Parents and teachers, are you looking for new ways to entertain and educate children? I recently came across FunBrain, a sister site of FactMonster and InfoPlease, that offers a variety of fun activities for grade levels K-8. Children can choose from a variety of interactive games, MadLibs (yay, MadLibs are still around!), web books and web comics, and other resources to improve reading and math skills. Not only is there a wealth of tools for children, FunBrain has teacher resources as well.Teachers can find games that best match a desired grade level or subject to make teaching fun!
You can find other useful sources on our Kids' Page too. Happy hunting & learning this new school year!
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The library has a lot of great horror novels, but books are not the only place you can find a great horror story! I was poking around through my bookmarks last night when I came across a few online horror sites I hadn't looked at in a while. The first one I came across was The Dionaea House. This is a piece of online fiction that incorporates several blogs to tell a frightening story of a house that has the ability to appear in multiple cities, change its interior, and make its inhabitants disappear. I made the mistake of reading this late at night some years ago--you were warned.
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The Denver Post Photo Blog has an amazing set of photos - Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943 - from the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. They are reproductions from color slides taken by the US Farm Security Administration from 1939-1943. The photos are from all over the country, including some from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. I think my favorite photo from the set is a real life "Rosie the Riviter," I love how her face is mirrored in the side of the "Vengeance" dive bomber.
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Searching the web has gotten a lot more creative with StumbleUpon. Create a free account and as you search the web rating different sites, StumbleUpon delivers back you to you the websites it thinks are mostly closely related to your needs and wants. The more you rate websites that you visit, the better results StubleUpon can devliver back to you. Go ahead, try it!
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 In addition to our free of charge databases, the library also has a listing of Genealogy websites. By dragging your mouse over the Websites tab on our homepage, you'll see a listing for Genealogy. When you click on Genealogy, you'll see the following list:
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Thanks to a favorite blog of mine, Man Made DIY, I learned about Ransom Note Generator. This generator is a basic site that allows you to enter in a phrase and will generate your phrase with random letters! So if you're ever interested in making a ransom note or send a creative note to show off your techy skills, use this site!
Also, Man Made DIY is an interesting site to follow for tutorials on neat and unique crafts. They also post about inspirational sources, neat videos, and products. Some tutorials are simple, others are complex; but this site has never ceased to entertain (and educate) me!
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A major perk of the internet is the wealth of sites that offer tools that you can use at no cost! For folks who have photographs that are a bit on the drab side or would like to play with, consider BeFunky, a website that allows you to add artistic elements to your photographs.
If making your photos cool(er) isn't enough, BeFunky recently added editing tools! Here are a couple samples I used with BeFunky's Photo Effects on a black & white photo I took in Denton, TX.
Here is the original:
Pinhole Effect:
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Check out these websites for potential free Kids meals. Remember, buyer beware! Or, more specifically, call before you visit to verify that the restaurant in question is still honoring the advertised deals or verify the rules for getting the free meals.
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GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. Now, I now what you're thinking..."huh?". I had the same reponse, and I'll admit I had to look up the meaning of GNU (a computer operating system comprised entirely of free software). Basically, this means that GIMP, despite it's rather unfortunate name, is a super-duper, Photoshop like, photo editing software that is completely free. That's right, free!
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Interested in urban legends? Ever wondered if Mikey from the Life cereal commercials really died from eating Pop Rocks with Diet Coke (False)? Concerned a friend or loved one is getting taken in by a 419 scam (True)? Snopes.com has been around for ages and is one of the better urban legend sites out there. When I taught basic computer classes, one concern my students had was how they could identify email scams and protect themselves from fraud. I still recommend this site to new email users as a reference if they receive any suspicious email. The "Inboxer Rebellion" and "Frauds and Scams" sections are two of the most useful, but the other categories are fun to look through too!
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