Underground Web Designs Blog

The Hennessy Hammock is one of the coolest inventions I’ve seen in a long time, and HennessyHammock.com is a great example of the power of the internet for small businesses. What started out as a personal project to re-create an old army hammock has turned into a thriving, full time business.

Even thought the Hennessy Hammock website may not be have the most flashy design or the latest web technology, it does it’s job well — it provides lots of information about the product, and above all makes it easy to buy the hammock you want. Surprisingly, there are lots of business websites that are well designed and use all the latest technologies, but are hard to navigate and difficult to order from. If you do business online, it’s worth taking a few minutes to look at HennessyHammock.com and think about the order process of your own site; making sure it’s as simple an intuitive as possible.

As for the product itself, I must admit that I haven’t tried a Hennessy Hammock… yet. However I have done lots of traveling, camping, and hiking, and I can appreciate the benefits a Hennessy would provide: light weight, easy setup almost anywhere, and comfort. The fact that a Hennessy is built to provide a comfortable sleeping place almost anywhere with zero environmental impact is also a big plus. In fact, I’m already sold, and I’m planning on purchasing a Hennessy Hammock in time for camping season this summer.

Sorry this is a day late. I’m visiting my family this week and was busy spending time with them yesterday.

Improv Everywhere’s stated goal is to ”cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places”; and they do that by organizing “missions” of all sizes where participants perform an organized prank. Some of these pranks have included “freezes”, where a crowd of a few hundred people freezes at exactly the same time in a public place, or their annual ”no pants” subway rides, where hundreds of people ride the New York Subway in their underwear… in January.

Why do they do it? They do it for fun, both for themselves and for those who witness the pranks. We’ve all had moments where we think “hey, wouldn’t it be funny to get a bunch of people together and …..”, Improv Everywhere has taken this natural creativity and given it an outlet. As long as it doesn’t break any laws or harm anyone, why not do it? With the power of the internet, finding a few hundred people willing to participate (especially in a city like NY), and then organizing the event, is really quite easy.

And Improve Everywhere is succeeding in their mission. Their pranks have drawn widespread attention, being featured on The Today Show, ABC’s Nightline, in the New York Times, and in other media, with almost zero negative publicity. In fact, Improv Everywhere is now part of the Urban Prankster Network, a network of sites, communities and individuals from around the world dedicated to bringing fun and a little bit of chaos into your everyday life through public pranks.

It all just goes to show what a website, a little creativity, a little bit of guts, and a LOT of volunteers, you can pull of just about anything, and have a great time doing it.

Hands on Disaster Response is a different kind of charity. As their website states: 

Hands On Disaster Response is a US-based, volunteer-driven, non-profit organization with 501(c)3 tax-exempt status, dedicated to timely disaster response and relief. We strive to provide hands-on relief to survivors of natural disasters with maximum speed and minimum bureaucracy. Our projects focus on applying volunteer resources and expertise to disaster-affected communities around the world.

To me this is a wonderful goal, and one that HODR is meeting well. I have been watching their website for many months now, and they do no focus on raising funds… they focus on raising volunteers. It’s easy to give money to charity, it’s much harder (but usually more rewarding) to actually go and do the work yourself.

At the same time, the world needs more volunteers. HODR fits an ideal niche by making it easy for volunteers to just go and work quickly. Each project has an extensive “Volunteer Info” page that lists location concerns, local weather, food, housing details, packing lists and much more. The only requirements are that you agree to a statement of volunteer understanding and that you notify HODR of your arrival date.

HODR is also unique in that it is a ‘response’ organization, not a ‘reconstruction’ organization. This means they’re focused on getting in quickly and meeting urgent needs. HODR supplies the manpower required to clean up after an earthquake, flood, earthquake or other disaster, and leaves reconstruction to government projects and larger disaster groups. Rather than a weakness I see this as a tremendous strength. Not only does this allow anyone to volunteer (no special skills required) it places volunteers where they can make the most difference: restoring houses, schools, roads and other necessary buildings and infrastructure as quickly as possible.

If you’re looking for a unique adventure and don’t mind getting your hands dirty, I’d strongly suggest checking out Hands On Disaster Response. Whether you can volunteer for a week or a few months they will be glad to have you, and you’ll be right on the front lines… literally changing lives.

This is the first of my “Link Love Sundays” articles. As I mentioned in my post National Day of Service, every Sunday I will take some time to go “off topic” and promote a small business, organization, or individual that is doing something good for the world. These posts are all 100% free… I’m not compensated in any way.

Couchsurfing.com -- Got Couch?

If you travel a lot, there is a chance you’ve already heard of Couchsurfing.com. If you haven’t, couchsurfing is essentially a social network that helps travelers find a place to stay while on the road by connecting them with other members of the site who are willing to host them. Hosting is not elaborate - accommodations range from a cozy spot on the floor to a spare room, though in most cases the traveler sleeps on the couch (hence the name). 

Couchsurfing is much more than just a free place to sleep, however. In fact, the official couchsurfing mission statement - “Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch at a Time” - has little to do with travel at all. Instead, the focus is to “networking people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance and facilitate cultural understanding” (Couchsurfing Mission page). 

As a member of Couchsurfing.com for just over a year, I have seen that mission expressed in a huge variety of ways, both at home and abroad. During a 6 week backpacking trip in Europe in the Summer of 2008 I couchsurfed in the UK, France, Italy, Greece, and the Netherlands, and was always welcomed not only by my host but also by the local couchsurfing group and often the host’s non-couchsurfing friends. No matter where I went, couchsurfers were more than willing to host me if they could, show me around when they had time, and help me out in any other way they could. One of the highlights of my trip was a 5 day camping trip on Naxos in Greece, with over 100 other couchsurfers. The entire trip was organized by volunteers, and attendees came from all over the world. 

Back at home in Canada, I have been experiencing another facet of couchsurfing… being part of a local group. Many medium / large cities around the world have a local couchsurfing group. This group takes the form of a dedicated forum on Couchsurfing.com where members can post and organize events, parties, or just about anything else. Besides a weekly meeting on Tuesday nights there is always 1 or 2 other events created on the spur of the moment and opened up to any couchsurfers who want to come.

Yet another example of the couchsurfing mission in action are groups for people who are all interested in a particular thing. As of this writing there are over 15,000 groups on the couchsurfing site focused on everything from marital arts, to vegan diets, to theater. Any member can join a group and participate!

Probably the most important part of Couchsurfing, and the part that makes everything else possible is the references system. Every couchsurfer can leave references about other couchsurfers he has interacted with, either positive, neutral, or negative. This produces a self-policing system similar to Ebay’s feedback. If you’re a jerk, everyone will quickly know about it, and nobody will invite you to anything — or host you. Couchsurfing is a very liberal, open place. You’re free to say just about anything you want (as long as it isn’t abusive, defamatory, etc) but you also have no anonymity. The site will tie everything back to your profile.

So, whether you’re a young backpacker, retired traveler, or are just looking to meet new people from around the world, Couchsurfing.com is - in my opinion - one of the best places to do it. If you’re open minded and willing to expand your horizons and step out of your comfort zone you’ll have a blast.

Just one quick tip: don’t use it as a dating site… that’s one of the fastest ways to get negative references!