Happy New Year!!!

I hope everyone has a happy and prosperous 2006!!

Check out CNN for celebration pictures from around the globe.

There is also the MSNBC version of the new year excitement.

You can also view the Fox News stories.

Sources

Glencoe Online has lots of sources for teachers to use in their classrooms. These include instruction, testing, parental involvement, etc. This page is loaded.

Field Trips

Would you like to take a field trip while never leaving your classroom? You can do so here.

Online Courses

Cnet.com has some online courses you may be interested in taking. You can take some free online courses or you can order CD tutorials. Either way, check it out at Cnet.

Too Much Time On My Hands

What are YOU going to do with your extra second of time on New Year's Eve? You know the buzz...New Year's will be arriving a second later this year. Why you say and what's the big deal? Well, it seems that sometimes clock time and sun time get out of step with each other. This extra second helps all of that fall into place. Why bother? Well, imagine what would happen as those seconds added up "over time." There's even a wiki article on the leap second.

Link to Article

If you want to get really technical about it you can read the Navy article on the subject.

Enjoy your extra time off before going back to work!!!

:-)

It's Got the "Cool Factor"

The Sony Walkman has been named the best gadget in 50 years, with the iPod coming in second. Hard to believe it was $200 when it was first introduced.

Link to Article

More on Global Warming

From all of the articles I have read recently it looks like the permafrost in North America is in for a thaw. Some areas could thaw several meters deep by the middle of the century. Pipelines could be in danger from landslides.

Link to Article

Annoying Pests to Say the Least

I frequently hear complaints from people about their computer being very slow. Many times this is caused by spyware "infecting" their machine. I commonly ask the question "what have you been downloading?" The response is always the same, "I haven't downloaded anything!" LOL....uh-huh. Seriously, though, many times users don't realize what they've done. Have you ever gone to a search page suddenly and were asked a question in a popup window? You probably just answered "yes" thinking you were doing something correct. And now your home page is no longer www.google.com or whatever you used. Look for a popup question such as this:



Now, this example is just something simple. I used the edit page of my blog to give me this question, but do you ever remember something similar coming up on your screen? If so, you more than likely clicked on "yes" and the next time you opened your browser window your home page was different. This could have been the culprit. ALWAYS READ BEFORE YOU CLICK.

Many times a Web page will contain a question that is nothing more than a link connecting you to a page in order to download something. Beware of these kinds of graphics. They may even have the X in the corner where we are used to clicking to close the window. Kids are notorious for falling for this one and clicking on the X. The program could install without you even realizing it. Ever heard of a "drive-by downloading?" I'm serious.

I use a free program called "Spybot Search and Destroy" to look for spyware. It's available here. Allow this program to scan your machine for spyware and allow it to clean the machine. When the program finishes cleaning your machine it may state that some programs were running and do you wish to run Spybot on a restart. This is because some spyware programs run in the memory and can't be uninstalled while they are running. If you run Spybot on a restart they haven't been loaded yet.


Image from Safer-Networking

Try using this program and see if it helps with your problem. If you still have problems with spyware, you might want to check into Spyware Blaster to help prevent them. It is also free and available at Javacool Software.

SAT Practice

Want to help your students practice for the SAT? At collegeboard.com you can answer the SAT Question of the Day. You can also download and print a practice SAT exam.

SAT Student Site

Podcasting

I've had a few questions about podcasting, so I am going to look up some resources for you and add them here. In the meantime, I have found a resource on about.com that may give you enough information to get you started.

Podcast Tutorial