This is a page of links that I just find cool. No particular order or categorization, just posted here for you surfing pleasure. Note the two links for each one. "Go" will open that site in your browser, "View" will open that site in this frame in case you want to hang around...
Like most people, I have political opinions and certain "hot-button" issues, but none compare to how I feel about science literacy. Rather than rant on here, I'll just point you to the following editorial by space systems engineer and SF author Gentry Lee, and just say "Yeah, what he said!"
I'm an avid cyclist, and purchased my first recumbent bicycle back in '00. If you want to see what a recumbent bicycle looks like (mine in particular) check out Lightning Cycle Dynamics
Another nice site is 'Bent Rider Online magazine.
RCN or Recumbent Cyclist News is a regular magazine but they have a sample issue online
Now, this is the recumbent bike I REALLY want. My then 11-year-old son took a test ride on one of these and I couldn't get him off of it. This is what's called a "tadpole" trike. What a blast to ride!
Gibson Research Corporation (Steve Gibson)
I've spent hours reading stuff on Steve's site, and still haven't seen it all. He's a brilliant programmer and columnist for InfoWorld, as well as the brains behind the SpinRite hard disk maintenance and recovery software. You'll learn all kinds of stuff about internet security, firewalls, networking technology and lots of other stuff here.
Wikis
Have you ever used a Wiki? A Wiki is a dynamic knowledge-base on the web. One of the most famous is the Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that allows anyone using to add to or correct any entry in it. It makes for an amazingly comprehensive and useful reference work! Imagine having such a repository in your company or your non-profit organization! Any time someone learns or changes a procedure or process, they could document it in the company Wiki. It would become the company procedures manual, and any new employee would know where to find anything they needed to know. And better yet, if they found something in error (stuff changes all the time, right?) they could just update the entry!
Anyhow, it's kinda hard to explain. You really need to see it in action. I have a wiki on this website, put here just so folks can play around with it. You'll find it right here:
You can check out Wikipedia here:
The Best Radio Station in the World
I'd just about given up listening to the radio back in the early 90's, even though I love music. The same old crap-ola, over and over and over again. Then someone turned me onto this jewel, right here in my own back yard, and the tuners on my radios might as well be broken. I realized that I don't even know how to change the frequency on my stereo tuner any more! WDET FM (101.9) in Detroit is the local NPR affiliate, and plays "Free-Form" radio. A few hosts, notably in the 7-10 PM time slot stick to one genre (jazz Sunday-Friday, and R&B on Saturday), but the rest range pretty freely through alt-rock, country. R&B, jazz, blues, electronica, classic rock, latin, salsa, psychedelia, and some stuff that you'd be pretty hard-pressed to categorize. And (of course) they're streaming their signal on the web, and post their playlist on their website. For some hosts, the playlist gets posted in real time, for others it gets posted with about an hour delay.
Streaming is in multiple formats - Windows Audio (HTML and MMS), Quicktime, Real Audio, Chaincast, and MP3 that can be played through WinAmp.