Links

Useful links to current information

• Some file repositories:

  • CDROM.com (US [ftp://ftp.cdrom.com] or UK [ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/pub/Mirrors/ftp.cdrom.com]) - a wide variety of useful stuff.
  • Sunsite (US [http://sunsite.unc.edu] or UK [http://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk]) - a big bunch of useful packages, particularly for Unix/Linux.
  • TUCOWS (US [http://www.tucows.com] or UK [http://tucows.blueyonder.co.uk]) - "The Ultimate Collection of Windows Software", i.e.  packages particularly for Windows in various guises.
  • Winfiles.com [http://www.winfiles.com] - another Windows file source (strangely enough).



• Weather reports

  • From the BBC
    • For the UK [http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/].
  • Weather Underground
    • For the UK [http://www.wunderground.com/global/UK.html].
    • For europe [http://www.wunderground.com/global/EU_ST_Index.html].
    • For the USA [http://www.wunderground.com], or loads of other places.
  • Intellicast
    • The World [http://www.intellicast.com/LocalWeather/World/].



• (Broadcast) News sources

  • BBC News Online [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/].
  • ITN [http://www.itn.co.uk/].
  • Channel 4 [http://www.channel4news.co.uk/].
  • Sky Television News [http://www.sky.com/news/].
  • CNN (USA) [http://www.cnn.com/] and CNN (Europe) [http://europe.cnn.com/] .
  • BBC London Live Online [http://www.bbc.co.uk/londonlive/news/].



• Travel resources

  • Real-time flight arrival information at airports serving London:
    • London Heathrow [http://www.heathrowairport.com/portal/controller/dispatcher.jsp?Ch=Live+Flight+Information&ChID=&ChPath=LHR%5EFlight+Information%5ELive+Flight+Information].
    • London Gatwick [http://www.gatwickairport.com/portal/controller/dispatcher.jsp?Ch=Live+Flight+Information&ChID=&ChPath=LGW%5EFlight+Information%5ELive+Flight+Information].
    • Luton [http://www.london-luton.co.uk/en/flights.asp?action=arrivals#table].
    • Stansted [http://www.stanstedairport.com/portal/controller/dispatcher.jsp?Ch=Live+Flight+Information&ChID=&ChPath=STN%5EFlight+Information%5ELive+Flight+Information].
  • Real-time flight arrival information for other airports in the UK:
    • Leeds/Bradford [http://www.lbia.co.uk/flight_info/arrivals.shtml].
    • Glasgow [http://www.baa.co.uk/main/airports/glasgow/flight_arrivals_frame.html].
    • Edinburgh [http://www.baa.co.uk/main/airports/edinburgh/flight_arrivals_frame.html].
    • Aberdeen [http://www.baa.co.uk/main/airports/aberdeen/flight_arrivals_frame.html].
  • Real-time flight arrival information for airports in the Republic of Ireland:
    • Dublin [http://www.dublin-airport.com/htm/flights/arrivals.ghtml].
    • Cork [http://www.cork-airport.com/htm/flights/arrivals.ghtml].
    • Shannon [http://www.shannonairport.com/htm/flights/arrivals.ghtml].
  • Bookable flight systems:
    • Avro plc [http://www.avro.co.uk] - charter seat-only specialist.
    • Ryanair [http://www.ryanair.ie] - no-fuss scheduled flying on Ireland's low-cost airline.



• TV stations

  • BBC TV programme listings [http://www.bbc.co.uk/television/].  _{(Of limited use, except to UK residents.)}
  • Channel 4 TV programme listings [http://www.channel4.com/listings/listings.cgi].  _{(Of limited use, except to UK residents.)}



• Radio stations

  • BBC radio programme listings [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/], including some links to audio streams.
  • Radio Jackie [http://http://www.radiojackie.com/]is based in south west London, UK, formerly an unlicenced "pirate" broadcast station in the 1970s and 1980s, but recently resurrected as a legitimate commercial local radio station.
  • Totalrock [http://http://www.totalrock.com/] is an internet and satellite radio station based in the heart of the West End of London, UK, specialising (as the name suggests) in rock music.
  • KevFM [http://http://www.KevFM.com/] is the internet radio station of bawdy Australian comic musician Kevin Bloody Wilson.
  • Radio-Locator [http://wmbr.mit.edu/stations/] (formerly "The MIT List of Radio Stations on the Internet") currently standing at 10300 specific stations.



• A few UK government departments:

  • The Open Government initiative [http://www.open.gov.uk], and an index [http://www.open.gov.uk/index/orgindex.htm]
  • The official British Prime Ministerial residence Number 10 Downing Street [http://www.number-10.gov.uk]
  • The Home Office [http://http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/] (responsible for law and order, immigration policy, and similar domestic policy)
  • The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) [http://http://www.fco.gov.uk/] (responsible for British interests abroad, including diplomatic missions, travel conditions for British citizens abroad, and other international policy)
  • The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) [http://http://www.defra.gov.uk/] (formerly the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food)
  • The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) [http://www.dti.gov.uk]
  • The Department of Health [http://www.doh.gov.uk]
  • The Ministry of Defence (MOD) [http://www.mod.uk]
  • HM Customs and Excise [http://www.hmce.gov.uk]
  • The Cabinet Office [http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/] is (amongst other things) responsible for the honours lists. [http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ceremonial/lists/index.asp]
  • One for us company directors: Companies House [http://www.companies-house.gov.uk]
  • Even the security services have web sites MI5 [http://www.mi5.gov.uk/] and the SIS [http://www.sis.gov.uk/] (colloquially known as, and mistakenly referred to by the media by, its obsolete identification of MI6).



• Online "Real World" Indexes and Directories:

  Online directories and indexes helpful in finding or verifying contact details and or physical locations for individuals and corporate entities in the real world.  Don't forget that search engines can also be very useful in this respect with properly refined searches.

  • The UK telephone directory [http://www.bt.com/phonenetuk]
  • Find a UK address from a post code [http://www.royalmail.co.uk/paf/addfind.htm] or post code for an address [http://www.royalmail.co.uk/paf/pcodefin.htm].
  • Get a browsable local map [http://www.streetmap.co.uk] from a street name, post code, town, geographic co-ordinates, or even telephone number (though this last sometimes comes up with spurious results).
  • Peruse geographical information associated with UK telephone STD codes [http://www.ukphoneinfo.com/section/home/introduction.shtml].



• Shopping Sites

  • Right at the other end of the scale is ThinkGeek [http://www.thinkgeek.com] selling gizmos and gadgets for adult braniac nerds and IT boffins.
  • Of course practically everyone knows of Amazon [http://www.amazon.co.uk] who initially started out selling just books, but have since branched out into all sorts of wares - music, video, DVD, and consumer electronics to name just some..



• Webzines and comics

  • My favourite online comic, of particular interest to the role-play gaming fraternity - particularly Dungeons & Dragons - is The Order of the Stick.  [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/ootslatest.html]
  • The Register [http://www.theregister.co.uk] publishes an irreverent and satirical take on the news in the information technology world.
  • Tachyon TV [http://tachyontv.typepad.com/tachyon/] does much the same for the world of television SF fandom.



• Complaint and consumer campaign sites:

  PayPal doesn't seem popular...

  PayPal is supposedly a quick and convenient payment medium.  Unfortunately it also appears, certainly after mere cursory research, to be very open to abuse.  Furthermore the company's business policy seems to be to indemnify themselves by passing on the cost to the victims, if any of the following sites are to be believed.

  • Paypal Alert [http://paypalalert.com/] - things you should know about PayPal, the way it treats its account holders, and its business practices.
  • Paypal Sucks [http://www.paypalsucks.com] - reasons why you should NOT use PayPal.
  • PaypalWarning [http://www.paypalwarning.com/] - more reasons to be wary of PayPal.
  • About PayPal [http://www.aboutpaypal.org/] - still more reasons to be wary of PayPal.



• International time

  • An interactive Timezone reference [http://www.timezoneconverter.com/] card.
  • A comprehensive site of timezone resources [http://www.worldtimezone.com/].
  • Another huge directory of local time [http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/] in cities around the world.
  • The US Navy's timezone reference map [http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/world_tzones.html].
  • The US Navy's publicly available site providing online sunrise/sunset times anywhere on the planet.



• Astronomy and Space Science resources:

  • America's National Aeronautical and Space Administraction: NASA [http://www.nasa.gov]
  • NASA's Human Spaceflight [http://spaceflight.nasa.gov] site for current and archive news of manned space missions, including shuttle missions (if any) and of course the crew aboard the ISS (International Space Station).  See also have a number of live refreshing video feeds [http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/video/] available to choose from.
  • The NASA solar system site [http://solarsystem.nasa.gov] is a useful information resource on the structure and motion of the solar system.
  • hubblesite.org [http://www.hubblesite.org] is another NASA web site, this time dedicated to the Hubble orbiting telescope.
  • SETI@home [http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu] is a distributed computing project harnessing the idle computer time of thousands of PCs around the world to assist in the statistical analysis of stellar signals recorded in a radio spectrum search for apparently un-natural patterns as an effort in the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) - i.e. alien intelligence.
  • Long before the SETI@home project, radio SETI projects were established which performed much more rudimentary signal analysis.  Most of these efforts produced no results, or at least none that could not be attributed beyond all reasonable doubt to terrestrial or known celestial phenomena.  However, on August 15 1977, a signal was recorded which came to be known as the "Wow!" signal [http://www.bigear.org/wowmenu.htm], which has never been fully explained.  Equally, however, it has never been detected again.
  • Beagle 2 [http://www.beagle2.com] is the home site of the largely British probe-on-a-shoestring-budget to investigate the Martian surface for signs of life.  The probe was timetabled to hit dirt at 02:54 GMT December 25th, 2003 with first confirmation of a safe landing reaching Earth at around 06:30 GMT.  Towards the end of January 2004 - over a month after touch-down - no contact had been established with the probe, and it was declared lost, and it now goes down in history as another valiant British failure.
  • The Artemis Society International [http://www.asi.org], an organisation dedicated to creating a permanent inhabited presence on the moon, by private enterprise alone.
  • The QinetiQ 1 Project [http://http://www.qinetiq1.com], a British project to launch a manned balloon to 125,000 feet (technically 25,000 feet into space).



• Links for Psion series 5 resources

  • Most obviously - the manufacturers: Psion.  [http://www.psion.com]
  • The TUCOWS stabled PDACENTRAL.  [http://www.pdacentral.com]
  • My own Psion/EPOC Page.  [http://www.courtfields.com/psion5/]
  • Psion 5 to Linux PPP.  [http://www.courtfields.com/linux/index.htm#P5]
  • A small cache of Series 5 sound snippets [http://www.courtfields.com/p5/sounds/].
  • My own preferred source of P5 add-ons Clove Technology.  [http://www.clove.co.uk]


• GameSpy [http://www.gamespy.com] - good for Quake, Half-Life and many other games online.

• Links for Quake players:

  • id Software [http://www.idsoftware.com]
  • id Software Quake FTP archive [ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake] (mirrored at:
    • ftp.cdrom.com [ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/quake]
    • Sunsite (UK) [ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/idgames2/quake]
    • ftp.mirror.nl [ftp://ftp.mirror.nl/pub/mirror/idgames2/quake]
    • Gameaholic Web interface [http://files.gameaholic.com/idgames.d/quake/]
    and many others)
  • Planet Quake [http://www.planetquake.com]
  • QuakeWorld.Net [http://www.quakeworld.net]



• Links for Half-Life players:

  • The latest upgrade patch to version 1.1.0.4 [http://www.fileplanet.com/index.asp?file=51275&download=1]
  • Valve Software [http://www.valvesoftware.com] and Sierra Online [http://www.sierra.com], the respective producers and distributors of the game (and their UK site [http://www.sierra-online.co.uk]).
  • Planet Half-Life [http://www.planethalflife.com], including Counter-Strike news [http://www.planethalflife.com/cs/], and pages for Neil Manke [http://www.planethalflife.com/manke/] author of the popular "They Hunger" single-player addon.
  • Planet Half-Life file mirrors:
    • Sunsite (UK) [ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/idgames2/half-life]
    • ftp.mirror.nl [ftp://ftp.mirror.nl/pub/mirror/idgames2/half-life]
    • Gameaholic Web interface [http://files.gameaholic.com/idgames.d/half-life/]
  • Planet Half-Life [http://www.planethalflife.com]
  • A Finnish mirror [http://pelit.saunalahti.fi/telenation/] (closest to Europe) of several single-player Half-Life add-ons/mods reviewed [http://3dmr.gamedesign.net/reviews/halflife/] at 3DMR [http://3dmr.gamedesign.net/]
  • Still more downloads from 3DDownloads.com [http://www.3ddownloads.com/]
  • The Linux Counter-Strike server [http://www.fileplanet.com/index.asp?file=51940&download=1]



• Online gaming

  • Possibly the best (free) MMORPG (massively multi-player online role-playing game) on the 'net is Runescape [http://www.runescape.com]. Knights in armour, wizards, temples, magic, and countless creatures and interactive characters, and quite literally thousands of other players from around the globe.
  • Rune HQ [http://www.runehq.com/] is one of many unofficial support sites for players of Runescape, where they cab exchange tips, discuss game play, and thrash out deals.
  • Miniclip [http://www.miniclip.com/] is an online gaming portal with links tp many online games (including Runescape).
  • Free Games [http://www.free-games.com.au/Free_Online_Multiplayer_Games/MMORPG/] is an online gaming site based in Australia with links to and reviews of numerous free online gaming sites, including MMORPGs.



• Film & TV resources

  • As a film fan and member of the British Film Institute [http://www.bfi.org.uk], I consider it my duty to make at least a couple of attendances at the London Film Festival [http://www.lff.org.uk/] (1999 was it's 43rd year).
  • The "Internet Movie Database" (UK [http://uk.imdb.com] or US [http://www.imdb.com] mirrors) provides very comprehensive information on films old, new, and in some instances still only in production, as well as actor/actress/writer/director/crew career profiles.



• Formula 1 racing links:

  • The FIA [http://www.fia.com] (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) official web presence - the governing body of Formula 1 racing.
  • Planetsport F1 updates [http://www.planetsport.com/live/f1/]
  • McLaren Racing Online [http://www.mclaren.co.uk/] - the McLaren team site
  • Mercedes AMG Petronas [http://www.mercedesamgf1.com/en/]
  • Williams F1 [http://www.williamsf1.co.uk/]
  • Ferrari [http://www.ferrari.it/]
  • Infiniti Red Bull Racing [http://www.infiniti-redbullracing.com/en_GB]
  • Sauber F1 Team [http://www.sauber.ch/]
  • Sahara Force India [http://www.forceindiaf1.com/]
  • A []
  • B []
  • C []
  • D []
  • E []
  • ITV Formula One [http://www.itv-f1.com] - ITV's online F1 coverage (stuff there, but laden with other advertising and distractions).
  • A very comprehensive, if a little outdated, index of Formula 1 links.  [http://www.cannylink.com/sportformula1.htm]



• Rugby (Six Nations):

  • The Rugby Football Union [http://www.rfu.com/]
  • SixNations Web [http://www.sixnationsweb.com/]



• Several webcam indexes:

  • webcams.org [http://www.webcams.org]
  • camarades.org [http://www.camarades.com]
  • Mark Ursel's LiveCams [http://www.neocomsystem.com/livecams/]
  • The Earthcam Network [http://www.earthcam.com]



• Miscellanies:

  • The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) [http://www.nerc-bas.ac.uk] - of particular interest to me since a former girlfriend's brother was actually stationed for a year at what was then Faraday Base, in the early 1990s.
  • The Degree Confluence Project [http://www.confluence.org/] which aims to sample the modern world by to visiting each of the land falling latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures at each location.
  • The British Standards Institute (BSi) [http://www.bsi.org.uk]

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This page copyright © 1996-2004 - Raj Rijhwani <raj@rijhwani.org>
Page created August 30, 2000.  Last updated April 23, 2013.

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