This Is Me Breathing

Give Free Rice

Feel a little giving, but have nothing to give? How about some of your time and brainpower. This is a cool concept for a website. The site is www.freerice.com and as the title infers, they'll give free rice to those who need it depending on how well you do playing their little vocabulary game. Words are presented according to your vocabulary level which goes up or down depending on your progress. I was able to get to a vocabulary level of 40. See if you can beat that.

This is a not-for-profit site which donates the rice through the United Nations World Food Program.

Did You Pay Attention In Geography Class?

This is kinda fun.

brought to you by TravelPod, the World's Original Travel Blog ( Member of the TripAdvisor Media Network )

First Sounds, A Truly Amazing Story!

Late last year I wrote about a blog that I've been reading about a guy who used to be deaf and mute and thanks to cochlear implants was able to hear again. The blog started off as a way for him to tell his amazing story of being able to hear for the first time at the age of 19.

But this guy's story took a tragic turn when he was diagnosed with cancer and given only a few years to live.

Now his story has taken another incredible turn. I can't do it any justice, you just have to read it to believe it. It's the stuff of movies or novels. I highly recommend you check this blog out. I also very highly recommend that you start from the beginning. It may take a few hours, but I assure you it's an incredibly tragic, uplifting, unbelievable story.

Here is the link.

Make Your Own Bush Speech

On my daily online stroll I found this amazing little website which allows you to create your own George W. Bush speech.

This site literally let's you put words in his mouth!

It's minutes of fun!

Another Comic By Me

A couple of days ago I wrote about a great new site that allows anyone to become a cartoonist. Since then, I've become addicted to the site. It's just so well done! Here is another comic created by me at Bitstrips.com.

Somebody! Get Me Out Of Here!

Have you ever been in a situation where you really wished you could escape? Have you ever been on a really bad blind date? We've all been in one situation or another where we wished we could just disappear.

I was listening to the The Best Of Definitely Not The Opera podcast from CBC radio and they mentioned two websites that help with this problem.

The first one is phonemyphone.com. This one is a free service. Basically you enter your phone number, how many calls you want to receive and the date and time when you want to receive the call.

So the next time you get forced to go on that blind date, you can just schedule a call for a half-hour into the date and when the phone rings, make up whatever story you want; your mom just died, your dog has eaten the butler or your wife wants you to pick up some milk for the quints on your way home.

The second site takes this sort of service to new heights (and lows). It's called torontoalibi.com and it's every adulterer's wet dream. This is a pay site and you'll know why once you see the different services they offer. Basically they offer the same kind of phone service as the above site and more!

How about Personal Shopping where they'll make any purchases you need on your behalf discretely and then ship and bill them to you. I wonder if they can get me that mail-order bride I've been saving up for.

How about a Call In Sick Service whereby the company will call your employer and pose as your doctor, spouse, etc...and let him/her know that you can't possibly come in in your condition.

The Call From Anywhere service allows you to call from anywhere using any phone and appear to be calling from anywhere else in the world. So when you're on that trip to Vegas with the boys, you can check in with the wife and she'll think you're calling from Utah where you told her you were selling bibles to the Mormons.

Sounds kind of sleazy doesn't it? Well that's just the tip of the iceberg! Some of the other services this company offers include: Simulated Employment, Fake-A-Friend (This one is unreal!), Custom Alibis, and many more!

Now, I've got nothing to hide, so I don't have any need for these services. But I would love to hear from someone who has tried these services and how it turned out.

Become A Cartoonist! It's Easy!

Announcing one of the coolest uses of the internet since Facebook!

I may be overstating it a bit, but not much, and I'm not just saying this because one of the founders is a former co-worker of mine. The site is called Bitstrips.com and it makes becoming a cartoonist easy! Don't take my word for it, see for yourself. The comic strip below was created by me using one of my past blog entries.

Now...judge not the content lest ye be judged. The simple fact that I was able to create something of this quality (characters and all) in less than an hour with little to no artistic skill is impressive. Plus there are some great tools to share your strip or embed it into a blog or other type of site.

This site is currently in BETA V 1.1 but already it's impressive. I highly recommend you give it a go. I guarantee you'll be instantly hooked.

Petitions, Petitions, Petitions!

Yesterday I wrote about the cancellation of a couple of cool shows by the CBC. (I know, that sentence sounded weird when I wrote it too.) Well I've just been introduced to a cool website called iPetitions. The idea is simple in its brilliance. Basically it allows people to set up online petitions and invite people to sign them. It's democracy at its best!

I found it because I heard about the Petition to GO Transit for a fare rebate which has almost eleven thousand signatures. After adding my own name to it, I took a look around the site because I thought it was a pretty cool idea. I was considering beginning a petition of my own to save MVP and JPod. But first, on the off-chance that one might exist, I thought I'd perform a search. Well I hit pay-dirt. Here are a number of petitions you can sign to save two of Canada's best shows. If you're a fan too, I encourage you to sign all of them.

• MVP:
  • http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savemvp/
  • http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/MVPforlife1/
• JPod:
  • http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/JPod/
  • http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-jpod/
  • http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/CBC_jpod/

Note: Once you sign a petition you will be asked to make a donation to the site. You can skip this step.

First Sounds

I just wanted to write a quick something to acknowledge a blog I've been reading recently, and I would like to direct your attention to it. You probably didn't notice that I added a link to my Links of Interest on the right. The link is to a blog called First Sounds and it's a blog written by Derry from Kitchener, Ontario.

What makes his blog special?

First!

Hey all,

I know I haven't been keeping up with the posts lately but I assure you it's for good reason. I'll write about it soon.

Also, I have been beaten to the punch on a couple of potential posts by 2Shay over at TFTH, it seems we subscribe to many of the same blogs and since we have essentially the same readership, I decided not to repost what he's posted. Instead, I encourage you to—after seeing everything there is to see here—go over and take a gander at his blog. It's a good read.

Anyway, it seems that the only way to not be scooped by 2Shay is to post on a Saturday, so here I am with a little gem.