I just stumbled on a very cool service that helps you answer the question “Is {some site} up or down?” It couldn’t be simpler. Visit http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com and you will see a very simple form that looks like this:

Enter the name of a site and the folks running the site will go check and see if it is possible to visit the site from their location on the net. If the site is reachable you will see something like this:

If it is not reachable you will see something like this: