You have to be fifty or over (retired--or not) to join the senior lobbying powerhouse. But you can be any age and read the online articles about retirement, caregiving, wellness, health insurance, and life/work issues.
Sometimes you feel like...well, just browsing. You know (kind of, but not exactly) what you're looking for, but you're not close enough yet for the precision of a search engine. Enter about.com, which calls itself "the human internet." Surprisingly easy to navigate, about.com has human "guides" who collect and describe masses of links on topics of interest.
American Foundation for the Blind's technology magazine is now free online, beginning with the January 2004 issue. Even better, all the back issues are here, too.
The name is true enough...magazines and newspapers from around the world. Browse freely but if you go for the free registration, you can build your own list and scoop up your favorites when the mood strikes.
Professional-quality Real Audio™ readings from hard-to-find (even on the Net!) magazines like Harper's and The New Yorker. The site uses large fonts and is exceptionally easy to navigate.
The BBC (yes, THE BBC) has a script called Betsie extracting text from its main site for the ease of speech-using readers, It works (it flies, actually) plus it's fun to read US news from the UK perspective.
Great audio and online directory of sites especially useful for blind surfers. Search by categories or via a text-based quick search link at the top.
Nothing to read? Don't even think about saying that after surfing John Mark Ockerbloom's massive e-text repository at Carnegie-Mellon University with over 7,000 books online, free and ready to read.
"Don't judge a book by its cover--read it for yourself" is this site's motto. Maybe not the whole book, but substantial excerpts from a large number of current books are here.
Webmeister Oedipus Wrecked calls Camera Obscura a "meta-index" of speech-friendly electronic text links. While you'll find a vast range of search engines modified to be extra speech-friendly, telephone books, reference rooms, and newspapers (including sports links--Oedipus likes the Knicks and the Packers), that's not even close to all that's here. Check out the almanac collection, the hypertext exploration of American history and the virtual on-line museum. A must-stop is Guilty Pleasures (near the end of the main page), linked to a plethora of music and audio sites.
Children's Literature Web Guide
Find stories on line, get strategems and support for helping your child learn to read, or learn how to tell better stories yourself. Also, find out what books are winning awards and rave reviews when gift shopping for favorite children in your life.
The Discovery Channel's Web site is crammed with interesting news and features, as well as being surprisingly accessible.
Documenting the American South
Huge, text-based site from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill puts on-line an astonishing array of authentic and fascinating material of southern origin, including: The 100 most important works of Southern literature and a treasure trove of autobiographies, diaries, and memoirs, including slave narratives. A must-read for those with Southern roots or an interest in the Civil War.
Based at the University of Washington, this site links to over 37,000 accessible online publications.
Grantwriters for a good cause would be well-advised to start here. Learn what other organizations have done, how to write successful proposals, and even read an abridged online version of The Handbook on Private Foundations to understand where the money is, and where it goes.
Translate text you type or entire Web pages from Spanish, French and German to English right online.
History magazine put intriguing excerpts from its January/February 2000 issue on-line to lure print subscribers. Read about the grim beginnings of Bellevue Hospital, death customs, life in the Year 1000 and and how to prepare a perfect dinner for eight (1860 style) among other things.
National Braille Press Free Downloads
Get your NBP catalog in three formats, as well as other useful documents--all free.
Like the old catalog cliche "too many to list," this site has over 10,000 books in plain text, free, online--far too many to categorize in this small space. Think of browsing (in both senses of the word) through an old-fashioned but wonderfully accessible free bookstore crammed with both obscure and famous tomes..all yours to enjoy.
On-Line Phone DirectoriesAn experienced surfer reports that as "search" sites grow in advertising, they shrink in usability. Often true--so here's several to try if at first you don't succeed.
The real deal for historians, writers, and other researchers, this site is a listing of over 3900 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar (and the just plain curious).
Thorough music site, focused (but not exclusively) on brass.
US Government Consumer Information Center
For years, the government has offered lots of free, useful information on all kinds of practical matters. The catch was, the free, useful information only came in print pamphlets. But no more! The text itself is on-line and readable in real time without downloading, with the result that it's impossible not to learn something while cruising this site. What should you always wear when you fly? (Answer: Long sleeves, long pants and natural fibers). How many calories do you burn running in place for an hour? (Surprise--650!--and you can do it anywhere).
Writers On-LineThe marketplace of ideas has been turned upside down since the Internet came to life. If you want to write, you can be your own best coach, editor, and promoter instead of waiting by the mailbox for rejection slips. Sounded like a plan to these pro-active literary pros, who have web sites working for them at the same time they're showing you the ropes.