General Interest
Originally broadcast from July 2003 to September 2003, this rather engaging radio program explored the origins and development of America's popular music tradition in the first five decades of the 20th century. Hosted by NPR's Paul Brown, this website is designed to complement this fine series, and allow the musically curious visitor to listen to each of the eleven segments in the series. The segments include a number of fine historic performances (by such seminal musicians as Jimmie Rodgers and Kitty Wells), rare archive tape, and interviews with contemporary musicians, including Honeyboy Edwards, Taj Mahal, Alison Krauss, and Merle Haggard. From the site's main page, visitors can also elect to receive email updates about the program and find out exactly what a honky-tonk is. The site is rounded out by a special web-only program on the legendary Carter Family and their legacy in country music. [KMG]
Courtesy of the Science Museum of Minnesota, middle-schoolers can take a virtual trip to an archaeological dig in central Turkey, southeast of the modern city of Konya. In 1998, archaeologists excavated a Neolithic settlement, that 9,000 years ago, was one of the world's major cities with a population of about 10,000 people. Çatalhöyük is of interest to archaeologists since it was settled at a time when people were beginning to abandon hunter-gatherer lifestyles in favor of communities and agriculture. Presented in a comic book style, the website features information about the processes of an archaeological dig, artifacts found at the dig, loads of activities for kids -- make a neolithic dinner, paint a mural, play a ball game -- as well as virtual tours of both the excavation and a subsequent exhibition at the Science Museum of Minnesota that opened in 2001. There is also a glossary, timeline, maps and links to additional resources. [DS]
http://www.balloonmolecules.com/
Designed by a trio of scientists working in Germany (Marcus Rehbein, Asif Karim, and Rolf Eckhardt), this fun and educational website is designed to facilitate the use of balloons in scientific education. More specifically, the site offers detailed instruction on how to create a variety of molecule models out of balloons, such as the octahedron, the diamond, the graphite lattice, and the Buckminster Fullerene. The site begins with a brief introduction to the art of balloon manipulation, then continues on to offer detailed visual and written explanations of how to create the knots that allow for the creation of some of the more complex balloon models. The site also contains a nice FAQ section, which answers some basic questions about the technique of creating balloon molecules. Finally, there is an online forum where visitors may submit queries and read the suggestions and comments of other visitors. [KMG]
Produced by CondeNet, this rather prodigious collection of culinary delights contains an archive of over 16,000 recipes. The database may be searched through the use of keywords, or through a number of more elaborate specifications, such as looking for recipes that are kid-friendly, low-fat, or meatless. Visitors can create their own customized online recipe box, view a list of the most popular recipes (as noted by visitors to the site), and look through a list of the newest recipes added to the site. Some of the more compelling new additions include recipes for banana gratins, almond spice cookies, apricot chutney, brandied baked pears, and broccoli and parsnip soup. Perhaps one of the most helpful parts of the site is a collection of technique videos provided for the novice cook. Here visitors can view demonstration videos of such important culinary skills as how to poach eggs properly, how to baste a turkey, and how to boil a lobster. Overall, this site is a good resource for both experienced and beginning cooks looking for both new and traditional recipes. [KMG]
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/911/
The events of September 11, 2001 are still very fresh in the minds of many persons across the United States and much of the world. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Library of Congress has designed this online exhibition (in conjunction with an in situ exhibition in Washington, D.C.) for the general public to peruse some of the many items related to the events of that day. Included are various visual ephemera, such as posters, billboards, and drawings by young people. The site also contains a number of audio interviews from such people as a police officer at the Pentagon and a member of New York's Police Department. Some of the more interesting items have been culled from the Library of Congress's overseas acquisitions offices in Rio de Janeiro, Cairo, Nairobi, and Jakarta, and include posters depicting Osama Bin Laden and other related topics. [KMG]
http://www.orau.org/ptp/museumdirectory.htm
This particular online collection from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (a university consortium that oversees the Oak Ridge National Laboratory) contains over 1000 objects, many of which are on view at this site. The Health Physics Historical Instrumentation Museum Collection has been deemed the official repository for historical radiological instruments by the Health Physics Society, and at its essence, "chronicles the scientific and commercial history of radioactivity and radiation." This online collection is divided into sections that include atomic movie posters, radiation warning signs, radioluminescent items, ionization chambers, and electrometers. One of the more engaging sections details a number of items designed as radioactive quack cures, such as jars for adding radon to water, emanators for adding radon to water, and radium tablets and bath salts. [KMG]
Born on Christmas Day, 1899, Humphrey Bogart would become one of Hollywood's most legendary stars, with a career that spanned three decades, and included a number of memorable roles. Designed by his estate, this site will be one that Bogie fans will treasure, as it includes an extended biographical essay and a list of some memorable quotes by (and about) this legend of the silver screen. The site also includes three thematically organized photo galleries, such as one devoted to pictures of Bogart with Lauren Bacall and another that features photos of him throughout his life (including a sketch of him as a baby done by his mother). The Community section features downloadable screensavers, computer wallpaper, a listing of other Bogie tribute sites, and multimedia clips of the late actor in a few of his most acclaimed roles, such as Charlie Allnut in The African Queen and Fred C. Dobbs, the gold-crazed down-and-outer in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. [KMG]
