Today, we’re adding an “Extensions” link to the Google Wave navigation panel that gives you quick access to a set of fun and functional featured extensions for waves.

The gallery is simply a set of waves containing extension installers (the puzzle pieces). The first wave, “Read me first” contains an introduction to extensions and how to use them.

via Finding fun and useful extensions for Google Wave – Google Wave Blog.

Their book recommendations are in the following categories:

Introductory Reading

Christianity is not about knowing a lot of things. It is about deeply knowing the one true God in order that your whole person may be conformed into His image.

Intermediate Reading

Grow deeper in the knowledge of God by studying how the Gospel trains us in every area of life.

Advanced Reading

Some things God has revealed about himself are difficult to understand. Careful study of these works will be greatly rewarding.

Classics

Following Christ’s example, believers have always labored to bless the generations which would come after them. These are some of the finest fruits of that labor.

Children’s Books

Strengthen the young minds under your care early with gospel-centered resources.

Evangelism

Not a secondary matter, sharing the good news is a necessary part of believing the good news.

Study Bibles

Like having a scholar read the Bible with you, study Bibles provide insightful notes and clarifying articles along the way.

Reference Works

Easy to find answers to all your Bible-related questions. These reference tools put historical and literal-grammatical details at your fingertips and make topical studies a breeze.

Ever need to send via email a document to someone or to a large number of people? Can everyone read the same documents that you create in Microsoft Word, or Wordperfect, or Open Office? Probably not. The solution is to send PDFs instead.

The PDF (Portable Document Format) was created with the goal of making it possible to create a document that can be read by anyone who has installed a free PDF reader such as Adobe’s Acrobat Reader. (See Wikipedia for more options.)

PDFCreator and BullZip are two such applications that will produce documents in the PDF format. You create your document using any software that can print (Microsoft Word, Open Office, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Excel).  Then you simply “print” to BullZip or PDFCreator (they will show up as one of your printers). After you start the print process, a window will come up with fields where you can give the document a title and indicate where on your computer to save the PDF file that will be produced.

With PDFCreator, at the bottom of the window are five buttons. If you select the “Wait-collect” button, PDFCreator will collect the pages that you are currently printing. You can then print other pages from the same or different applications. Once you have collected all the pages that you want in that PDF document, press the “Save” button. You will then see another window where you can select the directory and give the newly created file a name.

BullZip works in a similar fashion but has other features.  I have them both installed, but find myself using BullZip more often these days.

You can download and use both BullZip and PDFCreator for free. There are other options as well. OpenOffice is freeware that competes with Microsoft Office and has PDF functionality built in.

“Compose a Message” for communication that you want private between you and the recipient(s).

On the Facebook menu, hold your mouse over “Inbox” and a menu will drop down.

Select “Compose New Message.”

Type the name of a friend, friends, or friend list (a selection of your friends that you group together under a “friend list” name that you determine – for another primer).

Type a subject line.

Type your message and click on “Send.”

This is also the way to ensure that your friend realizes that you send a message to them.  All the methods that follow post the text to the wall space. With the passage of time, an entry goes lower on the wall.   If your friends don’t check Facebook often or if they have a lot of friends who do status updates, they may not see it.  So, if you want to ensure they get the message, “compose a message” to your friend(s). But this deprives us of “eaves dropping.”

“Post a message on your friend’s wall” for communication to a friend, but you don’t care if others see the message.

Go to your friend’s page by clicking on their name or entering their name in the search box at the upper right of the window.  (You may see their name because you are on your own wall and see a status update regarding your friend or you may be reviewing your friend list (“All Friends”).  You will know you are on your friend’s page because you will see their name at the top.

When you are on your friend’s page, type in the box that says, “Write something,” and the click on “Share.”

This will show up on their wall as “Your Name” and the message.  It will show up on their friends’ walls as “Your Name” > “Their Name” and the message.

“Update your status” to communicate something short to all of your friends

This is commonly called a “status update,” but can be used for any type of message that will be seen by all your friends (subject to the above).

Go to your wall by pressing “Home” on the Facebook menu.  You will know you are on your wall because you will see your name at the top.

At the top of the window, you will see a box with a share button to the right.

Enter a short note and click on “Share.” (If you type too much, the box will stop displaying any additional text.)

This will show up on your wall and on your all your friends’ walls, too.

“Post a note” to communicate something longer to all your friends.

Click on “Profile” on the Facebook menu.

Click on “Notes” on the menu below your name.

A little below and to the left, click on “Write a new note.”

Give it a title, write your literary masterpiece, and click “Publish.”  (You can click preview to take a look before publishing it).

There are other options and features available with notes, but that will be for another time.

This will show up on your wall and on your all your friends’ walls, too.  If you want to help ensure certain friends see it, you can “tag them.”

Part I

How to Read a Book: Marking your Book

How to Read a Book: Inspectional Reading

Part II

How to Read a Book: Analytical Reading: Classifying a Book

How to Read a Book: Analytical Reading: Coming to Terms with an Author

How to Read a Book: Analytical Reading: Determining an Author’s Message

How to Read a Book: Analytical Reading: Criticizing a Book Fairly.

How to Read a Book: Analytical Reading: Agreeing or Disagreeing with an Author

See Mortimer Adler’s own essay on How to Mark a Book.

Go to www.greatideas.org where you will find a short clip taken from a three hour video series of Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren on “How to Read a Book.”

Adler is also known for his work at the Encylopedia Britannica and for his promotion of reading and discussing the “Great Books.” For years, people would come to the Aspen Institute where he taught philosophy to business executives in the context of reading and discussing some of these works.

If you would be inclined to read some of his work, I would suggest starting with the following (in this order):

• Six Great Ideas: Truth-Goodness-Beauty-Liberty-Equality-Justice (1981)
• A Vision of the Future: Twelve Ideas for a Better Life and a Better Society (1984)
• How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading (with Charles Van Doren), Second Edition (1972)
• Aristotle for Everybody: Difficult Thought Made Easy (1978)
• How to Speak / How to Listen (1983)
• We Hold These Truths: Understanding the Ideas and Ideals of the Constitution (1987)
• Desires, Right & Wrong: The Ethics of Enough (1991)

The following sites are also worth visiting:

The Mortimer J. Adler Archive

Center for the Study of the Great Ideas

Sometimes, the message attempts to shame me if I don’t join. (“Say yes or John Doe might think you are not his friend.”)

I’m sure there are many articles discussing the downside of social networks. Here are a few troubling aspects that come to mind.

1.  Take my email contact list, please.

Some offer as a “feature,” and some require, that they access your email contact list so that invitations can be sent to EVERYONE in your contact list. You give them your email address, which is OK if you trust the site, but then you also give them the password to your email address.  Whoop!  Whoop! Whoop!  Ding! Ding! Ding! Danger, Will Robinson! I don’t think so.

If a site requires you to give them your email address and password, just stop, close the window and find another social network to join.  If it is an option to send invites to EVERYONE in your contact list by giving them your email address and password, look for the barely visible button that lets you skip that step and press it.

2.  Unwise and unhealthy transparency

Another downside is the common feature of carrying on a discussion with another individual that is visible to anyone who visits your page. Think of all the people you might be “friends” with: wife, family, friends, neighbors, schoolmates, co-workers, acquaintances. Do you want any given comment visible to EVERYONE?

I have heard of and witnessed for myself enough examples of people having comments posted on their home page that could be prone to misinterpretation or extreme embarrassment.  You might take a look at the settings in your social network site to see what limits can be put on that.  It would be nice if sites would at least give you the option to approve any comment or posting before it gets posted.

3.  It stretches our finiteness to the breaking point

I am a finite person (although each holiday season moves me closer to being omnipresent). I can only be friends with so many people. Although these social networks enable me to reveal the most intimate details of my life with a vast audience, I am not sure that that alone makes us good friends with each other.

You might want to allow your friends to continue to post, but not allow everyone (or anyone) to see what has been posted there.

Here is how to fine tune the settings for your wall to determine who can post and view items there.

• A check box to allow/disallow friends to post to your wall.
• There is a drop down box under “Who can see my posts made by friends.”  Drop the box down and select “customize.”  There you can fine-tune who can see what on your wall.

http://finch.ploogy.net/

http://www.baresite.com/

Because some sites are highly dependent upon graphics or scripts, this will not be useful for every web site.

If you have a fast Internet connection and are not charged by the megabyte, you may not really have any use for these types of sites.

Of those who come, many would love to make friends with Americans, to learn about this new culture they have come to, and to improve their English. For someone who is not trained as a teacher, helping someone with their English can be intimidating.

Here are some on-line resources that may help you get past the intimidation factor.

Eastside Literacy

Eastside Literacy, which is part of Hopelink, has a Tutor Support page with resources for those who want to help others with their English.

• Talk Time Topics: Free downloadable (PDF) ESL Lesson plans
• Lesson Ideas
• Basic Tips
• Tips on Teaching Groups
• Training for Beginning Teachers

English Club

English Club is a free site that provides help to both learners and teachers.  You’ll find everything from lessons for students to jobs for teachers, including interactive pages such as forums, games, quizzes, chat, help and penpals.

EasyEnglish Bible

Your friend may have an interest in learning about the Bible. EasyEnglish is a form of simple English developed by Wycliffe Associates (UK). Their site contains Bible commentaries, Bible translations, Bible studies, and other materials that they have written in simple English. They are free for you to download and use.

More Links

Resources for ESL Teachers and Their Students

ESL Gold