KSFO's Web Wanderer

The Links for January 9, 1999

Eric found this site.

MiniDiscs are a popular music format - and growing. This site has everything you need to know about MiniDiscs. - Recent News, FAQs, Technology, System Overview, Recorders, Players, Decks, Mailing Lists, a Discussion Board, even "Operation and Service Manuals".

Be sure to check out this site before buying a player. The site also has new and used units for sale.

Cool toys. Thanks, Eric!

The Web Developer's Virtual Library

Frequent contributor and chatroom buddy Taxi Mike found this site. It calls itself "The Original Encyclopedia of Web Technology".

THis site is a great resource for Web developers. There are tutorials on HTML, DHTML, VRML, Cascading style sheets, web programming and scripting, and graphics. Very good stuff.

The present main page has links to an article on "Audio for the World Wide Web", and one for "Navigation 101" (designing your site for easy navigation).

Very good reference material and tutorials for beginning web authors. It's a MUST visit site if you write web pages.

Bookmark it, and go often.

Thanks, Taxi Mike!

Magic Theater

Bob, the Old Fogey, has apparently been showing the Jail Babes some tricks. He found this web site which contains videos of magic tricks, viewable on the web.

Bob says: "See if you can guess the magicians' secrets as you watch videos of them performing their tricks online at The Magic Theater. Choose to download the clips in either RealVideo or Vivoactive formats. Richard Robinson opens with The Candles. Don't be distracted by the sound of the wind blowing as you follow his maneuvers with flaming tapers. Bob Cassidy’s Chronologue trick is full of talk about the calendar and a deck of cards. Other stunts on video on the site include Torkova’s Cone and Ball and card tricks from Meir Yedid. Hot links are included to other magicians' sites, such as David Copperfield's walk through the Great Wall of China."

I'm a big magic buff (I help on the Penn & Teller web site - http://www.sincity.com) and I thoroughly enjoyed this site

If you enjoy magic tricks, don't pass this one up. Many of the names may not be familiar to you, but the people featured on the site are some of the best in magic.

I'm sure you'll find it much more enjoyable than that stupid Masked Magician, so check it out.

Thanks, Bob, the Old Fogey!

Startup Manager

Nerdly Nullman found this killer freeware.

Startup Manager 1.0 for Win9x/NT4 is a small utility to help manage the applications that are run at Windows startup. Not everyone realizes just how many places there are to hide for programs that run at startup in Windows 9x and NT 4. The Startup folder in your Start Menu is only the most obvious of these places; for the others, you have to roll up your sleeves and go spelunking into the registry and WIN.INI system file.

Startup Manager takes care of this, even allowing you to disable these programs so that they can later be restored.

This is very cool. I had a heck of a time finding where ICQ was loading in my system, and finally did (manually). THis software makes tasks like that much easier.

And - it's free.

Thanks, Nerdly!

Sand Lot Science - Optical Illusions

Our own Nathan (DoctorWho in the chatroom) found this site.

Nathan is into optical illusions. But then - who isn't?

Nathan says "Earlier today I briefly looked at a book of optical illusions. After I got home I did a Yahoo search for optical illusions, and was impressed with one of the ones I found."

He says "Sandlot Science is a pretty thorough optical illusion site. It has both static graphics, and interactive illusions (using Java) that can be controlled. It has impossible objects (objects that cannot exist in 3D space), ambiguous figures (images that can be seen in more than one way), Camouflage and distortion illusions, text/number illusions, and more."

Very cool stuff. I checked out this site late one evening, and spent FAR TOO MUCH time on it. I should have been sleeping, but couldn't help checking out this site. Nathan had the same experience.

If you love optical illusions, this is THE site for you. If you just find them entertaining, give it a look, but you might find yourself stuck there a while.

Thanks, Nathan!

The Drudge Retort

I usually get to the Drudge Report by a bookmark on My.Yahoo. I wanted to check the latest news last Thursday, and found My Yahoo was down. So - I tried to find the site from memory. Instead of finding the Drudge Report, I found the Drudge Retort - a great online parody.

THe Drudge Retort's motto? "Putting the Yellow Back in Journalism" It is a very funny parody - but not one for the kids.

If you regularly visit the Drudge Report, don't miss the Drudge Retort.

Napa Steve's Real Quickies

Napa Steve is THE MAN when it comes to finding Real Audio and Real Video sites, his finds are now a regular feature of the Web Wanderer's Report. Every week, Napa Steve will try to find one or two hot Real sites. This week he gives us two hot ones.

Titanic (A First-Hand Report)

Napa Steve found this first hand account of the sinking of the Titanic - in audio book format.

From the description: "Archibald Gracie was probably among the last to leave the sinking Titanic on that cold April night in 1912. His is the most accurate account of what happened from the moment that the great liner hit the iceberg. He describes his personal experiences and remarkable escape from death in the icy waters of the Atlantic and chronicles the rescue of the survivors who escaped from the Titanic in her death-throes. He gives the names of the passengers and crew loaded aboard; those picked out of the water; the stowaways found; the men who jumped from the deck onto the boats being lowered; and the passengers transferred to the rescuing Carpathia. Throughout the summer of 1912, Gracie felt unwell but struggled to complete his account of the sinking of the Titanic. He then died seven months after his rescue on December 4, 1912. The book was published in 1913 to universal acclaim and remains one of the most vivid and truthful first-hand records of disaster at sea."

Very cool stuff.

Comedy Radio

Comedy Radio is what the title suggests - RealAudio broadcasts of comedian. There's various artists, with various levels of suitability for children.

Good site. Thanks, Steve!