The Smarmy Carny

It's Cyber Monday, and that means that the online retailers (or "e-tailers") have set out their best deals today to try and compete with the Black Friday deals you may have missed.

Check out a selection of the Cyber Monday deals at The Black Friday Podcast. You can also get links to additional information on Cyber Monday sites there as well.

So if there's any money left in your pocket after going crazy on Black Friday, be sure to check out the Cyber Monday specials today before they're all sold out!

Happy Thanksgiving week! That also means that Black Friday is this Friday.

If you haven't started preparing already, be sure to take a look at the various ads and get ready for all the big sales! Here are some sites and forums to help you get your Black Friday strategy set:

• The Black Friday Podcast (site operational, but the podcast is coming in 2008)
• GottaDeal (and forums)
• Black Friday Ads (and forums)
• SlickDeals (and forums)
• DealTaker (and forums)

Spend time with family, stuff yourself silly, and be sure to rest up in preparation for Black Friday!

Chuck Norris endorses Mike Huckabee in a new YouTube campaign video. In this video, "Chuck Norris Approved," Huckabee gives several Chuck Norris facts and Norris gives various Huckabee facts. The video calls the mash up "HuckChuckFacts." Take a look.

Of course, in order to understand this video, you'd have to be familiar with the various Chuck Norris facts that have been flying around the internet for the past couple years.

The only problem I have with this video is that we've got the humorous Chuck Norris facts combined with actual Mike Huckabee talking points. The writers for this video really should have tried to get Huckabee's talking points across in a humorous manner that would match the Chuck Norris facts.

Thanks to Delirium for bringing this one to my attention.

In the spirit of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, why not ask yourself, "What's My Pirate Name?"

My pirate name is Mad Dog Roberts. According to the quiz, this is because I'm "part crazy, part mangy, all rabid, I'm the pirate all the others fear might just snap soon.

Desktop Tower Defense

A month or two ago, I discovered the world of Tower Defense (or "TD") games. If you Google "tower defense games", you'll find an assortment of variations on the theme — some truly fun versions, some poorly planned, and some boring. The lure of a quality Tower Desktop game is that it is as much fun as playing Warcraft, except a lot simpler.

Possibly one of the best TD games is Desktop Tower Defense over at handdrawngames.com. If you play on Medium or Hard level, you can submit your name and score. You can also submit your score to a group scoreboard — feel free to type in smarmy for the group name and you can compare your score with me and others! If you want to learn more about what strategies work and the best towers to upgrade, play the Fun Mode "10k Gold" game and have a blast! The best feature in this game is that you start with a clean slate, and you work however you want to.

If Desktop Tower Defense is a bit too tough, you might prefer Flash Element TD. Instead of having to build a blockade, the baddies in this game follow a pre-set path. You can't build on their road, but you know exactly where they'll be going. If you can get the Combo Towers activated, you'll really start having fun.

Both Desktop TD and Flash Element TD will apparently be coming together at Casual Collective when it is launched. The site will also feature a multiplayer game called MPDTD (Multi-Player Desktop TD) that is basically Desktop TD with a few features that allow you to compete with other players.

Honorable mention goes to Onslaught 2, which is a fun TD game, but I keep running into a bug where my towers just stop shooting at the bad guys. The gameplay on this game is fun, especially if you get the hang of the combo attacks. Let's put it this way — if Onslaught 2 didn't have this bug in it, this post would be titled "Three Tower Defense Games Worth Playing."

One Economy's The Beehive offers low-income people and families plenty of information on various categories. One of those categories is titled Jobs and Careers. Subsections in the Jobs and Careers section are:

• Find a Job
• How to Apply for a Job
• Plan a Career
• Starting a New Job
• Getting Training and Education
• Make More Money
• Unemployment Benefits

The Beehive has information on how to perform a job search online and offline, write a resume, and how to interview for a job. There are also articles about pursuing further education and getting a GED. The site also features articles on how to increase your earnings along with an "interest inventory quiz", much like the one guidance counselors gave in high school, that matches your personal interests with careers. After all, if you like what you do, then you'll do a better job at it.

The site also has information on unemployment benefits — how to know if you qualify and how to get them.

One Economy Corporation's Digital Access Fund program began work in Baltimore in 2005, and it is now active in communities around the country. The Digital Access Fund provids low-interest loans to bring computers into the homes of low-income families. One Economy teams up with banks to obtain these low-interest loans.

One family was able to purchase a computer and repay the loan in small, manageable installments over 18 months. When this is the only option, it helps school age children can get their assignments done on time without having to leave the house to use a computer.

As I've mentioned, One Economy doesn't stop at helping low-income people to get the computer. Once they have the computer, Digital Connectors also help the families get their computers installed and set up for use.