Thursday, November 30, 2006

TheAirCar—A revolution in automotive technology


How would you like to buy a car with a fiberglass body that won’t rust, an engine that runs on compressed air in the city and fossil fuels elsewhere, and a driving range close to 2000 km? French engineering genius Guy Negre has developed the revolutionary MDI MiniCat which meets those specifications. The company has constructed several prototypes and is in the process of establishing plants for the production and distribution of engines and vehicles.

This vehicle has attracted the interest of governments around the world, struggling with the problems of air pollution and high energy costs. The air coming out of this car’s tail pipe will be cleaner than the air injected into its compressed air tank. Some MiniCat owners are planning to recharge their cars with home compressors driven by solar and wind energy—thereby reducing the need for fossil fuels. The small size of the MiniCat makes it ideal for urban use—nimble and easy to park. The company has plans for other models, larger in size, for use as taxis, mini-buses, and delivery vehicles.

The site offers potential investors the chance to contribute to the growth of the company. One section of the site enables interested persons to receive no-obligation information on the purchase of MiniCats.

Medlineplus—Medical information you can trust



For years we’ve been told to sit up straight or risk back trouble. Now a recent study conducted by Dr. Waseem Amir Bashir, a Canadian radiologist at the University of Alberta Hospital, concluded that sitting in an upright 90-degree position stresses the back more than a more relaxed 135-degree position. This is a sample of the up-to-date health news gathered from respected sources appearing on this site.

This is a comprehensive, well-designed and user-friendly site, with many helpful features. There is a Health Topics library containing information on 700 topics, including anatomy, disorders and conditions, diagnosis and therapy, age and gender-specific material, and health and wellness in general.

Are you scheduled for a colonoscopy, or another diagnostic test? The Interactive Tutorial section of the website will present a step-by-step explanation of what is involved in a particular test. There are 165 slideshows with sound and pictures. In addition, a large selection of Surgery Videos is available for those who wish to preview an upcoming surgical procedure.

Do you wish to learn what causes a baby to develop diaper rash and ways to prevent it? You’ll find the information in the Medical Encyclopedia. There’s even a Medical Dictionary to check the meanings of unfamiliar medical terms.

The Directories section will help you find doctors, dentists and hospitals.

This site is available in Spanish by clicking the link at the top of the home page.

Check out the site: http://medlineplus.gov/

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

MDJunction—an online healthcare community


More than a “rate your doctor” site, MDJunction is a multi-purpose site. The Doctors Search engine enables users to find doctors by geographical area, area of specialization, or by name. The data available on doctors includes medical education and area of specialization, contact information, patient reviews and ratings, and professional history. Currently, 135,933 physicians are listed on the site.

This website features health forums. In addition, there is a new breast cancer support group. Members may share experiences with their conditions and treatments. They also share information about other websites they have found helpful.

Check out the site: http://www.mdjunction.com/

Piczo—A free website for teens


This site enables teenagers to establish a free, personal website for self expression and social networking. Piczo currently places no limit on the volume of information, guest books, comment boards, graphics, music and photos that may be uploaded to a personal site. Setting up an individual site, with multiple pages, is straightforward, requiring no advanced computer skills. Students often use their sites as part of a class project to share personal writing, including travel diaries, poetry and short stories.

The site administrators place a high priority on member safety and privacy, and include an online safety section to help members stay safe. One Piczo privacy feature is a “walled garden” function which means that members select, through an “invite-only” interface, which users may see their site. Both users and parents prefer this to an “open to the world” format common to other online networking sites.

Launched originally in the UK in 2004, Piczo expanded to the US in September, 2006, and now boasts more than 10 million monthly unique users.


Check out the site: http://www.piczo.com/?cr=4&rfm=y

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Jane’s Defense Weekly—A magazine about military and corporate news


If you are interested in news about military hardware with regard to land, naval and air forces throughout the world, then this site will supply lots of information. Find out how well the Predator unmanned aerial vehicles are doing in Afghanistan or how they are assisting the US Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Patrol. Is the USAF interested in high-altitude airship technology? When will China be introducing a new series of space launchers for small satellites? All these questions and more will be answered for you at this site. Excerpts from articles are available to non-members, while full articles are provided to subscribers.

Check out the site: http://www.janes.com/defence/

Thursday, November 23, 2006

WhatIfOnline—Canada’s online fiction magazine for teens


This free membership site enables teens to upload and showcase their original writing in various genres, such as poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and excerpts from novels and plays.
Members may introduce themselves to this writing community and upload photos depicting themselves, their hobbies and school activities for example. In addition, members may post messages about the writing of other members, typically offering encouragement and constructive comments.

Check out the site: http://whatifonline.proboards85.com/index.cgi

TalkingWithYourKids— How to give your kids the facts about dangerous drugs


This is not just another addictive drug site. Parents, guardians, and teachers often have all the information they require, but need help in approaching the topic with their kids. This site offers accurate drug information, but suggests effective ways to deliver the facts to kids. Also on the site is a list of community support resources for each province and territory in Canada.

Check out the site: http://www.talkingwithyourkids.ca/

Francais: http://www.parlonsavecnosjeunes.ca/index.html

InsiderMedicine— A medical video news service


There are many medical websites on the Internet. What distinguishes this one is that the site consists of hundreds of video reports made by a team of Queen’s University medical doctors and students. The aim is to present accurate, peer-reviewed medical information. There is no advertising on the site—thus no marketing bias. Topics cover various diseases, treatments, and psychological wellness in general. The site is multilingual, currently offering information in English, Chinese and Spanish. The strong point about the site is the depth of information on the latest medical research. The plan is to add a forum to enable people to discuss information on the site. I found the site somewhat difficult to navigate at first. The site is new, however, and navigation and user-friendliness may improve over time.

Check out the site: http://www.insidermedicine.com/Home.aspx

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

RateMDs—Rate your doctor or dentist


This site enables patients in Canada and the U.S. to rate their doctors or dentists. Rating categories include punctuality, helpfulness, and knowledge. Scores range from 1 to 5, where 5 if the highest. Since anonymous ratings and comments are permitted, there may be a temptation for some patients to submit extreme comments, or even for doctors to write their own reviews. The webmaster reserves the right to edit the site to remove material which may be libelous. Many doctors question the validity of the site and characterize its information as “gossip”. They would prefer that patients report serious problems to the proper medical disciplinary agencies.

Check out the site: http://www.ratemds.com/index.jsp

Monday, November 20, 2006

The Hospitality Club: free accommodation


This website consists of an international network of people who will offer free accommodation and travel advice to members. After each stay, information about individual hosts is updated on the profile section of the website so that more accurate matching of hosts to travelers will result. The concept appeals to travelers in the 18-25 age range, as an alternative to youth hostels. Membership has reached 219,569.

Check out the site: http://www.hospitalityclub.org/


People who liked this site will also like: couchsurfing.com, globalfreeloaders.com, and place2stay.net

Dr. Mercola Optimal Wellness Centre—Health Newsletter




This site is a free, weekly newsletter covering medical news on a variety of topics, including causes, prevention, and alternative treatments for many common medical conditions. The site has an alexa.com ranking of 4658 as of Nov.20/06, which means that traffic to the site is very high.

The author of the site, Joseph Mercola, MD, is a practicing physician with specialist training in osteopathic medicine. He, along with a team of doctors he has personally trained, operates the Mercola Optimal Wellness Centre, located in Schaumberg, Illinois. The clinic is renowned for its Total Health Program, featuring nutritional and emotional counseling.

Check out the site: http://www.mercola.com/

The Phrase Finder: Meanings and origins of idioms, phrases, and sayings


Ever wondered where phrases like “the real McCoy” or “the whole nine yards” came from? This site enables you to access the meanings and origins of more than 1200 English idioms, phrases and sayings. The forum enables people to ask questions about different phrases and receive answers from readers. An archive of over 50,000 postings is available on the site.

Check out the site: http://www.phrases.org.uk/

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

RealSoftwareDevelopment--For software developers


This popular site highlights upcoming IT/software conferences. It will appeal to software engineers/architects as well as IT infrastructure service providers who want to learn cutting-edge techniques for managing their company’s systems.

The conferences have a wide range of topics, from presentations by Bill Gates about the latest Microsoft developments to forecasts from executives in the field about the future of technology and business.

One section on the site contains “tips and tricks” specifically for software developers, including practical tool-kits and timesavers. Another tab on the site features reviews of sites that are highly rated by other professionals in the software development field.

The site also contains the author’s blog.

The current Alexa.com rating for this site is 35,852.

Check out the site: http://www.realsoftwaredevelopment.com/

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

BookCrossing Book Club--A free book club




People sign up as members of this free book club and register one of their books on the website. The book receives a unique ID number and a registration card to be printed and attached to the inside of the front cover. The idea is to read and then release the book in a public place, like a train station, where the book will be discovered by other readers. These new readers go to the website, access the online journal and write a comment about the book and perhaps its new location. The website enables the people who started the chain of ownership to keep track of the wanderings of their books. A number of members have several books in circulation. The club is international in scope, although it originated in the U.S.

Check out the site: http://www.bookcrossing.com/

Monday, November 13, 2006

Breakthru: Spam-free e-mail

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Monday, November 06, 2006

Hi-tech news from Physorg


If you like reading magazines like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics, you’ll love Physorg. It has the latest news in all these catetories: nanotechnology, physics, space and earth science, electronic devices, technology, general science, medicine and health.

A great feature of this site is the extensive video archive in the following categories:
science and technology, health, general news, music, business, sport (including Golf Channel video clips), comedy, music, entertainment, games, photography (tech tips), VegTV, travel, and fashion. You could get lost in here for hours.

An awesome feature is the extensive news archive which allows you to search by topic or browse previous articles by date.

One tab at the top of the website, Free Magazines, gives you free, one-year subscriptions to science and technology magazines—no strings attached.

Link: http://www.physorg.com/

Hollywood gossip-- all in one place


Defamer, the Los Angeles gossip blog, is taking the Internet by storm—thousands of hits every day!

Read all about your favorite Hollywood stars and the news behind the latest blockbuster movies.

Link here: http://www.defamer.com/