Here's a team of street-smart writers and editors who are tuned in to Internet issues and trends. This New York-based parody site understands the convergence of timely and funny. It first captured our attention with "Harry Potter and the Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," a piece which argues convincingly that J.K. Rowling's young wizard and Dave McSweeney's Eggers were separated at birth. Another favorite: Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Pirated MP3s. Also, don't miss the Harper's Index Index, a meme-like birthday homage to the estimable magazine's oft-cited column.
While film has been around for over a hundred years, video made its first appearance in the mid-sixties. As a new generation of digital filmmakers opts for camcorders over Bolexes, The Early Video Project takes a look back at the pioneers of video art. This impressive selection of source material includes lists of early publications, analyses of important works, descriptions of key exhibitions, and biographies of the artists. As the site's founder suggests, "the tapes that the proto-video artists of the late sixties and early seventies produced threw a privileged light on both the countercultural and artistic world of that time."
This compendium of "news, information & expertise on the divide in income, wealth & health" lets the facts speak for themselves. Created by journalists, writers, and researchers, inequality.org is a non-profit organization that questions conventional measures of progress and prosperity, and looks instead at the new economy's have-nots often ignored by mainstream media coverage. From the quotes and "quick stats" on the front page, we learned that the average U.S. CEO makes more in a day than the typical American worker makes in a year, and 34% of Silicon Valley homeless people have jobs.
Center for Columbia River History
The mighty Columbia flows through the Pacific Northwest for over 1,200 miles. The lifeline of a huge ecosystem covering territories in seven states, the Columbia is also the most hydroelectrically developed river on the planet. The Center for Columbia River History in Washington state presents a detailed look at a river that has supported human life for over 10,000 years. You'll find detailed background information, oral histories, and some alarming environmental statistics.
UCSD's Mandeville Special Collections Library presents a gallery of political cartoons created by children's author, illustrator, and lifelong cartoonist Theodor Seuss Geisel. During the war years of 1941-1943, Seuss served as editorial cartoonist for the New York newspaper PM, and his patriotic "war bond" cartoons appeared in many other newspapers as well. Hundreds of high-quality scanned images from the original clippings can be viewed and printed easily. Although the subject matter here is hardly light-hearted, and some of the wartime ethnic stereotyping may be a bit disconcerting, you're sure to spot some familiar-looking felines and other remarkably Seussian creatures in unfamiliar settings.
Prepare for a dazzling, in-your-face collection of cartoon animation, TV-show spoof episodes, and pop-culture parodies. We watched several outrageous installments of Behind the Music that Sucks, experienced the sights and sounds of the Louisiana bayous in the "Swamp Love" episode of The Jimmy Show, and cringed at the psycho-bunnies in a mock Pokémon game. (Warning: You'll need Apple's free QuickTime digital media player and Macromedia's free Shockwave player installed on your computer to view this attitude-heavy, recommended-for-mature-audiences video extravaganza.)
While this 3D skeleton site may provide valuable anatomical information to medical students and zoologists, we think it's just plain cool. Besides offering a complete human skeleton (that rotates!), the eSKeletons Project lets you investigate the difference between human and baboon skeletons. Are they really that much different? Well, yes. Notice how the seventh cervical vertebra in humans is much wider and porous than in baboons. Then notice how quickly you can spin the little guy 360 degrees with a few clicks of your mouse. Online anatomy rocks.
Things That Have Been Sold in Vending Machines
You won't find any fancy-pants graphics or dazzling Shockwave cartoons here. Just a plain, text-only list of various commercial items that have been delivered through automated means: model submarines, hunting permits, flower arrangements, leeches. A few relevant facts: In 1989, one could purchase blue jeans through a vending machine in a Paris train station. The short-lived Spanish Telepizza machine shouted "Hey, want a pizza?" in over 10 languages. Fry-on-the-spot french fry machines have been around for 25 years. Beer vending machines are popular in German gas stations.
