Rio Verde Computer Learning Center
Resources Available on the Web
Presenter: Clarke Isackson
March 17, 2005
Contact: cisackson@cox.net
The resources presented here merely scratch the surface of what is available. This paper is put together to stimulate your pursuit of your interests on the Web.
For most interests, there are groups and specialists on the Web who have accumulated resources, links, and studies that should enthuse you. Some of what I am presenting has been acquired by accident or out of a very high interest to find the specific resource. We will explore some of the unexpected and highly interesting forms of information and entertainment that continue to become available in the streams of information waiting for you on Web servers all over the world.
Buying and selling things on the Web is commonplace and mundane. What I want to share with you are things that can provide hours of intellectual entertainment, resources for new information, as well as a medium to share interesting things like pictures with your friends and family. Additionally, we will look at techniques for acquiring information and links to things that interest you through the best Web search engines.
The resources I have listed make life a lot more fun on the computer and in general. Obtaining aerial views of places I will visit, quickly printing a map, sharing pictures, seeing interesting technical photographs, listening to excellent radio stations, translating foreign language phrases, and searching and finding technical information in my career field, Sql Server and Web Applications are all a part of using the Web in my daily life. There are previews of screen plays, write-ups on actors, art reviews, biographies of writers, hiking trails and narratives with pictures, news publications, scientific journals, dissertations by philosophers and idiots, how-to articles on all types of subjects, reviews of nearly every plant species, recipes for food and drinks, bar guides, historic societies all around the world on nearly everything historic, electron micrographs of your favorite viruses, bacteria, molds, periodic tables and full technical explanations of the elements in many styles, software how-to articles, freeware to download, viruses to pollute your computer, song and instrumentalist sites with samples of their works, histories, family trees, organizations and companies and cities and states – all presenting, teaching, luring, and providing what they deem important. If it can be put on paper, heard on the radio, or seen on video, it is probably on the Web. For instance, look at the history the University of Washington is capturing: http://content.lib.washington.edu/. Is your favorite university doing the same thing? How do you find out?
Of the billions of pages of information and junk, we will go over some tools for a fit life for your browser and computer on the Web.
0. Search
Engines
Getting about on the Web is paramount to finding the information you desire. Using and interpreting results from the best search engines will be the crux to success of mining the Web for information you seek. Learn how to optimize your search and find what you want.
These engines allow you to set the preferences so the pages you find will be displayed in a new browser page and not replace the search/find page your need to reference. Be sure to turn this preference (display results in a new page) on.
Getting on to it, the best search engine is Google:
The best search engine with a map is Google:
http://www.maps.google.com (and enter Golf Courses in Rio Verde, AZ)
Amazon Search Engine. This engine is similar to Google. It has some extra friendly features like keeping track of your finds and dating the searches, keeping a recorded history of your searches so you can go back to do more research.
Dogpile Search Engine:
AltaVista:
1. Radio Stations
Our radio listening is severely limited down in this valley. But I prepared a set of the best radio stations in the world of Jazz for my convenience which are 99% of my listening pleasure: http://www.cisackson.com/radio/stations.html
It contains direct links to turn your computer into a background radio, playing from Paris, Limoges, Seattle, Tacoma, Sacramento, San Francisco, Monterey, and Carmel-by-the-Sea. I can only pick up two radio stations on a real tuner that I like here in the Valley of the Sun and they are full of static! If you go to my other radio collection site, http://webefx.us/music_radio.html the list becomes huge, and these lead to thousands more from the streaming radio source providers! No longer do we have to listen to backwater radio stations limited to line of sight or FM radio frequencies!!! Nor do you have to pay for any reception of these outstanding broadcasts. They are all sponsored and paid for or use public funding and your donations (if you choose).
If you are a Cox subscriber, you may not know that you do not need to be limited to using Microsoft Outlook on your PC. You can access your email anywhere you can connect to the Web and enter: http://webmail.west.cox.net/ and log into your Cox email account. Additionally, if you travel a lot and need a floating email account, there are many free accounts that you can set up and use anywhere on the Web, too. The most famous one is available on http://www.hotmail.com/.
The first item on my reference for this class, http://www.cisackson.com/class/resources.html deals with being able to set up free picture publishing on the Web. Picture publishing sites are full of ads, but they provide a means of sending your picture to the Web for your family members and friends to look at without sending a hundred emails and without having to load down your emails with picture attachments. Folks can save the pictures right off these sites if they want to. Setting up the accounts are a snap. You just have to remember your log-in name and password.
The simplest is Hewlett Packard:
You can see why my site is out there, as you do NOT want to type that into your URL locator in your browser.
Community Webshots:
http://community.webshots.com/scripts/controlPanel.fcgi
Lycos/Tripod:
Yahoo also provides free photo storage. Each of these sites will enhance your experience and that of visitors for a monthly fee.
This is mentioned only because you may not be aware that there are many places on the Web where (if you are good with HTML script and have some understanding of the Web technology) you can create and store your own Web pages and produce your own Web site. I personally pay over $100 per site per year for additional technology for scripting with ASP and .NET using Internet Information Servers, but for most purposes, regular folks can create a decent site on their Cox account.
http://support.cox.net/coxms/jsp/Login.jsp
1ASP Host is a fairly stable site that offers Microsoft ASP technology for free:
The ability for you and friends/associates to access your calendar of events from home or anywhere you have access to the Web is a very handy resource. The calendar I found provides the amenities of an Outlook-style calendar and more, including emailing notifications, links to applicable sites, privacy with log-in features for one person or others to share. It allows you to add single or recurring entries, plus an icon to make the event stand out. It is suitable for clubs and groups with business or personal occasions.
You can log on and obtain use of a free calendar at http://www.calendars.net
Once you have a calendar, you log on to it in this manner (my calendar is an example):
http://www.corporatecal.net/webcal1/asp1/vc.asp?CALID=69371. You are given a unique calendar ID, which for me is CALID=69371. You must remember that ID and remember your logon ID and password.
6. Web Weather
Related Resources
Weather resources are very prolific on the Web. Most newspapers have them as a link within their Web-based news, and more elaborate views of the weather are available from city, county, state, and federal agencies. Below are only a few of many weather environment interpretations that use combinations of radar and satellite images as well as pure visual views so you can make your own interpretation of what is going on.
Weather Sites
Arizona Republic Newspaper:
http://www.azcentral.com/weather/rloop.html
Accuweather view of Phoenix and surrounding area
http://wwwa.accuweather.com/adcbin/public/metro_radar.asp?nxsite=phx&type=loop
Arizona Flood Warning System with infrared and visual:
NOOA for anywhere in the US – just click to drill down to your level of detail:
Maricopa County NOOA loop:
http://newweb.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/loopsat.php?wfo=psr&type=ir&size=2
USA/Maricopa County NOOA Doppler Radar
http://newweb.wrh.noaa.gov/psr/weather/radar.php?wfo=psr
Western Region Satellite Images:
http://newweb.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/index.php?wfo=psr
Rain Gauge and Flows:
http://156.42.96.39/xrainmaps.html
7. Satellite
Views – Digital Globe
Satellite imaging and viewing is a serious business for national security agencies as well as many businesses such as real estate, climatologic and water conservation studies, city aerial map systems, geologic research, and (for me) just getting a new perspective on a place, seeing where I used to live, and even just looking over a waterfall like Snoqualmie Falls, Washington State. Satellite imagery is so refined that the National Space Department maintains surveillance on small areas of security import with real-time super high resolution space pictures. The views we are offered on the web have been purposely reduced to remove security issues and to force you to want to buy the high quality photos.
After the last tsunami, I realized that after finding some satellite views of the before, during, and after destruction photos from satellites, that this is really a field that is more active than I ever imagined. Aside from looking at the tragic waves and flooding from these sites, I used the Quick Bird satellite images to find every house I owned, as well as places in the mountains were I hiked. The only spot I have not isolated visually is the gondola ride up into the mountains in Palm Springs. Everything else has provided a view, including the resort at Mt. Rainier, the crater at Mt. St. Helens, the Space Needle in Seattle, the beaches in Honolulu and along Santa Barbara, my old stomping grounds in Germany,etc., etc..
To use the Quick Bird, just put in the address. City and State work, as does the zip code.
Quick Bird – just enter your zip code, 85263 and zoom into a house:
Digital Globe – this one takes a little time to get used to and is not as close on the Web:
http://archivetool4.digitalglobe.com/ot/Map.jsp;jsessionid=6rba9gjw71
Quick Bird has a set of beautiful views of famous landmarks and views of the tragic tsunami which it positioned itself for viewing. These are on my resource page:
Tsunami views:
http://www.digitalglobe.com/tsunami_gallery.html
Other Landmarks from the satellite:
http://www.satimagingcorp.com/gallery-quickbird.html
and
http://www.eurimage.com/gallery/webfiles/qb.html
8. Dictionary
on the Web
If you need a dictionary to go from German to English, Spanish to English, and back, here it is. Translate from and to nearly any language using Babel Fish Translation page of AltaVista:
9. Common and
Rare Plant Seeds
Something I am into, rare Dioon plants and trying to grow them from seed. Whatcom Seed Co. in Oregon has nearly every plant a normal person would want to grow from seed. What is also good are the pictures and descriptions of the plants.
For Alpine plants, this is an interesting site. Those little alpine flowers we see up in the mountains actually have a name and seeds of them can be purchased:
10. Waterfall
Pictures and Descriptions
If you like waterfalls, these sites become a long term viewing session of the beauty of nature.
.
I found this by accident when trying to find pictures of Bridal Veil Falls near Mt. Index in Washington. It is a group effort to catalogue every waterfall in the Northwest:
http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/
This site is trying to catalogue every waterfall in the world. Some do not have pictures, but be sure to check for related picture links:
http://www.world-waterfalls.com/
11. NASA’s
Picture of the Day Collection
Everything to do with the Earth and outer space through NASA’s eyes, caught on film. If you are interested in astronomy, this could captivate you for many hours:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
12. Map
Resources
I never go into Phoenix or a place I am not sure of unless I have a map from one of these sources. Just enter the address and zoom in. You can also obtain driving directions off these sites. If it is really out of the way, I would have also had a satellite view from the QuickBird satellite referenced above.
Mapquest:
Microsoft MapPoint:
13. Browser
Favorites
Instead of saving your “Favorites” on your browser, you should save them as HTML links. I save them on a website – http://www.webefx.us/favorites.html.
14. Musician
Samplers
Most musicians provide MP3 samples of their CDs so you can try them out before you buy, and the purchase is just a click away. I provided Suzanne Ciani as an example of a supreme artist with all her works available to try out.
http://www.sevwave.com/ciani/MP3's.htm
15. Earthquake
Activity Around the World
The USGS posts all earthquake activity that is measured as soon as possible with all the information and maps to locate exactly where it occurred. See the history of earthquakes in your favorite area, or take a look at San Francisco or Seattle.