Media College - free resources for all types of electronic media

Media College is a website that provides free resources for all types of electronic media. If you want to learn about video, audio, photography, computers, lighting, graphics, or the internet, this site offers free tutorials and guides that most people will find useful. Media College also has a free media download section that contains sound effects, music, stock videos, and even website templates. They also have guides on a variety of topics related to electronic media such as journalism, copyright, and products. Media College provides a wide array of free resources that will be useful to anyone creating a project using electronic media or people who want to be better photographers and videographers.

Trek Earth - Learn about our world through 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. The sites incredible pictures are searchable by their search bar, by favorites, by category, by theme, and under "statistics" you can search by nation. Trek Earth's 1.1 million images must be seen to be appreciated.  Many of the photographs rival any you will find anywhere. Trek Earth is not only great for travelers, nature lovers and photography buffs but it can be used by foreign language, geography, science and history teachers as well.

Clik/Hear - A Compelling Multimedia Showcase

Clik/Hear is a multimedia web page from the Palm Beach Post that features compelling stories, stunning images, and amazing videos from around the world. Their extensive collection has six categories; South/Florida, World/Nation, Sports, Lifestyle, Video, and Pictures of the Week. Just browsing through this last category (pictures of the week) can take up a lot of your time due to the sheer volume of photographs on display. If you are a fan of incredible photography, thought provoking stories, and remarkable videos, then take a look at Clik/Hear and be prepared to spend a lot of time browsing around.

One Big Photo - Amazing Photographs

One Big Photo is a site with a simple concept, just show amazing photographs. You can browse scroll through their pictures, browse their 12 categories or use the search bar to find pictures that go from simple to stunning. Users can upload their own pictures to the site but it must be reviewed and accepted before it gets posted. If you enjoy the site's content then you can subscribe to their site and get One Big Photo in your inbox. If you love photography or just incredible pictures then you should take a peek at One Big Photo.

Twisted History?

Today's focus is on my favorite topic, American history. It should come as no surprise that I love the history of America since I am a social studies teacher and that is what I teach. History is so often seen as boring and meaningless to students who can't grasp why they need to learn about events and people from the past. The following web based resources will hopefully make learning history a little more interesting.

First up are two music videos from Soomo Publishing with American history themes. They have high production value and utilize current pop music songs with a historical twist on the lyrics. The first one is about the Declaration of Independence and uses One Republic's Too Late to Apologize. The focus of the second video is women's suffrage and it uses Lady Gaga's Bad Romance to tell this important story. When my 15 year old daughter showed me these videos I was instantly mesmerized. These videos are "must sees" for all history teachers and enthusiasts.

Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration

Bad Romance: Women's Suffrage

Take the time to check out a blog I discovered called Twisted Sifter. It features amazing pictures and photography which are sorted by topics such as nature, art, science, and history. There are more categories than the four I have listed and my personal favorite is the history section. The history posts are very diverse in their subject matter but each is interesting in its own way. For example, this post shows the pictures that inspired Norman Rockwell's art. This blog is worth a look for teachers, photography buffs, and anyone with a curious mind.

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.

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.