Word of the Day From Merriam-Webster

Hi All,

Watch your words!  And mind your definitions!

All joking aside I just came across a very interesting and painlessly educational website from Merriam-Webster (the reputable source for dictionaries that you've probably used in the past)


This link takes you to the Word-of-the-Day (WOTD) part of the website. 

Readers can sign up for the WOTD by clicking on this link. When You sign up, you'll learn a new word every day because a new word will be delivered via email to your inbox!  How cool is that?

When you get a WOTD you will find a definition of the word at the top of the email.  In addition Merriam-Webster provides you with several examples of how the word is used in modern conversation or in current/relevant sentence. 

Finally, there is a section in the email titled 'Did you know?'  This gives the readers context of the WOTD and gives even more background and information for the word.

WOTD is a great way to increase your vocabulary in a non-stressful, educational and informal manner.  Its great stuff!

Enjoy the site and the new words you'll learn!

Regards,
Stu 

Johnny Lists

Hi All,

Bet you never heard of the site, 'Johnny Lists'.  Well, me neither, Until today. I did a search for 'daily surveys' using Google and on the second or third page 'Johnny Lists' came up. And so I investigated this little gem of a site.

So, what exactly is 'Johnny Lists' you ask? Good question.  Basically "these are lists - posted almost daily - to improve your life and your knowledge."  Interesting premise so I went further.

The first set of lists was '10 Websites You Should Bookmark' - which includes sites like Productchart.com (an interactive product comparison site), all-free-download.com (a download resource for designers), mealdb.com (best restaurants and cafes nearby), pizzacodes.com (coupon codes for your local pizza store) and scr.im (convert your email address to share safely and openly)

Another interesting list was titled, '8 Websites to Teach You Random Knowledge'.  With links like sporcle.com, mentalfloss.com, nowiknow.com and factoclock.com there's always something to learn on the site.

Titles of other lists include '7 Amazingly Unique Items To Help You Get Around', 'How to Control Your Temper', and '12 Free Things For Students' and many more.

Users can subscribe to Johnny Lists by email (click link),  find Johnny Lists Most Popular Posts to Date and look in a Johnny List archive that goes back to at least May 2014. 

Note that the archive is just a smaller version of the individual webpages.  It might sound odd, but its a very clever way to see many posts on one page.  Users can click on each page and the title of each page is easily seen.  Smart idea.

Finally, readers should note that Johnny Lists is pretty much a black and white interface.  No graphics and has a sparse look to it.  But - and this is a big but (but a good one) - the site is very user-friendly and intuitive to use.

Finally, readers can click on this link, to find books about lists in the library card catalog.  The subject of this search was 'organizing lists' and I narrowed down the results to items held in the Farmingdale Public Library circulating collection of material. 

Enjoy the links, the lists and the books!

Regards,
Stu

Things You Didn't Know

Hi All,

Just did a super quick, down and dirty search for the phrase 'things you didn't know'.

And wouldn't you know it...I found a mess load of interesting, useful, and very accessible links to share with you.

For example, if you click on this link from Discover Magazine you'll find a list of 'Things You Didn't Know (TYDK) on topics as varied as dogs, water, viruses, nanotechnology, light, mosquitos, penciles, and much more. Neat stuff.

Click on this link from Time Magazine entitled, 'Top 10 Things You Didn't Know About Money'. This article is definitely worth its weight in gold! :)

From a website called Robinsweb, comes this entry entitled, 'Strange Things You Likely Didn't Know'. Interesting little tidbits that's for sure - think of them as 'knowledge nuggets'.

From Cracked.com comes this article entitled, '6 Important Things You Didn't Know We're Running Out Of'. Did you know that we are running out of chocolate? Uh oh...better run to the store and pick up a bar of Hershey's dark chocolate! Yum. Click on this link to see what else we are running out of!!!

And finally, click on this link - from Merriam-Webster - for 'Words For Things You Didn't Know Have Names'. It comes from Merriam-Webster a noted dictionary publisher so the information is reliable and current and unbiased - good stuff!

Okay, I promise, this will be the last link and comment in todays' blog entry. Click on this link to find books that the Farmingdale Public Library owns on the topic of 'curiosities and wonders'. The link comes from the library card catalog and I sorted it chronologically so the most current books appear at the top of the list. Older titles appear toward the bottom of the list!

Enjoy the links and the books - and think of the things you'll learn from todays' entry!

Good stuff!
Stu