A Guide to Unique and Interesting Websites

The internet has a lot to offer and the best sites aren't always the most well-known. Sometimes it takes a little extra exploration of obscure corners of the 'net to find hidden gems that even the most internet-savvy techie hasn't heard of.

Most of us who use the internet know about Google Earth. Google Earth is a popular program for checking out real satellite images of cities, towns, buildings, tourist attractions, and other locations. It's great for exploring vacation areas, taking a "virtual vacation" of places you may never be able to visit in person, or spying. That's right... it's been documented that those arrested for planning the JFK Airport bombing used Google Earth to map out the property.

For those of us not interested in international terrorism, Google Earth is a great program. I used it myself when I was planning a vacation to St. Augustine, Florida. I wanted my hotel to be within walking distance of the historic district, but since I wasn't familiar with the town and I didn't know the names and locations of smaller streets off the beaten path, how could I be sure? I just pulled up Google Earth and clicked on the link to show hotels in the area and it mapped them all out perfectly. I was more than thrilled with my hotel choice when I arrived in town. Users can search hotels, tourist attractions, and bodies of water all over the world. Google Earth does have to be installed on your computer, but it is educational and one of the coolest things on the web.

The real estate site Zillow.com can help sellers sell and buyers find a great deal on a home. It is even useful for homeowners who want to know how much homes in their neighborhood are selling for. Homeowners can also log on to correct misinformation about their house. Even those who aren't thinking about selling, but wouldn't turn down a great offer, can flag their house as "make me an offer." This lets prospective homebuyers know that, for the right price, you can be bought. Want to know how much your boss' house is worth? Just log on and punch in his address. The map will take you there and show you a great overhead shot of the property. The site is free and is useful for anyone who lives in a house!

A couple of great sites that involve a little bit of work outside of the realm of the virtual world are postcrossing.com and bookcrossing.com. Postcrossing is a great website for people who love to get mail. Post crossing will provide you with the address of another member of the site, but in another country, so you can drop him or her a postcard. Members can receive up to five addresses at a time, but will only be able to receive one card for each they send. Postcard recipients must go online and key in an ID# that signifies that the sender sent his card, then his name and address is sent to another member so that he can receive a card. I signed up, got two addresses, and I'm just about to drop off these cards to go to Finland and Germany. Just how much is international postage anyway?

The other website, bookcrossing.com, is a gift website of sorts. It is designed for book lovers who want to share their love of reading by donating books. Only users don't send in or drop off the books at a specified location, they just leave them somewhere. The site has a store with stickers and stamps available for purchase to stamp inside the front cover so that finders will know that they are free to read the book and then pass it on. This site also assigns a code to each book that is registered so that owners can track their books. Books are logged in, tagged, then left in a café, on a bus, or wherever the mood strikes. Because of the instructions on the stamp, book finders are encouraged to "read and release" the book themselves after they are done reading. There is even a page on the site where members can search for books left in their town. Users locate their country, then state or territory, then city, and a list of specific locations will become available. At the time of this writing, there were four books that were recently "released" in Clearwater, Florida, where I live. The first two books, Therapy by Jonathan Kellerman and You Belong to Me by Mary Higgins Clark, were released in the same location, Morton Plant Mease Hospital, and the third and fourth books, To the Edge of the World by Harry Thompson and River-Horse by William Least Heat-Moon were left at a private office.

Another cool internet program available from Google is one that translates entire websites into other languages. At Google.com, just click on the "Language tools" link, scroll down and paste in the website's URL and click the menu that lists languages that the original website is in and the language it should be translated into.

These are just a few of the websites that I've discovered recently, and there are thousands upon thousands more out there! I encourage all CP's reading this to post an article about your favorite websites so we can check them out too!