Big Dummy's Guide To The Internet Part 24

6 p.m. - 9 a.m.

COMPUTER ETHICS

ftp.eff.org The home of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Use cd to get to the pub directory and then look in the EFF, SJG and CPSR directories for doc.u.ments on the EFF itself and various issues related to the Net, ethics and the law.

Available 24 hours.

CONSUMER

rtfm.mit.edu The pub/usenet/misc.consumers directory has doc.u.ments related to credit. The pub/usenet/rec.travel.air directory will tell you how to deal with airline reservation clerks, find the best prices on seats, etc. See under Books for a caveat in using this ftp site.

6 p.m. - 6 a.m.

COOKING

wuarchive.wustl.edu Look for recipes and recipe directories in the usenet/rec.food.cooking/recipes directory.

gatekeeper.dec.com Recipes are in the pub/recipes directory.

ECONOMICS

neeedc.umesbs.maine.edu The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston uses this site (yes, there are three 'e's in "neeedc") to house all sorts of data on the New England economy. Many files contain 20 years or more of information, usually in forms that are easily adaptable to spreadsheet or database files. Look in the frbb directory.

6 p.m. - 6 a.m.

town.hall.org. Look in the edgar directory for the beginnings of a system to distribute annual reports and other data publicly held companies are required to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The other/fed directory holds various statistical files from the Federal Reserve Board.

FTP

iraun1.ira.uka.de Run by the computer-science department of the University of Karlsruhe in Germany, this site offers lists of anonymous- FTP sites both internationally (in the anon.ftp.sites directory) and in Germany (in anon.ftp.sites.DE).

12 p.m. to 2 a.m.

ftp.netcom.com The pub/profiles directory has lists of ftp sites.

GOVERNMENT

ncsuvm.cc.ncsu.edu The SENATE directory contains bibliographic records of U.S. Senate hearings and doc.u.ments for the past several Congresses. Get the file README.DOS9111, which will explain the cryptic file names.

6 p.m. - 6 a.m.

nptn.org The General Accounting Office is the investigative wing of Congress. The pub/e.texts/gao.reports directory represents an experiment by the agency to use ftp to distribute its reports.

Available 24 hours.

info.umd.edu The info/Government/US/Whitehouse directory has copies of press releases and other doc.u.ments from the Clinton administration.

6 p.m. - 6 a.m.

leginfo.public.ca.gov This is a repository of legislative calendars, bills and other information related to state government in California.

Available 24 hours.

whitehouse.gov Look for copies of presidential position papers, transcripts of press conferences and related information here.

Available 24 hours.

See also under law.

HISTORY

nptn.org This site has a large, growing collecting of text files.

In the pub/e.texts/freedom.shrine directory, you'll find copies of important historical doc.u.ments, from the Magna Carta to the Declaration of Independence and the Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation.

Available 24 hours.

ra.msstate.edu Mississippi State maintains an eclectic database of historical doc.u.ments, detailing everything from Attilla's battle strategy to songs of soldiers in Vietnam, in the docs/history directory.

6 p.m. - 6 a.m.

seq1.loc.gov The Library of Congress has acquired numerous doc.u.ments from the former Soviet government and has translated many of them into English. In the pub/soviet.archive/text.english directory, you'll find everything from telegrams from Lenin ordering the death of peasants to Khrushchev's response to Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis. The README file in the pub/soviet.archive directory provides an index to the doc.u.ments.

6 p.m. - 6 a.m.

HONG KONG

nok.lcs.mit.edu GIF pictures of Hong Kong pop stars, buildings and vistas are available in the pub/hongkong/HKPA directory.

6 p.m. - 6 a.m.

INTERNET

ftp.eff.org The pub/Net_info directory has a number of sub- directories containing various Internet resources guides and information files, including the latest online version of the Big Dummy's Guide.

Available 24 hours.

nic.ddn.mil The internet-drafts directory contains information about Internet, while the scc directory holds network security bulletins.

6 p.m. - 6 a.m.

LAW

info.umd.edu U.S. Supreme Court decisions from 1989 to the present are stored in the info/Government/US/SupremeCt directory. Each term has a separate directory (for example, term1992). Get the README and Index files to help decipher the case numbers.

6 p.m. - 6 a.m.

ftp.uu.net Supreme Court decisions are in the court-opinions directory. You'll want to get the index file, which tells you which file numbers go with which file names. The decisions come in WordPerfect and Atex format only.

Available 24 hours a day.

LIBRARIES

ftp.unt.edu The library directory contains numerous lists of libraries with computerized card catalogs accessible through the Net.

LITERATURE

nptn.org In the pub/e.texts/gutenberg/etext91 and etext92 directories, you can get copies of Aesop's Fables, works by Lewis Carroll and other works of literature, as well as the Book of Mormon.

Available 24 hours.

world.std.com The obi directory has everything from online fables to accounts of Hiros.h.i.+ma survivors.

6 p.m. - 6 a.m.

MACINTOSH

sumex-aim.stanford.edu This is the premier site for Macintosh software. After you log in, switch to the info-mac directory, which will bring up a long series of sub-directories of virtually every free and shareware Mac program you could ever want.

9 p.m. - 9 a.m.