·http://nih.gov/science/education.htm

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) brings new research and thoughtful insights to the American public every day, and its work is acclaimed throughout the world. This particular website offers helpful science education resources for young people from the elementary grades to college. Front and center here is the Featured Site, which might at any given visit contain an interactive exploration of the human eye, a series of pages on environmental health designed for children, or another science-related gem. Scrolling down, visitors will find the Resources for Educators area. Here they can follow links to the Microscope Imagining Station at the Exploratorium in San Francisco and the Environmental Health Science Education site from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. [KMG]

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·http://cleanet.org/

The Climate Literacy & Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) offers a fine range of educational materials for educators hoping to build their students' "understanding of the core ideas in climate and energy science." Visitors can look over the What's New area to learn about updated lesson plans, classroom activities, and featured resources like "Soil Microbes and Global Warming." Users shouldn't miss the Browse the Reviewed Educational Resources area. Here they can learn about scientifically and pedagogically reviewed digital resources for teaching about climate science, organized by resource type and grade level. Some of these activities include "What is the fate of CO2 produced by fossil fuel combustion?" and "Paleoclimates and Pollen." Additionally, visitors can sign up to join the CLEAN community and access more webinars and workshops, become a CLEAN reviewer, or learn about new resources as they are released. [KMG]

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·http://dal.ca.libguides.com/

Many academic libraries provide a range of scholarly guides to different disciplines. The librarians at the Dalhousie University Libraries have created this magical elixir of guides to subjects as diverse as medicine, civil engineering, writing, and computer science. Each guide contains a set of five or six sections that include Reference, Selected Books, Key Databases, Journals, and Recommended Websites. Some of the more specialized disciplines (such as medicine and law) have recommended resources designed for each step in the formal education process. All told, there are over 75 guides here that provide a much-needed first step in the research process to students, academics, and the generally curious. Visitors with expertise can also offer suggestions for resources they feel should be added to these thorough guides. [KMG]

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·http://www.bioedonline.org/lessons-and-more/lessons-by-topic/human-organism/food-nutrition-and-energy/your-energy-needs/

What are your body's daily energy needs? It's a good question, answered in part by this lesson plan created by staff members at the BioEdOnline site. The basic goal of this plan is to help students estimate average baseline energy (calorie) needs for different levels of activity. The site includes five sections, including Teacher Background, Objectives and Standards, Materials and Setup, and Lesson Media. This particular plan is designed to take 60 minutes and it includes a set of slides and a short video. The site also contains links to Related Content, which includes the lessons "Heart Rate and Exercise" and "Good Stress for Your Body." [KMG]

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·http://www.visiblebody.com/

The human body is an intricate, and often mysterious, place. With today's technology, however, many websites and apps provide entry into this fascinating world. Visible Body is one of the more compelling avenues for exploration. While there are paid products on the site, some of the content is available at no charge. Visitors can look over the Human Anatomy Atlas, which contains a range of visualizations that allow users to explore body systems in exquisite detail. For a small fee, users may access the other specific areas of the site, which include Digestive Anatomy, Respiratory Anatomy, and Reproductive & Urinary Anatomy. [KMG]

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·http://www.lib.udel.edu/digital/HistoryOfDE/

The history of Delaware is quite interesting. The University of Delaware Library brings together several hundred years of it in this rather intriguing television series from 1963 (now part of that history itself). Originally created by WHYY TV in Wilmington, this 15-part series is narrated by the late John A. Munroe. Professor Munro was a son of Delaware who taught at the university for decades and wrote dozens of books and articles on the Blue Hen State. The series includes the titles "Early Settlers," "Manufacturing," and "Industry." Each segment is about 30 minutes long, and could be used to talk about the history of television programming, historiography, public history, and numerous other related topics. [KMG]

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·http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/interactive/

The Science & Education Research Center (SERC) at Carleton College provides access to high-quality teaching materials for those in the earth sciences. This particular resource offers materials designed to help teachers involve students in large and small lecture-based classes. The materials here were originally created for the Starting Point: Introductory Geology site for geology teachers and the contributing partners came from the College of William and Mary, the University of Kentucky, and several others. The site delves into its teaching philosophy in the section titled How to Give Interactive Lectures. The Examples area provides over 30 specific examples of activities (such as geologic puzzles) that can be used to create a highly engaging classroom experience. [KMG]

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·http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/sheetmusic/

For those who love everything from Sousa to show tunes, the Sheet Music Consortium is a fabulous find. The Consortium is comprised of a number of member libraries (including UCLA) who are interested in building "an open collection of digitized sheet music." Their work has been supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and currently offers cross collection searching of 22 sheet music collections, with a total of 226,000 items. Visitors can click on the Virtual Collection to get started with offerings such as "Texas Cowboy Songs" and "The Titanic." The Browse feature is a great way to get a sense of the materials here. Finally, the Activity Stream provides an updated list of the most recently added items for general consumption. [KMG]

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·http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/

Zocalo Public Square is a not-for-profit daily ideas exchange that blends live events and humanities journalism. The entire initiative is a project of the Center for Social Cohesion at Arizona State University and the New America Foundation, and its goal is to "explore connection, place, big ideas, and what it means to be a citizen, be it locally, regionally, nationally, or globally." Visitors should look at the Ideas area to read meditations on subjects like "Do I have Any Business Being a Doctor?" and "Why We Keep Coming Back to Gatsby." The Books area is a real pip, featuring omnibus reviews (The Six-Point Inspection) and "Squaring Off," in which authors answer five questions about the essence of their books. Visitors shouldn't miss the Viewings area, which includes beautiful photographic essays on the Salton Sea, polling places, and the places where Americans gather. [KMG]

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·http://www.lib.unc.edu/dc/ncmaps/sanborn.html

Geographers, historians, and urban planners all enjoy the fantastic Sanborn maps, which were produced from 1867 to 1977 by the Sanborn Company of Pelham, New York. Each map offers a snapshot of the built environment the town or city it covers, complete with information about fire alarms, water mains, sidewalks, frontage, and a host of other germane details that could be used for insurance purposes. The maps here cover the state of North Carolina, thanks to a collaboration by the North Carolina State Archives, the Outer Banks History Center, and the University Library at UNC-Chapel Hill. The project includes original, printed maps of North Carolina published prior to 1923. Visitors can browse the maps by city or county, and they shouldn't miss the Interactive area. This brilliant feature allows visitors to overlay the historic Sanborn maps with current Google Maps to see the evolution of populated areas over time. [KMG]

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·http://www.engagingplaces.org.uk

How does the built environment affect our daily lives? It's a valuable question, and one that is explored in-depth via the writings, photographs, lessons, and activities on the Engaging Places website. Based in Britain, the site includes the areas Teaching Resources, Network, and About Us. First-time visitors should browse around the In the Spotlight area first. Here they can learn about the accolades garnered by Engaging Places and the site's latest outreach efforts. The Browse by Topic area allows users to learn about the built environment via the topics Architecture in focus, School case studies, and Heritage. The Architecture in Focus area is brilliant, as it contains pieces on 10 Downing Street, Blenheim Palace, and the De La Warr Pavilion, a Modernist icon. Additionally, visitors can use the Recently Added area to look over new content or use the Google Maps interface to search for sites of note and related teaching materials. [KMG]

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·http://www.usace.army.mil/

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a long and distinguished history which can be traced back to 1775 when the Continental Congress organized an army with a chief engineer and two assistants. Today the Corps has over 37,000 dedicated civilians and soldiers delivering services in more than 130 countries worldwide. The website provides a veritable cornucopia of these activities, divided into thematic sections that include Missions, Locations, Careers, and Library. On the homepage, visitors can make their way through the Most Requested area, which includes items like Hurricane Sandy, Civil Works Plan, and numerous others. In the Missions area, visitors can learn about everything from domestic civil works programs to operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Persons looking for Corps projects in certain regions can use the interactive Locations map to do so. The site is rounded out by the Media area, which features fact sheets, videos, and other items. [KMG]

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·http://chicagoan.lib.uchicago.edu/xtf/search?static=home

In the wake of The New Yorker's creation, a group of Chicagoans decided to create a like-minded publication for the Windy City. With that in mind, The Chicagoan was born in 1926. This jaunty publication, which lasted until 1935, aimed "to portray the city as a cultural hub and counter its image as a place of violence and vice." This remarkable website created by the University of Chicago Library brings together the near-complete run contained within the library's collection for general consideration. Visitors can start by browsing through some of the historic covers on the site, and then move on to perform a full text search of every issue. New users may wish to start by looking at the April 9, 1927 issue, which contains a number of humorous illustrations and a profile of the editor of Poetry, Henry Blake Fuller. [KMG]

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·http://www.industrialdesignhistory.com/

Created and maintained by a team of scholars at Auburn University, this site "celebrates the determination, audacity and ingenuity of the industrial design profession." It's a great way to learn about the designed world, as described within sections like History Research, Design Stories, Historical Musings, and Resources. The Design Stories area is a great place to start, as it contains oral histories and video-taped interviews with Budd Steinheilber talking about his design for the Tucker automobile and Tom Hardy talking about designing the first IBM PC keyboard. In the History Research area, visitors can read original articles written for the site and also view the Biographies Timeline, which features profiles of designers like Peter Behrens, Walter Gropius, and Helen Dryden. [KMG]

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·http://cooklibrary.towson.edu/spcoll/

The Albert S. Cook Library at Towson State University offers a remarkable variety of materials related to the history of this Maryland institution, along with photographs of campus life, course catalogs, and items related to the Baltimore Hebrew Institute. First-time visitors may wish to look over the What's Your Story area, which features interviews with new freshmen about their experiences on campus. In the University History area, visitors can learn about the school's history from 1866 to the present, along with perusing a Chronology and reading about the buildings of this institution, past and present. Finally, visitors can look over the Student Newspapers collection, which includes access to "The Oriole," one of the dominant dailies on campus in the Roaring 20s. [KMG]

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·http://converseen.sourceforge.net/

If you are looking for a way to convert, resize, rotate and flip an unlimited number of images, Converseen is worth a look. It's an open source program that supports over 100 image formats and the user interface is easy to use. The site for the program includes a FAQ area and this version is compatible with Windows and Linux operating systems. [KMG]

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·http://www.twitonomy.com/

For Twitter users, this handy application is a great way to get detailed and visual analytics on their tweets, and for that matter, anyone else's tweets. Visitors can use the application to browse, search, filter, and get insights on the people they follow, along with backing up their own tweets for future reference. Also, the application allows visitors to browse, search, and filter their lists. This version of Twitonomy is compatible with all operating systems. [KMG]

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Russia says it was robbed in Eurovision song contest
http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-russia-eurovision-20130521,0,1712159.story

Eurovision: Azerbaijan probes Russian 'nul points'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22600892

Eurovision organizers respond to media reports on voting
http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=87553&_t=eurovision_organisers_respond_to_media_reports_on_voting

Germans blame Angela Merkel for poor Eurovision Song Contest performance
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/germans-blame-angela-merkel-for-poor-eurovision-song-contest-performance-8623289.html

Eurovision Song Contest
http://www.eurovision.tv/page/timeline

History of the Eurovision Song Contest
http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history

If you're an American, you might be forgiven for never having heard of the Eurovision Song Contest. This melange of talent from across the European Union has been going on for 56 years, and past winners have gone on to tremendous careers, including in supergroups like ABBA. This year, there was a significant crisis of confidence in the whole contest process as Russian fans complained that the Russian participant, Dina Garipova, came in fifth in the final voting tabulation (Emmelie de Forest of Denmark took first place). Part of this brouhaha was due to the fact that Garipova was denied 10 points that she would have received from voters in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. It remains to be seen what will happen, but suffice it to say, tempers have run high as this whole business is sorted out. Commenting on the matter, Yana Churikova, a member of the Russian delegation to the contest, noted diplomatically that "I think the Danish participant deserved her victory." [KMG]

The first link will take visitors to a piece from this Tuesday's Los Angeles Times which offers details of this kerfuffle, along with the complete performance by Ms. Garipova. The second link will take interested parties to a link from the BBC about the probe into the voting process. The third link will take visitors to the official response from the Eurovision officials about an inquiry. The fourth link leads to an article from The Independent which discusses the reasons the Germans did not have a good showing this year, including the possibility that part of the blame may fall on the shoulders of Chancellor Angela Merkel. The fifth link will whisk interested parties to the official homepage of the Eurovision Song Contest, which is replete with important information on each contestant as well as a behind-the scenes look at the contest as a whole. The final link will take users to the official history of the Eurovision Song Contest, which contains significant details on past winners, including ABBA and Sir Cliff Richards.