The Wordpile

FAMILY/HOME/PETS

 

Lists of resources related to family, home, or pets. Includes most of the entertainment entries. Some entries may have been repeated elsewhere.

Note: It is impossible for me to personally test all or even most of these products. I have evaluated them as best I can from the sales page. If any of you have or gain what you feel to be important input on any of them, please be sure to tell me via the comments function. Be sure to specify the product in question clearly.

Software

PDF Creator:
A quality, professional PDF making software that is much cheaper than Adobe. Probably not actually equivalent to Adobe, but for those who want to be able to originate PDF’s but don’t need Adobe level performance, this should be an excellent find.

Malwarebyte:
The best free anti-virus software out there, and absolutely effective. I’d used Clamwin, another free anti-virus program, for some time, and been quite happy. Then came Spyware Guard 2008, which stumped me and plagued my computer until – you guessed it – I tried this one. Killed it on the first try, and never failed since. A Cnet editor’s choice for 2009.

Zygor’s In-Game Leveling Guide:
Widely acknowledged as the best WoW guide money can buy. It’s a program, not a PDF booklet, and integrates into your playing screen. It also shows all the information you need right there, as well as directions, so no need to spend time checking up on stuff. If I ever do play WoW (one of my constant temptations in life), buying this will be my first step after signing up. Buying the PDF gold guide I also list here will be my second.

Battle for Wesnoth:
A free fantasy strategy game. Turn based, challenging, and highly popular, with good reason. Comes with a wide range of campaigns plus an online database of user made campaigns, some of which are as good or better than the pre-packaged ones (in fact some of the pre-packaged ones used to be from there). Highly satisfying, and comes with a campaign editor that makes making your own a matter of time and inclination, not special knowledge.

Sites and Services

A Gift of Poetry:
One of my favorite finds. This is the site of a guy who makes his living making custom poetry. You are given a large form which you can fill as much or as little of as you like, and he will use that info to make your poem. You are sent each draft as it’s made to comment on until you declare yourself satisfied; he will do this as many times as it takes. You can also choose a variety of packaging options to receive it in, useful for the right occasions. Definitely a special, unique gift that every romantic should know about.

Property Room:
Propertyroom.com is a free police auction site. Other people may auction here too, but a simple checkbox next to the search bar will exclude everything else. It’s a grab bag kind of environment, similar to a half price bookstore or Goodwills in that you can dependably find low end items but can find very good deals if you keep an eye on it. I have ordered items from it and found service satisfactory, and can affirm it is on the level (one item I received still had a form sticker filled out by whichever police officer had confiscated it). They also run a service called Steal-it-back, also free, accessible though a link at the bottom of the page. When you register the serial number of your stolen items with them, they will check it against every new item they receive (remember that the vast majority of their items are confiscated from criminals). If it matches, you get it back. Even if you choose to bid at the paid membership site, this additional service is well worth noting, as they claim it to be the only nationwide such service available to the public.

SaleHoo Wholesale Suppliers:
An online compendium of verified, genuine wholesale suppliers. Use it to get stuff cheap, either for yourself or for selling (site also offers free training on how to use it’s offered resources for business, plus you can ask advice of other members). This is another one I plan to get into myself one day. Note: If you intend to sell online, be aware that Ebay is no longer advisable. It has changed greatly and is now very unfriendly to small or starting sellers. You are strongly advised to use Amazon instead.

Sourceforge:
The ultimate source of sourceware. Meaning, legally free software. Quality ranges, of course, but  a significant number are very good indeed, often successfully replacing their paid for counterparts. This site has grown in leaps and bounds over the last year or so, and is now much, much more user friendly, making its vast range of free products even more accessible. However, there are still a few things you need to know to look for when browsing.

One: Your OS. Obviously, programs for all systems are developed and posted here. It used to be far more haphazard, but you can now ensure yourself on this score via the option directly under the search bar. If your system is not Windows, click change to make sure you are getting software equipped for your system.

Two: Details/Development status. This important detail has also advanced tremendously. What you need from this is as follows: the exact versions of your OS supported, and the development status. Many projects here are still in progress, listed for monitoring and to attract the attention of similarly inclined programmers. If a program is any less advanced than 4-beta than it is not ready for you. You can now enable all of these details to be shown in the search results, allowing you to rule things out without actually viewing that software’s page. This is what I recommend, but if you don’t, then after you click the link, check next to the program title. If there is a green bubble saying ‘beta’, or nothing at all, it’s clear. If there is a blue ‘alpha’ bubble, or a light green ‘pre-alpha’ or ‘planning’ bubble, it’s still in production, to be used only by programmers.
This is an excellent resource, possibly the best you’ll find here, and you just might be surprised how many functions you used to pay for, you can get for free here, from anti-virus to gaming.

E-books

 

Parrot Care:
Parrots are notoriously difficult pets, and yet many people would like to keep one. So I have made an effort to have an e-book on the subject, but the fact is I have my doubts about this one. It’s the best I can find at the moment, so here it stays, but feedback would be deeply appreciated, and this entry is subject to change at any time.

Make a backyard waterfall:
Too good to miss, no?

World of Warcraft Gold Guide:
Slogging for gold is easily the most tedious part of any RPG. WoW is so big you can buy gold for US dollars, but that is a) expensive and a never ending cycle b) illegal, you could get banned for that, and c) just plain lame. That’s not playing. This guide is written by one of the games oldest players, and the first ever to own an epic mount. Put that together with the fact that he still plays, and you have a reassuring amount of authority behind this. Kept up to date (updates are free with purchase).

Energy2Green:
The most reliable guide to homemade windmills and solar panels. There are quite a few others, but this one stands out as the most credible, easily.

Cardboard Cutouts:
You know those realistic cardboard stands of people? This teaches you how to make them.

Real Dogs Don’t Eat Kibble:
Natural eating to natural health for…your dog? Well, why not? If you believe it works for humans, why shouldn’t the same apply to your canine? It’s not like his diet is any more natural or any less processed than what you’re getting, if not a whole lot less natural and a whole lot more processed, which I think more likely.

Inspirational Kids Stories:
This book was created by two people who felt that there simply weren’t enough collections of good, warm, wholesome childrens stories out there, and far, far too many full of bad attitudes and other unwanted influence. Any religious or even simply conscientious parent would do well to consider this one.

Crazy Spray:
A cheap little e-book (ten dollars) that teaches you how to make an even cheaper (far less than five for various parts) water toy that keeps the kids happy day after day. If the season hadn’t already been over for water fun when I found it, I’d have tried it already on my family. Cheaper, more durable, and infinitely more conducive to kids imagination than any thirty dollar leak prone Toys R’ Us product. That imagination bit is key: when the kids can really start hanging their own little worlds on a toy, they’ll never get tired of it. Ever. And they’ll stay with it all day if you let them.

Sweet Smell:
Instructions for home made perfume. Sell them, or just enjoy them, either way a unique, fun sounding how to.

Make Candy:
For fun, profit, or special parties.

Balloon Sculptures:
Another one for fun.

Guide to Saltwater Fish and Invertebrates:
Some of the most beautiful or unusual pets are the hardest to take proper care of. This ebook covers two classic aquirium additions that can be hard to take proper care of. As always, anyone with personal experience with this product should please share it via the comments.

Products/Misc.

Origami Video:
Something like origami is very hard to learn from diagrams, however well illustrated. No matter what, it requires a kind of mental imaging many find very difficult, and it rarely comes out looking like it should. Someone clever thought of making a video instructional instead. This does cost money.

Karaoke Stars Set:
The ultimate collection of high quality Karaoke tracks. Contains eight hundred tracks on four DVDs. For sixty seven dollars. Pretty damn good value, if you like that kind of thing.