ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 25, 1996 TAG: 9607250029
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C-10 EDITION: METRO
The Internet is filled with great time wasters, and it's wonderful to get paid to look at them. It seems every time a writer goes on line to check out sites for this column, the person ends up snorting out big laughs.
Today, we visit two of them, Poke in the Eye and Yahoo's Maps.
The former, by RaggedEdge and Watch Your Wallet Inc., is a bizarre little stop with a strange menu. Poke's GlamOrama allows users to send e-mail that will be turned into a postcard and sent to 1996 U. S. presidential candidates. Bill Clinton and Bob Dole were pictured at the site Wednesday.
Perhaps more interesting than messaging a candidate, however, is the site's Wedding Chapel. Here, the Rev. Miss Management says you can exchange binding vows via the Internet or just make a "commitment" that has no legal paper attached. Is this true? We have no idea, but there were names of one couple in the "Congratulations" box.
Some of the couples who tie up here are same sex, one of the site's appeals, according to its makers.
Poke in the Eye still is under construction, so by the time you visit it could be even more unusual, if that's possible.
Now, to Yahoo's map-making site. As promised by a review in World Business magazine, where we first heard about it, it is a real goof-off spot. By typing in your street address and city, you supposedly can create a map that you could send to out-of-town travelers who may visit.
After attempting to create maps of our grown children's homes, our parents' places and our own, we're still unclear on how to "zoom" and "move" and "draw" a workable map. But, visiting this site did consume time.
Economic research
The idea behind ERI Economic Research Institute's site is to sell annual subscriptions to its data reports. But for free you can visit and get a sample report on how your income stacks up against the average in your area for your profession.
We won't reveal the newspaper writer's salary, but we learned that an accordion repairer should be making $26,603.
A more serious note about ERI, which is a compensation and benefits research firm: Its products include a relocation assessor PC program that allows you to manipulate data to compare costs of living in 5,400 cities and to assess competitive wages for 3,200 types of jobs.
Pick a Project
It's summer and pools are a subject that usually comes up. So, punch up Stevenson Projects' page and get a "virtual reality" tour of how to build one, maybe, next summer. The site from this Del Mar, Calif., do-it-yourself design company has plenty of project pickings.
This is the company that pops up in magazines such as Family Circle and Popular Science.
Also currently featured is information on a "Woody Wagon," a camper-trailer and the "Wing Dinghy" boat at the Vacation Adventure Projects section here. A Woody Wagon is a vehicle associated with surfers that can be built on a Volkswagen Beetle body.
Free Internet class
Free one-hour Internet seminars are being held today at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. at Computer Partners' in Northpark Business Center, 6701 Peters Creek Road. Russell Muncy, president of Compulinx network systems, will teach the sessions.
Muncy and Computer Partners' owner Barbara Kagey promise to make this session friendly and include discussion of software, e-mail, Internet providers and even the meaning of "slash, slash, dot com."
Naturally, they're holding this open house to acquaint the community with their businesses, but heck, the classes are free.
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