Table of Contents Our E-Mail Address Our Principals: Our Creed: Venture Crew 369: Calendar of Events New Position Elections Crew Finances Quote of the Month Excuses I LOVE your website! Your Website Voting on the S.T.W.A. The Operating System Silver V Training Venturing Into Technology The Crew's Huge Impact Basic Leader Training The Upcoming Year: Where are we Going? 14th Maple Syrup Festival at Camp Lazarus The "Back Room" An Invitation (to red cords and above) Powderhorn! First Sub-$1000 UNIX Thin Server Sun vs. Microsoft Java Lawsuit finally over!

A New Position! PDF Version

Our Principals Honor before all else. The difference between a winner and a loser is that the winner tried one more time. K.I.S.M.I.F. Y.C.D.B.S.O.Y.A. Our Web Page: http://www.venturingbsa.com

E-Mail Us! Our Creed Exploring: Enthusiasm, Energy, & Excellence Venturing Crew 369 Venturing Crew 369 was chartered on December 31, 1994 to the Reformation Luthern Church. Venturing Crew 369 specializes in UNIX for Programmers while emphasizing a deep theme of Engineering Computer Information & Science. Membership in Venturing Crew 369 is open to young men and women between the ages of 14 [and in high school] and not yet 20.  Annual Membership fees are $25.00.

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Sites       6,985  
KBytes  2,013,643  
Visits     14,043  
Pages      48,006  
Files     184,237  
Hits      211,427  
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 Hits  Percent  Country  
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70923   40.38%  US Commercial
49139   27.97%  Network
31700   18.05%  Unresolved
 7317    4.17%  US Educational
 2318    1.32%  United States
 1580    0.90%  Canada
 1379    0.79%  Portugal
 1094    0.62%  US Military
 1089    0.62%  Non-Profit Org
  937    0.53%  United Kingdom
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Never let anyone steal your dreams!

Quote of the Month Excuses

James D. Corder

Excuses are like rectums, everyone has one but nobody wants to hear them.

I LOVE your website!

Kathy Wood, Portersville PA.

I LOVE your website. Thanks for your hard work.

I am very excited as my son has just become an Eagle Scout. I was searching for sites for specific information... WHY SHOULD ONE ASPIRE TO BECOME AN EAGLE SCOUT? I thought this would be useful info. for the younger scouts.

My son told me that if you join the Marines as an Eagle Scout, you are automatically advanced to Private First Class. If that is true, what else is out there?

Thanks again for your assistance on Eagle ceremonies and inspirational poetry. LOVED IT! THANK YOU!

Your Website

Kathy Barber East Hampton, Ct

I am the Committee Chaiperson for Troop 8, and Tiger Group Coach for Pack 8. I just wanted to thank you for all of the info you have posted on your site. I am in the process of putting together our Troop's first Eagle Court of Honor, and your clipart was the best I've seen anywhere!

This type of "service" to other scouts should be commended! I have now marked your site as a favorite. I look forward to coming back to your website and reviewing other info you have posted. Thanks!

Voting on the S.T.W.A.

Ho-Sheng Hsiao Youth

Today, two of the Crew members and I sat down and went through the STWAs. It was a very novel experience. We gave each other feedback in realtime and pointed out the different things (sometimes, stuff that we missed out) on each of the site. I did hear one comment -- that is, there's really not much to rate as far as the web pages go. You got to a site, and then what?

The minimum requirements for a Scouting page published on our website ( http://www.venturingbsa.com/stwa.d/stwa.html ) gives a clear, specific checklist for what to look for when a Crew member rates a site. If you were to take that checklist and apply it to non-Scouting page, however, you would probably get stumped. (That is, of course, assuming you actually want to generalize what you've learned while rating the sites). What applies for a Scouting page, might not necessarily apply for other web sites.

Ultimately, you have to keep in mind what the web site is intended for. The web site promoting the flashy, glitzy upcoming movie, Final Fantasy would have a far different design goal than the sober websites promoting industrial steel manufacturers. Regardless, there are elements that contribute to a great site.

When I rate a site, I have five different elements: structure, navigation, content, appeal, and code. I analyze them in that order because I build a web site (not just a web page!) in that order.

Before a designer even starts a web site, he has to consider what kind of information he wants on the web site and how they are related with each other. Essentially, you always start with a site map. This is the skeleton of the web site. And like a skeleton, it frames and give structure to the web site. A professor in college typically outlines his class with a syllabus. A book writer structures his writings by chapters. You can even see internal structures within some of the most free-flowing poems in English literature. Your typical, educated web-surfer who is researching something he is interested in expects structure in your web site.

One way of creating this structure is to write out on index card all the information you want to present on the web page, then group them together. You find the overlapping topics and stack the cards together. You can organize them in a tree, or like a hub. You generally group similiar topics together and find some sort of a logical progression from one set of cards to the next. Whatever the case, there's some sort of a structure for the web site as a whole.

Having structure gives a designer several advantages. You now have a written plan that the client or boss approved of, and who would be less inclined to change objectives midway through the project. You now have something to put dates and estimated time, so you could get the project finished, step by step. As far as the web site is concerned, having a structure allows you to choose an appropriate navigation device.

Navigation is the web interface that allows the viewer to get to the content they are looking for. They might have something specific in mind and just want to get through the site. They might be browsing, and going to places that strikes their interest. Most of the time, they have a vague idea of what they are looking for, and it is your job, as the web designer, to create an interface that selectively defines what the viewer is looking for. If the navigation is not compelling, or clear enough -- if the site isn't comprehensive enough -- they are likely to move on to the next web site in their quest for their information.

Obviously, a structureless web site won't have much of a navigation device. You can tell from a web site that a web designer unconsciously grope towards some sort of a navigation. Without a structure to frame the navigation, they tend to fall apart, the site becomes unbalanced, or the information is simply difficult to find.

This is why I start with the site structure and build the site around it.

If you do have a well-thought-out structure, you can choose the appropriate way to present that. Whether that uses tables, frames, pull-down menus, flash, Java, ActiveX, you now can pick the most effective presentation tool available to you.

Typically, you would have a set of links or buttons for the main set of topics. Should this be the case, you usually want the viewer to have easy access to these navigation links. They should be always in the same place. Why? If your browsers' minimize, close, maximize, stop, refresh, etc. buttons changes everytime you load a new page, I'm sure you'll quickly find another browser that keeps them in the same place. If your car stereo's button randomly teleports to different parts of the car or the accelerator and brake pedals switch positions for no apparent reason, you'd find a car whose's control stays consistant. That's why this category is called "navigation" -- and like navigating by the stars or on a GPS, you use something that doesn't change to get around to the places you want to get to. There are exceptions, such as being deliberately avante-garde. However, I don't think a poetic format on TCP/IP is a very good idea if you're looking for information on building firewalls.

The next step is to flesh out the content of the web site. Your client or boss usually will provide this for you, unless that's your job too. You can have all the flashy and glitz, but when the day ends, the researchers come to your site for the content. Granted, the content should be packaged in a way to elicit interest and focus, rather than bordem and distraction. Visual appeal, eye candy, and multimedia immersion should never be substitute for original content: original content is one of the things that keeps someone coming back to the site. Again there are exceptions. Sites that show you how to create visual glitz uses these very techniques as part of their content, although I would think more researchers would go to the site that has an extensive library rather than a site with a meager, poor-quality collection of two or three.

Congratulations! Your web-site has been reviewed and chosen to bear the 2000-2001 Golden Web Award.

Congratulations!! You have won the WDS Bronze Choice Award For Web Excellence from the Web Design Studio. This award is given to outstanding WebPages. You have done a wonderful job on your site keep up the good work. Thanks for helping make the Web a more interesting, fun and attractive place to visit.

So now, we come to the issue of appeal. I don't mean just visual appeal, though when we view a web page, that's a signficant portion of it. You could hardly understand or even focus on what the web site is trying to say if you can't even read the text due to poorly chosen text colors or a busy, distracting background, or inappropriate language, diction, and all the no-nos you would find in Strunk & White's Element of Style. Much of what makes a web page appealing has to do with the least number of distractions. Bright, clashing colors, and excessive animated pictures detracts from a page's appeal. This is where the storyboarding comes in. Since you now have a well-planned structure, an effective navigation, and lots of compelling, original content, you can put them together on the storyboard. These are mock-ups, a sort of dress rehersal for the actual site. Sketching them out, and using a quality photo editing suite to create the storyboard would help tremendously. Having a storyboard also have the added advantage of showing the client or boss something tangible.

If you have created the three previous elements of a website before this point, you can now use your power of creativity and create a visual interface that fully exposes the internal structure of your site, allows your viewers easy reach of the navigational devices, and enhances the content. In psychology, a big part of someone's personal charisma centers around their congruency. A presenter has a better chance if he says words of confidence, and says them confidently. Likewise in web design, each element comes together to create appeal -- congruency, the charisma and attractiveness of a web site.

Up to this point, I have mentioned little of coding and the technical elements. This is the implementation stage, the production, the building. In the STWA nominations, I usually don't count or discount the coding aspect. I make mention of whether this site or that site uses a certain tool to build it. It is technically impressive to build a site by hand, and it would also be hard to organize and maintain. Most importantly of all, without the previous four elements -- structure, navigation, content, and appeal -- you won't have much of a web site to code. If each of those elements are well-thought out, however, you will also find that many of the consumer-level packages won't give you the exacting precision a hand-coded HTML page would give you. Again, this is a matter of finding the right tool for what you're doing.

Some of my fellow members might look at all the work I do just to rate a single STWA site. There seems to be too much overhead to use that formalism and apply it to a small site.

I don't do this for busy-work -- rather, staying in the habit of identifying each of those elements, and knowing what matters and what doesn't allows me to organize my experience. Next time I create a brand new site, I could have a vague recollection of a mish-mash of things that work and things that don't. Or, I could clearly identify the structure, navigation, content, appeal, and coding for an entire site and use my experiences effectively.

Information Architecture (1998). 1st
Ed. Rosenfield, L. and Morville,
P. O'Reilly Publishers.

Designing Web Graphics.3 (1999). 3rd
Ed. Weinman, L., New Riders
Publishing.
Deconstructing Web Graphics (1996)
Weinman, L., New Riders Publishing.

The Operating System

Tom Lowers Youth

I am currently taking a course in operating systems at Franklin university, and the first thing we learned was that an operating system does NO USEFUL WORK. It acts as a resource manager for physical resources like memory and the cpu and I/O devices, and for logical resources like files. Also, programs do not run while the operating system is running (at least on a particular processor). What happens in this case is that a program is running, and interrupt occurs and then the operating system code is run that handles interrupts, chooses which process to run next, then dispatches it. Every time this happens it is said that a context switch has occurred, and each time there is a context switch the contents of all the registers (high speed memory on the cpu) have to be saved or a program cannot be restored. On one processor this is known as multitasking, since more than 1 process can run concurrently, and on more than 1 processor it is known as multiprocessing when two processes run simultaneously. More on how operating systems use their resources next time.

Silver V Training

The Venturer

The much-anticipated, terrific Silver V training (a training course for Venturing youth) is coming to the Chief Logan Scout Reservation on Friday March 16 and Saturday, March 17. Information will be forthcoming. In the meantime, contact Becky Wasmer, Council VOA president, at (740) 682-3924.

Venturing Into Technology

Lucy Beagle Age 19

Technology can be scary sometimes, to those of us who have very little experience with it. I was one such person before I joined this venturing crew. Oh, I knew what the average american knows, how to get on-line, how to write e-mail, etc. Occasionally if my computer started to act up I could play around with it to get it to work. But replace my gooies with text, or show me computer code, and I was totally lost.

I first joined because knowledge of computer programming is very helpful when one is planning to work in the field of Astronomy. But I will admit, I had doubts as to how much I could really understand, let alone how much I would be able to use. Listening to others speak about UNIX was at first so much gibberish to me. What I began to discover is that with the right group of people, anything is possible.

This Venturing crew has done a lot for me. Not only did they present to me the possibility that I can learn UNIX, they made me realize that I had already begun the process. As of now, I know so much more than I did when I first started. I have gotten a taste of html, and I have taken the first steps into UNIX. I have begun to glimpse what is really happening when I surf the web and get my e-mail. I have come to the realization that my computer is not some arcane object, but a tool which I can use to it's full potential given the right knowledge. I would like to thank crew 369, for all of this. It is truly a great gift.

The Crew's Huge Impact

Jon Hogue Adult

Through mentorship, association, and reading, the crew changed my life drastically. Professionally, I have increased my income 800%. Personally, I am more satisfied with my relationships with family, friends, and acquittances. Privately, I am a happier person.

Because I am associated with the Crew, I have had the privilege and honor of mentoring with Mr. Corder. Not once has Mr. Corder been unable to solve one of my personal or professional problems by relating to similar experiences or by consulting his true principles. Mr. Corder's experience is invaluable. Not only has he seen technology come and go and come again, but he understands why technology is what it is. He understands the abilities and appropriateness of technology and the powerful decision making leaders behind it.

The ability to associate with the high calibered advisors on a regular basis has done wonders in raising my own level. I would rather live in the basement of a building full of millionaires than a penthouse of a house full of broke people. By being with people of such high standards, I have had no option but to raise my level.

Regular reading grows the mind. Nancy Drew, however entertaining, is almost worthless in expanding the mind and spirit. Choosing a good beneficial book can be challenging, but the reading list at http://www.venturingbsa.com/crew.d/booklist.html has never failed me. I have found the following books from the list immeasurably important in my personal growth. Each book has completely changed the way I see life and has allowed me to accomplish life ambitions in months. (I'm going to have to read the Magic of Thinking Big just to develop bigger life ambitions. What a problem...)

How to Master the Art of Selling (Tom Hopkins) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen R. Covey) The Millionaire Next Door (Thomas J. Stanley & William D. Danko) Managing to Be Wealthy (John Sestina)

I dare you to make the goal to read each of the reading list books. I guarantee you will not recognize yourself when you are done.

Basic Leader Training

Venturing

The next Venturing Basic Leader Training course will be sponsored by the Chief Tarhe District on Tuesday, February 13 and Thursday, February 15. All are invited and welcome to attend. For additional information, contact Carl Lefevre at 740-756-7008.

The Upcoming Year: Where are we Going?

Heather Ward Age 19

Venturing Crew 369 is in a very exciting time! We elected a new batch of youth officers earlier this month. As the new president, I am looking forward to accomplishing the following goals:

1. A fresh look at our web page. We passed 6 million hits this past year, and we're growing faster every day! Yet some of our pages haven't been looked at in a while. I would love to see the group strive for a new level of excellence.
2. Higher participation in activities. We have had a recent decline in voting for the Scouting The Web Award and writing for our newsletter. I would love to see more youth represented in newsletters.
3. More outdoor activities and advancement. One of our youth announced lately that he is going to take steps towards earning his Ranger award. He would be one of the few in America and probably the first in Ohio to earn this rank. A few others have expressed interest in earning an Outdoor Bronze award. Everyone in the crew can benefit from the knowledge gained by the few working on these awards!
4. Higher youth membership. We have learned in the past year methods that work and those that don't in youth recruitment. I would like to see those ideas put to use so that we can bring more youth into our program.

These are goals that I feel we can reasonably accomplish within the next year. I look forward to serving this fine group over the next year!

14th Maple Syrup Festival at Camp Lazarus

The Scouter

On February 24 and March 3, 2001, from 9:00am - 4:00pm Camp Lazarus will be open to the public for the 14th annual Maple Syrup Festival. It is a great event for all to attend, especially Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. There will be B.B. Guns, Indian Dancing, Black Smith, Monkey Bridge, Branding Irons, Pioneer Area (Learn how we take the sap from the tree and see the syrup being made.)

Pancakes with Maple Syrup and Sausage Available in the Dining Hall all Day! The cost is only $5.00 per person for the meal. Other Food an Drinks will also be available. The cost for admission is only $1.00 per person. Free Parking.

Venturing Crew 369 will be cooking Staff Meals once again:-)

The "Back Room" An Invitation (to red cords and above)

Aaron Croyle Youth, age 19

This is an open invitation to all the red cords (and above) currently not making the grade, come join us in the back. All it takes is one article, just like this, a few scouting the web award votes, and a web page. If you want to get mfore out of your experiance with the Crew, this is what you need to do. If you want to learn Perl, become a better leader, become more familiar with networking, get your 80% and join us. Not only will you get the learning experiance of joing our class, but you will have the experiance of getting (and staying) there. The Adventure shows your writing skills to the world, use that to your advantage! Also, keep in mind that your must have 80% or better to get referances and more attention from our wonderful adults. Hope to see you join us soon, or you may be left behind.

Powderhorn!

The Venturer

Powderhorn is an intense, adult training event for Venturing Advisors, parents, and other interested leaders. Currently Powderhorn courses are being administered thought the guidance of the Central Region office, and the next one is coming up in April for the Region (contact Cari Palmer, Venturing Staff Advisor, at the Council office for information on that course). An idea has arisen about hosting a Powderhorn, ourselves in spring of 2002. Details are still being ironed out. If you are interested in learning more about Powderhorn, you may contact Kerry Cheesman at (614) 888-9623. Kerry attended the National pilot course for Powderhorn and is certified to teach future courses in Simon Kenton Council.

First Sub-$1000 UNIX Thin Server

Sun Microsystems, Inc. New Netra X1 Server is Sun's Lowest Priced, Complete Solaris Server Ever

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW), the industry's pioneer in providing rack-optimized hardware for service providers (SPs), today unveiled the Netra(TM) X1 server. With a starting price of $995, this complete one processor, rack mountable, and 1 RU height (1.75 inches) ultra-thin server presents an affordable entree for SPs to Sun(TM) technology.

Be Prepaired!

Like the successful Netra t1 ``Flapjack'' server, the Netra X1 server meets the continuing needs of service providers to deliver more applications for their customers in a finite amount of space at lower costs. It provides the reliability, scalability and availability of the Solaris(TM) Operating Environment, has the smallest footprint and delivers the same quality customers have come to expect from all Sun servers. With the lowest entry price of any branded UNIX\xa8 server, the Netra X1 server can be used for a wide variety of tasks -- from e-mail and messaging to Web hosting and DNS services.

``Sun understands that fast-growing businesses, like service providers, need to watch their capital spending,'' said Neil Knox, vice president and general manager, Sun's Network Systems. ``At the same time, they need servers that provide a flexible solution that is easy to install, deploy, maintain and service. We listened to our customers and built the Netra X1 server.''

Same Bang for Fewer Bucks

The new Netra X1 server is powered by the robust Solaris Operating Environment and can support up to 1 GB of memory capacity, making it an ideal platform for both deploying various applications and providing the performance and flexibility for business expansion. Features include:

• Rack-mountable 1 RU height to allow for more servers in existing rack space
• Pre-installed Solaris 8 Operating Environment and lights-out management (LOM) software for remote monitoring and control
• Small server footprint (17" width x 13" depth) for streamlined installation and maintenance
• Front and back LEDs, removable system configuration card, space for system label, cable management hardware
• Easy out of the box installation
• Pricing and Availability:

Sun's Netra X1 thin server will be available starting March 6, 2001 through Sun and Sun's existing worldwide sales channels. The starting list price is $995 for a system configured with an UltraSPARC IIe 400MHz processor, 128MB memory (1GB max), 1-20GB hard drive (2 drives max), and Solaris 8 and LOM management software pre-installed.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision "The Network Is The Computer"(TM) has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc., to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to dot-com their businesses. With $17.6 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 170 countries on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com .

Sun vs. Microsoft Java Lawsuit finally over!

James D. Corder

Microsoft will no longer be able to license current or new versions Java from Sun. Moreover, Microsoft will pay Sun $20,000,000.00US and is bared from using Sun's "Java Compatible" trademark. Micorsoft will be able to still use outdated version of Java for the next seven years.

Sun alleged in the 1997 suit that Microsoft broke their licensing agreement by creating a Windows "ONLY" version of Java. This version was incompatible with other software.

``We live in a world in which the Web is based on an honor system, and Microsoft has proven time and again that it is unwilling to abide by the rules of the Internet,'' Patricia Sueltz, executive vice president of Sun's software systems group, said to reporters. ``Its behavior with regard to the Java technology is just one instance.''

Rich Green, Sun's vice president of Java software: ``By taking the direction it has, Microsoft is choosing to challenge rather than partner with the participants in the Web services community.''

Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullianan stated by settling this case the company is not admitting it violated the licensing agreement

What scares me the most is that Microsoft still has the public approval after evil wrong doings. I guess they are taking a chapter from President Bill Clinton. Moreover, Micorsoft is trying to topple Java by coming out with its ".NET" software in direct competition with Java. Fair business competition doesn't bother me. However, Microsoft is not fair. Hence the antitrust law suite brought on by the U.S. Government.

The losers will not be Micorsoft or Sun but the developers. Since a viable working standard (Java) will be in question for what will most likely be a better marketed product. Moreover, Java is not only in web sites but many hand held applications such as mobile phones and board level products (black boxes).

``This is focused on the language,'' Sun's Harrah said. ``The lawsuit was focused on the platform and brought against Microsoft because they tried to build a Windows-only implementation of the platform, not the language.''

``They keep making this big point about multiple languages (working on their platform). It is not about multiple languages. It is about the ability to support multiple platforms and multiples devices,'' he said. ``Microsoft doesn't want to talk about that.''

Remember that Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled against Microsoft in its antitrust case for its sceams to make it harder for Windows Java applications to worth with other technologies made by non Windows aligned vendors.

As a John Sestina always says: "I would rather be in a bad deal with good people than a good deal with bad people!"

I still refuse to support the evil empire!