An Eclectic list (3) - older links
but still interesting or amusing.

http://www.northern-lights.no/
a.k.a Aurora Borialis, these lights in the sky, caused by cosmic particals, occasionally seen in Scotland, but best in countries further north. Seen any time of the year but more frequently in late autumn and early spring. The website tells you all about it, with some superb pictures. By the way, the Aurora Borialis was seen in this area in 1938.

http://www.cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/test
tells you whether your website can be seen in China which bans most of the websites on the Internet. My site www.itsystems.com is still allowed!

http://www.moontoon.co.uk/
Best Personal Site at Brighton and Hove's Virtual Web Awards, won by Alex Hallatt. The site has some brilliant cartoons and animation, but in common with all winners of such prizes, they are judged by people who are among the 6.5% of Internet connections via broadband. It is appallingly slow to load, and until it is all loaded none of the links seem to work very well. Such is life on the Internet.

http://www.frenchwinesexperience.co.uk/
A fun site from France all about wine, with a competition of course to win some free. Don't you hate it when they hijack your mouse arrow and replace it with a jokey icon? But this one is quite fun with three glasses of wine following you about the website

http://www.catslikefelix.co.uk/
Felix advertises catfood. Probably quite good catfood. But the attraction for computer users is to have Felix move around your desktop while you are working. Click Get Your Own Felix on the website, and download all or some of the components.

http://www.carsurvey.org/
Wanting to buy a new or secondhand car? Here is a website dedicated to what the car-owners really think about the 9000 makes and models of car you could be buying. Owners contribute lists of what broke, and what they like. And the editors put up a smiley face or an angry frown depending on whether the views are favourable or not. Don't go shopping for secondhand cars until you have checked this.

http://www.shorehamairport.co.uk/
Now that the airshow is over and they are picking up the litter, the website is still worth a visit. Some splendid pictures, and a special 'archive' website for the Visitor centre. Shoreham Airport has been highlighted as a possible gateway for about half a million passengers per year. Last year, Shoreham handled just 924 commercial passengers so the increase would be dramatic
They even promise a new railway station for the airport. Sometime!

http://www.consumers.gov.uk/
and click the link for E-Shopping
http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/
and click Consumers, then Advice Leaflets, then - Shopping on the Internet.
The law has recently been tightened up and there are some new small print requirements for websites selling products. But the main things to look out for remain these:
. Buy from companies you recognise or are recommended.
. Postage and Packing may be expensive.
. Make sure you get their address and phone number.
. Check that you can return the goods if you do not like them.
. Check the promised delivery date.
. You should receive an acknowledgement of your order.
. Keep records of the order and their acknowledgement.
. The Sale of Goods Act applies, and there should be a cooling off period

http://www.heritageopendays.org/
The Civic Trust is co-ordinating a series of open days from 13-16 September. This includes more than 2000 buildings which are normally closed to the public or who charge for visits. English Heritage, Landmark Trust, and the National Trust are all represented as are churches and unusual private houses.

http://www.dr-ali.co.uk/
What colour is your tongue and what are you suffering from? Well, apparently DR ALI can tell you. He seems to be the latest craze and this website is very popular. Dr Ali provides alternative health treatments and, according to his website, he has Prince Charles and Gerri Halliwell and a host of other famous people on his client list. On the Home Page you’ll find a list of popular niggly ailments and when you click on them, you’re taken to a page that tells you how to treat them Ailments like Stress Management, Migraine, Mouth Ulcers, Heartburn, Arthritis, etc. This is probably among the best health sites (of which there are many), and it gets lots of hits.
By the way NHS Direct is on 0845-4647 to speak to a nurse, or http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk for an interactive consultation.

http://www.wd40.com
Not military at all, but named for 'Water Dispersant which we got right at the 40th attempt'. Join the club to tell you 2000 strange new uses for the product. A product which everyone must have on their shelf someplace if only they could put their hands on it.
. Use to loosen rusty nuts and screws, clean garden tools.
. Cleans piano keys
. Keeps wicker chairs from squeaking
. Removes crayon from walls
. Removes tea stains from countertops

http://www.chichesterweb.co.uk/
All the good things that ought to be on a community website for a Cathedral city. But the greatest interest is by clicking the Rolls Royce link for pictures of the new factory just opposite Goodwood motor race track, where the first of the new Rollers will be tested in January 2003 - just a few months time.

http://www.bugsie.co.uk/
A company with a franchise in Portslade here, who will park outside your house and bath and dry your dog in the van. Save having a wrecked bathroom, dog hair in the pughole, and splashes all over the walls and ceiling when he shakes himself.

http://www.amberleymuseum.co.uk/
The Museum aims to show how science, technology and industry have affected peoples' lives. Set on 36 acres close to Amberley Railway station, the museum houses a number of collections plus libraries and archives. Old milk floats and steam traction engines and the fascinating Southdown Bus Garage Project with a good collection of old buses that show the development of the motor bus in the South East up to the 1940s There are some lovely photos of the buses on the website and lots of descriptive information about them. A vintage bus and a narrow gauge railway take visitors around the site.

http://www.arundelfestival.co.uk/
From Friday, 23rd August through to 1st September Lot of events, including concerts and plays, like A Midsummer Night’s Dream But I think the highlight will be the STREET THEATRE taking place from 11.00 to 4.00 p.m. on Bank Holiday Monday

http://www.dpreview.com/
THE definitive website on digital cameras. Superb navigation. Run your mouse over the major headings and sub-section appear on a drop-down menu. Reviews on the different types and makes of digital cameras Good section on learning about photography Photography techniques, Lighting, Printing ... and lots more Also other VERY USEFUL FACILITIES, such as a Glossary And very busy FORUMS on every conceivable make of camera Definitely a website not to miss if you’re interested in digital photography.

http://www.cowesweek2.co.uk
Nice feature is the gallery of photos from each day. The Classes section contains a picture of each type of boat, the class flags and sail insignia plus start times for each day and the latest list of runners and riders.

http://www.randa.org/
Royal and Ancient Golf Club. Apart from the major tournaments, there are details on events, FAQs, the rules of golf and a video library

http://www.neopets.com
One of the latest crazes sweeping the world is NEOPETS. You create your own vitual pet and you have to feed him and stroke him and generally keep him happy. He lives in NEOPIA. There have been sites like this before but this one is really taking off. So far over 53 million pets have been created. What makes this one lots of fun is that it has it’s own individual PERSONALITY. You can program him to be friendly or aggressive or morose You can also build him a HOUSE - and you choose how many rooms, what they’ll look like, etc. You have to ‘buy’ goodies for your pet, like food, by visiting sponsor sites. Each time you visit, you get X amount of goodies. Chat rooms, games, news, you can write articles about your pet. LOTS OF FUN, especially for kids.

Twined towns
I thought that an interesting idea would be to look into TWINNED TOWNS. I thought I’d find loads of town sites with big sections devoted to their twinned towns with lots of fascinating information and photographs of mutual events. Did I heck! I did a search using Google and found ... almost nothing. I did manage to come across http://www.hythe-kent.com/, which is twinned with Poperinge in Belgium and Berck sur Mer in France. The twinning page on the Hythe site has about ONE line devoted Poperinge and THREE lines devoted to Berck sur Mer. But that lack of information is matched by the Poperinge website (at www.poperinge.be/) which gives the same line of text and a link to www.Hythe.com - which is the ULTIMATE BORING WEBSITE.
Actually it is no worse than the other local givernment sites. And try http://www.hythelive.com as well.

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com
All the things you don’t need but would love to have. Like the SAS Survival book And the little flexible light that you attach to the top of your book to read And the wind-up mobile phone charger - no power needed And walkie-talkie watches for the kids And the ultimate ... a book on how to wrestle alligators!

http://www.yourmemories.co.uk/
This website is full of other people’s memories and personal recollections, ranging from the 1920s through to the 1990s. Some of the stories are very poignant, like the request on the noticeboard for people who were in a particular orphanage during the Sixties. Other stories were highly amusing, and there are quite a few very interesting historical photos. If you’d like to wallow in some "those were the days", or "I remember that!", this is a good place to start. You can also post your own memories up for others to read. I noticed that the guest book had entries by Americans, which shows it is being read worldwide. What I like about this website is that anyone who enjoys writing just for the sake of it now has somewhere structured to put their jottings down in a collection where they can be read by people who are interested, rather than clogging up the Web with random - in inverted commas - bits of paper.

http://www.savageresearch.com/humor
A REALLY funny site. Very simple, just a list of amusing articles. The first on the list is entitled RULES OF LIVING and the one rule I love most is ... "You need only two tools. WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40. If it moves and shouldn't, use the duct tape. " Another one I liked, Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines And you must try the Insanity Test - it’s ... insane.

http://www.friendsreunited.co.uk
This is a website for contacting old schoolfriends that you've lost touch with. Apparently it's very successful. I couldn't test it myself because I didn't go to school in England, but people have told me that they've got in touch with school friends of 30 years ago. My husband got in touch with an old school friend - but he promptly forgot how he logged on! A NEW section has been added enabling you to contact ex WORK colleagues (400,000 companies on the database already! Yet another example of how the Internet is bringing everyone together. Enabling people to keep in touch and keep abreast of what's going on - no matter where in the world or what your sphere of interest.

http://www.themaizemaze.com
one of the world's largest maize mazes is here in Crawley in Sussex path network of 3 miles - should be worth taking the kids to. each design lasts eight weeks and then it's changed Open between July 13 and September 15. I love their Email address- getlost@themaizemaze.com

http://www.mazemaker.com
The maize maze was esigned by the world's foremost maze designer (that's maze, not maize) who, by coincidence is also British, hailing from Portsmouth ADRIAN FISHER - Do take a look at his site - I never knew mazes were so fascinating!

http://www.crazythoughts.com
Life's unanswered questions What does the T in T-shirt mean? Do fish ever get thirsty? Why is it considered necessary to nail down the lid of a coffin? Are there female leprechauns? Did anyone actually kill two birds with one stone? Why are things 'typed up' but 'written down'?

http://www.deauvillecars.com
recycling of 2cv's

http://194.217.234.16/
ChiMet off Chichester, one of 22 unmanned maritime weather stations round the country.

http://www.wunderground.com
My favourite weather site is set for shoreham airport where the met-officer looks out of the window three times a day.

http://www.southeast-ra.gov.uk
which is a consultation site for the new transport policy.

http://www.wimbledon.org/
news, features and press releases Profiles of the players Video vault, with clips from previous videos to download and watch all over again. Shop online Ticket information Employment opportunities Caption competition - they give a photo, you provide the caption. If you win, you get Wimbledon merchandise.

http://www.bizarremag.com/
Literally a magazine about bizarre people, events, places and ... well ... everything. You can read about people with bizarre lifestyles, like Ozzie Osbourne Click on TRAVEL to find out where to go to see the most bizarre tourist attractions - like the Morgue Museum in Buenos Aires where they keep severed heads in bottles! A section called SICK CLIPS - videos of events that could have gone wrong. Takes a while to load up but the SOUND EFFECTS are worth it! Good for a laugh.

http://www.gizmos-uk.com
Very unusual gizmos and gadgets for sale Like the matchbox-size camera and the ... Fly-catcher robot The Boys Toys section is great - full of macho men stuff ... I specially liked the PAINT BALL RIFLE. I fancy the idea of running around the bushes and splatting everyone to high heaven! The FUN STUFF section, for example, has RADIO CONTROLLED RATS with glowing eyes and a surprisingly long range of 50 feet. Shopping can be a lot of fun for people who hate shopping. You’ve got access to UNUSUAL gifts without putting a foot outside the door. So you don’t have to give granny hankies for Xmas anymore.

http://www.royal.gov.uk/
Labelled the Official British Monarchy website - all about the Royal Family itself.

http://www.movie-mistakes.com/
For the keen-eyed cinema goer who can spot the mistakes of date, continuity, or illogicality

http://hubble.stsci.edu/
This is a fascinating website devoted to the Hubble Space Telescope. Anyone, whether interested in astronomy or not, would find themselves sucked up into this site for hours. There are, of course, lots of photos taken by the telescope - and this section alone will keep you enrapt for hours. A world of information - pardon the pun! Including things like WEATHER ON MARS COMET COLLISIONS NEWS about DISCOVERIES and information about the telescope itself.

http://www.england-in-particular.info
This is probably the strangest website I’ve seen. I’m not sure if it’s whimsical and rather clever, or just plain ditsy ... but worth a look at. It’s about England - but not the typical type of information you usually get on websites - the style is very randomised - deliberately unstructured - and has a very strange angle. A friend described it as a flight of fancy across England.

http://www.yell.com
A very useful site. Key in what you’re looking for. An added bonus is that you can get a map and directions on how to get there. A Very simple, very neat and tidy site and extremely useful!

http://www.secret-tunnels.co.uk
A former soldier had an emotional day in Newhaven yesterday as he re-visited tunnels he'd excavated, which played a major part in the Allies defeat of the Nazis. Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Day was responsible for a hundred and twenty Royal Engineer Sappers who dug a 500 metre tunnel complex used as naval headquarters to plan the Normandy landings and the Dieppe raid.

http://www.countryside.gov.uk
a website where you can see the proposed boundaries of the South Downs.

http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk
thousands of jobs in Sussex and beyond

http://www.dataprotection.gov.uk/
Site where you can find out whether you are required to register for data protection - don't be fooled by the scare letters sent out by scam operators!

http://www.montezumas.co.uk
A local site, based in Chichester, also about chocolate. Learn how chocolate is made, what makes a good chocolate and other interesting chocolatey things.

http://www.acidfonts.com
list of Free Font Providers, and found some excellent fonts. You’re given a list of fonts with pictures and when you find one you want, just click on the font and it’s automatically downloaded for you. Couldn’t be easier.

http://www.earthcam.com
has real time web cameras from all over the world. Unfortunately, most of the London ones I tried were all offline due to technical hitches! But I found a lovely one in Las Vegas, situated outside the Paris Las Vegas Casino. Fast streaming as well, which made it interesting to watch.

http://www.equifax.com
A website mentioned by Mark Spofforth where you can check your credit rating for £2.

http://www.honeymoonsguide.com/
Worldwide Guide to Honeymoons, Weddings and Romantic Destinations - lovely picture of a paradise island on the Home Page Lots of suggestions of romantic places to go, complete with descriptions and photos

http://www.bestromanticinns.com/
A website full of hotels that specialise in honeymoon vacations.

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/
The next site is a lovely idea. Two big companies, Manpower and Microsoft will done 4p to the NSPCC everytime you click a button on the NSPCC site. All you have to do is go to the website, click on Donate 4 Free and you’ll get taken to a page with a big button to click. It doesn’t cost you anything. They have already had 1.3 million clicks and this has raised over £77,000. An excellent idea for a very good cause. You could also make it your Home Page and click on the button everytime you open your browser.

http://www.findon.com
The other Findon website - a little more animation but also with good content.

http://www.realgardeners.co.uk/
A popular gardening website, created in Goring, but with country-wide, even world-wide, interest. Lots of pictures. A whole range of website notice boards and the like. And discounts from garden suppliers.