Omnivorous Surfer

System Nucleus is a FREEWARE utility for viewing, editing and managing system resources and settings.
It makes these types of tasks much easier than remembering the right command, and allows batch processing of tasks such as uninstalling multiple programs or stopping multiple processes. You can get an idea of its functions from the image above (from lifehacker.com), but for more details check the spencerebus website.

To make it even better, you don't have to use an installed version; System Nucleus has a portable version as well.

I will be trying this one out soon on my "old" computer to delete installation data left over from programs previously uninstalled, and I WILL make a system backup before doing so!

I wish I had had this site when I was teaching! I came up with other ways to do some of these activities, but this would have been so nice. FREE is good, too!

At Super Teacher Tools, you can create games such as Jeopardy and Who Wants to be a Millionaire. The site has tools that will create groups, randomly "draw" student names from your class list, or serve as a random lottery numbers generator for a fun way to teach probability. Some fun additions are Flash applications which draw information from the U. S. Census Bureau to show either the current U. S. or world population; both update every 10-30 seconds or so.

There's much more on this site, but these examples will give you an idea of what's waiting for you there.

I received and have used my pretty little red ThumbTacks microphone for the iPod Touch. I like it and will definitely use it. It does a good job recording the user's voice; I tested it at 6, 12, and 18 inches from my mouth with no noticeable difference in volume. I'm not sure how it would do in a classroom and have not had the opportunity to try it in a public setting like that .

It's so small that I just hope I don't lose it! I'm thinking of making a soft case for my iPod with two pockets on the outside: one for the earphones and one for the mic.

The only downside is that with the ThumbTacks plugged in, iTunes and Voice Memos sense that a headset is attached, so there is no audio from the iPod. Interestingly, though, the Talking Tom Cat app allows the use of the mic and still delivers audio via the iPod's speakers. :-)

All in all, I feel this was a good investment to add recording functionality to my iPod!

Make Beliefs Comix is a fun site, even for people like me who are not very creative. I have friends who could do wonderful things there!


This site provides the panels, characters (with a variety of expressions), objects, and word and thought bubbles to create a comic strip in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Latin. It includes links to help you create special characters for those languages. The finished product can be printed or emailed.

Following is a comic I created illustrating a beginning Spanish conversation. Remember I said I'm not creative...

I'm sure teachers can think of lots of ways to incorporate this into the classroom for either their own or students' use: to create conversation or story starters, to practice with dialogue in English or a foreign language, to demonstrate appropriate/inappropriate or desirable/undesirable behavior, and, I'm sure, many others.

You can click on "How to Play" on the website for help, but if you'd like step-by-step instructions check out Russel Stannard's  video tutorial.

Even if you keep them organized, if you've collected bookmarks over a long period of time you will possibly have some duplicates and probably have several that no longer work. AM-DeadLink is FREE software (Windows only), recommended by Kim Komando, which will find duplicates in your browser bookmarks and text files. You can then verify and delete them. It works with IE, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, HTML, and URLs from tab- or comma-delimited files.

As a bonus, you can also download FavIcons for your IE or Opera Favorites.

So often when cooking I don't have exactly what the recipe calls for and wonder what I could substitute. When I can't find one in one of my cookbooks, I usually just guess what might work. Sometimes I just wait until I can get to the store for the exact ingredient.

Today I found Cook's Thesaurus while simply looking for information about green chilis. It not only listed a huge variety of chilis with their substitutes, but also included a heat indicator for each; I hadn't realized my cayenne peppers were that high on the scale! This site will suggest substitutions for an amazing array of foods and seasonings. Next time I don't have the right ingredient, I'll know where to look.

Talk about one-stop shopping! This site provides a number of references and tools accessible simply by clicking a tab..

Need to find rhyming words? Go to rhymes.net , and you'll get a list of words listed alphabetically and categorized by number of syllables. The should be useful for a variety of purposes, but you'll find more here--much more.

There are ten functions accessible from tabs across the top of the web page, each with its own URL. I've checked them out, and they're good! All functions are available by entering the URL of any one of them.

1. Abbreviations (www.abbreviations.com). Search acronyms & abreviations, or browse by category.
2. Conversions (www.convert.net). Convert measurements, time zones, number systems. Type your query freeform or use a handy conversion box with drop-down menus.
3.  Definitions (www.definitions.net). Search or use categories. It functions like a mini encyclopedia, working for such terms as "English Bulldog," "Genghis Khan," and "Russian Revolution," and scientific names of plant and animals. When appropriate the definition will be enhanced by images.
4. Lyrics (www.lyrics.net). Search by song title or a portion of the lyrics. You can also browse by artist.
5. Phrases (www.phrases.net). Search for phrases and idioms. (This would really help a person learning English to make sense of phrases like "rain cats and dogs" and "get a grip.")
6. Quotations (www.quotes.net). Search by author, subject, or word (not phrase).
7. References (www.references.net). Use the directory of categories to see a lists of reference sources on the web.
8. Rhymes (www.rhymes.net). Enter a word and you will be given a list of rhyming words categorized by number of syllables, organized alphabetically in each category.
9. Synonyms. (www.synonyms.net). Search or browse.
10. ZIP Codes (www.uszip.com). Search by city or ZIP code. Results will display the city with its current weather information, demographics, a map, images, and other information.

Interesting site!