Earn Bloggin: 2013

Saturday, December 28, 2013

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Monday, October 28, 2013

25 Killer Websites that Make You Cleverer

BY JON NEGRONI IN TECHNOLOGY | 42.7K SHARES

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It’s easy to forget that we have access to a virtually limitless resource of information, i.e. the Internet. For a lot of us, this is even true at our fingertips, thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones and an ever-increasing push for online greatness by tech engineers all over the world.

As a result, there are countless websites out there that are geared to make you smarter and more brilliant for either a low or no cost. Here are just 25 killer websites that may just make you more clever than ever before.

1. Duolingo

This isn’t the first time I’ve recommended this language-teaching website (and app), and it certainly won’t be the last. Duolingo is a free version of Rosetta-Stone that delivers the same results: teaching you another language. Regular use of the site can have you speaking and writing Spanish, English, German, French, Portuguese and Italian in a matter of months depending on the diligence you put into it. Hopefully, even more languages will become available soon.

2. Khan Academy

Have you ever wanted to pick up a subject you’re not well-versed in, but you didn’t have the money to invest in a college course? Khan Academy aims to provide education at the collegiate level for anyone who wants it. They provide resources for learning pretty much every subject out there, including math, science, history and more. As you learn, the platform will even assess your progress and help you gauge what you’ve learned.

3. Justin Guitar

Guitar is one of the few instruments out there that’s actually pretty easy to learn if you’re a little older, making it one of the most accessible instruments. Still, learning how to play still takes some direction, at least for most people, so a guy named Justin decided he was going to help out. His website provides hundreds of free guitar lessons that range in different styles, depending on how you want to play. His schedule for learning is pretty easy to follow, and the site is a great stepping stone for people wanting to pick the instrument up.

4. Cooking for Engineers

Founded by Michael Chu, Cooking for Engineers goes further than just providing recipes. The site is a blog that is geared toward making your food taste good. Additionally, his analytical take on ingredients and cooking recipes is interesting and will likely change the way you approach cuisine.

5. The Dating Specialist

Or Nick the Dating Specialist is a website that wants to help guys be better dates. The site is full of advice on how to approach social situations and flirt successfully with different types of people. Nick even offers personal coaching at your request, so he can help your specific situation or hurdle to successful dating.

6. Nerd Fitness

When we think of exercising and gym techniques, we typically think of bodybuilders and jocks from high school. Nerd Fitness aims to provide resources for getting in shape from a nerd’s point of view. All of the guides, blogs and fitness tips on this site have a geek flavor that is intended to make anyone who feels uncomfortable at the gym feel right at home here.

7. MIT Open Courseware

As much as I would love an education at MIT, that isn’t really in the cards. Thankfully, the educators at the Massachusetts Institue of Technology decided to give out information for tons of courses online through Open Courseware. Hundreds of millions of people have benefitted from the information that they can learn from these courses, starting a trend for other sites to offer free courses as well.

8. Investopedia

I don’t like to admit it, but my lack of a business degree tends to make me feel easily intimidated when a conversation starts taking a turn for the financial. To solve this, Investopedia was born to provide a news blog that makes it easy to digest and really understand the financial markets. There are tons of resources like tutorials and videos that will help you keep up with the ever-changing world of money, and the news stories will keep you coming back for more.

9. Quora

Have you ever wanted to ask someone famous a question, but you suffer from never having the chance? Thanks to Quora, you can read the opinions and answers of fascinating (and varied) questions from the leading experts in pretty much everything. You can answer questions too and get feedback from numerous others who share your love for a given topic.

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10. Information is Beautiful

I love reading, but sometimes a visual demonstration just makes information come alive. Hence, Information is Beautiful is a platform that uses gorgeous visuals to impart data. For example, if you want to find out how much money individual organizations have lost from data breaches, you can view an action visual that shows bubbles that are labeled and sized accordingly, giving you an in-depth, but easy to digest overview of the data.

11. Spreeder

According to Spreeder, a lot of us have trouble reading quickly because we can only read as fast as our “inner voice” can. Spreeder’s solution is to teach you to read without an inner voice, boosting reading speed and comprehension immensely. The best part? It’s totally free.

12. Project Gutenberg

Imagine a library with tons of free books that you can keep for the rest of your life. Actually, you don’t have to imagine that because Project Gutenberg gives you the ability to download thousands of free e-books, and it’s completely legal.

13. Codeacademy

If you haven’t noticed by now, the Internet has pretty much taken over everything, which means the skill of coding and developing websites is in higher demand than ever, and that’s not likely to change. With Codeacademy, you can use free tutorials that teach you the basics of coding with interactive and handy tools for helping you become an expert.

14. GeographyIQ

Imagine if Google Earth and Wikipedia decided to make it official and have a child. That would be GeographyIQ. Using the world map, you can select any country and access virtually every facet of useful information there is about that country, including history, currency, population and more.

15. Anki

It’s no secret that the key to memorizing information is mastering recall. With flashcards, you can recall things faster, making Anki an ideal resource for using flashcards online. Unlike other sites that use flashcards, Anki allows you embed more than just text. You can use video, audio and images to help you start studying faster and smarter.

16. Lumosity

Using games to learn is something I’ve treasured since Kindergarten, making Lumosity a trusted resource for me and countless others. Using a daily schedule of games, Lumosity is literally designed to make you more clever. As you progress, the software figures out what your strengths and weaknesses (such as memory or math skills) and assigns you games accordingly. The best part is that the games are actually addicting and fun to look forward to!

17. CliffsNotes

Ideal for high school and college students, Cliffsnotes provides valuable resources like study guides and test prep for standard books and subjects you’ll have to read anyway. The site also provides resources for math and science, giving you the chance to finally master the dark arts of homework.

18. TED

For years, people have been benefitting from TED talks that provide free insights from the world’s smartest people. TED provides the value and learning growth of a seminar, but without the exorbitant costs and travel expenses, by providing visitors with tons of free video lectures. The app is also great for catching up on the latest talks, and you can even download some on iTunes.

19. Pinfruit

Need to memorize a lengthy number? Pinfruit analyzes the number and provides all of the options you could want as a mnemonic device. That’s all there is to it, since (unfortunately) they only provide this for numbers and not words.

20. Mindtools

There are countless blogs that you can enjoy for being interesting and mildly useful, but how many of them actually help you with your career? Mindtools is a blog that teaches you what they call “practical career skills” that you can apply at your job. This is a great daily read for entry-level workers who want to make a great impression, and the variety of topics and advice provided make this is a fantastic bookmark for anyone wanting to excel.

21. Learn Street

Want to take your coding skills to the next level? Learn Street helps teach you how to use advanced coding scripts such as JavaScript, Python and Ruby without making your head explode. It even provides a service for helping you teach advanced code to others.

22. HowStuffWorks

There are things we want to know about, and then there are things we didn’t know we wanted to know about. HowStuffWorks addresses the latter by providing information on a variety of topics and eye-opening facts that will broaden your horizons.

23. OneLook

Finding a great dictionary is not a difficult task in a world full of search engines, but it can be tricky to define more complicated words and phrases that most dictionaries (besides UrbanDictionary) don’t attempt to define. With OneLook, you can find multiple definitions from numerous dictionaries in one place, even if you’re looking up a phrase that is obscure or too specific for normal dictionaries to help you out with.

24. The World Factbook

Did you know that the CIA has information on pretty much everything in the world? Okay, but did you know that they make a ton of this information open to the public? The World Factbook is your godsend for research, allowing you to cite facts and details that pertain to a seemingly endless amount of information from reputable sources.

25. Couchsurfing

Don’t let the name fool you, as Couchsurfing is far from a website that will make you lazy. Couchsurfing lets you connect with travelers all over the world and is the ultimate resource for experiencing other cultures. Put simply, you can use the social network to meet locals in a new community you are visiting. You can also open up your home to fellow couchsurfers, giving you the chance to make new experiences and memories with fascinating people from all over the globe.

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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Top Scariest Places

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Halloween is perfect time to raise the dead. While you can creep yourself out at hundreds of manufactured haunted houses, why not go for the real deal. These truly scary locations are steeped in history while all are home to legendary tales and infamous spirits. But adventurers beware. From a former insane asylum to cursed battlegrounds, these spooky sites are not for the faint of heart.

1St. Louis Cemetery
AP
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a town steeped in mythical traditions like witchcraft and vampires. Numerous cemeteries dot the landscape but the St. Louis Cemetery is the oldest in the city. Here, visitors will discover ornate above-ground tombs and mausoleums, winding footpaths and crumbling memorials. While many ghosts are rumored to call this place their home, Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, reigns supreme.
2The Winchester Mystery House
Winchester Mystery House
San Jose, California
With mile-long hallways, staircases to nowhere and doors that open into walls, this mysterious maze-like Victorian mansion in San Jose boasts160-rooms. The home was originally built by Sarah Winchester, the wealthy widow of William Wirt Winchester (son of the manufacturer of the Winchester repeating rifle). Sarah tragically lost both her daughter and husband to illness and later sought help from a spiritual advisor to overcome her depression. The medium warned Sarah that the Winchester family had been struck by a terrible curse, and would be haunted by the ghosts of the many deceased killed by the Winchester rifle. The only way to appease the dead according to the medium, was to build a house for the lost souls... and never stop building. For 38 years, construction on the house continued for 24 hours a day, until Sarah died. Today, visitors to the home will want to look out for the many unlucky number 13's featured in the house design as they roam the haunted halls.
3Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum
FNC
This former state hospital for the mentally insane is part history site, part hotbed of paranormal activity. Ghosts of Civil War soldiers and former patients are said to be walking through the two and half miles of hallways. Visitors claim to see things move or feel the presence of spirits. The largest hand-cut stone building in North America, this mammoth granite structure was constructed in 1858. The asylum originally housed 250 residents at a time, but at its peak in the 1950s, more than 2,000 patients called this place home. Trans-Alleghany stopped treating patients in 1994, but brave thrill seekers can roam the halls on any number of special guided tours including a night-time flashlight ghost hunting experience.
4Stepp Cemetery
Stepp Cemetery
Benton, Indiana
Only two dozen or so crumbling grave markers remain in this famously haunted cemetery in Indiana. Legend has that it was founded by a cult called the Crabbites, who sacrificed small animals and participated in sex orgies. Another story holds that a mother of an infant who died was so distraught that she went to the cemetery and dug up the child's body after it was buried. Grieving, she took her own life. Visitors claim to have seen her ghost, dressed in black, weeping over her daughter's grave, near the site of an old stump that has since rotted away years ago.
5Moundsville Penitentiary
West Virgina Penitentiary
Moundsville, West Virginia
It is estimated that one thousand inmates died while being incarcerated at this fearsome, Gothic style prison. Some died of natural causes or from inmate violence, but over the course of the penitentiary's history, 94 men were put to death since the first executions began in 1899. Less than 500 inmates were housed in the facility when it opened in 1866. But by the 1930s, its population was exceeded 2,400. Today, many ghosts are said to be lurking the halls, but the most famous is the Shadow Man. Visitors have also claimed to see the ghost of a maintenance man who was stabbed to death by prisoners in the basement for snitching to prison guards about inmate activity. Historical tours begin just after sun set, leading guests through the haunted prison by nightfall.
6Gettysburg Battlefield
AP
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
As the site of one of the Civil War's bloodiest battles, Gettysburg stands the test of time as one of the most haunted places in America. Over 50,000 soldiers from the Union and Confederate armies were killed and their ghosts are still seen and heard today by tourists to the field and town. Visitors also claim to hear the thunder of canons, gunfire and screams and moans of the battle's victims. Devil's Den, a rock formation where dozens of bodies and limbs were discovered after the war, is a popular spot for tourists seeking a ghostly encounter in this historic area.
7The Stanley Hotel
The Stanley Hotel
Estes Park, Colorado
As the infamous locale where Jack Nicholson went crazy in "The Shining," this hotel is a hot spot for paranormal activity. The Paranormal Research Society of ‘Paranormal State’ fame came for a field trip, while TAPS from “Ghost Hunters” has experienced phenomena around the hotel site.
Well known spooks include a young boy who makes his presence known in room 1211 and a young man who just likes to hang out in closets and bedrooms. The hotel’s owner, Mr. Stanley, makes his presence known by appearing to visitors in the lobby and billiards room, while his wife Flora entertains guests by playing a piano. The hotel offers ghost tours, so next time you visit Colorado, bring a camera. Who knows? Perhaps a friendly spirit will appear for a picture.
8St. Augustine Lighthouse
St. Augustine Lighthouse
St. Augustine, Florida
The ghosts of this haunted lighthouse are rumored to make their presence known by appearing as creepy shadows and making unexplained noises. Legend has it that the daughters of the Superintendent of Lighthouse Construction drowned, and continue to haunt the building ever since their untimely death.Three other people have passed away in the lighthouse from illnesses, while a keeper named Joseph fell to his death. Visitors have claimed to see shadows high up in the tower, while others hear the daughters laughing and giggling at night. The eldest girl is also fond of appearing before guests donned in the clothing she wore on the day of her death.
9The Myrtles Plantation
Myrtles Plantation
St. Francisville, Louisiana
Built over an ancient First Nations burial ground, this plantation is known for its ghostly inhabitants. Rumor has it that ten deaths have occurred on the site. One of the most famous involves a slave named Chloe, who was supposedly killed by fellow slaves after an ill-fated attempt to poison another house mistress. Visitors have reported seeing ghostly children on the verandah, a curly-haired woman who mysteriously appears and disappears, and odd hand prints that mysteriously appear in mirrors. One visitor reported a cold spot hovering over her bed while a rattling closet door kept her awake. If you want to get some sleep while visiting Myrtle Planation, you might have to tell the ghosts to keep it down.
10Bell Witch Cave
Bell Witch Cave
Adams, Tennessee
The site where John Bell and his family were tormented by a ghost now known as the Bell Witch is open to brave visitors who wish to explore the spirit world. The legend varies, but most accounts claim that Kate Batts, a neighbor of the Bell family, believed she was cheated out of property in a land purchase. Kate continued to torture the entire Bell family, physically abusing the youngest daughter Betsey, and cursing John. Visitors claim that any object taken from the site is cursed, while many have reported encountering a violent force while on the property. Technology doesn’t work there either, with cameras mysteriously malfunctioning when users try to capture an image.
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