Due to the nature of my profession, I often don't sleep night or working 18-20 hours without a break, I often stay alone in the office, sometimes on weekends. And I don't like when nothing happens around, I like when there is some movement in the visibility zone, it tones me up.

If I have to work long hours and not feel isolated from the world, I turn on webcams. Perhaps, it sounds a little weird, you may decide that this approach distracts from the workflow, but in fact the opposite. I can see what happens in some zoo, on Time Square, or at a watering hole in Africa, and get a little inspiration together with break. What is the difference from usual TV? All of this is happening here and now in real life, on the other side of the world.

5. The San Diego Zoo

The most progressive zoo in the world is located in San Diego. This place has become home to 3,700 animals. On the site of the zoo you can watch a polar bear, spy on giant pandas and unusual koalas. But the cameras are not equipped with night mode, so you need to focus on a time zone San Diego. I was lucky that my nighttime coincides with a day at the zoo.

Link

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4. Kruger National Park

The web camera is located in South Africa on the border with the Kruger National Park. This is the Park with the highest concentration of animals in the world. According to the latest information in its area there are about 1500 lions, 12000 elephants, 2500 Buffalo, 1000 leopards and 5,000 rhinos. With a 90% chance you'll always see at least one elephant in sight of the camera, or even a whole herd.

While I was writing the post, two males competed for the attention of a young girl. Love in the air.

On the website there are 5 cameras, all of them are located near small ponds, so in theory you can see any animal. I got the Rhino only once and have never been able to catch a lion.

Link

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3. The Monterey Bay Aquarium

If all the elephants are sleeping, I go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This is one of the largest and most beautiful aquariums of the world, has more than 600 species of creatures. Sea water comes directly from the ocean.

Fish Dory from the movie "Finding Dory" gets to the research center, which for the most part copied from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

However, there is one serious drawback, live stream from the aquarium are available at certain hours. At other hours repeats a small fragment of the old recording. Otters are my favorites :)

Link

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2. Times Square and the whole World

If you're a little tired of animals, you can watch at the city with people. . I found this website when I wanted to see Times Square, but then it turned out that you can find web cameras in almost any major city on the planet. It is sufficient to use the map image in the lower right corner of the player.

On Times Square you can zoom in and move around with the cursor. It's funny to look at people who are shooting something, while the camera is shooting them.

Link

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1. "From the height of God"

On articles in my blog you may have noticed that in addition to animals I love space. So, I could not ignore the online camera that is broadcasting directly from the ISS board 24 hours a day. Stream of the Earth from the height of 300-410 km.

There are two cameras on a board: The old one broadcasts with a maximum resolution of 480, but its perspective allows you to see the dawn and the northern lights. The new camera shows the picture in HD. But aimed strictly at the surface of the earth, cyclones look very impressive, like the continents in clear weather.

On the website you can see the location and trajectory of the ISS over the planet, and visit the station in the 3D round.

Link

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I know that this habit may seem strange in the era of the thousand cable channels, streaming videos on various topics, and terabytes of video content in web. But, I think the webcams have their own unique “charm”. In addition, I guess I look at those places, which I dream to visit someday...