ChickenSmoothie.com - Free Online Virtual Pets

Conflicts exist throughout the world, but upon two eternal truths we can all agree:

• The Internet has run out of reasonable domain names, and
• Everyone needs to adopt a free online virtual rat.

Yes, the struggle to synthesize meaningful web site names presents huge challenges for enterprising entrepreneurs. All the good ones were reserved long ago.

Sometimes ya just gotta throw up your hands, append two otherwise unrelated words, and tack on a ".com." Ignore the fact that your domain name becomes your worldwide persona. It's the first snippet of information that potential customers ingest. It should be meaningful but sufficiently unique to stand out from the crowd. Early Internet adopters chose from a universe of possibilities: these days our choices are limited.

Do not be mislead. ChickenSmoothie.com offers no thirst quenching libations. Visitors to the site may be dismayed that no juice machine exists, but will be relieved to learn that free online virtual pets are readily available. A veritable plethora of real and imagined creatures cry out for adoption.

Everyone needs a rat, an owl, or a butterfly wolf. Unfortunately, local veterinarians frown on treating pestilence-ridden yellow-eyed scavengers. Obtaining medical services for nocturnal birds-of-prey also proves problematic. Finding a doctor to care for a butterfly wolf is virtually impossible in the modern world.

Fortunately, ChickenSmoothie.com stocks these pets in virtual form. Simply visit the site, register, and build your menagerie. Purina Rat Chow will never appear on your grocery list. These critters live on your computer screen and capture your heart with their adorable antics.

We adopted a rat because, well, the world needs more domesticated rats. The butterfly wolf was cute, but we have no experience caring for migrating canines.

A convenient drop-down list on the adoption page offered multiple census options. Adopting several rats was tempting. We settled on an only child virtual rat. A shame it would be if Darwin the Rat was forced to compete for our virtual attention. Our brood may grow as we gain additional experience working with free online virtual vermin.

ChickenSmoothie prefers that pets be assigned to groups. After adoption, Darwin was group-less. We're not sure what a group is. According to rat biologists (actually answers.com) , rats cluster in packs, swarms, hordes or mischiefs.

We immediately created a new group so Darwin would not feel slighted. Being a member of a group of one may not be satisfying. We plan to closely observe Darwin's behavior as she acclimates to her new surroundings.

Darwin the Rat is in a group (that's one phrase that probably appears nowhere else on the Internet.)

A typical free online virtual pet game includes graphical chat rooms and playgrounds in which the digital dogs and cats cavort. ChickenSmoothie.com appears bereft of such time-wasters. There are an array of forums as well as an online store, but no place to get online exercise. Perhaps the butterfly wolfs proved difficult to manage.

Online currency, called Chicken dollars, is used to purchase accessories and clothing for the pets. Little Darwin could use a toothbrush or toenail clippers. Chicken dollars translate easily to US dollars. A $5 payment, executed via PayPal, causes 80 Chicken dollars to appear in Darwin's account. Accessories typically cost about 2 - 5 Chicken dollars.

That's not chicken feed...sorry.