Notify Me When It's Up

Have you ever visited a web site and found it to be down? Then Ding It's Up is the site for you. It is a very simple easy to use site. You can quickly get the site to email or text you when a particular web site is up or down. Check it out and enjoy!

Looking for Someone?

There are a number of sites on the Internet that let you look for people, but recently I ran across this site - Pipl that has been recently revamped for more in depth info and a better look and feel. Pipl claims that it is a better people search engine because most personal profiles, public records and other people-related documents are stored in databases and not on static web pages. Therefore, most of the higher-quality information about people is simply not visible to a regular search engine. The site claims that their robots are made to interact with searchable databases and extract facts, contact details and other relevant information from personal profiles, member directories, scientific publications, court records and numerous other deep-web sources. Happy cyber stalking!

Shoe Shopping

Shopping on the Internet is big these days, but one of the things that I think is generally harder to shop for online is shoes. However, I recently ran across several good online shoe stores. The first is probably the most popular shoe store on the Internet - Zappos.

Zappos has a great selection and excellent prices. As a matter of fact, they have a 110% price guarantee - if you find them cheaper they will beat the competitor's price by 10%. They also have a well designed web page with excellent search capabilites and the abilty to chat with some one live online to ask questions. I think one of their best features is that shipping is free. This even includes return shipping if you didn't like the shoes or they don't fit.

Another interesting shoe site is Modista. Modista is great for someone who is shopping for shoes, but does not already know exactly what they want. It is kind of like a high-tech version of window shopping. On the site you can browse through thumbnails until you find something you like. You can set filters for price, color, brand or even current discount to refine your search. If you click on something you like, the site will display a grid of similar items. Mouse-over a particular shoe and the brand, price, and retailer information will pop up. Then if you click on the magnifying glass next to the thumbnail it brings up more details - including a link to where you can purchase online.

Politics 2.0

I recently ran across an article in an Airline magazine that talked about various Web 2.0 type web sites that cover political topics. I found some these pretty interesting - especially on the verge of electing a new president. Here some political sites to check out:

One of my favorites was Govit. This site is a non-partisan website that keeps track of pending legislation. The site tells you about pending laws in the house and senate, allows you to vote on them, allows you to join in on conversations about the laws, compare your vote to others, and even voice your opinion to your own elected representatives.

Another interesting site is Opposing Views. This site posts opinions from experts for and against vertain topics. Then it lets readers weigh in and express their own opinions on the subject. The site makes use of John F. Kennedy's quote, "Without debate, without criticism... No republic can survive."

A third site is called Where I Stand. This site is similar to the Opposing Views site, but strives to be more of a social networking site that is built around opions expressed on a wide range of topics from politics to religon. The site says, "whereIstand.com is a social network of opinions in which people can compare where they stand to anybody else on the site -- public figures, organizations, friends, family, and other members -- on a variety of issues and topics. All opinions, or 'stands', are organized and presented in a way that makes them searchable and comparable for anyone interested in gaining perspective on issues that are important to them."

Pumpkin Carving Video

I ran across the site How2Heroes recently. It has a number of instruction videos similar to what you would find on YouTube, but it specializes in how-to videos related to food and entertaining. From the site, "How2Heroes is a how-to online video destination that celebrates people’s passion for food – the flavors, the presentation, the secrets to success, the cultural inspirations, and of course the “heroes” who share their knowledge and experience." One video in particular that I thought was pertinent this week was a great primer video on etching pumpkins. I was also interested in watching the video on eating lobsters becuase my daughters school is doing a live Maine lobster fund raiser. BTW, let me know if you would be interested in purchasing a live lobster flown down from Maine for $15.

Electronic Shoebox

Do you keep your important recipes in a shoebox? Many of us don't even do that. However, it is important to be able to locate receipts especially around tax time. I found this company that is trying to assist in that effort. It is a site that keeps an electronic "shoebox" for your receipts. You can mail them to the company, scan them, take pictures of them from you camera phone, or if you do online purchasing you can have the receipts emailed to them. Then they will electronically store the receipts for you. They have a system that automatically scans the receipts and categorizes them for you. It will use categories such as "Clothes," "Food," or "Retail," based on the merchant or product names. The site does charge a monthly fee depending on the level of service you require, but it is free to try for several months and sure would be handy come tax season.

Help with Works Cited

When writing reports and papers there is a need to properly cite the resources that you used in researching and writing your paper. Properly formatting your citations has become even more difficult in this day and age when so many resources come from places such as the Internet. I have found that there are a number of useful tools on the Internet that help you to properly format your citations. One of the sites that I have used is the Citation Machine. This site supports several of the common formats including MLA and APA. You select the format that you would like to use and the type of reference - i.e. newspaper article, web page, online encyclopedia. Then the web page prompts you for the information you need - i.e. author's last name, title of web page, web link. Then once you submit the information, the Citation Machine spits out a properly formatted reference that you can copy and paste into your paper or report. The site is quick easy and very handy. Enjoy!