Getting along with people who are different from us

Wouldn’t the world be a better place if everyone got along better? Let’s learn a lesson from these unusual animal friendships:
http://letsbefriends.blogspot.com/

Are genetically engineered foods safe?

Grocery shoppers are finding it more and more difficult to avoid food that has been genetically modified. Many processed foods contain quantities of GM foods buried in the list of ingredients. Should people be worried about GM food, or is the media making a fuss about nothing?
Here is a site which contains general, balanced information on the topic:
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/gmfood.shtml
Genetic Roulette, by Jeffrey M. Smith, an investigative reporter, is an exceedingly scary book on the genetic modification of food. After briefly skimming through this book at my local book store, I’ve drawn up a list of foods to avoid. Margarine is at the top of my list. I’ll substitute olive oil for GM oils like canola and corn. More information about the book may be found here:
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/GeneticRoulette/index.cfm

Guidance for students and teachers planning a science fair project

The Kenneth Lafferty Hess Family Charitable Foundation operates its Science Buddies program with one goal in mind: to help students and teachers everywhere in their efforts to undertake an effective science research project.
Resources on the site include a Topic Selection Wizard, an interactive tool designed to enable students to choose a science research topic appropriate to their needs and interests. The Project Ideas section of the site serves as a “starter kit”, which describes the subject matter, provides bibliographic material and Internet-based sources of scientific data, as well as suggestions for experiments. The online student guide gives step-by-step instructions, beginning with scientific research methodology, typical research proposals, photos of actual science fair projects and checklists to ensure success.
What sets this site apart from other science fair information sites is the mentoring component, which enables students to interact with volunteer science and technology students and professionals. The Ask an Expert staff-monitored online forum allows students to ask questions about their projects, particularly helpful when students have trouble accessing teacher or parental assistance. The result is a higher-quality project produced by students who enjoy what they’re doing and develop a keen interest in science.
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/

A new site to keep track of global financial markets

Whether you invest in stocks, mutual funds, futures, or Forex, you’ll like this free financial website. There is no registration requirement and no pop-ups or big ads so common on other sites.
The site features a portfolio manager and optional email alerts, useful charts and tools, as well as news stories about global market events.
http://new.quote.com/

The history and the future of technology from a scientific point of view

Scientist J. Newcombe Hodges discusses coming developments in technology in his new book entitled A Primer for Tomorrow. The book begins with a history of technological development, moves into an introduction to quantum physics, gravity, electromagnetism, bio computers, and a commentary on our progress toward teleportation, anti-gravity, time travel, and the replication of the human body. He writes in an engaging manner, with the aim of igniting passion for science in the mind of the reader. He suggests some of the economic factors which tend to put the brakes on rapid technological change.
The author is offering this first book in a series as a free download, in Adobe Acrobat format, at his website. If you don’t have it on your computer, you may download the Adobe Acrobat Reader for free on this site as well.

http://www.tamashii.com/ When you reach the site, go to “Enter and Welcome to Tomorrow”. Next, click on “The Book”. There are full instructions about downloading the book to your computer.

Explore your family tree with ancestry.com

If you go to this free site, simply enter factual details about you and your immediate family and you’re on your way to delving deeply into the history of your family. You’ll need to know basic information about your parents, e.g. birth date, place of birth to begin the search engine. Any information you supply is treated confidentially, and only the details you specify are entered into the public tree. Of course, the more information people in your family enter into the public sector of the site, the more complete the family tree will be.
This site prides itself as being “the world’s largest online collection of historical records and family trees”, with over 257 million people, over 144,000 family stories, and 1,000,000 photos in the data base. The site includes links to other data bases, including U.S. birth and death records, census and immigration information, and U.S. military records.

http://ancestry.com/

Free office suite program looks a lot like Microsoft Office

Open Office is a free program that has many of the features of Microsoft Office. The average computer user, or even small business owner, may not want to invest hundreds of dollars in Microsoft Office. Open Office is a full-featured office suite which includes a word processor, presentation program (resembling Powerpoint), a spreadsheet program, a vector drawing tool, and a data base program. The program is available in many languages, including Irish Gaelic , Scotch Gaelic, Hindi, and Esperanto, Japanese, and German. Updates are free.

Open Office is a multi-platform program, meaning that it is compatible with Linus and Mac. It works with many other office suite products. I've used it to open Wordperfect documents received in an e-mail attachment. Users who are computer-savvy may participate in the development of the program.

http://www.openoffice.org/about_us/new.html

Gardening experts answer your gardening questions

According to their website, Toronto Botanical Garden is a volunteer-based, charitable organization whose purpose is to inspire passion, respect and understanding of gardening, horticulture, the natural landscape and a healthy environment.

The site offers fact sheets on a multitude of gardening topics, a forum which enables readers to ask questions and receive answers about gardening. There is also a telephone information line for those who prefer to speak with gardening experts. Ontario, Canada residents may access a toll-free gardening hotline at 1-888-777-7048 from 11:00 am-4 pm, Monday to Friday. Anyone outside Ontario may reach a special info line by calling (416)-397-1345 Mon.-Fri., 10:00 am-1:00 pm (EST) and Sat., Sun. and Holidays from noon to 3 pm.

http://www.questions.torontomastergardeners.ca/

Sites for helping your child with elementary and junior high school math

Both of these sites are colorful and instructive, providing a good review of some basic math concepts. Browsing through them will help you choose appropriate sections for your child/children.

http://www.coolmath4kids.com/ Elementary and junior high topics
http://cemc.uwaterloo.ca/mathfrog/english/kidz/order.shtml Review of basics and some math games.

Flickr-- a place to store, organize and share your photos for free

This site allows you to upload your photos, organize them into thematic sets, and share them with friends and relatives. You decide on the privacy level for your photo archive, allowing the world to view your photos, or limiting them to people who know your password. This is a handy site for people who travel a lot and wish to share their photos without having to process them through an email account. Drag-and-drop your photos onto a world map to identify locations where photos have been taken. Explore the world through the public photo archive. Do fun things with your photos, like creating calendars, photo books, and postage stamps. Basic accounts are free, and will enable you to see how the site works. Upgrading to a “pro” account for US$24.95 annually gives you unlimited uploading of photos among other benefits. Flickr is now a Yahoo company, which gives it a measure of stability.

Well worth exploring: http://www.flickr.com/