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Welcome to the 116th issue of Cool Tricks and Trinkets offering weekly insights into new, cool, useful, fun, unusual and interesting sites on the Internet.
In this issue:
- Into Africa
- Science Fun
- Wired Grandparents
- Short Takes
- Dramas of The Haymarket
- A Perfect World
- Anatomy of an Exposition
- Charity Works
- Popular Science's 50 Best Sites
- Subscribers' Sites
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Into Africa
Anyone who has ever visited or yearned to visit Africa, will be enchanted by this mesmerizing site. It takes you along on the journey from the Serengeti to Zanzibar, and records the people, animals and environment in stunning photography, hypnotic sound and lyrical words.
The site requires Flash, a good sound card and a bit of patience to fully appreciate, but it's worth the trip. This ranks among the best of all the travel sites this newsletter has reviewed.
http://www.hipnotika.com/
Try Science
Getting kids excited about science and technology is the goal here, and it's right on target. More than 400 science centers worldwide contribute to the on-line and off-line exhibits, where kids can investigate and discover through activities that are truly kid-friendly.
"Adventure" offers theme-based experiences, like being a Star Trek character investigating alien life forms; "Experiment" has hands-on fun, like building and testing a rain forest canopy; "Field Trips" takes you on virtual tours of real science and tech centers; and "Curious" fields questions and answers about "hot topic" items. New interactive content is added regularly, so teachers and parents will want to bookmark this one.
http://www.tryscience.org/
Wired Grandparents
Celebrating the joy of grand parenting and enriching time spent with grandkids is the goal of this site, designed for hip, wired senior citizens. There's tons to do here, both with the little guys and on your own: riddles and tours, contests and comics, serious topics like how to get through to your kids, divorce, boutique shopping, chats and message boards.
A "My Grandchild" page lets you create a personal profile of your grandkids and stay in touch with daily local news stories from their hometown, send e-mail greeting cards and, of course, presents -- so you can do what grandma and grandpa do best: spoil them rotten!
http://www.igrandparents.com
SHORT
TAKES:
Healing Herbs
The Herb Database links users to scientific data on using specific herbs for health. You type in the herb and get data on clinical trials, case studies and folk or traditional use, published warnings on adverse effects and interactions, commercial and folk preparations, the biochemistry, plus pictures and related web sites.
http://www.herbmed.org/
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Discovering Yourself
The Personality Test, sponsored by Sprite soft drink, is not for kids. But adults seeking a compatible mate can take the test, discover their own personality type and send the test to a potential mate to take -- and then keep everyone's results on file to find just the right match.
http://test2.thespark.com/person/
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Wasabi
Sticky Rice is where the Sushi Generation learns all about sushi and how to make it. It offers recipes, tools and tutorials, a chance to ask the sushi chef questions and even a store where you can buy all the stuff you need to have a total sushi experience, from Japanese lanterns to a $500 sushi knife.
http://www.stickyrice.com
Dramas of The Haymarket
"The Haymarket" was an 1886 labor protest in which several policemen were killed by a bomb, and it remains a symbol of our nation's struggle over labor rights. Here, the Chicago Historical Society and Northwestern University present the dramatic event as a tragedy in five acts.
Photos, engravings, trial testimony, pamphlets and newspapers are among the first-hand artifacts that help visitors explore the tumult of Chicago immediately before and after Haymarket. This multimedia project gives the late 19th century an immediacy only the web can offer: virtual tours of the Haymarket area, labor songs of the time and an enormous array of primary sources on dynamic display.
http://www.chicagohistory.org/dramas/
A Perfect World
Looking for the perfect world? You're not alone: This site traces how women and men have imagined, depicted, described and created ideal societies where the goal is happiness for all members.
A collaboration between the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and The New York Public Library, the project explores utopian thinking since antiquity, with scenes of 20th century utopias and dystopias (the failures) presented through text and downloadable images of original documents and photographs..
http://www.nypl.org/utopia/homepage_qt.html
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Anatomy of an Exposition
Art Nouveau, 1890 -1914, was an exuberant modern art form, and its exhibition at the National Gallery of Art is the largest ever organized on the style. This site focuses not just on the objects d'art themselves, but on the colossal task of creating such a showcase: concept, design and construction.
The roots of Art Nouveau are traced through conversations with the exhibit's curator and designers who describe each gallery in its social and historical context. Photo essays show the technical skill of the craftspeople that created the exhibition spaces, and a slide show collapses the exhibit's 3-month construction into 10 seconds. Plus, you can view some of the coolest stuff to come out of one of the coolest periods: from glassware to wall clocks.
http://www.nga.gov/feature/nouveau/nouveau.htm
Charity Works
Year-end is just the right time to get hip to e-philanthropy, so you can pony up some tax-deductible contributions before December 31st. There may be no better place to do so than Philanthropic News Network, "the voice of the nonprofit world and the marketplace for products and services nonprofits need."
Whether you prefer to give or to receive, PNN will tell you how. Donors can discover corporate giving and volunteerism. Nonprofits can get wise to what the high-tech zillionaires are doing with their excess. And, if you've longed for a job that gives back by working for education, social change or the environment, go here to search out the perfect nonprofit career.
http://pnnonline.org/
Popular Science's 50 Best Sites
Popular Science has picked its 50 Best Sites, and they're not all about building a CB radio in your garage. From spiral galaxies to DNA, these sites provide a wealth of information via interactive games, video clips and animations.
It's all nicely organized to find what you want fast: Visual Science leads you to designer snow crystal galleries; Science Learning has "The Yuckiest Site on the Internet"; Moving Science offers a site devoted entirely to fuel economy; and Eclectic Science tells you where to find misinformation about astronomy. Next up, Popular Science will choose the Ultimate Best of the Web for 2000, and you get to vote here.
http://www.popsci.com/features/bow00/
SUBSCRIBERS' SITES - Many of our subscribers have fascinating on-line projects. This weekly section will introduce you to some of these sites. Please let me know about your project so that I might mention it in this section. Write me at
info@tricksandtrinkets.com
~The Grow Hair Photo Gallery
~Video Gamer Guy - A great source for game news and reviews, updated daily.
~Sean'S Fun Stuff Site -
~Mike's Tape Trading Site
~The UK and Ireland's only dedicated Webcam Directory.
~Builder Find - Web Designers make bids for your design work.
~My Voices - Turn out the lights, get in a safe place, and read.
~To the Greater Good of All
- How to make the world a better place.
~Wig Musings - A collection of original funny stories, essays, and rants.
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OOo-(_)-oOOo--------
We part at the crossroads,
You leave with your joys and problems,
I, with mine. Alone, I look down the road.
Each one must follow one's own path.
The Tao
oooO--------( )----
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Have a great weekend.
Charles Kessler
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