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Click on
any item in list below to navigate to topic of interest
(or just scroll down)
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Current
Concerns
PC Watch (updates)
Happy Trails
The Universe
Space Exploration
Physics
Technology
Archeology
Cute Cats
Movies (updates)
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Great Speeches
Crime and Punishment
Rock, Paper, Scissors
The Written Word
Art Works
Good Advice
History (updates)
Americana (updates)
Laughter (updates)
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back
to the top
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Current
Concerns
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Polls:
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Gallup
(Gallap.com)
(Polls. Polls. Polls.)
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FOX
News Poll: President Obama's Job Approval
(FoxNews.com)
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Headline
News: |
Today's
Front Pages
(Shows unedited front pages of major
newspapers in the USA and the world, which can be selected on an
interactive map - S. K.
Smith)
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Trends: |
Did
you know?
(YouTube video)
(Shows exponential progression of
information technology. - S. K.
Smith)
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Maps:
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Health
Map - Global Disease Alert Map
(healthmap.org)
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The
Geography of a Recession (multimediafinal)
(Map shows unemployment by county from July 2007
to January 2010.)
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US
Drought Monitor
(drought.unl.edu)
(Map shows current drought..)
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Latest
Earthquakes in the USA - Last 7 days (earthquake.usgs.gov)
(After Haiti disaster, this is a good map to
monitor.)
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Lists: |
The
Top Ten Top Ten Lists (TopTenTopTen.com)
("Love it. Hate it. List it."..)
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back
to the top |
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PC Watch
(That is PC as in
"politically correct." PC is NOT one of my
favorite things, but exposing the insanity is. - S. K. Smith)
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Winning
the Cultural War - speech by Charlton Heston
(americanrhetoric.com)
(I had the privilege to meet Charlton Heston at
a book signing in 2002. He kissed by hand. (sigh!) It
was not a PC event. It was at the NRA convention in Reno,
the last year he was president. - S. K. Smith)
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Bravo
to Brit Hume: Why Faith Is Not a Private Matter
(AmericanThinker.com)
(Brit Hume mentions Christianity and all hell
literally breaks loose. - S. K. Smith)
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* updates * |
What on earth
is happening to Great Britain?
(I'm afraid America is not far behind her.)
Businessman
is arrested in front of wife and son... for
‘anti-gipsy’email that he didn’t even write (DailyMail.co.uk)
(Saying "likey" in an email can send you
jail.)
Myleene
Klass warned by police after waving 'illegal' kitchen knife at
intruders in her garden (DailyMail.co.uk)
(Bullies and criminals prey on the weak and helpless
and it is the brilliance of government that ensure all are weak
and helpless.)
Some good news from Great
Britain:
New: A
British Tea Party: History Inverts Itself
(theatlantic.com)
(Protesting debt and high taxes? It
started in Boston in 1773, the Tea Party movement in
America revived in 2009, now it crossed the Atlantic back to
Britain in 2010)
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to the top |
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Happy
Trails
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Current
gas prices
(As of March
3, 2010, prices most
places $2.69 per gallon. Up a
penny. - S. K.
Smith)
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Meet
me in the Middle (www.meetways.com)
( allows users to find a point of interest
between two addresses)
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How's
the weather? (weather.com)
(We all talk about it, but can't do a thing about it.. S. K. Smith)
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Universal
Packing List (upl.codeq.info)
( Generate a custom packing list for any
journey!)
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back
to the top |
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The Universe
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Astronomy:
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Astronomy
Picture of the Day
(www.nasa.gov)
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Astronomy
Cast (astronomycast.com)
(" ...the most popular
astronomy-related podcast.)
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Project
Galileo
(projectgalileo.org.uk)
("Home
of an online telescope for schools across the UK")
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Hubble
Ultra Deep Field 3D (flixxy.com)
("What
happens when you point the Hubble Space Telescope to a seemingly
blank patch of sky? A view that takes you to the edge of the
universe! ")
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Better
Living Through Astronomy (DeepAstronomy.com)
("Everyone loves astronomy.
Everyone.")
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Universe: |
The
Known Universe by AMNH (youtube.com)
("The
Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our
atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big
Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible
...")
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News:
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BBC
Sky at Night Magazine (podcast)
(Monthly podcast gives
you the latest news, interviews and features on astronomy and
space.)
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Maps:
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Google
Sky (google.com)
(Good heavens! Google the heavens. - S. K. Smith)
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back to the top
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Space Exploration
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History:
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Amazing
Zoomable Poster of 50 Years of Space Exploration (spacefellowship.com)
("National Geographic has put together a really nice zoomable
poster on the history of robotic space exploration.")
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Moon Walk: |
Lunar
Landing (www.foxnews.com)
(An interactive retrospective - 40 years after the space race.)
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Time
to Be Great, Again (www.homerhickam.com)
(Remember the movie October Sky about Homer Hickam and the
Rocket Boys? Homer Hickam's WSJ article was written on the
30th anniversary of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon. S. K.
Smith)
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Satellites: |
Satellite
Flybys (spaceweather.com/flybys)
(You can find out what is going to fly over your area in the
nights ahead..)
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NASA
- Eyes On the Earth (www.nasa.gov)
(Check out a very cool
interactive depiction of NASA's Earth science missions)
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ESA
Space Science (esa.int)
(Latest European Space Agency news and cool pictures. - S. K. Smith)
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The
Remote Sensing Tutorial (rst.gsfc.nasa.gov
("In memory of the Challenger astronauts.". - S. K. Smith)
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Space
station:
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International
Space Station (ISS) stuff
International
Space Station
(www.nasa.gov)
(Check out a very cool
interactive depiction of the ISS.)
International
Space Station comes together (USATODAY.com)
(Shows timeline as all the pieces fit together. S. K. Smith)
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Physics
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Semiconductors:
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Britney
Spears' Guide to Semiconductor Physics (britneyspears.ac/lasers.htm)
(Wow! Who knew Britney Spears had a secret life
as a physicist! ;) - S. K. Smith)
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CERN:
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Large
Hadron Rap (YouTube video)
** Rappin' about CERN's Large
Hadron Collider! **
Did
a Time-Traveling Bird Sabotage the Collider?
(time.com) (That's
one explanation for the series of setbacks. - S. K. Smith)
"Big
Bang" Machine Sets Power Record
(FoxNews.com)
(Over a trillion electron volts - that's a lot of juice. - S.K.
Smith)
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Einstein:
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Gravity
Probe B: Testing Einstein's Universe (einstein.stanford.edu)
(I actually worked a short time on this
project before budget cuts forced me to leave - S. K. Smith)
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Math: |
Power
of Ten (PowerPoint slideshow)
(We really are the center of the Universe
;0) - S. K. Smith)
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back to the top
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Technology
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How
Products are Made (madehow.com)
("How Products Are Made explains and
details the manufacturing process of a wide variety of
products...")
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Long-Dead
Inventor Nikola Tesla Is Electrifying Hip Techies
(online.wsj.com)
("Decades after he died penniless, Nikola
Tesla is elbowing aside his old adversary Thomas Edison in the
pantheon of geek gods.")
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* NEW *
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Cool
Websites, Software, and Internet Tips (makeuseof.com)
(We have all this cool technology. Now
what?)
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back to the top
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Archeology
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Latest
Trends: |
Geocaching
(www.geocaching.com)
(These high tech treasure hunts are all the rage
these days. Here's the official site. - S.K.Smith)
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Stonehenge:
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Dig
pinpoints Stonehenge origins (BBC News)
(Stonehenge may have been an ancient healing
center as well as a calendar to mark the solstices.)
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Dig
pinpoints Stonehenge origins (BBC News)
(Stonehenge may have been an ancient healing
center as well as a calendar to mark the solstices.)
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Myths:
|
Lost
city of Atlantis found on Google Earth? (www.crunchgear.com)
(UK tabloid The
Sun has an article claiming that someone
found Atlantis using Google Earth.)
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Time
Travel:
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Ancient
Rome lives again on Google Earth (technology.timesonline.co.uk)
(The glory that was Rome is to rise again.
Visitors will once more be able to visit the Colosseum and the Forum
of Rome as they were in 320 AD, this time on a computer screen in
3D.)
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Bible: |
Noah's Ark
Noah's
Ark found? (YouTube.com)
(Yeah. Yeah. They have been saying
that for years. - S. K. Smith)
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back to the top
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Cute Cats
(As you can see, I like cats
... - S. K. Smith)
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The
Mean Kitty Song
(YouTube video)
(Story of Sparta - the "mean
kitty" - S. K. Smith)
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Engineers and Cats!
- An
Engineer's Guide to Cats (YouTube video)
(Engineers, like cats, can be so cute -
S. K. Smith)
- An
Engineer's Guide to Cat Yodeling (with Cat Polka)
(YouTube video)
(Part Two - S. K. Smith)
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Cat
Wranglers
(YouTube video)
(It's a repost of an EDS ad, but a favorite.
- S. K. Smith)
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(oldie - but I really love this one. - S. K. Smith)
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lisaviolet's
cathouse ... the best little cat house in cyberspace (lisaviolet.com)
(This person REALLY loves cats. - S. K. Smith)
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back to the top
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Movies
(and televison, DVD, YouTube
...)
(What strikes
me as unique, unusual, different ... - S. K. Smith)
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Lord of the Rings Fans: |
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The
Hunt for Gollum
(www.thehuntforgollum.com)
(An independent film, which can be viewed
online. This fills in a scene from "The Lord of the
Rings" with some pretty good look alikes. Was tipped off
from twitter by the tolkienlibrary, www.tolkienlibrary.com
- S. K. Smith)
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* NEW *
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Born
of Hope
(www.bornofhope.com)
(Another independent film, which can be viewed
online. This is a prequel from "The Lord of the
Rings."
"A scattered people, the
descendents of storied sea kings of the ancient West, struggle to
survive in a lonely wilderness as a dark force relentlessly bends
its will toward their destruction. Yet amidst these valiant,
desperate people, hope remains. A royal house endures unbroken from
father to son."
Read more: Lord
Of The Rings prequel made by a fanatic using her £25,000 life
savings scores 500,000 views on the internet)
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Misc: |
The Oracle
of Bacon
(oracleofbacon.org)
("...the most comprehensive version of the
Kevin Bacon game on the web." It's been around a while,
but it's fun. S. K. Smith)
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Be
a Movie Producer
(buyacredit.com)
(If you have the pounds or dollars, you, too, can be a movie producer! S.
K. Smith ;) )
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* NEW *
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Almost
Everything on TV is filmed with green screen (mikelgan.posterous.com)
("Even the most mundane scenes these days are filmed with the
magic of green screen technology." S.
K. Smith ;) )
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back to the top
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Great Speeches
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Patton
Speech (YouTube video)
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The
Gettysburg Address
(audio)
(YouTube
video)
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Sir Winston
Churchill
- Finest Hour
(YouTube video)
- We
Shall Fight Them on the Beaches ( YouTube video)
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Band of Brothers
- Henry
V - Band of Brothers (YouTube video)
(Shakespeare coined the phrase "Band of Brothers" in
the St. Crispen Day speech of Henry V. - S. K. Smith)
- Band
of Brothers - Why We fight ( YouTube video)
(The 2001 mini-series, produced by
Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks, "Band
of Brothers" was based on the Stephen Ambrose book, which
gets its title from Shakespeare's Henry V. This video clip has
no verbal speeches, but the images show Easy Company's first
encounter with a Concentration Camp inside Germany. The
images speak volumes. - S. K. Smith)
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"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down
this wall!"
(20th Anniversary of the Fall of the
Berlin Wall - November 9, 2009)
- Reagan
at Brandenburg Gate (YouTube video)
("Reagan at Brandenburg Gate in
West Berlin, Germany. June 12, 1987.")
- The
Fall of the Berlin Wall (
FoxNews.com)
("On
Nov. 9, 1989, the communist East German government announced that
all citizens would be permitted to visit West Berlin and West
Germany, officially ending half a century of militarily enforced
division." Most is a slideshow with the text of Reagan's
speech. - S. K. Smith)
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back to the top
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Crime and
Punishment
(Crime is
definitely not one of my favorite things, but some of the cases
are fascinating - S. K. Smith)
|
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Zodiac Killer - (more
than one claim to be the one?)
|
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Zodiac
Killer's Identity And Weapon Uncovered?
(cbs13.com) (The Zodiac Killer case launched Clint
Eastwood's character "Dirty Harry." - S. K. Smith)
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California
Woman: My Father Was the Zodiac Killer
(FoxNews.com) (A
California woman stepped forward to say that her late father was
the notorious Zodiac killer and she as a little girl wrote and
stamped some of the letters he sent to taunt police.)
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Jack
the Ripper revealed at last (www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk)
(Jack the Ripper has fascinated
people for 120 years. "Jack the Ripper" even made an
appearance on the original "Star Trek" - S. K. Smith)
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back to the top
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Rock, Paper,
Scissors
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Paper: |
Print
your own ruled paper
|
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Free
Disney Coloring Pages (disneycoloring.net)
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Fonts: |
The
Top 100 Best Fonts of All Time
(justcreativedesign.com)
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18
Creative Examples of Typography in Motion (www.webdesignerdepot.com)
(The use of typography in video allows us
to reclaim the lost art of arranging typefaces in a way that would
make an 18th century typesetter’s head spin.)
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Typography
(vimeo.com)
("Typography Animation project for
class Poem by Taylor Mali (www.TaylorMali.com)")
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back to the top
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The Written Word
|
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Books:
|
Google
Books (books.google.com)
(Complete works or previews of fiction, non-fiction books &
magazines online.)
|
|
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Banned
and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100
Novels of the 20th Century (www.ala.org)
(Lord of the Rings in a book burning? Say it
is not so. S. K. Smith)
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100
Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900 (www.npr.com)
(From Book magazine,
March/April 2002)
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Times
Critics 100 best novels from 1923 to the present (www.times.com)
|
Magazines:
|
online
magazine rack (alltop.com)
"Alltop is an “online
magazine rack” of popular topics. We update the stories every
hour."
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Quotes: |
Quotable Quotes:
Cute
Quotes (cute-quote.com)
("...a delectable assortment of quotes from
the Anonymous to the Famous, from the Inspired to the
Insipid, and from the sub-human to the sublime.")
The
Quote Garden (quotegarden.com)
(Quotes for every occasion and season.)
100
Movie quotes (flixxy.com)
(Picks from American Film Institute Top 100 Movies. Video
clip takes about 10 minutes.)
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Translation:
|
Google
Translator (translate.google.com)
("Hablan
Inglés?")
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back to the top
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Art
Works
|
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Entrepreneurs:
|
Heather
Heininger: Graphic Designer & Photographer
(heininger-graphics.weebly.com)
("Art has always played an important role in
Heather's life. It was shaped her into what she is today: an artist
on the computer and upon canvas, mat board, and paper.")
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ART
LTD (artltd-hja.com)
("Jim Arnieri is a multi-talented man with a
keen eye for the unusual as you will see in his photographs.")
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Sculpture
by Arye Shapiro (figure-sculpture.com/)
(His sculpture of Job
is very moving. - S. K. Smith)
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Photos:
|
In
Revolutionary Color (newsweek.com)
("Russian photos taken 100 years
ago look as if they were taken yesterday.")
|
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Paintings:
|
Vincent
van Gogh Paintings - High Quality (sminsider.com)
(The Best Visual illusion of the
Year Contest is a celebration of the ingenuity and creativity of the
world’s premier visual illusion research community.)
|
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Drawings: |
Doodling
Increases Focus and Recall (lifehacker.com )
(It turns out that your daydreaming doodles of
infinite awesomeness not only help with long meetings, but can also
help you remember what goes on during the meeting)
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Illusions: |
Grand
Illusions
(grand-illusions.com )
("...the site for the enquiring mind.")
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back to the top
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Good Advice
|
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Classic: |
Rudyard Kipling
- IF
(YouTube video)
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Leaders:
|
Two
Things Great Leaders Must Do in Turbulent Times
(michaelhyatt.com)
("So is the glass half empty or half full? The
truth is, both.")
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Noticer:
|
Wisdom from "The Noticer"
The
Noticer (michaelhyatt.com)
(Book Review of "The Noticer" by Andy
Andrews. Good advice, here.)
Why
You Aren't Dead Yet
(michaelhyatt.com)
(You have a purpose and the best is yet to come.)
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Pep talks:
|
Up
Time America by Kimberly Alyn (YouTube.com)
("It's
Up Time America!")
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Geeks:
|
AllExperts
Questions and Answers (allexperts.com_
("More than 1 million questions
answered! Allexperts.com is the oldest & largest free Q&A
service on the Internet.")
|
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wiseGeek
(wisegeek.com)
("Clear answers for common questions.")
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back to the top
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Americana
|
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Land:
|
America's
Treasures - Our national parks (mybeautifulamerica.com)
(Great slide show of our parks and a chance to show appreciation to
our military. - S. K. Smith)
|
|
Demographics: |
Immigration
Explorer (www.nytimes.com)
(Select a foreign-born group to see how they
settled across the United States)
|
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Songs: |
BATTLE
HYMN OF THE US REPUBLIC (YouTube.com)
(I love this version of the Battle Hymn of the
Republic, set to the images of classic movie scenes - S.K. Smith..)
|
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* NEW * |
Kate
Smith introduces God Bless America (YouTube.com)
(This song is featured in the 1943 movie - "This
Is the Army." Toward the end of the clip you will
briefly see actor and future president, Ronald Reagan.) - S.K. Smith..)
|
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Pledge:
|
Red
and the Pledge (YouTube.com)
(Red Skelton dissects the Pledge
of Allegiance - S.K. Smith..)
|
|
Facts:
|
Animaniacs
are educational
Wakko's
50 State Capitols (YouTube.com)
Presidents (YouTube.com)
(from Washington to Clinton - S. K. Smith)
|
|
|
Our
Presidents (whitehouse.gov)
(Not as fun as the Animanics -
but it is right from the Whitehouse's official site. - S. K. Smith)
|
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The Preamble of the US
Constitution
Schoolhouse
Rock (YouTube.com)
Captain
Kirk (YouTube.com)
|
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Independence
Day Quiz (games.toast.net)
(These questions used to be on a citizenship
test. I took it and missed 2 questions. - S. K. Smith)
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back to the top
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History:
|
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* NEW *
General History:
|
History
Channel (history.com
(What's on TV, Today in history, etc.)
|
|
|
We
Didn't Start The Fire (yeli.us/Flash/Fire.html)
(Billy Joel covers 50 years of history in 3 minutes.)
|
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U.S. Presidents:
|
George Washington:
Rediscovering
George Washington (pbs.org)
("George Washington lived
sixty-seven years, from 1732 to 1799. During his last twenty-four
years—more than a third of his life—he was the foremost man in
America, the man on whom the fate of his country depended more than
on any other man.")
President
George Washington - The Greatest Man in the World
(youtube.com)
("Narration on the life of
George Washington by David McCullough.")
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* NEW *
|
World War One:
In
Flanders Fields - Lest We Forget
(youtube.com)
("A tribute of music and images
set to the words of the poem - In Flanders Fields.".)
Over
There: Remembering WWI (youtube.com)
("Vintage Antique Classics"
presents "Over There" patriotic music by George M. Cohan,
sung by early 20th century Pop sensation Bill Murray.)
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* NEW *
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World War Two:
The
Audie Murphy Story (oldbluejacket.com)
("An American Hero.")
The
Auschwitz Album (www1.yadvashem.org)
("The Auschwitz Album is the only
surviving visual evidence of the process of mass murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau.")
Iwo
Jima (picasaweb.google.com)
(The Battle of Iwo Jima happened from February 19 – March 26,
1945, of which we get the iconic picture of the marines raising
the flag.)
Japanese
Sign Final Surrender
(youtube.com)
("End
of World War Two")
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* NEW *
|
September 11, 2001:
One
Tuesday in September... (smithsk.blogspot.com)
("My recollection of September
11,2001 - S. K. Smith.")
The
Rest of the Story - America's Heart
(youtube.com)
(Paul Harvey's tribute to a Russian
immigrant. An art professor and well known entertainer
commissioned the America's
Heart for the first anniversay of 9-11. Who was
this? Hear the rest of the story ... S. K. Smith.)
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Laughter
|
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|
Knock
Knock Jokes (knock-knock-joke.com)
("Here are 100 pages in an ongoing
collection of some of the dumbest, funniest, silliest,
wackiest, stupidest, and most annoying knock-knock jokes ever
told. ")
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Aha! Jokes: Clean Humor and Funny Pictures!
(AhaJokes.com)
( I'm
terrible at telling jokes - but this helps: "Thousands of
clean jokes, funny pictures, cartoons, funny audio, funny videos,
and more." )
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* NEW * |
Argument
to Beethoven's 5th (youtube.com)
( "This
classic sketch is "Argument to Beethoven's 5th," Sid
Caesar and Nanette Fabray play a married couple in a argument with
pantomimed action and the dialogue is classic music. Enjoy!"
)
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back to the top
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----------------------------------
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