Where To Find "Top Ten Lists" For 2007

If you love reading "top ten lists" this time of year and you're looking for a great site to find this sort of thing, look no further than Time.com's 50 top 10 lists of 2007.

Some of the "top ten" categories Time covers for the past year include:

• Medical breakthroughs



• Scientific discoveries



• Sports moments



• New TV Series
  

And more! 50 lists in all for a collection that's hard to beat. Easily one of the best sites on the Web for "top ten" lists of 2007!

Happy New Year!

Need Help Planning That New Year's Eve Bash? Let These Experts Be Your Guide

If you're planning a New Year's Eve party, there's no need to go it alone. From recipes to decorating ideas, there's plenty of help available online from the experts.

Here are the sites you'll want to consult before the big event:

• Over on RachelRay.com you'll find recipes for dinner party appetizers, main courses and more-all the food ideas you need to satisfy your New Year's Eve guests.
  


• MarthaStewart.com has a sizable section devoted to New Year's Eve ideas-food, decorating-you name it-it's there.
  


• FoodNetwork.com chimes in with New Year's food, drink and entertaining ideas ensuring that your party will be a big hit.
  

Planning that big party doesn't have to be a hassle after all when you have help from the Web like this!

The Best "Year In Review" Sites

As the year winds down, you might be wondering where on the Web can you get a good recap of the year's top stories. Some of the best places for news throughout the year also have some great "year in review" sections on their Web sites.

Get your dose of "year in review" stories from these titans of news online :

• The Year In Review 2007 from Reuters.com

• Year in Review 2007 - Special Reports from CNN.com

• Year in Review 2007 Full Coverage on Yahoo! News

These sites are hard to top for comprehensive coverage of the most important stories of 2007!

Let The Web Help You Achieve Those New Year's Resolutions

Making New Year's resolutions is the easy part. Sticking with them and charting your progress are another matter entirely. But, thanks to the Web there are some great tools to help you keep track of your goals in the new year-what's more, many are available free of charge!

You'll find these free Web tools indispensable in the pursuit of your 2008 goals:

• Joesgoals.com - Tracking your goals couldn't be simpler than with this tool that lets you do it all-from creating your goals to charting your progress-on one single page.

• FitDay.com - If diet and weight loss are part of your New Year's resolutions, you'll want to sign up for a free account at this site. It'll help you keep track of your calorie intake, exercise habits and more.

• Ta-da Lists - On the way to reaching those goals you'll be making a lot of "to do" lists. Ta-da helps you make and organize those lists online.

Sticking to your resolutions is a whole lot easier when you have free software support from the Web to lend a hand. Good luck on all those resolutions!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, Your Branches Virtually Delight Us

Last minute holiday preparations got your nerves frazzled? If you need a short respite from the hustle and bustle of the season, try taking a virtual tour of Christmas trees from around the world!

A good place to start your tour is the Web Cam of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City, courtesy of wnbc.com. You'll be able to watch a live video stream of this famous Christmas tree right on your desktop!

Next, you'll want to visit the Christmas Tree Cams provided by EarthCam.com. Enjoy views of Christmas trees from Trafalgar Square in London, England, Prague in the Czech Republic and St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands, among other points around the globe.

Your tour of Christmas trees from around the world is only a few clicks away.

Merry Christmas!

Have Yourself A Merry Online Christmas

It's undeniable. The Internet is as much a part of life at the holidays as the rest of the year. Maybe you decry that fact, but it doesn't mean that the time spent online can't be quality time. Depending on the sites you visit, the Web can actually add to your enjoyment of the holidays and even help you get into the spirit of the season.

Before you blurt out "Bah, humbug!" check out these sites:

• Christmas-Carols.net - Can't remember the lyrics to your favorite Christmas carols? Look it up at this site where you'll find the lyrics to dozens of the popular classics.
  
  
• The History of Christmas - History.com covers just about everything you ever wanted to know about the history of this traditional holiday-watch Christmas videos, discover Christmas traditions from around the world, and learn some facts about the holiday you probably didn't know.



• Santa Claus and Christmas at the North Pole - Especially if you have grandkids, you'll want to put this high on your list of holiday sites to visit. Send a letter to Santa, enjoy holiday-themed puzzles, activities and more at this terrific site.
  
  
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens in RealAudio - thanks to the Ohio University Telecommunications Center you can sit back and listen to reading of this timeless Christmas classic online.

Got a favorite Christmas-themed site to add to the list above? Let us know!

5 Last-Minute Gift Ideas Made Possible Through The Web

Despite your best efforts, you still haven't managed to get something for everyone on your list-and it's almost Christmas already! No need to panic though, since it's easy to find some interesting last-minute gifts on the Web. In fact, if you choose to give one of the gift items listed below, they'll have it in time for Christmas and you won't even have to package, ship or wrap it!

Avoid the crowds and make 'em happy with one of these terrific gifts:

1. Got grandchildren interested in astronomy? Give them a gift membership at Slooh.com. This site lets them see deep space objects in real time right on their computer screen!



2. How about an online course for a friend or relative? A gift certificate from Eclectic Academy makes it easy for them to take a class online at their convenience.



3. Shopping for someone who has everything? Why not honor them with a charitable gift in their name. Wish.org is one example that offers this option.



4. If you've got a student on your shopping list, a gift subscription to Questia.com could be the perfect gift. Questia offers excellent online resources for academic research.



5. Any movie lovers on your list? Both Blockbuster and Netflix offer online gift subscriptions that make it easy to rent movies over the Web.
   

The great thing about these gifts is since they're deliverable to their recipients via e-mail, they really do qualify as last-minute gifts-literally!

E-cards You'll Be Proud To Send

Does the prospect of sending out e-cards at the holidays make you cringe? Let's face it, sending an e-card just doesn't feel the same as sending a good old-fashioned Christmas card you can hold in your hands. But what if the idea behind the e-card is to help spread awareness about a good cause? Might make you reconsider, right?

Such is the case with the Make-A-Wish e-Cards that you'll find at Wish.org (read about Wish.org in a previous article). These e-cards even feature art work by some of the Make-A-Wish kids themselves, and sending one to friends and relatives is a simple way to spread the word about this terrific organization.

It's free to send an e-card, though you will have to agree to receive e-mail updates from the organization. As for selection, there are several holiday-themed cards to choose from, so you should have no trouble finding one that suits your tastes.

See, sending e-cards at the holidays can be quite an appropriate gesture after all, don't you think?

If You Ever Wanted To Write Your Life...

Have you always wanted to write a memoir but never quite gotten around to actually starting the darn thing? If one of your New Year's resolutions is to get that memoir out of your head and onto paper, you might want to turn to Write Your Life, an inspirational blog that just might give you the guidance you need to finally churn out your life's story.

Created by senior blogger Marlys Marshall Styne, also a retired English professor and memoirist, Write Your Life is filled with the kind of useful tips and exercises designed to liberate the writer within you. For example, if you're "stuck" creatively or not sure exactly how to start writing about your life, Marlys suggests ten journal assignments to get you going in the right direction.

A copy of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style on your desk and Write Your Life on your desktop might be all you need to get that memoir written in 2008! Best of luck!

Leaf Through The Pages Of Vintage Newspapers Online

Few things quicken the pulse of a true history buff or nostalgia enthusiast than poring through vintage newspapers. But, if you don't particularly care for crumbly, yellowed, newspaper pages or the musty confines of a library's basement that typically house such relics, you'll sing the praises of a site called NewspaperArchive.com.

NewspaperArchive.com brings old-time newspapers out of the cellar and puts them online, where you can dig into them from the comfort of your computer chair-77 million newspaper pages spanning from 1759 to the present day! And though you'll be charged a premium for full access to their database of old newspapers, a surprising amount of material is offered for free.

Some of the free newspaper pages you can view right now on your computer screen include:

• 25,000 pages on Abraham Lincoln

• 40,000 pages on Pearl Harbor

• 50,000 pages on The Space Program

• 50,000 pages on The Kennedy Assassination
  

To access the collections above simply click on Free Special Collections from the homepage. Your journey to the past will begin shortly!

Concerned About Toy Safety? U.S. PIRG Can Help

If you've got grandkids of a certain age chances are pretty good you'll be buying them toys this holiday season and that means you'll probably have a lot of questions about toy safety. But where can you find answers? How do you go about determining which toys are safe and which are not? On the Web, one of your best bets is to check out ToySafety.net.

A service of U.S. PIRG, the federation of state public interest research groups, ToySafety.net includes the following resources:

• The latest toy safety news

• A link to the CPSC (consumer product safety commission) toy recall list

• A printable toy safety tips brochure

This holiday season make sure you check out this helpful site before you go shopping in toy land!

Create A Digital Scrapbook Online

Interested in trying your hand at digital scrapbooking without having to download any software onto your hard drive? Now you can by visiting a site like Scrapblog.com. Unlike digital scrapbooking sites that require you to install software onto your computer-sometimes at a hefty price-Scrapblog.com's digital scrapbooking software works directly within your browser to allow you to create some pretty impressive looking digital scrapbooks.

Scrapblog.com is also notable for allowing you to add audio and even video to your online digital scrapbooks-and when you're done you can easily share the fruits of your labor with the rest of the world or just family and friends.

You supply the pictures. They supply the easy-to-use software. Nothing to install on your hard drive-oh, and it's free! Getting started in Digital Scrapbooking doesn't get much easier than this.

Give Them A Unique Gift This Holiday Season

Want to give 'em something different for Christmas this year-something unique that they'll treasure always? How about giving them a gift of a family photograph that's been turned into a a watercolor or oil painting? If you don't fancy yourself a Rembrandt or DaVinci, don't worry-you don't have to be an artist and no need to hire one either-all you have to do is point your Web browser to Photofiddle.com, a site that will let you turn any digital photograph into a work of art!

Once you're at Photofiddle.com, you'll upload a photo from your computer to their Web site with just a few mouse clicks. Then, you'll choose the type of artwork you want to turn the photo into and the desired size, among other specifications. The process couldn't be simpler and to make it easier they even provide a helpful video tutorial you can refer to.

Prices start as low as $14.95 for artwork that's unframed, so there's really something for every budget. Just make sure you act soon if you want to get gifts delivered in time for Christmas!

Discover Rarely Seen Archival Material From 12 Presidential Libraries

Web surfers who happen to be nostalgia lovers or history buffs, you have yet another reason to celebrate: Recently, the C-SPAN network introduced Presidential Libraries: History Uncovered, a Web site packed with "never- or rarely-seen film, video, private home movies, sound recordings, photographs, documents and artifacts collected from inside the libraries' vaults." The archival material is from 12 presidential libraries-Herbert Hoover's to Bill Clinton's.

Some of the highlights include:

• Silent black & white footage from Herbert Hoover's 1931 visit to his fishing camp in the Shenandoah Mountains

• A 1933 biographical film about Franklin Roosevelt

• A 1963 home movie featuring President Kennedy and his wife at their retreat in Middleburg, Virginia

A must-see, unique resource that you'll want to visit again and again!

Pension Help Is Just A Few Clicks Away

Questions or concerns about your pension keeping you up at night? If you need help with just about anything that's pension related you should know about The Pension Rights Center. Touted as, " the country’s only consumer organization dedicated solely to protecting and promoting the retirement security of American workers, retirees, and their families," this is one of the more helpful resources on this subject you'll find on the Web.

Topics covered include:

• Pension Help - Features links to counseling projects and government agencies that can assist you with your pension problems.

• Pension Policy - Details the different activities the Center is involved in to help legislate pension reforms.

• Pension Publications - Having difficulty understanding your pension plan? Fact sheets and other helpful links are provided here that can help make things a little clearer.

Whatever your pension issue, you'll likely find an answer here, or at the very least be pointed in the right direction!

Newsreel Footage Of The Attack On Pearl Harbor

If you're interested in seeing some original newsreel footage of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, one of the best places to check is Archive.org. Several short films on the site incorporate original stock footage of the attack and its aftermath, most notably News Parade: Bombing of Pearl Harbor from Castle Films.

Additionally, If you're looking to the Web to learn more about Pearl Harbor refer to Remembering Pearl Harbor Online, a post that originally appeared right here on The Senior Surfer last year at this time-you'll find links to authoritative resources there.

Online Shopping With A Twist

Are you high on the idea of online shopping because of the convenience but not so keen on the shipping charges that might apply? Or maybe you just don't like the idea of having lots of packages arrive at your house-especially when you're not sure if you're going to be home. Don't you wish there was a compromise?

There is. You might be interested in a program that more and more retailers are adopting these days-the option to shop for products online but pick them up at the store.

Here's a list of retailers that offer this option on their Web sites:

• Best Buy
• JCPenney
• Sears
• Walmart

These so called "buy online, pick up in-store" policies might allow you to take advantage of some of the best things online shopping has to offer while helping you avoid a few that are not.

A Virtual Museum Of Early Televsion Sets

Sure, today you take owning a television set for granted-you probably own more than one in fact, and maybe even made the leap and purchased a flat-screen model already. But, do you ever reminisce about the first set you owned? Do you recall the make and model and whether it was a color TV set or black and white? Would a picture help jog your memory?

If you ever get nostalgic about those vintage TVs of yesteryear, head on over to the Early Television Foundation and Museum Web site, where you'll find tons of photographs of vintage TVs-everything from the mechanical sets of the 1920s and 30s to the early color sets of the 50s and beyond.

And while you're there, be sure to check out these highlights as well:

• On site articles and external links about the history of early television

• Examples of original print advertisements used to promote early television sets

• Photographs of the different types of picture tubes used in the early sets

And more! Who knows? With all those photos of vintage TV sets on the site, you might even see the very first one you owned!

Notable Hanukkah Resources

Celebrating Hanukkah and wondering if there's anything online about this traditional Jewish Holiday? You'll be happy to learn that there's a wealth of information on the Web concerning the "Festival of Lights."

Here are a few worth checking out:

• Chanukah 2007 - Hanukkah facts, multimedia features and more from Chabad.org.

• Hanukkah - Explore the history and traditions of Hanukkah here at the companion Web site of The History Channel.

• Chanukah on the Net - A blog, videos and even a virtual menorah are some of the highlights of this Hanukkah resource from Holidays.net.

Happy Hanukkah!

How To Use A Search Engine Like A Calculator

Next time you're surfing the Web and find yourself in need of a calculator head to a search engine-not to help you find one online, but because the search engine itself can be used like a calculator! Fact: Many if not all of the most popular search engines include an easy to use calculator feature.

If you use a leading search site like Google, Yahoo! Search, Live Search or Ask, for example, you can do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division right in the search entry box. After typing in what you want to calculate, simply hit enter on your keyboard or the search button on the screen to receive your answer at the top of the search results.

Just remember to use an asterisk (*) for multiplication, and a forward slash (/) for division. The Addition and subtraction symbols are the same as those found on the kind of standard calculator lying around your house.

Thanks to the versatility of search engines a handy calculator is never more than a click or two away!