stage. Any comments will be very much appreaciated. http://www.pandroid.zetnet.co.uk/bsb/ ) -- | Dave Deans/PAndroid - Cartoons Kick Ass | Email: pandroid (at) bigfoot.com remove barrysavedmylife | ICQ: 2332301 IRC: PAndroid (EFnet) http://pandroid.home.ml.org | Writer of page670 e-zine http://670.home.ml.org END TEXT ======================================================= http://www.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=395041025 == French story gets funny... == ... And not in the "ha ha" sense either!!!!! If you've got Zing recently, (See issue 10...) then you might have been following this channel!!!!! It's apparently meant to a "Learn French" type "series", but this week it's set on a "deserted street", and this dude is following this woman for some reason!!!!!! http://zgs0.zing.com/ISAPI/ZapServer.dll?Zap&CreativeURL=http%3A%2F%2Fzfs-farm.zing.com%2Fzing%2Fcontent%2F80001f1a.dat == Freeper jeepers!!!!! == Well, obviously the Republicans in the US don't have any equivalent of Peter Mandelsson!!!!!! Or you wouldn't see this on one of their websites!!!!!!! This is the Free Republic website bbs, and you should see some of the slogans they've been thinking up for their rally!!!!! How about "PERVERT, TRAITOR, ALL THAT JAZZ / PACK YOUR BAGS FOR ALCATRAZ"?!?!?! I think "1....2....3...4..... / get the hell out of the whitehouse you lying sonuvab*tch..." has a ring to it!!!!! Also, check out the banners, especially the "pissed off" one!!!!! BTW note that they call each other "freepers"!!!!!! I think this tells you all you need to know!!!!!!!!!!! http://209.67.114.212/forum/a3627762515e0.htm == Renta-websites!!!! == We've recently found one of the best sites ever on the internet- a latter-day equivalent of the "Cool Site of the Day" type thingy done years ago!!!! Only this one lists sites that are dead, or haven't been updated for years!!!! The real specialities are short-term websites knocked up for movie publicity!!!!! This week, there's a review of the Mission Impossible website!!!!!!! Really brillibobs, eh?!?!?!?!? http://www.disobey.com/ghostsites/ == If you HEAR Sid, tell him!!!! == Some of you young sprites might be aware that "retro" synth noises are back in fashion in the music biz!!!! Loadsa little boxes have been launched emulating 303s, 808s, 505s, 101s, and even the rare 123456789-0-123456789s!!!!! But only now has it happened to one of the most popular "retro" synths ever!!!!! No, I'm not talking about the Minimoog, or even the Mediumsizedmoog, but the SID soundchip on the Commodore 64 home computer!!!!!! Yes, that's right- someone's done a MIDI rackmounted box that faithfully emulates the SID chip!! That means that soon you'll be able to hear dance records with the distinctive "musical wasp trapped in a pipe and put through a phaser" sound of the SID!!!!! Maybe there might even be an "old-skool" type Rob Hubbard revival?!?!? (Now that *would* be really neat!!!) http://www.sidstation.com/ == Geocities mucks up pop-pups!!!! == We couldn't believe it the other day when we loaded a webpage from the Geocities webserver, and no annoying pop-up ads appeared!!!!! Then we saw the bottom of the page... Ho ho ho ho!!!!! http://seniordads.home.ml.org/features/citizen/graphics/geopop.gif == Now son- you've been hacking again, haven't you!!!!!!!! == Here's a really serious article called "How to tell if your kid is a hacker"!!!!! Look, stop laughing you young whippersnappers!!!!!!!! This is a serious subject!!!!!!!!! Apparently, according to this article, parents are supposed to learn about computers or something... http://www.zdnet.com/familypc/content/9810/columns/parental.html == Maybe the 'Snoopy' people are dieting!!!! == We thought that you only got "Angry of Tumbridge-Wells" type letters in the UK, so we were pleased to see the following letter in the South China Morning Post!!!! Mind you, it's from Hong Kong, which is a former UK colony, so that may explain it!!!!!! Anyway, the letter bemoans the fact that MacDonalds are doing a "Snoopy" doll promotion, and loads of people are buying loadsa stuff from the "Big Mac" in order to get the Snoopy doll, then just dumping the food in the bin!!!!!!!! Sounds like a really great advert for MacDonalds, eh?!?!?!?!? http://www.scmp.com/news/template/Focus-Template.idc?artid=19981020201634031&top=focus&template=Letter.htx&maxfieldsize=818 == Star Trek to fund 'First Contact'?!?!?!?! == Interesting news of the week is that the dudes from Star Trek are co-funding the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intellicence (SETI), and are hoping to coincide the launch of SETI's new computer network (See issue 4...) with the launch of the next Star Trek film!!!!!! http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/15708.html == Thinking map gives you comics!!!! == Now, thanks to the wonder of Java, you can now see the cream of America's unfunny comics!!! Comic Explorer is a rather nice big Java prog which allows you to select from loadsa comix!!!! http://www.comiczone.com/explorer/ It's not just a gimmicky thingy though- apparently it uses a neato thingy called "Thinkmap" which is supposed to be a really good way of sorting data by pulling levers or something. http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/15703.html == Reality Plus- or minus?!?!?!? == Well, here's a new buzzword!!!!!!! You've heard of "wearables" by now... If not, read some old issues of this organ NOW!!!! So here's one for you wearables fans- *augmented reality*!!!! It's just like normal reality expect than you can see extra stuff via your wearable computers... So it's a bit like that dude in "The Terminator" then!!!!!!! http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/15703.html Unfortunately as you might have noted in Star Trek, if you wear a comm-badge, then Captain Jean Luc-pIcard can tell where you are!!!!! So some people are worried that wearing a wearable might allow people to pinpoint where you are!!!! Well, why not do like the Star Trek people with their comm badge, and just toss it off somewhere?!?!?! http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/15745.html == Flat screens by 2004?!?!? == Amazingly, no-one seems to have noticed the true significance of this amazing piece of news!!! Read the story below: "Market research company Stanford Resources predict a slow start for flat panel monitors, with CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors remaining the standard until at least 2004." So flat screen monitors may be common as early as 5-6 years from now?!??!!? Cor blimey!!!!!!!!!! http://www.yahoo.co.uk/headlines/19981021/hitech/908989857-19981021ai.html == Now you can tell Chris Evans to shut up- and he will!!!!! == You know that motor show in Birmingham that the lady from "Watchdog" wasn't allowed into?!?!? Well, one of the things at the show was a car- with voice activated car controls!!!!! Luckily, only-non driving stuff can be voice controlled (eg the radio, so you can tell Chris Evans to belt it!!!!), but I still don't like to think how the car will behave if the driver has some of that new-fangled "road rage" stuff!!!!!! You could probably recognise all the angry drivers in a traffic jams, as their inside lights would probably be switching on and off in response to their naughty words!!!!! http://www.yahoo.co.uk/headlines/19981021/hitech/908989857-19981021ah.html == Internet Tourbus!!!!!! == Well, this is another interesting "Best of the web" type mailing list, but we really dig that name: "Internet Tourbus"!!!!!!! That's almost as good as "Van Koevering Interactive Piano" (See issue 12...) And the subtitle is really great as well!!!! "Why Surf When You Can Ride The Bus?"!!!!!!! http://www.TOURBUS.com/ == And the final result is... Grtgykugfuyg RuityuY Bvxzbvnm!!!!!!!!!! == "If we are paid only 86.5%, we will publish only 86.5% of our research results!" So says a group of scientests who publish their stuff on the web and are currently taking industrial action over unequal pay rates!!!!!! And they've published 86.5% of their results... by scrambling the other 13.5%!!!!!!! Yes, that's right- they've scrambled 13.5% of the page on all of their webpages!!!!!! Now, that's what I call style!!!!!!! http://www.first.gmd.de/persons/mtv/e.html == Rocket in your pocket!!!! == No, it's not what you think!!!!!! It's actually quite small really!!!!!! Look, it's definately not what you think, alright!!!!!! (In my case, it's not small at all actually!!!! Erm, where was I?!?!?!) Anyway, enough talking about you-know-what, I'm actually talking about a real rocket engine that you can fit in you pocket!!!! In fact, you can probably fit quite a few of them in- unless you have really small pockets, or are the size of an atom or something, because these rocket engines are really small- 1.5 centimeters by 3 millimeters no less!!!! The dudes behind this reckon that "array of 800 microrockets (about the size of a hardcover novel) could carry a 1,000-kilogram vehicle into space."- so we could be talking about a rocket the size of a car taking satellites into space?!?!?!?!??!?! http://www.techreview.com/articles/nov98/prototype.htm#rocket == Little Green Men from... Jupiter?!?!?!? == Well, not really, but scientests seem to think that a couple of the moons of Jupiter, Europa and Callisto, (I didn't know they named a moon after that character in "Xena: Warrior Princess"!!!!!) may have all the building blocks of life!!!!! It's almost like that film "2010"!!!!! Except for the bit about Callisto... And the monolith... OK, nearly everything's different then, apart from the "Europa may have life" bit!!!!! http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/98/10/22/timfgnusa03007.html?1124027 == Jupiter may have competition!!!! == Jupiter isn't the only big planet around this week!!!!!! A planet twice the size has been found orbiting a star in the constellation of Cancer!!!! Seeing as the planet hasn't got a name yet, and the world's astronomical community failed to take my advice last time, (See issue 1...) I will give them another chance... [clears throat!!!!] Ahem!!!!!! I think the planet should be called "Big Blob"- because it's big and blobby!!!!!!!!! http://www.mercurycenter.com/breaking/docs/066891.htm == How to deal with a stupidly long signature!!!! == Well, I thought this was funny!!!!! BEGIN TEXT ==================================================== Newsgroup: alt.music.techno Well, if we presume that each line of your somewhat-absurdly oversized (but intriguing nonetheless) .sig file represents 20 CDs, my collection is as large as the graphic is tall.. (what a pain in the ass way to answer, eh?) eric:p In article , crank wrote: > i was just curious, to the usual posters on here, how big are > your music collections? > > > > /\ > / \ > / /\ \ > / / /\ \ > / /_/ \ \ > / \ \ / \ > / /\ \ \/ /\ \ > / / /\ \/ / /\ \ > / / / \ / / \ \ > / / / __ \/_/ \ \ > / / / /\ \ Ed \ \ > / / / / \ \ Lanum / \ > / / / / /\ \ \ / /\ \ > / / / / / /\ \ \ / / /\ \_ > / / / / /_/ \ \_\ / / / \/_/ > / / / / \ \ / / / / / / __ __ > / / / / /\ \ \/ / / / / / /\_\ /\ > / / / / / /\ \/ / / / / / / / / \ \ > / / /_/ / / \ / / / / / / / /____\_\ > / / /__\/ / / / / / / / / / /__________ > \/_______/ / / / / / / \/_____________/ > / / / / / / > / / /_/ / / lanum@students.uiuc.edu > / / /__\/ / 217-367-6791 > \/_______/ -- ___________________________________________________________________________ Eric S. Piotrowski __________________| "Money constitutes no proper basis | altin@mail.kudos.net ________________| for civilization." | http://www.atlantic.net/~altin_______| - Eugene V. Debs | END TEXT ======================================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE END!!!!! ... For now!!! This text and stuff is (c) 1998 HOUSE OF SENIOR DADS