Le Mot Juste: Language Resources On Line

The estimable Dictionary.com and venerable Babel Fish are doubtless in your bookmarks, but too frequently you find yourself searching for the meaning of a word that is peculiar to some social or professional subset, medicine, say, or plumbing, or is in another language, and neither site, nor Google's definition function, can help. Needless to say, out there, beyond Merriam-Webster and American Heritage, is the answer.

eGlossary <http://www.eGlossary.com/>, our own effort, helps locate specialized glossaries, dictionaries and word lists on particular topics and occupations. It is quick and easy for visitors to add databases they favor. And a specialized Google function at the bottom of the homepage enables searches for more word tools on the web.

Freelang.net <http://www.freelang.net/>, enables the downloading or viewing of language dictionaries. The site has links to translation resources,including tools for hand-held devices if you're traveling, plus free online translation software and even free human translation for short texts.

FreeTranslation <http://www.freetranslation.com/> has text and website translation in several European and Asian languages. The company sells a desktop translation tool by subscription.

InfoPlease <http://www.infoplease.com/dictionary.html> includes more than 125,000 entries, from aalii to zymurgy, plus Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.

Omniglot <http://www.omniglot.com/> is another database of language- and translation-related resources. For translation, you can access online dictionaries as well as online translation and localization tools, some free.

OneLook Dictionary Search <http://www.onelook.com/> looks for your term everywhere: "11,254,217 words in 966 dictionaries indexed."

PROMT <http://www.online-translator.com/text.asp?lang=en> is a free device that enables you to translate text, websites and email between English, French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish .

WorldLingo <http://digbig.com/4tqjr> provides free translation of up to 150 words for text, webpages and email covering 15 languages. In addition, you can direct the tool to use specialized glossaries to produce more accurate translations.

Periodicals: MyWire virtual newsstand

I find myself turning more and more frequently to "MyWire...your one-stop source for the best from hundreds of worldwide publications. We bring in relevant content from the most reliable publishers without the clutter of typical search results. It's all conveniently in one ad-free environment. With free tools to manage and personalize...." Much of the content is free, and for what isn't, you may find it more convenient and cheaper to buy specific articles on line than to purchase an entire periodical from a magazine vendor to get that one story you want. <http://www.mywire.com/>

Notes from the Road: Clean Bathrooms in NYC

<http://gonyc.about.com/cs/atozinde1/a/bathrooms.htm>

Outer Limits: Andy Kaufman (1977)

Shopping: What did they pay for that?

Find out the price other people are paying for every kind of goods at CostHelper.com:
<http://www.costhelper.com/>

Community: NeighborWorks America

NeighborWorks, a "...national nonprofit organization created by Congress to provide financial support, technical assistance, and training for community-based revitalization efforts," has news, case studies, and reports on subjects such as aging in place, disaster preparedness, foreclosure solutions, home equity protection, manufactured housing, predatory lending, refinancing, materials about such outreach as a free telephone consultation service on foreclosure solutions, and listings of local NeighborWorks member organizations. <http://www.nw.org/>

Spoken Word: BBC Radio 4

I've been listening to Radio 4 on a feed to Google Desktop:
"Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK: the BBC supports the UK's global role by being the world's most trusted provider of international news and information, and by showcasing the best of British culture to a global audience." -- from the website. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/>

Good Eatin': The science behind pickles

In LOL's continuing effort to answer your most deep-seated questions, here is a site where you can learn about the science underlying pickling, "the ancient culinary craft of preserving foods in salt brine or vinegar." How does a cucumber becomes a pickle? The site has a gallery of international pickle suspects -- kimchi, chutney, pickled eggs, pickled herring; pickle facts; pickle recipes -- fried dill pickles, ceviche; pickling tips; in short, everything you wanted to know about pickles but were afraid to ask. <http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/pickles/>

American Civilization: Whites only! Coloreds click here

The Remember Segregation website, honoring civil rights martyr Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, is meant to be an antidote to the pablum that is served up about the history of race relations in this country. The site is divided into "white" and "colored" sections, the latter urging that "…for your protection and for the sake of decency, please remain within your side of this web page. If you should happen to move into an area designated for persons of the white race, your safety cannot be guaranteed." Once you get past the chilling opening pages, you'll find a bio of Dr. King, a photo gallery, a civil rights timeline, audio versions of the "I have a dream" and "I've been to the mountaintop" speeches, and a selection of other writing. <http://www.RememberSegregation.org/>

The Law: Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful Life

"Legal Lad offers concise, useful information from a practicing [California] attorney to help you decipher the laws that govern your daily life. Cover[s] areas of constitutional law, employment law, privacy rights, liability, criminal law, international rights, family law and wills and estates," plea withdrawal, arbitration clauses, store security and shoplifting, drug screening, minimum wage, power of attorney, and the ever-popular nudity in public places. <http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/LegalLad/>

Religion: Religious Themes in the Movies & Television

This videography, from the Media Resources Center of UC Berkeley's Moffitt Library, of movies with religious overtones, primarily Christian, includes a bibliography on religion in the movies and a videography of films with Jewish themes.
<http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/>

Japonica: The Art of Polishing Mud

Polishing rocks is one thing, but mud wouldn’t appear to be hard enough or dense enough to lend itself to being polished. With the application of the right technique and the patience of Job, however, you can do it. Leave it to the Japanese to raise mud balls to high art: Dorodango.

The process couldn't be simpler: you start with a lump of mud, squeeze out most of the water, and slowly and gently add layers of ever-finer dry dirt to the exterior, shaping it into as perfect a sphere as you can by smoothing off any rough spots or irregularities. Over a period of hours, as the ball dries and you continue to work the surface, a hard shell (or “capsule”) is formed.

If you’ve executed and timed the procedure correctly, this crust can be buffed to a high gloss with an ordinary rag. The goal is to create a shiny orb about the size of a billiard ball; its color will result from the kind of soil used, and can vary from nearly white, through yellow, red, and brown, to nearly black, with subtle shadings that make it look like it was carved from the finest marble.

Kyoto University of Education developmental psychologist Fumio Kayo devised a simple method of making dorodango that can be taught even to young children. Professor Kayu’s instructions, including several videos, can be found on his dorodango site. Bruce Gardner, an artist living in New Mexico, shows truly gorgeous globes at dorodango.com; the site includes background information on the art form and helpful instructions for creating your own.

Other resources include:

• Shiny Mud Balls at Web Japan
• Polish your mud balls at 37days
• dorodango-sensei and me at Giant Jeans Parlor
• Dorodango in the Wikipedia

Rehabilitation: Over 1,500 Inmates Perform "Thriller"

This video shows 1,500 plus inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines performing Michael Jackson's Thriller:

Media: Picturing Business in America -- Hedcuts in the Wall Street Journal (National Portrait Gallery)

This exhibit, by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, exploring "the development, the technique, and the implications" of "The Wall Street Journal's distinctive portrait heads, known as 'hedcuts' or 'dot-drawings,'"offers examples of hedcuts of business leaders and the context in which the portraits ran, details about the process of creating the hedcut, and a section featuring hedcuts of women (such as Oprah Winfrey and Mary Kay Ash). <http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/journal/>

Science: ...and Surfing (NPR's "TheWorld" and the Exploratorium)

"When you hear the words 'technology' and 'surfing' in the same sentence, you might think of the internet before you think of the ocean. But those two words go together to help wave riders predict whether worthwhile swells are heading their way. By looking at satellite and climate data that's available on the web, surfers can follow storms into shore and be there in time to catch the biggest waves." -- from the website. <http://www.exploratorium.edu/>

Good Eatin': Tap water is the new black

Bottled water has lost its cool. Top-tier beaneries are doing away with imported brand-name eaus in favor of filtered municipal tap water. Do the same, and save a bundle.

Battling Bottled Water
Evian Criminals:
The New Snob Appeal of Tap Water
Bottled Water: No Longer Cool?
Fancy Tap Water Is the New Trend
Some Restaurants Are Selling Their Tap, Filtered
Some Bottled Water Is Tap Water
Chez Panisse Turns On the Tap
"Your best bottle of TAP water, please"
“Local tap water bubbles up in restaurants”
“Give me whatever is on tap”
“I feel silly buying bottled water”
Which Bottled Water has a bigger Carbon Footprint?
Drinking Tap Water is Your Christian Duty

Writing: Mark Twain's Mississippi

"This web site [from Northern Illinois University Library] provides a fully searchable and indexed digital library...placing special emphasis upon Twain's Mississippi novels and reminiscences (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi). These works serve as lenses through which the public may explore additional text, image and sound materials...describing the Mississippi Valley that Mark Twain remembered and imagined in writing his classic works of literature." -- from the website. <http://dig.lib.niu.edu/twain/>

Photography: latest World Wide Panorama show (needs Quicktime)

"The World Wide Panorama began in March 2004 and has become an ongoing series of events. Photography takes place on the solstices (longest and shortest days of the year) and equinoxes (day and night of equal length). Photographers all over the world are welcome to participate.

"A VR panorama (VR for virtual reality) is a specially created computer image that goes all the way around the viewer. It is a revolutionary way to document a particular place and time – the next best thing to being there." -- from the website.
<http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/wwp/index.html>

Writers: Anthony Trollope

For nearly two decades, I penned a weekly column on books for the Sunday edition of New York Newsday. During much of that time, two publishers, Penguin and Oxford, put out competing complete editions of the works of everybody's second-favorite writer, Anthony Trollope. And that gave me an excuse to read lots of Trollopes that I covered in a regular feature of the column, "Trollope Watch."

"Anthony Trollope is a new website which aims to introduce readers to Trollope, a website for an author as relevant to the modern day as to the Victorian reader....The Anthony Trollope website is a place for everyone interested in Trollope to share their enthusiasm for this great Victorian author....Whether you're new to Trollope or already an enthusiast you can enter competitions, win books, join reading groups and much more." -- from the website.

The site includes free downloads of virtually all of Trollope's works.
<http://www.anthonytrollope.com/>

Performance: Avril Lavigne and Lil Mama Remix "Girlfriend"

Avril Lavigne and Lil' Mama have teamed up for a new remix by Dr. Luke of Avril's single Girlfriend:

If you haven't seen the original video of Girlfriend, you can watch it here, and if you think you don't know Lil' Mama, if you've ever seen her Lip Gloss, you'll remember who she is.

New Media, Old Style: The Morning Brief

Don't miss the weekly Los Angeles online periodical -- newsletter? diary? journal? magazine? blog? website? -- written and edited by David Loomstein, a tireless observer of local music, movies, media, mores, and more. To read this week's edition of The Morning Brief (shouldn't it really be called The Monday Morning Brief?), please point your browsers to: <http://www.morningbrief.net>

Resources: Niche Music Social Networks

You've heard of the big social networks like Facebook and MySpace, but some of the niche music social networks are starting to be very popular, too. Mashable has a post that describes what it claims are the twelve best music social network. Here is their list:

Flotones

Radio 2.0 from Mercora

MOG

Last.fm

iLike

JamNow

MusoCity

Haystack

Sonific

Midomi

iJigg

Sellaband

Last.fm with its 15 million users was recently bought by CBS. iLike's widget has become very popular on Facebook. MySpace and YouTube probably should probably be included on the list, because both are frequently turned to for music and music is one of the main reasons each became so popular.