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The Cool Tricks and Trinkets Newsletter #241 4/10/3 |
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Welcome to the 241st 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: - Albinism
in Popular Culture ~~~~~ Cool Tricks and Trinkets is made possible by A1 Discount Hotels ~~~~~~ A1 Discount Hotels (an affiliate of Hotels.com) offer discount rooms in over 20,000 hotels worldwide with choices from budget to 5 star hotels. Bookmark our site for you next trip. http://www.a1-discount-hotels.com Visit us online or call our operators at 888-511-5743. Group and Corporate Travel Services are also available. <Editor's Note> A1 Discount Hotels is our primary business and source of income. You can support Tricks and Trinkets, by checking us out the next time you're planning a trip. For personal travel needs, write me at info@a1-discount-hotels.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Albinism in Popular Culture The fair-skinned, fair-haired, usually blue-eyed albino has fascinated, awed and sometimes repelled human society for centuries. Albinism in Popular Culture explains and explores the condition through art, literature, film, photography and fashion. In 19th century America, albinos were exhibited in circus sideshows. But in ancient Asia people with albinism were revered, and many Native American and South Pacific tribes believed that they were divine messengers. See photos from early American photographers who treated their subjects as oddities, and gorgeous shots from fashion photographer Rick Guidotti's 1998 tribute to the uniqueness of people with albinism. Celebrities with albinism like musicians Johnny and Edgar Winter are featured, along with stunning contemporary and ancient art, from oils to comic books. http://www.lunaeterna.net/popcult/ Famous Film Locations Walk in the footsteps of the stars at Famous Film Locations.com to tour thousands of real-life scenes and sites where famous films and celebrities, past and present, made celluloid history. James Bond, the coolest super-spy on the planet, romps in the world's most exotic locations, and visitors to the site can find and answer top-secret questions to tour Bond's world. If Harry Potter is more your style, see the cathedrals, libraries and lagoons of the "Chamber of Secrets." Or follow John Wayne through his Wild West, take an out-of-this-world "Star Wars" experience, or hit the road with "Easy Rider." Stately homes from "Batman," "Remains of the Day," and "Tomb Raider" are featured, as is the cosmopolitan London neighborhood Notting Hill, site of many movie classics. http://www.famouslocations.com/ Vagabonding Mike, "an optimist from Chicago," is a vagabond, on the road for 187 days on a year-long round-the-world journey visitors can follow at Vagabonding.com. The vagabond is trekking the Annapurna circuit and feeling right at home in Orchha, India, a village amongst temples and palaces built in the early 1600's. Unintentionally, Mike is also now watching the US conflict with Iraq unfold from the outside, consuming world media as both a global citizen and a classic American with "cowboy" tendencies. Follow his route, check out his latest videos and photos in the Gallery and don't miss the Travelogue with entries on such topics as Life and Death on the Ganges and Laos Terrible Legacy. Newsletter subscribers get extra vagabonding content and updates of the journey. SHORT TAKES Fake or Photo? Is that a real nose or a CG nose? A fresh blade of grass or a collection of really talented pixels? Between the quality of imaging software and the skills of computer techies, the pictures we see today literally defy reality. Take the test at Fake or Foto.com, where day-to-day images challenge your ability to tell what's live and what's virtual. <><><><> Infrared Zoo What's hot and what's not is more than a fashion statement at Infrared Zoo from NASA and Caltech. Visitors can view animals via a thermal infrared camera to "see" what it means to be warm-or cold-blooded. Infrared light, radiated by all creatures, lets scientists study how feathers, fur and blubber insulate animals. With games, tutorials and links for kids and teachers. http://sirtf.caltech.edu/Education/Zoo/zoo.html <><><><> Voice Chasers Whose voice is that? With voice-cast lists for video games, theme park attractions, even anime TV shows and movies, Voice Chasers.org reveals that Astea in "Dragon Force" is voiced by Katie Staeck and Gary Owens narrates the Epcot Center's "The World of Motion." A comprehensive database, the site gives an online voice to the talented and under-recognized voice-over industry. http://www.voicechasers.org/index1.html Enjoy
the newsletter? Tell your friends to subscribe by sending an email to: In Search of the Giant Squid It is one of the biggest creatures in the sea, yet is rarely seen. It hunts small sea creatures, yet falls prey to large animals. It has inspired fantastic tales, yet the facts are even more fascinating. "It" is the giant squid. Visitors can find it at In Search of the Giant Squid, an online exhibit that explores the mystery, beauty and complexity of one of the world's largest invertebrates. Based on material in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, the site separates squid myth from reality, tells visitors how the giant squid eats, moves, reproduces and defends itself and describes the 1999 expedition of a team of researchers who explored the mysteries that lie a half mile below the ocean's surface. http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/squid.html College Sports Television Sports addicts often claim that today's most exciting - and purest - athletic competitions are found on college courts and fields. Avid college sports fans now have a home at CSTV.com, the online field house of College Sports Television. CSTV launched April 7 with its premier episode presenting the College Hoops Honor Roll, a comprehensive college basketball review with awards for Division I, II and III Men's and Women's Players, Coaches and Teams of the Year. For "college sports with a passion," the TV show and the web site have something for every college sports fan: the rivalries, the passion, the human stories. Read news, feature stories, schedule highlights, press releases and all the background info needed to become a college sports groupie. Vintage Brochures
Now, visitors can see memorabilia like a 1932 ad for Scintilla batteries; "The Cunarder," a 1931 travel magazine from the Cunard Steam Ship Company; and a 1931 road map for the Continentel Strassenkarte, Karte 33 in Frankfurt. Search by type of material or by nation of origin and, with permission, even use the images on another web site. http://www.travelbrochuregraphics.com/
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
Money In Politics "Show me the money" takes on new meaning in politics. With the 2004 elections looming, learn how to follow the money. Our nation's vastly complex system of campaign finance is revealed at opensecrets.org., from the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, non-profit D.C. research group that tracks money in politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Check out 80 different industries profiled in the Industries Section and their political contributions going back a decade. Check up on candidates via profiles of every congressional and Senate race in the country, and the presidential race. And since politics begins at home, don't forget to shake the money tree in your own backyard to find out where local contributions come from and who's getting them. The Museum of Hoaxes A hoax can be funny, creepy, clever or fiendish, depending on which side of the ruse you are. Officially known as "contriving wonderful stories for the public," the best, worst and often most deceptive hoaxes have a wide audience and a long life, and now they have a home at The Museum of Hoaxes. Different than contemporary urban legends, personal practical jokes or outright frauds, a true hoax intrigues so much that it makes people question reality -- and sometimes their own good sense, like The New York Sun's 1835 claim that an astronomer had discovered blue unicorns, bison and a man-bat living on the moon. Search hoaxes by century and by category, from anthropology, with its Patagonian Giants, to zoology, with the Jackaloupe. 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 ~ Diamond Willow Walking & Hiking Sticks
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