Welcome to the 166th issue of the Cool Tricks and Trinkets Newsletter offering weekly insights into new, cool, useful, fun, unusual and interesting sites on the Internet. 

In this issue:

- The Renegade Gardener
- Electric Money
- Public Record Search
- Short Takes
- Flip Flop Flyin
- The World in Her Hands
- The Nobel Museum
- Design Portfolio
- The Beatles
- Subscribers' Sites 


The Renegade Gardener

Ah, those poor souls who try to cultivate life from the soil of the dreaded Hardiness Zones 2 through 4. It can't be easy, so the Renegade Gardener is here to help, with the stoic good sense and wry humor of one who makes his life, and his garden, in the Twin Cities area.

Hardiness Zones 2 through 4 -- otherwise known as the shivering northeastern states-- are not easy places to grow pansies. But the Renegade, AKA Don Engebretson, the University of Minnesota's Master Gardener and award-winning gardening writer, delivers no-nonsense advice about plants, design, products and services. His Top Pick feature expresses his style: "useful without compromise, reliable beyond fail, and sturdy as stone."

http://www.renegadegardener.com/

Electric Money

Someday the cry "Show me the money!" may mean whipping out your DNA. At Electric Money, users can explore the history of money with teaching guides and money-related links that tell of early Native Americans using shells for cash and the first use of gold and silver as coinage by Western Europeans. And then came e-commerce.

The future of money is envisioned with predictions of a "smart card" to encode all credit card numbers in one easy place, as our genetic information replaces photo and signature IDs and, perhaps someday, letting us all take scissors to our credit cards as we kiss the green stuff goodbye forever.

http://www.pbs.org/opb/electricmoney/

Public Record Search

Most of us know that public records are a vast resource, but how to get to them all? With over 5,184 free searchable public record databases, Search Systems was the first and remains the largest collection of free public records on the Net, designed to help users find public records that are often central to serious decision-making. 

Searchable by key word or by US state, the site also links to Canadian and worldwide databases to ferret out a vast array of info, from campaign contributions to foreign banking facilities. While the site is free, some links lead to agencies that require payment, but users can tell up front by a dollar sign tagged to the link.

http://www.pac-info.com/

SHORT TAKES:

Sleeping Personalities

Are you a Tummy Sleeper or a Side Sleeper? Does your spouse gnash, curl, huddle or mumble in the sack? Sleeping Postures claims that sleep-time is the true personality test, when one is not consciously controlling one's body. Here users can check out various sleeping positions and the personality they reveal.

http://www.sleepbest.com/habbit/frame-e.htm

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Song Fight!

At Song Fight! the music doesn't make the title; rather, it's the other way around. A song title like "Acid Mouth" or "Snow Globe" is presented, and competitors write a song to match, then users get to vote for a winner - and the victor remains visible on the site while the losers, like bad songwriters everywhere, fade into obscurity.

http://www.songfight.com/

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Second National Church of Shatnerology

With the First Church defunct, there was nothing for fans obsessed with William Shatner (Star Trek's Captain Kirk) to do but resurrect the faith at the Second National Church of Shatnerology. Links about Shatner, photos of Shatner, tributes to Shatner, even Tickle Me Shatner --- the site creators even call themselves Shatner. Need more? There are various odd links all related to, you guessed it, Shatner.

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Set/1931/shatner.html

Flip Flop Flyin

Flip Flop Flyin', named by its very British creator for a Beach Boys song, is a personal web site of funny little animations that are oddly appealing, attract the curious and retain a regular following, judging by the mail and chats.

Many of the animations are pixel-based, simplistic and charming. Best of all are the MiniPops, tiny little graphic creations of pop stars, from Abba to ZZ Top, begun in 1999 when the site creator decided to draw his favorite group, The Beach Boys, "as small as I could and still make them recognisable." Visitors can sign up for a newsletter described as " like being in the sort of gang that enjoys flamingos and other stupid stuff." 

http://www.flipflopflyin.com/

The World in Her Hands

An online community by and for women, Her Planet is not just a web site, but a network connecting women to what other women have to offer. The focus is on web-based resources and services, but every facet of today's woman is explored here: from poetry to parenting, business to budgets.

This world is huge: an entry point for anything a woman might want to find on the web. Her Town, for example, has an upscale shopping mall and a community center. Users can set up free web pages with online tools or hire a pro to do it at Her Design Center, create their own start-up page or link to other cool sites like Ninian's Poetry Café or Soosie, a web access center.

http://www.herplanet.com/

The Nobel Museum

Since 1901, the Nobel Prizes have awarded a lifetime of achievement and have been the single most prestigious honor in the world. In 1994, the Internet was first used to announce the Prize winners, a year later the Nobel Web Site was launched, and in 2001 an even more ambitious project, the Nobel e-Museum, was created to celebrate the centennial of the first Nobel Prizes. 

The Nobel e-Museum lists winners past and present, but also offers articles in which Nobel laureates discuss science and culture, digital TV broadcasts of the Award Ceremony in Stockholm and live webcasts of special Nobel laureate lectures. Launching soon: the Wallenberg Young Scholars Program for students, and Science & Technology, featuring practical and industrial applications of major scientific discoveries.

http://www.nobel.se/

Design Portfolio

No Commercial Potential is the online portfolio of a graphic designer with the eccentric name Phineas Xavier Jones. There's plenty of potential here, and much of it is fully realized. 

Jones shows his art in its liquid state, as it evolves: in the Easel Archive visitors can view sketches in each phase of creation. The site is rich with fascinating, often beautiful photos, digital images, collages, drawings and sketches produced in media from charcoal, coffee, watercolor, ink and sometimes other things applied to various sorts and sizes of paper. 

http://nocommercialpotential.net/

The Beatles

Beatlemania is updated for the 21st century at this official Beatles web site where there's much more than just music - though the music is at the heart of it all. Featuring the 27 Beatles singles that topped US and UK charts, this visually gorgeous site also takes users behind the music.

Click on any song to hear it, read the lyrics and enjoy archival material like album notes, photos, record labels and recording logs, plus dates and locations of live performances and recording sessions. New Features, like special trips to a rooftop Abbey Road concert or a new animated video for "I Feel Fine," are added weekly.

http://www.thebeatles.com/

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SUBSCRIBERS' SITES - Many of our subscribers have fascinating on-line projects. This weekly section will introduce you to some of these sites. Please let me know about your project so that I might mention it in this section. Write me at info@tricksandtrinkets.com


~Last Night I Dreamed I Fixed the World - Benefitting victims of the Sept 11.

~HomeBiz - LongDistance, Cellular, Computers, WebStuff

~Bible Scramble - Games to test your knowledge of the Bible.

~Quinn's Devious Dictionary - over 5,000 wise and witty definitions. 

~Spot's World - This and that from an overseas American living in Turkey.

~Pigeons Make Me Sick


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Heaven embraces the horizon.
No matter how jagged the profile,
The sky faithfully conforms.

TAO

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Have a great weekend.

Charles Kessler