http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/aia/

The New York University's Archives of Irish America provides research on the Irish migration experience, as well as on American Irish ethnicity. Some of the links that can be found on the Archive's homepage are "Ireland House Oral History Collection", "Mick Moloney Collection of Irish-American Music & Popular Culture", the current "Exhibits" of the Archives, and what type of "Collections" the Archives contains. Starting with the link to "Collections", visitors can get a taste of how the collections are categorized, such as "Personal Papers", "Organizational Records", and "Oral History". Visitors can also view brief descriptions of each collection in a category by clicking on "Description" across from the name of the collection. By linking to "Exhibits" from the homepage, visitors can watch vignettes about the New York Irish community, and view two quality online exhibits, "The Spin On Ireland: The Irish Music Record Cover Art Since 1950" and "1981 Hunger Strikes: America Reacts". Visitors shouldn't miss clicking the homepage link to the "Ireland House Oral History Collection" to listen to a few of the interviews, conducted by NYU students, with 21 Irish Americans from a range of backgrounds. There are also photos and ephemera that accompany a biography of each person interviewed. [KMG]

http://astronomy2009.us/

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA) is a year long celebration of astronomical and scientific milestones. The U.S. website of the IYA offers a host of information about the learning opportunities, community events, and celebrations planned for the IYA in the U.S. Visitors interested in the IYA outside of the U.S. can click on the link "International Homepage" on the right side of the homepage. The cornerstone of the IYA is the 100 Hours of Astronomy project that is touted on the website as the largest science public outreach program. For numerous links to websites dedicated to the program, visitors should scroll down to the heading "100 Hours is Coming!" Visitors shouldn't miss checking out the "Get Involved" tab at the top of the page to find information about how to participate in the events of IYA. The ways to participate are divided up by who wants to get involved, such as an Astronomy Enthusiast, Amateur Astronomer, Teacher, Homeschooler, Parent or Grandparent, Professor, or Planetarium. Each category has a pdf of a printable flyer that has all the resources and tips on it to make the most of the International Year of Astronomy 2009. [KMG]

http://mapas.uoregon.edu/
Mapas are pictorial manuscripts, and Mesoamerica is a region well-known for creating such important documents. Painter-Scribes painted the daily life of their community, such as "their migrations and original settlement in towns, the genealogies of their leading families, their conquests of neighboring groups, their religious observations, their economic accountings." For visitors interested in viewing a mapa, click on the "Select a Mapa" tab or the "Mapa Directory" tab at the top of the page. Once a mapa is chosen, high-quality scans/photos of the pages of the mapa can be navigated. Some of the mapas do have written language on them, and a translated view can be selected by clicking on "View All Text for this Mapa". Visitors shouldn't miss checking out the "Annotated Image of Folio (IMT)", where you can choose a category of feature to view on the mapa. Simply roll the mouse over a section of the mapa, and a square will appear over chosen feature. By clicking on the square a brief description of the image is provided along with a zoomed image of the item in question. To view another page of the mapa, visitors can roll the mouse over the line up of the pages at the top of the webpage to scroll through them as they see fit. [KMG]

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/pompeii/interactive/interactive.html

The Discovery Channel's website has several interactive features on volcanoes to complement its programs on Pompeii. At the homepage, visitors can explore a virtual volcano, by clicking on "Enter". The virtual volcano has several components. The first is a quickly revolving globe with red triangles and gray lines on it that represent active volcanoes and plate boundaries. Clicking on "Stop Rotation", located next to the globe, will enable a better look. Visitors can also click one of the topics below the globe, to see illustrations of "Tectonic Plates", "Ring of Fire" (no, not the Johnny Cash song), and "Layers Within". Visitors can click on "Build your Own Volcano and Watch it Erupt" on the menu on the left side of the page, where they will be given a brief explanation of two factors that affect the shape and explosiveness of volcanoes: viscosity and gas. Then they must choose, and set, the conditions of their volcano by using the arrows under the viscosity and gas headings, and clicking on "Set Conditions", underneath the arrows. Once done, a description of the type of volcano created will be given, and it's time to "Start Eruption". While the lava flows, and the noise of an eruption sounds, terms describing various features of the volcano are superimposed on the virtual volcano, and can be clicked on for explanations. [KMG]

http://web.princeton.edu/sites/ehs/labguide/index.htm

Created by Princeton University's Environmental Health & Safety division, this extensive lab safety training guide provides basic information for working safely with laboratory chemicals and equipment. The "Introduction" to the site contains information specific to doing such work at Princeton, so visitors should direct their attention over to the left-hand side of the page. Here they will find sections that cover basic procedures regarding the use of flammable liquids, compressed gases, fume hoods, peroxides, and about a dozen other things that one might encounter in such a setting. Along with offering some lists of instructions, each area also has some helpful graphics that will help those just getting started in a lab identify key procedures and commonly-encountered pieces of equipment. [KMG]

http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/23/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=3294

How do plants and animals grow, one might ask? Jorge Picado of the Universidade de Coimbra recently looked into the question of how seashells grow, and has produced this lovely article which is offered as part of the Mathematical Association of America's (MAA) Digital Library collection. As Picado suggests in the abstract for this paper, "Many aspects of the growth of plants and animals may be described by remarkably simple mathematical laws." Utilizing the LiveGraphics3D Java applet, Picado elaborates on how seashells grow, along with offering some commentary on additional examples and a bibliography. The paper is also available here in Portuguese. [KMG]

http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/content/index.php

Many big city school districts have been through difficult straits over the past several decades, and Chicago is no exception. After the passage of the Chicago School Reform Act, the Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) was created in 1990 in order to study school reform efforts across the city. Part of their mission is "to expand communication among researchers, policy makers, and practitioners." Visitors to the site can click their way through sections that include "Press Room", "Research & Publications", and "Data". In the 'Press Room", visitors can learn more about their recent work and also see read up on the various media outlets which have profiled their work. The "Research & Publications" area contains information on their research in progress and links to their finished publications, which include, "The Work of Chicago Public Schools' Principals" and "Changing Schools: A Look at Student Mobility Trends in Chicago Public Schools Since 1995". Lastly, the "Data" area contains contact information for those researchers who might be seeking to utilize the large quantitative data sets collected by the CCSR. [KMG]

http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident

The Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia is "a national meeting place to research, reflect and report on issues of national importance to the governance of the United States, with special attention to the central role and history of the presidency." With that in mind, staff members at the Center have created this excellent site containing in-depth information reviewed by prominent scholars on each president and their administration. For each president, visitors can read a brief overview ("At a Glance") and then look through essays that cover various aspects of their life and leadership strategy. Recently, they have also added a multimedia gallery that allows visitors to browse around various images culled from different sources, such as presidential libraries and different news organizations. Additionally, the right-hand of the site contains links to videocasts of various events held at the Center, such as the National Discussion and Debate Series. [KMG]