WWII – Battle of Guadalcanal

I never cease to be amazed at the depth of information you can find on the Internet – like these sites on Guadalcanal. I used to love to sit an listen to my dad’s stories about Guadalcanal. Imagine being dropped off on an island that is swarming with enemy troupes and nasty insects. My father was a scout for the Marines in those days and it was his job to drop behind enemy lines to assess the potential firepower and what may lay ahead for the troupes.

I haven’t heard any of my father’s stories in 15 years, but these incredible websites brought it all back. I put them all in a binder to share with my family – many of whom are also in the military. Click on the binder below to open up a fascinating page in history:

The Battle of Guadalcanal

Medulloplastoma

Anyone who is familiar with this term is probably or has probably researched this topic extensively.  Medulloplastoma is a type of brain cancer common among children.   You might want to take a look at this binder full of links on information about this type of cancer.  

Links are organized by tabs – to open click on the link or binder icon below and browse through the tabs to view the web resources.

Medulloblastoma

Knives and Recipes

I’m a wannabe chef. Any chance at all to cook – I’m there. I’m cooking for ‘Art Day’ at school this weekend. I cook for our annual school fund raising dinner every year (dinner for 150 or so). I signed up to cook for the end of year softball party. I love food! I also love the internet because millions of recipes and thousands of cooking techniques are at my finger tips.

The only problem is, how do you corral all those fabulous recipes and great techniques? For years, I printed everything out and put it in a three ring binder – but no more! Now I use LiveBinders to easily categorize the recipes that I like. Check out some of my cooking binders below. But you will need to come back, because I’m building more all the time. I have also collected some insightful videos on using knives in the kitchen, so be sure to click on my knife binder below:

Knife techniques

Recipes for Cross Rib Roast

Cooking Pork Loin

Aerial Pesticide spraying this Summer in Bay Area

If any of you live in the San Francisco Bay Area – you might want to check out these news stories concerning the Light Brown Apple Moth Pesticide spraying that will occur in the Bay Area this summer. Somehow it has gone unnoticed by the community until recently and it is causing an uproar by local residents concerned for their health. This includes a group of mothers who are lobbying to change the spraying, but it might be impossible to do at this late notice.

If you click on the binder link below – it has the latest articles, and websites that can help you find out more information on what to protect yourself if you are stuck in the area during the aerial spraying. Everything is organized by tabs and sub-tabs just click on them to view the websites.

Moth spraying in Bay Area

Fostering an orphaned elephant

Our kids received a great gift a couple of years ago – instead of the usual gift card or plastic toy – our daughters were given an orphaned elephant named Makena. Makena lives on the David Sheldrick Wild Life Reserve in Kenya, Africa. The foster donation lasts for a year and you receive monthly reports about the reserve, any new additions to the reservation and the monthly goings on concerning the elephant, or rhino you are fostering. They send you pictures from the website and a digital image of a water color of the animal you are fostering. I believe the water colors are painted by David Sheldrick’s daughter.

The stories are charming – some heart breaking – and your donations make you feel like you can make the world just a little bit better. It’s also great to engage your children – my kids would love to visit the reserve!

Take a look at the website in the binder below – I’ve included some of their photos, the monthly reports since 2007 and also some interesting stories regarding the rescue of a rhino and some recent baby elephants.

To open click on the link below!

Enjoy!

Adopting an Elephant

Don’t Scratch that Itch – Poison Oak

It was a beautiful evening picnic in the hills overlooking the bay and city of San Francisco. Good friends, good wine and, little did I know, poison oak. Two days later I woke up in the middle of the night thinking I had a mosquito bite. But I when I turned the lights on and looked at my leg my heart sunk. I clearly didn’t catch it early, so I was going to be in for some painful itching.

I’ve had poison oak so many times that I keep a bottle of Technu soap in my shower (a true live-saver). But I was amazed at what I didn’t know about this nasty plant and its insidious urushiol oil. I had always thought that scratching spread the stuff. I also thought that the oil “got in your system” and popped out in other spots. None of this is true! Click on the binder below to get the real story about poison oak from sources such as the FDA and the American Academy of Dermatology.

Poison Oak

It’s a Buyer’s Market for Real Estate

My mother has been a real estate broker for almost 40 years, so I know a thing or two about real estate cycles. What I don’t understand is why is everyone panicking? The real estate market is cyclical - it goes up and it goes down.

The only interesting question is - is this the bottom?

I have some friends that are making an offer on a house tomorrow. I personally think it is a little early, but if they are planning to hold the property for five years or more, they will be fine.

What I really love about the real estate market is the types of tools that are now available on-line. Real estate investment used to be a lot more like guess work, but these sites really help. Take a look at my binder below and let me know if there are any great real estate sites that I am missing:

Buying a House

Dynamic Duo movie reviewers

There are a couple of retired film executives who have started a youtube channel reviewing movies. They were encouraged by their friends to start their own video blog because they were so funny reviewing movies at parties. The rest is history.

Click on the binders below to view some of their movie reviews and recap for the Oscars in 2007 and a few film reviews in 2008.

Enjoy!

Reel Geezers 2007

Reel Geezers 2008

Gossip galore

There are some ‘different’ kinds of gossip blogs on the internet today.  A friend of mine pointed out some interesting sites that are now in the two binders below.  If you are looking for some unique perspectives on celebrity gossip, click on one or all of the binder links below. Each binder organizes the different website blogs into tabs. Enjoy!

 

Gossip Blogs vol 2

Gossip Blogs vol 3

New LiveBinders Release

We have a new release for you to try at LiveBinders. We would for love for you to try out LiveBinders and provide us with your comments.

If you haven’t tried LiveBinders yet, now is the time. It is a great way to organize bookmarks into attractive little packages that are easy to find and share.

New Features

1. Easier binder editing – a new interface that is slimmed down and simpler, and now you can edit a binder from the binder viewer if you are logged in.
2. Sort by Categories – Categories are now shown on the home page so that you can easily find binders that interest you.
3. Bookmark directly to a binder – We’ve updated our bookmarklet tool so that you can now it is easier than ever to create new binders while you are browsing the web.

Your Binder on Our Banner

Have you built a great binder that you want to share? Send us a link to your binder and a short quote and we will feature it on our homepage banner!

Keep Those Emails Coming

Please take a look at this version and drop us an email with any suggestions – we want to make this product work for you!

http://www.livebinders.com

Funny lady on Youtube

It’s Monday and time for a little something to brighten your week.  Here are some videos that are by a video blogger known as ’Happy Slip’ who won 2nd place for ‘Best Comedy’ on Youtube.

She tells some funny stories about her wacky relatives, and she does this by acting just like them.  It is pretty funny!

Please check out her blogs by clicking on the link below.  The binder will have her video blogs organized by tabs.  Then check out the tab titled ‘home page.’ which will provide links to her latest blog videos.

 Enjoy!

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=126

Ode to Happyslip

The beauty of Japanese Maples

I love this time of year when the delicate leaves of the Japanese Maples start to reach out to the sunshine. They provide spectacular color and texture to the garden landscape. I also appreciate their diminutive statue and love the fact that I can fill my garden with them and not block my neighbor’s view. But I admit that they have become something of an addiction for me. I’ve tried, unsuccessfully, to grow them from seed which is probably a good thing. My garden and surrounding landscape is crammed with them as it is and this is just the time of year that they look irresistible in my local nursery…

Click on the binder below to see my collection of maples as well as the links that I found on growing them from seed.

Japanese Maples

Concerns for Tweens online

I found an interesting article about some of the ‘safety’ issues to watch out for with tweens.  It is not the same issues that adults face, but can be harmful nonetheless.   If you have kids creating accounts online, it would be good to read this article and check out the websites they posted.  I’ve put those links in this binder as well. 

To open the binder and read the articles and websites, click on the link or icon below.

Tweens safety on Internet

 

Surprising events in the news

There are days when you can’t believe what goes on in the world. Some events remind you of the ancient past and you think we haven’t come very far as a species. Other events make you wonder what the future is going to look like.

 

Click on the link or icon below to view a few article I found pretty hard to believe.

 

Surprising news 1