Want to be totally puzzled? Do a search engine search for "online comic strips." What you'll find is that the first and biggest online comic strip site, comics.com does not even show up, at least not within the first 3 pages. This leads me to wonder just how search engines rank their sites and how stupid can they be? But that's for another topic.
Comics.com quite simply is the black tie of online comics sites. You will find just about every comic strip currently in print in national and local newspapers.
The site is broken down into many sections and you can quite easily get lost there.
My favorite section is "Newest Comics." In this section the site highlights the absolute newest comics online. As of this article the new guys on the block are "Lola," written by Steve Dickenson and Todd Clark. Lola is a woman in her 70's who's not concerned with her diet or being politically correct. Then there's "Captain Murphy" written by Mark Seydewitz. Murphy is more or less a one man army against intergalactic space villains. He's kind of like a Rambo in space. Then there is "F-Minus" written by Tony Carrillo. Quite honestly, I don't get this comic at all. It seems to be kind of like a Far Side deal where every issue is about some strange thing like monkeys playing volleyball or a chipmunk carving a naked lady out of a tree. Very, very weird stuff here. Then there's "Unfit" written by Mike Belkin. The main characters are Mike and Stacey. Mike is a councillor, therapist and baby sitter but would rather be a trainer. He works on his patients muscles more than he does their brains. Stacey is his wife who is honest to a fault and has hair and eyebrows to die for.
After getting past the new comics section, which is usually about 3 or 4 per day, then you have the section where they list comics by category such as family, off beat and web exclusive.
Then you have the recommended section. I have noticed that a lot of times the recommended section contains many of the new comics. This is probably a way to give these a jump start. Right next to this section is "Don't Miss These" which I guess is another way of saying recommended.
To round out the main page they show their featured comic for the day in a big frame layout. This is a great way to get new fans for the comic.
But we're not done. Because above all of this is the navigation menu which includes the following: What's New, Home, Comics, Editorial, Columns, Puzzles, Store and E-Cards. Yes, they sell stuff at this site and I'm sure they make a bundle.
If you head over to the comics link you will find an alphabetical listing of every comic at their site by category, which includes the following: Offbeat, Men, Women, Family, Serials, Ages 18-30, Ages 30-50, Pets, Business, Web Exclusives, Slice Of Life and Editorial Comics. Yes, there is some crossover but even with that there are at least 150 different comics you can read at this site. When I think of the meager 20 or 30 comics I get in my Sunday newspaper it just makes me sick when I realize all the great humor I'm missing each week.
Fortunately because of comics.com, I don't have to. Now if only I could find this site in the search engine listings.
Just a few short years ago, the financial markets were completely inaccessible to the vast majority of Americans. Only elites traded on Wall Street, or could afford the heavy commissions that stockbrokers charged.
Most of all, average Americans just had no way of ever learning about stocks in the first place. Fortunately, the internet and online trading have changed all of that!
Online trading experienced its heyday in the mid to late 1990's, during the age of the dot-com boom and bust. For this reason, some people view online trading negatively. The truth is that the internet and online trading have been the greatest democratizing forces in the history of capitalism.
No longer is stock ownership limited to a small group of men in the financial capitals of the world - online trading has turned millions of Americans into shareholders. And the best thing about online trading is that you can do it part-time with a modest sum of money, or you can make a full-time career out of it. It's your choice!
Getting Started In Online Trading
Before you begin online trading you need to ask yourself a few questions. What is your ultimate goal or objective? What is the investment style most appropriate for your level of risk tolerance?
Do you want to limit your online trading to stocks, or will bonds, mutual funds, exchange traded funds, commodities, futures, options, and other financial products be part of your online trading strategies? Develop a plan and stick to it - discipline is the primary key to trading success.
Next, you need to open an online trading account. The industry leaders are E-Trade and Ameritrade, but others like ScottTrade, FirstTrade, Fidelity, Charles Schwab, and OptionsXpress should also be considered.
If you're planning on trading large sums per transaction, then the trading fees will not be as important as the web site's overall features and platform. However, if you plan to begin your online trading career with just a few thousand dollars, then you may want to consider the online brokers with the lowest commissions.
FirstTrade offers trades for $6.95 with no minimum account balance.
Online Trading - You're In The Driver's Seat
You can spend as much or as little time online trading as you want, and make just as much money either way. For example, if you open an account with $100,000, and you only want to spend a few hours a day researching stocks and making trades, you can!
The great investor Warren Buffett always said that he was most comfortable putting all of his eggs in one basket and then watching that basket very carefully.
While the patient Mr. Buffett is probably not a fan of fast-paced online trading, you can take his wisdom to heart by thoroughly investigating your chosen stock (or commodity, options play, etc.) and then using a substantial portion of your capital (i.e. 50 percent or more) in a single trade.
Conversely, if you wanted to be more of a full-time investor, you could spread that same $100,000 across 10-20 investments.
If you're starting with just a few thousand dollars, online trading can still be lucrative. Many online brokers offer several free trades to people who open new accounts, and the minimum threshold to receive these free trades is usually a beginning account balance of only $2,000 or so.
Use these free trades to your advantage! Hopefully, you'll build the assets in your account, but at the very least, you'll get your feet wet. With commissions as low as $7 per trade, online trading is affordable even to part-timers with modest startup funds.
Both Michael Russell & William Smith are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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