ZenCam (something happens...or not): Old Faithful Geyser - Live!

"This full-motion, live-streaming webcam is located near Old Faithful Geyser and brings online visitors views of several other geysers in the area. When geysers such as Beehive, Lion, or Giantess are erupting, the camera will be aimed at them and zoomed in for optimal viewing enjoyment. When bison, elk, coyotes, or the occasional bear wander into the camera’s view, live video images will be transmitted." -- from the website.
<http://www.nps.gov

Advertising: Japander

Japander is the place to go to see what American celebrities will stoop to (the Kiefer Sutherland videos alone are worth the trip) when they think no one here is looking:
Pander: n., & v.t. 1. go-between in clandestine amours, procurer; one who ministers to evil designs. 2 v.i. minister (to base passions or evil designs, or person having these)
Japander: n.,& v.t. 1. a western star who uses his or her fame to make large sums of money in a short time by advertising products in Japan that they would probably never use. ~er (see synecure, prostitute) 2. to make an ass of oneself in Japanese media.
<http://www.Japander.com/>

Video: "Secret Space"

"A masterful documentary it cracks on at a tremendous pace. A subject that at first seems too ridiculous to contemplate leaves you nodding in agreement....I always thought there was something suspicious about NASA's attitude to UFOs. Now I know why.' - Jason Cooney, K-Drive Radio, Los Angeles.

Exhibitions: Get Lost - Artists Map Downtown New York:

Created by the New Museum, New York, NY, "Get Lost is a collective portrait of downtown New York. Twenty-one international artists were invited to create a personal view of the city and draw a map of downtown New York, uncovering a territory that is both real and imaginary....Get Lost brings together fictional landscapes, utopian visions, private memories, and obsessive instructions to explore Manhattan, its past, present, and future." <http://www.newmuseum.org/assets/general/getlost/>

Design: Emory Douglas at MOCA (Los Angeles)

Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas, an exhibition "traces the graphic art made by Emory Douglas while he worked as minister of culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967 until its discontinuation in the early 1980s," includes examples of his work in posters, pamphlets, and newspapers. The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art website also includes a gallery guide, audio of a talk with Douglas, and suggestions for further reading. <http://www.moca-la.org/emorydouglas/>

Pencil Sharpening: Who's doing what to Wikipedia when

There may be no practical purpose for this app showing you -- on a world map and in almost real time -- who is editing what Wikipedia entries where, but it's fascinating anyhow: <http://www.lkozma.net/wpv/index.html>

Music: A Short History of Guitar Riffs

Bill Kirchen is the former lead guitarist of Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, best known for Hot Rod Lincoln and Down to Seeds and Stems. This is a live version of H.R.L., with a twist.

Jazz: Django

From Jerry Jazz Musician, "a website devoted to jazz and American civilization," comes this 2005 interview with Michael Dregni, author of Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend, a book about French jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, who was "born in a gypsy caravan at a crossroads in Belgium...[and] almost killed in a freak fire that burned half of his body and left his left hand twisted into a claw."
<http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/>

Audio: Earideas

"Earideas is a collection of the best thoughtful audio available on the web...shows from public and other broadcasters, magazines, newspapers, museums, as well as individuals. You can find it all here (to subscribe, download, or listen on our site), updated daily with the latest shows, organized by category." -- from the site. <http://earideas.com/earideas/explore>

Pencil Sharpening: Darth Vader Has a Nervous Breakdown

Star Wars re-edited using James Earl Jones' voice from other movies:

Good Eatin': Salt + Artistry = Saltistry

Artisan Flavored Sea Salts

"By itself, salt is one of the oldest and most crucial minerals to human life. At Saltistry, salt is elevated to an exquisite art. Sourcing the finest sea salts from around the world, salt artist and chef Joni Fay Hill infuses salts with blends of fruits, herbs and spices, creating a complex marriage of flavors and aromas.

"As a former chef, Joni approaches artisanal salt from a cook’s perspective, meticulously handcrafting her salt infusions in small batches to create a depth of flavor while preserving the texture and integrity of each grain. The unique collection of finishing salts season all types of dishes, both sweet and savory, and add a brilliant flavor dimension to anything and everything edible." -- from the website. <http://www.saltistry.com/>

The Popular Arts: The Cultural Gutter

The Cultural Gutter "is updated Thursday at noon with a new article about an artistic pursuit generally considered to be beneath consideration. James Schellenberg probes science-fiction, Carol Borden draws out the best in comics, Chris Szego dallies with romance, and each month we feature a Guest Star writer on a gutter subject of their choosing. While the writers have considerable enthusiasm for their subjects, they don't let it numb their critical faculties. Tossing away the shield of journalistic objectivity and refusing the shovel of fannish boosterism, they write in the hopes of starting honest and intelligent discussions about these oft-enjoyed but rarely examined artforms...." <http://www.theculturalgutter.com/>

Resources: Intute Research Portal

I think too many of us, me included, are lazily coming to depend too much on Wikipedia, even though there are other, as easy to use, but much more scholarly sources of information on the www. One such is Intute, a free service that provides "access to the very best web resources for education and research. The service is created by a network of UK universities and partners. Subject specialists select and evaluate the websites in our database and write high quality descriptions of the resources. The database contains 120536 records." <http://www.intute.ac.uk/>