Season's greetings one and all! Welcome to Part One of our year-end selection of Weekly Picks, a look at some of the great sites we featured in 1998. As always, we've had fun bringing you these picks. Thanks for the support, for the sites, for pretending to read along week after week, and ... well, just thanks. Come back next week for Part Two--same place, same time, same dumb jokes. Meanwhile, take your pick(s). Drumroll please...

• 6 billion Human Beings - a fascinating look at the world's population, courtesy of the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, France. (Featured June 1)
• a momentary vignette - "an almost daily look at architecture, design, and art." (Featured August 17)
• Dangerous Places - ABC News takes you where you otherwise probably won't be going any time soon. (Featured June 8)
• Robert Pershing Wadlow - the tallest person in history. And quite a nice guy, by the sounds of it. (Featured July 20)
• APB Online - all crime news, all the time. (Featured November 16)
• Buynuclear.com - looking for your very own nuclear power facility? A home away from home? Boy, have we got the place for you! (Featured April 27)
• China's Free Markets - a photographic tour of China's bustling street markets. Looking for some fresh veggies? (Featured July 13)
• An Illinois Soldier - Private Jefferson Moses of Company G, 93rd Illinois Volunteers, kept a diary during the Civil War. You can read it (and much more of his writings) online. (Featured August 24)
• ColorMix - allows Web designers to expand on the 216-color Netscape palette by combining two or even three "Web-safe" hues. (Featured August 17)
• Consumers Digest Online - when you want bang for your buck. (Featured November 23)
• Design for Life - highlights from the vast collection of classy knick-knacks at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in Washington, D.C. (Featured September 7)
• Court TV Famous Cases - in case you didn't get enough the first time around. (Featured February 23)
• CyberAir Airpark Chicago Approach - listen in as the big birds land at O'Hare Airport. (Featured November 16)
• Despair, Inc. - home of Demotivators, "revolutionary tools for pessimists, underachievers and the chronically unsuccessful." (Featured October 26)
• Dumb Laws - in Massachusetts, mourners at a wake may not eat more than three sandwiches. (Featured December 14)
• Evidence: The True Witness - the place to go when you don't have a clue about forensic science. (Featured October 5)
• Frank Lloyd Wright - PBS takes an in-depth look at the preeminent architect of the Twentieth Century. (Featured November 16)
• Harry Shearer - includes a hilarious collection of "Found Objects" snatched from the backroads of the media superhighway. (Featured July 6)
• How Stuff Works - from microwave ovens to pendulum clocks, from smoke detectors to toilets ... how it all works. (Featured September 14)
• Class: insecta - all about the world of creepy six-legged creatures. A beautifully designed site. (Featured July 27)
• The Ventura Files - the inside scoop on Minnesota's newest favorite son, Governor Jesse Ventura. Next stop, Washington! (Featured November 23)
• Wacky Uses - strange and wonderful (and wonderfully strange) things to do with Alka Seltzer, Bounce, Miracle Whip, and other household products. (Featured November 30)
• kissthisguy.com - a hilarious archive of misheard lyrics, browsable by artist or song. Add your own singing snafus, if you've got 'em. (Featured April 20)
• Kite Aerial Photography - is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, silly. It's a ... camera. And it's taking photos of you! (Featured June 15)
• Legendary Lighthouses - they'll keep the light on for ya. (Featured October 12)
• Life in the Fast Lane - with Polly and Esther Fleagleman, two lively gals just looking for some fun. Think you can keep up? (Featured October 19)

Happy holidays! See you next week...

If you know of any timely, informative, or wacky web sites, please drop us a note. Also, feel free to send any general thoughts or comments about Picks.