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Internet Babylon
Along with all the incredible things I somehow missed over the last few years (e.g., the Amazing Mahir), Holden brought to mind a number of wonderful yet somehow forgotten memories (e.g., All Your Base Are Belong To Us). Then there's all the great stuff that, like so much on the Internet, no longer exists but which provided tons of laughs at the time (e.g., Evil Bert). And I never tire of the great web creations that keep on giving, such as the phenomenal Star Wars Kid parodies.
Unlike most of us, Holden didn't just wander willy-nilly all over the Internet -- well, maybe he did, but he put together a well-organized book that breaks his subject down into six parts spread across twenty chapters. First up is "The Rich and (In)famous." Here you can read all about the online doings of celebrities, serial killers, has-beens and wannabes. Holden will lead you to the Partridge Family Temple, introduce you to the unique musical stylings of Star Trek actors, and even point you to refreshers on Manson Family Values.
Next up is "The Afterlife." On the Internet, nothing truly dies. You can explore the mysterious deaths of Elvis and other celebrities, become a knowledgeable amateur sleuth hot on the trail of Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac killer, and other inhuman monsters, help look for ghosts via webcam in haunted buildings, and even watch a body decompose inside a coffin. (Actually, that last idea fell through, but it's sure to happen eventually.) Of course, you might want to get religion before you take your own one step beyond, and the Internet puts a wide variety of "religions" at your fingertips. With the good comes the bad, and the Internet does, unfortunately, have a dark underbelly of criminality and evil; in the section "Bad Boys and Naughty Girls," Holden gives you the scoop on famous hackers and their exploits, viruses and their creators, and the cretins who curse us all with unwanted spam. He basically takes you on a guided tour of the dark side of the World Wide Web.
As we all know, the Internet has revolutionized politics, and Holden devotes three fascinating chapters to political intrigue, scandals, and government secrets online. In the past, politicians could keep their perverted behavior secret from the public, but the Internet has changed all that -- just ask Bill Clinton. In this online age, rumors and scandals can be spread across the entire world in a matter of minutes, and Holden shows us how the Internet has at times shaped the content of traditional journalism (as well as supplying us with some of the funniest jokes and parodies known to man).
Anyone who browses the Internet soon learns that there are people out there who will do anything to get attention, and those with some sort of self-styled mission will stop at nothing to get their points across. This is the realm of flame wars, denial of service attacks, as well as really, really silly web sites you can't believe anyone would ever think of creating. The unlikeliest of Internet heroes are honored in this section: the Amazing Mahir of "I Kiss You!!!!!" fame, the Star Wars Kid (one of my personal favorites), and even one of the little guys - the man who invented the Smiley symbol. It all wraps up with a look at "Big (And Not So Big) Business." Remember the Pets.com Sock Puppet, who enjoyed much more success than Pets.com ever did? That's just one dot-com disaster story; here, you will learn about some of the worst Internet business plans ever put together.
Believe me, I have only scratched the surface of the material covered in this book. Internet Babylon is chock full of fascinating, oftentimes hilarious stories (and pictures) of the continually surprising sites and sounds the Internet has brought to life. You'll learn a little bit about the creation and evolution of the Internet, but mostly you'll revel in all the crazy online manifestations Holden holds under the microscope.
Let me close with a word of warning. I'm a big horror fan, and I've seen some pretty disgusting things in my life; I like to think I'm tough enough to stand anything. Thus, I ignored Holden's warnings about some of the more disturbing web content that can be found out there and rushed right off to one aptly-described shocking site. Let's just say I'll never be able to watch weight lifting again. I know you will want to take a gander at many of the sites Holden refers to throughout this book, so I just want to advise you to proceed carefully: as this fascinating book proves, you can find absolutely anything out there online, and some of it ain't pretty.
You can purchase Internet Babylon: Secrets, Scandals, and Shocks on the Information Superhighway from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
digging up the goods on some of the Internet's most questionable, fascinating, oftentimes disturbing oddities
Finally a story where goatse link might be appropriate.
At least one teaser link would have been nice
You could write an entire book about the disturbing nature of goatse or tubgirl...yuck
This is slashdot, we know all about the weight lifter, gaping whatnots and projecting whozits.
It's not that the internet makes anything elevate in relative importance, it's that it reaches a larger audience so the numbers of folks interested in any given "thing" is higher.
Before, you might reach 5% of the people in your 10,000 person town - or 500 people.
Now, if 5% of people on the internet are interested in what you have done, you might reach 5 million people, but it's still just 5% of the population.
Look at the Nielsen ratings - the highest rated shows actually garner a LOWER percentage of viewership than past shows, but because they reach more people they have more viewers...
Same conecpt applies here.
Sure, anyone can bounce around the net looking for weird stuff. However, cataloging it in a coherent fashion represents quite a bit of useful work, if for no other reason than that there's so much of it.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
From the review: "Then there's all the great stuff that, like so much on the Internet, no longer exists..." to which list we can, sadly, add apress.com.
Sailing over the event horizon
Will be destroyed in terrorist attacks and the 4th will disappear mysteriously.
replacing it with NEW Folger's Crystals! (lets see if they notice the difference)
There are others, of course. But I like RWS because it doesn't contain truly obnoxious crap, scat tentacle anime pr0n or anything like that. Just your collection of normal to uber-weird sites. It has a heavy dosage of garage band sites, but even that's good for the occasional good music discovery. Some domains have expired and parked since they were added to the RWS database, so you will see some of those "SEARCH TEH INTERNET FOR FREE!!!" click-n-annoy pages, but they're the exception. In general (at least in my case) you'll find some interesting stuff, like wacky (and some bad) blogs and things like that. I've been hitting it occasionally for a few months and haven't seen a repeat yet.
Anyway, good for a boring afternoon.
"...Holden brought to mind a number of wonderful yet somehow forgotten memories (e.g., All Your Base Are Belong To Us)"
"Forgotten?"
"Wonderful??"
That's some dry wit.
The problem with a book about the "darkest corners of the internet" is that many of the sites decribed will be gone forever by the time it's published.
I like books about strange, forgotten and fringe movies and music. But an anecdotes about how truly weird a band or film is only can go so far-- I'm going to want to see or hear it for myself.
You can find a variety of Crazies, Wackos, and Tin Foil Hats on the Information Superhighway here.
For a fleeting moment he had meaning. As the great Google spotlight flooded his small part of the world, he felt alive. He stood there at the Nexus, information flowing around him, through him, he was some Great Information God. His crappy site/photo/video gave meaning to others. And at the apex, when his Google page-rank was increasing like the US deficit he actually felt its heat, its beauty ...
... and then just as quickly as it came, the light dimmed, the spotlight moved on. The all seeing Eye of Sauron moves away searching, searching, searching. It is all left dim, dark, and hollow ...
"This isn't a study in computer science, its a study in human behavior"
Is yer friend. Who needs a book to find it all?
But the Star Wars kid movie hacks was quiet something - amazing actually.
WARNING: disgusting, also spawns alot of pops. You have been warned.
For the adventurous only. For ACs who can't see my sig, OH NOES
http://persianews.on.nimp.org/?u=Tar_Baby
no seriously..search for prawn its much healthier
Aww nuts.. my site comes up a LOT when people search for the Hello Kitty Vibrator.. I don't know why.. it was an OLD OLD story.. like 2000 old..
Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible.
Oh, geez!
The weight lifter is pretty bad, but I think the cab driver is worse.
Will anyone actually have the nerve to mod this post "informative"?
If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it? ~ Albert Einstein
If an internet oddities book doesnt cover the basics like Little Stalker Boy, it's full of garbage I've seen 100 times and not worth purchasing, much less thumbing through. For the article author, some guy who claims he lives on the web, he sure seems "wowed" by some pretty tired crap.
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
Fellatio is perverted?
Man, this guy needs to get out more...
Soylent Green is peoplicious!