Cool Web Sites
by Don Singleton
Tulsa Computer Society
From the November 2001 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
News items, Maps, and Photos related to the War on Terrorism in Afganistan
CyberSpace Memorial to Kitty Estes, daughter of Docia and Paul McCloud
The George Eastman House International Museum of Photography
and Film pays homage to Ansel Adams. "In Praise of Nature"
focuses on photos of the American West.
The printed World Almanac for Kids is filled with information from around the world, and the online edition
continues that theme with all sorts of games to play and topics to explore, including animals, environment,
historical birthdays, inventions, nations, population, space, sports and more.
Established in 1846, the Smithsonian Institution offers 16 museums and galleries, the National Zoo as well as
numerous research facilities in the U.S. and abroad. This site is the official home to the Smithsonian, and from here
you can explore all it has to offer, from museums to libraries and archives to shopping and more. There's also help
in planning a trip to the Smithsonian, as well as information on getting involved and becoming a member.
Start the day a little better informed with a visit to a daily
almanac. Various calendar dates, births and events.
With all of the bad news these days, sometimes the world seems like a very cruel place. But positive things do
happen and this site recognizes the heroes that do good in this world. Get inspired by the heroic deeds of others!
Get ready to snap some great summer photos with tips from greats
like former U.N. chief photographer John Isaac. He and other pros
(along with a few celebs) provide some online show-and-tell at the
aptly named Takegreatpictures.com.
From the newest way to say “wassssuuuuup?” to Britney Spears’ latest endorsement, you can preview all the
coolest new commercials at this site. Created to help advertising research, this is the ultimate source for
commercial-lovers.
This graphically intense website puts you in the director's chair of a music video.
Choose the stage, the band, and the stars from list of crazy cartoon characters. Pick
the type of music and then email the video to all of your friends
Ah, Shakespeare. There's wisdom in his words, even 400 years removed from his work. At this site you find the
complete text for all his plays--the comedies, the tragedies and all his great works of history.
Guide to the sites of online newspaper archives, with info about charges (if any), search
capabilities, etc. Organized by state.
Andante is dedicated to lovers of classical music — an online
source for wide-ranging info and commentary on musical works,
composers and performing artists. In case you don't find what
you want there, a handy directory links you to 12,000 classical
music Web sites.
From population clocks to ZIP code searches, from housing-unit
tables to voting-district maps, the Census Bureau site has enough
info to make you bleary-eyed.
Youth Leagues describes itself as a family-friendly site for anyone
involved in or interested in youth sports. A wide range of
categories, with sections pointing to such things as clubs, camps,
clinics and tournaments.
Here's a useful site with more than 700 links to educational information, with categories including art,
computer science, current events, foreign languages, health, history, math, music, science and many
more!
Every student dreads having to research statistical information, but this site makes collecting and interpreting data
easy. There are links to U.S. government information, data on world time, distance between any cities, crime,
agriculture, economics, health, education, law, politics and much more.
Founded by a non-profit union of insurance companies, this site seeks to educate and inform the public on life,
health and disability insurance issues. There are resources for choosing the insurance plan that’s best for you, and
an insurance quiz to test your knowledge.
Summer may be just a pleasant memory, but there's still time for ice cream. Here you'll find a wide variety of recipes for
making ice cream and other delectable frozen treats.
Two former Federal Election Commission workers decided that the
Web is the perfect tool to help foster an informed citizenry. So
they created a free service that gives you clean and easy access to
campaign finance reports.
The Department of Advertising of
the University of Texas at Austin serves up more than a mouthful of
famous commercial battle cries. Though the site admits: "A few
of them aren't all that famous, but they're ... well ... interesting."
Includes a glossary, a helpful guide to symptoms and possible causes, a guide to toxic houseplants,
guides to common individual houseplants, and more.
There are nearly four million kids being raised by their grandparents, and this site is a resource of what you should
know and where to find help if you're in this situation. There are links to grandparent support groups, information
on financial assistance, tips on traveling with grandchildren and much more.
"An interactive forum for speech/language pathologists and teachers to improve communication
skills." Includes a "this works for me" bulletin board, a materials exchange, links and resources, and
more.
There are some movie lines that you never forget. Now, you can have them on your computer. This site has
thousands of sound clips from movies, TV shows and cartoons. Haven't you always wanted to have your
computer tell you (as the Terminator) "I’ll be back..." at shut-down?
Think getting the local paper delivered to your doorstep is a good
way to keep informed about the news of the world? The Online
Media Directory of Editor & Publisher lets you zoom in on papers,
magazines, TV and radio stations around the world.
Here is the ultimate site for math geeks everywhere. Learn about fractions, decimals, integers,
exponents, inequalities, percents, square roots as well as basic math, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry,
trigonometry, statistics, calculus and more! Whew!
NASA's Galileo spacecraft adds Jupiter's moon Callisto to its
gallery of breathtaking images. Described as a spiky landscape of
bright ice and dark dust
Need a dictionary? Leave the book on the shelf and check out this site. Just type in your word and you’ll get
results from several dictionaries on the web.
An alternate viewpoint to establishment media, with content files on drugs, envirohealth, media
culture, globalization and human rights. Searches through over 7,000 stories, its own and the
left-leaning media it partners with. For conservative equivalents, try Town Hall: Conservative News
and Information, or Conservative News Sources (which includes a
"conservative search engine")
L.L. Bean offers a free service that lets you find info on hundreds
of national parks and forests, state parks and other outdoor
locales across the nation. A quick, no-nonsense search.
Here's a site that helps take the guesswork out of taking your family to an appropriate movie. While you do get an
"overall" score," this site's movie reviews (there are also reviews of videos, music and games) aren't concerned
with artistic merit, but you will get a full rundown on violence, sex, language, and drug and alcohol content. You
can also share your opinion by posting a comment or using the voting features.
Here's a site that makes learning the alphabet fun, using animated Flash to turn letters into animals, complete with
great sound effects.
Find information about all of the benefits and facets of home-schooling. They are got lesson plans,
catalogs and a variety of tips for maximizing the education your child receives at home.
Something new to worry about in our environment — courtesy of
the alert folks at the Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division.
The site aims to provide an "unbiased data clearinghouse and a
forum for public discussion."
Dihydrogen monoxide:
- is also known as hydric acid, and is the major component of acid rain.
- contributes to the Greenhouse Effect.
- may cause severe burns.
- contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.
- accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.
- may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes.
- has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.
Hint, for those for whom high
school chemistry was so long ago that the name Dihydrogen Monoxide does not immediately
tell you what they are talking about, when that chemical name is written out, it is
H20 (water). This site is a spoof on various environmental warning
sites, but it is VERY well done.
Web site for a British TV show which interviews an author everyday, with full online archives
available. The slant is toward British authors, but many of them are well-known to readers in
America. Requires RealPlayer or MediaPlayer
Here's a site that advises you to do something constructive with
your road rage — join an online community to collectively vent
about "good drivers, bad drivers and weirdoes." Includes a jokes
section to help relieve the commuting fury.
Pay a visit to some African crowned eagles or acrobatic pygmy
chimpanzees. The San Diego Zoo's natural habitat is the Web
Eric is a bit strange and you can help make him even stranger. Watch him portray various emotional states and
odd situations, and then request him to portray one for you!
If you like solitaire, then you’ll love playing this online card game. There are several different modes to play in and
you can even compete for the high score.
This site vows to take sports beyond the same old stories told by corporate sports media. Get news on your
favorite sports and teams and then go beyond the headlines to learn the entire story.
Includes news and safety alerts, a place to report foodborne illnesses and product complaints, fact
sheets on food-borne illnesses, advice on handling picnic food safely, and lots more.
Particularly useful for students in the health professions.
This site focuses on production mistakes from thousands of movies. Find out where equipment and crew members
snuck into the final cut and how some producers forgot to do their homework. Search for the most mistake-filled
movies of all time or look up your favorite.
Catch a real puppet show on your computer. Watch several really kool mechanical puppets come to life in an
online demonstration.
Since technology is constantly improving, it’s often difficult to keep up with what’s out there. This site has
definitions and explanations of every electronic device and related terms to keep you up to date with the world of
technology.
Not content with the weather report on the evening news? You
could visually overdose on the huge assortment of weather graphs
brought to you by the National Climatic Data Center.
Learn breaking news about advancements in medicine and medical conditions. This site is a great comprehensive
resource for anyone with inquiries about health issues. The information here is taken directly from lab tests.
In the process of reviewing Jessica Litman's new book on protecting intellectual property on the
internet, Mike Godwin gives an excellent backgrounder on the history and philosophy of copyright
law.
Including "Geektels" -- links to hotels worldwide that offer broadband access" -- as well as tools for
RFCs, Spam tools, traceroute, and more.
Food ads and recipe book covers from the 1940s and '50s lend new insights into the lives of your
parents and grandparents -- "Lard in 133 Recipes," "Meat and Romance," "The Knox Book of Gel
Cookery," and more.
Hackers tend to bully around computer users that are uninformed. Get the facts on how to prevent hackers from
taking your identity and life on your computer.
This site’s Internet Programming Guide is the world’s most comprehensive source for web event listings. With
over 150,000 Web events broadcast live each week, you can see great programming instantly.
With over 25,000 movies in its database, this site has a review for just about any flick. Know what you’re getting
into before you fork out your cash to the movie theater.
As in Oxford Dictionary; the subhead is "Passionate about Language." Includes a word of the day,
quote of the week, a Q&A, tips for better writing, word games, and lots more.
"Find old obituaries, birth & marriage announcements, old news stories, old advertising, recipes,
cartoons and humor, and more. All are scanned from my personal collection of original issues of
18th, 19th and early 20th century newspapers from around the U.S."
Ultra-cool Shockwave games await you at this totally free promotional website for hard candies. Get good at the
games and you can also win lots of cool prizes from the candy companies.
Created and endorsed by famous comedians, this site has all the laughs your stomach can handle. Check out your
favorite comedian or read some classic jokes. But probably the best feature is the audio archive of original
comedy routines by some of the best comics of all time.
Want to know what your favorite artist really said in that latest hit song? Here's a site with a huge database of
lyrics, and you can search by artist, song title or album.
Kim Komando takes a look at how to start and maintain your
own web cam, presenting some sites that offer advice on broadcasting images over the web.
She then takes us on a trip across the world where you will be amazed by exotic monuments
and breathtaking mountain ranges, all from the comfort of your home. She then shows us
a number of really kool and unusual places. With web cams, you can visit
zoos, explore space, go to jail or even check out a pizza parlor.
Some web cameras are just downright strange. She lists some sites that explore all of the
bizarre uses of web cams.
Well, perhaps you don't absolutely NEED to know about
the cat that ordered
450 cans of catfood by computer, or
the cat that attacked
thieves intent on stealing dogfood, but it's kind of fun anyway.
For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here
Tulsa Computer Society 11/02/2001
Don Singleton, President