Capital of Nasty Electronic Magazine
Volume II, Issue 36, Year AD MCMXCVII
Monday, September 15th, 1997
ISSN 1482-0471
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"The world today is hungry not only for bread but hungry for love; 
hungry to be wanted, to be loved."

Mother Teresa of Calcutta
August 27, 1910 - September 5, 1997 

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"Let's not talk about death. I'm going to Rochester in the morning."

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1. Editorial 
2. Almost barred on Barf 
3. CoN Eireann 
4. Privacy on the Internet 
5. Diana 

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This week's Golden Testicle Web Award goes to

Ian Brady's Homepage

http://www.worldy.com/~brady

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1. Editorial

CoN, according to Slather 1-5,33 

Welcome to yet another issue of Capital of Nasty. Changing the zine 
to a bi-weekly format has allowed us to keep up with the pace of 
what life has been throwing our way. In the mean time CoN has been 
reviewed by another e-zine, called e-Slather. They really liked our 
Golden Testicles, however they also said a lot of stuff that made no 
sense, unless you like rap music. In any case their bottom line was 
"thumbs up!" If you want to check it out, you can read the review at 
http://members.tripod.com/~hardpack/e-capnasty.html 


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And what is your problem today? 
This e-mail arrived shortly after issue II.35 of CoN was sent out: 

Date sent: Mon, 01 Sep 1997 06:34:49 PDT 
To: con@capnasty.org 
From: Bronwyn Mitchell 
Subject: you pervert 

and what do you think I am a man I'm a woman and I think your a 
pervert lendro.

your exreader bronzzy


Can someone take a wild guess to what this person is referring? Our 
readership is invited to comment.


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Macintosh from hell 
Date sent: Sun, 31 Aug 97 22:13:25 -0700 
To: CoN Editorial 
From: Robin Miller 
Subject: My oh my! 

Hi. Thanx for the mention but you made a horrendous glaring error!

You said:

Mac users shouldn't snear at Win users: where do you think your 
Windows interface came from?

WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!!

Mac pioneered the 'windows' interface (otherwise known as the 
graphical and/or WYSIWYG interface) for personal computers in 1984. 
Windows (and X windows too, incidentally) was a rip off of that 
innovation, allowing DOS (or Linux) users to approximate the

The answer to the rhetorical question demostrates that you are 
unsure about the true origins of the GUI. The development at Apple 
were the pioneers of stealing the GUI. Apple discovered the GUI when 
Steve Jobs and company were present for a demostration in 1979 of a 
machine developed in 1973 by Xerox PARC called the Alto. 

simplicity and ease of use that the Mac was famous for. Apple even 
took Microsoft to court in the early 90's for copying its "look and 
feel", a case that was ended in an out of court settlement.

The out of court settlement was over the trash can. The look and 
feel case was eventually defeated in the Supreme Court. By the time 
Windows was developed, there were a number of platforms boasting 
GUIs, including the Amiga, Atari ST, and the Commodore 64 (GEOS). 

From the PBS documentary Triumph of the Nerds: 

Windows may at first have been a joke compared to the Mac. But Gates 
is persistent. Slowly it got better - and the guys at Apple got 
worried. As each new feature appeared on the Windows gui, the more 
they thought Microsoft was copying the features on the Mac. So 
finally they sued Microsoft, accusing them in a long legal battle of 
stealing the look and feel of Apple's gui. 

John Sculley
The look and feel which is how it looks, the experience of using it 
was not patentable but it was copyrightable but there was no 
precedent law. This was going to be a precedent setting case. 

Bill Gates
But it was a period of five years where, Microsoft er, our whole 
strategy would have been ruined because Windows was very important 
to us. 

Larry Tesler
They weren't going to change anything and ehm they were going to get 
us to cave in or take us all the way to the Supreme Court on this 
thing. 

Bill Gates
We assumed that the lawyers, the judges would all come to the right 
conclusion which eventually they did. 

John Sculley
And Apple lost. But in that period of about six years that this case 
was going on it may have lulled us into a bit of complacency 
thinking that we were going to be insulated, you know, from the 
Windows attack. 

And Windows still just don't beat the original. 

Read above, re: Xerox. 

Also, all computers are not prone to breaking down, at least not to 
the same extent. Windows 95 is a notoriously unstable and unwieldy 
system, not to mention a disk space/RAM guzzler. Using Apple's new 
system, Mac OS8, my laptop has been running, with frequent use, for 
almost a week without a reboot. It's a very stable system.

We can make my Windows '95 machine run for a week without any 
problems. Does that make it as good as your Laptop? =)
Don't get us wrong, we are not dissing Macintosh. We did use them, 
and we find ourselves more at ease with the problems of Windows =) 

Maybe you should post a correction in your next mag... :o)

Great magazine, though.

Thanks ;-)


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To SPAM or not to SPAM 
And just for everyone's amusement, if you receive spam, you better 
be nice or else. Sanford Wallace, according to the Project McLuhan 
On The 'Net, posted this message in which he openly states his fight 
against anti-spam groups. For those that don't know him, Mr. Wallace 
is one of the biggest and nastiest spammers in the world.

Warning: reading this message might cause high blood pressure. 

Date sent: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 14:29:21 -0700 
To: you@yourplace.com 
From: donot@noreply.com 
Subject: One Giant Step For Web Marketers 

**** TIRED OF NET USERS  ANNOYING YOU WITH ABUSIVE E-MAIL?****

Let's face it. It's not a crime to advertise through e-mail, but 
there are plenty of people out there who want to prevent YOU from 
making a legitimate income from the Internet.

Now you no longer have to take spam retaliation lying down.

LastStraw v1.1 is scheduled for release Monday, September 15!

This amazing new application makes it possible to thwart vengeful 
users who respond to your marketing message with spam, or even if 
they just reply rudely.

LastStraw searches e-mail for words/phrases that you designate 
worthy of reprisal. Then, LastStraw fires out it's own depth charge. 
You can drown them in spam, or reply with text of your choosing.


After all, turnabout is fair play.


Best Regards,
Sanford Wallace

info@savetrees.com
http://www.savetrees.com

Stamford says:  "If you burn down our house, we will build a new 
castle...then buy our OWN box of matches."



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2. Almost barred on Barf

While pursuing one of the final credits for my Bachelor of Fine Arts 
Degree at a well known Toronto University, I happened to enter a 
class dealing with the politics of art, held at one of the most 
prominant art galleries in Ontario. As a term project, debates were 
assigned. Since my last name is what it is, I was given last pick. 
Fortunately or so I thought, I was assigned a rather interesting 
subject--that of Jubal Brown, the "barfing art critic."1
In attempt to do reasearch for the debate, I endeavoured to see one 
of the paintings Jubal saw as being so banal that it became part one 
of his primary colours triology. As you may know, Jubal Brown has 
been banned from this gallery. After purchasing my admissions 
ticket, I innocently asked for directions to this specific painting. 
The gallery attendant was unaware of the painting to which I was 
refering. In order to clarify, I nonchallantly said, "Oh, you know, 
the one Jubal Brown heaved on." 

  Immediately the attendant was on the phone to her supervisor, 
asking where was the location of the painting. 

  The attendant then blurted, "Do you know him!?" 

  "No, why?" I replied bewilderedly. 

  She then opened a drawer behind the counter and pulled out a 
poster of the artist. The caption contained a remark stating that 
neither he nor his cohorts were to be let into the gallery, and if 
they attempted to purchase tickets they were to be barred. 

  So thats how I almost got barred on barf. 

Anon. 

A Statement about Modern Art.

Ontario College of Art student Jubal Brown told the Associated Press 
in November that it was he who vomited publicly on two masterpieces 
this year and that he plans a third episode. At the Art Gallery of 
Ontario in May, he regurgitated red food coloring on a Raoul Dufy 
work, and at New York City's Museum of Modern Art on November 2, he 
threw up in blue on a Piet Modrian painting. His third work will be 
in yellow. His goal, he said, is "to liberate individuals and living 
creatures from [art's] banal, oppressive representation." 

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3. CoN Eireann: Computers make you brain dead

  by Colin Barrett

During three weeks in July, I had the fortune of visiting family in 
Ireland (most of whom I've never seen in life). I stayed with my 
uncle who, while he's one of the nicest men you could ever meet, he 
is rather stubborn in his ways and opinions. He lives in a 
neighbourhood in Dublin called Kilbarrack. A tour pamphlet published 
by the DART, the city's urban railway, refers to Kilbarrack as an 
interesting place with many colourful characters like the ones in 
the movie The Commitments which, by the way, was filmed down the 
street from my uncle's residence.
Colourful characters indeed. 

  One afternoon, my uncle, a neighbour of his, Dolores, and myself 
are enjoying some tea and good discussion about the weather. My 
uncle mentions he received a postcard from another neighbour 
spending her vacation in Mallorca. I add that I still have to send 
my friends postcards. I also say that I am very poor at writing 
letters. 

  "I'm awful too," my uncle adds, "but Dolores is incredible for 
writing a letter." 

  "I write from time to time." I argue, "But most of my friends do 
not appreciate a letter from me as I usually use a computer to help 
organise my tho..." 

  "They make you brain dead," my uncle interrupts. 

  "How do computers make you brain dead?" I ask. After posing that 
question, I feel as if I opened myself to an easy attack. They may 
mention spell checkers, grammar checkers, and electronic organisers. 

  "Well you know those things that scan the products at the 
supermarket?" Dolores explains. "They add all the prices, and figure 
out discounts and taxes and everything, and the girls don't have to 
do one thing." I look confused. I wasn't expecting this, but 
nonetheless, I try to show a bit of interest. 

  "Look, if you go into a shop where they are using calculators," my 
uncle adds in a very stern voice, "people in that shop won't be able 
to add in their heads... like says that's 2 n' 6, 10 pounds, and so 
on. Whereas in a shop where they don't use calculators, people will 
be able to add much quicker." 

  "That's because people tend abuse calculators," I reply. 

  "It's not abuse. They shouldn't be using them." 

  "Well, I don't agree with someone is pulling out a calculator to 
add five and five. People who use them for such simple arithmetic 
are abusing them." 

  "They're not. They shouldn't have them." 

  It's time to bring this conversation back home, I think. "What do 
calculators and checkout counters have to do with making me brain 
dead when I write letters?" 

  "What letters?" Dolores queries. My uncle is now the one with the 
confused look. 

  "That's how this whole conversation started--with me mentioning 
that I use my computer to write letters." 

  They both forgot in a span of three minutes. 


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4. Privacy on the Internet

  by Leandro+

The constant arrival of junk via e-mail through my office account is 
annoying, and although it bothers me, the only reason I put up with 
it is because my other accounts were spam-free. Or so I thought. 
After I registered the domain name CAPNASTY.ORG with Internic, my 
account in Finland, which is set as my e-mail address in their 
database, started to receive the first signs of spam. I'm not 
accusing Internic of giving my address to some spam list, however I 
do find it a little strange that suddenly my mailboxes (electronic 
and non) are filled with junk. Microsoft keeps on sending me 
invitations to participate to their seminars, IBM would like to know 
all about me, my company, my employees and my need for various 
Intranet solutions. Not only all of these have my name on it, but 
the words "President" or "CEO" are right after. My office e-mail 
account, and now my account in Finland, receive spam of all sorts. I 
don't want to receive this stuff, I don't want companies to know 
about me, I don't want to find my mailboxes full of garbage. 

  Don't get me wrong, I don't want to give the impression that I am 
another Unabomber that wants to break all links with society, and 
live in my little hut up in the mountains. It's just that I wish I 
had a choice to who I am giving my personal information. The 
Internet and the technology behind it are great, but unfortunately 
the moment the net reached a level of popularity, and people saw the 
potential of a growing market, it suddenly became a place where 
people try to sell you stuff and make money. Spam, cookies from 
which they learn more about you and know what advertising banners to 
place in front of you and so on, requests of personl info just to 
see a webpage. What can be done about it? 

  Don't use your real e-mail address - there are many places on the 
internet (http://www.netaddress.com for example) which provide you 
with an e-mail account free of charge. Create an account here, and 
when writing on Usenet, or you find yourself obbliged to give your 
e-mail address to someone, give them that one. Think of it as your 
disposable address: once it's soiled, throw it out. Friends can 
still reach you at your original address, spam and companies cannot. 
Your e-mail is like your address and phone number. You have to be 
careful to who give it to. 

  Stop Spam from filling up your mailbox. Believe it or not, there 
are ways to stop 90% of spam from arriving into your mailbox. Here 
at Scriba Org, our Administrator Gard, has taken several steps in 
preventing garbage to ever enter our mailboxes. According to Scriba 
Org system log, the following messages were rejected: 

May 1997 : 0 
June  : 758 
July  : 6102 
August  : 1148 
Sep 1-7  : 114 

How does this system work? First of all the mailserver checks the 
name of the sender of the incoming e-mail. As you may have noticed 
in much of the spam that you receive, it usually arrives from a 
bogus user (ex. 81254@13498.com.) By doing a DNS lookup of the name, 
the server is able to determine if the site exist or not. If the 
domain name does not resolve (it does not exist), the mail is 
refused. 

  Of course there are domains that have been specifically created 
for the whole purpose of sending spam. These domains are banned, and 
if the name matches any of those in the ban list, again, the mail is 
refused. 

  Lately spammers however have been using names of other domains 
that unfortunately resolve, in an attempt to by-pass filters, which, 
as Gard has stated "defintely isn't legal". However, from personal 
experience this system works, and it works well, since not one of 
our Capnasty Org addresses has ever received a single piece of spam. 

  Further info can be obtained at the following URL: 
http://www.scriba.org/virtual 

  When surfing the Internet, Cookies collect information about who 
you are. If you do a search with the Find command on your computer, 
you'll find a directory where all the Cookies are stored. Take a 
look and you'll see who's been lurking over your shoulders. 

  Cookies allow companies to invade your privacy and access your 
phone number, credit card number, address, and other sensitive 
personal information and preferences. The next time you enter that 
website, they will know that you've been there before, what you've 
been looking at and perhaps what advertising to throw at you. 

  To have Internet Explorer warn you before it accepts a Cookie, 
click on Options, select Advanced and turn the option on. This way 
you can refuse incoming Cookies, although some pages might not allow 
you to continue. If you really need to view a page, go to 
http://www.luckman.com and get a free "anonymous cookie" which 
disables cookies and allows complete privacy. 

  The moment the Internet became popular to the masses, it ceased 
from being a computer network and it became another place for 
marketers to shove advertising and gain information about us. There 
is no such thing as the word "Private" on the Internet. Even your e-
mails, have you been wondering who else is reading them? 


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5. Diana

  by The alarmingly uneventful Adventures of Rik

No doubt you have heard the news that princess Diana is dead. This 
is a tragedy and I would mourn were it not for the fact that every 
TV and radio station has been constantly ramming it down our throats 
for the past 8 days. The radio stations are only just getting back 
to playing proper music after days of panpipe drivel. If I hear one 
more pan pipe song on the radio I will rip out my jugular with a 
pair of chopsticks! This was not limited to one station. Every 
bloody radio station has played nothing but that shat for days! 
Moving onto the TV stations for example: they showed a documentry on 
Diana's life. I thought that was quite nice, a televisual tribute to 
her. Then was the news were they had a programme involving some 
other royals and people talking about her, okay fair enough. Then 
was the news going over exactly the same things as half an hour ago. 
Then they repeated the documentary/tribute just in case you missed 
it earlier. Then the news again. Then the people talking about her 
repeated in case you missed that the first time. Then another 
discussion thing. This went on all day! The same things over and 
over again!

  Don't get me wrong its not that I'm glad shes dead or that I'm 
having a go at her. I'm having a go at the TV and Radio people. They 
just cant stop going on about it. We know she's dead and everyone 
will miss her so why cant they grasp this fact instead of always 
telling us as if we didn`t know and continue with normal programming 
instead of constantly showing documentaries and interviews with 
someone that met her once or someone who owned a shop that she went 
in once years ago. 

  Send your comments to: Rik Rich.h@btinternet.com 

(A computer game called Paparazi was created shortly after Diana's 
death. To read more about it, you can go to this site: 
http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,1107,00.html -Ed)


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Who would win this fight? A Rottwieler, or a Rottwieler's weight in 
Chihuahuas? Now keep in mind that the Rottwieler is covered in steak 
sauce... please send in your vote. 
