Floppyshop 2/Floppyshop - 2.zip/Floppyshop - 2.iso/diskmags/0022-3.564/dmg-3557/news.txt/rainbox1.asc

Text File | 1997-06-21 | 12KB | 217 lines

                          ∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°
                          ∙  DODGING THE RAIN  ∙
                          ∙                    ∙
                          ∙   by John Weller   ∙
                          ∙                    ∙
                          ∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°


     Welcome.  This is a new column in which  I'll be trying to share some
of my current enthusiasms,  and ranting and raving about what's  important
to me.   It won't necessarily be about computers - it could just as easily
be  about a day's hawking,  or someone I met on the train - but when I  am
talking  about  computers  then  it'll be  from  the  viewpoint  of  being
creative  and  having fun with them -  enjoying  technology,  rather  than
worshipping it.   As the wise man said, "It don't mean a thing if it ain't
got that swing! (Boo ba bah doo)."


                         MAGGIE & USER INTERFACES
                         °∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙

     One of the more interesting things about putting a  disczine together
is  that  you feel duty bound to check out the 'opposition' and  see  what
they're up to.  And then you wonder why you bothered.  With the honourable
exception  of ST News and Inside Info,  the disczines that are  going  the
rounds  are  juvenile,  badly written,  full of swearwords  and  empty  of
content.   In a word,  they're cr*p.   The shells are well programmed, but
the  gist  of the writing and coding is always,  "look  at  me,  look  how
clever I am, see my name in lights, Mum!"

     Enough of the home truths.   What I really want to talk about is  the
way  in which different 'zines present their text - the real meat  of  any
magazine.   Maggie,  The  Ledgers,  and other crudities seem to put  their
main  effort into coding and refining their shells,  and the text  content
comes in as a poor relation;  apologetic,  shuffling, and unfit for public
viewing.   ST News,  STEN and Inside Info take a different approach.   The
text is paramount and the shell is simply a way of presenting the text  in
the most straightforward way.   No bells,  hardly any whistles,  but solid
articles all the way through.

     The  bottom line of a magazine is to print readable  text.   Anything
else is frills and baubles, the triumph of style over content.


                        BEAST KEEPERS LIVE LONGER
                        °∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°

     A  recent 'New Scientist' carried a news item claiming that "Pets  do
you good."  To quote it in full:

   "An  Australian  researcher has produced the best  evidence  so  far
   that pets are good for your health.   Warwick Anderson, of the Baker
   Medical Research Institute in Melbourne,  examined 5741 people  aged
   between  20 and 60,  784 of them pet owners,  by offering them  free
   health risk evaluations.

   The  pet  owners turned out to have significantly  lower  levels  of
   cholesterol and triglycerides and lower blood pressure.  The differ-
   ences  could  not  be explained by other factors  such  as  diet  or
   socioeconomic group.

   James  Serpell of the Companion Animal Research Group  at  Cambridge
   says the difference is impressive, 'stronger than improvements found
   in  comparable  studies on people who have  switched  to  vegetarian
   diets or taken up exercise programmes'.

   There is still no explanation for the effect.   But,  says Anderson,
   if  a  new drug was available that achieved such reductions  in  the
   risk  of heart disease,  then 'that drug would be hailed as a  major
   breakthrough in controlling heart disease'."

     This is hardly news for pet keepers,  as they've known all along that
there's  nothing more relaxing than spending an hour or  two  cleaning-out
their animals,  or just watching them go about their business.  One theory
is  that  when we care for animals,  we're exercising  a  basic  nurturing
instinct - a giving of love without expecting anything in return.

     An  animal's world is so very different from ours that handling  them
or  caring  for  them  takes  you out of yourself  and  gives  you  a  new
perspective  on  what's  really important in your  life.   How  could  you
possibly  feel stressed or worried when you see half-a-dozen ferrets  leap
in the air and ambush each other?


                           CREDIBILITY UNBOUND
                           ∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°°∙°∙°∙°

     No,  I'm not talking about users who believe Atari's Press  Releases,
I'm referring to the excellent spoof that the BBC transmitted on  Halloween
night.   Did  anyone  else  see it?   The set-up (and  I  use  the  phrase
advisedly)  was  that the programme was meant to be an  outside  broadcast
from a house haunted by a poltergeist.   All the expected ingredients were
there:  teenage daughters,  a distraught-looking mother, and video cameras
installed all over the house.

     The  studio expert was a "scientist studying unexplained  phenomena",
although  we  never  actually learnt what her  discipline  was,  or  which
University  she was based at.   My bullsh*t detectors started  ringing  at
this point....   Phone numbers were given out for viewers to ring in on if
they noticed anything strange in the video footage.

     To  cut a very long spoof short,  it all began with a shadowy  figure
being  'sighted'  in  the girl's  bedroom,  then  gradually  escalated  to
pictures falling off walls,  bangs and grunts,  and 'viewers' 'phoning  in
with sinister stories about the house.   So far,  so predictable,  and the
two  people I was watching it with were beginning to get *very*  peed  off
with my cynicism....

     But  even they were converted to rationalism when the  studio  lights
started  flashing  and sparking,  and the  programme  abruptly  ended.   A
message  went up on the screen that "This programme has  been  interrupted
due  to  technical  difficulties  - service will be  resumed  as  soon  as
possible".

     And  then the credits came up - with all the 'experts'  and  'family'
being played by actors and actresses.   I was laughing my head off, but by
the  way Liz and Amanda were looking at me and spitting blood,  I  thought
it was time to go and feed the ferrets....


                       CAMERAS TODAY - O/S TOMORROW
                       ∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙

     Canon  have  launched  a new camera that enables the  user's  eye  to
select which part of an image to focus on.   The EOS 5 was launched at the
1992 Photokina,  held in Dusseldorf in September,  and works by reflecting
a  narrow beam of light from the user's eye onto any one of  five  sensors
in  the  viewfinder.   The camera then focuses on that part of  the  image
and,  if  the user 'sights' on a sixth area,  closes down the lens  for  a
depth-of-field check.

     Judging  by  the speed at which camera and  computer  technology  are
advancing,  I'd guess that 1993 will see a Canon with ten or more focusing
zones,  and then a crossover of the technology from cameras to  computers.
Imagine  an operating system in which you only have to look at a  part  of
the screen and blink twice to select an icon or file!

     The technique has already been used in America for enabling  severely
disabled  people  to use computers,  and would seem to be  a  much  better
option  than speech for 'hands-off' control of computers.   You can  never
predict  the precise direction that a new technique will develop  in,  but
calibrating a beam of light to a user's eye must be an easier option  than
the  long  process of teaching a computer to  understand  an  individual's
tone and pronunciation.  Watch this { } space.


                           ANARCHISM IN ACTION
                           ∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°°∙°∙°∙°

     Trust  the  'Guardian' to restore my fast vanishing  faith  in  human
nature.  An item in today's paper (11th November) described the running of
a 'Local Exchange Trading System' (LETS) in Stroud,  Gloucestershire, that
operates without the need for money, and on trust alone.

     The  basic idea of the scheme is that members pay £7.50 to  join  and
submit  a list of their skills,  hobbies,  or anything else they  have  to
offer.   It  could  be home-grown cabbages and  flowers,  design  and  DTP
skills,  baby-sitting or giving lifts in their car.   They then get a LETS
cheque  book  and directory of other members offering items  or  services,
and can go into 'debt' immediately,  without interest, for as much as they
want,  for  as long as they want.   Newcomers to the scheme  are  actually
encouraged to get into debt to start them trading.

     To quote from the report,  "Jackie Totterdell was unemployed and  her
gutters  needed repairing,  so she searched her LETS directory and  called
in  someone  who repaired it for Strouds."  (The 'Stroud' is the  unit  of
exchange  used in the scheme.)  "'I also had a broken Walkman and a  radio
lying about until someone in LETS repaired them."  In return,  she  offers
Public Relations work to members at 30 Strouds per hour.

     Other  members  of  the scheme include a  potter,  a  cafe  owner,  a
desktop  publisher,  a music and Alexander technique teacher,  and even  a
solicitor who accepts part-payment in Strouds.

     The  Stroud  scheme  is part of 35 British schemes  that  range  from
South London to Cardiff, Bristol to Norwich, Lewes to Totnes, and Links to
Bath.   The  idea originated eight years ago in Canada,  and can  also  be
found  in  America,  New  Zealand and parts  of  Australia,  where  it  is
officially supported and funded by the government.

     The  only thing missing from the article was an address to  write  to
for more information.   If anyone knows anything about it (or any  similar
schemes),  could they *please* contact me via STEN - my address is in  the
'STEN Contacts' file, accessible from the main menu.  Thanks!


                       A HARD DRIVE'S A GONNA FALL
                       ∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°

     Thanks to Dave Henniker, I am soon to become the owner of a beautiful
64  Meg  hard  drive.   Dave salvaged the drive from  units  that  he  was
repairing,  and  all it needs in an interface to get it working -  to  say
that I'm delighted would be a sad understatement!

     We're  planning to use a £59 'ICD The LInk' interface from  Gasteiner
to  link  the  SCSI drive to the ST's DMA port,  and it'll  then  take  up
residence under my desk and purr its little heart away.  Bliss, O bliss.

     The  only problem,  and there's always one,  is finding  the  £59....
The  wages that British Rail pays are just enough for Liz and myself  (and
the  beasts) to exist on and,  what with Christmas coming,  our funds  are
going to be even tighter than usual.   Now, if I took out an overdraft....
Watch this space < > for future developments.


                             CUT, CLOSE, EXIT
                             ∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°°∙°∙

     And that just about wraps it up for this issue.  I haven't even begun
to mention my other great loves - music,  graphics,  hunting and Liz -  so
tune in next ish for the next instalment.  You know it makes scents.


                              ~~~~~eof~~~~~