Web Wanderer

Help! I’m Addicted to Caffeine

D. Mark — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 12:28:17 +0000

Its true…I admit it…I am an addict.

Can you imagine going to a Caffeine Addicts Anonymous meeting? Sounds crazy right? Well according to WHO (World Health Organization) caffeine dependence is mentioned in it’s list of behavioral disorders. Now of course there are dissenting opinions out there, but I have to agree with WHO. Its obvious to me that when ever I stop drinking coffee, which is my choice for a caffeinated beverage, I start feeling withdrawal symptoms within 24 hours. If thats not a sign of an addict I don’t know what is.

The boys over at MyAddiction.com take all of this very seriously as well and they have dedicated an entire section to the potential of caffeine addiction.

You might ask: Does this mean you’re going to go through detox?

Me?

No. I like my coffee. In fact studies have shown that it helps prevent colon cancer.

Future Cars

D. Mark — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:37:21 +0000

Its true I have become a little bit of a green junkie as of late. Well I found a cool website that I think all of you should see. The guys over at FutureCars.com really have put together a wonderful website detailing the emerging market of alternative fueled cars. One car I really thought was unique is the MIDI Air Car that works off of a compressed air engine. This is one Future Car that everyone should check out.
Anyway this site is taking off quickly after its December 1st debut! Watch out you won’t be able to resist.

Power Your Car Using Used Vegetable Oil

D. Mark — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:08:51 +0000

No the headline is not a joke. Its one thing to use BioDiesel. Thats made by a company for use in your car, but to use used vegetable oil from restaurants to power a 26 year old Diesel Engine driven car is a whole other matter. Well Doug did it and now everyone can track his success using used vegetable oil. Its been over a year and he continues driving his leftover restaurant vegetable oil powered car. So its not everyday I go after blogs to review them, but this one I couldn’t resist.

See the Vegetable Car for yourself.

The Web of Alternative Energy Sources Keeps Growing

D. Mark — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:06:16 +0000

Al Gore probably will go down in history as the most influential person to almost be elected to the White House…well at least in terms of Global Warming. With the emergence of An Inconvenient Truth on the global scene the new fad (and a good fad it is), is the expansion of the online alternative energy communities and websites. In the next few days I hope to discus a few of these sites and see how each impacts this emerging market and industry. So check back here tomorrow: When I ‘ll be reviewing a site on Vegetable Oil Fuel.

An Addiction To Web Wandering

D. Mark — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:22:54 +0000

So I’m back. Yeah, it’s been a while, but I needed a break. I was sort of internet addicted. Its true, but with my recovery from addiction in the past I can safely wander the world wide web in small doses. Okay, okay not such small doses, because everyone knows wandering the web really takes time.

Now that I have said all of that WebWanderer will hopefully be doing a little expansion. I am not going to get into details, but we might see some contributing writers who have what to say. This will change the demeanor of the blog from what it is now into a more serious look into the web we wander daily.

So stay tuned…

Cleaning Out the Garbage

D. Mark — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 06:37:50 +0000

As the world we live in seems to spiral more out of control, with economic collapse and continued war on the horizon, there are a few things to think about and perhaps even try to change our attitudes. I was recently remarking to a friend about all the potential good YouTube has squandered for itself. Just think about it: A site where anybody can produce a video sharing philosophical, political, and cultural ideas. Sounds amazing, right? Well that was YouTube’s gift to the world–grassroots expression, but they have wasted it. This is not to say that those videos don’t exist–they do, but you have to sift through the masses of junk and smut to get to them. It seems like humanity rather watch Miss South Carolina videos and amateur musicians and horrible Japanese shows than enter into a dialogue about reality. Oh well, another vessel that western culture has completely tarnished. Looks like our job as the worlds biggest dumpers of trash just continues on.

On another note: one website I came across as I am currently looking into buying a house was a mortgage site. First Atlantic seems to be stumbling down the same path the rest of the beleaguered mortgage industry is and still offering Option ARMS–hey those were the things that go the whole industry into this mess and now you want to push them!?! Well, if you can stay way from signing onto an Option ARM then check out how this mortgage site looks. Simplicity and crisp information proves that all that flash just isn’t worth it. I didn’t apply, but was impressed with their website.

My New Socks

D. Mark — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 07:08:46 +0000

For those of you who don’t remember I blogged some time ago about a company I found on the Internet called Cupron. I had said then and it still holds true today that despite the fact that their website needs work–they have amazing products. Today I got my special Cupron odor fighting socks in the mail and just like the picture they have copper toned bottoms and look very comfortable. In fact at this very moment I am wearing them. I can’t report to you anything earth shattering, like a tingling sensation or anything, but if and when anything occurs I’ll let you know. As far as my foot odor is concerned I’ll see how long it takes them to smell. Cupron claims they’ve had results lasting more than a year without a significant change in odor. As for me I’ll believe it when I see it or I guess in this case, when I don’t smell it.

Blogs: The True Web News

D. Mark — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:07:40 +0000

Today I’m going to take a detour from my usual web review commentary and deal with a slightly more philosophical subject: Web News. Unlike newspapers and even TV, the Internet has proven itself to be an incredible way to spread news quickly and effectively. With an ability to constantly update news briefs and stories and with subscription lists that blast the news out to a broader audience–Internet news sites have revolutionized the art of news making. The question arises though: what kind of news are we being given? Sure its a story and its on a website, but with each news agency from Fox to MSNBC there is a special interest on the part of the particular conglomerate that controls the news outlet to transfer news in the way they want to, despite a given story’s multiple angles. Internet thrives on quick digestion and the Web news conglomerates are more than happy to be a party to this. Take a look at Fox News, which has short headlines and flashy pictures. There is very little substance to any of these news sites and each story has a short lifespan, encouraging an unconscious march towards dronedom on behalf of the reader. Information from web media outlets goes into web users, but that information is very rarely processed by web users who are many times more likely to be of passive persuasion on many issues troubling the world than TV or traditional newspaper customers. So what can be done and what are the alternatives?

BLOGS!

Thats right, blogging is one of the most powerful ways news and opinions can reach the masses without being bent by traditional news outlets. Of course blogging is usually an opinion and cannot always be verified, but blogging is dynamic and powerful and truly represents a grassroots mechanism for ensuring the commoners partaking in the Internet have a voice. So next time you have a craving for the news–go to a blog. They never go away so you can read them as much as you want, allowing time to discern truth from falsehood, fact from fiction.

Web Monsters are Doomed

D. Mark — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 07:21:37 +0000

Just for fun I decided to type in the word “elves” into the search engine and see what kind of website would pop up. Of course there was the familiar wikipedia site on the search engine return page and knowing what that would entail I skipped it. I saw a website entitled Orcs & Elves. I actually got excited. Maybe just maybe the website would have amazing graphics and an impressive interface. To my dismay it was a boring site reminiscent of those days when my friends and I would play Dungeons & Dragons in an attempt to infuse some sort of creativity into our hollow lives carved from a western entertainment culture, that offers little or no vision to inspire the multitudes of youth born into it. Just like Dungeons & Dragons was merely a momentary distraction, this website offers the same sort of anesthetic qualities. I clicked on the storybook centered in the middle of the page and to my disappointment I was offered 13 pages on the history of the Land of the Elves. There were no pictures AT ALL! Now I know from a search engine optimization point of view lots of text is GREAT, but it doesn’t mean you can forget about the customer. Great search engine optimization incorporates the needs of the customer along with attaining high search rankings. There’s no pint in getting to be number four on the search engine return page and have all of your traffic bounce, because your website was horrible. So I say these monsters are doomed from the start, just like the original Dungeons & Dragons, which ended up being just a game for wackos and weirdos and bored youth looking to exert their over active imaginations. If one is looking for real creativity and excitement there are plenty of ghouls, elves and monsters elsewhere.

Web ‘Toons

D. Mark — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:51:27 +0000

I am very excited to finally find a video site I like–well its sort of like video. What do you do get if you cross YouTube with The Cartoon Network? Any guess? Well the answer is Aniboom. That’s right—the first Animation platform on the internet and you know what, its actually a nice website–clean and easy to use with some great content. You know how I feel about YouTube…well if you don’t, I think all the good that it could have done has been filtered out in place of junk, junk, and more JUNK! This is not so with Aniboom. This is not to say I enjoyed every cartoon on there, but I didn’t feel like I was getting inundated with the average American’s crap as I do when I click on YouTube. So if you want a great website that I feel has tremendous potential to do some good in this world then follow my lead and check out www.aniboom.com.