Cool Web Sites
by Don Singleton
Tulsa Computer Society
From the August 2000 issue of the I/O Port Newsletter
Including links previously reviewed at
http://www.educationindex.com/index.html,
http://www.komando.com/,
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/arch.htm, and
http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html
A great feature of the Family Travel Guide website, this area
not only offers up some useful and important information for
traveling with tots, it can help out when traveling with other
age groups as well - like troublesome teens or the elderly.
The "Traveling With Toddlers" section is especially helpful,
covering everything from managing diaper changes in-flight
to making sure your baby has enough toys and distractions
to keep them busy the entire trip. Check the other sections
of this useful site for other great tips and hints about travel.
Learnlots.com thinks it can help both consumers and
businesses by posting product tutorials online. Subjects
range from satellite dish systems to online investing to
digital music.
A collaborative web site that is part of the larger RootsWeb site, this allows
you to browse examples and contribute other expressions you heard your
grandparents and great grandparents use. Organized loosely by themes
such as Aging & Dying, Character Traits ("He could talk the dogs off of a
meat truck"), Kids ("Your belly-button isn't even dry yet!"), Money & Numbers
("If steamboats were selling for a dime a dozen, I couldn't buy the echo of the
whistle."), etc.
A gathering point for concerns about the end of the millennium, apocalyptic
as well as Y2K. Includes articles, an FAQ, glossary, an investigation of what
happened in the year 1000, and the Journal of Millennial Studies.
Brought to you by Trip.com, the wonderful Flight Tracker
service allows you to go to this special area of their website,
select an airline, the flight number, and track it in real-time
online! The graphical representation is really awesome -it
displays a map, the plane (moving across the screen), and
gauges displaying speed, heading and altitude. The info that
drives the site comes directly from the FAA, so you know
that it's completely up-to-date and correct. Another really
cool (yet useless) feature of the site is the ability to track
random flights at will.
The New Bartleby Library has added the texts of 6 poetry anthologies
covering American and English poetry, 1250-1920. Searchable, with
chronologic, author, title and first line indexes.
Let's say you're looking for a college with the best
marching band, or the most famous alumni or with a
100% acceptance rate. Look no further than this handy
2000 College Rankings site. Or find out how your
school rates nationally.
Read all about the Scopes Trial, the My Lai court martial, the Rosenbergs,
Leopold and Loeb. "20th Century" is a misnomer, because you can also
read here about the Salem Witchcraft trials, the Andrew Johnson
impeachment and the Amistad Trials of 1839-40. Constructed by a law
professor, this site is scrupulous in its presentation of background material
(biographies of major participants, texts of relevant laws, etc.) and
documentary sources (partial trial transcripts, decisions, appellate
decisions, etc.)
You may have heard the latest scare about vaccines, the theory that the
MMR vaccine is linked with autism. The Centers for Disease Control here
outlines the nature and dangers of the diseases, who should and should not
get the vaccinations, the recommended schedule for vaccination, the proven
risks associated with it, warning signs of reactions to the vaccinations, and
what to do in case of serious reactions (including the 800 number for the
compensation program for people thought to be injured by vaccines).
It's always useful to know what people are searching for. Oddly enough,
Pamela Anderson only ranked 64th, well behind travel, cars, horoscopes,
pokemon, and MP3. You can also check out The Lycos Top 50 Daily
Report at
An article every teacher and academic should read. He says the virtual
university throws open once again the entire question of what should be
taught in a subject, and how it should be taught. The discussion of
curriculum, requirements, courses, tests, and the goals of academics as
opposed to the goals of students, is fascinating.
Even one of America's most beloved and well-crafted movie trilogies is
not above reproach, it seems. Log on to the Star Wars Blooper Guide
and check out production mistakes, editing flubs and prop errors in each
of the first three movies in the Star Wars saga. Some of these mistakes
are fairly obscure - the original movie, "Star Wars", has over one hundred
bloopers listed here - so how did this movie ever make it to the theaters?
You just never know when you might get in trouble for inadvertent violations
of copyright or click-wrap licenses or someone's right of privacy, or when
some legislator might require libraries to use filters. Keeping up with the law
may be our best defense. This site, from law firm Phillips Nizer, gives you
summaries and quotes from important laws and court decisions.
A guide to upcoming television programming on public, network and cable
TV. It includes information on grade appropriateness, availability of support
materials, closed captions and descriptive video service; a nice bonus for
teachers is info on getting taping rights. Updated monthly.
Tired of the Y2K computer glitch gloom and doom? Of
course you are -- and apparently so were the folks at
Hart Scientific. Their absolutely unofficial Y2K page
is a welcomed hoot.
Search by region or by company; once you've selected region, you can also
search by area of career interest. At a minimum, you'll get contact info and
deadline for application; with luck you'll also get description of the internship
and whether it's paid or not.
If you search first by state, then by metro area, then by job classification, you
can compare what specific jobs pay on average in specific locales;
Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Tulsa average $52,230, while in
New York City they average $59,350 (if they have any good sense, they
will stay in Tulsa). Unfortunately, you can't search just by job
classification.
Respond.com takes e-shopping into the realm of
e-mail. You fill out a detailed request about a product
and then receive responses from would-be sellers.
And you remain anonymous.
Want to invent a language, for a game or a novel or just for the fun of it?
What's it going to sound like? Are you going to use an existing alphabet?
How many words are you going to need? This page gives you a method for
arriving at an internally consistent language, along with questions to ask
yourself about its phonology, grammar, style, vocabulary, dialects. It also
includes links to pages on invented languages. And even if you don't want to
invent a language, this is a fascinating exploration of how languages work,
well worth using in a 7-12 English class.
A nicely chosen set of links for all matters of concern to wouldbe writers --
workshops, style guides, research resources, writers organizations, quote
books, dictionaries and other reference sources, courtesy of literary agent
Sheree Bykofsky
Start planning for the Millennium New Year with this
Random Party Generator. All you need to do is click
on a few drop-down menus for some festive ideas.
You can even create your own Web site to display
party details to your friends.
Clickable subject guide from various ThinkQuest project teams
to completed projects and curriculum materials on an extraordinary range of
topics: the generation gap, the physics of golf, the festivals of 5 major
religions, the Dutch dike system, the Holocaust, fractals, and much more.
While keeping in mind that Americans speak the English language a bit
differently, this is nonetheless a useful guide for journalists and nonjournalists
alike in using the language gracefully -- using active rather than passive
voice, avoiding jargon and unnecessary words, controlling tone, avoiding
grammatical error.
There are no graphics accompanying any of the mistakes detailed at this
site, but the explanations are very easy to follow and there are tons of
movies to work through in your quest for blooper knowledge. Select a
letter of the alphabet and be transported to a page that covers as many
gaffes as possible for each and every movie that starts with that letter.
Chris Sherman, About.Com's guide to Web Search, here offers an archive
of useful articles on topics like specialized and niche searching, finding
people on the net, competitive intelligence and business research, etc.
Includes guides, howtos, FAQs, development projects, links to applications
and utilities using Linux, and the Linux Gazette. One of the better starting
points, though you might also want to check out Linux World at
www.linuxworld.com
I defy you to walk away from this site without a smile on
your face and agreement in your soul.
Site includes the Word Spy, which keeps track of recently
coined words (Goldilocks economy, downshifter), the
Word Arranger which automatically creates anagrams,
the Jargon File repository of hacker language, and
neologisms (I especially liked "slackademic," and
"Monday morning idea")
Site includes sound selections, lists of pieces, anthologies,
recordings (some of them clickable), and articles offering
advice on how to choose your music.
For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here
This page has been accessed
times.
Tulsa Computer Society 7/10/2000
Don Singleton, President
djs@ionet.net