Earth Image of the Day
Image Section of the MODIS Web is where you can view the very latest in MODIS imagery as well as search an image collection that has been growing ever since MODIS first started acquiring data in February of 2000. There’s a new MODIS image every day. After a week, Images of the Day become part of the Image Gallery, which is powered by NASA's Visible Earth image archive.   http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/showall.php

A Virtual Book Group
Joining a book discussion group is a goal for many people.  You not only get to read good books, you get to meet new people.  But most of us don’t have the time to join something else.  That is, unless you join Book Glutton.  Once you sign up, you can start reading.  Don’t be too confused on the home page.  Look for the list of all available books.  Otherwise, you may think you can choose only from the few they feature.  You can comment on a book or, chat with others who are reading the same book.   www.bookglutton.com

Time for Fun and Games
Kongregate is a great site for finding computer games. There are more than 10,000 titles in all. And they're free!  Lots of categories are available, too --shooter and action; puzzles and strategy as well as multiplayer games.  www.kongregate.com

Where Do You Want To Go?
Planning a vacation is sometimes as much fun as traveling!  If you’d like to go somewhere, check out the New York Times Travel site.   It lists more than 1,000 destinations worldwide.  Once you select a destination, you can read articles about the area, find local attractions, hotels and restaurants.  It’ll even show you the best time of year to visit.    nytimes.com/pages/travel

Banished Words
This is the link to the 2009 List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness from Lake Superior State University.   Maybe you’ll find your favorite term-to-hate listed.  (Now if everyone can just learn the difference between “less” and “fewer”!)  http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php

Family Trees
MyHeritage is a free to use genealogy site.  You can upload your existing files or create your tree directly on the site.  There are privacy tools so you can decide who gets to see your work.   There are many free tools there, too.  You can get a free family site for sharing and keeping in touch.  I know virtually nothing about genealogy, but this seems like a good one.  www.myheritage.com

Browse the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. It features millions of books, photographs and other items.  If you get the chance, visit it in Washington, D. C.  (It was one of my favorite school-skipping sites!  Of course, I didn’t go there as often as my parents/teachers thought I did!)  Fortunately, you can browse through much of the library's materials online.   It’s really impressive.  www.loc.gov

The Year 2008 in Photographs
I hope this is still available when you get this newsletter.  This URL is for part one of the series, but I’m sure you can look around for the other two.  This tells the story of 2008 in photographs.  You’ll be intrigued with the many wonderful photos.  http://tinyurl.com/9d9ntd 

A Fun Science Game
Launchpad is based on scientific principles and consequently gave me a headache as soon as I looked at it.  The goal is simple. A ball is dropped. You have to position certain elements to direct the ball to its target.  You can position fire, magnets, turbines and other elements. Of course, you need to understand how these elements work to achieve your goal.  Good luck! www.sciencemuseum.org.uk