Paltalk’s public and private Screening Rooms should be a big hit

Paltalk, established in 1998, is a rapidly-growing Internet chat service featuring text, voice and video chatting, open only to Microsoft Windows users at the present time. Screening Rooms allows members—up to 5000 in number—to watch videos (home-made or licensed) together and discuss them using text, voice, or video chat. Groups of fans can now congregate to comment on a particular music video. Video artists will have a venue to show off their creations and gather feedback. Parents and adult children will be able to meet in a private room and view videos of the grandchildren without having to travel long distances. Co-workers at various commercial sites will be able to view training videos and interact with experts at head office. The possibilities are endless.

http://www.paltalk.com/

Dr. Gifford-Jones launches his own web site

Dr. Gifford-Jones, an internationally-syndicated Canadian medical journalist, writes a popular newspaper column on current medical topics. He has just launched his own web site, enabling readers to access many of his previous columns. He writes about everything from the benefits of Vitamin C to instructions for avoiding “wrong-side” surgery. Dr. Gifford-Jones writes with a sense of humor that allows him to present serious topics in a lighter vein.

http://www.mydoctor.ca/user/index.asp?id=3520

Is Internet censorship obsolete?

Many people live in countries subject to Internet censorship, and are unable to access information available on blocked sites. The Psiphon project offers a solution to this problem. It requires the cooperation of Psiphon providers in censorship- free countries who facilitate the linking. Psiphon is a service of the CiviSec Project operated by the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto. The CiviSec Project is funded by the Open Society Institute.

Web users contact the Psiphon site, and receive passwords and Web links. When the Psiphon search bar appears on their screens, they may begin surfing the Net free of blocking by government agencies. Net censors observe a nondescript IP address and have no idea which site the Psiphon user has accessed. The encrypted message appears to be one of the millions of encrypted financial transactions running through the Internet. Prospective users should visit the FAQ and Forum sections on the site to learn how the system works and how to minimize discovery by censors. Any system is vulnerable to government investigation and users should be aware of the risks involved in bypassing censorship protocols. Government investigators might even set up bogus "anonymous" proxy sites to lure and track censorship law violators. Be sure you know well the person who agrees to set up your Psiphon connection.

http://psiphon.civisec.org/

For a discussion about how certain countries attempt to defeat programs like Psiphon, go to: http://www.peacefire.org/circumventor/list-of-possible-weaknesses.html

Check out another program called Freegate, available at the Download.com site:
http://www.download.com/Freegate/3000-2085_4-10415391.html

The Journal of Hispanic Ufology reports strange, new UFO incidents

This is the official site of The Journal of Hispanic Ufology, (est. 1998), which features information re paranormal and UFO events which have occurred in Mexico, Spain, South America, and the Caribbean. Reports are filed by correspondents in over twelve Spanish-speaking countries.

There is a shocking report made by police officers in Argentina. On November 11, 2007, they encountered a strange craft on the road and four alien figures in the vicinity of Irene in the District of Coronel Dorrego. If you understand Spanish, you will find a more detailed report of the incident at the following link:

http://www.analuisacid.com/coronel_dorrego.htm

Another incident occurred at the Vizcaino power plant, located in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, on June 8, 2007. A senior engineer took a photo of a UFO over the facility on June 8, 2007, using a Sony DSC-P41 camera.

What amazes me is that reports of sightings in Hispanic countries rarely appear in North American media outlets. The Inexplicata blog attempts to fill this information gap.

http://www.inexplicata.blogspot.com/

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.

Disappearing bees—how will Colony Collapse Disorder affect your life?

We stand on the brink of a disaster that could make global warming look like a Sunday school picnic. Bees in Canada and the U.S. are disappearing fast, and scientists are not sure why. There are dozens of theories, but no definitive answer. Without bees there will be no fruits or vegetables, because bees do the pollination required to grow them. We must find answers soon, or many agricultural producers will face bankruptcy and consumers will have rapidly dwindling food choices. Watch The Importance of Bees video at the link below.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/bees/impact.html

What can you do to help the bees?
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/bees/help.html

How much fish should pregnant women eat?

The Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition recently recommended that pregnant women eat at least 12 ounces of fish per week in order to get enough omega-3 essential fatty acids. The group believes that the health benefits of fish outweigh the risk associated with the consumption of small amounts of methyl mercury. http://www.hmhb.org/oceanfishpr.html

Below is a link to a relevant article on the WashingtonPost.com website.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/19/AR2007101902609.html?nav=emailpage

Check out this site for a list of mercury content in fish:
http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/guide.asp

I was not surprised to see tuna on the “high mercury” list. Many veterinarians discourage cat owners from feeding tuna to their cats.

Now everyone can be a news reporter or journalist

NowPublic is a website which empowers everyone to gather and report news events from around the globe. The site enables contributors to upload text, photos, videos, and audio reports. Users of the site may view or submit news items in several categories, e.g. crime, culture, emergencies, health, sports and technology. Although the site pays for certain instances of reporting, most news is contributed by volunteer reporters. I find the concept fascinating—to be able to find out news before the major media outlets have a chance to send a news team to an event, or even to learn about events that conventional media outlets will not cover. News censorship may now be obsolete. Nonetheless, the veracity of reports may be an issue, and would be subject to fine tuning by other contributing reporters and the editors of the site, similar to the Wikipedia process.
http://www.nowpublic.com/

Would you know what to do if your baby stopped breathing?

The Parents.com website has a section called ParentsTV which features six video channels. The Baby Basics channel contains a series of videos on topics like baby CPR, breastfeeding, massaging your baby, burping your baby, and childproofing your home.

Here is the link: http://www.parents.com/parentstv/

The site also has other sections containing information on toddlers, preschoolers, and teens.

Now you can add voice to your blog, website, online ads, and auctions using your telephone or cell phone

With Voice2Page, you will be able to add a voice recording to your blog or website, or even an online ad or auction, by using your home phone or cell phone to call a toll-free number. Simply follow the instructions to record greetings or change them, 24-7. The Voice2Page site provides the code; you cut and paste it into your website. This system would be an effective tool for people who operate real estate sales websites, for example. Prospective customers would hear your voice, and with this added human touch, might be more inclined to stay on your site to hear what you had to say. I used Voice2Page to try out a voice greeting on this blog. The 15-second message plan is free, but it’s possible to upgrade to premium services giving you longer message times.
http://www.voice2page.com/

Find the Internet video you want with this site

Clipblast is a website which allows you to search over 4000 web video content provider sites and find the video you want. Suppose you wish to find a video about Bruce Springsteen. Simply type his name into the Clipblast search box and within seconds, you’ll get over 3300 video clips with thumbnail pictures to help you find the video you want. I wanted to find a video about fixing my bicycle, so I typed in “fix bike” and found several videos on the topic. This sure beats going to all the different sites and searching their archives.

http://www.clipblast.com/

New BlogTV video channel challenges YouTube

BlogTV is a new, user-friendly online video blogging channel that allows anyone to broadcast live video on the Internet. Users have their own page where they archive live webcam broadcasts and fans can subscribe and get updates as new material is added.

http://www.blogtv.com/ (the new U.S. site)

http://www.blogtv.ca/ (the original Canadian site)

The raw food lifestyle

I encountered this website when I was looking up the nutritional content of molasses. What I read on this site led me to immediately throw out the box of molasses I had in the kitchen cupboard. Apparently, molasses is full of toxic substances picked up during processing.
This site features a huge library of information on various health topics, e.g. reasons to eat raw food, vitamins and minerals, rest and sleep, the vegetarian diet, detoxification, overcooking food, reasons to avoid meat, value of fasting, dangers of a high-protein diet, feeding of infants, allergies, and hay fever.

http://www.rawfoodexplained.com/

New site displays images uploaded to public Blogger blogs

Blogger Play gives you a continuous stream of images that were just uploaded to public Blogger blogs. Click on the image to access the blog post containing it. Click on “show info” to view the post title, an excerpt of the text of the post as well as some profile information on the blogger who uploaded the image.

http://play.blogger.com/

See pics of your favourite Hollywood stars and breaking news on X17

This site contains dozens of candid shots of Hollywood stars accompanied by comments about the photos. There’s lots of interesting gossip here!

http://x17online.com/

Mystery chemtrails in the sky worry people in Ontario, Canada

While surfing the Net, I discovered a website reporting a strange phenomenon referred to as “chemtrails”. People in various parts of Ontario, Canada have seen unfamiliar aircraft flying crosshatch paths in the skies, leaving white trails containing chemicals of an undetermined nature, which drifted to the ground. At first I thought that this might just involve the misinterpretation of common vapor trails left by jets. But, in one report of spraying in Espanola, Ontario in 1999, a man reported feeling fine particles landing on his face, causing a stinging sensation. Several hundred residents of the area sent a petition to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment requesting that they intervene to stop U.S. jets from spraying over their community. Water samples showed elevated levels of aluminum among other contaminants. Residents complained of mysterious flu-like symptoms and other ailments which followed spraying operations.
I photographed two white jet aircraft in the sky above Kingston, Ontario, in September 2006 making a mess of a bright sunny day sky with their grid-like arrangement of trails.
Check out the chemtrail site at the links below.

Espanola, Ontario incident: http://www.holmestead.ca/chemtrails/completehealth.html

Index to the holmestead.ca site: http://www.holmestead.ca/index-ct.html

ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) Experts on Call site offers new hope

Children with ADHD face difficulties at school, at home, and in social interaction in general. Many parents and caregivers need help and often don’t know where to turn. The Experts on Call website shown below offers support in the form of an educational hot line featuring live chat online with experts in ADHD, e.g. teachers, counselors, school nurses, teacher aides, doctors and parents. The site also lists a toll-free number, accessible from both Canada and the U.S.

http://www.adhdexpertsoncall.com/awarenessday/after.asp

Teenager creates website that pays for her university education

It all began when Nori Evoy, now 16 years of age, went on a vacation for the second time with her dad to the Caribbean island of Anguilla, in August of 2002. Fascinated with Anguilla, Nori expressed an interest in establishing a website to help other people discover this sunny paradise. Her father, Ken Evoy, a Canadian physician and Internet entrepreneur, encouraged Nori to try her hand at using his Sitesell website business package. With a minimum of assistance from her dad, Nori built and developed a website which today earns her enough money to cover all her educational expenses and more. Read her story and check out her website at the link below.

http://case-studies.sitesell.com/smallbiz28.html#TEENS