- New:   UpSky Window Manager - for high-powered web surfing / multiaccess.
Deutsch, Espagnol, Francais,       Language Translation Resources.
[to come: "Noveau-meter"]
F.A.Q.

logo    UpSky2  - all that's new



1. Freelance computer and electronics services.    Serving the Washington D.C. area, including Maryland, Northern Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Technical expertise/experience/special knowledge certifications online.
         Recent areas of practice since July 1999:
   Windows 98 upgrades and Windows 95 troubleshooting and restoration, Windows 3.1
   admin; software support services and installation, disk restoration and
   filesystem repair.  Website modification, page design, graphics.  Network
   analysis, rewiring.  Pentium PCs and laptops.  Apple Powerbook 1700 hardware
   servicing.  Tech support by email and telephone.  Email account configuration. 
   Electronic watch repair.  Procurement consultation;  Virus education and handling
   consultation.  Modem and PCMCIA cards.    And, a 100% customer approval rating to date! 

          First-time rates for computer services:  $25 per hour, plus parts sale price (if any needed).  
                                                                  [Subject to limitations.  Exact fee charged subject to negotiation, 
                                                                     as appropriate for equipment serviced and other circumstances.]
          - Inquiries welcome !
2. SF & Fantastic Fiction:    At last!: excerpt/sample from Short Guide to Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series. Original. Found only here. A valuable reference to look up things in or just browse through.   (-new, September '99.)
   ...There's also the H.-H.'s G. page, which will soon include (-new, November '99-) "Home Is Where The... [-well, see for yourselves what!] ...Is".
   ...And the SF Surrealism page, including: Episode #2 of 'Start Truck'. 'Discovery, No Longer Terrible' (-the sequel and ending to 'Battleship Discovery The Terrible'.)    'Really Brilliant Reviews of the movie 2001'.
         Great Endings from Science Fiction.  (-new, July 23.) 
                  Dan Simmons' Hyperion / Endymion series - a critical examination.
         Ancestry of Cthulhu Mythos gibberish: A humorous look at precedents for H.P. Lovecraft's bizarre & uncanny use of incomprehensible nonsense syllables.

In Association with Amazon.com

3. Poetry and verse drama: - My own poems (see also UpSky below) : - And other poetry:

4. Tennis:    "[ - This section is defunct" - true enough as of May 8 2000.  But subsequent developments suggest its revival. "I haven't added to it many months, and seldom finished anything in it anyway, except for the research data on 'Tennis goddesses' page.    R.I.P.  ]" - I've changed my mind.

           While the routine of exchanging the top place in the WTA rankings (between Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport) was getting dull, the men's side has flabbergasted me: Magnus Norman has reached #1 !
   ...The question is, how did that happen? Is he a real new master of the game, or is it just the change (as of January 2000) in statistical methods used to determine ranks? One thing's sure... this was a surprise. And a welcome one.
   Norman and Yevgeny Kafelnikov have started a new tradition it seems:   disowning the #1 spot, attributing its proper proprietorship to the traditional great champions, Sampras and Agassi.   My feeling is that while this is proper and gentlemanly, on the other hand if the ranked #1(s) beat Sampras/Agassi consistently, it is also a mannerism to leave behind in that event...

      The French Open - upcoming in late May 2000 - has somehow become my favorite tournament.   Maybe because, on both the men's side and the women's/ladies', it tends to results that defy all prognostication. A brief review seems to show this:
            1997:   Gustavo Kuerten and Iva Majoli were the champions; *
            1998:   Sanchez-Vicario and Carlos Moya (if I recollect correctly)
            1999:   Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi were both unexpected victors.
            2000 ? :   - subject to, well, seeing what happens.   But I think it's safe enough to say ... or hazard ... two attempts to see into the obscure, red, clay-smeared, future:

                  A) Agassi has been going strong for a long while... so, being the expectable champion, he will probably NOT win here.
         and B) the champion of the women's side will most likely NOT be WTA-top-ranked, once again.

      ...Seeing Hingis play there again will likely be like seeing the lion thrown to the Christians for a change, if all goes as before.  (But it may not... see remarks above.)    In short, I can't wait. To see the tournament of Roland Garros again.
[-R.H., May 15th.]

9. Money:   (-upcoming, link to a multi-Currency Converter, a super info resource.)

10. HTML, JavaScript, Web pages & browsers & the Web: NEW: Stopwatch Online!
      New:   UpSky Window Manager - for high-powered web surfing / multiaccess.
     What JavaScript version do you have? find JavaScript version running (if enabled) on your browser. - (new, February 16 2000.)   How to build a good Website - 'UpSky' is award-winning, see below. A proposed new feature for Web browsers - (new, August 1999.)

  logo, of Brainbench.com certification, Russell Hess being a certified Master JavaScript Programmer logo, of Brainbench.com certification, Russell Hess being a certified Master HTML Programmer - Recently won by the Webmaster. See link in section 1 above.

(For past versions of UpSky & UpSky2, see 'the Ur-UpSky' of 2/12/98 - shortly after I began building it;       UpSky2 8/26/98, 11/18/98, 4/27/99.)

>We have NetScape Navigator 4.7! Get it now!


11. Science & History:   Astronomer Royal data list (biographical sketches & info summary), in honor of the Royal Greenwich Observatory's closing on Oct. 31 1998 ...R.I.P.
         Tsiolkovsky's epitaph.

...will draw a beautiful graphic of the sky, adjustable in various ways, with constellations and moon shown!
Sky View
Wunderground.com

- New: UpSky's Astronomer Royals page got listed at OpenHere in the category Professional - Astronomy - History. (March 23 2000.)

            A critic of the Constitution of the United States.       ...also Instant Graph Paper (-still short of perfect)

12. Mathematics:   JavaScript Online Scientific Calculator.
         Statistics about Bicycling uniforms and helmets.       (-coming: several other good ideas, in development in February-March 2000.)

13. Superstition:    ...the only appropriate subject for this number.

14. Recipes, Food:    Chestnuts: the chestnut tree, microwave cooking them, a new look at their eating-quality, and a needed improvement in their storage and marketing, et cetera.
         A recipe that won't save the world in this new millennium: Caesar's Beans Squared.    (-new, January 2000.)

...and also another place to find odd or weird pages, which has listed 'UpSky'.    More Great Endings, many new I.Q. tests and quizzes (- Three tests added May 1st & 2nd !), original speculation on 'Negative Intelligence Quotient' and proposal for a new sort of IQ test, and Ingenious Gentleman's Sayings.

Send messages to the Webmaster! suggestions and comments welcome. Convenient email link for communication about UpSky2.
( . . . you are guaranteed not to be put on a mailing list nor subjected to email ads - except my signature block of course. )

For 9 categories with other content, see 'UpSky'. [No pop-up or banners; quickly accessible.]


(In case you wonder, "What happened to 5 (or 6, 7, 8) ?" - - see F.A.Q.)
               ( "Initial italics:    Why?" )


UpSky2 being updated... May 1st & 6th & 8th & 15th, 2000 ... also January 6, 16, 27;   February 5th & 16th;   March 1, 11, 13, 14, 16, 20, 23, 30, 31; & on April 17, 22, 24, 2000. ...and in 1999, on these dates... page counter changed July 28 1999, old value kept.)


Since August 1998, UpSky2 has had Page counter by FastCounter. visitors.
FastCounter by LinkExchange

(local counter, in development, May 1 2000.)

Awards:

The Knowledge Is Power Award, for 'UpSky', May 1999.


logo for UpSky website pair






                  'Icarus' - all the negative and less exalted material:    Satire! Beating dead horses! Blabbermouths! Pizza...! Outrages against...! Contests with a new prize...! ...and more! (Updated extensively, May 2000.)




Block Sender List Club at UpSky2.
   - You too can

FIGHT SPAMateurs* !!



A Nightmare Scenario

The logical end result of the current Spam junk-e-mail scene, is an email system resembling current security systems for transmitting secure data:     To get email sent to someone, you will then need not only the right email address (analogous to a 'public key'), but also the correct Subject line code (as a 'private key' analogue).
...Email systems would be, in this nightmare scenario, capable of filtering out all email with subject lines not equal to (say) "iD:Qs0196s24QQz3". (...more about this possible future...)

     [ . . .Watch this space, more to come soon . . . Links to be activated:

            Maxims against spam      Spam hater's glossary

            Block Sender List, category 1 - ground for inclusion

            A definition of what exactly constitutes true spam of the most offensive varieties encountered. ]


* ( - a "Spamateur" is what you get when you cross a spammer with something amateurish - not pretty. )



( I.R.C.C., the International Red Cross & Crescent gets a percentage from this: )
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