www.about.com
This is one of our favourite sites on the internet, because it's 'about' everything. While many websites serve up reheated snippets of other people's sites, which are invisibly cut and pasted together, about.com doesn't pretend it knows what it's talking about. Instead, it goes to the real experts… us. The site contains thousands of pages – or communities – on specialist
subjects hosted by expert guides who get a retainer plus a share of the ad revenue, based on the traffic to their page. An excellent way to up the content quality and give users a stake in the web.
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SIX OF THE BEST
www.science-frontiers.com
Want to know why it rained for all 31 days in May or why Flaming June was flaming awful? This site is dedicated to challenging 'prevailing scientific paradigms', offering its take on just what is afoot with the world's weather. A disarmingly rational approach that suggests that the weird really is happening. link »»
www.quios.com
The world of electronic messaging gets ever more complex and diverse. Who would have thought five years ago that you'd be hooking up to a website to order a free text message service for your mobile phone? Quios gives you 10 free calls a day, so you can [-: , } -: and "I LUV U" to your heart's content. link »»
www.countryside-alliance.org
Are fox hunters "the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable" or responsible custodians of the countryside's resources? Why are Britain's farmers an endangered species? If you’re one of those for whom the country means the green bits at the side of the M25, click here to hear the point of view of rural England. link »»
www.hermoney.co.uk
Personal finance sites have been the big hits of the web in the last couple of years and now everyone is targeting niche audiences. Her Money is – surprise, surprise – targeted at women, with some excellent pointers on the advantages of being female when it comes to getting your car insurance, for instance.
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www.hotsheet.com
A well-organised portal with dozens of sections on money, travel, weather, health… you name it. And you can quickly tap in keyword searches for your local weather, stock prices, movie reviews and so on. The disadvantage is that it's largely US-centred. When is someone going to do something this good for the UK?
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www.astrology.co.uk
Shamanism, horary astrology – in fact, every conceivable take on gazing into the future is here on this stupendously thorough and link-heavy site. There are book and website reviews, horoscopes, and you can contact an expert to devise your birth chart or find all the information you need to build your own.
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SITE SELECTION
You must be joking
Comedy fashions come and go, but some shows just refuse to die. Even when they're finally put out to grass, we can still get our fix from trivia-obsessed fans who are now putting together some of the most entertaining sites on the web. Remember: fan is short for fanatic!
www.carryonline.com
From the gentle fifties comedy of Carry on Sergeant to the soft porn sign-off of Carry on Emanuelle, the Carry On crew spanned decades and 30 movies. A superb mine of trivia, including the fact that all of the cast were offered a percentage early on, but chose to stay on a wage of a few hundred quid per film. Doh!
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www.thesimpsons.com
Speaking of which, 11 years, 11 series and err, lots of episodes later, Springfield's least functional family are just as popular as ever. Includes synopses of each episode; biographies on all the characters, actors and creators; bulletin boards to share your obsession; and a chance to buy every episode you missed on video.
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www.fortunecity.com/marina/ highwater/183/
ofah/peckham.htm
From the early years of Del Boy trying to grab himself a slice of the yuppie eighties to the final episode in 1996, when the Trotters really did become millionaires, this is a loving tribute to Peckham's finest. Contains episode synopses, sound clips, scripts of classic sketches and a masterclass in Only Fools and Horses.
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http://users.lanminds.com/ eunice/frasier/
After 165 episodes, the idea of building up a sitcom around one of the supporting characters from mega-hit Cheers doesn't look so daft after all. There are dozens of Frasier sites, including a rather dull official one from the NBC network, but this is the real deal. A true fan’s take on the series, plus the inevitable and invaluable episode-by-episode guide.
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