The March of Time

Official U. S. Time
For official clock watchers.

Time and Date
Includes a time zone calculator, a countdown to the New Year, and a calendar for any year you name.

The Industrious Clock
Take a look.

On Time
For people who’d like to “Explore the changing ways Americans have measured, used, and thought about time.”

Get Your Thinking Cap

Change This
If you’re a fan of new ideas, mosey over to this site to see the latest manifestos people have published.

Malcom Gladwell’s Webpage
Author of The Tipping Point and Blink and a staff writer on the New Yorker, Gladwell has written some of the most discussed non-fiction in recent years. This site contains links to a selection of his writings.

Dictionary of the History of Ideas
Need to brush up on Existentialism, Positivism in Latin America, Zeitgeist and hundreds of other concepts? Check this site. This work was originally published in 1973. An updated hard copy edition came out in 2005.

Life Hacker
According their site, "Lifehacker makes getting things done easy and fun. Delving deep into the technoweb, Lifehacker brings back simple and totally life-altering tips and tricks for managing your information and time."

The Edge
One of the things the folks at The Edge do annually is come up with a stimulating question that they then pose to major thinkers. The question for 2006 was "What is your dangerous idea?" This site includes an archive of these questions.

For People Who Spend a Bit too Much Time Alone

Text to Speech
Type in some text, and listen to how voices with various accents would say the sentences. This is another one I find interesting. What do you think?

ALICE Bot
Do you find talking with humans frustrating? Try conversing with a computer.

The Voice of the Woods
If you are looking for some advice, try here. It’s no worse than most of the advice you’ll get.

Orin’s Meditation Room
New Age meditations. Kind of relaxing.

For Budding Artists

There are numerous art sites worth checking out. Below are five of my favorites.

Jackson Pollock.org

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The Scribbler

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Mr. Picasso Head
I like whimsical sites, and these three fall into that category. Go ahead and express your creativity.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
A terrific site for a fabulous museum. It contains links to thousands of art images.

Under Cover: Artists' Sketchbooks
For people who enjoy sketches by noted artists.

While I'm Thinking about It...

Panoramas
Stunning panoramic photography of some of the world's most beautiful/breathtaking locations including Venice, Machu Picchu, the Damascus Mosque, etc.

Yahoo! Answers
OK, most of the stuff here is inane, but the site can be addictive. I warned you.

Baseball Reference
The new season is just around the corner, and baseball is really the only sport worth considering. Baseball Reference provides all the statistics any fan could want. Set aside an hour or two before going to this site.

Insider Higher Ed
Interested in news about higher education (and who's not)? This is a free site that competes with the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Dilbert
You can find the last month of the Dilbert cartoon strip, but make sure to also look at the Mission Generator under Games. You'll never look at a mission statement in quite the same way again.

WorldCat
If you want to know which library near you has a particular book, check this site. What do you mean you never use libraries?

Cliff's Notes
Does your son Jake or your daughter Kimberly have to read one of the big fat books by Charles Dickens, or, heaven forbid, Milton's Paradise Lost? Give them a head start by checking out Cliff's Notes. Yes, it's the same one you used in high school.

Miscellaneous Sites

Amazing Juggling Finale
As the title says this this video shows Chris Bliss doing some amazing juggling to music from the Beatles' Abbey Road album.

Zip Decode
I'm not quite sure why I find this fascinating, but I do. Enter a zip code and find its location on a map of the US. This requires Java.

The Machine Is Us/ing Us
Intriguing presentation about the sociological/anthropological implications of the Internet. This rates a couple of viewings.

Arts and Letters Daily
Need a daily culture update? Try this site.

Useful Websites from the U. S. Government

For people who think that the government doesn't do anything right, below are a handful of good websites.

National Institutes of Health
A wonderful source for information about health and medicine.

Library of Congress
Links to: the library's catalog; legislative information in Thomas; historical material in American Memory; etc.

Occupational Outlook Handbook
A first stop for information about careers.

American Fact Finder
Provides an array of census data for states, cities, towns, or zip codes.

World Factbook
This CIA publication contains information and maps for the countries of the world.

U. S. Department of State Country Information
This site includes a link to the State Department's Background Notes for each of the world's nations.

TED Conference and Kodak Video

TED Conference
I recently came across an article about the TED Conferences by David Pogue published in the New York Times on March 15th. Each of these conferences brings together a thousand thought leaders to hear speakers such as Al Gore, Dean Ornish, Ray Kurzweil and Malcolm Gladwell. The TED people have been kind enough to make many of the talks available on the Internet.

Kodak
On a more humorous note, Kodak has apparently placed a video on YouTube that both pokes fun at their own reluctance to get into digital photography and hints at the company's plans to jump in to digital now and revolutionize the field.

Take a look at both of these.