Category: Uncategorized

First, I must say that I love people with opinions because I feel like I can personally relate with them, being a rather opinionated person myself. Even better, I particularly like people whom I share similar opinions with. Come on folks, who doesn’t?

The writer of “Mad About Knowledge” approaches politics, it seems, from a left-wing perspective. I hope the author isn’t offended by me stating so (some people would be). I’m honestly surprised by this guys more liberal stance because of a couple of things I learned about him. For one, he’s from Virginia. Perhaps I don’t know enough Virginians, but this is not what I thought a Southern state could produce. Second, apparently the author tested as a centrist on an internet quiz. I guess those quizzes aren’t so scientific after all.

With this said, the author seems very open for discussion and extremely universal in his approach to taking on different topics on current events. I hope I’m not alienating the right-wingers out there; I suggest they take a look as well. Just the same, not everything on this blog is as political as maybe I’m letting on. In fact, there are indeed the ‘everyday’ posts available to keep simple minds happy.

Listen, I absolutely love this web site. It’s design is so worked into its purpose that I’m just jealous that my own web log doesn’t come close to matching the superb design of “Mad About Knowledge.” It uses very nice tones of orange with a black background. Simple, yet extremely effective.

This web log has gone straight from my review list to my favorites list because it’s intuitive, it’s comprehensive, it’s current. I like this writer, and I think this web log is worth adding as a ‘daily read.’

After each entry, the author showcases other stories which google considers related to his topic. I loved this feature as it enabled me, as a reader, to really research and analyze the subject matter at hand, without having to do the work that is usually involved. Here’s an author who is really utilizing the strengths of the internet (linking, etc.) to back-up his opinions.

I’m excited people because this kind of blogging, as it were, is where journalism itself is headed. Let’s all rejoice and celebrate the web log that is “Mad About Knowledge.” As you may have guessed, I gave it a well-deserved 5.Mad About Knowledge

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the name of the blog was suspicion. Celebrity blogs have a tendency of being fake and/or proxy ones. My suspicion grew when I saw that this one was hosted on starblogger.com. TWR has already reviewed Britney Spears’ Blog which also happened to be hosted on Starblogger.com and which was fake for certain.

Even for a fake blog, there is hardly anything worth visiting. The blog started in May 2003. We are greeted with entries as to how Debbie loves Eminem, and all of a sudden there is one entry full of expletives and hate for him. Then the next entry says that the blog was hacked, but the previous entry is never deleted! Now anyone remotely connected to blogging is aware that one can edit/delete previous entries without remotest of complexities.

Even if we ignore that, after five entries in May, the next entry is in October. So much for proper frequency. Again the same pattern follows, two really loving entries later we have another hateful post. Then again the ‘hacked again’ thing.

After October there are all of two entries. One is January; this one is attacking her haters. And the next one is February, called ‘Jewish Parody of The Passion’ this one seems to be a mass spam-like entry in all starblogger blogs, you can see it Britney’s , Eminem’s and Friends’ Blogs at starblogger.

The design is the common Movable Type grey-on-white. No tweaking has been done to the design at all.

Going with the tradition of starblogger blogs, this too is highly non-recommended. I counted the total number of entries: – Eleven. Even if you want to waste your time, I am sure you would have better things to do than visit this blog.

Debbie Mathers : Eminem’s Mom

When I first entered this blog, I really didn’t know what to expect, judging by the title. I did notice that this weblog was submitted for a re-review. When the page loaded, there was a little banner above the posts, saying that the blog had moved with a link to the new web address.

The old address was on “Blogspot”, and the new one was the authors own domain. The one thing that kind of puzzled me was why Charlie “the author”, had submitted his weblog for a re – review. One of the reasons being is, both the old and the new weblog looked the same. Same lay-out, same colors ect.

The weblog itself had a 3 column lay-out which I was never very keen on myself. In the left hand column, there were several links which were very humourous. There was an “About Me” and an “About This” links. They both made me laugh.

After I got through several of his links, which he had both on the right and left side panels, I started reading several of the archives. His archives dated back to June 2003.. Each entry was entertaining in it’s own way. What may be amusing for some readers, may not be amusing for others. I went through several archives, and there were only a few entries I really laughed at.

There was one entry where he talked about a time where his door key broke off in his lock . He tried to get it out by taking the lock apart with a screw driver, but it didn’t work. Then he thought of using WD-40, until he realized he didn’t have any so he used olive oil instead. But all he got out of that was a slippery door knob and a dog wanting to lick it. Now that is one of the few entries I chuckled at. I just didn’t find a lot of the posts amusing.

Now for the design, It is a very simple blue and white template. As I said earlier on, there are links on both sides and the entries are in the middle. To me , some of the links and the archives are not spaced enough. The entries are very well written and very easy to read. The posts are also quite long. I feel the design could use some work. If you have time to spare, drop by and pay Charlie a visit. Like I said, what some people may find humourous, others may not. I just didn’t get much out of it.Where the Hell Was I?

When I think of a rudder, I think of the thing at the back of a boat to help steer the boat. So thus rudderless would imply no rudder, or no thing to help steer. This is a very good name for this blog as you will see.

When I first got to rudderless, I was impressed with the clean and crisp design. It looked like a lot of other sites, but still had its own flair. The standard two column layout and the entire thing is centered look is really taking off.

At first glance it seemed to me that there was an excessive amount of writing per post. The author was telling long stories with a lot of details. So I checked out the about page, and found out that there were actually two authors, and one sure enough was a copy editor.

Reading the posts was almost mundane. Yes there were differences between the posts based on topic and who the author was, but aside from big details mentioned in each post, it was almost hard to distinguish one author from the other. Most of the posts are about what is going in their life at that point in time. This can be anything from movies, to people they interact with, to music. Music is one thing that both authors have a serious passion for and it shows in their tastes.

The blog itself was never able to fully capture my attention. The long stories always seemed to have a depressed look on the situation, and the short posts are pretty standard. I don’t know of what the authors could do to have grabbed my attention better, I think it just wasn’t a good fit for me.

Overall this blog has its good points, and has its bad points. I was not able to connect with the authors for whatever reason, but I don’t expect to connect with every author. I would recommend checking this blog to see if you enjoy it. Don’t base your opinion on this blog without even giving it a chance. You might be surprised. rudderless.org

When I first heard the “title” of this blog, well to me, it was self explanatory as to what the blog would be about.

When I first entered into the blog, I was greeted with a very crisp and clean looking layout. The first thing that caught my eye was a small introduction up in the right hand corner as to what the blog was all about. It went like this..

I come from a family that has been traumatized by suicides. I am the only one in 3 generations to not attempt it. This is my life, my struggles, my pains, my ramblings and my triumphs.

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Just below the introduction was a photo of a little girl who I am assuming is the author at a younger age.

Another thing I really liked was the fact that the author had her entries placed into categories. For example, the red posts are stories concerning her family, black posts are news articles on suicide/depression, and violet posts are just on different topics.

After going through the basics, I began my journey into the blog itself. The blog is basically based on topics of suicide. (which you can figure out from the title). I couldn’t seem to find an “About Me”, page at first. I later discovered it in her archives as one of her entries.

Carrie (the author) is a 32 year old lady who has gone through some very traumatic experiences in her life. She has come from a broken home, not to mention that several members of her family have either committed suicide or attempted it. In her entries, she talks a lot about her dad and her brother Corey (who she was very close to). She talks about her friends who have also committed/attempted suicide.

I went through more than half of her archives. I will admit that the entries were depressing and mind baffling at the same time. Reading the articles/entries, gave me a very uneasy and eerie feeling. But at the same time, I was touched by a majority of them.

Carrie has a very unique way of telling a story. You can sense the emotion and the sadness she is going through as you read the entries concerning her family. You may ask yourself why someone would devote their entire blog to writing articles on suicide. Well Carrie has been through so much trauma, maybe it’s her way of dealing with the pain. Maybe it helps her to write down her feelings. Maybe she also wants to show others just how wrong it is to take your own life and what their loved ones go through. There could be several reasons why someone would write that kind of blog. However, I do know that Carrie’s entries, will make you stop and think.

I also like the design of Carrie’s blog. As I stated it has a very crisp and clean lay-out. Besides her introduction on the right hand side, she has several links which all seem to be in working order. She has a link to rate her on bloghop as well. As you scroll down she has a quote from “Benjamin Franklin”, and she has a guest book as well.

I couldn’t find one fault with Carrie’s blog. Of course it would be depressing. It’s about suicide. It’s basically supposed to be depressing. I know this blog won’t fit everyone’s taste, but it may give some people a better outlook on life. I know I will be bookmarking Carrie’s site.The Suicidiaries