Latest Web Sites of Interest!

Calendars & Events:
BBC On This Day in History
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/years/default.stm
Search by date or topic area.

Lifelong Learning:
Lectures on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com
YouTube includes many online lectures and complete courses. The best way to access these courses is via the official YouTube site for a particular university. These sites not only include courses online, but also on-campus lectures, books talks and more. See for example the YouTube pages for Berkeley, Stanford, George Washington School for Media and Public Affairs, Knowledge@Wharton.
1. Search for a university’s official YouTube page by searching YouTube by school name and then select the “Channels” tab for official sites.
2 . Search on a topic in YouTube, including the term “lecture” or “course” (for example, Physics lecture) and then select the “Playlists” tab for a list of lecture series.
3. Search YouTube for a lecturer’s name such as Edward O. Wilson or Jared Diamond.
4. Conduct a Google search on “Stanford YouTube”, for example.

Search Engines:
Cuil
http://www.cuil.com
A new search engine that claims to index more pages than Google. Results are presented in a grid format with pictures and options for “drilling down.”

Info on the Go:
IM Translator
http://translation.imtranslator.net/
Translate a word or phrase using this online resource–and click a link to find out how to pronounce it correctly!

Government & Politics:
Polling Report
http://www.pollingreport.com 
One stop shop for latest national political polls. View also by

Most Visited Museums?

For all of you art and culture lovers out there, here’s the latest rankings of museums (based upon number of visitors) for 2008 by Bloomberg.com

1.  The Louvre (Paris) —  8.5 million visitors.
2.  The British Museum (London) —  5.93 million.
3.  The National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC) —  4.96 million.
4.  The Tate Modern Museum (London) —  4.95 million.
5.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City) — 4.82 million.
6.  The Vatican Museums (The Vatican) —  4.44 million.

Victory for MSU!

Sparty says: "Go Green!"

Congratulations to the Michigan State University Spartans (#2 seed) on their victory over the #1 seeded University of Louisville Cardinals,and welcome to the Final Four!  Next stop Detroit!

The other teams to successfully navigate the weekend to reach the Final Four: the University of Connecticut Huskies (MSU’s next opponent), the University of Villanova Wildcats, and the North Carolina Tar Heels.  All of these teams have been here before, and all have come away with a National Championship in previous years (some more recently than others).

Regardless, it should be another awesome round of basketball next Saturday (April 4th) before the final on Monday (April 6th).

Go Green!

New Vocabulary Word!

thaumaturgy \THAW-muh-tuhr-jee\, noun:
The performance of miracles or magic.

(Can you tell that the weather has me stuck in the apartment today?)

Building on Some Themes!

Here’s a delightful poem from Emily Dickinson that ties together many of my previous posts: Spring, Madness, and Green!

A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King,
But God be with the Clown –
Who ponders this tremendous scene –
This whole Experiment of Green –
As if it were his own!

Go Green!

So This Is Spring!

Spring Arrival

In honor of our Spring snowstorm, here’s another piece from my art collection that seems to tie in quite well with today’s weather patterns.  This is a signed limited edition print and it is the only piece in my collection that I do not know the name of the artist (and the signature is less than perfectly legible).  In my analysis of the signature, I know his first name begins with a “B” (Burt, or Bart?) and the last name begins with an “F” (Forbes, Farber?).   The title is “Spring Arrival” and it is definitely snowing in the background.

I picked up this piece at an art shop in Kansas City (in the Brookside area of town) and have even returned to the art shop to attempt to discover the artist’s name.  Alas, I was unsuccessful.  Of course at the time I purchased this piece, I could really care less “who” the artist was, I just loved the depiction of the Bison!  How shallow of me.  Oh well, this one was acquired early on in my collecting career and I will not make this mistake again.  

To the artist of this wonderful piece . . . my humblest apologies for not being able to give you proper credit.

THANK YOU PHIL MEEK . . . the author is BART FORBES, currently residing in Dallas, Texas.

A Different Kind of Madness?

Yes, it is March which usuall means March Madness and college basketball.  Well, we are a week into Spring and yet . . . a different kind of March madness here in Oklahoma: we’re getting blasted with some snow this morning.   Aournd 7:00 AM this morning, there was a light rain as I drove to the American Red Cross for my apheresis appointment (to donate platelets).  Sometime during my donation the rain had changed to snow and when I went to leave around 9:15 AM, there was already about an inch of wet, sticky snow covering my car. 

Here’s the view from my apartment balcony at 11:00 AM.  We’ve transitioned from a lush and green (with everything blooming) spring landscape to one that is white and wintery.  

So, in the spirit of March Madness, whether it is green or it is white, Go Spartans!  (Go Green!  Go White!)

But have no fear, the snow is supposed to stop by noon and it is supposed to get up into the mid-50’s tomorrow. 

You’ve got to love the weather!

Spartan Spirit!

For those of you who are just dying to know . . . here are the words to the Michigan State University Fight Song:

On the banks of the Red Cedar, is a school that’s know to all,
Its specialty is winning, ahd those Spartans play good ball,
Spartan teams are never beaten, all thru the game they fight,
Fight for the only colors, Green and White,

Go right thru for MSU, watch the points keep growing,
Spartan teams are bound to win, they’re fighting with a vim, Rah! Rah! Rah!
See their team is weakening, we’re going to win the game,
Fight! Fight! Rah! Team fight! Victory for MSU,

And, while I’m at it, here is the Alma Mater (The MSU Shadows).

MSU we love thy shadows, when twilight silence falls,
Flushing deep and softly paling, o’er ivy covered halls;
Beneath the pines we’ll gather, to give our faith so true,
Sing our love for Alma Mater, and thy praises MSU.

When from these scenes we wander, and twilight shadows fade,
Our memory still will linger, where light and shadows played;
In teh evening oft we’ll gather, and pledge our faith a new,
Sing our love of Alma Mater, and thy praises MSU.

Go Green! Good luck against Louisville!

Spartans Prevail!

Go Green!  All of the top seeds (#1s and #2s) won today and the Elite Eight are now set.  Added to the group are: Louisville, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Michigan State.  The irony: I was unable to actually watch the game.  It sounded like a great game (but I would have been pulling my hair out — the Spartans trailed for most of the game).

Final count: all four number one seeds, two number two seeds, and two number three seeds.  No Cinderellas remain.  Four teams from the Big East, two from the Big Twelve, and one each from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten.

What a great way to start the weekend.  By the end of this weekend, we will have the Final Four!   Next up for Michigan State: the Louisville Cardinals.

Interesting Development . . .

As the Madness continues . . . in today’s action, both #1 seeds won (UConn and Pittsburgh — both from the Big East Conference) and both #3 seeds won (Missouri and Villinova — one from the Big Twelve Conference and yet another from the Big East Conference).  Both #2 seeds lost today (Duke and Memphis).  Hopefully this trend will not carry over into tomorrow evening’s games (the #2 Spartans are in action against the #3 Kansas Jayhawks). 

Time will tell.  Keep the faith and Go Green!

And with Louisville (a #1 seed) and Syracuse (a #3 seed) yet to play . . . there’s a possibility that up to five of the final Elite Eight teams could be from the powerhouse Big East conference . . . hold on to your seats folks, this is getting interesting indeed.