You may want to check out a recent video on Google Tech Talks called Sowing the Seeds for a more Creative Society. The video details a couple of projects from the MIT Media Lab that are designed to help expose kids to technology in a creative way. The first is a series of building blocks that kids can piece together to create inventions. The second is a software package that kids can use to create programs in a more modular, visual way. You could think of the projects as the next generations of Lego Mindstorms and Logo respectively.
I'm not sure how difficult it would be to get involved in the roll-out of the projects, but they both look interesting enough to at least look into further.
I'm sure there is some wisdom to the idea of just sending books, but you might also consider checking out a program called FinePrint. FinePrint can print 2, 4, or 8 pages per sheet of paper and can also streamline the process of duplex printing (giving you up to 16 pages per sheet). I use it all the time just to save paper, but it might suit your purpose as well. I know that there are similar programs for processing text files under Unix, but I can't recall the name(s) at the moment.
You might also want to be aware of another good resource of free online books, The Online Books Page. It includes Gutenberg Project texts as well as lots of others.
I recently listened to the audio book version of Frank Abagnale's "Art of the Steal" and I would definitely recommend it in your case. Like his other book, "Catch Me If You Can", it has some great anecdotes about cons. It even has a whole section devoted to check fraud.
"Art of the Steal" aims to teach how to avoid getting scammed, in business and at home. It is definitely lacking in some areas, such as computer security, but does offer some useful advice and it might be handy in opening management's eyes to some of the threats to security.
I used Yahoo's photo sharing features until I got fed up with constantly using up my disk space quota. I did some google searching and found an article (can't remember where) comparing the features of various photo sharing sites which recommended Image Station. At the time (and still, as far as I can tell) they had no quota. That feature alone was enough to sell me on using it. However, it is also quite fast in my experience, as well as user friendly. There is one minor pain that I've run across though. Other people have to register and accept a cookie before they can view any of your shared albums beyond the first shot in the album.
I have not ordered any prints from ImageStation. For that, I use Snapfish. I've been very pleased with their service, though I'm not particularly picky about my prints.
I would highly recommend a book called "Watch It Made in the U.S.A.". I don't have the latest edition, but the previous edition has a lot of great detailed information (cost, freebies given, hours, nearby attractions, etc) for all kinds of tours.
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You may want to check out a recent video on Google Tech Talks called Sowing the Seeds for a more Creative Society. The video details a couple of projects from the MIT Media Lab that are designed to help expose kids to technology in a creative way. The first is a series of building blocks that kids can piece together to create inventions. The second is a software package that kids can use to create programs in a more modular, visual way. You could think of the projects as the next generations of Lego Mindstorms and Logo respectively. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to get involved in the roll-out of the projects, but they both look interesting enough to at least look into further.
What does PCMCIA stand for?
People Can't Memorize Cryptic Industry Acronyms
I'm sure there is some wisdom to the idea of just sending books, but you might also consider checking out a program called FinePrint. FinePrint can print 2, 4, or 8 pages per sheet of paper and can also streamline the process of duplex printing (giving you up to 16 pages per sheet). I use it all the time just to save paper, but it might suit your purpose as well. I know that there are similar programs for processing text files under Unix, but I can't recall the name(s) at the moment.
You might also want to be aware of another good resource of free online books, The Online Books Page. It includes Gutenberg Project texts as well as lots of others.
I recently listened to the audio book version of Frank Abagnale's "Art of the Steal" and I would definitely recommend it in your case. Like his other book, "Catch Me If You Can", it has some great anecdotes about cons. It even has a whole section devoted to check fraud.
"Art of the Steal" aims to teach how to avoid getting scammed, in business and at home. It is definitely lacking in some areas, such as computer security, but does offer some useful advice and it might be handy in opening management's eyes to some of the threats to security.
I used Yahoo's photo sharing features until I got fed up with constantly using up my disk space quota. I did some google searching and found an article (can't remember where) comparing the features of various photo sharing sites which recommended Image Station. At the time (and still, as far as I can tell) they had no quota. That feature alone was enough to sell me on using it. However, it is also quite fast in my experience, as well as user friendly. There is one minor pain that I've run across though. Other people have to register and accept a cookie before they can view any of your shared albums beyond the first shot in the album.
I have not ordered any prints from ImageStation. For that, I use Snapfish. I've been very pleased with their service, though I'm not particularly picky about my prints.
I would highly recommend a book called "Watch It Made in the U.S.A.". I don't have the latest edition, but the previous edition has a lot of great detailed information (cost, freebies given, hours, nearby attractions, etc) for all kinds of tours.
Also, the Travel Channel's website has a list of the Best Factory Tours for Kids in the U.S. in case you want to act like a kid.