It's the Web Treasure Hunt Quiz!

This quiz is designed to give you an excuse to revisit some of the year's posts on this blog, and the websites we have featured from our Gateway to websites. Westminster Libraries staff receive this by email, with an incentive in the form of chocolate as prizes. No chocs on the blog, unfortunately, but we hope you will find it a bit of fun.

Big hint: each question contains keywords (or suggests keywords) which will go quite nicely into the search box at the top of this page. Of course, if you prefer to scan each post, that's OK too!

The questions

1. How did Lady Chatterley go on the record this year?


2. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? What on earth (or rather, what on the Web) is Zoho?


3. I urgently need a recipe to use up some pork and… let me see – oh yes, a few apples. Who can help me?


4. I’ve quite forgotten where we buried Auntie Nellie. Any suggestions? (The website will suffice – I don’t insist that you track her down personally.)


5. I’m sure the CIA are a blessing to the whole free world, but where will they give me just the facts?


6. OK, I should be able to cook a turkey by now, but which nice lady will give me some tips?


7. I have a rather old-fashioned CV – six pages including all my hobbies! Who can help me bring it up to date and down to 2 sides of A4?


8. Can I get some right royal advice on whipping up a great window-box?


9. What posthumous achievement has distinguished Adam Faith this year?


10. What can I do with all this rennet?

The answers will be posted after 4 January. Good hunting!

When you meet a spider

Advice comes at us from all quarters, much of it unwelcome, irrelevant or with strings attached. The two websites we feature this week are both well-aimed at particular age groups and, having picked their targets, get down to business fast.

Real life

Age Concern has got really wizzy. Their website’s home page is a model of simplicity – news and featured topics in the middle of the page, and a straightforward menu on the left hand side, leading to information and advice, more news, chatty articles about the real life of older people, and so on.

The top feature when I looked was entitled "Keep warm: Winter guide". Unlike the stuff on some official websites, which express pious hopes about people’s welfare and generally patronise us all, Age Concern’s approach is purely practical. Eight sections cover everything from getting help with heating costs to making sure you don’t swap one problem, being cold, for another – burning the house down.

The fun stuff is also good. I enjoyed the article about whether grandparents or grandchildren were more squeamish when it came to dealing with a bee or a spider in your home. Arachnophobes like me might sympathise more with the kids.

Take a good look round: this is a big site with lots to see.

(From the Gateway to websites, select "Oldies online". Age Concern is under "Advice & practical help". Or you can select "Family & personal", and then "Retirement & older people". )

Like it is

The entry on the Gateway describes The Site as "no-holds-barred advice and help for 16-24 year olds". Now that’s the sort of "aren’t I cool and trendy?" tag you see attached to rather too many websites aimed at "yoof". Does this one justify our description?

As far as this greybeard can tell, it does. Sex, drugs, work and leisure – all are covered with admirable directness. There is none of that sniggering approach which leaves you confused about whether it’s smart or not to take drugs or try getting off with everyone you fancy at work. They point out the snags and leave the reader to make a decision. What more can a website do?

Actually, they do do a bit more. They have some lively discussion boards, which seem to me genuinely to carry forward the basic information on the site. I wouldn’t presume to advise younger people, but I would with a clear conscience point them towards The Site.

(From the Gateway to websites, select "Advice & help". The Site is a Key Link.)

Picture credit: d3f/morguefile.com