Dr. John's Random links

Dr. John at Robert Dick's Peterborough NH class - 1999

If things get better with age, then I'm approaching magnificence.

Amsterdam Shopping
Andy's links
Cats
Foreign Language sites
Garden flowers Spring 2008
Health links
Hobbies
Movie links
Music links
Organize your life
Photos
Places I'd like to revisit
Places I'd like to visit
Political links
Random links
Restaurants
Travel links
What I'm reading
What I've read

Amsterdam Shopping

Bertram & Brood: baked goods
Frozen Fountain: Contemporary furniture & home accessories
Galerie de Salon: Barber shop & art gallery
Pompadour Chocolaterie: homemade chocolates
Mendo: book store & art gallery
What's Cooking: "culinary kitsch"

Andy's links

Here are some links that my partner Andy Hardacker sent me:

$1 Image Stabilizer: For Any Camera - Lose The Tripod
Andy's garden & cat pix
Art made with knitting: If you're interested in knitted road kill this is the site for you.
Best Gay Blogs of 2005
Boston Subway Station Maps: To & from directions
Break the Chain: Sick & tired of people sending you email chain letters about some political cause or class project? Point them here.
Carpetbagger report: Norquist finally crossed the right's line in the sand
Celtic Heavy Metal: Wikipedia article; French Celtic metal: Aes Dana, Bran Barr, Heol Telwen, Ancalagon, Furia, Hirilorn; Viking metal
Commuting Parisians
Crazy Aunt Purl
Crooked Timber: Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made
Delicious Library: From Delicious Monster - a MAC program to catalog, browse, and share all your books, movies, music, and video games with Delicious Library.
Fagotty ass faggot: his loafers are light, his tongue is acid
Gay Marriage Amendment: THE FALLOUT (with Dr James Dobson)
Gay Pride: Chicago; Paris
Guus' part of Amsterdam
Homosexuality & the Bible: Rabbi Laurence Elis Milder
Itchycoo park: A place for the peace and love generation to gather and be entertained.
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson: New Yorker - Alex Ross; New Yorker mp3 file; New Yorker - Charles Michener
One smoot short of a bridge: Culture, social justice, queer issues, disability rights, arts, Boston, and generally quirky stuff. Brought to you by eeka
Pictures at an exhibition: http://fmg-www.cs.ucla.edu/geoff/prognotes/mussorgsky/pictures.html; http://www.stmoroky.com/reviews/gallery/pictures/hartmann.htm; http://grotesmurf.madscience.nl/music/mussorg.htm
Postal Rate Increase - From Queery Joe's Knitting blog
Radioblog: You can just search for music from that page or embed a player on your own page, like http://www.mrhappysad.com/
Rules for being a Republican
Authors' Calendar: Begin by clicking on the number of the desired month on the left column. Then choose your birthday from the calendar. Links to the authors appear in the window below.
Baby zoo rugs: the cats one even has a built-in LED light. Kewl.
B-Movie Theater
Blogs
Cartoons Glen Baxter cartoons - Courtesy of David Goldberg QueerComic Strips and Cartoon Panels
Dreamweaver 4 Weekend Crash Course
Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory: From The Onion
Freedom/China ratio
French firemen
Church sign generator: Fun for the whole family
Harry Potter links: Dutch; The Leaky Cauldron: A Harry Potter Weblog
Fashion Highs & Lows of the Westboro Baptist Church: Fashion critiques of outfits worn by homophoic Baptists
Hillwood Museum & Gardens 4th annual Gay Day
Hoaxes, Hooey, and Hogwash: Let the U-M Virus Busters put you in the know! Share the facts and help us stop the spread of false information.
Instrument Jokes
Jon's Knit Blog: Re what it might take to impeach Bush; a collection of screenshots and accompanying URLs for
some strange display problems in Netscape and Microsoft's browsers.
Mac-related: Bye Apple - Some bloke who was going to continue buying Macs & didn't; Time to switch?
Man vs. sweater
My world: Check off the countries you've visited & you get a map to put on your website.
Turandot: Commentary on Symbolism, Poetry, and "Nessun Dorma"
Brian Leerhuber - Baritone: He's sung Rorem's Walt Whitman songs
William Morris Gallery
Plaster casters: Rock star phallus casts
Recipes: Basic coarse mustard; Spicy German Mustard
Advanced Internet Security: Software product combining firewall & "program control" whatever that is.
Shouts & Murmers: New Yorker article about God's creation of the earth
Sonicare
http://www.spatch.net/cattown/index.html
http://tantek.com/log/2004/01.html
http://mab.mozdev.org/: The MAB is a tool for searching the Amazon catalogs and browsing their products. For the time being users can search in Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.jp. MAB lets users search for products (by keyword, ASIN/ISBN, UPC code, author/artist, and so on) and retrieve information about each product found, including its title, author/artist, and release date (the latter two for books/music), along with its suggested retail price, Amazon's price, and the price of a used copy sold through Amazon (if available). It also displays comments from other Amazon users about the product.
Tor: An anonymous Internet communication system
Vegan links: Vegan Lunchbox; Why I love organic; Engine 2 Fire Company - vegan firefighters - includes some recipes
http://www.wga.hu - post cards & more
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/
http://www.misspoppy.com/: Christian Gifts, Gift Baskets, HandzOff Gum, Mother Teresa Breath Mist, and more!
Walkingman.com urban cardigan
Weetabix: made from whole grains - which are an excellent source of dietary fibre
White tea: http://www.englishteastore.com/loose-leaf-white-tea.html; http://www.harney.com/White-Teas/departments/13/; http://tinyurl.com/ae299; http://www.thefragrantleaf.com/whiteteas.html

Cats

Hitler cats
Gatto Roho Swag: Cafe at Harvard's Dudley House
The infinite cat project
My cat hates you
rathergood.com/: Takes ages to load
rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Stuff on my cat
tiddles.co.uk/: Cat drorings
World famous random kitten generator: Odd, I thought kittens came from cats
Yoga kitty: Exercises to do with your cat
zfrank.com: My cat Annie - cute videos

Foreign Language websites

www.radio24.it: 830 television stations and 4,500 radio stations
www.real.com
www.msn.com
www.onlinenewspaper.com: Print media
www.metagrid.com: Magazines

Health links

Seafood watch: Sustainable seafood choices available in different regions of the U.S.

Movie links

I realized that I don't have any links to info on one of my favorite actresses, Judy Holliday, so here are a couple. Ms. Holliday starred in such great films as Born Yesterday, Adam's Rib (with Katherine Hepburn & Spencer Tracy), and Bells Are Ringing (with Dean Martin).

The Judy Holliday Resource Center: the only site on the internet devoted entirely to the multi-talented entertainer Judy Holliday
The Internet Movie Database
Fay Wray

Music links

I've had the great good fortune to have heard Barbara Cook at the Kennedy Center (Aug. 2003), the Metropolitan Opera (january 2006) and Symphony Hall (March, 2007). She is a wonder. Other singers I like are Joni Mitchell (whose song lyrics are here) and Laura Nyro, and Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell, member of Sweet Honey in the Rock. I've been a fan of Gabriel Yacoub since the days of Pierre de Grenoble (1973). Another male vocalist that gets my vote is Breton singer/harpist Alan Stivell. Thanks to WGBH I've also discovered a great a capella group (from Madison, WI no less): Navan who "sing in the languages of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man."
Jukebox: The top 100 songs from the golden years of popular music - plus more of our musical heritage.
I'm a great fan of Steeleye Span, and also like cats. I've also heard a Scottish group Cliar that I like a lot but am waiting for the price of their CD to come down from the current exchange rate of $25+
Minidisc article
Miss Piggy and the Tooter: a.k.a. J. P. Rampal
Music graphics galore

Organize your life

http://www.43folders.com/: amily of websites about stuff like personal productivity, life hacks, and simple ways to make your life a little better
http://www.dumblittleman.com/: 7 Ways To Manage Your Email Like An Expert
http://www.lifehack.org/: any hacks, tips and tricks that get things done quickly by automating, increase productivity and organizing.
http://www.productivitycafe.com/: ideas on getting things done, being effective, reducing stress and having some fun
http://unclutterer.com/: the website for home and office organization
http://zenhabits.net/: covers: achieving goals, productivity, being organized, GTD, motivation, eliminating debt, saving, getting a flat stomach, eating healthy, simplifying, living frugal, parenting, happiness, and successfully implementing good habits.
http://clutterersanonymous.net/: a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem with clutter (sounds like something for me).

Photos

Here's a picture of Potter when she was a kitten.
Here's another photo of Potter and our newer resident, Snitch.
During the 2004-2005 winter I made a snowman.
A friend, Mary Nemetz sent me this for our garden.
Photos from my travels. Here's another one.

Places I'd like to revisit

Croatia
the Czech Republic
France
The Netherlands
Poland

Places I'd like to visit

U.S.: Chimney Rock, San Juan National Forest archaeological area - where the moon stands still; Roadsideamerica.com - your online guide to offbeat tourist attractions - including giant fiberglass figures
Denmark
England
France
Germany
USA

Political links

Afterdowningstreet.org
http://americablog.org/
Borowitz report
http://bradblog.com/
http://buzzmachine.com/
Freewayblogger.com: Free speech: Use it or lose it
Global Exchange: an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political and social justice
Just $6: the amount it would take for each American for us to publically fund elections
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/: An outside-the-Beltway perspective on current events, politics, media, and the arts.
Northern Sun: message-oriented tshirts, bumperstickers, buttons, posters, etc.
Tom Terrific - This Modern World
TUC radio: a.k.a. "Time of Useful Consciousness" is the time between the onset of oxygen deficiency and the loss of consciousness. "TUC Radio might be the last truly subversive voice on the dial." Daniel Zoll, San Francisco Bay Guardian
Conscience-free shopping: www.coopamerica.org; www.greenpages.org; www.responsibleshopper.org; www.Sweatshops.org
VelvetRevolution.us: As our first call to action, we hope to bring together the many disparate groups and elements revolving around the questionable results of the 2004 presidential election.
Women for Peace

Random links

70%: According to the NY Times, "the most erudite of the Internet's many chocolate-dedicated sites."
Aliance PIV: Czech pub alliance (someone should tell them how to spell it in English). And here's a list of Czech breweries (I think the text across the top says "Information about the history and [something] about Czech breweries.)
Atra Plus Blade online price comparison
Auto accessories
Black Block: Kookie gifts from Paris
Catalogchoice.org: Deforest your mailbox - free service
Chinese astrology year chart
Chocolates: Roberto Catinari - Pistoia, Italy (Flash-only site); De Bondt Chocolate - Pisa, Italy; Slitti Cafe - Monsummano Terme (Tuscany)
Cool Climate Calculator: Figure out your carbon footprint, how you compare to others. A welcome addition would be what you can do about it.
Dorchester fun facts: where (Andy, Potter, Snitch & moi live
I went to a Dame Edna Everidge show and laughed so hard I almost wet 'em. :) I was reading John Lahr's biography but found it not as interesting as the autobiography My Gorgeous Life. I'm also quite the fan of Lily Tomlin.
www.engrish.com - the humorous English mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design
EPA clean detergents, etc.
The Good Guide: Use this website to find health(ier) alternatives in food buying, personal care, cleaning products, etc.
Haddad Hakansson: A friend and former student's interior design company. Only the most tasteful and beaufiful designs on the planet.
Learn English: Lie vs lay, it's vs its, yours vs your's and more
thelostland.com: born as a personal quest to bring together information about Susan Cooper's books and first appeared on the web several years ago
Irshad Manji - Muslim refusenik
meez.com: Build your own avatar.
Memory and forgetting
Menominee links
Monty Python's Completely Useless Website
Muffin's Encyclopedia of Bel Ami models: current as of the late 1990s anyway
New England Flower Society
Noise reducing headphones: Panasonic RP-HC500; Audio-Technicha ATH-ANC7
THE #1 SONG ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY: Want to know what the number one song was on the day you were born? All the way back to 1890s.
Nun's Hallelulia chorus: a hoot & a half even without the sound
Open Book: Minneapolis, MN. The Open Book Literary Arts Center and the vision behind its creation has led the way to neighborhood revitalization and the blossoming of an "arts corrider" along Washington Avenue in Minneapolis.
Ottica Carraro: Italian eyeglass designer. The material used to create VENICE is highly-tested acetate, a natural material that does not contain any toxic or harmful components.
Randy Pausch's inspiring last lecture on Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams: the link is just below the "order the DVD" link
Here is a link about peeps, the Easter taste treat.
Here is a listing of Christmas song sites on the Music Librarianship listerv so thought I'd pass it along.
Recycle compact fluorescent blubs: a resource for any light bulb ("lamp") user seeking details on recycling spent mercury-containing lamps
Ever wonder what that postage stamp with no amount printed on it is worth? Check out http://pe.usps.gov/text/qsg300/Q604a.htm
Aaron Schwartz - computer hacker & philosopher
Slant-fin humidifier replacement parts: Slant/Fin Mineral Absorption Pads: http://www.iallergy.com/product129/product_info.html; Slant/Fin UV Bulb: http://www.iallergy.com/product130/product_info.html
The Surrealist Compliment Generator. E.g. So charmingly heathen, your skin is like a teardrop on a popsickle.
Television shows online: Hulu.com; TVland.com
Usenet.news
Debbie Gombert - a friend of mine who's doing Music Therapy

Restaurants
Here are some links to local restaurants

Blarney Stone: Fields Corner, Boston

Travel Links

Academic Ambassadors - "The first service specifically created to provide discounted hotel and rental car rates for academic (and other non-profit) travelers."

Even a Weak Dollar Can Be Stretched - NY Times article

When in Paris, I stay at the Hotel Tiquetonne, which is in the deuxieme arrondissement - quite centrally located, and cheap. It helps to know French if you want to communicate with the staff.

Joyce James Tours - designed for people with an interest in textiles, but the focus of each trip goes far beyond exploring the traditions of the fibre arts and includes meeting with local craftspeople and guilds, visiting mills, historic and archaeological sites — all against a backdrop of spectacular scenery.

Want to travel light? Onebag.com is the place to find out how.

The Tarragon Hotel in Marinette, WI is a good place to stay - comfortable, reasonable rates, with fridges in the room so you can store stuff for breakfast, etc.

De Telefoongids - Have a Dutch friend & don't know their address/phone, only the city they live in? Here's where you can get that info!

Time-share rentals

Disboards.com: Disney Trip Planning Forum
homeaway.com: Easiest to use from my (limited) experience
Redweek.com: Timeshare Rentals, Resales and Exchanges - charges to post & inquire
Redweek.com: Timeshare Rentals, Resales and Exchanges - charges to post & inquire
My Resort Network: Timeshare Rentals and Timeshare Resales
Timeshare Users Group - Marketplace: Timeshares the world over
imeshare Users Group Online Community Forums: Timeshares the world over
The Wren.net: Vail Colorado Condos for Rent - By Owners

Transporting Musical Instruments - tips from the Transportation Security Administration

Stranded? Here's a URL for the Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights in Washington that shares your concerns.

Airfare comparison sites

airfarewatchdog.com - searches for lowest fares, including ones airlines reserve for online booking

Farecast.com - lowest domestic fares for the next 90 days

Farecompare.com - lowest fares by month for the next 11 months for 77,000 domestic & 200,000 foreign cities

Fly.com - "We search and compare online travel agencies and hundreds of airlines for the cheapest airfares, all in real time. Then we show you where you can book your flights."

Insidetrip.com - compares flights and gives them a "TripQuality" rating based on aircraft, on-time history, etc.

kayak.com - compares historical data on fares

Momondo.com - Danish site that focuses on low-cost carriers "but often uses cached data, which can result in expired fres showing up" according to a recent NY Times review. "Worth a look if you're searching for the cheapest way to get around Europe." Also includes high-speed rail fares

Airlinequality.com

The expert guide to airline product and service standards across the world

Bed and breakfasts in Paris

Travel to Europe by boat for as little as $100/day

www.freighter-travel.com/

www.freighterworld.com/

http://www.reederei-nsb.de/site_frachtschiffreisen_en/ - German agency with 55+ oceangoing cruise freighters

Budget Travel

The NY Times' Frugal Traveler often has good suggestions on how to save money while on a trip.
Hostels in Europe
Hay Hotels: A listing of places in Germany where you can stay for cheap & sleep on hay. Some people must think this is fun. Nur auf Deutsch.
Monastery Stays

Business-class airlines

L'avion airlines - New York/Paris-Orly

Bus travel from Boston

Boltbus: Boston-New York - fares from $10-$15 on t he dates I checked. Leaves, e.g. 9AM arrives 1:15PM
Greyhound: Leaves at 11:30, arrives at 4PM & fares of $110? I don't think so
Limoliner: Up to $180 roundtrip (Hilton Back Bay-Hilton, NYC) but has seat assignments, meals(?!), wi-fi, cell-phone-free zones, etc.
Luckystar: Tix as low as $1 - doesn't give travel time
Megabus: Boston-New York - fares from $6-$12 on t he dates I checked. Leaves, e.g. 7:30AM arrives 11:50AM

English bookstores in foreign cities

Cafe Bilngua - Moscow - not exactly an English bookstore, but I didn't know where else to put this.

Buybook - Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Massolit Books , Krakow, Poland

St. Georges Bookshop, Berlin, Germany - often features art house films

Shakespeare & Sons, Prague - poetry readings and freak-folk concerts

Treehugger Dan's Bookstore and Café, Budapest, Hungary - fair trade coffee & progressive political readings

Europe

Air travel - low-cost European companies

Airberlin: I'm guessing German?
Cimber Sterling: A Danish company
Easyjet
Flybaboo: A Swiss Airline based in Geneva
Jet4you: French
HLX.com: German airline
Ryanair
Transavia: Dutch airline
Wizzair: Polish company - unfortunate English-language connotation

Rail Travel

Eurail
France
Germany
Netherlands
Rail Europe

Fares dropping?

tracks fares on specific flights you select before or after you buy a ticket. You can use Yapta before you buy to alert you by
email to pricing changes on a particular trip, or let you know if the price drops after you've bought a ticket and you're eligible for a refund. Apparently will only work if you buy the ticket directly from the airline.

Flight stats

URL 4 flight delays

Foreign rentals (some overlap in the listings)

Fractional and Shared Ownership in France

Historic English cottages

London short rentals

Google list of Paris short-term rentals

Parisian short-term rentals

Paris be a part of it

Maui rentals

vbro.com - world-wide rentals

Neustadt an der Weinstrasse

German Wine Route - Wikipedia article

The Neustadt Region

Overweight luggage shipping

Luggage Forward (Boston-based)

Contour USA

Excess Baggage (British-based)

Luggage Express

Skycapinternational.com

Virtualbellhop.com

Seatguru.com

The ultimate source for airplane seating, in-flight amenities and airline information See also seatexpert.com

Wellesley accommodations

University Bed & Breakfast PO Box 57166 Babson Park, MA 02457 (617) 738-1424

The Wellesley College Club - (781) 283-2700 reservations

Wellesley Motor Inn 978 Worcester St, Wellesley, MA 02482 (617) 236-7073?

What I'm reading

2010/03/08 - Finished Wolf Hall awhile ago. Was annoyed and offput by the author's use of "he said" for example when there were two males in the discussion so it was unclear who said what to whom. It was an interesting idea to tell the Henry VIII from the viewpoint of a character who in most histories does not come off as that likeable. Am reading Guy Gavriel Kay's Sailing to Sarantium, which I'm enjoying - dang, in looking up the URL for the book I now see that there are two parts & I don't know that we have part 2. :(

johnranck.net

Just for fun

If things get better with age, then I'm approaching magnificence.