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Mythology & Folklore |
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Carol Bales is my best friend... and my beloved wife!
Some of my best friends, John Bridges, Bill Bridges, and Andrew Greenberg, are the "brains" behind Holistic Design, a game company. Check them out. It's cool, and a great way to explore mythopoeia, or personal mythmaking and storytelling, through play. Speaking of Master John Bridges, be sure to take a look at his artwork.
Treska Cole is amazing, and runs this cool LARP game. Lee Verner has great taste in books. He's also a kind, smart man and a good friend.
Jennifer Carlile, an old and dear friend, keeps this blog. Beware the vegetarian propoganda.
My old pal Jim Threlkeld wrote this article about Cumbria, a fascinating Celtic area of northwest England, and this article about breaking into the animation business. Another college pal, Steven Scheer, is building this favorite motorcycle journey scrapbook and journal site as well as this year-long, picture-a-day photo essay.
My pal Jim Wentzel wrote this book about the Beatles for kids. My chum Tim O'Laughlin wrote this book.
Jolie Simmons has a portfolio and Live Journal online. Lady Sid "Bubba" Taylor has this Live Journal. My pal Stephannie Tallent keeps this blog. My writing chum James Lock blogs here.
Richard Repp is a good friend and an excellent musician. My friend Bill Shaouy is in a band called Desmond Drive. They are fantastic. Speaking of musicians, I was a fan of Michaela Foster Marsh long before she became a friend.
My pal and one-time co-worker Brandon Haun has an online art portfolio. Check it out; it won the best of show award at his art school. Dave Allbritton is another former co-worker with a terrific portfilio.
Visioneering, headed by the esteemed Robert Foah, is one nifty company. My pal Amy Woodward Parrish is one of the founders of this company. Susan Graham is a friend, not just an agent.
My chum Allen Pittman offers this site for practitioners of various forms of martial arts, namely the Chinese Internal Arts of Ba Gua Zhang and Hsing I Quan, as well as herbal medicine, yoga, dance, music and other traditional arts.
I'm becomming an Internet radio junkie. Radio Rivendell plays great music to read and write fantasy, and anything else, by. Recommended!
I also adore Folk Alley, which offers folk (you probably guessed that), acoustic, and Celtic music.
For Renaissance Festival music junkies like me, click here or here.
Speaking of Internet Radio, try Air America for a progressive and intelligent truth-telling alternative to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and the other right-wing wackos. If there's not an affiliate near you, try via the Web, where free speech and thoughtful discourse live.
I know that some day, somewhere, this site will be useful to someone: it's a resource where you can find a recording of just about any sound you can imagine. Haven't you ever wondered what a grebe sounds like? Finally, here's your chance to find out.
Hear the words that changed the world. From Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech to Lou Gehrig's farewell to baseball, this vast collection is drawn from the most famous broadcasts and recordings of the twentieth century.
I've always loved Astronomy... in fact, I used to teach it at Georgia State University, and I was a volunteer in the Astronomy Department at Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta for many, many years (and I still am now and again!). There are far too many Astronomy resources on the Web to list them all, or even a representative sample. Still, here are some of my favorite Astronomy links:
This Web site presents data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a project to make a map of the entire universe. We would like to show you the beauty of the universe, and let you share our excitement as we build the largest map in the history of the world.
This is the first of several planned Web sites devoted to presenting information on human exploration of space. The series starts with this Virtual Tour of Mars called ExploreMarsNow. Explore the planet with realistic Mars habitats, rockets, ground cars, and robots.
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The Nine Planets offers an overview of the history, mythology, and current scientific knowledge of each of the planets and moons in our solar system. Each page has text and images, some have sounds and movies, most provide references to additional related information. This is a great site. The Astronomy Net is a collection of helpful resources for everyone interested in the science of Astronomy. Click here or here to take a look through the Hubble Space Telescope. And here are the 20 best Hubble pictures. That's quite a claim, but it's hard to argue. Here is the amazing complete Hubble gallery. |
The Astronomy Picture of the Day is always breathtaking. Here you can see our fragile planet Earth from space.
Here is a wealth of Astronomy Resources and Links.
Just getting started? This site will tell you what to do with your new backyard telescope. Here's another helpful site for Absolute Beginners.
Dark spots, some as large as 50,000 miles in diameter, move across the surface of the sun, contracting and expanding as they go. These strange and powerful phenomena are known as sunspots.This resource will allow you to explore the nature of sunspots and the fascinating history of efforts to understand them. Included here are interviews with solar physicists and archaeoastronomers, historic images, modern NASA images and movies, and a sunspot research activity.
Here is a great index of Astronomy sites on the Web. Maybe it's the romantic in me, but I like this site on Astronomical facts, trivia, and folklore. Want to use your computer for Astronmy? Start with some free and shareware software.
This site is as close as most of us will come to flying aboard a NASA Space Shuttle. This is NASA's page on the Apollo missions. Click here for NASA's mission to Saturn.
Sky Server presents data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a project to make a map of a large part of the universe. We would like to show you the beauty of the universe, and share with you our excitement as we build the largest map in the history of the world.
Here you can enjoy a really terrific virtual planetarium. Browse some photos of a Lunar Eclipse.
The Universe Within begins by showing the Milky Way Galaxy from 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons. This is one of the coolest sites out there.
Wonder what it's like to walk on the moon? Join the Apollo astronauts on the Lunar surface in this series of stunning 360-degree panoramas, one each from the six successful Apollo moon landings. Shot by the astronauts themselves during their historic moonwalks, these images capture the magic and mystery of the moon.
What would the Sun look like if you were standing on Saturn? How about if you were standing on one of Saturn's moons? Or on Neptune? Or.... Become an armchair astronaut and take a virtual journey through our galaxy with this site developed by NASA, JPL, and Caltech. Date ranges allow you to travel as far back in time as the 17th century and as far ahead as the 24th, and additional options track constellation lines, planetary orbit paths, and more.
This site by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory details their search for another Earth with light-seeking interferometers, interstellar telescopic wizardry, and scientific passion that aims to rejuvenate space program.
Check out this 3D Guide to the Galaxy from NASA.
This site features the top ten weird wonders of outer space, from black holes and brown dwarfs to electrostatic levitation.
This Web index of The Merck Manuals provides links to all of the online versions of the famous Merck Manuals, including: The Merck Manual Home Edition, The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy and The Merck Manual of Health & Aging. Also included is the Merck Veterinary Manual for those with pets.
The mission of The Why Files: Science Behind the News, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is to explore the science, math and technology behind the news of the day, and to present those topics in a clear, accessible and accurate manner.
Study the anatomy of the human body. It's fun, interactive, and an ideal reference site for students or those who just want to know more about the medical descriptions used by doctors and nurses.
New Scientist is an excellent source of science news. Scientific American, of course, is amazing.
Ever wonder How Stuff Works? On a sort of related note, are you interested in manufacturing? Okay, probably not. But this site showing video and animation about how things are made is still fascinating.
If you ever have to care for a lost baby bird, click here. Even if you don't, the information on birds is fascinating.
Here's an interesting paper on the holographic universe theory. Here's a site devoted to explaining and exploring String Theory in physics.
Hyper Physics a well-organized overview of concepts and Physics Web keeps you up to date with news and new concepts.
Here is Princeton's Project to measure Global Consciousness. Interesting.
Science and religion meet in Process Philosophy. Well, sort of. And how could I not include a link to a site called Debunking Physics?
Here's a site offering a variety of timelines on the Web, including timelines of art, history, science, and more.
Immerse yourself in the great outdoors without ever leaving your desk. Tap into the sights and sounds from a wide variety of environments throughout America. The American Field Guide has collected more than 1400 video clips that enable you to experience America's wilderness firsthand. Simply browse the topics or search for your particular interests.
Not exactly science, but Here's an animation of the evolution of the Latin alphabet, from c.900 BC to the Middle Ages.
Open Heart: Visit this virtual hospital where you will learn about disease, the human heart, surgery, and healthy living. You can "perform" open heart surgery and try building a model of the human heart.
The speech accent archive uniformly presents a large set of speech samples from a variety of language backgrounds. Native and non-native speakers of English read the same paragraph and are carefully transcribed. The archive is used by people who wish to compare and analyze the accents of different English speakers.
Want to know the world's cold, hard facts right now? Get real-time info on the world's population, number of births per second, how many bicycles have been made this year, how many people have seen movies so far, and so on. Bliss for an information junkie! Check out Worldometers.
Merch Veterinary Manual is the single most comprehensive electronic reference for animal care information. It includes more than 12,000 indexed topics and more than 1200 illustrations.
Les Miserables is my all-time favorite musical. This fan agrees with me. Rent is a close second. My very favorite (non-musical) play is The Road to Mecca by Athol Fugard.Want to catch a play in Atlanta? Visit the Atlanta Performs page for a complete list of theatre companies. My first ever paying job was in a play at the Alliance Theatre. Theatre Gael, North America's only Celtic performing arts group, does some truly wonderful work.I can't say enough good stuff about Atlanta's amazing Center for Puppetry Arts. Speaking of theatre, Didaskalia: Ancient Theater Today is an excellent resource on Greek and Roman drama, dance and music.
Anywhere, at any hour, experience a modern play on the Web. Bravo!
Now this is priceless... a site with recordings to show how the pronunciation of vowels in English has changed through the centuries, from Middle English to more recent times.
This amazing site features mythic masks inspired by the ancient traditions of Australia.
Here's an excellent resource for Internet Museums. Here's a great resource for Atlanta Arts and Culture. This site by the WebMuseum includes an artist index, glossary, and an enormous collection of images of paintings.
The Infinite Picture is just ferociously cool.
Earthpages offers essays, articles, links, and references on politics, culture, religion, myth, psychology, and much, much more.
This is a terrific online Library of the Fantastic. You'll find some great stuff there, so don't miss it. On a related note, here's a terrific site for retro and historic science fiction, and here's one for the future we were promised and retro concepts of the future.
This is just plain amazing, and lovely: fanned book spines as art!
This is fun... if you're a shameless and hopeless romantic like me, visit the Pre-Raphaelite Passion site.
I find this site on Sensuality in Memorial (graveyard) Art fascinating. This guy's matte painting work is just stunning.
Here's some lovely Celtic artwork for t-shirts, cards and more. This exceptionally cool page is an on-line exhibit about life and culture in the Middle Ages.
Speaking of art, this is just plain cool. So is the work at Ninth Wave Designs. While you're there, be sure to check out the Alchemy Notebooks.
Did you know that Medieval women plucked their hairline back to heighten their foreheads? Or what that weird head wrap they wore was called? Learn about Medieval woman's fashion through authentic historical frescoes and painting when you visit the Medieval Women's fashion site.
Speaking of the Middle Ages, if you're interested in costuming and arms, check these out. They are excellent, but the first three are my very favorites:
You never know when you'll need to dress like a pirate, do you?
Ever wanted to learn the fine art of stage fencing and swashbuckling? With a rapier, say, or a sword and a cloak? Believe it or not, I have. I found some good information here. I'm planning to take some lessons from the Atlanta Stage Combat Group. Well, some day.Some of my favorite artists include John Waterhouse, Maxfield Parrish, Vincent Van Gogh (of course), Brian Froud, M.C. Escher, N.C. Wyeth, Arthur Rackham, Thomas Canty, Alan Lee and George Perez.
This site which has all the covers of the Astounding/Analog science fiction magazine in chronological order. You'll find some absolutely wonderful stuff here.
Here you'll find a marvelous page on The Golden Age of Illustration (including works by Arthur Rackham, Howard Pile, Maxfield Parrish, N.C. Wyeth and many others). My friend Lee Verner steered me to this library of Fantastic Images.
Symbols.com offers the world's largest online encyclopedia of graphic symbols, ranging from from ideograms carved in mammoth teeth by Cro-Magnon men to hobo signs and subway graffiti.
And if you happen to like comics, here's a link to just about every site on the 'Net. Or check in with Superman. Or go straight to the official DC Comics page. Newsarama and Comics Continuum keep you up to date with all the latest.
Like music? Click here!
Click this site to see how your favorite movie should have ended.
If you love and miss the the TV series Firefly as much as I do, or if you haven't seen Firefly yet, rent or buy the DVDs! You'll thank me later. I promise.
How many times have we used the phrase "way too much time on his hands" when taliing about a Web site someone has made? Well, this might be the trump card. This guy is documenting all the TV episode crossovers he can find. And he found plenty, including the Addams Family/Batman crossover!
The Encyclopedia of Television includes more than 1,000 original essays from more than 250 contributors and examines specific programs and people, historic moments and trends, major policy disputes and such topics as violence, tabloid television and the quiz show scandal. It also includes histories of major television networks as well as broadcasting systems around the world and is complemented by resource materials, photos and bibliographical information.
If you like MOVIES as much as I do, you'll always want to know what's coming up. Here are two really great sites for getting the very latest news, reliable gossip and rumors: the new and improved Ain't It Cool News and CHUD, based right here in Atlanta. We're just getting warmed up. There's also Dark Horizons, Cinescape, MediaSharx, IGN Filmforce, SciFi Portal, and Filmjerk.
This may not sitll be news, but here's the latest scoop on The Lord of the Rings and, just maybe, The Hobbit, all at The One Ring.
Like comic book movies? Click here or here. Superman? Batman? Speaking of Batman, check out this (exhaustive!) history of the coolest car ever, the Batmobile!
Say, are you one of those people (like me) who loves the Coming Attractions Previews almost as much as the movies? If so, visit the Trailer Park!
Speaking of movies, here's a nice (and free!) library of film scripts. Here is a good site for Independent Film Makers.
I watch way too much TV (favorites: Jeopardy!, Friends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Frasier, Northern Exposure, M*A*S*H, Smallville (more Smallville), the quirky and wonderful Wonderfalls, the Star Treks, Cheers, and Twin Peaks). Speaking of Buffy and Angel, the amazing writer Jane Espenson has a fascinating blog.
If you love Christmas Specials as much as I do, don't miss Absolute Grinch.
Remember those cool (and downright weird) Sid and Marty Krofft Saturday Morning shows? Like H.R. Puffnstuf, the Bugaloos and my own favorite, Land of the Lost? If so, visit Krofft.net or join Marshall, Will, and Holly in the Land of the Lost
!My favorite movies include The Lord of the Rings, Casablanca, most of the Disney animated classics (although I agree with the takes you'll find on Disney today here and here), the Star Wars movies (speaking of which, don't forget to check out the latest Star Wars news... right here on the Internet), The Thin Man, The Princess Bride, The Big Chill, Errol Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Muppet Movie and Field of Dreams.
Sean Connery was the real James Bond (although I confess I thought Timothy Dalton was great) and Clayton Moore was the real Lone Ranger.
The folks at Braves.net are nothing if not opinionated. Sometimes loony, sometimes insightful, they are often worth a read.
Braves Center and Braves News (it's back!) are also good sources for updates on my home team.
I think Thomas Boswell is the greatest sports writer living on the planet. His book Why Time Begins on Opening Day proves he's one of our best writers, period. Do not, I repeat, do not miss it.
David O'Brien at the Atlanta Journal and Constitution does a pretty darn good job covering the Braves.
Baseball is, of course, the greatest sport known to man. Here's a good on-line Baseball Encyclopedia. This is another terrific baseball reference site, and the Baseball Library is incredible.
Here is a terrific resource for Minor League Baseball. Highly recommended!
Here you can see the original, live action Lord of the Rings film in stunning black and white. This is amazing. Maybe my favorite of all: Geoffrey Chaucer hath a blog.
Don't miss the Book of Ratings and the Self-Made Critic, all that is left of the sorely-missed Brunching Shuttlecocks.
Zug is a scream. Be sure to check out the pranks page on the site.
If you love Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer and, um, Middle English Viking sagas, this is for you. Priceless!
Learn your pirate name! I am Captain John kidd. My Fantasy hero name is Jack Oakenstaff, but sadly, that page has vanished. Get your Hobbit name here.
Speaking of pirates, don't forget to celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19.
All men are required to know and live the Men Commandments.
For the funniest video clips ever, see what you missed on The Daily Show.
How can you not love Calvin and Hobbes?
You won't believe what they could get away with on Rainbow, an old British kids' show
Speaking of the British and getting away with things... I'm a huge John Cleese fan; don't miss his brand new Web site. The official Web site of Terry Jones is a hoot! And even thought-provoking, too, if you're not careful. Don't you dare miss it.
Are you a Disney fan? Visit Mickey Mouse on the web.
Take a virtual trip to Walt Disney World or Disneyland. If you're heading to one of the Disney Parks, keep your eyes open for Hidden Mickeys!
Here's a page on one of my very favorite rides, The Haunted Mansion! This site takes you back stage at Walt Disney World.
Yesterland takes you to Disney attractions now vanished. Persistence of Vision is another excellent "Lost Disney" site.
Here's an "unofficial" site for Disney Imagineering.
Shop at the Disney Store and the Mouse Shoppe.
Don't like what Disney has become? The help Roy Save Disney!
Or, if you prefer something a bit different, try the Voice of the Woods oracle or Brian Froud's Faery Oracle. Fun.
If you don't have a comics page handy, you can find your horoscope here or here.
The Historical Atlas is really amazing Internet reference, all the work of one person.
HyperHistory Online navigates through 3,000 years of world history with links to important persons of world historical importance, civilization timelines, events and facts, and historical maps.
Every hour, 10x10 scans several leading international news sources, and performs an elaborate process of weighted linguistic analysis on the text in their top news stories. After this process, conclusions are automatically drawn about the hour's most important words. The top 100 words are chosen, along with 100 corresponding images, culled from the source news stories. At the end of each day, month, and year, 10x10 looks back through its archives to conclude the top 100 words for the given time period. In this way, a constantly evolving record of our world is formed, based on prominent world events, without any human input.
In an election year, or any other year for that matter, here's a a nonpartisan site where you can check the facts behind politician's claims. On a related note, the best way to stay informed, more important now than ever, is to read more than once news source. My favorite newspapers, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and The Times of London, are all available on the Web.
Some day, these guys are going to build my castle!
The Word Detective is not only one of the funniest sites around, it's also a marvelous resource for the origins of words and phrases.
So is Paul dead?
If you want to know what time it is, the human clock is the niftiest way I know to find out. Now this is just plain cool. And patriotic, too. Simple pleasures for simple minds: this is unbearably cute, and kind of fun.
This intriguing site offers diagrams of the tallest buildings in various cities, including Atlanta.
The Moonlit Road is an intriguing collection of Southern ghost stories.
Like bar trivia as much as I do? This site on pub trivia answers is a gold mine. I love it.
Speaking of pubs and bars, I am very fond of craft beers and ales. Here's a terrific source for craft beer in Georgia and the southeast.
The forgotten marvel of the 19th Century: Boilerplate!
Need a Death Ray, Atomic Blaster, or New Combat Robot for your Space Age Lounge? Click on the giant robot.
If you love the old pulp adventures as much as I do, this is the site for you! This site is a companion to the Fantastic, Mysterious, and Adventurous Victoriana site.
This is way cool... don't miss Maiden Rock! Speaking of cool, tap the rhyhm of the song on the space bar and this site will try to identify it. Amazing.
The Free Public Records Directory is the largest directory of links to free public record databases on the Internet. Find business information, corporate filings, property records, unclaimed property, professional licenses, offenders, inmates, criminal and civil court filings, and much more.
Robert's Rules of Order: In 1876 General Henry M. Robert set out to bring the rules of the American Congress to members of ordinary societies with the publication of Pocket Manual of Rules of Order. It sold half a million copies before this revision of 1915 and made Robert's name synonymous with the orderly rule of reason in deliberative societies.
Speaking of looking ahead, here's a site for people who like to think ahead: the Long Bets foundation is designed to promote longterm thinking. I find it fascinating.
This
page was created on an Apple
Macintosh Performa 6400/200 Computer and (finally) modified on a shiny new 15" PowerBook G4. For all the latest Mac
news, click here or
here or
here or here
or here.
Read the opening chapters of The Widening Gyre and some of my other writing.
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