Big Dummy's Guide To The Internet Part 34

and hit enter. You don't actually have to say anything in the message itself -- at least not yet. Hit control-D to send off your request for help. Within a few hours, the Oracle will mail you back detailed instructions. It's a fairly long file, so before you start reading it, turn on your communications software's logging function, to save it to your computer (or save the message to a file on your host system's home directory and then download the file). After you've digested it, you can compose your question to the Oracle. Mail it to the above address, only this time with a subject line that describes your question. Expect an answer within a couple of days. And don't be surprised if you also find a question in your mailbox -- the Oracle extracts payment by making seekers of knowledge answer questions as well!

Chapter 10: NEWS OF THE WORLD

10.1 Clarinet: UPI, Dave Barry and Dilbert.

Usenet "newsgroups" can be something of a misnomer. They may be interesting, informative and educational, but they are often not news, at least, not the way most people would think of them. But there are several sources of news and sports on the Net.

One of the largest is Clarinet, a company in Cupertino, Calf., that distributes wire-service news and columns, along with a news service devoted to computers and even the Dilbert comic strip, in Usenet form.

Distributed in Usenet form, Clarinet stories and columns are organized into more than 100 newsgroups (in this case, a truly appropriate name), some of them with an extremely narrow focus, for example, clari.news.gov.taxes. The general news and sports come from United Press International; the computer news from the NewsBytes service; the features from several syndicates.

Because Clarinet charges for its service, not all host systems carry its articles. Those that do carry them as Usenet groups starting with "clari." As with other Usenet hierarchies, these are named starting with broad area and ending with more specific categories. Some of these include business news (clari.biz); general national and foreign news, politics and the like (clari.news), sports (clari.sports); columns by Mike Royko, Miss Manners, Dave Barry and others (clari.feature); and NewsBytes computer and telecommunications reports (clari.nb). Because Clarinet started in Canada, there is a separate set of clari.canada newsgroups. The clari.nb newsgroups are divided into specific computer types (clari.nb.apple, for example).

Clari news groups feature stories updated around the clock. There are even a couple of "bulletin" newsgroups for breaking stories: clari.news.bulletin and clari.news.urgent. Clarinet also sets up new newsgroups for breaking stories that become ongoing ones (such as major natural disasters, coups in large countries and the like).

Occasionally, you will see stories in clari newsgroups that just don't seem to belong there. Stories about former Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C. mayor Marion Barry, for example, often wind interspersed among columns by Dave Barry. This happens because of the way wire services work. UPI uses three-letter codes to route its stories to the newspapers and radio stations that make up most of its clientele, and harried editors on deadline sometimes punch in the wrong code.

10.2 REUTERS

This is roughly the British equivalent of UPI or a.s.sociated Press.

Msen, a public-access site in Michigan, currently feeds Reuters dispatches into a series of Usenet-style conferences. If your site subscribes to this service, look for newsgroups with names that begin in msen.reuters.

10.3 USA TODAY

If your host system doesn't carry the clari or msen.reuters newsgroups, you might be able to keep up with the news a different way over the Net. USA Today has been something of an online newspaper pioneer, selling its stories to bulletin-board and online systems across the country for several years. Cleveland Free-Net provides the online version of USA Today (along with all its other services) for free.

Currently, the paper publishes only five days a week, so you'll have to get your weekend news fix elsewhere.

Telnet: freenet-in-a.cwru.edu or freenet-in-b.cwru.edu or freenet-in-c.cwru.edu

After you connect and log in, look for this menu entry: NPTN/USA TODAY HEADLINE NEWS. Type the number next to it and hit enter. You'll then get a menu listing a series of broad categories, such as sports and telecommunications. Choose one, and you'll get a yet another menu, listing the ten most recent dates of publication. Each of these contains one-paragraph summaries of the day's news in that particular subject.

10.4 NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO

Look in the alt.radio.networks.npr newsgroup in Usenet for summaries of NPR news shows such as "All Things Considered." This newsgroup is also a place to discuss the network and its shows, personalities and policies.

10.5 THE WORLD TODAY, FROM BELARUS TO BRAZIL

Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty are American radio stations that broadcast to the former Communist countries of eastern Europe.

Every day, their news departments prepare a summary of news in those countries, which is then disseminated via the Net, through a Bitnet mailing list and a Usenet newsgroup.

To have the daily digests sent directly to your e-mailbox, send a message to

[email protected]

Leave the subject line blank, and as a message, write:

subscribe rferl-l Your Name

Alternately, look for the bulletins in the Usenet newsgroup misc.news- east-europe.rferl.

The Voice of America, a government broadcasting service aimed at other countries, provides transcripts of its English-language news reports through both gopher and anonymous ftp. For the former, use gopher to connect to this address:

gopher.voa.gov

and for the latter, to this address:

ftp.voa.gov

Daily Brazilian news updates are available (in Portuguese) from the University of Sao Paulo. Use anonymous ftp to connect to

uspif.if.usp.br

Use cd to switch to the whois directory. The news summaries are stored in files with this form: NEWS.23OCT92;1. But to get them, leave off the semicolon and the 1, and don't capitalize anything, for example:

get news.23oct92

Daily summaries of news reports from France (in French) are availble on the National Capital FreeNet in Ottawa, Ont. Telnet to

freenet.carleton.ca

and log on as: guest. At the main menu, select the number for "The Newsstand" and then "La presse de France."

10.6 E-MAILING NEWS ORGANIZATIONS

A number of newspapers, television stations and networks and other news organizations now encourage readers and viewers to communicate with them electronically, via Internet e-mail addresses. They include:

The Middles.e.x News, Framingham, Ma.s.s. [email protected] The Boston Globe [email protected] WCVB-TV, Boston, Ma.s.s. [email protected] NBC News, New York, N.Y. [email protected] The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa, Ont. [email protected] CJOH-TV, Ottawa, Ont. [email protected] St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times [email protected] Illinois Issues, Springfield, Ill. [email protected] WTVF-TV, Nashville, Tenn. [email protected] Santa Cruz County (Calif.) Sentinel [email protected] Morning Journal, Lorain, Ohio [email protected] WCCO-TV, Minneapolis, Minn. [email protected] Tico Times, Costa Rica [email protected]

10.7 FYI

The clari.net.newusers newsgroup on Usenet provides a number of articles about Clarinet and ways of finding news stories of interest to you.

To discuss the future of newspapers and newsrooms in the new electronic medium, subscribe to the Computer a.s.sisted Reporting and Research mailing list on Bitnet. Send a mail message of

Subscribe carr-l Your Name

to [email protected]

Chapter 11: IRC, MUDs AND OTHER THINGS THAT ARE MORE FUN THAN THEY SOUND