Online Books & Upton Sinclair

A friend of mine on Facebook called my attention to a site called "Read Print" that contains over 8000 free books that you can enjoy in full. I browsed the various categories in the site's library and came across a book by Upton Sinclair that I found of interest. It is titled "The Profits of Religion" and expresses Mr. Sinclair's views of organized religion and the effect that money has upon it. Take a dive into Read Print and see if there is anything you might like to absorb. - One side note. Since the information was digital text, I had my Apple computer read it to me.

www.readprint.com/chapter-47468/The-Profits-of-Religion-Upton-Sinclair

Drudge Report Archives

For those of you who follow the Drudge Report, there is a site that takes a "snapshot" of the Drudge Report every 2 minutes. It's useful when you want to go back and find a story the Matt Drudge linked to. Or to follow trends.

www.drudgereportarchives.com/

Video - A Myers-Briggs Personality Test Overview

A cute and simple animation that does a really good job of summing up the qualities of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI is a psychological test that separates people into 16 distinct groups, based on 4 pairs of personality attributes.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF1sqE8lb0o

Video - Sarah Silverman Feeds The World

Comedian/actress sarah Silverman has a novel idea about how to deal with world hunger. Sell the Vatican. Watch her explain the concept in this video.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bObItmxAGc

Evernote - A Convenient On-Line Place For Your Notes

Evernote is one of the net little utility websites where you can store and access your personal notes. Kind of like a small virtual file cabinet, you can upload and organize various kinds of data that can be reviewed later from anywhere. You can also tell friends where selected pieces of your information are. It's quite handy. Give it a look!

www.evernote.com

Google Voice: A Phone Number That You Control

My friend Mike turned me on to a potentially handy service. Google Voice. Another one of the reat services Google provides. With Google Voice, you pick a telephone number from their list of available choices and it becomes assigned to you. Now the great part is that you can assign that number to be directed to any other phone in the world, at any time. So if you switch cell phones or providers, no problem. And if you want your phone number to ring grandma's phone temporarily, that's easy, too. There are also a number of other convenient features associated with this FREE digital service.

To get on board, you have to make an application and later be invited to join. This can take a little while. Both Mike and I discovered that it helps if you have a G-mail account.

www.google.com/voice

MommyGoggles: Motherhood Made A Little Easier

Mommy Goggles is in some ways a one-stop shopping site for day-to-day things a new mom might want to spend her time doing. Filled with contests, a gift guide, fitness ideas, product reviews, and links to related sites. It's a cute little blog / directory that caught my attention. Hopefully you'll find some value in this proud parent's efforts to collect and share information.

www.mommygoggles.com

Businesses And The Issue Of Trust

Here is an article and video from Business Week regarding "trust" as a marketing factor in business. Take a look and get some insights on how businesses deal with the issue of trust when it comes to communicating with customers. The story may give you some insights about how business is really conducted.

www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_39/b4148038492933.htm

Wonderful Nature Videos At Babelgum

If you like nature and topics related to the environment, the Babelgum website has a collection of brief (and not so brief) documentaries for you to take in. Many of them are very well done and enjoyable to watch. Be sure to click the "Browse Videos" button to see a list of the 3283 selections there.

www.babelgum.com/channel/ourearth

Have An Issue And Need Some Signatures?

Are you trying to gain support for a social issue and want to collect signatures to show the support you have? If so, then Care2 has a website for you. On it, you can set up a petition and solicit people to add their names to the list. Conversely, you can see what other petitions are currently circulating. If you come across any you resonate to, you can add your voice to the crowd.

www.thepetitionsite.com

Cartoon - Why The USA Needs Universal Health Coverage

Here is a simple, straightforward explanation of why we need universal government-run health insurance.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jng4TnKqy6A

Where On Earth Do Babies Come From? (Birth Rates)

Relating to my recent entry about expanding populations, here are some statistics about which countries are producing the most babies, per citizen. It's a good indicator as to which areas have expanding populations and which have lower growth.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_territories_by_fertility_rate

How To Keep Your Cat Off The Counter

Blender Defender is one person's inventive solution to keep his cat off the kitchen counter. The creator of this behavior-correcting system rigged together several pieces of hardware to produce an effective deterrent to his overly-curious pets. For the most part, it requires a motion sensor, a blender and a strobe light. The site will show you the rest. If nothing else, you'll love the videos and dream of having one of these items at your command. "Down Kitty!"

www.plasma2002.com/blenderdefender

Conservapedia - Making Things Right

I guess Wikipedia simply isn't good enough. As you may know, Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia with entries written by online users. Everyone is free to provide and edit information. To keep material factual Wikipedia is moderated and forces its contributors to accurately site their sources.

Now, however, there is a new online reference that wants to clean up the mish-mash of information created by random citizens. Conservapedia wants to limit itself to a strict Conservative world view. Nothing else is acceptable. So, if you want to disregard everything Conservatives don't want to discuss or admit exists, this is the place for you. I understand the founders are even re-writing the Bible to rub out anything a Liberal might gravitate to.

www.conservapedia.com/Main_Page

How Will America Eventually Come To An End?

Things change. Like Rome, the American civilization will eventually dwindle and be replaced by some other super-state. How is that going to happen? An article at the Slate website ponders this issue and lets you choose from 144 possible scenerios.

www.slate.com/id/2223851

www.slate.com/id/2224425

sdn.slate.com/features/endofamerica/default.htm

How Most American's View Democrats And Republicans

A 2009 poll from the Gallop organization concerned with how the American public views the two major political parties. Graphs show data collected between 1993 and 2009, allowing one to see how views have changed over time. Aside from views about how extreme each party may or may not be, more Americans feel that the Democratic Party's views are closer to what they are looking for.

www.gallup.com/poll/121307/More-Americans-See-Democratic-Party-Too-Liberal.aspx?version=print

Know Your Dead People

There are always questions about which famous people are still alive and which have passed on. If you're not really sure, or simply want the facts, here are two great resources devoted to celebrity mortality. Believe me, you're going to want to bookmark these if you already haven't.

1. Dead People Server

www.dpsinfo.com/dps

2. Dead Or Alive

www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf/pages-nf/main

Big Vault Of Noam Chomsky's Thoughts

Noam Chomsky is one of the most quoted people on Earth, especially when it comes to international politics. Noam seems to be rather apolitical, taking no particular side with any group. He more or less is a historian and social commentator, with a unique and amazingly well-informed view. Be warned, though. His tales of governmental activity are pretty distressing and depressing. It's not the bright, shiny world the media hands us to see.

www.chomsky.info/audionvideo.htm

Poster - Largest Bankruptcies In History

An info-graphic from GOOD Magazine cleverly showing the world's largest bankruptcies as sinking ships. A great way to get a perspective on this all too serious subject. Be informed!

awesome.good.is/transparency/web/0906/trans0609largestbankruptcies.html

The WolframAlpha Computational Knowledge Engine

The Wolfram Alpha Engine allows you to enter search terms much like a conventional search engine, but draws it's answers from a internal proprietary database. Unlike Google, for example, it goes beyond just finding data related to particular keywords. It also does computing based on formulas and values you enter. Part statistical encyclopedia and part pocket calculator, it generates detailed answers and facts for a wide range of subjects. The site provides examples in the following areas so you can see its functionality:

Statistics & Data Analysis, Physics, Chemistry, Materials, Engineering, Astronomy, Earth Sciences, Life Sciences, Technological World, Transportation, Computational Sciences, Web & Computer Systems, Units & Measures, Money & Finance, Dates & Times, Places & Geography, Socioeconomic Data, Weather, Health & Medicine, Food & Nutrition, Words & Linguistics, Culture & Media, People & History, Education, Organizations, Sports & Games, Music, Colors. Go ahead. Give it a try.

www.wolframalpha.com