General Interest
The Weider History Group publishes a wide range of military history magazines, including "America's Civil War" and "Civil War Times". They've also been generous enough to create this website, which offers a wide range of articles from their different publications. First-time visitors to the homepage may want to start out by taking a shot at the "Daily Quiz", which offers up a range of questions on everything from steamship battles to military operations in the South Pacific. Next, visitors may wish to click on over to the "Features" area, which includes articles culled from the magazines on Marine POW's, the Battle of New Orleans, as well as noted gunfighter Ben Thompson and his brother Billy. Moving on, visitors can also take part in the online forums where they can ask questions about battle tactics, the history of ground warfare, and the USS Ironsides. [KMG]
http://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/everest_expedition.html
Astronaut Scott Parazynski has spent a great deal of time in space, but is most recent expedition took him to Mount Everest, and NASA helped him document the experience for posterity. Parazynski set forth for Nepal in March 2008, and during his journey he learned a great deal about the parallels of mountain climbing and space exploration. Along the right-hand side of the page, visitors will find a biography, along with information about Parazynski's previous space missions and a detailed interview. Further down the page, visitors will find a map of his route to the summit and images from his trip. Additionally, visitors can read the weblog from the trip and also listen to a podcast. [KMG]
http://www.nps.gov/features/joda/
Millions of years ago, central Oregon was a hotbed of volcanic activity. Curious geologists and others can learn about the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument on this most excellent Flash-enabled online tour. After "flying" in overhead to the site, visitors can learn about the 40 million year history of the site that would later become the John Day Fossil Beds. The next area of the site is titled "The Present Unlocks the Past" and it includes an exploration of the evolution of the horse in prehistoric Oregon, along with offering access into the daily life of a working paleontologist. In the interactive feature "Whose skull is whose?", visitors will get the change to compare the skulls of ancient animals with those of their modern analogs. After that, visitors can get a better sense of the current state of affairs in the fossil beds by looking over a thirteen-image slideshow of this gorgeous section of Oregon. [KMG]
http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/foodprices/
As concerns grow over the emerging food crisis across the globe, the World Bank has decided to create this page to inform the general public about their coordinated efforts to combat this growing problem. In brief, the World Bank's "New Deal" on global food policy includes creating safety nets such as school feeding, food for work, and conditional cash transfers. Additional elements of this policy include doubling agricultural lending to Africa over the coming year and also providing immediate aid to the country of Haiti to feed poor children and other vulnerable groups. First-time visitors should look first at the "Understanding the Crisis" section which provides brief synopses of the situation in different parts of the world, including Africa and Asia. On the right-hand side of the page, visitors can look through the "Behind the News" updates and even donate online to the World Food Program. Finally, the site also contains a calendar of events and links to papers from the World Bank on related topics. [KMG]
http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov/wdinNewsDigestMap.jsp
How does one populate an interactive map of wildlife disease? Well, the good people at the Wildlife Disease Information Node (WDIN) have done just that by combing through RSS alerts, science sites and weblogs in order to create this fascinating and tremendously useful resource for population biologists and others who might be interested in such matters. On the map, visitors can toggle map filters that include "Wildfire", "Human/Wildlife", "Domestic/Wildlife", and "Disease Type". Visitors can also elect to zoom in and out across the map in order to look for items of interest. Moving on, the site also has a "Browse Map Articles" section that allows visitors to scan through the full text of recent items added to the map. Finally, visitors can also elect to view the map as a satellite image, or they can also view the map as a hybrid if they wish. [KMG]
Some of our readers may wonder, "What exactly is industrial design?" Fortunately The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is well-positioned to provide such an answer. On their site, they define Industrial design (ID) as "the professional service of creating and developing concepts and specifications that optimize the function, value and appearance of products and systems for the mutual benefit of both user and manufacturer." On their site, current and future industrial designers can learn about the field, read about design news, and even sign up to become a member of the IDSA. New visitors may wish to start by perusing the "Features" on the right-hand side of the page. Recent features offered here have included a primer of getting a design job, creating "designs for humanity", and spotlight interviews of prominent designers. Also, "The Buzz" section in the "Design News" area is a great way to stay on top of the latest trends and developments in the field of industrial design. [KMG]
http://www.indexoncensorship.org/
Based in London, the Index on Censorship is committed to logging free expression abuses in scores of countries, reporting on censorship issues from all over the world, and adding to the debates on those issues. On the top of their homepage, visitors will see several sections, including "About", "Magazine", "Events", and "Projects". Further down on the site, visitors can read the latest news from the world of censorship, including reports on restrictions placed on journalists and different legal battles intended to secure the rights of journalists across the globe. Visitors are also welcome to browse through their archives, which date back to October 2005. The site also includes a number of RSS feeds and tags. [KMG]
http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/UFDC/UFDC.aspx?c=juv
The Baldwin Library Digital Collection at the University of Florida includes over 2500 fully digitized children's books, published in the United States and Great Britain between 1850 and 1900 (selected from more than more than 100,000 in the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature, dating from the mid-1600s through 2007). Although baby-boomers may be disappointed in not finding their childhood favorites, it is nonetheless amazing to page through an illustrated edition of Little Red Riding Hood, published in 1895 by Raphael Tuck & Sons. Browsing through the list of recently added items also reveals the digital version of "Bill an' me": sum ov our adventers in de "Midway Plaisance", a souvenir book documenting two boys' adventures at the World's Columbian Exposition, the World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893. Books in the collection reflect the mores of the times in which they were published; for example, although the protagonists seem on the youthful side to 21st century eyes, Bill an me's adventures include the drinking of alcoholic beverages. [DS]
