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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Possible algal bloom in Canada's Bowman Bay (Photo by Pierre Nordique) It seems there are still mysteries to solve on this planet. Following the recent discovery of the "Alaskan blob" (insert your own Sarah Palin joke here ... ), there's been a flurry of news stories covering the explosion of colonies of microorganisms on both sides of North America. The furry-looking slick located off the shores of northern Alaskan has so far baffled scientists as to why it's appeared where it has. It's something generations of locals have never seen before, and whether it will hurt the local wildlife and eco-systems or not is something they can't yet answer. Just a simple news search on "algae bloom" gives you the skinny on who's dealing with harmful algal blooms (or HABs, for short) at this very moment. In June, there was an algae bloom in Tampa that stretched for more than a dozen miles, and which could still cause a large fish kill. And off the entire coast of Maine, a red tide has virtually shut down clam-digging and other local fishing industries. As of last week, the most current research vessels on the scene have concluded that the bloom is finally ending, though. And these examples represent just saltwater occurrences, we haven't even begun to touch on the freshwater bacteria that can wreak all sorts of havoc ... something that visitors to Vancouver Lake in Washington found out about last weekend. And now that we've got you worried about that, what's up with those big globs of oil washing up on the beaches in Texas? Suggested Sites... National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service - investigating the ocean algae blooms with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Harmful Algae: Red Tide - comprehensive resource for information about harmful algal blooms. The Bioluminescence Web Page - some varieties of algal blooms can produce a ghostly glow in the dark. The Biotech Weblog - researchers find a diatom that can reduce the toxicity of a red tide.

Directory categories: Harmful Algal Blooms, Phycology, Microorganisms, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Archived under: Alaska, Bacteria, Beaches, Biology, Canada, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Mysteries, Nature, Science, Scientists, Underwater, Weird Stuff

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You never know what you might see if you just look up (Photo by xamad) This weekend, you might be attending a Fourth of July party, and you'll probably be craning your neck upwards to watch fireworks displays. As you gaze, though, cast your eyes a little further upward for a glimpse of the biggest and brightest parties of them all. You won't find paparazzi or a red carpet at these parties, just dark skies filled with dazzling stars of the celestial kind. A quintessential part of the amateur astronomer scene worldwide, star parties are held in public squares, at campgrounds, on mountaintops, and even on the Grand Canyon's North Rim. Open to the public, these nighttime gatherings and weekend campouts are an excellent way to become acquainted with astronomy and the wonders of the night sky. 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, ensuring that telescopes will be set up on sidewalks, at observatories, or in parks near you. If you can't make it to the party, just step outside into the night, or plan a star party of your own. Suggested Sites... "Sky & Telescope" Event Calendar - find a star party near you. Space.com’s Star Party Survival Guide - tips for happy stargazing. Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events – 2009 - see what's up tonight -- literally. Night Sky Network - NASA's guide to clubs, events, and starry happenings. The Galileoscope: An IYA2009 Cornerstone Project - get started with an inexpensive telescope.

Directory categories: Star Parties, Astronomy Clubs, Astronomy Beginners' Guides, International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009), Astrophotography

Archived under: Astronomy, Celebrations, Events, Exploration, Holidays, Night, Outdoors, Planets, Science, Space, Stars, Summer

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The original poster for Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. Traveler beware! Anyone who's been to Disneyland or Walt Disney World over the past 45 years has probably suffered through the Enchanted Tiki Room, "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln," or (worst of all) "It’s a Small World." All of these "attractions” feature Disney’s patented and trademarked "Audio-Animatronic" technology. These animatronics work through an ingenious combination of air pressure, water pressure, electronics, and computers that tell these plastic- and fabric-covered robotic puppets to move through a series of pre-programmed movements with all the realism and agility of an arthritic turtle. While some may find these doppelgangers grotesque, it is reported that many more are delighted by them and their antics. So, in that light, we note that, on June 23, 1963, the Tiki Room opened for business in Disneyland's Adventureland. The gimmick is simple: unwitting suckers -- er, "guests" -- desperate for anyplace to sit after hours of waiting in line in ungodly heat, wander dazedly into the Tiki Room after hearing the ballyhoo from José Carioca, the ever-chattering pitch-parrot who looms outside the hut. (Why a Brazilian parrot should be shilling for a Hawaiian-themed room is a mystery, but it ultimately makes as much sense as the Mexican, Irish, French, and German parrots who host the show inside.) Once seated, the guests are subjected to a spectacle consisting of scores of birds and tikis singing various ditties, the most notorious of which is the anthemic "In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room." After a suitable period, the bombarded guests are gratefully released back into the "real" world. There's something about these attractions that brings out the annoying in the Disney Imagineers and composers. "Pirates of the Caribbean" has its marauding buccaneers sing a catchy chantey -- most of which is unintelligible except for its repeated lines of "Yo ho! Yo ho! A pirate’s life for me!" and "Drink up, me hearties, yo ho!" And the less said about the endlessly-rendered title song of "It’s a Small World," the better (try getting that one out of your head, now that we've mentioned it). We must admit, though, we were actually fond of the Carousel of Progress’s "There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" -- which may be one of the reasons the attraction was closed at the original Magic Kingdom in 1973 (though it survives at Walt Disney World). In recent years, the technology has improved. The original version of the Tiki Room featured a behind-the-scenes array of computers that filled a room, with vast machines that hummed, clicked, and whirred (one assumes that any well-equipped laptop could take the place of all those machines nowadays). "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" has gone through many iterations at Disneyland, and has been supplanted at Walt Disney World with the "Hall of Presidents," which allows Americans to see plastic robots that grotesquely impersonate the U.S.'s past and present chief executives -- and even to hear Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama provide their own voices! Given Disney's genius for combining earworms and Animatronics makes us grateful that they didn't apply it to the Presidents. The prospect of hearing Mr. Lincoln serenading Jefferson Davis with a tune called something like "Keep a Civil Tongue in Your Head" is tempting, but too much to bear. Suggested Sites... The Enchanted Tiki Room - official Disney site, with information, images -- and that song. DaveLandWeb: Enchanted Tiki Room - obsessively complete photo gallery of every aspect of the attraction. Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln - watch the 16th president in plastic zombie form! Dead Men Tell No Tales - fan site for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride. (Maybe they can decipher the lyrics ...) How Animatronics Works - Step 1: Build a rubber puppet...

Directory categories: Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disneyland Rides and Attractions, Animatronics, Robotics

Archived under: 1960s, Abraham Lincoln, American History, Amusement Parks, Anniversaries, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Birds, Dead Celebrities, Disney, Disneyland, Entertainment, George Bush, Impersonators, Invention, Presidents, Puppets, Robotics, Science, Technology, Tourist Attractions, Ventriloquism

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Halley's Comet, minus the advertising space that's sure to come next time If there's one thing mankind has discovered, it's that nature cannot be tamed. As last weekend's earthquake in Los Angeles and the recent "inland hurricane" in Southern Illinois proved, when Mother Nature wants to do something, it's best to stay out of her way. With that in mind, today we examine a few of the ways in which people have coped with nature's whims. The first took place on May 19, 1780. While the former British colonists of New England were still fighting their Revolution, strange things were happening. For a couple of days prior, the skies from Maine to New Jersey had been strangely colored -- yellow, copper, and red -- but in mid-morning of the 19th, those skies began to darken unnaturally to the point that, by noon (in most places), it was as dark as midnight. While animals behaved normally, many humans panicked and flocked to religious services, believing the end of the world had come. Those of a more scientific bent tried to determine what had happened, but were baffled. By the next day, the darkness had dissipated as mysteriously as it had come. Modern scientists have examined "Dark Day" and are now pretty sure (though not positive) that a combination of wet weather, Canadian forest fires, and just-right winds created a "perfect storm," and a cloud cover so thick that sunlight was unable to provide illumination to the region. While 18th-century Americans were driven into confusion and terror by a natural phenomenon, by the 20th century, Yankee ingenuity had figured out how to capitalize on Mother Nature. Halley's Comet paid the Earth a visit in 1910. Even though it had been doing so with no harmful effects since at least 240 BCE, the media got hold of the fact that the Earth would pass through the comet's tail on May 19th, and a minor worldwide panic ensued. Predictions of the damage that would be caused were apocalyptic. It got even worse when scientists determined that the comet's tail contained cyanogen gas -- similar to cyanide -- leading many to believe they'd be poisoned. Panicked (again), Americans packed churches, stopped up their doors and window with towels, and went insane from worry -- and (of course) there was a land-office business in comet "cures," ranging from pills to inhalers to gas masks. Of course, not everyone panicked, but even for those folks who kept their heads, retailers and restraurateurs managed to capitalize on comet fever, with souvenirs, postcards, pins, soaps, and even special dinners. While we can't imagine that when the "Big One" finally hits, folks will be flocking to buy souvenirs, we're pretty sure that, given the vast number of scams that popped up after Hurricane Katrina, American knowhow will figure out a way to make a buck. Suggested Sites... The Dark Day Over Olde New England - just what happened? Wikipedia: New England's Dark Day - description and links to sites explaining what occurred. Halley's Comet Postcards - capitalism is a worldwide phen A Brief History of Halley's Comet - from prehistory to the future. Comet Hysteria and the Millennium - it wasn't limited to 1910.

Directory categories: Weather, Weather Phenomena, Halley's Comet, Astronomy, Fraud

Archived under: 18th Century, 1910s, American History, Anniversaries, Astronomy, Coincidence, Comets, Environment, Events, Halley's Comet, History, Nature, Revolutionary War, Scams, Science, Society and Culture, Storms, Superstition, United States, Weather, Weird Stuff

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