| COOL SITE ARCHIVE 3 |
| The video games of today boast incredible graphics, complex story lines, and amazing interactive features. But do you ever long for the simplicity of the "old school" games of your childhood? The Dos Games Archive is a fun bit of gaming nostalgia, with over two hundred and thirty free games you can download and play immediately. So skip work and spend your day playing classics such as "Duke Nukem", "Mega Man", and "Epic Pinball". |
| MacGYVER WAS A CAN-DO GUY, WASN'T HE? A lot can be done with a toothpick ... List of problems solved by MacGyver |
| Looking for a thorough retirement calculator that prompts you for all the appropriate questions such as age, current savings and 401(k)s, salary, expected retirement date, etc and then lets you run your own simulations? Two of the most comprehensive calculators for preretirement and postretirement are at analyzenow.com Begin by clicking on Free Programs. (from Wall Street Journal "Ask Encore") |
| Create your own videos, post them online, and even make money off of them! If this seems too good to be true, then you have not yet been to Revver.Com. The site works similarly to You Tube, with the main difference being that all its videos are copyrighted by the original creators, and contain brief advertisements at the end which officially revverizes them. Upload your video, track its performance, and then see how much money you can really make online off of your own creativity. |
| Inspired by the book of the same name, America's Art is a stunning collection of over two hundred of this country's most stunning artworks. Taken from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's collection of over 40,000 pieces, these 225 works trace the evolutionary path our nation has traveled on its journey from an 18th Century upstart Republic to a modern Superpower. Download individual chapters from the online book, which use important artwork to thoroughly capture American history from the Colonial period, through to our Civil War, World War II, the Modern Era and everything in between. Scrolling through each chapter is a powerful visual experience of the history of our struggling, wonderful nation. |
| The Bad Fad Museum is an online tribute to the most embarrassing fads of the 1970's. Browse the nostalgic gallery, which is a veritable A to Z of the most hilariously embarrassing fads of the disco decade.The museum is filled to the brim with long gone fads, from Bellbottoms and Hot Pants to Sideburns and Zoot Suits. The site is divided into four sections, Fashion, Collectibles, Activities and Events, all of which contain a plethora of information on the transient trends of the Seventies. |
| "Social networking" has been around forever. It's the simple act of expanding the number of people you know by meeting your friends' friends, their friends' friends and their friends' friends' friends. MySpace isn't the first (or the last) web site to take the social networking concept online. So why does MySpace have more than twice the traffic of Google within three years of its 2003 launch?
Find out what MySpace really is, what it can do for you, and how it blew past the competition in How MySpace Works. |
| New Yorkers and fans of the Big Apple will enjoy this site, courtesy of New York Metro. It addresses the concept of etiquette in the modern city, where wireless technology, iPods, Internet dating, evolving value systems and overpopulated streets challenge our age-old standards of etiquette. The Urban Etiquette Handbook is a light-hearted guide to the complex territory of our modern urban landscape. Learn proper etiquette on a range of topics, including Love and Sex, Cell Phones, City Living, Dining, Subways and Cabs, Family, and even celebrity encounters. |
| Give your digital pics a little zing at this quirky, Chinese-themed website. ZingFu.Com has hundreds of funny artificial backdrops that will spice up your personal photos. |
| A groundbreaking Man Ray film, made in 1923, is now available for anyone to watch free online. You'll find it at both YouTube and Google Video, two amateur-video-sharing sites. Increasingly, rare and avant-garde films are showing up on sites like these, best known for hosting homemade video spoofs. For an index of rare films on YouTube, go to Greylodge Podcasting Company and choose "link dump" under "categories." |
| HyperStat is an online Statistics textbook that can help you to get through, and even enjoy, the subject of Descriptive Statistics, as well as understand the statistical information you see everyday in mainstream media sources. The site has a ton of information, including exercises and problems for students to wrestle with, free statistical analysis tools, and many helpful instructional demonstrations. This is a great example of the virtual world aiding in the education of people in the real world. |
| Long before the television, and eventually the Internet, dominated our collective attention, radio was our main source for home-based news and entertainment in America. Take a trip back in time with Botar's Old Time Radio, a site that delivers the very best programs from American radio's heyday. Visitors can download radio classics such as Boston Blackie, Green Hornet, Sherlock Holmes, and Tales of the Texas Rangers. There are also brand new daily podcasts of old favorites, which you can listen to online or download to your iPod. |
| A new interactive Web site featuring high-resolution aerial photographs of Indiana allows users to zoom in on roads, lakes, fields — and even cars in driveways.
Indiana University and the Indiana Geological Survey host the site — www.indianamap.org — which includes information that can be used by planners, businesses and anyone who wants to see an aerial picture of their neighborhood. The site also includes transportation, elevation and water information. |
| When you combine two hundred liters of Diet Coke, five hundred Mentos, and two kitchen chemists, you get a recipe for online entertainment. EepyBird.Com offers up "Entertainment for the Curious Mind", including various videos of the aforementioned Internet hit known as "The Extreme Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment." Watch the video, which uses bottles of Diet Coke and Mentos to create a fountain of sugar to rival those at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Then check out other fun stuff on this quirky site, created by mad scientists Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz |
| SwarmSketch.Com is a website dedicated to "Collective sketching of the collective consciousness". Swarm Sketch subjects, which are self-described as "distributed design for the masses", are digital representations of popular search terms. You can easily participate in collectively sketching a current piece on the site, which is updated once a week with a new swarm sketch. Each visitor can draw one line, vote on the opacity of other lines, and view the history of each animation to see how many people from around the world are participating in sketching this online canvas. |
| While they may seem like diametrically opposed subjects, Mathematics and Art actually have quite a long history together as co-conspirators. Mathematical Imagery, created by the American Mathematical Society, explores the cooperative link between Math and Art throughout history. Learn about how mathematics has been used in the design of cathedrals, rose windows, mosaics, tilings, Oriental rugs as well as by painters and sculptors. Highlights include articles on "The Mathematics of Origami", and the beautiful gallery of "Mathscapes" created by Anne. M. Burns. |
| If you've ever been to an aerial fireworks show, then you know that fireworks have a special magic all their own -- a good show is absolutely amazing! Ever wonder how they make such incredible colors and designs? What is launched into the sky to make these beautiful displays?
Find out in How Fireworks Work. |
| The History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less Having a hard time keeping up on history? Get the Cliff notes for the history of the universe. The inspiration for the book "A Briefer History of Time" |
| Krazy Dad comes through with yet another wondrous homemade "software toy". Just grab an image you like off of the Internet, and then follow his instructions to build your very own virtual kaleidoscope. |
| Welcome to Chimpanzee Central, a website dedicated entirely to our closest evolutionary relatives. Brought to us by the Jane Goodall Institute, the site informs visitors all about the physical characteristics, behaviour, and conservation of chimpanzees. Scroll through the website and read about the extraordinary habits and social structure of these amazing creatures (they are the smartest animals in the world after all). Visitors will learn about how conservation efforts are taking on the many challenges facing chimps today, which include Habitat Loss, poaching, and even the HIV virus. |
| If your children aren't afraid of math, here's an old math trick presented in a style that will make sure they are. |
| View the work of young, talented art students at this cool site. 5oup.Com is a portal that allows peers to display their work to a growing global community of like-minded artists. The site is updated daily with the work of creative illustrators, graphic artists, web designers and animators. Student artists from all around the world are welcome to submit their work, which when accepted by the site is posted on the daily "fresh page". |
| I SEE IT, I JUST DON'T BELIEVE IT Follow the directions to behold
the colorless become color-full. |
| Check out this online exhibit, entitled "Coins and Conscience", which was originally published by Harvard's Baker Library in 1986. Browse through over 70 prints from the original Bleichroeder Collection, which are a compilation of "Popular views of Money, Credit, and Speculation". The impressive index of artists includes work from such greats as Breughel, Titian, and Caracci. |
| There is no need to be deterred by a cloudy sky when you can go stargazing from the comfort of your own computer at the Stellarium, a three-dimensional planetarium that displays real time, photo-realistic skies you can view from your PC. Download the free software, set your coordinates, and watch in amazement as the galaxy unfolds. Armchair astronomers will see stars, atmospheres, nebulas, planets, constellations, and loads of other beautiful "star stuff". |
| Car buffs unite at Jalopnik.Com, a blog that is proudly obsessed with automobiles of all shapes and sizes. Whether you love expensive sports cars, charming vintage vehicles, eccentric old lemons, or high-tech hot rods, this is definitely the site for you. Get a daily dose of the latest automotive news, from car shows and concept cars to novelty items and fun automotive advertisements worldwide. Jalopnik.Com's main focus is on the future of the automobile (designs, vehicles, gadgets, technologies, etc.) |
| All About Severus Snape Potter fans will love this site, which is dedicated entirely to Harry Potters' nemesis Professor Severus Snape. Learn why fans love the dark professor, read analysis on the books and films, and check out the "fan fiction" written by Snape devotees around the world. |
| Baseball Card Blog For many of us, the hobby of collecting baseball cards represents one of the fondest memories of our childhood. This cool collector's blog is regularly updated with insights and images about the legendary old offerings of Fleer, Topps, and Donruss. |
| Check out the cool, online tool known as Google Sketch Up. The free download is a modelling program that allows you to design houses, sheds, decks, even spaceships, and then plot your creation in the growing universe of Google Earth. |
| Children, parents and teachers will be impressed with this educational site. InnerBody.Com is a low-bandwidth, interactive tour of the many different and complex systems of one of nature's most astonishing creations; the human body. Explore the site by clicking on a specific "system", such as Cardiovascular, Nervous, Skeletal, Lymphatic, Endocrine, etc. Using your mouse, simply scroll over the different parts on the anatomical chart to learn more about how our bodies work. |
| Get in touch with your evolutionary ancestors with Monk-e-Mail. This fun feature, created by CareerBuilder.Com, allows you to record an audio email message to family and friends that is then delivered to them via a customized virtual monkey!! Choose a monkey messenger, and then personalize him/her with glasses, clothing, accessories, even a customized background. Then type in your message, and watch your simian creation recite your words with robotic panache. |
| Nature lovers and adventurers will want to bookmark this great site, which is part of the Away Network. GORP is essentially an online encyclopaedia for outdoor activities (hiking, fishing, camping, etc.), with loads of information on adventure travel, national parks, and natural attractions. There are so many cool features on this traveller site, including a list of great global destinations, reviews on national parks, and tips about essential gear for adventure activities. Don't skip the Top Ten section, which rates the best Bike Routes, National Forests, Parks, Scenic Drives, Outdoor Festivals and more. |
| Whether you're traveling or just looking for something to do on a Friday night, Citysearch is a great reference. You can look up information on dining, hotels, shopping, entertainment and nightlife and, with listings for more than 140 cities worldwide, you're bound to find something to do or see. |
| What do you get when you combine too much spare time with balloons? |
| Test your behavioral biases |
| Read about Google's new classified ads? Check them out here: |
| Digg (www.digg.com): Where C/Net is hierarchical, Digg emphatically isn’t, possibly a model for other “citizen journalism” on the Web. Users submit stories to a temporary holding area where everyone can read them. If you read something you like, “digg” it by clicking a button. Stories that get enough clicks get promoted to the home page. |
| Airborne Cats Cat lovers will get a kick out of this quirky site. Living up to its unique name, it contains hundreds of pictures of cats "in flight". |
| Check out the latest and greatest online ads at Adverlico.Us. This cool Canadian website compiles the "World's Tastiest Collection of Online Advertising" for your enjoyment. Visitors can choose from a wide selection of current and archived ads, then vote and post comments on the advertisement's merit. The ads are listed by categories such as "Consumer Goods", "Travel and Leisure", "Culture and Entertainment", etc. Don't skip the site's special section of Online Super Bowl Ads. |
| Regardless of your belief system, the idea of GOD is something that every individual human being ponders at some point. The BBC's "Religion & Ethics" website is a fascinating journey into the world of human faith, an introduction to the many paths people follow both toward and away from Religion. Read about a variety of faiths from Atheism to Zoroastrianism, and then take the Religious Superquiz to see how knowledgeable you are about the wide world of spirituality. |
| "Meet Me At Midnight" is an interactive online adventure that takes place in an animated version of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Children will love this high-quality educational mystery, which uses the medium of a computer game to teach kids about American Art. This marriage of computer games and education is a promising example of how teachers can make the process of learning one of enchantment and excitement for students. |
| "Common-Place" is a neutral online ground where scholars, armchair historians, students, teachers and other interested parties can exchange ideas about American history and culture. The current issue is all about money and it's role in American History from the founding of the first colonies to the present. Read some fascinating essays on the history of American cash such as "Paper Money Gets Personal", "The California Gold Discoveries", and When Money was Different". |
| Ever wonder why onions make you cry, or why hair turns grey? Get answers to all of those nagging, obscure questions at Everyday Mysteries, a website filled with fun science facts from the Library of Congress. The site is divided into easy-to-search categories such as Astronomy, Biology, Physics, Zoology and other science-related areas of random interest. Once you are finished browsing through the extensive archives of information, you can submit your own esoteric query to the site's editors. |
| We have all heard the cliché that "there is nothing more important than being happy". But what causes people to feel happy, how does this feeling affect us, and what steps can we take to increase our personal levels of happiness? "The Happiness Formula" takes a fascinating, in-depth look into this highly sought after emotion. Visitors can choose from a variety of short video clips that address topics such as "Think Yourself Happy", "The Politics of Happiness", and the scientific components behind feeling joy. |
| Long before it felt the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana's coastline was facing severe challenges from Mother Nature. Coastal Erosion is responsible for dissolving 25 miles of Louisiana wetlands each year, and could destroy over one-third of the coastline by the year 2050. "Losing Louisiana" is a digital artwork project that uses Flash to demonstrate the status of the state's coastline and the progression of land loss. Click on the different sections of the map to learn more about the state's Wetlands, Levees, Meadows and Restoration Programs. |
| Anyone planning on taking a road trip in North America will want to bookmark this cool site. RoadFood.Com lists and reviews the best and most memorable local eateries situated alongside the long and winding roads of America and Canada. Hungry travelers can search the website either by "State" or "Restaurant"
to find great food along their route. Brave souls who have discovered a roadside gem of their own can post the eatery and publish a review online. |
| Cycling enthusiasts will love this 'bicycle-obsessed' site, entitled BikeFold.Com. It has reviews on a large selection of bikes that fold, collapse and pack away for convenient storage. |
| There is rarely a time of hardship that does not call for a good old-fashioned cliché. This online Book of Cliches has a plethora of phrases to say in times of trouble and despair. |
| Help keep your family safe by checking product recalls and safety news from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
You can also report an incident with a product that caused an injury. |
| WATER TRIVIA |
| Swaptree is a new and innovative way for people to easily trade the books, cds, dvds and video games they are finished with, for the ones they want, all for free. It is the first site to pull off direct trades between more than two people. Swaptree can engineer three- and even four-way trades among users who want different things. |
| Leonardo Da Vinci is hailed by many historians as one of the greatest minds of all time. The Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence, Italy presents this fascinating exhibit entitled "The Mind of Leonardo", which delves deeper into the work of the famed Renaissance man. The website contains essays and online galleries that explore "The Universal Genius at Work". Of particular interest is the section "In Leonardo's Studio", which takes you into the personal library of one of the greatest thinkers in human history. |
| "The Elegant Universe", a profound TV series produced by PBS/Nova, explores the big questions being asked and topics being studied by top physicists and scientists about the very nature of our Universe. Visitors to the site can watch the show's 8 episodes on a full-screen version of QuickTime. The eight chapters delve into the very nature of our elegant universe, and the evolution of cutting-edge Physics such as String Theory. |
| Damn Interesting Created by a group of writers, this cool site lives up to its name by providing a daily dose of interesting facts and ideas to the Internet public. A wonderful website to bookmark, there is always something fascinating to read that will no doubt have you saying to yourself, "Wow, that is Damn Interesting!!" Scroll the various sections of the site, which include interesting facts from the subjects of "History", "Space Exploration", "Gray Matter", "The World of Tomorrow", "Medical Science", "Wonders of Nature" and much more. Don't skip the entry in the History section about North Korea's "secret hotel". |
| Memorable Quotes from "The West Wing" The administration has served it's 8 years and a new one is to begin. Aaron Sorkin was a genius with his writing and his show will be missed. |
| The History channel series "10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America" explores ten individual events that profoundly impacted our nation between the years of 1637 and 1964. The website behind the TV series is an educational and entertaining behind-the-scenes look at the topics of these ten episodes, as well as the people involved in producing them. Visitors can also read an excerpt from the book that accompanies this amazing, 10-hour documentary series. |
| Prepare to have your mind read by a computer! The Fido Puzzle uses a numerical principle to predict the "number you are thinking of". |
| Fans of the hit show "CSI" will get a kick out of this exhibition, sponsored by the National Library of Medicine. "Visible Proofs" explores the history of Forensic Medicine and it's journey over the centuries into the arena of the courtroom. Explore the online galleries and learn about the evolution of forensic medicine technologies, read landmark court cases, and view artifacts from the history of forensics. Then take the virtual tour of the exhibition to see how modern forensic science works to bridge the gap between the laboratory and the law. |
| PRESIDENT BUSH SPEECH GAG Drag the phrases around, the voice quality is terrific. |
| Get somebody to join you
and you both can doodle
together with this online whiteboard. |
| If your current idea of a career entails adventure, helping others, having fun and seeing the world, then this is the site for you. BackdoorJobs.Com helps short-term job adventurers find work and play in a variety of fields all around the world. Scroll the site to find your personal area of interest, such as "Adventure", "Nature", "Heartfelt Work" and "Transitions Abroad". |
| Just enter your zip code in this site, and it tells you which gas
stations have the cheapest prices (and the highest) on gas in your zip
code area. It's updated every evening. |
| Zone Zero is a cool online photography magazine. Its unique name is a poetic metaphor for the journey from "analog to digital" image making, from darkness to light, an obvious clue that the site's editors are passionately dedicated to the craft of photography and art. The editorial section of the site contains interesting articles and photo exhibits. Browse the "Gallery" section where photographers of a range of genres, from "Experimental" to "Documentary" to "Street Photography", showcase their work. |
| Google search works for everything else. Why not this? Google Romance |
| Be prepared for a Core Melt (Turn off your pop-up blocker) |
| You think you have bugs in your data. Check these out |
| Here's an aggregator of the daily human experience. (Not yet related to stock prices.) http://www.howisyourday.com/ |
| What Should I Read Next Enter a book you like and the site will analyse their database of real readers' favourite books (over 20,000 and growing) to suggest what you could read next. (You can register on the results page and build your own favourites list) |
| Scientists and Non-Scientists alike are welcome to LabLit.Com, a site dedicated to laboratory culture and its portrayal in media and fiction. The site seeks to debunk myths and tell the real story behind many scientific subjects often seen in entertainment and popular culture.
Visitors will find a host of fascinating articles, on subjects ranging from Female Scientists in Film, to a recent BBC Documentary on Acupuncture, to Science in Post-Modern Literature. |
| Zunafish is a new Web site that matches people with discs and tapes to trade — and video games and paperback books, too. |
| To many of us, sand is just a comfortable place to lie in the sun and a great material to make castles out of. But for artist Ilana Yahav, sand is the medium she uses to create her unique hand drawings. Sand Fantasy, the artist's personal website, describes and displays her work, which is done on glass and accompanied by soulful music and lighting. Visitors can watch a variety of video clips of Ilana's performances, including "Just Imagine", "Ocean, and "Come to me". |
| Sacred Destinations is a guide to holy lands, religious sites, pilgrimage destinations and other sacred places around the world. With a catalogue of over 1,500 'sacred sites', seekers of all faiths are sure to find what they are looking for. Search the site by country or by category, and you will uncover a wealth of articles, photos and other information on holy places from the history of Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, as well as Ancient Religions. |
| Make your own animated movie. Unfortunately for me this does require some base level ability to draw. |
| With video as the numeraire for Web 2.0, here's a site with a collection of music videos from Bird to Jimmy. |
| Welcome to the Musical Listening Test. We are interested in studying musical perception ability in the general population. The test, developed by Isabelle Peretz (University of Montreal), takes less than 10 minutes. It involves listening to pairs of tunes and deciding whether they are the same or different. We will give you your score at the end. |
| Wonder whether that urban legend you keep hearig about is true? Well Snopes.com can tell you whether it is true or false.. Urban legends are a specific type of folklore, but snopes.com embraces not only urban legends but also common fallacies, misinformation, old wives' tales, strange news stories, rumors, celebrity gossip, and similar items. |
| "Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project" is a Michigan State University project to create an online collection of the most influential American cookbooks published between the late 1700's and the early 20th Century. Browsing through the gallery of digital images and full-text transcriptions of these ancient cookbooks will give you insight into the culinary history of our fine nation. Visitors can also search the site by text or author to read about a specific cookbook or chef. |
| ThatsIronic.Com collects hilarious stories from the news that are, by definition, "darkly contrary to what one intends." Choose from the various categories including "Law", "Animals", "Just Outrageous", "Technology", "Politics", and "Really Stupid" to name a few. Then read some of the incredibly ironic tales and vote using the site's "Iron-O-Meter". |
| This interesting online exhibition, entitled "Visible Proofs", explores the history and evolution of Forensic Medicine. Take a tour of the virtual exhibit, visit the galleries to read about real cases and technologies, and learn about the brilliant innovators who have pushed the boundaries of this particularly dark field of science. |
| In honor of its landmark birthday, Science magazine asks the 125 big questions that will challenge scientists in the coming future. Essays explore fascinating questions such as "How Much Can Human Life Span Be Extended?", "What is the Universe Made Of?", and "Is an Effective HIV Vaccine Feasible?". This site is a brilliant adventure into the world of "What We Don't Know" |
| The Good Earth See stunning images of our beautiful planet, taken by satellites, the Space Shuttle, and the International Space Station. Take this mind-blowing multimedia tour and experience the Earth as you have never seen her before. |
| Having a pet is a wonderful experience, but it doesn't come without its challenges. PetEducation.Com, can help you care for your beloved little companion.
Simply choose your 'pet type' and scroll the various sections of the site. Whether your baby is a ferret, dog, cat, reptile, fish, or bird, Pet Education can help with everything from nutrition and grooming to first-aid and behavior tips. |
| The VirtualTourist Travel Community. This site has Worldwide Travel Guide: Tips, Reviews & Photos plus Hotels, Restaurants, Activities & More |
| WorldPublicOpinion.Org, tries to capture global opinions on a variety of international issues. Explore the site by choosing a region, and then read the results of polls published by the Program on International Policy Attitudes. Visitors can also search the site by topic to get global opinions on Human Rights, Globalization, The Environment, Foreign Aid and other pressing issues of our time. |
| BookCrossing.Com has a simple goal, to make the whole world a library. This great site helps to facilitate international "bookcrossing", which is defined as "the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do the likewise". Free your books and gain access to good karma and countless new ones by joining the bookcrossing network. Then browse the archive of "released books", go "Book Hunting" in your area, or free some of your own books into the wild. |
| Explore your local Solar System at this stellar website. "The Best of NASA Science 2005: A Year in Review" is a slideshow of interplanetary images of unprecedented beauty and clarity. Watch the interactive slideshow of our Solar System, which is filled with breathtaking photographs taken this past year by the Hubble Telescope, the Chandra-X Observatory, the Mars Rover, and the Cassini Spacecraft. |
| Get a second chance at a great education, or stay up to date with your alumni, with "Stanford on Itunes". This cool site offers a range of digital audio content related to Stanford University, accessible through Apple's Itunes Music Store. The public site let's you download faculty lectures, music, learning materials, interviews and much more that you can then listen to on your computer, iPod, or burn to CD. |
| To celebrate the Chinese Year of the Dog, RetroCrush.Com releases it's list of "The 100 Greatest Dogs of Pop Culture History". Who could resist smiling at pictures of popular real and fictional pooches such as Hooch, Clifford, Snowy, Rin Tin Tin, and Scooby Doo? |
| Learn more about the history and evolution of one of the world's most popular beverages. HeresToBeer.Com, created by the "Beer Institute", is filled to the brim with pints of information about, well, beer. Check out "The Tavern" to learn about the brewing process, "The Archives"
to follow the evolutionary path of this popular drink, and then click on "The Bistro" to discover how to get creative with your brew. Visitors can then go to "The Tavern" to find out about the great beer festivals and other ale-related happenings around the world. Cheers! |
| Save a few bucks at Boodle.Com, which provides online grocery coupons you can print whenever you want. The site uses a network of newspapers to distribute these coupons, so search for your location and see what's available!! |
| "Get your Loaf on" at Powerloafing.Com, the smallest sitcom in the entire world. Powerloafing follows the hilarious misadventures of Cubicle Carl as he 'loafs' his way about the Starship Enterprise. In addition to watching this cool sitcom, visitors will find heaps of other features on the sight to help them kill time at the office. Other fun bits include "Irritate the VP", and "Virtual Rubix Cube". Rated PG-13 for language. |
| A new Google map |
| It may be cloudy today, but check out this Rainbow Gallery for hope tomorrow. |
| In the years before MRI's and CT Scans, physicians and nurses relied heavily on the diagnostic tool called a neurologic exam. Neuroexam.Com teaches, through streaming video demonstrations, the main components of the neurologic exam. Browse the different sections of the site, which show demo videos on how to test and examine a patient's "Mental Status", "Cranial Nerves", "
"Reflexes", "Coordination and Gait", and other neurological functions. |
| Irish eyes are smilin' about the Chicago Tribune's St. Pat's Day guide. |
| In the years before MRI's and CT Scans, physicians and nurses relied heavily on the diagnostic tool called a neurologic exam. Neuroexam.Com teaches, through streaming video demonstrations, the main components of the neurologic exam. Browse the different sections of the site, which show demo videos on how to test and examine a patient's "Mental Status", "Cranial Nerves", "
"Reflexes", "Coordination and Gait", and other neurological functions. |
| While touch sensing is commonplace for single points of contact, multi-touch sensing enables a user to interact with a system with more than one finger at a time, as in chording and bi-manual operations. Be sure to start the video on the right for a demonstration of monitors for the touchy-feely folks |
| For those that think their current occupation is miserable, The Worst Jobs in History website is sure to be a healthy reality check. Gratefully read about the arduous working lives of laborers during the Roman/Anglo-Saxon, Medieval, Tudor, Stuart, Georgian, and Victorian Eras. Each job on the site is described in hilarious but shocking detail, as visitors learn the horrid duties of Violin-string Makers, Fullers, Leech Collectors, Roman gold miners and other positions held by those that conventional history has forgotten. |
| This cool BBC website explores the influence of traditional African music on our modern musical genres. Trace the roots of Jazz, Rock, Pop, Rap and Blues to ancient sounds from the continent known as "the birthplace of humanity". "Echoes of Africa" lets you read about and listen to the traditional music from different parts of the African Continent. Simply click on an area of the map to hear Ethiopian minstrels, West African drums, the lutes and flutes of North Africa, the sweet songs of South Africa, and much more. |
| Chocolate, perhaps the most universally loved food of our time, was first enjoyed by the Mayans and Aztecs over 2,000 years ago. The History of Chocolate focuses on the history of Cacao, and its evolution over the course of two millennia of human culture. It traces this beloved food from its humble roots as a Mesoamerican luxury, to its revered status as a European Sweet. In addition to reading about its past, visitors to this tasty website will learn about its unique medicinal properties, its religious roles in certain cultures, as well as get tips on making their own chocolate. |
| The aim of the The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, at the University of Virginia, is to aid researchers who are studying the Arts, by providing advanced computer technology and technical support "in the service of their scholarship".
Visitors to the site will enjoy looking at the current research projects being supported by the IATH. Highlights include "The Chaco Digital Initiative", "The Circus in America", and "Traditions of Exemplary Women". |
| The next time you're thinking it's cold in South Bend, check out Geneva, Switzerland |
| From Bill McDonald: He's not as good a juggler as David Hartvigsen, but check out juggler Chris Bliss' "Must see finale" |
| Get a "Pilots-Eye" view of the world at SkyVector.Com. The site allows you browse authentic aeronautical charts from all 50 states with the easy click of a mouse. |
| Sure you know what kind of music you like, but what about all of the music you don't know about that you would love to hear? Pandora.Com helps you discover more music that you will love, exposing you to the great music you always knew was out there but could never find. Just enter an artist you love, and Pandora will create a station for you. Then the site will become your personal DJ, playing you great music that has a similar style to your initial preference. |
| Velutipes.Com is a stellar photo gallery containing surprisingly beautiful images of mushrooms. The gallery, compiled by a Finnish fungi enthusiast, consists of over a hundred different types of mushrooms floating against a backdrop of outer space.Click on a name to see unique beauties such as the Clouded Funnel, Dappled Webcap, False Saffron Milkcap and many more. |
| Fans of the hit TV show "24" will want to bookmark this site. The "Jacktracker" uses Google Maps to track the movements of the shows main character, Jack Bauer. |
| Traffic Advisories Whether you are planning a road trip or just commuting to work, this government site is bound to be of help. Stay in the loop with up-to-date traffic updates from the National Traffic and Road Closure Information website. |
| Tuesday is the next deadline to register for Indiana's Do Not Call list.
An Indiana law forbids telemarketers from calling the 1.6 million numbers on the list.
Phone numbers registered by 11:59 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, on Tuesday, will be covered by the law as of April 1. The next deadline will be May 23 to begin protection on July 1.
To register, visit www.in.gov/attorneygeneral or call toll-free (888) 834-9969. |
| The 2006 Sundance Film Festival is a great site for movie fans that were unable to make it to the festival to glimpse next year's most promising films. All you need is a Flash Media Player and you can watch some of the amazing short films and documentaries by talented directors from all around the world. Highlights include "Bugcrush", "A Supermarket Love Song", and "Preacher with an Unknown God" |
| Global Voices You will find English language roundups of what bloggers outside the U.S. are discussing. Many are well-known within their communities but not beyond. This site, founded in 2004 by an internatinal team of bloggers led by fellows at Harvard Law School, brings a world perspective to about 300,000 readers a month. |
| Those who are not familiar with the Chambers' Book of Days are in for a real treat. The famous tome, which was published in 1869, is a "Miscellany of Popular Antiquities" that provides endless hours of interesting entertainment. The ingenious website The Book of Days, which is organized along the days of the calendar, is filled with fascinating facts, anecdotes, curiosities, biographies, and "Oddities of Human Life and Character". |
| Celebrity Height Ever wonder just how much taller Andre the Giant is than you? Just enter your height, and then compare your height to hundreds of celebrities! |
| Whether you're buying, selling or just want to keep a handle on your most prized possession, you can use Zillow.com to get the information you want … for free.
Buyers: Compare home values to avoid overpaying. Sellers: Use home valuation tools to arrive at the right selling price. Owners: Track the value of your most important asset. |
| Possibly the cutest place online, CuteOverload.Com scours the Web for the cutest images imaginable. The site is overloaded with pics of bunnies, puppies, kittens, birds and hundreds of other adorable animals at play. |
| Whether you prefer a fancy espresso concoction or just a good old cup of Joe, CoffeeGeek.Com is the ultimate website for coffee lovers everywhere.
Browse the various sections of the site to find consumer and Coffee Geek reviews, How-to Guides as well as a host of interesting articles about the worldwide Coffee and Espresso industry. Visitors can learn how to brew Turkish coffee, read about the adventures of a World Coffee Judge, and peruse the Barista Code of Conduct. |
| Welcome to the Living Internet, a free, online resource that provides a unique perspective on the history, evolution and current state of the Internet, perhaps the most significant human invention of recent times.
With over 700 pages on the site, the Living Internet covers every topic imaginable including the birth of the Web, design, security, advanced use, resources, important changes, and other online references. It is, essentially, a well-organized tour of the World Wide Web |
| Check out the Most Interesting Webcams of 2005 at this cool site. Judged by a group of producers at EarthCam.Com, winners include the Live Piranha WebCam in Nashville, Tennessee, the British Antarctic Vessel Cam, and even a JailCam that allows you to 'experience' being booked into prison. |
| Fans of old Westerns will love this website, which ranks the best 30 Western flicks of all time. Beginning with the 1923 picture ?The Covered Wagon? and ending with the powerful 1992 film ?Unforgiven?, the list demonstrates the evolution of the popular genre during the 20th Century.
Rio Bravo makes the list, so the site must be legit. The site also features related articles on various themes, myths, and other unique aspects of these popular films. |
| While both nations speak English, the differences in word use and slang in America and Great Britain can result in some embarrassing misunderstandings. Use the English-To-American Dictionary to learn the local jargon before hopping across the pond. |
| Recipe Zaar touts itself as the 'smartest' online cookbook and cooking community. With almost 150,000 recipes available, it is sure to be of interest to amateur cooks and seasoned chefs alike. Scroll through the site's database of recipes, which are divided into section such as 'Appetizers', 'Breakfasts', 'Desserts', etc. Visitors may also submit their own recipes to the site's growing online cookbook, or simply check out the many tasty reviews and articles. |
| According to Jean Cocteau, "The Poet is a Liar who always tells the Truth". Immerse yourself in the beautiful words and voices of the world's best contemporary English-Speaking poets at PoetryArchive.Org Visitors can search the site by the name of the poet or poem, and then listen to a live recording read by the author. This is a wonderful way to experience modern poetry online, through the very voices of those who have written them. Highlights include readings by Langston Hughes, Anne Stevenson, and Alfred Tennyson. |
| Trivia and History buffs will love this fun website, which is chock full of fascinating and esoteric facts. Useless Information is filled with stuff you never needed to know but your life would be incomplete without. Scroll through the site's stories and you'll find a heap of genuinely fascinating facts from all areas of culture. Some particularly interesting tales reveal the truth behind the 1904 Olympics, The Electric Pickle, and the invention of Band-Aids. |
| Weird USB
Drives While their main function is store information, there is no reason
that USB Drives can?t have a unique style of their own. This site lists the 10
weirdest USB drives of all time, which include drives in the shape of a Shrimp,
a Human Thumb, and even Sushi. |
| Check out this fascinating program, courtesy of PBS, entitled the
"Merchants
of Cool". It explores the "culture of cool", the
trendsetters that create it, the marketers that study it, and the
corporations that profit from it. This website has a host of cool
features, including interviews with media executives, trendy teenagers,
and cultural critics |
| Design Sponge reviews
the latest and greatest creations from around the world. The blog
regularly reviews a wide range of products from holiday cards to furniture
to gadgets. Each product is accompanied by a photograph, as well as
a write-up courtesy of the "design junky" herself. |
| ZoomAndGo.Com
has insightful and honest video testimonials from travelers who have
been to the destination you are about to visit. With a thorough search
engine and straightforward tourist testimonials, you don't have to
worry about getting fooled by fancy brochures or travel agents. Don't
skip the site's Top 10 list of most popular videos. Bon Voyage! |
| The site of historic battles, ancient trade routes and biblical
legend, Megiddo has over six thousand years of history. The Megiddo
Expedition site has a wealth of information on this archeological
treasure, which is located in modern-day Israel. Visitors can read
about past and future excavations, sign up for the Expedition's newsletter,
or just read the deeply fascinating history of the ancient site. |
| FlightAware.Com is a
live, online flight tracker that allows you to view current air traffic
with the click of a mouse. Visitors can search for planes by a tail
number, airline and flight number, or identifier. You can also search
flight activity at various domestic airports, or browse the skies
by aircraft type to see how many Boeing 737s are currently overhead. |
| Save a bundle at the Coupon
Cabin, a website with loads of deals on nearly everything imaginable.
The site offers the best deals on online purchases from a variety
of large and small retailers. |
| Popular Science presents its annual edition of the "Best
of What's New" in the tech industry, a snapshot of the cutting
edge of scientific innovation in the fields of Aviation & Space,
Home Entertainment, Gadgets, Engineering, Cars, etc. Check out the
top 100 most impressive technologies of the year, which include the
Airbus A380, a Neuro-Controlled Bionic Arm, and a revolutionary wood
called Timbersil. |
| Thai Table is entirely dedicated
to educating people about the delicious cuisine of Thailand. Learn
how to make Tom Yum, Satay, Pad Thai, Gang Kai (Red Curry Chicken)
and other scrumptious staples of Thai cooking. This great site covers
everything from finding local Thai markets in your area, to tips on
how to select produce, control "spice" levels, and cook
an array of authentic Thai dishes at home. |
| Sound Transit is
a cool online community, entirely dedicated to phonography and field
recording. The site's database is filled to the brim with authentic
sounds collected by various artists in different cities and natural
environments. Log in and book your very own custom Sound Transit,
where you can listen to the myriad sounds of daily life, from birds
singing in Finland to the street noises of Delhi. |
| The Soundry is
an exciting, interactive, and educational web site about sound. Covering
everything from the most basic concepts of what sound actually is,
to the specifics of how humans perceive it, it aims to promote enthusiasm
and knowledge about sound. The site is divided into sections including:
How We Perceive Sound, The Physics of Sound, Applications of Sound
and an interactive sound lab which lets you experiment with many of
the topics covered in the site. |
| At a loss for words? Then go and get yourself a "real-time"
quote at Quote World. With a database
of over 13,000 quotations, you'll be spouting clever Shakespearean
quotes in no time, impressing all your friends. |
| Here's a test
to identify your personality disorder. I was going to check it
out myself, but I think this is all part of the plot by my enemies
to overtake my alpha brain waves. |
| Go back in time and travel through sixty years of Pulitzer Prize
winning photography. Newseum
Online presents a simple, photo by photo exhibit complete with
a photographer's bio outlining the experiences and stories behind
these breathtaking images. Be sure to check out Carol Guzy's, Volcanic
Mudslide in Colombia (1985), Bill Foley's, Angry Scene at Sabra (1982),
or Thomas Kelly's, Tragedy on Sanatoga Rd. (1978), among others. |
| Commercials usually feel like a few minutes of invasive advertising
sandwiched in-between our favorite programs. But occasionally, advertising
agencies go the extra-mile that turns advertising into entertainment
and even art. Check out the "Best
Ads on TV" website and watch some of the best commercials
from the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and South Africa. |
| In the 1930's, photographer Bernice Abbott released a landmark work
of 50 photographs entitled "Changing New York". Six decades
later, contemporary photographer Douglas Lever used Abbott's original
camera to capture the same locations at the time of day on the same
day of the year as she did. Browsing through the "New
York Changing" online exhibition is a fascinating experience,
reminding us that the only thing in this world that is constant is
change. The 'Rephotographs' create a start contrast between Depression-Era
New York City and the Manhattan of today. |
| Test your patience and skill with the interactive "game"
Escapa. Just keep
the red square away from the blue squares for as long as possible
(18 seconds is the max). |
| If you couldn't be there live, here's a 360
degree panorama of Times Square on New Years Eve. |
| SearchforVideo.Com
has a mind-boggling library of over 800,000 videos, all of which can
be downloaded straight to your computer as RSS feeds. Simply search
the website by entering keywords, then download an RSS feed of the
video, watch it online, or share it with friends. There is much information
on subjects ranging from "News" and "Sports" to
"Entertainment" and "Humor". |
| "Today
in History", courtesy of the Library of Congress,
updates every day with a new article about .
Check in daily to read about historical events in American History
that occurred on the same calendar date. |
| Spider
Myths Movies such as "Arachnophobia" have given spiders
a bad name. Get the truth at this cool site, which aims to debunk
the many myths, misconceptions and superstitions about spiders. The
site, which was created by Rod Crawford, the official Curator of Arachnids
at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, exposes the truth
behind a web of misinformation about "Dangerous Spiders",
"Household Spiders" and other weird and spooky stories about
our eight-legged friends. |
| Top 100 Beers in
the World Beer lovers will want to bookmark this site, which covers
just about every topic related to the popular alcoholic beverage.
The "Top 100" list gives each brand an overall ranking,
with 5.0 being the highest possible. It is based on a Bayesian estimate
that combines the number of reviews, the average rating per review,
and other factors. Drink up! |
| Between the Grammy's, Emmy's, Oscar's, Golden Globes and countless
other Award ceremonies celebrating the entertainment industry, it
can be difficult to keep up with the latest winners. "The
Envelope", has the Internet's most complete listing of award
nominees, winners and other happenings. Visitors can read articles
about current favorites for upcoming award shows, check out the latest
gossip, or scroll through the archive of facts on past winners and
box office stars. |
| Cosmic
Evolution Created by the Wright Center for Science Education at
Tufts University, the site explores the lifespan of the universe,
from the "Big Bang to Humankind". Read articles and watch
movies to learn more about the many epochs in the history of our mysterious
universe. |
| Why you should
continue to date me; a series of charts and graphs. |
| Have fun seeing if you can draw
in space/time |
| You want creativity - how about a bar
code clock. |
| Experience the feeling of digital photo inadequacy - science
photo awards. |
| "Alive in Truth"
is a touching project that aims to capture the oral history of the
impact of Hurricane Katrina. The project's goal is to simply listen
compassionately and record the human stories told by the survivors
of this terrible catastrophe. The website tells the intimately painful
stories of Katrina's victims, in an effort to offer healing and compassion
to the storm's survivors. |
| FlightAware.Com is a
live, online flight tracker that allows you to view current air traffic
with the click of a mouse. Visitors can search for planes by a tail
number, airline and flight number, or identifier. You can also search
flight activity at various domestic airports, or browse the skies
by aircraft type to see how many Boeing 737s are currently overhead. |
| Ephemera Now is an online
museum that celebrates 1950's advertising and illustration. The Retro
Image Archive has a ton of imagery related to the advertising, interior
design, and automobiles of the middle of the 20th Century. It is divided
up by categories such as "Décor", "Advertorium"
and "Cars". |
| Popular Mechanics Breakthrough
Awards 2005 Every year, the Awards honor innovators who shape
the world's future through their accomplishments in the arenas of
science and technology. This year's top scientists and engineers include
the inventor of a rocket-propelled bicycle, and innovators in the
fields of solar energy and biomechatronics. |
| Check out Elizabeth Hickock's eccentric and creative piece entitled
"San
Francisco Jell-O". The site has photographs of her work,
which is a complete cityscape of San Fran constructed entirely out
of Jell-O. |
| The legendary scientist Albert Einstein's greatest achievement was
developing his Theory of Relativity. While we have all heard of the
formula, it remains quite difficult for most of us to understand the
physics behind E=mc2. Get a crash course on Einstein's famous theory
at this cool site, created by the University of New South Wales in
Sydney, Australia. The
Einstein Lightis a fun, interactive way to learn the finer points
of relativity. |
| Experience the feeling of digital photo inadequacy -
science photo awards. |
| Toys
of the Year - 2005 During FamilyFun's annual hunt for the year's
best toys, 1,400 kids work -- or should we say play -- for more than
30,000 hours testing and retesting toys to find those that live up
to their promise, and then vote for their favorites. The results:
63 kid-approved playthings -- 21 winners and 42 finalists -- organized
by age and category, sure to please the toy testers on your list this
holiday season. |
| How Phishing
Works Does the latest e-mail from your bank seem suspicious? It
may actually be an example of phishing, a method of online identity
theft. Learn about the common traits of phishing schemes and the technological
tricks that phishers use to deceive people and software. (IRS
warns of phishing scams Bogus e-mails, phone calls attempt to
get personal information- SBTribune) |
| Vintage Comic Strips
Take a trip back in time to the comic strips of yore at the Barnacle
Press website. Fans will have a blast revisiting the likes of Jungle
Jim, Flyin' Jenny, Johnny Hazard, Salesman Sam and other classic characters.
Categories including Character, Author and Topics such as Sports,
Comedy and Political, make the site's extensive archive of vintage
comics easy to search through. |
| Fed up with automated customer service? Then Paul English is your
man. Check out his web site
for his collection of of information on how to bypass those mind-bending
computerized customer service systems at 108 companies. |
| Okay, I'll admit that a couple of the DIY sites I'm about to list
are a little, well, strange. For instance, the thought of making a
beer cooler using an old fan from a PC is just so appealing. The plans
are on the HomeBrew
site. You might want to create your own lawn furniture by using
the plans at ReadyMade,
or perhaps
a camping stove. The next time you go to a wedding, make
your own tux. |
| When things get slow and you are looking for something easy and
quiet to do this weekend, get somebody to join you and you both can
doodle together with this online
whiteboard. |
| Ready to start the holiday shopping season? Going to be in line
early Friday morning to take advantage of those special deals? Check
out Black Friday.net to see what
those deals are. Culled from the circulars of all major chains, this
site lets you know ahead of time where the best prices and special
deals are. |
| Conspiracy theorists and true believers will want to check out this
cool site. Powered by Google Maps, the website is a virtual map of
all reported UFO sightings in North
America. |
| Turn your home into a palace of cool at Crib
Candy, a blog constantly updated with cool new products for the
home from all around the world. Browse through the thumbnail shots
of unique furnishings such as UV-friendly wallpaper and luxury dog
beds. The site has quirky but functional products for every room in
the house, as well as your garden and storage areas. |
| The film "American Photography: A Century of Images",
originally aired on PBS in 1999, is an amazing experience of photograph
and film that captures the documentary and creative role the camera
played in the 20th Century. Browse the various sections of the "American
Photography" website, each of which has a written piece and
images on how photography and film have impacted our cultural experience
of War, Politics, Art, Advertising, Entertainment, etc. |
| The Necker Cube is named after the Swiss crystallographer Louis
Albert Necker, who in the mid-1800's saw cubic shapes spontaneously
reverse in perspective. The human mind perceives the 2-dimensional
shadow of a cube as a 3-dimensional object, but the 2-D image doesn't
distinguish the front and back faces. You can perceive either face
as being in front. The
Animated Necker Cube applet forces you to periodically switch
your perception of the cube. It does this by moving images horizontally
and vertically through the cube in a mutually inconsistent way. |
| What are those folks in WASHINGTON ACTUALLY DOING? Check
on legislation via keyword. |
| See the HURRICANE
SEASON as God sees it. 6 months of 'canes in 60 seconds, courtesy
of NASA and a satellite. |
| Some printers embed a secret coded dot pattern on each printed page,
and if you decode the dots, you can determine the owner of the printer
and the exact time the page was printed. This one has all the markings
of a silly urban legend, but in fact it's true. Find out what the
U.S. government has to do with this, and learn how to decode the little
yellow dots here |
| Churchill
and the U.S. Winston Churchill was one of the truly great figures
of the 20th Century. This fascinating online exhibition by The Library
of Congress celebrates his life and work, focusing specifically on
his links to the United States. Take the interactive tour of "Churchill
and the Great Republic", a virtual biography that demonstrates
Churchill's sincere love for the United States of America. The exhibition
is chock full of interesting features, including letters, photographs,
artifacts, documents as well as audio clips taken from Mr. Churchill's
speeches and writings. |
| The articles and other information on The
Science of Cooking website scientifically break down food-related
techniques such as Pickling, Baking, Organic Farming and Candy-Making.
Rummage through one of the food topics which include "Candy",
Bread", "Eggs", "Pickles", "Meat",
and "Seasoning". There are lots of cool features to explore
including the "Candy-o-matic" (which shows how different
candies are made) and the "Kitchen Lab", an experimental
feature of each yummy section. |
| The Warlords of
Afghanistan website offers a deeper look into the complicated
political and territorial make-up of the country. Learn more about
this nation, its tumultuous history, and its geographic territory
that is divided up and ruled by various warlords. Simply click on
a Warlord's name to read a brief biography of the man, as well as
learn about the area of Afghanistan that he rules over. |
| Nerd TV, one of
the latest gems to come from PBS, is a new weekly television show
that features an hour-long interview with a single, high-profile guest
from the technology industry. The Nerd TV website allows fans to download
videos of each show, check out upcoming show schedules, and read transcripts
from past interviews. Featured guests on the show have included Apple
co-founder Steve Wozniak, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Doug Englebart,
who invented the computer mouse. |
| Take a virtual dive into the furthest depths of science at Scipeeps.Com,
a"one-stop shop" for information on prominent scientists
from the fields of Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Invention,
Physics, and more. Learn about favorite scientific innovators, from
legends such as Newton and Einstein to other pioneers of their respective
fields including Marie Curie, Johannes Kepler, and Karl Ernst von
Baer. |
| Find-A-Human
We have all experienced the frustration of trying to get a "real
person" on the phone when calling a large business such as a
bank or phone company. This site lists out major companies in the
US, and gives you the quickest route to avoid the annoying computer
voice, and succeed in getting an actual human being on the line to
help you! |
| Aspiring screenwriters and film fans will love this website,
created and run by screenwriter John August, a successful writer whose
past projects include "Go", "Big Fish", "Charlie's
Angels", and more recently Tim Burton's remake of "Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory". The majority of the site's content
consists of Mr. August answering screenwriting- related questions
that have been submitted by readers and fans. |
| Foundcity is a
cool new "social mapping tool" that allows you to create
a personal "map" of places that interest you in a city (restaurants,
museums, bars, scenic views, landmarks, etc.). Using either a mobile
phone or a computer, users can tag various locations in a city, label
them with words and/or photos, and add them to their personal map.
Post your map publicly, share it with friends, or check out other
people's favorite spots in a new city you are planning to visit. |
| Making the Modern
World This exhibition explains the evolution of modern industrial
society over the past three hundred years, and the impact it has had
on our lives. Various sections of the online exhibit, include "Stories
Timeline", "Icons of Invention", and "Everyday
Life". This fascinating website looks at the influence of our
own inventions and modern marvels, from machine guns and medicine
to solar power and supercomputers. |
| Hypnotize Guidance
Hypnosis is as much about willingness as it is about the skill of
the "hypnotizer". Sue's graphics, tools, pendulums and crystal
balls will help your mind relax into a hypnotic state on your own. |
| How Bird Flu
Works If you've kept up with the news lately, you've probably
heard dire warnings about avian flu, or bird flu. In this article,
we'll review the basics of how viruses and influenza work, and we'll
learn the answers to these and other questions about avian flu, including
whether it is likely to cause a global flu epidemic. |
| First Aid Online
First aid is an essential, potentially life-saving skill that everyone
should know. This site, created by St. John Ambulance, has easy-to-follow
instructions for giving CPR, treating burns and addressing a wide
range of emergency medical situations. |
| Get an up-close look at some of the most famous books in history
at this cool site. Turning
the Pages is an online gallery created by the British Library,
that lets you browse and magnify the details of legendary tomes. Visitors
can scroll through the personal notebook of Leonardo Da Vinci, see
the original Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and view the oldest
printed book (which dates back to 9th Century China). There are also
landmark books from the fields of Medicine, Botany and Religion |
| The
2-Variable Intuition Test Take this alternative IQ test, courtesy
of the always entertaining OkCupid.Com. It is a fascinating set of
authentic questions that determine your dual levels of Scientific
and Emotional Intuition. |
| Why settle for an ordinary roll when you can treat yourself to your
very own customized toilet paper? JustToiletPaper.Com
has a wide selection of custom toilet papers for the discerning bathroom
consumer to choose from. |
| Welcome to Adtunes.com! This ad
music weblog serves as a great source of information on music used
in television commercials, movie trailers, movie soundtracks, tv shows,
video games and more. |
| The Fun Mansion has funny pictures, videos, jokes and links. Currently
Showing: Magazine
Illusions: Have a camera, magazine and time to kill? Try this
(warning: some PG-13 material) |
| Watching the news or reading the paper often answers the question
of "what" is going on in the world. But for those who want
to learn the reasons, science and logic behind the news, The Why
Files site is a great place to start. It is a fascinating place
to collect the day's current events. Updated daily, the goal of the
site is to explore the "science, math and technology" behind
the daily news, and to present it in an easily accessible format. |
| Ever wonder why some songs are so forgettable, and others get stuck
in your head for days on end? Welcome to the Science
of Music website, an online exhibition sponsored by the National
Science Foundation that seeks to provide scientific explanations to
the art of music and other noises. |
| Liveplasma is a way for
you to broaden your cultural horizons according to your taste in usic
and movies. Look for your favorite bands, movie or directors to obtain
a map that details other potential interests. |
| Do the Katrina/Rita events have you thinking more about the square
footage of your next bomb shelter? Make sure you have an appropriate
end-of-the-world stash.
Or for the outdoors
type |
| How can you be a resident of the Orville Redenbacher state without
having a portfolio of popcorn recipes? Try popcorn.com |
| A picture's worth a 1000 words. NYPL
Digital Gallery provides access to over 363,000 images. |
| To paraphrase Robert K. Merton, skepticism is a virtue in our business.
Tired of all the negative vibes? Get a happy view of the news at:
HappyNews.com |
| Sheppard
Software has some amazing web learning games, including fairly
difficult drag & drop geogrpahy games. |
| Very cool site: Science
photos of the year |
| This site, PhoneNotify
provided by CDYNE, is both cool and weird. Enter a phone number
with area code -- Enter the text you want the robot to speak -- Enter
the number 0 as the licenseKey -- THAT PHONE RINGS IMMEDIATELY, speaking
your msg! (be nice) |
| If you're a fan of White Fang, Peary and Henson's adventures, or
the Iditarod—or if you're any kind of armchair adventurer at
all—you ought to check out PolarHusky.com.
The site chronicles Arctic Transect 2004, an expedition in which an
international team of 6 and their 31 sled dogs participated. |
| Engadget is an excellent blog-style
online magazine collects cutting-edge news, gossip, announcements,
and reviews covering a broad range of gadgets, from cell phones and
digital cameras to robots, gaming devices, transportation gear, and
more. |
| Eventful is a website that people
can use to find, contribute, and share events and calendars with their
friends, family, and contacts. A"When"
filter allows you to see how many events are happening today or at
some point in the future, as well as what events have happened in
the past. Choose your city or another one.You can mark other users
as friends, family, or contacts, and then create events or calendars
whose access is limited to just them. |
| This free web site, Traffic.com
collects minute-by-minute reports on traffic conditions in 23 cities.
Log on before leaving or have reports sent to your cell phone or PDA. |
| George Eastman House in Rochester and the International Center of
Photography are at work on an ambitious project to create one of the
largest freely accessible databases of masterwork photography anywhere
on the Web. The Web site - Photomuse.org,
now active only as a test site, with a smattering of images - is expected
to include almost 200,000 photographs when it is completed in the
fall of 2006. |
| Okay, Cool Site fans, I'm running out of sites and unless you want
to see more sites like this, please send me some of your favorite
sites. Find misspelled
e-bay items at fatfingers.com |
| As gasoline prices soar and concern over harmful emission mounts,
cars that run on alternate fuel sources are becoming increasingly
important. A natural-gas vehicle, or NGV, is fuel-efficient, environmentally
friendly and offers a relatively low cost of ownership. Learn
about the basic idea of NGVs, the unique design challenges involved,
and the advantages and benefits of this technology. |
| Fifty Word Fiction
In this fast-paced society, some people can't seem to find the time
to read a book. This cool twist on a literary blog posts works of
fiction that are under 50 words. |
| Crossword Helpers If you're
having trouble getting a word in a crossword puzzle, then perhaps
OneAcross can help. In addition to pattern dictionary searches, it
can analyze the clue as well. OneAcross lets you enter either the
length of the answer or an answer pattern, in which you use a question
mark for unknown letters in the word. OneAcross also has a tool to
help you solve cryptograms. |
| Scrabble
Helper If you're a fan of the Scrabble board game, you'll love
this one. Enter the seven letters on your Scrabble rack, and this
nifty tool will reveal, disclose and divulge all the words that can
be composed from them. You can even specify specific beginning and
ending letters, or ask for words of a certain length. |
| Zone Out with THE
KALEIDOSCOPE PAINTER Eye-candy for the fractal mind. |
| YOU'RE GETTING SLEEEEEPY, Online
Trance Session Ready to be hypnotized? As long as you're not using
a forklift or performing a Cholesky decomposition, relax, and let
this site put you into a trance ... |
| Most of us are probably unfamiliar with the term Vexillology,
which refers to the study of flags. With over 52,000 images of flags,
the Flags of the World
website is the Web's foremost resource of this eccentric hobby. |
| Beginners
Guide to making Sushi Most people who try sushi quickly become
addicted to the Japanese delicacy. Avoid expensive restaurants and
have a blast by learning to make sushi at home. |
| "Do You Speak
American" takes a humorous but insightful look at the English
language as it is spoken in our untraditional but creative nation.
The program's website offers fascinating features such as the evolution
and impact of modern American slang, the future of speaking, and a
map experience that tracks how our language changes from region to
region. There are also a lot of fun games on the site like "Test
Your Vowel Power" and a regional dialect quiz called "Where
is the Speaker From?" |
| Welcome to Pluck.com,
a new service that retrieves and organizes all of your favorite Web
fodder into one easy to view site. Whether it is sports, news, shopping,
entertainment or any other form of web content you are after, you
no longer have to go dashing from one site to the other in search
of information. Pluck allows you to view multiple websites at once,
share folders and data with others, and will even work hard searching
for you while you are offline in the 'real world'. |
| How
Urban Gaming Works People around the world have been putting location-based
technology to innovative use, creating "experiences" in
public settings that are part game, part performance art, and part
sociology experiment. Learn what urban gaming is all about, find out
how it works, and explore the potential of games and technology |
| Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory
recently created a page that
lets you send your name to Pluto (the planet, not the dog). Hopkins
and NASA plan to launch a spacecraft in 2006 that will pass by the
*planet* Pluto in 2015. Just key in your first and last names. That's
it. No email, snail mail, or credit cards required. It doesn't cost
you anything to sign up, and you even get a pretty cool color certificate
to hang on the wall. |
| If you want to know what the basis is for the new government
in Iraq, here is a draft
of the Iraqi constitution which will be voted on in October. |
| Best History
Sites was created for History teachers, students and endlessly
curious lovers of the subject. It is probably the top portal on the
Web to find websites and information on the many sub-categories of
History. |
| Fifty
Word Fiction In this fast-paced society, some people can't seem
to find the time to read a book. This cool twist on a literary blog
posts works of fiction that are under 50 words. |
| Paper Doll
Heaven Playing with dolls takes on a whole new meaning at this
cool site. Create virtual "dolls" of your favorite famous
and infamous people, and then give them a unique makeover of your
choosing. |
| TV buffs and seasoned couch potatoes will get a kick
out of TV Obscurities,
which celebrates the lesser-known shows of TV history, and has a simple
and noble goal, to keep "Obscure TV from fading away forever".
Scroll through the archive of obscure shows, which includes such throwbacks
as "Cliff Hangers!", "The Hunter", and "The
Baileys of Balboa". |
| It was only a few years ago that geneticists, after
years of work, finally mapped the Human Genome. But what are the effects
that this amazing new field of research will have on our health and
on our society? "Understanding
Genetics" offers fascinating insight into many of the scientific,
ethical and health-related issues currently facing the fast-growing
field of Human Genetics. |
| Each August, as students start to arrive, Beloit College
releases the Beloit
College Mindset List, which offers a world view of today's entering
college students. |
| Slow
down, you move too fast |
| Kitty seeming a bit stressed lately? Spare your furniture
and bliss out together at Yoga
Kitty, a "practical guide" for people and pusses who
seek to achieve physical, mental and spiritual ecstasy, without drugs
or catnip. In free instructional videos for clearing past karma, tapping
electromagnetism and meditating, Yogi Karl and partner Yogi Ovaria
-- the original Yogakitty -- show viewers how to adjust their shakras
in seriocomic scenes that will have you cracking up even while the
cat shreds another pillow. |
| Take a quick break from work and play a little Planarity.
Created by an undergraduate student, the aim of the game is to arrange
the vertices on each Planar Graph so that there are no overlapping
edges. |
| Click Maze
Andrea Gilbert's website is a collection of mazes and interactive
puzzles that are as challenging as they are creative. Wander through
intellectual labyrinths such as "Full-house puzzles", "Tilt
Collection", "Plank Puzzles", and "The Maze of
Life". |
| The Art
of Science Competition Art and Science elegantly collide in this
beautiful gallery of images, which demonstrate the aesthetic nature
of research. Highlights of the competition include "Cygnus Nebula",
"Mooney Faces", and "Earth in Thread". Very cool. |
| Nuclear fusion has been getting a lot of press recently
because of the decision to build a test reactor in France. Fusion
reactors will use abundant sources of fuel, will not leak radiation
above normal background levels and will produce less radioactive waste
than current fission reactors. Learn
about this promising power source. |
| The Virtual Library
Museum Directory allows you to access a variety of museum's websites
around the world. Search for a specific museum, or simply select a
country from the list and browse through the many listings. You can
find libraries, galleries and other centers of culture and art. |
| American History buffs will enjoy this fascinating list
of Great Questions
of History. There are particularly interesting queries on Malcolm
X, JFK, FDR, and Joseph McCarthy. |
| iSerenity
Bring a little bit of peace to your office with this wonderful site.
Iserenity has 31 different sound and image "environments"
that will help you relax in the midst of a stressful workday. |
| For those who argue that modern music is formulaic,
take a closer look at Mozart
and dice |
| The newest telescope within the Mauna Kea Science Reserve,
the Subaru telescope
boasts the largest single-piece mirror in the world, which can see
deeper into space and photograph a wider area of space than was conceivable
even one generation ago. In early May, Subaru announced the discovery
of 12 new asteroid-like moons circling Saturn and the telescope has
snapped pictures of just about every corner of our solar system and
the Milky Way, and in "gazing ever further outward, can now see
almost all the way back to the beginning of time itself." |
| Although we have learned so much about the world in
which we live, there are still so many mysteries, questions and undiscovered
answers out there. The Science
Magazine website explores 125 different scientific questions that
still intrigue us, from the health of our bodies to the truth about
the universe. Articles address profound questions such as "What is
the Universe Made Of?", "Can the laws of Physics be Unified", and
"Is an Effective HIV Vaccine feasible?". |
| Africa spans over three thousand different cultures
within fifty countries, an amazing web of ancient beliefs, rituals
and traditions. The online presence of "Cycles:
African Life Through Art", is a fascinating exhibition compiled
by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The site is broken up into four
sections; "Youth", "Adulthood", "Leadership"
and "Ancestors", all of which contain a wealth of information
about different tribal traditions that honor the greater cycle of
life in which we all participate. |
| If you like it spicy than you will want to pay a visit
to the Transcendental Capsaicinophilic
Society. The Society and its members (known as Chili-Heads) are
dedicated advocates of the holy chili pepper. Visitors will learn
everything there is to know about the many variations of "Capsicum"
peppers in the world. Peppers are considered to be a healthy part
of the diet, increasing the production of endorphins and other natural
mood-elevating substances. The site has a host of recipes, snacks,
preservation methods, smoking tips and many other topics related to
the omnipotent chili. |
| Wi-Fi Your Trip
This site is a must for Laptop laborers and Internet addicts on the
go. It offers an extensive directory of free Wi-Fi hotspots in all
fifty states. |
| Welcome to the virtual
laboratory of Dale Purvis, part of the Department of Neurobiology
at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina. This cool online
lab uses Macromedia Flash demonstrations to explain the mysteries
of human visual and auditory perception. Test your skills of perception
by participating in some of the lab's Flash demonstrations pertaining
to Brightness, Color, Motion and other areas of visual perception.
There are also Audition demonstrations to test your hearing skills
and a host of other cool features. |
| A professor moving here this summer needs to liquidate
some of his low alpha assets to support his fall football picks. Check
out: http://www.captainquack.com/ |
| Action-movie buffs and special effects junkies will
want to bookmark Vfxblog, which
covers the cutting edge of visual effects in film and offers a peek
behind-the-scenes to see how special effects gurus bring these characters
to life. Learn the techniques and secrets behind the special effects
of current blockbusters such as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory",
"Batman Begins" and "The Fantastic Four". |
| As long as we are talking about satellite views of planets,
you might want to try Microsoft's brand new Virtual
Map of the earth or maybe even Google's |
| On July 20, 1969, man first landed on the Moon. A few
decades later, we're pleased to cut you in on the action. Google
Moon is an extension of Google Maps and Google Earth that, courtesy
of NASA imagery (thanks, guys!), enables you to surf the Moon's surface
and check out the exact spots that the Apollo astronauts made their
landings. Zoom in all the way and find out what happens. |
| How
Invisibility Cloaks Work An “invisibility cloak”
seems perfectly believable in the magical world of Harry Potter; but
in the real world, such a garment is impossible, right? Not so fast.
With optical-camouflage technology developed at the University of
Tokyo, the invisibility cloak is a reality. Find out how it works
and what other applications the technology may have. |
| 50
Fun Things to Do With Your iPod The world's most popular mp3 player,
the iPod, has become something of a phenomenon. Learn other fun tricks
for your iPod to perform besides playing music, such as how to turn
it into a laser pointer, make it read text files out loud, and upload
bartending software so you can mix your own beverages. |
| Random
acts of good graffiti |
| Finally, AN
OPTICAL ILLUSION DATABASE No more hunting the web everyday for
new and interesting eye trickeronics. Get them all right here in one
spot! |
| AFI
Top Movie Quotes Film fans will enjoy this list of movie quotes,
courtesy of The American Film Institute. Read through the list of
quotes that include legendary lines by Brando, Bogart and other giants
of the Silver Screen. |
| The Trivia
Library houses hundreds of articles on subjects ranging from Utopias
to United States History. You will learn random facts about History,
Religion, Words, Love and Sexuality, Psychics, Film, Sports and many
other topics. Be sure to check out the Lists section of the library,
which contains obscure lists, facts and figures such as 20 Only Child's
and 9 Famous People Who Died in the Bathroom. |
| Beatles
Philosophy See how Lennon/McCartney were contemplating the relative
merits of Nagel, Nietzche, and Schopenhauer. |
| Road Sign Math
is a fun driving game that bored road warriors of long distance journeys
can play to pass the time. Learn the rules of this ingenious 'competition',
then start driving and find a road sign equation worth submitting
to the official website. |
| Magazine Covers
from the Future This whole thing is one self-contained flash presentation,
so wait until you see "COVERS FROM THE FUTURE" at the top
of the screen. It's a series of hoots! |
| How
Human Networking Works Lots of us wonder what makes some people
successful where others fail. According to Keith Ferrazzi, author
of the best-seller "Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success,
One Relationship at a Time," it's all about relationships. The
first step to achieving your goals is helping other people achieve
theirs. Learn about human networking and the "generosity rules"
approach to business. |
| This is a really impressive optical illusion. Check
it out: |
| Summer Study Aid - MEGA
ONLINE FLASH CARDS Printable flashcards on every subject, even
SAT tests. |
| Speakwire works with Speegle,
the talking search engine, collating newsfeeds from all around the
world and automatically downloading them to your computer for you
to listen to at your convenience. Create your own personal news folder
by first selecting from a range of categories (Politics, Sports, etc.)
and then from a list of news sources (BBC, Reuters, USA Today, etc.).
Speakwire will then automatically collect and download all related
news feeds and play them for you while you work! |
| Check out the Impulsive
Buy for self-described "quasi-reviews" on a variety
of consumer products ranging from breakfast cereals to cheeseburgers.
While the site's editors do actually review each product, the value
in this website is more in the hilarious descriptions and bizarre
tangents than in its expert opinions. In honor of the Star Wars frenzy
currently sweeping the nation, the Impulsive Buy just reviewed the
new limited edition Star Wars cereal, conducting a very funny mock-interview
with the all-powerful Yoda. |
| Artists, illustrators, animators, cartoonists and anyone else who
adores drawing will love this daily blog entitled "Drawn!".
The site is regularly updated with information about emerging and
popular artists from all over the world, as well as comic strips,
current exhibits and illustrated books. The blog is organized by artistic
category, including everything medium from "Illustration"
and "Animation" to "Typography" and "Toys"
and a stellar selection of links to cool art sites as well as to other
blogs. |
| The newly launched Electronic
Encyclopedia of Chicago -- a joint venture between Northwestern,
the Chicago Historical Society and the Newberry Library -- offers
readers a presentation of the city's history with richness and depth
unparalleled by any other digital resource. The free, online encyclopedia
follows in the wake of the critically acclaimed, 1,000 plus-page print
edition and contains even more than the book. |
| This is a really impressive optical illusion. Check
it out |
| Quiz Farm Taking quizzes
can be fun, especially if you are not in school. Take one of the many
fun quizzes at the Quiz Farm, which ask about everything from politics
to sex, or create your own quiz for friends to take. |
| GOOFY GOLF ONLINE! You're gonna be playing this at least once this
summer, you should practice up. Island
Mini-Golf |
| Get a simple introduction to Quantum Physics, which is considered
by many to be science's most fascinating area of study. At the age
of 93, top physicist Hans Bethe delivered three
lectures on the principles of Quantum Physics to senior citizens
at a local retirement home. In addition to the QuickTime videos, the
site also contains a biography of Mr. Bethe, who left Germany in the
mid-1930's to escape from the Nazi regime and became one of the most
influential physicists of the 20th Century. |
| Jared Tarbell is a computer science guru and a digital artist of
exceptional talent. His website
contains an extensive selection of his work, which is created by using
computer programs to create abstract graphic images. Browse the gallery
and you will discover that Tarbell's work is more than just an eccentric
meeting of the computer and art worlds, but legitimately beautiful
and inspired artwork. Just click on a specific piece to learn and
see more, and if you see something you love, you can purchase a high
quality print of one of these artistic algorithms online. |
| Given recent sightings in the building we post the following for
community safety: http://www.stopabductions.com/ |
| Musical anthropologist Alan Lomax spent a lifetime documenting folk
traditions and music from countries all over the world. The
Alan Lomax Collection, which was acquired by The Library of Congress
last year, catalogues all of his audio and video recordings, photographs,
interviews, folk tales and oral histories. Fans must register at the
site in order to listen to and download the growing number of audio
and photographic files, which were recorded by Mr. Lomax and his father
between the 1930's and the 1990's. |
| With a huge online network of site reviewers, web guides, "best
picks" editors, e-newsletters and many other 'seekers of web
content', The URL Wire offers
an extremely effective way to publicize a new or existing website
across the many fragmented audiences spread out across the Internet. |
| Are you missing Seinfeld? Want to try to find those
quotoes or special scenes? For those who are way too much into Seinfeld:
http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/ |
| Instead of waiting for the final installment, impatient fan, graphic
designer, and fledgling filmmaker Shane Felux decided to make his
own Star Wars flick entitled "Revelations".
Made for less than twenty thousand dollars in Northern Virginia by
Mr. Felux's company Panic Struck Productions, the forty-minute movie
Star Wars "Revelations" has become an Internet phenomenon. |
| For an ambitious project on the history of China check out this
site based
on the Army
Area Handbook on China. It also contains a timeline
on Chinese history. |
| Jared Tarbell's website, Complexification.net,
contains an extensive selection of his work, which is created by using
computer programs to create abstract graphic images. You will discover
that Tarbell's work is more than just an eccentric meeting of the
computer and art worlds, but legitimately beautiful and inspired artwork.
Click on a specific piece to learn and see more. |
| Get a quick education on the greatest mysteries of science. "13
things that do not make sense", an article written by Michael
Brooks, gives us a quick update on areas of science that we still
cannot explain such as Dark Matter and Cold Fusion. Included in this
list are mysterious events in human history that have been left unexplained,
including fascinating phenomena like the WOW signal of 1972 and the
"Pioneer Anomaly". |
| "Power Trips" is
an investigative report aired by American Radioworks that takes a
deeper look into the often dubious ethical and financial relationships
between major corporations and congressmen. The investigation took
four and a half months to complete, and was conducted by American
Radioworks along with a group of graduate students from the Medill
School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Visitors can watch
and listen to the two-part segment, as well as go to the Data section
to find out about which U.S. congressmen take the most corporate-sponsored
"business trips". |
| Writers &
Artists Snacking At Work Junk food junkies will find write-ups
on every tasty treat available, from Almond Joy bars to Zingers.Dedicated
to finding you the very best in snacking satisfactio, the WASAW
website has written over two hundred reviews to date, all of which
include info on the snack's ingredients, price, packaging, as well
as funny notes such as how the product could be improved and "which
South Park character would like it best." |
| Ever wondered why the sky is blue, how rainbows are created, or
what makes an emerald green? The Causes
of Color web exhibit is a journey into light, one of the simplest
and yet most profound elements of our world. Scroll the exhibit and
learn about how light is made, lost, and moved. There are also other
features, such as how the world looks through colorblind eyes, how
animals see, and the various color atlases. |
| How Deep
Impact Works How do you get details about the early days of our
solar system? One way is to investigate comets -- balls of consolidated
ice, dust and organic matter formed approximately 4 billion years
ago. This summer, the Deep Impact spacecraft will fire an impactor
into Comet Tempel 1 and get some answers. |
| If I Became
The Hero Ever watched a TV show or movie and been incensed by
the predictable pitfalls the 'Hero' is always falling into? Action
fans and especially Trekkies will get a kick out of this site, which
lists the many preventive measures you could take if you were the
Hero. |
| Rebel against the "Consumption Society" and return to
your simple roots at this light-hearted and helpful blog entitled
"Frugal for
Life". Visitors will find a host of inventive and useful
tips, from creative recycling routines to money saving strategies.
The blog also has links to valuable websites that provide free services,
such as Efax, as well as sites where you can make a little extra cash
on the side by selling old books and cell phones. |
| For the person that wants to try some easy plumbing chores, or wants
an explanation of how some plumbing works, Friendly
Plumber is your answer. Many questions ar answered by this helpful
web site. |
| Have a consumer complaint? The Federal
Trade Commission has a web site you can use to complain and report
actions against you and your family. |
| If you like crossword
puzzles, here's a web site where you can print hundreds
of puzzles. You can either print them off, make your own, or even
make your own word find puzzles. |
| City Data has an extensive
database of information on practically every city in the United States,
from large urban centers to small country towns. Visitors should also
check out the Top 100 section of the site, which ranks U.S. cities
based on various criteria such as racial diversity, crime rates and
average annual household earnings. |
| Modern Ruins Photographic
Essay This beautiful photography site, created by Shawn O'Boyle
and his wife Wendy Lewis O'Boyle, contains starkly beautiful images
of the many "Modern Ruins" they have seen in their travels.
Scroll through the gallery of modern ruins, which includes factories,
hospitals, orphanages, asylums, train yards, hospitals, jails, mines
and other architectural relics of recent history. |
| Introducing the Solar Death
Ray, a homemade instrument of minor destruction made up of 112
mirrors mounted on a 4 x 6 platform that directs "deadly"
sunlight at its myriad targets. The creator of this hilarious site
(and invention) uses a wooden fork, which extends outward from the
Solar Death Ray, to mount his prey on. Check out the Target Gallery
to see recent victims of the Solar Death Ray, which include a Twinkie,
a chocolate bunny, a Pop Tart and other unwitting junk food items. |
| The Sith Explained
"Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" is the final installment
in George Lucas' legendary sextet of sci-fi films. While the movies
have done a great job of teaching us all about the Jedi, their shadowy
foes -- the Sith -- haven't really been explained all that well. Who
are the Sith, anyway? |
| With the motto "Developing the Photographer in you", Cameratown
is a one-stop shopping center for photographers of all disciplines,
from conventional film lovers to modern digital diehards. There are
reviews on a wide selection of cameras, as well as online rebates,
instruction manuals, free software, and even links to online and "real
world" photography classes. |
| All
About Birds Visitors can read through extensive information on
identifying bird species, the best locations for "birding",
necessary gear they will need as well as the proper way to report
successful observations. There is also an online bird guide that is
a virtual encyclopedia, complete with photos, range maps, songs and
calls, as well as info on specific habitats, eating, reproduction
and other basic bird behaviors. |
| Famous Birthdays Ever
wondered who else was born on your birthday? Search by year to discover
which celebrities, both famous and infamous, share your date of birth. |
| This website offers a taste of what you will find in the amusing
British book "Shop Horror".
Commercial puns have never been so inventive or just plain bizarre,
with favorites such as "Pizza the Action", "The Prawnbrokers",
and "Wok This Way" |
| The Chicago Historical Society's electronic
encyclopedia of Chicago includes photographs, essays, art, music,
maps and documents on all things Chicago. Entries expand on the travails
of Al Capone, White Sox pennant races, the history of machine politics,
Chicago-style pizza and more. There are profiles of bad guys, good
guys and everything in between. Users can find points of labor unrest
in 1886, view city streets in 1909 and examine homicide rates from
1870. |
| While most of us may throw together the occasional snowman, ice
sculpturing is an art that goes far beyond the centerpiece at your
cousin's wedding. Check out photos of the top designs from the annual
International
Snow Sculpture Championships in Breckenridge, Colorado. |
| Words At Play Letters
come to life at this playful and creative website, which celebrates
the power of words and the highest in typographical ideals. With single
Open Type fonts as its only descriptive medium, Words at Play has
created 21 portraits of literary legends that convey each writer's
individual style, work and personality using only the letters in each
author's name. |
| The Genographic
Project is an amazing 5-year study into the history of the human
journey by genetically mapping individual DNA to a common evolutionary
timeline that stretches over 60,000 years.It can trace individuals
back to their earliest ancestors in Africa. |
| Buy hotel furniture on the cheap. 19-inch TV's
for $39, bedroom sets for $500, minibars from $25. Universal
Hotel Liquidators, Hotel
Liquidator Inc. (Merrilville), Hotel
Surplus Outlet. |
| A New Way to Look at Search For decades, computer
researchers have experimented with the idea of displaying textual
information in visual maps, but the concept has been slow to find
practical applications. Grokker
brings together multiple information sources in a single application
and presents up to 2,000 results per query, giving you the ability
to explore any subject far beyond the obvious. |
| Braingle
The creator of the site wanted to create a site that contained all
the brain teasers that have ever been written (yep, huge job) but
many people began writing their own teasers and submitting them. Started
off as just a user there and then become a regular visitor. |
| A free site for fundraising via
a yard sale. All the price tags, reports, etc. are custom generated
PDF output. The tags print out on standard mailing labels, and you
can even place a bar code on them. |
| Metrocams Live cam
website from a lot of cities. You can go to the Chicago site and wait
for the Sears Tower to show up, the top is orange and blue. |
| Compare Yahoo And Google Results
Who is the greatest search engine in all the land? Find out at
this privately run site that pits Yahoo! and Google search results
against one another. |
| Finding stuff in a search engine is sometimes quite difficult. Choose
the wrong search terms and you end up with either a squillion hits
or none. What we need is a way to see how many hits our search terms
are going to generate BEFORE we do our searches. That way we can refine
our search terms as we type them. Enter Google
Suggest. |
| The Cloud Appreciation
Society 's manifesto proudly proclaims that clouds are nature's
form of poetry, to be loved and contemplated by dreamers, and the
very expression of our atmosphere's ever-changing moods. The website
is as whimsical as clouds themselves, with a gallery of beautiful
photos, cloud-related articles and a forum where "cloudspotters"
come to share their experiences. Don't miss the stunning videos of
the famous Australian cloud "Morning Glory" made by the
Society's founder Gavin Pretor-Pinney. |
| Register at Gnomz.Com and begin
the fun process of making a comic strip. Choose from a wide range
of sports, entertainment, political, and fictional characters, then
type in the dialogue for each comic box. In addition to creating your
own, check out the hilarious creations of some of the other Gnomz
contributors. |
| Find the next book on your reading list at StoryCode.Com,
a very cool website that uses a community format to create reading
recommendations. After you read a book just follow the site's easy
steps for "coding" the book, then let the system run off
and find a list of similar books for you to choose from. These books
come with reviews or "codes" from other site users, so you
get a quick, qualified and inspired novel to devour in your spare
time |
| The Fatherville website
focuses on the paternal side of things; it was created by fathers
dedicated to helping other fathers become the best dads they can be.
Scroll through the many sections to find your fatherly niche and take
advantage of the online forums, the wonderfully honest articles written
by fathers about their individual experiences, the monthly newsletter,
and the great book recommendations for dads of all stripes and colors. |
| Forget about paper, the shredders
made by SSI are built to shred everything from tree stumps to
torpedoes. Simply click on one of the many objects listed, and watch
one of SSI's destructive masterpieces make mince meat of DVD's, medical
waste, couches, boats and a host of other objects. |
| The Business of Baseball
website is a research source for those who want to learn more about
the business side of professional baseball. Visitors can view articles
on current issues facing the game, learn about expansion projects
in the works (the Washington D.C. Nationals!), and read interviews
with influential owners, commissioners, announcers and other baseball
personalities. |
| NetHistory A fantastic Internet
history resource, this portal points you toward a wealth of blissfully
nontechnical info tracing the international evolution of the Net—as
well as of computers and e-mail. |
| Created by Han Hoogerbrugge and entitled "Modern
Living/the Neurotica Series", this is an interactive
animation series that uniquely incorporates stories from our everyday
lives. Most images are activated by dragging your mouse over specific
parts of the animation, which makes the character move or respond
to his surroundings in different, creative ways. A quirky and funny
take on everyday modern life. |
| Fashion meets science at Ian's
Shoelace Site, an instructional guide to getting laced up in twenty-two
different ways. Learn funky styles such as the "Double-Helix",
"Lattice Lacing", and even "One-Handed Lacing". |
| What if the Internet extended beyond computers and high-speed connections,
with web pages expanding down city streets and onto the sides of buildings?
This is the vision behind an interactive new media project called
grafedia, which enables folks
to make the world their canvas by publicly posting e-mail addresses
or keywords that, when punched into certain mobile phones or an e-mail
account, retrieve corresponding images. |
| Blinkx 3.0 searches
local documents and files, Web sites, news, blogs, and even television
content, all at the same time. You don't have to request a search
explicitly. When you open a file or view a Web page, blinkx analyzes
its text and makes an implicit query for similar content. |
| Where Have I Seen
That Guy? You know those actors that you always see in supporting
roles, but you never remember their names? Test your skills at recognizing
Hollywood's best unknown supporting actors with this fun but challenging
online quiz. |
| Just as blogging has enabled almost anyone with a computer to become
a bona fide reporter, a new technology called podcasting
is allowing virtually anyone to become a disc jockey, talk show host
or recording artist. Learn all about the phenomenon. |
| The editors of the Uncyclopedia
take pride in their mission, which is to be as misinformative, sarcastic
and misleading as possible. Visitors can read through some of the
hilarious "articles" on topics such as Politics, People
and Sports, or just skip to the Best Of Uncyclopedia section. Should
you feel so inclined, you are also welcome to contribute your own
piece of misinformation to the website. The only rule, of course,
is that it has to be funny! |
| Space truly is the "final frontier", and for the past
fifty years NASA has been our tour guide. This fun and eduacational
site, entitled NASA
Brain Bites, provides answers to a host of esoteric questions
about space travel and the experience of being an astronaut. The Uncyclopedia
site is a self-described encyclopedia of lies and misinformation,
dedicated solely to your amusement not your education. |
| Imagine if you could visit beautiful cities such as London and Paris
as they were centuries ago? Travel back in time to view ancient maps,
literature and other documents of the world's
historic cities at different stages of their evolution. This is
a fascinating journey back to the roots of our most celebrated urban
centers. |
| "Doodles,
Drafts and Designs" is a travelling exhibition that was created
by The Smithsonian Institute's National Museum Of American History.
It showcases the plans of engineers, inventors and industrial designers,
"the sketches of dreams" that eventually become our skyscrapers,
bridges, train stations, airports and other urban monuments. Visitors
will find the blueprints of everything from 19th Century Steam Engines
to Crayola Crayons. |
| Amaztype is a cool new tool
that helps readers quickly find a book through the vast Amazon network.
Simply search by title or author to locate a specific book in the
blink of an eye. You can also look for your favorite music and DVD's. |
| Print Free Graph Paper
While some of us haven't used it since our last High School math class,
others use good old graph paper all the time. This cool site offers
free, printable graph paper in PDF format for math students, carpenters
and anyone else who finds it useful. |
| Travelconsumer.com,
an international travel Web site for people who just want the facts,
has almost every destination country, state, and city listing imaginable,
along with links to airports, travel guides, local government Web
sites, official tourism Web sites, maps, reservations, travel tip
articles, weather reports, WiFi hotspots, and more. For those who
like to read up on the history and culture of the place they are visiting,
there is even encyclopedic information about the destination. |
| As part of a new redesign of the COBWEB we are
going to be mirroring the new
Google design. |
| Introducing the Electric Unicycle (Eunicycle),
a hybrid of a scooter and a unicycle. Check out this site, created
by the inventor of the Eunicycle, to learn how to build one of your
very own one-wheeled contraptions |
| Sirius
vs. XM Sirius has Howard Stern; XM has Snoop Dogg. XM
is the current market leader; but then, Sirius did get a late start.
Both feature more than 100 channels of commercial-free music, news,
sports and entertainment. See what each service has to offer. |
| Congress recently passed a law requiring the three major credit-reporting
bureaus to provide consumers with a free copy of their credit report
once every 12 months. The FTC
website explains this in more detail and also allows you to request
the report on-line and provides you access to your report on-line. |
| Art meets animation at Nobody
Here, an eccentric design site supported by the Netherlands Foundation
for Fine Arts, Design, and Architecture. The designer uses impressive
graphic creativity to convey his personal emotions and frustrations.
If you want to participate, just apply by choosing one of the 'bug'
identities and crawl around the website chatting with other insect
visitors. Take your time to check out the many interesting features,
including sections such as 'Toes', 'Apologies' and 'Problems'. |
| Fans of stage performance will enjoy Stagework.Org,
which offers a behind-the-curtain look into the world of plays. Managed
by the National Theater of England,it aims to give theater-lovers
an insiders view into the complex processes that go into producing
a live play. Don't miss the 'Productions' section of the site, which
is a behind-the-scene video story of the birth of plays such as 'The
Crucible" and "His Dark Materials", from rehearsals
and set design to interviews with cast and crews. |
| Whether you are a John, Jack, Beverly or Moonunit, this cool site
will give you some insight into the popularity of your given name.
The Baby
Name Wizard is an interactive tool that shows the individual 'rank'
of first names by decade in the 20th Century. Just drag your mouse
over the Wizard until you find your name, then click on it to see
a graph that tracks its popular status over the past one hundred years. |
| If you don't really "get" jazz, world music
or classical music, tune in to BBC
Radio's Discovering Music, where each week a major musical masterpiece
undergoes a thorough diagnosis. Four musicologists use recorded examples
to analyze context and content in a complete concert performance.
Visitors may experience the music with the help of new listening tools
and new insights from your learned tutors. Visit the archive of past
programs by clicking on a composer, reviewing play lists or, for the
light-hearted, playing music games to enhance your music IQ. |
| ‘Numa’ takes
Web by storm A bespectacled, lip-synching young man from the Jersey
suburbs has become the hottest thing to hit the Internet since the
Spiridellis brothers started making JibJab cartoons. His dance to
a Romanian tune cracks up the world. |
| How
Spyware Works According to recent estimates, more than two-thirds
of all PCs are infected with some kind of spyware. This type of program
tracks your Web habits, nags you with unwanted ads or generates traffic
for a host Web site, and it can suck the life out of your computer.
Learn all about spyware and how you can get rid of it. |
| Place the State Learn the
geography of our wonderful country at this cool educational site.
Simply drag each state to its proper location and watch as they become
united! |
| You will get a kick out of the American 'consortium of silly people'
known as "Improv
Everywhere". Founded in New York City just a few
years ago, the group prides itself on its ability to create organized
fun and chaos. Scroll through the Missions section and read about
the over forty harmless pranks the young troupe has pulled, including
highlights such 'Celebrity Trash' and the annual 'No Pants' stunt. |
| How Spontaneous Human
Combustion Works: The idea of a person going up in flames for
no reason at all is apparently just too horrifying to dismiss outright.
Can spontaneous human combustion really occur? Find out what some
scientists believe is really happening when someone "spontaneously
combusts." |
| The project known simply as 'Book'
was created by four artists living on two continents who, for the
duration of the project, never once spoke to one another. Once a week
for 36 weeks, this very special sketchbook was sent back and forth
at random between two artists living in Brooklyn, NY and two artists
in Belfast, Ireland. |
| How safe is your deodorant, perfume, aftershave? Visit the Environmental
Working Group web page to find the answers. |
| The Box Doodle Project is a
fun site that showcases people's amazing ability to create something
cool out of nothing but a cardboard box and an idea. If you are up
for some creative participation, you can join the project by getting
to work on a piece of your own cardboard art. There is also an online
Doodle Box Tool, for those who prefer to create things in the virtual
world. |
| Is
it Real or A Hoax? In this day and age of computer graphics wizardry
and worldwide circulation via the internet and e-mail, hoaxes and
urban legends are spreading like never before. Study the ten pictures:
are they real or internet hoax? |
| This is the website behind a travelling exhibition by the Schomberg
Center for Research in Black Culture and The New York Public Library
entitled "Lest
We Forget: The Triumph Over Slavery." The exhibition's
purpose is not to only document what is one of the darkest spots on
human history, but also to abolish modern slavery wherever it exists
around the world. |
| NYPL
Digital Gallery provides access to over 275,000 images digitized
from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The
New York Public Library, including illuminated manuscripts, historical
maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books,
printed ephemera, and more. (Thanks Mark Kimmet) |
| How the Airbus
A380 Works It's the largest passenger jet ever built -- so huge
that airports have to be redesigned to accommodate it. But its designers
claim it will actually increase efficiency, use less fuel and generate
less noise. Find out just how big the A380 is and what this type of
craft means for the future of air travel. |
| Jim Rome Soundboard
Most sports fans are familiar with Jim Rome and the signature catchphrases
and flamboyant style of commentary he employs on his popular television
and radio shows. Check out this cool game, which is a soundboard containing
many of "The Romanator's" deadliest on-air quips. |
| Ebay continues to provide us with one incredible story after another.
Introducing the Elvis Cup,
a simple Styrofoam container that is now coveted by millions of fans
(it was allegedly used by The King just six months before his death). |
| Journey
Through A Jet Engine A very intense Flash animated trip
into a jet engine. Created by Rolls Royce as an educational tool,
this extremely cool video is an interactive experience that takes
you inside one of the most powerful machines in the world. |
| The official website of the Vendee
Globe, a single-handed, non-stop sailboat race around
the entire world, provides not only an introduction to the race, but
the means for visitors to track the progress of individual sailors
who are attempting to circumnavigate the globe entirely unassisted.
There are also amazing stories of the last fifteen years of races,
as well as the official rules of this intrepid annual competition. |
| The Compleat Steve
Martin Fans can explore this fun reference site about
the extremely talented writer/actor/producer.The site provides a closer
look into the literary side of the brilliant artist and performer
we know and love. In addition to a biography, there is a great selection
of Steve's quotes and essays. Don't miss a particularly touching piece
that Mr. Martin wrote upon the passing of his father. a single-handed,
non-stop sailboat race around the entire world. |
| Every year at the North American International Auto Show, car manufacturers
showcase their best and most innovative new designs. Some are high-tech,
others are flashy and a few are just jaw-droppingly weird. At the
2005 show, the Ford
SynUS (pronounced "sin-you-ehs") concept car fell into
all three categories. Picture a blend of a bank vault, an armored
car and a compact car, and you'll get a pretty good image of the SynUS.
The Compleat Steve Martin |
| The Color Diamond
Encyclopedia boasts a visual index of over 300 color variations
of the world's most popular precious stone. The site also explains
the difference between colored diamonds and the more common 'white'
diamonds. It also contains information about quality grading, definitions
and many other interesting elements about the history of diamonds. |
| Want to see what TV programs or movies were popular when you were
born? How about the highlights in the news since then or who else
is your age? Try entering your birth date in the Age
Gauge |
| Far more than just another sports site, Guerrilla
Sports offers loads of original content, as well as a
unique perspective into the world of sports beyond the norm of statistics
and won-loss columns. Check out some of the fun columns such as "Bullets",
which takes an aim at pop culture, and Filthy Frank's Sportsbook,
which looks at the enticing world of sports gambling. |
| Take out the tension of a boring office job with this hilarious
play set for adults. The
Cubes is a fun website and product that spoofs the drudgery of
corporate life spent in a cubicle. |
| Artistic
Tanks The ugly world of industrialism meets the beautiful world
of art at this cool website. The site features photographs of large
tanks (the type that hold large amounts of oil, water or propane)
that have been painted into something more interesting than their
original form. Each image has a map of the location and a listing
of its latitude and longitude, for those who want to see these pieces
in person. |
| MoCoLoco
Product designers dictate the setting in which we live, whether it
is at home, in the office, or at a hotel. Art and design buffs will
enjoy this online magazine, which focuses on the latest in modern
design news and product reviews. Step into the future by browsing
through the gallery of modern products. |
| Caught the screenwriting bug? Take a shortcut to outlining your
next big-budget action flick script with this cool online
program. The story outline tool uses the old "20 questions"
interview process to generate an outline of your script. Just type
in answers to simple questions such as "Antagonist's Plan"
and "Why does your Protagonist want to get involved" and
then watch in awe as the program brings your script to life! |
| ChaseDay.com is meant for
those who love nature, even when it is at its worst. Visitors can
watch streaming video taken by 'chasers' of past lightning storms,
hail storms and twisters, view shockingly up close images of huge
tornadoes, and even hop on the bandwagon by signing up for a Tornado
Chasing tour! |
| Welcome to Pluck.com, a new service
that retrieves and organizes all of your favorite Web fodder into
one easy to view site. Whether it is sports, news, shopping, entertainment
or any other form of web content you are after, you no longer have
to go dashing from one site to the other in search of information.
Pluck allows you to view multiple websites at once, share folders
and data with others, and will even work hard searching for you while
you are offline in the 'real world'. |
| AstroMeeting
German astronomer and enthusiastic astrophotographer Stefan Seip has
a gallery of photos of our galaxy that will leave you starstruck.
Visitors can view images of distant space phenomena such as comets,
planets, asteroids, dark nebulae, planetary clusters and much more. |
| Incredible
Internet Guy If you tend to have a hard time finding
what you are looking for, perhaps you need "Incredible Internet
Guy" to steer you along the innumerable paths that make up cyberspace.
Every week he chooses a new topic (Downloading Music, Health and Nutrition,
Stopping Spam, etc.), and offers a long list of relevant websites
for you to explore and learn from. Stargazing takes on a whole new
meaning at the Astro Meeting website. |
| Do your part to attempt to answer this long-debated question by
playing this fun, online video game called "Parking
Battle of the Sexes". Choose your appropriate gender
and get ready to park!! Using the arrow buttons on your keyboard put
your parking skills to the test with three challenges including parallel
parking and other difficult challenges that involve manuevering your
virtual vehicle into tight spaces. |
| How
Dreams Work Should we bother to interpret our dreams?
Are these night-time stories random brain impulses, or do they offer
insight into our waking lives? Learn what's happening in your brain
while you dream, how you might be able to control your dreams and
what it means when you show up for work naked. |
| All About Snow will
teach you everything there is to know about that beautiful white substance
that falls from the clouds every winter. Find out why snow is white,
the scientific construction of a snowflake, and read a long list of
fascinating snow facts. |
| Natalie Decants Wine lovers will find all they
need to know about their favorite pastime at Natalie
Maclean's website. There are loads of great features and articles
including her monthly wine picks of the best vintages around, a calendar
of current events, her free newsletter and much more. Cheers! |
| Best
of Photojournalism 2004 Designed by photojournalists for photojournalists,
the National Press Photographer Awards judge some of the most stunning
and shocking photos taken and published each year. View the best of
this past year's competition, which is a collection of both beautiful
and brutal global imagery. |
| At EyeWitnessToHistory.Com,
you can experience historic events through the words of those who
were actually there. Read about the suicide of Socrates (as told by
Plato), enjoy the experience of dining with Attila The Hun (as told
by a Roman envoy Priscus), and relive the horrifying account of the
morning an atomic bomb irradiated the Japanese city of Hiroshima (as
told by a survivor who was just one mile from the bomb's epicentre). |
| An abstract Flash masterpiece, 99Rooms.com
is as much a work of art as it is a website. Visitors will find themselves
on a slightly spooky journey that showcases the talented mind of the
young German illustrator, graffiti artist and web programmer who designed
the site. Visitors have to use their mouse to find the hidden entrance
to the next room. |
| The Practical Hippie
site has a wealth of articles ranging from social topics like Buy
Nothing Day and PETA, to more light-hearted pop culture bits on Paris
Hilton and Janet Jackson. Visitors will also find more politically
charged essays on the dangers of globalization, corruption in science
and medicine, and gay marriage. This site is a great way to stay informed
on a wide range of important social issues. |
| "Discovering the World, Grain by Grain" is the motto of
the International Sand Collectors Society. Visitors to the Society's
official website will learn about the many properties of sand,
get tips on starting up their own collection, and view exotic bits
of beach dust from all over the world. |
| LEGO Logic
The academics and principles of Logic are usually left within the
confines of university philosophy courses. Watch them lighten up as
they are realized through the construction of Lego's models. |
| Nerd Gym This
hilarious website is a spoof guide to help nerds keep in shape. With
a simple six-step process, that includes such crucial exercises as
"The Keyboard Backbreaker" and the more advanced "Danger
Exercises", you can stay in shape despite the endless ours of
web surfing and computer programming that comes with ultimate nerddom. |
| Separate fact from fiction at this cool online magazine. The
Skeptical Inquirer aims to debunk the claims of 'pseudo-science',
demystify the world of 'occultism', and clarify various other familiar
mysteries and superstitions. Visitors will find that, at least in
most cases, Science and Reason tend to prevail. |
| "Close Encounters:
Dolphins", a new PBS program that takes a deep look into
the world of the ocean's most intelligent creatures, website is the
next best thing to actually swimming with our beloved bottle-nosed
friends. Discover the intricacies of dolphin communication, learn
about the ethical debate over their domestication as performers, and
even watch a clip of a marine biologist studying dolphins' trademark
"squeaks". |
| The Google Suggest Tool does auto-complete to help
improve your searches. Check it out at http://labs.google.com/suggest. |
| Earth
From Above Visitors can select from almost a hundred nations around
the world. After choosing a country, click on thumbnail images to
see a series of sites from these wonderful foreign lands from above.
The photographs provide a shockingly beautiful and original perspective
on the planet. |
| If you could use a change of scenery, World
Wide Panoramas provides breathtaking VR panoramic pictures from
over 40 countries throughout the world. Browse the extensive list
of photos by region, alphabetically or photographer to catch a glimpse
of some of the many places in the world which deserve such attention.
From the Independence Square in Kiev to the San Mateo coast in northern
California, visitors will find a wonderfully varied collection of
this little blue/green ball we live on. |
| Imagining the Internet
Few topics inspire trips to the crystal ball like technology, although
hasty predictions have often only provided future generations with
quotes for cocktail party chat. The Pew Internet & American Life
Project, sent out a survey asking 24 questions about the future of
the Internet to a wide range of technology specialists, scholars and
industry leaders. World Wide Panoramas |
| Most would agree that the two most tragic events in recent American
history have been the 1941 Invasion of Pearl Harbor and the Attacks
of September 11th, 2001. Co-produced by American Radioworks and The
Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, "Days
of Infamy" parallels these two days and the reaction
of the nation's citizens in its aftermath. |
| Fashion lovers will want to bookmark Shoewawa.com,
which is a site dedicated to many girls' favourite obsession; shoes.
This site has it all, from the latest in designer fashions (and designer
rip-offs), to the best deals on Ebay, to anything else in the world
that comes in a heel, a flat, a boot or a trainer. |
| A Collection Of Unexpected Photography File
Magazine collects and displays photographs that capture their
subject in "unexpected ways". Leave the traditional images
to the mainstream media and the photo blogs to the amateurs, this
online 'zine prides itself on its gallery of quirky, original photographs. |
| OnTheSnow.com
Ski Reports Avid snowboarders and skiers should immediately bookmark
this website, which has regularly updated snow reports from every
major winter recreation region in the world. So whether you are skiing
in Alaska or Austria you'll get a complete report of local conditions
including the amount of new snow, number of open runs, and even lifts
that are currently operating at your local resort. |
| 2004 Weblog Awards The
latest trend to hit the Internet, the WebLog, now has its own official
award ceremony, the 2004 WebLog Awards are divided into specific categories
such as Best Photo Blog, Best Conservative Blog, Best Liberal Blog,
etc. |
| Smithsonian
TV is
an online guide to the latest exhibitions, lectures, performances
and other interesting museum events made available through streaming
video content from the Smithsonian. The site has both live and archived
events, and visitors to Smithsonian TV can take virtual tours of current
exhibits, watch live footage of pandas playing at the National Zoo
etc. |
| Cows With Guns Cows give us their milk and their
meat, but what do they get in return? Watch this hilarious animated
music video that tells the story of revenge during a "Bovine
Revolution". |
| Forget the old chemistry set, this is where the real fun happens.
At SciToys.com, parents and
their kids can learn how to create cool toys at home using simple
household ingredients, which demonstrate an array of fascinating scientific
principles. The different 'toys' are divided into categories such
as "Electromagnetism", "Radio", "Thermodynamics",
"Aerodynamics", etc. Get started making a Radio, The World's
Simplest Steamboat, even a Simple Rocket Engine! |
| Glimpse the future at Phrenicea.com,
a 21st-century prophecy predicting the outcome of the Internet and
biotech revolutions, including people content to live - not just work
- in 8-foot-square cubicles and the disappearance of money as financial
transactions are stored on a man-made 24th-chromosome pair. |
| CHRISTMAS
ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB Use IE when you check out all the
great links! |
| Christmas lights are a big part of the holiday season. Have you
ever wondered how these lights work? Why is it that if you pull out
or break one of the bulbs, the whole strand of lights goes out? And
how do they create the lights that sequence in different color patterns?
Look at this
site so you can understand everything about them! |
| Witnesses
to Terror: The 9/11 Hearings Much of the website contains testimony
and previously unheard accounts by government experts and witnesses
to the tragedy. It is a stark, often painful but legitimate look into
the 'How' and 'Why' behind the most significant attack against the
United States in our country's history. |
| What our computers are doing at night while
we sleep.... make sure you have your sound on. |
| Christmas
Traditions For hundreds of millions of people around
the world, Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year. There are
countless symbols of Christmas that many of us experience every day
once the holiday season rolls around, including Christmas trees, Christmas
carols, holly, Santa Claus... Have you ever wondered where traditions
like Santa Claus come from? Find out! |
| Swedish Street
Art Many graffiti and street artists, whose work has
long been underrated and overlooked, are finally beginning to get
the credibility they deserve. Check out the work of Swedish artist
Akay and his movement known as Akayism, which aims to reclaim our
public spaces from industrial urbanization and human apathy. |
| Welcome to the Archaeology
Channel, sponsored by the ALI (Archaeological Legacy Institute),
a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic
sites and increasing the public's interest in the subject of archaeology.
Choose from a variety of fascinating clips on topics such as the Mayas,
Aztecs and Incas, The Acropolis and Ancient Greece, and The Ice Age. |
| Bohemian Opera Modern
filmmakers may be showing off the latest and greatest in special effects
technology, but they still often rely upon great classical and opera
music to achieve that dramatic 'movie magic'. This site is an online
tribute to Classical and Opera masterpieces, as well as a guide to
finding these wonderful works in modern cinema. |
| If mom never taught you to cook or dad neglected to teach you how
to change a flat, this online how-to guide is just what you need.
Ehow.com has simple instructions
on how to do, well, just about everything. Visitors can learn just
about anything from the correct way to brush your dog's teeth to the
proper weight training techniques for toning your triceps to tips
on preparing a Thanksgiving Centrepiece. |
| The Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame and Museum is the heart of Rock's history, with an unparalleled
collection of memorabilia and information on the evolution of this
revolutionary musical genre. The Museum's most recent exhibit is the
extremely cool History of Rock and Roll Visual Timeline. This is an
amazing, interactive look at the birth and growth of rock music that
allows you to see the interweaving connections between various artists
and genres in a way never before seen. |
| Whether you are feeling happy or sad, you are always free to sing
the Blues, otherwise known as "The Ultimate Soul Food".
Now one of America's oldest and purest musical genres has a great
online home at BarrelHouseBlues.com. |
| Turkey
& Stuffing Calculator from Butterball Wondering how much to
buy? Tell us who’s coming to dinner, and we’ll do the
math. |
| From American Rhetoric the Top
100 American Speeches |
| Fraud Frond.com A hilarious
and eye-opening site that pays tribute to the 32,000 'Bogus Botanicals
and Counterfeit Conifers' strategically placed in cities across America.
Who know these pieces of 'Sham Shrubbery' were everywhere, planted
intentionally to hide the cellular antennae that allow us to communicate
on our mobile phones. |
| Graveyard of
the Pacific is an oceanic cemetery to the literally thousands
of vessels, from large warships and passenger ferries to lumber barges
and small tugs, that have crashed and sunk along its rocky coast.
This Virtual Museum of Canada website is a lot of fun, and also provides
insight into an interesting niche of nautical history. |
| Unimpressed by the common lettuce, tomato and cheese rendition of
the American hamburger? Enter your personal recipe into the "Build
a Better Burger" contest and win $50,000, not to mention
national fame in the burger community. |
| A Thanksgiving
Worth Celebrating - "This Thanksgiving, why not celebrate
in the original spirit of the holiday? The Pilgrims didn't need deep-fat
friers, sticks of butter, or bags of marshmallows, and neither do
we." |
| How the Flu Works
While most flu sufferers moan and groan for about a week and then
return to work, the flu season creates more than just discomfort and
a costly loss of work days. With this season’s vaccine shortage,
avoiding the flu has become trickier if you live in the United States.
Learn all about the flu virus and what you can do to protect yourself. |
| Minimus Modern nomads
prone to constant travel should bookmark this online store, which
specializes in 'travel size' items. With pint-sized food, beauty,
utility and pharmaceutical products, it is the perfect one-stop shop
before your long excursion into the unknown. |
| The aim of the Nocturnes
website is to promote night photography and to serve as a community
for nocturnal photographers. In addition to a number of workshops
and tutorials, the site has a beautiful gallery filled with breathtaking
images of life 'after dark'. |
| FindSounds.com is a free
site where you can search the Web for sound effects and musical instrument
samples. Take a look at the types
of sounds you can find. |
| Astronomy
Picture of the Day presents a different celestial picture
each day. Included with the picture is an explanation and the picture
can be captured and printed or used as Windows wallpaper. |
| Geocaching - The sport
where YOU are the search engine(TM) A GPS device and a hunger for
adventure are all you need for high tech treasure hunting. Here you
can find the latest caches in this fun and exciting sport. |
| Blu-ray
Discs Say goodbye to DVD as the top-of-the-line digital
storage format. New blue-laser discs feature an unbelievable capacity
of 27 to 50 GB –- that’s about five times what you can
fit on a DVD. Learn about the techniques that make Blu-ray the next
big thing in digital video storage and check out its competition. |
| You've got a burning question... but you're stuck somewhere with
no internet connection. News Flash... Google SMS (Short Message
Service) enables you to easily get precise answers to specialized
queries from your mobile phone or device. Send your query as a text
message and get phone book listings, dictionary definitions, product
prices and more. Just text. No links. No web pages. Simply the answers
you're looking to find. (more) |
| How Lie
Detectors Work A study at the University of California in San
Francisco shows that most people can only detect that someone is lying
about 50 percent of the time. There is a small group of people --
1 percent of the 13,000 people tested -- that is exceptionally good
at catching lies. These people can tell when someone is lying 90 percent
of the time. |
| How the Swing
States Work Political strategy in an election year gives war-time
strategy a run for its money. The rules, calculations and assumptions
that determine a candidate’s campaign path center on the core
of the battlefield: the swing states. Learn all about this year’s
election battleground and how a state is designated a swinger. |
| Even if you are not a native of Chicago, you will enjoy these photos
from "Real
Chicago: Photographs from the Files of the Chicago Sun-Times"
that capture the history and feel of each decade from 1940's to 1990's
and today. |
| Ig Nobel Prize
A quirky alternative to the famed international Nobel Prize, the
Ig Nobel Prize is an annual ceremony that takes place at Harvard and
recognizes achievements that "First makes people LAUGH, then
makes them THINK". |
| In the midst of the Presidential debates, and with the approaching
National Election on November 2nd, the presidency is on everyone's
mind these days.This website
is both interesting and fun, with lists of facts about our former
Commanders-in-Chief. Find out which Presidents had military experience,
what their pre-presidential careers were, and loads of other miscellaneous
trivia about our former leaders. Who knew that Martin Van Buren was
once a delivery boy? |
| Are you interested in planes? Check out these Aviation
pictures...click "all
time" on left for really awesome pics. |
| Demonstrations of Artificial Intelligence There
are some really cool Demos on this website.
Check out Conway's Game of Life for a look at an artificial representation
of the aging process, meet and chat with ALICE, a Chatbot that understands
human speech, and learn about Neural Nets through the Character Identification
Chart. |
| While nature can have a peaceful and calming effect on us, at times
it can also be a dangerous foe. Natural catastrophes such as earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and tornadoes are impressive but deadly
acts of nature. Learn more about the causes of these natural disasters
at the National
Geographic Website. |
| Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia
is unique for an encyclopedia because anybody can add, edit and even
erase. And the Wikipedia is just one of a growing breed of Internet
knowledge-sharing communities called Wikis.There
are Wiki cookbooks, a compendium of quotations and a repository on
guitar players. College professors use Wikis to spur discussion. |
| This amazing website
creates diagram maps or "Family Trees" that display
the manner in which things are connected. View a series of cool "Trees"
that show a variety of relationships such as "How the Countries
of the World are Connected", a "Timeline of Hebrew Bible
Sources" and other interesting maps from the arenas of Religion,
Politics, Geography and History. |
| woot.com is an online store and
community run by the employees of a 10 year old consumer electronics
distributor that focuses on close-outs and generally buying stuff
cheap. They sell 1 item per day until it is sold out or until 11:59pm
central time when it is replaced. |
| The Windows Sound Symphony Music takes on a novel
format through this Clown
Staples Flash Experiment. Watch in amazement as the most popular
Operating System in the world transforms into a virtual philharmonic. |
| The unclaimed property database Unclaimed property
includes bonds, bank accounts, unpaid wages and insurance proceeds
among other things. It is easy -- and free -- to check to see if anything
has your name on it. Visit the Michigan
web site or the Indiana
web site |
| Identity Tests
Sure you know yourself. But can you see yourself in others? Take these
fun tests on Tickle
to see the world in a whole new way. |
| Dragon*Con
2004 Photo Gallery Every year Dragon*Con
brings together costumed hordes of science fiction, anime, fantasy,
film and role-playing game enthusiasts in the nation's largest gathering
of its kind. Many participants attend in full costume of their favorite
character, costing anywhere from $60 to $3000 in materials. In the
photographs on the site, there is a small sample of the wide array
of characters at this year's Dragon*Con. |
| Tolerance.org
seeks to create a national community committed to human rights. Its
goal is to awaken people of all ages to the problem of hate and intolerance,
to equip them with the best tolerance ideas and to prompt them to
act in their homes, schools, businesses and communities. |
| How
Chocolate Works A small study of 17 volunteers suggests
that eating dark chocolate can improve the function of the blood vessels
in the heart for up to three hours. However, the weight that could
be gained from constantly eating dark chocolate would probably cancel
out the benefits. |
| Exploratorium
The online museum of science, art and human perception. Online since
1993, the Exploratorium was one of the first science museums to build
a site on the World Wide Web. The site now contains over 15,000 Web
pages exploring hundreds of different topics. Serving fifteen million
visitors a year, it is one of the most visited museum Web sites in
the world. |
| ASIMO walks,
talks, reads hand signals and currently works as a receptionist. Honda
engineers have been busy creating the ASIMO robot for more than 17
years. ASIMO is the most advanced humanoid robot to date. |
| If you're a fan of the Scrabble board game, you'll love this
one. Enter the seven letters on your Scrabble rack, and this nifty
tool will reveal, disclose and divulge all the words that can be composed
from them. You can even specify specific beginning and ending letters,
or ask for words of a certain length. |
| If you're having trouble getting a word in a crossword puzzle, then
perhaps OneAcross can help.
In addition to pattern dictionary searches, it can analyze the clue
as well. OneAcross lets you enter either the length of the answer
or an answer pattern, in which you use a question mark for unknown
letters in the word. OneAcross also has a tool to help you solve cryptograms. |
| The Natural Arch and Bridge
Society features "nature's most fascinating and beautiful
landforms". In the Photo Gallery you will see these natural arches
from places such as Arizona and Utah, some of the most staggeringly
beautiful shapes nature has ever created. View the "Big 9",
a wonderful virtual tour of longest natural spans on earth. |
| WEBoggle Always landing
that triple word score before your friends in Scrabble? If so, then
this little bit of word play is a solid bookmark. WEBoggle is a simple
5x5 field which contains scrambled letters, and visitors are challenged
to find as many words of three letters or more as they can in the
allotted time. |
| IPod
vs. the Cassette The experts at "No Name No Slogan"
have done extensive laboratory tests to determine whether the Apple
modern 'must-have' can compare to the classic cassette. Don't miss
this hysterical slideshow that pits the two against each other in
a battle of size, durability and value. |
| Real GM takes users beyond the
simple scores and highlights, and provides in depth news, analysis,
and stats that an actual general manager of an NBA team would use.
So wanna be ballers can catch up on the latest info on their team,
or they can create their own franchise, and run a 'fantasy' game against
a current NBA team. |
| The Science of Optical Illusions "Lightness
Perceptions and Lightness Illusions" is a series of interactive
movies based on a paper by Edward H. Adelson of M.I.T. Each Macromedia
Flash film demonstrates a different optical phenomenon or illusion
and also demonstrate and explain how subtle changes in light and shape
can greatly affect our optical perception. |
| Words Without Borders
Literature remains a common thread of inspiration that unites and
touches people everywhere. "Words Without Borders" is an
online magazine that promotes international communication and understanding
through the translation of the world's best literature. The selections
include a good mix of well-respected foreign authors and poets as
well as lesser-known but equally powerful writers. |
| The Business Plan
Archive (BPA) was created to collect business plans and related
documents from the dot com era. These plans – the “blueprints”
that lay out the assumptions and strategies of Internet entrepreneurs
– will enable entrepreneurs and researchers to conduct both
qualitative and quantitative research. |
| How Olympic
Torches Work Every two years, the Olympic torch makes its way
through a huge relay that involves thousands of people, thousands
of miles and years of design consideration -- all to reach the Opening
Ceremony that kicks off the Olympic Games. Learn all about the torch's
history, construction and transport. |
| Every few years, the two facets of Ferrari combine, taking the high-tech,
high-performance designs of Formula One (F1) and putting them into
the ultimate street car. The latest Ferrari supercar is the Enzo
Ferrari, named after the company's late founder. Learn how the
Enzo was designed to emulate a Formula One car, what powers it, how
fast it goes, and why it's so difficult to get one. |
| FactCheck.org is supported
by The Annenberg Political Fact Check, an unbiased, non-profit consumer
advocate group that aims to reduce the deception that is plaguing
U.S. Politics. The site monitors current political headlines and responds
with educational articles that help us determine which politicians
are telling the truth and which ones are misleading the public. "Everyone
is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." -
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan |
| Driving
Vacations Through the Ages tracks the evolution of "The Great
American Road Trip", from the cars in which we've cruised to
the musical soundtracks of our journeys. The timeline is divided up
by decade and includes a video presentation that recaptures the popular
roads and destinations that defined each time period in American travel. |
| The Birds of America
John James Audubon spent most of his adult life studying and compiling
information on the many bird species native to America. His work culminated
in the stunning "Birds of America", a publication of 435
engraved plates that show life-size etchings of each species, which
is now online. It depicts a variety of native birds such as the Peregrine
Falcon, Wild Turkey, Purple Finch and Water Pipet. |
| Calories Per Hour
CaloriesPerHour.com has a simple, scientific approach to dieting that
is a great companion to walk people through the process of weight-loss
and weight management. Complete with a Calorie Counter Calculator,
Body Mass Index, Food and Calorie Nutrition Index and Weight Loss
Tutorial, the site is a pragmatic resource in an otherwise convoluted
industry. |
| Double-Tongued Word Wrester
A "Growing Dictionary of Old and New Words', The Double-Tongued
Word Wrester catalogues words as they enter and leave the English
language. The dictionary's primary focus is slang, jargon, and other
niche areas of language such as hybrid, foreign-based, obsolete and
rare words. Subject matter covers a wide range of topics such as Gambling,
Hip-Hop, Sexuality, Sport, Religion, Medical, and Fashion. Our personal
favorite on the site is 'Smurfing', which ironically describes a form
of white-collar crime as opposed to a small blue cartoon character. |
| Top 100 Albums
of the 1970s The 1970's was a decade of great, diverse and unforgettable
music, so enjoy this flashback courtesy of Pitchfork Media into the
"Top 100 Albums of the 1970's". From the musical genius
of Brian Eno to the melancholy beauty of Nick Drake to the work of
legends like Dylan, The Stones and Zeppelin, this list covers most
of the music worth remembering from the Seventies. |
| Scientists warned that a volcano on the Canary Islands is slowly
slipping into the ocean, and if it erupts again it could collapse
and cause a tidal wave that would head straight for the east coast
of the United States and Canada. The Cumbre Vieja volcano erupts every
25 to 200 years; the last eruption was in 1971. Check out How
Volcanoes Work |
| Divided We Stand
Controversial times such as these see an increase in opinionated books
about politics and the current state of national affairs. This cool
network map, based on the top 100 books purchased on Amazon, lets
us see just who is reading what these days. |
| Digital Photography Composition
Tips Digital cameras have quickly replaced their traditional
predecessors as the 'standard' camera for personal and amateur use.
However, capturing a "Kodak" moment on your new digital
ELF can be a bit tricky for the neophyte lensmen. Get some useful
tips on taking beautiful pictures with your digital camera at this
site. Learn about photography techniques such as "The Rule of
Thirds", "Killing Clutter", and other suggestions regarding
cropping, framing and editing. |
| Sensory Impact
Sensory Impact is an awesome web-zine that cuts straight to the cutting-edge
of technology, design, gadgets, lighting, furniture, books and every
other corner of modern culture. With quick blurbs on the newest, latest
and greatest from the world of art, culture and fashion, the site
is a sure-fire bookmark for the avant-garde set. |
| Who's on First
This site was created in loving memory of comic geniuses Bud Abbot
and Louis Costello. It aims to keep their memory alive with the duo's
most famous and lovable skit, "Who's on First". Fans can
read the transcript of that unforgettable routine, listen to it on
audio or view an actual video clip. |
| Zencard Garden
Zencard is a free online service that people can use to send greetings
of peace, reflection and humor to friends and family all around the
world. Wander the 'garden' and select a meditative image, then send
it off to someone you love. |
| Office
Moron Test In the spirit of the cult film "Office
Space", the website Rum and Monkey offers this pop quiz to help
all of us bored paper pushers determine exactly just which type of
'Office Moron' we are. |
| Guinness World Records The legendary tome of amazing
feats and astounding facts can now be enjoyed online. The Guinness
Book of World Records website is filled with enough jaw-dropping 'records'
to keep you entertained for hours on end. The site is divided up into
familiar categories such as Amazing Feats, The Human Body, Natural
World, Sports and Games, etc. Learn incredible tidbits about
the oldest living human being, the most chainsaws juggled at one time,
and the fastest moving glacier on Earth. www.guinnessworldrecords.com |
How to Make Friends by TelephonePosted by Contact
Sheet, this 1940's telephone 'manners book' is far more humorous
in the year 2004. It is only a matter of time until we have
a similar guide for proper behavior on the Internet. http://redirx.com/?gng9
|
| DISEASES IN YOUR FUTURE People who obsess about
their health might want to check out a new web site from Harvard University's
School of Public Health: Your
Disease Risk Visitors to the site fill out a detailed questionnaire
to find out the chances of developing five of the most devestating
ailments in America, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis
and 12 varieties of cancer. |
| Drug Digest
Prozac, aspirin, echinacea or all three? Check the interactions of
drugs, vitamins and herbs at DrugDigest.org,
a one-stop reference on mixing medications, taking medicine correctly
and the scientific evidence physicians and pharmacists use. Compare
drugs to see top performers and side effects, searching by health
condition or drug name. |
| How
old are you? We all know how many years we've been
around, but what about comparatively speaking? Use this cool Age Gauge
to get broader perspectives on your life, such as how much younger
you are than Pope John Paul II and how old you were during the O.J.
trial. |
| Urban Golf
Who needs the beautiful green acres of Pebble Beach when you can play
on the rugged concrete fairways of an industrial neighborhood in Tucson,
Arizona? Using a tennis ball instead of a 3-iron, learn the legendary
sport of Urban Golf. Fore! |
| Magazine Art Portal Welcome to Magazineart.org,
a free visual database filled to the brim with Magazine Cover Art
from the 19th and 20th Centuries. While the site values all forms
of art, its focus on magazines comes from the direct influence they
have had on our culture, to what we eat and how we act, dress and
even think. |
| The 50
Coolest Song Parts A result of a Retrocrush.com survey, this top
50 list pays tribute to the best song 'parts' of all time. Whilst
they may be hidden within unremarkable, cheesy and even plain awful
songs, these awesome lyrics, unforgettable drum rolls, guitar solos,
and legendary choruses continue to strike a chord within all of us. |
| 2004 Top Ten Favorite
Words Merriam-Webster asks fellow philologists the ultimate question;
"What is your favorite word?" Check out the top ten results
of this year's survey, which is based on thousands of online submissions.
|
| Want to figure out what movies to see this summer? Here are two
sites that can help. Metacritic®
compiles reviews from respected critics and publications for film,
video/dvd, music and games. Unique Metascores® show the critical consensus
at a glance by taking a weighted average of critic grades. With Movie
List you can view view the actual trailers. You can use the search
box to find specific movies or use the Coming Soon (movies not yet
released in theatres) and Now Playing (movies that have been released)
sections. |
| Old Car Manual Project
Vintage car maniacs and mechanics everywhere can use this
valuable and free online resource. The
Old Car Manual Project is a huge library of car manuals dating
back as far as the 1920's. An incomprable tool for the avid car collector,
there are manuals for everything from a 1911 Buick to a 1933 De Soto.
Regularly updated, you can also find paperwork on German, French and
Dutch vehicles. |
| Catching the Light Astrophotographer Jerry Lodriguss
brings the mystery and beauty of the furthest reaches of outer space
all the way back home to your PC. His online gallery, "Catching
the Light", is a series of breathtaking images of stars,
galaxies, comets, nebula, meteor showers and other interstellar entities. |
| Chinese Symbols
There are over 80,000 recorded Chinese symbols, from the
Zodiac to the Animal Kingdom to those found in traditional Tattoo
Art. This easy-to-use site lists the more popular and interesting
symbols of the Chinese dictionary by their symbolic meaning, beginning
with "aardvark" and ending with "zoo". |
| Christies Eric Clapton Crossroads
Centre auction will be this Thursday. Here is your chance to purchase
Clapton’s black strat that he played in the 70’s (expected
price > $100,000). A variety of other artists have contributed
guitars to the charity event. Hey, at the end of the day if you get
a guitar, then there’s no winner’s curse in this auction. |
| Masters of Cinema
Both a paradise for film mavens and a classroom for those
of us who have been trapped in the world of Hollywood for too long,
this site is the ultimate
resource for fans of World Cinema. The coolest feature on the site
is the Calendar, which lists future release dates of the re-mastered
DVD's of some of the greatest directors of all time including Bresson,
Dreyer, Cassavetes and Bruñuel. |
| Baseball Almanac Serious fans of America's favorite
pastime should bookmark this site, which is both a comprehensive history
of baseball as well as an interactive encyclopedia. The
Baseball Almanac offers a daily dose of its over 80,000 stats
and facts as well as a fervor for the game that makes ESPN seem apathetic.
There is a section for everything in the imagination, including Rules
of the Game, Humor & Jokes, Poetry & Song, as well as the
site's highly-trafficked message boards. Swing Away!! |
| Cool Cosmos Karl Sagan once said, "We are
all starstuff". Have a lot of fun while learning about Infrared
Astronomy at Cool Cosmos,
an educational portal developed by NASA and Cal Tech aimed at nurturing
and teaching the young minds of the future. A ton of cool educational
features and games on this site help you and your kids learn about
the 'invisible world'. Check out the section on Cosmic Fun and Games,
and don't forget to go to the Image Gallery where you will find the
first ever Infrared Zoo. |
| Classic Nickelodeon Hard to believe, but the network
that created second- and even third-generation Mr. Ed fans has gotten
old enough to become nostalgia itself, as the early days of Nickelodeon
are lovingly recalled at the Classic
Nick Homepage. Reminisce with fans about old faves like "You
Can't Do That On Television," download theme songs from "Mapletown,"
"Pinwheel" and other classics, read episode guides, join
the Classic Nick online community or take the Classic Nick Trivia
Quiz. |
| American
Sign Language Tutorials This website was created by Michigan State
University to demonstrate their award-winning software 'Personal Communicator'.
It is an amazing reference guide that uses still photos and QuickTime
movies to demonstrate words in American Sign Language. There are over
a thousand words and phrases on the site, so you can learn how to
sign everything from 'A Lot' to 'Zoom'. The browser is a reference
tool, but cannot effectively be used as way to learn sign language.
There are links to online schools that teach courses in sign as well
as a CD-ROM version of the browser available for purchase. |
| Cricklers Chronic
puzzlers might want to try out Cricklers.com,
where the crossword puzzle is reinvented for the computer age. Cricklers
are more adaptable, becoming easier or harder with the skill of the
solver. Words are chosen by the puzzle creator, then the computer
fits them into a puzzle with clues. Feed your addiction with News
puzzles; WordZap, a dictionary game; Enigma, a classic quotation cipher,
or any number of word games. |
| Fundrace 2004 Neighbor
Search Ever wonder just who your neighbors are, or even worse,
which politicians they support? Want to see how much Paul Conway has
contributed to George Bush's campaign? Use the Fundrace Neighbor Search
to find people who live near you that have made campaign contributions.
Or search the service for contributing friends, families and even
celebrities by name. |
| Epicurious:
Teaching Videos Culinary mavens who want to expand their knowledge
and starving bachelors looking for a few good recipes need look no
further. Epicurious.com's online technique videos are a great way
to learn, practice and hone your cooking skills from the comfort of
your own computer.With nine different topics including such categories
as 'Fruits and Vegetables', 'Sauces' and 'Baking and Pastry', cooks
can get a detailed step-by-step guide to making (and eating) just
about anything. |
| Turning
the Pages Thanks to this cool new service, one need not fly all
the way across the Atlantic Ocean to see the ancient manuscripts held
within the famous museums of Europe. 'Turning the Pages' enables museums
and libraries to 'virtually' bring their exhibits to the online community.
The British Library originally developed this award-winning interactive
service for its own use, but has since begun offering it as a paid
service to libraries, museums, and other institutions all over the
world. Using highly digitized images, touch-screen technology and
interactive animation, the service allows visitors to realistically
scroll through otherwise 'untouchable' ancient manuscripts page by
page. Some of the highlights include Leonardo Da Vinci's famous notebooks,
Vesalius' Anatomy and other Renaissance treasures. |
| Language Guide Visitors won't learn how to scribble
a love note in Spanish at Omniglot:
A Guide to Writing Systems, but they can ask how to decipher a
piece of Urdu writing. A language guide to over 200 writing systems,
the site derives its name from the Latin for "all" and the
Greek for "tongue." An alphabetical index takes visitors
through the A to Z of written language -- from abkhaz, spoken by 300,000
Turks and Russians, to zhuyin zimu, a phonetic writing system of sounds
in Mandarin. With links to obscure fonts, online dictionaries and
language courses, the site focuses on visible symbols that represent
units of language and the rules governing each. |
| Read Print, a free online
library. The website offers thousands of free books for students,
teachers, and the classic enthusiast. To find the book you desire
to read, start by looking through the author index. Please note that
we can only publish books that are in the public domain (published
before the 1920's). |
| Skyscrapers in Cyberspace:
Maps and History Online In the latest example of how museums
are finding innovative ways to make their collections accessible on
the Internet, the Skyscraper Museum has put online more than 2,000
documents about historic New York buildings by connecting the digitized
images to an interactive map of Manhattan.Starting today, visitors
to the museum's Web site can
use the map to zoom into a neighborhood, select one of 120 big buildings
and see its past depicted through postcards, construction photographs
and other documents from the museum's archives. |
| How
much new information is created each year? Newly created information
is stored in four physical media – print, film, magnetic and
optical – and seen or heard in four information flows through
electronic channels – telephone, radio and TV, and the Internet.
This study of information storage and flows analyzes the year 2002
in order to estimate the annual size of the stock of new information
recorded in storage media, and heard or seen each year in information
flows. |
| Secret
Worlds: The Universe Within View the Milky Way at 10 million light
years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in
successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just
outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual
size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls,
the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe
of electrons and protons. |
| Beyond bookmarks: A new tool for compiling Web research
Prolific users of the World Wide Web tend to develop a desperate need
for decent digital data-keeping. Bookmarking features on Web browsers
simply don't satisfy as trackers of online itinerations. A new $30
program called Onfolio attempts
to solve all that. At its most basic, Onfolio captures your Web research
on command. If you want to bookmark a Web page or save it in its entirety
-- text, images and also the encoded metadata that's invisible to
the eye -- simply left-click a toolbar icon or right-click from anywhere
else for the Onfolio action item. |
How Cicadas
Work The cicadas are coming! If you're tired of the peace
and quiet, take heart: The latest swarm of cicadas is set to emerge
this spring, and the noise will be overpowering. These insects produce
a "song" that can reach 120 decibels -- very close to a
level that can damage human ear drums. When Brood X makes it above
ground, lots of people living in the United States will be well aware
of it. Cicada
Watch 2004 (Map 1) (Map
2)
Greatest Comics of the 20th Century
If you spent your childhood breathlessly following the daring adventures
of Batman, The Fantastic Four or even Archie and Jughead, then this
is definitely a site you'll want to check out. It proudly lists 'The
100 Greatest Comics of the 20th Century', complete with story descriptions,
historical significance, and full-color photos. So what comic-book
tops this esteemed list of superheroes and funny-book icons? Unless
you've got X-ray vision, you'll have to check out the site for yourself.
Fans can also take a chronological tour of comic-book history, just
start by clicking on the oldest book of all, 'Funnies on Parade'.
http://www.geocities.com/mbrown123/greatest_comics/
The Writer's Almanac
The Writer's Almanac, hosted by Garrison Keillor, is a nation-wide
public radio program that focuses on poetry and history. Now fans
of the show can visit its official website to view program schedules
and enjoy an entire year of previous almanac shows. The site displays
a program schedule for the upcoming week, so listeners can plan accordingly.
You can also listen to RealAudio recordings of past shows and sign
up to receive The Writer's Almanac via email every morning. Each show
is only about five minutes long and usually focuses on a poem or historical
figure of particular interest.
http://www.writersalmanac.org/
Forgotten New York
This is a wonderful site that offers a glimpse into the living history
of the Big Apple as it was long ago. The remnants of old Manhattan
are still evident in the old cobblestone streets, underground tunnels
and beautiful architecture that have survived the modernization of
New York City. Visitors will be transported back in time to glimpse
New York as it used to be. There are maps of streets that no longer
exist, photos of painted advertisements that are still around despite
the demise of the businesses they speak of, and other urban relics
such as abandoned hospitals, ballparks and subway stations.
http://www.forgotten-ny.com/
The T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. Project
If you can find anything goofier on the net than the Twinkies Project,
I'd like to know about it. In 1995, students at Rice University, set
out to determine if Twinkies really were science's perfect food. T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S.
stands for "Tests With Inorganic Noxious Kakes In Extreme Situations".
In the tests, they set a Twinkie on fire, microwaved one to death,
electrocuted another, dropped one from a six story building, soaked
them in water for 48 hours, and recorded the data. The results, as
you may have guessed, hold that Twinkies are among the marvels of
science.
http://www.twinkiesproject.com/
Search for Books
Bookworms will love this ad and hassle-free tool for finding books
on the Web. Just enter the title or author you are looking for and
ISBN will instantly provide a list of up to nine online bookstores,
including price comparisons, where you can order your next great read.
http://isbn.nu/
Control-Alt-Delete
Read about the legendary IBM employee, David Bradley who, in 1980,
developed the lifesaving function since adopted by Microsoft. Keep
him in your thoughts every time you 'Restart', 'End Task' or 'Shutdown'.
http://www.gannettonline.com/e/trends/18001162.html
Private Islands
If business is booming, perhaps its time you treated yourself to something
special, like your own private island. That's right, for only about
a million dollars you can choose a private hideaway from a list of
beautiful islands located in The Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean, South
Pacific and even off the coast of Great Britain. Over ten million
visitors have browsed the Vladi Private Islands website and its selection
of paradises, though most have no doubt left empty-handed. In addition
to photos and in-depth descriptions of each property for sale, the
site also offers island rentals and help with selling your island.
http://www.vladi-private-islands.de/home_e.html
Great Recipes
Gourmet chefs, culinary students and every kitchen cook in between
will all benefit from a visit to this recipe website. Whether you
want to bake a birthday cake for your loved one or cook a five-course
meal for a group of friends, the recipe index is up for the task.
The large collection of recipes is broken up into easy-to-search categories
such as Appetizer, Main dish, Side dish, Dessert, Vegetarian, etc.
What's great about Allrecipes.com is that in addition to its huge
archive of recipes, visitors can submit questions and expect to receive
great cooking advice from the site's editors. Bon Appetit!
http://allrecipes.com
What's That Bug?
WTB, or 'What's That Bug', is exactly what it sounds like; a web site
that answers pretty much any question about bugs. Whether mildly curious
about bugs or totally paranoid about what you just spotted on the
front porch, the site allows visitors to submit a photo and/or query
about the nature of any insects that may fly, crawl or jump through
their lives. Search the index to learn the difference between a whip
scorpion and a generic scorpion, read some of the surprisingly interesting
'bug biographies', or visit the 'buggy gift shop'. Also, do not miss
the 'worst bug story ever', located at the very bottom of the main
index. http://www.whatsthatbug.com/
Toon Tracker
Remember Cool McCool? At the 'Home of Lost Cartoons' you will find
Cool himself in addition to dozens of other forgotten icons of the
Saturday morning toons. Click on any of over a hundred lost entries
for a comprehensive biography of the cartoon and its creators, complete
with nostalgic images and the dates during which it aired.
http://www.toontracker.com/
Puzzle Games
People who love puzzles will find plenty of opportunities 'entertain
their brain' at Pyrogon.com. The web site features the company's original
puzzle games such as Candy Cruncher and Super Letter Linker. Interested
gamers can download playable demos to their PC or PALM or simply purchase
the game directly. http://www.pyrogon.com/
Behind The Name
The one word we are guaranteed to hear everyday for the rest of our
lives is our own first name. As children we quickly forge a deep relationship
with our name since it is used to identify, alert, describe, tease
as well as compliment us. But just what is in a name? This is a great
web site to learn more about your lifelong personal 'title'. Stocked
with the etymological origins of over 11,000 given names in languages
ranging from African to Yiddish, Behindthename.com is the Internet's
best source for getting a quick, literal answer to that age old question
'Who Am I?'
http://www.behindthename.com/
Trek Earth
The Internet is the perfect meeting place for artists who are interested
in presenting work to their peers. Trek Earth serves as a global community
in which photographers share important and engaging images with one
another. Its primary goal is to foster an environment where people
can learn about the many diverse regions of the earth through photography.
What separates Trek Earth from so many other photography sites is
that any work posted on the site is subject to critique by the many
members of its community. There is a fairly extensive 'rating system'
which not only allows people to rate specific images, but offer suggestions
on how a photograph might be improved upon.
http://www.trekearth.com/
Mayan Ruins
I have always wanted to visit the Mayan Ruins of Central America.
This site offers a virtual tour of this mysterious civilization from
the perspective of the architects who built it. Learn about the concerns
that went into designing each structure: proper astrological alignment,
balancing ceremonial spaces with ritual and political theatre. A fascinating
site!
http://www.mayaruins.com/
Internet Theme Park
Yesterland is a nostalgic tribute to Disneyland's discontinued attractions
and includes descriptions, photos and the history of the rides and
exhibits that made it the world's premier theme park. It is one of
the happiest sites on the net. As Walt Disney once said, "Disneyland
will never be completed as long as there is imagination left in the
world." The site owner, Werner Weiss, says "Yesterland, will never
be completed as long as there are attractions left to close in Disneyland."
http://www.yesterland.com/
Periodic Table
The best teachers have a special gift for putting a fresh face on
the same old material. If you found chemistry dull and boring in high
school, this site may change your mind. It is one of the most interesting
and visually stunning sites we have ever reviewed. The Royal Society
of Chemistry has created a fascinating virtual look into the Periodic
Table of Elements. The site offers an original artistic interpretation
of each element, information on its history, electron configuration
and current uses.
http://www.chemsoc.org/viselements/pages/periodic_table.html
Flip Book Pictures
Have you ever viewed animated movies while quickly flipping through
consecutive photographs in a flip-book format? Welcome to the Post-It
Theater, where the movies are all hand-drawn on Post-itR brand notes
and scanned. Be sure to check in every week for a new feature.
http://www.bigempire.com/postittheater/index.html
Movie Mistakes: Take Two
Have you ever watched a movie and noticed a few inconsistencies, like
when an object (a pair of sunglasses, a vase, etc.) suddenly disappears
in a scene only to magically reappear in a shot from another angle?
Such blunders are now the subject of 'Movie Mistakes', a site that
meticulously documents these errors from almost every major film of
the last thirty years, including movies that are currently in theatres.
Don't miss the famous Star Wars bungle, where an Imperial Stormtrooper
bangs his head on a door, nearly rendering himself unconscious.
http://www.movie-mistakes.co.uk
Britney Splits the Atom
Many of us are familiar with the Britney Spear's, the pop star, but
very few of us know Britney, the semiconductor physicist. Hit that
radioactive transistor one more time at this hilarious site, in which
Ms. Spears explains everything from edge emitting lasers to the Fermi-Dirac
distribution function. Bored? Inspirational pics of Britney will support
you on your way to becoming an expert in semiconductor physics! http://www.britneyspears.ac/lasers.htm
The Sport's Cliche List
We've all witnessed the post game interview from the losing team's
locker room and heard the oft -repeated killer clichés like, "we beat
ourselves", "we didn't get the job done" and the classic, "they wanted
it more than we did". This searchable list has been accumulated from
countless interviews by sports writers and announcers, and is divided
into sections including Pre-Game, During the Game, Post-Game, Losing
Locker Room and Fired Coaches. After visiting you will not be at a
loss for words or excuses.
http://www.sportscliche.com/
Politics and Culture
We normally think that popular culture including TV, art, film, style,
advertising and music exist in a separate sphere from town halls,
state houses, courts and the other privileged places where we confront
social, economic and political issues. PopPolitics is an online magazine
that covers the blending of popular and political culture through
commentary, discussions and more. Great content!
http://www.poppolitics.com
Return to Gilligan's Island
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip,
that started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship. Nostalgia
Time! All aboard this tiny site and get ready for a three hour tour...
Come and spend some time with the original "Survivors":
Gilligan, the Skipper, Mary Anne, Ginger, and the Howels at this hilarious
and heart felt site devoted to Gilligan's Island. The Bob Denver Fan
Site includes everything from behind the scenes photos, to info on
his current weekly radio show with his wife, "Denver and Denver".
Be sure to check out "Gourmet Gilligan" for some great recipes
the castaways used.
http://www.bobdenver.com
America at Work, School and Play
If you long for more simple times, check out the American Memory Collection,
which offers a glimpse of America at work, school and play around
the turn of the 20th century. These historical film collections are
the key contribution of the Library of Congress to the National Digital
Library. From Vaudeville shows including animal acts, burlesque, dance,
comic sketches and more through Society Ballooning and Shooting the
Chutes at
Coney Island, this site offers up a wonderful plate of nostalgia.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awlhtml
Breakfast Cereal Character Guide
The Breakfast Cereal Character guide contains a detailed reference
for some of the most memorable cereal box characters from the early
1900's to the present. It's full of great images and information on
characters such as Tony the Tiger, Captain Crunch, Snap Crackle and
Pop, and Dig 'Em.
http://www.lavasurfer.com/cereal-guide.html
Junk Store Cameras
If you have an old camera in your attic, and would like to know more
about it, visit this fascinating site. It contains pictures of old
Brownies, Kodak's, and Polaroid's along with useful information about
their history and uses.
http://www.merrillphoto.com/JunkStoreCameras.htm
Early Audio Recordings
Long before MP3's, wav files, CD's and tapes, sound was stored on
wax cylinder records. This site traces early audio recordings including
antique phonographs, recording methods, excerpts of old-time marching
band music,
and rare vintage photos. Whether you're a newcomer or are familiar
with the old-time sounds, you'll enjoy this voyage into the wonderful
recordings of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
http://www.tinfoil.com
80s
Nostalgia
Remember the '80's? Reagan, Gorbachev, tax shelters, the collapse
of the Soviet Union, the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana, Joe
Montana, Magic Johnson, the Iran Contra Affair, Mt St Helen's erupting,
the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, boys dressing like girls, girls dressing
for power and big shoulder pads everywhere. This site offers a look
back at the 80's with a glossary (Yuppies, chillin, Radical, No Way
and to the Max), classic TV shows, computer games and pson. The page
also delivers shell-shocked quotes and rants of the day from the losers
and winners, oddball lists - like Utah coach Rick Majerus' favorite
items to order from room service - and point-spreads for the big games
of the week.
http://espn.go.com/page2/
Get a life
The fruits of over 2,500 hours of work, the Lego Star War Trilogy
painstakingly recreates over 180 key scenes from the original series
using Legos. Imperial Walkers, Ewok dances, Jabba's sail barge, and
the "most
impressive" Skywalker vs. Darth Vader lightsaber duel are all
recreated using cutom-made models. Only fully trained Jedi, with the
Force as their ally, may conquer this site.
http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~mbsf/
Public Radio
Fans
Fans of quality radio programming know that Public Radio is the professor
of the intellectual airways. This website allows you to scroll through
and listen to an international index of public radio programs. From
the BBC to Australian radio it is easy to search by location and find
your favorite channels.
http://www.publicradiofan.com/
Theme Park Insider
If memories of Disneyland still make you smile, or if the mere mention
of Magic Mountain immediately widens your children's eyes, then perhaps
it's time to take the family on an All American Vacation to a theme
park. ThemeParkInsider.com will guide you through the entire 'fun
park' industry, with detailed listings and descriptions of every major
park in the US and Europe. Visitors will get insider information on
the best rides, games, shows, restaurants, as well as tips on which
parks are more suited for infants, young children, teenagers, adults,
etc. Just remember to buckle your safety belt, throw your arms in
the air, and try not to eat too much cotton candy before hitting the
roller coasters.
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/
The History of Money
We've all heard the clichés about money; how it burns a hole
in your pocket or it can't buy you happiness or that it's the root
of all evil. In reality, most of us are in its constant pursuit, and
love to hear stories about it. This site, created by the Federal Reserve
Bank of San Francisco explores the history of American Currency and
examines how changes in our currency are closely aligned with our
country's history. It is also a great resource
for information on all things money including a glossary and FAQ.
http://www.frbsf.org/currency/index.html
Joseph Wu's Origami
Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper … and the daily
newspaper folded up under your arm doesn't even come close. Looking
at these elaborate designs created from the simplest of materials,
it's easy to understand site creator Joseph Wu's background in computer
graphics.The creations are wonderful, like an intricate lobster folded
from a single uncut 4-foot square of paper. Here you can find models
and designs, paper treatment techniques, a comprehensive gallery and
news and links about the art - try it yourself or just enjoy. http://www.origami.vancouver.bc.ca/
Way of the Warrior
Learning a martial art is an extremely rewarding way to build inner
strength and confidence, but it requires unwavering discipline and
endurance of its students. BUSHIDO, meaning "Way of the Warrior,"
is the starting point for all martial arts teachings and its online
presence, Bushido Online, exposes us to the history and philosophies
behind the martial arts. Divided into three major sections, Karate,
Kung Fu and Kobudo, the site is an in-depth analysis of the major
disciplines, including Aikido, Ju Jutsu, Kempo, Shorin Ryu and more.
The enriching content will satisfy both the master and the prospective
pupil.
http://www.bushido-online.com/
Web Geek Extraordinaire
Sebastien Chevrel is a self-proclaimed geek, artist and web impresario.
His website is a living testament to the artistic freedom that the
Web enables, for it is wholly and humbly dedicated to his creations
and visions. It is built around design elements that exceed most sites
in originality and style. The most awe-inspiring section of the site
is the one called 'Experiments'. Mr. Chevrel, for all of his self-deprecating
sarcasm and humor, is a genuine genius, especially when it comes to
understanding how physics and virtual design work together. Check
out the experiments entitled 'Blinds' and 'Sketches' for a good sampling
of his work. This site represents the magical possibilities that can
occur when a true individual and the Internet get together.
http://sebchevrel.com/index.html
Kansas City: Paris
of the Plains
Some of the greatest Jazz of the twentieth century came, ironically
enough, from the former cow town of Kansas City, Missouri. The music
that blew out of that area between the 1920's and 1940's continues
to be regarded as some of the best of American Jazz. During its 'Jazz
Age', Kansas City (otherwise known as KayCee) became the U.S.' original
Sin City. This website, an online companion to a current exhibition
at the Miller Nichols Library, takes you on an unholy tour of the
political, social, geographic and musical temperament of Kaycee during
those times.
http://www.umkc.edu/lib/spec-col/parisoftheplains/webexhibit/index.html
Exploring Electronic Consciousness
In most cities, people don't know their neighbors across the hall,
yet they will exchange the most intimate details of their personal
lives with strangers in chat rooms. In the midst of this world there
exists a place where the hangers-on and the more fanatical members
of cyberspace come to rant and rave. Spark-online.com is dedicated
to understanding the very nature of this brave new world we inhabit.
http://www.spark-online.com
Vanity Plates
With only six to eight characters and a small metal plate at their
disposal, people can be very creative. Discover the meaning of common
abbreviations used in vanity license plates, read an Oedipal epic
told entirely with vanity plates and learn whose car carries the tag
88 KEYS. http://www-chaos.umd.edu/misc/
TheFreeSite.com
TheFreeSite.com is the largest and most popular site devoted to the
topic of freebies on the Web. The site offers critical reviews of
the Web's latest "must have" freebies. Here, you'll find everything
from free product samples to free software to Webmaster freebies to
innovative free services.http://www.thefreesite.com
Love Signs
I Really Love Signs is a classic boutique web site devoted to a specialty
hobby -- in this case, signs. Six galleries classify the sign genre
into Hand-Painted, Neon/Bulbous, Plastic, Monumental, Type Samples
and just plain Strange. In a homogenous world, these signs can be
appreciated as part of a bizarre and wonderful universe - preserved
here. http://www.pjchmiel.com/photo/signs.html
Swiss Poster Art
For over five decades Switzerland has been at the cutting edge of
poster art, its form, style and visual technique, and even holds an
annual Swiss Poster of the Year competition to recognize the most
unique and creative designs. Lovers of art and advertising alike will
appreciate this collection of Swiss Poster Art, presently on display
at Carnegie Mellon University and at Swissposters.com. With over sixty
entries, all dated from 1971 to the present, the site is a small museum
of posters. You can browse through the gallery of selected pictures
or search by name and designer for a specific piece. If you are not
familiar with poster art, the Info section of the website provides
a fairly detailed of history of the origin and progress of this modern
form of design. http://swissposters.library.cmu.edu/Swiss/
Science For Everyone
Remember when you were a kid and had tons of questions about anything
and everything but no one was around to answer them? "Why is the sky
blue?", "When will I get my period?" or "How does an airplane fly?"
For today's wired kids, The BrainPOP gang is there to answer these
questions and many more. Their award-winning Health, Science and Technology
site is based on original, animated movies created to explain the
human body and the world around us in an engaging, interactive journey
for kids. BrainPOP makes learning fun, in a safe environment, without
sacrificing accurate information, which is something parents, teachers
and kids will appreciate.http://www.brainpop.com/
Deep Impact Comets carry fascinating and scientifically
valuable info deep in their interiors, so the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
is literally taking a shot at a comet to study its insides by excavating
a deep crater into its surface. At Deep Impact, learn details of the
science behind comet explorations and the remarkable technology, like
the launch vehicle, high resolution instruments and targeting sensors.
The Deep Impact mission launches in December 2004 from Kennedy Space
Center. The Gallery offers animations of the coming comet encounter
and early spacecraft models. Educational activities are provided for
kids of all ages, from grades 2 through 12, and for adult learners.
Visit the Discovery Zone for fun ways to learn about comets and space
exploration, from comet brain twisters to a simulated chance to fulfill
one of the mission's real challenges.http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/
History of Electronic Music
The development from 1870 to the present of electronic musical instruments,
those that synthesize sound from an electronic source, is presented
at 120 Years of Electronic Music. The history of electronic music
starts in the mid-19th century with the work of a German physicist
who built an instrument to electronically analyze combinations of
tones, and continues through experiments like the tone wheel, the
vacuum tube, integrated circuitry and digital formats. Music buffs
will discover cool trivia like this: Inventor Raymond Kurzweil, who
had developed a revolutionary reading machine for the blind that scanned
written materials and read them aloud in a synthesized voice, was
challenged by customer Stevie Wonder to create an electronic instrument
that blended the richness of acoustic sound with the control and sound
modification of electronics. The result: the first ROM-based sampling
keyboard to successfully reproduce the full complexity of acoustic
instrument sounds.http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/
Time Tales
Three hundred photos found at flea markets, thrift shops or scooped
up from streets and alleys, lost from bags or pockets, or dug from
the dark corner of a cabinet in an abandoned house are collected at
Time Tales.com. The home for lost photos, their mysteries still intact,
is organized by time period, from pre-1930s to the present, and includes
such gems as a trio of rowers on a lake found in a second-hand store
in Germany, and a man getting a shave in a Turkish barber shop. Visitors
can order and send their favorite time tale photo as an e-card, from
a couple posing with a CHP cruiser to old-time wedding portraits and
chubby toddlers. Photos are submitted and posted only with a note
telling where they were found and when, by whom, and any clues to
the mystery of their subject matter. http://www.timetales.com/
Letters of Rejection
No one enjoys rejection, but there's comfort in knowing that being
passed over is a universal experience. We've all been there. Letters
of Rejection posts real letters of rejection from companies and colleges,
stored in an archive. If misery loves company, there's plenty of both
here. Visitors can submit rejection letters they're received. At least
prospective employers, unlike last week's date who you thought was
your next Mr. or Ms. Right, are usually courteous about rejecting
you. Sorted by company, from the gentle if puzzling rejection from
Aardvark Music, "Unfortunately, although we like your material we
don't think it is going to fit in," to this supportive Big No from
Raytheon: "Although you were not selected for this position, we appreciate
your desire to expand your career." With links for the rejected, like
Monster Jobs and Resume Assistance, and job market news stories. http://www.lettersofrejection.com/
Everything About Everywhere
Master the world of statistics at Nationmaster.com, quickly delivering
statistics of all kinds about the nations of the world, with graphs
comparing nations by more than 500 statistics. Those with a need to
know the fastest-growing, richest, most militaristic, most murderous,
most taxed (the residents of the Vatican City) will find it fast here.
Categories are vast, from most mobile to most murderous, womanliest
to wettest, plus more conventional categories like energy, education,
religion and sports. Find out how many cars, refugees, Olympic medals
or tourists a nation has, or how much corruption, divorce or rain
fall. View profiles of individual countries with their maps and flags,
and generate a graph that precisely meets your needs just by clicking
on a country, the comparison you wish to make, the category, and then
on Generate Graph. http://www.nationmaster.com/
7 Home repairs you can’t ignore
"Homeowner
procrastination can ruin a house. Don’t let water, pests, faulty
wiring, dirty chimneys or old appliances get the upper hand."
The basics, but just in time for spring cleaning!
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/P47352.asp
Bad Design
Where did we park the car? Are we on the Dorothy, Toto, or Scarecrow
level? Design should be intuitive, not just clever. Bad Designs.com
is a scrapbook of illustrated examples of the confusion caused by
designs that fail to consider human principles. The site is created
by a usability engineer with a doctorate in cognitive psychology who
knows poor design when he sees it: things that are hard to handle,
like those self-service parking lot devices that require you to fold
dollar bills and stuff them into a numbered slot; and things that
don't fit the human anatomy, like coffee mug lids designed by someone
who's forgotten about the human nose. A section on Display Design
shows 17 different problems with controls, and Ambiguous Signs and
Labels includes the too-cute parking structure signs based on a Wizard
of Oz theme.
http://www.baddesigns.com/
Simply Scripts
Budding screenwriters, playwrights and actors seeking audition
material can link to hundreds of movie, radio, TV, stage play and
musical scripts of current and classic films, TV and radio shows,
anime productions and more at Simply Scripts. Read the 2001 draft
script for "Training Day" or the production script for "Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington" to see how scripts evolve from concept
to shooting to editing to what we finally view on screen. Search by
medium, title or author for such gems as a radio script of "Maxwell
House Coffee Time Starring George Burns and Gracie Allen," TV
scripts from "Ally McBeal" to "All My Children,"
and anime scripts for "Sailor Moon" and "Gatekeepers,"
among others. Several unproduced scripts are offered for view, plus
reviews of films. http://www.simplyscripts.com/
Road traffic
Figure out how traffic works at Microsimulation of Road Traffic,
a time-continuous model in six configurations, illustrating the dynamics
of lane changes, lane closing, traffic lights, uphill grades, a ring
road and an on-ramp.
http://vwisb7.vkw.tu-dresden.de/%7Etreiber/MicroApplet/
Flip a Coin
Flip a virtual coin at random.org, where the outcome is truly
random because it is based on true random numbers generated with atmospheric
noise, not pseudo random numbers commonly used in other computer programs.
Select a coin, from a Colombian 500 pesos to a US quarter, then click
Flip to see heads or tails.
http://www.random.org/flip.html
Stubby
A stubby is a small, squat bottle of beer, used by Canadian breweries
between 1961 and 1986 as a sturdy and refillable replacement for the
long neck beer bottle. At www.stubby.ca, the Stubby beer bottle web
site, see photos of stubbys from Molson and Moosehead to Uncle Ben's
and O'Keefe, which in 1983 began bottling Miller in a US-style mold
bottle later used by other US breweries. http://www.stubby.ca/
Becoming Human
Journey through the four million-year story of human evolution
in a broadband documentary from the Institute of Human Origins. The
documentary requires Macromedia Flash and a high speed connection
to view the Evidence of how scientists discover and analyze the fossil
record; Anatomy, illustrating our changing physiology; Lineage, tracing
the human family tree; and Culture, examining how we understand ourselves,
others and our place in the natural world. Hominid profiles describe
the diet, range and habitation of the species,
from the 4 million-year-old ardipithecus ramidus, a woodlands inhabitant
of East Africa, to the 100,000-year-old homo sapien with a worldwide
range. News and Features offers book reviews and paleo news. The Learning
Center has educational activities and in-depth lesson plans developed
by leading science educators, and Resources offers a glossary, media
links and web sites. http://www.becominghuman.org/
Run the Planet
Global domination is not the theme of Run the Planet, a site about
literally running the planet, from Antarctica to Zimbabwe, with 2,871
descriptions from locals on where to run and walk in 2,144 cities
around the world. When runners are far from home, they still must
run and can find out where and how at this worldwide running community.
Search where to run by clicking on the map or by typing in a city.
And if Earth just isn't planet enough, see Run A Planet for descriptions
on running in the final frontiers of space. With a city index, photo
albums and tips on safe running, the site also offers a bookstore
to buy running books and magazines on-line. The Shopping Center offers
other merchandise, like free running software. Or turn aimless runs
into missions with a purpose by signing up for a Run The Planet Mission,
like running in all cities that have hosted the Olympics.
http://www.runtheplanet.com/
Jokes and Science
What's the difference between an auto mechanic and a quantum mechanic?
The quantum mechanic can get the car inside the garage without opening
the door. That's the kind of laugh that knocks 'em dead at Jokes and
Science, a collection of short K-12 science jokes and quotes studded
with science links, history and biographies. Sections focus on one
scientist's life and scientific work, sneaking in lessons with a punch
line, like this stand-up routine on Einstein's theory of relativity:
"Two hairs in my milk is too much. Two hairs on my head is too
less." The stars of the show are Darwin, Einstein, Archimedes,
Mendel, Newton, Babbage, Dolly the cloned sheep, space explorers and
dinosaurs. The scientific topics are biology, physics, genetics, cloning,
math, chemistry, computer sciences, earth sciences and space. The
theory: First, get those kids laughing; then get them learning.
http://www.juliantrubin.com/sciencejokes.html
Volunteer with a Friend
Everything is more fun with a friend. So mentor a child, help
local law enforcement, create a local recycling program or deliver
meals to the homebound with a pal. Volunteerism just feels good, and
there's strength in numbers. Volunteerfriends.org is looking for 100,000
new volunteers age 55 and over to help make a difference in their
local communities.Share your volunteer spirit with your friends and
neighbors using the site's online tools to send a friend an e-mail
or an e-card or to print a flier to ask others to volunteer with you
or find a way to use their own skills and interests for the common
good. The site is part of Ask a Friend, a nationwide campaign developed
by Senior Corps to tap the talents of volunteers over 55. With profiles
of current volunteers, Volunteer Facts like people who volunteer live
longer, healthier lives, and Fast Match to link via your zip code
to volunteer opportunities nearby.
http://www.volunteerfriends.org/
Atlas of the Body
Carpal tunnel syndrome, what's that all about? And what happens
to the brain to cause all that damage from stroke? Find out with help
from the anatomy and medical illustrations offered by the American
Medical Association at Atlas of the Body. Detailed views of the body,
brain and muscle, inside and out, illustrate how the body works and
what happens when something goes awry, from the
complex endocrine system to the simple skeleton. Not so simple, perhaps:
Can you label the humerus? The scaphold? Besides showing and naming
body parts, the clear graphics illustrate medical conditions, like
the loss of sensation that comes from damage to the sensory cortex
after stroke, or disorders of the breast, like fibrocystic breast
disease and fibroadenomas, the benign growths in breast tissue.
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/7140.html
Hooked on Facts
Get a fascinating fact a day at Hooked on Facts, a dedicated fact
engine that generates thousands of random confirmed facts, like the
fact that more than half of all lottery jackpot winners go back to
work after winning the jackpot.
http://www.hookedonfacts.com/
Hybrid Cars
Fascinated by those temptingly fuel-efficient vehicles you see
on the morning commute? Learn all about the latest and greatest innovation
in the auto industry at Hybridcars.com, an online magazine about the
21st century eco-friendly vehicles from Ford, Honda, Toyota and other
auto manufacturers. Check out articles about hybrid electric vehicles,
read reviews and see views of the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Insight,
even Ford's first production hybrid gas-electric SUV. 2004 has been
set as the target for production prototypes by General Motors, DaimlerChrysler
and Ford, boasting triple the fuel efficiency of midsize cars and
affordability, performance and safety. With classifieds and a Dealer
Locator to help visitors find an auto dealer nearby; animations of
hybrid systems; Tech Talk for chat about regenerative braking and
torque-on-demand; and an online forum to discuss the latest hybrid
technology. http://www.hybridcars.com/
National Park Guide
Plan a summer getaway to home-grown natural treasures at the National
Park Guide, from the National Parks Service, where vacationers can
plan their trip to national parks in every state, literally from A
to Z - from the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site
in Kentucky to Zion National Park in Utah. Use the pull-down menu
to find your park of choice, click on a US map to choose a state and
see all its national parks, or search by interest area like American
presidents, endangered species or wildlife viewing. Choose a park,
then access all the info you need to plan your trip: camping, lodging,
facilities, fees and permits, maps, news and events, even volunteer
opportunities. Travel Basics for each park gives operating hours by
season, how to get there by car or plane, the weather to expect and
how to get around inside the park.
http://www.nps.gov/parks.html
Button Homage
Button, button, whose got the .The Buttonarium probably has it.
The online button museum features hundreds of antique and collectible
clothing buttons, from baseball to golf, Barbie to Pokemon, politics
to Hollywood, even buttons with moving parts and secret compartments.
http://www.buttonarium.com/
Extreme Ironing
A tedious chore is reborn at Extreme Ironing, where competitors
enjoy the thrill of bungee-jumping plus the satisfaction of having
a well-pressed shirt at days' end. Take an iron, an ironing board
and a few crumpled items of laundry to a remote location and iron
as you plunge down a mountainside, ski, snowboard or canoe. See the
photos and read the stories of these bold, tidy athletes. http://www.extremeironing.com/
The Word Spy
Conquering globesity may be a BHAG. If this means nothing to you,
your vocabulary may be lagging behind culture, so stop by WordSpy.com
to catch up on recently coined words and phrases, old words used in
new ways, and words enjoying a renaissance. "Globesity"
is the global obesity plague and "BHAG" is an acronym for
a big, hairy, audacious goal, coined by a couple of Stanford profs.
The words here are real; that is, they've appeared in newspapers,
magazines, books, press releases, and Web sites. Newly spotted words,
their definitions, recent examples of usage and earliest citations
are posted daily. Search alphabetically or by subject, like Business,
Language, Science and Culture. The Top 100 lists the top Word Spy
words based on page views from the past week. Sign up for a daily
word via e-mail and the latest word-related quotation from the online
Words About Words section. http://www.wordspy.com/
DigiBarn Computer Museum
If you get teary-eyed over the memory of your old Amiga 500, Apple
Lisa 2 XL or Tandy TRS80 take a trip down memory lane at the DigiBarn
Computer Museum, preserving personal stories and tracking technological
evolution through vintage computer systems, manuals, videos, interviews
and other relics of the PC explosion. A "memory palace for the
nerd-inclined," the DigiBarn is a 90-year-old
redwood building on a farm in the redwood forests of Northern California
near Silicon Valley. For six generations, it was a livestock barn.
Today it houses a collection of computer systems, like the MITS Altair
8800 in its original 1975 chassis; counting machines and calculators;
and print documentation, including a 1983 Apple MacIntosh ad featuring
Bill Gates. Stories include personal histories and artifacts, like
a 1977 Microsoft Applesoft BASIC on cassette tape. View the collections,
submit your own stories or photos, or talk vintage computing at the
DigiBarn Blogs.
http://www.digibarn.com/
The Degree Confluence Project
A confluence is a flowing together, a meeting place, more precisely
defined at The Degree Confluence Project as the exact spot where an
integer degree of latitude and an integer degree of longitude meet.
Starting in 1996 with four photos of the confluence that started it
all, a nondescript spot by a swamp located at 43N/72W two miles outside
of Hancock, Cheshire, New Hampshire, the project has collected more
than 20,000 photos of confluences from 120 countries. Photos and stories
of confluences are posted, with 13,575 yet to be found, so there's
still time to join the search. If you're on Earth, there's a confluence
within 49 miles of you: find it and photograph your visit. Why? Because
a confluence represents randomness that emerges from strict order
and because confluence-hunting combines the outdoors, hiking and photography,
plus planning and preparation. In short, it's an adventure.
http://www.confluence.org
Human Beatbox
When your mom made you stop making those strange sounds with your
mouth as a kid, little did she know she was stifling what would become
a 21st century art form known as vocal percussion, multivocalism or,
on the street, beatboxing. Tutorials, guides, articles and recordings
at Human Beatbox.com give visitors all they need to recapture their
native talent. Called the fifth element of hip hop, beatboxing is
the art of creating beats, rhythms and sound imitations using the
human mouth. Learn how to beatbox using the online tutorials and exercises
for making key sounds and tips on creating different sounds. Audio
and video clips show beatbox pros at play, and listings of beatbox
records and live performances help beginners find inspiration and
explain their budding talent to friends and
family. Forums hook visitors up with other beatboxers to ask questions
and seek advice.
http://www.humanbeatbox.com/index.shtml
Vatican Art
The Vatican put its enormous art collection on the Web, launching
a new site for the Vatican Museums that it hopes will attract more
tourists while also disseminating the church's message around the
globe. The site allows visitors to take a virtual tour of some of
the dozen museums and galleries that make up the Vatican collection,
zooming in on a frescoed panel in the Raphael Rooms or viewing Michelangelo's
Sistine Chapel with a three-dimensional video. Images of the works
are accompanied by descriptions in Italian, French, English, Spanish
and German. Vatican officials said the goal of the site was to give
potential tourists, scholars and curious Web browsers a sampling of
the Vatican's holdings while taking advantage of the Internet and
the "universal language" of art to spread Pope John Paul
II's message. "The tool of the Web, with its enormous potential,
allows us to get closer to an ever-growing number of people to spread
the message of evangelization around the world," said Cardinal
Edmund Casimir Szoka, whose office oversees the Vatican's museums
and galleries.Now through the same link, visitors can view entire
galleries of the Egyptian and Etruscan museums, the Pinacoteca painting
gallery, the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel.
www.vatican.va
Supermarket Guru
Bless yourself with smarter shopping, healthier eating and better
living at the Supermarket Guru.com from grocery guru Phil Lempert
and friends. Lempert, a TV and radio reporter and columnist, is the
food trends correspondent for NBC's Today Show and a regular on The
View and Oprah, among others. His weekly live call-in radio show on
WOR radio, "Shopping Smart," airs in over 100 cities nationwide.
Read food and health news updates, restaurant reviews from across
America, readers' tips and featured columns. Follow food trends; vote
on new product hits, like Amy's Organic Vegetarian Beans, and misses;
take the Quick Poll, like "What should happen next to Martha?";
and sign up for an e-mail NewsFlash for supermarket information and
special contests. Coming soon: Broccoli, Beans and Bananas, a consumer
shopping, food and health section just for kids.
http://supermarketguru.com/
Fling The Cow
Compete with your PC peers to catapult a cow as far as you can
across a field at Fling the Cow.com, where the only muscle required
is the one used by your index finger to hold down the mouse button
to make that bovine fly. Using Macromedia Flash, nearly 3 million
competitors have tried to unseat the reigning champ.
http://www.flingthecow.com
Virus Myths
When so-called experts breathlessly warn of the latest super-threat
virus and your own PC terror alert surges toward red, don't panic!
Head to Vmyths.com for a dose of simple truth and knowledge. Search
a list of computer virus hoaxes from A to Z, get the real deal on
computer virus myths, urban legends and the potential dangers of succumbing
to paranoia and preventive virus medicine. With coverage of computer
security hysteria, the site refuses antivirus ads to maintain independence
and uses columnists who are respected security critics while tackling
persistent virus myths and misconceptions about real viruses. Virus
hysteria plays on fear of the unknown. Laugh in the face of that fear.
Columns poke fun at fearmongers while offering useful info, including
Hot News about how people self-damage their own PCs on the advice
of hysterical non-experts; Hoaxes, covering virus alerts and publicity
stunts; plus Rants and Resources.
http://www.vmyths.com/
Wise Guide
The Library of Congress is brimming with fascinating audio and
visual resources. The Wise Guide is an online portal that sifts through
and directs visitors to the best of the Library's online offerings:
prints, photographs, film, audio recordings, maps, manuscripts, music
and digital materials -even books. Organized like a magazine, the
site plucks the timeliest material for its front page. For example,
at "Work" view Ansel Adams photos of working stiffs or listen
to interviews, like the iron worker who, when asked if his job is
dangerous, replies "You ain't an iron worker unless you get killed."
The fare is diverse, fun and serious, from online dance demos to poignant
oral histories of war by the boys who fought them; from a history
of Father's Day to celebrity art from caricaturist Al Hirschfeld,
whose recent passage took a significant piece of entertainment history
with him.
http://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/index-flash.html
Radio Lovers
Before there were video games, malls, MTV and the Internet, families
sat around the radio together, laughing over Abbott and Costello,
thrilling to The Avenger, and dancing to Benny Goodman. Bring it all
back at Radio Lovers.com, offering thousands of vintage radio shows
to listen to in MP3 format, all free of charge. The comedies, dramas,
mysteries, variety shows, westerns, sci-fi and music are all here,
from Amos and Andy to Hopalong Cassidy and Death Valley Days, Blondie
to Buck Rogers. Search alphabetically, from Abbot and Costello to
Omar the Wizard of Persia. Or browse by genre to sample such vintage
variety shows as Arthur Godfrey and his Talent Scouts or miscellaneous
fare, like more than 20 episodes of The Creaking Door and a 1942 episode
of Breakfast at Sardi's.
http://www.radiolovers.com/
Fantastic Physics
Forget J-Lo and Ben, Britney and Justin. Who's your favorite physicist?
Only at Physics Central.com do you find stiff competition in the polls
among Stephen Hawking, Enrico Fermi and Isaac Newton. You can see
celebrity antics and Hollywood gossip just about anywhere, but only
here can you view antihydrogen antics and catch the buzz about antimatter.
Learn how your world works at Physics in Action; meet the stars of
physics in People in Physics; see crystal cannibals at Physics in
Pictures, showing a Space Shuttle experiment in which large crystallites
devour smaller ones; and follow Team Physics, the US Physics Olympiad
Team, at Physics News. The Writer's Gallery tackles topics like ethical
issues of science, and at Dear Lou, ask the brainiac columnist simple
questions like "What causes the smoke when you extinguish a candle
flame?"
http://www.physicscentral.com/action/
Calendar History
Those daunted by the prospect of organizing their sock drawer
will appreciate the massive task of using the sun and stars to organize
human history and all the days, weeks, months and years that fill
it. The history of the calendar is presented at Calendars Through
the Ages, a fact-filled site tracing the super-human effort to organize
the passage of time. From explanations of the solstice, equinox, tropical
year and synodic month to the Christian, Islamic and Jewish calendars,
the site explains and illustrates the days of our lives, from the
astronomical basis of calendars to international calendar reforms.
Read explanations of calendars in use today and no longer in use,
like the complex Mayan calendar based on the Pyramid Chichen Itza
in Yucatan, Mexico, whose 4 stairways, 91 steps and
top platform were used as the visual equivalent of a calendar year.
http://webexhibits.org/calendars/
The Pit Heads
See faces carved into the tiny seeds plucked from peaches, plums,
apricots, olives, cherries and even the dogwood tree at Shamey Metalcraft's
The Pit Heads, displaying Lilliputian-sized intricate images, like
an alien carved from a sweet cherry pit and a tribe of gnomes carved
from olive pits.
http://www.shamey.com/pit/pit.htm
Movies of the 1980s
Fans of retro movies get a ticket to nostalgia at 80s Movie Rewind,
a virtual encyclopedia of the decade's movies, with reviews by 80s
movie fans and trivia, pictures, soundtracks and trailers of more
than 400 movies. Search by title, director, actor, composer or genre,
from such definitive 80s movies as "E.T." and "Fast
Times at Ridgemont High" to less memorable but still remarkable
fare like the 1986 marital farce "100 Ways To Murder Your Wife"
featuring a Malaysian football star who wants to get rid of his wife,
the former Miss Malaysia. Vote for the Top 150 80s movies, learn first
about upcoming 80s DVD releases, and chat in 80s Forums and Message
Boards. There's even a poll for Honorary 80s movies; that is, films
that were not released in the 80s but sure act like they were. Top
vote-getter so far, "The Wedding Singer."
http://www.fast-rewind.com/
Science Hobbyist
Science can be weird, wacky and fun. An engineer/scientist at
Seattle's University of Washington who has been a designer and software
engineer, textbook consultant and lecturer created Science Hobbyist,
a large and loopy web site for amateur science and science education.
For new visitors, find strange and twisted build-it projects, nutty
stuff to do with static electricity, evil genius high-tech practical
jokes and the Disgust-O-Scope, which perverts "beautiful radial
symmetry and pristine mathematics" into a revolting, yet highly
amusing optical toy. Amateur Science offers links to kids' science
projects, online places to ask science questions, cool science sites
and much more. Weird Science links those with a taste for the strange
to a monthly Weird Science Salon in Seattle. And don't miss Traffic
Waves, revealing amazing things to do on your morning commute as an
"amateur traffic dynamicist."
http://amasci.com/
Tech Tales
They laugh, they cry, they save your butt - and they tell their
tales at Tech Tales.com, where the Help Desk folks who finally answer
the phone after your eternity on hold trade stories about the scrapes
us non-techies get ourselves into. Tech support staff are invited
to submit favorite stories, like the woman caller who, when told to
"right click" on her mouse kept writing the word "click"
on her mouse. The month of March 2003 has nearly 30 stories alone,
or click to any month going back to 1997 to find out if we're learning
anything about these machines. In 1997, for example, when a help desk
operator asked a caller if she had a mouse on her desk, the caller
replied "Thank God, no, this is a very clean office." We're
making progress, aren't we?
http://www.techtales.com/
Tax Tales
It's April, and Taxgaga.com lets you sock it to the IRS by submitting
jokes and horror stories at the IRS' expense. Each month, the visitor
who submits the best Tax Horror Story wins $100. Those who aren't
in the mood for laughing can check out the latest tax news, use online
calculators and find a wealth of info related to that five letter
word: taxes.
http://www.taxgaga.com/dir-taxhaha.html
Hot Hand in Sports
A hot-and-cold basketball player might be called a "streak
shooter," or a baseball player a "streak hitter." Professor
Alan Reifman of the University of Michigan is both a sports fan and
academic statistician who studies whether such patterns of streakiness
are anything more than mere chance. At Hot Hand in Sports, the prof
shares the knowledge of 15 years of "hot hand" research,
giving the average sports fan something more intriguing to think about
during the game than commercials and half-time shows. The site shares
archives of analyses and features current announcements, like major
league baseball teams who seem to be "going hot" after cold
starts. Vast links include standard fare like ESPN.com, but zero in
on articles about streakiness. More unusual links include Vassar College's
calculator that tells the probability, for example, of a team that
shoots a seasonal free-throw rate of .67 hitting 12-of-30. http://www.hs.ttu.edu/hdfs3390/hothand.htm
Classical Music Archives
Classical music fans will hear a symphony and enjoy non-stop encores
at Classical Music Archives, claiming to be the largest classical
music site on the Web and supporting its claim with an index of 15,171
WMA and MP3 files from 798 main composers, from the 17th century forward.
Visitors can hear live recordings in streamed WMA format and paying
subscribers can hear HiFi MP3 files to download and save. Still more
audio files are available via less-satisfying MIDI files. Beyond audio
files, the site offers composer biographies, a timeline, a 24/7 radio
station and an excellent learning center for newcomers to the site
or to classical music. For $25 per year, subscribers enjoy extra goodies,
like downloading ZIP collections, access to "one-click"
concerts, extra file downloads and
access to reserved topics in the forum.
http://www.classicalarchives.com/
PC Magazine Top 100 Web Sites
Whether incredibly useful or incredibly silly, the sites named
in PC Magazine's annual list of 100 Top Web Sites have a way of growing
on you. See the list at PC Magazine.com, which focuses on the sites
that you may never have heard of or discovered on your own in the
dense jungle that is today's Web. Visitors may not love every site,
listed in seven categories from Computing to Lifestyle to Travel,
but they're guaranteed to find plenty of jewels they didn't know they
couldn't live without. There's something for everyone, from Big Fun
Toys for cool toys like Moon Shoes and the Sigmund Freud Action Figure;
to Benefits Check-Up with info on 1,100 programs for
older adults in all 50 states. And check-out PC Mag's Top 100 Classics,
where the best of the past remain the best, year after year. http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,4148,7488,00.asp
Fake or Photo?
Is that a real nose or a CG nose? A fresh blade of grass or a
collection of really talented pixels? Between the quality of imaging
software and the skills of computer techies, the pictures we see today
literally defy reality. Take the test at Fake or Foto.com, where day-to-day
images challenge your ability to tell what's live and what's virtual.
http://www.fakeorfoto.com/
Infrared Zoo
What's hot and what's not is more than a fashion statement at Infrared
Zoo from NASA and Caltech. Visitors can view animals via a thermal
infrared camera to "see" what it means to be warm-or cold-blooded.
Infrared light, radiated by all creatures, lets scientists study how
feathers, fur and blubber insulate animals. With games, tutorials
and links for kids and teachers. http://sirtf.caltech.edu/Education/Zoo/zoo.html
Voice Chasers
Whose voice is that? With voice-cast lists for video games, theme
park attractions, even anime TV shows and movies, Voice Chasers.org
reveals that Astea in "Dragon Force" is voiced by Katie
Staeck and Gary Owens narrates the Epcot Center's "The World
of Motion." A comprehensive database, the site gives an online
voice to the talented and under-recognized voice-over industry. http://www.voicechasers.org/index1.html
In Search of the Giant Squid
It is one of the biggest creatures in the sea, yet is rarely seen.
It hunts small sea creatures, yet falls prey to large animals. It
has inspired fantastic tales, yet the facts are even more fascinating.
"It" is the giant squid. Visitors can find it at In Search
of the Giant Squid, an online exhibit that explores the mystery, beauty
and complexity of one of the world's largest invertebrates. Based
on material in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History,
the site separates squid myth from reality, tells visitors how the
giant squid eats, moves, reproduces and defends itself and describes
the 1999 expedition of a team of researchers who explored the mysteries
that lie a half mile below the ocean's surface.
http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/squid.html
College Sports Television
Sports addicts often claim that today's most exciting - and purest
- athletic competitions are found on college courts and fields. Avid
college sports fans now have a home at CSTV.com, the online field
house of College Sports Television. CSTV launched April 7 with its
premier episode presenting the College Hoops Honor Roll, a comprehensive
college basketball review with awards for Division I, II and III Men's
and Women's Players, Coaches and Teams of the Year. For "college
sports with a passion," the TV show and the web site
have something for every college sports fan: the rivalries, the passion,
the human stories. Read news, feature stories, schedule highlights,
press releases and all the background info needed to become a college
sports groupie.
http://www.cstv.com/index.htm
Money In Politics
"Show me the money" takes on new meaning in politics.
With the 2004 elections looming, learn how to follow the money. Our
nation's vastly complex system of campaign finance is revealed at
opensecrets.org., from the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan,
non-profit D.C. research group that tracks money in politics and its
effect on elections and public policy. Check out 80 different industries
profiled in the Industries Section and their political contributions
going back a decade. Check up on candidates via profiles of every
congressional and Senate race in the country, and the presidential
race. And since politics begins at home, don't forget to shake
the money tree in your own backyard to find out where local contributions
come from and who's getting them. http://www.opensecrets.org/
The Museum of Hoaxes
A hoax can be funny, creepy, clever or fiendish, depending on which
side of the ruse you are. Officially known as "contriving wonderful
stories for the public," the best, worst and often most deceptive
hoaxes have a wide audience and a long life, and now they have a home
at The Museum of Hoaxes. Different than contemporary urban legends,
personal practical jokes or outright frauds, a true hoax intrigues
so much that it makes people question reality -- and sometimes their
own good sense, like The New York Sun's 1835 claim that an astronomer
had discovered blue unicorns, bison and a man-bat living on the moon.
Search hoaxes by century and by category,
from anthropology, with its Patagonian Giants, to zoology, with the
Jackaloupe.
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com
Walking with Cavemen
Are you a chimp or a champ? Put your skills to the test at the
Caveman O'Meter by completing seven evolutionary challenges to progress
up the scale from ape to man at the BBC's Walking With Cavemen. Evolve
one step at a time in any of seven evolutionary challenges about standing,
food-gathering, using tools and fire, hunting, language and the imagination.
Learn about Lucy, the cavewoman who transformed views of how human
evolution occurred, and read an interview with the man who discovered
her bones. The First Britons tells about early Brits, Tough Guys describes
true Neanderthals and other hominids and extinct beasts, and Animal
or
Vegetable explores whether our ancestors were vegetarians or meat-munchers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/cavemen/
Odd Music
Whether you play the kaval or stalagmites in a cave, call whales
with a Waterphone, or just love listening to exotic and indigenous
music and musical instruments, Oddmusic.com is playing your song.
The site showcases global musicians and artisans of unique, ethnic
or experimental music and instruments, from gourd music to industrial
insect metal. The pencilina, for example, is an original electric
ten-stringed instrument that is a palette of hammer dulcimer, slide
guitar and fretless bass played by striking it with sticks, plucking
and bowing. Hear it and other odd instruments played via Real Audio,
explore the Odd Music Gallery, read all about the past, present and
future of unique music and artists, or chat online in the Odd Music
discussion group.
http://www.oddmusic.com/
They Rule
Who's the boss? Powerful CEOs and board members play nearly invisible
musical chairs in a fast and furious game that is impossible for the
rest of us to follow. They Rule aims to illuminate the game by tracking
relationships among the nation's power elite via an interlocking directory
of America's top 100 companies. Because the info changes constantly,
the site is not a live database of board members. But it is an ever-evolving
and invaluable starting point for research. Browse the list of top
companies, select one, click on the
boardroom table to see its directors, other boards on which they sit,
related web sites, and then make notes and save the map of connections
you've built. Visitors can both build their own maps and load other
users' maps.
http://www.theyrule.net/
Public Radio Fan
Public radio is an audio cornucopia of the world, with interviews,
music and stories hard to find elsewhere. Public Radio Fan makes finding
the best of public radio easy. The site features program listings
and schedules for hundreds of public radio stations worldwide so visitors
can listen to favorite programs or discover new ones via Real Media,
Windows Media, MP3, QuickTime and other audio formats. Choose your
time zone and navigate by station name, program or schedule listings.
Shortcuts direct visitors to favorites like Morning Edition and Fresh
Air, latest newscasts, network sites, and popular series like Sound
Portraits. Find programs by name or category; find stations by name,
location, format or language. Only public radio stations that broadcast
audio over the Internet are listed.
http://www.publicradiofan.com/
Cuba: Its People and Culture
Two bright-eyed kids in shorts lounging on the shiny front fender
of a red truck welcome visitors to Dan Heller's equally bright photo
exhibition, Cuba: Its People and Culture. First warned about what
a dangerous place the island nation is, then cautioned about its poverty
and corruption, Heller instead discovered warm and friendly people
and a rich and vibrant culture. Then he started taking photos. Once
he pointed his lens at Havana, he captured a paradoxical country of
resilient people in a society both homogenous and multiracial. Browse
the 470 images in more than 30 categories, from Havana streets to
hanging laundry, some with accompanying stories behind the images
that help capture the beauty, charm and conflict that characterize
this unique part of the world.
http://www.danheller.com/cuba.html
Tube Radio Collection
Long before CDs, DVDs or online audio feeds, there was the British
portable valve radio - known as "tube" radio to non-Brits
- filling an almost forgotten corner of post-war radio technology.
At the Portable Radio Collection of Adrian's British Battery Portable
Tube Radio Pages, find the specs, historical info, restoration advice
and, best of all, beautiful samples from a personal collection. The
collector displays sets he owns, from the stylish 1956 Cossor 543
to the Masteradio PB101 "Minor" - a sort of mid-1950s handbag-style
picnic-portable radio with a Tartan cover and plastic grille. With
advice on batteries, battery-powered inverters and battery eliminators,
and plenty of old radio talk for fans of these very distinctive pieces
of audio equipment.
http://www.geocities.com/portable_tubes/mycoll.html
Drug Digest
Prozac, aspirin, echinacea or all three? Check the interactions
of drugs, vitamins and herbs at DrugDigest.org, a one-stop reference
on mixing medications, taking medicine correctly and the scientific
evidence physicians and pharmacists use. The site is a non-commercial,
evidence-based, consumer info resource where visitors can check drug
interactions in a database of more than 5,000 drugs and herbals and
11,500 potential interactions. Visit the Drug Library for facts, or
compare drugs to see top performers and side effects, searching by
health condition or drug name. With easy-to-read overviews of the
causes, symptoms, treatments and risk factors of common conditions,
News and Reviews offering health news from the past year, and e-Bulletins
with breaking health care news. http://www.drugdigest.org/
Line Self-Portraits
Reveal the complex character of your own face in just five lines.
As architect Mies Van Der Rohe said, "Less is more," and
what applies to design may apply to self-portraiture, too. The 5 Line
Self Portrait is a design experiment in self-expression that asks
you to put you on paper with as little structure as possible. The
5-line self portrait has a few ground rules: just five lines, each
starting when you put the pen to paper and ending when you lift it
off. See the portraits assembled in the gallery for inspiration, then
create your own by scanning a pen or pencil drawing or creating a
portrait on computer and sending it in digital format to join the
gallery of other five-liners. http://www.the5line.com/
Sushi Portal
Funamori or futomaki? Saki with sushi or sashimi? And is it rude
to add wasabi to a soy dish? How to behave well and eat well when
bellying up to the sushi bar is the appeal of the World-Wide Sushi
Restaurant Reference, where the main attraction is a vast listing
of sushi restaurants, grouped by country, state and city. Sushi diners
comment, a glossary explains Japanese sushi terms, and recipes
help identify that pink and white roll on your plate. With etiquette
and tips for beginners, and a list of sushi societies for those who
are really hooked and would like to join fellow-sushites for local
dining forays Martin's prepackaged sushi is not mentioned. http://sushiref.com/
Underwater Discovery
Keep your head above water while discovering the intriguing secrets
under the sea with The Franck Goddio Society, revealing lost cities,
submerged lands and ancient shipwrecks at Underwater Discovery.org.
French underwater archaeologist Goddio has discovered more than 10
historically important underwater sites, through which history is
preserved and reconstructed by search and excavation projects. With
news of current projects and views of past recoveries, like Napoleon's
sunken fleet, with photos, mission reports and maps. Galleries show
artifacts, exploration equipment and startling undersea images of
work in progress. Skywalker, an underwater archeologist dog, is profiled
at Playground, and fans can join the Society, which sponsors public
education through TV, the Web, books and exhibitions on the explorations.
http://www.underwaterdiscovery.org/
Art By Elephants
Elephants paint!? They've been doing it for years, and in 1997,
two Russian artists with a passion for art and elephants started an
elephant art project, inspiring an elephant art academy, home to these
pachy-artists whose work exhibits in galleries. See the art, buy the
art, learn how they do it at Art By Elephants.
http://www.artbyelephants.com/
Weights and Measures
Instantly turn inches into millimeters or hectometers into feet
at the miraculous Weights and Measures page of Yahoo.com, where someone
else took the trouble to learn metric. Enter a value numeral, a Convert
From and a Convert To measure or weight, then click the button and
be a genius by any measure.
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/weights_and_measures/
Intelligent Technology
Keeping up with tech means more than de-bugging your computer
system. At the SciTech Daily Review, explore the premature death of
Dolly the cloned sheep, the FBI-sanctioned geeks and hackers project,
and the recent Columbia explosion. This daily journal offers informed
science and technology coverage and analysis from a wide range of
writers and publications. Scientists, scholars and artists debate
topics at Closer To Truth. "Portholes" - emphasizing a narrow
subject view but great depth of field - guide visitors to further
links on science and technology today. The interactive HyperForum
offers intelligent discussions, like one on the US government's plans
to use a web of data-gathering technologies to collect information.
http://www.scitechdaily.com
The Simpson's Archive
Remember 1987's "Burp Contest," or Season 14's "Pray
Anything"? As America's favorite animated family celebrates its
300th episode, turn to The Simpsons Archive at snpp.com, for news
and info maintained by fans of the longest-running animated prime
time show in history. In addition to news like the show's Golden Globe
nomination and episode capsules, the archive guides you to a just
released Simpson's sheet music compilation, featuring those wild musical
parodies and songs like "Do the Bartman" and "Happy
Birthday Lisa," both written by Michael Jackson under a pseudonym.
Find out what's showing tomorrow, next week, or next month, revisit
couch gags, broadcast history, unforgettable quotes and little known
facts and goofs for every episode.
http://www.snpp.com/
Great Speeches
Finding the right words at the right time is an art that lives
in history - and, sometimes, the art changes the world as much as
it does the words that become charged with new impact. Think Martin
Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech or Lou Gehrig's
farewell to baseball. The History Channel.com's Great Speeches collection
presents the most famous broadcasts and recordings of the 20th century.
Search politics and government, science and technology, arts and culture,
war and diplomacy to hear such gems as Prime Minister Tony Blair's
remarks on the loss of the "people's princess," and Anita
Bryant's 1977 forgiveness speech after being hit in the face with
a pie by a gay rights activist.
http://www.historychannel.com/speeches/index.html
Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes
Everyone remembers where they were when President Kennedy was
shot, when the Challenger exploded and when they first saw "Attack
of the Killer Tomatoes." Or so say the creators of KillerTomatoes.com,
on the theory that everyone remembers memorable disasters. This Halloween,
the cult film with the award-winning title turns 25 with a celebration
of international events, live worldwide television coverage and a
special collector's DVD, with commentary from the director, the stars,
and creator Costa Dillon, lost footage, outtakes, and moments of inspired
brilliance that somehow didn't make the final cut. Special features
include games, screensavers, wallpaper and Incredible Tomatoes trivia.
http://killertomatoes.com
Sacred Text Archive
Religion, mythology, legends, folklore and the occult, from alchemy
to Zoroastrianism - literally from A to Z - are gathered at Sacred
Texts.com, an archive of original texts that seeks to promote both
religious tolerance and scholarship. The site experienced a spike
in hits post-September 11, as people worldwide sought to understand
Islamic law and tradition. World Religions, Traditions and Mysteries
can be explored via scanned material, with such diversity as the Hypertext
Bible and Sacred Sexuality, the predictions of Nostradamus
and Gothic texts about vampires, plus translations of Shinto texts
and a bookshop link to Amazon.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm
Revisiting the Psychedelic '60s
Are we better for having experienced Timothy Leary and LSD, the
Black Panthers, Kent State, the Mekong Delta and the Feminine Mystique?
Were the 60s the best of times or the worst of times? At The Psychedelic
'60s, the University of Virginia explores the historical, cultural
and social context of the celebrated summer of love to move beyond
simple nostalgia into healthy skepticism. The site traces the iconoclasm
of the 60s to Thoreau's pre-environmentalism and Whitman's mysticism,
and puts the issues of discontent in context with headlines, images,
concert bills, posters and - at the heart of it all - the music of
groups like Moby Grape, The Velvet Underground and Country Joe.
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/exhibits/sixties/index.html
Starbucks Everywhere
Talk about wired. Thirty-year-old John Winter Smith has visited
more than 3,300 Starbucks Coffee shops in North America and 38 in
the United Kingdom - his record is 28 shops in one day! Besides getting
a good cuppa, he grabs a good photo of each Starbucks he visits to
post on his Web page and chat about the experience.
http://www.starbuckseverywhere.net/
Photo Tag
Zebra has returned after 77 days on the road - with pictures to
tell the story. Zebra is one of 38 disposable cameras released by
PhotoTag.org, a project that traces the wanderings of transient cameras
that have been labeled and released into the wild. The cameras carry
instructions for finders to take a picture and pass the camera on,
and return postage so the last user can drop it into the mail.
Read journals and see photos from cameras returned so far, and the
journals from those still wandering. In short, it's a community photo
project compiled by strangers.
http://www.phototag.org/
Flash Arcade
Giving visitors something to actually do on your web site, not
just look at, is a Net rule-of-thumb. With Flash Arcade.com, add over
50 Clever Media games to your site for under $100 for a year or 10,000
plays, whichever comes first. Clever Media, a game development company,
has created more than 100 Shockwave games in the past 5 years. So
first, check 'em out via a free 2-week trial, then add your games
using the supplied HTML tags - even brand the games by popping your
own graphics around them and charge your visitors
to play. The site offers its most popular games, including holiday
games, puzzles, action games, quizzes, sports and cards. http://www.flasharcade.com/index.html
Public Record Databases
Whether you want to research campaign contributions in Alabama
or art thefts worldwide, your starting point is Search Systems.net,
the largest collection of public record links on the Internet. Search
the US state-by-state, nationwide or by keyword, or search worldwide
records like missing children in South Africa or European patents.
Then settle in to dig through more than 12,000 public records databases.
The Texas list, for example, starts with an Alumni Database and ends
with Uniform Commercial Code Filings. While the site and many of the
databases are free, some databases charge a fee, and these are duly
noted.
http://www.searchsystems.net/
A Chinese Home
The Huangs are holding an open house and you're invited to view
their ancestral home. Yin Yu Tang, at Pem.org, is a late Qing Dynasty
merchant's home, originally in southeast China and recently dismantled,
relocated, preserved and reassembled at the Peabody Essex Museum.
The home opens for public touring in June 2003, but web visitors get
a rare opportunity to preview -- through photos, audio, quotes and
narrative -- the structure, its history, construction and immense
cultural and social significance. View elements of the renowned Huizhou
architecture, feng shui orientation, ornamentation and furnishings,
and study the genealogy of the Huang family, extending back 35 generations,
eight of them spent in Yin Yu Tang.
http://www.pem.org/yinyutang/
Darron Silva: Photojournalist
Swimming, soaring and shadow boxing. Drowning, daycare and Danielle.
These are some of the subjects of freelance photojournalist Darron
Silva, whose portfolio of colorful photographs catching the precise
moment of exhilaration, triumph, loss and struggle are on view at
Darron Silva.com. Silva shoots for ESPN, the New York Times and other
major media and his sports photography catches not just the game but
the passion. But no images are more passionate than those in a special
photo journal that tells the story of Silva's fiancée Danielle,
born in Taiwan and adopted by an American couple, as she returns to
Taiwan to meet her birth family. http://www.darronsilva.com/
Watching Microsoft
Whether you compete with, partner with, envy, admire or despise
the most influential and dominant technology company in history, Microsoft
Watch by investigative journalist Mary Jo Foley - who writes ZDNet's
column, "At the Evil Empire" - is the need-to-know site
for pre-headline news about Microsoft's products and strategies.
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/
Virtual Parks
Eric Goetze has seen the tufa towers of California's Mono Lake,
the rugged beauty of the Canadian Rockies and the slick rock canyons
of Utah. And words cannot describe what he has seen, so he shows it
to you at Virtual Parks.org. The site offers panoramic photographs
of more than 2,500 wilderness scenes in the Western US and Canada,
including a 105-mile walk on the John Muir
Trail. Click on Geography to pick a park via map or search by themes
like lighthouses, ghost towns or chaparral. A "Best" section
gives stunning favorite views, and visitors with a special valley,
peak or crest in mind can search the massive alphabetical listing.
http://www.virtualparks.org/main.html
Myth's Web
The big boys of Tampa Bay may be heroes right now, but chances
are Odysseus, Perseus and the Gods of Mt. Olympus will outlast the
fleeting fame of any modern champs. Myth Web.com is a kid-safe site
to teach the little ones about the heroes, gods and monsters of Greek
mythology. A group portrait of the Olympians leads visitors to the
12 immortals who lived on Mount Olympus, and their complex relationships
with mortals. In Heroes, learn about the trials of 16-year-old Theseus,
the tests of Jason and the quests of Perseus and Hercules. Teachers
get lesson plans, games and learning products in a section for educators,
and the Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology helps any seeker know the
Greeks, from Achaia to Zeus.
http://www.mythweb.com/
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Fact Sheet
That tingling in your hand when you strike your keyboard may not
be the sheer excitement of web surfing, especially if it ends in a
sharp pain. Welcome to the tunnel. The Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Fact
Sheet from The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
describes the painful progressive condition caused by pressure on
the median nerve.The nerve runs from the forearm into the hand and
is housed by the carpal tunnel -- a narrow, rigid passage of ligament
and bones that can hurt like hell when tendons thicken from irritation.
Here, learn about the symptoms, causes, risks, prevention and - for
those searching for the light at the end of the tunnel - research
on this debilitating condition. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/health_and_medical/pubs/carpal_tunnel.htm
Banished Words
Lake Superior State University has issued its 28th annual list
of mis-used, over-used and useless words deserving of exile at LSSU.edu's
Banished, and the list speaks volumes about the year behind us: included
are "homeland security," "weapons of mass destruction"
and "undisclosed secret location."
http://www.lssu.edu/banished/
Knowing Poe
Before there was Stephen King, there was Poe. A shadowy, cawing
crow beckons visitors into the chilling, brilliant literature, life
and times of Edgar Allan Poe, one of America's most enduringly popular
and peculiar writers, at the very lively Knowing Poe, from Thinkport.org.
Poe the Person offers a tour of his home at 203 N. Amity Street and
an interactive mystery in which you figure out how he died. Poe the
Writer lets you play with point of view by re-visiting "The Cask
of Amontillado" through the eyes of the narrator, protagonist
and antagonist. The Poe Library is here, plus startling insights into
the shadowy figure who, since 1949, has visited Poe's grave every
year on the anniversary of the writer's birthday.
http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/
Best Photos of 2001
A few pictures may be worth . well, you know. With no fanfare,
explanation, music, games, videos or online store, Best Photos of
2001 simply presents funny, sweet and bizarre photographs from unnamed
sources. In seven quick pages, visitors will see a carrot-top boy
on the beach appearing to pick up his own head from the sand, a treed
deer hunter with his prey literally a step above him, a wily dog and
cat team and other kids, animals and people caught in the act of being
- the best.
http://home.pacbell.net/rds33/best_photos/index.html#top
A Site for Webmasters
If you're a webmaster, you're probably always on the lookout for
ways to enhance your pages. One of the most comprehensive webmaster-oriented
sites on the Internet is Hits4me. Hits4me offers numerous free tools
for webmasters. We like the free features and the free e-cards.Visit
Hits4me and read all about their offerings.
http://www.hits4me.com/default.asp
Comiclopedia
Think "Peanuts" and "The Far Side" define
the full range of comics? Get educated in "sequential art"
at Lambiek.net, the online site of what is likely the oldest and most
famous antiquarian comic shop in the world. Lambiek's Comiclopedia
is a huge illustrated reference of more than 3,400 international comic
artists, with biographies and samples of art in underground, alternative
and mainstream comics. Check out François Avril's "Urban
Landscapes," rooted in classical comics tradition but evolved
to artful watercolors, or the Dutch team Windig and de Jong's series
of "miniatures." Visit the galleries to see the world's
comic artists inking out the boundaries between comics and conventional
art, then visit the online store for unique books, posters and signed
artwork. http://www.lambiek.net/artists/index.htm
The Color Test
It sounds easy, but when the logical left and random right sides
of your brain battle out a puzzle together, worlds collide. The Color
Test at Humorsphere.com gives you 4 seconds to select the actual color
of a word that names a color to discover how well your brain cooperates
with itself.
http://www.humorsphere.com/fun/colortest.swf
Cooking by Numbers
Phooey on "helpful" cooking sites that tell how to whip
up a gourmet dinner with just a few hundred dollars worth of ingredients
and a warehouse of specialty cookware. Here's a site for the rest
of us. Cooking By Numbers.com simply asks you to check off what you've
already got in the fridge and cupboard - even if it's only garlic,
cold cuts and a can of baked beans - and voila! you get a recipe to
match your larder.
http://www.cookingbynumbers.com/
Philip Glass Engine
If the work of groundbreaking composer Philip Glass seems a bit
inaccessible, access it - and really get it - with help from the Glass
Engine, where high tech tools lead visitors through a deep navigation
of Glass' famously experimental music. Launch the applet, then click
on various associations and impulses - joy, sorrow, intensity, density
- to guide you through one of over 60 Glass works, like Mishima, the
composer's score for Paul Schrader's film bio of the Japanese writer,
or "Two Pages," an early sample of a classically austere
Glass composition. Pull-down menus let you select a type of work,
then a low-velocity level and a high-joy level, for example, to hear
a slow, happy bit of opera.
http://www.philipglass.com/glassengine/index.htm
Celebrity Pitches
What do Pierce Brosnan, Mel Gibson, Quentin Tarantino, Whitney
Houston, ZZ Top and the Muppets have in common? No, they haven't all
played James Bond. They're all Western celebrities who make big bucks
by doing Japanese commercials that they probably wouldn't be caught
dead doing here at home: Japanese + pander, get it? The spots are
very brief, but the close-ups show some 70 big-time stars hawking
cosmetics, SUVs, coffee and Scotch (the real 007, Sean Connery). Some
of the celebs have a sense of humor about the lucrative gig: Ringo
does an ad for applesauce, which is what his name means in Japanese,
and Madonna slays a dragon, then in crisp English pronounces "I'm
pure."
http://www.japander.com/
Visual Thesaurus
The Visual Thesaurus isn't just another way to find the right
word, it's a way to understand the English language in all its subtlety.
Take the 16 different meanings of the deceptively simple word "train,"
for example, which appears surrounded by dozens of colored spheres.
Each represents a related adjective, noun, verb or adverb linked to
still more words that represent an entire galaxy of orbiting nuanced
meanings. The site uses a database developed by the Cognitive Science
Lab of Princeton with more than 50,000 words and 40,000 phrases to
plumb human psycholinguistic memory and create an architecture of
language in a revealing spatial map of word associations.
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/index.jsp
Grand Illusions
Grand Illusions.com challenges visitors to transport Bono, Edge
and the U2 gang across a bridge with only one flashlight in time for
their concert, starting in just 17 minutes - a brainteaser allegedly
given to prospective Microsoft employees. Apparently, geeks don't
know that rock concerts rarely start on time. The site offers a mixed
and very full bag of brainteasers, scientific toys, visual effects
and "even a little magic," from charming old-fashioned tricks
like The Jolly Jug to the logic puzzle known as the "Monty Hall
Problem." Buy rare illusion items in the Grand Illusion Shop,
or read feature articles on cool mysteries like Napoleon's wallpaper
and "life tiles," vast optical glass-tiled murals that appear
to come to life.
http://www.grand-illusions.com/index.htm
TV Program Facts & Trivia
It's just perfect to name this online guide to characters, places
and things that have appeared on TV broadcasts in the US since 1940
after one of the goofiest TV shows of all time. TV Acres.com offers
acres and acres of material, searchable alphabetically by topic or
keyword, extracted from TV programs, books, magazines, web pages and
people associated with the shows. Covering both prime time and Saturday
morning fare, the "ultimate" subject guide to TV facts offers
an A to Z index of "things," from aardvarks to worms (including
"Earthworm Jim," a 1995 superhero). Also featured is a TV
Character of the Week and a network abbreviation guide for the US,
UK, Canada and Australia.
http://www.tvacres.com/
NUTRITION GUIDE
Ever wonder about the nutritional value of the stuff you're getting
from fast food restaurants? Are you sure you want to know? If so,
you'll want to visit this useful site. You won't find fancy animation
or graphics here, just a resource for determining the sodium, fat,
carbohydrates, etc. in the food from all of your favorite fast food
joints. You'll find easy instructions for getting the most from the
site, along with links for books and other products related to nutrition.
You will be surprised at how much you will find out about that hamburger
you have every week.
http://www.Olen.com/food
The IgR Nobel Prize
It's October, time for the intellectual elite of the scientific
and academic worlds to wait for an early morning phone call from Sweden,
telling them that they are a 2002 Nobel Laureate. For others, the
call comes from the Annals of Improbable Research, which each year
at this time inflicts the Ig Nobel Prizes. Honoring achievements that
"cannot or should not be reproduced," the Iggies celebrate
such work as a report on the courtship behavior of ostriches towards
humans, this year's winner in biology. Read historical info on
the awards or watch videos as the Japanese inventors of Bow-Lingual,
a computer-based dog-to-human language translation device, accept
their 2002 Iggie Peace Prize at ceremonies held at Harvard.
http://www.improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html
Laugh Lab
Punch lines like ".go ahead, I'll hold your monkey for you"
are the sidesplitters at Laugh Lab, conducting unofficial research
on what
tickles funny bones the world over. The latest poll gives a top joke
from six countries, including the US and Canada, who seem to like
to poke fun at each other in a neighborly way. Visitors can rate posted
jokes, submit their own or follow links to find out what makes kids
laugh, why men and women find different jokes funny, what jokes reveal
about how our brains work - all in an online research
project full of giggles and guffaws.
http://www.laughlab.co.uk/topByCountry.html
African Voices
Discover your connection to Africa, a place of striking diversity
and global influence at African Voices, the online partner of a permanent
exhibit by the Smithsonian Institution. The site explores the continent's
peoples, cultures and history via artifacts and contemporary objects
like sculptures, textiles and pottery, plus audio and video clips
of oral traditions like proverbs, prayers and folk tales. History
is traced from the Nile Valley through Colonialism and Africa Today.
Themes explored include family, work and the natural environment with
spotlights on the Kongo people of Central Africa and how wealth is
created. Manifestations of the Spirit is a photo gallery of Afro-Brazilian
"spirit" traditions, and a learning center directs visitors
to more resources for study. http://www.mnh.si.edu/africanvoices/
Sherlock Holmes
Stop by 221 Baker Street.org to read the Sherlock Holmes "canon,"
48 of the original 60 Holmes stories (4 were novels) written by Conan
Doyle, many in Palm or Adobe PDF format for easy downloading, plus
picture illustrations by Sydney Paget and links to Sherlock sound
files.
http://221bakerstreet.org/
Google Fight
The War of the Words is played out at Google Fight.com, where
visitors type in two keywords to be searched by the master search
engine to see which one gets the highest return. An interesting metaphor
erupts, as Hell outdistances Paradise by about 4 million results.
http://www.googlefight.com/
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The Helmet Project
For a different kind of hardhat, visit the Helmet Project, where
football helmets from 1960 to the present are gathered, illustrated
and recorded in detail by an avid headbanger who has reproduced the
headgear worn by teams from professional football leagues to defunct
college squads. The site includes the shell and faceguard colors,
plus decal logos of helmets worn by pros in the NFL, even the short-lived
mid-70s World Football League and 2001's XFL, to teams of the NCAA
and beyond. Historical sections show retrospectives like the Air Force's
silver and blue lightening bolt that has only changed a smidgen since
1950. http://www.nationalchamps.net/HelmetProject/
The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy
Noah Webster may not have anticipated 20th century soda wars,
but he did have an ear for how we talk, and it's high time those snoots
at Harvard and Yale took notice of a truly hefty linguistic controversy.
At The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy, a Cal Tech scholar is studying
how we order up that most American of icons - the carbonated beverage.
Based on a national map plotting our usage, "soda" appears
strong on both coasts, "pop" leads in the heartland, but
"coke" is spilling up from the south. View the map and the
trends and complete a survey - more than 117,000 others have done
so - then grab a root beer and toast your own contribution to academia.
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~almccon/pop_soda/
AD CRITIC
This site allows you to see your favorite creative advertisements
from the Budweiser Wassup commercials to the Geico
"Wehadababyitsaboy"
ad, you can repeat your favorite over and over again. AdCritic offers
subscribers a growing database of
the best creative work in the industry, breaking news from the advertising
and commercials production industries. Also, you
can view International commercials, like the risque Microsoft "password
protected bra" commercial that aired in Switzerland.
http://www.adcritic.com
Science of Cooking
If cooking is a science, even hard-boiling an egg requires closer
study. At the Exploratorium's Accidental Scientist, visitors can cook
to
perfection while picking up the theory behind the art. Loaded with
recipes and activities about the science in the saucepan, the
site gives special treatment to basics like bread, meat and candy,
but also reveals the spice behind seasonings and the ancient mysteries
of the culinary craft of pickling. Each section includes activities
in Kitchen Lab, plus a chance to Share & Discuss or Ask the Inquisitive
Cook if the poison sack in squid will kill you. Just in time for Thanksgiving,
webcasts begin in November with Turkey Science.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/
Why a Duck?
Marxists unite at Why a Duck, chockfull of trivia, news, games,
postcards, memorabilia and photos created by a group of major Marx
Brothers fans - everyone but Karl. With a history of the brothers'
careers and audio and video clips of the inimitable Groucho and his
unbeatable gags and double entendres, the site stays current with
news of upcoming TV broadcasts and events. Photos abound, from publicity
and screen shots to photos of pets named after Marxian characters.
Even good old-fashioned games like Hangman, Mad Libs
and Concentration are played with a Marxist twist, and an astrologer
offers natal charts to see if the stars can explain the antics of
the zany boys.
http://www.whyaduck.com/index.htm
Clarifying the Mid-East Muddle
Ignorance about the Middle East is rampant in the US but it might
be time to start getting smart. Global Connections makes it easier,
with a global perspective for teachers, students and the public seeking
to understand. But there's no understanding today - or tomorrow -
without first getting the history, so explore the past 100 years of
the multicultural, multi-ethnic region and its complex relationship
with its neighbors and the West. A timeline traces events across themes
like politics and religion, and teachers get special help via six
"connecting questions" linked to activities for students.
Communities Respond features case studies from US schools and other
local groups showing how others have examined global events in the
aftermath of September 11.
http://www.pbs.org/globalconnections/
Make It Stick
Whether you want to stick leather to metal or wood to glass, This
To That tells you how to get the best bond just by selecting the
two materials from the pull down menu, clicking on Let's Glue and
seeing what will give the strongest adhesion, the least toxic, the
fastest and more tips on making a connection that will last.
http://www.thistothat.com/
Duct Tape Fashion
Nothing to wear? Please. If you've got duct tape, you've got a
wardrobe. Whip up a stunning prom dress, sport coat, superhero costume
-- even a wedding ensemble -- with that most versatile of all products.
At the Duct Tape Fashion Gallery, see the teens who have designed,
worn and allowed themselves to be photographed in duct tape wear to
win college scholarships. http://www.octanecreative.com/ducttape/fashion.html
At Home Astronomy
Rockets away! Kids have been building backyard rockets since Sputnik,
and at UC Berkeley's At Home Astronomy, families are shown how and
why to make rockets, astrolabs and other fun space stuff with household
items like balloons, string and straws. Hands-on science experiments
from the Center for Science Education include Shadow Dance, an experiment
with shadows and light sources, and instructions on how to make a
simple astrolab, which kids can use to measure altitude and the height
of objects in the sky. Ten experiments include lists of what you need,
what you should know, simple illustrations and links to other web
sites to learn more.
http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstronomy/
Pop History
History can seem like a blur of famous dates and infamous people.
Digest it week-by-week at Pop History Now, unwinding each week's events
from the end of WWII through the 90s, with headlines of the big news,
but also the movies, music and television. During the first week of
August 1952, for example, Jordan's 17-year-old Hussein ascended to
the throne, cartoonist Al Capp debuted his own TV
show and "Walkin' My Baby Back Home" moved up the pop charts.
The site is searchable by concept, keyword or date, and casual visitors
get summaries. Register as a member to get full access to the weekly
stories.
http://www.pophistorynow.com/
Matisse Picasso
Twin giants of modern art are stacked side-by-side for a close
look at how opposites attract at Matisse Picasso, an online visit
for those who can't make the major exhibition touring London, Paris
and New York. In masterpieces by both artists that have never before
been brought together, Matisse and Picasso are revealed anew in over
30 groupings that reveal their intense rivalry and innovation. Included
are pairings of Picasso's Boy Leading a Horse and Matisse's Le Luxe
1, created within a year of each other, a fascinating sequence of
paintings of women, still lifes and landscapes.
http://www.matissepicasso.com/
Atmospheric Optics
Stop and see the visual spectacle of everyday phenomenon like
rain drops and dust at Atmospheric Optics, where nature's optical
effects created by water, light and shadow are revealed in their stunning
simplicity. Ice haloes, water droplets, sun rays, shadows and - everyone's
favorite - rainbows get both a photographic and scientific treatment,
as visitors learn about the optics of how common ice crystals and
rare coronas form, view stunning images of these marvelous events
and learn where to find them outdoors. Links are offered for more
exposure to phenomenon as diverse as nacreous clouds and green flash
mirages.
http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/atoptics/phenom.htm
Vintage Ads
Two great urges of American culture - to sell and to buy - make
up a decades-long love-hate relationship between consumers and those
who hawk the goods we've learned to desperately need. At The Emergence
of Advertising in America, more than 9,000 images and a massive database
of info trace the history of advertising in the US, from 1850 to 1920.
Using sources from special collections libraries at Duke University,
the site organizes ads by a timeline and by special categories, from
tobacco to "Kodakiana," featuring some of the earliest Kodak
print ads - a breakthrough in advertising media. For each ad, its
title, date, company and product are listed with other info about
the original source.
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/
101
amazing facts about the earth The biggest earthquake, the
largest desert, even how our planet sizes up
Pi
With the New York winning lottery number being 911 on 9/11 this year,
the statisticians of coincidence once again reminded us that this
need not be a wink from God. An example of the intuition behind coincidence
is provided in a page where you can find your birth date in the digits
of pi.
www.angio.net/pi/piquery
Hubble Space Telescope Public Pictures
If you're at all interested in astronomy, you should visit the Hubble
Space Telescope Public Pictures site. Even if you're not especially
interested in astronomy, you'll probably find these pictures interesting.
Some of the pictures are amazing and you'll probably find it easy
to hang around the Hubble site for hours. You may even wish to download
some of the photos. http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/Pictures.htm
EphemeraNow.com
Those pining for their old '58 Chevy Impala, or media types searching
For the right image, can find satisfaction at Ephemera Now, where
Illustrated ads of mid-century America are available to browse or
buy. The site sells high-quality scans of color illustrations in the
public domain, plus some original ads from vintage periodicals. The
emphasis is on autos but other items, notably Coke, are offered too.
In the Cars section, see the fabulous wings on that 1958 Impala. In
Wagons, view the classic "Woody," a '48 Packard Eight Sedan
or, in Trucks, a '58 Ford Ranchero with gleaming white and leather
seats. Classic Ads show DuPont and Westinghouse appliances that promised
American women "a zillion carefree hours."
http://www.ephemeranow.com/
IdiomSite
Quit your lollygagging and head over to IdiomSite to learn the
origins of those timeworn phrases we all toss around without thinking.
Idiom is a way of speaking that comes natural to the natives - so
natural that we rarely consider how the meaning of phrases like "kick
the bucket" must drive non-native speakers stark raving nuts.
http://www.idiomsite.com/
The Pop vs. Soda Page
You reach for a pop, she grabs a soda and the guy next door has
a quick coke. At the Pop vs. Soda Page, a Cal Tech scholar is plotting
regional variations in the use of terms to describe carbonated soft
drinks, and you're invited to complete a survey. Consider it your
contribution to a better understanding of American dialect, then treat
yourself to a frosty tonic. http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~almccon/pop_soda/
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Game Studies
Gaming isn't just fun and, well, games at Game Studies, the International
online journal of computer game research that approaches games as
a rich cultural genre ripe for scholarly review. An academic channel
for ideas and theories about gaming, the site offers in-depth articles,
from interviews with a creator of the popular Sims (as in simulation)
series to studies of the proper categorization of game genres.
http://www.gamestudies.org/
Online Classics
The screen you're looking at right now is the front door to your
own classic library collection of 651 books and 906 short stories,
available in unabridged editions with just a click. ClassicReader
is a marvelous resource for readers who never got around to Conrad's
"Heart of Darkness" or have yet to discover P.G. Wodehouse.
With seven categories of literature, from fiction to drama, new titles
are added regularly. You won't find Stephen King or Tom Clancy because
all books published on the site are out-of-copyright, but you will
find Virginia Woolf, Balzac, Tolstoy - enough reading to hide out
on a desert island for years, if only your ISP would accommodate you.
http://www.classicreader.com/
World's Front Pages
What in the world is going on today? See the headlines Parisians
are reading over their morning coffee, or what the big news is in
Beirut at the Newseum's special section, Today's Front Pages, where
you can read today's paper today, all over the world. Read headline
news according to Le Figaro, The Jerusalem Post, or Die Welt. Front
pages of 118 newspapers from 28 countries are presented, in the same
edition as your own New York Times or Arizona Republic. Just select
a continent, from Asia to Oceania, and click on your choice from the
79 US newspapers, 20 European and handful of South American and Asian
publications. Our small world is shrinking.
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/
Ancient Scripts
Putting pen to paper seems old-fashioned in these days of e-mail
and Online banking, when one rarely even has to sign a check anymore.
But writing remains a useful invention, even if we don't use it to
count sheep or reinforce allegiance to the king as did the ancient
scribes. How and why some 70 writing systems evolved is described
at Ancient Scripts. Many advanced cultures got along fine without
writing - notably, the Incas -- but civilization's writing systems,
from Arabic to Zapotec, are illustrated, described and cross-referenced
here. Scripts are listed alphabetically and classified by how they
work, their relationship to others and region. http://www.ancientscripts.com/
Murphy Laws Site
Do you believe that if anything can go wrong, it will, or that
as soon as your spouse wins the lottery, you'll be left hanging? If
so, you'll recognize the rhyme and reason at the Murphy Laws Site,
where every law under Captain Edward Murphy's name resides. War laws
("A chest wound is Nature's way of telling you to slow down"),
sewing laws ("If you need 6 buttons, you'll only find 5"),
and even commerce laws ("After any salary raise, you will have
less money at the end of the month than you did before") are
among the 20 or so categories. If your life seems regulated by Murphy's
Laws, send your experiences to Real Life Examples.
http://www.murphys-laws.com/
Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics
Leave it to Hollywood to defy natural law - and leave it to physicists
to lock 'em up for the crime, if only virtually. At Insultingly Stupid
Movie Physics, visitors learn why bullets don't create bright flashes
when they strike metal, why people can't jump through windows unharmed,
and why it's very unlucky that a car will explode on impact. Mathematical
equations disprove laser security systems with visible lasers that
heroes can tiptoe over, and calculations of momentum, mass and velocity
shatter the myth of shattered glass. The site also ranks popular movies
from GP, for "good physics," to XP, for "physics from
an unknown universe" and offers teachers activities to take the
magic of Hollywood into the classroom for a closer look.
http://intuitor.com/moviephysics/index.html
Genius' Scrapbook
Your scrapbook may be crammed with ticket stubs and ancient love
notes, but then you're no genius. Stephen Wolfram is, and average
Joes like us can see what he saves at The Stephen Wolfram Scrapbook,
where one of the world's most original scientists opens the pages
of his virtual albums for a peek. Wolfram, an innovator in computing
technology, published his first scientific paper at the age of 15
and earned his Ph.D. from Caltech by age 20. So don't expect to see
movie stubs. Click on the scrapbook pages to see research notes, his
Caltech ID card, a mathematical log of outgoing emails, even a few
baby photos - maybe just to prove he really is one of us. http://www.stephenwolfram.com/scrapbook/
Geek.com
There is something for everyone at this site. Whether you're considering
buying a laptop, PDA (personal digital assistant), or just components
like chips or keyboards, Geek.com features price and feature comparisons
on all sorts of hardware. Interested in computer games? Geek.com has
the info you seek. Want reviews of new software releases? News about
manufacturers? Industry info? Buyer's guides or builder's guides for
PCs? Check out Geek.com.
http://www.geek.com/
The Smithsonian's Favorite Things
Seen from a museum curator's perspective, 600 years of human activity
Could look a lot like a giant jigsaw puzzle, much like History Wired,
created by the Smithsonian Institute. Nearly a dozen categories offer
450 objects representing "a few" of the Smith's favorite
things, from arts, politics, people, sports, business and more. From
a Hell's Angels jacket to a phrenology head, the objects are part
of an experimental program that leads visitors on a virtual tour of
selected items from the vast collections of the National Museum of
American History. Many of the artifacts are not on public exhibit,
so for a private tour of public history, click on each one for a deeper
look at its history, context and meaning.
http://historywired.si.edu/
Digital Ballparks
Baseball fans who lament the loss of the grand old ballparks of
Yesteryear and make pilgrimages to Wrigley Field can view all the
fields of dreams at Digital Ballparks, an online baseball stadium
museum. From San Francisco's 3Com Stadium (please, it will always
be Candlestick) to Muzzy Field in Bristol, Connecticut, or Cardines
Field in Rhode Island built in 1889 to the Toronto Blue Jay's Skydome,
the site offers photos and more photos, with very little text to interrupt
the experience. See Single A, Double A, Triple A and independent ballparks,
including some demolished or in their pre-renovation state of cherished
disrepair.
http://www.digitalballparks.com/
The Food Timeline
Ever try to explain to a kid what a "paw-paw" is and
why anyone would Put it in his pocket? Who invented the potato chip,
or what pioneers snacked on along those long drives westward? Even
simple olive oil, called "liquid gold" by Homer, is enshrined
at the Food Timeline, where the history, ingredients, recipes and
uses of food of every kind becomes a social study. From a prehistoric
diet puzzle to what's for breakfast in 2002, the Culinary Timeline
covers the customs, manners and menus from 17,000 BC to future trends
in dining. Besides learning about food history, visitors will find
old time recipes to make with modern ingredients and plenty of teaching
resources and activities.
http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/kid/food.html
Truth or Fiction?
The search for truth is made easier at Truth Or Fiction, where
visitors get help separating rumor from warning, hoaxes from serious
pleas, urban legends from history among all those stories whirling
across the Web. Is Liz Claiborne a Satan worshipper, and did a US
Federal Court rule that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional?
No, and yes. The Truth Or Fiction staff does the grunt work, researching
and classifying each e-rumor in a dozen or more categories. A claim
of Truth means that reliable sources will vouch for it. Fiction means
that reliable sources will swear it's false. But as any seeker knows,
truth is a moving target, so other stories are classified to cover
the full range in between.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/
The Italians
Sixteenth century portraits, 17th century allegories and 18th
century landscapes, all masterpieces of the Renaissance, Mannerist,
Baroque and Rococo eras of Italian painting are on exhibit at The
Italians, Three Centuries of Italian Art. The overview of 300 years
of Italian painting is showing now through October at the National
Gallery of Australia. Online visitors can see the exhibit online,
viewing more than 100 works from public and private collections arranged
by the Italian government as its major international cultural promotion
in the visual arts for 2002. Click on images arranged in chronological
order to see larger views and simple descriptions. http://www.theitalians.com.au/theitalians/Default.cfm
GRAND-ILLUSIONS
This website provides you with all those old illusions that stump
people still. A grand site for the enquiring mind, which delivers
optical illusions, scientific toys, visual effects, and even a little
magic. Magic tricks are explained in detail while optical illusions
are left to be pondered upon and stumped by with no solution. Be sure
to try the optical illusion "An Intriguing 'after image'"
which is half way down the page.
http://www.grand-illusions.com
CareerScope
The Vocational Research Institute's audio version of CareerScope
is a self-administered career interest and aptitude assessment system
that produces career recommendations in accordance with the U.S. Department
of Labor's standards. The audio version features a friendly voice
reading the material on the CareerScope system, helping ESL students
or those with weak reading skills follow along. CareerScope measures
general learning ability; verbal, numerical and spatial aptitude;
form and clerical perception; and a student's career interests corresponding
to the department's categorized interest areas.
http://www.vri.org
Teaching with Historic Places
The mind-numbing drill of memorizing dates is banished at Teaching
With Historic Places, where history students read letters from Civil
War soldiers to understand the Battle of Gettysburg or design and
market a new car after studying Thomas Edison's "Invention Factory."
Ancient ruins, Presidents' homes, main streets and battlefields are
brought to the classroom via real properties listed in the National
Park Service's registry of historic places, using primary source material
to enliven social studies, geography, civics and other subjects. A
rich mine for teachers, the site offers free downloadable lesson plans,
teachers' guides, worksheets and tips on how to lead students to unearth
local history in their own communities.
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/
Robert's Rules of Order
"Where there is no law, but every man does what is right
in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty." Thus spake
General Henry M. Robert, whose name has become synonymous with the
orderly, if complicated, conduct of public meetings, reproduced at
Bartleby.com's Robert's Rules of Order. In 1876, Robert set out to
bring order to the universe - starting with The American Congress
- and published his Pocket Manual of Rules of Order. It stuck, and
here visitors can find the complete rules and a subject index to learn,
finally, what the heck a quorum is.
http://www.bartleby.com/176/
National Security Archive
Seekers of the unvarnished truth about international affairs might
want to start at the National Security Archive, founded in 1985 by
journalists, scholars and a public interest law firm who used the
Freedom of Information Act to acquire what has grown into the world's
largest non-governmental library of declassified documents. Using
the latest digital indexing technology, the holdings include more
than 2 million pages in over 200 collections, easily searchable by
keyword. The physical archive in DC handles more than 2,500 info requests
yearly, but the web site makes it easy to get the inside scoop on
US decision-making from original documents, read news on such past
policies as our inaction during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, or join
the Archive e-mail list.
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv
Dealfinder
Every buy online and wish you had that "coupon code"
to receive the promotional discount? http://www.eDealfinder.com/
is a good web site that warehouses these internet specials for
hundreds of stores.
Elvis Week
You have one month left for making your plans. Elvis Week looms
on the calendar's horizon. Twenty-five years ago on August 16, 1977,
Elvis Presley died. Yet his star continues to shine. At the time of
this writing, he just surpassed The Beatles as having the MOST
Number 1 records. Ever. During Elvis Week -- August 10 through
August 18 -- you can "pay special tribute to the music, the magic
and the memory of one of popular culture's true greats," and
"join a worldwide fellowship of fans in celebrating the enduring
legacy of Elvis Presley and all the inspiration and happiness it gives
to so many." In Memphis, home to Graceland (which was home to
Elvis), there will be a parade on Beale Street, a gospel brunch with
The Jordanaires, a dance party at The Peabody, and more.
http://www.elvis.com/
Worst Case Scenarios
Be a survivor - or just look like one - at Worst Case Scenario,
the Online version of the popular book that preps site visitors to
survive any Scrape they can get into. Someday, you may need to jump
off a train, bust down a door or survive a tsunami. The How To column
guides you through any crisis, Tip of the Week delivers a quick, neurosis-building
scenario and This Day in History lists a daily bad scene to remind
those who get too comfy that it's a scary world, every single day.
An adventure game thrusts you into fixes to find your way out, and
you can download a fill-in-the-blank Dear John/Joan letter to extricate
yourself from romantic entanglements. http://www.worstcasescenarios.com/
American Symphony Orchestra League
Kids learn to write their own music or take a seat in the orchestra
at Playmusic.org where they can take virtual steps onto the main stage
and stand amidst the string, wind, percussion and brass instruments,
meet young orchestral musicians and composers backstage and play games
that teach them about the sounds of music.
http://www.playmusic.org/
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A Guide to Internet Lingo and Emoticons
The computers that were supposed to free us up for more leisure
activity have instead become great big time-suckers, so much so that
serious users have created hieroglyphics for a hurried generation
- the shorthand way to express emotions. Translate that deep thought
your ICQ buddy is expressing by going to the Guide to Internet Lingo
and Emoticons. http://www.pcworld.com/features/article/0,aid,88686,00.asp
Slip Ups
Amateur perfectionists probably noticed the boo-boo with the upside-down
paper in A Beautiful Mind. No? How about the sock on Arnold's arm
in Terminator 2? If you missed it, others with sharper eyes have caught
Every error ever made on film, videotape or paper and recorded it
at Slip Ups, devoted to exposing mistakes missed in the editing room
and revealed to the viewing public. A Slip-Up is an inconsistency
in a movie or TV program, a funny error in A book, or a goof by someone
famous in a speech - like Carson Daly's reference to the boy band
NStync. Archives let visitors search for past boo-boos, vote for their
favorites and send in blunders they spot. http://www.slipups.com/
Become a Cancer Researcher
How would you like to help discover a cancer cure? You can do
your part by simply allowing Intel-United Devices Cancer Research
Project to use your computer's spare time to do a portion of the project's
calculations. If you're interested in learning more about this project
and how you can help, visit the United Devices site and read about
the project.
http://members.ud.com/home.htm
The Living Internet
Newbies to the Internet and old hands who think they know the neighborhood
will both learn more about the massive village that is the World Wide
Web at The Living Internet. Inspired by the power of the Web during
the 1989 Tiananmen Square rebellion, the site's founder created a
comprehensive reference work, with more than 2,000 intra-site links
and 2,000 external links. From basics like how the Internet works
and why it matters to more complex topics like MUDs and Usenet groups,
the site is ad-free and as easy to use as the topic is complicated.
Become an expert searcher, use net-related tricks and meet the people
responsible for all that is wonderful about the Web. http://www.livinginternet.com
Comics on the Web
From Alley Oop to the Wizard of Id, offbeat strips like Reality
Check andcomic heroines like Agnes, Comics.com is the place to curl
up and read the funny papers. Select from the classics, brand new
strips or editorial cartoons, then click on the 30-day calendar for
the day's strip you wish to see. Read the comic and get the chuckle,
then follow links about the characters, email the strip to a friend,
read about and contact the artist and get recommendations ala Amazon
("If you love this comic, you may like ."). Select strips
by name or by editorial cartoonist, send e-cards or just read the
comic of the day. http://www.comics.com
Sound Portraits
Stories of beauty, dignity and meaning bubble out of flophouse
hotel managers, aged Yiddish theater actors, death row executioners
and14-year-old boys in the Chicago projects at Sound Portraits, the
online home of the remarkable program heard on National Public Radio.
Those portrayed tell their own stories in their own voices, often
given tape recorders and microphones, and the results are as intimate
as a conversation. Listen to the stories or read the transcripts,
explore notes from the producers and follow up on the lives you've
learned to care about through news on what became of the subjects
once the tapes were turned off. http://www.soundportraits.org/
Look-A-Likes
The UK's self-proclaimed "Number One Celebrity Look-A-Like
Agency" makes it possible for you to rent anyone from John Cleese
to Posh Spice to join your graduation party or corporate soiree. Their
Prince Charles, perhaps even better than real, is "superb for
mingling in any company, entertaining and amusing guests as he goes."
http://www.toplookalikes.com/
The World of Mayonnaise
"Hold the mayo" are fighting words at The World of Mayonnaise,
where fervent pleas are made to break up leap years in order to gain
an extra half day every two years with which to enjoy mayonnaise sandwiches,
perhaps 40 different brands of mayonnaise are reviewed, mayo recipes
are traded and a gallery of mayo art is on display. http://www.angelfire.com/punk/mayonnaise/
Broke Scholar
Get a really good summer job really fast to earn the $40,000 you
need for your first year of college, or -- just for back-up -- visit
BrokeScholar, a free scholarship search engine of financial aid and
scholarships via a 900,000 item database. Search for the one for you
by keyword, create application letters and your own deadline calendar.
But get that job, too. http://scholarships.brokescholar.com/
A Game of Words and Whimsy
"We all hocked our socks to buy telecom stocks, whose worth
is now all but trans-Lucent." That's the sort of rhyme that charms
those obsessed with riddles, anagrams and brain teasers at Says You!,
the online version of the game of wit from WGBH public radio and NPR,
where words are the playground equipment. On air, hosts Tony Kahn
and Barry Nolan and their celebrity panelists take on challenges in
front of a live audience. Online, you can join in. Send your answer
to the current question via e-mail, or submit a question to the program,
then listen to hear how the experts do. If your entry is used, you
receive a Pitifully Underpriced Prize Package. http://www.wgbh.org/radio/saysyou/
Pet Obsessed
Your dog may not be your best friend once he gets a look at himself
as the Mona Lisa, but if your elegant Airedale is to be memorialized
in portraiture, certainly he or she deserves the artistry of the Masters
at Krapola & Drek's Pet Obsessed. Your pet's image is digitally
combined with a Rembrandt, van Gogh or da Vinci to create a print
or canvas suitable for framing and hanging next to the litter box
-- or over the mantel if you're really doting. Send a photo of the
darling, choose from among 24 templates, then select the size and
photo or canvas quality. http://www.krapola.com/pet_obsessed.htm
Museum of Hoaxes
The flimflam man may be as old as civilization, and at the Museum
of Hoaxes our capacity for being seduced by a good sting is recorded
as far back as 756 AD. In the 9th century you may have wondered if
Pope John was really Pope Joan, and in 1661 the ghostly drummer of
Tedworth may have sent chills down your spine. Today, the Internet
has given hoaxers an all new way to circulate their myths around the
globe in quick time. Whether wonderful stories or nasty frauds, it's
hard not to admire a really good hoax. Here you can search hoaxes
by century or by category, check out UFO stories and April Fool's
pranks or report your favorite hoax as fact or fake. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/index.html
The Shadow Knows
With one click, visitors to The Shadow Real Audio Radio Theater
can hear the still creepy laugh and the immortal line, "Who knows
what evil lurks in the heart of men ." as prelude to a real episode
of one of the most popular and enduring radio series, The Shadow.
One of the oldest old-time radio sites at the ripe age of five years,
Shadow Radio offers "Today's Drama," regularly updated,
downloadable from 14.4 to 28.8 modems as originally broadcast, like
"Aboard the Steamship Amazon," from July 1938. With links
to other old time radio sites and enthusiasts, the site offers episodes
to be downloaded for later enjoyment or played instantly via Real
Audio. http://www.shadowradio.org/
Bound for Glory: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie
"Woody is just Woody . he is just a voice and a guitar."
With these words by John Steinbeck, another generation is introduced
to America's most beloved folk singer at Bound for Glory: The Life
and Times of Woody Guthrie. Created by the Museum of Musical Instruments,
the site is the first virtual documentary exhibition devoted to Woody
Guthrie. Through history, music, photographs, essays, poems, letters
and drawings the man and his times are recalled. Click on Dust Bowl
Blues, for example, and see photos like the portrait of the 1938 Corncob
Trio of which Woody was a member, and listen to the music and interviews
that capture the joy, the sorrow and the spirit of America that is
Woody's legacy. http://www.themomi.org/museum/Guthrie/index2.html
Apple Online Museum
Satisfy your nostalgia for that old Apple IIGS you bought for
something like $12,000 in the 1980s at The Apple Museum. Famously
founded by two college drop-outs, Apple has ridden the highs and lows
of the computer revolution and miraculously bounced back from the
depths with its popular i-line product launch, memorable ads and a
quirky charm that has made diehard MacHeads almost as loyal as DeadHeads.
The museum has five sections: Apple History starts with Wozniak's
Birthday in 1950; specs and photos of 350 Apple products give away
the internal Code names used during development (that IIGS was called
Rambo and was discontinued after 10,000 were distributed) and biographies
hail history's most important Apple-achians.
http://www.theapplemuseum.com/
Entering the Twilight Zone
Nobody before or since could introduce a story like Rod Serling,
who from 1959 to 1964 escorted TV viewers into the "land that
lies between science and superstition, between the pit of man's fears
and the summit of his knowledge." That land was the matchless
Twilight Zone, and you can visit it again at The Fifth Dimension,
a comprehensive guide to all 156 Zone episodes. Each TZ show was a
tightly written, moodily shot, intense little drama. Visitors get
all those inventive Serling intros, summaries of each show with complete
dialogue, episode snapshots, downloadable music files of the haunting
theme and audio of the offbeat Mr. Serling himself, being interviewed
by Mike Wallace and others. http://www.thetzsite.com/
Infrared Zoo
Saying someone is "so hot" isn't far from the truth,
as visitors to the Infrared Zoo will discover. From Caltech and NASA,
the site teaches kids and adults about infrared light, the heat radiated
by all living creatures. Scientists use infrared to see animals in
a different light that reveals the distinction between warm- and cold-blooded
animals: emus, barely visible by daylight, literally glow under infrared,
but the cold-blooded caterpillar is a dark blob. In the Hide and Seek
game, find animals hidden in the dark by moving the cursor, then click
to learn more. An education page has infrared tutorials, more activities
and games and an Ask the Astronomer section. http://sirtf.caltech.edu/Education/Zoo/zoo.html
Wrestling Museum
If you recall the Fabulous Moolah, the Professional Wrestling
Online Museum will ring all your bells. Ms. Moolah reigned for 30
years as women's professional wrestling champ, and she and other heroes
and villains, midgets and managers of professional wrestling are featured
performers in this tour of the athletic entertainment's long and colorful
history. Browse photos and bios of wrestlers from Gorgeous George
to Stone Cold Steve Austin, listen to Andre the Giant and Mean Gene
Okerland threaten their opponents, learn the stage names of wrestlers
like Mark Callaway (AKA the Undertaker, AKA Master of Pain) - and
if you think you've got the stuff, find an institution of higher learning,
like Florida's SkullKrushers Wrestling School. http://www.wrestlingmuseum.com/
Open An eBook
The eBook hasn't put print publishers out of business, as some
industry pundits declared would happen. Nor has the eBook really set
fire to the fancy of readers throughout the civilized world. But anyone
who has spent some time reading an eBook will tell you that there's
always a time or place for which reading an eBook is a handier proposition
than reading an actual book. The Open An eBook site is dedicated to
the eBook. At this site you can find "lots of information about
eBooks including devices, software and other resources that will help
you dive right into the world of eBooks! Best of all, you can download
eBooks from leading publishers," all for free. http://www.openanebook.org/
Toonopedia
It's summer. Tired of the heat, the bugs, the bad news from CNN?
You need to step away from reality. You need cartoons! The Toonopedia
site is just the place for you. Describing itself as "A Vast
Repository of Toonological Knowledge," you'll find info on your
favorite -- and obscure -- cartoons and comics, the people who created
and made them, and the companies that produced them. Lots of fun!
http://www.toonopedia.com/
Ellis Island
Millions of people started their new lives in the United States
at Ellis Island. After being abandoned for many years, the island's
compound underwent a massive restoration and reopened in 1990 for
visitors. The island now shares a national park with Liberty Island,
home of the Statue of Liberty. A ferry ride will take you to both
monuments, but most people visit only Liberty Island. However, a visit
to Ellis Island can be a truly moving experience. Just as visitors
to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, may walk
away from the Wall weeping even though they had no immediate experience
with the war, a trip through Ellis Island's Main Building can be truly
affecting even if your family did not arrive to the U.S. through this
site. A visitor to Ellis Island may come away with a great sense of
the hopes and dreams that filled the hearts of those many immigrants
who filed through the island to become a part of the Home of the Brave,
the Land of the Free. http://www.nps.gov/elis/index.htm
Explore family immigration and learn how to inscribe a family name
on the wall at Ellis Island. http://www.ellisisland.org/
Powers of Ten
View the grand and the mundane at Molecular Expressions, where thousands
Of full color photomicrographs reveal pesticides, birthstones, cocktails,
Even baptismal water in images shot by super-powered microscopes non-scientists
can only dream of using. Until now. Electron and confocal microscopy
are usually used to point-and-click Heady stuff like proteins and
DNA in the lab, but here the shutter bugs take a much wider view.
See the Milky Way at 10 million light years from earth or the nucleus
and subatomic particles of an ordinary leaf. Besides extraordinary
galleries, the site offers a primer to understanding Java microscopy
and screen savers and wallpapers if you get hooked. http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/index.html
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