Welcome
(Detailed
Contents)
 *
 Getting
Started
 *
 Search
Engines
 *
 News
 *
 Great
Lite
Software
 *
 PC
User
Groups
 *
 My Pages
and
Other Links
 *
 Too
much
surfing
 *
 Statistics
and
Credits
 *
 Feedback

Welcome to LGrossman.com



The real news is that Cindy Barnard and I were married on January 6, 2008. A complete album of photos and more is online at Cindy and Len's Wedding.

The ModemJunkie's Portal

* * *
ModemJunkie
Visit the ModemJunkie Archive - - Impressions and commentary on the online world and much, much more.

You can find most of my frequently visited pages in the My Pages and Other Links section below. Or try this search engine from FusionBot.com:

Search our Site:

sitemap

Welcome

This page has been my portal, my gateway to the Web for a long, long time.
Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

Enjoy your visit.

Return to Top.

Getting Started

Getting started on the net is easy with the right tools. The most important is a good starting point. I have resisted the commercial lists of hot sites and portal pages and have found a number of alternatives.

A very useful beginning point is a Start Page I have modified based on a page created by Jorn Barger the granddady of the Weblog. Also available is a collection of Useful Bookmarks with more than 50 categories of links I have also cribbed from Jorn. These pages are very dated but you may find something useful.

Weblogs

A few of my favorites are:

  • Lindsay Marshall's Bifurcated Rivets. Very eclectic, this is my favorite site. Lindsay finds new and strange things almost every day.
  • Cameron Barrett's Camworld. In recent years this site has morphed into an intersting prespective on the political scene and developments in the use of the Web in political campaigns. It is currently undergoing another transition.
  • Dan Bricklin's Log. This site maintained by the creator of Visicalc, continues an interesting commentary on developments the software industry.
  • The Robot Wisdom WebLog Jorn Barger has been back on line with his minimalist comments and current links for some time. His site is still the prototype of a real blog. While his opinions come through it is a log of his surfing finds, not a collection of personal essays. This site and Bifurcated Rivets have been recently been listed among the best of the old style blogs.
  • Dan Hartung has resurfaced as Stilicho. Dan was the pioneeer blogger who created Lake Effect, which disappeared a some time ago. He started his new blog in January 2005. I don't know why it took me a year go find it. Take a look. [I know it's late, Dan, but Welcome back. We missed you.]

    If this isn't enough here are a few lists of Weblogs:

  • Jorn Barger's Other weblogs, an annotated list of the sources he uses to find more links.
  • The WebLog Monitor. Search tool for weblogs.

Return to index


Search Engines

The Web can be a bewildering, vast, source of entertainment and information. There are many fast search engines designed to help you find what your are looking for in seconds.

Also available are tools like Who/Where to enable you to find e-mail addresses, phone numbers and even reverse directories to tell you whose number that is scribbled on that scrap of paper in your wallet.

I do my searches right from here. If you don't find what you are looking for, try Lycos or Excite, or one of the many other search engines available on the Web. Here are some of the best:

Google

Google!

All The Web

FAST Web Search Web Search
- H o t B o t -

HotBot is easily configured and is great for large searches so here is a link to their service.

GoogleGroups

This form will enable you to search the Usenet news groups, I have found it extremely useful.

Search Discussion Groups For:

Return to index

If you are looking for just the right word to use in your next page or project, check out the OneLook Online Dictionaries That site allows you to search over 50 online dictionaries with one click.

Use this form to search for items in todays news:

News Search

the News
Excite Channels
the Web

Search Help

Return to index

Breaking News

Links to many sources of the latest news and commentary from around the world.

Return to index

Great Lite Software

For many years I was hooked on creating and editing Web pages.

That burning desire has cooled somewhat but every now and then I like to touch things up or create something new. Readers of my columns and viewers of my pages know I like to keep things simple. I believe it should not be necessary to upgrade your computer every 6 months or add RAM every few weeks to write a letter or browse the Web or even to create Web pages. So, I appreciate applications that do their job with out requiring much in resources. I am happy to share with some of my finds:

JAlbum

Most of my recent photo albums have been generated by JAlbum. A small, free, easy to use application which is constantly being developed and expanded by loyal users.

DiDa for Windows

DiDa is a simple, small, freeware HTML editor for Windows created by Godfrey Ko. The orignal beta version 1.72 is dated but is still available here. The whole zipped file, dida172.zip is barely 300 K. While it is not a WYSIWYG editor, the app includes a fast previewer which will let you view your page without opening your memory-hog browser (and it will let you see how your masterpiece will look in browsers that don't handle "netscapisms," as well). This streamlined application has features not found on much bigger editors, including a status line indicating what line you are on, an invaluable feature for making corrections after running validation programs like Weblint.

A professional version, DiDa Pro is now available from the DiDa home page. This app also serves as an excellent "view source" tool to substitute for notepad or the default viewer in your browser. Godfrey can be reached directly at godfreyk@faico.com. Tell him I sent you. Check back here regularly for the latest version of the freeware edition. He has also created a whole range of useful web related tools. Check out the Faico home page. Most of my pages are edited or created with a version of DiDa.

Return to index

Opera -- A browsing masterpiece

My great find keeps getting better!! And now it's free. Opera meets my requirements for special mention. It is relatively small although it no longer fits on a single floppy -- or even two, it is still only about 4 meg.. It offers many innovative features. Its zoom feature is worth your attention. With just a click you can magnify a page (both text and graphics) as much as 1000% or reduce it to 20% of its original size. Thus vision impaired users (including bleary eyed late night surfers) can enlarge the screen to legible size. On the other hand, it is also possible to reduce the screen so that you can see how a whole page is laid out at a glance.

The most recent versions are now available to download for evaluation and purchase. Opera's authors will listen to any problems or suggestions you have and are very responsive. Additional information, including links to sites with software for the disabled is also available at www.opera.com.

You can find more in depth software reviews and commentary in the ModemJunkie archive.

Return to index

PC User Groups

Although the role of PC user groups is changing, they can be quite useful in getting started. For a list of user groups around the world go to Ash Nallawalla's List of User Groups on the Web.

My addiction to computers can be blamed on George Matyaszek's great BBS, Chicago Syslink and the people who hang out there. Sadly, it is long gonr. Thanks George. It was on George's board that I first learned of two great user groups:

  • CACHE (Chicago's oldest computer user group) meets the 3rd Sunday of each month at The Levy Senior Center, 2019 W Lawrence Ave Chicago (SW Corner of Damen & Lawrence) from 10:00 until the middle of the afternoon.

    For more information, visit the CACHE website.

  • NICOL (The Northern Illinois Computer Owners League) meets the 1st Wednesday night of the month, from September through June at 7:30 p.m. in the home of a member.

    Further information about NICOL can be found on its own home page.

Return to index

Searching for Real Estate

I am proud to announce that my good friend, Sally Grossman, has been affiliated with the Baird and Warner Real Estate Agency in Oak Park for half a dozen years/. Our daughter,Sarah, is now also a licensed realtor and is partnering with Sally. So if you are looking for a house or condo or have one to sell, in Chicago or the suburbs, drop me a note at Len @ LGrossman.com and I will ask one of them to get back to you..

Return to index

Links

Here are links to pages I have created or maintain and other places of interest including law and government related sites and some special sites related to the Web itself:


Sites I Created or Maintain

Best O' CIWA In April 1996, this page was included on M.L. Grant's Best O' CIWA list of outstanding sites.

.
"Best O' Logo" by Kate McDonnell. The Living Computer image created by Don Showalter In the interest of readability I have removed the crumpled paper background. I miss it. I have replaced it with a more sedate background source which was modified by Terry Sullivan to whom I give thanks. I removed the old animated computer graphic and no one seems to have noticed, If you miss it click here.
Complete Index of LGrossman.com



I've heard that there is a 12-step program for modemjunkies. Unfortunately, you have to log on to participate. I hope I haven't made things worse.

Old Stats

Current Stats

Rev. 02/13/2008 Created with DiDa!

Return to index Add Me! - Search Engine Optimization

Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional