Pages I Like

LAST UPDATED ON MON, JAN 28, 2001

REAL-WORLD EVENTS & PLACES	ON-LINE TIME-WASTERS
UNUSUAL REFERNECE SITES	TOYS, ETC...
MISC INTERNET ODDITIES	MY HOBBIES & SPECIAL INTERSESTS
FAVOURITE ENTERTAINERS	IN-EAR MONITORS
TIPS ON BUILDING A WEB PAGE	FAMILY & FRIENDS

REAL-WORLD EVENTS & PLACES

PaintTheMoon.org The Idea: "Inexpensive, yet surprisingly powerful laser pointing devices have become ubiquitous in America. Millions of people own such a device. Laser light stays coherent over vast distances, the beams spreading very little. In theory, even a single laser pointer could reach the Moon. The idea behind Paint the Moon is to organize millions of people in North America to try and shine their laser pointers on one area of the Moon at one time, to see if we can create a temporary visible field of color on our nearest celestial neighbor. On October 27th at 11:00 P.M. EDT (10:00 P.M. CDT, 9:00 P.M. MDT, 8:00 P.M. PDT) and again on November 24th at 11:00 P.M. EST (10:00 P.M. CST, 9:00 P.M. MST, 8:00 P.M. PST)." Check out what the Space.com and the Columbia Tribune had to say. I think the notion of a bunch of people joining in a silly, futile, anonymously-bonding experience is charming & hilarious!
Elvis (Andy), Shakes, (Al) and I did it! We went to the Angloa Prison Rodeo in Louisianna on Oct 28, 2001! Here's the official list of BRUTAL events! (The picture to the left is "Convict Poker", in which "the last man remaining seated is the winner". Still curious? Well, here's a mass media account of the event from the Memphis Times, and a very amusing account from a guy who took his disapproving girlfriend. Here's a new addition to my list of links, as well as a Newsday article.. Obviously, there are detractors. Here's The World Socialist Web Site's introduction to some of 1998's competitors, PETA's letter to the Governor of Louisiana, and an article from College Students' Resources for Psychology.
Toronto's "Green Map" of eco-tourism is part a worldwide system of Green Maps, and Toronto's the first city in the world to have an Eco-Tourism Guide Book!
A few years ago, Elvis (Andy Parkhill) & I got a book called Roadside America, which has become THE mandatory reference for every roadtrip he & I take. roadsideamerica.com is their online guide to offbeat attractions, and is chock-full of odd and hilarious travel destinations! Also, check out Road Trip USA for VERY cool descriptions of suggested trips across the States.

The folks at Infiltration.org illegally explore forbidden locations (ie... demolitions sites, abandoned landmarks, subway & bomb tunnels, rooftops, hotel pools, and more) and document their escapades.
The Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory is stupendous! I can honestly say that I've never experienced such a feeling of wonder and humility. I've commited myself to going at least once a year!
A "micronation" is any number of things: ...a model country that exists solely as work of fiction, ...a small group of people who are seeking sovereignty from another governmental power, ...a collection of brave souls who are trying to establish a new country, ...a tiny sovereign jurisdiction that may have escaped the notice of other major powers. "Why not start your own country? Who among us has not dreamed of a "new" country, free of all the taxes, bureaucrats, regulations, and idiocy that often make life all but unbearable in today's established nations? Political reform is impossible."
	"How To Start Your Own Country, (Revised Second Edition)", is a whole book dedicated to the topic!
	Tropical-Islands.com is an on-line real estate company dedicated to "Your Own Kingdom In Today's Developed World"! Vladi Private Islands is another "islands only" real estate company which sells islands, but his properties are all over the world, not just in the tropics. PrivateIslandsOnline.com is yet another! Oh, my God! Will this never end? Florida Keys, Caribbean, everywhere, Bahamas, British Columbia

	Actual Small Countries are not likely considred to be MicroNations, but, I imagine they must be tremendously inspirational to MicroNationalists.
	Here's a MicroNationalist website which is devoted to either sovereignty and indepedence projects, or governments-in-exile. It includes links to Actual Small States, Soveriegnty Projects & Governments in Exile, Sedition & Sovereignty Groups in the USA & Canada, Confederate (USA) Resurrectionist Movements, New Country Projects, Micronation, Successionist & Homeland Groups,
	UNPO (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation) is an international organisation created by nations and peoples around the world, who are not represented as such in the world´s principal international organisations, such as the United Nations. Founded in 1991, UNPO today consists of over 50 members who represent over 100 million persons. UNPO offers an international forum for occupied nations, indigenous peoples, minorities, and even oppressed majorities who currently struggle to regain their lost countries, preserve their cultural identities, protect their basic human and economic rights and safeguard the natural environment.
	The CIA World Fact Book has info on some MicroNations.
	Footnotes To History has info on the nations you didn't learn about in high school geography.
Here's an interesting alternative to the aforementioned "micronations"; "We believe that seagoing raft communities represent a huge, underutilized potential for healthy life on the planet..." One raft, made entirely of scrap, "Vilma B", will be a world-travelling home and school for abandoned street orphans from third world countries. In August 1998, "Son of Town Hall", also made entirely of scrap, crossed the North Atlantic, from Newfoundland to Ireland!

ON-LINE TIME-WASTERS

Just Not Cricket is an on-line cricket game where, in order to save the lives of the opposing team, you beat groundhogs to death with a cricket bat!

At Milko Music Machine, you create a music video (metal, hip-hop or disco), and you can add musical elements, and add dance moves & special effects. Man oh man, this is hilarious! What a splendidly rediculous way to spend a half-hour!

This is a pretty cool java app! It fills that desperate need in all of us -- you know what it is -- that urgent and immediate need to TICKLE ELMO! No more of that going to the toy store and buying a "doll." No way. This is the net -- do it virtually. Go ahead.. tickle elmo! Tickle him! DO IT! (Just be prepared to wait half a day for the actual java app to download.)

If you have three free minutes, I STRONGLY recommend DancingPaul.com. Choose music & a backdrop, then, any combination of "jiggy" & booty moves.

The Hero Machine is DEFINITELY the cooloest thing I've seen on the web since Rock School!

Grand Illusions is a site with a BUNCH of optical illusions & counter-ituitive puzzles. We've all seen these kinds of things before, but this site shows the BEST of them, along with a whole whack I'd never seen before. Best of all, the site includes accurate, scientific explainations. I just tried the Dragon Optilcal Illusion, and it was worth all the cutting & gluing! The "Monty Hall" Problem is ENTIRELY counter-intuitive. (If you've read "The Monty Hall Problem", and your instincts still tell you it's wrong, you're certainly not alone. I was so sure it was wrong, that I created a table to prove it. I was wrong --- It was right.)

Mike Gallay SEEMS to be a fellow Torontonian, and without question, he's REALLY funny! His site is chock full o' original hilarity, and some TRÈS cool links! Some of the links I've recently added have been found through Mike's site.

At StickDeath.com, you'll find a hilarious bunch of Stick Man death animations. Be forewarned, though, some of this is VERY violent, and there's some very foul language in the music! For my favourite one, go straight to "Wrestling" (which includes a pre-match concert by "Stick Meatillica") and follow the each of the tournament's links in order.

The Cryptic Message Discombobulator. |nput á s¡ngle sêntén¢e, än entire paràgráph, or êvên ân ênt¡rê stðry ând thèn wät¢h in ãmãzêmènt @s yôµr prêviôúsly lég¡blè w¤rds gét spàt ºút ¡n an µtterly pèrplêxíng d¡s¢°mbobulâted f¤rm.

Check out the whole ROCK SCHOOL site! It's a real blast! You can even use your "qwerty" keyboard to write a song! This site is the coolest I've seen in a VERY long time!

Why not create your own conspiracy theory!?!

UNUSUAL REFERNECE SITES

ObscureStore.com has daily updates of unusual news stories. VERY fun!

This-To-That.com exists solely "because people have a need to glue things to other things".

See in which direction you point on the Political Compass. It turns out that, in political terms, I'm quite similar to Ghandi! How 'bout you?
"There's abundant evidence for the need of it. The old one-dimensional categories of 'right' and 'left' , established for the seating arrangement of the French National Assembly of 1789, are overly simplistic for today's complex political landscape. For example, who are the 'conservatives' in today's Russia? Are they the unreconstructed Stalinists, or the reformers who have adopted the right-wing views of conservatives like Margaret Thatcher?
On the standard left-right scale, how do you distinguish leftists like Stalin and Gandhi? It's not sufficient to say that Stalin was simply more left than Gandhi. There are fundamental political differences between them that the old categories on their own can't explain. Similarly, we generally describe social reactionaries as 'right-wingers', yet that leaves left-wing reactionaries like Robert Mugabe and Pol Pot off the hook."

At eHow, you can find out how to Assist a Surprise Home Birth, Greet the Dalai Lama, Dispose of a Goldfish That Has Died, Avoid Stomach Problems in Less-Developed Countries, Throw an Oklahoma-Style Tailgate Party, and countless other "How-do-I-do-that?" kinda things!

WordOrigins.org is Dave Wilton's personal web page, and includes an extensive collection of well-researched word and phrase origins, from "Bob's Your Uncle" to the "Whole Nine Yards", and from "Brownie Points" to "Fudge".

At SoYouWanna.com, you can find out how to give a massage, donate sperm, get a sex change, run a marathon, roll your own cigarettes, rent a tuxedo, get an unusual piercing ... The list goes on FOREVER!

Here, you'll find recipes for Lemon-Herb Alligator Stew, Sautéed Dijon Kangaroo Burgers, Ostrich Steaks with Green Peppercorn Sauce and Shittake Mushrooms, and Rattlesnake Chile.

This in the online Museum of Dirt, and includes bottled samples from celebrities, TV & movie locations, historical & cultural locations, natural landmarks, points of interest, sports locations, gay/lesbian related sites, esoteric locations, and gravesites. You can search by colour, texture, elevation, type, city, or country. You can even SUBMIT DIRT for inclusion in the museum!

Train Hopping is, apparently, a thriving lifestyle choice, and this site includes everything you need, including books, maps, newsgroups, mailing lists, associations, "How Trains Brakes Work", etc...

An online magazine called HowStuffWorks.com is taking the internet by storm with its approach to demystifying everyday life through clearly written and "cooL articles, such as How A Car Engine Works, How Caffine Works, and How Tattoos Work. You'll even find a future-oriented section called, How Stuff WILL Work!

What's it like to sleep in a tree? Well ...

According to the creator of loompanics.com, "I got the idea for starting a mail order book business which would specialize in "controversial and unusual" books ... to twist your heads, to incite and provoke and make you think about things in new ways." I can't believe I found this place before my pals Alky & Marshall!

Answer a few simple questions, and this'll decide upon the ideal dog breed for you, and here's another. Nope, I'm not kidding. And here's a dog breed comparison chart.

More than you should ever know about shooting rubber bands with your fingers.

TOYS, ETC...

Here's a GREAT idea for Christmas gifts!
Hey! Don't you think it's about time there was an action figure of YOU?!?!?!
How to build a match-stick rocket. DANGEROUS! DO NOT TRY THIS! PRESENTED FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!
At Dark Star, you can find Austin Powers and Jay & Silent Bob action figures, Dr Who & Planet of the Apes model kits, and X-Files ans Bill & Ted trading cards!
Many guests in my home have seen The Incredibly Dangerous Glowing Pickle Machine, introduced to me by Penn & Teller's Book "How To Play With Your Food". Soon thereafter, Gord Reed and I tried it on his living room floor one New Years' Eve. Then, John Lammers made me one, complete with on/off indication, drip tray, and sliding mechanism, all in a handsome, wooden, wall-mount presentation.
	Before you continue, I want you to know that this can be very dangerous (noted). *Do not* attempt these projects. The information here is for information and entertainment only. Do not try any projects involving electricity, chemicals, or other potential hazards unless you really know what you are doing. I can not guarantee that any of these projects will work. Some of these are very old, and unfortenately I cannot provide assistance to everyone who writes.
	There. Now check out Lori's Chemisrty Page (includes a QuickTime movie), The Wonderous Glowing Pickle, Characterization of Organic Illumination Systems, and Investigation into the luminescent effects of high voltage on pickled foodstuffs.
Fun With Grapes - A Case Study Using only cheap, readily-available equipment, you can create a spectacular lightshow in the comfort of your very own kitchen, providing hours of fun and excitement for your family, friends, and pets!
I've found a wickedly cool online Rubik's Cube!

Magician The Browser's Den of Magic is a great Toronto magic shop where I spend most of my Saturday mornings! Jeff, Len & Matthew have been immensely helpful. I recenlty spent an hour or so at

Elmwood Magic (Buffalo, New York). Paul, the owner, was a very gracious host, and showed my friends & I lots of cool stuff!

No doubt about it: My favourite guitar shop is The Twelfth Fret Guitarists' Pro Shop. The owners (Grant &Dave) and their staff are refreshingly honest & knowledgable. They treat me very well, and every one I've refered there, from local to international musicians, have said they feel the same way. These guys ROCK! Well ... they also folk, funk, etc...

Recently I traded-in my Line 6 Flextone Guitar Amp for a new Line 6 Pod II. It COMPLETELY replicates the sounds of 32 classic tube amps, allows me to match them with any of 16 classic guitar cabinets, and can be software controlled/edited! This is NOT a toy; It's the real deal! Several of my friends (professional guitarists & studio owners) have Pod's & Amp Farms (Line 6's software-only version).

I've turned my computer into a recording studio using Pro Tools, the best software of its kind in the world. 8 tracks of fully-editable digital audio, 48 tracks of midi, and fully compatible with many of the world's top studios.

Food TV has zillions of recipes & tips from their shows.

In June 2001, I became a volunteer at the Centre For Addiction & Mental Health in Toronto. It's the largest mental health and addiction facility in Canada, and has been recognized internationally by the World Health Organization as one of four Centres of Excellence in the world in the areas of mental health and addiction. I facilitate a support group for family members who are concerned about the substance abuse of someone else.

FAVOURITE ENTERTAINERS

"In this era of "Reality TV", it can be easy to forget how entertaining fiction can be. And it’s easier to forget that fiction can be even more entertaining when it’s trying very hard to look like reality. "This is Spinal Tap" is a mockumentary -- that is, a fictionalized account of an event, which never really happened. But, on the surface, it looks like a very real documentary. "This is Spinal Tap" may not have been the first mock-rockumentary (Eric Idle’s "The Rutles" came out in 1978), but it is still the best and has developed a cult following."
"This is Spinal Tap" chronicles the American tour of the fictional band, Spinal Tap. The "rockumentary" was made by filmmaker Marty DiBergi (played by director/co-writer Rob Reiner), who often appears in the film, interviewing the band."
By the way, here's a review of the technical aspects of the Spinal Tap Action Figures.

Jay Sankey's one of my favourite magicians, and his was the first magic lecture I saw. His stuff is tremendously inventive. He's also a one-panel cartoonist, and a writer. "Zen & The Art of Standup Comedy" is a GREAT read!
To quote a few other professional magicians,
"Jay's stuff is as good as the stuff anyone's EVER put out."
"I was devastated. I couldn't believe it. I instantly knew I wanted to do a book with him."
"Jay isn't about money or power or 'the industry.' He's about THE WORK, and that comes through in absolutely everything he does."
"Sankey creates magic like someone following the precepts of The Trick Brain while on psychedelic mushrooms."

Another one of my favourite magicians is Montreal's David Acer (pronounced "Acker").
"Born the troubled son of Belgian butter magnate, Wilhelm Anuldsen, David Acer's father moved to Canada shortly after the war in the hopes of forgetting the terrible tragedies that were the warp and woof of Butter Society. It was here that Wilhelm founded the Anuldsen Wig & Poultry Co., and ultimately met and spawned with the nameless secretary that was to produce him a son. Now, some 30 years later, that son has rejected all things greasy in favour of a varied career in the arts."
Remind me next time I see you, and I'll show his "Mad Card Disease".

Mump & Smoot are hilariously macabre. They're kinda like mimes, except they're not obnoxious. Do not miss an opportunity to see them! Check out this review from Max Wyman of The Vancouver Province: "Theatre of despair, theatre of the absurd, theatre of cruelty, black comedy...stir up Beckett, Artaud, Monty Python and the great clown Groc, color it acid rainbow and you get the beginnings of this enormously disquieting, spectacularly funny show."

Penn & Teller are the bad boys of magic. They're magic is irreverent, rebellious and occasionally laiden with cockroaches & blood.

Pollstar is THE place for concert listings. Search by artist, city, venue, or date, and have selected announcements emailed to you!

Keb' Mo' draws heavily on the old-fashioned country blues style of Robert Johnson, but keeps his sound contemporary with touches of soul and folksy storytelling. He writes much of his own material and has applied his acoustic, electric, and slide guitar skills to jazz and rock-oriented bands in the past as well.
"The blues is my history, my culture. it's always been around me. I always wanted primarily not just to be a blues guy, but a songwriter. but the blues gave me depth."
Keb' Mo' is one of the most celebrated bluesmen recording today. His last two releases have both won Grammy Awards for 'Best Contemporary Blues Album' and he is the recipient of four WC Handy Awards (the 'Grammys' of the blues). Keb' has already sold over 1 million albums, established himself as a major touring artist, portrayed the legendary Robert Johnson in a motion picture starred in several tv roles.

On the recent trip to the Angola Prison Rodeo, while retiring to our sleeping bags, we stumbled upon a LIVE radio show with Monte Montgomery playing at a bar in Lafayette, Louisiana. We stopped everything to listen for a while. Unfortunrately, none of his stuff's available in Canada, but I'll be ordering something soon!
"Monte Montgomery blows people away. There is no other way to describe it... Like Michael Jordan defying the impossible with an air-filled leather ball on the hardwood, Montgomery makes his strings produce sounds that obliterate notions of what one human is capable of pulling-off on this simple instrument. Glance around the room wherever he plays and witness wall-to-wall looks of sheer slack-jawed astonishment."

I know, I know. Sounds like the next Eddie Van Halen, but he plays ACOUSTIC guitar! This guy really is incredible!

TIPS ON BUILDING A WEB PAGE

I'm using;
	Adobe Illustrator to create graphics, including PDF's,
	Adobe LiveMotion to create Flash animations,
	Adobe GoLive to create web pages.

Here are also a few online resources which I find TREMENDOUSLY useful:
	Jukka Korpela has a bunch of very practical notions on web page creation, including So You Want To Create A Home Page, and a Web Colour Table.
	Jakob Nielson also has some very useful ideas, like Top 10 Mistakes In Web Design, Top 10...(revisited), Top 10 NEW Mistakes In Web Design.
	SiteSolutions.com will give you immensely valuable feedback regarding the "find-ability" of your page by analyzing its search engine friendliness. It gives very specific feedback on the effectiveness of, and recommended improvements to, your page's Title, Description, and Keywords.
	SearchEngineWatch.com has tons of tutorials on how to make your page easier for search engines to find.
	Daniel Tobias has some more useful essays.
	NetMechanic.com has GifBot, which will help you to minimize the size of your web graphics while maitaining their visual integrity.
	PollIt.com lets you create online Polls, Surveys, Guest Books, Counters, and Mail Forms.
	Jeffrey M. Glover has a WICKED site called Sucky-to-Savvy which includes tips to hlep you create excellent web pages. He includes tips on what surfers do & don't want to see, which navigation tools are useful, and MUCH more!

Although JavaScripts aren't quite as easy to decipher & implement as HTML codes, here are a few good sources for JavaScripts:
	Cut-n-Paste JavaScript
	The JavaScript Source
	Builder.com's Stupid Web Tricks has some code I haven't seen anywhere else, including JavaScripts, HTML, and DynamicHTML.

FAMILY & FRIENDS

**THE MCLEAN'S**
	My brother Rob has a Clan MacLean genealogy site. He also runs the page for the Harrow Early Immigrant Research Society (the Harrow vicinity was a prominent end-point of the Underground Railroad), and the Rainy River District genealogy page, He's a busy guy!
	My cousin Kailey (who I haven't seen in ... oh my God ... about 25 years!) has a flower shop called The Flower Forest.

**THE PARKHILL'S**
Alky (Dave Parkhill) has great pages including links pertaining to family issues, hobbies and humour.Danny, has his own page with lots of cool kids' links!Tammy has a page, too.
Steve Parkhill is the only son of my buddy, Elvis (Andy Parkhill), and he's Alky's nephew. Man 'o man! This 14-year old loves cool electric guitars! (Right now, his page is pretty out-of-date.)
	Don (Parkhill) & Stella have a page for Grab U Graphics, their printing business.

**THE ANDERSON'S**
	Lara (Lovie) has a page which includes stuff about herself, her husband Andy (S*%@head) Anderson, and even their dogs! Lovie's now (Aug 2002) running for City Council in Dana Point, California!
	The Anderson family, now based on the lovely Georgian Bay, in Midland, Ontario, Canada, has a consulting & training company called Understanding Why Inc, and a bookeeping business called Beancounters.
	Kate Anderson is married to Frood (Dave 5). She has a genuinely quirky outlook, full of innocence, honourable values, and playfullness.

**ROVERS**
	My volunteer work with Rovers brought me very close to Jason (Bark) Barker & Rob Shlemkevich.
	Jeff & Dave Campbell (God & Duckie from the old 1st Dorchester Co-Ed Rover Crew) own & operate St Thomas Rent-All.
	One of Pup & Raz' sons, Sanborn, has a GREAT Star Wars site!
	The Ontario Rover Council page has TONS of info!

**PEOPLE I WORK WITH**
	Perry Disera is one of the great live-music Audio Engineers.
	I work with Chris Pegg, Jeff Somers, Billy Anderson, and Brian Betsworth.
	I also work with Chris McHardy (he's the guy in the next office), and he's got a site with info & tunes from his musical projects.
	Tony Gravis' musical project is FÜL. He's had some success in Europe.
	Jason Gardash's Thumper Audio does quite a few things, including sound effects for video games, digital music editing, voice-over recording, and much, MUCH more!

OTHER FRIENDS

My pal, Dr Ray Leibl, at ex-psychiatrist.com provides a TON of high-end services, via his consulting/training companies!
ww	HireRight1 screens sales job candidates to determine if the person has the innate ability. "Companies who plan to hire a salesperson can save literally thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of dollars by using our HireRight1 screening, to avoid the mistake of placing the wrong person in a job. This is a “hot” item because we can help organizations become very certain that they are making a good choice."
	Dynamic Teamsdoes Executive Consulting, including Image-Creation Literature and Publicity, Executive Coaching, and Executive Mediation. "Of course, both presenting an effective image, and having yourself organized to do so, are both essential for success."
	MaxitSales teaches the whole range of skills required for selling. "...we say “You can sell, or you can just wait!” By attending MaxitSales training classes, you can move things along in your life by acquiring the skills and understandings required to take action."
	Ray and his team also teach NeuroLinguistic Programming. "The fundamentals of communication skill, and well as the elegance, is acquired through the study of NLP. You learn to say exactly what you need to say, and you see why you need to say it."