Aussie John's Links 3

www.mrmodem.net
Homepage of the author of The Internet for Seniors.
Hundreds of grouped sites with an interesting topic range including computing and non-computing. Well maintained.
The three URLs' below are from The Internet for Senior's book and may be in the author's site (above).
1. www.refdesk.com/fastfacts ... Hundreds of of useful sites.
2. www.refdesk.com .......... The refdesk homepage.
3. www.onelook.com .... Dictionaries and Glossaries.

www.marysia.com/marysia/personal/usenet.htm ## Did not come up 4Apr03 to 2Aug03 ##
How to use Usenet. Usenet is older than the World Wide Web. It's pretty defenseless against modern less ethical posters and spammers but occaisionally someone calls for a Usernet Death Penalty (UDP) where ISP's block mail from an indifferent ISP hosting a persistant spammer or abuser.

If you are using Windows, and have Outlook Express on your computer, open it, then here's your todo list:
1. 'Tools' menu => 'Accounts'
2. 'Add' button => News
3. Yadda yadda
4. For the news server, you must find the address of a news server that you have access to. It is likely that your ISP provides one for you. If your ISP doesn't offer one, or if you're too lazy to find out, you can search newzbot [newzbot.com] for a server.
5. After putting the newsserver in, click next however many times you need, then click finish. Click 'Yes' to download the newsgroups from the news account you added.
6. Double click on a newsgroup in the list to subscribe to it.
The newsgroup you selected is now visible on the left. Click on it to read all the messages.

www.davidchess.com
A 40 year old gets a computer for his birthday and builds a website.
Now 200 million internet users can visit his site. Don't you miss out!

www.december.com
John December's site. It's all interesting ..hard part is to decide what to look at next.
He's good people and it's also a helpful site for a new webmaster.

www.around.com
James Gleick's webpage. Check out Chaos: The Software, a DOS program. Ex Autodesk now free to download.

www.cs.brown.edu/../
Storey of a 14 year old stock market manipulator who made US$800,000 on the stockmarket by posting positive opinions on Yahoo about stock he had purchased then selling when the price rose. He paid US$280,000 back to the SEC to get them off his back and was left with a cool US$500,000. He asserts that other students and teachers followed his buying stratagy and some teachers made more than their salaries. The Librarian at the school disapproved because she felt the school's computers were being misused. Fantastic.

New! www.wordspy.com
A dictionary of modern words that are in use in various circles. These words would not be in common enough use to be included yet in a conventional dictionary. A simple example would be to 'google' which is described as the verb for conducting an internet search. Humourous, interesting and enlightening.

New! www4.tpgi.com.au/users/daveg
Dave Gault's Webspace. Telescope making, observing activities and black and white photography.

www.neatnettricks.com
Neat Net Tricks. This guy is good people and others think so too. He want's your email address to send you neat tricks. I gave him mine and have not regretted it. I now look forward to the tricks and interesting links he forwards. Go to www.escribe.com/computing/neatnettricks/bb, the bulletin board (and forum?) for general help or with the neat tricks. Note: He has given awards to other good sites which are listed and well worth visiting.

www.spywareinfo.com Information on how to combat pop-up ads, spyware and how to help turn the tables on spammers.

www.infopackets.com
Infopackets Gazette. Dennis Faas edits this informative website and ezine for Windows users. Has lots of software and hints to enhance your computing experience and a section for downloadable windows video tutorials. It's free and definitely worth looking into. Treat it as your personal HelpDesk. Articles on spyware, pop-up ads and free anti-virus software were of particular interest to me. Recommended by Neat Net Tricks (and my humble self).

www.newbieclub.com
A site for those who want to be shown how to use their computers on the internet. Offering 'free' information and downloads for 'Members' and modestly priced ebooks on more detailed intruction (such as editing your registry).
Note. This site is being evaluated. I'd appreciate your views if you become involved.

www.addme.com
Got a website you would like promote or thinking of starting an internet business? These people seem competant and it's an interesting insight for internet users as well.

New! www.tutorialbox.com
16 excellent tutorials covering a range of computing skills. Just pick one and dive in.

www.innosetup.com
For an easy-to-use and reliable freeware installer or installation setup maker program for a beginner to use. Rivals even excels over some commercial installers. Recommended by Eddie Penninkhof (wizball@xs4all.nl) the XBasic proponent.

ethanwiner.com
Basic programmer, celloist and orchestral arranger. Download his PC World books, articles, programs and aids for composing and arranging music.

www.anybrowser.org
Help save the internet from the dark forces that infest cyberspace. Improve your BBEdit (the preferred weapon of Mac warriors) skills. Then relax and review all that's happened in your favourite TV soap opera. Truely a site of contrasts.

garbl.home.attbi.com/stylemanual ## 400 msg 2 Aug 03 ##
If your going to write something ..make sure you write it right! Styles of presentation, grammer, and other skills of the wordsmith expained with a dash of humour.

www.webteacher.org
Good step-by-step tutorials that will teach you how to use the web, and how to use the web to teach others.

home1.gte.net/bharrell/#index
Typing techniques for the single handed. Explains how to quickly change to keyboard setup under Windows to use the davorak system. Worth a visit by those with only the use of one hand and those who choose to do single handed keyboard entry.
Provides some advice for playing the recorder single handed.
There is also some basic math and basic assembler language tuition.

www.esmerel.com
Unicorn typing tutor/game designed to teach children to type with the left hand, right hand, two hands or missing fingers. Uses qwerty system.

www.albion.com
Qualifies for the Seniors by claiming to be the oldest .com on the net.
A diverse range of interests non-computing and computing. One of his interests is William Blake (1757-1827), English artist, poet and mystic. Here is a link the Victorian Art Gallery archieve of William Blake's art.

www.actwin.com/fish/index.php
FINS. the Fish Information Service. For hobbists or anyone wanting information on freashwater or marine fish. You can search for a term or browse the listings giving common name, latin name and type. Has 700 pictures.

www.nupedia.com
NUPEDIA, Open Content Encyclopedia invites volunteers to assist in writing this huge on-line encyclopedia.

www.webopedia.com
An enyclopedia of computer and internet terms with links to related articles and a search engine. They appear to be accumulating their own listing and ask for you to point out errors or suggest new terms.

A term is initially submitted in one of four ways:
1. You can type the term you want details on in the search box.
2. You can choose a technical area from a drop down list provided. Terms applicable to that technical area are then listed out and you can select one.
3. They offer the 10 terms, most recently added to their list to select from.
4. They offer the 15 most searched terms for you to select from.

Once you have answer to the term you submitted there are these options:
1. The search box and the dropdown list of technical areas are re-presented for your continued use.
2. Also offered are some links to some other sites relevant to the term you submitted.
3. If you wish, you can click on a button to start an extended search which provides a larger number of related links.

Webopedia's function ranges between a dictionary, an encyclopedia or a search engine of vetted sites, depending on how you choose to use it. It a very useful tool. This is in marked contrast with TechWeb listed below, that only allows you to keep searching for definitions of terms on their site.

www.techweb.com/encyclopedia **Check this** ## 400 Object Not Found 28June03 ##
Another computer and internet encyclopedia. Draws on a well respected source of 20,000 terms.
1. Enter a term in the term box
2. They offer the 10 most searched terms for you to select from.

Once you have answer to the term you submitted there are these options:
1. The search box is re-presented for your continued use.
2. You are offered the 5 alphabetical terms before and after your search term.
3. You are offered a list partial references or related terms.

The link to nearby alphabetical listings does not seem particularly useful but the partial references are useful. You are not offered an option to leave the website. This is in marked contrast with Webopedia, listed above, which provides you with links to other sites.

www.ht.com.au
Harrison Technology. An Australian company where I buy computer things.

www.scholastic.com.au
Scholastic Software. An Australian company where I buy computer software at good prices.
They sponsor a collection of Australian children's literiture and illustrations at the Dromkeen Museum.
Visit and find out more. Perhaps you can pass on that treasured item from the attic before it is lost.

www.jsifaq.com
Win NT/Win 2000/Win XP and Win .NET Tips and Tricks. Have to enter seach item eg 'QBasic'.

www.dell.com.au
Dell Computers. Where I enjoy searching for specials I never buy.

www.antitelstra.com
One of the fastest growing sites in Australia.
Should rural Australians be treated the same as city Australians by Telstra (or the Government's)? What do you think. Does any one really care less about people who live ouside of the major cities? Visit this site to show support for Australians who depend on telecommunications.

New! www.top50.com.au
A listing of Australian websites with a yahoo style of drill down, subject based, search method. This is the only efficient way to do a search at present, assuming someone is removing dead links which should be the case on a commercial site offering links.

New! dir.salon.com/../ Courtney Love does the math!
Courtney Love speaks out on the record industry and downloading music files. She considers the members of the record industry to be the pirates not the downloaders.

www.arkangles.com
Outstanding and unique Australian made chess programs including ones that warn of threats, and others aimed at teaching beginners up to helping experts practice. Very economical to buy. Support people committed to promoting chess. Volunteers wanted to help convert to foreign languages.
Supports new Australian software developers. Promote your Australian made software on this site for free.

www.westciv.com.au/etext_page_index.html
The EText Page of Western Civilisation WebWare. Find out all about etext (not email!) and use it and the links they provide to search for information that interests you without having to sort through the chaff thrown up when you use the ordinary internet search engines.

The homepage of Western Civilisation WebWare is www.westciv.com.au. An Australian company that make some world beating software such as StyleMaster and LayoutMaster which are essential tools for the HTML author or web developer. You can download free demo's. In addition their site provides valuable CSS and eText resources.

www.strand.aust.com/strand7
G+D Computing's Strand7 FEA (Finite Element Analysis) System. 32 bit Windows based.

You can download St7Demo.zip (4.9MB), the limited demonstration version of Strand7. It may be used to generate any size model, but the solver will accept only models with at most 20 beams, 100 plates and 100 bricks. The nonlinear solvers are not available and data cannot be saved.

After downloading the zip, extract the files and run SETUP.EXE. After installing the software, browse the "../Mesh" folder as this contains a few sample models, ready to solve and post-process. If you wish to install the Strand7 Help Files (recommended), download "St7Help.zip", extract the files and place them in the "../Help" folder of the Strand7 Demo.

You can read through the Web Notes (see the side navigation links) for examples of how Strand7 can be used. They are like mini-tutorials and you can download little working modules of the examples and run them. Modeling shock loads, which in the past could only be done by a practical test, facinates me.

G+D Computing provide excellent training at all levels for professionals. However if you're in Sydney, Australia and you are a student, retired, or trying to make youself more employable, email me and I'll put you on to some low cost community college type training in computer classroom group of about 12 participants. Similar classroom courses are available for AutoCad2000 and Mechanical Desktop ..see my Acad page.

promo.net/pg Homepage of the Project Gutenberg Website. *This is pretty awing!* They are putting the world's accumulated great literature on the web for anyone, anywhere to read, for free.
promo.net/pg/history.html The History and Philosophy of Project Gutenberg.

gutenberg.hwg.org/index.html Gutenberg Project at the HTML Writers Guild.

dmoz.org *A search engine with a difference!*
An organisation using volunteers to put information into, and to continously update, what will probably end up as being the only usable and largest depository of net information. And man made at that!

Worthy of your support. The conventional search engines are overloaded with poor, duplicated and defunct references, They will eventually only list paying customers and they are talking about that now.

This volunteer maintained search engine may end up being the only search engine that is genuine and in keeping with net ideals. The idea is simple ..you can go in and add or delete references. Breathtaking in it's simplicity.

You nominate your area of interest to the organisers who give you the password to make changes in that area. Imagine! If you find a defuct or useless reference you just delete it from the search engine ..superb! Sure there will be problems ..maybe even abuses, but these will be corrected by others who also have passwords to make changes in that area.

Like the Gutenberg Project if you put just an hour into it you are creating a legacy for the future without stepping out of your front door.

What on earth is a Wiki web site? ..it's a website that can be changed by visitors. Wiki is short for wiki wiki which means 'quick' in Hawaiian. Unhappy with your website? Start a wiki site and check it out from time to time to see whats been added or changed by your visitors. Change someone else's wiki site why don't you?

Some Wiki website providers are listed below:-

These tutorial listings cover a range of topics from gardening to whatever including computer related topics and so not belong on any particular page.

www.tutorialfind.com/tutorials ...A site that finds tutorials for you. Facinating.
www.find.com.au/tutorials .....This link seems to takes you to the above site.
www.findtutorials.com ........A good tutorial finder. Uses Yahoo style drill-down. Depends on membership/user input. Sister site is the good (internet) service provider finder www.findsp.com.

www.mogozoo.com.au
This is a unique zoo. It was started by couple with no particular qualifications other than lots of commitment. They wrote to various zoos offering to take their problem animals or any animals they just wanted to get rid of.

Zoos responded and bit by bit they built up a zoo in the country town of Mogo on the south coast of New South Wales in Australia that is now right up there taking part in all the inter-zoo breeding programs contributing toward conservation of endangered species from Australia and around the world.They recieve no Government funding and they are worthy of your support.

www.mogozoo.com.au/friends ## 400 Object Not Found 28June03 to 2Aug03 ##
If you can help Mogo Zoo with financial support or a donation of goods, services, expertise or labour, or, if you would like to join the Friends of Mogo Zoo (FOMZ) please contact the Friends of Mogo Zoo. Support will be acknowleged on display boards, printed matter and the website as appropriate for the support provided.

www.zoo.nsw.gov.au
Taronga Park Zoo and Dubbo Plains Zoo. Very attractive website, but for Taronga they list 21 animals implying that they only have 21 animals. This is not true of course, but that's not the message. A classic case of conflict between visual impact, presentation, appearance or whatever and information content. At Dubbo the animals roam free.
www.zoofriends.org.au Zoo Friends. Volunteer work for zoos (membership fee). Has paid full-time co-ordinator.
Also see (separate) volunteer animal keeper and bushcare organisations.

www.featherdale.com.au Featherdale Wildlife Park in Sydney. Australian birds and animals, reptiles (including the worlds top five dangerous snakes) and kid's walk in farm animal enclosure. Ph 9622 1644.

www.wonderland.com.au/awp/awp.html Wonderland's Australian Wildlife Park in Sydney. Open 9am to 5pm. Visitor snake handling (harmless pythons) 10 am (if anyone shows ..get there 5 min before!). Snake talk 2-30pm. Crocodile feed Sundays 3pm. Walk among kangaroos, wallabies and emus. Other unique Australian birds and animals.

www.reptilepark.com.au The Australian Reptile Park at Somersby (near Gosford) outside Sydney, Australia.
Reptiles include snakes and lizards (crocodiles and alligaters too). I found the legless lizards facinating. They look just like snakes but they are lizards. I'm not exactly sure but you look for large deformed scales at the sides which are evidence of where legs use to be and I think there is something to do with eyelids as well.
Although traditionally a reptile park they have a large range of Australian animals, birds and spiders too.

www.oceanworld.com.au Ocean World at Manly Beach.
An aquarium that also has reptiles and a saltwater crocodile.

www.visitcoffsharbour.com.au
Getaway 4WD Tours -Coffs Harbour NSW Australia. Half day and full day off the beaten track adventures. See lush tropical rainforests, secluded pools and waterfalls, unique plants, animals and rock formations with expert commentary by the owner/driver, Grahame, a former school teacher with over 10 years experience conducting 4WD tours.

www.midcoast.com.au/~porpoise Pet Porpoise Pool -Coffs Harbour NSW Australia
Dolphins, seals, sea lions, marine fish and turtles and a very territorial pelican. But look closely. Broken limbs, cracked shells, healed over wounds inflicted by propellors, shark bites and fishing lines. Many (a third of the major exhibits) were found by locals washed up on beaches, injured, half-starved and brought in to be hand fed and nursed back to health Pet Porpoise Pool staff and volunteers. The volume of injured animals brought in dictate a policy of releasing them if possible but young pups that have been brought in and reared by hand have not learned the skills from their parents that they need to survive in the wild.

In ten minutes I had the value of my admission ten times over when a dolphin stuck his head up alongside me to be stroked under the jaw. It then streaked off around the pool, came back with a ball and released it alongside me and backed off a little and looked at me. I threw the ball and it brought it back to me. After a while I judged the throw a bit better to give the dolphin a chance to get under it and he caught it in the air before it hit the water and brought it back. This continued until it found some more interesting playmates in the form of some kids on the other side of the pool.
I stayed 3 or 4 hours, saw the show, bought lunch and a tee-shirt and ok sure, I think an animal should be free in the wild too, but these people are doing a great job that is ultimately in the best interests of these animals surviving in the wild and are worthy of your support.

Copy some Aussie flags to decorate your website or a school project.
Some sites have blanks to print out for the kids to colour in too!

www.imagesoft.net/flags/flags.html Images and flags care of Robesus Inc.
Free Australian flags. You can use the 502 byte Aussie flag in my banner but Robesus require a link.
www.robesus.com For free digital images.
www.imagesoft.net Where I found reference to Robesus in the first place.

www.fed.gov.au (**Use to be www.fed.gov.au/emblems.htm email sent 5/5/02)(Timed out 1/9/02). Australian Federal Government Site
You (use to be able to) download images of the Australian flags freely for any responsible use.

fotw.vexillum.com Flags Of The World (FOTW).
An oustanding flag website. The unpaid work of expert flag enthuisiasts who would always appreciate your interest or help. The flags are offered free to those devoted to the study of vexillology (flags!). Thousands of images of flags, historical notes and the Aussie flags too!
FOTW is based in Belgium. This is American mirror is provided by a US flag company www.vexillum.com.

www.flagaustnat.asn.au Australian National Flag Association (ANFA)
Encouraging people to support and display the Australian national flag.

www.balgal.com The Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. This is the oldest art gallery in Australia which has not changed it's name or location.
They have has this painting of Sydney Harbour entitled "Neutral Bay" painted in 1907 by Lt Sir Arthur Sreeton their collection.

www.healthinsite.gov.au "Health Insite".
Australian Government site. Lots of health links that have been vetted before inclusion.

www.mayo.edu
The highly respected Mayo Clinic.
Doctors use this site to get up to date information. You can use it too and maybe you have more time or more incentive.
Does not replace the doctor but it is more efficient if you can bone up a bit and ask an intelligent question or two.

www.mayohealth.org/home
Mayo Clinic -Health OASIS.
Select your condition from a drop down menu. Health and living guide site.

www.medicaldevices.com.au Medical Devices Pty Ltd in Mortlake, Sydney (Australia).
An example of a well presented website. The equipment and service is also excellent.

www.abc.net.au Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The ABC News. On-line news from a reputable source.

www.smh.com.au
Sydney Morning Herald Newspaper. The quality Sydney daily newspaper.

www.nccnsw.org.au
Nature Conservation Council (NCC) of New South Wales, Australia.
Peak body of about 120 organisations with conservation values in New South Wales.
Look through their membership lists, you are bound to find an organisation you would like to be part of or support in some way (several have websites). There's everything from walking/outdoors clubs, birdwatching, bat watching, cycling, historical societies and many others with diverse interests but have conservation as a common thread of interest.

www.tec.nccnsw.org.au
Total Enviroment Centre's (TEC) website. For information on enviromental campaigns in natural and urban enviroments. They encourage activism. You can support programs in place or raise new matters with them and seek their support.

www.harobikes.com Haro's website.
Show Malvern Star Bicycle Co. Cntr. Frederick St. & Amanda Rd. Tottenham, Victoria 3012. Ph 61399319810 as their dealer in Australia

www.malvernstar.com.au/home.htm Malvernn Star's website
www.malvernstar.com.au/frameindex2.html NSW dealer listing. Note:-
Concord Concord Sports Store 02 9747 2020
Cambelltown Bicycle World 02 4625 0955
Chipping Norton Fulchers Cyclery 02 9755 1977
Fairfield Heights Sydney Bicycle Centre 02 9725 5515
Forestville Alstar Cycles 02 9451 6342
Newtown King St Cyclery 02 9517 1655
others

www.trekbikes.com Trek Bicycles.
Go to English or the specific countries USA/Canada or UK. www.trekbikes.com/bikes/2003/mountain/800e.jsp The Trek 800. Found in (Trek Global->English) Bikes->Mountain ->Recreational (good picture and details ..see local copy next link down).
Road, Mountain, Hybrid/Navigator Kids, BMX.
'Recreational' is the last of the 5 catagories listed under Mountain. Recreational is described as 'Rugged and fun, on or off the road'.
It is on the bottom of that list:-
4700 Bruiser Two Bruiser One 4500 4400 4300 4100 820 800
'High strength' steel with cro-molly seat post. No suspension. Indeed they described the bike has having 'good shock absorbing qualities' which could be the sales doctrine of promoting deficiencies as strengths. Note that he Trek 820 next one up or 2nd bottom as you prefer hadm 63mm travel suspension.
Trek800/trekbikes-com800.htm Local copy of details and picture.

www.tba.com.au Trek Bicycles Australia
Site under construction say it will be www.trekbikes.com.au when it becomes active in "January". Meanwhile it says ring Ph (02) 9299 7444

www.bicycledoctor.co.uk/cat_mtb.html#table UK website page that catogrises Treck 800 as 'Budget' with 'Entry Level' being a step higher. Bigger pic (below) than US site.

www.thomsoneducationdirect.com.au Thomson Education Direct (url supplied). ## 400 Can't resolve hostname to IP address 28June03 ##
www.thomsoneducationdirect.com.au/site/home.asp Thomson Education Direct (direct link).
The direct url to the page that comes up when you use the link supplied above.
www.nelson.com.au Thomson Australia And New Zealand / Thomson Learning Australia.
The page that comes up when you click on the Thomson Learning Australia nav link in the page(s) above.

Aussie John's Site Page Last Updated And Links Checked: 2 August 2003

Grab Bag of Links 3 -General Interest