Other Neat Sites I really Like

I can’t spend all my time on things Celtic and Medieval, so here are some ways I  avoid actual work.

I don’t know a lot about astronomy, but I am fascinated by JPL and NASA’s research. You can see the images from Galileo here. Don’t miss the super images from the Hubble telescope. One of my favorites is this amazing image of a star birth in galaxy M16. There is a fascinating pictorial essay on the Crab nebula here. The NASA/JPL Imaging Radar images are incredible.

The image enhancing technologies developed by JPL, NASA and the space program have given us new tools for studying the past; like non-invasive archaeology. LANDSAT images from JPL and the participation of NASA scientists helped archaeologists locate the lost city of Ubar in Oman, which was located using radar imaging. NASA and JPL researchers have also helped with preserving and studying the Dead Sea Scrolls and medieval manuscripts.

I thoroughly enjoy watching hummingbirds sip nectar from feeders and flowers on our balcony. Here are Wernher Krutein’s pages of hummingbird information and Hummer images. You can see pictures of Abigail Alfano hand-feeding hummingbirds here. I also like Donald Burger’s pages on Hummers in Texas. Mr. Burger has a wealth of information on how to attract and feed hummers. Or there’s the Hummingbird Organization. The James River Reserve has a web cam mounted at several hummingbird feeders here. My brother Scott has some great bird pictures here.

Diotima: Women and Gender in the Ancient World is a marvelous site on women in Greece, Rome, and related ancient Mediterranean cultures.

It’s been fun having a bit of free time to read books that have nothing to do with my dissertation, or that I’m not getting paid to read for possible publication. I’ve finished the nineteenth volume of C. J. Cherryh’s series from DAW about the Atevi Emergence (2018). It’s some of the best SF I’ve eve read, and I can hardly wait for the next book. The books are stand alone, but honestly, you’re better off starting at the beginning, with Foreigner (1994).

I also recommend the historical novels of Dorothy Dunnett, both the six volume Lymond Chronicles, and the related eight volume series about the House of Niccolo. The eighth novel, Gemini was published July 11, 2000. It is unfortunately the last of Dunnet’s books.

LibraryThing is a great site for people interested in cataloging their books, reading about books, and, particularly, finding really good books to read.

You may have noticed that I am a bit enthusiastic about the Macintosh in general. I even have a few of my favorite sources of Macintosh information and software linked. I write about the Maci, iPhones, iPads, and Apple technology pretty frequently at IT: Technology, Language, and Culture. I’ve written a few books about using Apple technology, and tech edited a lot more.

Floccinaucical is where I publish reviews of books that aren’t Medieval, Celtic, or technical. I also publish Elsewhere there; a categorized, weekly, link roundup.

I’m the Admin for AbsoluteWrite.com, and spend time on the Absolute Write Water Cooler, a community for writers and other people interested in writing and words.

If you’re still looking for ways to spend time, take a look at Michael Cohen’s Worlds of Wanwood Leafmeal. He’s posted some amusing and very odd cartoons, and a few bits and pieces of writing, including The Quaalude, a nifty parody of the beginning of Wordsworth’s Prelude, excerpts from his novel FuzzyBytes, and some intelligent things to say about digital text. Plus, five days a week, he publishes Infobrew: What your coffee knows.