El Dorado County Library's What's New on the Internet for the Week of February 4th, 2008

What's Hot on the Internet This Week
Week of February 4th, 2008
The arrow indicates a recommended site and a points to a site with local information.

Guidance on How to Understand and Use the
Nutrition Facts Panel on Food Labels

"People look at food labels for different reasons. But whatever the reason, many consumers would like to know how to use this information more effectively and easily. The following guidance is intended to make it easier for you to use nutrition labels to make quick, informed food choices that contribute to a healthy diet." (Subject(s): Consumers, Diet & Health)

EERE: Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center Program: "The Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center (AFDC, formerly known as the Alternative Fuels Data Center, provides a wide range of information and resources to enable the use of alternative fuels (as defined by the Energy Policy Act of 1992), in addition to other petroleum reduction options such as advanced vehicles, fuel blends, idle reduction, and fuel economy. This site is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities initiative." (Subject(s): Automobiles, Power Resources & Renewable Energy Sources)
Art cyclopedia: The Fine Art Search Engine: "The Artcyclopedia is an index of online museums and image archives: find out where the works of over 8,000 different fine artists can be viewed online." In addition to the artist listings, the site also has 2,600 art sites indexed and provides visitors with over 100,000 links to art sites around the world. Of interest also from their site is the index to Art Museums Worldwide. (Subject(s): Art & Searching--Other Search Engines and Indexes)
The Brunel Museum: Thames Tunnel, 1825-1843: "The award winning Brunel Museum housed in an ancient monument set in picturesque riverside gardens. [This site is in fact ] An exhibition using new technology and spanning the career of both Marc Brunel and Isambard Kingdom Brunel featuring the Thames Tunnel and Great Eastern projects." (Subject(s): Brunel Museum (London, England) & Thames Tunnel--History)
Buying Guide for Vegetables, How To Buy Fresh Vegetables: "Demand freshness! Check the characteristic signs of freshness such as bright, lively color and crispness. Vegetables are usually at their best quality and price at the peak of their season. Fresh vegetables are key ingredients in the kitchen. With the right preparation and some of your homemade creativity, they make everyday meals just as magical as special occasions. Don't buy because of low price alone. It doesn't pay to buy more vegetables than you can properly store in your refrigerator or use without waste. How do you know whether your cabbage is ready to cook or your peppers are a little too ripe? Use the following handy Buying Guide for Vegetables to find and buy the freshest vegetables around." The U.S. Government also publishes a guide on this topic and you can find it online at How to Buy Fresh Vegetables (Agricultural Marketing Service. Home and Garden Bulletin Number 258). (Subject(s): Consumers & Vegetables)
Flickr: The Commons: This is a Library of Congress Pilot Project: "Back in June of 2007, we began our first collaboration with a civic institution to facilitate giving people a voice in describing the content of a publicly-held photography collection. The key goals of this pilot project are to firstly give you a taste of the hidden treasures in the huge Library of Congress collection, and secondly to show how your input of a tag or two can make the collection even richer. You're invited to help describe photographs in the Library of Congress' collection on Flickr, by adding tags or leaving comments." (Subject(s): History--Photographs)
Condé Nast Traveller: This is the companion Website for the popular travel magazine. It includes online guides for most of the countries and popular travel destinations in the world. In addition, the site provides reviews for many travel stops, sight-seeing videos, rankings for some of the most luxurious hotels around and a series of general all-around travel tips. (Subject(s): Travel--Guides)
Cooks.com - New Recipes: "Recently submitted and approved recipes appear on this page. Dust off your old recipe file and share your favorite recipes by clicking on the Add Recipe link at the top of each page." Some of the recent additions to their database include ones for: Beef Stroganof, Pickled Vegetables, Easy Lasagna, Peanut Butter Cookies, Baby Bok Choy and Tuna Hotdish. You can find other interesting recipes and cooking information at the online home for the popular cooking magazine, Cooks.com. (Subject(s): Recipes)
Dietary Guidelines for Americans: "The Dietary Guidelines for Americans has been published jointly every 5 years since 1980 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Guidelines provide authoritative advice for people two years and older about how good dietary habits can promote health and reduce risk for major chronic diseases. They serve as the basis for Federal food and nutrition education programs." In addition to the 5-year study, the Dept of HHS also publishes several brochures and pamphlets explaining exactly how to approach and succeed at meeting these guidelines. (BUT NOTE: You'll need to download and install the latest version of Adobe Acrobat to read or print parts or all of these little booklets.) (Subject(s): Diet--United States)
Essentials of Geology: This is the online version of a book published by W.W. Norton and Company: "Welcome to the Essentials of Geology Website! Developed by Stephen Marshak and by study guide author Rita Leafgren, this resource for students offers thoughtful and engaging review materials to supplement discussions in the text. A series of original animations helps students to visualize dynamic Earth processes." (Subject(s): Geology)
Exploring the Nanoworld: "This site is a resource for education and outreach efforts associated with the National Science Foundation-supported Materials Research Science and Engineering Center on Nanostructured Interfaces. Nano means one billionth. Nanotechnology is the study and design of systems at the nanometer scale - the scale of atoms and molecules. The ability to manipulate materials on the nanoscale could revolutionize the way that almost everything is designed and made. The objective of this website is to introduce you to the tools that let us "see" atoms, manipulate them, and create nano-architectural wonders." (Subject(s): Nanotechnology)
Roper Center: Fundamentals of Polling: "This tutorial is intended to offer a simplified glimpse into some of the fundamentals of public opinion polling. Designed for the novice, POLLING 101 provides definitions, examples, and explanations that serve to introduce interested students to the field of public opinion research." (Subject(s): Polling--About & Public Opinion)
Gallup: Election 2008: "The Gallup Poll has built its reputation on delivering relevant, timely, and visionary research on what people around the world think and feel. Gallup Poll consultants assist leaders to identify and monitor behavioral economic indicators worldwide." This is the section for the polls on and about the upcoming U.S. National elections. (Subject(s): Elections--United States & Public Opinion)
The Green Guide: "Originated as a print newsletter in 1994, then expanded into a web site, thegreenguide.com, in 2002, Green Guide was acquired by National Geographic Society in March 2007, as part of NGS' global commitment to inform and inspire people to care about the planet. Dubbed the “green living source for today’s conscious consumer”, the GREEN GUIDE makes living in an environmentally-aware way easy, understandable, and practical. Intended for general consumers, GREEN GUIDE (in print and on the web) shows people how to make small changes that add up to big benefits for their wallets, for their health, and, of course, for the health of the planet. Not political or activist, the GREEN GUIDE is chock-full of simple, useful, ideas, broken down into achievable steps that make going green a gradual and affordable process rather than an all-or-nothing plunge." (Subject(s): Environment)
Greene & Greene Architectural Records and Papers Collection, ca. 1896-ca. 1963: "The American architectural firm Greene & Greene was a partnership between the brothers Charles Sumner Greene (1868-1957) and Henry Mather Greene (1870-1954). The firm, established in 1894, was officially dissolved in 1922, after which the two practiced independently. They were active in Southern California and were part of the American Arts and Crafts Movement... The Greene & Greene Architectural Records and Papers Collection spans the years ca. 1896 - ca. 1963. The collection chiefly consists of architectural drawings (approximately 5,000) and also includes photographs, personal papers, and other manuscript material. Access to digital images of all the architectural drawings and to selected photographs are (sic) provided in the finding aid and through seven indexes: Images, Genre/Form, Geographic, Persons, Subjects, Corporate Names, and Projects." (Subject(s): Architecture--History)
The History of Scotch Tape: "Scotch tape was invented in 1930 by banjo playing 3M engineer Richard Drew. Scotch tape was the world's first transparent cellophane adhesive tape. Richard Drew also invented the first masking tape in 1925, a two-inch-wide tan paper tape with a pressure sensitive adhesive backing." This site follows the creation of adhesive tape and how it was developed and marketed. For more on the inventor, visit this site from the Inventor Archive: Richard Drew (1899-1980). (Subject(s): Drew, Richard, 1899-1980)
The Homer Homepage: This is an index page for all the major resources on the Greek poet Homer. It includes the complete text of his two great epic poems: the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as background information about the stories in his works and the times during which the stories took place and when the author lived. (Subject(s): Homer)

How ATM's Work

by Jim Bowen: "You're short on cash, so you walk over to the automated teller machine (ATM), insert your card into the card reader, respond to the prompts on the screen, and within a minute you walk away with your money and a receipt. These machines can now be found at most supermarkets, convenience stores and travel centers. Have you ever wondered about the process that makes your bank funds available to you at an ATM on the other side of the country? In this article, we will look at the ATM device that allows you access to your money and examine the network that the ATM connects to." This article is but part of the information you can find at How Stuff Works Website. (Subject(s): Banks)

Exploratorium: Ice Stories: Dispatches from Polar Scientists: "Welcome to Ice Stories: Dispatches from Polar Scientists, where you'll meet penguin biologists, glaciologists, cosmologists, geologists, and marine scientists working in Antarctica and the Arctic. We've given them cameras and asked them to document their adventures, in real time, so you can follow their research, ask questions, and share in their discoveries as they occur. This experiment, in celebration of the International Polar Year (2007-08), gives you an up-close-and-personal look at research in extreme environments through the thoughts and experiences of the scientists working there. We'll post their photos, videos, and blogs on this site. The adventure begins in Antarctica in November 2007 with a series of Webcasts from the South Pole and the McMurdo and Palmer research stations. It continues for two years, shifting polar locations to the Arctic in summer. In winter 2008-09, we'll return to Antarctica. Join us and see what it's really like to be a research scientist at the top or bottom of the world." (Subject(s): )
The Iditarod Sled Dog Race®: "You can’t compare it to any other competitive event in the world! A race over 1150 miles of the roughest, most beautiful terrain Mother Nature has to offer. She throws jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast at the mushers and their dog teams. Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, the hazards of overflow, long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs and side hills, and you have the Iditarod. A race extraordinaire, a race only possible in Alaska. From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days. It has been called the “Last Great Race on Earth” and it has won worldwide acclaim and interest." Believe it or not, there's a sled dog race for teenagers held in Alaska about 2 weeks before the "over-18" race and here's where you can learn about that event: Junior Iditarod Sled Dog Race. (Subject(s): Iditarod)
Just Free Books: "JustFreeBooks search the content of more than 450 web sites, including gutenberg.org, wikibooks.org and archive.org. With JustFreeBooks you can find public domain texts, open books, free audio books, ad-supported books and more. Just type in the search box the book, author or theme you want to find." (Subject(s): Electronic Books & Searching--Other Search Engines and Indexes)
The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music: "The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music is a non-profit, private foundation dedicated to promoting understanding of Weill's life and works and preserving the legacies of Weill and [Lotte] Lenya." Included here is information for the lives and works of both musicians, as well as links to the latest performances (live or recorded) of Weill's music. Plus, this homepage provides details about the Foundation and its work. (Subject(s): Lenya, Lotte & Weill, Kurt, 1900-1950)
The Legacy of George Washington Carver: "During the 1998-1999 academic year, Iowa State University celebrated the legacy of its first African American student and faculty member, George Washington Carver. Renowned for developing innovative uses for a variety of agricultural crops such as peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes, Carver's legacy at Iowa State is even more than academic achievement. He was an accomplished musician, artist, orator, athletic trainer and student leader. Iowa State's land-grant heritage provided a rich environment where he could take root and blossom. It is an environment that remains rich in academic, cultural, artistic and athletic opportunities." This Website provides details about the life of Mr. Carver as well as a series of links to other online resources for the man and his work. (Subject(s): Carver, George Washington, 1864?-1943)
Leo Politi 2008 Centennial: This is "The official web site for artist Leo Politi, produced and maintained by the Politi family." It includes information about the events in the Los Angeles area celebrating the 100th anniversary of Mr. Politi's birth as well as information about the many children's books he wrote and illustrated. (Subject(s): Politi, Leo, 1908-)
NGA - Let the World In: Prints by Robert Rauschenberg: "Beginning in the early 1960s, Robert Rauschenberg (American, born 1925) created painterly prints filled with images he clipped from newspapers and magazines. Nearly a decade earlier he had countered the introspective canvases of abstract expressionism with works he called "Combines," fusions of painting and sculpture that incorporate everyday items and embrace the cacophony of daily life." This site has been created by the National Gallery of Art (NGA) to examine that process from examples of the artist's work taken from their collection. (Subject(s): Rauschenberg, Robert)
Lincoln Highway Digital Image Collection: "The Transportation History Collection of the Special Collections Library [at the Univ. of Michigan] counts amongst it holdings the archive of the original Lincoln Highway Association (1910-1927). The Association was made up of representatives from the automobile, tire, and cement industries, with the goal of planning, funding, constructing, and promoting the first transcontinental highway in North America. The route, consisting of both existing and newly-built roads following the most direct route possible, ran from New York to San Francisco, covering approximately 3,400 miles.... The photographic portion of the archive consists of approximately 3,000 images, including views of construction underway, towns and cities, markers, bridges, cars, camp sites, scenic views, and snapshots of Association directors and field secretaries traveling the route." (Subject(s): Lincoln Highway--History--Photographs)
MathWorld: The Web's Most Extensive Mathematics Resource: "MathWorldTM is the web's most extensive mathematical resource, provided as a free service to the world's mathematics and internet communities as part of a commitment to education and educational outreach by Wolfram Research, makers of Mathematica. MathWorld has been assembled over more than a decade by Eric W. Weisstein with assistance from thousands of contributors... MathWorld currently features a number of innovative interactive elements that enhance its usability for a variety of different readers. These features include: * The MathWorld Classroom, which provides a set of pop-up "capsule summaries" for more than 300 mathematical terms. * Extensive citations to books and journal articles, many of which are active hyperlinks. * Thousands of downloadable Mathematica notebooks. * Several types of interactive entries, including LiveGraphics3D applets for interactive three-dimensional geometry. * A powerful full-text search engine with both basic and advanced searching capabilities. * Dublin Core and Mathematics Subject Classification metadata in the HTML headers of each page. Special information for Mathematica users." (Subject(s): Mathematics)
Migration Policy Institute: "The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank in Washington, DC dedicated to analysis of the movement of people worldwide. MPI provides analysis, development, and evaluation of migration and refugee policies at the local, national, and international levels. It aims to meet the rising demand for pragmatic and thoughtful responses to the challenges and opportunities that large-scale migration, whether voluntary or forced, presents to communities and institutions in an increasingly integrated world." (Subject(s): Migration)
The Oliver Cromwell Website: This is the Website that will provide visitors with "Information about Oliver Cromwell 1599-1658 and his life, legacy and significance: the site is run jointly by the Cromwell Association and the Cromwell Museum." "Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon on April 25th 1599. Since his death as Lord Protector in 1658 his life, ambitions, motives and actions have been the subject of scholarly investigation and intense, often vitriolic, debate. Whatever position is taken on Cromwell, "Chief of Men" or "Brave Bad Man", his importance as a key figure in one of the most troubled periods of British history is unassailable." (Subject(s): Cromwell, Oliver, 1599-1658)
The Open Library: "The Open Library website was created by the Internet Archive to demonstrate a way that books can be represented online. The vision is to create free web access to important book collections from around the world. Books are scanned and then offered in an easy-to-use interface for free reading online. If they're in the public domain, the books can be downloaded, shared and printed for free. They can also be printed for a nominal fee by a third party, who will bind and mail the book to you. The books are always FREE to read at the Open Library website." (Subject(s): Electronic Books)
Petals on a Wet Black Bough: American Modernist Writers and the Orient: "The opening of Japan by Commodore Perry in the 1850s and the access permitted Christian missionaries in China somewhat later galvanized American interest in those countries. Through travel, literature, philosophy, education, religion, and the fine and decorative arts, Americans involved themselves in the East. Bayard Taylor, the most widely-read journalist of his time, accompanied Perry and lectured about the trip in nearly 100 American cities and towns." This exhibition was originally a Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library Exhibition at Yale University. "The exhibition has two major thematic divisions: American Nineteenth-Century representations of China and Japan, and Twentieth-Century writers' interpretations of those influences." (Subject(s): )
Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus (Third Edition): This important reference book which was originally published by Houghton Mifflin in 1995 is now available online: "Containing 35,000 synonyms and over 250,000 cross-references in an easy-to-use format, this thesaurus features succinct word definitions and an innovative hyperlinked category index." (Subject(s): Thesaurus)
The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: "The Ralph Waldo Emerson Institute has provided this web site for the purpose of providing a digital archive of the life and works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of America's Founding Thinkers. We hope that you are able to find what you are looking for and that you find RWE.org valuable and interesting." (Subject(s): Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882)
Sacred Contexts: This is a companion Website for an exhibition at the British Library from April 27 to September 23, 2007 and provides "Complementary material to the British Library's Sacred Texts" display. "Videos, podcasts, and interactive features to complement the British Library's online gallery of sacred texts. Many items here were created for our Sacred exhibition in 2007, on the common ground of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. We will expand this site, adding items from other major religions." 78 of the exhibition's 150 texts are available from their Website. (Subject(s): Religions)
Searchforvideo: Find the Video You Want: "Searchforvideo.com is a video search engine which also offers video clips from thousands of websites you can browse using user-friendly categories." News, entertainment, sports, music and movies are but some of the topics of the videos available for viewing by using this site's keyword search engine. (Subject(s): Videos)
The Secret Life of the Brain: "THE SECRET LIFE OF THE BRAIN, a David Grubin Production, reveals the fascinating processes involved in brain development across a lifetime. The five-part series, which will premiere nationally on PBS in winter 2002, informs viewers of exciting new information in the brain sciences, introduces the foremost researchers in the field, and utilizes dynamic visual imagery and compelling human stories to help a general audience understand otherwise difficult scientific concepts." This is the companion Website for that series. (Subject(s): Brain)
SFGate: Wine: Best of Class 2008: "The results of the 2008 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition are in! Sixty professional wine judges from throughout the United States evaluated more than 4235 wines from over 1500 wineries from across the country. The judging of the wines took place in Sonoma County on January 8-11." Of course if you're really a fan: "A public tasting well be held on February 16, 2008 at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco." You'll need a (rather expensive) ticket! (Subject(s): Wine)
Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations: The Most Notable Quotations: 1950–1988: Compiled by James B. Simpson (1988): "With over 9,000 quotations from 4,000 sources organized into 25 categories and 60 sections, this comprehensive reference work contains words of wit and wisdom from such modern notables as Ezra Pound, Henry Kissinger, George Orwell, Dorothy Parker, and Desmond Tutu." (Subject(s): Quotations)
The Thoreau Reader: The Annotated Works of Henry David Thoreau: "Henry Thoreau's life can be described as two major accomplishments: he lived life on his own terms to a remarkable degree, and he wrote it all down. Thoreau did not write stories; he wrote some poetry, but mostly he wrote essays. His work began with journal entries; he then built essays from his journal, and later combined essays into books. The work of assembling essays into books has continued, and much of his work has been published posthumously. Recent editions of Thoreau's works, published in 1993, 1999 and 2004, include material not previously available.... The Thoreau Reader contains five of Thoreau's essays. Civil Disobedience is the most famous; it was written after Henry, protesting slavery and the Mexican War, was put in jail overnight for refusing to pay his poll tax. Someone paid the tax for him — ending his protest abruptly — so he put his opposition in writing, creating a document that later influenced both Gandhi and Martin Luther King... " (Subject(s): Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862)
The Transcendentalists: "Welcome to the Transcendentalists web site! We've organized this site to provide both original content and links to other material on the internet for study of the Transcendentalists: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller and others. We'll be adding more original content over time, so keep visiting and check for what we've added." Other members of the group included Theodore Parker, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, A. Bronson Alcott, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne and William Ellery Channing. (Subject(s): Transcendentalists (Literary movement))
World Animal Net: World Animal Net is the world's largest network of animal protection societies with consultative status at the UN. Working to improve the status and welfare of animals with over 3,000 affiliates in more than 100 countries. (Subject(s): Animals & Conservation and Restoration)

THE LAST WORD: Dealing With Emergencies

This is a special Webpage from the folks at WebMD: "Review this topic before you need it. Then, when you are faced with an emergency or injury, you will know where to turn. Your confidence in dealing with both major and minor emergencies will be reassuring to an injured person. Some of the medical emergencies you may find helpful to review are: * Bleeding. * Chest Pain. * Choking Rescue Procedure (Heimlich Maneuver). * Confusion, Memory Loss, and Altered Alertness. [and] * Head Injury, Age 4 and Older." Other topics include: Poisonings, Shock, and Stroke. This is a valuable tool for learning about many of the common medical emergencies that may occur to you or your family members during a lifetime. (Subject(s): Medicine)


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