Oddest Book Titles of the Year

In case you missed it, The Diagram Oddest Book Title of the Year Winners (taken from the last 30 years this year) are:
1st Place: Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers
2nd Place: People Who Don't Know They're Dead
3rd Place: How to Avoid Huge Ships

Now you know.

Online Suicide

It is important that we use the suicide of young Abraham Briggs online as a teachable moment. Would students know what to do if they saw this happening? Would they succumb to the "Bystander Effect" where no one does anything because they are a part of the crowd watching? If they wanted to do something would they where to go or who to call?

The best place to go or call is the The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Plus they have profiles on MySpace and Facebook.

Intellectual Espionage -- Food for Thought

Why has American literacy continued to fall? "Looking back, abundant data exist from states like Connecticut and Massachusetts to show that by 1840 the incidence of complex literacy in the United States was between 93 and 100 percent wherever such a thing mattered. Yet in 1818 we were a small-farm nation without colleges or universities." Some interesting facts and possible reasons are shared in Educational CyberPlayGround.

You as the Dewey Decimal System

Okay, I'll join in the game. I put in name and birthday and here is what I got? What number are you?

Nancy's Dewey Decimal Section:

449 Occitan & Catalan

Nancy = 41435 = 414+35 = 449


Class:
400 Language


Contains:
Linguistics and language books.



What it says about you:
You value communication, even with people who are different from you. You like trying new things don't mind being exposed to unfamiliar territory. You get bored with routines that never change.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

GreenPrint

If you didn't see this in Sarah Houghton-Jan's blog, it is something we all need to consider. GreenPrint is a nifty quick download that maximizes your printer's output to save on paper and ink. There's a version for Windows (free) and a version for Macs (which costs $29 and has a 30 day free trial). Either version of the software highlights and removes unwanted pages, creates PDFs with one click (OK, that's worth it right there), helps you decide what to print and not to print, and keeps a tally of paper, trees, and money saved. How neat is that?