 "Oh
what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." |
Summer
2003 |
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| W M M New Issue | W M M Archives |
| Welcome to Issue #1, Summer 2003 | Web Mystery Magazine is a new quarterly magazine offering serious articles from many disciplines, and celebrating good research and good writing. | |||
| by Rosalie Stafford | The editor of Web Mystery Magazine teaches writing in San Diego. | |||
| Should Eugene Aram Have Hanged? |
"On 3rd August 1759 Eugene Aram, a teacher
and brilliant linguist, was brought before the York Assizes charged with
the murder of a Knaresborough shoe maker called Daniel Clarke some fourteen
years earlier. He defended himself ... and was sentenced to be hanged.
The story caught the popular imagination. What could turn a respectable
academic into a violent thug who killed for money?
"For the last eighteen years I have practised criminal law, both for the defense and prosecution in Knaresborough and Harrogate. I have dealt with homocide, wounding, rape, theft, and fraud. I have often appeared in cases at the Castle in York where Aram was convicted. I often drive up Thistle Hill. Had the events arisen two hundred and thirty years later, he might well have been my client. Would it have made any difference to the verdict if he were?" |
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| by Rodney Noon | A defense attorney/prosecutor investigates the case of Eugene Aram, hanged in 1756. His article on the perennially interesting case of Eugene Aram draws together all the available evidence and reviews it in light of his experience as a trial advocate. | |||
Untraceable Email Cluster Bombs: On Agent-Based Denial of Service
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"Denial
of service attacks are well-known in the context of computers, and in
particular in the context of sites and servers. A recent example is that
of El Jazeera, which was attacked by groups of hackers who replaced the
website's content with an American flag. "It is not only politically-questionable cable stations that can be attacked, but any person or organization. Moreover, it does not take a large group of skilled hackers to perform such an attack. The attacks, which are not traceable, can be performed from public computers in very short time, and with devastating results to anybody using email, text messaging -- or even -- a phone. "The simplicity of the attack makes it quite powerful. However, simple defenses exist and can easily be deployed." |
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| by Markus Jakobsson, PhD | Security expert Markus Jakobsson and agent expert Filippo Menczer discuss how agents -- or pieces of software performing tasks on behalf of a human -- can be used to launch automated and virtually untraceable attacks on cellular phones, email accounts, online auction participants, electronic voting schemes, and more. |
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A Mystery Buff Takes a Look at Computer Crime |
"As
a professional in the computing industry, I have often been amused by
the naïve portrayal of computing capabilities in mystery novels, the way
the computer is deployed to commit a crime or aid in its investigation.
"In the olden days -- before hackers and online databases -- information was acquired through office clerks who served as the gatekeepers of special knowledge. The detective moseyed up to the counter in the records office, sweet talking his favorite gal-Friday for a victim’s car license number or a suspect’s home address. Bank clerks, insurance agents, and corporate secretaries were all vulnerable to the detective’s charms, dropping names and account numbers, revealing bank sums in a reciprocal love song. The public’s increased awareness of privacy issues has changed our collective attitude to the casual revelation of personal data." |
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| by Jo G. Meador | Jo G. Meador has spent 25 years in database and data resource management, working for Fortune 500 companies in the banking, telecommunications, and aerospace industries, including special projects with IBM in data administration and application development. | |||
| Gosford Park, a Review |
"A number of guests have gathered at Gosford Park, a mansion in the wet English countryside, for an extended house party. The mansion is awash with resentments, disdain, envy, jealousy, avarice, lust, fear, and -- it emerges slowly -- with memories and hopes of love. Within the tangle of emotions and personal histories are any number of motives for murder, and as sometimes happens in English country mansions during house parties, a murder takes place." | |||
| by Antonia Moras | Writer/film-maker Antonia Moras examines the aesthetic of Robert Altman's country-house-murder-movie -- without revealing the surprise ending. |
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The Resurrectionists, |
"Frank Cassidy inhabits the most dysfunctional family since Lizzie Borden... In an episode of The Simpson’s, it would all be hilarious. But in the milieu of dark literary fiction, this edgy tale cuts with a velvet knife... Collins' thwarted protagonist is searching not for his roots or even his birthright, but for a terrifying secret buried in the bloody folds of his own heart." | |||
| by Lisa Polisar | A thriller-writer (Blackwater Tango and Knee Deep) delves into the twisted psychology of Michael Collins' darkly hilarious tour de force. | |||
Invitation
to Participate |
"What type of person loves to curl up
with a cozy? Or walk through a police procedural? Or analyze true-crime?
Or delve into the depths of noir? Or match wits with a Golden Age
detective? Take part in this informal survey of personality type and genre,
and let's find out.
"No, it's not terribly scientific ... but it's fun ... and the information you share with Rosalie will be used for nothing more than to try to figure out what the readers of the Web Mystery Magazine enjoy reading." |
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| by Editor | Rosalie Stafford, Editor of Web Mystery Magazine teaches writing in San Diego. |
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"Oh what a tangled
web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." |
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| W M M New Issue | W M M Archives |
Writers are invited to send letters and inquiries to editor@lifeloom.com.
Copyright 2003, lifeloom.com