I have heard that other Internet denizens do not mention or link to
these bookmark pages, not because of what I link to, but because my
full name appeared up front. This has something to do with
“doxing”. I stand behind the World-Wide Web sites to which I
link. If you look at the Source Code here, my name remains in the
metadata.
It seems I have another frozen-in-place World-Wide Web
site out here. On 23 July 2020, my access to 208.84.112.25
was terminated. Those forty-six W-WW pages, including the three
bookmark ones with the background color in Black,
may have been archived. Now these updated pages are on
74.115.231.54 {See above.}.
The push for recognition of tenets of humanity
continues. Black Lives Matter.
This is the W-WW page extracted from above which will do a domain
registration and host location on a registered domain name or
I. P. Address. Its drawback is that you have a maximum of
fifty addresses which you can search per your own
I. P. Address every 24 hours. [If you need to get
around this limit, configure a proxy in your browser. That shall get
you another fifty.]
This is a collection of TCP | I. P. [Internet Protocol]
and Internet tools gathered from around the World-Wide Web for anyone
interested in tracking down DNS, HTTP headers, traceroutes from various
backbones, and more. This is a significant W-WW site. I was
disquieted it went off-line. So, I send you to the Internet Archive's
[c.v.] last capture of it: 21 August 2018.
Here is a Japanese W-WW site where you can lookup the domain record
of an I. P. address without it counting against an external
limit [such as Ad Hoc's lookup function]. But it also seems to be inaccurate
for some of them.
This is not a left-clickable link. To use this, right-click
on it; select "Copy Link Location"; paste that into the
'Location' line; and then type in the URL about which you want to inquire.
Here is one site which can obtain the owner of an Internet domain name;
and do a forward or reverse DNS lookup. Its webmaster, Paul Garrin,
is seeking financial aid in his court case versus the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), so that "Name.Space" can
authorize some Internet Top Level Domains (TLDs).
Enter the URL of the World-Wide Web page whose links you want to
check into the query box and click 'Submit'. This site will save you a
lot of time; however, I recommend clicking on the URLs it shows to be
broken. Some sites do not want to be remotely spidered, so there is a
possibility for false positives.
This is a hub W-WW site with information about on-line applications
and software programs to secure your computer. There is also a forum for
which you may register.
Tiny Apps is a depot of applications for Windows®-based computers.
All of these applications (and programs) are scripted in tight, concise
code. The webmaster also maintains a weblog, and offers a free E-Mail
newsletter.
Here is a comprehensive World-Wide Web site listing scores of
ISPs, including dial-up | v.92 modem ISPs (which I recommend
having as a contingency should your broadband connection fail). This
page is for the U.S.A. Other countries are available.
If you have broadband Internet access, or are considering
changing your current provider, this is a very informative and
comprehensive site. It has an informative forum where subscribers
with broadband connectivity relate their experiences. You need to
accept cookies to use this site.
This is a cracking forum's page with free NNTP newsservers. You can
search for a specific newsgroup on the twenty-two newsservers it
currently has. Keep in mind that most of these newsservers will not
carry all the newsgroups in which you could be interested.
Mibbit features the most complete, up to date and relevant IRC
search on the web. Its IRC search engine monitors scores of IRC networks
to bring you more live IRC channels, more active IRC users, and
thousands of pages of information on IRC networks, their services, and
their servers.
If you have a landline telephone which has an unlimited | untimed
local calling area feature (This was formerly noted as your Band
“a” and “b” calling areas.), this is where you
can determine if a potential telephone number is within the confines.
Input your area code and prefix. Click through for a printable
version. JavaScript|ActiveX® must be enabled.
mIRC is the Internet Relay Channel program I recommend for
all users with Windows®-based computers. The current version
is v7.63. It has been downloaded over 200 million times. (Please
send Khaled the registration fee.)
This site teaches you how to refine your searches to hone in on
exactly the material which fulfills your quest. It will take some
time initially, but you will know how to find information very
swiftly thereafter. Inexplicably, this W-WW page went off-line, so
I am retrieving it from the Internet Archive [c.v.].
Google™ is a search engine and portal which is especially
keen on rejecting URLs which are nothing more than spam traps.
This link sends you to the TLS version of the ‘Advanced
Search’ page. Yahoo!® surrendered to constant
pressure from U.S. law enforcement agencies to providing the
internet identities of internet denizens seeking on-line
information about a certain topic (most of which have nothing
to do with terrorism - a Freedom Of Information Act request
made to the F.B.I. revealed that "pork" [!?] was
one of the topics on subpoenae).
StartPage is a search engine which claims it is "the
world's most private search engine". It does not record your
I. P. Address, or surreptitiously place any cookies on
your hard drive. So a law enforcement agency will have nothing to
obtain from it. It feels its search results are more comprehensive,
and more accurate than other search engines. Its unique capabilities
include an advanced search, a global search, and power refinement.
StartPage goes via Google™. I send you to the page where you
can specify technical searching parameters. However, in
disquieting news, it has been invested in by a corporation
("System1") which sells pay-per-click advertising.
There has been no evidence StartPage is violating its own privacy
policy, but considering how long it took for it to announce this
ownership change, it might not be as private as previously.
This is another privacy-keeping search engine which allegedly
has a ‘no-removal’ policy toward what it may find. It is
available in English, German, and Spanish.
This search engine has been advertising on radio and billboards
recently. Its foundation is that it does not record your
I. P. Address, or surreptitiously place any cookies on
your hard drive. Subsequently, the search terms you entered will
not attract any ‘suggestions’ for future World-Wide Web
sites you may want to visit. (Because this can be gamed for good or
evil purposes.) It is also available on Tor.
Gibson Research Corp. (Steve Gibson) offers this site for
all computer users. I originally recommended this W-WW site for
its "Shields Up!" service, where you can securely test
your computer's shields and probe your computer's ports. There
are also other solid services for protecting your computer here,
as well as a weekly “Security Now!” program,
which has been around for sixteen years.
Woody is Woody Leonhard, but he is no longer in charge here.
He has retired, moved to Thailand, and placed Susan Bradley in
his stead. S. Bradley has also inheirited his World-Wide Web
presence at Computerworld.com. There is a forum
affiliated with this weblog, to which I am registered, and I keenly
recommend. If your computer is running Windows® 7, and you want
to continue using it, a forum member here has written a script
which installs the Extended Service User security update patches
still being released monthly. (Windows® Update will inform you
it is end-of-life. You must download the updates separately via
www.catalog.update.microsoft.com.)
This site, maintained by Michael Horowitz, focuses on the
security of routers. It covers configuration changes to make a
router more secure, and picking a router that is more resilient
out of the box. If your router gets infected with malware, or
re-configured in a malicious way, most people would never know.
There is no antivirus for routers.
This is another W-WW site maintained by M. Horowitz. It is a
list, both of things to be aware of, and specific defensive steps
that we can take in response to the computer threats of 2021.
Neither of these two W-WW sites have ads (If an ad
appears on your screen, either your browser, computer, or router
has been infected.). Hardly anybody (besides me) links to them.
This is a World-Wide Web site which provides random passwords
which you can use on a particular W-WW site, or a .rar file. You can
choose between a weak, good, or strong password.
I have read reports that some Internet Service Providers have
begun configuring their provided DNS servers to deny access to
select World-Wide Web sites. This is a site which provides freely
available DNS servers, for both IPv4 and IPv6 connections, which
may be utilized instead of the censoring DNS server by the ISP.
Here is a contingent DNS server W-WW page for the above. It
claims to be checked continuously, and is available for
download in plain text, CSV, & JSON. I send you to the page
for the U.S.A. Other countries are available.
Spybot Search and Destroy is a program which digs deeply into
the workings of your computer to find (and eradicate) programs that
are stealthily tracking your W-WW surfing behavior. It is available
in 32 languages. This site has gone missing at times.
Freenet is a peer-to-peer network designed to allow the distribution
of information over the Internet in an efficient manner, without fear of
censorship. Freenet is completely decentralized, which means that it
cannot be attacked or blocked.
This is the first entry in a series in a weblog by Amy Gahran. It is
a superb series of articles about what you and I should do
when we encounter someone who, inadvertantly or advertantly, disrupts our
on-line experience. The short form is: Take a breather. But it also
classifies the disrupters, so that we can understand what he | she
ultimately wants.
From the forum affiliated with Ask Woody [c.v.], this URL has a
speech by Clay Shirky, given at the ETech conference in
April 2003 which sadly, astutely describes a problem still
affecting on-line fora, communities, and social media platforms.
Essentially, what he states is that World-Wide Web venues
need a constitution in order to be able to deal with the online
users who will perform uncivil acts there. I recommend
back-parsing to view and read all of C. Shirky's writings.
This is the W-WW-based free E-Mail service I recommend for new
accounts. I have an account here. It scans each complete email,
including attachments, for virii and spam. If a virus is found, it
is blocked at the gateway, and is not even allowed onto its
servers. It utilizes greylisting, public, and private block lists,
and the award-winning SpamAssassin to detect spam. If detected, it
is then discarded and will only appear in your spam folder if it
is potentially legitimate.
This is another World-Wide Web-based E-Mail provider. Its E-Mails
are encrypted end-to-end. It was founded in 2013 at the CERN research
facility. It is open source, and hosted in Switzerland. As such, it is
subject to that nation's strict privacy regulations. It is also
available on Tor at https://protonirockerxow.onion/
For some good news associated with Spring 2020,
SpamGourmet was revived. This is a free E-Mail
“proxy” service which you can use to protect
your real E-Mail address. The concept here is that when you
encounter a situation where you need to provide an E-Mail
address (a forum, an on-line travel price quote, someone who you
do not know), you give it a disposable E-Mail address
which, if you do not permit the sender, will die
after a limited number of E-Mails. Its largest drawback is
that an “anti-spam” software suite [e.g.: Barracuda]
may consider an E-Mail bearing a "spamgourmet.com" or
"xoxy.net" domain to be spam and bounce that
E-Mail with an "Address is not allowed to send E-Mail to
<recipient>." error message. The reality
is that spammers just sign up for a ‘burner’
E-Mail account from "gmail.com", "yahoo.com",
or "hotmail.com". If the “anti-spam” suite
bounced all the E-Mails with those domains, it would eliminate
~95% of all the E-Mails sent by anybody. [Too big to block?]
I have utilized SpamGourmet since May 2005. Since
then, I have never given out the direct address at
fastmail.com. In this span, SpamGourmet has eaten 52,399
spam E-Mails. “Anti-spam” software
corporations should be interrogated about their associations
with spammers.
Need an E-Mail address to attach to a music or video clip which you
are sharing (to comply with state law)? Or do you just want to avoid
being spammed when you register for a forum? One method is to use a
disposable E-Mail account. This site offers hundreds of companies which
will allow you to not use your primary E-Mail account. View its forum.
Frequently, as you surf the W-WW, you may encounter a URL which you
would like to refer into a forum, weblog, E-Mail message, or Twitter, but
which is so lengthy that cutting and pasting it will result in the URL
being extended beyond one line, or you running out of characters in your
text message. This is designed to correct that. It will snip the long
URL into a much shorter URL which serves as a seamless “gateway”
to it. If you tick the specific box here, it will count how many surfers
have clicked on it. Its hazard: A URL shortener can be used for
evil as well as good [i.e.: hiding affiliate codes, or standing in
for malware domains]. I certify to you that I shall always only use
them for good.
RingSurf offers easy access to thousands of member World-Wide Web
sites organized by related interests into easy-to-travel rings. If you
seek other persons who share your hobby, link here. RingSurf is
completely free and does not require you to identify yourself in order
to maintain a site thereupon.
This is an add-on for Firefox 57 and newer browsers.
Download it, restart Firefox and click on the button in the location
bar to enable it. Then, when you mouse over a character in Japanese,
a bubble will appear giving the definition of that character in
English. I submit that all erotica enthusiasts will need to
at least learn how to comprehend Japanese. Rikaichamp will help.
The World-Wide Web is truly universal, now that it has this
phenomenal service. This page will translate your designated text
into Pig Latin. You need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®.
This is the most amazing resource you shall ever find
on the World-Wide Web! The Internet Archive is a U.S.A.-based 501(c)(3)
public nonprofit that was founded to build an Internet library, with
the purpose of offering free and permanent access to historical digital
collections for researchers, historians, and scholars. I found my
“lost” Chicago POWER results and statistics pages archived
here, and there are a lot of Grateful Dead [c.v.] concerts as well.
You have probably heard about this. Wikipedia is the free on-line
encyclopedia which any registered user can edit. This is the main page
of the English-language section.
I have known about this Wiki-styled webpage since 2008, when it
released a caché of data about the questionable money-handling
procedures of multi-national banks. But you probably heard about
this thanks to the release of documents and cables collated by the
U.S.A. This is a very important resource for whistle-blowers
and investigative reporters, amongst others. I emphasize this:
DDoS attacks are bad. They should not be undertaken by
anybody against any W-WW site. Developers of internet
surveillance packages like to sell their software suites as the
“solution” to DDoS attacks. They are not - but
that claim increases their profits and puts more W-WW sites on the
wrong side of the privacy and anonymity border. The proponents
of legislation or regulation aimed at "rogue foreign
websites" may drape their argument with the cloak of
protecting “Intellectual Property”, but you should
realize that WikiLeaks would be one of the first W-WW sites
which would be attempted to be delisted and removed from DNS
registers!
It is one thing to go after multi-national banks. It is
another thing to go after republic nations. Going after
both will result in a massive cyberattack on both
the legal and “illegal” fronts. Twitter
[c.v.] prevented the term "#wikileaks" from
trending! [It can do this for any word or term it does not like.
It disables its counter for it.] You may have noticed
sentences have been deleted here. A cyberattack accomplished
something. Although what that was was quite dubious, it does
show that there are repressive persons who will go very
far to victimize persons, organizations, or corporations who
present vistas with which they contend. Censorship, or
terrorism, is never the best answer. It engenders a
“chilling effect” such that differing viewpoints are
not expressed. It lets repressive governments or agencies clamp
down harder, and intensify internet users' surveillance.
The best quote I have viewed about WikiLeaks: "When
exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you
are ruled by criminals."
I had difficulty determining where to place this link. Via the
Internet Archive [c.v.], this is the actual software program which
operated Data East | Bally®'s BurgerTime™
arcade game, originally released in 1982. This is my all-time
favorite video game. It runs only in Firefox (and Chrome®).
JavaScript must be enabled. It takes a medium amount of time to
completely load, but when it finishes, you do not need to remain
on-line in order to play it. After it completely loads [The
Copyright | Top Scores screen appears.], hit the ‘Tab’
key on your keyboard to access the game's DIP switches. You can
then change the game's settings for number of lives, at which point
level you earn another life, and giving you an additional Pepper
for completing each Stage. During game play, hitting the
"P" key pauses | resumes the game. (My highest score so
far = 261,500 [Stage 15].)
Twitter is a method by which to communicate rapidly with
other persons on its network. I am registered as
"pudgym29". All my interests are on display here.
Consequently, my followers tell me I am periodically
‘shadow-banned’ by Twitter, such that you must
type my full username in order to find me. I am not trying
to get any money from anybody else on Twitter, unlike quite a
number of other persons whose data is provided when a certain
search term is entered. I perceive Twitter does not really
appreciate me because I do not allow its advertisements to
appear on my timeline. Its hazard is you need to check who
has decided to follow you every time you logon. (I use
who.unfollowed.me to check this.) Spammers should be
reported (but Twitter is doing a solid job at deleting them
before they get too vast). People whose interests may be
diametrically opposed to yours (prevalently termed
“haters”), may also try to follow you for their own
nefarious purposes. Unfortunately, Twitter has become a
“minefield” with gangs (vigilanté and otherwise)
of World-Wide Web denizens surfing for Tweets and Tweeters they
can lambast on-line or cause real life problems for.
Blocking them on Twitter is ineffective because they can logoff,
and then read them. I could lock my Tweets, but then I would be
even less likely to be discovered here. Law enforcement
agencies are also observing Tweets, and according to reports,
maintaining 33.3% of the accounts. Never admit to
having committed, or desiring to commit, an “illegal”
act on Twitter! Even if it is something as mundane as,
"I did 40 MPH in a 30 zone." Believe me. When
a local law enforcement agency notices it {It might have been
directed to its attention by a Twitter gang.}, it will run
your name to your state's Department of Motor Vehicles to get
your vehicle's license plate, make, and model. On a future
episode of you driving, you will get pulled over and ticketed
for something [e.g.: ‘Changing lanes without
signalling’, ‘Not coming to a full stop at a
"STOP" sign’], and the citing officer ending
the exchange with the remark, "Gonna’ tweet this,
<your Twitter username>?".
Twitter now supports smilies, emoticons, and emoji. It is
available within Twitter, but for me [recall I am still on a v.92
connection], the display of it is slow each time I mouse over the
link. This is a distinct World-Wide Web page displaying all that
are extant. If you back-parse, other emoji and symbols are available.
GeoTweeter is a widget which enables you to provide a link
displaying a point on a map within the 140-character message
limitation on Twitter. It was produced by Grant McKenzie.
Saving Illinois History, One Story at a Time is a weblog
maintained by Neil Gale, Ph. D. He presents information in a
comprehensive, educational manner. Because of the images on many of
the blog entries, it may take a while to completely load.
This is the W-WW site of the U.S.A.'s most important voice on behalf
of individuals. You do not have to agree with all the positions it
supports in order to understand its importance. I deduce traffic to this
site is being monitored by any number of agencies and | or persons.
The EFF, one of whose founders was John Perry Barlow [R.I.P.],
is an organization promoting freedom of expression in digital media.
It is the leading civil liberties group defending your rights in the
digital world.
Free Speech Internet TV is the first audio | video hub on the
World-Wide Web created and defined by the people who use it. Free Speech
Internet TV's commitment is to offer services. It is available on
Dish Network® direct broadcast satellite (channel 9415).
This site will yield the ZIP + 4 ZIP Code for virtually any address
serviced by the United States Postal Service. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®.
Here is a good interactive site which will provide the exchange rate
between your home country and the recipient country. This displays U.S.
Dollar to Japanese Yen. You need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX® to
use this site.
This is Snopes. Since 1995, it has been a W-WW site which
debunks the mentioned topics. Before you forward that E-Mail, or
recirculate the URL which purports to disclose a life-changing message,
please check here.
Are you tired of getting mailings from banks offering you another
credit card, mortgage, or line-of-credit offer? This TLS W-WW site,
maintained by the U.S.A.'s “big four” credit reporting
bureaux, is where you can terminate receiving those offers in the mail.
This may not be 100% effective; because there are some financial
institutions which do not use the big four's services; but it should
significantly curtail the onslaught.
Across the U.S.A., some houses of religion are dabbling into
something expressly prohibited to them by the U. S.
Constitution: Partisan politics. This organization exposes which ones
are, and offers actions which can be taken to cease this.
The World-Wide Web has many sites on which miscreants are annotated.
Here's a site which identifies the miscreants whose “day jobs”
are being paid snitches for entrapping other individuals (who may not be
contemplating any “illegal” activity). It strives to be the
largest online database of informants and agents. There is also a forum
for which you may register.
Via the Tor Project [c.v.], this is a World-Wide Web site maintained
by the Cato Institute, a libertarian organization, documenting genuine
instances of when law enforcement personnel have abused their position
of authority. This W-WW site is detonating with current episodes.
This is a W-WW site espousing progressive ideas for dealing with
today's world. Subscribing to this magazine may result in you
being refused a U.S. Governmental security clearance (including
T.S.A. PreCheck®).
When DNAinfo ceased operation in November 2017, this
became where many of its reporters wound up. It is an online
newspaper that reports local and neighborhood news in Chicago.
It operates as a non-profit, subscription-based service. Its
mission is to deliver reliable, essential, and nonpartisan
coverage of Chicago's diverse neighborhoods.
Boing Boing is an aggregator of both blog postings and W-WW v2
websites across a vast spectrum of topics. It has been consistently
rated amongst the "Top 10" W-WW sites.
This is a comprehensive forum with many dedicated members which
should help you (and I) discern how to accomplish a particular quandary.
You need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®, and accept cookies to post
or respond here.
This is the World-Wide Web location of the U.S.A.'s most esteemed
organization rating products and services. (The magazine was first
published in May 1936.) It is a member of Consumers
International, a federation of more than 220 consumer
organizations from over 115 countries.
mySimon is a service of C.B.S. Interactive. It is a World-Wide
Web site which turns its shopping bots loose on the Internet to find
prices of items for which you are seeking. For something eminating
from a W-WW behemoth, it is quite good.
This W-WW site allows you to compare product prices across a
spectrum of on-line purveyors. It also has a keen forum where you
can learn about the sites surveyed herein, as well as technical
aspects of computing and the Internet.
Here is another W-WW site which compounds discount and free offers
on the Internet. The moderators of the Bidding For Travel forum [c.v.]
used to urge everybody to use this site's link to Priceline® to
submit their bids.
This was formerly Froogle™. It is a search engine which spiders
on-line catalogs. It supposedly accepts no funds to artificially elevate
a particular purveyor's placement in the results.
Groupon began as a side project of a progressive political
organization along the lines of Moveon.org. But its ability to
negotiate pricing deals with local restaurants, and stores, swiftly
overtook the original intent. You sign up with an E-Mail address in
order to access the site [It will send you a daily E-Mail.]. As for
the deals it has been able to purvey; I think they're very good. It
helps if you know someone with whom you can enjoy the deal. Most are
overwhelming for one person alone. I send you to the Chicago page.
This is an intermediary (now merged with Seamless) between
restaurants which shows all of them that deliver to you. It has a
network of thousands of delivery restaurants. After reading about
its fee collection percentage, and its ‘enrollment’
of restaurants who had not, and did not want to be listed on
it, I am less enthused by it. You may alternately search by
cuisine. You may order on-line, or by telephone. You need to turn
on JavaScript|ActiveX®, and accept cookies.
Craig's List began as a cooperative forum in San Francisco, CA.
It matured into an on-line campus compounding social and business
spheres, for communities across the U.S.A., and around the world. The
communities are on the right side of the screen. Despite the negative
coverage it has attracted from “mainstream” media, there are
solid deals and valuable services available here. I found somebody to
de-weed the back yard here at the abode via Craig's List. Craig's
List prefers you browse with Firefox.
This is the W-WW site of the financial institution in which an
amount of my funds are deposited. It has been in business since 1944.
(It moved to the corner of Belmont Ave. & Cicero Ave. in 1953.)
It is FDIC insured. It is a bank I can highly recommend to everyone
in metropolitan Chicago, especially those not wanting to entrust
their money to a multi-national corporation. It offers many banking
services for free; and has consultants who speak English, Spanish,
or Polish. It now offers a Visa® credit card with quite
reasonable terms. If you're looking to dump a national bank
credit card, inquire here.
This is Chicago's most astute forum discussing food, both
domestically and commercially. I am registered here. I recommend
doing so also. However, I must alert you that many other members
post images which take a lengthy time to completely load.
(Requires JavaScript|ActiveX® on, and cookies accepted.)
This is a phenomenal Google™ document produced
by the LTHF's [c.v.] member "eating while walking".
It displays thirteen variables about the italian beef shack where he
dined. Nine of the thirteen apply to the sandwich itself. He has been
to ninety-five shacks. For ‘E Giard Type’, Standard
equals serrano peppers, olives, celery, carrots, and cauliflower.
This is a World-Wide Web page with hundreds of pictures of
various courses of Chicago-styled foodstuffs. All foods on Grease
Freak appear exactly how they were intended to look by the folks who
prepared them. He does not touch-up the food to improve appearances.
The methodology: He orders, gets the food, shoots, and eats. He
does not claim to be an expert on fast food, but he is well aware of
the merits and pitfalls of Chicago's staple meals. He has eaten
countless winners and, all too often, some real stinkers that made
him physically ill. Because of all the images, sections of this site
will take a while to completely load.
This is a Google™ map constructed by me where I depict the
restaurants along the Chicago Transit Authority [c.v.] bus routes
#54 Cicero and #77 Belmont which I have visited in person and
bought food from there back to the abode.
This is a weblog maintained by somebody who may be associated
with a barbecue joint. But he does not limit himself to posts
about B-B-Q. He began this weblog in September 2008 (His initial
blog post was the day after my mom [R.I.P.] had her first
stroke.). But I did not learn about this until a Google™ map
he compiled about venues in Tokyo, Japan [c.v.] turned up
on another foodie weblog.
This is a national food, beverage, and venue collator, similar
to the Little Three Happiness Forum [c.v.]. I send you to the Chicago
branch of the operation.
This is a W-WW weblog run by a former librarian. Since 2017, it
has been revised to provide more general thrifting topics. I
honestly cannot recommend it as much as I did formerly. But it still
provides enough valuable data to remain on here. On Saturday
[‘Caturday’], she posts an entry featuring her cats.
This is a side project by Mashup Mom [c.v.]. It orbits
around the sales at Aldi®, the discount grocery store now
extending across the U.S.A. She concludes that Aldi® should be
the first grocer where to shop.
This is along the lines of Craig's List, but featuring registered
users relating experiences in a spectrum of products and services,
and local flavor. Should you wish to register (which is required to
post), you need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®. My reviews begin
at http://snipr.com/yelp1. The bloom of Yelp's rose is
long gone. It has reached critical mass, which also means it has
attracted a solid percentage of users whose reviews are tainted, and
should not be relied upon. There was also the matter of a
lawsuit alleging that Yelp skewed the display of a venue's reviews to
put a “negative” one atop the list, and shadowing all the
“positive” reviews. This lawsuit was thrown out with
prejudice due to First Amendment “freedom of expression”
grounds! (A venue or service is not entitled to only
“positive” reviews). Regardless, Yelp would then
solicit the venue to become a Yelp sponsor. In other words, this is
an on-line version of the old syndicate “protection” [|
extortion] racket. ("Nice little place you got here. It would
be horrible if something bad was to happen. We can help you
minimize that, for a small fee.") People are definitely
trying to game it. It would not stun me to find out that some
‘persons’ giving one-star ratings to dining and drinking
venues are actually "Sockpuppet" accounts from
a competing venue, and the one-star ratings for transportation
stations are covertly backed by taxi or rideshare operators, or
work for automobile dealers. I was a mainframe computer
programmer. I know how simple it would be to compose an algorithm
which would do what some service owners and providers allege is
happening. [Two variables. Yelp sponsor: 0 = non-sponsor,
1 = sponsor. Yelp Sort review order: 0 =
ascending, 1 = descending.] My reviews were real.
I tended to give venues the benefit of the doubt. But when the
venue was a poor value for the money, I mentioned that. (My most
infamous review? I gave the Superdawg Drive-In a
3-star rating because I felt it was selling the
‘sizzle’ [its atmosphere], rather than the
‘steak’ [its food]. However, you should also see
my review of a since-closed brewpub on west Division St.
named Moonshine noting what I scribed about its clientele
back in 2008.) I send you directly to the TLS page where you
logon. I leave this on here, but realize I have not logged on
to it since June 2012. I always suspected my reviews were
filtered or not shown. I am certain were I to logon and review a
venue now, you would never see it.
I have ordered books from Edward R. Hamilton, of Falls Village,
CT., for over 30 years. It started out as a remaindered-only, mail
order company. It keeps its prices low by not accepting credit cards or
doing any billing. The ultimate payoff is at the conclusion. It charges
only $3.50 for postage and handling, regardless of the number
of books which you order.
Here is an advertising-supported World-Wide Web site comparing
residential and business VoIP providers. It is maintained by
Slashdot Media. In North America, the telephone number you
dial to learn who is your default long distance carrier for that
line is 1-700-555-4141.
This W-WW site has completely revamped. It now is a purveyor of
uncensored Usenet access. Rates are $12.00 | month, or $99.00 | year.
Data downloads are capped at 635 GB | month. The service is offered
in six languages. It is registered to somebody in, and hosted in
Germany, but its corporate headquarters are in San Marino.
This is a World-Wide Web site featuring the funniest, cutest, and
some very amazing cat pictures. If you opt to register, you may also
rate the pictures.
Here's a good W-WW site with lots of information and resources
for cat lovers. You can even obtain a semi-anonymous E-Mail account
ending in "@i-love-cats.com" (which would probably
be bounced by Barracuda).
I have modified all of my links to proxy judges and
environmental checkers with the href.li [c.v.] link
anonymizer referrer. This will allow you to click on these
URLs and not be declassed in the result by the HTTP_REFERER
{sic} variable. All the proxy judges to which I link
are version 2.35. AnonyLevel 1 is the most secure. What is
most important is whether your actual Internet Protocol
[I. P.] Address is displayed anywhere on
the output screen. If you know of any more version 2.35
proxy judges, please E-Mail me. This is a
numeric I. P. Address judge. Text has been
removed. There are no more CoDeeN | PlanetLab proxies.
In all modern browsers, the HTTP_DNT [Do Not Track]
variable, when implemented, lowers a Level 1 or Level 2
[“elite”] proxy into Level 3 or Level 4. If you
investigate "about:config", you can toggle
“noscript.doNotTrack.enabled” to false to
re-raise your level. There is a browser variable,
HTTP_UPGRADE_INSECURE_REQUESTS, which appears to be a solid
privacy measure, but it will lower an “elite” proxy
into Level 3 or Level 4; and I cannot deduce how you could
reset this value. Suffice that as long as your I. P.
Address does not appear on the result page when you
test your proxy - it is a servicable proxy. You need
check your proxy against only one of these judges.
Due to the Tor Project [c.v.], browser-based anonymous
proxies now stay active much longer than they did
previously. If you search for proxy judges via
Google™, clicking on "Cached" on the
result screen will show you the information about the bot(s)
Google™ uses to spider the World-Wide Web. [white on
pale blue] [pops.midi.co.jp]
The CGI code which was used to create these proxy judges was scribed
by someone in Japan. Proxy judges consume a goodly amount of CPU time on
a server. If a series of judge requests occur, it slows the response
time for other W-WW pages hosted thereupon. This is another reason
webhosts prohibit them. [white on pale blue]
I have added environment checkers here. All are version 1.04, and
black on white. The presumption is that they are just as accurate as
determining whether you are anonymous as a cgi-bin proxy judge, but are
not as intensive a use of CPU time on a host server. This URL did not
resolve numerically.
Anonym.to began interjecting a Google™ URL into its
anonymizer; such that it would appear Google™ was the referrer.
I have replaced it with href.li, which does not. This is an
interstitial screen which is useful when you want to visit, or send
traffic to, a World-Wide Web site which you do not want the site
to know from where it was linked. It can be used dynamically by
prefacing the "http://" in the destination URL [and you
must include the destination URL's "http://" in your
text] with "href.li/?".
This was formerly Samair.ru. It was restored because its webmaster
elected to no longer hold proxies hostage. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX® to view the port numbers of the proxies. I
have resorted the order of the W-WW sites which offer lists of
anonymous proxies. A WHOIS link for each proxy is also included. Why should you configure an anonymous proxy in your W-WW browser? A vocal minority always claims that you must be doing
something “illegal” if you prefer to remain anonymous. There
will always be those who abuse certain privileges or liberties, but
those few cannot be allowed to ruin an entitlement for the overwhelming
percentage of people who do not abuse it. There are many factors
why privacy is important. First: There are repressive governments that
forbid access to certain sites, censor the World-Wide Web, and then
monitor users who show interest in particular topics. Second: There are
people who want to tell the truth without fear of repercussion, such as
corporate whistle-blowers and bloggers. Third: There are intelligence
needs, in both corporate and government sectors. Fourth: An on-line
stalker could pinpoint the precise community where his | her prey
resides by deciphering that user's I. P. Address. (Many
internet service providers in the U.S.A., in particular cable television
corporations, put their host server's city and state in the
REMOTE_HOST variable. Many broadband internet users never change
their I. P. Address, usually because they do not know
how.) Finally: We live in an age where our personal and
private data, including names, identity characteristics, telephone
numbers, dates of birth, credit reports, buying habits, demographics,
and surfing tendencies are traded like commodities. When I
want to let a W-WW site know who and from where I am, I disengage the
anonymous proxy. Otherwise, it is not entitled to that information.
This is the first page of the NewNet Time Group's HTTP proxies. It may
remain affiliated with Samair.ru. They are in order of the most recently
checked. A reasonable guess is made of its country of location (which is
not always accurate). You need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®.
This is the proxy list portion of an anonymity W-WW site. You can
search for proxies on a spectrum of variables. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®.
I found this W-WW proxy site through Dmoz.org. It is sorted by
latency, and has a dynamic function which you can use to refine your
proxy selection. A column identifies if the proxy supports TLS. It is
available in six languages. Our webmaster is still trying to
get you to purchase a private proxy list from him. But he is
being more low-key about it. First of all: It is wrong to
try and charge for something which is available elsewhere for free.
Secondly: It is difficult to remain anonymous when purchasing
something on-line. If you actually used Paypal™
to pay for a list of proxies, when a governmental agency, or private
organization subpoenas Paypal™, it will demand
the credit card numbers associated with the accounts.
Paypal™ will provide that to it. Credit
card numbers lead directly to your front door. So much for
“anonymity”.
This is a Japanese World-Wide Web site which tests a bunch of
proxies every hour. Its hazard is it doesn't let you know in which
country each proxy is hosted. It is one matter to have a proxy
from a specific country. However, if the proxy in that country is
registered to (for example) an elementary or middle school;
or the R.I.A.A. or M.P.A.A. [these are referred to as
"honeypot" proxies]; you will still be filtered from some
W-WW sites, and monitored wherever you surf. I would discard that
proxy and test the next one on the list.
This is a collator of proxies which I wrote down in a text file
and then forget to look at later. There are numerous options for
obtaining browser-based proxy servers here. I send you to the
anonymous free proxy wing. Our webmaster also offers a
private proxy list for sale, but I discommend that. You need to
turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®.
If you are interested in a VPN, this World-Wide Web site displays
the most frequently selected providers. It is searchable on several
variables. The most significant aspect to selecting a VPN is in
which country is it hosted; considering how difficult it is for
an agency to compel the VPN provider to release identifing information
about a user. Because, if you use a credit card to obtain a VPN, that
VPN would have to provide your identification to the inquiring
operation. So a VPN is not entirely anonymous. This W-WW site
takes a while to completely load.
Here is a comprehensive World-Wide Web site with detail on
how to maintain a level of privacy on the Internet. The digest
is: Avoid W-WW privacy services (including VPN providers)
hosted in the ‘Five Eyes’ countries: Australia, Canada,
New Zealand, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom.
While laws exist prohibiting each country from spying on its
own residents, these five countries swap information amongst
themselves - i.e.: If the U.S.A. wants to investigate a U.S.
resident, it remits the name of that person to the surveillence
agency of one of the other four countries, utilizing the
magic passphrase "terrorist",
"child abuser", or "copyright violator", and
subsequently gets the data. Some people feel the Second
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is under siege. It is the
Fourth Amendment dying by a thousand cuts with any
number of non-U.S. governmental agencies, and corporations
achieving the ‘unreasonable’ searches.
This World-Wide Web site has modified to provide users with
information and services relating to Internet anonymity. This
encompasses free online anonymizers | proxy service, as well as
Virtual Privacy Network (VPN) providers.
Here is an excellent site giving specific, detailed information (in
two URLs) on how to make yourself less visible to World-Wide Web sites,
Usenet newsgroups, and E-Mail address harvesters, while still browsing,
lurking, and contributing. The digest version: Disable both Java
and JavaScript|ActiveX®.
The Tor Project is free software, and an open network that
helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that
threatens personal freedom and privacy, amongst other things.
It is free and open source. It works only with the
Firefox W-WW browser because other browsers are not open
source, and thus, could hide some monitoring code within.
I recommend downloading the Tor Browser Bundle module. I
also keenly suggest that you use a separate version
of Firefox for Tor surfing than when you are not Tor surfing.
The situation with WikiLeaks [c.v.] shows that the genuine
“censors” on the World-Wide Web are not merely
governments, but corporations (server hosts and payment
processing services). Tor will increase its influence due to
their throttling actions.
I now include PHP and Glype proxies. This is a World-Wide Web
page which collates current W-WW based proxies. The output can be
further refined by the type of proxy, its host country, et cetera.
These proxies bypass most W-WW filters which attempt to keep
you from accessing any number of W-WW sites which somebody deems
“non-essential”. I have not been able to deduce
how you can get to pages beyond the first one.
Beer Me!™ is a W-WW beer site maintained by Richard
Stueven, who is a brewmaster at the Gottberg Brew Pub in Columbus,
Nebraska. This site is the most complete source of brewery and beer
information available on the Internet.
The concept behind this W-WW site is that beer can be so much more
distinctive than the industrial megabrews excessively advertised on
television. Taste these. Your perception will be altered (for the better).
If you collect beer coasters, labels, crowns, neon signs,
glasses or steins, bottles, or cans, or are interested in the
history of breweries, join the A.B.A. I am member #1727. The
Association has merged with the East Coast Breweriana Association.
The 2020 A.B.A. Convention was cancelled due to the COVID-19
pandemic. It has been rescheduled for the same locale (Mars, PA.)
on 8-13 June 2021. However, I doubt it will occur then.
This was formerly the Brewers' Association [link]. The BA has
become big enough that it has to lay off people when its
finances wither {oops} now needs multiple W-WW sites for
each wing. This is the wing aimed at people who are not
necessarily homebrewers, but enjoy savoring craft beers, either
on- or off-premise. The 2021 Homebrewers Conference has been
tentatively scheduled for 17-19 June in San Diego, CA. This has
not yet been cancelled, but it likely shall. However, the BA has
proffered a potential Craft Brewers Conference® in Denver,
CO. for 9-12 September. I continue to encourage you
to join the American Homebrewers' Association to take advantage
of the "A.H.A. Member Deals" program.
(You can still join the A.H.A., but it is clearly going to be a
while before any venues provide any ‘deals’.)
This is a WordPress® weblog maintained by Joel and Jeremy. Its
goal is to enhance the community of craft beer enthusiasts so that more
people get to experience great beer and the people who make it. It aims
to be the definitive online resource for locating breweries that craft
beer drinkers love.
Ale Street News, by Tony Forder & Jack Babin, has been
around since 1992. It is now on-line only. It is centered upon
the northeast and the east coast, but includes coverage of
beerworthy events worldwide. There is also a forum for which
you may register.
This is a weblog of Mark McDermott. It orbits around the craft
beer scene in metropolitan Chicago. You may also follow him on
Twitter as "heymcdermott".
This is a dynamic W-WW page which currently attempts to denote
which beers are available at both on-premise and off-premise venues
in numerous U.S.A. cities. Alcohol by Volume (abv) levels and prices
for each are annotated. Beers and breweries may be sought. I send you
directly to the Chicago main page. If you register, which I recommend
[requires JavaScript|ActiveX® enabled, and cookies accepted], it
allows you to make tasting notes for each beer you have. There is
also a forum here. You may follow it on Twitter as
"beermenus".
I love close-ups. Here are some close-ups you would not expect to view.
This site features photographs taken through an optical microscope of some
of the world's most famous beers.
This is the World-Wide Web gateway to Jason & Todd Alström's
network which strives to give beer consumers a voice; provide beer
education; empower consumers to learn, share, and advocate; rally
to support the beer industry; and put the respect back into beer.
It remains semi-independent, having been merged with the corporation
that owns Untappd (compare to ratebeer.com, which
is now fully owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev via its ZX Ventures
Corporation, and may be biased against certain beers, breweries, and
its members who will comment about this, or flood the service with
"Sockpuppet" accounts rating its “impostor”
craft beer brands highly). There is a forum here in which you may be
interested, and which I recommend (requires JavaScript|ActiveX®
should you want to register and post).
This is a weblog depicting itself as "the blog that is of,
by, and for, the beer lovers". It is here for its post about
the list of “impostor” craft beer brands: Those trying to
benefit from the power of craft beer, even though they are aligned
with the forces who are trying to tear it down.
This is a craft beer weblog whose mission is to serve beer.
It does that in a variety of ways: Through partnerships and
collaborations, strategic, and creative work. But its most
visible, and arguably most important service, is through the
stories told. I particularly recommend downloading and
listening to its podcasts.
This is Lew Bryson's weblog. Lew has scribed, and been
published, about licensed beverages since 1996. This blog began in
2007, was massive throughout 2010, and has had spells of activity
and inactivity since then. It was on an upswing of posts because
of his latest book, "Whiskey Master Class", released in
February 2020. But COVID-19 has also valetudinarily afflicted this
bustle. {Lew just posted for the first time since then.}
However, the older posts are communicative. You may also wish to
check an affiliated weblog urging the abolition of the
Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
This is the World-Wide Web site of the legendary Homebrew Digest
E-Mail list. It is a U.S.A.-based 501(c)(3) educational charity
maintained by Pat Babcock & Karl Lutzen. If you prowl its
archives, you can find here one of my first ever E-Mail messages,
sent to here back in July 1994. (When I was using a
Commodore 64 on an Amiga BBS.) I break out of the frame for you.
The Chicago Beer Society has been around for forty years.
In this span, the universe of beer has greatly transformed (and it
may be transforming again); and much of that transformation can be
traced directly to its members. It is an organization for both
homebrewers and beer enthusiasts with events occurring every
month in the metropolitan Chicago area (not until the
COVID-19 pandemic is deemed ‘manageable’).
Here is the first draft of a wiki-styled page which will
purportedly collate all the frequently asked questions sent to the
Chicago Beer Society [c.v.] E-Mail listserv; so that the same
query does not have to be made again.
This organization was founded in December 2010. Its mission is to
inform craft beer geeks about the events and locations around the city
and surrounding suburbs. You may also follow it on Twitter as
"chibeergeeks". The main beer geek is Black. There has
not been a post to this weblog in some time. I leave this on here
because I expect a response to what has occurred since June 2020.
This is a weblog of a Black female married to the above
mentioned beer geek. She provides a significant vista about
how to expand the community of craft beer drinkers to be more
diverse. Although, on a Beervana podcast, she did not
mention a number of Chicago craft breweries near her abode in
Rogers Park. She also has her own podcast, which tends to have
a new episode monthly.
These are the breweries (and area) about which Afro Beer Chick
[c.v.] did not swiftly recall when the Beervana podcast asked
about the breweries near her. It is a project by the Greater
Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce. I have been to all these breweries;
although one closed down (for reasons not directly attributable to
brewing), another changed its name (due to negative connotations
about that), and a third has only opened for special events, of
which there were not any in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All the venues which were on here have been
shadowed until such time as the COVID-19 pandemic is deemed
‘manageable’.
This Chicago production brewery is the undertaking of Tracy and
Doug Hurst. It is dedicated to brewing lagers, and to a lesser extent,
other Germanic styles, which have been under-represented in the craft
beer movement. (Ales can be brewed and released quicker, which can
be more important to the finances of the craft brewery.) I love its
Dynamo Copper Lager. It is also the brewery producing
Seipp's Extra Pale Pre-prohibition Pilsner. The brewery
is now at 3057 N. Rockwell St. in Chicago. It is being
threatened by its landlord who allegedly inflated the size of the
space it was leasing in order to charge it more money. It is
one of the very few breweries willing to comment publicly when it
seemingly loses a tap handle at a venue or shelf space at a
package store due to some behind-the-scenes machination
(such as a distributor informing a venue if it wants a
“Whale” beer it handles [Let's call it “Bourbon
Co.”.], it should replace a Metropolitan tap handle or shelf
space with another non-“Whale” beer it handles
[Let's call it “Mic. Ult.”.]). This is “illegal”
in Illinois (and pretty much every other U.S. state). But because of
the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild's refusal to take a public stand on
this issue (unlike most other states' craft brewing guilds),
Metropolitan is no longer a member of the ICBG.
This is a brewery with a taproom on the north side of Chicago, @
Foster and Ravenswood. It is devoted to scientific advancement of the
brewing process. This is one of the metropolitan Chicago
breweries with feral cats prowling the brewhouse for vermin.
You may also follow it on Twitter as "empiricalbrew".
This brewery brews a spectrum of beers, with emphasis on sour
beers and beers deliberately infected with brettanomyces. It desires
to open a taproom in a former Chicago Fire Department station at 4841
N. Lipps Ave. (near the Jefferson Park Transit Center). You may also
follow it on Twitter as "lakeeffect_llc". (It
is no longer the closest brewery to the abode. That virtue now
pertains to Aleman Brwg. on N. Knox St.)
Here is a brewery with an amazing story. Its proprietors, Beejay
Oslon and Gerrit Lewis, met while working at a Chicago package liquor
store. They went to Belgium and worked at the De Struise Brewery. When
they returned to Chicago, U.S.A., they formulated a business plan. But
it ultimately hinged on a Kickstarter project. It raised its goal. Its
main production brewery is at 3912 W. McLean Ave. (Near Pulaski and
Armitage). It might open a taproom at California and Logan Blvd.
You may also follow it on Twitter as "pipeworksbrewin"
{Twitter doesn't allow a longer nickname - it should have used
"brwg"}.
This brewery finally got a regular World-Wide Web page. (I am not
on Facebook, and you could not give me money to make
me sign up for Facebook.) The brewery, and its
adjacent tap room, is on N. Lincoln Ave., between Irving Park Rd.
and Montrose Ave. It offers its main beers in 16-oz. and 12-oz. cans.
Its main production brewery is at 2010 W. Balmoral Ave. You may also
follow it on Twitter as "halfacrebeer" {doh}.
This is a brewery which was founded in 2012. Its taproom @ 2024
W. Balmoral Ave. in Chicago is next door to Half Acre's main
brewery. Its beers originally had snarky brand names. My favorite
beer from it is God Damn Pigeon Porter. You may also follow it
on Twitter as "spitefulbrewing" {doh}.
Dovetail is a brewery that is very close to the Brown Line
“L”'s Irving Park station, as well as Begyle Brwg. [c.v.]
Its goal is to produce beer of the highest quality similar to the
level of craftsmanship found in fine woodworking. It merges
continental European styles and techniques with American creativity
to produce the kind of beers found in small, family-run breweries
in Europe. Dovetail's reputation has been spreading world-wide.
You may also follow it on Twitter as
"dovetailbrewchi".
Here is a community supported brewery with a tap room.
It wanted to use the name "Argyle", but was
delivered a “cease and desist” order from Japan's
Kirin Brewery conglomerate citing its use as a wine
brand it was offering (I've learned this is a winery in Oregon.).
You may also follow it on Twitter as "begylebrewing".
Here is the W-WW site of one of my favorite regional breweries.
This is the second-oldest brewery still operating in the U.S.A.
It is now owned by a Canadian corporation which has introduced some
intriguing ‘bridge’ beers to its house brands [Huber Bock,
Rhinelander]. Many of its beers can be found at Trader Joe's markets.
There is also a distillery and a winery in Monroe. WI. This page also
has data about its brewery and taproom in Calgary, Alberta.
My favorite Milwaukee brewery is Russ and Jim Klisch's Lakefront
Brwy. I especially like Eastside Dark. Its brewery tour {if
and when it resumes} is well-acclaimed. It is located on
Commerce St., northeast of downtown. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®.
The August Schell Brewing Company has been operating in New Ulm,
MN. since 1860. It brews some of the finest beers in the
entire U.S.A. It is the prime example why small, regional breweries
which also devote part of their production capacities to
"contract beers" must not be allowed to go out of business.
I will do everything I can to ensure that this does not happen. But it no longer distributes to Chicago. (It is available in
central Illinois.)
This is the long name of the Schlafly Brewpub, St. Louis' largest
American-owned brewery. When I visit St. Louis, I wind up
spending some time at one of its two locations (The brewpub near
downtown, or the Bottleworks in Maplewood.). I love its beers;
I agree with most of the viewpoints expressed by Tom Schlafly; and
this World-Wide Web site regularly makes me smile and chuckle.
Quimby's is Chicago's most comprehensive zine store. Many of the
zines which I read are obtained here. It mails zines within the U.S.A.
(International postage rates are now exorbitant.)
These are the “Berne Convention purveyors” to which I
refer on my "Adult-Oriented" bookmark page. Here is an
organization which manages to scarf up rare, out-of-print, and
lost ‘cult’ videos on DVD. Its prices are low.
Cinefear is Keith J. Crocker's video service, orbiting around
1960s and 1970s horror and exploitation movies, both from the
U.S.A. and internationally. "Exploitation Journal"
was dedicated to the serious study of it. Issues of it are being
presented @ cinefear.blogspot.com. Keith J.'s most
recent movie was "Blitzkrieg: Escape From Stalag 69".
Video Screams is a members only archival and transfer
service offering rare, hard-to-find, and out-of-print films from all
over the globe. It specializes in obscure horror, gore, sci-fi,
schlock, and just plain bizarre movies, on both videocassette and
DVD. Collectable books, posters, and pressbooks are also
available. If you noticed; DMCA actions have caused a clutch of
these purveyors to cease business. But very few of the movies they
offered were actually in a true release by the property rights
holder. {These purveyors offered movies on demand. Now the
majors offer movies on demand for the features on which they
feel they would lose money putting out as a DVD or Blu-Ray®.
Guess who created the market for their movies on demand?}
This is the organization which defends illustrators of comic
books (or graphic novels) and the stores which sell them. Some
judges and juries have convicted comic book store owners for
selling a comic book labelled for "adults only" to an
adult.(!) More recently, individuals have been indicted for
possessing illustrations (hand-drawn or computer-generated)
of an ‘underage’ person in a sexual situation. If
the idea is to prohibit objects which can be used to try to
convince a real-life ‘underage’ person to commit a lewd
act, it would seem you also need to restrict or criminalize
chocolate, soda, bubble gum, and ice cream. ("Hey little
girl, want some candy?") Is barring illustrations really
effective? I can't envision Hershey, Nestlé, Coca-Cola,
and Pepsi allowing their products to be so circumscribed.
{Oops! The epidemic of obesity and diabetes in the U.S.A.
is having an effect on the sales and marketing of sugar-sweetened
beverages, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi, especially to juveniles.
Many authorities are imposing a tax on those beverages.
Consumer Reports [c.v.] is on record that weaning people
off sugar-sweetened beverages will dictate an effort similar to
that used to minimize cigarette consumption.}
Steven Puchalski's "Shock Cinema" website.
"Shock Cinema" is a zine, published four times a year,
which reviews some of the most bizarre, illusive films ever made. It is
a superb read. I recommend subscribing to it ($20 for four issues).
"Cashiers du Cinemart" is a movie review
zine published by Mike White. His newest book, "Short Takes: Mad
Movies with the L. A. Connection", is now available
from BearManor Media. Mike has restarted the CduC zine. View
articles from prior issues here.
This is a podcast hosted by the above-mentioned Mike White. I have
linked to Mike's CduC W-WW page for years, but he never mentioned
this W-WW site there. TPB is a comprehensive W-WW site exploring
movies. The podcasts are interviews of people involved with that
week's movie, or in the case of vintage movies, those who
re-introduced people to them.
I had difficulty determining where to place this link. I
elected to choose here because it links to podcasts in all
genrés, not merely craft beer, which is what I have been
downloading. Additional facilities are available if you
register here. I am registered here. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX® to fully utilize this site.
Screem Magazine is a print magazine orbiting around horror movies,
although it sways into other genrés. Darryl Mayeski is the editor.
I subscribe to this magazine, and can recommend you doing so. ($36 for
four issues)
Cinema Treasures is the world's largest guide to movie theaters.
It is passionate about movie theaters, and going to the movies. It
strives to be a comprehensive guide to movie theaters. This includes
current theaters, and countless numbers of defunct theaters,
including those which at some point in their life showed explicit
erotica. (You may be surprised how many of them did.) It has
been on-line since 2000. However, the "news" section
has not effectively been updated since September 2017.
This is a weblog by Dave B. He is a ‘film geek’. His
mission was to view and report on 2,500 movies on DVD.
He began in 2010, and finally finished! He resumed reporting in March
2019. He views all genrés, including some which would go
on my adult bookmark page. [Some images may be NSFW.] He is a co-host
of two movie podcasts. You may also follow him on Twitter as
"dvdinfatuation" {doh}.
While looking up data on a “B”-movie, I landed on this
weblog page. Our bloggess is a transitioning Canadian
{male-to-}female residing in Toronto, ONT. She has reviewed quite a
number of movies, in a manner similar to that of DVD Infatuation
[c.v.]. But this is only part of the story. Not including
Instagram® and | or Flickr®, she follows one hundred
& fifty-seven other movie weblogs. {Click through to her
profile to view them.} Unfortunately, she has not blogged
since February 2019. I leave this on here because of all the other
movie weblog links.
This is a movie weblog with a roster of persons, including Greg
Goodsell, reviewing contemporary DVD (and BluRay®) releases of
previously-issued movies. The reviews are thorough. You may also
follow it on Twitter as "cinheadcheese".
This is a movie weblog by somebody who grew up in the Toledo,
OH. area in the 1970s. It is mainly a blog about interesting films
through the years with some background information about them.
While I went to indoor theaters [“hardtops”] looking for
erotic presentations, he went to a bunch of drive-ins in both
Toledo and Detroit, MI., mainly in the early 1980s, and saw just
about anything. He has enriched his blog posts with newspaper
listings showing where the movies played. He takes breaks from
here to concentrate on other social media W-WW sites.
Many movies on DVD have been released and re-released by a number
of producers with a variance of how it was reproduced. This
key World-Wide Web site enables a poster to display the difference
between two releases. You may post by file upload or by URL.
This is a useful W-WW site with numerous files of subtitles of
movies and television shows in a spectrum of languages which can be
loaded into your media player.
This W-WW site has a dual orbit. It promotes a twice-annual movie
and memorabilia exposition by Ken & Pam Kish, in
Strongsville, OH. [a suburb of Cleveland]; of which I have attended a
bunch, and always had an intriguing experience. Ken states when
COVID-19 is deemed ‘manageable’, there will be another
Wasteland exposition. Its other orbit is the sales of DVDs, posters,
and trading cards of movies, at prices lower than other purveyors.
This is where Jon Kitley expounds on horror movies. He has gotten
quite deep into this. He is a staff writer for
"HorrorHound" magazine. He won a Rondo Award
for that. His newest book is "Discover The Horror".
He seeks to educate, expand, and entertain his browsers' knowledge of
the horror genré. He lives in Aurora, IL. He also works the
“B”-movie exposition circuit. This page has a frame.
I should not have to explain too much about this troupe. So I won't.
This World-Wide Web site is comprehensive, accurate, and
includes the dead parrotloony.
Have I mentioned I am the chairperson of the Chicago chapter of the
"Society For Putting Things On Top Of Other Things"?
This is an absolutely comprehensive clearinghouse of the animated
television show "The Simpsons". This site has guides,
news, and information. It is where to head if you have any queries.
This is the on-line component of the eclectic, entertaining, and
informational print magazine "Vice". I was unsure if
it should be here, or on an adult bookmark page. A rubric here is
NSFW, but the majority of the material places it on this page.
The page checks a browser variable to direct you to a specific
language's version thereof.
The Music Box Theatre on Chicago's north side is one which is not
afraid to show films which have bypassed the Motion Picture Association
of America's rating system. With the increasing concentration of
ownership of movie theatres by large corporate entities, theatres like
the Music Box are very important.
Mr. Lloyd Kaufman, the President of Troma, has been involved
in filmmaking-on-the-cheap, for over forty years. Check this W-WW
site regularly for new releases and specials. Net
Neutrality is again an issue for the Internet; but the battle
has also encountered a threat from mega-entertainment media
conglomerates like Sony, Disney, and Universal to enact
legislation in the U.S.A. and enact secret treaties
in other countries, which would effectively lock down creative
endeavors in the visual arts solely to the output from these
mega-entertainment media conglomerates. {There would be
‘cease and desist’ and Internet takedown orders if one
of the megas felt an independent media project infringed on its
copyright. The independent media project's producer would have to
spend more of its time and its limited funds defending itself in
a courtroom than in making and presenting the media. So the
independent media would not be released, and the megas would
retain their 99% share of the market, which is their main intent.
An example: In 1999, Lloyd was interviewed on MTV News.
In 2019, Troma uploaded the segment to its own YouTube®
channel. The owner of MTV, Viacom®, reacted to this by having
Troma's entire YouTube® channel taken offline!}
Frankly, copyrights need to expire at some point. They have been
manipulated into eternal cash cows for entities only
tangentially responsible for them, not the original individual(s)
who created them.
This is a superb W-WW site which was personally recommended to me
one Saturday evening at the Twisted Spoke. It is a repository of
posters and lobby cards for a vast spectrum of motion pictures. It
has special sections for selected movies and performers.
JavaScript|ActiveX® is needed if you wish to use the 'Search'
function. Because of all the graphics, sections of this site will
take a while to completely load.
Live Journal was dumped back in 2007 for
capitulating to a gang of vigilantés; effectively turning a cold
shoulder to free expression on the World-Wide Web. The underlying
reason: The “bean-counters” hoping for a buyout of the
corporation figured whomever took over would not be able to place
advertisements on Live Journal pages where a
weblogger expressed controversial viewpoints. It
“solved” the problem by "permanently
suspending" the webloggers expressing those controversial
viewpoints. (Having a Paid or Permanent Account did not save them.
If anything; since Live Journal knows it will never
get another dollar from a Permanent Account holder, it has every
incentive to find an excuse to get rid of that account.) This
is Insane Journal, another weblog service utilizing the Xanga
interactive free source software. "Squeaky", the major
domo behind Insane Journal, has gone on record that he will only
remove content from a person's weblog if he is presented with a
genuine order from a legal entity.
This has good technical information on setting up your computer
(regardless of operating system) to use the software. The links along
the left side of the screen contain additional information.
Hash House Harriers are people who compete in a foot rally, and whom
afterward consume lots of beer and comeraderie. They are "The
drinking club with a running problem."
You don't need a fancy HTML (HyperText Markup Language) suite to
write HTML. This is where I learned HTML. The instructions are
available in twenty-four languages. All my pages are maintained using
regular, old "WordPad®", and utilize the commands
included here.
Here is a Wikipedia page describing W-WW colors. It includes charts
of X11 and “web-safe” colors, and a depiction how
some of these colors differ in the CSS color scheme.
If you do not need a nearly-infinite color selection, this URL
illustrates the 390 non-dithering colors which adhere to HTML in
their hexadecimal codes. A link to a more expansive color chart is
also present here.
W3 Schools is a compendium of values and commands which can be used
in HTML and CSS World-Wide Web pages. This sends you to the main page
for colors. Back-parse for more computer languages.
These three URLs were found in moonsliver's Insane Journal [c.v.].
This is an interactive page (requires JavaScript|ActiveX® on) which
outputs the color value (a 216-color webmaster's palette) in both RGB
and hexidecimal. There are four frames on this page.
This is a weblog and forum where designers, both on-line and off,
experiment and present color tableus and palettes. It strives to be a
resource that monitors and influences color trends.
This W-WW site helps one compose a particular color scheme; with
five base sets comparing and contrasting ‘warm’, and
‘cold’ colors. A drop-down box allows for schemes for
infrequent human vision ailments [e.g.: protanopy].
This site has three, well-thought-out frames. This allows you to
interactively test out text, background, and link colors. You need
to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®.
WFMU has a bunch of solid music programs, and some have
corollary television and | or movie side projects. I have broken
out this URL from the above link so you may more precisely link
to a certain program being broadcast on WFMU. There was
some off-air drama associated with WFMU. One of its major
deejays, Debbie D., was suspended from the station, and then was
informed the station owned the rebroadcast rights of all her
shows. She has returned to the WFMU airwaves, but her new shows
are now archived on Mixcloud.
From the fallout from the Ichiban Sound [c.v.] situates
this supplemental streaming radio station. It shares some of the
broadcasters from WFMU, but the deejays maintain the rebroadcast
rights to their shows. It hopes to have all the deejays on WFMU |
Ichiban | Boss Radio migrate here.
KUSF is the free form radio station associated with the University
of San Francisco. It no longer has a terrestrial station: i.e.
It is now Internet only; but it can be found on iTunes® under
"College/University".
KKJZ-FM 88.1 (Long Beach, CA., U.S.A.) describes itself as
“Where jazz and blues live”. Its former call letters were
KLON. You can listen to the station in your browser by linking here.
This is an FM station which began broadcasting album-oriented
rock evenings only in August 1972. Its studio and antenna were
within staggering distance of the abode here (@ 4949 W. Belmont Ave.).
It was bought by Entercom Communications and its studio moved to the
downtown Prudential Building. It plays an eclectic mix of music from
the years 1964 until now, including the 1990s, 2000s, & 2010s.
As a subscriber to the print magazines {yes, they still exist}
"The Big Takeover", "Razorcake" [c.v.], and
"Shindig!" (U.K.), I occasionally feel I am faltering when
it comes to hearing new music, so that is when I tune here.
This is the W-WW site for WDRV, a “Classic Rock” radio
station serving metropolitan Chicago. It has an extender station in
Zion, IL. [WWDV - 96.9] reaching Wisconsin. It plays LP versions of
songs, including many which you could otherwise hear on MeTV - FM.
I listen mostly on Twofer Tuesdays, and on Sundays. It
plays a lot of Led Zeppelin. (Too much for me, but your
mileage may vary.) It attempts to avoid songs from the 1990s, but
you will hear a few from Aerosmith, Tom Petty, U2, & Van Halen.
It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.
This is a low-power FM station from Chicago. It broadcasts on
87.7 FM, which seemingly some radios cannot tune. [All the radios
in the abode here, as well as the Fujitsu AM/FM/Cassette player
in my 1987 Chevrolet Sprint, tune it.] The station plays a vast
spectrum of songs from the years 1960-1989. Most of its airplay
is from the 1960s and 1970s. It attempts to avoid songs from
1955-59, and the 1990s, but some sneak in. The most
recent record it plays is Eric Clapton's "Change The
World", which is from 1996 and which, if you queried
a MeTV - FM listener as to who produced the song, would result in
rapid eye-blinking {baby face-book -huh?}. The
preponderance of the records it plays are the 7"-single
versions. I can understand this, and accept this, for the
most part. The most significant specimen of this is the
Doors' "Light My Fire". The Doors' first single
("Break On Through") only reached #126 on the Billboard
Bubbling Under chart. A southern California deejay, Dave
Diamond, helped the group by making the edit in "Light
My Fire" and telling them to submit that recording to the
label for their second single. The edited deck went to #1
and commenced the group's career. But there are instances of
when the record label itself felt it should not have to edit a
song, and so it shipped a promotional single with "Long
Version" b/w "Short Version". The prime example of
this for me is 10CC's "I'm Not In Love".
The long version is a sonic masterpiece.
The short version is a mutilation of art. If any
station is unwilling to consistently play the long version, it
should not play the record at all. If MeTV - FM plays the
short version when I am listening, I tune away. I listened
to this station October 2016 - February 2020. It drew two
U.S.P.S. letters from me, something I had not done since the 1980s.
It was shadowed here for a while because it would not play
tracks by (Chicago's own) the Impressions, even before June
2020. The humongous hole in its claim of “amazing
variety”, large enough to pilot an eight-car Englewood-Howard
“L” train through, is records played on Black stations
in the 1960s [e.g.: WVON, WBEE, WGES, WOPA]. It wants to be a
“respite” for its listeners. But these old
records are again pertinent and on-topic! Some [closeted
racist?] listeners do not want to be reminded of what they did
or did not do back when these decks were played in the 1960s?
Forget "Come On Down To My Boat", a record with a
male protagonist vocally contemplating stalking and
kidnapping a young female. "Keep On Pushing" is the
record with the positive lyrics and attitude which should be
played everyday. Whenever it plays a telephone comment from
a listener, and it is attracting a segment of 18-34-year-olds,
I do not hear any Black-sounding voices. (This is puzzling,
because it is the Chicago radio station which plays the most
Isley Brothers records.) For format classification
purposes, it identifies as “Soft Rock Oldies”,
but over time, its definition has stretched to encompass many
records I consider are “Album Oriented Rock” singles,
including what you frequently hear on WXRT & WDRV in their
LP (long) versions [e.g.: Electric Light Orchestra, Emerson Lake
& Palmer, Peter Frampton, Jethro Tull, Journey, Alan Parsons
Project, Tom Petty, Queen, REO Speedwagon, Todd Rundgren, Bob
Seger]. I listen to this station, especially on Saturday nights
(“Dance With Me” would cause conniptions for
other radio stations' program directors with its vast
[but not deep] spectrum of danceable records), and particularly
when I tire of hearing AC/DC, Aerosmith, Bad Company, Foreigner,
Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rush, and The Who on the previous
two above. Do these terrestrial radio stations believe
its prospective audience listens to it 24/7/365? I certainly
do not listen to them that much. WDRV goes as far as
“bribing” its would-be listeners to tune in either
over-the-air or via its smartphone app. But the number of
listeners who will actually receive any money or prize from the
station is miniscule. They are all fighting a losing war
to Internet streaming channels which have no commercials anyhow.
This is a weblog maintained by a lifelong Chicagoan who has been
covering the media beat here since 1980. He operates his blog under
an agreement with the (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald.
Walter Becker & Donald Fagen were musical genii. There was
no musical genré they could not succinctly assuage. They
finally earned both the acknowledgment of their peers in 2000 by
being elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and winning four
Grammy® Awards for "Two Against Nature". Has it
been twenty-one years since it was released?
This is Jim McKay's original Steely Dan fan internet resource.
It was founded in 1993. A popular venue for Steely Dan fans to chat
is in here, linked from the ‘bluebook’ rubric. It is a
member of the Steely Dan Webring.
The Jazz Institute of Chicago was founded in 1969 by a
small band of jazz fans, writers, club owners, and musicians who came
together to preserve its historical roots in Chicago. The core belief
of the organization is all forms of the music should be equally
represented in whatever it does. It presents jazz throughout
the year in a spectrum of venues. Its prestige event is the
Chicago Jazz Festival, held in Millennium Park in downtown
Chicago over four days in late August each year. I am a
member of this organization, and I can recommend it to you even if
you are not in metropolitan Chicago.
This is a W-WW site with a peculiar shortened domain name.
It orbits around jazz music on all formats. It includes scores of
musicians and record labels. It has been online since July
2001. It has a "GNU Free Documentation License".
This site was conceived for fans of the Grateful Dead. Registration
is recommended to post or respond. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX® to fully utilize this site.
This is a weblog which seeks to identify and illuminate live Grateful
Dead (and band members' side projects) shows that are unknown or poorly
documented. Its webmaster | janitor, Corry342, attended his first Dead
show on 2 July 1967 (@ El Camino Park; Palo Alto, CA.).
This is another weblog orbiting in tandem with Corry342's weblog [c.v.].
In combination, and due to fascinating remembrances of commenters,
substantial information about Grateful Dead concerts have been provided
after years of stagnating in the ozone {or another hazy substance}.
Here is another Grateful Dead weblog I finally discovered. While
new blog posts are scant, there are informative comments being made
on posts going back six years.
This World-Wide Web site, by David Dodd, annotates Grateful Dead lyrics
(their originals only). The site provides links for words or phrases which
might benefit from some elucidation, without attempting to give definitive
“interpretations”. There are also links to other thematic essays.
The site has been frozen in place since late June 2007.
You (and I) can spend entire days following the links from the
WFMU Rock & Soul Ichiban blog [c.v.]. For somebody who
had a quote from Frank Zappa on my profile at a sexpositive World-Wide
Web site, to not have a Frank Zappa link here was very derelict.
Fortunately, I landed on this W-WW site. Information Is Not
Knowledge is a comprehensive W-WW site. It encompasses all of
Frank's record career. I splice this in here from an interview
of Frank by Bill Milkowski, from November 1981.
[The preceding question was whether there was a national shift toward
the right, to which Frank answered it was a national shift
toward nowhere. It was toward fake security.(!)] "Is
this a phenomenon that you've noticed taking hold within the past few
years?" Frank: "This year it's really taken a
nose dive, since the Reagan Administration has gotten in. It's
frightening. We're looking at the prelude to the New Dark Ages
here. If you know anything about history, the Dark Ages we're
going into now is gonna’ make the first one look like a company
picnic."
This is a wiki-styled page dedicated to Frank Zappa. Their efforts
are simply nothing more than a fan's efforts to broaden the knowledge
and appreciation of the many works of Frank Zappa.
If you have ever spent any time listening to the radio in Southern
California, you probably tuned in to a nightly show hosted by Art Laboe.
Art has surpassed the broadcast longevity span of Chicago's Herb
Kent [R.I.P.]. Art was a savvy businessman as well; as he never
sold the masters of the records which he released in the 1950s and
1960s on his record labels. You could hear his show by visiting
this W-WW site, but it has gone offline. I link to its last capture
from the Internet Archive [c.v.] - 18 January 2019.
"Ugly Things" is a huge, thick magazine,
published by Mike Stax, which does not merely orbit; but digs into
the ground to comprehensively explore the music by underappreciated
artists. It was founded to dispense information about England's
"Pretty Things" group [R.I.P. Phil May]. Since 1983, it
has bloomed into a magazine to bring “wild sounds from past
dimensions”. It consistently presents passionate, informed,
insightful, in-depth coverage of overlooked music. I keenly
recommend subscribing to it. It is published three times a year.
Visit here for back issues and other artifacts.
"The Big Takeover" is the pinnacle zine covering
the independent pop music scene. Its writers care about music, and
support the bands and musicians who pioneer, rather than rest on
their laurels, or are thrust at the public through brainwashing
marketing techniques. There is a forum here for which you may opt
to register. Jack Rabid is the editor. I recommend subscribing to
this. Four issue subscriptions (two issues a year) are available
for $20.
What happens to punk rockers when they get older? It has been
attributed that they read "Razorcake" magazine. It
is a bi-monthly publication, published by a certified non-profit
organization in southern California, which still has a strong spot for
hard-driving music (and politics) which has a resist message
embedded therein. I recommend subscribing to this. A six-issue
subscription costs $17.00 (bulk rate) | ($23.00 = first class [U.S.A.]).
Ask for freebies (7" records, stickers). I like
"Razorcake" enough to donate to its foundation.
This is the forum affiliated with Steve Hoffman, a mastering
engineer. He was responsible for a number of reissued record albums
when they received a CD release. Members here discuss any number of
components composing a home audio system. The forum is
extremely active. Some threads go pages deep with new responses
in only 24 hours. I am registered here. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX® to fully utilize this site.
Do you need an answer about a certain record? You would do well
to reference one of Joel Whitburn's tomes. He has
"Billboard" magazine's permission to publish works
based on its charts' data. This W-WW site has a frame.
These three W-WW sites are ones which I found one evening when I
linked from Vee Jay Records' Wikipedia [c.v.] page. If you are not
careful, you can devote hours browsing them (or maybe that is the
point). 45cat is the hub for a spectrum of user-supported W-WW
sites reporting about not only 45 RPM 7" discs, but ~ via its
affiliate [www.45worlds.com] ~ 78 RPM platters [this site answered
one of my deepest music trivia questions], vinyl albums, 12"
singles, and most other entertainment physical media. {I have been
cataloging my cassettes and vinyl albums on 45worlds.com under
"PudgyM".} There is also a forum here with which I am
registered. You need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®.
This is ARSA, the Airheads Radio Survey Archive, a
non-profit W-WW site mixing historical value with nostalgia. You can
find tens of thousands of radio station chart surveys with clickable
links for each record listed thereupon. This site is comprehensively
absorbing, as you can trace the records which did not break out
nationally to where they received their airplay and popularity.
You need to register and logon to get full access to the site
(requires JavaScript|ActiveX® on). There is also a forum here
with which I am registered.
This is Music VF. It is a database of 120,000+ U.S.A. and U.K.
music hits since 1900. It collates multiple charts of the U.S.A.
You can search by artist name or a song title; or browse the charts
by artist, year, or decade.
This is a W-WW site which won an award from Brittanica.com
(!) as “one of the best on the Internet when reviewed for quality,
accuracy of content, presentation and usability” back in 2000.
It has continued on to the present day concentrating on
infrequently investigated stereo 7"-single records.
From this, it expanded to discographies of record labels, and from
there to the stories about many of those labels. Obviously,
this is an epic {oops} which is impossible to fathom ever reaching
its end objective, but what has been provided to date is engrossing.
The site is webmastered by Mike Callahan. Read the terms of use
[TOU], and its frequently asked questions [FAQ].
This W-WW site is dedicated to soul music and the
discographies of the artists who recorded it. Its webmaster is
located in the United Kingdom. It features both the contemporary
‘Northern Soul’ scene, and its past history.
This site's mission is to seek out the best music being made today
and spread it across the universe. Visit here to learn about the people,
organizations, independent bands, venues, stores, representatives and
others all working together.
If you have a music collection, I suspect you have either
duplicated some of the songs thereupon to another medium, or have
considered doing so. Here is a W-WW site which is dedicated to notating
mixed tapes, CDs, DVD-Rs, iPod® playlists, et cetera. You need to
turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®, and accept cookies in order to post or
respond here.
If you are a fan of loony tunes and crazy comedy, you probably
already know about Dr. Demento. The core is a two-hour program |
podcast, now only posted on-line here (the broadcast was losing
money). The Dr. was profiled in issue #77 of "The Big
Takeover" [c.v.].
This is a non-commercial, free, public service channel available to
terrestrial, cable, and satellite services. On Dish Network® dbs, it
is channel 9406. It features performance, orchestral, and visual arts. It
is funded by The Lloyd E. Rigler - Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation.
Link TV is an international and interactive channel that brings the
world's events, issues, and cultures to audiences in the U.S.A. It is under
this rubric because of its music programs. It is available on both
DirecTV® and Dish Network® dbs systems.
RFD - TV ["Rural America's most important network"] is a
satellite channel dedicated to serving the needs and interests of rural
America. It is under this rubric because of its diverse music
programming (It has the broadcast rights to videotapes of old
syndicated country music programs, which it obtained from Willie
Nelson's personal library.). It also has regular series about
railroads, both real and model. It is available on both Dish
Network® and DirecTV® dbs systems.
This is a booster club for the U.S.A. National Soccer Teams (both
Men's & Women's). A year's membership is $30. Membership provides
perks like the ability to obtain tickets to matches in the same
section as other members, as well as discounts on apparel and airfares.
I can recommend joining this organization.
F.I.F.A. is the most significant organization on the
planet. It is the administrator overseeing all the efforts of its
member associations which operate in soccer [football]. Its mission
is to reach out and touch the world, using football as a symbol of
hope and integration. This W-WW site is available in English,
French, Spanish, and German.
CONCACAF is the confederation, similar to UEFA [Europe], overseeing
its member nations in this hemisphere. This includes the U.S.A. Its
prestige event is the CONCACAF Gold Cup™, held every two
years in the odd-numbered years. It also presents annually the
CONCACAF Champions' League®, whose winner qualify for the
F.I.F.A. Club World Cup in December. A Spanish-language version
of this W-WW site is available. You may also follow it on
Twitter as "concacaf" {doh}.
Here is the official site of the United States Soccer Federation.
The U.S.S.F. affiliated itself with F.I.F.A. in 1913. Besides all the
National Team programs, its marquee event is the annual Lamar
HuntU. S. Open Cup Tournament.
This was the swiftest I have ever added a bookmark to this page.
It has lots of articles about the sports which do not command a
plethora of media attention: i.e.; the “minor leagues”.
I can be wrong sometimes, bunky. The association did launch in
2019. It is getting another push in 2021. Somebody wants to start a
Chicago franchise in it for 2022. I am doubtful it will achieve
orbit. But, I temporarily restore this here.
This is the official W-WW page for the M. A. S. L..
It has twenty teams across the U.S.A. and Mexico. It is an affiliated
member of the World Minifootball Federation (WMF). You may also follow
it on Twitter as "maslarena".
This is the W-WW page of the Chicago MUSTANGS M. A. S. L.
2 franchise. The team's owner is Armando Gamboa. The franchise
play their home games in the Sears Centre in northwest exurban Hoffman
Estates. {Closer to Elgin than Chicago.} Because of all the multimedia
on this page, it will take a while to completely load.
Did you know that the U.S.A. has a National Soccer Hall of Fame?
Its physical location was in Oneonta, New York until 2010. In
2018, it reopened in Frisco, TX. (near Dallas). This site has
data about its inductees.
Four Four Two, created in England in 1994, is the world's biggest
soccer magazine, published in 17 markets. Its mission is to offer
intelligent, international audience access to the game's biggest names,
insightful analysis, and a bit of a giggle. It unashamedly loves this
game and hopes its coverage reflects that.
This somewhat obscure site orbits around the players on the U.S.A.
Men's and Women's National Teams. It has a good array of articles,
games, puzzles, playing tips, coaching tips, and other support
functions for soccer boosters in the U.S.A. There is also a message
forum for which you may register.
This is an open source map of the world, user-maintained
and free to use. There is a learning curve involved with it. Its
base is much more intricate than that of Google™. It emphasizes
local knowledge. It may be utilized for any purpose as long as you
credit it and its contributors.
If you're out on the highway, you see them everyday. Traffic is
moving safely and expeditiously, but not legally according to the posted
speed limit. Link here to learn where are the speed traps out on the
highways of the U.S.A. It is sponsored by the National Motorists
Association.
Is your flight delayed? Are you at the airport right now
wondering if the airline's gate agent is telling you the complete
truth? Link here for the real answer. This site collects data from
air traffic control across the U.S.A. Select by specific flight,
airport, or aircraft type.
This is a search engine specializing in hotel rooms. The precept
is that the same hotel has different prices for its room
depending on which World-Wide Web site it appears [e.g.: the
“budget” W-WW site v. the city's Chamber of
Commerce W-WW site]. Trivago searches over 250 W-WW sites
[900,000 rooms] daily, and collates the data here.
Motel 6 is the U.S.A.'s lowest-priced national motel chain. I began
staying at Motel 6 in 1987. On-line reservations are available. You may
register if you wish it to save some of your data.
This was formerly "Roomsaver". It is a collator of hotel
and motel coupons. This site also allows you to print out coupons from
its guides on-line. This corporation publishes the “green guide”.
When you travel, staying at a hostel puts you in touch with people
who are very interested in sharing their journeys with you. It is also
one of the least expensive ways to sleep. I am a Life Member of HI-AYH.
This is its central site. It is available in four languages. You don't
have to be under 30 years of age to stay here, obviously. Bring a towel.
Here is the most vast World-Wide Web site disclosing hostels
around the globe. There is also a weblog here. Its aim is to feed and
water your wanderlust. It shares its best travel tips with the help of
favo(u)rite travel writers; such as where to find those authentic,
soul-filled places, in any particular city.
You may have forgotten that back in 2011, Google™ bought ITA,
a travel industry software developer. This semi-obscure W-WW site [Can
anything affiliated with Google™ be obscure?] utilizes that
technology to create an easier way for users to find better flight
information online. It makes it easier to search for flights, compare
flight options, prices, and get to a W-WW site swiftly to buy the
ticket. (If you have a Google™ account, you can save potential
itineraries here; but it will always involve booking the airfare
elsewhere.) I found the lowest airfare for my flights to Tokyo in
April 2014-17, and September 2017 via here.
It was bought by Google™, but this URL is still extant. It
is aimed at savvy frequent flyers who know how to tweak airline
booking searches to specify a route, cabin section, airline alliance,
and a number of other variables. Should you want to delve into this,
there is a rubric on the FlyerTalk forum [c.v.] under
‘Travel Tools’ offering key information.
This is a comprehensive travel planning W-WW site offering the
facility to check airfares and hotels worldwide. In a few instances, it
may not find the lowest rate, but it will put you far enough along the
path for you to obtain the lowest rate: I.E.: An air flight will almost
always be less costly to book at that airline's own W-WW site.
This is the W-WW site founded by five U.S.A. airlines. I have
found some solid travel bargains here. All these travel
reservation sites work swifter if you use a direct connection to
the Internet, turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®, and accept
cookies. Orbitz is now merged with Expedia.
Priceline® is an aggregator of airline tickets, and hotel
rooms. Practically all of its business now is in hotel rooms.
Registration is required in order to use this service. The concept
is that you name the price you are willing to pay for a hotel room,
or a rental car, in a specified area.
Hotwire® is a site which searches other travel W-WW sites
searching for low fares from the cities and on the days you indicate
on its form. You must register in advance with it.
This is a specialized on-line travel agency which has
negotiated discounted airfares from a clutch of airlines for
international travel. It offers a selection, including many
never previously available on-line, so as to find the lowest
prices, and best schedule options. The corporation was founded
by travel experts with decades of experience. It heralds,
"Simply put - if you buy your international travel from
Vayama, you will save money and find more flight options."
This is a World-Wide Web site striving to save you a significant
amount of money on airfares worldwide. It emphasizes itself on
"error fares", which are extremely temporary.
You may [need to] follow it on Twitter as
"secretflying" {doh}.
This is another W-WW site comparing flights to find you the
cheapest deal, fast. It also attempts to find the cheapest hotels
and car rental for the trip. I send you to the U.S.A. site. It has
websites in other languages and countries. You may also follow it
on Twitter as "skyscannerusa".
This is a airline searching W-WW site endeavoring to locate and
identify the least expensive flight on the route in which you are
interested. It also has a “trip finder” aspect allowing you
to find new destinations from your home city. It has won awards, and
been recommended by CNN, the New York Times, and the Daily Telegraph.
I send you to the U.S.A. site. It has websites in other languages and
countries. You may also follow it on Twitter as
"momondo" {doh}.
This is an aggregator of airfare deals world-wide. It tracks a
number of airline W-WW sites for especially attractive deals and
displays them here, with the instructions for how to book them. It
is available in multiple languages.
This is a BBS where you learn how users of Priceline® bid for
travel, including the prices which were accepted. This is a valuable
BBS which has reached critical mass: i.e. There have been enough
accepted bids to have a reasonable idea of how low you can offer. I
have used it to obtain hotel rooms in cities. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®, and accept cookies. Bidding For Travel was
mentioned in "Consumer Reports" [c.v.]. It is a
member of the Tapatalk network of fora.
This is another BBS dealing with the same topics as Bidding
For Travel. I would not call it a rivalry, but there are a clutch
of registered users at each BBS which feel that that specific BBS
is ‘better’ than the other. So I will present both of
them. You need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®, and accept
cookies.
Bidding For Travel links to Trip Advisor (which I have now
learned has a significant number of "Sockpuppet"
reviews); but this is the travel forum which I found most
educational when researching my trips to Tokyo, Japan. This
forum began as a resource for airlines' frequent flyer program
members to provide key data. It has expanded to include
specific recommendations within popular destinations. I am
registered here, and I can recommend you do so. You need to
turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®, and accept cookies.
This is a W-WW site, in the format of a weblog, which believes it is
the only airfare alert and comparison site that includes fares on
all airlines, including Southwest, Skybus, Allegiant, Spirit,
Frontier, and JetBlue.
Fare Compare is an airline ticket comparison shopping World-Wide
Website. It is an independent airfare shopping site with the all the
tools necessary to help consumers find the best deals available
quickly, easily, and first. Its webmaster is Rick Seaney. Ticket
prices often change dramatically from hour-to-hour, day-to-day and
week-to-week. Fare Compare believes that no one site has the cheapest
price, nor the best deal, at any given moment. Less than 10% of
passengers on each flight pay the cheapest price for the same seat.
Online travel agencies and metasearch sites want to sell you a ticket.
Fare Compare wants to help you find a cheap flight deal.
This is my favorite airline. Other air carriers may match its
airfare prices, but then they will snipe you with any number of nearly
unavoidable fees. Sign up for Rapid Rewards®. The program has been
revamped, so I can't swiftly tell you how to earn a free flight. It now
requires a certain amount of points. However, you will be able to book
and find a seat when you attempt to claim your award flight.
I do not have cable | satellite television here at the abode.
But I did enjoy watching selected shows on this channel. Specifically,
"No Reservations", "Bizarre Foods", "Booze
Traveler", "Hotel Impossible", and "Man v.
Food". This page includes much multimedia, and as such, could
take a long time to completely load depending on your connection rate.
Here is a fascinating travel weblog by Jürgen and Mike, from
Germany and the U.S.A. They love learning about new cultures and have
decided to see the world slowly. They travel the globe, photographing
and annotating their experiences. I haven't surfed here in a while. I
do not know where they got stuck due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This
URL's first aspect will reflect the current area where they are. You
may also follow them on Twitter as "for91days" {doh}.
This is an independent, unaffiliated W-WW page which compiles all
the venues which have appeared on a panoply of cable | satellite
television shows revolving around food and beverage.
This is a World-Wide Web site of which Chicago is one of the spokes
of its midwest hub operation. (The hub was moved to Cincinnati, OH.) It
also has other hubs in the U.S.A. If you reserve sufficiently in
advance, it could cost only one dollar (depending on the day of the
week) [+ a $2.50 processing fee]. Watch for promotional codes which
could award you a free trip. You may register if you wish it to save
some of your data. I send you directly to the page where you can
investigate the cost of your trip. (The main page will make you wait
while it loads ten non-functional 1 MB images.)
Gas Buddy has a sufficient number of reliable gasoline
price posters throughout the U.S.A. and Canada. Use it to deduce
where to refuel as you motor. You can search via state, city, or
zip code.
Interstate 95 [I-95] is the main highway on the east coast of the
U.S.A. Portions of it are a toll road. {I do not drive on toll roads |
turnpikes.} If you do drive I-95, here is a World-Wide Web site which
lets you know about food, lodging, gasoline prices, shopping, and more
along its route.
This is a forum orbiting around urban areas across the globe. It
serves as a repository for planners and the people who live or travel
there. I am registered here, and make my transportation posts and
replies here. Many of the pages feature images, in particular, of
Flickr® photographs, which take a long time to completely
load. You need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®, and accept cookies.
It is not affiliated with the above; but this forum orbits around
development news and construction activity on projects from around the
world, alongside discussions on urban design, architecture,
transportation and many other topics. Again, many of the pages feature
images, in particular, of Flickr® photographs, which take a
long time to completely load. I am registered here. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®, and accept cookies.
This is a comprehensive forum orbiting around all aspects
of railroads in the U.S.A. and Canada. There are rubrics for all
classes of extant freight railroads, passenger rail, equipment
manufacturers, as well as railfanning and modelling. I am
registered here. In order for me to logon, I had to turn off
Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®, and accept cookies.
Chicago is one of the easiest cities (in the U.S.A.) to traverse
without an automobile. Unlike some cities, its system does not shut
down completely at midnight. Link here for routes, maps, and
schedules. The Authority has implemented a fare payment system
called Ventra [linked from here], which is also valid on Pace
suburban buses. The debit card function (similar to eastern Japan's
PASMO card) was discontinued due to a very low adoption
rate by consumers. A 24-hour pass costs $10.00; a 3-day pass
costs $20.00; and a 7-day pass (for CTA only) is $28.00. The
one exception is if you start at the O'Hare “L” station;
the fare is $5.00. I am disappointed by this; however, many other
cities [e.g.: St. Louis, MO.; Vancouver, BC., Canada] also hit
travellers with an airport transit surcharge. There is now a
Flickr® account in which it posts photographs from its library.
You may also follow it on Twitter as "cta" {doh}.
Here is the CTA Bus Tracker Map broken out so you can display
it in a tab in your W-WW browser (rather than a separate pop-up
window). Because of all the data, it will take a while to
completely load. I also recommend zooming in one level
closer than the default map. Google™ maps take a
while to completely load.
This is the page with the arrival times at a specific stop.
I again break it out so you can view it in a browser tab. This
will load much swifter than the map.
Here is the CTA W-WW site which attempts to communicate when
a train shall arrive at a specified station. Where it is sometimes
slightly off is at a station close to where a train originates
its run. [e.g.: @ Cumberland awaiting a southeastbound Blue Line
“L” train]
This is a swift and informative W-WW site which searches the
Authority's ‘Clever Devices’ application to locate its
buses currently in service. It has been upgraded to tracking all
buses, broken out by model. It is updated every ten minutes.
Here is another W-WW site locating CTA buses currently in
service. Type in a bus number and it will search the database
to see if it is currently in service. If it is, a Google™
map showing its location will be drawn. [Google™ maps
take a while to completely load.]
This is a rubric of a transit inspection World-Wide Web site
that provides real-time bus tracking and next vehicle predictions
for eight metropolitan areas, including the CTA. I send you to the
routelist. A CTA system map is also available. Back parse for the
other systems it inspects.
This is an impressive user-generated W-WW page which depicts each
Chicago rapid transit station over the street grid. For further
information, click on the station dot, or the text link on the right
side. You need to turn on JavaScript|ActiveX®. [Google™ maps
take a while to completely load.]
This is the World-Wide Web's largest resource for information on
Chicago's rapid transit system. It encompasses transit history;
advocacy; and technical data. It is a member of the "Chicago and
Northern Illinois History Ring".
I have been a member of C.E.R.A. since 1978. It is the
longest-lasting conglomeration which has not yet dissolved, or extruded
me from its membership rolls. C.E.R.A. has been around since
1938. It is a railfan organization orbiting around the
metropolitan Chicago area. Since Chicago was a railway, and an electric
railway hub, it includes any number of "inspection trips" of
other electric railway properties of the midwest and eastern U.S.A.;
and even portions of Ontario, Canada. Monthly {except July and
August} meetings of the organization are held at the University
Center at 525 S. State St. in central Chicago on the fourth Friday
of each month [at 19:00 hours]. C.E.R.A. is testing
videoconferencing meetings via Zoom. Unfortunately for me, Zoom
only works with broadband connections [>= 600 kb/second], so I am
not participating or viewing. C.E.R.A. needs new members.
It is jarring when I attend the meetings and sense I am the
youngest person in the room. If you are intrigued by trains, or
Chicago, join C.E.R.A.
This is a World-Wide Web blog clouded by controversy. The
official C.E.R.A. weblog had its domain name lapse. The reason it
lapsed had to do with its webmaster | janitor, David Sadowski.
He resigned from C.E.R.A. in November 2014. He cited
“health issues” of both himself and his mother. However,
there is evidence it was due to an investigation of his activities
in his duties as the organization's comptroller. He may have
misappropriated over $170,000. A portion of the artifacts received
due to this potential misappropriation were railfan related.
C.E.R.A. seems relegated that the Cook County State's
Attorney's Office does not want to prosecute this, because it might
not get a conviction. {A perceptive remark uttered off the record
at the 2018 C.E.R.A. Annual Meeting was, "If he had done this
in any other county, it would go to trial." Something
similar was perpetrated at the Illinois Railway Museum [c.v.] in
McHenry County. This incident was prosecuted and adjudged guilty.}
I keenly believe in “innocent until proven
guilty”; so this link would remain regardless. This is
a replacement weblog maintained by him. I have contributed to it. It
orbits around photographs of traction vehicles, mainly in Chicago,
but including a number of other areas in the U.S.A. The photographs
take a while to completely load. He has since composed
another book, "Chicago Trolleys"; published by Arcadia
Publishing; he is composing another book about closed
Chicago “L” stations; and he also has a weblog about the
Clark Theater [defunct] in downtown Chicago.
The "Hicks Car Works" name commemorates a Chicago Heights
train car manufacturer (1897-1911). It constructed Chicago, Aurora,
& Elgin car #309 in 1907. (CA&E #309 continued in service on
the CA&E until the railroad's abrupt end of service on 3 July 1957.)
It is still operated sporadically at the Illinois Railway Museum
in Union, IL. (McHenry County - northwest of Chicago). This weblog
orbits around the preservation activity @ I.R.M. It has three regular
contributors.
This is an expanding World-Wide Web site which is scanning and
uploading print publications issued by the CTA, for both the public
and its own employees. This page loads swiftly. If you click through,
the documents are in .pdf format, so they may take a while to
completely load. My transit content is now posted on the
Skyscraper City forum [c.v.].
I had difficulty deciding where to place this link. This is a
WordPress® weblog which is huge and multi-faceted. The reason it
is under this rubric is due to its photographs of transit vehicles.
Some of the images are quite large, but only one is posted per page.
So it takes a medium amount of time to completely load. This
weblog was hacked in October 2019, and John has abandoned updating it.
Here is a scintillating weblog I wish I had found years ago,
especially when my dad was alive. It is by Dennis DeBruler, and
features railroads, bridges, and the businesses served by them. He
takes photographs of them, which are Creative Commons - BY -
4.0, and shares them here. Because of all the images, each
post will take a while to completely load.
It's a lot different being shown around by a friend in San Francisco
than navigating the foggy maze on your own. This is the best independent
guide to what is worth seeing, and what is just a tourist trap.
It is overshadowed by the city's cable cars, but San Francisco also
has a fleet of electric streetcars running along Market Street seven days
a week. Here you can learn more about San Francisco's transit history,
the postwar P. C. C. (Presidents' Conference Committee)
streetcars used to provide service, and how to become a member of the
organization.
Did you link to a page which seemed to have the information for which
you were looking, but it had those unfamiliar Japanese Kana characters on
it? Here is a World-Wide Web page which can come to your assistance.
This is Jisho, another Japanese to English dictionary. This
page is where you can enter an English word, tick the box that reads
‘Kana as romaji’, and view the output in both Kana and a
pronouncible English word. There are additional translations options at
the top of this page. Jisho is maintained by Denshi Jisho.
This is a URL I posted here to assist you in finding specific
venues in Japan by using one of the few elements you can read and
write from a Japanese-language [Kana] World-Wide Web site on your
western keyboard: Its telephone number. Enter the number in the
box atop this page. The output display will include the Kana
characters with the street address of the venue. You can then use
the copy and paste function of your computer's operating system
to transfer that street address to your map program.
A dynamic table illustrating what the trading range is for these
two currencies. This shows the current month. You need to turn on
JavaScript|ActiveX®.
This is an English-language translation of a small chain of
shops in metropolitan Tokyo, Yokohama, and other cities in Japan,
which offer a higher [| better] purchase rate for a U.S.
Dollar (and subsequent conversion to a Japanese Yen). The page
purporting to show the current rate does not work. I send you to
the page identifying where are the shops' locations.
After years of trying, I finally located a service which would
purchase an item sold only in Japan and ship it to the U.S.A. In
my case, it was a P145/80R-12 tire for the 1987 Chevrolet
Sprint. I recommend it to you as well. I placed it precisely here
because you will have to convert your U.S. Dollars to Japanese Yen
when depositing funds into your account to obtain whatever you
order, and your own credit card issuer will give you a higher
exchange rate (which you will glimpse by checking one of the
above exchange rate links) than this W-WW site's own. (You can
also use X-Rates, which is the "Currency converter" link
in Resources above.)
You will find much informative data here. I point out to you the
Japan Photos section. As you proceed, you may opt for a framed or
non-framed presentation. It has been online since March 1996.
This is the English-language home page for the above named
organization. There are more pages in Japanese which refer to the
general history of pinball.
This is Tokyo's (and probably Japan's) number one beer
bar. It has seventy-three beers on tap, including real
ales. It is off the beaten path in Ryögoku, an east-central
area [Sumida-ku] of Tokyo. The closest train station to it is the JR
Sobu Line's "Ryögoku" stop [west exit]. (If you catch it
at Akihabara or Ochanomizu, it will cost ¥140.) It is also within
four blocks of the #33 Toei bus route [¥210], which operates
northbound nightly until 22:54 hours, and which runs directly to | from
the Asakusa Smile hostels north of here. If you order designated beers
(indicated on the menu with a crown) during “Happy Hour”
(17:00 - 20:00 hours daily), you will receive a free pub snack. (Try
the pizza.) Click through from here to the "CUPON" {sic};
print it out, and present it. You will be automatically enrolled in
Popeye's frequent guest program, which earns you discounts on your tab.
I break out of the frame for you.
This is a bar in a neighborhood just north of downtown Yokohama,
which has two things going for it: Very low prices on “extreme”
craft beer, all of which are on draft and; recorded music, and music
videos, of hard rock and metal bands playing in the background.
Koichi-san is the proprietor. The bar received a write-up in
"Vice" Magazine [c.v.]. It is within staggering
distance from Guest House Kanalian [c.v.].
Our craft beer blogger (Neil) is English, a soccer fan (Kawasaki
FRONTALE), a non-smoker, and a vegetarian. His
objective is to provide the information you could possibly want
about bars such as opening hours; an idea on prices; if they have a
cover charge; beer selection; how to get there if you can't read
Japanese; et cetera.
This is an English-language weblog of Nevitt Reagan, who lives in
Osaka. The blog orbits around Japanese craft beers, his tasting sessions,
beer venues (mostly in Kansai), people, and other W-WW sites and blogs.
He began blogging in October 2010. He has not posted since June 2020.
All of his posts are YouTube® videos, which I do not allow to run
on my computers. Do check his other weblog links.
Here is an English-language weblog which I forgot about. The
bloggers here delve into multiple aspects of craft beer in Japan
(and not just Tokyo & Yokohama). Because of all the images
here, it will take a while to completely load. You may also follow
them on Twitter as "tengokubeer".
I do not know how I missed finding this English-language
guide to the above topic. This is a comprehensive World-Wide Web site
annotating venues in Kanto [i.e.: The area of Japan in which is Tokyo.]
It is updated frequently. A Google™ map of the selected venue(s)
is available. It has recommendations for other areas of Japan if you
back-parse.
I nearly had an article printed in the Lumpen organization's
"Mash Tun" magazine which was put out during
Chicago Craft Beer Week 2012. My article was cut. This is a
Google™ map which displays the bars about which I wrote.
This World-Wide Web site offers Japan visitors unlimited local
knowledge from a select Senpai network. This includes travel advice,
Japanese manners, learning about Japan and other questions.
This is a weblog, powered by Disqus, in which our four regular
bloggers (and the sporadic guest blogger) pontificate on how to
enjoy Tokyo while spending as little money as possible. Tokyo
is frequently cited as one of the most expensive cities on the
planet to visit, but that is a smokescreen. The venues you
learn about in those reports are written by public relations
agencies cohabiting with the venues being mentioned. They
find some cachet in being described as expensive, as though you
achieve some mythical status for shopping or dining there. They
pay to be included in the articles. Guess where the money to pay
them off is eminating? The venue jacks up its prices by 67%. You
do not get more, you just pay more. Tokyo Cheapo helps you
find the venues which do not participate in this racket.
[N.B.: This racket exists World-Wide. There was a Chicago monthly
glossy print magazine, ‘The REAL Chicago’, which
consisted of advertisements for avaricious venues for eleven
months, and which in the twelfth month were then proclaimed by
the magazine as ‘Chicago's Best’ in a convoluted
category in which they were the only honoree.]
It took a while to find a definitive World-Wide Web site with
this information. Japan is loaded with convenience stores
(“conbini”), any of which are elevated over what
is found in North America. There are several branches of
‘Lawson’ stores in Japan. This is where there is
a list of the Lawson stores which sell everything
for ¥100 [+ 10% tax]. I have consistently stopped in
here when in Japan, and even consumed large bowls of prepackaged
ramen outside its front door. (All convenience stores World-Wide
have a microwave oven. Japanese conbinis also have a hot water
dispenser inside the store.) The fascinating fact is that
Lawson was founded in northeast Ohio, U.S.A. in 1939. It
expanded in the U.S.A. and was invested in by a larger American
corporation. In 1975, this corporation was approached by a
Japanese corporation seeking to compete against
‘7-Eleven’-branded stores there. Lawson stores
began opening in Japan in June 1975. The larger American
corporation bought out the Lawson U.S.A. concern in 1985 and put
its name on the stores. The Japanese corporation continued using
the Lawson name. Lawson is now the third-largest conbini
chain in Japan (because former numbers three & four merged to
become #2).
Donki (as it is commonly called) is a chain of department
stores in Japan. Its prices are extremely low. It also
purveys "shopping entertainment" in each store. I have
bought lots of items from its stores in Tokyo, Yokohama, and Osaka.
The next time I visit Japan, I'll go here again too. It accepts a
credit card. If you spend at least ¥10,000 in one visit, present
your passport, so it can deduct the excise tax from your purchase.
This is the weblog of a young female who usually is in Tokyo, but
travels around the globe. She has appeared on satellite TV channels
such as the Travel Channel [c.v.] and CNN in the
U.S.A.; NHK in Japan; and Canal+ in France. She orbits
around gothic style, alternative culture, and ‘cute’
elements of Japan. Because of all the images on this blog page, it
will take a while to completely load. You may also follow her on
Twitter as "lacarmina". You can also follow her
cat, Basil Farrow's blog at
http://www.lacarmina.com/basilfarrow
This is a blog by Kirk Brown, a 30-ish male from Kingston, Jamaica,
who began travelling to Japan in September 2011, and now lives in
rural Japan as a participant with the JET Programme.
“Jamaipanese” is a candid portmanteau of the words
JAMAIcan and JaPANESE, hence he calls himself and
the blog Jamai + Panese or Jamaipanese. You may also follow him
on Twitter as "jamaipanese" {doh}.
This is an English-language weblog by Jeremy Freeman. He is
Jewish. Until 2017, he worked in New York City as a reggae DJ,
store owner, record label executive, and publicist. But he
graduated from a university in Chicago in the early 1990s. (He
was here in 1991.) This weblog is about turning his back on NYC
as he makes a new life in Itabashi-ku {not a ‘touristy’
locale}, Tokyo, with his wife and two children.
This World-Wide Web site has revised again. It is now a weblog with
an accompanying forum to help English-speakers get more out of their
visit to Japan. Because of all the images on this W-WW site, it will
take a while to completely load.
Here is another translated blog by an individual. I like his
posts because he has a habit of photographing the ticket machine
and annotating what is each button. So you can attempt to learn
Japanese in this method. You may also follow him, in Japanese, on
Twitter as "ikemen3".
These ten World-Wide Web sites are weblogs for English-speaking
people who are planning to visit Tokyo | Yokohama | Osaka, love ramen,
and do not read enough Japanese to be able to understand Japanese ramen
W-WW sites. Keizo Shimamoto originally reported on ramen shops in
southern California. He reviewed a solid number of them. When he began
travelling to Japan and eating at ramen shops there, he caught the
‘bug’ and wanted to make ramen for a living. He moved to Tokyo,
and was the oyaji at Bassanova, in Setagaya-ku. He is the
protagonist of the short feature "Ramen Dreams" (2012).
I have been to Bassanova, both when he was there, and afterward. He
moved to New York City, initially to oversee the expansion of Bassanova
there. That changed when in August 2013 he hit upon the idea of creating
a Ramen Burger™: A 75-25% blend patty, with shoyu sauce,
peppery arugula, and a scattering of scallions. The griddled noodles
stand in for the bun. It became very popular despite being termed a
“fad” by Andrew Zimmern (of the Travel Channel [c.v.]). I had
a Ramen Burger™ when Keizo accompanied The Food Film
Festival in Chicago in 2013. Due to his recent activities, the
weblog has been left in the dust. But the links on this URL are being
maintained. Further, since I have met Keizo, and had photographs taken
with him, there is no way I am going to remove this URL from this page.
After much searching, I finally discovered a ramen reviewer who
has continued to visit and report on ramen shacks throughout Japan,
and whose blog reports load more swiftly than many others. The
W-WW site strives to provide you with quality ramen content. It is
here to help you have an enjoyable time in Japan. From restaurant
reviews to recipes, it hopes you will come to love ramen as much as
it does.
This is a connoisseur's guide to the very best ramen of Japan.
It strives to discover and celebrate only the best: Legendary shops
open for generations, new school innovators carrying the cuisine
forward, and the countless Japanese ramen chefs devoted to the
mastery of their craft. One of its contributors is Abram Plaut, who
worked with Brian MacDuckston [c.v.] on a ramen column for a weekly
magazine.
This is an English-language blog by Steve D., who lives in Tokyo,
but went to junior high school and high school in Hawai'i, U.S.A. He
eats at any number of restaurants, not merely ramen, in the
metropolitan area. He began blogging in 2009. He is also into
photography, so his entries mention the camera he used to take the
pictures. If you click through to his profile, you will find another
seven weblogs he composes.
This is the map compounded by the above named person to which I
refer above. It was how I discovered his weblog. For his only trip
to Tokyo (in 2019), he turned up hundreds of venues, many of which I
was | am unfamiliar. It being a Google™ map, it will take a
while to completely load.
Here is another ramen review blogger I finally learned about
when he guested on a ramen podcast I downloaded. He has been
blogging since March 2016. Its title is attributed to what one
consumes after a long night of drinking in Tokyo: A hearty bowl
which settles the alcohol in your stomach.
This is a ramen shack blog maintained by Gabriel Bloch. He did
most of his reportage in 2014-15, and has not blogged since
December 2017. The blog strives to be the essential resource for
the beginner and the connoisseur. For the beginner, check the
glossary for: Shio (salt), Shoyu (soy sauce), Miso (chicken &
pork), and Tonkotsu (pork). They are the four basic
classifications. Choose the one that sounds most appealing, and
then use here to find a shop in Tokyo. This is an attempt to
encyclopaedically list the city's best ramen shacks in a method
allowing newcomers and tourists to get into the best without a lot
of time or trouble. He got to (some) shacks that no other
English-language blogger did.
This ramen blog is maintained by Benjamin Weber. He grew up in New
York City, eating pizza every day. After graduating college, he moved
to California, and then to Japan. He lived in Tokyo for over a year,
but then got a new job. He moved to Osaka in June 2011. Much of his
reportage is of shacks in Osaka. Each blog post is bi-lingual [English
| Japanese].
This is an account of a person living in Tsukuba, Ibaraki
Prefecture (northeast of Tokyo), Supleks' [c.v.] ramen reviews. He
is prolific. He writes one review per day, and each review is
thorough. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, he has been unravelling
the ownership of, and dining at a number of Chinese-based ramen |
soba shacks named Chinrai. {There are multiple corporations.
The name ‘Chinrai’ was not copyrighted until 1997, so
some shacks with the name, opened before then, are independent.}
Other Japanese-language ramen reviewers on Supleks whom you
could peruse are mocopapa, Stag Beetle, Y M K,
& Tomason.
This is an English-language collator of news articles orbiting around
Japan. It encompasses twenty-one topics. The articles are interesting.
However, I cannot recommend registering, or even reading the
comments left by a plurality of its registered respondents.
This is the pocket-sized atlas I obtained at a bookstore in Yokohama.
It should be translated into English. But for now, it is only available in
Japanese. Kanagawa Prefecture is where you will find Kawasaki, Yokohama,
Yokosuka, Misaki, Sagamihara, Hakone, and Odawara - all of which
frequently attract English-speakers visiting cosmopolitan Tokyo.
With GPS devices flooding the planet, is anyone publishing print atlases
anymore?
This is a fascinating site formerly maintained by Steve Schultz,
who no longer resides in Japan. That does not diminish the crucial data
provided by this W-WW site. It describes Japanese pornographic books and
videos in English. This will help you if you land on a Japanese W-WW site
where the only use of English characters is in the linking URLs. The bulk
of this site orbits around music.
Somebody from Europe went and placed all the venues that
S. Schultz mentioned in his Tokyo Trip Report [linked from above] on
a Google™ map. Here it is.
This is a hostel in central Yokohama, within walking distance
of the main trains station. Lee-san is the proprietor here. It is
a superb venue, period, with enough home touches to make you return
here again. Its guest rooms are small. Each has an open compartment
beneath the bunk beds, and a combination lock locker inside the
door. Even if your night time destinations are in Tokyo, I can
recommend you stay here. In a difference from other accomodations
of this type, you do not need to bring a towel. But you do need to
bring night clothes | pajamas. Its rates are as low as ¥17,000
| seven nights.
This is the W-WW site of the hostel group in whose properties I
have stayed when I have visited Tokyo and Osaka. Its rates are very
low. It provides free Internet access for its guests. Its Asakusa
properties are a short walking distance from a Tokyo subway station
on the route which serves Narita Airport. It has another property in
a nook of Chüö-ku near the Asakusa-bashi bridge, and a new
property within staggering distance from Beer Club Popeye
[c.v.] in Ryögoku. Khaosan's keenest aspect is that it has
surveyed its neighborhoods to denote the shops, clubs, and
restaurants which provide similar values for the money. It also
operates hostels in Fukuoka and Beppu.
This is the English-language W-WW site of another hostel in
Asakusa. It is in Asakusa; i.e.: west of the Sumida River
in Taitö-ku. If you can't book all the nights you want to
stay in Tokyo at Khaosan, this slightly more expensive (but still
cheap) hostel is a suitable backup. It is a long walk, though, from
the ASAKUSA(TOBU/SUBWAY) train station. Without heavy baggage, the
hostel estimates it will take eleven minutes. You may also follow
it on Twitter (It posts more frequently in English than in
Japanese.) as "asakusa_hostel".
This is an English-language weblog by Yasushi Hamada. He is a
petroleum geologist working in Shinjuku-ku. He travels on many
train and subway lines in cosmopolitan Tokyo, not just JR. He
posts photographs of them in each weblog entry. He does only two
per entry, so this W-WW site will load a little quicker than
other sites in the genré.
This is a railfans' association, similar to C.E.R.A. [c.v.],
headquartered in England, which focuses on activity of the indicated
topic. JR, municipal, and private railway lines are covered. I have
joined this society. If you are interested in the topic, I recommend
doing also. It costs $37.00 | year. There is a U.S.A. representative
of the society (in Iowa). If you contact me, I will pass along his
address.
Here is [| are] the World-Wide Web site[s] which will
decipher the ‘hidden code’ known by residents thereof, but
not by overseas visitors there. Hyperdia is Hitachi's foray,
which I submit is better than Jorudan's [c.v.]. It is now available
in Japanese, English, and Chinese. You begin by inputting the
station names which you want to transit in Japan. It notes what you
are typing and suggests the station(s) beginning with those letters.
If you are staying at a hostel in Asakusa, the station name you want
is "ASAKUSA(TOBU/SUBWAY)". Indicate whether the time you
enter is your desired departure or arrival time. Click on the
"SearchDetails" link for more key options; including where
you may optionally include a station or stations through which you
wish to pass en route. This is where you specify the types of
conveyances you want included, such as extra-cost trains like the
"Shinkansen", "Airline", or
"Limited Express"; the number of routing options [up
to ten] you would like; and now having an option which will
include, or exclude, JR trains. The output may be sorted by cost,
transfers, or time elapsed. Hyperdia will let you click
through [new browser windows] to investigate the train's run, the
service schedule for a specific station, and even a Google™
map of the area of the station. The results will let you know how
much it will cost; how many times you need to transfer (and
where); and how much time will be consumed. This is one of those
very rare W-WW sites whose facility makes it fun to play with, even
though some of its alternate routings are exasperating. I give
this service my keenest recommendation.
While doing background search on Hyperdia; I found this other
interactive W-WW site maintained by Jorudan. The concept is the same.
Its output is lengthier and less interactive than Hyperdia, but its
results should be the same. A Japanese-language version is available.
I break out of the frame for you. Compare and contrast the two of
them. Here is a quote from Bob Radlowski of Chicago, submitted
to Josh Noel of the Chicago Tribune, which
describes the area:
I have been on some of the biggest
public transportation systems - London, Paris, New York - but I
have never seen a transit system like Tokyo's. Your initial
impression when looking at the transit map is that it's a plate of
spaghetti, but spend a little time with it, and you'll realize what
a thing of beauty it is. Clean, fast, and efficient, you can get
anywhere in a metropolitan area of 30-plus million people in less
than half an hour. It's a reason in itself to visit Tokyo.
This is the zine which has original articles, and keeps tabs on
the other on-line and print publications covering pinball. There are
now only three companies in the entire world manufacturing
mechanical action pinball machines.
Here is the W-WW site of one company manufacturing mechanical
action pinball machines. If you have an older W-WW browser, click
on the 'site map' link in the lower right corner of this page.
This manufacturer eluded my attention until I glimpsed two of
its machines in the Logan Square Emporium Arcade one evening. It is
headquartered in Streamwood, IL., a northwest exurb of Chicago. Its
mission is to provide the highest quality pinball machines in the
world. Its team has been listening to the pinball community and is
driven to design pinball machines that appeal to the collector, the
pinball player, as well as the commercial operator.
