Net Neutrality - Explained by Lifehacker

http://lifehacker.com/5720407/an-introduction-to-net-neutrality-what-it-is-what-it-means-for-you-and-what-you-can-do-about-it

Lifehacker comes through with one of the simplest and easy to understand guides on Net Neutrality I've seen to date. With it becoming a hot issue for the US government, it's well worth your while to take a look at it now.

"We've dropped the net neutrality term around here a few times, but you may not entirely understand what it's all about. Here's a primer on what net neutrality is, how it might affect you, and what you can do about it."

You can find more in-depth information at Real Net Neutrality.

Net Neutrality - Explained by Lifehacker

Secret Builders

http://secretbuilders.com/

SecretBuilders is a virtual world for children 5 to 14 years old powered by a web 2.0 community of children, parents, educators, writers, artists and game developers. On SecretBuilders, children will explore virtual lands, undertake quests, play games, maintain a home, nurture a pet, and interact with their friends. Three features which form the backdrop for SecretBuilders distinguish it from other online worlds:

* Children learn through immersing themselves in the stories, themes, and concepts from the best in literature, arts and humanities. They will interact with famous historical and fictional figures and be introduced to content and characters from world civilization and the great thoughts and ideas of human creativity.

* Children will create this site, not just consume it. They are directly involved in creating this world with their ideas, critiques and contributions on virtually every aspect of the site and many of their ideas will be implemented!

* Children publish their works – writings, art, videos – making SecretBuilders their own personal store of creativity. They can invite friends and family to view their works, and comment upon them. Seeing their works published and enjoyed by others instills tremendous for self-confidence as well as motivation to do more.

[This text is taken from the website]

Secret Builders

Exploring Census Data

[Steve's note: Fascinating Stuff from the NY Times.]

http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer

Mapping America: Every City, Every Block
Browse local data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, based on samples from 2005 to 2009.

Exploring Census Data

The Boardgame Remix Kit

[Via lifehacker]

http://www.boardgame-remix-kit.com/

The Boardgame Remix Kit works with all the great family favourites. It's got twenty five games that you can play using the boards and pieces you've already got.

As well as smoothing out or speeding up a standard game, the kit can turn Monopoly* into a family poker tournament, Trivial Pursuit* into a surrealist parlour game; Scrabble* into fight between a wasp and a robot, and Cluedo* into a zombie invasion.

[This text is taken from the website]

The Boardgame Remix Kit

Blanket Yoga

[Forwarded to me by @dizney_93]

Blanket Yoga

How's the weather where you are? I'm just about ready for winter. The trees outside our house have shed their leaves, revealing the abandoned crows nests in their branches, and yesterday the first innocent little snowflakes floated down. How quiet and peaceful they look, completely unaware of the utter chaos they'll create on the south England road network once there are enough of them.

I know the modern economy can't afford to stop for sonow, but wouldn't it be nice if we could all just slow the heck down for winter? Just wrap ourselves in blankets, grab a good book and a mug of tea, and stay put?

I have a special gift for you today that will allow you to at least have a taste of put, even if, like me, you'll have to run around buying presents, go to work through the snow and brave the roads and airports of the world to see your family.

It's Blanket Yoga, and it's the perfect winter work-out because you can do it indoors, wrapped up in a toasty warm and comfortable blanket.


[This text taken from the website]

Blanket Yoga

Cybrarian

http://www.cybrary.org/

The main purpose of this site is to supply child-friendly sites for kids in grades three through eight on a variety of curriculum oriented subjects. Having been a Media Specialist [which is a fancy name for school Librarian] for many years, I have seen kids looking for the simplest items on the Internet and taking hours to accomplish what one book + ten minutes might have done. There is certainly a need for reference books but it is not always practical. Most people don't own one of those thousand dollar sets of printed encyclopedias or a copy of the latest almanac. The Internet lets us use up to date information. Hopefully, this site will make school information easier to find so that you can get to the stuff that's really important--like Gameboy.

[This text is taken from the website]

Cybrarian

Spacelog

http://spacelog.org/

Read the stories of early space exploration from the original NASA transcripts. Now open to the public in a searchable, linkable format. (Need I say more?)

Spacelog

Patent Search as Coloring Book

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/10/21/google-patent-search-1.html

http://www.google.com/patents

As boingboing (first link) pointed out a while ago, Google Patent search (second link) is a great way to generate some unique coloring pages! Search for your term of choice, then click on "Cover view" to get a preview of the images associated with the patent. Very neat stuff.

Patent Search as Coloring Book