| More Virtual Promote ... Search Engine Forums · Webmasters Toolkit · Free Website Templates · Scumware.com |
 |
| . | ||||
| Virtual Promote Gazette | Home | Subscribe/Unsubscribe | Archives | |
| . | ||||
JimWorld Gazette Issue #75 04/03/1999
JimWorld Gazette - Issue #75 - April 3, 1999I'll be at Internet World starting on April 13th. If you are going to be there, I'd love to say Hello. Just look around for the tall, gorgeous hunk with curly blond hair, a body to die for and a look of amazing intelligence on his face. Just ask him where to find me. Or leave me a message on the message board.
Look for a pretty lengthy Gazette after the show. I'm hoping to find lots of new, cool stuff to write about. Maybe the press kits will even pass inspection this year. I'll let you know.
If you haven't made plans yet to attend, rush over to <http://events.internet.com/> and get the info. If you can get there, you will be miles ahead of your competitors. Guaranteed. Best show in town.
CONTENTS
- Another Winner!
- New At JimWorld
- Reach Out Worldwide With Realtime Translation
- Internet Explorer 5 Is Coming On Strong
- The Quest For Content
- Deframing Your Content
- Required Reading For Gazeteers
- How Desperate Are You For Traffic
- Get Linked
- Snippets
ANOTHER WINNER!
Winner of the First Annual "Mindless Twit Award"http://www.virtualis.com/vr/ljordan/index.html
Awarded in recognition of having submitted his/her auto-replicated web site to The1000 Directory 6 times in spite of the obnoxiously flashing red plea to only submit places that accept submissions. This frantic non-reader was obviously so excited at having successfully typed his/her name into an auto-replicating input form to 'create' a Web site and 'really gone into business' that the temptation to traverse the Web in spasms of submission ecstasy was more than could be resisted.
I especially enjoyed the well thought out description submitted to immortalize the site in The1000:
"You want a web site for your company but you don't want become a technical person to do it, right? You just want click buttons. It not a dream anymore. YOUR Terms"
Certainly makes me want to run right over and hire this person to develop a Web site for my business. Of course, I still haven't figured out why the site was submitted to the "Letter D" category.
In addition to providing a much needed humor break for us, this person does point out an extremely bad habit common among Non-Gazeteers. Don't ever fall victim to the trap of Mindless Submissions. While your site will remain a traffic vacumn, you will become infamous.
NEW AT JimWorld
Thus ends our second full year of publishing the Gazette. Thanks for all of your great support, making the Gazette one of the largest newsletters in it's category on the Web. This issue is going out to 114,093 subscribers. And you wouldn't believe how many subscribers we still have from issue number one. That's my favorite part.If the Gazette was a printed newspaper, it would rank about number 90 nationwide in circulation.
So far I haven't run out of stuff to talk about, so I guess we'll go for three years.
----------
Ready for a new challenge? In addition to the Search Engine Memory Game and Checkers, you can now try your hand at the all new Black Jack game. A great chance to take a break before heading back out into the promotion trenches. Java capable browser required. If you lose, I'll trust you to send me a check.
Black Jack http://jimworld.com/bjack/
Checkers http://jimworld.com/checkers/checkers.html
Search Engine Memory Game http://jimworld.com/memory/memory.html
Get a mental tune-up while having a little fun. Try the new Magic Squares game http://jimworld.com/magicsquares.html
----------
French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish? On VirtualPROMOTE? You betcha! Right at the top of the home page select the language you want and the home page gets translated right before your eyes. In real time so the content is always up-to-date.
Is it a flawless translation? Nope. But better than wondering what the page says. Once you pick a language you can stay in that language throughout the site.
Read more about it in the article below on translation. You can have this on your site as well - for free.
----------
The SubmitBot free site submitter grew again this week. Now it will submit to 28 search engines for the same price as before - free.
http://jimtools.com/
REACH OUT WORLDWIDE WITH ONLINE TRANSLATION
The temptation to broaden the audience for a Web site becomes irresistible at some point and the mind starts to mull over those massive audiences that could be reached if only we knew some languages other than our native one.No longer must you totally resist the temptations. You can make your site multi -language accessible for little or no money.
I opted for the 'No Money' route. What a surprise! I snooped around the AltaVista translation service and discovered that they really do what people to make use of it. So I did.
If you take a look at the VirtualPROMOTE home page you'll see translation links to switch to any one of several languages. Click on one and you are transported to the AltaVista translation service where the page is translated and displayed with all formatting and graphics intact.
All of the links on the page are converted to send the next page clicked on back through the translator so your visitor can stay in their own language throughout their visit.
This is a great service to offer your visitors and the cost is certainly right. Just check the source code for the JimWorld home page to see how easily you can do this for your site. You're even welcome to take the animated flags graphic. Just don't link to it on my server, please.
Below are some very good translation resources for you to take a look at if you want even more languages available on your site.
----------
AltaVista Translations
http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/
This popular search engine was early into the translation game on the Web. Their translations are powered by the Systranet software (see below.)
You can paste any text into the input box and have it translated. Or even better for your visitors you can send them to the translation page, enter the URL of your home page and select a language. The translator will translate everything on your page and show it to them with all graphics and formatting intact. Your visitor can then continue to navigate your site in their own language by just clicking on your page links, since AltaVista has replaced all of your links with links through the translator for on-the-fly translations. This is very cool for your visitors.
----------
Systranet
http://www.systranet.com/translate.html
This popular software translates between English and French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The translations are among the best currently available and you can use their translator for free on-line.
----------
World Language Resources
http://www.worldlanguage.com/
This company offers a lengthy list of products for just about every language you can think of. Of special interest is their free translation application that you can use on-line. Also check out their huge list of free download translators.
Languages available are: http://secure.combridge.com/world/online.htm
English to: Brazilian Portuguese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, European Spanish, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Latin American Spanish, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Serbian (Latin), Slovenian
To English from: Brazilian Portuguese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, European Spanish, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic. Italian, Latin American Spanish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Slovenian, Swedish, Polish,
US English to UK English, UK English to US English
German to Hungarian, German to Norwegian, German to Polish, Hungarian to German, Hungarian to Russian, Norwegian to German, Polish to German, Russian to Hungarian.
INTERNET EXPLORER 5 COMING ON STRONG
Hidden away in the new IR5 release is the ability to accept plug-ins developed by... well, anyone.There are already a few plug-ins available, but 2 of them are sure-fire winners.
Web Accessories from Microsoft
Internet Explorer 5 Web Accessories
This little gem from developers at Microsoft are almost too good to be true. Eight tools to die for. Here are the 6 good ones in the pack:
Quick Search
Lets you reach search engines fast. Typing "av ActiveX" into the address bar launches a search with Alta Vista on the keyword "ActiveX."
Zoom In/Zoom Out
This Web Accessory lets you zoom in and out of any image on a Web page. Just right-click on it and select Zoom In or Zoom Out.
Text Highlighter
This Web Accessory lets you highlight text in a document just like you would in Microsoft Word. It's easy. Select your text, then right-click and choose Highlight. This tool is very useful for reading long documents.
Web Search
With this Web Accessory you can select keywords on a Web page, right-click, and choose Web Search. Your selected words go directly to a default search engine.
Links List
Ever wish you could see all the links on a page? Just right-click anywhere and select Links Lists, and you'll get a new window with every link on the page in a convenient list format. Then just click any link to navigate.
Image List
Find out what images sizes are and how long they take to download at various connection speeds. Also display all the images on a web page in a separate window, with file size and the size in pixels.
----------
Microsoft Web Developer Accessories
The DOM tree tool lets you view all the Document Object Model properties in tree form via right click or the tools menu. And for those who are tired of scrolling through hundreds of lines of HTML to find that one section of code that does what you want, search no more! Simply highlight the area of a Web page that you want to see the source for, right click on it and select "View Partial Source." It's that simple!
----------
These two well featured packs from Microsoft are available for download from the Microsoft site at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/WebAccess/default.asp
I don't know the ins and outs of multi-billion dollar business operation, but it seems that it would have been easier to include these cool features right in the new IE5 browser. Especially considering that they were ready when the browser was released, and more downloads is a burden on the users.
If you feel like developing a plug-in, how about one that kills all open frames when you click on a link that leads to a different domain? I'm really tired of leaving some yutz's web site to find that the new site is trying to display in the 2 pixel invisible frame the yutz used on the previously visited, never to return, web site. And no, being able to launch a frame into a new window is not an acceptable answer.
THE QUEST FOR CONTENT
Finding and Creating Fresh Content for Your Website or EzineIt's no secret that there is current glut of email newsletters saturating the 'Net, many of them published by small business owners attempting to establish a relationship with their customers by staying in contact through periodic emails.
It sounds easy enough. All you need is a list host (many of which provide their services at no cost) and the ability to publish periodically or even sporadically. Then you just need to find a few subscribers and begin publishing your ezine.
At least that's the theory. Most email publishers quickly find that it is quite difficult to juggle an Internet business, a regular publication, and -- as is usually the case -- a full-time job. It seems that once you've managed to write enough content to fill one ezine and get it out to your subscribers, the next issue has come due, and you haven't even begun to think about how you will fill another issue. There are, of course, a few ezine publishers that are able to put the time into publishing a consistently quality ezine and to write most of their own content, but the examples are few.
Hence, the vast majority of ezine publishers are faced with trying to find quality content for their publication from other authors. They therefore agree to run outside authors' original articles in return for running a small byline or resource box.
Yet the same articles seem to be appearing in every ezine. There's a good reason for this: there are a only a few prolific writers out there sending publishers quality articles, and this handful of authors sends their work simultaneously to dozens and dozens of ezine publishers in the hopes of having their article reprinted as many times as possible. So your ezine ends up looking just like everyone else's -- same content, same ideas -- and as a consequence, facing the same difficulty in attracting and retaining subscribers.
There are, however, several resources that have emerged on the Internet that provide a wide source of quality content -- both for webmasters and ezine publishers -- and that help publishers find quality content. While these resources provide just one piece of the content puzzle, they are invaluable tools for online publishers, and they complement the methods of creating your own original content that I will discuss later in this article.
First, the Worldwide Information Outlet provides dozens of articles on a variety of topics at its web site, http://www.certificate.net/wwio/. WWIO obtains permission from each author to have his or her article reprinted freely, so online publishers need not obtain permission directly from the author.
Second, there are several online publications that link online publishers seeking content with online writers. For example, "W&P Connections Online", exclusively features publishers' article needs and writers' article announcements. To subscribe, mailto:writers98@aol.com. Similarly, "Writers and Publishers Online" is a monthly publication geared towards the online publishing community, and each issue includes announcements from writers and publishers who have, or are looking for, articles to reprint. To subscribe, mailto:wpo-on@mail-list.com. Both of these publications allow subscribers to post announcements regarding their articles or article needs for free.
Finally, the MediaPeak! News Service is a new Internet resource that provides online publishers with re printable content via email. The MediaPeak! News Service publishes a new edition three to five days a week, and each edition includes content such as web site and ezine reviews, travel specials, book reviews, articles, and Internet news & events. To subscribe, mailto:e-wire-on@mail-list.com.
But what about creating your own content? Even if you rely on outside writers and services to provide much of the content for your ezine or web site, you will still want to write a portion of your own publication to keep it fresh and distinguish it from the other web sites or ezines in your field. I recommend a 50/50 ratio: 50% original content, 50% outside content. This will save your sanity while maintaining the unique character of your ezine or web site.
There are simple ways to consistently create your own content without allowing content creation to overwhelm you or overshadow your efforts at running a web site or business.
First, stay tuned in. Whenever you come across a news item or piece of information that piques your interest and that relates to your online publication in some way, quickly jot it down in a journal or email a note to yourself. Better yet, write a short description of the news item and your own reaction to it -- you can usually do this in five minutes or less. Later, when it's time to start putting together your ezine or when it comes time to update some of the content on your web site, you can simply expound upon each item that you have written, fill in links to relevant web sites that pertain to the piece, and edit it for accuracy. You'll be surprised how much content you can generate in a week's time just by staying on the lookout for interesting news items and jotting down your ideas as they come to you.
Second, subscribe to one or more press release services. These services specialize in compiling quality press releases from companies hoping to attract media attention, and sending these releases out to thousands of publishers and journalists around the world. The Internet News Bureau, http://www.newsbureau.com, for example, is an excellent service that will send you dozens of press releases each week via email. Internet Wire, http://www.internetwire.com, is another good source of quality press releases via email. Spend two or three minutes each day scanning the press releases; if one strikes your fancy, you can follow up on it by contacting the person listed in the release as the media contact and getting more information that will enable you to write a full-size article. More often, the press release itself will provide you with more than enough information to write a short piece or review, particularly if you visit the organization's web site to get a feel for the news or feature item that you might like to write.
Finally, let your readers help you create a community for your web site or ezine. Solicit reader comments about particular topics that are of interest to your readers and publish the best comments, perhaps with your own viewpoint and/or reactions included. This requires a minimal amount of time on your part, keeps your content fresh and helps sustain your readers' interest.
In conclusion, while original content is the most effective way to distinguish your online publication from the thousands of others competing for your readers' interest, a respectable mix of original and outside content will enable you to publish a quality ezine or web site while still devoting adequate time to your online business.
----------
Marcy Peek is the President of MediaPeak! <http://mediapeak.com> a service that provides free content & a free advertising exchange program for online publishers.
For more information mailto:newsservice@mailback.com
To subscribe mailto:e-wire-on@mail-list.com
DEFRAMING YOUR CONTENT
You've all experienced it. You follow a link from one site to another and there it is. The new site's page is surrounded by the frames from the last site. Sometimes the area allotted to the new site's page is minuscule.What to do? What to do?
With a hearty cheer, in rides FrameBuster to the rescue.
There is a little snippet of Javascript code that you can put in the HEAD section of your pages that will cause them to override all of the frames that they might be trapped in and display themselves in all of their full window glory.
Here's a little demonstration for you.
http://jimworld.com/framebuster/deframer.html
Just follow the directions in the demo and install FrameBuster on your site in about a minute. A well spent minute.
If you want more information about this and other Javascript techniques, visit Web Reference at http://www.webreference.com/
REQUIRED READING FOR GAZETEERS
Hi Jim.I would like to tell you about my site <http://www.learningdisabilities.ourfamily.com> I am Jason Fernandes, a Learning Disabled teen 15 yrs old, from Bombay, India, diagnosed just 8 months ago. That day of the diagnosis changed my life. I was diagnosed as 'Gifted with superior intellectual functioning, as well as learning disabilities (dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia) -- a mouthful...huh?
I started the web site on December 3rd 98 (World Disability Day) to help other kids just like myself. I spent all the years up to the time of my diagnosis punished and misunderstood. I wasn't allowed to go out to play. I wasn't allowed to watch TV. Homework took me well into the night, and my parents were angry and disappointed in me all the time. Even I could not understand why I couldn't perform academically as well as the other kids. I knew I wasn't stupid. I could handle computers better than anyone else I knew, but sometimes I doubted myself. What other explanation could there be, I thought, and got terribly upset and demoralized.
It was because of all those years of pain and trauma that I went through bringing me to near suicide sometimes, that I started my site to help others like myself. Things have changed for me now. My academic performance has improved by 80%! I am a happy teen with a mission, and I have developed self tailored learning compensation strategies which I share with others on my site's message board. This message board welcomes others to share their tips too. When I was diagnosed information regarding help in India was hard to come by, even on the Internet. There were lots of web sites for kids in the USA with info on LD for a better understanding and where they could go for help. There was a comprehensive guide on their legal rights and the accommodations and concessions that were given by their respective governments, but there was no information anywhere regarding testing/help/concessions/accommodation provided in India.
Because Learning Disabilities, unlike other disabilities/handicaps, are invisible disabilities, they often go undiagnosed. The concept and diagnosis of learning disabilities like Dyslexia has only recently been given credibility in India, and a lot of ignorance still surrounds these conditions. Many learning disabled Indian children go through most of their lives punished and misunderstood because of a lack of social awareness. I was one such victim of ignorance, and I am sure there are many other kids like me out there still going through anguish, along with their anxious parents.
Undiagnosed learning disabled kids are often erroneously labeled "lazy" and "unmotivated" and suffer needlessly, being punished most of the time for appearing to be off-task and for failing to demonstrate their obvious intelligence in their academic performance. This results in loss of self esteem and depression. Feeling 'uncomfortably different' they develop poor peer relations, and often become academic and/or social dropouts. My site was started as an effort to avert such disasters. It promotes social awareness and offers a common place where LD kids and their parents may go to share information, lick their wounds, and find out from each other where they can get testing, help and support around the world but especially in India, where information is very hard to come by. I am working currently on making information about the various kinds of assistive technology available like software and hardware, that could go a long way in aiding Learning Disabled kids achieve their full potential. Unlike in the West, such help and information is not available to Indian learning disabled children.
Indian Learning Disabled kids and adults often have a hard time asking for help because of fear of ridicule. Lots of people think erroneously that learning disabled kids are retarded!
This site is the only site of its kind in India offering a library of information, on-line community, chat and message boards for kids, with a special focus on where Help can be found in India. It provides an anonymous medium where people can share their views, experiences and info and thereby help each other. This is a completely free and non-profit organization. The site was the small link that started the chain to unite kids like this all over the world as well as India, and in sharing their own discoveries find out that they can find ways they never thought existed to help themselves perform well academically. I'm glad that my site has done a lot of good. It is the medium through which Mr Richard Wanderman of LD Resources in the USA has chosen to communicate with the Indian kids and parents after conducting a workshop on dyslexia in Mumbai, India in March 98. The site has also recently won a lot of awards.
My site has so far helped many kids, and the membership for the community is growing. In fact, the recent very positive review of my site in the local Indian newspaper (Times of India, Bombay Times Supplement, dated 12th March 99 under column 'Net News') greatly increased the traffic and membership.
Every kid has a dream. We all need to know we can make that dream come true. We all need somebody to show us the way and we all need a helping hand. This site became that helping hand, and it makes me real happy to know I have made a difference. We have come a long way since the 3rd of December when I started the site as one simple page. Now this online community is on its way to becoming a movement!
Yours sincerely,
Jason Fernandes
Webmaster -- Learning Disabled Kids Support (India)
http://www.learningdisabilities.ourfamily.com
----------
Jim-- Jason, thank you for sharing this with us. I visited your site and stayed much longer than I expected, having a great time experiencing what you have created.
Amongst the ballyhoo that surrounds the Internet we sometimes lose sight of the real changes this powerful communications medium creates every day. To visit a Web site is not an uncommon experience for most of us. We do it for a living and a passion. But to visit a site armed with the knowledge that the site we are about to visit has changed lives for the better -- that's a whole new experience. Touring Jason's site knowing that it has changed his life was one of those special "moments" that happen all too infrequently in life.
Visit Jason's site. If it doesn't touch you after reading his passionate letter, you might want to check your pulse. Your heart has turned to stone!
If you have a place to offer Jason a link, do so. Or a resource to share with him, or a membership in your fee-based service, or a little of your time just to give him a pat on the back -- do what comes naturally. He did, and it is outstanding.
Jason, for what you have created, but more importantly, for the reason you created it -- congratulations. You are the latest Way Cool Hot Site winner. Please let us know from time to time how your community is progressing.
HOW DESPERATE ARE YOU FOR TRAFFIC?
This week we have several examples spread around in the Gazette of Webmasters that are so desperate for traffic that they abuse their visitors, or they have such poor impulse control that when selected to receive traffic from a review of their site, they bite the hand that is trying to feed them.One Poor Fool submitted a directory of web sites to be included in The500, and when informed by email that the site had been selected, Poor Fool sent me a threatening email for sending Spam to his email address. If I were to discuss this with Poor Fool (which I did) I'm sure he would blame it on a small problem with his email filter (which he did.) However his threats included some bragging about his ability to have my ISP service revoked, my domain listed on several large ISP's as a Spammer and other empty threats.
Then there is the Throwback that thinks traffic for his free search engine submitter <http://home.sol.no/~pitonius/hmh.submit.htm> is so important that he includes the following in his Meta Tags: "add-it!, submit-it, Ultimate Promotion, Virtualpromote, Virtual promote" in the hopes of stealing some traffic from these sites. Guess I should feel honored that he listed VirtualPROMOTE twice.
Do you get the drift that mindless anything will do nothing but cause you problems? It will. I promise.
If you want an email address to remain private, don't post it to your Web site and then flame anyone unfortunate enough to actually try to communicate with you.
If you want traffic, don't try pulling every slimy trick you can dig up out of the "Secrets Of The Search Engines" book you actually paid good money for. And if you are going to try to steal traffic from another site with your Meta tags, don't apply for their Hot Site award. Duh.
Try to pretend that you are actually still going to want to still be on the Web next year and behave in a rational manner. That way you can still be on the Web next year.
GET LINKED
This issue there are 45 new places for you to submit your site in the "What's New?" page of The1000. Go get 'em.<http://the1000.com>
SNIPPETS
Think about the BS you spread around in your efforts to gain traffic at any cost. I was reviewing a submission to the Webmaster Resources for a site that submits your URL to 3,000 "search engine" when I ran across this little ditty:"Your Url will be fully processed only if you put the Electronic BookStore Code on a visible part of your website. You also agree to keep the 468x68 button on your website For minimum of 1 month.
Violation of this rule may result in blacklisting your website/ip from popular Search Engines. Please insert the following code:
http://www.ebookz.com">
width="468" height="68" border="0" alt="Free Submitit!">
"
This person either has unbelievable clout with the "popular Search Engine", or is spreading it on a bit thick. Step back a moment and take a look at any threats you might be employing that could actually be believed by people new to the Web. Obviously, this person's threat wouldn't be believed by anyone with any Web time, but it could do damage to newcomers. This notice is yet another example of why you should always check your spelilng. You never know when I might find something on your site to write about.
----------
Where To Find Keywords:
Here are a couple of new sources of keyword research for you.
Ask Jeeves
http://www.askjeeves.com/Peek/PeekFrame.asp
Shows you the 10 most recent searches every 30 seconds. Ask Jeeves is a very popular search site so these keywords have some good relevance.
InfoTiger
http://www.askjeeves.com/Peek/PeekFrame.asp
Real time look at searches as they happen.
Keyword Wizard
http://keywordwizard.com/
JimWorld's own keyhole into a wide array of search engines and directories all over the world. Regularly updated lists of the Top 5,000 keywords.
----------
Keyword Count
http://www.keywordcount.com/
A free online tool to allow you to compare the word frequency between any two web pages. Compare your page to the page that comes up first in your category at any of the search engines. Nice tool.
----------
Link Popularity
http://www.linkpopularity.com/
A very cool online tool that looks up all of the links to your site in AltaVista, Infoseek and HotBot and tells you how many links are on file for your site. They will even send you this report each month if you register - Free. With the growing trend in the search engines to include link popularity when assigning ranking in search results, this is a handy way to track your link growth.
In case the significance has escaped you, links on Free For All pages, when that FFA page is indexed by a search engine, count in your favor as another link.
----------
Cyber Atlas
http://www.cyberatlas.com/
A good stop in your search for Internet demographics and forecasts is Cyber Atlas. A part of internet.com, Cyber Atlas points you towards the latest demographic information.
Just a note of caution about Internet demographics. Given that there is no reliable count of the number of people that are online today, there are obviously many different estimates of every number involving the Net. Before putting any demographic forecast into a business plan, do a lot of reading and base your projections on several different high and low projections. Each investor that you meet with will have a different set of "absolute facts" about the size and growth of the Internet. Given the explosive growth of the Net, even the most pessimistic projections are staggering.
A good place to start your research is the directory of Webmaster resources on JimWorld <http://toolsforthe.net/> in the Demographics category. I have included there resources that cover the entire range of projections "The Net Will Crash Tomorrow" to "Next Year Every Household In The World Will Have Two Internet Connections."
----------
Fair Contest
http://www.faircontest.com/
Looking for a painless way to run a contest on your site? Try Fair Contest. They will administer the contest for you from start to finish with their contest automation services. You can opt for the free or the paid services. Your visitors will know that the contest isn't rigged when you tell them it is being administered by Fair Contest.
----------
Internet Brothers - Helpware for the Cybercommunity
http://home.earthlink.net/~jhclark/home.htm
Want to see a site that takes their Helpware obligations pretty seriously?
----------
Quilts Over Kosovo: The Internet At Work
http://www.globaldevelopment.org/quilts.htm
An international coalition of quilters has joined the Global Development Center to produce quilts for refugees of the war in Kosovo. Over 1000 have already signed up in two days and more come in every day. Groups from Canada, England, Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany have already joined quilting groups in the US. Others are expected to join soon. Several thousand quilts are expected in the next two to three weeks, and they will be distributed solely on the basis of need: not religion, politics, or national origin.
Now, who was saying that the Internet has degenerated into one giant commercial flea market? BTW: even if you don't quilt, you can drop by and leave a few bucks. The relief program already needs the money.
Sponsored Links
 |
|
Member Spotlight
|
