FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Penguin Visits Historical Marker Markeroni.com challenges its members (and their mascots) to visit historical markers and landmarks. Sunnyvale, CA, January 01 2006 Linda Gentile sneaks up to the historical marker, looks around, grins, then quietly places her bean-bag penguin on top of it. A moment later she takes a digital photograph, puts the penguin away, then contemplates the text of the marker itself. After a while, a little better-informed than before, she returns to her motorcycle, in search of the next one. The historical marker has been visited, or "snarfed", according to the rules of an online treasure hunt called "The Markeroni Challenge" which runs through 2006. Organized by online community Markeroni, the Gentle Art of Landmark-Snarfing (www.markeroni.com), members are challenged to visit 25, 50 or 100 historical markers or registered landmarks over the year. "Markeroni offers its members a unique opportunity to combine interests while learning something new," explains the owner, or "Chief Markeroon", Linda Gentile. "The members seem to appreciate the very light-hearted approach to history, and the more serious underlying theme: we're planning to donate 10% of our profits to historical preservation groups." Some members log the markers formally in a project called Landmarks Visited, seeking to build a database of these often elusive monuments to the past. They note the GPS coordinates, draft directions, and take photographs. Others take part in the less formal Journals project, or the Markeroni Challenge, preferring to focus on the journey and the adventure of seeking out the markers. (Some, of course, do all three.) Members collect a point for every "snarf", and gradually accumulate "kudos", a friendly way of keeping score which translates into differently-colored stars after one's name. The history rubs off as you go along. "I've had people say how much they enjoy researching their local history after they find something intriguing on a marker," says Linda. "They go to museums, or read books. For them, history comes alive." Founded in August 2003, the project arose from the ashes of a failed motorcycle tour around the southwestern states. The motorcycle, fondly named Arnie for "a certain actor now in politics", broke two gears two days before departure. "I was going to go hunting for historical landmarks and markers," says Linda. "Finding them was the perfect excuse for a ride. Instead, I ended up grounded, with a lot of energy that had to go somewhere. I hatched the idea of visiting all the state historical landmarks in California, and I built the site with the idea of being a resource for landmark-hunters everywhere." On previous hunts, Linda had a lot of difficulty finding some markers, almost as if they moved around when she wasn't looking. She dubbed them the "Elusive Marker Beasts", and it went on from there. A whole tongue-in-cheek jargon has created itself. "Now, I have to remember not to say 'I'm going on snarfari' unless I'm with someone who already knows what I'm talking about," she adds. "Otherwise, I just get funny looks." Markeroni, the Gentle Art of Landmark-Snarfing, is the primary project of Annwn Web Creations LLC, a one-woman company which runs several e-zines and online communities. The Markeroni project was started on August 13, 2003 by English immigrant, Linda Gentile. For more information about Markeroni, please email linda@markeroni.com or visit the web site at http://www.markeroni.com. -30- For more information, please contact: Linda Gentile, Annwn Web Creations LLC linda@markeroni.com +1-408-393-9748