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The Cool Tricks and Trinkets Newsletter #216 10/17/02 |
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Welcome to the 216th 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: -
Origins of Writing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sponsor~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A1 Discount Hotels Highest rated online reservations service providing discount rooms in over 5000 hotels worldwide. We offer great prices and personalized services. Bookmark our site for you next trip. Book online or call our operators at 888-511-5743 http://www.a1-discount-hotels.com <Note> This is our personal hotel reservation business. Please support Tricks and Trinkets, by checking us out the next time you're making online hotel reservations. For group and corporate travel needs, write me at info@a1-discount-hotels.com --------------Please check out our sponsor------------- Origins of Writing Pass your cursor over the spines of a dozen or so books to open a volume brimming with history, illustrations and photos about humankind's earliest scribbling, from 15th century Korean scripts to the oral history known as Cinderella. The Origins of Writing is a scholarly and beautifully designed class project created by anthropology students at Utah State University. Learn how writing began in many cultures: the Gaelic Cycles, Olmec Scripts and King Sejong's new - for the 1400s - writing system for the Korean language, Han'gul. Click on Writing Systems for info about pictographs or Writing Mediums to see prose produced on oracle bones, silk and bamboo. http://www.usu.edu/anthro/origins_of_writing/main.html Laugh Lab Punch lines like "…go ahead, I'll hold your monkey for you" are the sidesplitters at Laugh Lab, conducting unofficial research on what tickles funny bones the world over. The latest poll gives a top joke from six countries, including the US and Canada, who seem to like to poke fun at each other in a neighborly way. Visitors can rate posted jokes, submit their own or follow links to find out what makes kids laugh, why men and women find different jokes funny, what jokes reveal about how our brains work - all in an online research project full of giggles and guffaws. http://www.laughlab.co.uk/topByCountry.html African Voices Discover your connection to Africa, a place of striking diversity and global influence at African Voices, the online partner of a permanent exhibit by the Smithsonian Institution. The site explores the continent's peoples, cultures and history via artifacts and contemporary objects like sculptures, textiles and pottery, plus audio and video clips of oral traditions like proverbs, prayers and folk tales. History is traced from the Nile Valley through Colonialism and Africa Today. Themes explored include family, work and the natural environment with spotlights on the Kongo people of Central Africa and how wealth is created. Manifestations of the Spirit is a photo gallery of Afro-Brazilian "spirit" traditions, and a learning center directs visitors to more resources for study. http://www.mnh.si.edu/africanvoices/ SHORT TAKES: Sherlock Holmes Stop by 221 Baker Street.org to read the Sherlock Holmes "canon," 48 of the original 60 Holmes stories (4 were novels) written by Conan Doyle, many in Palm or Adobe PDF format for easy downloading, plus picture illustrations by Sydney Paget and links to Sherlock sound files. <><><><> Google Fight The War of the Words is played out at Google Fight.com, where visitors type in two keywords to be searched by the master search engine to see which one gets the highest return. An interesting metaphor erupts, as Hell outdistances Paradise by about 4 million results. <><><><> Belly Button Study Someone is scrutinizing your navel at Belly Button Lint: The Hole Story, exposing more than you may want to know about the debris in belly buttons - its color, quantity, correlation to bodily hair and, of course, the cargo capacity of the innie vs. the outie. http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/lint/default.htm
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to: The Helmet Project For a different kind of hardhat, visit the Helmet Project, where football helmets from 1960 to the present are gathered, illustrated and recorded in detail by an avid headbanger who has reproduced the headgear worn by teams from professional football leagues to defunct college squads. The site includes the shell and faceguard colors, plus decal logos of helmets worn by pros in the NFL, even the short-lived mid-70s World Football League and 2001's XFL, to teams of the NCAA and beyond. Historical sections show retrospectives like the Air Force's silver and blue lightening bolt that has only changed a smidgen since 1950. http://www.nationalchamps.net/HelmetProject/ Beneath Los Angeles In the oddest way, people come to LA to see death. Celebrity gravesides are a star attraction in the city where the only permanent residents, it is said, are the dead ones. Beneath Los Angeles.com shows visitors the tombstones, grave markers and memorial plaques marking the final resting places of the "famous, infamous and just plain dead." More than 200 of the Famous are here, from George and Gracie's touching double tombstone and its inscription "Together Again," to silent film star Clara Kimball Young. The Infamous section includes 150 or so markers, including the grave of scandal-rocked studio head David Begelman who committed suicide in 1995, and the entire Barrymore Dynasty. http://www.beneathlosangeles.com/ The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy Noah Webster may not have anticipated 20th century soda wars, but he did have an ear for how we talk, and it's high time those snoots at Harvard and Yale took notice of a truly hefty linguistic controversy. At The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy, a Cal Tech scholar is studying how we order up that most American of icons - the carbonated beverage. Based on a national map plotting our usage, "soda" appears strong on both coasts, "pop" leads in the heartland, but "coke" is spilling up from the south. View the map and the trends and complete a survey - more than 117,000 others have done so - then grab a root beer and toast your own contribution to academia. http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~almccon/pop_soda/ **********Advertisement************** THE COOLEST COLOR BUSINESS CARDS These cards will make you proud to have a business. Create, personalize, edit, print and order a unique one of a kind business card. http://www.ebusiness-cards.com
Tolkien Obsession Need a good fantasy? Circle over to The One Ring.Net, "forged by and for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien," brimming with news of release dates, a frame-by-frame peek at the trailer for the next release and lots more. Those who can't wait for the December release of The Two Towers, the second installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, for their next glimpse of Gollum and gang can cool their heels at the Movie FAQ page, "Spy Reports," and more than 800 pages about cast and crew. Also, Gaming Havens, the definitive source for Middle Earth-themed gaming, fan chat and even a "newbie" section just in case there's anyone left on this earth who hasn't gone Tolkien. http://www.theonering.net/movie/preview/ttt_093002_01.html His Life For Sale Some people have yard sales when they feel the heavy weight of possessions bearing down on them. John Freyer, creator of All My Life For Sale.com, had a life sale. Deciding that all he really needed should fit in the trunk of his car, John invited friends over to tag the rest and, this being the 21st century, sell it all on eBay. Now John's got a new book out and he's about to go visit the half-used box of taco shells, bottle of mouthwash, cowboy hat and laundered shirts he sold to purchasers around the globe. What was the last thing to sell? His domain name, which went to the University of Iowa Museum of Art. http://www.allmylifeforsale.com/html/project/BookStuff.html If you're interested in advertising in Cool Tricks and Trinkets, email info@tricksandtrinkets.com 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.
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