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The Cool Tricks and Trinkets Newsletter #312 8/19/4 |
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Welcome to the Sixth Anniversary Issue of the Cool Tricks and Trinkets Newsletter offering weekly insights into new, cool, useful, fun, unusual and interesting sites on the Internet. <Editors Note> Up Close and Personal The sixth anniversary issue of The Cool Tricks and Trinkets Newsletter has significance for me. When I returned from living in Thailand in 1994, I was 52 years old and had not worked at the same job for more than two years in row since I graduated from college. http://www.net-market.com/up_close.htm I had little money, and my friends advised that if I were ever going to be successful, I should find work that I enjoyed and try to build a career. In 1995 I found the Internet and my entire life changed. I started out marketing clients and began to build an online business. In 2000 I received a SPAM about making money in the hotel reservation's business and out of that I created, A1 Discount Hotels, which has grown to become one of the largest affiliates of Hotels.com, with reservation sales in excess of $10 million annually. The first issue of the newsletter was mailed in 1998 to 280 of my friends and acquaintances. Over the years it has grown, mostly by word of mouth and currently there are in excess of 180,000 subscribers. We have not missed publishing an issue in the past 312 weeks, and the support and kind words I get from our wonderful subscribers has turned writing the newsletter into a labor of love. I consider you family and thank you for sharing this experience with me. Sincerely, Charles Kessler
A1 Discount Hotels (an affiliate of Hotels.com) offer discount rooms in over 40,000 hotels worldwide with choices from budget to 5 star hotels. http://www.a1-discount-hotels.com Bookmark our site for you next trip. <Editor's Note> A1 Discount Hotels is our primary business. You can support the continued publishing of Tricks and Trinkets, by making your next hotel reservation with us.
When you travel, do you often wonder what happened at "this place" in the past? Who lived here? What were they like? How did they live their daily lives? Legends of America focuses on small out of the way hidden attractions that appeal to the nostalgic and historic minded, giving you more than just a paragraph, they will take you there! Legends of America started out as a hobby. The Owner/Editor has a deep-seated love for history, travel, writing, and almost anything falling within a creative realm. If you're a Ghost Towner, History Buff, Mountaineer or Treasure Hunter, you're going to love this site! http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ Weird Foods from Around the World Nearly every culture invents a food that is weird or disgusting to outsiders. These strange foods from around the world are cultural markers to show who's a member (insiders like it) and who's not a member (outsiders hate it.) Maybe a group of kids started eating it on a dare. They then perpetuate it (perpetrate it) on the next generation. Then they nudge each other and laugh when outsiders gag. Food categories discussed include bugs, drinks, vegetables, fish, reptiles,.amphibians, birds and more. You can also sign up for the Weird Food Newsletter and every month, they will let you know about the latest discoveries. Photo Stamps PhotoStamps is a new form of postage that allows customers to include their favorite digital photographs, designs or images on valid US Postal Service postage. Customers design state-of-the-art, professional-looking postage from the PhotoStamps web site by simply uploading pictures from existing image files, digital photographs, and original graphics. An intuitive interface allows users of PhotoStamps to flip, rotate, and zoom in and out of their images, as well as add colored borders to create harmonized themes. Users maintain a secure online account that allows for the storage of images for future purchases. Using advanced printing technology, we send customers high-quality, peelable PhotoStamps within a short timeframe, allowing for a wide variety of personal and business-related usage. PhotoStamps is brought to you by Stamps.com Inc., the leading provider of Internet-based postage services. SHORT TAKES Fly Guy If only we could just get away from all the stress and problems of life, close our eyes and fly away. Now it is just a click away. http://www.trevorvanmeter.com/flyguy/ <><><><> Spamusement We are all subject to the daily spate of SPAM with its predictable hype, promises of making money, drug ordering and savings, etc. Spamusement takes a lighter look at SPAM with poorly drawn cartoons inspired by actual SPAM subject lines! <><><><> The Illustrated Smiths Sometimes a little visual aid helps, and in this case, it provides for some fun. Created by a devoted fan of the rock group The Smiths, this site hosts a 'wee project to add a picture to a lyric from a song'. Submitted by other fans, the pictures are entertaining, for fans and acolytes alike. http://www.headstaggers.com/smiths/ Enjoy
the newsletter? Tell your friends to subscribe by sending an email to: The Stained Apron Pity the poor waiter. Or fear him. Servers may be at the bottom of the food chain, but their position right next to the food you eat gives them awesome power. At The Stained Apron, read how they can avenge themselves against diners who are rude, fail to control bratty kids and obnoxious boyfriends, or who don't tip enough. No, 10% is not enough. Dedicated to venting the frustrations of food service workers and to educating the dining public, the site offers advice on how to be a good customer and stories that tell why it's a good idea to be kind to the waitperson. Bodily fluids finding their way into your dessert is a very persuasive lesson in etiquette. Vintage 78 A self-described "hard-core 78 rpm fiend," Country Classic radio DJ Joe Bussard has spent a lifetime compiling a private archive of more than 25,000 obscure recordings from the golden age of old-time music. At Vintage 78, Joe shares it through custom-made tapes of his vintage 78 collection. Country, bluegrass, blues, jazz and gospel make up the collection, searchable by genre, title or artist. Joe says, it's the quality not the quantity that counts. He's got both. Listen to Country Classics, his West Virginia radio program airing since 1959, scan the Classifieds for vintage 78s for sale by private parties, or read articles about old time musicians like Blind Joe Death, father of the solo steel-string guitar. http://www.vintage78.com/siteCF/ The Fin, Fur and Feather Bureau of Investigation In today's world, with the seemingly endless stream of entertainment sources, it's not often that something can capture a child's attention and keep them interested long enough to actually teach them something. In the 80's, it was Carmen San Diego. Today, it's the FFFBI. (Fin, Fur and Feather Bureau of Investigation) This clever site combines humor with some unusual storytelling to help kids learn about places and cultures around the world. The children who indulge in this site will have to sharpen their critical thinking skills and do a fair amount of 'research' to solve the cases brought forth by the FFFBI. Math, science, music, and history, it's all there. **********Advertisement**************
Military-Travel.net was established to give something back to the men and women of the Armed Services (active and retired) and members of their families by offering an additional 5% rebate on all hotel reservations. http://www.military-travel.net <Editor's Note> Please support us in getting the word out about your new site.
Cool Flame the Game BMW has come up with some clever ways to promote itself online. First, they produced several film shorts with some big time directors, and made them available online. Now they have developed a very cool, interactive flash game called 'Cool Flame' which takes visitors into the world of Harvey Flame, a reporter who always enjoys a good mystery. Join the 'cool' one as he chases down the story of his life, encountering criminals, thugs, and all sorts of undesirables along the way. Visitors can help Harvey crack the case by looking for clues all throughout this highly interactive environment. There are five episodes thus far. Plenty for those who enjoy their action 'shaken, not stirred.' http://www.be-the-first-one.com/bethefirstone/index_home.html BBC Interviews The BBC has done it again. This time, by publishing an impressive collection of archived interviews online for all to enjoy. Divided into such categories as actors, painters, religious thinkers, and others, visitors will find fascinating interviews on everyone from Ansel Adams to Bob Marley. The archive goes back a ways, so there's something for everyone to enjoy, young and old. And each respective person has several interviews available from different time periods, so users can get an interesting perspective on how they viewed things over the years. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/ 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 ~ American Housewife Abroad - slice-of-life tragicomic serial fiction.
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