Project Gutenberg

Another development spurred by the Internet is the increasing availability of eBooks. One of the oldest sites on the Internet making eBooks available is Project Gutenberg.

Their introduction says:

Project Gutenberg is the oldest producer of free electronic books (eBooks or etexts) on the Internet. Our collection of more than 13.000 eBooks was produced by hundreds of volunteers. Most of the Project Gutenberg eBooks are older literary works that are in the public domain in the United States. All may be freely downloaded and read, and redistributed for non-commercial use (for complete details, see the license page).

They do indeed have many books to choose from. Check it out!

Gorgeous Flora From My Own State

Washington State combines the green (some would say "damp") climate of the western half of the state (the rain courtesy of the moisture of the Pacific Ocean on the west and the barrier or the Cascade Mountains on the east) with the relatively arid eastern half of the state.

One outgrowth (so to speak) of this variety of climate is a wealth of beautiful flowers and plants.

The Burke Museum on the University of Washington campus has a wonderful photographic collections of the many indigenous plants in our state. Take a look.

Visit the WTU Image Collection: Plants of Washington.

Powerful Photography

Kodak has put together a collection of photographs by Charles Moore, a photojournalist for Life magazine almost 50 years ago. The site is called Powerful Days in Black and White

Largely in black and white, this is a powerful and important collection with many photos from the struggle against segregation in the late 50's and early 60's.

Pie In The Sky?

No question about it, the breadth of information out there on the 'net is extraordinarily varied (and sometimes plain bizarre!).

Not that bizarre maybe -- although I very rarely take a plane anywhere -- is the fact that there is a website devoted to, well, airline food.

In case you're curious about what passes as a meal on the commercial airlines in the early 2000's, go to Airline Meals.Net.

P.S. Oh, yes, they do have some pictures of airline meal service going back to the 50's. If you're wondering if things have changed, check out the Vintage Meal Pics and Ads From The Past.

Martin Luther King

As we approach the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King and the national celebration of his life, we are once again reminded of his sacrifices and many accomplishments.

A site from PBS called "Citizen King" is wonderful and gives particular focus to the last five years of Dr. King's life.

Great Performances Indeed

Make a visit to PBS's site for their on-going series, Great Performances. Over the years we have had the pleasure of being able to view a wealth of performances courtesy of this program on PBS.

Included here at the season's broadcast schedule in the realms of Musical Theatre, Opera on Film, Classical Music, Regional Performances, and more.

What a valuable cultural resource!

The View From The Satellite

The site, Our Earth As Art, presents beautiful photographs taken by the Landstat 7 satellite from all the continents.

Here is the introductory information:

The Earth as Art on-line gallery premiered in July 2002 and has been hugely popular. We are so glad that the beautiful satellite imagery of our planet has made such a huge impact.

The original Earth as Art images were from the Landsat 7 satellite, and were created by the USGS EROS Data Center to introduce the general public to the Landsat Program, which is administered jointly by USGS and NASA. Various combinations of the eight Landsat 7 spectral bands were selected to create the vivid RGB composites featured on this site.

In 2003, a second set of Earth as Art images was put together - this time using images from both Landsat 7 and the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) aboard the Terra Satellite. We have incorporated these images into our on-line gallery and hope you will enjoy them as much as the first set!

And the images are public domain!

The Diversity Of Our Earth's Critters

If you have any interest in biology or are just curious about the myriad of diversity in the "animal kingdom," take a visit at Animal Diversity Web.

To quote the summary by Internet Scout:

Online since 1995, the Animal Diversity Web is an online database of animal natural history, distribution, and classification sponsored by a very capable team of scholars at the University of Michigan. From the homepage, visitors can look through thousands of individual species accounts. Each account may include such features as extended descriptions, pictures of each species, and in some cases, recordings of sounds and short movies. One particularly nice feature of the site is that it effectively facilitates inquiry-driven learning through its innovative search tool. One very fun element of the site is the virtual museum which includes a number of representative photographs of various animal species, and several hundred virtual reality movies of skulls. This feature and the many other useful elements of the site provide a very thorough and well-thought out educational resource for students with a penchant for a host of disciplines ranging from biology to zoology.

Give it a gander!

A "Best Of 2004" Educational Site List

Education World continues its annual series of "best of" educational site lists with Education World Best of 2004.

Many fascinating and useful links here. Definitely worth multiple visits!

Celebrating The Not-So-Good

As the year winds down, and before I take a look at a "best of" site tomorrow, I thought I'd squeeze in a site the celebrates one of the manifestations of raspberries in our world. Raspberries? No, not the fruit. These raspberries are the inept, incompetent, and plain dumb movies (and not-so-great acting).

I think they're beginning to collect nominations for Razzies for 2004! Check out Razzies.com

Interested In Exploring?

Try the Exploratorium! Just about any subject area that interests you is represented here. Enjoy!

Relief Agencies For Tsunami Victims

In light of the horrendous loss of life and destruction caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean the day after Christmas, I urge you to click here to access a list of agencies dedicated to offering aid and assistance to those who are suffering.

Signs Of The Times -- Then And Now

Take a tour at the American Sign Museum. All kinds of signs -- neons, painted, you name it. This site has been created to honor and record the "history of the sign industry and its significant contribution to commerce and the American landscape."

Some of those signs do bring back the memories. Swing by if you have a sec.

Crush That Carbon!

Maybe 'cause my birthstone is the diamond, I've always had a little more than passing interest in that precious stone.

What I've never quite understood is how diamonds get formed. I mean I've known that the are formed by carbon that is compressed mightily for a long time, but the details of the process have been a mystery.

The PBS series Nature has a Flash-animated series on diamond formation. Click here for the scoop!

Wind Power

I can still remember the day I was driving in California, came up the crest of a hill, and came upon a clutch of modern windmills all over the mountainside. Since that day I've been intrigued with using the wind to create power, particularly to generate electricity.

Somewhat to my surprise, I've come across an organization whose missions it is to promote the use of wind....."a clean and renewable source of energy..."

Find all the "blow by blow" details at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)!

Fight Hate And Promote Tolerance

That is the principle on which Tolerance.Org sets its sights.

There hardly seems a better sentiment and goal at this time of the year for all of us to strive for. A project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, this is an organization with information and resources for all of us.

There is little doubt that everyone can use regular reminders to "fight hate and promote tolerance" in all of our actions, in all of our lives.

The Incredible Internet Guy (I guess there's another one)

"Ken Leebow has been in the computer business for more than 20 years. He has helped thousands of individuals and businesses understand and utilize the vast resources of the Internet."

I guess Ken has given himself this moniker. I've just come across his website so I'm unsure whether the title is deserved or not. His site is called: Incredible Internet Guy

Each week Ken picks a topic of interest (to him, I assume) and gathers resources that fit the theme. The week I first stopped by it was "digital photography."

In addition to an archive of previous topics, there are resources for teachers.

I'm going to have to make a lot more visits before I can figure out if Ken is indeed incredibly knowledgeable about things Internet, or simply not really very modest.

ECAI

The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI) seems to have some similiarities to the GIS work of ESRI (see my posts from the ESRI convention I attended last summer in San Diego). To quote their home page:

ECAI uses time and space to enhance understanding
and preservation of human culture.

This resource looks like another one well worth detailed exploration.

A Blogger's Code of Ethics

From CyberJournalist.net -- sponsored by the Media Center of the American Press Institute -- comes a blogger's "code of ethics".

Click here to view.

Learning A Foreign Language

Online resources are becoming more and more varied in what they offer. From the BBC, of all places, comes a website devoted to providing lessons in speaking a group of European languages (French, Spanish, German, Italian, and a smattering of Portugese and Greek).

The lessons seems simple enough and effectively presented. Whether or not you really can learning to speak one of those in three months or not, I don't know.

But if you're interested, visit BBC Languages.