It’s no surprise people are wary about the accuracy of Wikipedia, considering there are people like Stephen Colbert who are intentionally causing chaos on the site. Colbert once encouraged his fans to go there and post crazy things (like the population of elephants had tripled in just 6 months).

Image via Wikipedia

While it started with Wikipedia, it doesn’t end with it.

Have you ever heard of www.Dickipedia.org? This is a hilarious site listing (mostly true) entries about politicians, pundits and other celebrities that tend to be hated. This site is worth reading if just for the first paragraph of each entry. Here’s a taste:

            Newton “Newt” Leroy Gingrich (born June 17, 1943) is an American politician, author, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, 1994 Time magazine Person of the Year, college history professor, professional hypocrite, loudmouth, panderer, adulterer, and a dick.

And then there’s www.Chickipedia.com. This site doesn’t hold true to the “encyclopedia” style of Wikipedia. Obviously its owners just wanted to take advantage of a clever domain name.

There’s www.MedPedia.com which is primarily a site for medical professionals.

And it shouldn’t be a surprise that www.Lickipedia.com also exists. You type this in and you’re actually taken to a pretty blank site that directs you to another website that is an on-line resource for lesbians, although I suspect that site gets lots of male visitors.

The oddest –ikipedia is www.Pilkipedia.co.uk. This site is dedicated to the British trio of Karl Pilkington, Steve Merchant and Ricky Gervais (of The Office fame, the original British series).

Image via Wikipedia

What is the next –ikipedia to come? With the current Twilight/True Blood/Vampire Diaries craze, I’d argue that there’s a need for a Vamp-ipedia. There are so many different types of vampire lore out there, and not all used by the same authors, it’d be a helpful site for those trying to figure out why that Vampire Diaries dude can be out in public but the guy in True Blood nearly died trying to go outside in the day.

The benefits of Club Penguin

Aside from the entertainment and recreation value, the game can help develop social confidence, mathematical and reading skill and hand eye coordination.

Club penguin is especially designed for children and has safeguards in place to make it safe for children.

The fears with Club Penguin

There is no harmful content within the game itself, the game is created for 6 – 14 year old’s and you will not find anything objectionable within the game or website.

The fear comes through the socialising aspect. The same as a chat room or an instant message, someone could pose as a child and attempt to get real world information from the child or expose them to offensive language.

The club penguin website claims club penguin is safe and they would allow the developers would allow their own children and grandchildren to play there.

Club Penguin security

Club penguin has several safeguards in place. The company employs full time staff within the game, known as moderators, and encourages other players to report abusive behaviour.

When an account is created with the game, the option is given between standard safe chat and ultimate safe chat. With standard safe chat, offensive words are filtered out and cannot be said. With ultimate safe chat, players can only communicate with preset messages and actions.

A parent can set daily play hours and an hourly limit to prevent a child spending too much time on the game or playing too late.

Club Penguin risks

Club penguin is not completely safe for children to play.

With standard safe chat some words, or variations of words, will make it past the filters. The filters can’t stop a child from giving away real life location and there are plenty of private places in game, where a potential threat could talk to your child on their own.

An older child could create their own email account to bypass a play time and ultimate safe chat restriction.

A malicious internet group occasionally causes problems within the game world. They will use offensive and abusive language and bypass moderators attempts to remove them. The only proper protection from this is ultimate safe chat.

How to make Club Penguin safe

You can supervise your child while they play, install remove viewing software or even play with them. This way you can watch them and ensure they don’t expose themselves to risks or offensive material.

If you want your child to remain on ultimate safe chat, you can restrict their computer account from accessing any email websites. If, for example, you allow them only to access Club Penguin they can only send and receive preset messages.

These risks exist in every corner of the internet but if you follow this precautions then Club Penguin is safe for your child to play. If in doubt, sit next to them at all times and engage with them.

I don’t mean digging up bones, fossilised iPods or time capsules. I mean looking back on the internet as we know it.

With the volume of content being published on the internet everyday it would give a definitive, if time consuming, look at the 21st century. Though, they could probably get through it three times as fast if they skipped the adult content.

The internet archaeologists can pass up the Indiana Jones whip and relax with their micro brain implanted computers while they scroll the depths of the internet to learn what we were like. From 4chan to Wikipedia all of the knowledge of the 21st century will be at their fingertips. All that without dusting off a single bone, bet the current archaeologists are jealous.

School children will glide around virtual museums with internet pages regarded as rudimentary oddities. You know how shocked we feel looking at the original mobile phone? That’s how they will feel looking at the internet. The museum gift shop will probably be selling USB drives with the entire internet stored on them.

Perhaps login details will be passed down as family heirlooms. In the future someone will be able to sell a hotmail login account to a 21st century collector. I wonder what else will become an internet artefact. Perhaps a screenshot of the first internet page or the notorious Paris Hilton video.

Can you imagine the reaction to some of the internet fads? I mean imagine looking back on a caveman dancing around pretending to have a lightsaber. Or how about pictures of cats with funny captions along the bottom.

Given the sheer attention some of these things get, the future of humanity is going to have a pretty disturbed outlook on us. They’ll wonder how we ever found the time to pronounce war on each other when we spent most of our time searching for funny pictures online.

The personal questions you post anonymously on Yahoo answers and internet forums will be giggled at by children as they study you in primary school. The painstaking time you spent perfecting those blog posts will be critiqued for its poor outdated English. Though I doubt children will change, they’ll spend most of their time looking for the rude words. So be sure to add some in your next post to give them a laugh.

Yahoo has created the internet alternative to a time capsule. It is next being opened in the year 2020 which isn’t really that far off. Then again at the rate we’re going the internet itself might be obsolete by then.

At the rate Google is going, they’ll still be around. In fact they’ll most likely be running the museum, if not the planet itself.

http://www.iypf.org/ – The International Young Professionals Foundation. The people at the I.Y.P.S. promote and encourage young professionals across the globe to do something to help others. Well worth a look, and they have a facebook group!! This is an inspirational group of young people and one that I am happy to support.

http://www.facebook.com/ – Facebook. Well most of us have accounts with Facebook these days, and frankly if you haven’t got one, then why not? Facebook is one of the biggest social websites online, and provides you with access to a host of different products and services by socially minded and technologically savvy organisations.

http://www.twitter.com/ – Twitter. Twitter is one of those major websites that has caught on and become an international sensation in a relatively short period of time. Most people have accounts on this site, mine is chriseast123. It is used for a variety of reasons, some people use it to promote themselves, others use it to let everyone know whats going on.

http://www.blogger.com/ – Blogger. Free blogs for everyone! Most young vibrant professionals have blogs these days, some on their own websites, some on websites like this one. We all use blogs on our websites, I use mine to allow me to let everyone know what I’ve been doing during the day, how I’m feeling, and to keep those friends of mine that I don’t always have enough time for updated.

Well what do you think? Are there any websites that you would recommend to young professionals around the world?

The default Poll component available on Joomla! 1.5 has a limit of 12 options. Probably most people will get by without ever hitting this barrier – a 12 option limit is a reasonable number – but in case you need more than 12 options you will not find any way to increase the number through the graphical interface. There are also other Joomla! 1.5 extensions to insert poll components/modules on your site (like Apoll, CoolPoll, Autopoll, pollXT) but most of them are based on the default Joomla! component so usually they have the same 12 option limit. The good news is that the fix I describe below will probably also work for them! So here’s what you have to do to have more than 12 options on the Joomla! 1.5 Poll component:

5 to get over 12

1. Use your FTP client to browse to Administrator/Components/com_poll/views/tmpl/
2. Download and open the form.php file with your text editor (Windows Notepad will do just fine)
3. Search for this line of code:
4. Change the number 12 to the number of optional answers you need your Joomla polls to have
5. Save the file and upload to the same location Administrator/Components/com_poll/views/tmpl/

If you don’t find the form.php file then you aren’t browsing inside Administrator/Components/com_poll/views/tmpl/. Please double check that you aren’t browsing elsewhere; the com_poll folder exists at another location in the Joomla folder structure but it doesn’t have the form.php file.

Now head back to the Joomla control panel and the Poll graphical interface will have the number of options you chose – permanently!

Done!

There you have it, the easy way to increase the number and have more options for answers on the Joomla! Poll component. I hope this tutorial was usefull and you enjoy using this great open source software!

Edit ninjas

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and it just gets funnier from there.

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Not a member of PETA?

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Game console enthusiast

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Funny man

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Someone doesn’t like the ref,

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Someone also doesnt like left 4 dead 2

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We have a new worlds oldest man.

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I guess you could say he had it comming,

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And one of my favorites

I know this is #11 and its not a picture but its still quite a funny skit done by the online comedic group College Humour about Wikipedias randomness and seseptability to subtle incorect alterations.

“It just wasn’t really ready for anyone using it” KingCheetah said yesterday. “The forum was absolutley hidious, and the podcast system was so 2004. I mean…people would’ve had to manually update the podcast episodes! I guess I should’ve just put off publishing the site until it was working the way I planned.” KingCheetah also said that Invisionfree’s video streaming capabilties had a shocking and disappointing resolution of just 200 pixles, which is less than half of what standard definition TVs are capable of producing.

So now you ask: What improvments were made on KingCheetah’s Place for Felines? Well the first improvement that was made was on the forum. Last week, the Invisinfree forum system was upgraded to Zetaboards, a more up-to-date system, that looks great. The forum actually isn’t simple-looking and confusing like it used be, and it’s more secure. One thing that might make the forum seem useless is the fact that you can’t do audio or video posts on the systems, but posting links to to videos and audio recordings on third party websites is allowed.

The other improvment that was made was to the podcast stream. Instead of having to manually update the podcast, KingCheetah fixed the system so that the episode updates are automatic. Also, subscribers to the podcast can get it on any MP3 player, phones with MP3 features, and even PSPs and DSis; and there’s even detailed instructions and how to get the podcast on your device.

Even though improvements have been made, however, there’s actually some things about the podcast that need to be fixed, according to KingCheetah. Apparently, KingCheetah had made some mistakes in preparing for the first podcast episode recording, and as a result, the recording doesn’t sound right at certain points. KingCheetah said, though, that the next podcast episode will sound a lot better because it will be better prepared for. The next episode will be released on November 1.

The other problem with the podcast is the podcast picture. Although a podcast picture was created, uploaded, and included in the RSS feed, the picture does not show when someone subscribes to the podcast. KingCheetah believes that it could be a problem with My Podcast, the podcast hosting service, because he’s tried fixing the episode properties and the there has been no success with that. This problem, KingCheetah hopes, should be solved in a couple of weeks.

Despite those problems, though, KingCheetah says the website is worth checking out because it might seem pretty interesting, like any animal-related website, and the two problems are soon to disappear. And, some new features are on the way these next 4 months or so. To access the website, just go to kingcheetahpf.webs.com.

Other then dictionary.com, and thesaurus.com, the two obvious ones most writers know about, I have stumbled upon a gold mine I wanted to share.

Definitions.net

Definitions is an entire search engine dedicated to definitions in the dictionary. What a find and pleasure to use. It has multiple features such as abbreviations, conversions, definitions, phrases, quotes, references and synonyms.

This search engine is a pleasure to use, and quite easy to maneuver. The words located in this search engine are broken down to date, function and even the etymology of the word. This is a useful search engine for students or those wanting to improve your language skills. They give you a variety of definitions, but I still suggest using a combination of definitions.net, and dictionary.com combined for the full effect of word meanings.

Please view photograph added.

 Digital-Librarian

When I go to the library, I respect the views and insight of the Librarians I associate with. Tips, ideas and suggestions they offer when researching a project or book you need to use to find information. My mouth almost hit the floor the other day to locate a site that is a Librarians choice of the best of the web. Just amazing to find and pleasure to use, knowing you are gaining insight from a Librarian. I have many fond memories of Librarians shaping my patterns of thoughts and choices to read.

It is an extensive list done alphabetically, as we know Librarians like to alphabetize the bookshelves! From non-profits, art to woman’s resources is available as a list. Once you click on your choice, you are given a wonderful list of their suggestions. I hope Margaret keeps up the great work she is doing on that site.

Give Digital Librarian a try. I added a photograph for you to view it.

Locating these two pieces of treasure online was such a treat that I could not remain silent on finding them. I just had to write this article to share it with you all.

Give these sites a round of applause for creativity, and interesting things to browse. It is reassuring to know that some great and unique sites still exist.

One more thing you make sure you book mark them both, and share this find.

Vegetarian-Restaurants.net

This website lists- in one convenient place- every major fast food place you can think of (in the US) and whether they are vegetarian friendly. The menu of each restaurant is broken down and examined. It has tips for vegans and lacto-ovo veggies alike and is easy to search.

Vegetarian.about.com

The Vegetarian Resource Group

This page lists a bunch of other sites that will help you with nutrition and meal-planning.

Vegetarian.about.com

Another great resource for vegetarian recipes, video cooking tutorials and tips on “buying green”.

Vegetarian Times

This is the companion website to the national vegetarian magazine. They boast of having the largest collection of vegetarian recipes in the world. They also have a strong focus on environmentalism and which companies are actually doing their part.

VegWeb.com

VegWeb is an active community dedicated to sharing vegetarian recipes. Submit your own successes, get help when you try someone else’s. It also has a lot of gluten-free recipes.

I have practically furnished an entire 3 bedroom house using these sites. I am listing the ones below in the order of my own personal preference. Remember, sites will vary from region to region. Just because the one in my locality is active and has much to offer, doesn’t necessarily mean that will be the case where you live. Some of these sites allow the posting of pets; others do not. Be sure and read each groups guidelines before you post.

1. www.freecycle.org
Everything posted on freecycle must be FREE. Once you click on the link, look for your general area of residence.

2. www.groups.yahoo.com/search?query=cheap+cycle

Items listed on this group are either free or less expensive than retail. Some of these groups also swap and/or barter. Put in your area once you get to the cheapcycle site.

3. www.sharingisgiving.org

This website is similar to freecycle as it is for the posting and requesting of free items only. Click on the link and find your area.

4. www.heyitsfree.net

Just give them your email address and they will send you free items, usually trial size products.

5. www.walmart.com

Who’d ever think you would get something for free from WalMart! A lot like number 4 above; give them your email address and they send you trial size samples.

Image via Wikipedia

And while you are getting items for free (or very little) you can feel good that you are participating in the recycling process, keeping unnecessary items out of the landfills. Not only that, but you are probably making someone else’s day for them and at the same time cleaning out your own closets.

Image via Wikipedia

I have alot of fun with these websites and think that you will too. There are probably more out there and once I find another handful of them, I will update this article.