The most amazing feature of the World Wide Web is that it brings information right into our homes. Offerings range from taking a course on Pacific Rim travel management, to writing pen pals overseas, to finding the best recipe for low-fat homemade ice cream. Like the song says, “Anything your heart desires will come to you.”
Take the time to explore the vast universe of live Web cam sites, and you actually can see every part of the world (and outer space!). From watching a nest full of baby eagles with their parents to checking out the traffic on your favorite route home, live cams offer beauty, discovery and plain old boring stuff like someone working in a cubicle. But if that cubicle is on the other side of the world, isn’t that worth a peek?
Like cable television, it’s all in the personal preferences of the viewer.
Since this family is full of avid bird and nature watchers, the first stops made on our journey throughout the world was “bird cams.” Those baby eagles we mentioned were found at www.users.uswest.net/ rgloraine/index.htm. As with many of the sites offered here, this one includes a notice, “In order to view the EagleCam, you need a Java and Javascript-enabled Web browser.” This message is followed with specific requirements and suggestions related to the kind of computer one uses.
If you’re also into other kinds of birds, go to www.discovery.com/cams/ cams.html and choose your favorite cam. One of the best sites, Discovery.com has 52 focused on every type of sight imaginable, from nature to the man-made “wonders” of Western Wall Cam, the Las Vegas Wedding Chapel Cam and the Loch Ness Monster Cam. The site also features a World Tour Cam, which brings users a different mystery location from around the globe each week.
Another great spot from where thousands of journeys might launch is TrueLook Live! at http://pri7.perceptualrobotics.com/live/livecameras. jsp. Created by Evanston’s Perceptual Robotics, the site offers links to an unbelievable array of live cams, from Wrigley Field to the Red Rocks of Arizona to the Eiffel Tower. A site like this is a great resource, since clicking on links from a varied menu of delectable choices is much easier than tracking down those sometimes lengthy, convoluted addresses for each site.
Some offerings:
London, England — See Big Ben and the Millennium Wheel!
Sedona, Arizona — A service of Eduvista Learning Network offers several fabulous red rock mountain vista shots.
National Geographic Otter Cam. Watch two otters in a private home in Missouri sleep and play. You’ll want to check the otters’ schedule for the best time to watch them playing.
Adler Planetarium Sky Eye — Chicago. The Adler offers both outward and inward views, looking over the Chicago skyline and lakefront, plus the Gallery Cam Hubble Exhibit within the museum.
Tommy’s List of Live Cam Worldwide (http://chili.rt66.com/ozone/ cam2.htm) is another great site containing links to Web cams all over the world, with sections like Western U.S., Eastern U.S., Europe, Homepage and Gallery, a “gift gallery” that includes such treats as real tarantula spiders suspended in a glass dome with a glow-in-the-dark base.
Tommy’s provides links to places from Monaco to Lichtenstein to the Parthenon. Included are the world’s largest castle in Prague, Austrian mountain views, including the market in Salzburg, and several views of Paris, from the Eiffel Tower to various shots of the Seine River.
Also found at Tommy’s List of Live Cam Wordwide is the Western Wall — Jerusalem, Israel. The site states it requires Virtual Jerusalem registration, but there is no special registration required to view an astonishing 360 degree IPX video of this great historical pilgrimage. “Kotel Kam brings the world closer to the Kotel, (Western Wall) the holiest of Jewish sites, and Jerusalem,” the site reads. “This amazing project gives Virtual Jerusalem visitors the opportunity to view the prayers, celebrations and special ceremonies that take place year-round at the Western Wall. The image is updated every few seconds (this paragraph as published has been corrected in this text) .”
Another great feature of this site is the ability to find the live audio sites from radio stations around the world. According to the site, you’ll need to download the latest quality RealAudio Player. A basic version of this enhancement is available for free by clicking on the Tommy’s link.
Be forewarned, however, on a 56K modem, the download takes more than eight hours.
As for individual Web sites with something great to offer, check out http://www.oneworldjourneys.com. Its latest expedition, “The Sonoran Desert: 5,000 Square Miles of Silence,” began Aug. 1. The journey begins in southern Arizona, continuing into Mexico. This daily Webcast will take people on a journey into the hottest environment in North America. (temps of 110-plus are routine).
The featured photographer is Jack Dykinga, a former Chicago Tribune photo editor and Pulitzer Prize winner. Jack has been photographing in the Sonoran for more than 15 years and is part of a group of dedicated “Desert Rats” working to protect the Sonoran and create the Sonoran Desert National Park.
WeMedia Sports is the Official Webcaster of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. Watch Australian women playing wheelchair basketball at www.wemedia.com/sports.
Princess Cruise Lines offers “bridgecam” at www.princess.com with views from the bridges of their ships in various ports. It’s amazing, when you think about it, to be able to see Istanbul, Turkey, at night from the bridge of a ship, and then in seconds be looking at the Alaskan coast from another such ship.
Back to deserts and jungles … another “can’t miss” is www.africam.com, which shows an amazing array of African wildlife in their natural habitats. The graphic hunt and kill shots might be disturbing for young children and the faint of heart, so exercise caution.
If you’re looking for great sunrises, try out these terrific locales on the east coast — Maine: www.3ip.com/q-cam.3cgi, and North Carolina’s Outer Banks, near Kitty Hawk: www.gohamptonroads.com/community/ webcams/avalonpier.html.
Resort Cam Networks, www.rsn.com/cams, shows many different resorts around the U.S. and Western Canada.
Another great spot is Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, on the coast of Lake Superior: www.cableamerica.com/Michigan/Lake.shtml. For a different kind of “wild life,” Bourbon Street in New Orleans can be seen at www.icorp.net/carnival/live.html.
Before you stop surfing all the great live Web, be sure to watch surfers worldwide at www.surfline.com/videocam.html.
