Watch Vintage TV Commercials From The 50's & 60's Right On Your Computer

Thanks to the Internet Archive you can now watch television commercials from the 1950's and 60's right on your computer screen! You'll see nostalgic TV spots for products like Country Corn Flakes, Alka-Seltzer, Dristan, Coca-Cola and many others.

Part of a broader collection of nearly 2,000 films in the public domain known as the Prelinger Archives, these TV commercials are sure to bring back countless memories. Many of the spots are clever and inventive and some are so funny you'll be laughing out loud!

This is a real treasure for nostalgia lovers!

Do You Remember The Andrea Doria?

On the fog shrouded night of July 25, 1956, The Andrea Doria, an Italian ocean liner bound for New York and carrying 1,706 people, collided with the Stockholm, a passenger ship headed for Sweden. The Andrea Doria sank and forty-six of her passengers, along with five crew members on the Stockholm, lost their lives.

Now, you can learn everything you ever wanted to know about this famous maritime disaster by visiting Andrea Doria - Tragedy and Rescue at Sea, a website created by an actual survivor of the sinking of the Andrea Doria.

Here are a few of the highlights you can expect to find at this comprehensive site:

• Detailed information about the ships involved in the disaster, including the Ile de France which played a key role in the rescue effort.
• Alphabetized Lists of passengers and crew - with some photos included.
  
• A timeline of events leading up to the collision.
  
• External Links to additional web resources.

And much more! There are other sites on the web about the Andrea Doria, but for its sheer breadth of information this one is hard to beat!

How To Read Classic Works Of Literature Online

Can you imagine a place on the web where you'd have access to over 20,000 books and could read them for free right on your computer? What if, with just a few clicks of your mouse you could enjoy timeless classics like Great Expectations by Charles Dickens or Ulysses by James Joyce?

Well, you can stop imagining and start reading when you visit Project Gutenberg, a site devoted to making classic works of literature and other books in the public domain available to everyone at no cost!

There are several ways to find books at Project Gutenberg. Assuming you want to browse the online book catalog for something to read, here's how you'd do it:

1. From the Project Gutenberg Main Page, click on Browse Book Catalog or Online Book Catalog.
   
2. You'll arrive at the Online Book Catalog page where you'll have a choice to search by author, title, recently posted, Top 100, language, and more!
3. Find something that interests you, click on the format you want to view the text in, and start reading it right on your computer screen!

If you've always wanted to catch up on the classics, this is the site for you!

How To Translate That Phrase With A Little Help From Google

Ever come across a foreign language word or phrase in an email or on a website that you wish you could translate quickly and easily? It turns out Google has automatic translation tools to help you do just that. Here's an example of how you can use it:

Imagine that you get an email from your Italian friend telling you she's bringing, "biscotti alla mandorla" to your party. You know what biscotti are but, what in the world does, "alla mandorla" mean ? you wonder. So you go to Google and follow these steps:

• On the Google homepage, click on language tools. Alternately, you can click on more then translate. You'll arrive at the Google Translate page.
• In the text entry box under Translate Text, type in the phrase biscotti alla mandorla.
• Next, select Italian to English from the drop down menu directly below the text entry box and then click on the Translate button to the right of the drop down menu.

You'll see that Google automatically translates this phrase as:

biscotti the almond

Not bad, for a machine translation - you can now infer that your friend will be bringing over almond biscotti.

Remember, automatic translation services like this one and others on the web can't replace human translators - they won't always give you the most accurate translation in other words, but in many cases they can give you at least enough information to help you figure out the meaning of the original text.

Want A Break From The Ordinary? Just Ask Judy

If you're the type that doesn't find blogs particularly interesting, maybe it's because you've been reading the wrong ones. You certainly haven't visited Justaskjudy, in any event. This frequently updated blog by a North Carolina grandmother will have you coming back often.

Whether it's for her sage observations on life, fascinating photo tours of places she's visited, or hysterically funny pictures and cartoons she finds on the web, Justaskjudy will provide you with hours of blog reading pleasure! Don't be surprised if you make it a daily read!

Get Your Crossword Puzzle Fix Online

If you're a crossword puzzle aficionado, you'll find plenty of places to play for free on the web. Simply type in the words, crossword puzzles in any search engine and you'll find more than enough sites to feed your passion!

Here are some worth checking out:

• Best Crosswords
• Yahoo! Games
• The Puzzle Player
  

And you can also play every day right here on The Senior Surfer by clicking on the Daily Crossword Puzzles link under the Train Your Brain heading in the right hand column! These puzzles are provided by OnlineCrosswords.net.

One Small Step...

You may have read recently that NASA is planning a return trip to the moon. But if the news does nothing for you but induce a yawn, maybe it's because you've been there, done that - you're old enough to remember the 1969 lunar landing, in other words. What seems like no big deal today, seemed like the stuff of science fiction back then.

Now, you can relive this historic event and the awe it inspired, by visiting One Giant Leap for Mankind, a site NASA has created to commemorate the Apollo 11 mission that put man on the moon for the very first time.

Intended to honor all those involved with making Apollo 11 a success, the site includes, among other things:

• Astronaut comments. You can read transcripts of interviews conducted with astronauts Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins.
• Important documents regarding the space program, like the Cost Figures for Apollo and NASA's Guidelines for Advanced Manned Space Vehicle Program.
• Photo Galleries. See images of the assembly of the Saturn V rocket that carried the astronauts to the moon, photographs of the Apollo 11 liftoff, pictures of the astronauts on the surface of the moon and more!

Thanks to this great NASA website, with one small click of your mouse you'll be taking a giant leap in revisiting man's first trip to the moon!

How To Keep Tabs On Senior-Friendly Products

Want an easy way to keep tabs on all those products created especially to make life easier for seniors like you? Check out Senior Nirvana, a blog that highlights all the gadgets, gizmos and other useful products you'll want more information on.

Some of the more recent articles have profiled:

• Super-sized TV remotes
• Talking watches
  
• Cellphones with larger buttons
• Large Print Computer Keyboards

And much more! In short, you'll find that staying up to date on the latest senior - friendly products will get a whole lot easier once you start reading Senior Nirvana!

4 Tips For Safer Internet Banking From Uncle Sam

Are you currently banking online or thinking of starting to? If you're like most reasonable people, you're probably more than a little concerned with how secure it is. So, where can you find reliable information to help you safeguard your financial transactions online? A good place to start is Safe Internet Banking by the FDIC(Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation).

This FDIC produced site gives you the information you need to make online banking a safer proposition. Visit the site and you'll learn how to:

1. Confirm that an online bank is legitimate and that your deposits are insured.
2. Keep your personal information private and secure.
3. Understand your rights as a consumer.
4. Learn where to go for more assistance from banking regulators.

There are no 100% ironclad guarantees in the world of online banking, but following these FDIC recommendations is a good step towards safer financial transactions on the Internet.

How To Find Out What Made Headlines In Sydney

When you read your daily newspaper, how can you tell what the important stories are? The front page headlines, right? But what if you wanted to know what appeared on the front page of a newspaper half-way around the world? What made headlines in Auckland, New Zealand, say or in Sydney, Australia?

If you're not a jet-setting globe trotter you can still get your hands on the front pages of newspapers around the world - your virtual hands, anyway. Simply point your browser to Newseum.org's Today's Front Pages where you'll see the actual front pages as they appear in print, of over 450 U.S. and international newspapers!

Today's Front Pages are presented three ways:

1. Alphabetically. Beginning with the United States, papers are listed alphabetically by state - from Alabama to Wyoming. Thereafter, alphabetically by country, starting with Australia.
2. Listed by Region. The newspaper front pages are grouped by region, everything from North America and Europe to Asia and Africa.
   
3. Map view. When you select this option, you'll be presented with maps of different geographical areas. Click on the designated points on the maps and you'll see the front pages of newspapers from those locales.

While you're at it, don't forget to explore Newseum.org's additional online exhibits sure to satisfy the most demanding news junkies - everything from Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs to important historical summaries and timelines!