All sites are working at the time I post them. If any are not working at the time you click on them, keep trying; their server may be unable to handle the sudden rush of traffic I’ve sent to it.
The mission of this nonprofit – an obvious partner for libraries – is “to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books.” To help decide which books to buy, they’ve solicited suggestions from ordinary people and celebrities about the first book that got them hooked on reading.
Even beyond all the recipes and videos from your favorite TV chefs, there’s a lot of great stuff here, including tips on quick and easy meals, healthy eating, kid-friendly kitchens, etc.
Is there anything lower than someone who makes money off of desperate people about to lose everything and makes their situation even worse? The Federal Trade Commission shows you how the scams work, what the comeons are, and how to find legitimate help.
Healthy Child, Healthy World: Simple Steps To Create a Safe Green Home for Your Baby, Kids and Family http://healthychild.org/
Founded by parents who lost a child to an environmentally-induced cancer, this site offers information on safe and healthy food and nutrition, baby care, and nontoxic products, as well as checklists (“Limit Your Child’s Use of Food Additives,” “Keep Your Child Lead-Free,” etc.), a Toxic Chemical Encyclopedia, a blog, and an annotated list of recommended products.
One of the few federal agencies ever allowed to die, the OTA, which provided Congress with independent expert analysis of science and technology issues, is the one Congress needed the most as it dealt with issues of the internet cybersecurity, defense technology, biotechnology, etc. Fortunately the Federation of American Scientists has made OTA’s reports and background documents, which continue to have both scientific and historical value, available online.
Our favorite “librarian in black” offers a sizable annotated set of links to her favorite readers’ advisory resources. Naturally I would suggest adding my own BookBytes to it, <http://marylaine.com/bookbyte/>
A wonderfully useful tool. It’s difficult to locate resources across science’s boundary lines with most search engines because they may be tagged solely by the specific discipline or narrow subject of the resource. In addition, every video included has been “screened by a scientist to verify its accuracy and quality.” There aren’t a lot of videos here yet, but this ongoing project aims to index every science video on the internet.
A library of multimedia professional development workshops and other resources for teachers of K-12 through college, searchable, and browsable by broad topic and grade level. There are also some presentations for students and adult learners as well.
“Founder Darryl Franklin is on a quest to bring you every attraction he can find in America.” While it’s largely a personal labor of love, he also posts both official photos and essays and those from viewers. Browse by state, or by categories like America’s gardens, factory tours, cemeteries, themeparks, lighthouses, forts & battlefields, etc.
If the Beijing Olympics whetted your interest in Chinese culture and history, this is a good place to learn more about China’s geography, calligraphy, painting, homes, gardens, and more. Each entry is essentially an illustrated short course on the subject, and includes a timeline, maps, and suggested reading.
This “unique multi-media guide to the history and heritage of wildlife filmmaking,” an ongoing project, is collecting presents behind-the-scene stills from wildlife films, oral histories of wildlife filmmaking, background information on each of the films, and some of the films themselves.
Sam Blackman is an angry man. A chief warrant officer in the criminal investigation detachment of the U.S. military, he lost a leg in Iraq and has been outspoken in his criticism of his medical treatment. Then, ex-marine and fellow amputee Tikima Robertson walks into his hospital room, hinting that she has an opportunity for Sam to use his investigative skills.
Growing numbers of Americans are doing work that they care about and enjoy, but they’re frustrated by stagnant wages, shrinking health coverage, shaky pension plans, and company policies that make it more difficult for them to do their jobs well. What turns a model employee into a malcontent?
Scott McClellan belonged to Bush’s select inner circle of trusted advisers during one of the most challenging, contentious periods of recent history. Over a period of more than seven years, he witnessed, day-to-day, exactly how the presidency veered off course, not only by its decision to topple Saddam Hussein, but by an embrace of confrontational politics in the face of an increasingly partisan Washington and hostile media.
Troost charmed listeners with his humourous tales of wandering the remote islands of the South Pacific in the Sex Lives of Cannibals and Getting Stoned With Savages. When the travel bug hit again, he took on the world’s most populous and intriguing nation.
Flight is the hilarious and tragic story of an orphaned Indian boy who travels back and forth through time in a charged search for his true identity. With powerful, swift prose, Flight follows the troubled teenager as he learns that violence is not the answer.
Controversial author and scholar David Etheridge is no the kind of company an aspiring politician wants to keep. but ambitious senator Robert McCretchen has a history with Ertheridge that he’s desperately trying to keep under wraps: twenty-two years ago, both men were investigated in the still-unsolved death of a young coed.
Where is SuperSpeed USB 3.0? Anne Louise Bannon writes: “Imagine uploading an entire HD movie to your laptop in just over a minute. Sounds great, right? That’s what the developers of the next-generation Universal Serial Bus technology are counting on when they release the spec for USB 3.0—also known as SuperSpeed USB—in the fourth quarter of this year. The data-transfer rate will be close to 5 gigabits per second in each direction (officially targeting 4.7 Gbps), compared with the 480 megabits per second, one-way, that USB 2.0 offers.”… PC Magazine, Aug. 18
Victorian gadgets at the British Library
The British Library is hosting an exhibition of gadgets from the Victorian era and early 20th century. The collection belongs to collector and author Maurice Collins and promotes the library’s Business and Intellectual Property Center. Pictured here is an 1890 memorandum clock, which indicates when a business appointment has finished by generating a note and sounding an alarm…. C|net news.com, Aug. 15
Summer of Reading with Kitty at Denver Public Library
Kitty takes a summer job only to realize he’d rather be at the Denver Public Library reading, competing in a Dance Dance Revolution tournament, hanging out with librarians, and so much more. Good kitty. From last year’s promotion for the library’s DDR tournament. Music by the Hot IQs…. YouTube, May 1, 2007
Could you pass this test?
This Chicago Public Library entrance examination (PDF file) for staff training in 1925 asked some difficult questions. Melissa Adler writes: “Some of the more fortunate staff members attended library school, whereas people hired as library clerks had no opportunity for promotion without formal training. Entrance to the public library’s training program required a high school diploma and a passing score on this exam.”… Library Notes, Aug. 15; Chicago Public Library Staff News, Nov. 1924
This month, almost 2 million first year students, will head off to college campuses around the country. Most will be about 18 years old, born in 1990. Each August for the past 11 years, Beloit College, in Belloit, Wisconsin has released the Beloit College Mindset list. For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Freddy Kruger have always been dead.
The legend began in the obscure little town of Pico Mundo. A fry cook named Odd was rumored to have the extraordinary ability to communicate with the dead. Through tragedy and triumph, exhilaration and heartbreak, word of Odd Thomas’s gifts filtered far beyond Pico Mundo, attracting unforgettable new friends-and enemies of implacable evil.
On the morning of December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven year old Harvard-trained brain scientist; experienced a massive stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the left side of the brain. A neuroanatomist by profession, she observed her own mind completely deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, write, or recall any of her life, all within the space of four brief hours.
In the Coronado National Monument, an elderly couple’s car is driven off the side of a mountain. Hours later and miles away, the subsiding rains reveals two trash bags containing human remains. It’s just another day in the life of Cochise Sheriff Joanna Brady.
James Lee Burke’s new novel finds detective Robicheaux far from his New Iberia roots, attempting to relax in the untouched wilderness of rural Montana. He, his wife, and his buddy Clete Purcel have retreated to stay at an old friend’s ranch, hoping to spend their days fishing and enjoying their distance from the harsh, gritty landscape of Louisiana post-Katrina.
Somebody Else’s Daughter is a collision between two very different fathers-biological and adoptive; a woman whose independence and talent have led her to dead ends of life and love; and a villain whose intentions slowly unfold with the help, witting and unwitting, of all those around him.
Random’s Game Plan for ‘Brisingr’
By John A. Sellers, Children’s Bookshelf
Now that the midnight parties for Breaking Dawn are over, attention now turns to the next major book of the season: Christopher Paolini’s Brisingr. The Knopf novel, third in the author’s Inheritance Cycle, will arrive September 20 (amid more than 2,500 midnight parties of its own) with a 2.5 million-copy first printing, the largest to date for Random House Children’s Books. Beginning with a kickoff event in New York City, Paolini will then embark on a 10-city national tour. To drum up excitement for the new title, Random House has launched Vroengard Academy, an Alternate Reality Experience (ARE). Read on »
50 things you can blame on rising oil prices
For a sense of how deeply the oil-price story is woven into the fabric of life in 2008, Buzzwatch compiled a list of 50 things being attributed, at least in part, to high fuel costs. Quite a few are relevant, among them: schools cutting back on field trips, community colleges cutting Friday classes, the return of the bookmobile, and longer waits for the campus bus…. Wall Street Journal, July 3
Marylaine Block’s Picks of the Week
