CONNECTIONS

 

A few links to websites I've found to be useful and/or fun...

 

 

Quinn Cummings is one of the funniest writers out there. (She’s pretty funny off the page, as well.)  You can’t go wrong stopping by to see what sort of trouble she’s gotten into lately.

 

 

Bobby Owsinski’s two blogs: Music 3.0 and The Big Picture keep me up to date on the Music Industry, the Entertainment Industrial Complex, and trends in Social Media – which are impossible to stay ahead of without a savvy guide. I always come away from his pages smarter. And happier. (And he always finds the coolest videos.)

 

 

I don’t now where I’d be without Lynda.com. I get paid to know lots of things and these guys help me make those things comprehensible to my clients and colleagues. If you need to learn about anything in the realm of modern communication – from figuring out HTML and CSS, to entire suites of software (including Adobe SC6, thank God!), to taking better digital photographs, to edit videos and even optimizing your calendars --  these folks will help you. It’s a subscription service but it’s extremely reasonable ($25/month) and I’ve never once felt I was getting less than I paid for.  If you work for a “creative” company or go to school, chances are you can access the lessons for free. Certainly check it out.

 

 

What can I say? Kahn Academy is still the go-to place to learn (or re-learn) things we all should know but either forgot, or are too afraid to admit we never learned in the first place. This site saved my middle-school daughter’s skin on homework assignments too numerous to count. Mine, too. To paraphrase Stevie Nicks: “You Make Learning Fun”…

 

 

My daughter has outgrown BrainPop, but only reluctantly. If you have a bright, curious kid between the ages of four and fourteen, and want to introduce a trusted relationship with an online website, BrainPop is for you. The lessons are crisp, engaging and brilliantly presented. And funny! The subject matter is extraordinarily wide and deep; and it’s growing every day.  After each lesson, there was a quiz on the material that became the most fun part of the experience.  I learned to rely on BrainPop the way my parents relied on The World Book when I was young – it’s the place to send the kid when the parent isn’t sure how to teach something. Like the encyclopedias we all had, BrainPop is the most reliable starting place for a curious young person to figure something out. It’s the perfect antidote to mindless television.  I’ll always be grateful for BrainPop for explaining AIDS/HIV to my six-year old in a way I never could have. In fact, as I write this, I’m going to pay them another visit. Just for the fun of it.