I write a regular column for Llama Banner magazine about interesting or useful sites on the Net. They have graciously agreed to allow me to reprint the earlier columns from 96 and 97. This was the second column. As we all know, sites move, change and some simply disappear with time, so if something is no longer online... you missed it. I've disconnected the links to sites I can no longer find so you don't waste your time. Click here for Llama Banner subscription info.
Yes, you can link to it. |
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| Castalia's Shade Maker at 2 hours old. |
It’s Shade Maker’s turn to help with site exploration and I can already see he has a lot more computer apptitude than Santa, my senior stud. I showed him Gobi and Kaz, cute Bactrian camel calves, and he was really interested. Or maybe he just liked the look of their hay. Then he picked a few videos for us to check out from the LOWS library and since he has some Canadian blood, he liked exploring the Ontario Llama Association.
He wondered about various browser plug-ins available for the Mac system so we peeked at Plugged In!. I don’t know why he cares since we’re PC users, but Shade is a curious kind of fella. He accidentally bumped the mouse and found Over 500 fully specialized search engines within 40 categories at Virtual Search Engines.
We tried The Homework Helper which allowed us to enter a phrase and immediately search hundreds of magazines, newspapers and newswires, maps, TV transcripts, books, and pictures. They offer a free, two-week trial of their service. Then we checked out Direct-Hit for the latest opinion polls online.
I went to the fridge for an apple and returned to find Shade checking out CompuCook, an interactive cookbook for all those that love new recipes, but he was a bit disappointed that there was nothing specifically for llamas. He asked about a new computer virus we’d heard rumors about, so we explored Is It A Real Virus Or A Hoax? at Symantec Corp, makers of antivirus software, like The Norton Antivirus for Windows, and Symantec Antivurus for Mac. Then we cracked up over some of the Urban Legends, 'probably false' stories that appear from nowhere and spread very fast.
Our computer has a sound card, speakers and RealAudio. That allows us to receive streaming audio data netcasts in real time, rather than having to download files. AudioNet has a great guide to radio stations that are channeling their output onto the Net, just choose a station. We learned more about midi music and then we played music at Tunes which has over 200,000 30 to 60 seconds song samples online.
We signed up for a free email publication put out by Dr. Toni Cotton. Toni and her husband, Gary Cotton DVM, are involved in Camelid medicine and research. It should give us explanations and tips for a healthier herd, advice on conditions affecting llamas, nutritional info and veterinary procedures that we might find neccessary. Shade shuddered reading the ‘vet’ part. All we had to do was email Penny Flick at Windyllama@aol.com and were were subscribed.
I love to read to my crias and found I could search over 10,000 titles from Ballantine, Crown, Knopf and Random House at their site. I found a book called e-mail.this.book by The Cartoon Bank ($17.00) that includes a disk with 100 etoons (cartoons) you can email to friends.
We Vet Search where you just need to tap in a post-code and the search engine will bring up all local vets and links to their homepage. Other areas, including features and advice, are offered in the main index page, but are yet to be completed. Shade found some Golf Caddies that were nice looking llamas.
Oh jeez, Shade is humming something about the poop pile and crossing his back legs. Guess we’d better go, but drop by the Cozy Corner and drop me an email about your favorite site. Happy Cyber Trails til next time! Smiles, Chelle
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| Shade Maker at 2 hours, yawning. |