Old Farmer's Almanac

Hi All,

The Old Farmer's Almanac.  It's old - the first issue was published way back in 1792! And it is an almanac!  Click on this link to visit the The Old Farmer's Almanac website.

So, what does the site include you ask?  It has lots of juicy nuggets on topics as varies as tide tables, sunrise/sunset charts, recipes, forecasts and much, much more.

Click on the following links to learn more about TOFA take on that topic: Weather, Astronomy, Gardening, Calendar, Food, and Advice.

Best known for its weather advice and forecasts, the link to Weather enables users to enter a location by city, state or zip code. 

A four day weather forecast is also shown.  But wait, there's more! Complete 7 day weather forecasts are available as if the long range weather forecast.   Weather history is available - which is a rarity on the web these days.

Long Range weather information is available for various regions around the United States.  For example,  the weather report for the Atlantic Corridor can be found here.

Free newsletters are also available from the TOFA. Topics include the Almanac Weekly Companion, The Almanac.com General Store, Almanac Recipe Box  and the Great Almanac Giveaway. 

The TOFA Gardening link has a myriad of links and vital information for gardeners of all stripes.  For example there is a gardening question of the day, a planting calendar, a link to gardening articles, growing guides to vegetables and more, a section on garden pests and disease and links to gardening for beginners.  

What a site - now we know why The Old Farmer's Almanac has been around since 1792.  Its filled with useful, timely information!

Enjoy the site.

Regards,
Stu

Khan Academy - Educational site for Students

Hi All,

You might have heard about it, or read about it...its a very valuable, free, educational website for students from 1st grade to college!  What is it you ask?

Khan Academy. Khan Academy's mission is to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.  Now that's a broad, ambitious goal...but check out the site and the various topics they cover.  You'll be impressed with the coverage and broad array of topics available for study.

Subjects covered at the Khan Academy include Math, Science, Economics/Finance, Arts/Humanities, Computing, Tes Preparation, College Admissions and Coach resources. But wait, there's more.  Subjects are available for students from Kindergarten all the way up to the college level. 

Specific topics run the gamut of geometry, algebra, calculus, linear algebra, microeconomics, biology, chemistry, physics, art history basics, computer programming, SAT, MCAT, GMAT preparation and much,much more. 

Once users sign on to the site and choose the topic they navigate there way to videos that will explain the topic or the problem(s) that they are interested in.   Also, community questions are available for students to review and question answers are readily available for students.

More than likely, users will get the best possible experience from the Khan Academy by logging in and creating a free account. ,

Khan Academy partners include Dartmough College, The Aspen Institute, MIT+K12, NASA, The Brookings Institution, Pixar in a Box and NOVA Labs. 

Finally, for more information, click on this link for the Khan Academy blog.

Enjoy the site - and I hope it helps you to get better grades in school!

Regards,
Stu

600....Posts

Hi All,

And for the 600th time I'm posting a new, interesting, enlightening, rewarding, educational, fun, insightful, eye-opening blog entry on this blog, Reference and You.

Wow - 600.  That's a big number.  For anything. Very few people work 600 days in a row.  Most baseball players don't get to the plate 600 times in a baseball season.  Its virtually unheard of to make $600/hour - unless you are an attorney, doctor, actor or athlete. 

Anyway, in honor of this, the 600th blog post, I'll discuss the significance of the number 600 in various fields and subjects of human endeavor!

In world history the following events occurred (roughly - it was a long time ago you know so dates might be a bit skewed): Venice continues as an independent realm...King Ingvar of Sweden invades Estonia but is killed by locals...Persians use windmills for irrigation. Pope Gregory the Great decreed 'God bless You' as the religiously correct response to a sneeze. Bhaskara I was born in India.

The number 600 has many different meanings in popular culture....

The New York Lottery has a game called Quick $600.

There is a Qualcomm processor called the Snapdragon 600...its really fast!

XTI Aircraft has a new type of plane - called te TriFan 600.  Very cool.

Local 600 is the International Cinematographers Guild.

There is a website called 600milliondogs.org - which claims to help find a cure for animal overpopulation.

S&P SmallCap 600 refers to an index of stocks by the Standard & Poor's.

WICC 600 is an AM radio station based in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Applebees has a menu for items that are under 600 calories.

The Coca-Cola 600 is a Sprint Cup series race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

and finally, how can I NOT end this post with this link...

600 Acres - a blog about cookies, food and well, the more wholesome things in life!

Enjoy the links.

Regards,
Stu

Fonts, Reading and Printing

Hi All,

Just a quickie post about fonts today.  What?  Yep - fonts.  Click on this link which goes to Google Fonts - which can be downloaded and use repeatedly.

Click here for a brief background about Google Fonts. 

Click this link to find the Google Fonts blog...

Users can preview how the text looks with the new font that they choose - just use the preview text box at the top of the page.  As a matter of fact, users can preview the text with just a single word, a single sentence, a paragraph or even a poster.

There are lots of customizable features. For example, users can:
1. Change the size of the font,
2. Sort the various fonts to choose from by popularity, date added to Google Fonts and which fonts are trending on Google Fonts. 
3.Fonts are customizable base on thickness, slant, width.
4. Scripts can also be change by language.  For example, Arabic, Greek, Latin and Thai among others can be used to see how the font looks using a different character set.
5. Finally uses can find still more scripts by clicking on this link.
6. Users can synchronize Google Fonts to their computer Desktop with SkyFonts.  Use this link to get more information on how to install Skyfonts and to browse Google Fonts.

Enjoy the site and the blog - here's to sprucing up the type-face in your document and on the web!

Regards,
Stu

Hi All,

Ten Things...if someone gave you an important list of '10 things' once a month for a long time, how much do you think you would learn?  Exactly!  You'd be a fountain of knowledge!  You'd have the inside scoop on a wide variety of topics!

But where can you find something like this?  Can you find it in a newspaper, magazine, book or on tv or the radio?  Probably so, but looking for this information would take time and effort.  And besides, life and all its vagaries gets in the way!

So just go to MarketWatch where you can see a whole slew of 'Ten Things' articles at a glance. It doesn't take much time - and certainly not much effort. 

Check out some of the titles of the entries - trust me - its good stuff. And useful and practical!

10 Things Marries Couples Won't Tell You 
10 Things Reporters Wont Tell You 
10 Things You Should Never Buy Again
10 Things Chipotle Wont Tell You 
10 Uncomfortable Truths About the Midlife Crisis
10 Things Telemarketers Won't Tell You
...and more...

Enjoy the insight from the articles - hope they make a difference in your everyday life and help you become more productive!

Regards,
Stu