Month: January 1970

The What Am I here For (WAIHF) blog has as its tagline ‘daily reflections on meaning and purpose in life’. This site is an excellent example of the power of blogging technology in 2011 to allow individuals anywhere to publish thoughtful musings online for the entire world to read.

Arik Dondi, the owner and writer for WAIHF, is a sensitive and thoughtful person who is daring to tackle big questions such as what it means for someone to make a good choice, and what it means to live life with purpose.

I imagine that Dondi’s idea for this site is to connect with people on a deeper level than do sites concerned simply with what one thinks of a movie he saw recently or favorite recipes. It is a lofty goal but clearly Dondi isn’t concerned if some people won’t share his sense of introspection because I think he realizes that among readers that do “get it”, he could very well be creating a small community of like-minded people.

WAIHF was created with Blogspot.com, which is a terrific tool that allows people who have no interest in spending too much time on blogging technology to create perfectly functional and attractive websites so that they can simply get started writing about the subjects in which they are interested.

What Am I Here For is the sort of site we could visit on a regular basis, in moments when we have some downtime and perhaps are more attuned to the ‘Big Picture’. As I read over several articles on the site I thought that a new reader might be inspired and less reluctant to create a similar site himself.

If you are interested in philosophical musings not too far removed from everyday life, I’d recommend taking a look at the What Am I Here For blog to connect with a kindred spirit and maybe even get a little clarity on your own life.

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The Green-n-Brown website is a top-notch example of how an online retailer should organize and present a virtual business, and the products featured on the site, eco-friendly items, are ones in which everyone interested in doing his or her part for our environment should have an interest.

The Green-n-Brown Company combines ethical product sourcing with environmental stewardship and community involvement to actually blur the lines between a company operating for profit and one that has as a primary objective to benefit society at large. The idea behind the name of the site is that the products featured on it are either green, being eco-friendly, or brown, meaning organic.

As I perused the site I was struck by wide range of products on offer. There is an incredibly large selection of apparel, bags, jewelry, swimwear and gifts for men, women and juniors. There are also products for the home and even food items available for sale on the site.

While the Green-n-Brown website is not strictly in the form of a blog, it’s still an example of how original website design not necessarily tied to WordPress can work well when it comes to creating a compelling virtual storefront. The pros at Green-n-Brown have clearly put a lot of thought into the design of the site and it’s extremely user-friendly.

One small suggestion I’d have is to add a blog to the site, perhaps to review new organic and eco-friendly products as they are released, as there are new ones every week. Many companies do this as a way of better engaging their readership, and a constant flow of new content also helps get the attention of search engines. Still, Green-n-Brown gets extremely high marks from me for its first-rate execution and straightforward design.

Whether you are a specialty retailer looking for ideas on how to upgrade your website and make it more usable and aesthetically pleasing, or a shopper with an interest in purchasing more environmentally friendly products, the Green-n-Brown site is absolutely worth visiting and bookmarking.

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If you are interested in pop culture and entertainment like reality TV, indie films and celebrity interviews, do yourself a favor and head right over to the Ifelicious Thoughts blog to see what the latest happenings in Hollywood and the rest of the celebrity universe are. The person behind Ifelicious, Ife B., does a great job of delivering a site that’s distinct from all the other celeb websites out there, which must be no easy task.

Ifelicious has tons of up-to-the-minute celebrity news available for you in its lengthy posts, and it is updated virtually every day. The writing is first-rate with plenty of personality, and there are lots of photographs and videos to augment the articles.

These aren’t breathless blog posts full of teenage swooning over Justin Bieber’s haircut. Ife B.’s approach is more that of a reporter than a mere fan, and the site is better for an adult perspective delivered with no shortage of enthusiasm for the subject matter.

Among other things, I was impressed by the amount of celebrity interviews that Ife B. has done with an interesting and diverse range of people like the boxer Sugar Ray Leondard, Warren G, MC Lyte, Leslie Jordan and dozens of others.

The Ifelicious site is built on the everpopular WordPress platform, and is a great example of how WordPress can be used to showcase content related to virtually anything under the sun.

Most people who are interested in the world of entertainment probably have quite a few sites bookmarked or in their RSS feeds. If this describes you, I would wholeheartedly recommend you include Ifelicious Thoughts among the sites you check on a daily basis to keep abreast of latest happenings in entertainment.NULL

If you like to travel, and who doesn’t, The Traveler’s Loophole looks like a website that you’d better bookmark. As I was looking through the site for the purpose of writing this review I found myself getting caught up in all the available travel deals and almost forgot about my review!

The idea behind The Traveler’s Loophole is very simple. Just about every day the owner of the site posts a travel deal put out by one of the major airlines or hotel groups. These are no mere $10 or $20 savings coupons either; we are talking substantial savings and two-for-one deals galore. Even if you’re interested in travel outside the United States you will find plenty of opportunities to save money by making use of this site.

There is also a guide that you can purchase on the site promising tips on how to get $50 coupons to help you save money when you use some of the major flight and hotel aggregators such as Priceline and Expedia, but I was impressed at the wide range of deals that were offered for free on the site. There are also notifications about contests that an airline might be running, and ways to get loads of frequent flyer miles.

This is one of those websites that doesn’t try to do everything, just one thing very, very well. It’s a deceptively simple-looking site built on WordPress, the popular blogging platform, and it’s very easy to understand and navigate.

For anyone who considers himself a savvy traveler, The Traveler’s Loophole offers an opportunity to really save money as you see the world. I’ve already bookmarked the site and as useful as it is I would bet that a lot of people will be taking advantage of the convenience it offers.

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The origin saga website was created in support of what looks to be an amazing series of adult science fiction books created by B. M. Garrett. Set in what Garrett calls the Alpha Universe, the stories are Garret’s attempt to change the way people think about the genre. As Garrett elaborates:

“Nobody truly has created an evil that really resonates with the audience. Nobody really respects or fears the evil that lurks in the stories told today. If there’s something that people love more than a respectable hero it is a terrifying villain.”

From the foundation presented by the Origin Saga website it’s apparent that Garrett’s goal is quite ambitious, but the early-stage conclusion at which one would have to arrive is that this is an unfolding story and website that bear watching.

The presentation of the site includes really incredible artwork as well as background information about the history of the Origin Saga as well as the undead wars which precede the first Origin novel. The major characters of the story as well as the environments, technology, and races inhabiting this fantastic universe are all introduced as well and definitely pique one’s interest as to how the storyline might play out.

The execution of the Origin Saga website is absolutely professional and it appears to have taken considerable resources and time to construct. While the ultimate function of the site looks to be toward marketing the story series, a casual observer could be forgiven for thinking of the site itself is a work of art.

It’s yet another example of the versatility of WordPress, showing that the most popular blogging platform in the world is certainly capable of a lot more than simple blog posts in chronological order. Garrett has done an impressive job in customizing the platform to his needs.

If you’re a fan of adult science fiction-and perhaps even if you aren’t yet a fan-I would wholeheartedly suggest you take a look at the Origin Saga website as a promising indication of what the fertile imagination of B. M. Garrett is in the process of offering to the world. If the stories that will spring from the foundation laid out on this site are anywhere near as engaging as the initial vision with which we are presented Garrett might really have a big success on his hands.NULL