Interesting Internet Sites
Free Internet Service Providers (ISP)
It used to be that I never paid for Internet service. Why should I? There used to be several free ISPs, now there is only one that I know of. A free ISPs provide all of the connection capability you need to use the Internet. The free ISP provides free email accounts. A free ISP makes money by exposing you to its clients' ads, usually, but not always, on a banner across the top of your screen, and lately by limiting the monthly number of free-access hours and charging you for any more you use. On the other hand, Netzero has a very reasonably priced for-pay service. The free ISPs may or may not save you serious money.
A place to sign up for FREE Internet service. NetZero is a very reliable Internet service provider (ISP). NetZero has a banner, which you can experiment with manipulating for minimal intrusion on your thinking. NetZero treats you to an advertising film clip as you start up, wasting a bit of your time. But what the hell, This site can save you money.
FreeNets
In the early days of personal computing, users would communicate with each other via telephone connection to electronic community bulletin boards. As the Internet evolved, some of the bulletin boards established connections, and allowed their members to connect and go on line using the board as their text-only Internet service provider. The FreeNet movement was born. I still maintain accounts at three FreeNets for old time's sake. The FreeNets are menu driven.
telnet://nyx.nyx.net or telnet://nyx10.nyx.net
A relatively bare-bones FreeNet with several convenient news readers. Nyx has a unique option that allows its to operate it using UNIX commands.
Canada's National Capital FreeNet, Carleton is convenient and reliable to use. Carleton has as a news reader.
Washington's (actually WETA's) own FreeNet-like net. Cap has no news reader. IMHO, Cap isn't nearly the net that Carleton or Nyx is, but Cap has local bulletin boards, and Cap can be dialed up and members can use Cap to access the Internet.
(Note: Telnet access requires that a telnet (client) program be running on your machine. Telnet programs can be found at Zdnet, one of the sites listed below)
Websites
www.deja.com
Deja (formerly Dejanews) has a convenient, online Usenet News reading service, available to everyone. The newsgroups are somewhat limited, and reading news on Deja can be slow. Membership is free, and members may post news as well as read news.
Remarq has a convenient, online Usenet News reading service, available to everyone. The newsgroups are somewhat (perhaps considerably) less limited than Deja's are. Membership is free, and members may post news as well as read news. Remarq is where I prefer to read Usenet News groups.
Ziff Davis publishes computer and Internet magazines. Zdnet is a place to go for links to free software. You also can sign up for a free Email subscription to ZD's daily computer/Internet oriented newsletter.
This site is the New York Times' on line presence. You sign up for FREE daily email subscriptions to any or all of the Times' sections.
Microsoft's site is the place to get free patches (including Y2k fixes) and updates for Windows 95 and 98, other versions of Windows, and other Microsoft products. You can download the latest version of Internet Explorer (IE5, when I wrote this), Microsoft's Web browser.
www.softwarecompanyfirstname.com
Most (if not all) software manufacturers maintain Websites that function similarly to Microsoft's Website. For instance, if you want to update Netscape Navigator, you might try www.netscape.com.
Among other things, Delphi hosts many UNOFFICIAL high school alumni bulletin boards. Perhaps you can read/post reminiscences on your high school's board.
www.zip2.com and www.tripquest.com/
Zip2 and Tripquest are sites that provide you with maps and turn-by-turn directions, between end addresses you specify. Zip2 will even look up a business or a person for you, give you the address and phone number, and route you there from your starting point. For me, Trip planning is one of the most useful free servicesavailable on the Internet. I've even planned local trips that I've been making regularly for years and found shorter ways to make them.
Anywho is a site where you can search for phone numbers and/or addresses by name, and/or address, and/or city, and/or state, and/or in the whole USA. Anywho also has a reverse telephone directory.
Switchboard is another phone number and address site.
Movielink lets you search for movies by name, and/or theater, and/or show time, and/or distance from your home. This site has links to synopses, reviews, and clips (audio and video) of movies.
Altavista is my favorite search engine, because it has Boolean capabilities. It may not be yours. The Montgomery County Maryland Public Library site has a list of search engines and what to use which one for.
The Montgomery County Maryland Public Library's Website. The Library links to County, State and other library system catalogs, and to a lot of other good stuff. You can find out what books are on the shelves, without leaving home.
Sailor is the State of Maryland's Library Website. Using one of Sailor's links, you can download many, many wonderful books (with lapsed copyrights) from Project Gutenberg. (My personal discovery of Edith Wharton was at Project Gutenberg.)
At Onelook, you can access to all kinds of online dictionaries. Onelook has biographical dictionaries, medical dictionaries, foreign phrase dictionaries, dictionaries of jargon and many many others. You can look a word up in several different kinds of dictionaries simultaneously, or in one dictionary at a time.
Music Sites
classicalmus.interspeed.net/links.html Classical Music Links - Carolina Culture Connection
www.unpronounceable.com/bcs/ Bach Central Station
www.iinet.net.au/~nickl/recorder.html Recorder Home Page
www.nyx.net/~dgrunber/chamber.ssi How to sit in with (or even join) the Montgomery County Maryland (amateur) Chamber Music Society
Alumni Sites
www.classmates.com (which is part of www.delphi.com) is a site with MANY unofficial high school alumni bulletin boards. Anyone can open an account and read and post to the boards of their high school or any of the others. Anyone can access names (but not email addresses) of those who've established accounts. If you pay a "membership" fee ($20+ per year) you can send email to anyone with an account. (It seems to me that most people don't become members; preferring to communicate via postings on the boards.)
www.gradfinder.com Graduates of all schools, grammar school through university, can open free accounts, list themselves as alumni of their schools, and look for each other on the lists. When people you'd like to email are listed, Gradfinder will email them for you (at no charge) and give them your email address.
THE Brooklyn Board
http://brooklynboard.com is a bulletin board dedicated to the reminiscences of Brooklynites and ex-Brooklynites, everywhere. If you're a Brooklynite, you might even hook up with some old friends.
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This article was last updated on 11 June 2000. If you have any questions, feel free to Email me. I'll do my best to confuse you completely (:-). (Comments or corrections also are welcome.)
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