Arizona school teaches survival skills for national emergencies

The Aboriginal Living Skills School, founded by Cody Lundin specializes in “wilderness skills, primitive living skills, and urban preparedness”. According to Lundin, fewer than 1 in 10 people in the U.S. have the skills necessary to survive a national emergency involving the loss of basic utilities, like electricity and water over an extended period. The 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster demonstrated how vulnerable an urban population is when a catastrophe strikes. Many people have to fend for themselves, dealing with the lack of potable drinking water, food shortages, loss of medical emergency facilities and the breakdown of law and order. Lundin’s website features details on the courses he offers and two books he has written on the topics of wilderness survival and urban disaster preparedness.

http://www.alssadventures.com/

Change a long URL to a short one

Sometimes when I sent an email containing a link with a long URL, like http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=OlgC4bWhVMw, it would be broken into two parts during transmission. That was inconvenient for the person receiving it, having to paste it back together. Now I use a free service called TinyURL.com to convert a long URL to a short one.
People who have one of those free websites with long URLs will also benefit from this service too. Now http://www.my-internet-isp.com/~myusername could look like http://tinyurl.com/3.

Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/

Entrepreneur makes transition from bricks and mortar to online storefront

Running a retail operation from a standard "bricks and mortar" storefront is a tough business. The overhead is often high, and includes items like rent, advertising, wages, utilities, and financing. The man in the video below had been importing and selling pottery products from Mexico at four outlets. When Walmart came to town, the competition was too much. He decided to start from scratch with an online travel business storefront and has never looked back. Click on the picture below to hear Kim’s story.

An onsite community for moms to gather and talk

Kaboose.com is a gathering place for moms to exchange ideas on a variety of topics, including parenting and school, pregnancy, general health, recipes and food, crafts, holidays and fun, and games. The many discussion boards offer threads on dozens of topics of interest to mothers. One special feature is Kaboose TV, which enables users to watch videos on a variety of topics, e.g. reducing your child’s temper tantrums, curbing your child’s bossiness streak, what to do when your child chooses bad friends, and protecting your child from “stranger danger”. http://www.kaboose.com/

Advice for keeping children safe in a dangerous world

John Walsh, the host of America’s Most Wanted, and Julie Clarke, creator of Baby Einstein, have teamed up to provide a wealth of child protection resources in TheSafeSide.com. Here you will be able to obtain DVDs titled “Internet Safety” and “Stranger Safety”. The site enables users to download resource material on those topics useful to both families and schools.

http://www.amw.com/ John Walsh’s original America’s Most Wanted site

http://www.thesafeside.com/ child safety site

http://www.familywatchdog.us/ track registered sex offenders in your neighborhood

Which is better, cable or DSL Internet service?

If you need to compare cable vs. DSL (telephone-based) Internet service, check out Webopedia.com at the following link:

http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2005/cable_vs_dsl.asp

This online encyclopedia of computer technology information will answer most of your questions relating to your computer. It’s a great source of information for students taking an introductory computer course and requiring definitions of various computer devices, e.g. “hub”, “router”, or “switch”. Puzzled about the term “Web 2.0”? Check it out here:

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/Web_2_point_0.html

Childproofing for school

It's not enough for parents to send their kids off to school with warm mittens and a healthy lunch. Now they have to make sure that they wear the latest in safety clothing. A UK company called Bladerunner offers a GPS Tracker Jacket for your child. When your son or daughter moves outside a pre-set range, you get an alert on your cell phone. You even have the ability to track your child's movements on your computer. Or, how about a knife-proof hoodie? Check out the site here: http://www.bladerunner.tv/index.php

Christmas is around the corner. What teen wouldn't love to find a bulletproof backpack under the tree? At $195.00, it's a bargain for parents. http://www.mychildspack.com/

Teachers rated by students and parents

Do sites that enable parents and students to rate teachers anonymously serve a useful purpose? Some teachers would benefit from comments about them on the site. If students consistently rate them as boring, then perhaps some teachers might take a look at their style of teaching. When parents and students heap praise on teachers for their work in the classroom or on the sports field, they encourage good teachers who often do not receive enough feedback about their performance from the public. The important thing here is that comments be made honestly and in the spirit of constructive criticism. The site moderators appear willing to delete pointless and hurtful comments.

http://www.ratemyteachers.com/ (United States)

http://www.ratemyteachers.ca/ (Canada)

Medical information written and edited by practicing physicians

Unlike many medical information sites on the Internet, eMedicineHealth.com contains articles written and edited by practicing physicians. The content of this website is not designed to sell health products. The site is designed primarily for use by qualified physicians and other medical professionals, although the general public will find it useful when researching diseases and disorders.

http://www.emedicine.com/

Should you buy an extended warranty for electronic appliances?

Shoppers shell out extra money to purchase “extended warranties”, but often have a difficult time getting the store to honor the warranty. Some customers may even have to take the store to small claims court to get satisfaction. Unless the appliance has complex electronics with high repair costs, don’t waste your money. Read the ConsumerAffairs.com articles below for some scary details.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/11/bestbuy_warranties.html

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/11/cr_warranties.html

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/extended_warranty.html

Professional musicians will record customized love songs just for you

Have you ever wanted to give your sweetheart the perfect gift, one that could never be found in a store? One that would really suit your lover? A new website will enable you to have professional musicians compose a personalized song for you to give to your loved one.

The process is easy. First, you choose a song from several available on the site. Listen to the songs by various artists in different genres until you find the one you like. There’s pop/rock, R &B, jazz, country and many more. Next, using the template of the lyrics provided, customize the song by substituting names and phrases of your choice. Then proceed to the checkout and pay for your song. Within a week or two, you download your song from your computer as an MP3 file or receive it in the mail on a CD. Prices range from $169 to $219. You may even hire a songwriter to write a whole song from scratch just for you.

Have fun with your customized song. Arrange with a local restaurant to play it during your meal. Play it on your stereo during a romantic candle lit dinner. Load it as an MP3 on your lover’s music player as a surprise.
http://www.tailoredmusic.com/

Avril Lavigne fights back after blogger attack

When Perez Hilton used his blog to take cheap shots at Avril Lavigne, Avril decided to do something about it. The result is her revenge blog, which may be more about publicity than revenge. Avril doesn't have a mean bone in her body.

http://www.perezlavigne.com/

Why are many working women trading 9-to-5 jobs for Internet home-based businesses?

The typical downtown office job involves a hectic daily routine combined with expensive and time-consuming commuting to and from work. For working women who are mothers, it means daycare expenses and the shuttle back and forth from the childcare centre. Now in the Internet age, women are going online and utilizing their expertise and work skills to earn significant income working from home. Home-based website businesses also qualify individuals for tax write-offs not available to employees in general. Women with online businesses like being their own bosses, and having the freedom to set their own hours. Most women report increased time with their families and a new flexibility in the planning of vacation time. Click on the picture below to hear Nicole’s story.