T N.

Radiolab is all about distributing knowledge to those who just want to keep learning and who are curious about the world. If you want to know more about laughter, stochasticity, the phenomenon of zoos, music as a language, etc., try Radiolab. If you like This American Life, Car Talk, etc., check out Radiolab. (http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/)

Cnet is a great place to get a professional's and other users' opinions about computer software and downloads. In my case, I use them strictly for that and for free downloads of standard programs like AVG anti-virus, winrar, Vuze, FLV converters, etc. You can see how many downloads it's had, star ratings and user reviews. There are also programs that you have to pay for, making it easy for you to get without having to go to the store. The whole thing's safe and super easy.

I use Shu Uemura depsea products (which are lightweight and excellent) from time to time and have purchased them from shuuemura-usa.com. The products are really affordable; there were no issues with ordering and shipping. When my things came, they were always nicely packaged in cute containers that I could reuse for gifts to friends.

Not only do I love the name of this "CutePDF" application but I love the function of it. The CutePDF writer turns any of my documents, spreadsheets, powerpoints, pictures into PDF files with just the click of my "print" button. There are a couple of CutePDF products on the website but I use only http://www.cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/Writer.asp (which is the only free one; there are trial versions of the other products). After you download the Writer application and converter and install/run it, a CutePDF printer is created on your computer (excuse my technical language inability). So whenever you're done with a document on Word, Excel, Powerpoint, whereever, you go to print it using CutePDF printer. Instead of actually printing the document, it's converted into a PDF file, just like that! The whole process, from downloading to creating PDFs is amazingly simple. I find CutePDF very useful when I have to send letters to parents and professionals via email.

Chuck Norris is ALMOST as cool as ninjas. Here you can learn more facts about him, like "Chuck Norris is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head." or "Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door." You can also put your favorite phrases on a t-shirt by just clicking on the fact. This website proves that you can never know enough about Chuck Norris.

Who doesn't love ninjas? If you don't love ninjas, you might not be a human being with a soul. You might be soulless, and who wants that? If you want to find where your soul is, learn all you can about ninjas at realultimatepower.net. I actually showed this to one of my students long ago (bad judgement - don't teach your students about ninjas until they're of age) and my friend Nate, and they couldn't stop talking to each other about the real ultimate power of ninjas.

I laugh out loud at almost every single Maddox Best Page in the Universe entry. I love everything that comes out of this guy's mouth. Some of this stuff might be offensive, but most are just plain insightful (one thing that PC users can do that MAC users can't: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant) and hilarious (95% of posts).

An Asian person who has not made fun of a family member's English has got to speak a little Engrish him/herself. Engrish.com is a site that compiles all of those strange, indecipherable, incomprehensible signs, food labels, company taglines, t-shirt designs, etc. that you can find in Asian countries, Chinatown stores or on the cards that your (asian) parents (if you have some) write you on your birthday. I get a huge kick out of a lot of these. Here are the most popular: http://www.engrish.com/most-popular/

I check foundmagazine.com both out of fear and for want of laughter. I fear that one day one of my old high school letters to friends will be found and then all of my silly childhood crushes will be revealed. I also check because I know that I'll get laughter or at least a nostalgia that's not even my own. Found Magazine is both a print magazine and a website dedicated to the things (pictures, letters, to-do lists, notes, etc.) that we might find stuffed in the corners of our movie seat cushions, hiding between page 97 and 98 of a library book, left behind on a store countertop or neglected and likely to be lost to street gutters. The idea is that people can send these items in to Found, and they publish one found item a day. It's an interesting glimpse into the lives of others and definitely worthy of a looksie.

Pointy Records is an independent music label based in London. I've bought a couple of Flotation Toy Warning and Clientele CDs from these guys. Sarah from Pointy Records was immediately responsive each time. The CDs came, shipped from England, quickly and were well-packaged. Sarah even included a hand-written note with the FTW album, saying thanks for the purchase.

I recently ordered from cvs.com a couple of simple things that I needed and couldn't get in Guatemala. It was an easy transaction online and everything came on time and as described.

I love my Dell laptop as well as how easy it was to find the laptop I needed on dell.com. However, what I didn't love was the fact that the shipping kept getting pushed back to the point where my laptop took over 3 weeks to arrive. However, everything was intact upon arrival. I do have to comment that Dell customer service has been incredible, the last few times I've had to use it with my older laptop. When that laptop had an issue, Dell sent me a new harddrive, no questions asked. That arrived quickly, and shipping to return the old harddrive was completely free.

I used the free online panda activescan 2.0 to get rid of one pretty nasty virus and a handful of fairly harmless but annoying bugs that other programs couldn't handle. It's thorough and fairly quick, though the one month trial of the full program was slightly irritating as I had issues with using some programs easily and getting access to my workplace server due to it. I wouldn't buy the global security program but will keep using the activescan.

Woot.com sells one item a day until that item sells out or until the day is over. Usually the former happens first because the things they sell are pretty neat and are sold at very cheap prices. I've had friends buy from here, and things always come as advertised and on time. The woot community is helpful, and the owners seem like honest, likable characters who report that they predict profitability by 2043.

I like numbers and films so this website gives me the information I want to know: box office data. You can find out the U.S. and international gross for films as well as their production and advertising budgets. There's also a week by week or sometimes day by day breakdown in addition to a list of box office stories and releases that mention that particular movie. The website design itself is pretty low-budget and sometimes there is a lack of information (I had to go to IMDB to find out some budget information). There isn't a whole lot of information in general but still a nice resource for film lovers.

The Baltimore Art Museum has this super fun and interactive site (http://www.artbma.org/flash/F_conekids.swf) where kids can go and explore more about Henri Matisse The site has historical facts presented in kid-friendly ways as well as games and activities that stimulate visual processing, problem solving, creativity, and learning about basic art concepts. It's the best one I've seen on Matisse for kids!

I love the New York Times, when I can get a moment to read it. They recently added an article skimmer interface that makes it easy for me to scan the articles in each section so I can know a little bit about everything that's happening.
http://prototype.nytimes.com/gst/articleSkimmer/

I've bought a number of ridiculous items from this website for babies of friends. One of those items included the peepee teepee (http://www.uncommongoods.com/item/item.jsp?itemId=*******; I have yet to find out if it really works). A lot of the products for babies are organic, colorful and/or old school (no flashing lights or buttons to push), and I just love sorting through that kind of stuff. I had absolutely no problems with the purchases, and my friends loved the goods.

I used Zipcar about 5 years ago while living in Cambridge. After approval and gaining easy "membership", you can reserve a car close to where you are for a certain number of hours or for the day. You just reserve online or by phone and go to the assigned location of the car. Usually that's not too far from where you are. Then you wave your magnetic card in front of the windshield, the locks open and the keys are inside. Super easy and convenient. It's a bit pricey (though insurance and a gas card are included) but when you need to transport a bunch of things, it can be worth it.

Different Roads to Learning looks like it has some pretty useful materials for the teachers and classrooms that serve children with special needs. Advertised as a place for autism-friendly materials, these materials could be used for any child who needs extra support. The online catalog is divided into types of products (books, scheduling, visual supports, as examples) and topics (talking and conversation, getting along, nonverbal communication, etc.). I (my school) purchased a couple of Time Timers from Different Roads and received them all on time, well-wrapped and without a problem!