A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict
India 1930, Denmark 1940, Nashville 1960, Poland 1980, Chile 1983, and South Africa 1984 -- these were rare historical moments when people succeeded in using nonviolent means to achieve social and political change. This PBS companion to the TV series looks at the resistance movements of the 20th century, at leadership and tactics, and the essential philosophy of nonviolent conflict. Consider this arsenal of 198 methods of nonviolent protest and persuasion, a fascinating list that includes everything from rude gestures to street theatre, from haunting and taunting to hunger strikes, as well as many varieties of sit-in, teach-in, stay-in, walkout, and slowdown.
Common-Place: The Interactive Journal of Early American Life
Welcome to the first edition of an online quarterly for the study and discussion of pre-1850 American history, which claims to be "...friendlier than a scholarly journal, a bit more scholarly than a popular magazine." Handsome woodcuts and etched images on a parchment-like background grace sober explorations of the Seven Years War, the myth of early American gun culture, and the opening of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, built with profits from the Connecticut tribe's controversial casino. This issue's Tales from the Vault presents a case study of race, rape, and incest in a turn-of-the-19th-century Massachusetts family. So much for the good old days...
In Passing is an homage to the art of eavesdropping -- a collection of moments, captured, not in photos or sketches, but in snippets of overheard conversation, "two second window(s) into someone else's life." Organized topically into sections with titles like Ironic, Bizarre, Tragic, and Graffiti, these verbal vignettes are raw material for storytellers and stand-up comics. Based in and around the UC campus at Berkeley, California, there's plenty of eccentric Bezerkley local color. Don't miss the visitor comments and contributions, or leave a note to mark your own passing by.
Got a bad case of jungle fever? A bout of grocer's itch? Ever struggled with coprolalia? If so, we've got good news: You're cured! That's right, all of those conditions have been eradicated by means of linguistic obsolescence. (In other words, they're now described using... other words.) Those, and hundreds of other diseases and conditions like them, are now just fleeting footnotes in the dusty old textbook of medical history. Happily, many of the hundreds of illnesses listed on the site have indeed been defeated by modern medicine. Let's hope the list keeps growing by leaps and bounds in the decades to come.
Take a few moments to explore this beautiful exhibit from the Nelson-Atkins Musuem of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, and you'll be rewarded with a in-depth view of the interconnectedness of time and art. Browse the illustrated 20th-century timeline, featuring the work of noted artists such as Pierre Dumont, Edward Hopper, and Mark Rothko, or just travel the seven continents investigating different cultural views of time. Either way, the art is both beautiful and beautifully presented, and the curators' notes are detailed and thought-provoking. Make sure you catch this collection before time runs out.
Using cutting-edge radar techniques and good old-fashioned people power, the folks at BirdCast have put together a fascinating picture of bird migration in the mid-Atlantic states. Log on and view the predicted density of migrating flocks -- including Canadian Geese, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Great Blue Herons, and dozens of other species. In addition to checking the current avian forecast, you can view historical migration data collected by workers and volunteers, sorted by date or by species. So read up on how BirdCast works and get outside and watch the traffic fly by...
The Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art
This ambitious tour from the Dallas-based art museum exhibits artwork from China, Japan, India, and Southeast Asia, spanning several millennia. It's a treasure trove of exquisite images and flashy web design that sometimes feels like a labyrinth of menus and pop-up windows. We wandered through colorful screens that introduce regional culture, history, religion, and objets d'art. Some elements of the presentation require the LivePicture plug-in for viewing 3D animations, but even without the plug-in there's plenty to explore.
This "decidedly female look at everything Elvis" launched on June 5, 2000, the 44th anniversary of Elvis's notably pelvic rendition of Hound Dog on the Milton Berle Show. Hot pink buttons titled Elvis=Sex, Elvis=Fun, and Elvis=Art let you navigate a comprehensive repository of Elvisology, sprinkled with photos and featuring transcribed conversations with the King. Within minutes of arrival, we'd learnt that Elvis's hair was really dirty blonde underneath his blue-back pompadour, his closet was vast and full of clothes, he loved to get a tan, enjoyed listening to Mario Lanza, and never wrote a song. Mm mm oh, oh, yeah, yeah!
