Environmental Working Group.

Environmental Working Group is the nation’s most effective environmental health research and advocacy organization.  Our mission is to conduct original, game-changing research that inspires people, businesses and governments to take action to protect human health and the environment.

The story of EWG 

With your help -- and with the help of hundreds of organizations with whom we partner -- we are creating a healthier and cleaner environment for the next generation and beyond.


Recommended in ALA's February 2014 issue of Choice.
"Main sections of the site are accessible via tabs across the top of each page; they include News, Key Issues, Research, and Consumer Guides. The Key Issues tab is divided by topic, e.g., Consumer Products, Energy, Farming, Food, and Toxics. The Research section features reports on EWG research on a variety of topics, with recent ones focusing on endocrine disruptors and endangered wetlands. These reports, which can be downloaded in PDF format, are thorough, with clearly outlined methodology, abundant data, and necessary references to reputable sources.

Computer Desktop Encyclopedia

The Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, from the Computer Language Company,  founded in 1978 by husband-wife team Alan Freedman and Irma Morrison.

When Freedman couldn't find a computer dictionary that would meaningfully augment the computer literacy classes he taught to Fortune 500 companies, he set out on a quest to purchase his first computer and write this "glaringly missing" reference. The year 1980 was explosive for personal computers, and buzzwords were everywhere. The self-published 300-term, 60-page The Computer Glossary was a huge success in hundreds of seminars. Within a few years, writing the dictionary became a full-time job, and after 30 years, 300 terms grew to more than 25,000.
Although Freedman writes all the definitions in CDE, many outstanding professionals have provided technical assistance. Every major company in the industry has contributed to CDE and continues to do so. Channeled into print by one person, CDE is a collaboration of the best minds in the field.

Highly Recommended in ALA's Feb 2014 issue of Choice

10 Crazy Examples of Horrible Movie Science

Jessica Toothman, 10 Examples
If there's one thing that crops up again and again as the Achilles' heel of Hollywood writers, it's science. Or, to be clear, accurate science. There's no shortage of go-to ideas for crippling a spaceship, say with a physically impossible conflagration bright enough to burn your retinas and loud enough to shred your eardrums to confetti. And there are also crafty (but still impossible) ways to save that same ship, like by blowing it right past the speed of light or shooting it through a wormhole created with a torpedo and some cinema magic.

For moviegoers, it basically boils down to this: The general population enjoys the spectacle of action-packed scripts. The scientific community wants to see the world in a way that's at least marginally believable, without any huge infractions against the basic rules of physics, math, biology and chemistry.

We can't undo all the factual wrongs in these movies, but we can explain just how preposterous they are in these 10 examples: Titanic, Star Wars, Transformers, The Day After Tomorrow, War of the Worlds, X-Men, Armageddon, Independence Day, Star Trek, and Spaceballs.
Continue reading . . . 
Jessica Toothman, HowStuffWorks.com, Oct 19, 2012

Ancient History, from History.com

History.com/topics -  Today's civilizations owe an immense debt to the powerful empires and mighty cities of antiquity. Their inventions, techniques and concepts enabled the advancement of humankind and lay the foundation for life in the modern world.

From the literary legacy of ancient Greece to the majestic pyramids of the Maya, vestiges of their greatness still grace the globe, continuing to enthrall, inspire and mystify us.

Thousands of years after these ancient cultures' declines, historians, archaeologists and other scholars of the distant past spend entire careers striving to unlock their secrets and walk in the footsteps of the people who created them.

Explore related articles on events including the Punic Wars, the Peloponnesian War, the Battle of Marathon, and the Trojan War.

Other topics include Cleopatra, Tukankhamen, Julius Caesar, Caligula, Spartans, Hannibal and Leonidas.

Need to delete an account? Account Killer ! ! !

Do you care about your personal data? We provide instructions to remove your account or public profile on most popular websites, including Skype, Facebook, Windows Live, Hotmail / Live, Twitter, MSN / Messenger, Google and many more.
Want to create an account somewhere? Check our Blacklist first to see if it's even possible to remove your profile!

AccountKiller Details How to Delete Your Account from Nearly Any Web Site
Web site AccountKiller offers clear and simple instructions for deleting online accounts at all the most popular sites—and with deletion instructions for over 150 sites, some less popular sites, as well.

Not all web sites make it easy for users to delete their accounts, and some make nearly impossible without diving deep into help documentation or emailing support. AccountKiller is one stop to help you kill an account on any site. Just visit the homepage, type the name of the service you want to vanish from, and follow their instructions. http://lifehacker.com/5810754/accountkiller-tells-you-how-to-delete-your-accounts-from-nearly-any-web-site

PC Magazine: How to delete an account from any website 6/9/2011
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2386458,00.asp

New York Times: Breaking up is hard to do, April 17, 2013
www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/technology/personaltech/how-to-sever-ties-to-social-networks-and-other-web-sites.html

College Reality Check

About College Reality Check

College Reality Check is produced by The Chronicle of Higher Education with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The goal of the Web site is to share facts and figures that students, parents, and counselors should weigh in making decisions about college.

These factors, often overlooked, include colleges’ graduation rates and net price, how much it will take each month to pay off student loans, and how much a graduate might potentially earn.

The tool is designed in a visually stimulating way to make absorbing the numbers easy and allow for quick comparisons among colleges.

Our hope is that you will use the site at various points on the journey to college, to help you build that initial list or narrow your final choices. As you find your own stories in the statistics, we urge you to share them with others through the tools we have provided to download, print, or post on Facebook or Twitter.

Recommended in ALA's November 2013 issue of Choice.

2013's Biggest Tech Moments

Nicholas Gerbis,
HowStuffWorks.com.
Dec 9, 2013

It was the best of times for private projects; it was the worst of times for privacy. It was the age of robots and AI servants; it was the age of deadly drones. It was the epoch of augmented reality; it was the epoch of prying sensors. It was the season of private-sector space; it was the season of governmental Web site disgrace. It was the spring of 3-D printing; it was the winter of gaming consoles. The year 2013 was an epic tale of two techs, those that expanded to improve our lives and those that exceeded the boundaries of our preparedness and stretched our metaphors to the breaking point. So we hope that you and the National Security Agency analyst monitoring your Internet activity enjoy our picks for the year's 10 biggest trends and technologies. 1) 3-D Printing Expands in All Directions Almost 30 years after its 1984 debut, 3-D printing is busting out all over. The intervening progress has seen the technology develop from a narrow, specialized manufacturing gimmick to a revolutionary $2.7-billion industry [sources: Leckart; PC Magazine]. To take two extreme examples, bioprinters today can run off organics ranging from food to human tissue, while plans published online for 3-D-printed guns pose a challenge to existing gun laws and enforcement [source: Leckart]. 2) The NSA: No Strings Attached In June 2013, a series of documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden sparked an international debate over how much latitude to extend the NSA in its surveillance activities. It also raised questions concerning how deeply in bed American phone and Internet service providers have been with government agencies; although providers report being legally forced to cooperate and keep mum, some companies voluntarily entered into lucrative contracts to provide data to government agencies [sources: Savage; Schlesinger]. 2) Health Care for All, Six at a Time After 42 instances in which House Republicans voted to repeal, defund or otherwise undermine the Affordable Care Act -- culminating in a 16-day government shutdown -- it seemed the Obama administration could finally declare victory. There was just one problem: The $400-million enrollment system, HealthCare.gov, didn't work so well [sources: Cohen; Cohen Botelho and Yan; Dugan]. The downtime meant more than embarrassment; it represented a potential threat to Obamacare's economic foundation, which relies on enrollments to distribute risk and keep premiums down [sources: Pear, Lafraniere and Austen]. Adding insult to uninsured injury, three programmers threw together a more effective insurance Web site,HealthSherpa, in a matter of days. Although it lacks signup options and other HealthCare.gov services, many frustrated consumers have used it to narrow their options.  4) Commercial Space Pays Off With the space shuttle retired, the Constellation program dead and NASA's Space Launch System politically embattled, the low-orbit-trucking free-for-all is on, and private-sector space enterprises are rushing to fill the gap. And 2013 was a particularly good year. We saw two of the chief contenders -- SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp., both recipients of NASA funding under the Commercial Crew Initiative -- successfully complete testing and docking procedures with the International Space Station [sources: Achenbach; Kramer;MSNBC; NASA]. Read the complete article at http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/10-biggest-2013-tech-moments.htm

6) Google Glass One of the chief problems with wearable electronics -- whether it's Google Glass or a smart watch -- lies in overcoming the dork factor. Your device may pack revolutionary potential, but if it looks like something Geordi La Forge's sister would wear in wood shop, you're done for. Landing a 12-page feature in Vogue's September issue was a coup for Google Glass, but it will take more than fashionista props to overcome that form factor, or the silliness of that head-twitching interface [source: Bilton]. Of greater concern, however, are privacy and ethical issues raised by a wearable camera and augmented reality device. Someone has already developed an app that enables users to take pictures by winking, and Lambda Labs is developing a facial recognition app [sources: Greenfield; Vaas]. Some states and municipalities have considered making the devices illegal. A woman in California has already been ticketed for driving while wearing a pair, under a "driving while monitor visible to driver" law [source: Abad-Santos].

First Monday: peer–reviewed journal on the Internet about the Internet

First Monday is one of the first openly accessible, peer–reviewed journals on the Internet, solely devoted to the Internet. Since its start in May 1996, First Monday has published 1,339 papers in 212 issues; these papers were written by 1,816 different authors. First Monday is indexed in Communication Abstracts, Computer & Communications Security Abstracts, DoIS, eGranary Digital Library, INSPEC, Information Science & Technology Abstracts, LISA, PAIS, and other services. (site)

"The website is refreshingly straightforward and functional. The simple design allows users to find articles quickly and effectively, without being distracted by extraneous material or hindered by a poor search function. Sample searches returned relevant results quickly. An advanced search option is available, as are practical search tips. Authors' biographies and websites frequently are featured alongside the articles, so registered users can send an e-mail directly to the lead author of an article. First Monday is a reliable source of high-quality content. Graduate students, researchers, and scholars in information studies and communications will use this site to stay current with the literature and to publish their own work. Undergraduates will favor the site for its ease of navigation and interesting, unique articles. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above". Reviewed in  ALA's December issue of Choice