http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/dgexplore.cfm?col_id=212

This digital exhibit begins with an illustration of a group of urbanites all in a state of advanced concentration as they consider the latest issue of Harper’s magazine. Created sometime in the 1890s, this particular poster by Edward Penfield was one of the first art posters published in America. This online collection from the New York Public Library is full of such images, and visitors will enjoy looking over the hundreds of art posters from the turn of the century offered here. Visitors can view posters created by dozens of artists, and they can also search the entire collection, if they so desire. There are a number of gems here, including the poster advertising the novel “The Involuntary Chaperon” by H.R. Boehm and Edmund Henry Garrett’s poster for “Romance and Reality of the Puritan Coast”. [KMG]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/

There’s been a great deal of talk regarding the prevalence of diabetes and cancer in the United States, but there’s at least as much concern regarding heart disease. Working with WGBH and PBS, the noted producer Elizabeth Arledge has created an insightful documentary about the state of heart disease in America. This website is designed to complement the television program, and it does so with a mix of helpful fact sheets, suggestions for keeping the heart healthy, and some heart-healthy recipes. Visitors may also elect to view the entire program, which is contained here in ten segments. The site is rounded out by a very well done audio and video podcast which features Dr. Michael F. Roizen and Larry King. [KMG]

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/

It is regrettably decades too late to hear Ezio Pinza sing “Deh, vieni alla finestra” live from the Metropolitan Opera or Caruso offer his splendid version of “Questa o quello” from Verdi’s Rigoletto, but these lovely recordings are alive again on the Met’s very enchanting Met Archives website. First-time visitors may wish to read over the introductory essay on the history of the Met, and then proceed to the interactive timeline, “Sights & Sounds of Met History”. As mentioned, there are many wonderful audio excerpts available within the “Sounds of the Met” section, and the Met Opera Database allows visitors to search for information on various productions throughout the Met’s past. Here you can learn a great deal, including that La Boheme has been performed a total of 1178 times at the Met, while Die Lustigen Weiber Von Windsor by Nicolai-Mosenthal has been performed only once there. Additionally, users can peruse the “Stories of the Operas” area to read brief summaries of such works as Cosi fan tutte, Lulu, and Gotterdammerung. [KMG]

http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/

After the death of his father in 1893, Webb C. Hayes (the second son of President Rutherford B. Hayes), began an effort to build an appropriate memorial to his father. To accomplish this, he began by deeding the late President’s estate to the state of Ohio and by offering the President’s personal papers and possessions to the Ohio State Historical Society. Located in Fremont, Ohio, the Center includes the President’s residence, a historical museum, and the first presidential library ever constructed. On the Center’s website, visitors can view the diaries of the President, learn about his time as president, and browse through the library’s online catalog. Visitors who are so inclined may also wish to learn more about opportunities to visit the Center either as part of a research expedition or a family vacation. [KMG]

http://www.math.gatech.edu/~cain/textbooks/onlinebooks.html

More and more instructional materials in the field of mathematics can be found online today, though for several years, it was difficult to find high-quality textbooks in their entirety. Fortunately Professor George Cain of the Georgia Institute of Technology has created this website to remedy that situation. As Professor Cain notes on his site, “The writing of textbooks and making them freely available on the web is an idea whose time has arrived.” Here he offers links to sixty-five different textbooks, including those that deal with multivariable calculus and several introductory texts on probability. Overall, the site is a fine resource, and it will be of use to both budding math scholars and those who teach them. [KMG]

http://www.geronurseonline.org/index.cfm?section_id=7

For nurses interested in keeping up to date with developments in geriatric treatment, this set of resources created by expert practitioners will be quite a find. The entire site was developed as part of the Nurse Competence in Aging initiative created by the American Nurses Association. Here, visitors can read over twenty-five two-page assessment tools that include such helpful titles as “Assessing Nutrition in Older Adults”, “Predicting Pressure Ulcer Risk”, and “Immunizations for the Older Adult”. Written in clear and direct language, these resources will also be of assistance for nursing educators and those who are responsible for professional development workshops. It is also worth mentioning that these short tools are designed as screening tools, and are not for diagnosis. [KMG]

http://www.gehealthcare.com/usen/ultrasound/education/products/cme_3d4d.html

Created as part of General Electric’s Healthcare website, this online tutorial addresses the basics of 3- and 4-dimensional ultrasound. This resource is particularly useful for students who wish to become ultrasound or sonography technicians, and the tutorial is divided into ten separate sections. Dr. Nirvikar Dahiya wrote the tutorial, and users will learn about the basic principles of 3D sonography, and also have the opportunity to take a short quiz. Along the way, users will have important operating principles illustrated by figures, drawings, and examples of completed sonograms. Finally, the tutorial also contains a bibliography for future reference. [KMG]

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2007/reveron/

Armando Reverón (1889 - 1954) was an artist who only became known in his native Venezuela in the 1950s, shortly before his death, and has remained largely unknown outside of Latin America. In fact, the current Armando Reverón exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art is the first retrospective of his work in a North American museum. The accompanying Web site is organized into 8 sections providing examples of his landscape and figurative paintings, painted both from models and life size dolls. There are also images of the dolls that Reverón created to be the subjects of his painting, and three self-portraits, 2 of which show Reverón with his dolls. Many of his paintings were done on untreated burlap, and, especially in his landscapes, the paint sinks into the fabric to become ghostly and almost invisible; in Hija del Sol, 1933 it is possible to see printing that was on the burlap before it was painted. The website also includes pictures of El Castillette, the compound Reverón constructed and lived in for most of his life, near the town of Macuto on the Caribbean Coast. El Castillette became the Museo Armando Reverón in 1974, but was washed away in a mudslide in 1999. [DS]