PREVIOUS RANDOM SITES OF THE WEEK

• Hyperphysics (2008-11-16) : one of the mamy marvelous educational websites that began as a hypercard stack. It is in effect a non-linear physics textbook, including extensive examples and calculations. As a physics graduate, I have a favourite problem; check out how to calculate whether you could fall through the Earth.
• Apple Pro Tips Archive (2009-01-11) : once upon a time, it was possible to get MacWorld Mac Secrets Mac Bibles books. They were huge, experienced-users-oriented tomes that were acutely useful. Alas, they have vanished at least for the moment, due to the many people switching to Macintosh computers. The books labelled "Mac-bibles" right now have an unfortunate tendency to insist that readers need a lecture on how to use the mouse and drop down menus. Until the real thing is back, this site is a decent stand-in.
• Cool Tools (2009-04-21) : there are few places where you can find information on useful products, ideas, or tools with trustworthy reviews by people who have used them. Cool Tools is one of those rare sites, featuring items ranging from bluntly practical (wheelbarrow handle extensions for the very tall) to quirky and unusual (Little Nemo in Slumberland).
• Archimedes Palimpsest (2010-10-23) : a place to learn all about two formerly lost books written by the ancient Greek scientist Archimedes, The Method and The Stomachion. You can read transcriptions of the text or read from prhotographs of the original palimpsest filtered to make the older text visible.
• Boston Globe: Russia In Color (2011-01-31) : I don't spend time on mainstream sites often, but here is a happy exception. This page presents colour photographs from 1909-12 Russia. How is that possible? Have a look! (If the site seems to keep loading even after the photos are all visible, you can safely hit the "stop" button.)