MetaFilter posts tagged with resources

Freely available education resources -- The OER Commons

cog_nate — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:44:06 -0800

The OER Commons exists to help educators "find free-to-use teaching and learning content from around the world." Thousands of primary, secondary and post-secondary activities, labs, lecture notes, assignments and other educational materials are available by searching or browsing the OER site.

Beyond war and crisis

Abiezer — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:02:06 -0800

Sustainable Security is a website launched this month by the Oxford Research Group "to be an important platform for promoting a better understanding of the real threats to global security in the 21st century and the policies that should be implemented to address those threats at their root cause." It highlights "four interconnected drivers of global insecurity: climate change; competition over natural resources; global militarism; and poverty and marginalisation. Prof. Paul Rogers makes the case for a rethink of the security paradigm.

“Americans want their gasoline cheap but it’s not possible without cutting a few corners.”

plexi — Fri, 15 May 2009 08:04:29 -0800

“Oil is not a commodity,” Eronat said. “It’s a political weapon.”

Enter the world of the oil fixer, one of expensive dinners and third world leaders.

What's going on over there?

adamvasco — Sat, 02 May 2009 11:52:02 -0800

The Luttrell Psalter is the definitive example of Marginalia; the term used to describe drawings and flourishes in medieval illuminated manuscripts. Explore pages similar to this and this up close. Here is a medieval blog which has more Marginalia, both amusing and medievally ribauld or both. For serious scholars Marginalia is the website of the Medieval Reading Group at the University of Cambridge which has a myriad of online resources.

Freelance Advice and Jobs

netbros — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:19:41 -0800

FreelanceSwitch covers many of the topics freelancers need to know about with their daily articles and tips. They run a freelance job board and have regular podcasts so you can learn a little something while you work or commute. Check out the FreelanceSwitch forums for support and advice from other freelancers, or check out their resources section. FreelanceSwitch has been mentioned previously on AskMe.

networking 2.0 - social media how-to tips and resources

nickyskye — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:04:09 -0800

How To Do Almost Anything With Social Media from Mashable. All kinds of practical tips and tons of useful link resources for personal or business uses. At the bottom of the page are additional links to things like 24 Most Underrated Websites of 2008 l How to Find a Babysitter Online l How to Find Your Way Around Any New City.

free reading, writing and arithmetic resources

nickyskye — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 06:11:10 -0800

EduChoices offers some good free stuff online: 25 Places to Read Free Books Online l 50 Online Writing Websites for New Writers l Ranking of 20 Universities that Offer Free Courses Online (with links to the free courses), as well as information about university courses etc. l Great Reference Sites Other Than Wikipedia l Free Linux Tutorials for Beginners l Useful Online Calculators For Almost Every Educational and Life Need. The 10 Most Politically Active College and University Campuses of All Time l other useful links.

online services and tools

nickyskye — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:50:16 -0800

200+ Tools for Surviving the Economic Crisis l Free printable Basic Budgeting Worksheet l Building Your First Budget l How To Create a Budget l How to Make a Budget and Stick to It l Frugal Family Recipes. MetaFilter Wiki: Cooking On a Budget

Waiting for the New Way Forward

kirkaracha — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:02:10 -0800

Fables of the Reconstruction. According to a new GAO report [PDF of full report], the surge has resulted in security gains and reduced violence in Iraq, but the political goals the surge was supposed to buy time for mostly haven't happened. From the GAO report:

The Department of Defense reported in March 2008 that the number of Iraqi units capable of performing operations without U.S. assistance has remained at about 10 percent.
Between 2005 and 2007, Iraq spent only 24 percent of the $27 billion it budgeted for its own reconstruction efforts. More specifically, Iraq's central ministries, responsible for security and essential services, spent only 11 percent of their capital investment budgets in 2007--down from similarly low rates of 14 and 13 percent in the 2 prior years.
Since 2003, the United States has provided more than $20 billion to develop Iraqi security forces
Although oil production has improved for short periods, the May 2008 production level of about 2.5 million barrels per day (mbpd) was below the U.S. goal of 3 mbpd.
The daily supply of electricity met only about half of demand in early May 2008.

Here's what President Bush said the surge would accomplish, with updates: "To establish its authority, the Iraqi government plans to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's provinces by November." That didn't happen. The Iraqi government is taking control of Anbar Province this week. It'll be the 10th province out of 18 that the Iraqi government has taken responsible for--but the first Sunni-controlled one, and the Kurdish and Shiite provinces were previously run by militias that were folded into the government. Security gains in Sunni areas are largely due to co-opting insurgents into the Sons of Iraq. The US military pays the 103,000 overwhelmingly Sunni members $300 a month, but fewer than 17,000 Sons of Iraq members have joined Iraq's security forces and 6,100 more have been approved, leaving around 80,000 unemployed armed men (again?) when the money runs out. "To give every Iraqi citizen a stake in the country's economy, Iraq will pass legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis." That didn't happen. Talks are resuming this week. Meanwhile the Iraqi government is about to sign no-bid contracts with several U.S. and European energy companies. "We fear that any such agreements signed by Iraq's Hydrocarbon Ministry without an equitable revenue sharing agreement in place would simply add more fuel to Iraq's civil war." "To show that it is committed to delivering a better life, the Iraqi government will spend $10 billion of its own money on reconstruction and infrastructure projects that will create new jobs." That didn't happen. Iraq spent a little over half of the $10 billion allocated in 2007. In 2005 the Iraqi government estimated the total cost of reconstructing Iraq at $200 billion. "To empower local leaders, Iraqis plan to hold provincial elections later this year." That didn't happen. Provincial elections are scheduled for October 2008, but could be delayed due to disputes over election law. "And to allow more Iraqis to re-enter their nation's political life, the government will reform de-Baathification laws..." That happened, kind of. The re-Baathification law passed in January but the law isn't being implemented. "...and establish a fair process for considering amendments to Iraq's constitution." That didn't happen either, but it might happen in July. Most of the troops that made up the surge have been withdrawn. Violence is down to only 300-850 violent incidents per week after spiking in March and April. Apparently the surge has always had the Maoist name of The New Way Forward; I seem to have missed it until now.

Basic Concepts in Science: A List

LeeJay — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:27:14 -0800

Basic Concepts in Science: A List A regularly updated list of blog entries explaining the basics of science and mathematics.

What is humanity's capacity to feed itself?

amyms — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 23:31:09 -0800

In 1798, English economist Thomas Malthus promised "Famine ... the last, the most dreadful resource of nature." It took another 125 years for world population to double, but only 50 more for it to redouble. By the 1940s, Mexico, China, India, Russia, and Europe were hungry.

Blue Vertigo - resources for web design

Gyan — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:53:37 -0800

Blue Vertigo | Web Design Resource Links

Because learning is sexy

jonson — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:32:10 -0800

Librarian Chick is a blogger who has put together a wiki of literally hundreds of online learning sources with over twenty categories for "students, educators & anyone else who's hip to learning." Also by the same author, a similarly vast collection of open source software resources. All found via.

5000+ Resources to Do Just About Anything Online

Kattullus — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 15:26:31 -0800

5000+ Resources to Do Just About Anything Online

Resources for Web Developers

jonson — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 10:22:36 -0800

The Learn List is attempting to become a comprehensive online resource for free tutorials in Flash, PhotoShop, Fireworks, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, ActionScript, PHP, CSS & XML.

Geo Info Postcards

divabat — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:28:01 -0800

How's the weather? Is it polluted? Do you have plenty of rainforests? Send someone a Geography Information Postcard and tell them about where you live by filling out infographics. (via)

24 (Web) Ways of 2006

juiceCake — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 19:56:27 -0800

24 Ways - 2006 Edition This year's possibly useful 24 articles containing 24 tips and tutorials for those of us who love CSS and other related web development techniques. Last year's links are included too.

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.

sourwookie — Sat, 27 May 2006 13:44:46 -0800

Timeline of Trends and Events (1750 to 2100). Large image, lots of info. Via digg

Bendito Machine

icosahedral — Sat, 27 May 2006 10:39:06 -0800

Bendito Machine - An excellent animated short exploring societal conflict. [flash]

Free Learning

foraneagle2 — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 10:11:59 -0800

MIT World (not the same as OpenCourseWare). And don't miss LSE, CMU, and Connexions. Still bored? Don't forget ResearchChannel, Vega, and Wikiversity. Do you care for psychology, biology, geology, or math? Or maybe you prefer journals, papers, textbooks, or podcasts? Knowledge is useful and wonderful.

Radical Musical Librarians?

mmahaffie — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 18:01:26 -0800

Music: A survey of some quality resources is a brief look at music-related web sites from a research librarian's point of view. It is by Valery King, reference and government information librarian at Oregon State University, and published in the December 2005 issue of College & Research Libraries News. Ms King also has a more detailed Music Research Guide on the OSU library site. These are research and reference sites, not music download sites. (via)

Jackinworld

ColdChef — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 15:02:55 -0800

Chances are, of all the things you've heard about masturbation, most of them were absolutely false. For some reason, misinformation surrounds masturbation like virtually no other topic. Since JackinWorld's goal is to debunk misinformation, here are some of the myths commonly believed about masturbation — and the truth about each. All you ever really wanted to know about something we all already know plenty about. NSFW.

How Green is Green?

Eideteker — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 13:40:47 -0800

Unexpected Downside of Wind Power - Wired reports on the shutdown of wind power turbines along Altamont Pass in California. Wind power is seen by some as an alternative to burning fossil fuels; yet these turbines are being shut down over environmental and ecological concerns. Some of the concerns about turbines are that they endanger bird migrations, yet others say that they are not a problem for bird migrations. It's not just a question of the ecological footprint, though. The entire environmental impact has to be assessed for any project. Hydroelectricity is not without its effect on ecosystems, either (Scroll down to "Ecosystems and Large Dams", about 40% of the way down).

If even green or renewable energy sources cannot be accessed without a significant adverse environmental impact, how can we meet our energy needs? Reducing consumption is only approaching the problem from one side. How do you properly gauge the environmental impact of a project and when is it okay to give it the green light? Or are we being oversensitive and should we let natural selection handle the birds that can't adapt?

What will we do when oil crashes?

graytopia — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 20:05:19 -0800

Resource wars and gas rations, what will be next ? I bet you didn't know we gobble oil like two-legged SUV's.

Some resources

kenko — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 07:00:07 -0800

Canadian 60s Garage Bands - Alex's Picks of the Week - Acid Archives of Underground Sounds 1965 - 1982 - South African Rock Files - The Magic Land - Track Lists - Garage Compilation DB - Psychedelic Album Reviews - Christian Psych - Swedish Label Catalog - Swedish Progressive Artist Catalogue - German Rock Discography - Underground Sounds - Greatest Rock Album Covers - 760 Rare Psych Album Photos - Jazz Label Discographies - Psych from the 60s - Hispanic Progressive Rock - Heavy Rock Database - More Discographies (By Label) - Argentinian Rock - Borderline Books - Julian Cope's Head Heritage - The History of Boston Rock - Psychedelicatessen - Collectable Records album covers - Links page with more 60s resources - Italian Prog - The Crack in the Cosmic Egg - Spanish Prog - Psychedelic & Acid Folk - Encyclopedia of Electronic Music - Nurse with Wound "Influences" list - Beyond the Beat Generation - Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Prog - Canterbury - The Technicolor Web of Sound (links compiled by Cesar Montesano of the avant-progressive mailing list.)