New Year's Eve is Almost Here!

Hi All,

New Year's Eve is approaching quickly.  What better time to plan a party than now?  So...how do you create a great New Year's Eve celebration for you and your friends and family?  Read on and learn how to create the party of all parties this year!

WikiHow - How to Throw a New Year's Eve Party

Real Simple - How to Throw the Easiest New Year's Eve Party Ever

UK Mirror - New Year's Eve Party Ideas - Decorate, Eat, Drink and Games

MoneyTalksNews - 10 Tips For Throwing a Great, Cheap New Year's Eve Party

Pinterest - New Year's Eve Party Ideas (with lots of pictures)

Money Crashers - 11 Fun New Year's Eve Party Ideas for Food, Games and Decorations

Penny Hoarder - Step-by-Step Guide to Throwing a Rockin' New Year's Eve Party on the Cheap

Food Network - How to Throw a Family Friendly New Year's Eve Party

HGTV - Host a Sparkling New Year's Eve Party

Delish.com -  29 Crazy Delish Cocktails to Make With Champagne


So there you have it - a start to help you make this New Year's Eve a night you won't soon forget!

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

Fun at the Library?

Hi All,

Fun at the library?  You bet!  Read on. (A list of fun things to do in the library...)

1000+ images about Library fun and ideas on Pinterest.

Fun activities @ you library! 

8 awesome ways libraries are making learning fun 

LibraryGames.com - making libraries fun!

Fun websites - Broome County Public Library

Fun and games at the library

Games for kids - Monroe County Public Library

Free to play games in Steam library

Games - NYPL Kids

Library Learning Games - Media Center

Enjoy the links.

Regards,
Stu

Keeping the Kids Safe When They are Online

Hi All,

The world has changed - that's for sure.  Now kids can access the internet from not just a desktop computer, but from a smartphone, tablet or even a laptop.  And, of course, they can get to the web via the 'traditional' desktop computer.  The web is everywhere - its ubiquitous!

So how do you keep kids safe when they are online?  Great question - here are some steps and some sites to help you keep the kids safe when they use the computer and the internet.

This interactive site (called Kidsmart) offers videos, tips, activities, and ideas that teach kids to be smart and be safe online. Categories such as file sharing, social networking, games, chat, safe searching, digital footprints, and competitions allow kids to learn more about the areas they use most often.  Notice the tabs at the top of the homepage for 'I work with kids', 'I have kids' and 'contact'...

PCMag had an article titled 'Keep Your Child Safe Online' back from 2011.  The article still has decent content and is helpful for parents and educators.

PCWorld (a competitor to PCMag) had an article called 'How to Child-Proof the Internet'. Its a bit more current, but again, is a decent starting point for parents.

Even the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has gotten into the act of child safety on the internet with this link. 

This comprehensive site has links to Cyberbullying, Talking to Your Kids about Being Online, Kids and Computer Security, Kids/Mobile Phones and Kids/Socializing Online, Kids and Virtual Worlds and, finally, Kids and Texting/Sexting. It is a central repository for lots of valuable (and useful) information for parents whose kids use the internet!

Enjoy the links and the sites.

Regards,
Stu

Friday Fun Time!

Hi All,

Just wanted to kick off the weekend with a fun post. Click on this link for the 'Top 15 Most Popular Funny Websites'. Link came from Ebizmba and, as the website says, 'is constantly updated....the number is an average of each website's Alexa Global Traffic Rank and the US Traffic Rank from both Compete and Quantcast.

So...what are the most popular funny sites? Break, Cracked, CollegeHumor, VideoBash, Failblog, theOnion, eBaumsWorld and theCHIVE - among others!

Here's a brief summary of one of the sites: EBaumsWorld. Site has links to videos, pictures, games, audio, jokes, blogs and more. At the bottom of the page uses can find various categories are organized even more specifically. For example, under the heading of Video, users an find 'animated videos', 'hilarious videos', 'extreme videos'. 'cool videos', 'stand-up videos', WayBack WHENsday videos', and 'Fail videos'. Kind of fun stuff for what looks to be a rainy Saturday morning and early afternoon.

One last thing - click here to see some very funny flash mob videos - you'll enjoy them!

Enjoy!
Stu

G is For...

Hi All,

We are getting there....some time ago I started a series of blog posts in the same vein as Sue Grafton's series Kinsey Millhone wherein she titled each book 'A is for Alibi', 'B is for Burglar', 'C is for Corpse'....Click here for the link to the Kinsey Millhone series.

I'm doing the same think but with websites and links that I think blog readers might find useful and/or interesting.

Today we are up to the letter 'G'. Forthwith some neat sites that start with the letter 'G'. Enjoy!!!

Google - organizing the world's information - great search tool to find 'stuff'.

Gmail - email via Google - quick, easy and fast

Google Docs - Google's version of the Microsoft Office suite of software

Gawker - open bulletin boards and forums where users write the comments

Games - free games on a wide, huge and big number of topics! Word games, action games, puzzles and much, much more.

Guardian - UK newspaper - different viewpoints on world issues and current events since it is from the UK

Getty Images - photos, pictures and more from a huge repository

Gizmodo - info on technology, games, websites, software, hardware and much more...great stuff if you are a technology lover!

Enjoy the sites!
Stu