Tuna's Fresh Catch Of The Month

Archives

These are the sites that have earned the Tuna's Fresh Catch of the Month Award.


Leo and Robin's Home Page

Leo and Robin's Home Page

http://www.magicnet.net/~woodsr/index.html

This is just a simple personal home page, in the same way that Water Music by Handel is a song. Robin has used every bell and whistle available to HTML authors here, but has done so with class and taste. Her sense of graphic design is fun and wonderful. For those who can't view her code and figure out all of her tricks and secrets, she has created a library of links for the novice and professional HTML author.

You may need to prepare before you visit here. If you have not already done so, and your computer is sound capable, download and install Crescendo. You wouldn't want to miss the music here.

Congratulations, Robin, on being the first Tuna's Fresh Catch of the Month.



Windows95 Annoyances

http://www.creativelement.com/win95ann/

Wether you have downgraded to Windows95 already, or are contemplating the move, this site is a must read. Here, you can learn how to use dial-up networking (built in to Windows 95), get rid of unwanted icons on the desktop, replace the Windows 95 start-up screen etc. Not only does this site help you customize your Windows95 installation, it gives tips for fixing, or working around many of the known bugs in Windows. A sample of help topics includes:

By now, you get the idea. This page is definitely not supported by Microsoft, but does more to make Windows 95 useable than anything at Microsofts Home Page. Each topic is covered in relatively non- technical terms, and with more than a little wit and sarcasm. There is also a small but excellent humor section. This site should come pre-loaded on all Windows95 CDs.


A Word a Day

A Word A Day

http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/home.html

Anu Garg created A Word a Day in mailing list form on March 19, 1994. The mailing list version now boasts 48,000 members. This site also presents a new word each day, and contains a complete archive of all the previous words. In addition to the interesting word, with pronunciation, definition and usage, a daily quote is included.

Many weeks, the word each day will follow a theme. Some of the words are familiar; some are very strange. Whether you use the E-mail version or visit the Web site, Anu provides a great way to increase your knowledge, and start your day on a positive note. This site is simply designed, and suitable for any and all browsers.


Don Carroll's Midi Riff Bulge Page

http://www.dave-gipson.com/carroll/carroll.htm

This month's award is not so much for excellence in web design as it is to reward someone for his contribution to Cyberspace. Most of the music in this month's MSGs was sequenced by Don Carroll. On this page, he makes his music available to all of us free of charge. Two collections of midi files are present here. The first is the list from which we have been using files. The second is a collection of midi's without melody lines, to be used for sing-along.

Songs include ragtime, boogie, gospel, classic rock and many other styles. The page is tastefully done, with the songs arranged in a table for easy download. Thank you, Don.


Faithlessnes
The intersection of Q-tips and lava lamps!

http://www.bway.net/~you/

From the (Java-enhanced) personal greeting to the award-winning Q-tip page, this personal homepage is a delight. Highlights of this page include the Q-tip page where you can learn what the "Q" stands for. Links are broken into several categories. One of my favorites is a page of links to graphics sites. She also has a tour page for some of her favorite graphics. Like many web authors, she also gives awards to pages that she likes.

In reading her personal description, we find out that she is a typical 29 year-old computer genius, a veteran of BBSs, a denizen of Greenwich Village, a Trekkie, a future politician and wastes her days as an attorney. I liked everything about this site. The writing is entertaining, the choices of content are eclectic and the graphics and music are very appealing.


The Comedy Zone

http://www.bcsdesign.com/comedyzone/

I have been keeping this page a secret for two months, but guilt has finally caught up with me. The concept here is simple -- it is a page of links to funny sites -- but what sites. Every link on this page is to somewhere incredible. "The List" changes constantly, and features humorous Christmas sites at the moment. A few all-time favorites are retained as "Favorite Balls." Any time you need a laugh, this is the starting place.

As if great content weren't enough, the page is well designed and attractive. This has a permanent place in my bookmarks.



Who Or What Pissed You Off?

http://www.iobbs.com/~pistoff/

This site is brand new, and promises to become one of my favorites. In short, it is a place for you to blow off steam. The design is as simple as the concept. You can use their form to submit your own tale of woe, or read what others have submitted. Political activism is not, however, permitted. In the words of the owner: "...I don't want to hear from radicals bitching about animal testing or anti-fur fanatics, because frankly, YOU PEOPLE PISS ME OFF!"



Parent Soup

http://www.parentsoup.com/

Do you know of any parents who are never harried... are never frustrated by their kids... always know exactly the right thing to do for their families... never need the comfort of comparing notes with others outside their families? If so, Parent Soup will not help them at all. For the rest of us who are had by kids, Parent Soup offers a wide range of information and resources for parents. With daily content changes, and chat capabilities, Parent Soup is never the same two days in a row.

Product and book reviews, how to sections on such things as massage techniques, advice on every aspect of parenting, and peer support make this a wonderful resource for anyone with kids. The HTML work here is obviously professional, and is of the no background, uncluttered variety. Drop in, look around, fill out the daily opinion poll, and enjoy peer support from other parents.




Missy's On-Line Journal

http://shoga.wwa.com/~missyp/

"If I could choose one thing today
It'd be for you to find sunshine along your way
To light the rocky roads you walk
And chase the darkness while you talk."

This is an excerpt from one of Missy's poems, and expresses what finding her remarkable pages did for me today. While I have spent literally hours here, I have only scratched the surface. First and foremost, this page is about Missy. It contains her history, poetry, journals, chronicles of her joys and sorrows, and is the most open and appealing material I have yet seen on the Web.

Missy is very seriously ill. Missy has chosen to share herself with all of cyberspace. Missy is not, however, whining or looking for sympathy. There are, of course, moments of sorrow and anger, but the overwhelming feeling throughout these incredible pages is one of finding as much joy as possible. I am far from the first to discover Missy -- she has 7 pages of awards, gifts from her cyber-friends, stories sent to her and much more. Not surprisingly, Missy sums up her attitude far better than I. "This page is my self therapy, my end of denial and my announcement to the world that I am indeed 'damaged goods.' But also, that I am still a living, loving, feeling soul walking the earth for an undetermined amount of time."




The Larks Nest

http://pwrtc.com/~lark/lark.html

Lark is a witch, and has been for the last 32 years. The first thing you will notice about her site is that it takes forever to download. The second thing you will notice is that the graphics are worth the wait.This page has some of the best animated graphics I have yet seen. So much for form, but what about content? This is the single best site I have seen about the Wiccan religion. Read spells from Lark's book of shadows; find sources of ritual tools and ritual magick and magical herbs and stones; find out exactly what the "old religions" are about.

Definitely high-tech, this site has its own Java powered chat room, and an interesting variant called The Fog. Of course, the site has links to every imaginable related site. I think what charmed me most about this, however, was the author. I will be back to The Lark's Nest many times.




The Air Force Museum

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/

The United States Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio is arguably one of the two or three finest military museums of the world, and with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum is certainly one of the two finest Air Museums in the world. The museum is housed in a huge building specially designed for the purpose, and several hangers which have been pressed into service to handle the overflow. True aviation buffs generally enjoy the hangers more than the main museum as they can "kick the tires" in this less formal annex area.

The Web site continues the museum's tradition of excellence. It is very attractively coded, and well organized. See photos of aircraft starting with the Wright Flyer, and including many of our NASA vehicles. The museum also has major exhibits on such subjects as manned space flight, weaponry and engine design. There is daily change to the content, so you will want to visit frequently.




Arachnophilia

http://www.arachnoid.com/index.html

"This site is dedicated to one overriding principle: there are no overriding principles -- only original, ingenious solutions. You will find many kinds of resources here -- programs, applications, articles and books. Our content is updated regularly, so please visit often." I have to love a site that writes its own summary. This is the first use of frames that I have personally enjoyed. Someone sent me the URL to this site because of a CareWare HTML editor. I have yet to take a look at the HTML editor, but the CareWare concept is a great idea:

"To own Arachnophilia," (the HTML authoring tool) "you have to stop whining about how hard your life is, at least for a while. When Americans whine, nearly everybody else in the world laughs. We have so much, and yet we manage to:

The secret to a great Website is content, and this is a great Website. It is a happy accident that it is also some of the best html design work I have ever seen, or is it?




O Shenandoah! Country Rag


http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/1293/

Content is everything when it comes to hosting a popular web site. (If you doubt it, put up a page with photos of garment deprived CyberBabes and watch your hit counter.) The Country Rag has wonderful content. Published and edited by Jeannette Harris, it would be enough if it only contained her stories (which have been featured in this, and previous issues of our magazine) and her poems. Comprised primarily of prose and poetry, there is also a calendar, which gives you the flavor of the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia.

This is not a site to rush through. It is a place to read and think and dream. The content will bring you back again and again. As to form, both frame and non-frame versions are available. Graphics are not overpowering, and help set the mood. The site is liberally sprinkled with music. All in all, this is a jewel on the web.




Cyclops Home Page

http://www.psyclops.com/

I have a weakness for personal homepages stuffed with a wide variety of things. This is one such site. Here, you can watch the author morph into his girlfriend, read his graffiti wall and learn about Stephen Hawking. The production aspects of this site are very well done. The page has some frames, graphics and music, but, on the whole, loads quickly. There are also many interactive aspects to enjoy.

One of the many highlights of this site is a takeoff of the famous Swedish Chef translator, which rewrites web pages in a dialect. The translator offers several choices of dialect, including skinhead, pimp and Cockney Rhyming slang. Here is an example. Point this translator to your favorite web sites, and next thing you know, it will be quitting time.




The Virtual Birder

http://www.virtualbirder.com/

Tuna is now for the birds. To find out what the virtual birder is all about, go to The Cape Cod bird watch and test your skill and luck. For the serious birder, there are numerous links and resources, but the thing that won my award was the Virtual Bird Identification simulation. Walk up on birds in their habitats, listen (in Real Audio) to their song, then identify them from a list. The database here is impressive. Birds are cross-referenced to the appropriate page in your favorite bird guide. You also choose a skill level, and can leave your high score on the web for all to see.

To me, this is the ideal educational web site, in that the learning is something that happens accidentally while you are having fun. The mechanics of the site are relatively high-tech, but the graphic design is simple and attractive. So, what are you waiting for? Get out and find that Bar-tailed Godwit.




Wildelife Website

http://www.wildelife.com/

As with the other sites reviewed this month, this one reflects the owner. Susan is your average Doctoral student in Psychology, single mother, self-defense instructor, Newspaper Syndicator, Web Author, former Nuclear Engineer Graphic Artist and database expert. All of this can be found on her site. When you visit, take special note of her "kicking woman" animation, and her Shockwave files.

This site does a superb job of integrating both a business presence and a personal homepage, and does both with grace and style. You will want to probe every inch of her pages, and follow the links to other sites she has authored. When you visit, drop her an e-mail. I know she will appreciate it.




Good Vibrations

http://www.goodvibes.com/

For the adults on your list, Good Vibrations can provide the gifts that keep on giving. This Adult toy store located in Berkeley and San Francisco offers a huge and high quality selection of adult erotic items including toys, books and tapes. Started by a sex therapist who was dismayed at the lack of a sensitive resource for these items, Good Vibrations is tasteful and discrete.

Shop in the privacy of your home. Packages come with a return address of Open Enterprises to assure your privacy. Not only is this a great store, it is a great web site. Wonderfully designed, it is a pleasure to browse through, and includes substantial product reviews, and even an antique Vibrator Museum. Go ahead and visit -- I won't tell.




Dragonfly Pond

http://www.dragonflypond.com

This month's award winner is remarkable in that it is a first effort at HTML. It is remarkable in that it is visually inspiring. It is remarkable in that it contains very powerful poems expressing what it is like to live with Cystic Fibrosis. There is a person behind the page, of course who is equally remarkable. While living with this debilitating disease, she summons creativity, humor and imagination. Visit the Dragonfly Pond, enjoy the simple design, get to know Michelle, and whatever you do, do not miss "Airport Vibes."




Digital Dragonflies

http://www.dragonflies.org/

"Dragonflies are among the most glittering jewels of the entomological world." I agree wholeheartedly. This site has been created as part of a research project by Texas A&M. Their stated aim is to present images of every species of dragonfly in Texas. The collection is already large and diverse. The images are incredibly detailed -- you can see every wing striation. The page design makes no effort to be clever. The emphasis is toward presenting the images. While all images are copyrighted, they are free for private, non-commercial use. This site is a jewel.




Optical Illusions

http://members.aol.com/Ryanbut/optical.html

Every optical illusion I had ever seen, and a few that were new to me are found here. This site is not pretentious -- it tries to be a page about optical illusions, and it completely succeeds. The page design is refreshingly simple and attractive, and the subject is fascinating.




Ha

http://www.hardyharhar.com/

At the end of a week when I really needed a laugh, Ha provided it. They have a huge searchable joke archive. Not only can you search, but you can enable or disable results containing adult content. Once you have found a true floor-grabbing-gasping-bellyaching-eyes-watering joke, you can mail it to a friend. A cartoon feature has just been implemented, and a Joke-a-Day feature is planned. While this site has a commercial aspect to pay for the bandwidth, the commercial content does not get in the way of your good time.




Next to Nothing

http://www.winternet.com/~julie/ntn1.html

This is the best of the best of the "freebee" sites. Updated weekly, giveaways by phone, email and web page are included. There is also a free drawing. The design here is second to the content (a very good thing in my estimation) yet the pages are neat and attractive. Julie Pederson has been authoring this page almost as long as I have been on the Internet, and the quality has been constant.

Those of you with long Internet memories may remember the site as "Freebees Galore," a name which Julie was forced to abandon by the Net-Nazis©. Other than the forced name change, Julie has continued to keep the page fresh and appealing, while keeping the content at it's usual high level. For those who have never maintained a web page, that is an incredible amount of work.

So what could possibly be free, you ask? Here are a few examples:

That should be enough to give you the idea. Thanks, Julie.


Log-Me-On.COM ®

Log Me On

http://www.log-me-on.com/welcome.htm

Log Me On is a free service (supported by banner advertising) that will be of use to many of you. This is yet another free Web-Based email account, but with a few important differences. First, you are permitted to have more than one user for your account. Second, you can store your bookmarks and your email address book on their site. This means that you can send email to your friends, and show them your favorite web sites, from anywhere on the Internet. Registration is painless, and your information is kept private, but is summarized to provide demographic information to the advertisers.

The site is completely functional, but improvements to ease use are planned. The next feature will be a way to drag and drop your bookmark file to add it to your Log Me On database. This service is managed by people who completely understand how people use the Internet, have a deep-seated respect for personal privacy, and have found a way to make a profit while offering a free service. Further, the site is well organized easy to use, and does not take hours to download. If only more of the web were like this.




Happy Families
-- A humorous look at family life

http://www.happyfamilies.com/

Wholesome family entertainment by families, about families and for families... this is what awaits you at this month's fresh catch. The design is both fast-loading and attractive, but the content is king. Remember Art Linkletter and Kids Say the Darndest Things? They still do, and are being quoted here. Harvard Lampoon's Family Vacation fans will find vacations from hell, and may ad their own war stories. Other features include Genealogy links to search for missing relatives, postcards and lots of links. A relatively new site, it is already wonderful, and will only get better.




Dumbentia

http://www.mypages.com/dumbentia/

This site defines parody. This is not a place to merely visit you will want to download every one of the original posters found here. The original posters found here are in Acrobat (.pdf) format and are suitable for framing. Highlights include the seven deadly sins office motivational posters and send-ups of Bill Gates.

Since all of the work here is in .pdf, you can save it to your computer, view it on your monitor, and print it, and it will look exactly as the artist intended. For those who do not yet have the free Acrobat program, there is a handy link for getting it. Dumbentia is on my list of top 50 pages.


WIZZLE'S WEB WORLD

Wizzle's Web World

http://www.ccinet.com/~wizzle/

Take a virtual tour with expert guide Wizzle, or, better yet, accompany him on a virtual cruise. The first thing you will notice when you visit this site is the the graphic design is stunning. More good news -- Wizzle makes many graphics available for your own use. This is a personal home page at its best. It has a theme, major content, things for free and it is a pleasure to look at. Everything I tried on the page worked. Indeed, I did not even spot one typo. When you visit this site, be sure and send email to Wizzle. Work of this caliber should be encouraged.




The Answering Machine

http://www.answeringmachine.co.uk/

The premise for this site is simple -- they have answering machine messages in both .wav and .mpg format. They are suitable for transferring to your answering machine. Topics include movie, TV, comedy, musical, adult, serious, people, weird and other. They also provide a selection of software to make transferring the files to your machine easier. The design of this site is attractive, but it downloads quickly. The real appeal is in the content. You will want to listen to the .wav files even if you do not have an answering machine.




Photo Guides

http://www.photoguides.com/

If you are interested in travel or photography, this is not only a great site, but a great product. Meant to aid the vacationing photographers in getting pictures that will not bore the family and friends when they return, the actual photo guides are pocket sized guides to the best photo locations, the best times for lighting, and hints and tips for filters, exposure settings, etc. The first two guides cover San Francisco and Yosemite. Best of all, the guides are very affordable.

The site design is very attractive, and focuses on the content -- photos, how to take photos, and where to take photos. There is also a section on travel tips. Photo Galleries change frequently, so you will want to visit again and again.




Verbivore

http://pw1.netcom.com/~rlederer/index.htm

Verbivore is the abode of Richard Lederer, one of America's foremost writers about words. Author of many books and frequent speaker, he shares his love and knowledge of words with us here. Short on graphics, and long on content, this site is a must for those entomologists bugged by a word origin, or something to tickle their punny bone. Be sure to check out his pages of word links, and think about ordering one of his books.




Flying Machines and Other Illusions

http://www.richardbach.com/fmo.html

Richard Bach would probably have won this award even if he had a terrible web site based on his status as one of my favorite all-time authors. Fortunately, his web site is wonderful. Richard is as well presented here as anyone or anything is presented on the web. The site shows rather than relates his love of flying and airplanes, his amazing cosmic knowledge, and the verbal gymnastics he uses in his writing.

The images of airplanes are worth the visit, not to mention discussions of his books. You can even speak to him using his message box feature, and learn much about how his mind works. As an example, here is something from his preface to his book list:

"Open any of them at random, put your finger on a page and read. Do this three times. If every time you open it, the page catches your mind, drags you against your will from word to word, from paragraph to paragraph, then close the book, hug it, buy it. If any opening leaves you puzzled or unmoved, it is not your book. You will not like it. Save your money."




Y? The National Forum on Peoples Differences

http://www.yforum.com/

This month's choice for Fresh Catch was an easy one. Although there is nothing wrong with the production values on this web site, the award is granted for the concept. You can ask any cultural question here without embarrassment and it will be answered. Created by PHILLIP J. MILANO and ROBIN R. DYCUS-MILANO, this is one of the best uses of the Internet I have yet seen. The authors of Y? are heavily invested in celebrating cultural diversity, and promoting the advantages to the world. No subject is taboo, with the only requirement being that you are actually seeking information, not belittling another. Visit, learn and participate. Who stands to gain from more intercultural understanding? We all do.




Millan Net

http://www.millan.net/

This quintessential personal home page does a wonderful job of letting the visitor get to know Camilla Eriksson, and also showcases her incredible animated art. Both are delightful. In her own words, "Anticipate, never hesitate. Create, inflate, then hate and deflate. Swallow live bait, don't be late, mate, end up face first in a crate. Above all; be great."




Elandee Cartoon Animation

http://www.elandee.com/

As you can tell from the animation above, this is the home of a wonderfully talented animation artist. Everything about this site is refreshing. As for content, the site contains a wealth of original animations and cartoons, any of which would be worth the visit. I suppose it was inevitable that a site designed by such creative people would also be brilliantly designed. There are many talented people who have a Web presence, and David Gregory Taylor is among the best.




Travel The Net

http://www.travelthe.net/

Travel the Net is mainly a collection of articles about different aspects of travel. That alone makes it worthy of mention. Add the fact that these columns link all over the web for further reading, and you have a site worth book marking. Through in a liberal dose of the author, and you have an award winner. You have to love someone who would say in his biography, "I loitered for months, during which time, eschewing employment as a male escort to widowed tourists (largely for lack of demand for my services)"

Joe's writing style is clear and concise, but light and amusing. His topics include every imaginable aspect of travel. His site is superbly designed for ease of navigation and clarity. As if all this wasn't enough, there is an interactive "Travelers Forum" for visitors to exchange questions and ideas. Travel The Net is a wonderful edition to the list of award winners.




Photodex Software

http://www.photodex.com/

Photodex is the home of Compupic (formerly CPIC), easily the best media management system anywhere. Lets start with what it looks like. As you can see from the image below, the basic view contains a directory tree of your entire network in the upper left corner, an image preview in the lower left, and a view of all of the media types in the currently-selected directory on the right. The media type view can be toggled from thumbnail to Explorer view to small thumb view to file list. Thumbnail sizes, preview size, and directory size are all easily adjustable.



Now, on to what the program does. It creates a database of all of your media files on your entire network, and stores the information for fast retrieval. It creates thumbnails of your images, and supports most image types. It allows you to display, crop and modify images, and to save as a different image type. It allows you to mail an image to a friend via email, and also allows you to create a postcard from one of your images, upload it to a postcard Web Server, and notify your friend to pick it up. It also allows drag-and-drop, copy and move.

Compupic does not stop there, however. It also plays most sound and video formats, and allows you to create slide shows with both images and sound, creates picture indexes, and much more. Compupic is available for Windows 3.1, 95, 98 and NT and the Mac, and will soon be in Beta testing for Linux. At the rate new features are added, this review may be out of date by the time you read it, and one full year of free updates is included in the registration price of $39.95. Photodex also provides real, competent technical support.




The Art of Janesko

http://www.janesko.com/

Somewhere between Patrick Nagel and Olivia de Berardinis lies the pinup art of Janesko. Although the least known of the three, she may well be the best. Her creations have the style of a Nagel and the attitude, whimsy and eroticism of of Olivia. The site design does exactly what it should -- showcases Janesko and her art. Navigation is simple, and the focus is exactly where it should be. Also, her art is accessible, with originals selling for an average $4,000.00, limited edition prints in the $200.00 to $300.00 range, and calendars and trading card decks available. Stop in and enjoy the dozens of images on her website. While you are there, think about a purchase. Even artists need to eat.


The Tuna's Fresh Catch of the Month for this month is:



Brian Q's Marvelous Garden of Pithy Observations and Assorted Bons Mots

http://www.quass.com/

This is the wittiest, most refreshing new site I have seen in years. Brian writes about things that interest him and his readers. What makes this special is the off-beat style in which he writes (and designs his code). Imagine a personable, attentive host with a wonderful sense of humor who has a wide range of interests. Now imagine that he is devoting all of his attention to you. That is what you will experience on this web site.




Web Pages That Suck

http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/

This site is about exactly what you would expect -- horrible commercial Web sites. It is also badly designed for two reasons. One, it is a bad site site. Two, it is easier to create a bad site than a good one. The actual purpose of the site is to show you how to make your site better, entertain you, and to sell copies of the author's book. In addition to the humor and education, there is software available that is actually useful. While I don't agree with everything they say about design, there is much I do agree with. I think you will enjoy your visit, and, if you are working on a Web site, you will find much of value here.




Aether

http://www.henge.com/~ealynch/

Aether is a monthly magazine of Art, Poetry and fiction. It is also a beautifully designed Web site, totally devoid of advertising, and an absolute joy to visit. A showcase for the writings of EA Lynch, site owner, there is a wealth of wonderful material from other's as well. As long as there are creative people like EA Lynch serving quality like this with no commercial motives, the Web remains worth surfing.




Vicinities

http://www.vicinities.com/thelab/

Essentially, Vicinities is a free home page site with a lot of design tools, but it is actually much more. This is how they describe what they have created:

A vicinity is a free, easy-to-use service that allows two or more people to use the Internet to effectively share knowledge and information (see screen shot). Each vicinity is established, configured and managed by users. No programming knowledge or downloading software is required yet it's full of Web-based tools you can't get anywhere else. You control who has access so it can be your very own private space. Since it's on the Web, it has the same level of accessibility as Web-based e-mail and it's just as easy to setup. Start Your Vicinity Now!

This is a fantastic concept for collaborative Web development, and personal extranets. Whiteboards, real-time chat, and other features will be available soon. I think Vicinities will be HUGE.




The AnjulZine

http://www.pronetisp.net/~anjuliz/anjuls2bits.html

Anjulez (Angeleyes) is a wonderful humor columnist who is featured this month in Podium; this is her CyberZine. First, read everything she has written (especially "Hymen Says"), then look at the movie parodies. Finally, explore her movie parody and humor links. The emphasis here is on content, and Angela (a mother of two from Upstate New York) is this month's winner because of the quality of her content. Like most of us who write and publish Web content, she is starved for feedback. Explore her work, then drop her a note.




Web Help

http://www.webhelp.com/

I received a short, polite e-mail requesting that I look at a new search engine. I didn't expect much, but, since they provided a hot link, I gave it a click. What I found was a revolutionary new service. webhelp.com is to the Web as a referance librarian is to a library. Yes, a live person is available free of charge to help you find what you are looking for. It so happened that I had a rather specific question at the time, so I asked the expert what anti-spam legislation was currently law in the US. After a 2 or 3 minute delay, a human started feeding me links, and exactly answered my question on the second try. I thanked them very much, and read the information. Imagine my surprise when a transcript of the session arrived in my e-mail with all of the links.

This is going to be huge, and is one of those services that leaves you saying "I can't believe this is free." I hope they have the resources and bandwidth to handle the hordes of traffic they are sure to get.




TV in the 50's

http://www.fiftiesweb.com/tv50.htm

This is, again, a sub-site of an entire domain dedicated to the 50's. You are greated by the Long Ranger Theme and a hearty hi-ho Silver ... Away. Covering all aspects of TV in the 50's, this is a sort of coffee table book on the Web. It is of interest, of course, to anyone with memories of the 50's, and should also be interesting to anyone who has seen these early shows in re-runs. The design is "boomer friendly," in that it has no small print.

Who were the original Mousketeers? What was the name of Dale Evans' horse? Answers to all of these questions can be found at TV in the 50's. "Hey there, hi there, ho there, you're as welcome as can be ..." at TV in the 50's.


The Tuna's Fresh Catch of the Month for this month is:



The Official KRESKY Homepage

http://www.kreskytv.com/

"Heart of a cop. Soul of a lover. Feet of a dancer. An icon for the 70's and -- in our estimation -- a role model for the 21st century." So reads the description of Kresky, 70's TV cop extrodinaire. You don't remember him you say? Not surprising, considering that he never existed. A small problem like that didn't stop enormously talented Timothy J. Madison from creating the penultimate fan site for this show. Complete with season listings, cast and crew bios and much more, this parody of fan sites is required viewing.


The Tuna's Fresh Catch of the Month for this month is:



Joe and Natalie's Naked Page

http://home.onestop.net/nakednatalie.com/naked.html

Joe and Natalie are nudists, and enjoy telling the world about it. They are also very creative people, so their naked page is wonderfully creative and entertaining. In keeping with the theme, there is much nudity. Here, you can dress and undress Natalie, much the same as paying with paper dolls, learn all about them, and their life style. If you are not offended by nudity, I know you will enjoy these pages.




Sam Spade.org

http://www.samspade.org/

If you have never tried to identify the source of a SPAM, you might not see the usefulness of this site. It is an automated set of system admin tools that regular Internet users do not normally have access to, and lets you learn a great deal of information about domain names and IP addresses. Best of all, it is simple to use, and presents the information in an easy to use format. They also have a freeware version you can download and run from your Windows machine.


The Tuna's Fresh Catch of the Month for this month is:



DVD Review -- Hidden Features

http://dvdreview.com/html/hidden_features.shtml

With DVD systems becoming more popular, and with the selection of movies available on DVDs, there are now some excellent Web sites concerning all aspects of DVDs. DVDReview dot Com has added a unique wrinkle. We have talked about Easter Eggs (those hidden messages in software that can be accessed if you know the secret) before in Messages. I guess it should be no surprise that those who program DVDs have also hidden Easter Eggs. In this case, most of the Easter Eggs are actually extra content or features that are not listed on the packaging or in the advertising. Next time you rent or buy a DVD, check here to see if it has more than is advertised.


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