Research Beyong Google - 56 Authoritative, Invisible and Comprehensive Resources

Hi All,

The title says it all - lots of great (authoritative, invisible, comprehensive) resources for the inner research geek in all of us...click here for a bit of information about evaluating resources on the web.
Click on this link to learn about how to search the invisible web...sounds mysterious - its not though...
The site is OEDb - aka the Open Education Database.

Topics covered in the article include Deep Web Search Engines, Art, Books Online, Business, Consumer, Economic and Job Data, Finance and Investing, General Research, Government Data, International, Law and Politics, Library of Congress, Medical and Health, STEM and Transportation.
Quite a wide variety of topics that's for sure. 

Next to each link there is a very brief - about 1-2 sentences - summary of the resource.  Then a direct link to the site.  Quick and easy and no muss and no fuss. 

One thing - the page was generated in 2013 so be aware that some - probably not very many though - sites are not working.  Most are...but still.  Your mileage might vary but the resources are well worth the time you'll spend finding the information elsewhere.

Now...go search and check out these great resources.

Regards,
Stu

New Year's Resolutions

Hi All,

Well the end of the year is almost upon us.  Instead of writing an entry about what New Year's resolutions you should make, I'm going to blog about how to make those resolutions - whatever they are - stick and become lifelong habits....

So...how did New Year's resolutions start...click on this link from Wikipedia for an interesting, fun and enlightening entry about resolutions.

The next bunch of links are from sites that will help you make those resolutions stick and become habits.

Huffington Post - New Year's Resolutions Are Bound to Fail. Try This Instead

WebMD - 10 Ways to Make Your New Year's Resolutions Stick

APA - Making Your New Year's Resolutions Stick 

Forbes - Most Powerful Way to Set New Year's Resolutions That Stick 

DailyMail.com -  How to Achieve Your New Year's Resolutions

Entrepreneur - 8 Ways You Can Use Science to Make Your New Year's Resolutions Stick 

New York Times - How To Stick to Your New Year's Resolutions 

LifeHacker - Top 10 Strategies For Making Your New Year's Resolution Stick 

USA Today - 6 Ways to Make Your New Year's Resolutions Stick 

Shape.com - Top 10 Reasons You Don't Stick to Your Resolutions  

Enjoy the links and here's to resolutions and making them stick for the new year!

Regards,
Stu 

Best of 2016

Hi All,

As the year 2016 comes to a close many, many, many websites generate 'best of' lists...forthwith a whole bunch of them on a wide variety of topics!  Enjoy 'em...

Time Magazine - Top 10 of Everything of 2016 

AllMusic.com - Best of 2016 

National Geographic - Best Photos of 2016

Android Central - Best Tech of 2016

NPR Music - Best Music of 2016 

Rolling Stone - 20 Best Lists of 2016

Life Hacker - 25 Best Movies of 2016 and Where to Watch Them 

Gamespot - Best TV Shows of 2016 

School Library Journal - Best Books of 2016 

Washington Post - 10 Best Books of 2016

Publisher's Weekly - 20 Best Books of 2016

New York Times Critics - Top Books of 2016

Techradar -  Best Phone 2016 - The Top 10 Smartphones We've Tested

Car and Driver -  Best Cars, Trucks, SUVs, and More For 2016 - Editors' Choice Awards

Beer and Brewing Magazine -  Best in Beer 2016: Readers' Choice & Editors' Picks

Winemag.com - Top 100 Best Buys 2016 

...and the list could go on and on and on....

So, you might ask how I found all these lists?  Great question.  Just type in the phrase 'best of 2016' in Google.  Make sure to put a topic after the 2016 - for example, 'best of 2016 movie' or 'best of 2016 newspaper writing' or 'best of 2016 scientific discovery'...you'll get dozens of results of which you'll have hours and hours of reading/viewing ahead of you.

Enjoy the sites and the links.  And, of course, Happy New Year!  Here's to a great 2017.

Regards,
Stu 

Long Island Hurricane History

Hi All,

Hurricane season is traditionally from June 1st to November 30th in the Northern Atlantic Ocean.  And now that the hurricane season has past - and now that we can breathe a bit easier....we can take a quick look-see at an interesting hurricane related website...Wikipedia has a great article to learn more about the Atlantic Hurricane season.

Click here for a table from Wikipedia which lists the number of hurricanes by year.  

But what's really interesting is the link to a site called Long Island Hurricane History.... the site has tables of powerful hurricanes, videos, a list of significant weather events (hurricanes, blizzards, strong wind storms, Nor'Easters, etc), satellite and radar imagery links, historical weather maps, evacuation roots, tidal surge maps and much more on the site.  Click on this link for more information about flood zones on Long Island...

Click here for a  list of hurricanes and nor'easters on Long Island.  Maximum strength, local impact of the event and the year of the event are listed in the table. Note that the table and the information come from Newsday.

Regards - and here's to having a moderately cool and somewhat snowy winter!

Stu



 

Help - Long Island 211

 Hi All,

Long Island 2-1-1 has, as its tagline, 'Get Connected, Get Answers' (Nassau and Suffolk Counties).  Boy does the site do that well - very well indeed. 

Essentially the mission of 2-1-1 Long Island is to provide all Long Islanders a comprehensive internet connection to human services on a day-to-day basis and in time of disaster.  2-1-1 Long Island is a free, non-emergency service that connects Long Island residents to health and human services they may need on a daily basis or during a disaster.

Available online, 2-1-1 Long Island provides users with detailed information on nearly 10,000 community resources for help and assistance in a range of areas.  Examples include:
•    job training opportunities
•    heating emergencies
•    financial or legal counseling
•    mortgage/rent assistance
•    health services
•    food assistance
•    substance abuse
•    education and training
•    child or elderly care 

The 2-1-1 database is managed by Middle Country Public Library and has been serving Long Island for many years, known as the Community Resource Database of Long Island.

Click here for a Directory of Services, here for Popular Searches, here for an FAQ, here to Contact 2-1-1, here for information on the Affordable Care Act, here for Health Emergency, here for Hurricane Sandy, here for Severe Weather and here for Transportation Issues.

Upon drilling down the site and finding a specific resource, users find general information about the service including a description of service, location and geographical area. Client information in the form of eligibility is included.  Contact information is provided in the form of names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, email (where available) and web address (where available).  Information about the time the material was last updated is included as well.

Finally, affiliated agencies, programs and services are listed at the bottom of the page...

Whew - what a comprehensive site for Long Island assistance on variety of topics!

Regards,
Stu

Body Mass Index Calculation

Hi All,

The Body Mass Index is a great way to figure out where you fall on the weight spectrum.  Basically the Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure of body fast based on height and weight. It applies to adult men and women - not children!

Click on this link and you'll go to a site from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute website.  You'll be able to enter your weight and height using standard or metric measures.  Click on 'compute BMI' and your BMI will appear below.

On the right side of the page you'll see BMI categories:
Underweight = <18 .5="" p="">Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
Overweight = 25.0-29.9
Obesity = BMI of 30.0 or greater

Users can also download the BMI calculator app on the site.

Click on these links for information on the limitations of the BMI, assessing your risk, controlling your weight and recipes to help you control your weight.

Hope the information helps and I hope the holidays don't torpedo your weight and health goals.

Regards,
Stu

Life Hacks part 2

Hi All,

Just a follow up on my last post that covered Life Hacks.  Users can type in the phrase 'life hacks' along with any other word in Google, Bing or any other search engine.

What you'll come up with is the particular topic you chose (cooking, cleaning, gardening, quilting, painting, photography, car repair, astronomy, fishing, etc...ANYTHING - and I mean any term can be used with the phrase 'life hack') and all sorts of 'hacks' that make that particular topic easier, faster, simpler, less-time consuming, more productive, less expensive, etc.

Its a great way to learn how to get things done faster, simpler and with less stress...
3 Examples:

holiday shopping life hacks - Google search results

holiday wrapping gifts - Google search results

cooking life hacks - Google search results

mortgage life hacks - Google search results

painting life hacks - Google search results

buying a house life hacks - Google search results

gardening life hacks - Google search results

You get the idea.....

Regards,

Stu

Hack the System

Hi All,

Many of us have heard the phrase 'to hack'...it's a computer term that means 'to modify (a computer program or electronic device) or write a program in a skillful or clever way. 

It also refers to a tip, trick or efficient method for doing or managing something - like hacking a chocolate chip cookie recipe...

In the context of this post though it refers to 'life hacks' that make your life easier' and problem free - or at least more problem free.

Click on this link from Lifehack.com to find an article titled '100 Life Hacks That Make Life Easier'.

From BoredPanda comes an article titled '40 Life Hacks That Will Change Your Life'. 

From 1000 Life Hacks comes an article titled (appropriately enough) '1000 Life Hacks'.

But wait...there's more. 

From TwistedSifter.com comes 'The 55 Most Useful Life Hacks Ever'.

And from James DIY on YouTube.com comes this 15 minute video titled '35 Amazing Life Hacks Everyone Should Know!'

Reddit has a whole set of Life Hack posts - check this link.

And, finally, Pinterest, everybody's favorite pinning board, comes this page of LifeHack pins.

Enjoy the links - hopefully they'll make your life simpler, easier and less stressful!

Regards,
Stu

Food Safety News

Hi All, 


I just came across a site called Food Safety News.  Link can be found by going here. 

And what exactly is Food Safety News? It is a daily news source for information about food recalls, food-borne illness outbreaks, food science, technology, food policy and more. Readers can use Food Safety News to be in the know about food safety.

There are links for Foodborne Illness Outbreaks, Food Recalls, For Foodies, Food Politics and a Directory (which lists businesses whose products and services contribute to the food supply safety net).  There is also a search box at the top right side of the homepage.  

Enjoy the site and the links - hopefully you won't need to use them!

Regards, 
Stu

Library and Reading Websites of Note...

Hi All,

Just a quick shout out to 20 Great Public Library websites link from MattAnderson.org...what an interesting way to display library sites!!!

From Reddit, click here for a link to Best Library Websites Wiki...

From Scribendi comes this link to The 16 Best Book Blogs to Read in 2016.

From the well-known source, Reader's Digest comes this link to 7 Websites For Book Lovers.

From a site called Popsugar comes this link to 10 of the Best Apps For Book-Lovers.

Enjoy the book links and the reading sites!

Stu

House Cleaning Tricks

Hi All,

Slow blog day today - as you'll see...but I did come up with an interesting idea for an entry.

Especially since the holiday season is right around the corner and we all (mostly) try to keep a neat/clean house....

From the PennyHoarder comes an article titled 13 Simple House Cleaning Hacks to Save You Time and Money.  Who knew that vinegar and onions and rubbing alcohol were so useful!

From the traditional publication GoodHousekeeping comes this article - 50 Cleaning Tips and Tricks.

And from Listotic comes 55 Must-Read Cleaning Tips & Tricks.

And from WomansDay comes 30 Spring Cleaning Tips - Quick & Easy House Cleaning Ideas.

Finally, click on this link from MarthaStewart.com for an article titled 10 Clever Cleaning Tricks.

Enjoy the links and the article - and here's to keeping a cleaner, neater home in the future!  Cheers.

Regards,
Stu

Gizmo's Freeware

Hi All,

If users want to review and rate the best free software a good site to visit would be Gizmo's Freeware. 

Click on this 'About' link to learn more about Gizmo's Freeware....note that the site is composed of a non-commercial community of users and the site is staffed by volunteers.

The site has links for freeware on a multitude of topics including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Online Apps, eBooks and Resources.

For example, when a user chooses the Windows option listed above another page of options appears.  All Windows desktop freeware is listed by category.  Some of the more relevant categories include Audio & Video, Cleanup & Tuning, Disk & File, Games, Photos & Graphics and Security & Privacy.

Another click on the topic that is needed brings the user to another page.  This page has a narrative about the specific freeware in question.  Note that a time stamp is included in the article.  In addition, the author of the article is listed. The site gives users the ability to track particular author's articles - and view them.

The site is much different than PCWorld or Cnet since its focuses completely on freeware.  The other sites deal with news, video, How-To and have software downloads...

Enjoy the links!

Regards,
Stu

Periodic Table of the Elements, in Pictures and Words - NOT BORING

Hi All,

When you think of the Periodic Table of the Elements - if you think of it all that is... - you probably think of this chart.

Well think of that chart no more - unless of course you are in a high school chemistry class - in which case you darn well should think of this chart!!!!

Searching on the web earlier today, I found this Periodic Table of the Elements - only this time it is in Pictures and Words...which makes the whole darn chart much more approachable.  For example, check out Hydrogen (sun and stars) or Boron (sports equipment) or Sulfur (egg yolks)...and so on.

Basically the chart shows you what elements various natural objects and/or man-made object are made out of...talk about interesting. 

For example, did you know that airplanes are made out of aluminum? Or that toothpaste is made out flourine and that batteries are made out of lithium? Its true - check it out on the site!

Enjoy the links!

Regards,
Stu