Pocket Shop

Includes three great PEEP DVDs - Peep Explores, Chirp Flies, and Quack Knows It All.

The animated series PEEP and the Big Wide World, narrated by award-winning actress Joan Cusack, gives wings to the innovative idea of teaching science to preschoolers. Wry and distinctive visual humor, charming plotlines, and lovable characters combine with a comprehensive science program to attract and engage young kids.

Our mastery of cold is something we take for granted, whether it s air conditioning and frozen food or the liquefied gases and superconductivity at the heart of cutting-edge technology. But what is cold? How do you achieve it, and how cold can it get? This two-part NOVA special brings the history of this frosty fascination to life with brilliant dramatic recreations of high moments in low-temperature research and the quest for ever-lower notches on the thermometer.

The first hour, The Conquest of Cold, opens in the 1600s when the nature of cold and heat was a complete mystery. Were they different aspects of the same phenomenon? The experiments that settled these questions helped stoke the Industrial Revolution. In the second hour, The Race For Absolute Zero dramatizes the titanic rivalry between Scottish researcher James Dewar and Dutch physicist Heike Onnes, who plunged cold science to the forbidding realm at which oxygen and then nitrogen turn into liquids. The race continues today as scientists pioneer super-fast computing near absolute zero the ultimate chill of -459.67° F where atoms slow to a virtual standstill.

Hailing from Puerto Rico, Roberto Clemente was the first player selected in the 1954 MLB rookie draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and would go on to play his entire 18-season career for the Bucs. This in-depth documentary from PBS' "American Experience" chronicles the outfielder's illustrious path as the first Latin American Hall of Famer, from his initial days dealing with racial bigotry to his 1972 death in a plane crash while bringing supplies to Nicaragua earthquake survivors. 60 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital stereo; Subtitles: English (SDH), Spanish.

All 10 episodes from the tenth season--including "Happy Anniversary," "The Squirrels/Fern & Persimmony Glitchet," "Feeling Flush/Family Fortune," "Unfinished/D.W. Bossy Boots," and "What's Cooking?/Buster's Special Delivery"--are featured in a five-disc set. 4 1/3 hrs. total. Standard; Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital stereo, DVS.

Unlike the Joad clan of John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath," many families living in the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, western Kansas, and the eastern regions of Colorado and New Mexico remained in place, determined to survive the crippling dust storms brought on by an eight-year drought lasting from 1931 to 1939. This "American Experience" film chronicles their incredible stories. 56 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English.

In 1991, a small Medieval prayer book was sold at auction. Miraculously, some original writings of Archimedes, the brilliant Greek mathematician, were discovered hidden beneath the religious text. Through scholarly detective work with the help of modern technology, this book now reveals Archimedes’ stunningly original concepts, ideas, and theories—revelations that, if known sooner, might have reshaped our world.

Many historic figures have been hailed as ahead of their time. Few—if any—are said to be centuries ahead of their time. The Einstein of his era, Archimedes had a sophisticated understanding of mathematics, and designed marvelous war machines for his native Syracuse to use against the invading Romans. Many of Archimedes’ works disappeared during the Middle Ages, but some survived to help inspire the scientific revolution in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. One document that seemed irretrievably lost was his final treatise The Method, which reputedly explained how he achieved his brilliant results—secrets he revealed nowhere else. Now, over 2200 years later, the discovery of The Method has experts and scientists dreaming of what might have been if Renaissance thinkers and other great minds had known of his ideas and been able to build on them.

NOVA explores Archimedes’ rare writings, as well as the book’s mysterious beginnings, tumultuous history and amazing discovery. As the ancient text comes back from the dead, it unlocks its revolutionary contents—the infinite secrets of one of history’s greatest thinkers.

Special DVD features include: activities for educators; materials and activities for librarians; a link to the Infinite Secrets Web site; scene selections; closed captions; and described video for the visually impaired.

On one DVD5 disc. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: Letterboxed.

Greg Wise (Sense and Sensibility) and Keeley Hawes (Karaoke) star in this sumptuous adaptation of Wilkie Collins' classic mystery, the first detective novel ever written.

The Moonstone, a sacred Hindu diamond was stolen from the head of the Moon God, in its shrine by John Herncastle in 1799. The stone is said to be cursed if it is removed from the shrine.

In 1846, Herncastle visits his ister to wish his niece, Rachel, a happy birthday. His sister refuses to see him, and he vows that he will always remember his niece's birthday- a vow which later takes on sinister undertones.

Two years later, just before Rachel's birthday, a man named Franklin Blake announces to Rachel that the Moonstone has been bequeathed to her by Herncastle. Blake gives her the jewel on her birthday and offers to mount the jewel for her, in order that she might wear it. Inevitably, the jewel is found missing the next morning and Rachel believes Blake stole it. Determined to prove his innocence, Blake leaves in order to pursue the real truth behind the theft.