31 jul 2004

Friendship

A friend is like a tower strong,
A friend is like a joyous song
That helps us on our way.
When golden ties of friendship bind
The heart to heart, the mind to mind,
How fortunate are we!
For friendship is a noble thing;
It soars past death on angel's wing
Into eternity.
God blesses friendship's holy bond
Both here and in the great beyond:
A benefit unpriced.
Then may we know that wondrous joy,
That precious ore without alloy;
A friendship based on Christ.

28 jul 2004

El 'Arca de Noé' a 80º bajo cero

elmundo.es

Un grupo de científicos del Reino Unido ha presentado el 'Arca congelada', un innovador proyecto para preservar el ADN de especies animales en peligro de extinción, que en el futuro podría utilizarse incluso para la clonación. Las primeras muestras -el caballito de mar amarillo, la tórtola de socorro y el órix de Arabia- ya han sido almacenados en el Museo de Historia Natural de Londres y la Sociedad Zoológica.

Holidays and Other Dates in the US Secular Calendar

smart.net

You will a receive a listing of the holidays covered below. For holidays that occur on fixed dates, the day of the week is provided. For holidays that occur with a fixed formula ("Last Monday in May") the date is provided.

Ecclesiastical Calendar:

smart.net

This program calculates:
  • Easter Sunday in both the Western (Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant) Christian, and in the Eastern (Orthodox) Christian traditions;
  • The movable Feasts associated with Easter in the Western and Eastern traditions;
  • Many Feasts in the Catholic calendar, usually celebrations of events in the lives of Jesus or Mary. (These Feasts may or may not be celebrated by other Christian denominations.)
  • For years before 1583, only the dates of Christmas and Easter are calculated. (They are the same for both traditions pre-1583.) My recent research (email and bookwork) has shown that the above method for calculating Easter prior to AD1583 was not in wide usage until the mid-eighth century, although it had been adopted by the Church in the mid-sixth century.
  • An important note for historians and people using these dates for research: Even though the Gregorian calendar was adopted into use by the Catholic Church and many Catholic areas of Europe in AD 1582 October, many areas did not adopt the Gregorian Calendar, the new method of determining Easter, or both, until later. A good review is given in reference (1). For example, England and its dominions did not accept the Gregorian Calendar or the new method of determining Easter until 1752; thus, Easter in England prior to 1753 was determined using the same algorithm as that of the Orthodox Church.
  • Measurement in the Middle Ages

    utulsa.edu

    Originally, the Imperial system of Measurement was based on that used in the Roman Empire, and during that time, all were standardized. After the collapse of the Empire, the definitions of the measurements began to wander a bit until by the 18th C, they were completely different in different countrys and often different in separate regions of the same country.

    Such was the situation in France at the time of the Revolution, and it was the need for a new standard that brought about the introduction of the Metric System. Eventually other countries adopted this new standard as well. It should be noted that in the century since its adoption, the length of the meter has been redefined a number of times until a standard that was based on a real figure could be rationalized (I believe it's currently something like "the distance that light travels in 1.2 x 10^-9 seconds").

    The Inflation Calculator

    westegg.com

    The following form adjusts any given amount of money for inflation, according to the Consumer Price Index, from 1800 to 2003. (And don't use any commas in the numbers...) Enjoy!

    Rulers

    Rulers:

    This site contains lists of heads of state and heads of government (and, in certain cases, de facto leaders not occupying either of those formal positions) of all countries and territories, going back to about 1700 in most cases. Also included are the subdivisions of various countries (the links are at the bottom of the respective country entries), as well as a selection of international organizations. Recent foreign ministers of all countries are listed separately.

    Famous Trials

    UMKC School of Law

    The materials included in the Famous Trials website are original works of authorship, government records, works for which copyright protection has expired, works reprinted with permission, or works that I believe are within the fair use protection of the copyright laws. If any author objects to the use of any work appearing in these pages, please contact me by e-mail and I will remove the work and review the propriety of including it.* This is an educational and non-commercial site maintained at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School. Doug Linder, Professor of Law(Seminar in Famous Trials).(c) 1995-2004.

    HistoryBuff. Where American history begins

    HistoryBuff.com

    Welcome to HistoryBuff.com. This site focuses primarily on HOW newspapers covered major, and not so major, events in American history. Material here includes transcripts of newspaper coverage of events important to American history; articles about how the news made it to the press and how they covered the events; as well as an online newspaper archive where original newspapers can be read full size. A special section is devoted to collectors of old and historic newspapers.

    25 jul 2004

    ET first contact 'within 20 years'

    New Scientist

    If intelligent life exists elsewhere in our galaxy, advances in computer processing power and radio telescope technology will ensure we detect their transmissions within two decades. That is the bold prediction from a leading light at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute in Mountain View, California.

    9 jul 2004

    Un sistema permite crear lluvia artificial para combatir la sequía

    elmundo.es

    Científicos de la Universidad Libre de Bruselas y la Universidad Ben Gurion de Israel, junto con la NASA, han diseñado un sistema con planchas de material negro, que absorbería el calor de los rayos del Sol y permitiría crear nubes artificiales y lluvia en ciertas zonas con sequía o desertizadas, como en España.

    Los detalles de este proyecto, que empezará a ejecutarse en el desierto de Israel en un plazo aproximado de un año, fueron desvelados por el científico Leon Brening, uno de los expertos involucrados en la iniciativa, y que se encuentra de visita de trabajo en Madrid.

    8 jul 2004

    Dimestore Productions Online

    The Small Press Supersite

    Hi there, I'm glad you decided to stop by, and hope that you have the time to look around the site. There's a lot of information in this site, from what small press publishing is, how to do it, reviews and listings aplenty in many genres including publications, recordings, and films, information on the avenues of distribution of all that. Consider it all "under construction" too, as we are continually updating and improving how things are set up here.

    When I was a teenager in high school, someone told me, after I'd said I would one day like to write comic books, hey-why don't you. It was a simple and revolutionary thought and the following year changed my life forever. My goal in life is to bring that revelation to as many people as I can. The small press network I grew up with was based in newszines run by individuals. Some were better than others, some still exist in one form or another. I ran one for many years myself. I have taken that base of ideas onto the web, and hope to offer everything anyone could want regarding self publishing. I am here to stand behind all transactions that are associated with Dimestore Production's web site. So whether you're interested in who does what, want to start doing something yourself, are a long-time small presser from the traditional 'network' welcome, feel free to contact me, and most of all, have fun. There is an easy-to-use navigation menu floating around at the top/left of every page, so it's hard to get lost!

    Dream Weaver Press Comic Book Publishing

    egoworks.com

  • Tired of having to commit to outrageous minimums just to get your book printed?
  • Hate having to tie up precious storage and financial resources in the resulting back stock because your orders were only a fraction of what you had to print?
  • Do you just want to print up enough books to sell at conventions, sell online and/or pass around to friends and family?
  • 7 jul 2004

    New Perspectives on THE WEST

    pbs.org

    In a conversation with us several years ago, the Kiowa poet N. Scott Momaday remarked that the American West "is a place that has to be seen to be believed, and it may have to be believed in order to be seen." For five years we have travelled that landscape, photographed its vistas, talked to its people, sought out its history, all as part of our production of THE WEST, an eight-part documentary series for public television.

    6 jul 2004

    What is RSS?

    XML.com

    RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs. But it's not just for news. Pretty much anything that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS: the "recent changes" page of a wiki, a changelog of CVS checkins, even the revision history of a book. Once information about each item is in RSS format, an RSS-aware program can check the feed for changes and react to the changes in an appropriate way.

    Cassini probes Titan's mysteries

    New Scientist

    The latest images from Cassini are completely reversing scientists' ideas about Saturn's giant moon Titan.

    The space probe flew within 340,000 kilometres of Titan on Friday. It has revealed methane clouds and a strangely smeary surface that may include tectonic features and huge impact craters.

    Before the flyby, planetary scientists had some low resolution images of Titan. The bright areas shown by the images were thought to be water ice, and the dark areas probably hydrocarbon gunge. But the new images suggest the opposite.

    5 jul 2004

    Jewish Encyclopedia

    JewishEncyclopedia.com

    This website contains the complete contents of the 12-volume Jewish Encyclopedia, which was originally published between 1901-1906. The Jewish Encyclopedia, which recently became part of the public domain, contains over 15,000 articles and illustrations.

    2 jul 2004

    Barbie Suicida

    African Studies Center

    U of Pennsylvania

    Hubble descubre 100 nuevos planetas

    BBC.co.uk

    El telescopio espacial Hubble podría haber descubierto unos 100 nuevos planetas orbitando alrededor de estrellas en nuestra galaxia.

    El conteo realizado por el Hubble proviene de la observación de unas 1.000 estrellas en nuestra Vía Láctea.

    De confirmarse, el número de planetas conocidos que orbitan alrededor de otras estrellas podría duplicarse, alcanzando los 230.

    El descubrimiento reforzaría la idea de que casi cada estrella de tipo solar en nuestra galaxia, y probablemente en el Universo, está acompañada de planetas.

    Simulan una "cascada" espacial

    BBC.co.uk

    Un científico simuló el sonido una "cascada" en el espacio, a manera de adelanto de lo que la misión Cassini-Huygens podría encontrar en la mayor luna de Saturno.

    El profesor Tim Leighton, de la Universidad de Southampton en Gran Bretaña, grabó una cascada real en Hampshire a partir de la cual estimó las ondas de audio que generaría una caída similar de metano líquido en Titán.

    Cuando la sonda espacial alcance el misterioso satélite de Saturno a mediados de enero de 2005, podrá comprobar que tan acertados han sido sus cálculos.

    Writing Resources

    blackholly.com

    CIA - The World Factbook

    cia.gov

    The World Factbook 2004 printed version provides a "snapshot" of the world as of 1 January, 2004.

    The online Factbook is updated regularly - generally weekly - throughout the year.

    For additional and more current information on leadership in selected foreign countries, see Chiefs of State.