Well, I'll Bee

It's been years since I've tried my hand at beekeeping and, even back then, I wasn't all that successful. However, bees remain of great fascination to me.

A great source for information about these critters and how to care for and maintain hives is BeeSource.com......Online Source For Beekeeping.

If you're ever tempted to jump into the world of this amazing insect, this is a good place to start.

Fall Colors

There is no denying that summer is definitely gone and fall is well entrenched in our weather and consciousness. School's been back in session for weeks and the skies are not as often blue and bright as they were in August.

One of the beauties of fall is watching the leaves change color and float to the ground. Out here in the Northwest, we've got plenty of coniferous trees (pine, spruce, etc.) that don't turn color with the change in the seasons. We do have a smattering of deciduous trees, though, so we get a chance to watch this metamorphosis take place.

Still, the area of the US that truly shows its colors in the fall is the Northeast and Southeast. If you're interested in keeping up with the changes in fall colors, one place to check out and revisit is The Foliage Network. They have reports from the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest with daily updates of color changes and rates of falling leaves.....not to mention pictures of this beautiful time of year.

Whistling A Tune....And More!

As the introduction to this site says:

This website is the result of over ten years of collecting whistling records. It is, to the best of my knowledge, the only site of it's kind in all of cyberspace. You'll find over 100 MP3s from whistlers around the world, discographies, album covers and more. Don't miss the section on vintage training records for parakeets and canaries!

I began collecting whistling records in 1993 when two volumes of Incredibly Strange Music were released on compact disc. These were compilations of oddball recordings from the fifties and sixties. One of the tracks was Fred Lowery whistling "The William Tell Overture" from his Whistle a Happy Tune album. Never before had I heard anything like it and was instantly hooked.

Learning about the relatively few whistling records in existence and tracking them down took quite some time. They were stumbled upon, one by one. The last three or four years it has became much easier to find them, especially the more obscure ones, thanks to the internet and online sources like ebay. I'd estimate 90% of my collection arrived in the mail, the other 10% came from local record stores.

Check out the Online Guide to Whistling Records.

Pumpkin Redux

Even though I've already had a couple posts about the October holiday -- Halloween! -- I'm going to file another.

Check out Pumpkins And More, put together by the University of Illinois Extension. Not only will you find all the information you ever needed to know about this favorite squash of the season, but you can get linked to some Halloween sites, too.

Carve out some time and give Pumpkins And More a visit!

Seeing United States History

I must be at a certain age because when I see some films or pictures from the past (and we're talking years and decades here, not weeks and months), my curiosity is piqued. The "Now And Then" pictures in the Pacific section of the Sunday Seattle Times/Seattle Post-Intelligencer have held a certain fascination for some years but now I've run across a treasure-trove of pictures from the past.

The Bureau of Land Management has a site which houses Historical Pictures from the 1890s to the 1980s. You can browse or search the collection. Many pictures are considered in the public domain,.

For those interested in the United States and its history, this collection gives you a glimpse back. In its introduction the BLM Historical Pictures site says:

The historical database contains more than 3,500 historical digital images, some dating back more than a century. These images document the nation’s westward migration and highlight the activities of the General Land Office and the Grazing Service, which were later consolidated to form the BLM. The photos in this database are part of BLM’s digital photo library.

Definitely worth a look or two.....and many more!

More Online Excellence And Teaching/Learning Resources

Yet another very exciting online resource --National Science Digital Library (NSDL) -- gives you access to a tremendous amount of linked information. Take the online Flash tour by clicking here. This animated tour will give you an excellent introduction to NSDL and its mission. It also lays out how the website is organized and how to best access the resources you need.

Many sites are linked to this library and one that I got hooked up to after only a few minutes doing an exploration of NSDL's resources was Teachers Domain (registration required to enter site, but registration is free). Under the sponsorship of WGBH in Boston, the Teachers Domain is a tremendous resource for broadcast and other material on a wide range of subjects.

And that's just one example of what you can find by taking a dive into NSDL. This is a winner.

A Top-Notch Educational Site

Internet4Classrooms -- Helping Teachers Use The Internet Effectively is simply an astounding site.

Collaborators Susan Brooks and Bill Byles have assembled a tremendous store of resources in all the major subject areas.

The primary categories of their site include:

• Links for K-12 Teachers
  
• Daily Dose Of The Web
• Online Modules
• Searching
• Educational News
• Grants
• In School Integration Support (ISIS)

Outstanding and well-worth regular revisits!

Volcano!

Mount St. Helens, as you no doubt have already seen, is rumbling, shaking, and spewing back into some sort of life. Impossible to know how the mountain will play out this episode of magma movement, but it's a very interesting time in our area, volcanically speaking.

A couple logical places to check out for information about volcanoes in general is "How Volcanoes Work" and for specific info and updates on Mount St. Helens, I can recommend the United States Geological Survey (USGS) site, "Mount St. Helens, Washington."

Evolution And Analysis Of The Toothbrush

Written by Kyle Sembera at Lamar University at Beaumont, I could not resist this article about that humble but oh so important tool for healthy teeth.

From the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' website, I think you'll enjoy this look back at where the toothbrush came from and how it has developed.

Online E-Literature

More and more literature is being made available via the Internet.

Here is a site that offers access to the work of many 18-century literary works. Called "Eighteenth Century E-Texts," you'll be amazed at the variety of works available at the click of your mouse.

You'll also find links to other online digitized literature resources that include other initiatives to get great books online and available to as wide a public as possible.

The Big Debate Tonight

Another posting about presidential debates, this time on the occasion of John Kerry and President Bush's first face-to-face appearance on the debate stage.

Many resources and information available at the Commission on Presidential Debates.

A Cosmically Relatively Close Call

An asteroid named Asteroid 4179 Toutatis brushed by Earth at its closest distance today. For a summary of the space rock, its composition, its size, and its "eccentric four-year orbit," click here.

Scientific Credibility On The Big Screen

The online version of Chemical & Engineering News has a service on its website called ReelScience.

ReelScience reviews selected movies in national release. The reviews not only give the standard summaries of plot and character but they also examine the science behind the "plot" and see how it compares with "real" science.

One movie recently reviewed was "The Day After Tomorrow." C&EN writer Bette Hileman gives the flick four of five stars (I, Robot only got two-and-a-half). A sample paragraph from her review says:

To a scientist, the film is interesting because it compresses everything that could happen under an abrupt climate change scenario (and much that could not happen) into a few days, rather than the more realistic decades. A collapse of the thermohaline circulation is a low-probability, but high-impact event. If it did occur in the early 21st century, it would have a huge impact on weather.

Other films currently reviewed inclue "Blue Butterfly" and "Godsend."

Satire

After hearing another example of very effective political satire from Harry Shearer, I couldn't help but include him here.

Check out Le Show. Le Show is Harry Shearer's weekly radio program that airs on a number of stations across the US. This website is a place where you can come and listen to current or past shows (going back as far as October, 1995) and find out if a radio station in your area carries the program.

This is one very talented guy.

The Internet And Its Impact On American Life

The Pew Internet & American Life Project studies how our life is affected and influenced by the Internet. At the moment, featured reports include: "How Americans Use Instant Messaging," "The Internet and Daily Life," "How Americans Get In Touch With Government," and "Internet as Unique New Source."

Categories of on-going studies include

• Online Activities & Pursuits
• Major New Events
• E-Gov & E-Policy
• Technology & Media Use
• Latest Trends
• Your Input
• Our Commentary

In today's What's New category, the question is asked: Do You Use RSS?

A useful site to both keep up with new developments and to help assess which of those new developments warrant the "hype."

A "Fabulous Fruit"

In case the passing of summer and the arrival of autumn has you mourning the passing of what, at least in the house I grew up in, was a summertime staple -- lemonade -- here is a site devoted to that perky citrus fruit.

Called Lemonflower, this site has more information than you might know existed about lemons including the nutritional ("The lemon offers substantial health benefits.") to the legal ("we have included some valuable lemon law resources.")

Pucker up and enjoy!

Autumn Is Here

To celebrate the arrival of autumn today, I invite you to visit a site that explains in understandable terms the chemical changes taking place in our foilage.

Part of the Science Is Fun In The Lab Of Shakhashiri web site, travel to one of Professor Shakhashiri linked sites, Chemical of the Week, where you'll find The Chemistry of Autumn Colors.

Fascinating.

A New National Museum To Treasure

The brand new National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., opened today. The building seems incredibly beautiful and the collection housed within those walls most valuable as it preserves the culture and history of Native Americans in our country.

The museum's mission is to:

.....recognize and affirm to Native communities and the non-Native public the historical and contemporary culture and cultural achievements of the Natives of the Western Hemisphere by advancing-in consultation, collaboration, and cooperation with Natives-knowledge and understanding of Native cultures, including art, history, and language, and by recognizing the museum's special responsibility, through innovative public programming, research and collections, to protect, support, and enhance the development, maintenance, and perpetuation of Native culture and community.

A new national treasure to honor and celebrate....and a wonderful place to visit.

Yup, Flu Season Is Almost Here

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a site dedicated to influenza (flu) which houses a tremendous amount of information related to this potentially deadly disease. In the last couple years I've read two books that look back to the horrendous flu outbreak in 1918 that caused much suffering and death worldwide in the space of weeks. Although I have a lot of faith in the power and knowledge of "modern medicine," influenza is a disease worthy of respect and extremely careful monitoring.


If for no other reason, you should check out the Influenza Home Page of the CDC to get information to help you decide how best to protect yourself in the soon-to-arrive flu season.

Wave The Flag!

As we look around the world at the many people, cultures, and traditions that populate our wonderful planet, Earth, one visible manifestation of our lands is our various flags.

The site, Geographical Index To The Flags Of The World, gives you access to them all.