Welcome to this week's selection of Picks, which we like to think of as a cross between The History of Contraception and Cliff's Notes for the Pulitzer Prize. By that we mean that the feature is, as usual, a.) 90-95% efficient, b.) no good for cheating on tests, and c.) destined to go down in history as a literary masterwork. Well, alright, two out of three ain't bad. Onward...
Sometimes you can surf without ever actually going online. True. All you need is a good groundswell, offshore winds, your favorite board, and--well, and a handful of important things we can't recall right now. For more on this "other" sport, see the International Surfing Museum. The site offers a glimpse at a "collection of some of the most significant artifacts in the history of surfing" available at the actual museum, in Huntington Beach, California. Among other things, you can read about legends such as Corky Carroll, take a trip through the current exhibit, or cruise the collection (which includes the camera used to film Endless Summer). Of course, you can also get the lowdown on Duke Kahanamoku, which--needless to say--is a good thing. Right? Right. Hang ten.
When Meredith Bagby does a senior project, she really does a senior project. Witness the Annual Report of the United States of America. It's the third book that she's produced about the government, your tax dollars, and the general "state of the union." You see, the first Annual Report, which Meredith self-published for $2,500, caught the eye of H. Ross Perot, and then publisher HarperCollins, and the rest is history. Now, three years later, Bagby is back with a bookful of facts, figures, and (our favorite) graphs. There's even a cool chopped-up dollar bill that shows you how your taxes are spent. If you're a compulsive bean counter, this site is for you.
Some people would say that the current federal deficit is the biggest crisis ever faced by the United States. Others would argue that the distinction belongs to the whole "New Coke" debacle. At Picks, we're putting our money on the Civil War. It was a bloody, painful conflict that very nearly tore this country apart. On the upside: the new media of the time, photography, got its first real test, and passed with flying colors. (Okay, flying sepia tones.) Much of the work of that period gracefully withstood the test of time and is available online at Selected Civil War Photographs, another cool collection from the Library of Congress.
Of course, there are times when you should probably avoid talking about "brother versus brother." Case in point: when you're giving a toast at a wedding. Instead, you'd be much better off taking a cue from The Wedding Toast Registry. Read and/or post as many wedding toasts as your love-addled heart can stomach (or your toast-addled stomach can bear). There are all manner of toasts, from the traditional (yet befuddling), "Chin, chin!" to the biblical, "I wish you both the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon, and the children of Israel" to the just-plain-weird, "May all your pleasures become habits, and all your habits become legal." We recommend the standard Picks of the Week toast: "May all your DNS errors be temporary!"
If you're still looking for a wedding quote (or quote of any kind, for that matter), you may want to consider the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. You'll be pleased to know that this First Hypertext Edition of the popular Dictionary is taken from Dr. E Cobham Brewer's "substantially revised and extended edition of 1894" and made available online by the folks at Bibliomania, the Network Library. It's a great browsable resource, chock full of, of--phrases and fables, but you'll need to decide for yourself if it makes for good wedding quotes. "What we Gave we Have, What we Spent we Had, What we Had we Lost" and "Many a Mickle makes a Muckle" may not be the most appropriate lines, given the occasion. The choice is yours.
Finally, continuing our long-standing tradition of pointing out the pointless, we introduce the simply (yet aptly) titled Useless Information. Of course, we realize that the word "useless" is highly subjective, and this nice site proves the point. For example, you can learn about David Rice Atchison (the real twelfth President of the United States), read the amazing tale of the Michael Malloy Murder Trust, understand the real value of Vaseline, and find out why chickens wear contact lenses, among other things. Useless? Useful? Up to you: take your pick(s).
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