Welcome to the 135th issue of the Cool Tricks and Trinkets Newsletteroffering weekly insights into new, cool, useful, fun, unusual and interesting sites on the Internet.

In this issue:

- Digital Fairytales
- Napster Clone
- All My Life for Sale
- Short Takes
- Government's 50 Greatest Endeavors
- Giant Heads
- King of the Mountain
- White Shoe Diaries
- Sneaker Sanctuary
- Subscribers' Sites


Digital Fairytales

Follow the crystal ball through beautiful graphics and calming music into the world of Big Blue. It is an enchanting place to explore, play games, solve puzzles and experience life through the eyes of a child.

BigBlue.com is dedicated to the children's fable 'Fairy Dreams', which was written by Carol Mclean-Carr, the same woman who designed the site. The Internet's first digital children's book, offers the perfect respite for anyone who wants to revisit the wonder and magic of fairytales, all over again.

Napster Clone

If the trial and legal posturing has gotten you down on Napster, there's a new and more diverse file sharing program you can use to get all sorts of free stuff. LimeWire is a web community that enables users to swap images, audio files, and videos, as well as MP3's.

Using P2P technology (peer to peer), the software allows for a much more diverse exchange of information. The site has a written and animated display of how it differs in form and function from Napster, so that new visitors who are used to the popular interface can understand this slightly different approach to sharing files. Just download and start trading!

All My Life for Sale

How often have you looked in and around your home and marveled at the amount of purely useless junk you've accrued and saved over your lifetime. John D. Freyer has gone well beyond the idea of 'Spring Cleaning' and has, in the name of art, decided to auction off his 'life'.

More art experiment than Buddhist revelation, AllMyLifeforSale is an 'ongoing project' that involves the auctioning off and tracking of many of Mr. Freyer's possessions that, according to his friends, accurately represent his life in Iowa City, Iowa.

He is keeping track of all these 'pieces of his life' on a large map in his home. So if you're looking for a Missouri Pork Belt Buckle or an old stash of candy, this is definitely the site for you. We suggest you check out his website before heading all the way to Iowa.

SHORT TAKES:

Imagine all the Robots

Some people can't get over the death of Elvis, President Kennedy and other famous icons whose lives were cut short by tragedy. The creators of the
John Lennon Artificial Intelligence Project may have some instant karma coming their way, as they attempt to recreate the personality of the late Beatle using state of the art technology.

Jon is essentially a PersonaBot, 'a chatbot inhabited with a unique human personality', capable of carrying a reasonable if not unsettling conversation. Feel free to chat with him, learn more about 'personabots' or buy a variety of books and pictures relating to the famous artist.

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Women Speak

Visiting Women Speak is a touching experience that almost everyone will appreciate. It offers an archive, updated daily, of digital images taken by amateur and professional women photographers. 

A short biography of the photographer, the inspiration behind the picture and an audio recording accompany each photo. Browse through the site or check in daily for the 'Photo of the Day'.

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Create Surveys and get Feedback

Zoomerang is a free Internet service that allows businesses and individuals to easily conduct professional grade surveys. Their wizard prompts you through pre-designed survey templates, covering business, social, personal and educational topics.

Government's 50 Greatest Endeavors

For as long as wages have been earned, there have been governments anxious to tax them. America is no different, and while the IRS doesn't actually bang on your door at night demanding gold, they are still happy to take a large percent of your annual income.

The Brookings Institute recently completed research into our government's expenditures, over the past fifty years into and divided them into 'successes' and 'failures'.

Check out their take on the US's greatest achievements, including fighting diseases, waging war, rebuilding projects and more. There are a number of cool features on the site, including a personal survey, results by demographics and a Top Ten list of our greatest successes.

Giant Heads

Just in case you can't find enough amusement on the web, here's a site that will enthrall as well as provide you with useful information. Giantheads.com generates online entertainment for its users in the form of cartoon shorts, comical movie reviews, and a lot of other fun miscellaneous stuff.

With an opening theme song by Lionel Richie, it wastes little time pulling you into its world of bizarre humor. To reap the full benefits of the site, you apparently have to subscribe, though it is unclear whether it is free or not. Some notable 'smalls' are 'Free Oxen' and 'Russian Lessons'.

King of the Mountain

There are few activities more symbolic of man's attempt to conquer nature than Rock Climbing. It is a breathtaking sport that can be incredibly rewarding and incredibly dangerous. And like any other sport, it has its champions, its amateurs and its tragedies.

Having been featured in National Geographic and a ton of other magazines, Todd Skinner is widely considered to be one of the top rock climbers in the world. His website is essentially a photo journal that is wholly dedicated to his illustrious achievements and impressive climbing resume.

Check out the beautiful footage from many of Todd's legendary ascents, ranging from Yosemite to Africa to The Himalayas, as well as a full biography of his career amongst the rocks.

White Shoe Diaries

The White Shoe Irregular is a lighthearted literary community that publishes absurd, artistic and humorous material. Reading the section posted for first-time visitors will give you a good idea as to just how serious the staff does NOT take itself.

With many different categories including Prose, Poetry, Paragraphs, 'Congressional Record' and more, visitors may have to return for seconds in order to get through all the content. Some of the highlights are the 'Lofty Low' section and the one entitled 'Translations'.

Sneaker Sanctuary

When I was a teenager, sneakers were the lowliest of footwear, worn only for exercise and quickly taken off. They were made of plain white canvas, had no see through soles, no glow in the dark stitching and definitely no air pumps. Today the sneaker has become a cultural icon.

Charlie's Sneaker Page includes the history of sneakers along with facts, descriptions, pictures, a glossary, and advice on how to dry wet sneakers. What it lacks in beauty, it more than makes up for in content.

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If you're interested in advertising in Cool Tricks and Trinkets, email
info@tricksandtrinkets.com
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SUBSCRIBERS' SITES - Many of our subscribers have fascinating on-line
projects. This weekly section will introduce you to some of these sites.
Please let me know about your project so that I might mention it in this
section. Write me at info@tricksandtrinkets.com

~Rediscover the Art of Balanced Living

~SailCat Graphics - Digital Website Design Studio.

~Always Fresh Freebies

~Light Switch Art - Hand painted light switches by Judy Steiner.

~Savannah Says - A unique brand of romance advice.

~TLC Photo Restoration

~Passover Home Page

~Your Freebie Index

~ECrookedPinky - A one stop site for MIDI collaboration and songwriting.


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Kites harness the force of the wind.
They express our intent,
But they cannot change the wind.

TAO

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Have a great weekend.

Charles Kessler