Mousetrap - 72

Regal largesse
Royal Society Journals Digital Archive
It’s the longest-running journal in science, with Volume One, Issue One published in March 1665. And every issue from that one up to the current lot is available on the site now, for free. But. Only up to December this year. Nearly 60,000 articles, with pretty much the who’s who of science in the bylines list, names familiar to us from high school science and everyday life. A small sampling: Bohr, Boyle, Cavendish, Chandrasekhar, Crick, Darwin, Davy, Faraday, Fermi, Fleming, Franklin, Halley, Hawking, Heisenberg, Herschel, Hodgkin, Huxley, Joule, Kelvin, Linnaeus, Lister, Marconi, Newton, Pavlov, Pepys, Priestley, Raman, Rutherford, Schrodinger, Turing, Volta, Watt, Wren.. But why am I prattling on? Go see! You have less than three-and-a-half months to catch up with three-and-a-half centuries of scientific study.

Democracy. Kind of.
PutVote
Social bookmarking has taken off big time over the last year or so. Works pretty easy: you find something you like (or not), you link to it via a bookmarking site, which your pals—and the web at large—can share. Your pals—and other members— may choose to mark those too, driving more traffic to the sites and pages linked to. Bloggers, linkers all, love these too. PutVote is, on the surface, just another of dozens of sites that offer pretty much the same service. Where it differs is its attitude. It’s focussed on India and Indians, has a sense of humour, and has a bunch of regular users already. Try it out. You can always vote by not voting.

Hair today
Men's Long Hair Hyperboard & Men's Long Hair Site
I’m indulging myself with this one, since I haven’t been to a barber in over a decade. I’m not completely something left over from a previous era, I find, since I see a lot of men wearing their hair long these days. Gentlemen, I have a clear lead, but take heart; genetics is having its way with me and there’s rather more forehead visible than when I started out. Anyway, the site’s names explain themselves, so go check them out. The second does not seem to have been updated since 1999, but it has several interesting pages, including pictures of styles you could use. The “hyperboard” is still active, though, so go snoop on the discussion threads there, and perhaps you could join in, if you wear your hair long.

Reader suggestions welcome, and will be acknowledged. Go to http://o3.indiatimes.com/mousetrap for past columns, and to comment, or mail inthemousetrap@indiatimes.com. The writer blogs at http://zigzackly.blogspot.com.

Published in the Times of India, Mumbai edition, 1st October, 2006.

Tags: The Times of India, Mousetrap