|
Mountain Laurel a delightful slice of the Blue Ridge Mountains Nov. 12, 2000 By JIM BROOKS Once in a while, every person who surfs the internet runs across a site that genuinely deserves to be preserved as a permanent bookmark. Sometimes it is the content that is appealing. Other times its the overall message of the site. The Mountain Laurel is one such Web site. Like so many valuable jewels you run across, I found The Mountain Laurel entirely by accident. And while the site's design isn't cutting edge, it's content is priceless. The Mountain Laurel began as a print publication that began in 1983 with the simple misson of telling the story of the people of the Blue Ridge Mountains. As editor Susan Thigpen says on the site, The Mountain Laurel wasn't supposed to be a formal "newspaper," but a media that told the story of the mountains and the lives of its people over the past 200 years. The Mountain Laurel reported stories pass down through generations of how families settled the Blue Ridge Mountains and how they carved out a living. The print version was a labor of love for Thigpen and her family, which published the Laurel regularly until 1995 when they moved it to the Internet. The regularly updated site is quite literally an "online journey into 'the Heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.' " It's pages are full of wonderful recipes, history of various Blue Ridge communities, interviews, tales, recipes, crafts and more. In many ways it reminded me of a Web-based version of the Foxfire series of books that were published in the 1970s. Visit The Mountain Laurel on the Web at www.mtnlaurel.com. FREE NO MORE. Music distribution giant Napster, the darling of MP3 music file collectors around the world, adopted a plan recently that means it will be charging users to use its popular service. The deal came after Napster was hit with lawsuits from music publishers who claimed it infringed on the rights of its clients by giving away the music files that were copyrighted materials. Other Internet freebies may be in danger as well. Cash-strapped Scour Exchange, a site similar to Napster that also allows user to swap image and video files, is The Internet has long been the place for "free" content, and that's largely due to the government's role early in its development. While government money was being used for the Internet (mainly through the National Science Foundation), commercial uses of the Internet were prohibited. When the NSF's involvement ended around 1995, then commercial interests were free to explore how to make money online -- a task that still has no clear-cut answers. Other premium online services offered by Web portals like Yahoo! and America Online may begin to charge for them -- not because they need to, but because they believe the demand for the services is sufficient to support a fee structure. STICKY DOMAIN GAME. Two Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp. franchise owners has been ordered by the chain's home office to give up the Internet domain names they registered that used their competitor's name. Lincoln and Sarah Spoor, of Orem, Utah were told to give the domain names they registered to the owners of a local doughnut shop, Tommie's Donuts. The Spoors registered the domain names www.tommiesdonuts.com and www.tommiesdonuts.org after visiting their competitor's store in September. A Krispy Kreme spokesman said the Spoors were "overzealous" in their move to buy their competitor's domain name. The owners of the Tommie's Donuts, Tim and Bert Matthews, accused the Spoors of trying to stifle competition after opening their franchise in October. The Matthews brothers opened their donut business in July. TOP 10. Internet search engine and portal Yahoo.com once again topped the list of the most popular 50 Web sites in October. The PC Data Online poll gathers information on Web traffice and e-commerce, and includes information from 100,000 home-based internet users. The full Top 20 sites include:
1. Yahoo.com Comments and questions about this column may be sent to jbrooks@myoldkentuckyhome.com, or visit www.myoldkentuckyhome.com on the World Wide Web. | HOME | |