Berlin Wall, Earth Cams, and TV Theme Songs

I have shared the Denver Post's Photo Blog on multiple occasions. The quality of pictures they share as well as their highly relevant topics make their site one of my all time favorites. In 2009 they published a collection of 73 pictures about the Berlin Wall to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Wall's collapse. As with everything published by the Denver Post's photo blog, the pictures are spectacular. I encourage everyone to take sometime to look through this important part of world history at the Denver Post's Photo Blog.

Earth Cam is a cool site that features live web cams from all over the world. See live shots of Times Square, Florida beaches, the Statue of Liberty, Caribbean Islands, or the Eiffel Tower. You can choose a country from their map and take a look at their wide variety of web cams as well. Earth Cams is an enjoyable way to see the world. Foreign language and history teachers should bookmark this site today.

Listening to music can often lead to feelings of nostalgia. A song can send your mind to an event in your past and flood you with the emotions from the memory. Hearing and old television theme song can do the same thing. TV has been a force in our lives for a long time and hearing the opening song to our favorite show can bring us back to earlier and simpler times. Television Tunes is site that contains a library of theme songs from television shows old and new. Head on over and browse through their extensive collection and I am sure you'll find a few theme songs that will bring a smile to your face.

Education, Civil War, and Vintage Modern Ads

Today starts off with a new online educational community called Tioki. This site is a platform for educators to communicate as well as share resources and ideas. The site allows teachers and other education professionals to create, join, and learn from groups of people who have similar backgrounds, experience, and areas of expertise. Best of all, the site is free to join.

Next is Mike Lynuagh's Virtual Civil War website. This site is dedicated to remembering the nation's most devastating period with pages full of photographs of battlefields and monuments as well these vintage Civil War pictures from the time period. History teachers and Civil War buffs should bookmark this site right away.

Last is this very cool collection of modern products and websites being advertised in vintage looking style. The ads feature such big time names such as Facebook, You Tube, Twitter, and Skype to name four and you really do have to see the ads to appreciate the quality of the work. (see the Twitter example below.)

World War II Posters and the Statue of Liberty

Another day, another history themed post. Today's post is dedicated to sites with historically themes images and by that I mean photographs and posters. Today's trip through time has us travelling from World War II then back to the late 19th century, and ending up in 2012.

First up on our tour is a collection of historic World War II posters from the Cincinnati Digital Library. These World War II propaganda posters are from both the U.S. and other nations. Since they are digital they can be downloaded and printed for use in the classroom. History teachers should race on over to this site ASAP.

Next on today's tour is the Denver Post's Photo Blog about the Statue of Liberty. This post was published in 2011 for the Statue's 125th anniversary. It features pictures from the creation of the Statue of Liberty as well as many rare pictures of the Statue over its 125+ years of existence.

Last on our tour today is a photo collection titled 46 of the Most Amazing Photographs of 2012 from a site called studentbeans.com. Many of the pictures will be unfamiliar to most people but there are a few images that everyone should recognize like Felix Baumgartner's leap. A few of the pictures are not from 2012 but the site claims they were "discovered" in 2012. It really didn't matter because the images in this collection are pretty cool.

Old Photos of Gadget Recipes?

With my Pinterest cravings now satisfied, I am back to sharing my collection of unique websites I have hoarded. This post is comprised of a gadget shoppers dream site, another excellent cooking site, and an amazing collection of old pictures that will appeal to lovers of  history and photography.

First up is This is why I am broke, which is a site where you can purchase some of the coolest and most unique gadgets available. While I can't say I have ever bought anything, I love to browse their extensive collection of amazing products. If you would like to buy something unique for a friend or loved one, This is why I am broke is a site worth checking out.

Next there is this promising looking cooking site called Table Spoon. This site features a large collection of great recipes which are categorized by type of meat, cuisine, courses, diet, method, and occasion. In addition to their recipes they also feature a coupon section to assist your wallet as you shop for the necessary ingredients.

Finally there is this post from Denver Post photo blog. It is a photo gallery of 77 pictures of American cities before 1950. Many of the pictures are from the 19th century and go as far back as the Civil War era. These pictures are a "must see" for history buffs and fans of old photography.

Happy Thanksgiving

I spent a little time looking up Thanksgiving resources and was overwhelmed by the amount of Thanksgiving recipes and food related websites. Since finding food related web pages is so easy, I decided to share a collection of Thanksgiving resources that are unrelated to recipes and cooking.

Some of my fondest memories as a child were the Charlie Brown specials that aired around holidays. While I wouldn't put Charlie Brown Thanksgiving in the same league as the Christmas and Halloween episodes it is still worth watching and is a reminder of simpler times.

Outside of food and family, there are few things that define Thanksgiving more than the Macy's parade. For over 85 years, watching this parade has become a tradition is homes around the country. ABC News has a slideshow with pictures from the parade dating back to 1924. This site also has some interesting vintage pictures from the parade.

For the kids out there there is Kaboose, which has Thanksgiving games and coloring pages. There are more games and activities at Primary Games.

If Thanksgiving stresses you out and you need to lighten your spirits perhaps these humor sites are the right prescription for you. First there is this Photobucket collection of 538 funny Thanksgiving themed pictures.
If that doesn't do the trick how about these 9 Thanksgiving quotes from well known comedians. Perhaps you'd like to learn a good Thanksgiving joke to tell at the table, you will find many choices here. This Oatmeal comic features the differences in the way kids and adults perceive Thanksgiving (Vulgar language warning!)

Finally, here are some very funny Thanksgiving videos.

The Sexy Pilgrim by Muscle Milk This isn't the Pilgrim story I remember. This humorous singing Pilgrim says "you're welcome"

This Jennie-o Commercial is flat out funny.

Then there is this skit from the classic 90's show In Living Color, where Anton Jackson joins a "proper" society group for Thanksgiving dinner. Chaos ensues. Recognize Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans?

If you'd like to learn more about Thanksgiving then go to this educational website.

Happy Thanksgiving!

More (cool) websites

Soothing Sounds
There are few things as soothing and relaxing as listening to rain fall outside. To enjoy the sound of rain anytime and anywhere you can go to Rainy Mood.com and enjoy mother nature's perfect white noise.

Amazing Photography
Planet Earth is an amazing place and Trek Earth wants to share it with you. This is a travel themed website that features some of the most amazing photography from all over the world. This site is not only great for travelers, it can be used by foreign language, geography, science and history teachers as well.

History in color
Speaking of history, at this site, they feature colorized versions of famous people and events from the past 150 years. It is stunning to see color photographs of Lincoln, Einstein, Anne Frank, and other iconic pictures.

DIY
Blocklayer is a site that features amazingly handy tools for the home "Do it Yourselfers" out there. Need help calculating the proper angle for stairs? Want to install a deck? This website will help you with those projects and more.

DIY the sequel
Finally, another excellent site to help you learn to do almost anything is 5 Minutes. They feature short "how to" videos on a wide array of topics. Check out this helpful site the next time you want to learn something new.