In and out
The Royal Mail and Parcelforce have launched a trial project that will let people register their preferences for when and where things are delivered. This approach could encourage online shopping, because people will be able to have things delivered to a neighbour's house, a post office or a drop box instead of having to wait at home.

The "smart database" programme will be accompanied by a locker bank project, enabling users to have things delivered to a locker in the city centre. The postman will not ring, but will send users a PIN by email or SMS so that they can retrieve their parcels or purchases.

The database will cover about 40,000 people in the NG5 postcode area in Nottingham. To register, go to the Royal Mail site and click the link for Decide and Deliver. The locker banks can be used by anyone who lives or works in Nottingham.
www.royalmail.com

Watch it
The World Monuments Watch has published its third list of the 100 most endangered sites. There are six entries from the UK, including Stowe House, Selby Abbey, and St George's parish church in Bloomsbury, in the centre of London. The website has a photograph of each threatened monument and a brief account of its history. The sites listed in 1996 and 2000 are still online, too, so the website is becoming a great guide to some of the world's most interesting places, though often a sad one. www.wmf.org/a/watchlist.htm

Page turner
The British Library has added the Sherborne Missal to its award-winning Turning The Pages project. The idea is to take pages from untouchable treasures, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels and Leonardo's notebook, and put them online in Shockwave Flash. www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/digitisation.html

Head turner
Few things are as boring as sitting in a conference room, but there is a solution: Eric Staller's conference bike. Staller's latest model is basically a tricycle that seats seven people in a circle. Conference dynamics being what they are, only one person gets to steer. The trike will cost €9,500 until the end of the year. www.conferencebike.com/Conference/Newmodel/NewModel.htm

Ghost spotting
Are you clairvoyant? If so, the International Society for Paranormal Research has two job openings. Of course, you have to be able to demonstrate your special abilities, and the ISPR has put a picture-based psi-test online. However, if your familiarity with haunted houses doesn't go far beyond the Ancient Ram Inn, I think you will need to swot up on New Orleans. Oh, and Hollywood. www.ispr.net/surveys/psitest.html
www.afallon.com/hotels/ancientram.htm
www.forteantimes.com/exclusive/hauntedhollywood.shtml

Scary
Something even scarier could be heading your way, or at least, to your local Blockbuster's bargain bins. The three letter extension that terrifies investors is being exploited in a film released in the US tomorrow: FearDot Com. ("Want to see a really killer website? It's the last site you'll ever see...") The movie has its own site, of course. The real Fear.com has nothing to do with it. http://us.imdb.com/Title?0295254
http://fear.com

Pie eyed
If you still feel the need for a deeper understanding of Don McLean's 1971 song, American Pie, then you cannot have visited Understanding American Pie, James Fann's fan site, which plods through it verse by verse. Unfortunately there is a gaping hole in the coverage that misses most of the song's entertainment value: it has been a great prop for parodists. The net really needs someone to collect the set, from the classic America Online via Mexican Pie to Napster Pie. Amiright has the words to 10 parodies, though Brendan's American Pie Archive is a more interesting place to start. http://americanpie.smithcraft.org
www.amiright.com/parody/70s
www.amiright.com/parody/70s
www.mbhs.edu/~bconnell/cty/american-pie.html

New & noted

· The photographer of Notting Hill: www.nottinghillcarnival.org.uk
· The Internet Scout's weblog: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/weblog
· Worries about Google's use of cookies: www.google-watch.org
· As seen on TV: Julia Child has given her kitchen to the Smithsonian: http://americanhistory.si.edu/kitchen
· Sports sidebars: www.soccersprite.com

Six of the best Sustainable development

Johannesburg
www.johannesburgsummit.org
UK angle
www.sustainable-development.gov.uk
UN home
www.un.org/esa/sustdev
The Institute
www.iisd.org
Encyclopedia
www.doc.mmu.ac.uk/aric/esd
Links
www.ulb.ac.be/ceese/meta/sustvl.html