**REVIEW** Smithsonian Interactive Library

Here's what I am learning about my gift-buying talents: I pick wonderful gifts but I pair them to the wrong people...

This is something I picked up a few months back (for a great price) at Costco:

That's the Smithsonian Interactive Library.  There was no clear marking of suggested age levels when I bought it, but I checked out the Amazon product page and see that it's "perfect for children aged 6-10". What I want to know is who are these brilliant six-year-olds? Where are they? DJ is only 5, but I don't think that he will be ready to really get into this gift until he's about 7 or 8.

Let me back up and tell you more about this product. Here's what you get for the price ($40 at Costco and $100 on Amazon)

1. A really cool SD-X Reader pen to hear audio and interact with pages of the books.
2. 6 interactive books.

Yeah. Glad that I got the Costco price.

Actually, the set is worth the $100 if you have a more diligent (or precocious) kid. I think that DJ would love this is the voices of the narrators were a little more animated. When I heard the voices, I was reminded of those museum tours with the slightly bored guide who is thinking of changing careers. That's fine for an older person who really wants to dig into the information. For a child like DJ who can't sit still long enough to sing the preschool class song, it's a little big of a challenge. (We are working with the little mister on his attention span, by the way.)

The books are interesting - as is the interactive information provided. The pen is very cool and is the one thing that might hold DJ's attention. It's a tiny bit like the Livescribe smartpen I use for writing and recording. Except the SD-X is limited to interaction with the books. I found that adjusting the volume (with interactive book buttons) was tricky. Either the included batteries are weak or the volume doesn't go very high.

The included books in this set are:

• Natural History (DJ will love the dinosaurs)
• Great Americans
• American Experience 
• Animals
• Space
• Air

I was pleased to see the range of topics covered. In the American Experience volume, slavery, the Vietnam War and, oddly, "Disability in America" are included.

When I picked this up at Costco, I did see similar sets. On Amazon, I see that Brittanica has sets covering various areas and there are probably other sets at local bookstores. Shop around for the best price. Like I said, I scored by getting this one at Coscto.

Other choices from different Sellers

I'm not sorry that I got this, but I do wish I had looked around for something more currently age-appropriate for DJ. I will work with him to take an interest in this set, but it is going to be a little bit of work. This would have been the perfect gift for the 13-year old daughter of a friend. 

This year, I congratulated myself for shopping early and more frugally. Next year, I want to top myself by doing better at matching gifts to people.

Peace

--Free

More Online Learning Links

Because this:

A big huge thank you to +Marla Hughes for additions to the links I posted the other day. (When you yell "Help!" Marla is always the first one to arrive. Love her!

Here are the links she provided. I will add more as I have time and hear from other folks:

• Where to Find Free Open Source Textbooks
• Cool Math (really)
• Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
• OpenStax 
• Coursera

So there. Can't say you can't learn. Not with all these kinds of resources!

You really can

Peace

--Free

**Update Attempt** Life-long Learning (links)

*****originally published 8//10 - I have not (yet) updated any links or info because I would like to hear from some of you first. Have any wonderful links to add to this list? If you do, please post them via comments here or on Google Plus. Someone was looking for this kind of info & I think we could all appreciate it. Thanks!*****


I don't usually do this: post info here that belongs on my other blog. But...

I know that some people who read this blog don't always check out my World Wide Wow blog (that's a new name for it, btw!),  and I want to do some shameless plugging for it, so I am posting some self-ed and career links here. If you are into life-long learning or need to refresh or up your skills, these links are for you. Enjoy!

• Learn Well - This one charges only for C.E. credits (in other words, you can learn free & only pay if you want/need credits). Nice, huh? Covers C.E. courses for RNs, Mft, LCSWs, MFCCs, Pharmacists, Dental Health Workers and others. (Don't get discouraged, keep reading the post for more links!)
• O.E.R.  (Open Educational Resources) - Here's how they explain their site: "In a brave new world of learning, OER content is made free to use or share, and in some cases, to change and share again, made possible through licensing, so that both teachers and learners can share what they know."  There are various subjects (Arts, Business, Humanities, Math & Stats, Science & Tech, Social Science) and different "grade" levels. Please explore.
• E-Learning Center - They offer free courses for  those interested in learning HTML, A+, MCSE, Excel and Office. (I see they also have many other courses listed on the homepage - for pay?) Check it out.
• English as a Second Language - is just exactly what the site is about. From the links on the page, I see there are "listen and speak" tools, podcasts and all sorts of goodies. Really cool & should be helpful to those interested.
• Free Ed - Nice site & covers LOTS of subjects. (Minor gripe: lots of ads make the site difficult to deal with, but, hey, it IS free, so...)
• Wanna Learn - good site, lots of topics. A little meandering since you have to find a  subject, then wade through more links to narrow things down. But, again, it's free! LOL
• Open Learning Initiative - Whew! Can be a little intimidating at first glance, but please give it a shot. (First link I spotted was to a course in "Engineering Statics." I thought it was a typo! ROFL. Shows what I know.... There's a course in something called "Computational Discrete Mathematics" O...kay then... I guess if you understand that then you are smart enough to appreciate that it's free.
• Math.com - for those who aren't ready for computational discrete mathematics... LOL (like ME!)
• Wikiversity - Well, we all know how I just love anything "wiki-like!" This is the spot to choose your language preference. When I got to the English page, I noticed that there are supposed to be close to 13,000 learning resources. Wow.
• Creative Commons - I'm not sure how to describe this resource, so here's their take: "Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright." I do know that it's free and what really caught my eye is that they have MIT Open courseware available. Somebody has got to love that!
• G.C.F. Learn Free (Goodwill Community Foundation) - described as "your free learning source." The offerings listed on its homepage are for Everyday Life, Math & Money, Computer Training and Work & Career. Cool.

I think that may be enough for now (if not overload!), and I really hope you take a look at the full list on World Wide Wow. (I update that blog often as I can, but I think I'm going to  have to take a free tutorial so that I can make it look nice and be a little more user-friendly. If anyone wants to volunteer to help a sistah out...!) Also, if you are looking for specific links on something, contact me & we'll see what we can do for ya.

Peace

--Free

A Hacking Good Life

Life got instantly better for me tonight. I will explain that in a later post. The thing is, I'm in a good mood - a sharing mood.

If you haven't heard of Flipboard (for phone, in my case), I think you should check it out. It's basically reading, collecting and sharing articles: news, sports, life - whatever floats your boat. Any kind of "hacks" are currently floating my boat pretty high. Life hacks, DIY hacks, whatever.

Here are some of the hacks I've seen since subscribing to several "magazines" on via Flipboard:

1. How to fold a fitted bedsheet. (It drove my military dad crazy that I'd just sort of roll them up. Neatly.)
2. Repurpose an old fridge. (The term "repurpose" will start to get on my nerves soon.)
3. Configure all cores of your processor for full use. (I can't wait to try that one, but on a clearer-headed day! Took three tries just to type out the link text.)
4. Decorate with balloons for Halloween. (I don't do Halloween, but the balloon idea is cute.) Similar idea is here.
5. Use YouTube as an alarm clock (How tight is that? I could wake up on gym days by jamming out to this. Or start off a Saturday morning relaxing to this.)
6. Making these tea-light jars could be a nice bonding project for parents, aunties, siblings, whoever. (My sis-in-law Keva would have been all over this with my niece.)
7. These freaking cute planters are something my niece Gabby will do. (If I call supermom Keva, Martha-mom & Gabby is Cathy Creative. I'm lacking. My planters would look like they had epilepsy.)
8. I will be making the unpoppable bubbles for D.J., bet that. (Let me be honest: with or without D.J., I can't wait to try them!)
9. If you're going to get one, make it a temporary tattoo. (Tip: You might want to get someone with passable artistic skills to do the markings, i.e.: not me.) Personally, I don't like tattoos on women. It seems un-fem, but, hey - that's just me. 
10. Learn to say F.U. in different languages. Maybe if I say it in Latin, I'll sound like an educated sailor. (I see you looking back at #9. I'm not a hypocrite, I'm just complicated.)
11. This hack is to simplify Wikipedia articles. (I checked this out. Meh. Not sure I could use articles that stripped down.)
12. Use this site to remove your personal data from other sites. (Haven't checked out this one yet. What data do they collect?)
13. Reading car dashboard lights. (I already know the main one for you-better-put-in-some-gas-before-you-have-to-walk-your-ass.)
14. Guide to dressing well. (All Walmart shoppers - please, please, please take heed.) Just kidding. I'm generally okay, but I did wear a day-glo green watch with an electric pink jacket and "vibrant purple" nail polish with blazing blue sweats to the gym the other week. What the hell was wrong with me that day? Let's just file that one in a don't ask/don't tell file.
15. Questions that an interviewee should ask (and that I'm going to send to all my nieces and nephews.)These questions are more than "impressive," they are vital.
16. Educational websites for everyone. (I'm going to hurt my computer getting over to the ones on math. I found out the other day that if I was math-challenged before my sarc, I'm now math-illiterate.)
17. A Google Maps mystery? (I actually did this and... I have no idea what is up with what I saw. Check it out for yourself.) Note: when instructions say to "go up" or "go left," it means to use the arrows of the compass at the top left of the map screen. 

Pretty cool stuff, right? Enjoy

Peace

--Free

Speaking of Learning

Since I mentioned my hopes of getting into the field of coding, I thought I would pass along links to the different sites I've been seeing. Whether you are looking to learn something, or find (like me) a new career path, or are just interested in learning for its own sake, here are some resources:

For coding -

• Codeacademy (nicely set up for the beginner to track learning progress)
• W3Schools (self-described as "the world's largest development site)
• Udacity has an Intro to Computer Sciences that looks organized & practical.
• Hackety Hack is a downloadable program to teach you to... program. 

For app development & other -

• Coursera offers free courses of all kinds, including those in computer science. Check to see which courses are open for which dates. 
• General Assembly offers courses both online and in classroom. The Mobile Development and  Web Development courses look interesting.
• Sitepoint offers to show how to design apps without having programming skills. (Should I be worried?)
• Mozilla offers a tool to help you get creative while Google has a learning spot for developers interested in their products. (Now that Google has surpassed Apple as the most valuable company, it might be nice to jump in on the learning.)

There are tons of courses and classes and intructors to be found on the web for just about anything you want to learn. For this post, I listed sites that I have seen mentioned more than once in articles and reviews. I also tried to list only free courses, but some sites offer a choice of free and paid, so read the small print. Most of all, have fun learning something new. At 50-and-change, I am just trying to keep up with the kids.

Peace

--Free

Internet Junk Food

As a citizen of the Web, I love almost everything about it. I mean, I can keep in touch with friends all over the world, watch interesting documentaries I might not otherwise have access to, take life-enriching classes for free, join in the reindeer games with people I might never meet, and do research on almost any subject I can think of.

Yep. I am lucky to be part of the internet nation.

Except.

Here's the thing: I have always felt like I should use the Web for more productive and positive things. I know that there are people who do.

You probably know that you can get an education online, but did you know that there is actually a University of the People? Or that you can take "the world's best courses"- for free? And then there's the discussion about taking  test-driving classes - for credit. Of course, I have to mention Salman Khan and Khan Academy.

Free education, folks. In a world where some people will walk miles to get a basic education, you and I can sit at home in our pajamas and take courses from places like Harvard and MIT and other "top universities" - for free!

So why have I been more concerned with the lives of  the Real Housewives?

Why? Because, like a lot of you, I live my Web life the way most children live their real lives. I don't want broccoli and spinach for dinner; I want pizza, or mystery meat cut into weird shapes then battered and deep-fried.

Well, that is going to change. I have got to have a healthier Web diet. I need more CNN and less News of the Weird. If I'm going to surf the Net when I get depressed, I need to spend way more time here than here.

I've kicked junkfood in my real-life diet, I've kicked tobacco, and I've damn- I mean, dang near quit cussing. Starting today, I am changing up my Web diet, which means I will be giving up a lot of the junk. Well, not all... You know I am still going to calm my nerves with an occasional visit to the gossip sites.

Peace
--Free

P.S.: Seriously, for more info on useful things available online, watch for my future quickie posts labelled "Free-4-All." I will round up some of the best free resources on almost any and everything you can think of.