To the cover pageTHE PLANETARIAN'S FRIEND: THE WEB
Jack Dunn - Mueller Planetarium -UNL
By now most Planetarians have e-mail access or web access. As the electronic connections between Planetarians increase, our communications increase and hopefully we can improve what we do and how we do it. Yet, because of slow school and museum connections we may still have a way to go in becoming a fully functioning electronic community. Recognizing all these factors, still, we actually are beginning to have some computer proficiency and access. There are already fine discussion areas in the dome-l e-mail list and the newsgroup sci.astro.planetarium. Also, http://www.planetarium.net has been started with chat rooms and a place for articles. If you are reading this right now, you at least have the most fundamental of browsers. So, I'm going to lead you around to some interesting sites which you might not have noticed. I'm assuming you already know that organizations such as the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Planetary Society and certainly NASA have highly visible sites. I understand that graphics heavy sites (or ones which may use advanced Java scripting, for instance) may not load on your machine. But understand the beauty of html - it doesn't care what kind of machine you are using, so at least we don't have the Mac vs. PC software problems in loading webpages. Go out there and browse - you have an incredible amount of information at your fingertips.
One really interesting site is http://www.terraserver.microsoft.com/ - ok so its maintained by the evil overlords themselves - Microsoft. But this one is fun. It was set up to see how much information could be stored on a really big server. The idea is - pick a site anywhere - and zoom in on it from space. The information is similar to what you've seen from the earth resources sites. But the detail and amount of information here is staggering. And you aren't just restricted to a few well-known areas.
Ok, your browser should come with links to a number of search engines. Take the time to learn how to use them! It will be of invaluable service in locating information. And example is "Who-Where." Let's say you want to find Joe Smith who left a phone message but didn't leave a phone number or address. Go to: http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/ and you can search for that person. This is only an example as there are a number of search databases which have both white and yellow pages listings for everywhere in the United States and now many other countries as well. You can also do a "reverse lookup" at: http://peoplefind.lycos.com/lycos.lycos/reverse.htm and if you know the phone number or address, search for the person's name or business name. I'm going to assume that you know about http://www.ips-planetarium.org the IPS website. You can link to any of the regional planetarium organization websites from there as well as from http://www.planetarium.net For laser information, there's the International Laser Display Association site at http://www.ilda.wa.org Hopefully, all of you know about the fine internet databases Mark Petersen maintains at Loch Ness Production's http://www.lochness.com You can search for a planetarium web page and that will usually lead to e-mail. I still have my IPS Directory and Loch Ness Compendium, but when I'm on-line and need to send a quick message, it's a lot faster to look the person up electronically and then click to send a message.
Now on to some items which will help you in everyday work. Every morning when I come in I check: http://www.portup.com/~bhalbroo/startimes.html Brian Holbrook has announced these pages will be moving shortly, and when they do, I'll update this link. But StarTimes has been great at digesting all the articles on major news sources relating to Astronomy and Space. When a planetarian arrives at work what happens(?) - there's been some story on the wire services or morning radio or tv news. If you didn't catch it, already the phone is ringing with the public asking questions and here you don't have any information. I hope Brian will be able to continue the service.
Two other good sources for astronomy and space news are http://www.abcnews.com and http://www.foxnews.com. In fact, I've found that FOX News has some of the best science stories and web pages on the net. Go to these sites for late-breaking stories on space flights, etc.
Now let's leave space for a moment and talk computers. I've used and programmed on both Macs and PCs and even Amiga - so I'm not going to get drawn into any argument about which is best. Trust me - these discussions are non-productive. In the real world, Mac dominates the educational market and PC dominates business. Truth is, you've got to go where the software is. And if you want links to find interesting (and really useful) software, I'm going to recommend a semi-commercial site. Kim Komando's site: http://www.komando.com/ is run by a syndicated radio talk show host. I know the show runs on Sunday afternoon in this area on powerhouse KFAB heard all over the midwest. Point is, Kamando's site is a great place to check out the "Shareware Tip of the Week" and read answers to computer questions. And who hasn't got those these days? Sure PC software tends to dominate - but there's more of it in shear numbers. But Kim is balanced in her comments about systems so Mac users can look here as well. I've found all sorts of handy downloads in the shareware.
While I'm mentioning downloads, be aware that you should have a good virus-checker installed on your system. They are cheap and well-worth it. You can download updates quite often - and remember to DO IT. There are more viruses out there all the time. Commercially, there's McAfee, Norton and a host of others. Look for those with free upgrades (downloads).
Since we are discussing the Net, understand that good browsers such as Netscape or I.E. have filters you can set to block useless mail. Go in to your "preferences" and you'll find the place to set these in place. They won't catch all of it, but you can actually block certain domains that you know send junk. But this won't catch you the junk sent by your well-meaning friends. The Internet is a huge connection between people and it has spawned a number of spurious, untrue scam messages. The list keeps growing every day. I don't mean just the blatant ads for "make money fast;" - I'm talking cruel hoax chainletters regarding dying children and false charities. You know the kind. You'll get a message which has been forwarded about 50 times, with a header having 20 names receiving it besides you. Some well-meaning acquaintance of yours has responded to receiving mail saying the American Cancer Society will get 3cents for every copy of this message sent. One recent example of this scam had Bill Gates giving away a free trip to Disneyworld for publicizing his software by people forwarding the message. They are all hoaxes. DaveHostetter, Planetarium Director in Lafayette, LA clued me in to two great sites to check on such Urban Legends: http://www.snopes.com/ and http://www.urbanlegends.com/ You can get the facts and forward them to your "friends" who send you this kind of mail.
Want the latest on psychic healers, fake mediums and such? James Randi (also known as the magician: "The Amazing Randi") has dedicated his life to throwing the light of truth on hoaxsters and con artists galore. At the James Randi Foundation site: http://www.randi.org/jr/ you can learn the latest about Non-Science and Nonsense. You can also subscribe to an e-mail list from Randi, telling of the latest hoaxs revealed. Astrologers beware - you won't get much support from this guy.
Back to space now. For a trip through memory lane (and some fascinating reading) you can visit the "Field Guide to American Spacecraft at http://aesp.nasa.okstate.edu/fieldguide/ They keep tabs on as many of the actual flown craft as well as mock-up and boiler plates. Very interesting. And while you are at it, check out the NASA Dryden Research Facility's archive of photos of neat aircraft at http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/
Now here's some more:
I'll continue to post more of these and remember - the Net is constantly changing. Addresses change and sites appear daily. So keep using those search engines and understand that something doesn't have to be true just because it's published in e-mail or on a website (Art Bell being a prime example of course).