Link Aggregator - Best of the Best

Forbes.com Best of the Web

Forbes magazine, eh? Isn't that for wealthy, money managers and greedy businessmen? Yeah, maybe. But their collection of links is excellent!

There is a vast difference between having lots and lots of links, and having a collection of well organized links to the best sites in every category. The folks at Forbes have really done their homework. This site links to the best of the best.

Their categories are:
Blogs
Collecting
Education
Health
Investing
Look It Up
Luxe Shopping
Management
Personal Finance and Careers
The Good Life
Travel


Ok, so maybe I could live without the Luxe Shopping category, but the rest seem to be really good collections of links. Each category, breaks down further into subcategories. Even though the categories seem so simple, they claim to have included over 3,000 sites, which qualify because of Content, Design, Speed, Navigation and Customization. Wow!!!

Aggregators like this are great for link scavengers like me. I might be able to get a whole week’s worth of really good links off of this one website. Now, if Christopher Walks only had the time to check them all out, Christopher Walks might be able to put more links up on the Linkjockey website.

If you have suggestions for the Linkjockey, please email them to me.

Over 3 gigs of free mp3 downloads from SXSW

2007 SXSW Showcasing Band MP3s (Torrent)

Click today's link to start downloading over 3 gigabytes of hot new indie music, featuring showcase artists from the 2007 South-by-Southwest art and music festival in Austin Texas.
SXSW is a cool festival with lots of shows, where all kinds of new bands get their big break. It sounds like a load of fun, and I would like to go someday. It runs from March 9 to 18 this year.

The link requires Bit Torrent software to work. If you haven't used Torrents before, you'll be able to download the free software here. And yes, it's completely legal, although some people use Bittorrent for other purposes too.

If you'd rather pick-and-choose songs by band name, try this link instead. 3 gigabytes of mp3s is a LOT!

Movie trailers for Oscar nominees

Apple - Movie Trailers - 79th Academy Awards


After watching the Academy Awards last night, I've heard about some new films that I'd never heard of before, that might be worth checking out. There are also some "maybes".

Here's a list of the winners, and here's the Oscar's environmental web page they talked about.

Today's link is part of Apple's gallery of movie trailers. Apple's site is THE best site to visit to watch the official movie trailers for every film that's out, or is coming out. Yes, the Oscars ant the trailers, it's all just PR for Hollywood, but it looks like they need the help right now.

The LA Times has an article saying that the movie industry might have peaked, which is amazing since it's the most influential and dominant art form of our times.

Best Kids Camp!!!

Camp Artaban

I'm a little late putting up today's post because I've spent the weekend on Gambier Island at Camp Artaban. I've spent the 4 best summers of my life working there, and a few of us were up there this weekend doing some maintenance work around the camp.

Camp Artaban is an Anglican camp, but is open to people of all religions and beliefs. The activities include: climbing, swimming, wharf-jumping, drama, sports, hiking, canoeing, rowing, sailing, crafts, windsurfing, archery and dancing. Artaban has an absolutely gorgeous, natural setting in the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest. During the summer, Camp provides a variety of high-energy, fun and meaningful camp sessions for children and families.

It's one of my favourite places in the entire world.

NHL Trade Deadline

Yep, I'm Canadian and I love hockey.
The 2007 NHL trade deadline is Tuesday, February 27 at 3 pm ET / Noon PT.

Track all the transactions on the following websites:
NHL - News - Yahoo! Sports
TSN : NHL Trade Deadline
Sportsnet - NHL Trades

Hopefully, my beloved Vancouver Canucks will make a fantastic deal, and finally make a run at the Stanley Cup.

The controversial history of Monopoly

Monopolizing History

The world's most popular board game developed differently than most other modern games or sports. Modern games tend to be invented by one single inventor, whereas traditional games have evolved over much longer periods.

Monopoly developed as a combination of evolution and invention, and represents wildly different economic and social points of view. Now, it's seen as a popular American icon, and has been played by over 750 million people, and spun off into countless versions.

Today's link is a review by David Parlett of a new book by Philip E Orbanes, called Monopoly: The World's Most Popular Game - And How It Got That Way. Good reading!

For some additional Monopoly fun:
Play by your own rules.
Learn how to win.
Play live on the net.

Interactive Art History

Timeline of Art History The Metropolitan Museum of Art



The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has created this great interactive gallery online where you can browse the history of art: by period, by timeline and by geography. There are lots of pictures, videos, audio recordings, essays and reading lists.

This could be overwhelming, but the site is an absolute joy to navigate. My only minor complaint is the omission of any Canadian art.

What is outstanding customer service?

Seven steps to remarkable customer service - Joel on Software

Wow!
From the title, it might not seem like a very exciting article, but it is.

This guy, Joel Spasky, has a software company, and these are his tips based on years of experience. Yes, they're most applicable to software and tech companies, but it would be absolutely incredible if more companies were able to provide service like this.

Want some examples?

You have a problem? Our company will fix your problem, and then fix the problem overall to make sure that no one else ever has the same problem.
If the customer did indeed make a mistake, let them save face and don't make them feel like an idiot.
Apologize to the customer. Never get into a fight with them.
Make the customers amazingly happy.

Wow! It seems so straightforward. What's wrong with companies?

Imagine a Samurai Elvis performing the Price is Right theme

"Matsuken Samba" by Matsudaira Ken

The Matsuken Samba is song and danced by a formerly washed-up Japanese samurai soap-opera star, Matsudaira Ken. Man, not only can he croon, but he is amazing at shaking his hips. Ken's got the moves, but you could even learn them too with the instructional video.
(For bonus points, track down the mock-training video by one of the guys from Smap that will teach you all the Matsuken moves)

This is Japanese cheeze at its very best!

Free ecommerce hosting - Shopify.com

Shopify - A shop in minutes, a business for life.

Want to start your own business selling homemade widgets online? Bust out your inner entrepreneur.

Shopify will let you set up your own ecommerce store on their servers for free. It looks really easy to use, but professional! You can control the design, track orders and organize your inventory. Your customers can even pay you over email using Paypal. Shopify makes money with a commision off of your sales. Soon, you'll have customers shopping all over your site, and you'll be a millionaire in no time.

Sorry about the marketing hype-speak. While the Linkjockey hasn't tried it yet and can't vouch for the implementation, this idea is great! I've been thinking about setting up some kind of ecommerce website, and it's pretty encouraging that I don't have to use ebay or pay a web developer to set up just a basic shopping site.

What is Lent?

BBC - Religion and Holidays : Lent

Lent is the 40 days of the Christian calendar that lead up to Easter, and is commonly associated with a period of fasting. It represents the 40 days that Jesus spent alone in the desert before he was killed.

The first day of Lent varies between days in February or March, but it always starts with a Wednesday, called Ash Wednesday. In 2007, Lent begins next Wednesday; February 21.


The day before Ash Wednesday is more famous, Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday). Mardi Gras represents the last chance to splurge and party before the period of Lenten fasting begins.

Support the farmers of boneless pigs

Boneless Pig Farmers Association of America

So apparently McDonald's going to take the McRib (also very strange site) off of its menu in the USA, and this will negatively impact the farmers of "boneless pigs." Linkjockey's pick today is the Boneless Pig Farmers Association of America as they encourage you to support them in their fight.

I'm not exactly sure if it's quirky viral marketing, a fan-site, or just plain weirdos, but it is a pretty strange site.

Happy Chinese New Year!
2007 is the Year of the Pig.

Travel Guide for Hipsters

LET'S GO GIRL!

Forget about the tourist traps; if you want to know the locals' favourite places, this is the place to go. The hipster, feminist magazine Bust has this great user-generated travel site LET'S GO GIRL!

It won't tell you which city to visit, but if you're going to a new city (or maybe even your home), this site is an EXCELLENT way to find out the best restaurants, coolest boutiques, the trendiest neighbourhoods and the most exciting places to visit.

Don't trust me? Try checking out your hometown first! Here's Vancouver.

By the way, it's not just helpful for girls. On the internet, no one can tell if you're a dude!

Alternative Energy resources

Energy Alternatives - Alternative Energy sources, alternate energy, solar panel, photovoltaics

This Canadian company's website is a great resource for those wanting to learn more about environmentally-friendly energy solutions to global warming.

From the first steps of learning about different kinds of alternative energy, to instructions, to supplies for building your own project; there is a lot of easy-to-understand, practical information at this site! Among other things, they cover microhydro projects, solar water heaters, solar panels or wind generation projects.

One day, you might even be able to sell energy back to the Power Company!

A little romance for Valentine's Day

Here are a few romantic ideas for Valentine's Day you can do today.

Here's a little craft idea to make woven paper hearts, with a few different variations. Maybe you'll want to make a card with a romantic quote on it for the love of your life. Or you could make some chocolates.

Have a great Valentine's Day!

Exclusive, alternate tracks by your next favourite bands

Daytrotter : Songs

Hot indie bands come in to their studio, and record songs live. Daytrotter posts these tracks on their website as mp3s for free. Brilliant!

Oh yeah. The Grammys dissapointed on Sunday, with about half of the performances by artists that didn't release an album this year. Strange. Here is the complete list of results.

Top ___ Mac programs!!

Cool Mac Apps

It used to be easy to find all the Mac shareware in one place, but the old places aren't reliable any more. People reading and writing blogs love to create their own Top 10 lists, especially for Mac software. Instead of listing only 10 or 25 shareware titles, Cool Mac Apps they seem to be trying to go all the way out the long tail.

Let me know if you know of any comprehensive, searchable sources for Mac freeware/shareware, and not necessarily run by Apple.

Answering tough questions about Christianity

Starting Point - Helpful Charts and Articles

When people start learning about Christianity, they inevitably have lots of questions and reservations. Is the Bible accurate? Where did it come from? How is Jesus?

The Linkjockey has been participating in a course at his church called, Starting Point. As the name suggests, it provides a starting point for people who are curious about Christianity or are new believers. Starting Point was created by the North Point Community Church in Georgia, USA and its pastor, Andy Stanley. The course is based on 10 weeks in a conversational small group, with a half-hour talk by Andy and a bit of journaling every week. The course is great!

Today's link is one of the online references for the course, and features some of Andy Stanley's fascinating and humorous talks about God in streaming audio. It also features answers to some of the FAQs that people have about God, Jesus, and the Bible.

Download and Watch classic film for free

Akira Kurosawa, is currently the #67 ranked movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database. Apparently, the copyright protection for Rashomon has expired and it is now in the public domain and is available in a number of streaming and downloadable versions.

The format of Rashomon uses a format that retells the same story four times, using the perspective of four different people. This narrative style has been the inspiration for many recent movies, including Jet Li's Hero and Little Red Riding Hood's Hoodwinked.

I also look forward to looking into the Internet Archive a little more.

Try not to read too much into the double-Japan linking whammy.

Keeping tabs on Japanese style...

Japanese Lifestyle Magazine Tokyocube

The Linkjockey used to live and teach English in Japan. There's so much going on in Japan in terms of art, design, travel and style that just isn't replicated anywhere else.

I miss Muji, The Loft and going to shopping. I miss keeping up with the latest 5-minute trends. I miss experiential restaurants and the best creepy children's toys for adults. But all is not lost, and I can still track a few of these things through Tokyocube.

Tokyocube brings a lot of these elements together in their very stylish online magazine.

How-to create Trackbacks

Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger

Today's Linkjockey pick is exclusively for geeks that blog. Sorry to the rest of you, but you have been warned.

First, gimme the FAQs; what is a Trackback?
Let's say that someone creates a blog entry. If I like that entry, I might write about it in my blog and create a link to the original blog. If the original blog uses Trackbacks, I can tell its server that I've linked to it, and a link to MY blog entry will be included in the cool original blog.

Um, why do you care? It's feels nice to have the cool blog refer to my cool blog. Something happens when websites link to each other; it's like a kiss, and it makes Google happy. It's even better if you can get a popular website to link to yours directly. It will increase your site's Google ranking and pagerank so that your site appears earlier in searches.

There are also similar things called: backlinks, linkbacks, pings, and possibly linkbacktracklinkbacklinksbackpingbacks. Since Trackbacks are created by lines of code, some blogs support Trackbacks, and some don't. Since I'm hosted by Blogger, my server doesn't allow/encourage Trackbacks.

What can I do? Ahh, finally we get to the point of today's pick, Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger. Since my server doesn't let me Trackback, this really simple workaround lets me add Trackbacks to my fantastic website to other blogs.

Five Things To Do With A Computer When You Have No Internet

Five Things To Do With A PC When You Have No Internet Connection

No Internet connection? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Okay, screaming and kicking might be my number one answer to this problem. But maybe I'm a little more paranoid than most about being without a connection. Then again, I have a Fido Hiptop 2 (aka Sidekick II), which gives mobile phone with email and real web browsing. Mmmm, yummy unlimited internet on my phone for $20 a month. Sorry, I got distracted by my phone again.

Speaking Freely has produced a list of SIX really good activities to do with your computer when the unimaginable (that is, no internet) strikes. In short, they are:

1. Clean out and categorize your bookmarks.
2. Delete programs you don’t use.
3. Unplug your computer, take the cover off and clean out the dust.
4. Write your next blog post.
5. Run any maintenance programs you don’t have auto-scheduled.
6. Write down your logins and passwords.

Not bad, eh?

Of course if your internet connection was down, you wouldn't be able to read this blog. Ahh, the sweet irony.

Top 8 Social Music sites

Social Music Overview

TechCrunch today has a round-up of 8 popular social music sites.

They are:
FineTune
Pandora
last.fm
MOG
radio.blog.club
MyStrands
iLike
iJigg

And what is a "social music site"? It's kind of like Amazon's book recommendations; the software tracks the relationships between different things that people like, and reports tendencies as suggestions for others. If you bought Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth DVD, you're more likely to buy the book Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century.

What does this mean for you? These sites will suggest new music for you, based on the suggestions of others with similar tastes or your iTunes playlist. They'll suggest music blogs or let you build online playlists. They'll help you discover great new music.

Reliable First Aid

First-Aid Guide - MayoClinic.com

You never know when an accident will happen, and some people aren't lucky enough to have a professional first-aider with them all the time.

The Mayo Clinic's First-Aid Guide provides a straight-forward, excellent resource to use when you don't know what to do in a medical emergency. This guide comes from one of the most reliable sources of health and medical information on the web, The Mayo Clinic.

May I suggest bookmarking this page in your browser at home and work? I hope that you never need it, but you never know.

And as the disclaimer says, this website is no substitute for good First-Aid training.

What happens when an average amateur cyclist (and journalist) takes banned performing-enhancing drugs?

Drug Test - Outside Online

We often hear about why athletes shouldn't use performance-enhancing drugs, but we never hear why they do take them.

As an amateur cross-country skiier and cyclist, Stuart Stevens wanted to find out why these banned drugs are so tempting to professional and elite amateur athletes. He embarked on an 8 month experiment in taking these performing-enhancing drugs. He consulted regularly with a doctor and had prescriptions. While he would have been disqualified from any competition with anti-doping testing, his regimen was legal.

Stevens maintained his training at the same level that he had before this experiment, but the results are amazing. This excellent story is a fascinating look at a side of sports that we hear about, but is always lurking in the shadows.

Originally published by Outside Magazine, the article was republished by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) online, apparently to dissuade athletes from using doping to get ahead.

There is also a streaming interview Stuart Stevens did with NPR.

Black History month in Canada

Black History Canada

February is Black History Month.

While Black History Month draws more attention in the American media, Canada celebrates it too. Black History Canada is a good start for digging deeper to learn about the impact of Black people in Canada.

A lot of this history has been underreported. There are many stories and facts that I'm sure will be new to you, including Canada's own shameful history of enslavement, as well as many notable African-Canadians.

Top sites for RRSPs!

February is prime investing time in Canada. The deadline for making contributions to Registered Retired Savings Plans (RRSPs) is March 1st. These contributions are tax deductible, and a great way to save for retirement.

Here are some links that might help you explore the numerous options out there.

A great place to start is About.com's website which has lots of links that lead to reputable, unbiased sites that discuss the basics of RRSPs, the tax laws, the current rates, and your RRSP limit.

If you decide to go the Mutual Fund route, track the past performance of mutual funds at Globe Funds.

Personally, I'm a big fan of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) through Ethical Funds.