General Interest
http://nortonbooks.typepad.com/everydaysociology/
When some people think about sociology, they might think about Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, and Manuel Castells. The witty, irreverent, and very insightful sociologists at Everyday Sociology consider those esteemed scholars, but they also examine social dynamics on airplanes, Asian American voters, and the world of celebrity. The Everyday Sociology weblog is edited by sociologist Karen Sternheimer, and her contributors include a wide range of practicing sociologists. Visitors to the site can scroll through recent entries and also browse several categories, which include crime and deviance, sex and gender, social psychology, and popular culture and consumption. Also, users may wish to look through the archives, which date back to June 2007. Along with being eminently readable, the site also includes teaching activities and video interviews. [KMG]
http://www.exploratorium.edu/music/index.html
How do opera singers sustain those high C's in "La Fille Du Régiment"? Is a birdsong music? These are but a few of the many questions explored, and answered, on this delightful site. Visitors can consider these and other queries through interactive exhibits, a "questions" section, and movies offered up by the Accidental Scientist Music site, created by staff members at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. To start, visitors should browse through the "Online Exhibits" area. Here they can join an online drum circle, explore the world of step dancing, and even create their own remixes. The "Questions" area provides multimedia answers to queries that include "Why does some music give me goose bumps?" and "Why does sad music sound sad?" Finally, the "Movies" area contains a selection of short films that cover everything from the tuning of musical instruments to the blues. [KMG]
Charles Baudelaire was an acclaimed poet and translator, and during his life he produced works that explored the urban condition, psychological turmoil, and despondency. He took meticulous care when crafting his poems, and his first work, Les Fleurs Du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) was published in 1857 when he was 36. The work was later praised by Gustave Flaubert and Victor Hugo, but the French government took exception to some of the poems contained in the volume and banned them until 1949. This site provides interested parties with access to the complete contents of the 1857 edition, along with the 1861 edition. The site also contains audio recordings of the poems made by Eva Le Gallienne and Louis Jordan for Caedmon Records. The site is quite a find, and users with a penchant for Baudelaire's works will want to return several times. [KMG]
http://www.pbs.org/jewishamericans/index.html
Noted filmmaker David Grubin recently completed a documentary for PBS which explores 350 years of Jewish American history. This compelling profile focuses on the tension between "identity and assimilation" and at its heart is "quintessentially an American story." Visitors to the site can start their journey through the site by watching video clips from the program organized by themes. These themes include "Anti-Semitism in America", "Political Activism", and "Being Jewish in Modern America". Moving on, visitors can click on over to the "Share Your Story" area to chime in with stories about their family traditions and even contribute a recipe or two. The "For Educators" section contains a set of four lesson plans that can be used in conjunction with the program and the accompany materials on the site. [KMG]
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/design/
Wants are much different than needs, though it would seem that various groups do a very good job of convincing individuals that they need all types of consumer goods. This rather insightful documentary from American RadioWorks looks into the world of buying and selling by talking with marketers, scientists, designers, and others. Produced by Chris Julin, Ochen Kaylan, and Ellen Guettler, the documentary explores topics such as the science behind shopping and the quest to market products directly to teenagers. Visitors can listen to the entire program here, read the transcript, take the "spendthrift-tightwad survey", and also view photographs of the American shopping experience. Additionally, visitors can take a look at their very thorough set of external links and resources on this subject. [KMG]
http://www.antiquespectacles.com/
There are some sites that cover the world of eyeglasses and related ocular devices, and then there is the site maintained by retired ophthalmologist Dr. David Fleishman. On his site, Fleishman brings together spectacle-related material about art, history and collecting all in one place. First-time visitors should stop by the "Introduction & News" area to learn about the overall scope of the site and to find out about the site's layout and organization. The "History & References" section is quite splendid, as visitors can read a developmental history of spectacles here, take in a recommended reading list, and translations of key historical documents related to spectacles, including the Sforza Letter of 1462. Visitors should not miss the "Interesting Topics" section, which includes features on famous religious leaders and their spectacles, representative examples of vision aids, and persons associated with the creation of new ocular devices, such as Benjamin Franklin and Dr. J. William Rosenthal. [KMG]
Based in Japan, this innovative and interesting site takes on industrial design in all its many manifestations. First-time visitors to the site will notice that the "Browse PingMag" section contains listings for "Arts & Crafts", "Conscientious Design", and "Manga", along with a dozen other topics. Right next to that section is the "Recent Articles" area. Here visitors can read pieces like "Swiss Graphic Design in Tokyo", "Street Art in Colombia", and "Yatai: Tokyo's Mobile Food Bars". Not surprisingly, the site features a number of photographs of new design items, desktop environments, and so on. Additionally, the site also contains a link to "PingMag MAKE!" which contains weekly interviews with innovative craftsmen across Japan. [KMG]
http://www.gardnermuseum.org/exhibitions/exhibition.asp
By the early 1500s, the Portuguese had established a range of trading ports across the world. These ports were located in Africa, Asia, and India. Over the next several centuries, traders returned to the western edge of Europe with a wide range of luxury objects crafted from ivory, crystal, gold, and gemstones. This arresting and visually stimulating online collection from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston allows visitors to leisurely explore the various items that were brought back by these traders. Visitors can look over items such as a wood and ivory inlaid folding game board and a writing cabinet by using the collection's interactive homepage. For those with more specific interests, there's also a timeline and sections that place the items into broader thematic categories, such as "foliage" and "Christian images". [KMG]
