Good Eatin': Twinkie Sushi

There is no actual fish involved (that would be, like, you know, disgusting). It looks like sushi, though, and it's made with Twinkies, fruit and stuff. From the creative kitchens at Hostess (can't wait to try the Ding Dong Mousse). <http://www.twinkies.com/recipebox/index.asp>

Research: Water, water, everywhere

NWISWeb Data for the Nation (the title is an example of a government bureaucrat getting wild) provides access to water resources data collected at 1.5 million sites in the fifty states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. You can search for information by Surface Water, Ground Water, and Water Quality, as well as Real-Time data for selected sites. In short, more water data here than you can shake a dowsing stick at. <http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis>

Science: Paleontology Portal

Created by the UC Museum of Paleontology, with assistance from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and the US Geological Survey, the Paleontology Portal is divided into such areas as Exploring Time & Space (includes a map of the US overlaid with the complete record of geological time periods), a fossil gallery that is a treat, and a Famous Flora and Fauna area with views of such notable finds as the Burgess Shale, the Petrified Forest, and of course, the La Brea Tar Pits. <http://www.paleoportal.org/>

Language: Icelandic Online Dictionary and Readings

Working with the University of Iceland and The Andrew Mellon Foundation, among others, the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections group has created the Icelandic Online Dictionary and Readings website to complement the University of Iceland's online course, "Icelandic Online." The site also has the unabridged 1989 Concise Icelandic-English dictionary and a set of readings in modern Icelandic life, literature and culture, plus a collection of works by the famous Icelandic poet, Jonas Hallgrimsson, who wrote "The Vastness of the Universe" and "The Style of the Times."
<http://libtext.library.wisc.edu/IcelOnline/>

Internet Radio: choices choices choices

Millions are tuning in Yahoo's Launch <http://launch.yahoo.com/> and MSN's Radio <http://radio.msn.com/>, to say nothing of London's Last FM (you know, as in, the last station you'll ever need) <http://www.last.fm/>, but for my money one of the oldest internet radio stations, Radio Paradise <http://www.radioparadise.com/>, is still the best. Just added: Virgin Radio <http://www.virginradio.co.uk>.

History/Sports: Breaking Records, Breaking Barriers

The National Museum of American History's exhibit explores the lives of people whose contributions to American sport have intersected with broader historical developments, such as racial equality (Jackie Robinson) or the spirit of invention (James L. Plimpton, creator of the modern roller skate). <http://americanhistory2.si.edu/sports/>

Biology: Insects, Disease and History

Insects, Disease and History "is a site devoted to understanding the impact that insects have had on world history....analysis of major military conflicts before the twentieth century reveals many instances where disease has played a role in the outcome of events." -- from the website.

<http://scarab.msu.montana.edu/historybug/>

The Arts: van Gogh's Letters, Unabridged and Annotated

WebExhibits, a public/private collaboration that creates educational websites in the arts and sciences, has posted digital copies of letters by and to Vincent van Gogh between 1872 and 1890, most from "The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh", a book edited by Robert Harrison. Topics include Art, Attitude, Business, Fear, Feelings, Food-and-drink, Health, Lifestyle, Psychology and Theo (with sub-topics: psychology, for example, includes hallucinations, nightmares, insomnia). Individual letters are annotated and accompanied by enlargeable thumbnails of paintings that are referred to. <http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/>

The Lit'ry Life: The Book List Center

"The Web's Largest Collection of Book Lists....Currently 346 book lists in 82 categories....Includes lists prepared by authorities in dozens of fields as well as comprehensive listings of award winning books complete from the first year of the award to the present." -- from the website. <http://home.comcast.net/~dwtaylor1/index.htm>

Statistics: Worldometers

It's like the old Biff Rose line about going to MacDonalds to watch the sign change: World statistics, some of them pretty grim, displayed in real time. <http://worldometers.info/>

Blogging: ...on judicial appointments

Nomination Nation is a group blawg (law-oriented blog) featuring news, views and gossip about judicial appointments. <http://nominations.blogspot.com/>

Government: We, the People

"We The People," a National Endowment for the Humanities effort designed "to explore the significant events and themes in our nation's history, and to share these lessons with all Americans," includes an "Evidence of American Amnesia" section that reveals that almost two-thirds of Americans think Karl Marx's affirmation, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," either was, or may have been, included in the Constitution (a show of hands from those who think it "should have been" included). And a recent poll discovered that almost one-third of Americans think that the president may suspend the Bill of Rights in wartime (that third apparently includes the president). Anyway, the initiative gives grants and annually sponsors an essay contest and a Heroes of History Lecture (last year: the founders; this year: Lincoln; it will take them a while to work up to Eugene V. Debs) by a distinguished scholar of American history. <http://www.wethepeople.gov/>

Public Policy: Resolving issues that defy resolution in individual countries or regions

"The Global Forum of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development "is a balanced set of specialised dialogue initiatives and networks typified by global participation and flexibility to cope with evolving circumstances. It addresses issues that defy resolution in individual countries or regions. Mutually beneficial dialogue between Members and relevant non-Members is critical to achieving progress in the search for solutions.

"The Forum is based on clearly focused policy themes emphasising continuity and sustained results. It aims to develop stable, active networks of policymakers in both Member and non-Member economies. Policy dialogue on each theme is developed through informal meetings of policymakers supported by the analytical use of comparable data. Participation of non-Members depends upon the issue discussed.

"Five of the Global Forum themes cut across policy sectors capitalising on the OECD's cross-sectoral expertise: Sustainable Development; Knowledge Economy comprising Biotechnology and E-Commerce; Governance; Trade; and International Investment. The other themes are: International Taxation, Agriculture, and Competition." -- from the website. <http://www.oecd.org/>

Pencil Sharpening: Great Hoax Sites

Bonsai Kitten: Learn the art of sealing young kittens inside glass containers so that their bones will mold to the shape of the containers as they grow. <http://www.bonsaikitten.com/>

British Stick Insect Foundation: Everthing you wanted to know about feeding, training and breeding stick insects but were afraid to ask. <http://www.brookview.karoo.net/Stick_Insects/>

California Velcro Harvest: California's important velcro crop is in decline. Here's why. <http://home.inreach.com/kumbach/velcro.html>

Feline Reactions to Bearded Men: <http://www.improbable.com/airchives/classical/cat/cat.html>

Genochoice.com: "Create your own genetically healthy child online." <http://www.genochoice.com/>

The Ova Prima Foundation: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? <http://www.ovaprima.org/>

Sellafield Zoo: The Sellafield Zoo, located near the Sellafield Nuclear Power Plant, is the zoo "where the wildlife has a half-life." <http://www.brookview.karoo.net/Sellafield_Zoo/>

WingMakers.com: A gallery of artifacts that were found in caves beneath the New Mexico desert by the Advanced Contact Intelligence Organization (ACIO), a secret branch of the National Security Agency. <http://www.wingmakers.com/>

Clones-R-Us: <http://www.d-b.net/dti/>

First Human Male Pregnancy: <http://www.malepregnancy.com>

Jackolope conspiracy: <http://www.sudftw.com/jackcon.htm>

Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus: <http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus.html>

How to make a blow torch: <http://www.pmichaud.com/toast/>

Biology: Nematodes

The Blaxter Nematode Genomics Lab of the Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology at the University of Edinburgh has data on a variety of research efforts including the Filarial Genome Project, Nematode Expressed Sequence Tags, Molecular Analysis of Diversity, and A Molecular Evolutionary Framework for the Phylum Nematoda, to name a few (alas, the link I most wanted, to Earthworm.Org, didn't work). The site contains a list of publications, and the BlaxterLab Nematode Blast Server which allows users to search several databases including Groups of Nematodes (Nucleotide), C. elegans Genome (Nucleotide), EST Consensi Databases, Protein Databases, etc. and links to NEMBASE, a database resource being developed as "a research tool for both nematode biology and drug discovery/vaccine design." <http://www.nematodes.org/>

Science: The Paleobiology Database Inbox

"The Paleobiology Database is a public resource for the scientific community. It has been organized and operated by a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, international group of paleobiological researchers. Its purpose is to provide global, collection-based occurrence and taxonomic data for marine and terrestrial animals and plants of any geological age, as well as web-based software for statistical analysis of the data. The project's wider, long-term goal is to encourage collaborative efforts to answer large-scale paleobiological questions by developing a useful database infrastructure and bringing together large data sets." -- from the website. <http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl>

Pencil Sharpening: Stereotypes

A site that's great for a few minutes fun, but also makes you think. Click on the top or bottom half of each photo to mix and match. <http://www.ericmyer.com/purple/stereotypes.htm>