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JohnGabree.com Impractical Proposals

2005-11-23

Good Eatin': Tiramisu...Heaven in Your Mouth

A big, authoritative site that tells you everything you wanted to know about Italian pudding but were afraid to ask, including the recipes of classic versions as well as for dozens of variations, including low-fat, eggless, and other concoctions. Readers can submit recipes of their own and rate versions of the stuff in local restaurants. <http://www.heavenlytiramisu.com/>

2005-11-22

The Arts: Sculptor Elizabeth Hickok...

...renders San Francisco...
Alamo Square







...in Jello.
<http://www.lizhickok.com/
assets/portfolio/pages/02alamo.html>

2005-11-21

The Arts: Online National Gallery Tours

"Choose a tour by school or medium and explore the National Gallery's collections of painting, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, and decorative arts. Many guides are available as PDF (Portable Document Format) files and can be downloaded in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Explore an artist, work of art, or theme in these specially designed features, which are listed alphabetically." -- from the website. <http://www.nga.gov/onlinetours/index.shtm>

2005-11-20

Technology: The 2005 Breakthrough Awards (Popular Mechanics)

"It must have been impossible, in the early years of Popular Mechanics, to imagine that the pace of innovation could be maintained: Aviation, wireless communication, modern physics--all the cornerstones of a new world--were being born at once. Yet, today change comes exponentially faster. The breakthroughs recognized here were chosen after four months of research, hundreds of interviews, and consultation with a top-flight panel of advisers created for the purpose. Together, these advances promise to transform energy production, empower the disabled and open new realms of exploration. Some of the innovations are already saving lives; others will enhance them. The future is sooner than you think." -- from the website. <http://www.popularmechanics.com/>

2005-11-19

Roots & Rock: Gritz Magazine

I'm just sayin'...Gritz, a journal of southern music and media -- I know: where's the journal of northern music? -- has gone back to being an internet-only periodical. Any ragazine that covers Michael Doucet, Danielia Cotton (pictured), Delbert McClinton, Roger McGuinn and Bobby Bare -- and that's just the current issue -- can't be all bad. <http://www.gritz.net/>

2005-11-18

Nostalgia: The Golden Age of Travel Posters

"The 1920's and 1930's ushered in an unprecedented era of travel to exotic and romantic destinations. And no-where was this more clearly expressed than in the travel posters of that time. The Los Angeles Public Library's collection of travel posters perfectly captures this era. With this exhibition, the Library shares its bounty with the public for the first time." -- from the website. <http://www.lapl.org/virgal/travel/>

2005-11-17

American Civ: Buffalo Soldiers in the Sierra Nevada

An unusual and fascinating look at the "African American soldiers of the 24th Infantry and 9th Cavalry [who ] protected the National Parks of California at the turn of the last century." <http://shadowsoldier.wilderness.net/>

2005-11-15

Travel: Offbeat Tourist Destinations

Once long ago in a galaxy far away, Roadside America was something called a "book": Now, as "Your Online Guide to Offbeat Tourist Attractions," Roadside America is back as a website, with all the weird and wonderful destinations -- the Mother's Day Shrine, the World's Largest Catsup Bottle, the Albino Squirrel Capitol of the World, the beer can house -- and many more. <http://www.roadsideamerica.com/>

2005-11-14

The Arts: luthier Stephen McSwain

"Tired of seeing the same old guitars, artist/luthier and musician Stephen McSwain decided to create a new breed he likes to call 'functional art.'

"Each instrument is hand made, one at a time, and has unique characteristics that make it a highly collectible guitar or piece of art, depending on how you look at it." -- from the website. <http://www.mcswainguitars.com/>

2005-11-13

Sculpture: Bennett Robot Works

Sculptor Gordon Bennett creates miniature robots and androids out of antique mechanical parts from garbage dumps and garage sales. The detritus of aging rotary phones, electric meters, safety deposit boxes, geiger counters, and brownie cameras, and other junk emerges transformed into cool automatons like hiphopish Little Wonder.

<http://www.bennettrobotworks.com/>

Collective Consciousness: SwarmSketch

"SwarmSketch is an ongoing online canvas that explores the possibilities of distributed design by the masses. Each week it randomly chooses a popular search term which becomes the sketch subject for the week. In this way, the collective is sketching what the collective thought was important each week." -- from the website.

<http://www.swarmsketch.com/>

Free Speech: Virtual Soapbox

"One Free Minute is a mobile sculpture designed to allow for instances of anonymous public speech. When you call the cellphone inside One Free Minute, you get connected for exactly a minute to a 200 watt amplifier and speaker. The speech produced by the speaker can be heard clearly more than 150 feet away from the sculpture." -- from the website. <http://www.onefreeminute.net/>

The Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation 11/19/1863

Here is the Gettysburg Address, reinterpreted and trivialized in Microsoft Powerpoint. The "simplified" presentation, in lively contemporary colors, is amplified with dramatic but meaningless graphs, soothing bullet points, and a list of key objectives (i.e., "Government not perish"). <http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/>

NYC: Infrastructure of a Lost Metropolis


Here is a fabulous collection of photographs of olde New York, categorized as signs, street lamps, trolleys, trains, subways, alleys, and such, plus a great collection of links.<http://www.forgotten-ny.com/>

2005-11-12

Science: What is music?

"What is music? Is birdsong music? How about the tap-tap-tap of a hammer, or the wail of a creaking door? Is playing a garbage can different than playing a drum?...Explore the science of music with us, through these online exhibits, movies, and questions. Along the way, you can compose, mix, dance, drum, experiment, and above all...listen." -- from the website. <http://www.exploratorium.edu/music/>

2005-11-11

Nature: Leeches

This fact sheet on the biology of leeches, which "are commonly found in lakes and ponds and many of [which] provide food for vertebrates such as fish, ducks, turtles and some other birds," also discusses the history and current uses of leeches for medicinal purposes. <http://dnr.metrokc.gov/
wlr/waterres/Bugs/Leeches.htm>

2005-11-10

Music: P-Funk

Parliament Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove,George Clinton an Independent Lens (PBS) profile of Parliament Funkadelic, George Clinton's aggregation, includes a history of the band from its origins in barbershop doo-wop as The Parliaments in the 1950s to its present impromptu existence, profiles of band members (including Bootsy Collins, Eddie Hazel and Bernie Worrell), descriptions of albums, images of album cover art, a "Test Your P-Funk Knowledge" quiz, and related links. <http://www.pbs.org/>

2005-11-09

Search: Noodle Quest Search Engine Wizard

"One of the hardest parts about doing academic research on the Internet is figuring out where to start! A search engine is usually the first thing to try, but what search engines are the most useful for your topic? Fill in the short form below, and we'll point you in the right direction." -- from the website. <http://www.noodletools.com/noodlequest/>

2005-11-08

Self-Improvement: The Internet Cocktail Database

"The Internet Cocktail Database -- Your most complete source for cocktails, cocktail ingredients, and barware knowledge on the web! -- aims to be your final authoritative word on mixed drinks, 1862 to present....We differ from other cocktail web sites in logonumerous ways, but mainly, all of the recipes in cocktailDB have been authenticated in print. This cuts out all the sophomoric, never-once-ordered recipes clogging many other drink sites. We already have the largest collection of verified drink recipes on the Internet or in any book, and this collection will continue to grow....All recipes already link to the most massive drink ingredients data bank around: ours! Don't know what something is? Merely click on it and you will be immediately told...and shown! Photographs of the vast majority of ingredients ever put in a cocktail are just a click away, even for ingredients not produced in 60 to 100 years! Furthermore, if something is difficult to find, substitutes are often advised right there and then. If an ingredient has no substitute, at least you'll know what it is." -- from the website. <http://www.cocktaildb.com/>

2005-11-07

Advocacy: Operation Truth Foundation

"Operation Truth Foundation is America’s first and largest nonprofit, non-partisan organization representing those who have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The mission of Operation Truth is to connect the American public with Veterans and Troops and empower citizens to support the Troops and become more engaged in our nation’s decisions regarding how our military is used and cared for. Our organization represents almost 600 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Through the internet, the media, and in-person appearances, Operation Truth provides a national forum and where member veterans can educate the public and the media by sharing their stories and concerns, and where the successes and failures of the current conflicts are openly discussed for the edification of all citizens, including service members." -- from the website. <http://www.optruth.org/>

2005-11-06

Engineering: America's Infrastructure Report Card 2005

"Congested highways, overflowing sewers and corroding bridges are constant reminders of the looming crisis that jeopardizes our nation's prosperity and our quality of life. With new grades for the first time since 2001, our nation's infrastructure has shown little to no improvement since receiving a collective D+ in 2001, with some areas sliding toward failing grades. The American Society of Civil Engineers' 2005 Report Card for America's Infrastructure assessed the same 12 infrastructure categories as in 2001, and added three new categories. Access the complete Report Card with details on each infrastructure category and state infrastructure information." -- from the website. <http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/index.cfm>

2005-11-05

Health: USDA National Nutrient Data Laboratory

The Nutrient Data Laboratory compiles authoritative food composition databases and state of the art methods to acquire, evaluate, compile and disseminate composition data on foods that are the foundation of most food and nutrition databases in the US used in food policy, research and nutrition monitoring. <http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/>

2005-11-04

Pencil Sharpening: Spaced Penguins

Good for a rainy day:
<http://www.bigideafun.com/>

2005-11-03

Science & Technology: Making the Modern World

"Making the Modern World brings you powerful stories about science and invention from the eighteenth century to today. It explains the development and the global spread of modern industrial society and its effects on all our lives. The site expands upon the permanent landmark gallery at the Science Museum, using the Web and dynamic multimedia techniques to go far beyond what a static exhibition can do." -- from the website. <http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/>

2005-11-02

History/Economics: Story of the Cotton Industry

"Spinning the Web" brings together a "collection of some 20,000spinningwheel items from libraries, museums and archives of North West England which tell the story of the Lancashire Cotton Industry." Includes data on the British textile industry, cotton mills, the Lancashire cotton famine, cotton districts and towns, living conditions of cotton mill workers, machinery, uses of cotton, etc. <http://www.spinningtheweb.org.uk>