As autumn rolls in, we've been stocking our web pantry (a.k.a., the Directory) with great sites to help you out this season. Here’s a selection of the freshest choice sites: Best-selling author James Patterson has put together a site where he offers recommendations for kids' books, sorted by age group. It's a wonderful resource for teachers, librarians, and for parents of kids heading back to school. You can browse book lists by type, read and listen to author interviews, and view lesson plans. Now that "Reading Rainbow" is no more, this is just the kind of site we need! We're already looking forward to Halloween. The California Science Center must be, too. Their latest exhibition, "Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear," is traveling all over the country, and has a great interactive online exhibit to get you in the mood -- or at least explain the mood. Explore how fear works in the brain, in the wild, and in the media -- and find out how to deal with it. Fall is a season for cooking. But when you're ready to take a break and eat out, you may want more than "just" a restaurant review. Dishola allows users to review specific menu items at local eateries, and upload photos of their meals. For those who are trying to live green (a good idea in any season), Project Label provides "nutritional labels" for companies, revealing their social and environmental impact based on public info and user input. Suggested Sites... Read, Kiddo, Read! - the world of kids' books, according to James Patterson. Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear - online and traveling exhibit explains why our hearts race, our knees shake, and our bodies sweat when we're scared. Dishola - reviews for individual menu items at local eateries. Project Label - company "nutrition" labels rate impact on the planet, community, and workers.

Directory categories: Children’s Literature, The Brain, Restaurant Reviews, Green Product Reviews

Archived under: Authors, Autumn, Books, Children, Children´s Literature, Consumer Advocacy, Eating, Education, Food and Drink, Green Living, Green Products, Museums, Parenting, Psychology, Reading, Restaurants, Science, Society and Culture, Yahoo! Directory

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"Anybody see the Mona Lisa? She was hanging there just a minute ago" How is it that the most famous painting in the world could simply vanish, its disappearance not noted for 24 hours, and then not be found until nearly two years later? As with most mysteries, the disappearance of the "Mona Lisa" is certainly stranger than fiction. It was August 21, 1911, when the painting's absence was first noted by Louvre staff. The museum was shut down for a week so that the entire 49-acre facility could be searched. All employees and administrators were ruthlessly questioned by Paris police and many staffers were fired. France's borders were closed and all international shipments were subject to search and seizure. In short, it was the "Crime of the Century" (and offered a convenient distraction from the international conflicts that would evenutally lead to World War I). When the "Mona Lisa's" disappearance became public, everyone had a theory as to the identity of the perpetrators. Could it be an obsessive American art collector? An angry anti-establishment poet? A foreign conman and art forger? Or maybe it was the world’s foremost artist, Pablo Picasso. Picasso was actually questioned by police after being implicated by his friend and fellow suspect Guillaume Apollinaire, but both were eventually exonerated. For hunt continued for two years, but the trail went cold. In late 1913, however, Italian authorities arrested a former Louvre employee named Vincenzo Peruggia. Peruggia had been turned in by two local art experts (one the director of the Uffizi Gallery) after he attempted to sell the "Mona Lisa" in Florence. Peruggia's motive was political: he was angered by the plunder of Italian artwork more than a century before during the Napoleonic Wars and was attempting to restore the painting to its rightful homeland. Peruggia was convicted by an Italian court, but served minimal time and eventually returned to Paris. Embarrassed by the publicity surrounding the painting's theft and rediscovery, French art authorities allowed the "Mona Lisa" to tour Italy before she was returned to the Louvre, where she remains to this day. Even today, the "Mona Lisa" continues to evoke strong emotions. In 1956, two separate vandals attempted to damage the painting by throwing acid and a rock at it. Several years later, the painting was encased in bulletproof glass, which helped protect Mona in 1974, when another vandal tried to spray her with red paint. And just last week, a woman gained publicity (and probably jail time) by hurling a ceramic mug at poor Mona. Meanwhile, the success of the book and film "The DaVinci Code" (as well as other books) has renewed interest in that enigmatic smile (not to mention other features) for whole new generations. The true story of the theft of the "Mona Lisa" may not be as exciting as something out of "The DaVinci Code," but it is certainly has its own elements that would make any mystery fan proud: scandal, celebrity, politics, and some good old-fashioned detective work. Suggested Sites... Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of the Mona Lisa - a new book by R.A. Scotti that explores the painting's disappearance and its widespread appeal. The Crimes of Paris - also new in literature. Dorothy and Thomas Hoober's fictional account of the theft of the "Mona Lisa," focusing on the efforts of a French detective to find it. The Louvre - official site for Mona Lisa's home. Virtual Tour of Le Louvre - take a walk around the home of the world's artistic and historical treasures.

Directory categories: Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, Le Louvre, Stolen Art, French History

Archived under: 1910s, Anniversaries, Art Museums, Artists, Arts, Crime, Criminals, Da Vinci Code, Detectives, Disappearances, Europe, European History, France, History, Images, Italy, Louvre, Museums, Mysteries, Secrets, Tourist Attractions, Women

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"I can see my house from here!" (Photo by Ludovic Bertron) On July 4th, just in time to celebrate the Independence Day weekend, the Statue of Liberty will be re-opening her arms to tourists seeking to ascend the 354 narrow steps (154 from pedestal to crown) to view the New York Harbor area from the top of her head. After nearly eight years of security-related closure (due to the events of September 11th, 2001), Lady Liberty will once again welcome visitors to the upper elevations of her copper-clad physique. Ever since her dedication in 1886, the monument standing guard over the New York City area has symbolized democracy and friendship, and she remains a quintessential American icon. As a gift from France to commemorate the centennial of the American Revolution in 1876, she arrived a fashionable decade late, but it's the thought that counts, right? Her creators, sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and structural engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (yes, that Eiffel), wanted to ensure her artistic and ever-lasting perfection, befitting what was to become a National Monument and a United Nations World Heritage Site. To return the favor to the French, Americans living in France dedicated a smaller replica of the statue in 1889. It resides in Paris on Île des Cygnes. While this holiday weekend may be one of the more exciting times to (re)visit the Statue of Liberty, the crown tour plan appears to be permanent. The tours will be ranger-led and allow only 10 people every 20 minutes. It is highly recommended that you visit the National Park Service web site to make your reservations for Liberty Island and Crown tour tickets, as this new-again opportunity to experience a global icon of freedom is expected to be quite popular. After all, not many can pass up the patriotic photo op. Have a happy and safe Fourth of July weekend! Suggested Sites... YouTube: Exclusive Tour of Lady Liberty - join Rep. Anthony Weiner in a trip up the spiral steps to the crown observation deck. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. - fun facts about the Statue of Liberty. Free Printable Coloring Pages - color in your very own Statue of Liberty. Wikipedia: Emma Lazarus - biography of the woman whose sonnet is engraved in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. "The New Colossus" - the poem itself.

Directory categories: Statue of Liberty, National Park Service, National Monuments, Fourth of July, U.S. Declaration of Independence

Archived under: 19th Century, 4th of July, 9/11, American History, Architecture, France, Holidays, Immigration, Museums, New York, Parks, Recreation and Travel, Tourist Attractions, Travel, United States

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(Photo by Nathan Wong) It was in mid-July, the year 1799, when a key to unlocking an ancient culture was discovered. Carved in 196 B.C., the Rosetta Stone was merely a simple political decree during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, but its value to history became much more than an inscription in rock. Scholars had been trying to fully decipher and translate Egyptian hieroglyphics for nearly 1400 years, to little avail. But when a three-foot slab was unearthed near an Egyptian port city by Napoleon's troops, the French immediately knew they had a source of untold treasure on their hands. What made the stone so significant was that the same message was written in three languages: Egyptian hieroglyphs, a later cursive form of hieroglyphs, and Greek. Thomas Young is credited with translating the cursive script in 1814, which later helped Jean-François Champollion complete the interpretation of the more ancient symbols 10 years later -- thus opening up the translation of a civilization. For the last 200 hundred years, the Rosetta Stone has been exhibited at the British Museum. You can venture to see it with your own eyes and unlock its mysteries. Or you can purchase an exact replica for yourself. Just remember, for perpetuity's sake, be sure to translate all your Post-it notes into at least three languages. Suggested Sites... The Story of the Rosetta Stone - from the EMuseum at Minnesota State University. National Geographic Hieroglyphics Translator - see how to write your name, or compose a message in Egyptian hieroglyphics. Mr. Dowling's Rosetta Stone Page - a history lesson designed for middle school students. The Rosetta Project - a global collaboration to build an online archive of all documented human languages.

Directory categories: The Rosetta Stone, Egypt, Egyptology, Languages

Archived under: Ancient History, Archaeology, Egypt, History, Languages, Museums, Rosetta Stone

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Hitler wax figure in Madame Tussaud's in London (Photo by Ashley Rehnblom) Somewhere in Berlin, a headless Adolf Hitler sits brooding in the new Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. Over the weekend, a protester ran past guards and decapitated the wax figure of history's most reviled monster. While the beheading may seem more than 60 years late, it was hardly the first attempt on Hitler's life: Learn more in this category on Hitler Assassination Attempts in the Yahoo! Directory, where you can find plenty of information about the Führer and this atrocious period in modern history. Hitler's likeness in wax may seem like a strange choice for Madame Tussauds, since in recent years their wax museums have mostly depicted popular entertainment figures like Jamie Oliver and Leonardo DiCaprio. But back in the day, one of the museum's most popular attractions was the Chamber of Horrors, which reproduced murders, criminals, and mangled victims of the French Revolution in gruesome detail -- the gorier, the better. And the Berlin museum has been careful to depict Hitler not as a glorious cult figure, but as a desperate man in his last suicidal days, hunched over a desk in a dimly lit bunker. Commemorating the leader of the Third Reich may seem tasteless, but bad taste is always a sure-fire way to get press: Remember the terrorism-themed restaurant in Lebanon and the Nazi-themed café in India? Alas, the public won't let the bad taste linger in our mouths -- the owner of Hitler's Cross Café in Mumbai quickly issued an apology and changed its name. For now, Berlin's Madame Tussauds will remain open without its Hitler mannequin, but the museum plans to restore the figure and return it to display. (Could there soon be another attempt on Hitler's head? We hope so!) Of course, the world doesn't need a life-sized wax figure to remind us of Hitler's crimes. Check out the Yahoo! Directory to learn more about the man himself, the Holocaust, and other information related to this dark time in our history. Suggested Sites... United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - this Washington D.C. museum teaches people about the danger of hatred. Silent Witness: The Story of Lola Rein and Her Dress - the tiny dress that Lola Rein wore during the Holocaust was her only link to her family. Read about her story and see her dress and other artifacts. The Forward - the Jewish weekly newspaper that launched in 1897 in New York as a Yiddish daily. Madame Tussauds - an international empire based on great big candles, if you think about it.

Directory categories: Hitler Assassination Attempts, Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, Madame Tussauds

Archived under: Adolph Hitler, Assassinations, Dictators, Entertainment, History, Museums, Tourist Attractions, WWII, Wax Museums

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