Mango Languages [These are proper full language learning courses for you.  It’s in Beta testing and is free.  The languages you can start learning are Spanish, Russian, French, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, German, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Greek, English for Spanish speakers, and English for Polish speakers.  Go and learn a new language.  Expand that brain even more!]

Pick the Brain – Do You Have the Characteristics of an Effective Leader? [While some people have commented on the choice of photo, you only need concentrate on the article for its goodness.  For the sake of this blog, it works quite well if you read it as about learning the characteristics of an effective uni student too.]

Lifehack – 10 Deep: Presentations by Lifehack.org [Presentations are a common part of many a degree subject.  You’ll no doubt have at least a couple of presentations during your time, if not several per week!  Here is a fantastic resource of hints and tips to get your presentations in good shape.]

Daily Mail – People who ‘um’ and ‘ah’ are more memorable than clear speakers [Now there’s something you won’t be learning when you read about good presentations…]

Business 2.0 Magazine – The Facebook Economy [Lengthy, but informative article.  Among many things I didn’t know…Apps currently generate less than $1 for every 1000 pageviews.  So there.]

Remember, tomorrow is a special edition of EduLinks with info about Long Distance Relationships (LDRs).  So today, I thought I’d give you about double the dose of linkage.  You lucky things…

Independent – Freshers’ Week: Get the party started [Part of the Student Survival Guide 07/08, put together in association with UCAS.  A little introduction on what to expect.  Check my posts about settling in and making friends for more Fresher tips.]

Independent – Nightlife: Put on your dancing shoes [More from the Student Survival Guide, this article gives examples of what’s on and how to do it.]

A few music links for you now:

1. The Hype Machine [Listen to the songs people are blogging about on the net at the moment.]
2. Pandora [Create your own stations to listen to based on exactly what you want.  Free.]
3. Last.fm [One of the more well known sites, another place to customise your own music playlists for free.]
4. URN [My favourite student radio station, University Radio for Nottingham.  It’s just playing old tunes at the moment, but in a week or so, the station will be back and I recommend you give it a listen.]

The Register – Orange Kneecaps Nokia [We like our phones.  Forget the current hoo-hah with the iPhone’s expense, there might be some changes in the mobile phone market given what’s happening here…how will it all pan out?]

A couple of stories on the BBC News website regarding a new report on education:

• Graduates Keep Higher Earnings [Money, money, money, etc.]
• UK Slips Back in Graduate Numbers [Number of graduates is increasing, but not as much as elsewhere in the world.  Also, UK students have lower expectations of going to university.]

The Atlantic – Caring for your Introvert [All about the whats and whys of introverts.  Do you know any introverts?]

Internet News – Mozilla Millions go to Thunderbird [I hadn’t realised that the free e-mail software, Thunderbird, hadn’t made it big like the web-browser Firefox.  It’s a fine piece of software.  Well worth a look.]

Slate – Mind Your Pee in Queues [Slate.com is heavily American orientated, but it’s still good to check every day or two.   This piece, for instance, has lots of info and links relating to various topics in the news.  One of the quirky reports is how less men are washing their hands after they’ve been to the loo.  Plenty of links and opinion about it too!]

The Chronicle Review (of Higher Education) – Rigid Scholarship on Male Sexuality [If not to read the article, you might want to check to see how many different names there are for sperm.  While I’d heard most names before, I hadn’t ever considered the obvious ‘number three’.  Sorry, I’m being childish now…]

Finally, here are two great art sites:

• 10 Ways [This site sucks you in and takes you on a very strange journey.  I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it before.]
• Wotartist [An artist directory that’s full of pictures and inspiration.  I’ve just been choosing artists at random and checking their works.  Good to dip into.]

Welcome to another mixed bag of goodies. Enjoy!

Ririan Project – 10 Benefits of Power Napping, and how to do it [After my post on sleep and wakefulness, here’s a wealth of info on getting a Powernap.  Very in-depth instruction and info.]

UK active map of universities and HE institutions [On the University of Wolverhampton’s website. Not only can you see where all the unis are, but you’re also able to transport to masses of uni weblinks, including the main sites, libraries, SUs, UCAS profiles, reports, unofficial guides, and loads more. Impressive.]

University of Leicester – Hat-trick of success in National Student Survey [Lots of student satisfaction going on in Leicester.]

Britannica Blog – Is satire a lost art? [Short article by Robert McHenry, former editor-in-chief of Encyclopaedia Britannica.]

Wikimindmap [A fantastic resource for opening your mind to how things are linked within Wikipedia. Don’t go making lots of Wikipedia usage for your study, mind!]

Daily Mail – Why it’s really alright to be left-handed! [Only because I’m left-handed…]

Financial Times – Let’s Rock! [A fascinating article about the live music industry. Quite lengthy, so maybe save for later.]

Guardian – Can shopping save the planet? [More environmental talk. And another lengthy article. But always worth the read.]