ziizoo blog http://blog.ziizoo.com a blog for the ziizoo community Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:06:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.3 en The Naked Scientists http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/25/the-naked-scientists/ http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/25/the-naked-scientists/#comments Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:03:43 +0000 aeinspruch http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/25/the-naked-scientists/ This week’s pick is the creation of a UK based team of scientists and is loaded with physical science experiments, articles, podcasts, etc. The Naked Scientists website caught my eye with an informative article entitled, “What Do Snot And Wasabi Have In Common?” I’ll let you read it and come to your own conclusion, but was I ever surprised. Also there was a funny picture of the scientists themselves pretty much naked. Full of cheeky attitude and accurate scientific info, arranged into a thorough and thoughtful site, you can spend a few hours just reading about cool stuff, experiments to perform, and just about any science or math subject you could be interested in is there.

]]> http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/25/the-naked-scientists/feed/ MumboJumbo Premium Casual Games http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/25/mumbojumbo-premium-casual-games/ http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/25/mumbojumbo-premium-casual-games/#comments Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:03:30 +0000 aeinspruch http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/25/mumbojumbo-premium-casual-games/ Well, this week I am deviating from my normal review of exceptional educational websites to bring you something a little different from some friends of mine. I don’t need to tell you Luxor 3, Little Farm and Elf Bowling fans that MumboJumbo has some awesome games……..that’s why they are called Premium Casual games, folks. My brother Rob has kicked off the MumboJumbo move to port their games to the social networks, and part of that is the new blog he started. Take a look at their games and hopefully you’ll be hooked by the beautiful graphics and ease of play. Expect lots of new things for the latest platforms from MumboJumbo.

]]> http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/25/mumbojumbo-premium-casual-games/feed/ GradeMate is a free organizer for your classes http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/11/grademate-is-a-free-organizer-for-your-classes/ http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/11/grademate-is-a-free-organizer-for-your-classes/#comments Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:18:30 +0000 aeinspruch http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/11/grademate-is-a-free-organizer-for-your-classes/ Grademate is a FREE online tool for any student or teacher keeping track of his or her grades, assignments, classes, or anything else. I love the fact that GradeMate calculates the values of all your weighted assignments and tests, and keeps a running tally. You will never NOT know what your grade is in any particular class. Know your GPA on the fly……..Simply genius, if you ask me. Thoughtful, friendly design and ease of use is apparent in the GradeMate’s visual interface. Newly redesigned by the GradeMate team, the latest build (released today) includes the following:

* Hide old assignments from your Upcoming Assignments list on your Dashboard
* Rewrote and remodeled the Help Topics
* Drag and reorder the courses in the File Manager
* Each course now has its own settings page where you can customize new aspects of your courses
* Assignment types are fully configurable - change names, weights, and even colors!
* Added a feature request page for all of your ideas
* Changed the visuals and added nicer graphics

]]> http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/11/grademate-is-a-free-organizer-for-your-classes/feed/ Beautiful Games http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/11/beautiful-games/ http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/11/beautiful-games/#comments Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:50:29 +0000 Robert Einspruch http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/11/beautiful-games/ Summer has been peaceful and uneventful so far. It is a nice break after the hectic pace during the April/May exam period. In the meanwhile I have been working with our lead investor, MumboJumbo, on their online game strategy. You can see my post on beautiful casual games at the mumbojumbo blog.

]]> http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/07/11/beautiful-games/feed/ The BELL JAR!!! http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/27/the-bell-jar/ http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/27/the-bell-jar/#comments Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:20:47 +0000 aeinspruch http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/27/the-bell-jar/ Possibly the coolest thing I saw in 8th grade science class was the air pumped from a bell jar and the marshmallow inside reacting to the oxygen free environment by crushing itself. I was mesmerized instantly by the imploding marshmallow. As I searched the internet for this week’s selection, I struck paydirt when I came across the Bell Jar website. Entitled “Vacuum Technique and Related Topics For the Amateur Investigator“, this site gives us the history of the bell jar, general information about them, and current suppliers of vacuum apparatus. I could play with one of these things for hours. SO if you have a natural scientific curiosity about Physical Sciences or you teach them, this is the site for you! Too cool………..

]]> http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/27/the-bell-jar/feed/ Earth & Sky http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/20/earth-sky/ http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/20/earth-sky/#comments Sat, 21 Jun 2008 04:16:40 +0000 aeinspruch http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/20/earth-sky/ “A clear voice for science….” says the Earth & Sky website. This site covers everything from robot hands to animal news, to the wint-o-green lifesaver effect. Learn from scientists around the world. All you could want to know science facts for curious minds interested in science and our world is available at earthsky.org. Pick content for teachers, kids, Spanish language content, etc., and all of it available as podcasts daily. I am impressed with the depth of the information available and the clearly thought out delivery.

]]> http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/20/earth-sky/feed/ Search is back up http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/16/search-is-back-up/ http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/16/search-is-back-up/#comments Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:39:55 +0000 Robert Einspruch http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/16/search-is-back-up/ All it took was a swift kick. Thank you for your patience!

]]> http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/16/search-is-back-up/feed/ Search is down http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/15/search-is-down/ http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/15/search-is-down/#comments Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:49:36 +0000 Robert Einspruch http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/15/search-is-down/ Our Google Mini Search Appliance is temporarily out of service. What does that mean for you? It means that search is down for the entire site. None of the search boxes or tag clouds will return search results.

Apart from search, everything else on the site, including the session tool, should work fine.

We are working on restoring service and will keep you updated. Thank you for your patience.

]]> http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/15/search-is-down/feed/ Weekly pick: nrich.maths.org http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/11/weekly-pick-nrichmathsorg/ http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/11/weekly-pick-nrichmathsorg/#comments Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:59:08 +0000 aeinspruch http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/11/weekly-pick-nrichmathsorg/ Nrich is a University of Cambridge site addressing ALL levels of Mathematics skills K-12, presented in a fun, interactive, and visually rich environment. Choose any stage 1-5, and there are puzzles and games dealing with maths concepts within them. I like the UK terminology as it differs somewhat from our US english. Each problem offers a hint, notes, and solutions submitted by readers. You can submit an answer and if it is correct you may be featured. Pretty cool!

In short, the kids will stay interested in the animated graphics, sounds, pictures and problems. Check out nrich.org!

]]> http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/11/weekly-pick-nrichmathsorg/feed/ Certificate Errors and Other Warnings http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/08/certificate-errors-and-other-warnings/ http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/08/certificate-errors-and-other-warnings/#comments Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:44:24 +0000 Robert Einspruch http://blog.ziizoo.com/2008/06/08/certificate-errors-and-other-warnings/ Some Firefox and Internet Explorer users may have seen warnings saying a certificate had expired and that our site was not secure. The warning would have appeared when entering secure parts of ziizoo.com.

Rest assured that we take security very seriously and ziizoo’s security certificate is 100% up-to-date. However, our partner that provides the mash-up for our “need help with this page?” links, Demofuse, let their security certificate lapse. As a result, any page with a “help” link was deemed insecure by Firefox and Internet Explorer, hence the warning.

We have removed all links to Demofuse and the warnings have gone away. If users run into any problems please contact us at help@ziizoo.com.

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