HowStuffWorks: a practical online encylopedia

HowStuffWorks is a fun site to explore and a great source of practical information.
Learn how to build your own computer by watching seven videos featuring step-by-step instructions. Find out how to do minor electrical repairs around the house. Get your stalled lawnmower running again using the tutorial on small engine repairs and maintenance.

There is a huge library of science and engineering topics. If you want to discover how autofocus cameras work, how GPS receivers work, or how diesel locomotives work, it’s all here on this site, in both print and video formats.

Home page: http://www.howstuffworks.com/

Direct links to some interesting articles:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/build-a-computer1.htm
http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-do-home-electrical-repairs.htm
http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-repair-small-engines.htm
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/buying-selling-channel.htm
http://travel.howstuffworks.com/timeshare.htm

Medical doctor investigates Phoenix, Arizona UFO reports

Lynne D. Kitei M.D. is well known as a physician and public health educator. She has held the position of Chief Clinical Consultant at the Arizona Heart Institute’s Imaging/Prevention/Wellness Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

On March 13, 1997 she, along with thousands of people, witnessed a phenomenon in the sky above Phoenix, Arizona which has been dubbed the “Phoenix Lights”. Eyewitnesses reported a silent, mile-long, v-shaped formation of lights. After seven years of researching the topic and gathering photographic evidence, Lynne has gone public on her website.

Very strange: http://www.thephoenixlights.net/

Protecting your children from automobile dangers

The Kids and Cars organization believes in the right of children to be protected from the preventable dangers which can arise when they are in and around a motor vehicle. This site describes various dangerous situations and what parents can do to prevent them.
Power window strangulation and hypothermia are two of the most common non-traffic events reported in the media.

Legislation to improve child safety features in motor vehicles is pending in the U.S. The site contains a video of Senator Hillary Clinton speaking on this topic at a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on February 27, 2007.

Home page: http://www.kidsandcars.org/

Breaking news about inventors and their inventions

Nathan Ball’s invention is right out of Spiderman! His battery-powered Rope Ascender device, with a 250-lb carrying capacity, will allow firefighters or soldiers to “reverse rappel” up a 30-story building in 30 seconds. Nathan won the 2007 Lemelson-MIT Prize for his invention.

This site contains dozens of interesting stories about inventors and their technological projects.

Home page for the site: http://makezine.com/blog/

Nathan’s story: http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/02/ask_nathan_ball.html

How to survive outdoor emergencies

With the increasing popularity of outdoor activities, children and adults need to know survival tactics and methods of avoiding and treating various injuries and conditions.
You’ll find everything you need to know on this site. Print out the information and save it in a binder to carry along with you on your next trip. It could help save your life.

Informative: http://www.surviveoutdoors.com/

Are humans the product of off-world intervention?

After receiving a degree in psychology from Tulane University at New Orleans, Lloyd Pye trained with the U.S. Army as a Military Intelligence agent. Upon completion of his military career, Lloyd began research in anthropology, specializing in hominoids, which led him to the astonishing conclusion that humans could not have evolved on earth.

Lloyd published a book entitled Everything You Know Is Wrong—Book One: Human Origins, which proposes an Intervention Theory directly opposed to Darwinism, Creationism and Intelligent Design. He claims his theory is science based, supported by ancient historical records, puzzling details about megalithic structures located around the world, and recent discoveries about our own DNA.

Intriguing evidence: http://www.lloydpye.com/

Geologist predicts earthquakes with accuracy

Jim Berkland, working as a geologist with the California Government, made a prediction that a major earthquake would hit the Oakland Bay Area during the 1989 World Series. When the earthquake occurred as predicted, his employers suspended him and ordered him to stop making quake predictions.

After he retired, Jim began again to announce “quake windows” on his Syzygyjob website. He bases his predictions on tidal flooding tables derived from Lunar Perigee. When the moon is closest to the earth, gravitational pull on the earth is greatest, triggering quakes. Jim also monitors lost pet notices in the newspapers. Pets tend to run away from home when they sense an impending tremor.

Shocking site: http://www.syzygyjob.com/

Canadian contractor rescues ripped-off homeowners

Every day on his popular TV program, Holmes On Holmes, Mike Holmes puts the spotlight on shoddy renovations, explaining how homeowners have been cheated by careless and incompetent renovators.

Often Mike and his team have to tear out everything and start fresh, narrating the process to the viewers. This website showcases upcoming projects, including his charitable work, and videos featuring tips for homeowners.

Great site: http://www.holmesonhomes.com/

Surfing college students cash in on Internet boom

Frustrated with minimum wage jobs and long work hours, many students have looked to the Internet to supply much-needed income. Up until now it has been difficult to launch a profitable website because of the high up-front expenses and the expertise required to run it.

Canadian physician, Dr. Ken Evoy, has invented an all-in-one program called Site Build-It! which solves these problems. His system allows anyone to build a professional-grade website capable of generating significant income and paying for itself very quickly. Dr. Evoy’s daughter, Nori, began using his system as a teenager, and now earns enough money to pay all her college expenses. Read her story on this site.

Click here for details: http://students.sitesell.com/smallbiz28.html

Are you at risk of a heart attack or stroke? Find out here.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, Canada has developed a personalized risk assessment tool designed to help you identify your risk of heart disease and stroke. After you complete the assessment questions, you will receive an action plan for healthy living.
Click the link below to get started now:
http://ww2.heartandstroke.ca/Page.asp?PageID=1689&Stream=Risk&media=fsi

E-mail large files for free on this site

Most free email services allow you to send attachments up to a 10MB limit. Ordinarily, if you wish to send a file of photos or text larger than that, you would have to break the file into separate smaller files and send them separately. With the Sendthisfile service, you upload files to their server. There is no file size limit and no limit on the number of files sent. You have the option of sending files in “secure” mode. When you fill in the e-mail address of your intended receivers, they will receive an e-mail inviting them to pick up the file you have uploaded.

There is a basic free account for occasional personal use. There are other paid plans for more frequent users, as well as business and professional users.

Recently I used the free service to send three separate 50MB files, which took about two minutes each.

Click here: http://www.sendthisfile.com/

Supermodels around the world

Supermodels.nl is the portal to a community of 734 supermodels and 34,000 fans. The site features a list of supermodels by first name, including brief profiles on each, and more than 42,000 portfolio photos.

This site provides news from the modeling industry, highlighting various models and their most recent agency associations. In addition there is a list of model agencies by country and models enlisted by them. There is also a list of photographers who work with supermodels.

Membership in the site is free and are able to post on forums and receive a newsletter containing background stories, news, and gossip. Members have unlimited and unrestricted access to the supermodels movie archive and “big scan” photos, as well as recordings of shows, interviews and other videos.

Home page: http://supermodels.nl/

Do you ever dine alone? SoloDining is the site for you!

For anyone who dines solo, this website contains a wealth of information. There are tips and strategies for eating alone at home, at a fast food outlet, or at a fine dining establishment. The site offers advice on efficient, low-cost grocery-shopping for one, a list of restaurants that offer “communal dining” tables, and reports on solo dining-friendly restaurants in Canada and the U.S.

Restauranteurs will find advice on making the solo dining experience more appealing for customers.

A helpful site: http://www.solodining.com/

The Classroom @ Sea Project: Drilling the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Early in March, 2007, a team of scientists from Durham University, Cardiff University and the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, will travel aboard the RRS James Cook to investigate an area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge known as the Fifteen-Twenty Fracture Zone (FTFZ). The scientific team on board the ship is led by Prof. Roger Searle from University of Durham, Dr Chris MacLeod (University of Cardiff) and Dr Bramley Murton (NOCS).

Seismological research has determined that the FTFZ appears to be a gap in the crust of the Earth thousands of kilometers wide. The mantle, located in the interior of the planet, is typically covered by crust several kilometers thick. The crust thickness averages about 18 miles (30 kilometers) under the continents, but is only about 3 miles (5 kilometers) under the oceans. It is light and fragile. The mission will attempt to determine whether the ocean crust was dislodged by geological faults or never formed in that area.

This voyage of discovery has been designed as an interactive project for students. The site features a diary which, beginning March 5, 2007, will display accounts of onboard events of interest. The website includes informative modules describing the marine geology and biological environment. Teaching aids and reproducible worksheets are provided. In addition, the site gallery will contain photo highlights of the cruise. Students around the world will be able to e-mail members of the team and ask questions about the excursion.

Climb aboard: http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/gg/classroom@sea/JC007/about.html

Psycho-Geometrics: Try this personality test based on geometric shapes

Dr. Susan Dellinger is the author of the Psycho-Geometrics system of communication. Her system combines the science of understanding people with the art of influencing them. Dr. Ellinger has acted as a consultant for many high-profile corporations, offering workshops designed to improve communications among staff through the implementation of her unique method of understanding human communication.

According to Dr. Dellinger’s system, your personality may be associated with one of the following basic shapes: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, or squiggle.

As a test subject, you respond to the question, Which of the five shapes best describes you as a person? Your choice will be an indication of your personality type. When you do the test at the link below you will be amazed at how accurately the system categorizes your personality.

Of course, this system of geometric psychology is useful for identifying the beliefs, values and attitudes of employers, co-workers, employees, customers, spouses, and children. Armed with this critical information, you are in a position to modify your communication style in order to relate effectively to other people in your life.

Personality test: http://www.psychometricshapes.co.uk/

A video of Dr. Dellinger in action: http://www.drsusan.net/