One of my favourite entrepreneurs (who rarely updates her blog) has recently launched Skimp: a new website which will help you get the best price on home electrical and white goods. Unfortunately it’s only available in Australia, so hard-luck to all us overseas types. But for those of you in the Great Southern Land, the concept is stupidly simple:

1. Tell them the details about the product you want (brand, model number, etc);
2. Skimp contacts their network of well-known, reputable retailers in order to get their best price;
3. Skimp then e-mails you back within 24 hours (on weekdays) with the best price it found;
4. You confirm your order with Skimp, who then puts you in touch with the retailer, and you buy directly from them – no middle man!

Requesting a quote is free, and if you like the price that you’re offered, the whole service costs you only a tenner! That wouldn’t even get you a Darwin Stubby these days! And best of all, I get 25% commission for any referrals I send through to the website! So for all you Aussies that need a new OLED TV, Washing machine, or D-SLR: don’t forget to tell ‘em that “gerrod sent ya”!

If you’ve ever wondered why some people have a picture next to their name when they leave a comment, then wonder no more! You too can join the elite rank of the pictured cool, simply by getting yourself a gravatar!

It’s free, it only takes a minute or two, and after that, every time you leave a comment on a gravatar-enabled WordPress blog (gerrod.com, stickfly.com, harveysathome, etc) then you’ll see your smiling face looking back at you. Best of all, they don’t need any personal information from you – all it takes is an e-mail address and a password! (And a photo, of course!)

It may take a day or two for your photo to filter down through the tubes, but if you build it, they will come…

Go on! What are you waiting for?

Their articles are just so well written – succinct, and so darned witty. Check out their commentary on yesterday’s earthquake in California:

… when the fourth angel sounds the trumpet, people will take out their cellphones and start recording a video of the Apocalypse. Except iPhone users, who would only be able to take photos. That and change their Facebook status to “is watching the asteroid falling.”

Classic.

I love Wikipedia. Its articles cover practically anything, from major cities to modern bands. It truly is the one-stop-shop for finding information on almost anything, and has even been compared favourably to the Encyclopedia Britannica. And, it’s free!

(Aside: Speaking of bands, the more I learn about Coheed and Cambria, the more I love them. Their music alone is good enough to warrant a huge following; but after learning that their albums are all centric to a series of comic books written by the lead author – well, I was really blown away. And – as you’ve probably guessed – the Wikipedia entries concerning the band are very, very informative!)

Anyway – my boss came in today to show me a site that “competes” with Wikipedia – Uncyclopedia. With less than 20 thousand English articles, compared to Wikipedia’s 1.2+ million, they’ve still got some ways to go before they’re as authoratative; but their articles are certainly a lot more entertaining.

Take, for example, this exceprt from their article covering the history of Google’s motto:

The original Google corporate motto was “Don’t be evil”. Later, faced with the difficult choices that inevitably arise when running an international, multibillion dollar where morality is often the choice between subtle shades of gray, instead of black and white, Google decided to change the corporate motto to “Try not to be evil if you can help it, but sometimes none of your choices are good, so you just have to do the least evil thing in a given situation.”

As Google continued to expand and the money continued to roll in, the motto was again changed, to “Exactly how evil are we talking about here… and how much money is going to be involved?”; soon afterwards the corporate motto became, “Good, evil, it’s all kind of a matter of perspective, I think”, then, “You know, I think evil has kind of gotten a bit of a bad rap”, then “Hey, this evil thing is actually pretty fun,”, next “I (heart) evil”, followed by “MWAHAHAHAHAH!!!!”.

Priceless. Though some of the content isn’t appropriate for the kiddies, older folks should certainly find it entertaining.

I’m sure many of you are familiar with Friendster, an “online community that connects people through networks of friends for dating or making new friends”. Well, finally, what we’ve all been waiting for… an equal opportunity for your mutt.

Last night I was introduced to Dogster. Here, your puppies too can keep up to date with their friends, or maybe even stumble upon the lady (or the tramp) they’ve been dreaming of.

In just a few minutes I’ve already met Charlie whose adorable little profile admits that he’s pretty sleeping (but very affectionate) and doesn’t have a favourite walk because “I am still little and haven’t left the yard yet.”

So now, Tikaani, Zoe, Tom, Neo, Buddy, I look forward to seeing you online. And especially you Jazzie: with moving cities and all, I bet that this service is just what you need. I may even have found the man for you. This cool little guy’s name is Flurry, he’s a 2 year old Maltese and his pet peeve is that “My Mom dresses me funny”!

Having been here for a little over five months, I thought it was time to check that I’m still a true blue Aussie with a mastery of native slang. I’m proud to say I took a test and got 10 out of 10!

I admit that I was a bit slow to jump on the Harry Potter bandwagon, mainly because I thought it was just a fad. I tend to try and avoid fads, and instead sit back and laugh from the sidelines. But it didn’t seem to be going away, and when Kristy borrowed the books from Meegs I thought I may as well check them out too.

Needless to say, I was addicted within the first few chapters (like most people that have read them). Hence, I got rather excited today when I jumped on Amazon and saw the cover for book 6 on their front page! Unfortunately, it’s not due for release until July 16 this year, but still… it’s coming!

Whilst at Caboolture yesterday, David heard a kid saying “Peace Out” to him in passing. Confused by this new-town lingo, he did some searching on the web, and was kind enough to share the results with me! Firstly, “Peace Out” is available in a whole range of clothing. Though why anyone would want to wear it, I really don’t know.

Next came another site which defined the expression to mean “Goodbye”. Of course, there’s many other interesting definitions from the site such as “haps – mother”, and “bo janglin’ – stupid, not paying attention”.

Best of all was this site with even better definitions, such as:

• The Bomb
  1) Adj. Par excellence! Out of this world!
• Your Mom
  it’s a come back, usually used when you can’t think of anything to say back: ex/ “that was the dumbest thing i ever heard” “yeah, your mom!”
• Salty
  1) Verb. To make someone angry. eg. “Back off, I’m getting hella salty”

So check it out yo, and get down with da homies. Your Mom!

Brother Jason sent me this link to a wonderful gift to the world: Banana Guard. As quoted from their website:

Are you fed up with bringing bananas to work or school only to find them bruised and squashed? Our unique, patented device allows for the safe transport and storage of individual bananas letting you enjoy perfect bananas anytime, anywhere.

Also, for the coffee lovers, check out this link which reports that Brazil has mapped the DNA of the coffee bean. Super coffee for everyone!

Ian sent me a link yesterday to a site full of Bushisms – various quotes from the great man himself, George W. Bush. For example:

“I’m honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein.” —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 25, 2004

And there’s hundreds more – go check it out when you need a laugh.