TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPIC: WORLDVILLAGE REDUX

Several years ago I gave my cyberfriend Joel Comm the opportunity to sit in the driver's seat of the Tourbus. Since he returned the bus without TOO many dents in the fender, I'm giving him another chance to drive...

WorldVillage.com has been around since 1995, an eternity in Internet time. Since then I (Joel) have been Mayor of this virtual village, overseeing the daily responsibilities of my office and telling folks that it's a benevolent dictatorship, not an elected position. ;-)

The portal has withstood many changes in its evolution, and now stands as a great starting point for family-friendly web surfing. It's actually kind of fun to see where we have been. Take a look at the WorldVillage history page for some laughs.

http://www.worldvillage.com/office/history.html

Some features of WorldVillage have endured throughout the years, and some have gone on to become Internet favorites. You'll find site reviews, "clean" chat rooms, software reviews and online games. One of our little surprises that we did not expect to be so popular is our Word Search Puzzle Maker. Simply enter your words, select the puzzle size, give it a title and click. Voila! An instant Word Search puzzle that you can print out and distribute freely.

http://www.worldvillage.com/wv/gamezone/puzzlegen/index.html

Many links on WorldVillage will take you to our other interesting destinations. Let's do a lap around town and I'll point out the highlights.

DEAL OF DAY

DealofDay.com is one of the oldest "Bargain-hunter" sites online. Thousands of smart shoppers visit the site daily to find coupons for their favorite products and merchants. It's typical to find a couple dozen new coupons on the site each day, along with a database of hundreds of deals. Some of the best advice on shopping comes from our members who frequent the DealTalk message boards to discuss deals, freebies, and coupon clipping.

http://www.dealofday.com

FAMILY FIRST

Looking for family-friendly web sites? FamilyFirst has reviewed hundreds of sites over the years, featuring a new site each and every day. Reviews are brief and you are always just one click away from viewing the site yourself.

http://www.familyfirst.com

SAFETY SURF

As we take the bus down a dark alley of the Internet, we find that it is not always safe for our children. Pornography, hate speech and chat room stalkers lurk. SafetySurf has reviewed dozens of parental control and internet monitoring products, and recommends those which have passed the test. I have personally used some of the featured products on my kids' computer with good results.

http://www.safetysurf.com

JUST FOR FUN

We've recently lauched a few sites which I think you will enjoy. We'll do a quick drive by for each one, so keep your hands inside the vehicle at all times...

QuotesPlace - for the perfect quote from historical figures, movie stars, tv characters. The most popular search? Bart Simpson quotes.

http://www.quotesplace.com

Caption-This - funny photographs waiting for your smart-aleck captions. Enjoy others quips or enter your own.

http://www.caption-this.com

Virtual Whassup - Sure, the Bud commercial is yesterday's news, but these greeting cards featuring the President, Hilary Clinton and Britney Spears saying "Whassup!" are still fun to send to friends.

http://www.virtualwhassup.com

And our final stop today is a personal one, my blog. I tend to discuss popular culture, politics and whatever else crosses my mind. Perhaps it is nothing more than grafitti, but it is my grafitti. Why hasn't Dr. Bob begun blogging? Perhaps you folks can petition him to start one?

http://www.joelcomm.com

That's it for this whirlwind tour of the WorldVillage family of sites. Until next time...

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