This page has hundreds of links to sources about Western and non-Western mysticism. It includes links to original texts, theory and criticism, and other Web directories.

This site from the USDA has a lot to say about every aspect of gardening. Soil testing, growing wetland plants, and organic gardening are just a few of the hundreds of topics.

If you feel like you've been out of touch for the last, oh, three hundred years, this is a great (and enormous) Web site for you. Use the links on the left of the page, and you'll quickly arrive at sites dealing with everything from the Enlightenment to 19th century Latin America to Absolutism. At the top of the page are links to other sourcebooks, including ones about Islamic, Jewish, LGBT, and women's history.

Chronic wasting disease has appeared in the deer of Wisconsin and several other states in recent months. Here, the Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources explains the basics of the disease, and provides all kinds of information, from audio recordings to maps, about how the state is dealing with it. For those who are not in Wisconsin, links are provided to resources in other states and provinces.

For those of you who just returned from this year's American Librarian Association conference and are seeking out new interests groups, here is a start. For non-librarians out there, this site will change your opinions of librarianship forever.

This is a short but excellent bibliography of online resources about starting digitization projects.

In this 2001 article, former ALA president Nancy Kranich discusses the ineffectiveness and philosophical implications of internet filters.

This reviewer had a tough time getting through much more than ten seconds of "What Do You Get a Wookie for Christmas?", but "Upheaval' (click on the "Barry and Jon" link) had a rather surreal appeal. (Because of a technical slip-up, he also had the unsettling experience of listening to Wilco and Tammy Faye Bakker at the same time.) Many of the links on the Links page no longer work, but the site is nonetheless filled with the odder moments of humankind. You'll need RealPlayer to listen to the, uh, "songs."

Note to advertising executives: a humanoid egg that wears a top hat is not likely to sell a lot of toilet paper. 'Nuff said.

Marit Synnevag of Norway has created an excellent Web resource about one of the most controversial American scholars. Some articles are in German, French, or Norwegian, and there is a link to a predominately Norwegian page as well.

Santiago Calatrava's recent addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum is by far not the only great building in Wisconsin's largest city. In this site, architecture aficionado and professor of electrical engineering Steven Reyer has indexed photographs and descriptions of a few hundred buildings in Milwaukee. They are sorted by decade, alphabetically, and, in the "Learn More" section, by architect. To provide context, a few panoramic views are also included. Mr. Reyer also describes some of the city's fine architectural details, such as the cream-colored brick commonly used in older buildings, and the ornate streetlights that are slowly making a comeback. And as if that weren't enough, two walking tour maps are also provided in .pdf format.

Created by the Oakland and San Francisco Public Libraries, this is a handy guide to common Library of Congress Subject Headings and their Spanish equivalents. While the headings are given in English to Spanish translation only and not vice versa, it is nonetheless very useful.

If you were alive around, say, 800 AD, you'd probably be eating off of your knife that you constantly carry around with you, or else you'd just use your hands. Forks, which originated in the Middle East, would not be common in Europe until the wealthy began using them in the 1600s. To quote from the site: "Why should a person need a fork when God had given him hands?" Some great examples of all kinds of cutlery (chopsticks, spoons, etc.) from all over the world are provided, along with a history of each.

In 1952, John Cage's piano work 4'33'' premiered in Woodstock, New York. The piece, which consists of nothing but four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence, was met with great controversy. Here, Larry J. Solomon does a thorough job of explaning the history and theory behind the piece, as well as providing a small yet excellent bibliography about the composer and his works.

Although McSweeney's is best known for its satire and humor pieces, it has also been covering events surrounding last September's terrorist attacks. New York City photographer Joel Meyerowitz, who essentially is now the official photographer of the World Trade Center site, is interviewed here. Although fairly brief, he discusses a variety of things: how he gained permission to photograph the site, the emotional toll it has taken on him, and how he works and chooses his subjects.

This article from the most recent issue of Scientific American is an excellent update on AIDS vaccine research, as well as on the number of infections worldwide.

In case you're on the road this summer and would like to avoid the usual fast-food joints and get a sense of the local folks, the Agricultural Marketing Service of the USDA presents this handy guide to farmers markets across the US. You are never very far from delicious bok choy.

If you need to greet a Manx or a Xucuru speaker sometime soon, this is the place to go. Corrections and additions are welcome, and links to other common phrases are available as well. Deew boz geno!

Ever dreamed of being in a touring rock band? Have you pined to pound the bass guitar in Los Angeles, Manitowoc, Boston, and all points in between? Read a first-hand view of life on and off the road by Rose Marshack, bass player for the Champaign, Illinois-based Poster Children.

This site is part of the Academy of American Poets poets.org site. Here you will not only find an excellent, albeit brief, biography of one of Spain's greatest poets and a bibliography of his work, but also links to some excellent translations of his work by Robert Bly and William Logan. (The Logan translations also have links to the works in Spanish.)

Maybe the Web does have everything! Not only does this site have many excellent images of various gum wrappers, but also a well-written history of chewing gum (although it stops about 1950) and a detailed chronology of Wrigley's gum wrappers. Perhaps in 50 years we will be reading about Hubba Bubba circa 1985.

Recent articles and stories in the NY Times and on National Public Radio have brought great attention to the album Innocence and Despair: The Langley Schools Music Project. The album consists of pop/rock songs such as Fleetwood Mac's Rhiannon, The Eagles' Desperado, and David Bowie's Space Oddity recorded by elementary school students in 1970's rural British Columbia, with haunting, humorous, and often powerful results. Here are some wonderful letters that the former students of Hans Fenger, the district music teacher, have written about their experiences creating and recording the music.

This is a wonderful article describing the rebirth of the arts in Afghanistan, focusing principally on Kabul.

[NYT free registration required]

The average color in the universe is not the lovely pale turquoise as previously thought, but rather an extremely light beige, similar to coffee with a lot of cream. Here the scientists explain their new findings.

This is an excellent biography and bibliography of Argentine writer Julio Cortázar. Read about one of the most fascinating and influential writers of the past 100 years.

This is an excerpt of an interview from the current issue of the Paris Review. Luisa Valenzuela is one of Argentina's greatest writers. Here she discusses her training in journalism and its effect on her writing, Julio Cortazar, and the writing process itself.

"Serious" art? Probably not. Absurdist? Dadaist? Yes. Welcome to Superbad, the anti-Web site Web site.

If you're stuck on where to go for vacation this summer, perhaps this site will be a great guide. The attractions are sorted by state and province, as well as alphabetically. It also includes a "Gallery of Huge Beings," which was a life-changing experience for this reviewer.