| 34 Being FirstSecond
chances, however, are harder to come by than the first chance. Whoever said that it is
hard to be first, and would happily settle for second or third or fourth or nth, is
terribly wrong.
The harking truth is that it is always a
lot easier to be first.
Everyday, you have the opportunity to be
first. People who begrudge that they will never be first in one thing or another, such as
inventing the wheel or the telephone or discovering gravity or acceleration because dead
people had been there first, are missing out on the day-to-day opportunities of today and
tomorrow. Then they complicate matters further by spending their time dancing, or
TV-gazing, or drinking beer or sleeping on the bus.
On any clear phoneline on the sunny Web,
stateside, I could quickly uncover some of these consequential bytes which I picked up
from just one source out of thousands, nay hundreds of thousands, even millions, more:
>From the Scout Report,
Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1999.
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
Alaska's Water Resources
http://www-water-ak.usgs.gov
The Water Resources of
Alaska homepage is provided by the US Geological Survey. The goal of this project is to
study and understand Alaska's hydrology (surface water, ground water, and water quality)
for use and management of the nation's water resources. The site features a list of
published reports and information about current projects as well as a vast amount of
hydrologic data such as surface water, ground water, water quality, glaciers, water use,
and hydrologic data reports. [SN]
Favorite Poem Project
[RealPlayer, .pdf]
http://www.favoritepoem.org/
The brainchild of US poet
laureate Robert Pinsky, the Favorite Poem Project aims to create for the Library of
Congress a multimedia archive of 1,000 Americans of all ages and social backgrounds
reading aloud their favorite poem. The project was announced in April 1998, and its
official Website was launched on Valentine's Day. At the site, users can read about the
Project's history and future, listen to and read selected poems, learn about the people
who have submitted poems, and find out how they can submit their own favorite poem.
Between its launch and April 2000, when Pinsky will deliver the first installment of the
poetry archive to the Library of Congress, the site will continue to expand with more
readings, message boards, and a teachers' section. [MD]
Exploratorium: Frogs
[Shockwave, RealPlayer, .mp3]
http://www.exploratorium.edu/frogs/index.html
This new exhibit from the
Exploratorium (last described in the December 18, 1998 Scout Report) offers a peek into
the world of Kermit's kin. Aimed at younger users, the site features several
RealPlayer-enhanced feature stories on frogs, frog-researchers, and frog myths; a brief
tour of Frog City USA; and interactive exhibits exploring frog calls and camouflage in
nature. Additional features include instructions for making a rainstick, audio recordings
of the rainforest, and a collection of annotated frog links. [MD]
Internet2 Poised for
Launch Abilene Project
http://www.internet2.edu/abilene/
The Internet2 Project
http://www.internet2.edu/
Internet2, a project to
bypass the congested public Internet and link research institutions via a high-speed
network, takes its first big step forward this month with the launch of the Abilene
test-bed. Abilene will initially link 70 research institutions with 13,000 miles of
fiber-optic cable looped between New York and Seattle and operating at 2.4G bits per
second. Designed to serve
the academic research community, Internet2 will not be accessible to the general public,
but new technologies developed and tested on the network will certainly eventually find
their way to ordinary end-users. At the Abilene site, users can learn about the project's
history and participants, view a network map and technical information, and read the
latest news and highlights. the main Internet2 site also offers a project overview,
information on participants and goals, notices of Internet2 events, and news and
highlights. The site also contains links to information on Abilene's sister projects:
I2-DSI (Distributed Storage Infrastructure) and I2-DVN (Digital Video Network). [MD]
WindowBlinds 0.40
http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/
If you have too much time
on your hands and you yearn to change the way Microsoft Windows appears on your computer,
WindowBlinds, created by StarDock Systems, Inc., is for you. This interesting and
entertaining application actually changes the way your Windows 95/98/NT desktop appears
-- window borders,
backgrounds, buttons, and more can all be altered to your liking. WindowBlinds comes with
several already created desktop styles (called "skins") and many more
independently created skins are available for download. One of the more amusing skins is
the MacPC which makes your Microsoft desktop look like a MacOS system. StarDock also
provides the ThemeBuilder utility which, though complex, aids in creating new skins.
WindowBlinds is free and runs on Win95/98/NT. [CL]
On any clear sunny day in Jolo, people
will be sitting under, or standing by, the shades of acacia trees discussing the latest
kidnap-for-ransom caper or the delay of salaries at some government office or the next
grand concert tour of April Boy.
The more harried ones, who try to become
useful by wrestling with the daily grind, will not even have time to think.
At the end of the day, they will be
staring wearily at the waves lapping the mangrove trunks of their stilt houses, watching
the wastes of the day float by toward the sunset.
Tell me, whose fault is it that these
otherwise nice folks cannot multiply like websites on the World Wide Web?
|
