This is a collection of TCP | I. P. [Internet Protocol] and
Internet tools gathered from around the W-WW for anyone interested in tracking
down DNS, HTTP headers, traceroutes from various backbones, and more.
This is MSV.DK. The site is administered by Martin Svenningsen.
It is an Internet networking utility page which measures your connection
speed; and has available options to perform Whois, DNS lookups, and
browser checks. It also has a rubric covering site security and privacy,
& much more.
This is another World-Wide Web site where you can look up your
own (or another) I. P. Address. Back parse to the virgule
and learn more about its distributed intrusion detection system.
If you are considering upgrading to broadband Internet access, this is a
very informative & comprehensive site which will let you know if your local
telephone company's central office has _DSL wiring, and from which providers.
It has an informative forum where subscribers with _DSL or cable modems relate
their experiences. You need to accept cookies to use this site.
Here is a comprehensive site noting newsservers available to you.
Some are inadvertantly open, and will soon close, but some are dedicated
to this. Dmoz.org predates Wikipedia. It is still a good W-WW site for
exploring topics.
This is a cracking forum's page with free NNTP newsservers. You can
search for a specific newsgroup on the twenty-two newsservers it currently
has. Keep in mind that most of these newsservers will not carry all the
newsgroups in which you could be interested.
Search IRC features the most complete, up to date and relevant IRC search
on the web. Its IRC search engine monitors 2,281 IRC networks to bring you
more live IRC channels, more active IRC users, and over 5,000 pages of
information on IRC networks, their services, and their servers.
If you reside in California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, or
Wisconsin, and have a non-wireless prefix supplied by A.T. & T.;
this W-WW page informs you of the prefices that it considers to be in your
Band “a” & “b” (untimed calls) calling areas. Input
your area code and prefix. Click through for a printable version.
JavaScript|ActiveX® must be enabled.
Tiny Apps is a depot of applications for Windows®-based computers.
All of these applications (& programs) are scripted in tight, concise
code. The webmaster also maintains a weblog, and offers a free E-Mail
newsletter.
mIRC is the Internet Relay Channel program I recommend for all users
with Windows®-based computers. It has been downloaded over 150
million times. (Please send Khaled the registration fee.)
Here's an excellent site with links to many significant Internet programs.
You can locate utilities about audio | video, compressors, newsreaders, and
all kinds of editors, graphics, players, encoders, hard drives, proxies,
safety, security, & more.
This is a site where you can learn about Internet & computer
security; and what is inside your computer [cards, drivers, & settings].
It has a rubric orbiting around Linux. Registration is not required.
This is a hub W-WW site with information about on-line applications
and software programs to secure your computer. There is also a forum for
which you may register.
This is a clearinghouse of information, including a message forum,
which alleges that PayPal™ is a corporation that requires its
users (in the U.S.A.) to waive their rights to credit card consumer
protection laws, and that the user may not issue a chargeback for
anything purchased using his | her credit card and PayPal™
account in order to use the service. Withdraw your money out of
PayPal™ before it confiscates it. Making matters worse, eBay®
now mandates that new users can only pay through it. I submit this is
a good time to quit using eBay®.
This is the weblog of Alice Hill, who, along with Bill O'Brien, for
12¾ years, had a monthly column in "Computer Shopper"
magazine. Computer Shopper underwent remodelling, and their column
(“The Hard Edge”) was kicked to the curb of the
information superhighway after the October 2004 issue. Alice has revolved
back to computer coverage with this W-WW site, which aims to bridge the
gap between the informal and mostly amateur-run tech weblogs and the
polished, but often slow and advertiser-supported, tech portals. This W-WW
site had problems with PayPal™.
Gibson Research Corp. offers this page for PC & Windows®
users only. On this page is a service where you can securely test your
computer's shields & probe your computer's ports. There are also
other solid services for protecting your computer here.
Spybot Search & Destroy is a program which digs deeply into
the workings of your computer to find (& eradicate) programs that
are stealthily tracking your W-WW surfing behavior. This site has gone
missing at times.
Here is an excellent site giving specific, detailed information (in two URLs)
on how to make yourself less visible to World-Wide Web sites, Usenet newsgroups,
and E-Mail address harvesters, while still browsing, lurking, & contributing.
The digest version: Disable both Java and JavaScript|ActiveX®.
This site provides solid information and news about anonymity &
privacy on the Internet. There is now also a message board for which you
may opt to register. However, it requires a proxy with SSL capability.
This is a Wiki-styled page which provides information about the different
methods of blockings and ways to bypass them. The site is available in English,
Polish, & German.
Freenet is a peer-to-peer network designed to allow the distribution of
information over the Internet in an efficient manner, without fear of
censorship. Freenet is completely decentralized, which means that it cannot
be attacked or blocked.
CyberArmy is a group of netizens who believe in a deregulated Internet;
free from external control. It supports Open Source. It has a good
discussion forum.
This is the first entry in a series in a weblog by Amy Gahran.
It is a superb series of articles about what you and I
should do when we encounter someone who, inadvertantly or advertantly,
disrupts our on-line experience. The short form is: Take a breather. But
it also classifies the disrupters, so that we can understand what he |
she ultimately wants.
FastMail is a service dedicated to bringing the fastest, most
accessible, & feature rich, free E-Mail service on the W-WW. My
main E-Mail address is affiliated here. It requires neither Java nor
JavaScript|ActiveX®. A new interface has been installed. There
are scores of domain names now available. It uses greylisting as a
spam-fighting procedure. I send you to the old interface because I
prefer it to the newer style.
SpamGourmet is a free E-Mail service which you can use to protect
your real E-Mail address. The concept here is that when you encounter a
situation where you need to provide an E-Mail address (a forum, an
on-line travel price quote, someone who you do not know), you give it a
disposable E-Mail address which will die after a limited number,
specified by you, of E-Mails will be forwarded to your real E-Mail
address, but the other party will not have your real E-Mail address.
This works. I keenly recommend it.
Do you need an E-Mail address to attach to a music or video clip
which you are sharing (to comply with state law)? Or do you just want
to avoid being spammed when you register for a forum? One method is to
use a disposable E-Mail account. This site offers hundreds of companies
which will allow you to not use your primary E-Mail account. View its
forum.
This site teaches you how to refine your searches to hone in on exactly
the material which fulfills your quest. It will take some time initially, but
you will know how to find information very swiftly thereafter.
Scroogle is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization whose
main service is an anonymous search using Google™. The Scroogle
scraper randomly grabs a Goo I. P. Address, trashes the
incoming cookies and saves the results in a file which is deleted
within one hour. Google™ does not get to place a cookie on your
computer, does not get your I. P. Address, and
cannot tell which searches are from the same person. I send you
directly to a non-imaged page with the search box. If you backparse,
it is available in 28 languages.
Google™ is a search engine and portal which is especially keen
on rejecting URLs which are nothing more than spam traps. This link
sends you to the 'Advanced Search' page.
All The Web seems to locate image and video content better than the
above three. I send you to its ‘Video’ tab; and its “advanced
search” rubric. Customize your parameters here. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®, and enable cookies in order for your options to
be remembered.
Frequently, as you surf the W-WW, you may encounter a URL which you
would like to refer into a forum, weblog, E-Mail message, or Twitter, but
which is so lengthy that cutting & pasting it will result in the URL
being extended beyond one line, or you running out of characters in your
text message. Snip URL is designed to correct that. It will snip the long
URL into a much shorter URL which serves as a seamless
“gateway” to it. If you register here (which requires
cookies accepted), it will store your snipped URLs to illustrate how many
surfers have clicked on them.
RingSurf offers easy access to thousands of member World-Wide Web sites
organized by related interests into easy-to-travel rings. If you seek other
persons who share your hobby, link here. RingSurf is completely free & does
not require you to identify yourself in order to maintain a site thereupon.
Domeus is Europe's biggest free to use newsletter and mailing list
community. It allows you to create, send and subscribe to thousands of
interesting newsletters and mailing lists on a variety of topics.
Get personal. Here is where you can learn who is celebrating a birthday
today. You can send them a private E-Mail message, or perhaps browse their
World-Wide Web pages.
This is Google™'s on-line translator. You are not seeing things. I
moved Google™'s translator ahead of Yahoo!®'s because Yahoo!®'s
ceased functioning after a number of pages.
Here is a site which provides translations of words, & URLs
from English to French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese,
Japanese, or Korean (and vice versa). It is powered by Systran.
(Yahoo!® bought out AltaVista®.)
This is an add-on for Firefox browsers. Download it, and the
pertinent dictionary. (I am using it for Japanese - English
translations.) Restart Firefox and right-click to enable it. Then, when
you mouse over a character in Japanese, a bubble will appear
giving the definition of that character in your designated language.
The World-Wide Web is truly universal, now that it has this phenomenal
service. This page will translate your designated text into Pig Latin. You
need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®.
I have modified all of my links to proxy judges & environmental
checkers with the anonym.to [c.v.] link anonymizer referrer.
This will allow you to click on these URLs and not be declassed in the
result by the HTTP_REFERER {sic} variable. All the proxy judges to
which I link are version 2.35. AnonyLevel 1 is the most secure. Most
non-proxied, "closed" (versus "Keep-Alive")
connections will judge Level 2. What is most important is whether your
actual Internet Protocol [I. P.] Address is
displayed anywhere on the output screen. If you know of any more
version 2.35 proxy judges, please contact me. This is a
numeric I. P. Address judge. These are particularly useful
for detecting CoDeeN | PlanetLab proxies. Those proxies, while
promising swift performance, filter out [i.e.: will not let you view
the content thereupon] all sites with numeric
I. P. Addresses & many sites orbiting around
particular topics (including how to find non-CoDeeN | PlanetLab
proxies). Its FAQ page also notes that it monitors all users and the
World-Wide Web sites surfed using its proxies. If you view a list
of anonymous proxies; all of the Port 3124, 3127, 8888, and many
(but not all) 3128 proxies are CoDeeN | PlanetLab proxies. I
would never use a CoDeeN | PlanetLab proxy. I consider this the
equivalent of entering your motel room and discovering there is a
recording camera in the ceiling light fixture. For personal
World-Wide Web anonymous surfing, I recommend using a proxy judged
Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3. If you use Firefox, the
HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL or HTTP_KEEP_ALIVE variable, when detected, lowers a
Level 1 or Level 2 [“elite”] proxy into Level 3. Test your
proxy to see if it can handle SSL connections. If it cannot, you may
elect to use a different one for SSL. You need check your proxy against
only one of these judges. If you search for proxy judges
via a search engine, clicking on "Cached" on the
result screen will show you the information about the bot(s) that
search engine uses to spider the World-Wide Web. I leave this
judge on the list, although it does not generally look up the reverse DNS.
[black on white]
This is a numeric I. P. Address judge. It is better than
#3 because it resolves an I. P. Address to its REMOTE_HOST
name (when detected). However, it also generates a 403
Forbidden error message if your proxy is from an unauthorized
country. [black on white]
The CGI code which was used to create these proxy judges was
scribed by someone in Japan. Proxy judges consume a goodly amount
of CPU time on a server. If a series of judge requests occur, it
slows the response time for other W-WW pages hosted thereupon.
This is another reason webhosts prohibit them. This is
Deny.de's proxy judge. It gets much traffic from its own
forum; so I encourage you to select another judge if possible.
[white on black]
Some proxies will not technically reveal your actual
I. P. Address; yet will show its octets in reverse order.
I prefer to discard a proxy like that and test the next one on my list.
[black on white]
This judge has non-standard output. It does not output an AnonyLevel. I
do not link to the proxy judges which were inaccurate. (I tested all of these
proxy judges with a Level 4 anonymous proxy. Some of the proxy judges did
not check enough variables, and rated it a Level 3 or 2 proxy.) [black on white]
I have added environmental checkers here. All are version 1.04. The
presumption is that they are just as accurate as determining whether
you are anonymous as a cgi-bin proxy judge, but are not as intensive a
use of CPU time on a host server. This is a resolved numeric
I. P. address environmental checker.
Anonym.to is an interstitial screen which is useful when you want
to visit, or send traffic to, a World-Wide Web site which you do not
want the site to know from where it was linked. It can be used
dynamically by prefacing the "http://" in the destination URL
[& you must include the destination URL's "http://" in your
text] with "anonym.to/?".
Why should you configure an anonymous proxy in your W-WW
browser? A vocal minority always claims that you must be doing
something “illegal” if you prefer to remain anonymous.
There will always be those who abuse certain privileges or liberties,
but those few cannot ruin an entitlement for the rest. There are
many factors why privacy is important. First: There are repressive
governments that forbid access to certain sites, censor the World-Wide
Web, and then monitor users who show interest in particular topics.
Second: There are people who want to tell the truth without fear of
repercussion, such as corporate whistle-blowers and bloggers. Third:
There are intelligence needs, in both corporate and government sectors.
Fourth: An on-line stalker can pinpoint the precise community where his
| her prey resides by deciphering that user's I. P.
Address. (Many internet service providers in the U.S.A. put their host
server's city & state in the REMOTE_HOST variable.) Finally:
We live in an age where our names, identity characteristics,
telephone numbers, dates of birth, credit reports, buying habits,
demographics, and surfing tendencies are traded like
commodities amongst corporations. When I want to let a W-WW site
know who & from where I am, I disengage the anonymous proxy.
Otherwise, it is not entitled to that information. This is
Samair.ru. This page is the first with anonymous proxies. You
might need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX® to view the
port numbers of the proxies.
This is the first page of the NewNet Time Group's HTTP proxies.
They are in order of the most recently checked. A reasonable guess is
made of its country of location (which is not always accurate). Socks
proxies are available (a link on the foot of the page). You need to
turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®.
Here is a proxy collation site with the 30 fastest proxies of all
nations, and separately, China, the U.S.A., the Republic of Korea,
& Japan. You can click on a country's name to get other proxies
from there. Socks proxies are also available. It is one
matter to have a proxy from a specific country. However, if the proxy
in that country is registered to (for example) an elementary
or middle school; or an anti-filesharing organization [these are
referred to as "honeypot" proxies]; you will still be
filtered from some W-WW sites, and probably monitored wherever you
surf. I would discard that proxy and test the next one on my list.
This is Proxy Forest, a multi-faceted W-WW site, available
in English or Japanese. The columns on the page which you should note
are "Anonymous", "Time" (lower is better), &
"Rank" (“A+” is best - but beware that some of
these might be a CoDeeN | PlanetLab proxy). Its script has a problem
which results in some proxies being duplicated. There is also a
Japanese-language (only) BBS here.
Here is a forum, administered by Lorissa, where members post
exclusive lists of proxies they have detected. You need to turn
on JavaScript|ActiveX® and register in order to view the proxies.
This is another comprehensive security W-WW site with a link to a
proxy judge; a list of anonymous proxies; and information on how to
secure your computer to withstand incursions of privacy, & repel
spyware or malware. Note the "Anonymous surfing" box on the
upper left.
I found this through delicious.com. This W-WW site's list gets
updated throughout the day. It also has its own tester, but that only
checks to see if the proxy is still extant. The bulk of the proxies are
hosted in "unknown" countries; so I insist you run it
thereafter through a "WHOIS" lookup. It also has a forum, and
an IRC channel.
This site has transparent, anonymous, and highly anonymous proxies,
including the country to which the I. P. Address range is
reserved. I send you to the first page of proxies.
I found this W-WW proxy site through Dmoz.org. It is sorted by
latency, and has a dynamic function which you can use to refine your
proxy selection. A column identifies if the proxy supports SSL. To
prevent spiders or bots from raping its bandwidth, it now utilizes a
visual identification code which needs to be replicated before it
displays the proxies. It is available in English or Russian.
Unfortunately, our webmaster now attempts to collect money for access
to alleged “VIP proxies”.
I have been investigating PHP & CGI proxies due to the
dwindling number of browser-based anonymous proxies. This is a proxy
server which lets you specify which browser variables you want to pass
on to the specific website. It bypasses most W-WW filters which attempt
to keep you from accessing any number of websites which somebody deems
"non-essential".
This is the most amazing resource you shall ever find
on the World-Wide Web! The Internet Archive is a U.S.A.-based 501(c)(3)
public nonprofit that was founded to build an Internet library, with
the purpose of offering free and permanent access to historical digital
collections for researchers, historians, and scholars. I found my
“lost” Chicago POWER results & statistics pages archived
here, and there are a lot of Grateful Dead concerts as well.
You have probably heard about this. Wikipedia is the free on-line
encyclopedia which any registered user can edit. This is the main page
of the English-language section.
This is the W-WW site of the U.S.A.'s most important voice on behalf of
individuals. You do not have to agree with all the positions it supports in
order to understand its importance. I deduce traffic to this site is being
monitored by the F.B.I., C.I.A., and | or N.S.A.
The EFF, one of whose founders is John Perry Barlow, is an organization
promoting freedom of expression in digital media. It is the entity
responsible for the "Blue Ribbon Campaign for Online Free Speech".
Free Speech Internet TV is the first audio | video hub on the
World-Wide Web created and defined by the people who use it. Free Speech
Internet TV's commitment is to offer services. It is available on
Dish Network® direct broadcast satellite (channel 9415).
This site will yield the ZIP + 4 ZIP Code for virtually any address serviced
by the United States Postal Service. You need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®.
Here is a good interactive site which will provide the exchange rate
between your home country & the recipient country. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX® to use this site.
Even a luddite knows what is the technological definition of "spam".
This is a valuable W-WW site which is a clearinghouse of information on
how to combat spam, from your own E-Mail inbox, all the way back to the
reprehensible & loathesome cretin who sent it.
This is Snopes. Since 1995, it has been a W-WW site which
debunks the mentioned topics. Before you forward that E-Mail, or
recirculate the URL which purports to disclose a life-changing message,
please check here.
Are you tired of getting mailings from banks offering you another
credit card, mortgage, or line-of-credit offer? This SSL W-WW site,
maintained by the U.S.A.'s “big three” credit reporting
bureaux, is where you can terminate receiving those offers in the mail.
This may not be 100% effective; because there are some financial
institutions which do not use the big three's services; but it should
significantly curtail the onslaught.
Across the U.S.A., some houses of religion are dabbling into something
expressly prohibited to them by the U. S. Constitution: Partisan
politics. This organization exposes which ones are, and offers actions
which can be taken to cease this.
The World-Wide Web has many sites on which miscreants are annotated.
Here's a site which identifies the miscreants whose “day jobs”
are being paid snitches for entrapping other individuals (who may not be
contemplating any “illegal” activity). It strives to be the
largest online database of informants and agents. There is also a forum
for which you may register.
This is the W-WW site of the financial institution in which the
majority of my funds are deposited. It has been on the corner of Belmont
Ave. & Cicero Ave. since 1944. It is FDIC insured. It is a bank I can
highly recommend to everyone in metropolitan Chicago, especially those
not wanting to entrust their money to a multi-national corporation. It
offers many banking services for free; and has consultants who speak
English, Spanish, or Polish. It now offers a Visa® credit
card with quite reasonable terms. If you're looking to dump a
national bank credit card, inquire here.
mySimon is a service of CNet® Media. It is a World-Wide Web
site which turns its shopping bots loose on the Internet to find
prices of items for which you are seeking. For something eminating
from a W-WW behemoth, it is extremely good.
This is a W-WW site which collates deals, coupons, rebates, &
special on-line offers. It concentrates on computers and electronic
gear. It strives to be your portal to the hottest deals.
This W-WW site allows you to compare product prices across a
spectrum of on-line purveyors. It also has a keen forum where you
can learn about the sites surveyed herein, as well as technical
aspects of computing and the Internet.
Here is another W-WW site which compounds discount and free offers on the
Internet. The moderators of the Bidding For Travel BBS [c.v.] urge
everybody to use this site's link to Priceline® to submit their bids.
This site also collates “coupon deals” on-line.
Savings-Center has nineteen categories, with over 1,300 stores,
which are searchable on several variables.
ConsumerNow was created as a public service for on-line consumers and
shoppers. I send you directly to the page with the on-line coupons. If you
are a newbie to on-line shopping, back parse and then select the links
labelled "5 Easy Steps to Online Shopping", & "10
Commandments of Online Shopping".
This was formerly Froogle™. It is a search engine which spiders
on-line catalogs. It supposedly accepts no funds to artificially elevate
a particular purveyor's placement in the results. I send you to the
advanced_product_search page, where you can change the result
order to ‘Sort by base price’.
Twitter is a method by which to communicate rapidly with other
persons on its network. I am registered here as
"pudgym29". All my interests are on display here. The hazard here is you need to check who has decided to follow
you every time you logon. Spammers, and people whose interests
may be diametrically opposed to yours {prevalently termed
“haters”}, will try to follow you for their own nefarious
purposes. They figure you won't notice. Get on them and block them.
Twitter has attracted many widgets and auxiliaries. This looks at
the roster of the users you follow, and goes through the entire
Twitter roster to find additional users in which you may be
interested; and not merely those who follow you - but who you haven't
yet opted to follow. Its hazard is you may wind up following a
bunch of people who do not reciprocally follow you; such that
your following|follower ratio may appear that of a spammer.
Craig's List began as a cooperative forum in San Francisco, CA.
It matured into an on-line campus compounding social and business
spheres, for communities across the U.S.A., and around the world. The
communities are on the right side of the screen. Craig's List
prefers you browse with Firefox.
This is along the lines of Craig's List, but featuring registered
users relating experiences in a spectrum of products and services,
and local flavor. Should you wish to register (which is required to
post), you need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®. My reviews begin
at http://sn.im/yelp1. The bloom of Yelp's rose is gone.
It has reached critical mass, which unfortunately also means it has
attracted a solid percentage of users whose reviews are tainted, and
should not be relied upon. There have also been credible
reports alleging that Yelp might occasionally skew the display of a
venue's reviews to put a “negative” one atop the list, and
then soliciting the venue to become a Yelp sponsor with the promise
of burying the “negative” review. People are
definitely trying to game it. I mention both sides in the interest of
egalitarianism. It can be adapted to serve as a personal
networking W-WW site along the lines of Insane Journal [c.v.],
MySpace®, & Facebook®. Watch out for its E-Mails. It
sends only HTML E-Mails; which are the top method miscreants use to
damage or capture your computer. I have opted out of all its
promotional E-Mails. It is not that Yelp is a computer memory
hog, but rather the Google™ maps which backfill to illustrate a
user's reviewed venues. If you are on a modem connection, you may
wish to block (or have NoScript do this) "maps.google.com"
in your browser for Yelp. I now send you directly to the SSL
page where you logon.
Mobog began as a W-WW site where people could submit a photograph
they had taken with their mobile telephone. It has modified to a
photograph sharing community. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®, & accept cookies to register here.
I have ordered books from Edward R. Hamilton, of Falls Village,
CT., for over twenty years. It started out as a remaindered-only, mail
order company. It keeps its prices low by not accepting credit cards or
doing any billing. The ultimate payoff is at the conclusion. It charges
only $3.50 for postage & handling, regardless of the number
of books which you order.
If you are perplexed by the panoply of "10-10"
long-distance dialing services, here is a valuable W-WW site which has
information on many of them. Intrastate, interstate, &
international rates are annotated. In North America, the telephone
number you dial to learn who is your default long distance carrier for
that line is 1-700-555-4141.
This is a World-Wide Web site featuring the funniest, cutest, & some
very amazing cat pictures. If you opt to register, you may also rate the pictures.
Here's a good W-WW site with lots of information and resources for cat
lovers. You can even obtain a semi-anonymous E-Mail account ending in
"@i-love-cats.com".
Beer Me! is a W-WW beer site maintained by Richard Stueven,
who is a brewmaster at the Gottberg Brew Pub in Columbus, Nebraska.
This site is the most complete source of brewery and beer information
available on the Internet.
The concept behind this W-WW site is that beer can be so much more
distinctive than the industrial megabrews excessively advertised on television.
Taste these. Your perception will be altered (for the better).
If you collect beer coasters, labels, crowns, neon signs, glasses or
steins, bottles, or cans (the Brewery Collectables Community of America
is a more concentrated organization if you primarily have those), join
the A.B.A. I am member #1727.
The BA now encompasses the American Homebrewers Association,
Institute For Brewing Studies, (former) Brewers Association of
America, Brewing Matters, & Brewers Publications. Even if you are
not a homebrewer [I am not], you should join the A.H.A. for its
"Pub Discount Program".
Brewing News is a panoply of beer newspapers covering much of the
U.S.A., and portions of Canada. It has core articles common to all the
regions, and customized columns for each of the states [or portions of
a state] in each regional newspaper. It also offers an E-Mail list which
you may opt to join.
Ale Street News, published bi-monthly by Tony Forder & Jack
Babin, has been around since 1992. It is the most widely circulated
beer publication in the U.S.A. It is centered upon the northeast and
the east coast, but includes coverage of beerworthy events worldwide.
There is also a forum for which you may register.
This is the weblog of Rick Lyke, another member of the now-defunct
North American Guild of Beer Writers. Rick has scribed articles which
appeared in a spectrum of brewspapers; and now he brings his
perspective to the on-line universe.
I love close-ups. Here are some close-ups you would not expect to view.
This site features photographs taken through an optical microscope of some
of the world's most famous beers.
This is a Web V2.0 forum, and repository of beer-worthy venues
reported by its forum members. I have broken out the Chicago Beer Map
separately [c.v.]. The webmaster is Jonathan Surratt. He is infusing a
number of widgets and twitters into the site. You must turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®.
This is the World-Wide Web gateway to Jason & Todd Alström's
network which strives to give beer consumers a voice; provide beer
education; empower consumers to learn, share, and advocate; rally
to support the beer industry; & put the respect back into beer.
It also publishes a print magazine. There is a forum here in which
you may be interested (requires JavaScript|ActiveX® should you
want to register & post). If you register for it, you will
receive frequent E-Mails begging you to buy a subscription to the
print magazine.
Some of the World-Wide Web sites on this WebRing are in need of
revision (& some are gone), but this has good information on the
sites which are current.
This is the World-Wide Web site of the legendary Homebrew Digest
E-Mail list. It is maintained by Karl Lutzen & Pat Babcock. If you
prowl its archives, you can find here one of my first ever E-Mail
messages, sent to here back in June 1994. (When I was using a
Commodore 64 on an Amiga BBS.) I break out of the frame for you.
This is a W-WW site which aims to help you find an interesting pub
in the U.K. It has reviews from both staff and its registered users;
encompassing 40,000 venues. It is the U.K.'s biggest and busiest
pub, bar, & club guide. You need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®.
Here is a W-WW site which informs you which taverns (in those states
where it is permitted by law) offer discounts on beverages, et cetera;
and when they do so. It does not have a lot of cities, but those it has
are thoroughly covered.
This is another comprehensive W-WW site striving to collate beer
and food specials for taverns in five metropolitan areas: Chicago, IL.;
Milwaukee, WI.; Bloomington, IN.; Baltimore, MD.; & Washington, DC.
Use its ‘search and crawl’ functions for a more thorough hunt.
You must turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®. This site has four frames.
There are many aggregators compiling this data, including Drinktown,
but this W-WW site seems to have the most frequently updated database of
bar & food deals at venues in Chicago. I send you directly to the
"Bar" specials rubric. (It is affiliated with the Chicago
Sun-Times.)
This is a newish bar at 3419 N. Clark St., very close to a
b**eball park, which offers craft beers, whiskies, and barbequed
cuisine, along with provocative recorded entertainment nightly.
I show a movie from my library here each Monday night at
22:00 hours. This is a 2½-block walk north from the Red |
Brown | Purple Line “L”'s Belmont station. (Jaunt
up Sheffield Ave.) Nobody has asked me this; but I think I
have deduced why non-sports bars do only fairly in
Wrigleyville. City people perceive that the area is the magnet
for trendy suburbanites, and tourists; who wouldn't get along with
them were they to go where they live; so they limit their
exposure to the area, at the expense of bars like Risqué,
& Sheffield's, which strive to be distinctive.
The Twisted Spoke is a friendly “biker” bar at Grand
& Ogden [501 N. Ogden Av.] in Chicago. It has superb beers as well.
I am drawn to have the $2.00 "Butch's Beer Special". It is
presented as the one selection which it feels is unworthy of being
served there {"We carry 52 good beers and one that really sucks.
It's usually best not to ask too many questions like, “What is
it?” What it is is only two bucks."}, but you should
not believe that. It has included some great beers from breweries such
as Atwater, Left Hand, Oasis, Pyramid, Portland, Summit, Stoney Creek,
Victory, Lakefront, MacTarnahan's, New Belgium, Anchor, & even
Affligem Abbey Ale. If you drive here, I can recommend you
try to park on Elizabeth St., which is a one-way northbound street
north of Hubbard, west of Racine, & east of Ogden. If you take the
Blue Line “L”, the closest stop is Chicago; not Grand
(walk south-southwest down Ogden).
This answers my most FAQ. Delilah's, at Lincoln, Diversey,
& Racine on Chicago's north side, is the tavern which is as loony
and eclectic as me. It scores on multiple levels (beer | music |
movies). Mike Miller is the proprietor. I hope, but I
doubt, that the metropolitan area where you live has a tavern as
enthralling as Delilah's. Delilah's has been around for 16 years.
This is a spectacular customized Google™ map which plots
practically all of Chicago's beerworthy venues [Brewpubs, taverns,
breweries, package stores, & homebrew supply stores] over the
street grid. Additional information about each venue may be discerned
by clicking on the dot, or the text link on the right side of the
screen. The map will take a long time to load completely. You must turn
on JavaScript|ActiveX®.
The Chicago Beer Society has been around for thirty years.
In this span, the universe of beer has greatly transformed (and it
may be transforming again); and much of that transformation can be
traced directly to its members. It is an organization for both
homebrewers and beer enthusiasts, with events occurring every month
in the metropolitan Chicago area. I recommend joining it.
This is a solid beer bar on Hoyne Ave. (@ Armitage Ave.) If you
have heard about a new, or obscure, beer which may be available in the
U.S.A., this would be one of the venues which would have it. The
selections are superb, & the waitstaff are devoted. (Some have
earned the CicerOne certification.)
Quenchers Saloon has been Chicago's premier beer bar since 1979.
It is located in one of the most vital neighborhoods of Chicago, at
the northeast corner of Western Ave. & Fullerton St. [2400 W. &
2400 N.] There's no telling what beers it will have. Its prices are
less expensive than other taverns. It has live music six days a week.
Its proprietor is Earle Johnson.
Another great music & beer venue in Chicago. This one has two
things which push it beyond the normal: Cheap beer, and an eclectic booking
policy which traverses all musical genrés. Radley, the luscious black
cat, passed away on 25 August. I send you to the non-Flash® version.
FitzGerald's is the Chicago area's most eccentric indoor concert venue.
It is in Berwyn, a west border suburb, at 6615 W. Roosevelt Rd. From
“fat” music; to rhythm & blues; to big band jazz; to touring
national acts: All of them play here. It needs a night time bus route
connecting it with the Forest Park branch of the Blue Line “L”.
This is Chicago's newest production brewery. It is the undertaking of
Tracy & Doug Hurst. They are dedicated to brewing lagers, which
have been under-represented in the craft beer movement. (Ales can be brewed
and released quicker, which can be more important to the finances of the
craft brewery.) I like their Dynamo Copper Lager. The brewery
is in the Ravenswood neighborhood on the north side of Chicago. They
also maintain a weblog at http://metrobrewing.blogspot.com/
{Too bad they couldn't get a west side location. Then they
could have relaunched the name of Chicago's original electric
“L” line.}
Here is the W-WW site of one of my favorite regional breweries.
This is the second-oldest brewery still operating in the U.S.A. It is
now owned by a Canadian corporation which has introduced some
intriguing 'bridge' beers to its house brands [Huber Bock,
Rhinelander]. I bypass the Flash® introduction page for you.
My favorite Milwaukee brewery is Russ & Jim Klisch's Lakefront Brwy.
I especially like Eastside Dark. It is located on Commerce St.,
northeast of downtown. You need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®.
Chicago's Goose Island Beer Company brews & bottles several ales
& lagers from two locations both serendipitously numbered 1800.
Thanks to the real estate mortgage crash, its landlord on N. Clybourn had
to relent and extend its lease. [A hard closing date had been
announced.] It also operates the former Weeghman Park Brewpub at 3535 N.
Clark St. John Hall is the president.
The August Schell Brewing Company has been operating in New Ulm,
MN. since 1860. It brews some of the finest beers in the entire
U.S.A. It is the prime example why small, regional breweries which also
devote part of their production capacities to "contract beers"
must not be allowed to go out of business. I will do everything I can to
ensure that this does not happen.
This is the long name of the Schlafly Brewpub, St. Louis' largest
American-owned brewery. When I visit St. Louis, I wind up
spending some time at one of its two locations (The brewpub near
downtown, or the Bottleworks in Maplewood.). I love its beers;
I agree with most of the viewpoints expressed by Mr. Tom Schlafly;
and this World-Wide Web site regularly makes me smile and chuckle.
St. Louis' foreign-owned brewery seems to prefer that the Schlafly
beers are unavailable where its beers are offered, as there are
frequent reports of Schlafly losing a tap handle, or being
precluded from being purveyed at a public festival, which,
by law, the festival organizers should not be able to do. (Read
the small print at the bottom of the “home” page.)
This is an astounding beer bar in downtown Denver, CO. whose motto
is, "No crap on tap." Denver is so beerworthy [its
mayor is a former brewpub owner]; it is difficult to suggest just one
venue you should visit. If you are here during the Great American
Beer Festival™, this is where you will find the special
beers of which brewers could not dedicate enough kegs to be able to
serve them there. It now has a streaming webcam which you may enjoy.
This has nothing to do with a classic automobile. The Toronado is a
diminutive tavern in San Francisco, CA. (in the Haight - on Haight St.)
Latitude: -122.43014 N; Longitude: 37.77215 W. It is most famous for
its annual Barleywine festival (in February). {It really needs
to update its beer lists; or at least change the date which appears on
the page.}
N T N is now Buzztime. It remains the live interactive game
played primarily in taverns (although it is now available on Dish
Network® dbs for a monthly fee). This is why I have it under this
rubric. One Sunday night in June 2002 in Irving, TX., at a
Humperdinks, I scored 14,229 [out of 15,000] in one game of
Wipeout. In Chicago, my “home” base is the Lion
Head Pub on N. Lincoln Ave. (between Fullerton & Webster)
using the registered nickname 'ZENITH'.
You don't need a pricey HTML (HyperText Markup Language) editor to write
HTML. This is where I learned HTML. All my pages are maintained using regular,
old "WordPad®", and utilize the commands included here. The
instructions are available in twenty-four languages.
Enter the URL of the World-Wide Web page whose links you want to check into
the query box and click 'Submit'. This site will save you a lot of time; however,
I recommend clicking on the URLs it shows to be broken. Some sites do not want
to be remotely spidered, so there is a possibility for false positives.
If you do not need a nearly-infinite color selection, this URL illustrates
the 390 non-dithering colors which can be reproduced in many browsers, including
older versions of Netscape.
Here is a site where you move your mouse to a specific pixel on the screen
which most closely represents the color you desire. Click thereupon, and the
shade shall be broken out for you, along with its hexidecimal code. This
page also has some perceptive links to Internet technology weblogs.
This site has three, well-thought-out frames. This allows you to
interactively test out text, background, & link colors. You need
to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®.
These three URLs were found in moonsliver's Insane Journal [c.v.]. This
is an interactive page (requires JavaScript|ActiveX® on) which outputs the
color value (a 216-color webmaster's palette) in both RGB and hexidecimal.
There are four frames on this page.
This is a weblog and forum where designers, both on-line and off,
experiment and present color tableus & palettes. It strives to be a
resource that monitors and influences color trends.
This W-WW site helps one compose a particular color scheme; with
five base sets comparing and contrasting ‘warm’ and ‘cold’
colors. A drop-down box allows for schemes for infrequent human vision
ailments [e.g.: protanopy].
Quimby's is Chicago's most comprehensive zine store. Many of the
zines which I read are obtained here. It mails zines within the U.S.A.
(International postage rates are now exorbitant.)
Live Journal was dumped for capitulating to a gang of
vigilantés; effectively turning a cold shoulder to free
expression on the World-Wide Web. The underlying reason: The
“bean-counters” hoping for a buyout of the corporation
figured whomever took over would not be able to place advertisements on
Live Journal pages where a weblogger expressed
controversial viewpoints. It “solved”
the problem by "permanently suspending" the webloggers
expressing those controversial viewpoints. (Having a Paid or Permanent
Account did not save them. If anything; since Live Journal knows
it will never get another dollar from a Permanent Account holder, it
has every incentive to find an excuse to get rid of that account.)
It is now owned by SUP, which was its administrator in Russia.
Both organized criminal syndicates, and Russian governmental
departments have been known to encroach on an internet user's personal
identity. {There are credible reports of webloggers in
Russia being “outed”, and arrested for something they
scribed in their weblogs.} This is Insane Journal, another weblog
service utilizing the Zanga interactive free source software.
"Squeaky", the major domo behind Insane Journal, has gone on
record that he will only remove content from a person's weblog if he
is presented with a genuine order from a legal entity. Insane Journal
has potential, but it needs faster servers. Without those, it can't
expect to handle the additional traffic from other bloggers abandoning
Live Journal.
These are the “Berne Convention purveyors” to which I refer
on my "Adult-Oriented" bookmark page. Here is an organization
which manages to scarf up some obscure videos released beyond the U.S.A.
Its prices are low. It also works the “B”-movie event circuit.
Keith J. Crocker's "Exploitation Journal"
is dedicated to the serious study of exploitation and drive-in cinema
of the 1960s & 1970s. Keith J.'s video service is Cinefear.
Keith J.'s latest movie is "Blitzkrieg: Escape From Stalag
69".
Shocking Images is now Film Fanaddict. It is shifting its
focus from video, T-Shirt, and soundtrack sales toward a printed
magazine. It is the official World-Wide Web site for Rudy Ray Moore
[R.I.P.], & Jean Rollin.
In his own description: "This is an anachronistic
crazy-guy-on-the-internet site disguised as a DVD store." He is
the essayist who scribed the "anti-censorship" essay to which
I link on the adult bookmark page. I browsed his 'Classic Erotica'
rubric, but it is insufficient that I would place the entire W-WW site
on that page. I think his prices are slightly above average; but I will
keep looking for something I can potentially order from him. This page
has a frame.
This is the organization which defends illustrators of comic
books, & the stores which sell them. Some judges and juries have
been convicting comic book store owners for selling a comic book
intended for "adults only" to an adult. The latest
attack against comic books was an indictment of an individual
person in Iowa for purchasing lolicon manga from Japan.
The worse news is: He threw himself under the bus. He
pled guilty (to the chagrin of CBLDF). So now the authorities have
a conviction precedent to use against everybody else who
may possess any illustrations of “young-looking”
characters committing a lewd act. Somebody in Tennessee has
now been charged with this “crime”.
This is the Chicago-based distributor of several metropolitan zines,
including "Incendiary Words". Billy Roberts is the
proprietor. It also participates in zine readings & conferences
at venues throughout the midwest U.S.A. This site has three frames.
"Zine World" has been around a long time. It is a
concentrated & thorough review publication. It is written, edited,
published, and mailed out by an all-volunteer staff who believe free
speech is for everyone, not just multi-national corporations.
Steve Puchalski's "Shock Cinema" website.
"Shock Cinema" is a zine, published four times a year,
which reviews some of the most bizarre, illusive films ever made. It is
a superb read. I recommend subscribing to it ($18 for four issues).
I met Andy Copp at a Cinema Wasteland [c.v.] exposition.
Andy is reviving his video production efforts. His newest release is
"Quiet Nights of Blood and Pain". He posts frequently on
AV Maniacs' [c.v.] forum. He also maintains two weblogs.
AoL shut down the entire 'Hometown' webhosting feature one year ago.
Now, Dave Kosanke's "Liquid Cheese" fanzine's
World-Wide Web presence is a Facebook page. Dave enjoys all genrés
of movies, and attends or staffs tables at select movie expositions.
This is an informative forum orbiting around DVD releases of
obscure movies of the past. All genrés are represented. Mentions
of “Berne Convention purveyors” are allowed. I recommend
signing on to its forum (requires JavaScript|ActiveX® on, and
cookies accepted). It directs you to register with a First and Last
Name (or First Name and Last Initial). I am here under a pseudonym.
The main site offers links to data and reviews of contemporary
releases. Sections thereof are not safe for work [NSFW] due to
uptight adults who are okay with the raw carnage (and the blatant
political dogma) of "Rambo" movies, but can't handle an
exposed female nipple.
McBeardo's Midnight Movie Mayhem is a resource for cult film news,
reviews, & bloody boobs. (I suspect sections hereof are not safe
for work [NSFW].) Those films, and their tangential attachments (books,
soundtracks, nudie-magazine layouts) are what it covers, ranging from
the dawn of cinema, through the grindhouse era, to today's latest
direct-to-video releases. McBeardo is the defining moniker of the
Brooklyn-born miscreant occasionally still known as Mike
McPadden and Selwyn Harris. You may also follow him on
Twitter [c.v.] as "mcbeardo".
This W-WW site has a dual orbit. It promotes a twice-annual movie
& memorabilia exposition by Ken & Pam Kish, in Strongsville,
OH. [a suburb of Cleveland]; of which I have attended more than a few
and always had an intriguing experience. The next exposition will be
the second weekend of April 2010. Its other orbit is the sales of DVDs,
posters, and trading cards of movies, at prices lower than other purveyors.
This is where Jon Kitley expounds on horror movies. He has gotten
quite deep into this. He seeks to educate, expand, & entertain his
browsers' knowledge of the horror genré. He lives in Aurora, IL. He
also works the “B”-movie exposition circuit. This page has a frame.
I should not have to explain too much about this troupe. So I won't.
This World-Wide Web site is comprehensive, accurate, &
includes the dead parrotloony. Have
I mentioned I am the chairperson of the local chapter of the
"Society For Putting Things On Top Of Other Things"?
Many classic theatrical cartoons have been cut or edited in order
to be shown on television (and even when re-released on videocassette
or DVD). This site serves as a guide to those lost moments.
This is an absolutely comprehensive clearinghouse of the animated
television show "The Simpsons". This site has guides,
news, and information. It is where to head if you have any queries.
"Gauntlet" is a zine which explores the limits of
free expression in the U.S.A. It is published twice a year, in May &
November. It is a valuable resource in the face of paranoia, hype, &
the spin given against free expression by those who seek to censor it.
"Hitch" is "The journal of pop culture
absurdity". Its articles are a spectrum of fascinating and
amazing subjects. It still has the most informative section on
Brentwood Communications' movie DVD box sets.
Carbon 14 magazine is a superb print magazine which features
content both original to it, along with edgier material rejected
by other publications (to their discredit). It is published twice a
year. This W-WW site is very sparse, because it prefers its print
issue. I recommend subscribing to this magazine. [Four-issue
subscriptions are $20. Tell it you're at least 18 years of age.]
This guy (Stuart Helm) is a freelance artist & illustrator,
now residing in Asheville, NC. He has a weblog now as well. He
used to have a registered trademark before the corporate bullies
at Kraft® Foods decided they didn't like some of his
illustrations. They sued. The CBLDF [c.v.] tried to negotiate. They
managed a settlement which confiscated his trademark [Why did
Kraft® not object when he was applying for it?], but he did
not have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and he is allowed to
parody the name of Kraft® in the future. {There may be an
anti-Kraft®-parody on this page now.} View the documentary
about this litigation by Brigid Maher, titled "The King, The
Lawyers, & The Cheese". I make a conscious effort to
not buy anything manufactured by Kraft® Foods.
Kraft® Foods deserve all the bad karma they receive, on both
the corporate and individual levels.
This site is the World-Wide Web site of Jake Austen's &
Jacqueline Stewart's "Roctober" zine. Roctober
[n.b.: There is no "k" in its name.] covers many
topics, including music, comics, monkeys, masked performers,
skateboarders, & Sammy Davis, Jr. View the
"Chic-A-Go-Go!" wing. A
"Chic-A-Go-Go!" book will be published soon. Jake
will be travelling for months thereafter. Tapings of the cable
access television show shall suspend. The next issue of the print
zine will be Summer 2010.
Since 1992, Hollywood's "Scram" magazine has been
chronicling “unpopular culture”. The editrix is Kim
Cooper. Kim is doing a lot of other things now {including getting
married}; and so, the print zine has gone on hiatus after issue #22.
This site, and her weblog (linked from here) shall continue.
"Bust" magazine nearly bit the dust after its
publisher went bust in 2001. To all you males who land on my bookmark
page: Buy this. (It costs $19.95 for a six-issue subscription.) This
is the stuff females wish you would know.
What happens to punk rockers when they get older? It has been
attributed that they read "Razorcake" magazine. It
is a bi-monthly publication, published by a certified non-profit
organization in southern California, which still has a strong spot for
hard-driving music (& politics) which has a resist message
embedded therein. I recommend subscribing to this. A six-issue
subscription costs $16 [bulk rate | $22 = first class {U.S.A.}]. Ask
for freebies. I like "Razorcake" enough to donate to its
foundation.
Here's a zine which looks at the contemporary world in which we live and
provides insight on the edges and wrinkles that make up our id. Some sections
of this site are recommended only for those at least 18 years of age.
A W-WW site espousing progressive ideas for dealing with today's world.
Subscribing to this magazine may result in you being refused a U.S.A.
Governmental security clearance.
"Giant Robot" is a zine self-described as
"Asian Pop Culture and beyond." It deals with Asian &
Asian-American pursuits. It is published six times a year. This W-WW
site has a frame, and parts of it require Flash®. It also has
retail stores in Los Angeles, in San Francisco, & in New York City;
as well as a restaurant ("GR-Eats") in western L. A. I
like "Giant Robot" enough to donate to its foundation.
Perhaps that is how you found your way to this W-WW page.
The Music Box Theatre on Chicago's north side is one which is not
afraid to show films which have bypassed the Motion Picture Association
of America's rating system. With the increasing concentration of
ownership of movie theatres by large corporate entities, theatres like
the Music Box are very important.
Mr. Lloyd Kaufman, the President of Troma, has been involved in
filmmaking-on-the-cheap, for over 35½ years. I had the honor of
meeting him when he appeared at Quimby's [c.v.] on a publicity tour
for a book of his, and I keep encountering him at any number of movie
expositions. Check this W-WW site regularly. Lloyd was interviewed for
an issue of "Ultra Violent" magazine [#10]. He feels
Troma is being economically suffocated by multi-national media
conglomerates. Troma's newest movie is "Poultrygeist".
This is a superb W-WW site which was personally recommended
to me one Saturday evening. It is a repository of posters and lobby
cards for a vast spectrum of motion pictures. It has special sections
for selected movies & performers. JavaScript|ActiveX® is
needed if you wish to use the 'Search' function. Because of all the
graphics, sections of this site will take a while to completely load.
Do you need an answer about a certain record? You would do well to
reference one of Joel Whitburn's tomes. He acquired
"Billboard" magazine's permission to publish works
based on its charts' data. This W-WW site has a frame.
Here is another very comprehensive bookmark page [1,329 links]. However,
only the rubrics impart any idea of what is found at each W-WW site. There
are no annotations.
This is a W-WW site which is the international extension of
www.flashback.se, which is the extension of the Swedish
magazine “Flashback”. It covers international news,
& many, many more topics.
Hash House Harriers are people who compete in a foot rally, and whom
afterward consume lots of beer and comeraderie. They are "The drinking
club with a running problem." Registration is requested to view some
parts of this W-WW site.
If you're out on the highway, you see them everyday. Traffic is
moving safely and expeditiously, but not legally according to the posted
speed limit. Link here to learn where are the speed traps out on the
highways of the U.S.A. It is sponsored by the National Motorists
Association.
Is your flight delayed? Are you at the airport right now wondering if
the airline's gate agent is telling you the complete truth? Link here for
the real answer. This site collects data from air traffic control across
the U.S.A. Select by specific flight, airport, or aircraft type.
This is the controversial W-WW site founded by five major U.S.A.
airlines. I have found some solid travel bargains here. It charges a
service fee for airline tickets which you can avoid by seeing which
airline has the lowest price here, and then visiting that airline's
own W-WW site. All these travel reservation sites work swifter
if you use a direct connection to the Internet, turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®, & accept cookies.
Priceline® is an aggregator of airline tickets, & hotel
rooms. Practically all of its business now is in hotel rooms. [For
hotel rooms, you specify the star-level you desire. Here are the
minimum bids per star-level: 1¤ = $15; 2¤ = $17;
2½¤ = $19; 3¤ = $25; 4¤ = $40; 5¤ = $55;
Resort = $40] Registration is required in order to use this
service. The concept is that you name the price you are willing to
pay for the airline ticket, or hotel room, in a specified area.
This is a BBS where you learn how users of Priceline® bid for
travel, including the prices which were accepted. This is a valuable
BBS which has reached critical mass: i.e. There have been enough
accepted bids to have a reasonable idea of how low you can offer. I
have used it to obtain hotel rooms in cities. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®, & accept cookies. Bidding For Travel was
mentioned in "Consumer Reports".
This is another BBS dealing with the same topics as Bidding
For Travel. I would not call it a rivalry, but there are a clutch
of registered users at each BBS which feel that that specific
BBS is ‘better’ than the other. So I will present
both of them. You need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®, &
accept cookies.
Bidding For Travel links to Trip Advisor; but this is the
travel forum which I found most educational when researching my
trips to Tokyo, Japan. This forum has over 153,050 members around the
globe. It began as a resource for airlines' frequent flyer program
members to provide key data. It has now expanded to include specific
recommendations within popular destinations. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®, & accept cookies.
Hotwire® is a site which searches other travel W-WW sites searching
for low fares from the cities & on the days you indicate on its form.
You must register in advance with it.
This is a site with stories, tips, destination information, &
hundreds of links to travel W-WW sites. The most poignant one is
likely that to "Auction Advice".
This is a W-WW site, in the format of a weblog, which believes it is
the only airfare alert and comparison site that includes fares on
all airlines, including Southwest, Skybus, Allegiant, & JetBlue.
This is a W-WW site which monitors airfares on designated routes. If
you sign up for it, which I can recommend, you tell it the routes, and it
will send you an E-Mail when there is significant price movement on any
of those routes.
This was my favorite airline. But I haven't been flying anywhere these
days. If you are, sign up for Rapid Rewards®, and collate sixteen
credits in two years. You shall earn a free round trip anywhere Southwest
flies. More significantly, you will be able to find a seat when you
attempt to claim your award flight.
This site is especially good at locating the spectrum of
“last-minute” airfares from select cities across the U.S.A.
The best time to begin looking for cheap airfares is 1:00 am ET [GMT - 5].
The best day is Wednesday. It is affiliated with America on-Line.
Here is another compounder of hotel & motel coupons. This site also
allows you to print out coupons from its guides on-line. This corporation
publishes the “green guide”.
This is a World-Wide Web site where Chicago is the midwest hub for
some amazingly low motor coach fares to other cities in the midwest. It
also has a northeast hub out of New York City. If you reserve sufficiently
in advance, it could cost only one dollar (depending on the
day of the week) [+ a 50¢ processing fee]. Watch out for promotional
codes which could award you a free trip. It also has a wing for the
U.K. You may register if you wish it to save some of your data.
Interstate 95 [I-95] is the main highway on the east coast of the U.S.A.
Portions of it are a toll road. If you do drive I-95, here is a World-Wide
Web site which lets you know about food, lodging, gasoline prices, shopping,
& more along its route.
Motel 6 is the U.S.A.'s lowest-priced national motel chain. I began
staying at Motel 6 in 1987. On-line reservations are available. You may
register if you wish it to save some of your data. Seek the "Click
6" Internet specials.
When you travel, staying at a hostel puts you in touch with people
who are very interested in sharing their journeys with you. It is also
one of the least expensive ways to sleep. This is the central site of
HI-AYH. It is available in four languages. You don't have to be under
30 years of age to stay here, either. Bring a towel.
Chicago is one of the easiest cities (in the U.S.A.) to traverse
without an automobile. Unlike some cities [Tokyo], its system does not
shut down at midnight. Link here for routes, maps, & schedules.
On-line transit card ordering is available. You need to obtain a
"Chicago Card" [linked from here] to get the lowest
fare [$2.25 bus | $2.50 “L”], and to be able to transfer to
one or two buses or “L”'s in a two-hour span [+ 25¢].
Otherwise, each route you ride will cost you $2.25. Click
through from here to the CTA Bus Tracker, which can indicate
when a bus on a selected route shall arrive at a particular stop, or
display all the buses in operation on a route [up to five routes at
once]. [Google™ maps take a while to completely load.]
This is an impressive user-generated W-WW page which depicts each
Chicago rapid transit station over the street grid. For further
information, click on the station dot, or the text link on the right
side. You need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®. [Google™ maps
take a while to completely load.]
This is the World-Wide Web's largest resource for information on
Chicago's rapid transit system. It encompasses transit history;
advocacy; and technical data. It is a member of the "Chicago &
Northern Illinois History Ring".
I have been a member of C.E.R.A. since 1978. It is the
longest-lasting conglomeration which has not yet dissolved, or extruded
me from its membership rolls. C.E.R.A. has been around since
1938. It is a railfan organization orbiting around the
metropolitan Chicago area. Since Chicago was a railway, and an electric
railway hub, it includes any number of "inspection trips" of
other electric railway properties of the midwest & eastern U.S.A.;
and even portions of Ontario, Canada. Monthly meetings of the
organization are held at the University Center at 525 S. State
St. in central Chicago on the fourth Friday of each month [at 19:00 hours].
This is an unofficial W-WW site maintained by an individual who is a
fan of motor coaches; especially those used by the Chicago Transit
Authority [c.v.]. It encompasses both text and images. I now send
you directly to its forum, for which I can recommend signing up. You
need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®, and accept cookies.
This is a weblog which began as a place where surfers could describe
the unusual elements of their ride on the CTA. But it has amended to
where thoughtful discussion of the day-to-day operation of the Authority
is most frequently presented. It is now under the aegis of the
Chicago Tribune®'s “Chicago Now” W-WW presence.
Registration (which requires JavaScript|ActiveX® on & cookies
accepted) is required in order to respond.
It's a lot different being shown around by a friend in San Francisco than
navigating the foggy maze on your own. This is the best independent guide to what
is worth seeing, and what is just a tourist trap. This site has three frames.
It is overshadowed by the city's cable cars, but San Francisco also has a
fleet of electric streetcars running along Market Street seven days a week.
Here you can learn more about San Francisco's transit history, the postwar
P. C. C. (Presidents' Conference Committee) streetcars used to
provide service, and how to become a member of the organization.
The site of Sam's Army (the U.S.A. soccer booster club) and Mark Wheeler's
links to North American Soccer World-Wide Web sites. There are links to just
about every soccer link site out here.
This is a significant and important World-Wide Web site with information
which is intended to provide soccer boosters interested in soccer in the U.S.A.
information on the top soccer spots throughout the country.
F.I.F.A. is the most significant organization on the
planet. It is the administrator overseeing all the efforts of its
member associations which operate in soccer [football]. Its mission is
to reach out and touch the world, using football as a symbol of hope
and integration. This W-WW site is available in English, French,
Spanish, & German.
CONCACAF is the confederation, similar to UEFA [Europe], overseeing
its member nations in this hemisphere. This includes the U.S.A. Its
prestige event is the CONCACAF Gold Cup™, held every two
years in the odd-numbered years. It also presents annually the
CONCACAF Champions' League®, whose winner qualify for the
F.I.F.A. Club World Cup in December (which I have covered). A
Spanish-language version of this W-WW site is available.
Here is the official site of the United States Soccer Federation.
The U.S.S.F. affiliated itself with F.I.F.A. in 1913. Besides all the
National Team programs, its marquee event is the annual Lamar Hunt
U. S. Open Cup Tournament.
This was the swiftest I have ever added a bookmark to this page.
It has lots of articles about the sports which do not command a
plethora of media attention: i.e.; the “minor leagues”.
This W-WW page has not been updated in a while.
Somehow, this franchise, which had been playing only exhibitions
versus the Chicago STORM, Milwaukee WAVE, travelling select teams,
and universities, were admitted to the “National Indoor Soccer
League”. The N.I.S.L. shall have a league schedule for 2009-10.
Rockford are in with Milwaukee, Monterrey [Mexico], Baltimore, &
Philadelphia. What happened to the Chicago STORM? To crib some
old, old text (which at that time was erroneous); they have “no
players, no league, & nowhere to play” (The arena in
Hoffman Estates has shut down.). What a shame. Indoor soccer's
popularity in Chicago has been surpassed by women's flat-track
roller derby. Why aren't the Chicago FIRE® and | or
Major League Soccer® linked from here? MLS' on-pitch play has
been improving continually. It is a solid league for developing
players for the U.S.A. National Team. Unfortunately (in my vista),
MLS' business mode has become repressively corporate.
I am not connecting with the team or the league on a sufficiently
absorbed level. I have also read credible reports that the current
front office of the FIRE franchise is giving the Section 8
Supporters group a raw deal both in the stands, and on the
financial ledger.
Did you know that the U.S.A. has a National Soccer Hall of Fame?
Its physical location was in Oneonta, New York. But due to the
downturn of the economy causing fewer customers to visit the hall, it
closed down in August 2009. Everything is in storage. A new venue is
the probable outcome. Here is its W-WW site. The site has lots of
data about its inductees.
This is a blog webmastered by Tom Dunsmore, but featuring many
guest commentators, which digs underneath the surface of professional
soccer (mainly in North America) to educate and inform soccer
supporters, and those intrigued by them.
This site is administered by Christopher Page. It has many links
(in its top frame). If you are seeking information about the N.A.S.L.
[I], here is a place to begin.
This somewhat obscure site orbits around the players on the U.S.A.
Men's and Women's National Teams. It has a good array of articles,
games, puzzles, playing tips, coaching tips, and other support
functions for soccer boosters in the U.S.A. There is also a message
forum for which you may register.
This is the W-WW site of Dave Brett. Dave has recorded and | or
traded for an impressive number of soccer games on VHS videocassettes.
If you are searching for a specific game, visit here.
Michael J. Weldon, the editor of "Psychotronic Video®"
[R.I.P.] magazine, raved about this freeform FM station in Jersey City, NJ.
[U.S.A.] To what do I listen now? The Dish Network® dbs system
which we have here at the domicile gives us the Sirius-XM®
commercial-free music channels [Sirius® system]. I've been listening
mostly to classic jazz, and changing to "The Loft" on weekends.
KKJZ-FM 88.1 (Long Beach, CA., U.S.A.) describes itself as “Where
jazz and blues live”. Its former call letters were KLON. You can listen
to the station in your browser by linking here. The C-Band {big ugly dish}
audio feed is at Telstar 7 (129° W); transponder #15 (H); subcarriers
5.58 & 5.76. It is a broadcast service of California State Univ. -
Long Beach (CSULB).
Walter Becker & Donald Fagen are musical genii. There is no musical
approach they cannot succinctly assuage. They finally earned both the
acknowledgment of their peers in 2000 by being elected to the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame, and winning four Grammy® Awards for "Two Against
Nature". They are out on tour now.
This is Jim McKay's original Steely Dan fan internet resource. It
was founded in 1993. A popular venue for Steely Dan fans to chat is in here,
linked from the ‘bluebook’ rubric.
I was not waiting for Jim Egan to get an Internet account before adding
this link. (As far as I know; he still has access only at the university.)
This site was conceived as where those who dig the Grateful Dead could
gather to discuss the concerns of our common interest group. Registration
is recommended to post or respond in the forum. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX® to fully utilize this site.
This World-Wide Web site, by David Dodd, annotates Grateful Dead lyrics
(their originals only). The site provides links for words or phrases which
might benefit from some elucidation, without attempting to give definitive
"interpretations". There are also links to other thematic essays.
If you have ever spent any time listening to the radio in Southern
California, you have probably tuned in to a nightly show hosted by Art Laboe.
Art was a savvy businessman as well; as he never sold the masters of the
records which he released in the 1950s & 1960s on his record labels.
You can now hear his show by visiting this W-WW site.
Rock & Roll! "Evil Beaver" were a two-grrrl power
punk duo from 1999 to 2004. The two grrrls composing the act had a fractious
falling-out. Laura Ann Beaver managed to retain access to this World-Wide
Web site. She feels that Evie Evil is using the "Evil Beaver" name
to get bookings for her new group. Lawyers became involved. You can purchase
the entire catalogue of Evil Beaver songs with Laura Ann at iTunes®.
What is Rock & Roll without rebellion? The two grrrls involved with
"Evil Beaver" had a fractious falling-out. This is the W-WW
site maintained by Evie Evil. She has glommed the name "Evil
Beaver", and is touring with another female (Judy Beaver), & two
males (Scott & Garry Beaver). I prefer to be tolerant &
egalitarian, so I present both W-WW sites.
Yes! It's the official Motörhead World-Wide Web site. This is
a great site, with links to both official and fan-hosted W-WW sites.
"If it's too loud, you're too old!"
"The Big Takeover" is the pinnacle zine covering the
independent pop music scene. Its writers care about music, and support
the bands & musicians who pioneer, rather than rest on their laurels,
or are thrust at the public through brainwashing marketing techniques.
There is now a forum here for which you may opt to register. Jack Rabid
is the editor. Four issue subscriptions are available for $20.
Jack moved out of his space on Eldridge St. because the neighborhood had
become too trendy (& expensive).
This site's mission is to seek out the best music being made today &
spread it across the universe. Visit here to learn about the people,
organizations, independent bands, venues, stores, representatives and others
all working together.
If you have a record collection, I suspect you have either
duplicated some of the songs thereupon to another medium, or have
considered doing so. Here is a W-WW site which is dedicated to notating
mixed tapes, CDs, DVD-Rs, iPod® playlists, et cetera. You need to
turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®, and accept cookies in order to post or
respond here. My mixes are under "PudgyM".
This is a non-commercial, free, public service channel available to
terrestrial, cable, and satellite services. On Dish Network® dbs,
it is channel 9406. It is on C-band satellite Galaxy 15; transponder #5.
It features performance, orchestral, and visual arts. It is funded by
The Lloyd E. Rigler - Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation.
Link TV is an international & interactive channel that brings the
world's events, issues, and cultures to audiences in the U.S.A. It is under
this rubric because of its music programs. It is available on both
DirecTV®, and Dish Network® dbs systems.
RFD - TV ["Rural America's most important network"] is a
satellite channel dedicated to serving the needs and interests of rural
America. It is under this rubric because of its diverse music programming
(It has the broadcast rights to videotapes of old syndicated country
music programs, which it obtained from Willie Nelson's personal
library.). It also has regular series about railroads, both real and
model. It is available on both Dish Network®, & DirecTV® dbs
systems.
If you have Cu-SeeMe, or are considering getting it {you have to look
deeply, but you can find it}, this page will answer many questions about
what to do with it. If you opt to register for the forum, you will need to
accept cookies and turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®.
This has good technical information on setting up your computer
(regardless of operating system) to use the software. The links along
the left side of the screen contain additional information.
This is the zine which has original articles, and keeps tabs on the
other on-line and print publications covering pinball. There is now
exactly one company in the entire world manufacturing mechanical action
pinball machines: Stern Pinball of Melrose Park, IL. [U.S.A.]
Here is the W-WW site of the one company in the entire world
manufacturing mechanical action pinball machines. If you have an older
W-WW browser, click on the 'site map' link in the lower right corner
of this page.
Did you link to a page which seemed to have the information for which you
were looking, but it had those unfamiliar Japanese katakana characters on it? Here
is a World-Wide Web page which can come to your assistance.
You will find much informative data here. I point out to you the
Japan Photos section. As you proceed, you may opt for a framed or
non-framed presentation. It has been online since March 1996.
This is the English-language home page for the above named
organization. There are more pages in Japanese which refer to the
general history of pinball.
This is an English-language W-WW page, maintained by Bryan
Harrell, where he reviews beerworthy pubs, restaurants, and shops
in metropolitan Tokyo. There is also coverage of beer festivals and
craft breweries in other areas of Japan.
This is Tokyo's (and probably Japan's) #1 beer bar.
It has seventy beers on tap, including real ales. It is
off the beaten path in Ryögoku, an east-central area
[Sumida-ku] of Tokyo. The closest train station to it is the JR Sobu
Line's "Ryögoku" stop [west exit]. (If you catch it in
Akihabara, or at Ochanomizu, it will cost ¥130.) It is also within
four blocks of the #33 Toei bus route [¥200], which runs
northbound nightly until 22:54 hours, and which runs directly to | from
the Khaosan hostels in Asakusa [c.v.]. If you order designated beers
(indicated on the menu with a crown) during “Happy Hour”
(17:00 - 20:00 hours daily), you will receive a free pub snack. (Try
the pizza.) Click through from here to the "CUPON" {sic};
print it out, and present it. You will be automatically enrolled in
Popeye's frequent guest program, which earns you discounts on your tab.
I break out of the frame for you.
These are three of nineteen English-language blogs maintained by
Chris Chuwy. He visits lots of taverns in the metropolitan
Tokyo area. This weblog attempts to annotate all the beers on tap at
the various venues he has visited.
This is the English-language weblog of D.H. {* = Nate moved back to
the U.S.A. - but D.H. isn't changing the page's title.} He is
scouring Japan for the finest brews that it has to offer.
Consuming beer is a good way to meet other people, especially in
another country, and this weblog has cool stories of his adventures.
Here is a better blog rating ramen shops in Tokyo. I submit it is
better because you and I can actually respond herein; and, he gives a
more specific location of each shop. Eating at ramen restaurants is
another way to economize when in Tokyo.
Here is a weblog which has just had an incredible twist. Our
blogger originally reported on ramen restaurants in southern California.
He reviewed a solid number of them. But when he began travelling to
Japan and eating at ramen shops there, he caught the ‘bug’ and
wanted to move to Japan. He convinced the American guy running the
Ivan Ramen shop in western Tokyo to let him work there. So he has
moved to Tokyo and is now reporting directly from there.
This is a weblog for English-speaking people who are planning to
visit Tokyo, love ramen, and do not read enough Japanese to be able to
understand Japanese ramen W-WW sites. It is worse than Ramen Adventures.
I strive to be egalitarian and tolerant. So for those who want to eat
beef in Tokyo, here is a blog maintained by W-Ice. It reviews independent
hamburger stands in metropolitan Tokyo, including the Tama Area, &
Kawasaki. He hasn't updated this blog since May 2009.
This is a general-topic English-language Japanese weblog covering
a spectrum of activities in the metropolitan Tokyo area. Most of the
blog posts are photographic. Because of all the images on this W-WW
site, it will take a while to completely load. You may also follow
him on Twitter as Shibuya246.
Here's a great site pointing out all the non-touristy things in
Japan, and especially Tokyo. Note the links for "Budget
Travel", & "Really cool places no one ever visits".
The page's author frequently has a column in
"Japanzine", a free monthly English-language Japanese
magazine.
Diddlefinger is an adaptation off the Google™ Maps
platform which allows you to type in an address in Japan, in a
four-step process [which is balky at times], and receive output of
a savable and printable map of that address. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®.
This is a fascinating site maintained by Steve Schultz, an
English-speaking person who was deported from Japan, but managed to
get a new visa and return six months later. He registered a new domain
name, and moved the site host to the U.S.A. The link herein which has
the data which caused me to add this here is the one to the
dictionary of the words used to describe Japanese pornographic
books and videos. This will help you if you land on a Japanese W-WW
site where the only use of English characters is in the linking URLs.
The bulk of this site orbits around music.
Somebody from Europe went and placed all the venues that
S. Schultz mentioned in his Tokyo Trip Report [linked from above] on
a Google™ map. Here it is.
This is the W-WW site of the hostel group in whose properties I have
stayed when I have visited Tokyo. Its rates are very low. It provides
free Internet access for its guests. Its Asakusa properties are a short
walking distance from a Tokyo subway station on the route which serves
Narita Airport. It has another property in a nook of Chüö-ku
near the Asakusa-bashi bridge. Khaosan's keenest aspect is that it has
surveyed the neighborhood to denote the shops, clubs, & restaurants
which provide similar values for the money. It also operates
hostels in Fukuoka and Beppu.
Here is [| are] the World-Wide Web site[s] which will
decipher the ‘hidden code’ known by residents thereof, but
not by overseas visitors there. Hyperdia is Hitachi's foray,
which I submit is now much better than Jorudan's [c.v.]. Its
late-October 2009 revision is now available in Japanese, English,
& Chinese. What is the mystery? The Japanese Railways
(JR) line is not the only interurban train line serving
densely-populated areas. JR likes to present itself as such, and it
makes an effort to attract English-speaking riders. The other
private train lines seem to consider non-Japanese-speaking customers
as secondary. JR is almost always the most expensive train you can
ride. The learning curve here is that you must know how to
spell the station names in English. You begin by inputting
the station names which you want to transit in Japan. It notes what
you are typing and suggests the station(s) beginning with those
letters. If a station name includes a hyphen, omit it. You do not
need to include the diacritical marks of a specific letter. (The
stations for Narita Airport are "NARITA AIRPORT" [Terminal
1] & "AIRPORT TERMINAL 2" [Terminal 2]) (If you
are staying at a Khaosan Group's hostel in Asakusa, the station name
you want is "ASAKUSA(TOBU)"). Indicate whether the time
you enter is your desired departure or arrival time. Click on the
"SearchDetails" link for more key options; including where
you may optionally include a station or stations through which you
wish to pass en route. This is where you specify the types of
conveyances you want included ("Walk" is an option.),
including extra-cost trains like the "Shinkansen",
"Airline", or "Limited Express", the number of
routing options [up to ten] you would like, and now having an option
which will include, or exclude, JR trains. I recommend you select
"Money" as the sort order. Hyperdia will let you
click through [new browser windows] to investigate the train's run,
the service schedule for a specific station, and even a
(Japanese-language) map of the area of the station. The results will
let you know how much it will cost; how many times you need
to transfer (& where); and how much time will be consumed. This
is one of those very rare W-WW sites in which its usefulness makes
it fun to play with, even though some of its alternate routings are
exasperating. I give this service my keenest recommendation.
While doing background search on Hyperdia; I found this other
interactive W-WW site maintained by Jorudan. The concept is the same.
Its output is lengthier and less interactive than Hyperdia, but its
results should be the same. A Japanese-language version is available. I
break out of the frame for you. Compare and contrast the two of them.
A basic rule to help you determine fares in Tokyo is: Tokyo Metro
lines are the least expensive, then the Toei lines, then the non-JR
private lines, and lastly the JR lines.
