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2005-12-28

The Lit'ry Life: The 100 Great Novels in English

Every successful editor knows that, when all else fails, you can never go wrong with a list. Time Magazine's critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo have conjured up a list of the best English language novels, although it has an asterisk next the word "great." Presented in alphabetical order by title, each of the novels on the list is afforded a brief appreciation. In order to be considered for inclusion, however, a book had to have been published after Time Magazine's debut in 1923, before which time, they appear to believe, nothing happened. Since most of the greatest novels were published in the 18th and 19th century, that makes for a severely truncated list of "greats."
<http://www.time.com/>

2005-12-25

Search: YubNub, "a (social) command-line for the web"

Speed up your searches by using shortcuts to popular search engines, commerce directories, and other research sites, including an option to create your own commands. There's also a YubNub blog. <http://www.yubnub.org/>

2005-12-22

Music: The Official Leonard Bernstein Site

Developed and maintained by the Leonard Bernstein Society, the site has has biographical material, printed speeches and interviews, an annotated discography, and a collection of audio clips that includes his auspicious debut with the New York Philharmonic, the famed Norton Lectures he delivered at Harvard, and selections from the Young Peoples Concerts, plus a message board, a catalog of his compositions and a schedule of upcoming performances. <http://www.leonardbernstein.com/>

Good Eatin': Candy USA

The kindly wonkas at the National Confectioners Association and the Chocolate Manufacturers Association are pushing candy recipes, candy trivia, the history of candy, candy holidays, candy nutritional info (ha ha), candy statistics, and candy company links. If you ever wondered why there is candy corn, what date National Taffy Day falls on, or how much was spent last year in the United States last year on candy, this site's for you. <http://www.candyusa.org/>

Environment: California Climate Change Portal

"This website combines information [backgrounders, policy papers, reports, legislation, and other materials from state government agencies and commissions] on the impacts of climate change on California and the state's policies relating to global warming." <http://www.climatechange.ca.gov>

2005-12-17

Why we love the Web #3443215:
Where are the Chambers Bros.
when you need them?

At the Human Clock, select your time zone and get a photo of a random person presenting the current time in a different way. A minute passes, and you get the picture of a different individual. People from all over the world are submitting photos for this project and have been for several years. Which raises an interesting question about time, as in, where do all these people find so much of it to waste? <http://www.humanclock.com/index.php>

Science: Astrobiology Magazine

"The magazine has integrated an extensive Astrobiology and Space Calendar, including more than 10,000 events categorized by interest and spanning 2001-2004....Many of the questions posed by astrobiology are the subjects of intense debate within the scientific community....Our Great Debates series will show you the process of scientific debate in progress, as prominent scientists sift through the available evidence to reach what are sometimes directly opposing conclusions.... Astrobiology Magazine's Panorama series combines art, science and computing. The latest imagery from space allows simulated fly-bys, zooms, and photorealism." -- from the website. <http://www.astrobio.net/news/>

The Arts: The Cave Paintings at Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc

"The precautions taken by the discoverers of the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc cave in December 1994 made it possible for the first time to undertake the study of a decorated prehistoric cave which remained intact after the sudden obstruction of its single natural entrance right in the middle of the ice age....The discovery caused a shock. Specialists and non-specialists alike immediately recognized its importance and originality...." -- from the website. <http://www.culture.gouv.fr/
culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/>

2005-12-16

Oral History: Studs Terkel - Conversations with America

Well-designed and executed by the Chicago Historical Society, "Conversations with America" is a tribute to Studs Terkel, for over fifty years a hardworking radio interviewer, oral historian and storyteller. Organized around the extensive interviews that Studs did for his books, each section contains dozens of audio clips of his long-form interviews with the famous and the merely fascinating. A biographical folder includes audio clips recounting his family history in Chicago and a multimedia interview about his books, and about writing oral history and documenting everyday life. <http://www.studsterkel.org/>

Games: Docking Station

"Docking Station is a completely FREE artificial life game for both Windows and Linux, developed by Creature Labs - the creators of the Creatures series of games...Hatch your very own virtual life forms in this incredible addition to the hit Creatures series. Norns are endearing little creatures who grow, learn and behave just like living animals.

"Norns think and act for themselves and display real feelings such as hunger, pain, fear and boredom. They can even talk to you and to each other! Based on real biological principles, these furry little pets have their own biochemistry and Creatures digital DNA and represent the most advanced virtual life sim commercially available today." -- from the website. <http://www.gamewaredevelopment.co.uk/
ds/ds_index.php>

Geezer Watch: Internet Stroke Center

"The Internet Stroke Center exists to advance understanding of stroke research and clinical care. Our goal is to provide current, professional, un-biased information about stroke. The information on this site is obtained from published accounts, meeting presentations, internet searches, and direct correspondence." -- from the website. <http://www.strokecenter.org/>

The Arts: Masters of Cinema

Once upon a time, Grasshopper, movie masterpieces played regularly in theaters in Ingmar Bergmanmost cities and every college town. Nowadays, alas it's up to you to track down the works of directors such as Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Werner Herzog, Yasujiro Ozu and Andrei Tarkovsky for yourself. Luckily, Masters of Cinema is here to help, with articles, lists of upcoming releases, and links to sites about specific directors and other film and DVD resources. <http://www.mastersofcinema.org/>