I am not too excited about the fact that Google now claims to index three million pages, but the fact that its Groups search now extends back to the very beginnings of Usenet is fantastic. To access this you need to go to http://groups.google.com, where you can find your way by using the newsgroup's names or by typing into the search box. It has entries dating back to 1981, at least 10 years before most of us knew the Internet existed. (If you don't know Usenet, you should. It's the Internet's oldest and biggest discussion area, with forums for discussing every imaginable subject. It is one of the best things about the Internet, though you need to keep your wits about you.)
One quirk: Google in general treats phrases like any other search engine. In other words, if you search for "A Day in the Life" that is exactly what it will look for. But that does not, apparently, work in the groups area. There it disregards all the little words, as it would in a normal search. You must tell it you want them included, thus: "+A Day +in +the Life". I expect this is a quirk that will be sorted out in time. Anyway, there is an interesting announcement detailing some of the historical gems to be found in the archive: naturally, these are computer-ish in nature (first mention of IBM PC, first mention of Macintosh, announcement of World Wide Web and so on) but interesting nonetheless.
Meanwhile, on a more contemporary note, the American Department of Justice has made available a fairly comprehensive terrorism manual that it says was found by police in Manchester, England, in a nest of Al-Queida operatives. There are a number of questions about this: why is it in the hands of the American government and not ours? Why would a terrorist group create such an obviously incriminating document and then leave it lying around?
Nonetheless, it is rather fascinating, although the authorities have obviously removed the bomb-making instructions. Potentially useful to anyone trying to get inside the mind of a terrorist, although perhaps to be treated with caution.
Finally, I've been scratching around for something seasonal. This is the time for giving, so you may need to look at the newly-redesigned Charity Commission website and database of registered charities. Not everyone shaking a tin is doing it with the best intentions.
And if eating is more your thing, there's the new Food Standards Agency site. The definitive answer on whether it's safe to stuff a turkey, amongst other seasonal gems. Meanwhile, advertising has been directing us to some fairly extraordinary Christmas cash-ins. I'm thinking particularly of SurpriseYourWoman. If that's your aim, there's a much easier way. Don't get her anything.
As an antidote to all that, take a look at A Victorian Christmas. Yes, this is a commercial site too, but it's well done. It's a reminder of the days when children got one present each on Christmas Day, and then only if they'd been good. Bah humbug!
Increasingly, people only know one search engine: Google. Well, Google is excellent, but it can't do everything. And people all over the world continue to create new search tools, usually with the aim of providing better local coverage.
Now Toyo Takakuwa of Tokyo, a mining engineer by profession, has created Search Engines Worldwide, a single web page that lists 1,400 of them in 175 countries. These include Afghanistan, the Faroe Islands, Papua New Guinea and all sorts of other places where you would think web-surfing had not quite taken off. Truly, there is no escape.
Britain alone comes up with 90 sites, although I have to say that quite a lot of them have gone out of business since the dotcom boom subsided (and deservedly so, in some cases). But there are a number of useful regional sites and other resources hidden here.
One problem with the site, however, is that it is slow to load. Rather than just list each engine's name, Toyo has chosen to reproduce the logo graphic of each one. Most are very ugly, and the site itself won't be winning any awards for design sophistication. But it is useful.
Remember strikes? They do in the States, and a useful site, known for some reason as The Great Speckled Bird, carries a list with points of contact. The interest for us is that several of them are in Britain, including one against the Scottish government. Bear in mind that the site is produced by a campaigning organisation, which wants, among other things, to establish a US Liberal Party. Some hopes, particularly in the present climate, but you have to admire their commitment.
Finally, Netsurfer Robotics is a newsletter about our electromechanical friends: not the battling sort you can see on the television on Friday evenings but more sophisticated versions. There's a nice story on the front page about hackers building a new operating system for Lego Mindstorms and running into trouble from Lego for their pains. Also, lots of stuff about robots being used in an anti-terrorism capacity. Anyway, it's in its infancy, it has very little journalistic interest, but my kids like robots...
Something I have not listed on this site so far is sites about journalism. There are plenty to choose from, and one day I'll get round to looking at them all properly. For now, I have been looking at dotJournalism, which has lots of interesting things, particularly for anyone wanting to get into the business. It also has an email newsletter letting you know what's going on among your peers: this is particularly useful for freelancers.
At the very least, you can find out which magazines have folded this week without having to pay for a subscription to the Press Gazette or go to its site, now subscription-only. The dotJournalism email newsletter now comes out weekly, and the stories on the site's front page are updated every day. In the past, the site has been strong on interesting but not entirely relevant American stories. If you want those, you might do better with Moreover's journalism feed, or go to the website of Editor & Publisher and sign up for its email bulletin.
Naturally, we try not to put rumour and gossip into our stories. But when we are trying to find out what the story is in the first place, rumour and gossip can be invaluable. The Internet abounds in both. You can look in Usenet, perhaps by using Google's groups search, or you can find more specialised discussion areas.
For aviation topics, you can't do better than the PPrune, the Professional Pilots' Rumour Network. If you are interested in the sorry saga of the plane-spotters jailed in Greece, take a look at what is being said here about the company organising the trip. Interesting, and not widely reported elsewhere. Of course, most of the contributions are pseudonymous, so you can't just quote the material here. You'll have to do some digging for yourself. But it's a start.