Ever wonder what the odds are that you’ll get struck by lightening or win the lottery? BookofOdds.com can let you know. According to the site:

“For over three years we have been building what we believe is the missing dictionary, one filled not with words, but with numbers – the odds of everyday life. It contains hundreds of thousands of Odds Statements, from the odds of being the only one to survive a plane crash, to the odds of having a heart attack, to the odds of having ever eaten cold pizza for breakfast.”

Simply visit the site and type in your odds inquiry to receive a list of possibilities. The site also provides a variety of articles with interesting statistics and other number related items.

Visit BookofOdds.com to test it out.

Want to read some of the world famous classic stories, but don’t want to buy them? At Project Gutenberg you can find over 28000 classic books in electronic form. You can find such great stories as (the number after the title is the number downloads over the last 7 days):

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1724)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1185)
History of the United States by Charles A. Beard and Mary Ritter Beard (1182)
Ulysses by James Joyce (994)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (972)
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Complete by Leonardo da Vinci (917)
Dracula by Bram Stoker (899)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (835)
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (796)
The Marvelous Land Of Oz by L. Frank Baum (646)
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (637)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (630)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (617)

The books are available in a variety of formats including PDF, HTML, Text, and formats that can be read on your Smartphone or any reader that takes these formats. You can even download audio versions.

Be sure to read the information about use and distribution of the books. The books are in the public domain in the United States, but you’ll want to check the rights if you live in a different country. The books are free to use, but not necessarily free for you to distribute to others.

To learn more, get books or even get involved with the project, visit Project Gutenberg.

If you’re a news junkie wanting up-to-the-minute news on your favorite topics, you need to check out Topicfire. While your regular RSS feeds provide you with current news, Topicfire delivers news in real time.

Simply choose the topics you want current news on:

Then check the news! You’ll hear a little bleep, each time your news feed is updated. Or subscribe to your topic-feed’s Twitter or Facebook feeds.

One of the best ways to get a discount is to buy in bulk. With that idea in mind, Groupon has created a site in which people can get big discounts by buying in a group. The best part is that Groupon finds the deals and puts together the group. When members see a deal they want to take advantage of, they “buy” in. If enough people indicate they want in as well, members are billed and sent a Groupon. Business are guaranteed a minimum of customers while the customers get a great deal. Its a win-win.

The types of deals you’ll find vary and include things like $20 for $50 worth of groceries, $20 for a $40 meal at a restaurant, and $45 for $100 worth of apparel.

The downside is that Groupon is only available in 52 major cities throughout the U.S. If you don’t live near a major city, you’re out of luck. However, Groupon does take suggestions and indicates that it will target cities that it receives the most inquiries about.

To learn more, visit Groupon

Its been done with hairstyles and now with cosmetic surgery. You can now upload a “before” photo and see the results (“after”) of cosmetic procedures by visiting Liftmagic.com. Simply upload a photo from your computer, and then use sliding buttons to show various types of changes from brow lifts, lip augmentation, wrinkle removing, neck lift and more. You can email or share your results with others as well.

Visit Liftmagic.com to test it out yourself.

Today, you can’t be too careful about your money. While stocks haven’t done so well in the last couple of years, financial experts report that in the long run stocks are one of the best investment options.

If you want to learn about stocks and investing, check out WallStreetSurvivor.com where you can invest a fictional $100,000 to buy and trade stocks in real-time. While you won’t actually make money, you won’t lose it either. However, depending on well you do, you can earn prizes.

Its free to join and you’ll find lots of the helpful tool such as research resources, beginners’ tips, and more. Visit WallStreetSurvivor.com to learn more.

“If your food and wine adventures are more about the journey than the destination, Behind the Burner is the perfect place to explore your culinary desires.” From BehindTheBurner.

BehindtheBurner.com offers advice, tricks and secrets from the country’s top chefs. Learn about the chefs’ and restaurateurs, watch videos of chef’s cooking signature foods (I liked the chocolate french toast by Chef Peyard – Chocolate Epiphany), and read articles on everything from wine and travel, to how-to and health. Plus you can get great recipes.

If cooking (and eating) is your life, be sure to visit BehindtheBurner.com.

Remember when you were in school and you buried the time capsule that wasn’t to be opened for 50 years? At FutureMe.org, you can find a variation of this concept by being able to email yourself sometime in the future. You can capture your life today and send yourself a note to arrive next week, next year, or the next decade. Or you can write about how you’d like to be in a year or five years and send yourself a note dated at that time to see if you reach your goals.

Even if you think all this is a little hokey, check out the letters others have sent (there is an option to make your letter public).  There are some very amusing notes people are sending to their future selves.

To learn more or send yourself a note, visit FutureMe.org.

You may have heard about the Barnes and Noble Nook  competing with the Amazon Kindle. However you don’t need to buy a either to read the free ebooks being offered by Barnes and Noble. You do need to download its free reader for your computer (PC or Mac). Or you can get it for your iPhone/iPod Touch or Blackberry.

The books are varied and include Maximum Ride by James Patterson, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Emma by Jane Austin, many romances, a few Star Wars books, and lots more. Get the free reader application and start downloading free ebooks from Barnes and Noble.

How many times have you said, “I wish I could write a book?” Well if you’ve said it at least once, November is your chance to write a 50k novel.  National Novel Writing Month is now in its 10th year. Last year over 100,000 people participated. Started by Chris Baty, National Novel Writing Month or Nanowrimo as its referred to, seeks to help would-be writers get that first draft down on paper in a manic filled month of writing. Its not about perfection. Its about getting all the ideas down on paper without editing or worrying about quality. Writers who meet their 50K goal get a certificate and a virtual pat on the back.

Participating in Nanwrimo is free. Over at the site you can register, get weekly updates from Chris to keep on writing, join in on the forum to get support or ask questions. You can even find local Nanowrimo writing groups.

The rules to Nanowrimo are easy. You need to start from scratch (no completing a work in progress) and write 50k words (1667 words a day) from Nov.1-30.

I have participated in Nanowrimo twice, but only reached the 50K goal once. But I’m gearing up to try again this year. Will you join me?

To learn more visit, National Novel Writing Month