·http://nrich.maths.org

This excellent page from the University of Cambridge is packed with resources for math teachers, parents, and students between the ages of six and eighteen. While some of the site is most relevant to educators living in England, many of the available resources can be used by anyone, in any location. The pages are divided into two basic categories: Student Guide and Teacher Guide. Within these, the Teacher Guide is organized by Early Years, Primary, and Secondary. Each of these tabs links to impressive sets of resources. For instance, selecting Early Years under the Teacher column, opens with a brief overview of the offered material; below that, readers will find several dozen articles and PDFs describing math activities for young people, including "Early Years mathematics: How to Create a Nation of Mathematics Lovers?" [CNH]

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·http://www.fashionintime.org/

Part blog, part history book, this site by industry insiders covers a lot of ground, with articles on everything from the history of men's underwear to a biographical sketch of "The Accidental Fashion Mogul, Paul Smith." The site displays in two sections, Fashion History and Fashion Designers. While articles tend to be published sporadically, the content on the site is interesting and well written. For instance, Yvette Mahe's treatment of the History of Sleepwear teems with interesting details about the shifting moral principles surrounding what Victorian ladies wore to bed. In sum, Fashion in Time holds an active tension between chic sensibility and well-referenced research. [CNH]

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·http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/

Since the early days of National Geographic Magazine, the popular periodical has been well-noted for its bold and adventurous photography. This section of the NG website dedicated to The Ocean is no exception, boasting a host of improbably beautiful and awe-inspiring videos and photos of underwater worlds, as well as articles and exposes of various issues surrounding the appreciation and protection of oceans around the world. Readers can scout the site by six different categories: Ocean Stories, Ocean Life, Protecting the Ocean, Underwater Exploration, Photos, and Pristine Seas. For those looking for specific topics, the search function is excellent. For instance, readers might like to search for the video of the "Rare Sea Devil Fish," which was caught on video about 1,900 feet (580 meters) deep, off the coast of Central California. [CNH]

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·https://civic.mit.edu/

According to the MIT Center for Civic Media website, civic media is "any form of communication that strengthens the social bonds within a community or creates a strong sense of civic engagement among its residents." With funding from the Ford Foundation and other major donors, and with collaborators from around the country and around the world, the Center for Civic Media website has a good deal to offer. Readers may like to peruse the blogs, which are updated regularly and often feature video presentations, lively graphics, and other ways of bringing civilly minded information to life. They may also like to check up on the Center's continually expanding list of Projects and Tools, both of which are designed to help civic organizers reach out to audiences and to each other. For anyone interested in how digital technology can help energize grassroots democracy, the MIT Center for Civic Media site will pay dividends. [CNH]

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·http://www.royal.gov.uk/

For educators teaching the past and present of the British monarchy - and for readers fascinated by the House of Windsor and its forebears - this site will provide hours of edifying reading and reams of resources. Tabs to explore include over a dozen pages dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, as well as many more focused on the rest of the Current Royal Family, The Royal Household, Charities and Patronages, and many others. In addition, Virtual Rooms, which can be located under the Quick Links menu, is particularly spellbinding, as it provides virtual access to some of the most hallowed halls, grandest rooms, staircases, and venues of Buckingham Palace and other royal residences. [CNH]

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·http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl

Making grammar fun is no easy task, but the Grammar Girl blog, penned by Mignon Fogarty, succeeds where some English teachers may have fallen short. Readers can scan the site by Most Recent Tips, Most Popular Tips, and the Grammar Girl's Archive, or they can simply scroll through the dozens of posts about transitive and intransitive verbs, hyperbole, 'if' versus 'whether,' and a phalanx of other grammatical concerns. The entertaining articles follow Einstein's dictum that "things should be as simple as possible, but not simpler." Each post clocks in at a few hundred words at most, but the author has a knack for clarifying difficult concepts in sparkling prose. A link to the Grammar Girl podcast is also available here. Anyone interested in a quick reference guide or an entertaining romp through the world of words might do well to find their way to Grammar Girl. [CNH]

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·http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed

This blog from NPR gathers stories of teachers and teaching, education, and other school-related topics. The site can be scouted by category (k-12, higher ed, learning & tech, and common core), or readers may like to simply skim the latest on the well-designed landing page. Recent stories have included articles and podcasts about a possible hiring bias that, for once, favors women; the current debates about No Child Left Behind; and the rising costs of room and board at universities. For inspiration - and perhaps to counter other, less positive portrayals of teachers in the media - some readers may be especially interested in the 50 Great Teachers tab, which hosts stories about teachers who have gone above and beyond for their students. [CNH]

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·http://blog.epa.gov/blog/

Interested in what EPA employees have to say about the work they do, the environmental issues they care about, and the programs they support? This blog will not disappoint. Most posts feature a short article, as well as photographs, graphs, tables, or some other visual representation of a topic near and dear to the hearts of the U.S. EPA. Readers may search the site by Recent Posts, or scroll through the many categories. For instance, at the time of this writing, the blog had featured 437 articles about Air, 70 about Earth Day, 306 about Communities, and many others on a variety of topics. Via the blog's Archives, readers can also browse articles chronologically, going all the way back to 2008. One particularly interesting post, by a former ORISE Fellow in the EPA Climate Change Division, examines the peak bloom dates of cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C., and finds possible evidence for climate change. [CNH]

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·http://www.portrait.gov.au/index.php

Australia’s National Portrait Gallery is often considered one of the world’s greatest portrait museums. How lucky for readers, then, that most of what is on display on the modernist walls of the gallery in Canberra is also available for viewing on the museum’s website. Readers may like to start with the Gallery’s homepage, which is packed with information about exhibits, links to the organization’s history, and articles about events. From there, The Portraits section is the logical next step. Here readers will find thousands of photographs, paintings, videos, and sculptures of Australians from across the decades. Of special interest, there are several excellent portraits of renowned actress, Cate Blanchett, and the Portrait Stories section features dozens of interviews and short documentaries concerning the artistic processes that lie behind some of the museum’s most celebrated portraits. [CNH]

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·http://onbeing.org/

As the website for the project notes, “On Being is a social enterprise with a radio show at its heart.” Winner of a Peabody Award and Webby Award (among others), the podcasts, articles, blogs, videos, and conversations on this site explore the deepest questions of what it means to be human from a diversity of perspectives. Krista Tippett, who hosts most of the podcasts, functions as a warm and incisive interlocutor, an educated interviewer, and a co-inquisitor. The award winning podcast Episodes, which can be downloaded or played from the website, shouldn't be missed. Recent topics have confronted The Grandeur and Limits of Science, explored The Future of Marriage, and explored The Body after Cancer. In addition, the blog features reflections by poets, journalists, and others, including world-renowned meditation teacher, Sharon Salzberg. [CNH]

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·https://www.khanacademy.org/science/health-and-medicine/circulatory-system-diseases/coronary-artery-disease/v/what-is-coronary-artery-disease

For readers who would like a crash course in coronary artery disease, this site from the Khan Academy is a great option. Taught in 12- to 15-minute sections, with the precision and simplicity of Salman Khan, the videos cover topics in order of complexity. The lessons start with What is coronary artery disease?, explaining the way the heart works and the nature of plaques and plaque build up. From there, Kahn takes readers on a journey through risk factors, atherosclerosis, heart attacks, healing after a heart attack, and the complications that one might expect after a heart attack. Readers are welcome to continue their medical education, moving on to a study of the rest of the circulatory system. [CNH]

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·http://collections.digitalmaryland.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/scwf

From its inaugural event on May 27, 1947 to its final wine tasting on April 15, 1982, the Wine and Food Society of Baltimore hosted elaborately executed gatherings, with menus that often featured six courses or more with wine pairings to match. This online library collection, hosted by Digital Maryland (previously Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage or MDCH), showcases 31 historical documents, invitations, and dinner programs. The Southern Christmas dinner program from December 2, 1959 can serve as an excellent example of the collection's fascinating spread. The program is eight pages long, authored by one Harnett T. Kane, and includes a menu, descriptions of the planned event, and illustrations. [CNH]

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·http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/

This website displays art and ideas from all three of Harvard University's stunning art museums: the Fogg Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. The Browse Our Collections tab, which links to 224,935 works of art from every conceivable epoch and geography, offers many hours of edifying entertainment. The collection can be searched by keyword, title, artist, object number, or gallery number. Alternately, readers may browse by category (Classification, Work Type, Technique/Medium, Period, Place, and others). While the the site boasts many exceptional aspects, one particularly notable strength is the beauty and clarity of the photographs. Looking at a 10th century Chinese vase on the site is, exceptionally, a close approximation of encountering such a masterpiece in person. [CNH]

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·http://www.theatlantic.com/health/category/family/

For readers fascinated by the intricacies and ins and outs of domestic life in 21st century America, the Atlantic has gathered together its articles on family in a handy, easily accessible - and free - webpage. The articles run from serious investigations of How Nurses Can Help Low-Income Mothers and Kids to entertaining ones exploring The Psychological Reason 'Billie Jean' Kills at Weddings. Along the way, readers may explore the pros and cons of apps that help parents track their baby's napping cycles, why it is that pretending to understand what a baby says can help it learn, and the research-confirmed importance of making deliberate choices in love relationships. [CNH]

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·http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/1810-edition-of-little-red-riding-hood

How about a free, e-book version of a 19th century chapbook edition of Little Red Riding Hood, with color illustrations, that you can read to your kids, grandkids, or just enjoy by yourself? The British Library makes this possible by providing this e-book in a page turning version that can be read online. Images of individual page spreads can be downloaded one at a time. The Little Red Riding Hood chapbook is part of a larger collection at the British Library, "Discovering Literature: Romantics and Victorians," which includes 1,200 digitized literary works dating between 1780 and 1901. Notable items include Romantic poetry by Blake, Shelley, and Keats, and the novels of Dickens, Eliot and the Bronte sisters. Warning - this edition of Little Red Riding Hood does not have the happy ending that is more familiar to modern readers, where Red Riding Hood and her grandmother are saved by a woodcutter; things end rather more sadly in this version. [DS]

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·http://scalar.usc.edu/scalar/

For many users, Scalar is the next step in digital, online, open source writing. It combines the functionality of a blog with the focus and length of an e-book. It also enables authors - even relatively un-techy authors - to assemble videos, infographics, music, and other media from around the web, easily, conveniently, and seamlessly. While the service seeks to strike a balance between standardization and flexibility, most beginners will find the templates and platforms easy to approach (more experienced developers may wish to move on to truly open source sites where they can design to their hearts' content). To understand what Scalar is capable of, readers might like to scroll through the featured projects on the homepage. In addition, selecting Learn More navigates to a four-minute video that explains the intricacies of the platform. Registering an account with Scalar is simple; all that is required is an email address. So, for readers who are looking for fresh ways to publish web-based content, Scalar is definitely worth checking out. [CNH]

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This Country Is the Happiest in the World
http://www.livescience.com/50622-happiest-countries-report.html

These Are the Happiest Countries in the World
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/these-are-the-happiest-countries-in-the-world

Get Happy in the world’s happiest countries
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/23/travel/feat-world-happiest-countries-2015/

The Path to Happiness: Lessons From the 2015 World Happiness Report
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/the-path-to-happiness-les_b_7127124.html

Money really does buy happiness, in one map
http://www.vox.com/2015/4/27/8503237/happiest-countries-happiness-map

World Happiness Report 2015
http://worldhappiness.report/

The United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) has just published its fourth annual World Happiness Report, a survey-based ranking of 158 countries from every inhabited continent on the planet. While the rankings themselves will likely surprise few readers (Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway are all in the top ten; Togo, Burundi, and Syria are all in the bottom twenty), part of the fun is recognizing what pundits make of the numbers. For instance, there is no statistically significant difference in the report between, say, Switzerland and Canada, but in headlines around the web, our neighbors to the north are getting scant attention. Likewise, some see in the report a critique of the capitalist obsession with Gross Domestic Product, while others see the obvious success of advanced capitalism. Whatever one’s take on it, the World Happiness Report makes for interesting discussion of what, in the end, contributes to the well-being of the citizens around the world. [CNH]

The first two links, from Live Science and Bloomberg Business, provide excellent coverage of the World Happiness Report, summarizing its findings and its implications. Next up, CNN offers profiles of the top ten happiest countries, including photographs and travel tips. The fourth link navigates to an opinion piece by Jeffrey Sachs, an author on the SDSN report and the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. His take home message? Money alone does not buy happiness. Countries also need to develop social well-being, as defined by fairness, honesty, trust, and good health. Meanwhile, Vox’s Dylan Matthews reaches exactly the opposite conclusion in his article, “Money really does buy happiness, in one map,” featured fifth here. Finally, the sixth link takes readers to the SDSN website, where they can read a summary of the report’s findings, as well as download the 172-page document in full.