Cool Web Sites
by Don Singleton
Tulsa Computer Society
For the July 2000 issue of the I/O Port Newsletter
Including links previously reviewed at
http://www.educationindex.com/index.html,
http://www.komando.com/,
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/arch.htm, and
http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html
Mysportsguru.com offers rich-media instruction on
golf, tennis, fly fishing, basketball and baseball.
Includes a golf guru tip-of-the-day feature.
Geared to the needs of consumers and small businesses,
USLaw.com offers a legal library with more than 1,500
reports on a wide variety of subjects. Users can also talk
with lawyers in real time over the Net for free.
Lighten up with a daily
dose of political cartoons. You'll find links to
cartoonists, homegrown and from around the world.
MP3Lit.com says it has a simple purpose in cyberlife:
to be a vehicle for writers and publishers to distribute
their recorded work directly to the public. A chance to
listen to writers instead of reading them.
SciTech Daily Review scours the Web for intelligent,
informed science and technology coverage. Everything
from the latest developments in quantum computing to
the "sad tale of the Archaeoraptor fossil."
In 1946, UNESCO started snapping photos of
subjects around the world. The result: More than
10,000 images on everything from agriculture and
industry to science and sports.
An authoritative Medical Encyclopedia is at your
fingertips thanks to Medline. Entries include definitions
of diseases, along with alternative names, causes and
risk factors.
Not seen much eloquence coming from the mouths of
our current crop of politicos? Great American
Speeches brings 80 years of oratory to the Web. Text,
audio and video clips, along with backgrounders.
Customize your own daily paper with news from hundreds of online sources. The
information is organized into 17 different categories, such as Arts & Entertainment,
Sports, Funnies, and Business. You may create your paper with or without frames,
and the creation of your own paper requires a working e-mail address.
At last - a better way to draw up a grocery list! And if you
can't remember what items you need for dinner tonight, a
recipe database will help.
The Free Internet Encyclopedia is composed of information available on the Internet.
The info's divided into two main divisions: MacroReference, which contains large
areas of knowledge, and MicroReference, which is smaller sites and information on
specific, narrow subjects.
In our best-online-effort-to-save-trees category: The
Report Gallery, which lists more than 2,200 Annual
Reports covering the majority of the Fortune 500
companies. A user-friendly format, and it's free.
The Internet Public Library is a great place to visit. Information is conveniently
divided by age groups or research needs. There are interesting hands-on activities for
kids, plus an online classroom, an exhibit hall, a reading room with some great tools,
and much more.
If you wonder why your computer is running slowly (or not
as fast as it should be), you should be aware that Windows
98 doesn't "come" pre-optimized. There's a lot of tweaking
you have to do on your own to get it running at top speed.
Cacheman can you take out a lot of the guesswork. Alter
the disk cache, name cache, and file cache settings - which
will make your system behave the way you want it to. I
discovered a noticeable speed increase after using it. There
are also presets for 'novices' and everything is
undoable--never fear. You definitely want this download.
The Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility was developed by
Intel to enable their consumers to identify and determine if
their Intel processor is operating at the correct and rated
frequency. This utility provides consumers with the ability to
determine standard CPU identification of Intel processors,
all the way back to the original Pentium chip. In addition, the
Frequency Test Tab of the utility can also help determine if a
processor (Pentium III or above, up to 800MHz) has been
overclocked.
Positive Saying of the Day has found a niche in
cyberspace by e-mailing inspirational thoughts to
subscribers. Now, a search engine lets you hunt them
down on your own.
Find out how you can submit examples of new words, or new uses of existing
words, providing the context in which they appeared in print; all words are
welcome, but there's a list available on site of words that they are already
investigating which need better documentation.
Gary Price guides us to transcripts of speeches and
programs, current and historical, on all kinds of
topics: Congressional testimony, campaign
speeches, NPR programs, keynote speeches of
business leaders, addresses and testimony by
international, federal, state and local officials, as
well as leaders of organizations and
associations.
Brief descriptions and links to some great science education sites.
With all the new interest in online music, it might be time
to revisit a site that justifiably describes itself as the
"granddaddy" of music Web sites. The Internet
Underground Music Archive expands on its
community roots.
Have you lost touch with the friends who served with you in the military? Now a new
site can help you find them. MilitaryConnections.com is a registry-based site designed
to help military personnel and their families keep in touch. This extra special site offers
resources to make keeping in touch even easier. You will have access to a member
directory, message boards, chats, group news, photo albums, and event calendars.
Best of all, it's free to register and it's free to use.
What do music trivia, mystery movies, wacky words
and unknown tunes all have in common? They're all
part of this entertaining Cool Quiz site.
What is a "nitpicker?" Have you ever sat near a person in the theater who
says things like, "Awww, c'mon - they can't do THAT..." or "That's ALL
wrong...?" Well, there you have it. Here's a website dedicated to finding
the most obscure and irrelevant mistakes (along with some of the most
obvious ones) ever made in the history of filmdom. View "nitpicks" of the
latest movies, the Top Ten Nitpicked Movies of All Time and many,
many more.
Click on the map to choose your state and get a list of all the farmers' markets
available, complete with contact info, days of the week available, and whether it
accepts WIC coupons. Unfortunately, it lists in alphabetical order by the name of
the market, which is not necessarily the town it's held in, so you'll have to look
carefully to find one in your town.
Over 3000 recipes from innkeepers -- breads, salads and veggie dishes,
pastas, egg dishes, breads (at least 30 different kinds of banana bread
alone!) and loads of desserts.
Funded by the Duke University Endowment "Library 2000" Fund, Ad*Access
displays a rare collection of images and info covering over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian
advertisements printed between 1911 and 1955. Covering five main subject areas that
include radio, TV, transportation, beauty and WWII, the database was developed by
the university from files created by the Ad*Access Agency to track the various ad
campaigns of their competitors. An excellent online resource for popular history and
culture fans as well as for media researchers.
Wonder how safe your community is? Neighborhood
Crime Check provides online maps; all you do is type
in a ZIP code.
Sick and tired of that same old wallpaper on your PC, day in and day out? Or maybe
you've run through all the options that your OS presents and are looking for something
a little "jazzier" to dress up your machine with? Surf over to Texturations and download
some of the hippest, wildest and most colorful wallpaper images available online.
Available in both Mac and Windows formats and in several screen resolution sized,
there's new images every week - so you'll never run out of refreshing stuff to load onto
your screen. And the artwork varies from relaxingly cool and subtle to hot and
psychedelic.
A site devoted to teaching and learning through the fun of wordplay,
including fractured fractions (the last fourth of shed and the last 5/6 of
yearly=?), mystery words, compound clues, words within words, alpha spells
(figure out a word whose letters have been rearranged in alphabetical
order), A-Z lists on any topic, similes (quiet as an empty daycare center),
oxymorons (jumbo shrimp), etc.
Thanks to the Web, the start of school may be a little
less traumatic. Study Web describes itself as a
"learning portal," a place to find online help on
everything from grammar and composition to math and
science.
If you don't subscribe to this, you should at least drop by the web site from time
to time, where past issues are archived. Regular features include the "Incredibly
Useful Site of the Day," "Freebies, Bargains and Contests," "Net Essentials" ("the
bookmarks you must have"), and the "Daily Double Download" (shareware). The
September issue has a very interesting third anniversary special
report on "How America Uses the Net."
Take an online tour of the world's aircraft. Past and
present. There are more than 50,000 photos to
browse through, and you can send one to a friend as
an e-postcard.
Preview Travel offers up this great collection of fantastic
travel deals for airlines, car-rental companies, hotels,
cruises, and vacation packages. Complete lists of deals that
Preview has hand-picked highlight some of the amazing
savings that are available at this informative and
money-minded site. Take advantage of super savings and
last-minute travel planning by bookmarking the site and
visiting often. A complete low-budget travel package for the
Holidays, covering everything from a hotel to a rental car to
airline fare is all right at your fingertips!
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) constitute the
collective knowledge and wisdom of the Net. And
they're collected in a huge and user-friendly array of
categories.
The Darwin Awards are baaack! With new winners,
a historical romp and the spin-off Stupidity Awards.
"Warning! These macabre events may cause cynicism."
This shows you step-by-step how to accomplish almost anything related to
fixing and improving your home. Major categories include Plumbing, Wiring,
Carpentry, Decks, Masonry, and a Tool Encyclopedia. You can even search
the Home Improvement Encyclopedia. What's your project going to cost?
Check out the project estimators for even more handy information.
For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here
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Tulsa Computer Society 6/10/2000
Don Singleton, President
djs@ionet.net