Search: Meta SE for Consumers

Info.com is a new meta search engine that provides aggregate search and advertising results from 14 engines, including Overture, Kanoodle and Google. Info.com has an image search as well as white and yellow pages. The news feed from Topix.net features 150,000 categories from 7000 sources. Access local news by entering a zip code. Coming: feeds from ebay, and searches for flight updates and health. <http://www.info.com/>

The Common Weal: Digital Library of the Commons

This site "provides free access to an archive of international literature on the commons, common-pool resources and common property....Research on commons usually focuses on some aspect of therelation between the physical resource and human institutions designed in the use and maintenance of that resource....Focus areas are diverse and multi-disciplinary, including: adaptive systems, efficiency,environmental policy, equity, experimental economics, free riding,game theory, gender, institutional design principles, new institutional economics, participatory management systems, property rights regimes, resilience, regulation, sustainability, etc." Contains an archive of author-submitted papers, bibliographies, andlinks to related free online journals and newsletters. <http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/>

Good Eatin': Pumpkins (everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask)

"In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling. ... Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites.... Pumpkins range in size from less than a pound to over 1,000 pounds." -- from the website. <http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/pumpkins/>

Media: TruthOut.Org

There are any number of worthwhile news digests on the left, but few that compare to TruthOut. Edited by spirited essayist William Rivers Pitt (author, with Scott Ritter, of War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know), the easy-to-navigate site is rich with news and editorials drawn from official sources and mainstream and alternative media, but the focus on issues -- specifically voting rights, the environment, the federal budget, the welfare and safety of children, the impract of politics on the process of governing, indigenous survival, renrewable energy, defense, health, the economy, human rights, labor, trade, women, campaign finance reform, and related global developments -- provides a very different perspective on the news than the car-chase and political horse race world depicted in corporate media. TruthOut publishes email summaries and bulletins, usually bandwidth-friendly links, that are clearly labeled for easy handling; subscribe at <join-three-to@news.truthout.org>. The website is <http://www.truthout.org/>.

Gardening: Saving Seeds

This is a little late for more northern climes, but here in SoCal these tips, from the extension program of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for saving seeds from flowers and vegetable plants for preservation and future planting comes at just the right time. The essay describes hybrid and heirloom varieties of plants, when to harvest the seed, saving seed from fleshy fruits (tomatoes, melons...anything that can get squishy), and storage. <http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/hortihints/0008c.html>

History: 'Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga'

"'Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga', ... is about an extraordinary people who set out from their European homelands for unknown places beyond the horizon ... [It] explores the origins and impacts of this pivotal moment in history. From the rise of the Scandinavian kingdoms during the Viking Age (A.D.750 to 1050) to the demise of the Greenland colonies around A.D. 1500, 'Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga' examines the history of the western expansion of the Vikings and sheds new light on a well known culture...through a spectacular array of artifacts and archeological finds ..." -- from the website. <http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/>

Jazz: Basie

"Once More Once: A Centennial Celebration of the Life and Music of Count Basie," from the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers, celebrates the centennial of the birth of the Kid from Red Bank. The site features essays on the bandleader's life and music, numerous photo essays and sound files, and a selected discography. <http://newarkwww.rutgers.edu/ijs/cb>

Transportation History:Railway activity westwards through Kansas, 1860-1890

Trains: can't get enough of 'em. Streaming West: Railway activity westwards through Kansas, 1860-1890, an online exhibit created by the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas, has a number of compelling historical documents, including "The Kansas City Bridge," "Bridge Over the Missouri River" from Scientific American, "Karte der Deutschen Colonie Germania in Sud-West Kansas," the first hand accounts of "Kansas and the Country Beyond: on the line of the Union Pacific Railway," "Line Etchings: A trip from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains," "Incidents of a Trip Through the Great Platte Valley," "The Trans-Continental Excursion" and "Crofutt's New Overland Tourist and Pacific Coast Guide, 1878-9." <http://wt.diglib.ku.edu/>

Alien Invasion: Better safe than sorry

The three huge blasts of radiation that struck Earth last week may or may not be a cause for alarm. But even if they don't mark the beginning of an attack from space, it probably won't hurt to be prepared. German public television already has added a Klingon translator to its site, but the U.S. won't be left behind. If it becomes necessary to suck up to extraterrestrials in a language they understand, The Klingon Language Institute of Higland Park, N.J. offers everything needed, from study resources and pronunciation guides to email greeting cards and a discussion group. Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam (Today is a good day to die!) <http://www.kli.org/>

Re/Search: NoodleQuest (useful)

NoodleQuest is a wizard that helps you to choose the optimum search strategy. Answer a few questions about your research topic and NoodleQuest responds with suggestions about which search mechanisms will produce the best results. <http://www.noodletools.com/noodlequest/>

Search Engines: iZito and Ujiko -- new search tools

"The name iZito consists of 'I' and 'Zito'. The Greek word 'Zito' means 'Search'. Combining the two makes iZito: 'I Search'....iZito will make searching on the Internet quicker, easier and more efficient. Every Internet search retrieves a lot of search results. Screening through those results costs a lot of time. The iZito Rich User Interface will save you time with screening. At the end of 2004 iZito will launch a next version of their search engine. With this version iZito will incorporate Human Intelligence." -- from the website. <http://izito.com/index_search.htm>

"Ujiko uses the brand new Yahoo search technology....According to search engine experts, results are considered at least as relevant as Google’s ones. This engine gives you access to over 4 billion documents that you may now grade, comment and rank thanks to Ujiko....When you click on one of the results, the page is stored by Ujiko and will instantly appear in the first results next time you search. Choose which site will be first with the heart-grade or, on the contrary, filter the one you dislike. All sites you find can be modified: title, description and heart grade will be memorized and displayed during another query. Finally, you can create filters to mark or delete some results depending on their addresses (URL) or description." -- from the website. <http://www.ujiko.com/>

Search: Finding PDFs

GoHook is a search engine for those irritating PDF files, with over 500,000 documents listed already and 10,000 more added to the database each week. True, Google, Yahoo and other SEs place some PDFs in their results, but they don't cache huge numbers PDF files as GoHook does. <http://dev2.gohook.com/>

Research: Constitution Finder

Constitution Finder is a page with links to constitutions, charters, amendments and related documents from around the world, maintained by the University of Richmond School of Law. <http://confinder.richmond.edu/>

Books: Harvard Classics On Line

Bartleby has uploaded all of the legendary 50-volume "Five-Foot Shelf" and the 20-volume Shelf of Fiction, published originally between 1909 and 1917, plus an extra volume of lectures originally prepared to make sure the lay reader didn't miss the primary themes in the works. The works are as varied as Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer, Thackeray's Vanity Fair and short stories by de Maupassant. <http://www.bartleby.com/hc/>

Gardening: The Joy of Bees

I have an affection for bees that approaches the fetishistic, and we boomers are going to need them in our dotage when we wind on the commune. BeeSource.com is a great resource for both amateur and professional apiarists. It was created by Barry Birkey, a web designer and beekeeper. One section has downloadable illustrated instructions for a variety of beehives, honey extractors, pollen traps, an Apidictor, and more. The site contains news stories and features, links to suppliers of bees and beekeeping equipment in Australia, Europe, South Africa, and the Americas, a bulletin board with multiple forums, links to apiary discussion groups, and annotated links to beekeeping sites and to beekeeping periodicals and associations. <http://www.beesource.com/>

Nonprofits: Tools to raise funds, volunteers and consciousness

"Network for Good is a nonprofit collaboration to help nonprofit organizations increase capacity, reach new audiences, and build Internet strategies.

"In addition...we developed a Web site for citizens to donate, volunteer, and speak out on issues they care about. Your organization can use the Network for Good Nonprofit Resources to receive these online donations, recruit volunteers, and encourage online advocacy." <http://www.networkforgood.org/npo/>

Research: DocuTicker Academic Report Newsfeed

DocuTicker is a daily log of newly published research studies from think tanks, universities, research institutes, and government agencies. Recent entries include a study of the use of antibiotics in treating animals; an analysis of 2000 Census data on same-sex black households; and three new reports from Rand: "Evaluation of Community Voices Miami: Affecting Health Policy for the Uninsured" ("An evaluation of a project to improve access to health care for the uninsured and underserved in Miami-Dade County, Florida"), "U.S. Nuclear Weapons: Future Strategy and Force Posture," and "Expanding the Reach of Education Reforms: What Have We Learned About Scaling Up Educational Interventions?" <http://www.docuticker.com/>

The Culture: Reading at RiskA Survey of Literary Reading in America

The latest National Endowment for the Arts research study depressingly surveys the state of literary reading in America. Released in June 2004, this 60-page report finds that the percentage of adult Americans reading literature has dropped dramatically during the past 20 years and that literary reading continues to decline among all education levels and all age groups. The report includes a number of useful tables, an executive summary, and information about the study's methodology. Read it (if you can) and weep. <http://www.arts.gov/pub/ReadingAtRisk.pdf>

The Arts: Conserving Les Demoiselles d'Avignon

The Museum of Modern Art's website on the conservation of "an iconic fixture in MoMA's collection since its acquisition in 1939," Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, is a model of organization. The site is arranged in seemingly simple sections -- Introduction, History of the Painting, Analysis & Previous Treatments, Treatment 2003/2004, and Ask the Conservator (to whom you can email questions), supplemented by a glossary and a bibliography, but links in these categories deliver more specific information, and lots of before-and-after images. For example, drilling down in the Treatment 2003/2004 area leads to close-ups showing the effects of removing a coat of varnish applied to the painting in 1950. There's also a link to the MoMA conservation department homepage, with info on restoration at MoMA in general (you'll be happy to know that Jackson Pollocks are holding up nicely) and the repair of Monet's Water Lilies in particular.
<http://www.moma.org/collection/conservation/demoiselles/index.html>

Nutrition: The Fruit Pages

Created by fruit fancier Jeroen Goedhart, The Fruit Pages promise to deliver "Everything you want to know about fruit." Probably not, but in over 150 pages, the site certainly serves up a sizeable portion of fruit facts, from the science of nutrition analysis through comparisons of acidic and sweet fruit to the art of choosing prime pomes. Topics covered include The Energy in Fruit, Fruit Sites For Kids, Fruit From All Over The World, and Fruit and Detoxification, to name a few. Many individual fruits are profiled, with information about common, scientific and family names, storage, recipes, and more. <http://www.thefruitpages.com/>

Pencil Sharpening: Rocks, Paper, Scissors...Saddam!

Being on trial for crimes against humanity is so boring! <http://bigmixup.com/rockpapersaddam/>

History: Movietone (News) Portraits

Even allowing for the cheesy elevator music, Movietone Portraits, "the world's greatest
nostalgia website," is worth a visit for its classic videos (filed under entertainment,
lifestyle, personalities, and travel). <http://www.movietone-portraits.com/>

The Good Life: Goose Production

As we boomers begin to think about retiring to the commune, what we will eat when we get there becomes increasingly a matter of concern. "The objective of this publication [from the U.N.Food and Agriculture Organization] is to provide the reader with a guide to sustainable goose production systems that are based on the natural physiological and behavioural advantages of the goose." The paper looks at the physiology of domestic geese, origins and breeds, flock management, avian diseases, and the use of geese to produce meat, foie gras, feathers and down. Nothing said about what makes them so mean, though. <http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y4359E/Y4359E00.HTM>

Travel: Click Korea

"An online resource developed by the Korea Foundation to meet the need for broader access to information about Korean arts and culture," ClickKorea has the dope on current and upcoming Korean cultural events around the world, a directory of Korean studies scholars, and a collection of essays in various languages (including English, Spanish, and Chinese). <http://www.clickkorea.org/>

The Law: Brennan Center for Justice

The late Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., arguably the most influential Supreme Court justice of the last century -- yes, Virginia, giants once did walk amongst us, weighed in on nearly 1600 decisions during 34 years on the court. Since 1995, the mission of the Brennan Center has been "to develop and implement an innovative, nonpartisan agenda of scholarship, public education, and legal action that promotes equality and human dignity, while safeguarding fundamental freedoms." In addition to public forums and advocacy programs, the center coordinates research in such areas as criminal justice, campaign finance reform, and voter choice, in addition to providing professional counsel to lawmakers. In the "resource" area of the site, "The Information Commons" takes a critical look at the ways in which various public interest advocates have sought "to expand access to the wealth of resources that the Internet promises." <http://www.brennancenter.org/>

Politics: LibrarianActivist.org

Just about the only group in our society to actively fight to protect our civil liberties from assault by the Bush administration under the guise of fighting terrorism, aside from professional civil libertarians like the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have been librarians. This site offers "resources to librarians who want to be active in political and social issues surrounding libraries and librarianship" and aims to help publicize "the efforts of librarians and their friends in raising public awareness." These days, being a member of Friends of the Library means a lot more than it used to. <http://www.librarianactivist.org/>

Music: 19th Century California Sheet Music

CalSheetMuic,
originally uploaded by impracticalproposalssm.

A virtual library of some 2,000 pieces of sheet music published in California between 1852 and 1900, together with related materials such as a San Francisco publisher's catalog of 1872, programs, songsheets, advertisements, and photographs." -- from the website. <http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~mkduggan/neh.html>

Astrogeology: Map-a-Planet

Map-A-Planet, created and maintained by the USGS's Astrogeology Research Program, presents customizable maps of the Sun's planets and prominent moons (such as Callisto and Ganymede). <http://pdsmaps.wr.usgs.gov/>

Travel: CruiseJunkie.com

Information about problems associated with cruises and cruise ships, lists of illness outbreaks and accidents back to 2002 and a list of environmental fines back to 1992 compiled from "trade publications, media reports, government investigations and reports, congressional hearings, [and] documents produced by nongovernmental organizations," essays, and links to related sites, compiled by a professor of social work at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's. <http://www.cruisejunkie.com/>

Mathematics: Robert J. Lang Origami

Dr. Lang looks at paper folding as a physicist and engineer, and has written frequently on the math behind origami, including the importance proportions and tree theory. His creations, such as a blue heron, an allosaurus skeleton and a poised mountain goat, are
gorgeous. <http://www.langorigami.com/index.htm>

Architecture: Straw Bale

The section of the Sustainable Building Sourcebook, an online publication by the Austin Green Building Program, on straw bale construction defines the technique as a building method that uses "baled straw from wheat, oats, barley, rye, rice and others in walls covered by stucco...." and proceeds to address building considerations, commercial status, and implementation issues. The authors discuss some of the benefits of this "low cost alternative for building highly insulating walls" and consider common concerns such as financing and public acceptance. A variety of resources for anyone interested in building with straw bales are provided. And anyone who already has built one can sign on to the international Straw Bale Registry. <http://www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook/strawbale.html>

Photography: H.H. Bennett

Born in Farnham, Canada in 1843, Henry Hamilton Bennett moved to Kilbourn City, Wisconsin (later renamed Wisconsin Dells) at the age of 14. After nearly dying at the siege of Vicksburg, Bennett returned home to begin a long and productive career in photography. The Wisconsin State Historical Society has created an online archive of 650 of his stereographic pictures, divided into such topics as Devils Lake, bridges, Milwaukee, steamboats, and rock formations in Wisconsin Dells. <http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/hhbennett/index.asp>

Public Policy: Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems

Located at NYU, the Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems is dedicated to linking infrastructure professionals with each other and to providing information to the general public about new insights and interdisciplinary approaches within the complex world of civil infrastructure systems. The site's sections include education, information exchange, and research. The latter has a number of interdisciplinary reports, including one on environmental health and policy in the South Bronx and another that addresses the lessons learned from 9/11. <http://www.icisnyu.org/>

History: From the Home Front and the Front Lines

Close to 1700 former members of the United States Armed Forces die each day. Most of their stories and experiences are lost to history. The Veterans History Project, created by an act of Congress, collects and preserves the records of these veterans. The online exhibition displays materials held by the Library of Congress, and includes pages from scrapbooks, flags, military papers, and diaries, plus a bibliography indexed by military conflict. <http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/homefront-home.html>

History: PeoplesArchive

PeoplesArchive is a collection of high quality videos of "the great thinkers and creators of our time. Biologists or filmmakers, physicists or craftsmen, the people whose stories you see on this site are leaders of their field, whose work has influenced and changed our world." Excerpts are free, but a subscription is required for full access. <http://www.peoplesarchive.com/>

Election Commentary: Don Knotts Is "Dubya"

I knew he reminded me of somebody: <http://www.dubyamovie.com/>

Pencil Sharpening: City Builder

Choose from 3 city types and build your very own Sims-type pixel environment. Truly a fabulous time-waster. <http://www.citycreator.com/>

Writing: Grammar, Style, and Diction

The American Heritage Book of English Usage is a guide to current problems and debates in English language usage (topics include gender, science terms, e-mail, word choice, and style). <http://www.bartleby.com/64/>

Webgrammar's Free Tips, developed by Judy Vorfeld, is an online writing guide that covers such topics as common writing mistakes, style questions, and the usage of idioms. Vorfeld's monthly e-zine answers questions about grammar. <http://www.webgrammar.com/>

Technology: Automatic singer identification software

Legal or not, the collection of music stored on your computer may be quite large and varied, so the system outlined in this research paper from HP should come in handy. The system can identify with about 80% accuracy the singer of a song based on digital samples, allowing for hassle-free sorting. <http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2003/HPL-2003-8.pdf>

Jazz: Mingus

The legacy of bassist and composer Charlie Mingus lives on after his death through the efforts of his wife Sue Mingus and the Charles Mingus Big Band. The Real Mingus Web includes a bio, a rundown on the band, pictures, and excerpts from his writings, including brief explanations of his song titles and his Grammy-nominated liner notes for his 1971 album, Let My Children Hear Music. <http://www.mingusmingusmingus.com/flash.htm>

On Verve Records' Charles Mingus site you can listen to songs from a number of his albums, including Pre-Bird, Mingus Plays Piano, The BlackSaint and the Sinner Lady, and the legendary Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus. <http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/artist.aspx?aid=2669>

Culture: International Museum of Women

"The International Museum of Women is a world-class cultural and educational institution proposed for San Francisco. It will be the only international museum exclusively dedicated to chronicling and honoring the lives of women worldwide....groundbreaking is scheduled for 2006; the opening is scheduled for 2008." -- from the website. <http://www.imow.org/>

Pencil Sharpening: Plastic Balls

Addiction #25643: <http://www.plasticmartians.com/play.php?gameID=5>

Hygiene: The Toto Toilet

The $5000 Toto Washlet toilet comes with built-in bidets. Of three videos on the company site, the most entertaining shows the device being used by a ghost-like person who is having a fine time enjoying the Washlet's "rear cleanse" and "front cleanse" (available with gentle massage and pulsating water, plus tushy dryer adjustable to three temperatures). The seat is also heated, "the way nature intended it," but the demo of a battery operated portable Washlet reveals that version of the device doesn't heat the water. The site's "Press Pavilion" promises "press releases, product shots, photography, B-roll and much more." <http://www.washlet.com/default.asp>

Research: Association of Independent Information Professionals

"The Association of Independent Information Professionals is an international
association of over 700 info-entrepreneurs, many of whom are among the leading names in the information profession. In addition to the research, analysis and consulting work, AIIP members often write and give presentations about the information industry and profession." The site includes a searchable membership directory. <http://www.aiip.org/>

Delivering Competitive Intelligence Visually by Angela Kangiser: "The breadth
of intelligence information available, client requirements, and the continued development of new technologies now require that we disseminate much of our CI information visually." <http://digbig.com/3wja>

8 As of Information by Dennis Gaulin: "The gathering, delivery and application of quality information is essential to sound decision-making. The process is complex, and requires expert knowledge and professional competence through a number of steps to ensure quality results. The process can appear deceptively simple and is often undervalued. Gaulin's 8 A's of information is designed to provide researchers and consumers of information with a simple model that clearly identifies which steps in the research process are the domain of the professional researcher and which apply to the information user." <http://www.freepint.com/issues/230103.htm#feature>

Photography: Richard Avedon

As much as any other cultural manifestation, these images by Richard Avedon and his long-time creative collaborator Doon Arbus defined the Sixties. The images here, from a 1999 book, include Dylan, Baez, Janis Joplin, Warhol, Viva and Twiggy, Lennon and the other Beatles, the Fugs, Abbie Hoffman, Zappa....Plus a recorded interview with Avedon and Arbus, brief biographies of featured subjects, and a chronology 1960-1973. <http://pdngallery.com/legends/legends9>

Avedon died in October 2004. His official site has a chronology of his life and work, examples of editorial and advertising work from 2004, lists of one-man exhibits and awards, a bibliography of his books, and excerpts from his writing and interviews. <http://www.richardavedon.com/>

"Available online is the accompanying publication's foreword, an essay by the exhibition's curators, a special image presentation, and audio clips featuring the voices of Richard Avedon, Marian Anderson, the exhibition's curators, and others." From the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogue of 2002-2003 show. <http://tinyurl.com/53p6r>

History: Lest We Forget -- The Triumph Over Slavery

"Our concepts of slavery and the slave trade have been shaped by the iconic images of these institutions that have been handed down to us over the years. They are images of helpless, defenseless victims of unthinkable cruelties,...of shackles and leg irons, long marches and of bound captives, and endless toil on sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations....Though victimized, exploited and oppressed, enslaved Africans in the Americas were active creative agents in the making of their own history, culture and political future. Studying their lives can reach us much about the potential people have for surviving and developing under dehumanizing conditions...and about living, surviving and winning in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds." -- from the website. <http://digital.nypl.org/lwf/flash.html>

Pop Culture: Drive-Ins.com

Created and maintained by siblings Jennifer and Kipp Sherer, Drive-Ins.com covers the history and evolution of the American drive-in movie theater. Drive-ins across the country can be searched by locale, keywords, automobile capacity, and status (open/closed). The Drive-In Museum has a short online exhibit on the life of Richard Hollingshead, who opened the first drive-in in Camden, New Jersey in 1933, along with a timeline of notable events in drive-in history. <http://www.drive-ins.com/>

Technology: Encyclopædia Britannica's Great Inventions

<http://corporate.britannica.com/press/inventions.html>

Physiology: Enlargable Images of Body Parts

Enlargable images of body organs and parts with brief explanations of their functions. I know where the gallbladder is at last. <http://www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html>

The Arts: The Vatican

Rome Reborn: The Vatican and Renaissance Culture presents 200 or so of the Papacy's most precious manuscripts, books, and maps -- many of which played a key role in the humanist recovery of the classical heritage of Greece and Rome. The exhibition presents the untold story of the Vatican Library as the intellectual driving force behind the emergence of Rome as a political and scholarly superpower during the Renaissance. <http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/Main_Hall.html>

Music: "This Land Is Their Land"

The big success of the campaign: Woody Guthrie's anthem as appropriated by Bush and Kerry. And by now things have quieted down so you won't have any trouble connecting. <http://www.jibjab.com/>

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"You must live in the present, launch yourself on
every wave, find your eternity in each moment.
Fools stand on their island opportunities and look
toward another land. There is no other land, there
is no other life but this." -- Henry David Thoreau

Radio: WPRB Princeton

Classical, jazz, hip-hop, alternative, indie rock...gotta love college radio. <http://www.wprb.com/>

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"That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by a perfect poem or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it, who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had." -- Robert Louis Stevenson

The Arts: The Lannan Foundation

Lannan was founded in 1960 by J. Patrick Lannan, Sr., a self-educated scholar and financier who believed in the cultural importance of innovative and controversial forms of visual and literary art. The Foundation supports long-term projects in the visual arts, literature, indigenous communities, and cultural freedom. Audio archives of the Reading & Conversations series contain discussions with the likes of Arundhati Roy, Edward Said, Mark Strand, Eduardo Galeano and Billy Collins. The Bookworm section archives programs from the nationally syndicated radio interview program and features such writers as Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker and Oliver Sacks. <http://www.lannan.org/>

Media: Journalism.org

Journalism.org, spawn of the Project of Excellence in Journalism and the Committee of Concerned Journalists, contains a catalog of tools, techniques and ideas, empirical research, job links, and numerous other helpful materials for the general public, practicing journalists, and journalism students. Research reports deal with such topics as Jessica Lynch: Media Myth-Making in the Iraq War, Quality and the Bottom Line and Does Ownership Matter in Local Television News. <http://www.journalism.org/>

Pencil Sharpening: bu!&hî umoC ap!s&ñ

If you've always wanted to be able to type upside down -- and you know you have -- here's your chance: <http://www.superliminal.com/upsidedown/NQAS.htm>

History: Ancient World Mapping Center

Located at Chapel Hill and funded by the UNC College of Arts and Sciences and the American Philological Association, the Center promotes the use of cartography and geographic information science in ancient studies. The page offers news about research dealing with the ancient world in such specialties as geography, archaeology and history. Maps include Byzantine Constantinople, Ptolemaic Egypt and ancient Greece. <http://www.unc.edu/awmc/>

Photography: The Charles W. Cushman Collection

The Digital Library at Indiana U, with financial backing from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, has digitized 14,500 color slides taken by amateur camera bug Charles Cushman between 1938 and 1969. Cushman, an IU alum who graduated in 1917, left IU his entire collection, along with a set of notebooks in which he recorded descriptions of the thousands of images he shot (a picture being worth at least a few dozen words). The pics document the first half of the 20th century, from a girl with pigtails jumping rope on a sidewalk in Indiana, through images of Chicago architecture, to over 100 pictures of Istanbul, Turkey. Browse by date, location, subject, and genre. <http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/index.jsp>

The Arts: Classics Unveiled

Site developed by Neil Jenkins, Sumair Mirza and Jason Tang to teach the ancient world (Greek and Roman mythology, Roman history, Roman culture, Latin and its pervasive influence on English, etc.). In Rome Exposed, for example, discusses Roman residences, entertainment, attire, cuisine, and other aspects of Roman culture and mores. In MythNET visitors, read about the twelve Olympian gods, study the Trojan War, and chart the genealogical relationships between the pantheon of Rome and Greece. <http://www.classicsunveiled.com>

Good Eatin': The Joy of Soup

Hey. What can I say. Winter's coming: <http://www.joyofsoup.com/>

Art: The Girl with a Pearl Earring

"An In-Depth Study by Jonathan Janson: The Girl with a Pearl Earring is universally recognized as one of Johannes Vermeer's absolute masterworks. After more than a century of study, the work still poses significant questions. Who was the sitter and was the painting even intended as a portrait? Why had it remained in complete obscurity until it was rediscovered in 1882 and sold for the price of a reproduction? Was it a part of a pendant? Did Vermeer sell the painting during his lifetime? Why was the original background a deep transparent green rather than the black we see today? Was the pearl a real one? What significance did the turban have? Which painting procedures did Vermeer employ? Which pigments did he use?" -- from the website. <http://girl-with-a-pearl-earring.20m.com/>

Nature: Whalesong.net

In honor of the large pod of dolphins yesterday stretching from Temescal Canyon to the old Sunset Motel: The Whale Song Project <http://www.whalesong.net/>

eBooks: The Devil's Dictionary

The Devil's Dictionary (1906) by Ambrose Bierce. "Senate: "A body of elderly gentlemen charged with high duties and misdemeanors." <http://www.thedevilsdictionary.com/>

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"I'm in show business. I look at my boobs like they're show horses or show dogs. You have to keep them groomed." -- Dolly Parton

Music: Bach Digital

A tribute to J.S.Bach, undertaken by the main repositories of his compositions, including the Bach-Archiv in Leipzig and the University of Leipzig. <http://www.bachdigital.org/>

Research: Simpson's Contemporary Quotations

For the 18th or 19th century, you go to Bartlett's. But if you're looking for, say, Frank Sinatra's quip about rock and roll ("The martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth"), you need the help of James B. Simpson. His database contains over 10,000 quotations, from over 4,000 sources, from 1950 to 1988, from Ezra Pound to Desmond Tutu, searchable by name or subject. <http://www.bartleby.com/63/>

Technology: The Franklin Institute Online

The Franklin Institute, founded in 1824 by a group of Philadelphians to train artisans and mechanics in the fundamentals of science, has since transformed itself into a science museum and research institute. It awards the annual Franklin Institute and Bower Awards. The site contains info on current and upcoming exhibits, which include substantial sections devoted to the mechanics and workings of trains, environmental science, and human physiology. Also: the Inquiry Attic, where visitors can read brief profiles of scientific instruments in the collection, such as early X-ray machines, a tabulating machine used to conduct the United States Census in the 19th century, and the Wright Brothers, featuring silent film footage of the Bergdoll 1911 Model B Flyer in flight and pics of the bros. engineering objects. Plus Braindrops, small tidbits of scientific information updated daily. <http://sln.fi.edu/>

Travel: Sovereignty and Ceremony in Huatulco, Mexico

The Edge of Enchantment exhibit from the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian looks at the centrality of physical places to the people of the Huatulco and Huamelula region in Mexico. Check out Alicia Maria Gonzalez' introductory essay describing her fieldwork and the nature of encantos (enchanted places). Given the importance of space and landforms to this people, the exhibit is divided into sections such as rivers, mountains and valleys. Within each section, a brief essay is complemented by visual materials, such as historic photographs of local residents and contemporary photographs by Roberto Ysais of people and the land. Also in Spanish. <http://www.nmai.si.edu/edge/flash_eng.html>

Music: Lyric Tracker

Lyrictracker currently has the lyrics to over 28,000 songs, with more are added on a regular basis. <http://www.lyrictracker.com/>

Nostalgia: Ephemeranow.com

Ephemera, according to the site, is "printed matter, such as a magazine, brochure, or folder, meant to be discarded after it is read...EphemeraNow.com is a Web site dedicated to the advertising and illustration art of mid-century America," that is, car, wagon, truck, and other ads of the 1950s and 1960s. Each picture has info on the company behind the ad and the year published. 50-60s fashion, art and advertising are constantly recycled, so the site has a weird kind of contemporaneity. <http://www.ephemeranow.com/>

Writers: Cervantes

Sponsored in part by the NSF, Texas A&M Prof. Eduardo Urbina's Cervantes Project site not only has DQ in several editions, but also galleries of paintings of the writer (and images from his books and plays), as well as the Cervantes International Bibliography. Handy is the Don Quixote dictionary to assist English readers with the text's classical Spanish, plus a biography of Cervantes (available in Spanish, French, and English) and research papers. <http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/cervantes/V2/CPI/index.html>

Art: Modernism

"The term Modernism commonly applies to those forward-looking architects, designers and artisans who, from the 1880's on, forged a new and diverse vocabulary principally to escape Historicism, the tyranny of previous historical styles. The foundation of this online project is a group of over 250 objects representing nine modernist movements." -- from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts website. <http://www.artsmia.org/modernism/>

Pencil Sharpening: 20 Questions on line

Just think of any item (no proper names, places, or products, please) and after 20 questions the site guesses what you're thinking. (It guessed "bicycle" but missed "talk radio.") <http://y.20q.net:8095/btest>

Mythology: The Pantheon

The world of Greek gods and goddesses is very crowded and busy. Really, who can keep up? This site is a useful for keeping track of their comings and goings. To catch up, begin with the essay on the creation of the world out of chaos, then the piece on the creation of mankind. A section on the principal gods contains an interactive family tree, starting with the union of Uranus and Gaea, and concluding with their great-grand children -- Apollo, Artemis, et al. Plenty of links to other sites dealing with mythology and a list of suggested readings. http://www.the-pantheon.com/

Art: X-Raying the Renaissance

"This web site is an adaptation of the computer kiosk which accompanies the exhibition Investigating the Renaissance, currently on view in [Harvard's] Fogg Art Museum....Computers and new imaging technologies are fast becoming an integral part of the work of conservation.... This interactive program demonstrates the ways in which computer technology can be harnessed to add to our knowledge about Renaissance paintings and how they were made.... Computer-assisted imaging can reveal aspects of the process of making art not visible to the unaided eye. It also reveals the alterations of intervening centuries, alterations that were intended to repair the ravages of time and use, and to adjust images to reflect changing aesthetic preferences." - from the website. <http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/Renaissance>

Technology: Playing Vinyl Records The Rube Goldberg Way

Give a geek, a scanner, a computer, and one of those dusty, vinyl disks stored next to the CDs, and you get, well, music. "Remember those flat round things you may have found lying around the house," writes Ofer Springer. "Those that never really worked well as flying saucers? Well, the other day I happened to have a good look at one through a magnifying glass. I was able to discern something waveform'esqe in the shape of the grooves. I thought, 'groovy, there must be a way to extract something sensible off of that' (actual thought quoted). At which point I came up with some great excuses...reasons...to have a go: A) These round objects could have some archeological value[;] B) I could waste some time. Happily convinced by these, I tried to recall an old legend I once heard concerning these objects. This legend being of technological nature, entailed a diamond needle that would vibrate when placed atop the revolving flat things, these vibrations, when amplified would produce music." A hero to pencil sharpeners everywhere, Ofer scanned a high-res image from a copy of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" (Stokowski), dashed off some code to decipher the image, and "played" the music. <http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~springer/>

Language: 2004 List of Banished Words

"Hardly looking 'metrosexual,' a 'shocked and awed' Lake Superior State University Word Banishment selection committee emerged from its spider hole with its annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness.

"LSSU has been compiling the list since 1976, choosing from nominations sent from around the world. This year, words and phrases were pulled from more than 5,000 nominations - a record....

"Word-watchers pull nominations throughout the year from everyday speech, as well as from the news, fields of education, technology, advertising, politics, and more. A committee gathers the entries and chooses the best in December. The list is released on New Year's Day." -- from the website.

The complete 2004 list: <http://www.lssu.edu/banished/archive/2004.php>

Research: Pathe Newsreels

British Pathe, one of the larger news production houses, offers low-resolution watermarked versions of its library of newsreels in downloadable formats, free of charge. If you find something you like or want to use in a presentation, higher resolution DVD and VHS versions are available for affordable rates. <http://www.britishpathe.com/index.cfm>

Public Policy: Memorial to the 1000

The American troops to die so far in Bush's war are honored at the New York Time's site. The memorial is brief but fitting, dignified and powerful. You can see why George Bush keeps the dead at such a distance. He and every other politician with blood on his hands should be forced to view this memorial, one victim at a time, starting with those from his home state. <http://www.nytimes.com/>

Reseach Tool: Nextaris -- get organized

"Nextaris is your one-stop, time-saving, personal Internet information toolkit. It provides the tools you need to effectively use information on the Web:
* one-click Search across the major engines
* automatic tracking and accumulation of personalized news
* one-click capture of web pages/content to personal online folders
* secure sharing of folders -- access from anywhere at anytime
* simple 1-2-3 publishing; your folders, blogs, or web pages
* easy creation of social networks / communities of interest
* private messaging -- virus- and spam-free; and much more
Best of all, Nextaris offers all these tools in a single interface and it is 100% web-based, meaning there is nothing to download or install." -- from the website. <http://www.nextaris.com/>

Science: The Ig Noble Awards 2004

"First make them laugh, then make them think":
"The Effect of Country Music on Suicide"
"Coordination Modes in the Multisegmental Dynamics of Hula Hooping"
"The Scientific Validity of the Five-Second Rule"
U.S. Patent #4,022,227: "The Combover"
Outsourcing Prayers to India: The Vatican
Plus Karaoke, nudist history, bottling the Thames, men in gorilla suits and herring that communicate by farting.
The Ig Noble Prize: <http://www.improbable.com/ig/ig-top.html>

Writers: John Donne

Created as part of the Luminarium Project by Anniina Jokinen, the site has Donne's complete works, including many spoken-word versions, plus images of the poet from his childhood to his appointment in 1621 as the Dean of St. Paul's, and various biographical sketches and critical essays, including an insightful commentary by T.S. Eliot. <http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/>

The Arts: Cowboy photographs by Erwin E. Smith

While the romantic images of the American cowboy fashioned by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell are familiar to everyone, the photographs taken of cowboy life around the turn of the last century by Erwin E. Smith are less so. Smith grew up in Texas collecting prints of paintings by artists like Remington and George Catlin. He studied with Lorado Taft at the Art Institute of Chicago, then at the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Between 1905 and 1912 he took thousands of photographs on ranches throughout Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. This site from the Amon Carter Museum in Texas is divided into sections such as Cowhand Clothing, Rodeo, and Ranches, and includes biographical data, a glossary of terms used by cowboys and ranchers, and resources for educators. <http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/>

History: Detroit Publishing Company Photographs 1895-1924

"The Detroit Publishing Company was one of the major image publishers in the world. For nearly thirty years, 1895 to 1924, this company helped Americans understand the visual world. Always looking for new markets, the company created dozens of products -- prints, postcards, souvenirs, lantern slides, and advertisements. The company sent photographers to many parts of the world. They also bought negative files from other photographers. Traveling salesmen, mail order catalogues, and a few retail stores aggressively sold the company’s products." <http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/dpc/>

Writers: Jonathan Edwards

Not the singer-songwriter but the theologian best known for his role in the Great Awakening (did our Jonathan Edwards ever do an album titled "The Great Awakening"? Should have). The site has sermons, writings on theology, a chronology, biographical sketches, a bibliography of recent publications, conference proceedings, and info on the Great Awakening. <http://www.jonathanedwards.com/>

Pencil Sharpening: The Original Illustrated Catalog Of ACME Products

"ACME is a worldwide leader of many manufactured goods. From its humble beginnings providing corks and flypaper to bug collectors ("Buddy's Bug Hunt/1935") to its heyday in the American Southwest supplying a certain coyote, from Ultimatum Dispatchers to Batman outfits, ACME has set the standard for excellence.

"For the first time ever, information and pictures of all ACME products, specialty divisions, and services (from 1935 to 1964) are gathered here, in one convenient catalog. For more information about any ACME product, simply click on the thumbnail picture. Thanks to Warner Bros. studios and their fine animation department for advertising ACME products in their cartoons!!" -- fom the website. <http://home.nc.rr.com/tuco/looney/acme/acme.html>

Engineering: Society for Experimental Mechanics

A big collection of articles selected from the org's pub, either as Back-to-Basics guides to common practices or as "a feature series based upon a unifying technique, application, or theme." <http://www.sem.org/PUBS_ArtDownload.asp>

Music: Choral Public Domain Library

Since 1998, the free sheet music site for (primarily) choral music (5,000 scores, mostly public domain). <http://cpdl.snaptel.com/index.php>

Music: Bluegrass miscellany

There is always another Bluegrass festival coming 'round the bend. Planet Bluegrass is a well-organized site providing festival information, including ticket availability and schedules: <http://www.planetbluegrass.com/>

Worth keeping an eye on -- the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival and Academy for Kids: <http://www.greyfoxbluegrass.com/>

The site for NPR's Honky Tonk, Hymns, and the Blues ("...roots music with historic performances, rare archive tape, and interviews with artists including country legend Merle Haggard, bluesmen Honeyboy Edwards and Taj Mahal, and fiddle greats Alison Krauss and Mark O'Connor"): <http://www.honkytonks.org/>

A good brief overview of Bluegrass history from Jamestown to "Oh Brother Where Art
Thou?" at the International Bluegrass Music Association: <http://ibma.atiba.com/index.asp>

The Bluegrass Museum (short bios of recent Hall of Honor inductees and links to other Bluegrass-related sites): <http://www.bluegrass-museum.org/>

Movies: The Ultimate Cary Grant Pages

On this fansite, Debbie Dunlap celebrates Archibald Leach, on film as in life, including filmography, reviews, picture and audio galleries, and links to old radio dramas (great audio clips from the likes of North by Northwest, Arsenic and Old Lace, and Charade). Factoid: he never won an Academy Award for acting. <http://www.carygrant.net/>

Writers: Robert Penn Warren

Though you rarely hear of him now, back in the day Warren was a giant of twentieth century American culture, versatile at writing poetry, fiction and literary criticism: he studied with Allen Tate, John Crowe Ransom, and Andrew Lytle; founded The Southern Review while teaching at Vanderbilt; published 16 volumes of poetry (two won Pulitzers) and many novels (including the Pulitzer-Prize winning morality tale, All the King's Men); and was the first Poet Laureate of the United States (appointed by Ronald Reagan, of all people). His fiction were among the first books to make me think about beiong a writer. <http://www.robertpennwarren.com/>
The Academy of American Poets page has some of his poems, including "Evening Hawk," "Mortal Limit" and "Tell Me A Story." <http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?45442B7C000C0702>

Pencil Sharpening (math division): Archimedes Laboratory

Demonstrating that geometry can be fun, Archimedes Laboratory is "an 'intuitive' puzzle site with fewer formulas and more visuals, which may encourage students learning this science or just constitute a platform for reflection." Math to Discover has topics like history of numbers, mathematical patterns, etc., but there are also Puzzles to Make and Puzzles to Solve sections, with a small selection of impossible object images and instructions on how to create geometrical curiosities. <http://www.archimedes-lab.org/>

Art: My Bad

"What constitutes good or bad art is, of course, a matter of personal opinion; one person's treasure can be another's garbage." -- Bert Christensen, Weird, Strange & Just Plain Bad Art Collection.

Museum of Bad Art <http://www.glyphs.com/moba>
Just Plain Bad Art <http://bertc.com/weirdart.htm>
Ohio Bad Art Guild <http://www.obag.org>

Art: Vatican Museums

"As Director of the Vatican Museums...I hope that this new site may be a useful instrument of knowledge and give access to the complex reality of our five hundred-year old art collections which are visited by more than three million people a year...The Vatican Museums are one of the most famous and renowned cultural institutions of the Holy See. They are known everywhere because of the masterpieces which the Roman Pontiffs have commissioned, collected and preserved during the ages. Together with the immense heritage of movable works of art, sculptures and paintings, which are displayed in the galleries, the itineraries of the Vatican Museums include the most important and artistically significant rooms of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, such as the Cappella Niccolina,...the Appartamento Borgia, the Stanze painted by Raphael and, of course, the Sistine Chapel with frescoes by Michelangelo..." -- from the website. <http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html>

Design: The Bauhaus at the Busch-Reisinger("Extra Ordinary Every Day")

"A primary goal of the Bauhaus as an educational institution was to articulate modern culture through ‘new’ forms designed for everyday life. This virtual installation attempts to address the intersection of fine art and the production of useful things by means of thematic groupings based on visual analogies. The themes themselves are utilitarian, derived from products made by the artists that are represented in the Busch-Reisinger collection—lamp, chair, house, stage, and auto.

"Taking advantage of the electronic web environment, this installation combines mixed media, mobility, and linking to an online database. In the first case, the objects are materially diverse, and whereas gallery spaces in the museum tend to create divisions between works often based on medium specificity or fragility, these objects coexist in a virtual space of exhibition. Furthermore, the electronic web environment facilitates the possibility of showing movies in connection with the objects in the museum’s collection, such as László Moholy-Nagy’s film Lightplay: Black White Gray of 1930. Finally, the installation is augmented by links to other works by the artists in the database that represents the collections of the Harvard University Art Museums. The links in the exhibition text in black send the visitor directly to the collections online, whereas the links highlighted in red connect to objects inside the virtual exhibition.

"The organization of the installation highlights the alternately individual and collective aspects of creativity at the Bauhaus, and asks the visitor to consider what other kinds of connections might emerge amongst these objects." -- from the website. <http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/sites/eoed/index.html>

Art: Stories of Krishna -- The Adventures of a Hindu God

"Who is Krishna? Why is he blue? And why do women find him so attractive? Step into his world and join the adventures of a Hindu god....This interactive web site allows you to explore a selection of the paintings featured in the [Seattle Art Museum's] exhibition Painted Visions from India and Pakistan, Past and Present." -- from the website. <http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/>

Language: Spanish Dictionary

SpanishDICT has over 56,508 words, including 10,369 audio pronunciations. The site translates from English to Spanish and vice versa, plus a "word of the day," and some very basic links on learning spanish. <http://spanishdict.com/>

The Arts: Édouard Vuilllard

"Édouard Vuillard's (1868-1940) long career spanned the fin-de-siècle and the first four decades of the 20th century. Comprising more than 230 works, this exhibition represents the full range of his subject matter, revealing both the public and private sides of this quintessentially Parisian artist. Beginning with his earliest academic studies, the exhibition continues through the innovative and experimental Nabis paintings of the 1890s for which the artist is best known; his provocative, complex interiors; and his work associated with the avant-garde theatre. It also includes Vuillard's splendid but lesser known large-scale decorations, his luminous landscapes, and the elegant portraits from the last decades of his career, as well as a substantial selection of drawings, graphics, and photographs." -- from the website.
http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/vuillardinfo.htm
------------------------------------------------

Research: Online Ocean Atlas

The UN online atlas of the oceans has links to ocean news, subtopics ranging from Energy thru Marine Biotechnology to Offshore Oil, Gas, and Mining, an FAO Fisheries glossary and a gallery of images. <http://www.oceansatlas.org/index.jsp>

California: Beach Volleyball Database

The source for all things beach volleyball: statistics (players, tournaments, and seasons), "Today in Beach Volleyball History" and a timeline of beach volleyball history going all the way back to 189, upcoming tournament information, the latest news, and a list of player birthdays. <http://www.bvbinfo.com/>

Radio: Classical Music On Line

France's leading classical station. Click on Radio Classique en direct in the bottom-right corner of the home page: <http://www.radioclassique.fr/>

Business: Dumb Product Warnings!

"Welcome to Dumb Warnings, where you may see the consequences of numerous pointless lawsuits. This site is dedicated to helping companies fight this menace which is plaguing society today. In addition to Dumb Warnings, this site will also feature Dumb Instructions, Rules, and other information frequently placed on packages." <http://www.dumbwarnings.com/>

Pencil Sharpening: Mr. Picassohead

So this is how he did it! <http://www.mrpicassohead.com/>

Resource: National Plants Database

Tools and information to help you determine what plants will successfully grow in your neighborhood (from the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the USDA). <http://plants.usda.gov>

Smackdown: Frosty the Snowman vs. Santa Claus

Ever wonder what would happen in a fight between Frosty and Santa? Of course you have. <http://www.xmasbash.com/trailer.html>

Anals of Advertizing: A Very Funny Car Ad (although not very pc)

The Ka's Evil Twin: <http://www.pibmug.com/pcw/final_bird.mpg>
(Bird Lovers: Please take it up directly with the Ford Motor Company, not me).

Nature: Beetle Science

"'We live in the age of beetles,' claims the Coleopterists Society, an international group of scientists devoted to the study of this diverse and abundant insect order (Coleoptera).... The abundance of beetle species and their countless interactions with other life forms make the study of beetles important to the biological sciences overall. At Cornell University, scientists in the Department of Entomology study beetles in the context of biodiversity, systematic biology, invasive species, and other topics which are presented in this Explore Cornell feature." - from the website. <http://explore.cornell.edu/>

Pencil Sharpening: Snowflake Designer

(I know you hate flash,but...) zefrank is the guy who does those wonderful dance instruction tapes and other terrific time wasters: <http://www.zefrank.com/snowflake/>