Welcome to this week's selection of Picks, where we start with ThinkQuest, an annual contest that challenges students (age 12 to 19) to use the Internet as a teaching and learning tool. From ancient civilizations to smart investing to the science of rollercoasters, many of the sites collected here would be impressive coming from designers of any age. Winning teams are presented with scholarships and cash prizes, but (cliche alert!) the real winner is the Internet community. Take a look at the extensive Library of Entries for a sense of just what the ThinkQuest kids are up to this year.
Have you ever wondered how baseball commentators (Bob Uecker) remember all those minute baseball facts, like how the team slugger (Dante Bichette) is batting 12 for 35 this season with runners in scoring position during night games in the Mountain Time zone when the moon is waxing gibbous? Well, here's the secret: They don't remember it; each commentator has a full-time stats nerd feeding him pertinent information. Now, you can cut out the middleman by using ESPN's GameCast. It's a Java app that allows you to see real-time pitch-by-pitch updates, matchup information, player profiles, and live box scores. To get started, just visit ESPN's Scoreboard page and look for the GameCast links. You'll feel like you're in the front row.
Do you see your life as an endless sequence of mundane choices easily expressed as a series of snapshots? You do? Then perhaps the Simulator will hit close to home. This 2D version of a daily grind asks you to make those little decisions we're all faced with every day. Do you want to wear your blue jeans or your black? Are you in the mood for Crispix or Raisin Bran? Will you drive to work slowly or quickly? When you finally do arrive at work, the Simulator encourages you to participate fully in your chosen occupation. Again and again and again. And what profession is that, exactly? Hoo boy. Visit the site and find out.
Of course, if you're stuck in a dead-end job and are plotting a career shift to the "criminal sector," you might think twice after visiting the Forensic Science Webpage. The site tells us that Forensic Science is "any aspect of science as it relates to the law," from firearms identification to DNA analysis to document examination. Anyway, it turns out that criminal investigators can learn an awful lot from such seemingly benign clues as tire tracks and bullet casings, to say nothing of fingerprints. So perhaps it's best to shelve any ideas for a life of crime; it seems modern technology has made breaking the law somewhat difficult.
If you long for the good old days of train robbery and frontier justice, consider browsing the California Heritage Digital Image Access Project. Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, the archive is full of pictures, photographs, and documents from California's past. Relive the days when traffic in Los Angeles was a horse-drawn carriage, and see what San Francisco looked like three years after its famous earthquake, among other things. Search the archive for specific images or browse by collection title. All aboard!
Speaking of historic images, before Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer, there was Maria Zambacco and Fanny Cornforth. Or so postulates Painted Ladies, a site that sheds light on the faces behind famous Pre-Raphaelite paintings. The parallels between the uber-models of today and yesteryear are certainly compelling (even when not explicitly drawn). We came up with this one: Kate Moss dated Johnny Depp and owes her fame to Calvin Klein's "Obsession." Elizabeth Siddal was married to Gabriel Dante Rossetti and owes her fame to John Everett Millais's "Ophelia." Spooky, huh?
As usual, we end this week with a Hog-Calling Contest. Treasure it! And until next week, take your pigs.
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