lol: Library of Links: 2006-09

The Arts: Thinking Through Drawing

"'I can't draw' is a common plea but we all draw at some time, and even with cameras in our phones, sometimes only a drawing will do.

"Lines of Enquiry looks at drawing as an exploratory and explanatory tool. From the wobbliest doodle to elaborately detailed expositions, the exhibition shows how we use drawing to think through problems, find out how things work,

visualise concepts, order information and communicate to other people. The exhibition includes drawings by physicists, geologists, architects, engineers, zoologists, archaeologists, palaeontologists, geneticists, surgeons, historians, philosophers, and composers as well as artists.

"Among the drawings are Sir Roger Penrose's visual reinterpretations of Einstein's relativity equation, Sir John Sulston's genome explorations, Sir Colin St John Wilson's original ideograms for the British Library, Tariq Ahmad's drawings for plastic reconstruction surgery, Richard Seymour's 360º drawing of Piccadilly Circus, Richard Deacon's interlaced layerings, Gerry Gilmore's back of a letter exposition of the structure of the Milky Way, and Sir Harry Kroto's discovery of the C60 carbon atom." -- from the website. <http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/>

Natural History: North American Mammals (Smithsonian Institution)

This site, based on The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals, by Don E. Wilson and Sue Ruff (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999) and Mammals of North America, by Roland W. Kays and Don E. Wilson (Princeton University Press, 2002), is a searchable database of all living mammals of North America. <http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/>

Google Maps: The Lewis and Clark Expedition

Here's Google Earth cleverly tracing the path of Lewis and Clark: If you haven't yet familiarized yourself with Google Earth: "Want to know more about a specific location? Dive right in -- Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information

at your fingertips....Fly from space to your neighborhood. Type in an address and zoom right in....Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving directions....Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings....Save and share your searches and favorites. Even add your own annotations....Google Earth puts a planet's worth of imagery and other geographic information right on your desktop. View exotic locales like Maui and Paris as well as points of interest [at home]....'' -- from the website. <http://earth.google.com/>

Optimism: Propaganda films for 50s consumerism (Internet Archive)

Created for the 1956 General Motors Motorama and one of a set of key Populuxe films downloadable at Internet Archives, Design for Dreaming (1956) is a surreal musical during which a lovely brunette housewife is introduced to the joys of a "Kitchen of Tomorrow" that is furnished with a glass-walled refrigerator, a machine that reads recipes off

computer cards, and an hemispherical glass oven that apparently can bake a cake complete with lighted birthday candles. At Motorama, she gets turned on by the looks of the Firebird II (as who wouldn't), calls traffic dispatch by radio, and rides onto yesterday's electronic highway of tomorrow, accompanied by her 50s standard-issue "prince charming," singing a duet linking their love to technological progress. Also not-to-miss: Once Upon a Honeymoon (1956), a musical promoting the color telephone as a home decorating accessory; A Touch of Magic (1961), a Motorama film touting new cars, space-age appliances and futuristic ideas; and American Look (1958), the definitive Populuxe film on 1950s automotive, industrial, interior and architectural design (parts 1, 2 and 3).

Labor: The Samuel Gompers Papers

Samuel Gompers was "the nation's leading trade unionist

in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and president of the American Federation of Labor from 1886 until his death in 1924." The site, sponsored by the University of Maryland College Park, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the AFL-CIO, includes a biography and timeline, quotations, a bibliography, and selected writings. <http://www.history.umd.edu/Gompers/index.htm>

Paleontology: American Museum of Natural History's Fossil Halls!

A huge portion the world's largest collection of vertebrate fossils, totaling nearly one million specimens, is on display online at the website of the American Museum of Natural History. This is one not to miss!: "One of thepremier attractions in New York City is the Museum's series of fossil halls, including its two famed dinosaur halls.

The Museum is home to the world's largest collection of vertebrate fossils, totaling nearly one million specimens. More than 600 of these specimens, nearly 85 percent of which are real fossils as opposed to casts, are on view. Completely renovated between 1994 and 1996, the fossil halls now stand as a continuous loop on the fourth floor, telling the story of vertebrate evolution. Unlike most fossil exhibits, which are arranged in chronological order, the Museum's fossil halls display the specimens according to evolutionary relationships, dramatically illustrating the complex branches of the tree of life, in which animals are grouped according to their shared physical characteristics. Such relationships are determined through a method of scientific analysis called cladistics, which the Museum helped pioneer. The halls' renovation also allowed for new scientific interpretations of favorite displays, as well as the restoration of the fourth floor to its original architectural grandeur." -- from the website. <http://www.amnh.org/>

Cartography: Deadly Maps

Deadly Maps provides access to "the complete collection of maps

from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threats....The first five maps reflect the worldwide proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and their missile delivery systems. The country maps show the major nuclear installations, both civilian and military, in each country." Included are maps of Iran, North Korea, China, Russia, Pakistan, Libya, Israel, among other countries. <http://www.carnegieendowment.org/>

Good Eatin' Archive: The Edible Monument - The Art of Food for Festivals

Ornate edible architecture and sculptures were often created for celebrations in the cities and courts of early modern Europe. The Edible Monument, an exhibition of the

ephemeral art created for these festivals, drew from sixteenth to nineteenth century books and prints in the Getty Research Institute's Special Collections.

The exhibition included towering sculptures and lavish food decorations that glorified the court of Louis XIV at Versailles and set a standard for ephemeral art throughout Europe; early cookbooks such as Juan de la Mata's Arte de Repostería (The art of confectionery), a classic manual published in 1747 on making desserts in the form of palaces, fortresses, and gardens; and a selection of Neapolitan prints of grandiose edible monuments in the form of triumphal arches, ancient ruins, obelisks, fountains, and even fireworks.

The seventy-five objects from the exhibition may be viewed by selecting the exhibition checklist link to the left. Additional information on some of the objects may be found by clicking on either Banquets, Cookbooks and Table Settings, The Art of Decorative Desserts, or Street Festivals.
The Getty Research Institute: <http://www.getty.edu/>