Drop In Out Of The Air

You can make up domain names using common words and drop into web sites out of the air.

Web site names are written in the form "www.domain.suffix", where common suffixes include ".com", ".org", ".net". There are several hundred words used in everyday conversation that are probably home to a web site. You can parachute into web sites all over the world, without the help of any reference or search engine, just by typing in some word you are curious about, together with one of the common suffixes.

For example, you can parachute into the middle of the following cities and check out what is there.

• www.book.org

• www.five.com

• www.freedom.com

• www.movies.com

• www.one.com

This technique will work for most common words, because most common domain names have already been registered by someone for something. By making up domain names containing words of particular interest to you, you can retrieve an interesting cross-section of the organizations that make up the current web.

Compound words and phrases often work as well (like "LivingInternet"), although the more unlikely the combination the less likely the site will exist.

You can also parachute into the web sites associated with the Internet domain names in the addresses of people who send you email, dropping into the web site of their Internet Service Provider. For example, if you get an email from someone at twenty.net, you can visit http://www.twenty.net/ just to see what is there.