Flu Season Redux

A while back I talked about the approaching flu season and pointed out some resources at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Now, although there does not yet seem to be much of an outbreak, we are in flu season. With al the concern about the lack of flu vaccine, I thought I'd add another resource to the ones I've already noted.

Housed by the Department of Health and Human Services, click here to visit a site that tries to keep you up-to-date about the current state of the flu outbreak and measure you can take to best protect yourself from getting sick.

Our Universe

Trying to get one's head around things like the vastness of space or what the heck is a black hole is not easy.

Take a look at NASA's Structure and Evolution of Space site called: Beyond Einstein, From the Big Bang to Black Holes.

Mindbloggling.

The World of Advertising

As is true of anyone who grows up in the US, we see many hundreds of advertisement every day and probably millions over our lifespan.

I have a certain fascination with the world of advertising and have come across a museum that is dedicated to craft (some would say art) of advertising. The place I've discovered is called the William F. Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Much more readily accessible to me out here in Washington State is their online version. An impressive museum.

All Things Physics

I'm not much of a scientist although I do consider myself at least curious about the world out there -- bugs, critters, constellations, forces for good.

The American Institute for Physics has a rich site on the Internet. I was particularly intrigued with its Center for History of Physics.

It goes without saying that physics keeps our universe -- from the tiniest atom to the most gigantic galaxy -- operating in a predictable way that allows us to live our lives in a way that we can rely on.....from the gravity that keeps us grounded to the momentum that propels us along.

Are You Smart About "Phishing"?

This is my second posting about the dastardly practice of "phishing". Phishing is where bogus e-mail is sent out mimicing a legitimate bank or other online business.

The point of the message is to convince you that the online business that's contacted you needs some of your personal information -- PIN, account number, credit card number, address, or other personal information -- updated or confirmed.

Although this practice is sometimes happening legitimately, far too often it's an attempt to steal your personal information, which can lead to identity theft.

A company called MailFrontier, which markets "e-mail security products," offers a free online quiz to test your Phishing IQ. This will give you a chance to test your smarts about various very legitmately-looking messages and challenging you to assess each one's legitimacy.

I recommend you take it. The results may surprise you!

Just One More For Halloween

The amount of trafficking in candy that's going to happen this coming Sunday is probably beyond my ability to imagine.

What I can imagine, though, is that a high percentage of the contents of those Halloween bags will be chocolate.

Check out the Chocolate Exhibit at the Field Museum. You can participate with some fascinating interactives that will tell you a lot about how chocolate is harvested and converted into one of my (and maybe yours, too) candies.

Yum!

Time Travel On the World Wide Web

As the introductory information says, web sites are constantly changing, new ones appear, others disappear.

Browse through 30 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few months ago.

Where can one do this? By using the WayBackMachine. This resource is dedicated to keep a running record of the entire World Wide Web and its history.

If you want to see snapshots in time of a web site's presence (including content!), go to the WayBackMachine and type in the URL of the site you want to explore.

All the stored snapshots of this site's past will be available as links for you to click on. Some sites that require log-on are not represented, but the great majority of web sites are here and available.

Both fascinating and very useful for catching content that once existed but has been replaced.

An Online Resource About Our Physical Environment

The introduction at the website pretty much says it all:

The Physical Environment is one of the first, totally online physical geography learning environments. The Physical Environment combines text, images, audio and video programs to deliver the subject matter content. A multimedia online environment requires that you interact with the content in new and different ways.

The potential of the World Wide Web to bring remote places to our desktops, and the ability to interlink bits of information, breathes life into physical geography. No longer is one tied to a static image in a book, or the graphics available on a CD-ROM. The interconnectivity of the Web engages us in new ways of learning. Hyperlinked resources lets us stay abreast of the latest developments. The reader can explore in greater depth than ever before the physical world from their desktop.

Well worth a visit.

Take The Subway!

Well, out here in Seattle, all I can say is "I Wish!"

I don't know exactly why our city does not have a subway. A few years ago an underground bus tunnel was built but it is short and has nothing to do with what I think of when I hear the word "subway" and think of a city like New York.

Since I grew up in an area where there were no such things as subways in our cities (everything out here in the Northwest must be too spread out and the populations too small), my first exposure to really good public transit, including subways, was when I took my jaunts to Europe. As is widely recognized, transit systems "over there" have routinely included a fantastic network of trains, trams, busses, and, yes, subways.

Some American cities, though, have intricate subway systems of their own. The most obvious example for those of us in the U.S. is New York.

This year the New York Subway is celebrating its centennial.

The official site for the centennial celebrations is here.

A more detailed historical look at the 100-year history of the New York Subway is available at:
nycsubway.org

I have traveled to New York and ridden on the subway in the Big Apple. What an amazing system and to think that it's celebrating its centennial. When we think that large-scale engineering feats generally occurred in the last 50 years or so, this is a reminder that there were very smart and hard-working people way farther back than that!

Simply Ingenious

There is a relatively new website called Ingenious. Seems quite intriguing. It's based in England and is an outgrowth of the National Museum of Science and Industry. To quote from their introductory information:

Ingenious is a new website that brings together images and viewpoints to create insights into science and culture. It weaves unusual and thought-provoking connections between people, innovations and ideas. Drawing on the resources of NMSI (The National Museum of Science and Industry), the site contains over 30,000 images which are used to illustrate over 30 different subjects, topics and debates.

You are invited on a voyage of discovery through the content, exploring new perspectives on human ingenuity. The rich resources offer authoritative re-interpretations, which challenge traditional views. You can contribute to these discussions, by offering fresh opinions on the issues that have changed our lives, thereby creating dialogues within communities and with the Museums.

You, Too, Can Be Elected President!

....at least elected as our Virtual President, that is.

Sponsored by Cable In The Classroom, a site called eLECTIONS, Your Adventure In Politics.

This is quite a site. Some might consider it a game, but maybe running for office is a "game" of sorts.

Anyway, you choose your party, place yourself on the starting line, spin the dial for a number, and off you go. If you play as a single player, you have a virtual opponent. If you play with a partner, you and your friend pick a party (based on one Republican and one Democratic candidate), and take off on your campaigns together.

On the way, you "earn" money through contributions, have to participate in candidate debates, and sometimes a "scandal" erupts which causes your poll numbers to dip.

Not many days are left of the real presidential campaign, but if you have any inklings of wanting to run yourself, give eLECTIONS a run for the money.

Renewable Fuel

Although I've never owned a diesel-powered car, I have spent a bit of time around diesel engines, particularly in my days of commercial salmon fishing.

As we see our world-wide supply of fossil fuels shrink day-by-day, it's somewhat reassuring that people "out there" are working hard to provide us with alternative fuel options that don't deplete our non-renewable fuel resources.

One such effort is The National Biodiesel Board. Their site, Biodiesel, has a wealth of information about this initiative.

Quick! Duck!

If you've ever wondered what the migration paths of ducks are, do I have the site for you:
The Waterfowl Migration Map.

A service of Ducks Unlimited, their Waterfowling site gives you the opportunity to track migration of favorite waterfowl.

Some of the Ducks Unlimited site is focused on hunting, but there are also links to Conservation and information about these birds.

The mission of Ducks Unlimited is as follows:

Ducks Unlimited conserves, restores, and manages wetlands and associated habitats for North America's waterfowl. These habitats also benefit other wildlife and people.

Ghosts, Spooky Tales, and Fun Stuff, Too!

With just under two weeks until the big day, I've got to return to the Halloween theme. If you're going to do any exploring about goblins and pumpkins and costumes and scary stories....now's the time to do it. No fun waiting all the way until October 31.

Yahoo has a clearinghouse of information about Halloween (and other holidays) here. From this impressive list of links, you can find gobs of information and "stuff" about this most haunted of holidays. Naturally, a lot of it is supposed to be in the ominous and scary spirit of the season, but there's some just plain fun here, too.

One of the most enjoyable things about this season is the excuse it gives any of us literary types to revisit the genre of spooky stories.

Just like the days of when radio dramas were the big hit, there are sites that have stories available online in both printed and aural form.

One such site that spccializes in "ghost stories and strange folktales of the American South, told by the region's most celebrated storytellers (sometimes the author!)," is The Moonlit Road. Makes me wish I had Internet access in my car for long drives and commutes.

Except maybe for Trick or Treat-ing, nothing more fun than listening to some scary stories!

Volcano! Update

Our very own Mount St. Helens has been spewing, rumbling, letting off steam, etc. for some weeks now. As an update to my earlier entry about our volcano, I add the following resources to the mix.

Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument [Windows Media Player]
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/
Mount St. Helens
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/msh/ [Quicktime, gif]
Mount St. Helens, Washington
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/framework.html
Mount St. Helens Seismicity Information
http://www.pnsn.org/HELENS/welcome.html
Narrative of Mount Saint Helens
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/volcanoes/vnarrative1.html
NASA Infrared Images May Provide Volcano Clues [jpeg]
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/oct/HQ_04331_sthelens_images.html
Mount St. Helens Blows Steam, Ash
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0930_040930_mountsthelens.html#main
Mount St. Helens streams and swells [Internet Explorer Browser]
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6092368/
A Reporter Remembers 25 Years Later
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/05/17/st.helens.hamann/

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!