Excerpt from “Cyber Fun For Seniors” Fifty Something Magazine and Generations Magazine

Using the Internet to keep up with your loved ones is fine, but it’s only a small part of the fun you could be having on the Net. If you’re a senior and online, you should check out some of these websites. They were designed especially for you.

Let’s start with one of my favorites. If you like old time radio, log onto- www.unknown.nu/mercury. You’ll find Mercury Theater’s Radio Archive from the 1930’s. “Dracula,” featuring Orson Wells is playing in the background as I write this. Dracula is just one of the dozens of old radio shows that you can listen to for free. All you’ll need is a copy of Real Audio or Window’s Media Player. Media Player is included with Microsoft Windows; Real Audio can be downloaded from- www.real.com for free.

You can download radio shows for later playback, (without being on the Net) or you can listen to them in the back ground using the “streaming audio” format. If you aren’t planning on building your own audio library, streaming audio is probably the best way to go. If you do download the shows, use the MP3 format. It has the highest quality audio. Chose the format you want by clicking on it with your mouse.

How long has it been since you heard these words on the Radio? “The Shadow knows.” There’s a website at- www.shadowradio.org that plays a different “Shadow” episode every week, complete with the commercials of the period. Remember a company called Blue Coal? They were one of the sponsors of, "The Shadow."

If you enjoy classic radio programs like I do, log onto- http://f.webring.com/webring?ring=otr;list. Here you’ll find links to other popular sites including, the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre, the Unofficial Fibber McGee and Molly Page, Sounds of Yesteryear, and Heritage Radio Classics. You'll also find links to websites where you can purchase or trade all kinds of radio paraphernalia including scripts, tapes, records, etc.

Not all sites are just for fun and games. Here is a site that will help keep you informed on what your government is up to. It’s called; United Seniors Association and it can be found at- www.unitedseniors.org. This site covers topics such as government policy agenda’s, social security updates, tax information, IRA’s etc. Also included are links to other organizations that are geared to the more serious aspects we seniors face.

Yahoo, one of the Internets most successful search engines on the Net has a super site for seniors. Log onto- www.seniors.yahoo.com and look around. There are tons of things to do here and of course, there are links to other sites as well.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with AARP, but have you ever visited their website? You’ll find it at- www.aarp.org. As you might expect, they have one of the best sites on the Net- devoted entirely to seniors. You’ll find a little bit of everything here…from entertainment to legislative issues. AARP has an excellent section on Health and Wellness with many fine articles and tips on staying fit. If you could only visit one site this year, this is the one you should check out.

Here’s another site that many seniors will find useful. It’s called, Senior Law. This site is primarily a search engine that lets you look up items of interest such as legal issues dealing with Medicare, Medicaid, Trusts, Wills, etc. It can be found at-www.seniorlaw.com.

If you’ve been looking for a special item and can’t find it locally, check out Senior Shops at- www.seniorshops.com. They carry hard to find items such as amplified telephones and special medical equipment. Many times the Net is your best resource for these items.

Another site you may want to check on is, Age Of Reason at- www.ageofreason.com. This site claims to have links to over 5,000 websites devoted to people over the age of 50. When you log on, you’ll find a menu with various links to other sites in the senior network. They have a nice Genealogy section that should be of interest to anyone who is writing a family history.

Here’s one last site for you to check out. It’s called, Age Net, and it’s at- www.agenet.com. This site will interest men and women alike. It’s has an easy to follow layout and there are plenty of articles covering everything from politics to health matters.

As you can see, the Internet is not just for young people. Look around, play, and experiment! You won’t hurt anything and you might be surprised to find that Cyber Space has a lot more to offer than just email.