Ranker - Vote On Everything

Hi All,

A few days ago I came across a website called Ranker.  The site bills itself as a place for people to 'vote on everything'. 

What exactly is Ranker you ask? Good question, it is a leading digital media company for opinion-based, crowdsourced rankings on just about everything. They advertise that about 50 million people have generated over 300 million votes.

Okay..that all said here's the meat of the site.  They have dozens of lists (ranks) on topics like 'people', 'entertainment', 'sports', 'culture', 'channels' and 'videos'..

Typing in a phrase in the search box at the top right of the screen results in a list of results related to the search.  Lists with the most number of votes are ranked at the top of the screen.

For example, a search for 'puppies' and a list of 'The Cutest Mixed Dog Breeds' appears.   Other lists included 'Cutest Black Lab Pictures' and 'Cutest Boy Puppy Names'.  Pictures appear in each list and a brief narrative is included as well.

The number of votes that the pictures received is listed as well. 

Check out the site for some very entertaining and enlightening lists!

Enjoy the site!

Regards,
Stu










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Finding Government Websites

Hi All,  

Just what you wanted to wake up to on a Monday morning!  Government websites!  How cool is that?

Welcome back to the week - and to start out we have an interesting site titled, 'GovEngine.com'. 

Basically the site is a directory of United States federal, state and local government websites. Also included are links to official executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.

The homepage has links to Federal Courts, State Government, State Courts, Local Government and other state and federal government resources. 

The site is easy to navigate, simple to use and has a nice interface.  

Regards, 
Stu

Hi All,

Do you need to enhance your academic and workforce skills?  Are you looking for a better job or looking to get a better education?

Then LIEOC might be for you.  LIEOC is an acronym for 'Long Island Eucational Opportunity Center'.  The LIEOC offers free academic and workforce development .  They provide these services to elegible members of the community.

Specifically, LIEOC is sponsored by the the State University of New York and Farmingdale State College.  It helps eligible members of the community enhance the academic and workforce development skills they need to become self-sufficient, empowered and committed to excellent. LIEOC provides a range of programs and services adapted to the needs of adult learners and the demands of the private and public sectors.  

There are three LIEOC units on Long Island - Brentwood, Farmingdale and Hempstead.   LIEOC offers free Microsoft certification classes at the Brentwood and Hempstead locations. 

Hope the site is useful and helpful.

Regards,
Stu

IRS Assistance For Your Taxes

Hi All,

A new year has started -heck, we're one month into it already!  Which means...no, not that the SuperBowl is almost upon us.  No, it doesn't mean that March Madness (college basketball tournament) is upon us either...

It means that taxes are due in a few months - April 15th to be exact.  And that is just about 77 days away - that's 11 weeks.  So it is about time to get started on those tax returns.  But we have help for you today in the form of a few IRS links!

Click on this link to access the IRS Publication 17 from their website. Specifically Publication 17 covers the general rules for filing a federal income tax return. It explains the tax law to make sure someone pays only the tax they owe and no more.

Another helpful link the IRS has generated is the ITA - which stands for Interactive Tax Assistant.  Click here to use the ITA.

So just exactly what is the ITA?  Basically it provides answers to several tax law questions. The ITA includes question-and-answer session for a variety of topics. Users simply respond to basic questions to find the answers they need. Topics include:

• Do I Need to File a Tax Return?
• Who Can I Claim as a Dependent?
• How Much Is My Standard Deduction?
• What Is My Filing Status?
• Am I Eligible to Claim an Education Credit?

Finally, the IRS has created a link for taxpayers to find out where their refund is.  Click on this link to find out where your refund is!

So there you have it - three very, very useful IRS link to assist you with your taxes.

Hope this helps with your 2017 tax return!

Regards,
Stu

Local Farmingdale News - At Your Fingertips

Hi All,

Farmingdale is known for many things: Grumman, Republic Aviation, the Farmingdale Public Library, Farmingdale State College (remember the Aggie school?), Mile-a-Minute Murphy, Bethpage State Park and much more. 

Which, of course, means there is plenty of history and news relating to Farmingdale.

For a timely, unbiased, current, interesting and well written site that covers the ins-and-outs of Farmingdale...check out the Farmingdale Patch.  Click on this link to learn a bit more about Patch.com - basically its the Patch FAQ. 

The Farmingdale Patch has a wide variety of sections relating to Farmingdale: including a section on Arts and Entertainment,  Business, Community Corner, Health and Fitness, Home/Garden, Jobs, Kids/Family, Politics/Government, Schools, Sports and Weather.

As you can see and read; the Farmingdale Patch has Farmingdale very well covered.

Enjoy the site and the news!

Regards,
Stu

Fact Checking Websites For News

 Hi All,

Just a quickie email to get you all caught up on various sites to help you fact check your news, current events and websites. 

Media Bias/Fact Check bills itself as the most comprehensive media bias resource.  This article has a list of the 10 best fact checking sites. 

Sites that they cover include Politifact, Fact Check, Open Secrets, Snopes, Sunlight Foundation, Poynter Institute, Flack Check, Truth or Fiction, Hoax Slayer and Fact Checker by the Washington Post.

Click here for a very timely, interesting and useful article from Wikipedia discussing the phrase 'fact checking'.

Enjoy the links and the sites!

Regards,
Stu

Internet Archive/Wayback Machine

Hi All,

Welcome to the past!  Or, the past is prologue. Whatever the case is, readers might want to visit a site called the Internet Archive.  It is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and more.  Or at least that's what the 'official' Internet Archive' blurb says it does. 

The Internet Archive/Wayback Machine indexes over 310 billion (yes, billion) webpages over time!!!

Users can use a particular part of the site called the 'Wayback Machine' to see what a particular website looked like at a specific date in time.  Type in a website address and up comes a timeline of the specific dates which you can see what the site looked like.  Check out some of the popular sites like Yahoo, Google or Newsday from one year ago, 5 years ago and then, if available, 10 years ago. 

It'll be absolutely clear to you that sites change and are made more user friendly over time!

The Internet Archive basically works using a spider to index a site in the past. The Internet Archive then saves the site so users can view it using the Wayback Machine.  Links on the original site do sometimes work - but the link does not go to current links.   Remember, this is just a snapshot in time of a  particular website.  Also, finding images on a page like Yahoo News can be hit or miss...

For more information on how the site actually indexes webpages, click on this Archive.org FAQ. 

For more information about the Internet Archive in general, click on this link to the FAQ.

Enjoy the links and the site and the 'older' internet!

Regards,
Stu

New 'Things' In 2018

 Hi All,

We are ten days in to the new year and there are plenty of new things going on in the world! 

In business, technology, fashion, sports, personal growth, culturally and more!  So, in instead of listing these new 'things',  a list of 'new' 'stuff follows.

Enjoy the links!

Regards,
Stu

CNN World - 18 Things To Look Forward to in 2018

New York Post - 18 Crazy Things That Will Happen in 2018

Insider -  20 Things We're Looking Forward to in 2018

Elitedaily - 7 New Things to Try in 2018 So You Have the Best Year Ever 

Business Insider - The Most Important Things That Will Happen in Tech in 2018

USAToday - Five Coolest Things We've Seen So Far at CES 2018 

USWeekly -  Things We're Excited For in 2018

New York Times - How to Do Things Better in 2018

Forbes -  Top 10 Trends For Digital Transformation in 2018

Curbed New York - 18 Things New Yorkers Can Look Forward to in 2018

Daily Record - In 2018 We Should Embrace the New, Try Things That Challenge Us, and Good Things May Well Follow