Gardening: Desert-Tropicals.com

Created by plant enthusiast Philippe Faucon, Desert-Tropicals.com is well-designed and thorough, with illustrated descriptions of over 3,500 plants, including data on family, frost and heat tolerance, sun exposure, origin, propagation, and more. Plant lists are organized by scientific and common name, succulents, xeriscape plants, palm trees, herbs, and trees. The site also connects to articles, a bulletin board, bookstore, and relevant links. <http://www.desert-tropicals.com/index.html>

Medicine: The Cancer Information Network

This noncommercial site, "founded to provide support and information to cancer patients and their caregivers," offers access to current information on many types of cancers, including breast, colorectal, esophageal, lung, and so on. Sections include news & features, support, and prevention, lists of related websites, support organizations, and a glossary of cancer terms. <http://www.thecancer.info/>

Radio: Traffic Island Discs

"Traffic Island Discs [on Resonance 101.4 FM in Central London <http://www.resonancefm.com/>] is a radio programme about music, people and spaces. We roam the streets looking for people wearing headphones, stop them, and interview them while recording whatever they are listening to. The result is a half hour tour of an area of London, heard through people's personal tastes and rhythms." -- from the website. <http://www.traffic-island.co.uk/>

Art/Natural History: John James Audubon

The name Audubon is synonymous with the movement to protect birds and their habitats. Born in Haiti, he was among the first to attempt to make a scientific record of avian appearance and behavior. His seminal work, Birds of America, though not the first attempt to paint and describe all the birds of America, defines the genre. The Musee de la civilization's online exhibit affords access to the 435 plates of this beautiful and amazing work. <http://www.mcq.org/audubon/menu.html>

Pencil sharpening: Wastebasket-ball for the paperless society

This one's diabolical (watch out for the fan): <http://game.panlogic.net/>

Research: The Extreme Searcher's Links

This site, the website for The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook, is a handy, useful one-stop source of links to web search and research resources. <http://www.extremesearcher.com/>

Research: eGlossary

With search and indexing capabilities that empower you to find the exact word you need exactly when you need it, eGlossary is the ultimate word source on the internet. Add your favorite glossaries, word lists and thesauri to the growing database, already over 600 strong. Nominate your favorite list for an eGlossary What's Cool award. Or visit the eGlossary Store. <http://www.eGlossary.com/>

-----------------------------------------
War is not nice. -- Barbara Bush

Stamps: Sol Singer Collection of Philatelic Judaica

For over forty years, Sol Singer collected every stamp issued by the state of Israel as well as supporting material and stamps featuring Jewish themes issued by other nations. In 2002, he donated his acquisitions to the special collections department of Emory University's library, including a complete set of stamps of the State of Israel up to 2002, a stamp commemorating the immigration of North African Jews and a dramatic stamp in remembrance of Kristallnacht. Plus links to other websites that feature philatelic Judaica. <http://specialcollections.library.emory.edu/>

History: Solemates -- The Century in Shoes

"It's amazing how shoes, an item of such practical purpose, have come to reflect the changing passions, perspectives, and ideals of our culture. We can either hide that or flaunt them, but they will always say something about who we are, what we do, where we've been and where we're going. We invite you to do some sole searching with us in our decade by decade look at the Century in Shoes." - from the website. <http://www.centuryinshoes.com/>

Poetry: The Joe Fishstein Collection of Yiddish Poetry

"The Joe Fishstein Collection of Yiddish Poetry, housed in the Division of Rare Books and Special Collections at McLennan Library, McGill University, is considered to be one of the finest private collections of its kind in the world. It consists of some 2300 Yiddish works, mostly poetry, and includes many rare volumes, most of which have been preserved in vintage condition by beautiful hand-made jackets fashioned by Joe Fishstein, the Bronx garment worker who amassed them. This extraordinary collection, which also includes unusual ephemeral items, such as albums of early 20th century postcards, photographs and trade union memorabilia, offers rich opportunities for research to scholars of Yiddish literature and 20th century social history." -- from the website. <http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/fishstein/>

The catalogue, A Garment Worker's Legacy, edited by Goldie Sigal, is offered on the site. <http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/fishstein/search.htm>

Pencil Sharpening: The Juggling Database

Tons of info on the art and sport of juggling. Over 550 videos related to juggling divided by subject: balls, clubs, rings, routines, dangerous props, etc; links, including tutorials, resources, performers, and discussion forums; a database of over 250 juggling clubs worldwide; plus articles about juggling, a beginner's guide, juggling FAQ, and events listing. <http://www.jugglingdb.com/>

California: Who's buried beneath L.A.

Beneath Lost Angeles: The famous, the infamous, and the just plain dead. <http://www.beneathlosangeles.com/>

History: American Jewish Historical Society

The American Jewish Historical Society seeks "to foster awareness and appreciation of the American Jewish past and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating to American Jewish history." The oldest ethnic historical organization in the United States, the organization has a library (with locations in Waltham, Massachusetts and New York) with 50,000 volumes and an archive of approximately 40 million documents. The site includes a quiz on American Jewish history. <http://www.ajhs.org/>
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Music: Herbert Von Karajan Center

Audio and video clips, some of of the great German conductor rehearsing with the Vienna Phil in 1965; a massive database on his 3300 concerts and opera performances; a complete archive of data on hundreds and hundreds of his recordings, searchable by composer, composition title, or musician. <http://www.karajan.org/en/centrum/index.asp>

Merchandise: "Got Allies?" and other stuff

If you want to wear your politics on your sleeve (or t-shirt or coffee cup), check out the goods at AgitProperties. I really like the "Faux News" paraphenalia, and there's also a great t-shirt by cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz. <http://www.agitproperties.com/>

And for a terrific do-it-yourself political poster, don't forget actor-director-writer-illustrator Larry Hankin's Uncle Emmett's Rant-It-Yourself Poster: <http://www.cafepress.com/larryhankinshop.9026993>

Research: LII.org -- "Information You Can Trust"

The Librarians' Index to the Internet is a searchable, browsable collection of over 14,000 bookmarks created and managed by librarians. Funded by the Library of California, its core services are its diverse, high-quality database; New This Week, a weekly mailing that reaches over 17,000 subscribers in 85 countries; and special thematic collections on such topics as September 11, Black History, Yucca Mountain, The Grapes of Wrath, the 2004 Election, California Wine, Mystery Stories and The Olympic Games. <http://www.lii.org/>
-----------------------------------------------------------------
When you live in a culture that is overwhelmed by rubbish,
"the question turns from a question of disposing of this
'trash' to a question of appreciating its qualities...
because it's all there is." -- Donald Barthelme in Snow White.

Radio: Neglected American Voices

"Established as a non-profit organization in 1994 by MacArthur Fellow David Isay, Sound Portraits Productions is an independent production company dedicated to telling stories that bring neglected American voices to a national audience," including the recollections of ex-slave Fountain Hughes, recorded in 1949 when he was 101; memoirs of people who worked on deathrow in Huntsville, Texas; tales from the Yiddish theater; and personal anecdotes recalling sightings of the Virgin Mary. <http://www.soundportraits.org/>

Pencil Sharpening: GoogleFight

John Kerry vs George Bush: Bush.
Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees: Red Sox.
War vs Peace: War.
Predator vs Alien: Alien.
Pepsi vs Coke: Coke.
Spy vs. Spy: tie.
<http://www.googlefight.com/>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Worth a try: "If you cut the knotty roots of
the millwort and milk-hedge plants into pieces,
coat them with a powder of red arsenic and sulphur,
dry and pulverized the mixture seven times,
mix it with honey, and spread it on your penis,
you put your sexual partner in your power." -- Kamasutra

Music: If you've got it, flaut it

Dayton C. Miller, who grew up in rural mid-19th century Ohio to become a highly regarded acoustician and physicist, was an avid collector of flutes and related musical instruments and ephemera. When he died in 1941, he left more than 1700 flutes and other wind instruments to the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress, from whence comes this sampling of Mr. Miller's passion. Visitors can a look at few wonderful and unusual instruments, including rare crystal flutes, a 22-karat gold flute designed by Miller, and an instrument presented to President James Madison; read about the substantial differences between fife and band flutes (who knew?); and examine The Pleasant Companion: or New Lessons and Instructions for the Flagelet (1680), one of more than 3000 books and pamphlets in the archive. At the Library of Congress.

TV: "The Sandbaggers" -- best spy series ever (including "The Prisoner")

"...best damned show most people never saw...supremely entertaining and intelligent British TV series about...a ruthless, duplicitous, acid-tongued, lovelorn but often funny spy master...one of the most fascinating and complex antiheroes ever...inverts espionage genre conventions...no one has any flashy cars or gadgets or sexual liaisons..typical 50-minute episode consists of men and women having intelligent conversations and heated arguments...unflinching honesty, passionate acting, witty dialogue and shocking plot twists...You’ll probably like The Sandbaggers if you like John Le Carré’s spy novels, or anything acknowledging its audience’s intelligence." -- from the website. <http://www.opsroom.org/>

Advertising: Matrix Parody

From Pepsi:
<http://www.joeytomatoes.com/pepsicanfu.htm>

The Lit'ry Life: The Spectator and The Tatler

Published by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele from 1711 to 1714, The Spectator was one of the most innovative periodicals of the 18th century, and its format and style (itself influenced by The Tatler, published from 1709 to 1711) were imitated throughout Europe and the Americas. The site, developed by Rutgers' Center for Electronic Texts in the Humanities, has the complete runs of both journals. <http://tabula.rutgers.edu/spectator/>

History: Black Ships & Samurai

Terrific: "The major entry on this website is a Core Exhibit featuring some 200 Japanese and American graphics depicting the 1853-1854 mission by Commodore Matthew Perry that led to the opening of Japan to the outside world. The Core Exhibit brings together a wealth of rarely seen graphics from both sides of this historical encounter and interweaves these with an original text by John W. Dower. In the great challenge of "visualizing cultures," this project is offered as a model for examining not only who is doing the viewing, but also how what is viewed is shaped by the medium used (paintings, lithographs, woodblock prints, photographs, etc.)." - from the website. <http://www.blackshipsandsamurai.com/>

Classics: The Idyossey

The Epic Battle of Testosterone circa 2003:
<http://www.thebushiad.com/>

Life of the Mind: Ergo My Lego (article)

From the Mathematical Association of America comes this piece by Andrew Lipson about his mathematical Lego sculptures. After paying tribute to Lego sculptures by others, Lipson goes on to say that "for some reason it didn't seem to have occurred to anyone to make abstract sculptures from LEGO, let alone anything mathematical." The colorful photos of his sculptures are accompanied by descriptions of what he went through to create them. A link at the bottom takes you to Lipson's full website with many more sculptures, including a number that copy various M.C. Escher drawings. <http://www.maa.org/features/lego.html>

Pencil Sharpening: Movie classics in 30 seconds

As re-enacted by bunnies:
Alien:
<http://www.angryalien.com/0704/alienbunnies.html>
The Shining:
<http://www.angryalien.com/0504/shiningbunnies.html>
Titanic:
<http://www.angryalien.com/0604/titanicbunnies.html>
The Exorcist:
<http://www.angryalien.com/0204/exorcistbunnies.html>

Bird's Eye View: "Ah'm gonna fly, Maud. Ah'm gonna fly!" (apologies to Jonathan Winters)

Sweet: You enter a street address and instantly "fly" over an image of that particular area. Change the resolution to move closer to the ground, zoom in and out to explore. "TerraFly changes the way you view your world. Simply enter an address, and our system will put you at the controls of a new and innovative way to explore your digital earth." - from the website. <http://terrafly.fiu.edu/>

Travel: "This dinner roll tastes like drywall, but I'll give it an 8 since I was able to use it to kill my hamburger."

"As far as I know, this is the world's first and only site about airline meals. I got the idea on a...flight to Turkey. I thought how nice it would be to show my parents what I ate on the plane." -- from the website. <http://www.airlinemeals.net/>

Music: Ambient Jazz/Downtempo/Electronica

"You will hear groups and artists such as Thievery Corporation, De-Phazz, Snooze, Ralph Myerz, Afterlife, Koop, Avia, Presence, Peace Orchestra, Nicola Conte, Marc Moulin..." -- from the webste. <http://www.live365.com/stations/292385>

Pencil Sharpening: Crosswords

One Across includes links to free crosswords and an answer finder. <http://www.oneacross.com/>

Resource: Children's Books Online

Children's Book Online contains complete versions of dozens of classics, from David Copperfield to Peter Rabbit, as well as such lesser-know works as The Bashful Earthquake by Oliver Herford and The Marquis of Carabas, painted by Edmund Evans. The works are available in Polish, Italian, German, Romanian, French and Russian. An electronic mailing list announces when new titles are added to the site. <http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/>

Lifestyle: Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance

Beautiful conveyances: <http://www.pebblebeachconcours.net/>

Research: The USGS Geographic Names Information System

The U.S. Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System database is a very handy tool for fiction and non-fiction writing, journalism, genealogy and family history research. Search a term/name by state and by county. You may never need to find wells or slopes, but think of how useful to be able to find cemeteries, historic churches and places that were named for your characters or your ancestors. Sponsored by Peabody University. <http://george.peabody.yale.edu/gnis/>.

Art: Official Salvador Dali Museum

Dedicated to the man who once remarked that "The difference between me and the Surrealists is that I am Surrealism," the Dali Museum is a visual introduction to the painter's work, titled The Collection, which offers an overview of his different artistic periods and a biographical sketch. The works featured online include "Eggs on a Plate without a Plate" and "The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory." <http://www.salvadordalimuseum.org/>

Photography: Richard Avedon Portraits

The Metropolitan Museum of Art showcased some of Avedon's
work from the late 1940s to the early 1970s, including
portraits of Marian Anderson, Marilyn Monroe, and Andy
Warhol, with audio clips of Avedon's commentary on several
of the photographs, and an essay by the exhibit's curators,
Mary Morris Hambourg and Mia Fineman, titled "Avedon's Endgame." <http://tinyurl.com/4n8nu>

Music: American Sheet Music

"Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music contains more than 62,500 pieces of historical sheet music registered for copyright: more than 15,000 registered during the years 1820-1860 and more than 47,000 registered during the years 1870-1885. Included are popular songs, operatic arias, piano music, sacred and secular choral music, solo instrumental music, method books and instructional materials, and music for band and orchestra. The collection documents the attitudes and tastes of a bygone era with music of many varieties and sources, all of it published in the United States." -- from the website. <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/mussmhtml/>

"Film at 11" #2,993: Killer Bees

"The Africanized honey bee, popularly known as the 'killer bee,' is moving into South Texas and the southern United States. Scientists are not certain how far north the bee will spread, but they do know that it will cause problems wherever it resides in large numbers. ... The domestic bee has lived in harmony with human beings for hundreds of years. It has been bred for gentleness and good honey production. By contrast, the Africanized bee is a 'wild' bee that is not comfortable being around people or animals." -- from the website. <http://agnews.tamu.edu/bees/>

Travel: The Hidden Secrets of the Grand Canyon

Very cool site from the National Geographic Society: <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grandcanyon/>

Information Design: WordCount

"WordCount is an artistic experiment in the way we use language. It presents the 86,800 most frequently used English words, ranked in order of commonality. Each word is scaled to reflect its frequency relative to the words that precede and follow it, giving a visual barometer of relevance. The larger the word, the more we use it. The smaller the word, the more uncommon it is.

"WordCount data currently comes from the British National Corpus <http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/>, a 100 million word collection of samples of written and spoken language from a wide range of sources, designed to represent an accurate cross-section of current English usage. WordCount includes all words that occur at least twice in the BNC®. In the future, WordCount will be modified to track word usage within any desired text, website, and eventually the entire Internet.

"WordCount was designed with a minimalist aesthetic, to let the information speak for itself. The interface is clean, basic and intuitive. The goal is for the user to feel embedded in the language, sifting through words like an archaeologist through sand, awaiting the unexpected find. Observing closely ranked words tells us a great deal about our culture. For instance, “God” is one word from “began”, two words from “start”, and six words from “war”. Another sequence is "america ensure oil opportunity". Conspiracists unite! As ever, the more one explores, the more is revealed.

"WordCount was designed and developed by Jonathan Harris of Flaming Toast Productions <http://www.flamingtoast.net/> in conjunction with the FABRICA studio of Italy <http://www.fabrica.it/>." -- from the website.

Information Design: TextArc

TextArc is a beta tool intended to give readers a new, deeper way to uncover patterns and concepts in texts. Readers can take advantage of human visual processing to deploy intuition to help extract meaning. By "seeing" every word at once, in a sort of virtual Evelyn Woods way, the eye is able to make connections and decipher meaning otherwise overlooked by normal reading. Thus, in theory, the essence of a text revealed. Hamlet is available as a full textarc text, and other literary products are in the works. <http://www.textarc.org/>

Meteorology: Natural Hazards -- Earth Observatory (great pics)

"Earth scientists around the world use NASA satellite imagery to better understand the causes and effects of natural hazards. The goal in sharing these images is to help people visualize where and when natural hazards occur, and to help mitigate their effects. All images in this section are freely available to the public for re-use or re-publication..." - from the website. <http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/>

Nature: Orca Live

"OrcaLive is thrilled to be entering its fifth season! ...We hope you will enjoy the wonders of nature that unfold before your eyes and ears in the 2004 season from now through November....The year 2000 marked the start of an experiment bringing the world the live voices and images of orcas via six hydrophones and five cameras (four underwater) off Hanson Island, the home of Dr. Paul Spong....The aim of the experiment,
of course, is not only technological. Your thoughts and opinions of the experience will also form a critical part of the experiment results that determine the future of the project." - from the website. <http://orca-live.net/>

Inner Peace: Zen Gardens

"The web site is dedicated to the gardens of Japan, and more specifically to the historic gardens of Kyoto and its environs. ... [T]he site is designed to provide the visitor with an opportunity to visit each garden, to move through or around it, to experience it through the medium of high-quality color images, and to learn something of its history." - from the website. <http://academic.bowdoin.edu/zen/>

Good Eatin': Spicy Cooking

The Spicy Cooking website features a variety of hot recipes, drawn from various corners of the world, including Thailand, Mexico, and India, such as lamb curry, shrimp del diablo, and Rosa’s frijoles refritos. Also articles on the benefits of spicy cooking, including a piece on capsaicin, the colorless compound that serves as the source of heat in a lot of peppers. <http://www.spicy-cooking.com/>

Pencil Sharpening: FlightGear

FlightGear is a free, open-source, multi-platform flight simulator. The source code is licensed under the GPL. FlightGear is available for free download from: <http://www.flightgear.org/>. Complete summary of the new features, changes, and bug fixes for this release here: <http://www.flightgear.org/version.html> .

Why we love the 'Net #77,414,727: Disturbing Auctions

I'm just saying...: <http://www.disturbingauctions.com/>

Pencil Sharpening: A plucking great site

Plucking your own nosehairs hurts too much. Your friends selfishly keep their fun for themselves and won't let you do it to them. Now you can have all of the pleasure and none of the pain: <http://www.nobodyhere.com/justme/nose.here>

Technology: Futuristic Products

From Shadow Robot Company, London:
<http://www.shadow.org.uk/>
<http://www.shadow.org.uk/products/newhand.shtml>

History: Thebes

The Theban Mapping Project includes an interactive atlas of the Valley of the Kings with 250 detailed maps, streaming animations narrated by Dr. Kent Weeks of the American University in Cairo, and a visual search and filter tool. The site has sixty-six narrated tours of the Valley, including a 3D tour of KV 14, a searchable database of archeological text and images, articles, glossary, bibliography, timeline, etc. <http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/>

History: Eating Utensils

This online history of eating utensils by the California Academy of Sciences features brief essays on the evolution of individual eating tools, plus images of specimens from various cultures and periods. Did you know, for example, that Louis XIV's fear of knives changed the shape of that instrument forever? Equally worth considering, it has taken the Chinese five millennia to perfect chopsticks (called "kuai-zi", for "quick little fellows," chopsticks were first joined together and only gradually came to be separated). <http://www.calacademy.org/research/anthropology/utensil/>

Music: One Hundred Albums You Should Remove from Your Collection Immediately

"In the main, we have not selected easy targets for removal -- we know that you know that the Milli Vanilli album you've got stashed away in a shoebox isn't exactly kosher. Nope, we chose critical darlings and must-have releases from the past and present. Some will bristle at our audacity for questioning the worth of any Beatles release or blithely pissing on Jane's Addiction's "masterpiece." Some will maintain that we're not qualified or that we'll never make an album as great as Dark Side of the Moon and accordingly should shut our traps. The approval an artist seeks by releasing an album is not guaranteed, even if music moguls, "tastemakers," and critics agree that it is merited. As music listeners, we've taken on the very modest project of flipping through our collections, listening to them, and separating the good stuff from the bad. If the creators of the "greats," the "classics," and the "hits" want to ensure that their efforts get the praise they deserve forevermore, they should take care that they are only accessible to sympathetic critics and fans." - from the website. <http://jaguaro.org/feature/archives/000007.html>

---------------------------------------------
"I am astonished...at the wonderful power you
have developed, and terrified at the thought
that so much hideous and bad music may be put
on record forever."
-- Arthur Sullivan to Thomas Edison

Technology: The Pocket Calculator Show

"Purpose of Pocket Calculator Show: to collect and celebrate personal memories of all integrated circuit-based consumer products from the electronics revolution of the 1970s and 1980s...the golden age of consumer electronics...there has never been another era abounding more originality, excitement and SOUL!!!" - from the website. <http://www.pocketcalculatorshow.com/>

Crime: The Art and Science of Criminal Investigation

Crime & Clues, edited by Daryl W. Clemens, is a resource-rich site for working investigators and CSI fans: <http://www.crimeandclues.com/>

Books: Best Books of 2004 1/2

"Best Reads of the First Half of 2004 as Suggested by Subscribers of PubLib, Compiled by David Faulkner, Austin Public Library...You suggested and I compiled, so here it is, our picks for the best reads of the first half of 2004." - from the website. <http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/PubLib/archive/0407/0030.html>

------------------------------------------------------
Librarians! Reference Desk Jockeys! Researchers! Writers!
What's the word?: Great gifts at the eGlossary Store

Pencil Sharpening: Reality Clock!

The Reality Clock offers a broad range of real-time statistics reflecting the issues facing society and the world today, from the serious through the mundane to the absurd.<http://www.realityclock.com/>

Arts Resource: Video Archive

Hie thee tootsweet to the Internet Archive's movie cache-all for free downloads of public domain cinema and video classics like Reefer Madness, Night of the Living Dead, Duck and Cover and Charles Keating's Perversion for Profit. Plus old commercials, war documentaries, SIGGRAPH animation, TV talk shows, etc. Look for the brief, brilliant Pipe Dream ("...all instruments are played by steel balls shot out of PVC tubing") and Stop Driving Us Crazy! (Rusty, a spy from Mars, pays a visit to Earth and discovers how its inhabitants disrespect one another by driving poorly. The film espouses a Christian viewpoint on safety, arguing that "reckless driving is a sin." Great 1950s-style animation, plus a soundtrack by Benny Golson with Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers!). <http://www.archive.org/movies/movies.php>

Pencil Sharpening: The Satire Awards

"Bringing you the best satire in the planet!": <http://www.thesatireawards.com/>

Capital Punishment: Capital Defense Weekly

Capital Defense Weekly has been covering capital cases since 1997: <http://www.capitaldefenseweekly.com/>

...yhw rednow uoy ekam seoD :hcraeS

<http://www.alltooflat.com/geeky/elgoog/>

Music: Arnold Schoenberg Center

This handsome site contains a wealth of material on the leading exponent of atonality, including an extended biographical essay, an annotated listing of compositions, the composer's correspondence and personal effects. A store offers radio transcriptions and the journal published by the Center. <http://www.schoenberg.at/default_e.htm>

New York: City Lore

The nonprofit City Lore promotes the Big Apple's cultural heritage with real world and online exhibits and events. For example, "City Lore and Poets House sponsor this biennial poetry festival in downtown Manhattan that shines a spotlight on this nation's and the world's literary and folk poetry traditions, paying special attention to the spoken word, to poetry's oral roots. People's Poetry Gathering Year 'Round sponsors other exciting virtual and live events. Visit the website for information, or to join interactive and community-building events." -- from the website. <http://www.peoplespoetry.org/> <http://www.citylore.org/>

Numbers: A milllion here, a million there, pretty soon it adds up to real money

'Visualizing huge numbers can be very difficult. People regularly talk about millions of miles, billions of bytes, or trillions of dollars, yet it's still hard to grasp just how much a "billion" really is. The MegaPenny Project aims to help by taking one small everyday item, the U.S. penny, and building on that to answer the question: "What would a billion (or a trillion) pennies look like?' -- from the website. <http://kokogiak.com/megapenny/>

Intellectual Property: I've copyrighted the sound of one hand clapping

Composer John Cage's music publisher settled a lawsuit against pop artist Mike Batt alleging that Batt's a;bum track "A Minute's Silence" violated the copyright on Cage's 4' 33", which consists of four minutes and 33 seconds of silence. Nicholas Riddle, managing director of Cage's publisher, told Reuters that Batt paid an "adequate sum," but declined to get specific. Does this mean the settlement contains a nondisclosure agreement? And if it does, won't that violate Cage's copyright, too? Six figure settlement - Battle of the banned - Who is Mike Batt? - What is 4:33?
-------------------------------------------------
Affordable Robust Easy-to-Use:
http://www.gotwebhosting.com?jag

Music Business: Steve Albini explains it all for you

A(n informative) rant from Nirvana's producer: <http://www.negativland.com/albini.html>

Trips: Native American Culture at Arizona U.

Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson pays special attention to the culture of local Native Americans, with many of its exhibits also being presented on line. <http://www.statemuseum.arizona.edu/>

Language: The 100 words most often misspelled

"Dr. Language has provided a one-stop cure for all your spelling ills. Here are the 100 words most often misspelled ('misspell' is one of them). Each word has a mnemonic pill with it and, if you swallow it, it will help you to remember how to spell the word. Master the orthography of the words on this page and reduce the time you spend searching dictionaries by 50%." -- from the website. <http://yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html>

The Arts: Traveling Exhibition about Egyptians and the afterlife

"From the earliest times, Egyptians denied the physical impermanence of life. They formulated a remarkably complex set of religious beliefs and funneled vast material resources into the quest for immortality. This exhibition focuses on the understanding of the afterlife among Egyptians some 3,000 years ago, in the period of the New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC) through the Late Period (664-332 BC). The New Kingdom marked the beginning of an era of great wealth, power, and stability for Egypt, and was accompanied by a burst of cultural activity, much of which was devoted to the quest for eternal life. The exhibition is divided into six sections: Journey to the Afterworld, The New Kingdom, The Royal Tomb, Tombs of Nobles, The Realm of the Gods, and The Tomb of Thutmose III." -- from the website. <http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2002/egypt/index.htm>

The Arts: Bob Hope and Variety Theater

"The Nose" is remembered in this online exhibit from the Library of Congress dealing with his 70 year career, and more broadly, the history and enduring legacy of vaudeville. Includes an essay on Hope's early life, the story of American vaudeville in the first decades of the 20th century, documentation on his tireless service to the USO, a gallery called "Faces of Bob Hope," and a section about his 85,000-page joke file (with several scanned images of these pages). <http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/bobhope/>

History: Jewish Heritage in Central and Eastern Europe

Centropan, a nonprofit organization of historians, educators, photographers, and other artists and scholars, uses oral histories and photographic archives ro record contemporary Jewish life. Search by country, city, topic (religious figures, personal letters, etc.) and family surname. There's also a guide to eating in various Eastern European restaurants (you gotta eat, after all) and travel tips for the area compiled by Ruth Ellen Gruber, who has published several books on Jewish Europe. <http://www.centropa.org/mainpage/main.asp>

Art: The Fading Ad Gallery

Photo collection documenting faded advertisements painted on the side of buildings throughout the country. The photographer, Frank H. Jump, diagnosed HIV-positive in 1984, was driven to capture the fading ads by his sense of urgency about his own expected fade from existence. <http://www.fadingad.com/>

Research: Periodicals database

PubList is a database of over 150,000+ magazines, journals, newsletters, & other periodicals, with contact details. <http://www.publist.com/>
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Anybody can be president.
That's one of the risks you take.
-- Adlai Stevenson

Eatin': Hot Sauce Ring

The Ring of Fire has collected hundreds of sites devoted to hot sauces, such as Angel of Death and Acid Rain. <http://www.ringoffire.net/>

Nonprofits: Philanthropy Journal

The online Philanthropy Journal helps individuals and organizations keep abreast of news and developments in the philanthropic community. In addition to news, the site has career section where you can look for and post job openings in the non-profit sector. There is a weekly newsletter via email. Published by the A.J. Fletcher Foundation, the newsletter contains info about innovations, trends, and people working in the field of philanthropy. <http://www.philanthropyjournal.org/front.asp>

Radio: RockFm - Gent 107.7 FM

TOP 5 Chart deze week:
1. Velvet Revolver - Slither
2. Nickelback - Feelin' Way Too Damn Good
3. Jet - Cold Hard Bitch
4. Shinedown - Simple Man
5. Van Halen - It's About Time
Luister via Internet naar Rock FM, klik hier:
<http://users.pandora.be/guan/rockfm/>

Pencil Sharpening: Paper Airplane Flight Simulator

You don't even need a piece of paper: <http://www.workmanweb.com/fliersclub/simulator2.html>

Meaning: An alternate way to view texts

TextArc is a tool that allegedly gives readers the ability to discover patterns and concepts in texts. Still in a developmental stage, it lets readers take advantage of human visual processing by allowing intuition to help extract meaning from a text. By exposing every word at once, the eye is able to make connections and decipher meaning otherwise overlooked by normal reading, thereby uncovering the essence of a text. Hamlet and Alice in Wonderland are available as full textarc texts, and other literary products are in the works. Intriguing; worth a visit. <http://www.textarc.org/>

Pencil Sharpening: Useless Information

Steve Silverman, science teacher who lives near Albany, New York has spent years collecting "Useless Information - Stuff you never needed to know but your life would be incomplete without," fascinating history, science and trivia.

* Read the true story of the Flubber Fiasco, in which some of the fictional properties of Hasbro's movie tie-in Flubber toy appeared to become reality. In 1963 the product was selling by the millions, but after a recall Hasbro found that getting rid of the stuff was no easy task!

* Learn about Mike the Headless Chicken, who lived for 18 months after his head was chopped off by Farmer Olsen.

* Or ponder the plight of Sir Alfred, who has been waiting for his flight to depart since 1988. Alfred has been stuck in a French airport, tied up in government red tape for over a decade.

* How about this for creative recycling? Jack Hall, a bored sailor in the 1930's made thirteen working musical instruments, a windmill and a lighthouse out of discarded matchsticks.

* What's the highest price ever paid for a PEZ candy dispenser? How would you like to try some Chlorophyll or Eucalyptus flavored PEZ? Learn more than you ought to know about this candy phenomenon.

* M.I.T. students that paid admission to a dance based on their girlfriend's weight; a guy that had more than one hundred shoe tacks removed from his stomach; a kid that collected some 334,000 dead flies in jars; naturally cooked apple pie; what it means to be "sucking brains;" and other oddball stories that almost got away. <http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/>

Architecture: Is Disneyland Paradise?

Park-like theme cemeteries "attract visitors beyond just the friends and families of the deceased." The idea behind this venture is that death need not be boring and cemeteries should offer restaurants, museum gift shops, and custom-designed grave sites, such as the one with a 10'x10' dance floor and jukebox. There's even a time-share option under which the dearly departed's remains can be shipped from one Final Curtain cemetery to another. <http://www.finalcurtain.com/>

Music: Art of Darkness

The mood is dark, dreamy and ethereal, darkwave but not downer: 80s New Wave, trip hop, Goth, New Age, ambient, and whatever else Cyn Surreal thinks will put you in a thoughtful state of mind. "Sounds and energies derived from inspiration taking it's form into 2 Internet radio frequencies for your listening enjoyment. Updated constantly with fresh new tunes from cutting edge artists and classic sounds from our past." -- from the website. <http://www.darkdoors.com/music/>

Radio: Locator

The former MIT List of Radio Stations on the Internet has been upgraded: "Welcome to Radio-Locator, the most comprehensive radio station search engine on the internet. We have links to over 10,000 radio station web pages and over 2500 audio streams from radio stations in the U.S. and around the world." --from the website <http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/home>

The Arts: Sewers of the World, Unite!

Years ago, decades actually, I was involved with a project to make a documentary record of the manhole covers of Manhattan. Great minds, etc., it turned out that someone else had the same idea and a better publisher. Oh, well. As Doris Lessing once said, "there are ideas around." A collection of 3,036 images of manhole covers and grilles from 70 coutries: <http://sewers.artinfo.ru/>

The Arts: Internet Broadway Database

The League of American Theatres and Producers' database of Broadway shows is based primarily on theatre programs (generally from a show's opening night), plus input from media reports, interviews, and the League's archives, to "serve as a comprehensive history of Broadway for the benefit of League members, press, theatre professionals and enthusiasts." <http://www.ibdb.com/>

The Arts: A musical notation tool

Offered for free download by Coda Music Technology, Finale Notepad 2002 enables sheet music creation on the computer via user-friendly interfaces, intuitive wizards, and simple icons. Includes a playback feature that reads and plays musical notation, sounding like a traditional MIDI player. <http://www.codamusic.com/coda/np.asp>

Nonprofits: Funding the Arts

A little dated but still worth a look: "...an overview of the growth...and distribution of foundation funding for the arts, culture, media, and humanities from 1996 to 2000..." -- from the intro to Funding Update, 2002 by the Foundation Center (pdf). <http://fdncenter.org/research/trends_analysis/pdf/artupdt.pdf>

Architecture: aka skyscraper.com

"In March 2004 this website changed its name from “Skyscrapers.com” to “Emporis”. The new name is an original word, derived from the German “empor”, which means “high” or “aloft”. The word is also used to express the actions of ascending or aspiring, and it was chosen to reflect the ever-rising nature of this enterprise, which is constantly adding new content, new features, and new capabilities.

"A primary reason for the name change is that this website has outgrown its initial focus on tall buildings. In early 2000 this project was launched with a data set of 1,500 tall buildings, with the idea that covering the most prominent structures was a starting point for deeper and broader coverage of all important structures throughout the world. Today Emporis is achieving this; in addition to more than 87,500 high-rises it lists tens of thousands of low-rise buildings, and sections are under development for stadiums, bridges, churches, industrial buildings, and about 20 other types.

"Aside from its expressive properties, the trademark “Emporis” was chosen as a more professional representation of our services, which include access to geographic, corporate, and building-related data, marketing opportunities for building-related companies, and image licensing. The domain name www.skyscrapers.com will be retained, and will point directly to the high-rise section of the website." -- from the website. <http://www.skyscrapers.com/> <http://www.emporis.com/en/>

Classical Music: Greatest Hits

"Most of the music on my broadcast is by Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi and a few other Classical composers. I've tried to only include what I consider to be the best Classical pieces out there." -- from the website. <http://www.live365.com/stations/aeast>

California: In the 20's

The L.A. Public Library's seven page photo gallery briefly reprises the "decade that secured California's reputation as a social trendsetter." Pictures of dances, state picnics, sporting exhibitions, airplanes and pilots, automobiles, etc. <http://www.lapl.org/virgal/ca_in20s/index.html>

Politics: Steve Earle's new album

From the liner notes to The Revolution Starts...Now by singer-songwriter and activist Steve Earle:


The word "immediate" best describes the atmosphere around the studio as this record was being made in the late spring of 2004. The prisoner abuse scandal had just broken and the Bush administration, still reeling from the 9/11 commission hearings, was circling the wagons. The Democrats, for their part, were carefully (sometimes, in my opinion, too carefully) trying to sort out how best to press the advantage. Meanwhile, back here in Tennessee, me and my boys had a deadline to meet.

The most important presidential election of our lifetime was less than seven months away and we desperately wanted to weigh in, both as artists and as citizens of a democracy. All but two of these songs were recorded within 24 hours of the first line hitting the paper. We worked 12- and 14-hour days and in between takes and over meals we talked about the war, the election, baseball, and women, in precisely that order.

Maybe I am getting old.

Democracy is hard work. American democracy requires constant vigilance to survive and nothing short of total engagement to flourish. Voting is vital, but in times like these voting alone simply isn't enough. By the time some of you hear these songs the election will be over. Then the real struggle begins.

When the dust clears and the votes are all counted (we're watchin' YOU, Jeb) it will be up to all of us - Democrats, Republicans, Greens, and independents alike - to hold whomever is left standing accountable for their actions on our behalf every single day that they are in power. The day after the election, regardless of the outcome, the war will go on, outsourcing of our jobs will continue, and over a third of our citizens will have no health care coverage whatsoever.

Like I said, it's hard work and there's so much to be done. And there always will be.

The Constitution of The United States of America is a REVOLUTIONARY document in every sense of the word. It was designed to evolve, to live, and to breathe like the people that it governs. It is, ingeniously, and perhaps conversely, resilient enough to change with the times in order to meet the challenges of its third century and rigid enough to preserve the ideals that inspired its original articles and amendments. As long as we are willing to put in the work required to defend and nurture this remarkable invention of our forefathers, then I believe with all my heart that it will continue to thrive for generations to come. Without our active participation, however, the future is far from certain. For without the lifeblood of the human spirit even the greatest documents produced by humankind are only words on paper or parchment, destined to yellow and crack and eventually crumble to dust.

Yours for the motherfuckin' revolution,

Steve Earle
Fairview, Tennessee
May 2004

For Johnny Cash and Warren Zevon - See you when I get there, brothers.

Earle's last album, JERUSALEM, was his 8th to get a Grammy nomination. His new cd, The Revolution Starts...Now ships 2004-08-26.

Three new songs from The Revolution Starts...Now:
F the CC: <http://www.artemisrecords.com/media/SteveEarle-FTheCC.ram>
Rich Man's War: <http://www.artemisrecords.com/media/SteveEarle-RichMansWar.ram>
and
The Revolution Starts Now: <http://www.artemisrecords.com/media/SteveEarle-TheRevolutionStartsNow.ram>

Steve Earle works with The Journey of Hope...from Violence to Healing <http://www.journeyofhope.org/>, an organization led by relatives of murder victims that conducts public education speaking tours and addresses alternatives to the death penalty, the Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty <http://www.cuadp.org/>, the Abolitionist Action Committee <http://www.abolition.org/>, the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing <http://www.tcask.org/> and Amnesty International <http://www.amnesty.org/>. In addition to working against the death penalty, he is active with the Vietnam Veterans' Campaign for a Landmine Free World <http://www.waf.org/> and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union <http://www.kwru.org/>.