The Toy Train Company & Reference Value Guides Lenny the Lion, dressed in an engineer's outfit, greets surfers at the top of the page. American Flyer, Ives, K-Line, Lionel, and Marx products are listed in detail (Lionel sponsors the page, and thoughtfully provides a company history). This is strictly a pricing reference for model train stuff, so there are no handy tips on how to get that Styrofoam rock to stay in place. A good site if you need product info; provides limited interest if you're not in the market.-RR

C

Stahl's Pottery This site is visually impressive, but lacks depth. If you poke around at length, you'll find your mind starting to wander. A brief history of the Stahl family line of pottery leaves you with more questions than answers. So does the rest of the page, with its mysterious links to seemingly unrelated topics -- shops that don't feature Stahl pottery, for example. All in all, this is an example of failed online communication. -RR

D

Atlas Model Railway Company

This mostly commercial site begins by stating that model railroading is "the fastest-growing hobby in America." Funny, I thought Web page creation had this distinction. This page reminded me of grammar school film strips: There's some good information, yes, but a lot of product placement, too. (Perhaps you also saw the film on basketball basics that had the team drinking Coke at half time. But I digress.) Atlas products are all over the place. And why not? This is the Atlas site. Overall, an attractive layout.-RR

B-

">Antiques

Enjoy this course in Antiques 101 with nary a sales pitch in sight. This good-looking site offers basic information with pictures on various categories of antiques and collectibles: advertising items, toys, etc. A page of guidelines for choosing and negotiating with a dealer provides great advice even for experienced collectors such as your's truly. The site is sponsored by Antiques Oronoco, but it doesn't trumpet its presence.-RK

A-

Bob's Origami Page



People who are seriously into origami don't fold paper airplanes, they fold space shuttles. You can see a photo of this and other equally impressive creations, such as an arrow-pierced heart, in a small gallery. Unfortunately, this site is not as inspired as its subject matter, and Bob's best contribution is linking up to other origami sites. Bob outlines his plans for what he intends to do in the future, so in a couple of months, this space may be worth a gander. -RK

B-

Cook's Corner

The brainchild of a self-confessed online addict named Merlene, Cook's Corner is a charmless misadventure in Web page execution and maintenance. The idea is fine: a resource list of links to tasty sites like the Virtual Campsite Cookbook, The Ottawa Coffee Co., and Virtual Vineyards -- good links, all of 'em. The ones that *aren't* out of date, that is. Still, you've gotta appreciate Merlene's chutzpah or, more accurately, quaint lack of self-awareness. As she proudly declares of this aesthetic mishap, "the background and ALL images on this page are the original designs of Merlene."-LG

C-

interBirdNet

Ask me how England's auks are doing, and I can tell you, "It's been a good month for Little Auks along Britain's North East Coast." I know because I checked out interBirdNet, a resource for bird sightings in the United Kingdom. All sorts of nifty avian info is here: a Red-Neck Grebe was sighted at Cavendish Dock Barrow in Furness. Splendid, just splendid. Technically and aesthetically, this site comes up short, but if you scope birds on the Isles, this is your hangout.

-RK

B-

Italian Motor Scooters

All about Italian motor scooters. Well, not everything. Content is thin, and considering you must have at least a *minor* jones for Vespas to create something like this, pretty tepid as well. A page of vehicle identification numbers is a baffling jumble of data. There's the requisite links to other scooter sites, but overall navigation is clunky. If you saw "Quadraphenia"more than twice, you may find something to get your motor running.-RK

C

Juggling Information Service

I used to juggle, and can tell you that jugglers are a fixated and focused bunch of humans. This site reflects this obsession, claiming it is "connecting all juggling related resources." I believe it. Colorful ball and club icons shoot you to areas such as festival listings, meetings, a shopping mall from which to order equipment, movie clips and worldwide juggling magazines such as New Zealand's *Flying Kiwi*. If it has to do with throwing objects without dropping them, it's here.

-RK

A

Pegasus Home Page



This is an extensive gallery of designs for stitchers, needlepointers, quilters, soft sculpture makers, and other hobbyists who work with needle and thread. You'll find dozens of easy-to-search categories including cats, cottages, continents, and, my favorite, Federal Duck Stamps. The friendly folks at Pegasus don't sell products over the Internet, but they will send special orders to a nearby store if you e-mail a request. Rumor has it that the conceptual landscape artist Christo started his career with a needlepoint kit, so get stitching.-RK

A

Team.Net Vintage Race Web

Endure the staid checkered flags that limply wave you into each page at the Team.Net Vintage Race Web 'cause you're in for a great meat-and-potatoes site. Gobs of dense (and useful) text is packed onto every page -- enough to impress even the most hardened vintage racing fanatic. Although it's just a step above the Team.Net FTP server itself, as it humbly claims to be a "shared resource for vintage racers on the net," you can't fault the site for pretense. The word "expansive" came to mind as I flipped through page after page of club lists, parts sources, and technical articles.-LG

B

The Original Motor Scooter Home Page

This decidedly high-brow scooter site is chock-full of exceptional vintage images of June Cleaveresque babes draped over Vespas, Lambrettas, Cushmans, and NSUs. Scooterists hip to the politics of pedigree will groove on the electronic exploration of a two-wheeled culture that took off some 50 years ago when Enrico Piaggio sold his first Vespa. Whether you're looking to join the Festering OktoberScoot Rally, or interested in tips and hints to restore your own machine, this is a good site for connoisseurs of these unique 'n' glam machines.-LG

B

The WWW Arts and Crafts Connection

Colorful buttons that look like hand-stitched samplers help you around this massive storehouse of arts and crafts information. Categories include books, craft malls, supplies and services, articles and news. It's a snap to find what your looking for, or, in the rare case this site comes up short, find links to somewhere else. If you're not yet an artisan or craftsperson, this site may inspire you begin.

-RK

A

Washington DC Swing Dance Server



Here we have an extensive list of swing dance classes, clubs, instructors, weekly events and more, accompanied by photos of happy residents of our nation's capitol cutting a rug. Information should appeal to everyone from beginners to "Strictly Ballroom" types into serious competition. I can't imagine that anything to do with swing dancing in the DC area has been left out. Obviously, the usefulness of this page decreases the further away you are from DC, but if geography is on your side, it's definitely a useful resource.

-RK

A