Web Find: Nat Geo Blogs

I have 3 sites that load up when I start FireFox: Google's Gmail service, the Blogger dashboard and National Geographic's main web site. The first one is, obviously to see my mail, the second, because it keeps me doing this and the third because it connects me to the real world.

Nat Geo's home site has so many great features that sometimes one contracts "choice blindness" a web malady in which the user is faced with so many selections to explore that they mentally recoil from the challenge. Never fear, beyond the gorgeous photos of river valleys and frolicking endangered animals, the News section of the site contains a ton of amazing blogs.

Deep Survival
The official description: Adventure Contributing Editor Laurence Gonzales shares wilderness wisdom.
My description: Whether you are an experienced world-class mountain climber or a weekend hiker, this is the source for you. Articles such as How To Build a Fire are invaluable. Fire Piston; go google it.

The Green Guide
Offers buying guides, tips for a green home and even a green parenting blog!

Signs From Earth
Completely great and comprehensive "big picture" news on how climate change affects us and vice versa.

Grist.org
Like a good vitamin, Grist.org is packed with (what should be) your RDA of common sense and information about how to deal with the barrage of information about green living, food safety and climate in the news. Here's one of my favorites, How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic.

The Daily Green
A ton of great info and features, plus blogs such as The Green Cheapskate.

Worldchanging.com
A Seattle-based blog focused on exploring innovative solutions to the planet's problems. Sample it here.

The Mother Nature Network
Eco-awareness news and resources, plus beer!

Inhabitat.com
A blog focused on sustainable, eco-friendly housing and materials. Who knew that wombat-ass is the future of packaging?

TreeHugger.com
A site with 3 sections: Get Informed (articles on various aspects of environmentalism), Interact (forums, games and quizzes) and Take Action (various ways to "go green" and a job board), this is a valuable resource if you're the type who reads about an environmental issue and wants to actually do something about it.

Dot Earth
A NYT blog on the politics of environmental awareness with coverage of environmental disasters, summits and initiatives.

Web Find: Nat Geo Blogs

Craft Corner: Spider Silk Thread

Just in case you have a lot of free time on your hands and a handy supply of 3-5 foot webs in your yard, Boing Boing featured an article today on how to spin your own silk from spider webs. If I had the time (and the source material) I would totally do this. Spider silk is stronger than steel and can stretch to 40 times its length. Plus, imagine the Goth cred I would get for a little black dress woven from spiderwebs?

Here's the Instructables page that details the steps:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Spider-Silk-Thread/

And, even cooler, people in Madagascar have actually woven a piece of silk that looks like something from the set of "Lord of the Rings":
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/spidersilk/





The AMNH article discusses how the spiders like to weave webs between telephone lines in Madagascar. This phenomenon also occurs in Viet Nam. I saw enormous webs spun between power lines all along the highway from My Tho to Can Tho. The picture is below. The spiders in the webs were large enough to show up in the picture and at the distance I was from the power lines, that makes them at least 4 inches across.

Craft Corner: Spider Silk Thread

Not Your Mama's Fiber Optic Lamp

Any real '80s refugee has a suppressed memory or two involving Spencer's Gifts. My favorite obsession, which continued into early college trips to Boston's Chinatown, was the fiber optic flower lamp which would incandence into a revolving rainbow of hues over and over. These lamps are like the futuristic projections of a bygone era.

(plus, how can I resist passing on two of the best urls I've seen all month?)

Not Your Mama's Fiber Optic Lamp

A Jennsweb Girly-Girl Moment

Found via Artfire on Twitter. Neon-hued vegan eyeshadow! Finally, a reason to stop smearing on that mixture of butter and food-coloring! (oh c'mon like you've never considered that while making xmas cookies)

A Jennsweb Girly-Girl Moment

Smart Car Test Crash Video

-Seemingly directed from beyond by Sam Peckinpah
view video here (easy download too!)

Smart Car Test Crash Video