Welcome to the 344th issue of the Cool Tricks and Trinkets Newsletter offering weekly insights into new, cool, useful, fun, unusual and interesting sites on the Internet.

<Publisher's Note>

As some of you may know, over the past 5 years I have been blessed in building my company A1 Discount Hotels into one of the largest affiliates of the Hotels.com family. Our commitment to customer service and simply caring for people has yielded thousands of loyal customers.

In an effort to acknowledge our valued clientele, we are launching A1 Travel Club, (http://a1-travelclub.com), which will offer the lowest hotel reservation prices on the Internet.

Travel Club members will receive an additional 5% rebate on all pre-paid hotel reservations. This rebate will be on top to the already low prices quoted by hotels.com.

The Travel Club will be offered "by invitation only" basis. Please spread support The Cool Tricks and Trinkets Newsletter by telling your friends about it.

With appreciation,

Charles Kessler

In this issue:

- Trek Earth
- Watching America
- Travel Consumer
- Short Takes
- Doodles, Drafts, and Designs
- Historic Cities
- Frogs and Toads in Color and Sound
- NASA Brain Bites
- Uncyclopedia
- Subscribers' Sites

Trek Earth

The combination of air travel, digital photography and the Internet makes the world a much smaller, more accessible place. If you love photography, are planning your first journey abroad, or are a seasoned modern nomad, Trek Earth is the place for you.

TrekEarth.com is creating a global community for those interested in photography from all over the world. Browse this gallery of beautiful and inspiring photographs, join one of the forums to discuss and critique the images, or submit one of your own pictures to this cool site. There are also other fun features such as Workshops, Scavenger Hunts and much more.

http://www.trekearth.com/

Watching America

For many Americans, it is difficult to understand why there is currently so much international animosity toward our nation. One of the main reasons for this is the limited perspective that both our local and national mainstream media provide. Watching America gives us a peek at current 'America-Related' articles and TV segments from newspapers and television stations around the world including Europe, The Middle East, Asia and Africa.

It is fascinating to learn about what foreign countries are writing and reading about the U.S. everyday. Whether it is 'good' or 'bad' news, you don't have to be bilingual to enjoy the site's translated and edited foreign articles. They provide us with a unique perspective on how the rest of the world construes our own country's policies and politics.

http://www.watchingamerica.com/

Travel Consumer

Ever felt completely overwhelmed by Google travel search results? Travelconsumer.com is an international travel Web site for people who just want the facts.

The site has almost every destination country, state, and city listing imaginable, along with links to airports, travel guides, local government Web sites, official tourism Web sites, maps, reservations, travel tip articles, weather reports, WiFi hotspots, and more. And for those who like to read up on the history and culture of the place they are visiting, there is even encyclopedic information about the destination. Bon Voyage!

http://www.travelconsumer.com

SHORT TAKES

Print Free Graph Paper

While some of us haven't used it since our last High School math class, others use good old graph paper all the time. This cool site offers free, printable graph paper in PDF format for math students, carpenters and anyone else who finds it useful.

http://www.printfreegraphpaper.com

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PENoply

Keyboards may be today's preferred writing tool, but many people still prefer to use an old fashioned pen to write with. PENoply is dedicated entirely to the fountain pen, including its history, construction, and the many different brands that make these beautiful objects.

http://www.rickconner.net/penoply/

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Amaztype

Amaztype is a cool new tool that helps readers quickly find a book through the vast Amazon network. Simply search by title or author to locate a specific book in the blink of an eye. You can also look for your favorite music and DVD's.

http://amaztype.tha.jp/

Doodles, Drafts, and Designs

"Doodles, Drafts and Designs" is a travelling exhibition that was created by The Smithsonian Institute's National Museum Of American History. It showcases the plans of engineers, inventors and industrial designers, "the sketches of dreams" that eventually become our skyscrapers, bridges, train stations, airports and other urban monuments.

Scroll through the exhibit and you will find pictures of a wide range of original drawings done by inventors and builders. The section "Working It Out" focuses on initial sketches of an idea, while the section entitled "Convincing" shows the proposal process that bridges an idea to the money and support it needs in order to be actualized. Visitors will find the blueprints of everything from 19th Century Steam Engines to Crayola Crayons.

http://www.sil.si.edu/exhibitions/doodles/

Historic Cities

Imagine if you could visit beautiful cities such as London and Paris as they were centuries ago? Travel back in time to view ancient maps, literature and other documents of the world's historic cities at different stages of their evolution.

Search the city guide from A-Z to see old maps of these historic cities and their famous monuments. Then go to the Map Makers section to learn about some of the legendary cartographers of the past six centuries such as Sebastian Munster, Giambattista Albrizzi and John Stockdale. This is a fascinating journey back to the roots of our most celebrated urban centers.

http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il

Frogs and Toads in Color and Sound

Forget Kermit, these frogs are the real deal. Each image in this colorful collection of frog and toad photographs is accompanied by actual sound recordings of the frog's "call".

Visitors can check out the sights and sounds of over twenty types of North American frogs and toads. The online photo-album includes exotic species such as the Spring Peeper, the Carpenter Frog, and the elegantly-named Pig Frog. Make sure you have Real Player so that you can listen to the unique calls of these interesting animals.

http://www.naturesound.com/frogs/frogs.html

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NASA Brain Bites

Space truly is the "final frontier", and for the past fifty years NASA has been our tour guide. This fun and eduacational site, entitled NASA Brain Bites, provides answers to a host of esoteric questions about space travel and the experience of being an astronaut.

The site uses cool, instructional videos to convey a wide range of fascinating space-related information, or what they call "Munchies for your Mind." Scroll the Brainbite Menu and learn answers to such interesting questions as "How long does it take to call Mars?" and "How do you scratch your nose in a space suit?"

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/brainbite/home.html

While there probably will not be anyone going door-to-door selling it, the "Uncyclopedia" is still a good read. The Uncyclopedia site is a self-described encyclopedia of lies and misinformation, dedicated solely to your amusement not your education.

The editors of the Uncyclopedia take pride in their mission, which is to be as misinformative, sarcastic and misleading as possible. Visitors can read through some of the hilarious "articles" on topics such as Politics, People and Sports, or just skip to the Best Of Uncyclopedia section. Should you feel so inclined, you are also welcome to contribute your own piece of misinformation to the website. The only rule, of course, is that it has to be funny!

http://mrpalmguru.com/uncyclopedia/

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 ctt@net-market.com

~ "Garth Brooks The Hits" -New/Used

~ Consumer Democracy - Consumers Sharing Product Reviews & Ratings

~ protonic.com : Free Fast Technical Support.

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Gods have many faces,
But true divinity has no face.

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Have a great weekend.

Charles Kessler