Digital Charity

I think I posted this site already, long ago but it's certainly worth repeating and now that I think of it, worth putting up on my permanent links collection as well, which is an oversight I'll be sure to correct a.s.a.p. Digitalcharity.com is an easy way for you to give a little, with a bare minimum of fuss. It's a selection of sites that - with help from sponsor programs - will allow you to contribute to various charities simply and easily. Just pick a charity, click a link and you're done. In fact, I'd say it takes a total of 2 minutes (if that) to click through all the ones listed at the top of The Hunger Site page and they're all worthwhile causes. I particularly like the Animal Rescue Site - each time you click, sponsors pay for a bowl of food for a homeles, sheltered animal - but I'm making it a point to go there each day and click all of them since it's so easy, like I said, there's really no reason not to.

A more extensive list of charities like this can be found here on this page, which a poster on Fark owns and offered up in one of the forum threads regarding makethatdifference.com, yet another charitable meta-site.

My Way

My Way is a new internet portal that's out to compete with the big boys and really seems pretty worthwhile. While Yahoo!'s main and their "My Yahoo!" pages use Google, the results were filtered through the Yahoo! directory instead of just giving you the straight up results of a normal Google search, which bugged me. I couldn't configure my address bar to use Google as it's default, either, which also bugged me. Sure, I could just use Google as my start page but I also like having the news items and other stuff I have on my Yahoo! start page when I connect, so I can get a quick look at what's going on in the world and make sure there's no crazy smallpox outbreak, nothing's blown up, on fire or nuked as I drink my morning Mountain Dew.

My Way to the rescue. Not only is there a straight-up Google search bar, complete with the "I'm feeling lucky" button, but it's practically a carbon copy of Yahoo's main page - without all the extemporaneous junk they've started adding of late. My Way loads up superfast (up to 53 percent faster than Yahoo! according to their boast, which sounds about right) and I get my news and my handy Google search. Worth a look if you're a Google devotee and you want a good, fast-loading start page with google, news, etc. and a minimum of crap.

Halloween Leftover

Yeah, Halloween is over but this was just too funny not to post. A collection of mind-bogglingly cheesy kids' costumes from days gone by. Gabe Kaplan? Chachi? I pity the poor children that had to wear these monstrosities, especially the poor little guys whose parents bought them the Leather Biker Village People Guy costume pictured above. Probably they still bear scars from that one.

::bloggar.w

Is a sweet little blog interface that works with Blogger, Moveable Type, etc. My friend recommended it the other day and I've been playing with it. Easy to set up - just download the program, enter your Blogger name and pass as normal and you're ready to go. There are handy menu items for doing mundane tasks like inserting spaces, text color and other things.

Bugging You

A cute little Flash 'toon from Smilepop. The rest of their cartoons and e-cards can be found here.

Happy Halloween!

What with the trick-or-treat season upon us, I thought it might be nice to post a little spookiness in the way of Halloween-related websites. Since I have a little theme going here I'm doing this all in one post and will probably be adding to it in the next day or two, so if you were here recently, scroll down and there may be fresh sites added. By the way, the picture above is a thumbnail of some Halloween wallpaper I made in Photoshop awhile back. If you'd like to download it for your own desktop, click here for 800x600 version, here for the 1024x768 and here for 640x480 sized.



Bloody Finger Email

Send your friends a scary Flash e-greeting, written by a horrible, bloody finger.



Because Nothing is Scarier Than Clowns...

The Evil Clown Generator.



The Haunted Foyer

What's scarier? Jan's tour of the haunted house...or the midi music she liberally used on the page? You be the judge.



The Castle of Death

Real-life horror - the story of America's first recognized serial killer, H.H. Holmes and the house of murder he built in 19th century Chicago, where the depraved druggist practiced his horrific trade.

A Ben and Jerry's Halloween

Ah...I love a good bowl of Ben and Jerry's. The ice-cream making duo have loaded their website with Halloween-themed wallpaper, games and other goodies in honor of the season.

Scary Sounds

A big collection of spooky wavs - doors creaking, screams, sounds from horror movies and more.



Scary Movies

What would Halloween be without a good scary movie? There are TONS of sites on this topic, here are a few nice ones:

Upcoming Horror Movies is devoted to keeping you up-to-date on the latest fright flicks, with news, articles and trailers.

The simply named Horror Movies site is full of news, rumors and information for the movie-making insider as well as the fans, with message boards and other points of interest regarding the industry.

Horror Movies That Suck - for those who'd prefer something a little cheesier, with reviews of classics like Bride of Chucky and the forgettable Dracula 2000.

Pumpkin Carving

The how-to's of the art of making Jack-O-Lanterns, with instructions, tips and links for supplies and related sites.



Dracula Tour

For the really die-hard fright-fans among you, why not the ultimate Halloween vacation? A full-tilt week-long tour of Transylvania - complete with the focus on the real-life Count Dracula - you'll see his birthplace, his grave and get to inspect every nook and cranny of the Count's castle, made famous by the Bram Stoker novel, Dracula. With a masquerade ball, four-star treatment and a full-to-bursting itinerary of things to see as you trek across Vlad the Impaler's former haunts, this could be the best trip a horror fan ever takes.



Trick or Treat!

A short, funny little Flash 'toon about some trick-or-treaters getting the (ahem) crap scared out of them.

Well, that's all for now - if you find yourself in need of anything else - costume ideas, more Halloween websites, whatever - just go to Halloween Magazine for tons of stuff. History, links, costume ideas, recipes, etc. Don't pig out on too much candy, okay?

Maybe the Best "Dumb Criminal" Story Ever

Some idiot decided it would be a good idea to use the microwave at the local 7/11 to dry out his marijuana - even though there's a cop in the store. Meanwhile, dude's buddy is fast asleep in the car outside, big old sacks of pot sitting in plain view in the console. Way to go, losers!

Doonesbury on Blogging

The thirty-year-old comic takes a look at weblogs (click next for more related strips).

So it's Like, Ummm....Halloween and Stuff?

Odd Todd's thrilling, chilling Halloween special.

Taco Bell Offers Free Tacos for America if Angels or Giants Hit Target

In Game 5 of the World Series, the taco chain promises that if either of the contending teams' batters strike a 15-foot diameter floating target in the stands, everyone in the U.S.A. gets a free taco. Go, Barry! I want my taco!

Darwin Award Competition

"Sure, you can play with Dad's gun - if you'll just eat your soup!." That's more or less what a mother in Portugal told her four-year-old son. Being four, however, (and regrettably ignorant of such things as safeties and proper gun-handling) he not-surprisingly shot her in the stomach.

I don't think anyone could have seen this accident coming. Only now, after the fact, does it seem obvious that giving preschoolers loaded weapons is a bad idea - at least until they've been properly trained.

tv@famousaspect - The Near Future of Television

Ends friend and ally, Jason (proprietor of the endlessly-entertaining Atomgrid) has a new project up and running - a great little newsletter that aims to keep you informed on what's coming up on the small screen. The good, the bad and the putrid are picked and panned in this very readable mailing that'll give you the heads-up on TV goings-on. Sci-fi fans should be especially pleased with it, although most anything of interest to the genus couch potatus is represented in the issue I just finished reading. If you like TV, you really need this - so get off your Dorito-inflated rear end and subscribe now!

Play it, Baby, Play it!

A cool little Flash movie of a guy playing guitar.

Black People Love Us!

We are well-liked by Black people so we're psyched (since lots of Black people don't like lots of White people)!! We thought it'd be cool to honor our exceptional status with a ROCKIN' domain name and a killer website!!

Opera Baby

This has a little off-color language, but since it's nothing you can't say on television nowadays and it's so funny, here it is, enjoy.

Bobble, Bobble

Well, it looks like the latest craze is bobbleheads, those wonderfully tacky little figurines with the bobbing ceramic/plastic heads. My friend Bill showed me this site, Bobblehead World and they have some pretty good ones, like the Buddy Holly bobblehead shown above, political/sports/media figures, musicians, advertising icons and even animals. In fact, you can even send in a photo and have it tacked onto a bobble's face or have your own custom designed bobblehead done.

Come On DJ...Say the Name of the Song, Please? AGGGHHH!!!!

If you've ever had that experience - you're in the car or at home, listening to the radio and a song comes on that you like, only to be faced with the frustration of not knowing what the name of it was or who the artist is - YES.NET may be for you. Just find your city and if the station is among those listed, you'll be able to view which songs were played over the last several hours and at what time they came on, along with the option of buying the cd at one of the major online music retailers, like Amazon. A nifty idea whose time has come.

Look, Up in the Sky...it's a Bird, it's a Plane, it's a...Pumpkin?

Pumpkin hurling, the practice of firing pumpkins at high-velocity from trebuchets, catapults and air cannons.

Superhero Cliches

The Fight-And-Become-Friends Rule: A. A man and woman who hate each other must be sexually attracted. B. Training-- A character in training meets someone who starts out as a rival, then they become friends, then enemies. C. Most common-- whenever two heroes meet for the first time, they MUST fight.

The Monster Salary Timer

Pick a celeb and see how fast their cash pours in as the seconds and minutes tick away. For an extra dose of humble pie, enter your own salary and watch them side by side to see how you're doing by comparison. It's kind of amazing to see the dollars and cents add up in real-time. I mean, you hear Oprah makes 150 million dollars a year and that's kind of abstract, but watching the money tick off second by second puts things into perspective. In the time it's taken me to post this article, Ms. Winfrey made $9,000. In an hour she'll have made approximately $75,000.