Yep, it's one of those e-mail viruses (and there are several strains running amok) that sends itself out to folks in one's address book and from other places on the hard disk where it finds e-mail addresses. What it does, among other dastardly deeds, is to use one of those found e-mail addresses as the return address when it sends itself out. Thus, you may be getting a lot of otherwise valid e-mails asking you to stop sending out this virus, when in fact you may never have sent it out! And of course, replying to the e-mail saying you didn't do it only exascerbates the problem, since the receiver of your missive won't (generally) know what you're talking about. Symantec (www.symantec.com) will scan your computer for viruses over the Internet for free. P.S. You are keeping your antivirus definitions current, aren't you?

Digital Photo Sourcebook

That's what the folks at B&H Photo are calling their latest catalog. This 382-page catalog covers just about everything related to digital photography. Naturally, B&H sells what it lists, but doesn't include pricing info for everything ("changes too quickly"). Even so, it could still be a good reference for those just starting or just thinking about going digital. The book is free, but there's a $2.95 shipping charge ($10.00 outside USA). To find it on their website, go to www.bhphotovideo.com, and on the left-hand side near the bottom, under the B & H Resources heading, click on the B&H Catalogs link.

Internet History

We hear talk about "Internet time," as if time changed to suit the application. Time doesn't change (we'll keep Einstein out of this for now), but our perception of it does. What we're really saying is that the Internet changes so darn quickly it's impossible to keep up. What was there last week (a few hours ago?) could be gone today, and even forever. Well, just like those who collect old computers to help remind us of what it used to be like, there's a place where you can see the Internet as it was before, at least in part. It's called the WayBackMachine, a project of The Internet Archive and Alexa Internet plan to build "...a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form." Give it a try at www.archive.org (and yes, if you request, they will remove your captured material from their archives). Oh, they also have an interesting viewpoint about The Sony Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 ("CTEA") here: http://www.archive.org/news/brief.html.