Unwrap All Your Favorite Subjects

Here are some new and interesting Websites and Webhibits (exhibits on the Web) to UNWRAP at the end the year.  I've got all our favorite subjects COVERED starting with an excerpt from a poem about winter found using The Poetry Tool  Enjoy!

  

February

by Margaret Atwood 

Winter. Time to eat fat

and watch hockey. In the pewter mornings, the cat,

a black fur sausage with yellow

Houdini eyes, jumps up on the bed and tries 

to get onto my head. It’s his

way of telling whether or not I’m dead.

If I’m not, he wants to be scratched; if I am

He’ll think of something......

Science & World History: The Royal Society in London celebrates 350 years of scholarship by opening up its digital archives.  Showcasing many of its spectacular collections is this nifty exhibit called Trailblazing Three and a half centuries of Royal Society Publishing. Explore the time line and view such wonders as Ben Franklin's kite experiment (including his letter confirming his result) and other scientific wonders put into perspective with historic content included as well.  Also check out Science Sees Further, articles about important current topics in science. 

Art & Medicine:  This online exhibition from the National Library of Medicine features very cool Turn the Pages Technology to showcase exquisite antique books.  The Historiae Animalium (Studies on Animals) is amazing. 

Journalism & World Languages: Newseum Today's Front Pages offers the front pages of over 800 papers from 81 countries.  What a great way for students to get a first-hand account of life in another city/country.  The entire Newseum website is a treasure trove of information including its spectacular  Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery.  I highly recommend visiting this amazing place with your family if you are ever in D.C.  It's just steps away from the Mall.

Government: If the founding fathers had Twitter what would the Bill of Rights look like? To commemorate Bill of Rights Day December 15th the National Archives had a Twitter contest asking people to Tweet each section.  Here are the winners of If the Founding Fathers Had Twitter. 

English: Figment.com is a new website where writers can share their writing.  Dead Caulfieds is a website dedicated to J.D. Salinger and the basis for a new book on the author published this month, J.D. Salinger, A Life. Use the Poetry Tool hosted by the Poetry Foundation to find poems using popuar search categories: occasion, title, first line, etc. 

Math/Statistics:  Ever wonder how much time a day the average American spends on leisure activities, household chores, their jobs?  Check out the American Time Use Survey for some great facts to know and tell at the dinner table.  (Sadly women still spend more time in their day than men on housework--51% as opposed to 20%.  Perhaps some of us can use this fact to get out of the clean-up detail during break--even the score at the end of the year...)

Biography: Using mapping software the website Muckety: Exploring the Paths of Power and Influence creates graphic relationships between people, not only in the news but also in fiction (many Harry Potter characters are profiled).  Users can also make their own accounts and create Muckety Maps of their own. 

Performing Arts/Music:  The Petrucci Music Library has an extensive list of free public domain sheet music. Fourteen Actors Acting showcases great actors from this year's movies, including our own James Franco, acting out "classic screen types". 

Sports:  Most people don't look to the lofty pages of the  NY Times for their sports news, but I encourage  sports fans to take a look at their multimedia offerings and blogs such as Off the Dribble  and Slap Shot .  Check out this multimedia piece Rushing the Quarterback Taylor Style. 


Business/Economics:  The Special Issues Index has links to a wide variety of articles that provide data for a large collection of industries.  Most articles are freely available online. Also check out the recent US Economy at a Glance (probably not a very jolly prospect these days and thus best viewed with a hearty eggnog in hand).  UNdata "a world of information" crunches data across a variety of issues for every member country.

Finally, Dessert:  Some favorite recipe websites when cooking with friends and family: Epicurius , Allrecipes.com Culinary.net.