Political Cartoons to Pet Cemetery

They say variety is the spice of life, but I still don’t understand why there are so many recipe sites on the Web. If I took the time and inspected each one thoroughly, I might find enough differences to pick a favorite. But if I am just looking for a specific recipe, I’m not choosy as to where it comes from. Such is the case for many, many websites that appear to replicate information.

Foodproof (www.foodproof.com). It was not a particular recipe that found me at this site, but an article titled, “100 Things You Should Eat Before You Die.” Number 88 on the list is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Who has not eaten a pb&j in his lifetime, barring those with allergies? Number 76 on the list is head cheese. That is something I personally can avoid without any regrets. On the other hand, being of Polish descent, I have not been able to avoid czarnina—duck blood soup. The motto of Foodproof is simple: “A community where your ideas about food matter.” That’s good, because no one can tell you what you should like, and it’s okay to avoid the 100 foods you “should” eat.

Free Hearing Test (www.freehearingtest.com). Not a diagnostic test, this site lets you discover whether you can hear the major tones. And if not, you can do something about it. Before you run off to the office where they sell hearing aids, try out this little test. You will need a set of headphones.

Political Cartoons (www.politicalcartoons.com). This website promotes and sells cartoonists’ up-to-the-minute creations. Looking is free, however. The time is ripe, with the elections near, for some juicy political cartoons. And that is something you don’t see often in the new online journalism. Maybe print newspapers will be around longer than we think, because the best political cartoons are still in print, and much harder to find on the Web.

Tips & Tools for eBay Auctions (www.auctioninsights.info). I tripped upon this on my way to somewhere else. I suppose a person could save a bundle avoiding those bricks-and-mortar seminars if they are willing to study online. There are several free, quality tutorials here and there are free templates to spiff up your “sales area.” If you’ve considered joining the eBay bandwagon, I would check this out.

Homework Spot (www.homeworkspot.com). Here is a handy portal to help schoolchildren find just the right help for any given subject. Why, oh why wasn’t something like this available to those of us from a pre-computer era? Back then, we relied on our parents, which required them to be knowledgeable in every subject. One of the links here leads to BJ Pinchbeck’s Homework Helper, which is the gold standard for homework help. I’m willing to bet your little student spends maybe three minutes here before hopping over to MySpace or Facebook for “more important stuff.” Their mistake.

Virtual Pet Cemetery (www.mycemetery/pet/). Post your devotional or epitaph for your beloved pet and it will remain here indefinitely. The site offers a way to achieve a kind of catharsis by putting your fond memories into digital print for posterity. The rest of us can scan and read about your Gus or Fluffy and learn how much your furry friend meant to you. This is a nice way to immortalize your pet.

Games, Issues, that Rooster

Did you notice the new marketing ploy being shown on prime time television the past few weeks? It plays on the curiosity killed the cat theme, giving us a Web address to figure out what the commercial is supposed to be about. Good for stats, no doubt, but those poor souls who do not use computers must be having second thoughts about refusing to join the technological revolution.

Silence Your Rooster (www.silenceyourrooster.com). Okay, I bit. The television ad had be wondering what the wayward rooster scenes were meant to represent. It is not too far of a stretch to learn that the ad promotes a particular brand of sleeping pill. The trick is not to be duped into thinking we need one when we don’t.

Futility Closet (www.futilitycloset.com). The site’s proprietor brings us welcome, intelligent diversion to our humdrum workdays. I particularly like his oddities section, carefully written and researched.

On the Issues (www.ontheissues.com). As November draws closer, we can avoid the American political arena only so long. When it comes to finally choosing the candidate that best fits your ideal, you can access Obama’s or McCain’s stand on every issue, including their voting records, and speeches. This site gives a complete rundown of all government leaders, with updates. I did not find the Forum area to be of any worth, but the individual platforms were very enlightening. You can take a 20-question quiz that is supposed to indicate which candidate best fits your thinking on the issues. One thing I strongly disliked about this website was the distracting, flashing banners floating at the top. I try my best to avoid those kinds of pages.

Good Graffiti (www.goodgraffiti.org). I think that the message about graffiti has to be sensitive to the aesthetics of public spaces, which this site attempts to promote. Because, well, people get arrested to marring walls and such, and two Americans were recently arrested for their spree of train car graffiti here and abroad. But this site is about “beauty, change, chance, silliness, and challenging ideas,” and the hundreds of images reveal no defacement. The slideshow was sluggish on my desktop computer, and you may be too impatient to wait. I enjoyed the images from Tbilisi, which best fit the times.

LP Cover Lover (http://lpcoverlover.com/). If you wax nostalgic about those 78rpm disks of the 1950’s, you can browse hundreds of covers, many so obscure that you’ll wish you had it to sell on eBay. I found it fun scrolling through a land of surreal albums, and wondered whether it’s the album art, or the cut groove, that actually sells the record.

Parade Games (www.parade.com/games/). Okay, I bit again. I saw this Web address on an inside page of the magazine that comes with the Sunday paper. True to its word, there were dozens of free games to access. Gamers would call these a derogatory name. I enjoyed the Wheel of Fortune game with lifelike wheel-spin noises and audience applause. If I wanted to waste more time, I would have tried Scrabble Blast or Crosswords, but I had ironing to do.