Etc...
'It doesn't bother me that they're back.'
- Mohamad Daoud, a furniture-shop owner in Baghdad, as the first UN weapons inspectors arrived to pick up where their predecessors left off in late 1998.
WHAT: This San Francisco Symphony site gives children an introduction to the basics of music and an orchestra's instruments.
BEST POINTS: In the music lab, kids can learn musical terms such as a staff, clef, note, and metronome. Each is detailed using cartoons and moving graphics. Visitors to the site can hear how the same line of music sounds on different instruments by clicking with the mouse on icons of a flute, violin, and tuba. The "performalator" and "composerizer" sections of the site let kids create their own pieces of music.
The site also provides a map of the orchestra's instruments. Visitors can click on the families of instruments - strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. There are descriptions, close-up photos, and sound recordings of all the instruments.
Visitors from the San Francisco area also can get information about performances specifically designed for families and children.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The site allows visitors to e-mail postcards with cartoon images.
Ever wonder which country leads the world in being struck by lightning? It's Brazil, researchers say. Using satellite data, the Brazilian Institute for Space Studies calculates that the country is bombarded with 70 million bolts a year.
Although it is playing in more theaters, the second "Harry Potter" movie fell shy of the $90 million box-office record set by its predecessor in its first weekend in release. But it still took in an impressive $87.7 million - the third-best opening for a commercial film on record. ("Spider-Man" remains the champion, at $114.8 million.) The top 10 movies for Nov. 15-17, and how much each earned (in millions), according to studio estimates:
1. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" $87.7
2. "8 Mile" 21.3
3. "The Santa Clause 2" 15.1
4. "The Ring" 11.0
5. "Half Past Dead" 8.2
6. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" 4.7
7. "Jackass: The Movie" 4.0
(tie) "I Spy"
9. "Frida" 2.9
10. "Sweet Home Alabama" 2.4
- Reuters
