As this is the September issue, and school is getting underway, I thought I’d mention the School Sucks website (http://www.schoolsucks.com). This actually isn’t really about how much school sucks, but it is a repository of other people’s term papers and reports. There’s also a chat room where you can hang out with other students and more. One warning for those of you thinking of scamming papers to hand in for a class – apparently teachers are hip to this site, so you’ll probably end up screwing yourself. Nice name, though.

There are webring sites dedicated to bands (usually stuff like Nirvana, et al), but of course there are several punk webrings as well. One pretty cool ring is "The Punk and Ska Ring" at http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/2743/ . As of this writing, this ring has over 500 sites. More stuff than I could write about in 10 columns! Some of it is good, some of it boring, some of it stupid, but all of it (supposedly) punk.

Another ring to check out is the Alterna-Punk Nation Web Ring (http://users.ap.net/~ploschitz/altpunk.html). While I’m not exactly sure what the fuck the "Alterna-Punk Nation" is, there are over 100 punk and alternative sites in this ring. Best of all, its run by a punk rock geezer – Yep, another 50-something doing the punk rock thing. This ring appears to consist mostly of bands, so that makes it a good way to find out about a lot of bands you’ve never heard.

A final ring I’m going to mention is for those of you who like to listen to punk bands online. Personally, I’d rather throw in a CD in most cases, but it can be cool to listen to new music from bands you’ve never heard. The Punk MP3 ring at http://locals.chatsubo.com/mp3/ . MP3 files are another format for sound files, sort of like wav and Real Audio, but with a lot better sound quality. You need to get a player to listen to files of this type, and a decent *free* play for both Mac and Windows can downloaded from http://www.audioactive.com/player/ . Get the player, go to the ring, and start listening.

The next site isn’t exactly punk, but it is pretty funny, and it there is a minimal amount of punk content. The site is titled "El Contenido de Mis Pantalones" and basically takes a look at the 17 items that Matt, the site designer, found in his pant pockets one February day. Pretty innovative web design concept, but those pants must have been feeling heavy with all that shit in them. Check out the site at http://alc.hartford.edu/matt/pocket/pockets.html .

The next site we visit is the I Dunno Punk Zine at http://www.sonic.net/~mpaglia/zine/ . At this site you’ll find articles, interviews, bass and guitar tabs, photos, reviews, and more. Some of it is worthwhile, some of it is stupid, but they seem to be keeping it updated, so why not check it out (like you have anything better to do)?

For those of you meatballs who like your punk Swedish, the Swedish Punk Hardcore Archive (http://www.spha.org/) has just the menu for you. There is so much here, I can’t even begin to list it all. Over 200 bands, plus labels, zines, distros and more are listed, as well as interviews, reviews, columns, chat, archived songs and more. Don’t miss this site, especially if you need a taste of foreign hardcore.

I’m not sure where I found out about this site, but Punknet at http://www.punknet.com looks like it has some serious possibilities, even if at the time of this writing nothing seems to work there. It’s been up since May, and there have some serious problems with areas of their site (missing files, links that don’t work the way they are suppose to, etc., but they are looking for "staff" so you might drop by their site and see if you can lend a hand.

Next we have the Ontario Punk / Ska / Oi page, which has stuff about the Ontario, Canada scene. They have a list of upcoming shows, a few sound files, a list of links and a few pictures. Pretty sparse, but some decent stuff, especially if you’re gonna be in that area sometime soon. Check the page out at http://www.king.igs.net/~webster/opr.htm .

Finally this month is a fun little (unpunk) questionnaire where you can "Rate Your Risk of Being Murdered". Find out exactly how likely it is that you’ll become a statistic. It’s free, it’s fun, and terribly useful. Take the test at http://www.nashville.net/~police/risk/murder.html . I scored a 59.

Okay, so that does it for this month. Check out the Netpunk website at http://netpunk.base.org or e-mail me at hanford@cruzio.com. Of course, you can always write me via the good old USPS as well, at PO Box 8059; Santa Cruz CA 95061.