Birdwatchers Guide to Global Warming

This report, jointly produced by American Bird Conservancy and National Wildlife Federation gives an in-depth analysis of how global climate change may affect populations of some bird species. In addition to the main report, there is a supplement for each of the lower 48 U.S. States.

World AIDS Day 2007

December 1 is World AIDS Day, which reminds us of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the world’s health. In 2007, approximately 33.2 million people worldwide were living with HIV, and more than 2 million people died from AIDS. In the U.S., an estimated 1 million persons are living with HIV; of these, approximately 25 percent are unaware of their HIV infection and at risk for infecting others.

Prevalence of Obesity in the U.S. 1985 - 2005

Center for Disease Control interactive map shows the growth of obesity in the U.S. between the years 1985 and 2005 by state and nation as a whole.

Vernor Vinge's Brilliant "Rainbows End" Available As a Free Download

The full text of Rainbows End, a 2007 Hugo Award winning novel by Vernor Vinge is now available online for free. The book is set in San Diego in the year 2025.

Read Rainbows End.

New NEA study links declining reading habits with declining test scores

"The new NEA study is the first to bring together reliable, nationally representative data, including everything the federal government knows about reading," said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. "This study shows the startling declines, in how much and how well Americans read, that are adversely affecting this country's culture, economy, and civic life as well as our children's educational achievement."

Read the full report " To Read or Not to Read".

Taylor's Death a Grim Reminder For Us All

"There's a reason I call them the Black KKK. The pain, the fear and the destruction are all the same.

Someone who loved Sean Taylor is crying right now. The life they knew has been destroyed, an 18-month-old baby lost her father, and, if you're a black man living in America, you've been reminded once again that your life is in constant jeopardy of violent death." -- Jason Whitlock (Fox Sports on MSN)

Research Links Media Violence with Real World Violence

"Exposure to electronic media violence increases the risk of both children and adults behaving aggressively in the short-run and of children behaving aggressively in the long-run. It increases the risk significantly, and it increases it as much as many other factors that are considered public health threats." -- Journal of Adolescent Health: The Impact of Electronic Media Violence: Scientific Theory and Research

Liquid and Art Droplet Photography

Amazing high speed photos of liquids and art droplet photography provided by the folks at Dark Roasted Blend.

Find Public Restrooms Near Your Current Location

Bathroom Finder lets you find local public restrooms by zip code or city/state.

NBCC Monthly Best Recommended List

The National Book Critics Circle has announced the creation of a monthly "Best Recommended List". The list is compiled by polling the nearly 800 members of the NBCC, as well as all the former finalists and winners of the NBCC book prize. The list includes works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

A Big List of Sites That Teach You How to Do Stuff

"With all due respect to Kevin Smith, the web is no longer only for complaining about movies. In fact, there are a large number of very helpful sites that teach you how to do things. These are do-it-yourself sites, but we're not talking about building a deck or baking a cake -- the web is full of more general interest sites that give quality instruction on all sorts of fun and useful projects. Including, sometimes, how to build a deck or bake a cake." -- Josh Cantone (Read/WriteWeb)

sclipo: Broadcast Your Skills

Sclipo is a social network for sharing knowledge and teaching through video and webcam. At Sclipo, you can upload as many skills-videos (tutorials, how-tos, lectures, etc.) as you want and share them through your own Academy with friends, family and people anywhere.

Seeqpod: Google for Music

Seeqpod is a music search engine that has an index of 8 million individual songs, auto-spell checks queries to find common misspellings, and allows users to create playlists. Seeqpod also has embeddable players, and will try to find music videos of songs you are playing.

Definr: Incredibly Fast Dictionary

Definr.com is a fast, free dictionary based on Princeton's open WordNet 2.0.

Simple Weather

"SimpleWeather.com is an easy-to-use, no nonsense weather site. We give you exactly what you're looking for: the weather. No portals, maps, crazy geo stuff, or travel forecasts. SimpleWeather is designed to be extremely helpful and fast. Our goal is to provide you the weather as easily and quickly as possible. We like to keep it, well, simple. "

Try it, you'll like it.

Increase Your Vocabulary and Help End World Hunger

"FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com.
FreeRice has two goals:
Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free."

For each word you get right, [Free Rice] donate[s] 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary Online

When you know what something looks like but not what it’s called, or when you know the word but can’t picture the object, The Visual Dictionary has the answer. In a quick look, you can match the word to the image.

Online Vintage Toy Encyclopedia

A good resource for those interested in vintage toys.

Google Launches Major Green Initiative

Google today announced a new strategic initiative to develop electricity from renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than electricity produced from coal. The newly created initiative, known as RE<C will focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential breakthrough technologies. RE<C is hiring engineers and energy experts to lead its research and development work, which will begin with a significant effort on solar thermal technology, and will also investigate enhanced geothermal systems and other areas.

10 Hot Computer Driven Careers

"The traditional IT careers will probably stay in-demand for the foreseeable future, but don't forget the alternatives. There are many enjoyable and high-demand applied careers that involve computer skills. And new and interesting variations of computer jobs emerge every year." -- ComputerMajors.com

Online Library Gives Readers Access to 1.5 Million Books

The Million Book Project, an international venture led by Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, Zhejiang University in China, the Indian Institute of Science in India and the Library at Alexandria in Egypt, has completed the digitization of more than 1.5 million books, which are now available online through the Universal Digital Library portal.

The Future of Reading

Newsweek's take on the Amazon Kindle and the future of reading.

Amazon Kindle vs. Sony eReader

Gizmodo compares the physical traits of the second-gen Sony Reader and the all-new Amazon Kindle.

Sierra Club Lists Top 10 Green Campuses

Many young people see environmental problems -- especially global warming -- as the moral challenge of their generation. And a lot of colleges and universities have responded by pledging to become carbon neutral and taking other environmentally responsible steps. But whether you're a bright-eyed freshman or a grizzled alumnus, you might wonder how your school stacks up. Sierra magazine recently looked at the nation's colleges and picked ten schools that do it right, based on everything from clean-energy purchases and green-building policies to bike facilities and dorm food.

Kremlin officials lament nation’s growing contempt for literature

The Soviet Union was once the best-read country in the world, but these days Russians prefer reality TV.

New York Times:

100 Notable Books of 2007

NYT list of the 100 best books of 2007. This list will run in the Dec. 2 print edition of the NYT Book Review.

Techsmith offers free Camtasia Studio download

"The company is offering its popular Camtasia Studio software up as a free download. The screencasting software currently sells for $300. But there is one small catch. The most recent version of Camtasia Studio is Camtasia 5, while the version available for free download is Camtasia 3. That means a few of the newer features will not be available. Nonetheless, it's free and upgradable to version 5 for half price if you choose. " -- downloadsquad

Americans Reading Books Less

The latest National Endowment for the Arts report draws on a variety of sources, public and private, and essentially reaches one conclusion: Americans are reading less.

The 99-page study, "To Read or Not to Read," is being released Monday as a follow-up to a 2004 NEA survey, "Reading at Risk," that found an increasing number of adult Americans were not even reading one book a year.

Read the Report.

Amazon Kindle ebook reader Released

At 10.3 ounces, Kindle is lighter and thinner than typical paperbacks, and fits easily in one hand. Its built-in memory stores hundreds of titles. An optional SD memory card lets you hold even more. For instance, a 256MB SD memory card holds over 300 titles. From Melville to Morrison, your favorite authors can always be with you.

In addition, a copy of every book you purchase is backed up online in Your Media Library in case you ever need to download it again. This allows you to make room for new titles on your device, knowing that Amazon is storing your personal library, which can always be re-downloaded wirelessly. Think of it as a bookshelf in your attic—even though you don't see it, you know your books are there.

Haunted Libraries: the complete list

Like other public buildings that have seen long years of human activity, some libraries are allegedly haunted by the ghosts of former staff, patrons, or other residents. Most often the manifestations involve odd noises, cold spots, or objects moved; other times a visual apparition is reported. In many cases, phenomena can be attributed to the sights, the sounds, and the aura of a historic building.

Top 10 Free Video Rippers, Encoders and Converters

Lifehacker lists the top ten free video rippers, encoders, and converters available today.

NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing.

Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Sign-ups begin October 1, 2007. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.