·http://www.chemcollective.org/

The ChemCollective is a collection of virtual labs, scenario-based learning activities, tutorials, and concept tests. On their website, interested parties can use the content for pre-labs, alternatives to textbook homework, and for in-class activities for individuals or teams. Visitors can get started by looking over the Featured Resource and then move on to explore Resources by Type or Resources by Topic. This last heading is quite well-developed and covers solubility, physical chemistry, and kinetics. On the right-hand side of the page, the Quick Links area brings together tutorials, a virtual laboratory feature, and links to What's New on the site. Additionally, users can take advantage of the search feature and can also offer feedback on their own experiences with these resources. [KMG]

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·http://www.nabt.org/websites/institution/index.php?p=26

Published by a group of passionate educators, the American Biology Teacher is a professional journal for K-16 biology teachers. The journal covers a wide range of topics, and is focused on providing biology teaching strategies for both the classroom and the laboratory as well as field activities and reviews of new educational books, online sites, and applications. Visitors to the site can review articles selected by the editors each month at no charge, while the rest of each journal requires a paid membership. All told, there are over fifty free articles here dating back to 2006. Some of the more recent offerings include "Minnows as a Classroom Model for Human Environmental Health" and "A Socratic Method for Surveying Students' Readiness to Study Evolution." Visitors can also use social media options to keep track of new additions or to share articles with others. [KMG]

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·http://www.learner.org/resources/series29.html

This series of educational videos about teaching science was produced by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. It is offered as part of the Annenberg Learner initiative and explores "the reasons why teaching science is so difficult." The series contains nine 90-minute workshops containing information about classroom activities, teaching suggestions, and so on. The titles here include "Physics: Hands-On/Minds-On Learning" and "Chemistry: A House With No Foundation." The site includes links to Related Resources and a rather fine project lab that can be used to help students learn about the phases of the Moon and the reasons for the seasons. [KMG]

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·http://www.pewinternet.org/Static-Pages/Data-Tools/Get-the-Latest-Statistics/Infographics.aspx

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has compiled these infographics for use by journalists, scholars, and members of the general public. These visualizations represent the fruits of their substantial research into topics such as Internet usage, cell phone ownership, and social media. The site contains over 60 infographics and the materials here are culled from the Project's past reports, presentations, and commentaries. Arranged in chronological order, visitors can search all of the documents and will also find links to the Research Toolkit area. Visitors can also use the iPoll feature to search the Pew Internet database of questions. [KMG]

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·http://oli.cmu.edu/courses/free-open/anatomy-physiology/

Do you fully comprehend how the human body functions? Unless one has a great deal of formal training, such comprehension can be quite difficult. This site from Carnegie Mellon University's Open Learning Initiative opens up new ways of looking at anatomy and physiology for lay people. This particular course focuses on several themes including the structure and function of the body, the levels of organization within the body, and homeostasis. There are fifteen units within this course and visitors can create a free account to keep track of their progress through each of these different areas. [KMG]

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·http://cardcolm-maa.blogspot.com/

The Card Colm bimonthly column is sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and it explores mathematical card principles and effects for fun. It's an inspired idea ignited by the musings and mediations of Martin Gardner, a man who loved such things. The column is penned by Colm Mulcahy who, when not enjoying card tricks, can be found teaching at Spelman College. The posts have titles like "Never Forget a Face (Double-Dealing with a Difference)" and "Predictability Outranks Luck." Each post contains fun diagrams, witty asides, and links to other references. People with an interest in probability, card games and mathematics in general will find much to enjoy here. [KMG]

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·http://www.exploratorium.edu/explore

A visit to the Exploratorium in San Francisco can be the highlight of a Bay Area excursion. As a science museum, the Exploratorium provides both questions and answers for the generally curious. The museum’s Explore website provides access to many of their digital features, such as the Microscope Imaging Station, Science in the City, and Return to Mars. It's easy to see how young people can use these interactive and engaging features to supplement more traditional classroom activities. On the left-hand side of the page, visitors can browse through ten topics, such as Culture, Human Body, Mind, and Seeing. It's also fun to look through the Staff Picks section, which rotate based on personal preference. You'll want to spend some time picking out favorite activities to share with friends and fellow science enthusiasts. [KMG]

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·http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/geoheritage/index.cfm

What is geologic heritage, you ask? In short, it "encompasses the significant geologic features, landforms, and landscapes characteristic of our Nation." The National Park Service has a special program to document these sites and to provide the public with resources about these unique destinations. The materials here are divided into four featured programs: Fossil Resources, Geologic Heritage Conservation, Park Geology Tour, and Cave and Karst Resources. Using the Park Geology Tour, visitors can search through thematic areas such as glaciers, fossils, and plate tectonics to find highlights from a vast array of National Park units. The Cave and Karst Resources program brings together resources on some of the over 4,900 caves in the National Park system, along with detailed photo galleries, newsletters, and brochures. Finally, under Fossil Resources visitors can find information about National Fossil Day and even helpful lesson plans for teachers. [KMG]

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·http://sounds.bl.uk/sound-maps/

Can you locate a Cockney accent? What about the location of different traditional types of music in Britain? Both of these tasks are possible and quite enjoyable via the British Library's Sound Maps website. Visitors are encouraged to use the interactive maps here to explore nine different sound clusters, including Music from India, Wildlife recordings, and Accent & Dialects. This last one is a great place to start as it contain hundreds of audio clips from all over Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales. Moving on, the Wildlife Recordings area features amphibian noises and chirps from all over Europe, and highlights include pool frogs from Albania and a Hungarian river warbler. The Soundscapes section is a real treat and includes over one hundred ambient soundscapes ranging from Polish woodlands to an industrial landscape in Ukraine. [KMG]

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·http://digitalcollections.uark.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/apples

Arkansas has many agricultural products and folks in the know are aware of the many apple varieties grown in the state. This digital exhibit contains 69 items related to apple culture taken from collections housed at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the University of Arkansas. Select items for this special collection include souvenir booklets, poetry, and photographs. First-time visitors should read the history of the Arkansas apple industry proffered by "Mr. Arkansas Apple" himself, Dr. Roy C. Rom. The resource list is exhaustive, and anyone with an interest in pomology or Arkansas history will find it quite fascinating. Additionally, for anyone interested in going deeper into the subject, the site includes supplementary resources including links to other digitized materials. [KMG]

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·http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/visual-collections/travel-posters

If you want to visit Amelie-les-Bains or Bali and are light on travel funds, you might consider the travel posters offered here, courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library. Recently, they embarked on a digitization project that included these very wonderful historic travel posters. All told, there are 89 posters in this collection and they document everywhere from Boston, England to the Antilles. Visitors can zoom in close for a better look and the details on each work are quite exquisite. It's a reminder of a different era of travel and persons with an interest in graphic design, material culture, tourism, and other fields will find much to enjoy here. [KMG]

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·http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/photographs/

In 1983, the Smithsonian American Art Museum began collecting photographs. Today they have over 7000 images and this website offers a wonderful exploration of but a few of their holdings. The title of this collection refers to Walt Whitman's belief that photography was a quintessentially American activity, rooted in everyday people and ordinary things. The visual delights here are divided into four sections, including American Characters and Imagination at Work. Each section contains a brief narrative introduction and then a scroll board of images for visitor consideration. The American Inhabited area includes a number of dramatic vistas of infrastructure and harbors, right next to more common objects, like a child's tricycle. Additionally, the site contains a visual timeline and a glossary of terms. [KMG]

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·http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/public_art_collection.html

The city of Chicago has had public art projects for over a century, but things really took off with the passage in 1978 of the Percent for Art Ordinance. This act stipulated that a percentage of construction and renovation costs for municipal buildings and public spaces be set aside for original artwork. This website offers visitors several guides to the more than 700 works of art exhibited in 150 municipal facilities around the city. The curious can find them in CTA stations, police stations, libraries, and City Hall. On the site, visitors can look over the Highlights area for an introduction to some of these fine works. Additionally, the site contains separate maps for five different areas of the city, including the Loop and the near South Side. [KMG]

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·http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/digital_books/index.html

The library at Virginia Tech has many rare volumes. This particular digitization project brings together dozens of those tomes. The focus of this collection is on works from the library's Culinary History Collection, and these items do not disappoint. Anyone with an interest in cookery will want to peruse many of these volumes as they offer insight into the history of this most noble activity from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. The items here include some fascinating early works on household management and works on children's nutrition, such as "The Care and Feeding of Children: a Catechism for the Use of Mothers and Children's Nurses." Perhaps one of the most curious volumes is the "Low Cost Recipes" compendium from 1914. The recipes here include suggestions for preparing scalloped ham and braised beef hearts. [KMG]

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·http://cdm.williams.edu/nhb/

Thousands of people both known and unknown have roamed through the Berkshires to listen to music at Tanglewood or to take a long walk up Mt. Greylock. This enchanting guide to the natural history of this ancient mountain range in western Massachusetts was created by Professor Henry Art of Williams College as part of his work with his students. The homepage provides a bit of background history on these hills and valleys, along with some nice images. Visitors can then proceed through the Locations tabs to look over such notable landmarks as Mount Greylock, Petersburg Pass, Stonehill, and the Hoosic Floodplain. Each of these tabs contains maps, directions, images, and even some videos. It's a site that might inspire a new interest in natural history or perhaps your own jaunt out to this distinct region. [KMG]

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·http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/louise-nevelson-papers-9093

With funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian has been able to digitize all 8,058 pages of the Louise Nevelson Papers. The collection is arranged in 9 series, from Series 1: Biographical Material, to Series 9: Photographs. Each series is represented by a single image on the collection summary page of the website; clicking that image takes a viewer into the subseries arrangement. For example, the Photographs are further divided into 5 subseries such as Family and Personal, Exhibitions and Installations, and Art Work. The subseries provide folder views, making it possible to browse items such as a photo album of Nevelson's 1975 Exhibition at Minami Gallery (Tokyo, Japan). The complete 25-page finding aid is available on this website, and also as a downloadable .pdf, making it extremely easy for a researcher at distance to request more information. [DS]

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·http://fiduswriter.org/

The Fidus Writer is an application that academics will be most excited to learn about. This version functions as an online collaborative editor made specifically for academics who need to use citations and formulas. The program is focused on the content rather than the layout, which means users can publish it later in a variety of formats. The site also contains an FAQ and information about updates. This version is compatible with all operating systems running Google Chrome. [KMG]

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·http://debategraph.org/Stream.aspx?nid=61932&vt=bubble&dc=focus

DebateGraph states, "to change the world you need to look at it in a different way." Many would agree; this platform gives multiple partners the ability to visualize and share different ideas. It's a neat concept and it's one that has been used by the United Kingdom's Foreign Office and CNN. A helpful "how-to" area can get users started and the application allows visitors to link ideas visually via a very easy-to-use interface. This version of debate graph is compatible with all operating systems. [KMG]

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State Fair Vendors Innovate to Survive
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323455104579013233026497554.html

The Hunger Games: State Fair Food Gets More Outrageous
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/08/hunger-games-state-fair-food-gets-more-outrageous/68536/

The Minnesota State Fair: Origins and Traditions
http://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2013/08/minnesota-state-fair-origins-and-traditions

Iowa Digital Library: Iowa State Fair
http://pinterest.com/iowadiglib/idl-iowa-state-fair/

A Brief History of State Fairs
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1916488,00.html

State Fair Recipes
http://statefairrecipes.com/

Once upon a time, the culinary fare at state fairs was somewhat predictable. You could count on some pies, BBQ, watermelon, and a range of meat-based entrees that would impress any given carnivore. Today, state fair food vendors must be innovative each and every season as they quest for the next big foodstuff offering. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the competition is intense, adding that a number of new innovations have been unveiled as of late. Their correspondents noted that the Ohio State Fair had giant deep-fried gummy bears and the folks in Wisconsin have rolled out deep-fried taco cheesecake. It's tough going for small vendors; Pat Mancini, a food vendor at the Minnesota State Fair, noted "Is it a guessing game? Yeah. A lot of things are on a stick or deep fried. I don't have either." In other news, the Journal also remarked that the Minnesota State Fair will have wine-glazed deep-fried meatloaf for offer during their run. At the time of this writing, it could not be confirmed if said wine was red or white. [KMG]

The first link will take interested parties to a nice piece from this Monday's Wall Street Journal about this escalating culinary arms race at said state fairs. The second link will take users to a piece from The Atlantic's online blog, The Wire. Visitors will find a number of outstanding photographs of some of these new culinary treats mentioned above. Moving along, the third link will take visitors to a great piece by Kathyrn Goetz, writing for the MinnPost, about the traditions and heritage of the Minnesota State Fair. The fourth link will take visitors to the fabulous pinterest board created by the University of Iowa Libraries to celebrate the traditions of their state fair. The fifth link will whisk users away to a beautiful photo essay from Time documenting traditions new and old. The final link will lead visitors to a veritable cornucopia of recipes culled from state fairs all across this land.