chosen by your "librarian without walls," Marylaine Block marylaine at netexpress.net

June 12

Atlas Obscura - Wondrous, curious and bizarre locations around the world
http://atlasobscura.com/
Here's a site that can enliven your travel plans. Why settle for standard tourist traps when you could be visiting Small Worlds & Model Towns, museums of Strange Science or Outsider Art, Ghost Towns, Bizarre Restaurants & Bars, Eccentric Houses, etc. Search, or browse by categories or places.

Black Blog Watch: Tracking the Best Black Blogs
http://blackblogwatch.com/v1/index.cfm
Shows the most recent entries from about 100 political and social commentary blogs the site editors follow. Searchable and browsable by most discussed entries (What People Are Talking About).

Food Festivals and Food Show Index - FoodReference.com
http://www.foodreference.com/html/upcomingfoodevents.html
One mark of summer is eating really, really well, what with farmers' markets and food festivals galore. Browse by state or date for food festivals to your taste, be they best ribs competitions, pork expos, wine festivals, chili pepper & brew fests, chowder cookoffs, Italian food fests, etc.

The Globalist
http://www.theglobalist.com/
The site aims to provide "a daily account of the key issues before the global community." It includes a new feature article each day, a Book of the Week, a Quote of the Day, Fact of the Day, and Link of the Day (all of which seem to be related to the currently featured article). Past articles are browsable by countries and regions, and by globalization topics such as children, development, markets, religion, technology, etc.

How To Behave in an Emergency - PAKAR
http://www.oref.org.il/308-en/PAKAR.aspx
Amanda Ripley <http://www.amandaripley.com/blog>, author of a book about how people respond during disasters, points out that since it will always take time for official rescuers to get to the scene, the general public needs to know how to respond during emergencies. Israel's government takes that idea to heart and uses national drills and this site to teach its citizens how to behave during (and in preparation for) floods, fires, hazardous material leaks, earthquakes, and terrorist attacks.

Kiva - Loans That Change Lives
http://www.kiva.org/
" the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe." Kiva's partner microfinance organizations upload their profiles of aspiring entrepreneurs, the amount needed, and the amount raised so far. Kiva provides a platform that allows you to invest in any of them and track your portfolio.

Let's See Tiger Do This
http://www.stracka.com/golf-blogs/blogs_post.asp?id=3357105
A tour-de-force performance by Fred Astaire, working golf shots into his routine.

National Obituary Archive - Arrangeonline.com
http://www.arrangeonline.com/
With more than 55 million individual entries on file, this may indeed be, as it claims, the world's largest repository of obituaries and death records. It didn't find the two obits I looked for, but you may have better luck.

An Online Guide to Following the Health Care Legislation
http://www.slate.com/id/2220222/?from=rss
It's pretty likely something called health care reform will pass this year, but the devil is in the details, and those details are of great interest to several gigantic lobbying organizations and to us unorganized patients. This guide points you to sites that follow those details.

Rebuild Your Finances - Consumer Reports
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/money/resource-center/financial-security-guide/financial-survival-guide.htm
Among the topics covered here: safest place for your cash, improving your credit score, surviving a layoff, plugging your home's money leaks, saving on car insurance, repairs & fuel, protecting your health coverage, and more.

Top 50 Health 2.0 Blogs
http://www.rncentral.com/nursing-library/careplans/top_50_health_2.0_blogs
RN Central points you to the best health-related blogs, for both medical professionals and consumers. The links include corporate or government sources, as well as blogs on social networking, health technology, general health care, and health policy and law.

World of Change
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/index.php
"Inspired by our 10th anniversary, the Earth Observatory has pulled together a special series of NASA satellite images documenting how our world — forests, oceans, human landscapes, even the Sun — has changed during the previous decade."

June 5

Being Muslim in America
http://www.america.gov/publications/books/being-muslim-in-america.html
This full text book from the US Department of State provides the story of Muslims in America, with profiles of prominent Muslim Americans, statistics, timelines tracing key events from 1619-2007, and photo galleries exemplifying their contributions to American life.

DIGMAP - Discovering Our Past World with Digitized Maps
http://portal.digmap.eu/
This site uses "metadata from European national libraries, to provide discovery and access to contents provided by those libraries." The site is searchable, and browsable by date, place, and individual collection.

Fashion Plate Collection - Claremont College Digital Libraries
http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/collection.php?alias=fpc
Claremont College has digitized 650 images of nineteenth-century fashion plates from women's periodicals published between 1789 and 1914. Searchable, and browsable by historical period or decade, or by LC Subject Headings.

Food Gardening Guide - National Gardening Association
http://garden.org/foodguide/browse
Choose vegetables, fruits or herbs, and then, for each variety, learn about Getting Started, Planting, Care, and Harvesting.

GovFresh - US Government 2.0
http://govfresh.com/
" a live feed of official news from U.S. Government Twitter, YouTube, RSS, Facebook, Flickr accounts and more, all in one place." Browse by branch of government or government agency. Also check out its blog for info about new feeds and updated info about GovFresh itself.

Highwire Press
http://highwire.stanford.edu/
"A division of the Stanford University Libraries, HighWire Press hosts the largest repository of high impact, peer-reviewed content, with 1245 journals and 5,920,309 full text articles from over 140 scholarly publishers." About a third of those articles are available for free.

Kaiser Health News
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/
Yet another resource from the Kaiser Family Foundation, one of the foremost providers of information on health care policy and politics. Features include Blog Watch (checking in on state-based health bloggers), Data Point ("A graphical glance at important and interesting research"), a glossary of health policy terms, and Capitol Clearing House ("The latest on health reform: Congressional plans, timelines and comparison tools").

Office for Victims of Crime - US Department of Justice
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/
The information provided here for crime victims, criminal justice personnel, and support groups, includes help for victims (arranged by specific crimes, e.g., elder abuse, hate crimes, stalking, etc.), links to OVC publications, research and statistics, grants and funding information, and news about new programs and resources.

Pro Publica - Journalism in the Public Interest
http://www.propublica.org/
" an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. Our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories, stories with “moral force.” Featured topics include a Bailout Guide, the Stimulus, and Torture. A new feature, Change Tracker, alerts you to changes to whitehouse.gov, recovery.gov and financialstability.gov. It offers Tools for Managers, Research resources, maps, data and images, and (under Community Connections) blogs, podcasts, audios and videos.

WikiGender
http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/New_Home
This wiki from the OECD Development Centre aims to "facilitate the exchange and improve the knowledge on gender-related issues around the world. A particular focus lies on gathering empirical evidence and identifying adequate statistics to measure gender equality." Searchable, and browsable by countries and statistics.

Wilderness.net
http://www.wilderness.net/
This site is home to "the only officially-recognized, national, comprehensive, inter-agency database of information about all Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service and National Park Service wilderness areas."

Write Your Resume - CareerZone
http://www.nycareerzone.org/cz/resources/jobseeker/resume.jsp
This resource from the NY Department of Labor allows people to simply fill in the blanks to create a resume - a boon to jobseekers with limited computer skills.

May 29

Alpha Consumer - USNews.com
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/alpha-consumer/index.html
Here's a consumer information blog worth adding to your regular reads. Unfortunately, it's not browsable by topic, but the search function searches not only this blog but all US News & World Report content.

Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://www.bls.gov/
The prime source of US data on all things labor-related: inflation and prices, spending and time use, employment, unemployment, pay and benefits, workplace injuries, and more. Other features of note include sections for specific types of readers (business leaders, consumers, investors, jobseekers, etc.), the "at-a-glance tables," and sections on demographics, industries, business costs, etc.

Discovery Earth
http://dsc.discovery.com/earth/
Featuring news, blogs, interviews with scientists, videos ("Swimming with Sharks," "The Ring of Fire," "Surviving a Big Wave Wipeout," among others), photos, slide shows (including biggest eruptions in history, night sky events for 2009, and strangest beasts to ever die), and games and puzzles.

Financial Stimulus Plans: Recent Developments in Selected Countries
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/financial_stimulus_plan.php
The US is not alone in its efforts to dig itself out of a deep economic hole. Here, the Law Library of the Library of Congress offers reports on hos 16 other nations and the European Union are trying to stimulate their economies.

GastroNomalies
http://www.gastronomalies.com/
A blog that "explores the policies and politics behind what we eat every day. Sometimes funny, often serious, the author is a some-what vegetarian, an urban gardener, and farmers market enthusiast who is learning to cook the basics." Search or browse by tag cloud. (As a former Iowan, I'm amused by the alphabetical convergence of former governor Vilsack and Weird.)

The Great Pandemic: the United States in 1918-1919
http://1918.pandemicflu.gov/index.htm
If you're wondering why governments are so concerned about the H1N1 flu virus, you can get an idea here by reading about the influenza caused by the same virus, that killed an estimated 30 million people worldwide in 1918 (including my father's father).

Health Reform Side by Side - Kaiser Family Foundation
http://www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm
Download a printable side-by-side comparison of all of the plans currently on the table, or restrict by specific proposals or by topics like individual mandate, employer requirements, changes to private insurance, etc.

Recovery.org
http://recovery.org/home.aspx
This site, created by a company that routinely tracks spending at every level of government, offers more detailed information on stimulus spending and projects than I've been able to find on the official recovery.gov site. Click on a state and you'll get mouseover data on number of projects and total allocated amount for each county; click on a county and you'll get descriptions of individual spending projects. The site also offers recent news, info on featured projects (both "recent" and "most expensive"), and What America Is Saying (choose Most Discussed, Most Needed, or Most Unnecessary).

Sense about Science
http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/
"We respond to the misrepresentation of science and scientific evidence on issues that matter to society, from scares about plastic bottles, fluoride and the MMR vaccine to controversies about genetic modification, stem cell research and radiation."

SitCom Locations
http://www.stltoday.com/mds/entertainment/html/2367
The American landscape according to television. Browse by map location or arrow down the alphabetical list of TV shows. Also includes a detailed list of all shows set in New York City, and a list of shows that are not on the map because their location is fictional or unclear.

Women's Studies - Core Books
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/ACRLWSS/
A database compiled by University of Wisconsin librarians to assist collection development librarians and women's study faculty. Searchable and browsable by broad topics (aging, feminist movements in the US, mass media, science, etc.)

YouTube - US Government Channel
http://www.youtube.com/USGovernment
A convenient central location for hundreds of videos from government agencies. Browse by agency or by playlists (Family, Home, & Community, Benefits & Grants, Science & Technology, etc.).

May 22

37 Data-ish Blogs You Should Know About
http://flowingdata.com/2009/05/06/37-data-ish-blogs-you-should-know-about/
Courtesy of Nathan at Flowingdata.com, links to his favorite blogs on data, statistics, visualization, maps, design, and infographics. Readers offer a few additional sites as well.

AgeSource/AgeStats Worldwide - AARP International
http://www.aarpinternational.org/database/
"AgeSource Worldwide identifies several hundred information resources in some 25 countries," including "clearinghouses, libraries, databases, training modules, major reports, and Web metasites." AgeStats Worldwide provides comparative statistical data on the situation of older adults, with projections when available. Browsable by topic or region; you can limit your search by information type, geographic area, and language.

Beep - Bioethics Education Project
http://www.beep.ac.uk/content/130.0.html
The Project's site offers students, teachers, and the general public background information on the science and ethical issues involved in topics like cloning, the use of animals in research, and other controversial practices in the life sciences. It also provides a news archive, a glossary, and a helpful primer on how science works.

Compare Credit Card Offers at CreditCards.com
http://www.creditcards.com/
Allows you to find and compare credit card offers by features (low interest rate, cash back, prepaid and debit, rewards, etc.), your own credit quality, and bank or issuer. Also offers credit card news and advice, calculators, a glossary and guide to credit card terms, and a credit-score estimater.

Do One Nice Thing
http://doonenicething.com/
This companion site to the book of the same name says, how about once a week, say on a Monday, we do just one nice thing? It offers a variety of ideas, most involving minimal expense, that could brighten the lives of people (or animals).

Featured Legislation - The MiddleClass.org
http://www.themiddleclass.org/
"Your latest tool for congressional accountability" allows you to follow legislation important to the middle class, and find out how well your congressional representatives support your interests. You can search for analyses of pending legislation, and browse by hot topics like Medicare, Housing, Corporate Accountability, etc.

HubbleSite
http://hubblesite.org/
The place to go if you want to see video of the recent rescue mission, get updates on the repairs of the telescope, and find out why scientists and amateur stargazers alike were so passionate about its rescue. Includes a News Center, a gallery of images and videos, articles about Hubble's breakthrough discoveries, and special sites for amateur astronomers, educators, and kids.

Lifelong Kindergarten - MIT Media Lab
http://llk.media.mit.edu/
The MIT Media Lab aims to develop new technologies to "expand the range of what people can design, create, and learn." Check out the news stories about the project, papers delivered by project leaders, and details about the individual projects like computer clubhouses for low income kids, new programming environments, invention kits, and more.

Mind Hacks
http://www.mindhacks.com/
This companion blog for the book of the same name follows recent discoveries in "neuroscience and psychology tricks to find out what's going on inside your brain." The blog is searchable, and browsable by the book's chapter topics (attention, reasoning, remembering, etc.) Recent topics include the psychology of falling for scams, the US military pouring millions into 'EEG telepathy,' the discovery that tall people have slower nerves, etc.

Science U
http://www.scienceu.com/
When The Geometry Center at the University of Minnesota came to the end of its grant funding, this site spun off it to continue its mission of making science not only understandable but fun, through its interactive exhibits, animated explanations and science graphics. In addition to The Geometry Center's original exhibits and teaching activities, it has an observatory featuring an interactive solar system simulator, a planet locator, and animations of celestial phenomena.

U.S. Agricultural & Food Law and Policy Blog
http://www.agandfoodlaw.com/
Between the organic foods and local food movements and recent concerns about food safety, agricultural and food law policy is suddenly a hot topic. Here's a good place to start reading about new developments. I don't see a search capability, but it's browsable by categories like animal welfare, environmental law, food safety, sustainable agriculture, etc.

White House Museum
http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/index.htm
This site, which is unaffiliated with Whitehouse.gov or the White House Historical Association, provides an unofficial tour, extensive photo gallery, map, and fact sheets covering over 140 areas of the building and grounds.

May 15

Earth Science World Image Bank
http://www.earthscienceworld.org/imagebank/
The American Geological Society provides this collection of over 6,000 images as a community service to the public, educators, and the geoscience community. Search or browse by category.

Eye Level - Smithsonian American Art Museum
http://eyelevel.si.edu/
This blog by staffers of the Smithsonian American Art museum focuses on not only its own collection and exhibits, but other museums and collections, and American art in general.

Healthy Harvest Food Guides
http://chge.med.harvard.edu/programs/food/food_guides.html
A calendar guide to what fresh produce is available when in different areas of the country.

Immigration Blog
http://blog.immigrantconnect.com/
"Current Information and Opinions on US Immigration Laws and Policies," courtesy of an attorney specializing in immigration law. Sample posts: naturalization process for the military, immigration courts backlogged, workable immigration solutions in the middle of a financial crisis. The blog is searchable, but not browsable by categories.

The Life of Birds
http://www.pbs.org/lifeofbirds/index.html
The PBS web site continues to be a national treasure, offering videos, audios, background information, and lesson plans to accompany all its series. This section of the site, supporting David Attenborough's series on The Life of Birds, is a wonderful addition to the PBS canon.

Post-Apocalyptic Juvie Lit
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2008/02/like_endless_ra.html
Both Joshua Glenn's "short, hastily annotated list of some of my own favorite examples of post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction" and the comments on it, which update his primarily 1970s picks, make for an interesting reading list.

S. Res 118: A Resolution to provide internet access to certain Congressional Research publications [Open Congress]
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-sr118/show
Librarians and others concerned with freedom of information may wish to talk to their congressional representatives about this bill. Though taxpayers fund the Library of Congress' Congressional Research Service, its useful reports on public policy issues are not released to the public unless outside groups like the Center for Democracy and Technology obtain copies and publish them (see Open CRS <http://opencrs.com/>). This bill would require that these reports be released online. You might also want to contact representatives about HR 801, The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act, which would nullify the NIH's requirement that the research it funds be made freely available on the internet soon after its publication in professional journals (See the ALA position paper at <http://capwiz.com/ala/issues/alert/?alertid=12715186>.)

SolvingLifesProblems.org
http://solvinglifesproblems.org/
We all know that library use goes up during economic crises, just as those crises cause library funding to go down. This site provides both news stories and people's own submitted accounts of the way libraries change lives, helping people solve their problems (English language lessons, a safe environment for kids, etc.) and find new opportunities (starting a business, finding a job, etc.).

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive
http://icpsr.umich.edu/SAMHDA/
"SAMHDA provides free, ready access to comprehensive research data in a variety of formats," some of it never before available to the public. It also provides a data analysis system, a function for making customized data tables, the survey instruments from which data were derived, a tutorial, bibliography, and webliography.

What It Costs - Everything Costs Something
http://www.whatitcosts.com/
Searchable and browsable by categories such as Health, Travel, Business, "Go Green," etc. The wide variety of topics includes the costs of borrowing from a 401k, hiring a personal trainer, installing a solar energy system, getting hair transplant surgery, hiring a wedding planner, declaring bankruptcy, and more. Each article offers a ballpark estimate of costs and an overview of the process, cost issues, requirements, etc.

Women in Sport
http://www.wsff.org.uk/products/back_copies.php
An archive of previous issues of this British publication covering women's sports, both major and minor. Feature articles include pieces on women playing rugby, tennis, cricket, soccer, wheelchair basketball, etc. The site also provides links to fact sheets on women in sports, and to research sponsored by the Women's Sports and Fitness Foundation.

World of Psychology Blog
http://psychcentral.com/blog
News and musings on research and current issues in psychology. Search or browse by categories like aging, brain & behavior, disorders, medications, memory, parenting, etc.

May 8

10 Future-Proof Jobs You Can Get Right Now
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4314253.html
And they even sound interesting - scouting sites for wind energy installations, engineering new battery technologies, "digital detective" work, etc.

Cornell University Library Witchcraft Collection
http://digital.library.cornell.edu/w/witch/index.html
Search through over 23,000 digitized pages from Cornell University Library's extensive collection on witchcraft as theology and as religious heresy - including "works on canon law, the Inquisition, torture, demonology, trial testimony, and narratives."

Crime and Clues - the art and science of criminal investigation
http://www.crimeandclues.com/
Links to articles on crime scene investigation, fingerprints, physical evidence, digital evidence, testimony, behavioral evidence, death investigation, and more.

HealthReform.gov
http://healthreform.gov/
Includes the President's agenda for health reform, weekly updates on the progress of legislation as it goes through Congress, the report on the White House Forum on health reform, related government reports, and a discussion forum.

Image Database to Enhance Asian Studies
http://www.ideasproject.org/
Search across all 9 collections, or within individual collections.

Local Harvest/Farmers Markets
http://www.localharvest.org/
A guide to farmers' markets, family farms, CSAs, grocery stores, restaurants and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area. Searchable by zip code, desired product, and type of food provider.

Mind Meld - SF Signal
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/cat_interviews/mind_meld.html
An archive of discussions by science fiction writers around interesting questions such as The Best Women Writers in SF/F, The Forgotten Books of SF/F/H, the Best Examples of SF/F Worldbuilding, Young Adult SF/F Books That Adults Will Like, Too, etc.

Orphanet
http://www.orpha.net/consor/cgi-bin/index.php?lng=EN
"The portal for rare diseases and orphan drugs." Includes a database of rare diseases, searchable by name, gene, or clinical sign (using the provided thesaurus). Also, a database of orphan drugs searchable by drug name or the disease it treats, and a database of diagnostic tests. Other features include an encyclopedia for patients, an encyclopedia for medical professionals, a directory of patient organizations, and a database of research projects and clinical trials.

Soundtrack.net - the art of film and television music
http://www.soundtrack.net/
A great starting place for soundtrack fans. Includes news, movie and soundtrack reviews, composer bios and filmographies, interviews with composers, a resource list, webliography, and podcasts.

Wikinomics
http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/
"Exploring how mass collaboration changes everything." Some intriguing recent posts include discussions of government use of collaborative tools, engaging the green citizen, and creative applications contests like Apps for Democracy <http://www.appsfordemocracy.org/>

Women, Power and Politics Online Exhibition
http://www.imow.org/wpp/index
Articles and interviews with influential women explore topics such as women's role in environmental protection, how "the female body is respected, used, abused and manipulated in the political arena," the "relationship between faith and politics in the lives of women around the world," and more. The site also includes maps, a timeline, recommended films and books, and podcasts.

World Economic Outlook - Crisis and Recovery, April, 2009 - International Monetary Fund
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2009/01/index.htm
Here the IMF grapples with issues like the risk of deflation, policies to end the crisis, how soon the recovery might be and how strong, the transmission of financial stress from advanced economies to emerging ones. You can read the entire report here, or settle for the executive summary.

May 1

Academic Earth - Video Lectures from the World's Top Scholars
http://academicearth.org/
Search through "thousands of video lectures from the world's top scholars," or browse by discipline or by the names of scholars or universities.

America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places
http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/11-most-endangered/
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which helps people "protect, enhance and enjoy the places that matter to them," regularly focuses on treasures in particular danger from neglect or nearby development. Find out here about the threats to this year's 11. There are also links to Resources (for funding, technical assistance, disaster recovery, etc.), and Issues (community revitalization, neighborhood schools, public lands, etc.).

Campaign for the American Reader
http://americareads.blogspot.com/
The Campaign aims to encourage more readers to read more books. Its blogger, Marshal Zeringue, does this by regularly highlighting interesting books and interviewing interesting people about what books they are reading.

CDC - Swine Flu Investigation
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm
This resource for both the general public and public health officials includes an overview, info on antiviral drugs and care of sick people, and travel health warnings as they are issued. See also the regular situation updates at the World Health Organization's Swine Flu page <http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html>.

Citizen Media Law Project
http://www.citmedialaw.org/
Many bloggers and citizen journalists face legal risks they're not aware of. This site has just launched a legal guide, as well as a database of legal threats and litigation. The home page updates information on its blog and in the New Threat Entries section.

Encyclopedia of Earth
http://www.eoearth.org/
These articles about the earth, its environments, and its interactions with human society, are written in non-technical language by scholars, professionals, educators, and experts, and are both searchable and browsable by topics, article titles, authors, "environmental classics," and collections.

Food Network
http://www.foodnetwork.com/
While this is obviously a source for great chef's recipes and videos, and for the cable network's program schedule, other features include healthy eating ideas (including makeovers of not-so-healthy favorites), quick and easy meals (including kid-friendly dishes and make-ahead meals), and "in-season now" fruits and veggies with accompanying recipes.

Greenversations
http://blog.epa.gov/blog/
The official blog of the US Environmental Protection Agency is a great way of learning about new and existing services and features of the EPA itself and its extensive website.

The Legal Workshop
http://legalworkshop.org/
Provides plain language summaries of articles from major law reviews.

Library of Congress Channel - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/LibraryOfCongress
This pilot project offers samples from the Library of Congress collection of early motion pictures, along with recordings of events, lectures and concerts. It currently includes 74 videos, as well as links to LoC's webcasts, podcasts, motion pictures, and digital collections.

Luxury or Necessity - Pew Social & Demographic Trends
http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/733/luxury-necessity-recession-era-reevaluations
Economic crisis, like knowing you're going to be hanged in a fortnight, concentrates the mind wonderfully. Judging from this survey, people are refocusing on the essentials of life - and redefining what they are.

Open Secrets: Money in Politics: See Who's Giving & Who's Getting
http://www.opensecrets.org
This Webby award winner keeps track of political fundraising and lobbying and makes the info trackable by politician, House, Senate, congressional committees, and political parties. They also track influence and lobbying, PACs, 527s, and "heavy hitters" (the 100 biggest givers since 1989). Other features include blogs and "tracking the payback" ("What are the major issues before Congress and who's trying to influence the decisions? What are the special interests looking to get?")

April 24

10 Ways To Stay Happy in Tough Times
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30058079/
TODAYshow.com readers share their coping strategies for a down economy, with links to viewer tips on related topics like How to triumph over a job loss, 10 dirt-cheap ways to keep kids happy, etc.

2009 Executive Pay Watch
http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/
The AFL-CIO not only tracks current practices in corporate executive compensation, but also provides case studies, 2008 trends in compensation, and a CEO pay database. Naturally they also provide links to the AFL-CIO's main site.

As a Matter of Fact - NPR
http://www.npr.org/blogs/library/
An interesting blog from National Public Radio's library.

Assessing Treasury's Strategy: 6 Months of TARP - Congressional Oversight Panel
http://cop.senate.gov/reports/library/report-040709-cop.cfm
The Congressional Oversight Panel takes a noticeably less cheerful view of the Treasury Department's efforts to deal with the big banks' toxic assets than Treasury does, and notes that the federal financial commitment greatly exceeds the amount Congress reluctantly appropriated for it. You can read the report itself, the executive summary, the testimony before the committee, and/or alternative views to the COP report.

The Best State Political Blogs
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/fix-notes/the-best-state-political-blogs-2.html
Chris Cilizza has been reading all the blogs nominated by readers across the country and provides links to political blogs, both liberal and conservative, from every state. In an age when newspapers are dying, and routine coverage of state government and politics with them, these blogs will be useful sources.

By Social Entrepreneurs, for Social Entrepreneurs: Social Edge
http://www.socialedge.org/
One-stop information shopping for those who want to apply their business skills to doing good. It offers blogs, a wiki, discussions (topics like business development, funding, success metrics, etc.) and expert advice. (My favorite social entrepreneurs remain the folks at Better World Books <http://betterworldbooks.com/> who help libraries and others sell their used books, then share their profits, and the sellers' profits, with literacy partners in the US and the third world.)

Carnegie Hero Fund
http://www.carnegiehero.org/
A great site to visit whenever you want to restore your faith in humans. Its honorees are ordinary people who risked their lives, and sometimes lost them, while attempting to save others from drowning, fire, assault, and other catastrophes. (I have often thought that a truly uplifting TV series could be made from the investigations the Carnegie Fund makes into each nominee.)

The Company Reputation Index - Vanno
http://vanno.com/
"Vanno’s social evaluation platform captures gossip, news, opinion and personal insight about companies and their reputations, and turns it all into numerical scores and rankings," ranking 5800+ companies on such factors as customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, community involvement, social responsibility, etc. Search, or browse the top 100 companies by reputation in each category. You can also register and participate in the ranking.

Lowe's Video and Project Center
http://lowes.com/videos
Videos help you learn to build a deck, decorate and paint, plant and care for lawns and gardens, entertain outdoors, install flooring, and more.

National Parks Traveler
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/
"Commentary, news, and life in America's parks." Includes a feature article, the Park Photo of the Week, and news about the parks. If you're thinking of vacationing in one of the national parks, you might like to use this in your pre-trip planning, along with the National Park Service site, <http://www.nps.gov/> and L.L. Bean's Park Search <http://www.llbean.com/parksearch/index.html>. (And I just learned that Ken Burns' latest series for PBS, which will debut in September, is called The National Parks: America's Best Idea <http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/>.)

Still Tasty - Your Ultimate Shelf Life Guide
http://www.stilltasty.com/
For thousands of your favorite foods, this site answers the question, "Keep it or toss it?" Search for specific items or browse by category to find its shelf life, how to store it, and what warning signs suggest it should not be consumed. The Shelf Talk section includes useful guides to expiration dates, safe defrosting, and keeping fruits luscious.

What Works Clearinghouse
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/
The Department of Education's clearinghouse for proven educational intervention strategies. Search or browse by topics. The reference library includes resources to aid researchers and educators involved in evaluating instruction.

April 17

NOTE: I'm back, after an operating system crash and the complete reinstallation of all my programs, and most of my data.

Academic Costume Code and Ceremony Guide
http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=10625
With college graduation approaching, this is the season for questions about academic protocol.

FinancialStability.gov
http://www.financialstability.gov/
Explains the government's plan for achieving financial stability, including local impact of Treasury's investments in community, regional and national banks, the plan to make homes affordable, the public-private investment program, consumer and business lending, etc.

Government Comics Collection
http://contentdm.unl.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2Fcomics
Who knew the federal government used so many comic books to inform people about their services, or how to do various things?

How-To Videos on Wonder How To
http://wonderhowto.com/
This site "hand-selects and curates the best [free] instructional videos from over 1,700 websites." Search or browse by categories like Autos, Motorcycles & planes, Business & Money, Diet & Health, Food, Gaming, etc. Some intriguing videos currently featured include how to survive a plane crash, organize tax documents, send care packages to troops overseas, and perfect your baseball swing.

Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator http://www.livingto100.com/Answer an extensive survey about your health, habits and family history, and find out what your individual life expectancy is, and what you can be doing differently to improve it.

NetLingo - the Internet Dictionary
http://www.netlingo.com/
A guide to internet jargon, acronyms, technical and business terms. Search, or browse alphabetically, by category, by popular topics, newly added updates, or THE TOP 50 ACRONYMS EVERY PARENT NEEDS TO KNOW. You can also sign up for e-mails on various topics.

Nine and a Half Minutes
http://www.cdc.gov/nineandahalfminutes/index.html
The federal government's web site for its campaign against AIDS, which infects someone in the US every nine and a half minutes. Includes fact sheets, the location of a test site near you, and info on preventing HIV and living with it. There's also a Spanish language version.

Nonprofit Marketing Guide
http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/resources/
Check out the articles and blog for lots of excellent advice. You can also sign up for a free e-mail newsletter, or to attend webinars.

Roadside Architecture
http://www.agilitynut.com/roadside.html
This labor of love by Debra Jane Seltzer, a lifelong lover of America's roadside diners, giant animals, carousels, and other wonders, offers pictures galore, accessible by state. It's a great site to visit before you travel across the country with easily bored children.

Stateline.org
http://www.stateline.org/live/
I've recommended this site before for its coverage of economic, social and policy issues in the states, and for the research it gathers on behalf of state government officials. Currently, it's featuring new reports on thd dispersion of illegal immigrants throughout the states, and on the recent drastic decline in sales tax collections. Other features of interest include backgrounders on hot button issues like abortion, the death penalty, and immigration, and current and archived news stories about the state governments, searchable by state.

Tax Shell Game
http://www.uspirg.org/issues/tax-and-budget
The US Public Interest Group chose April 15 as a fitting day to release this report on "how major US corporations avoid paying their fair share by hiding [$100 billion a year] in tax havens like the Cayman Islands."

WorldWideScience - The Global Science Gateway
http://worldwidescience.org/
"a global science gateway—accelerating scientific discovery and progress through a multilateral partnership to enable federated searching of national and international scientific databases and portals." Results are available in full or as narrower topical clusters; the retrieved reports range from citations only through abstracts and even full articles.

March 27

2009 National Magazine Awards Finalists - Magazine Publishers of America
http://magazine.org/asme/magazine_awards/nma_winners/index.aspx
Here's your chance to read some great magazine journalism, essays and short fiction you might have missed, on topics as wide-ranging as Backpacker's Maps Project, "Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good," the "ultimate guide to retirement," "Should Women Rule the World?" and more.

Alaska Volcano Observatory - Mount Redoubt
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.php
Look here for images of the volcano's current activity, ashfall predictions, consequent flight disruptions at the nearby airport, and preparedness information.

Digital Youth Research - Kids Informal Learning with Digital Media
http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/
The final report of a 3 year project investigating how kids use digital media in their everyday life for self-directed learning and social engagement. The full report is available here, along with the 2 page summary and the press release with its accompanying video.

Divorce360.com - divorce advice, news, blogs, and community
http://www.divorce360.com/
"provides help, advice and community for people contemplating, going through or recovering from divorce and the issues around it - custody, child support, alimony and litigation." You can browse by issues (legal, financial, emotional, and child-related) or by the process itself (deciding, beginning, process, ongoing, moving on). There's also an "Ask a Lawyer Online" feature.

Evidence: How Do We Know What We Know?
http://www.exploratorium.edu/evidence/lowbandwidth/index.html
I don't know about you, but I'm seeing more and more journalism and argument these days that is totally devoid of supporting evidence, which makes the Exploratorium's introduction to what evidence is and how science works particularly valuable. If nothing else, check out the section on "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? 7 QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT ANY SCIENTIFIC CLAIM."

Memeorandum
http://memeorandum.com/
The politically obsessed will appreciate this aggregator of political news from traditional and digital news sources. Topic by topic, it starts with an article from a prominent news source and links to related articles and discussion.

Open for Questions - Whitehouse.gov
http://WhiteHouse.gov/OpenForQuestions
If the White House press corps isn't asking the President the questions that concern you, ask your own on this new site, and vote on other people's questions. President Obama promises to conduct an online town hall on Thursday mornings where he will answer questions drawn from this site.

Shovers and Makers - the Library Society of the World
http://www.shoversandmakers.net/
For librarians who did not make the cut for Library Journal's Movers and Shakers, here's a chance to introduce yourself and explain what you are doing that deserves at least credit if not stardom. They also serve who simply do a valuable job well.

Stimulus and Recovery - Governing
http://www.governing.com/stimulus.htm
Governing Magazine's site, which aggregates news about government at all levels, has added a new section for stories about the stimulus program and recovery.

Top 10 Peep Entries - Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-peeps-photogallery,0,3876424.photogallery
Just in time for Easter, here are the winners of the Tribune's annual contest to create art from marshmallow peeps.

Universal Newsreels at the Internet Archive
http://www.archive.org/details/universal_newsreels
Browse by broad topic or alphabetically by title through 601 newsreels produced by Universal between 1929 and 1967. I was particularly intrigued by Roosevelt's October, 1933 address to the nation explaining his recovery programs and their progress to that date.

Your Guide to Preventing Medical Mistakes - Health.com
http://news.health.com/2008/06/18/guide-to-preventing-medical-mistakes/
A guide to protecting yourself from medical errors in the hospital, and at your doctor's office <http://living.health.com/2008/09/15/danger-at-your-doctors-office/>.

March 20

27 Visualizations and Infographics to Understand the Financial Crisis
http://flowingdata.com/2009/03/13/27-visualizations-and-infographics-to-understand-the-financial-crisis/
These graphics help you understand how the crisis came about, where the billions people thought they had in investments went, who in Congress voted for the bailout, where the bailout money went, how the money in the stimulkus plan is allocated, and more. Visit the parent site, Flowing Data <http://flowingdata.com/>, to see more interesting data analysis and visualization ("17 Ways to Visualize the Twitter Universe," "Watch the Rise of Gasoline Retail Prices, 1993 - 2008," "12 Cool Visualizations to Explore Books," etc.).

Career One-Stop
http://www.careeronestop.org/
"Tools to help job seekers, students, businesses, and career professionals," courtesy of the U.S. Department of Labor. Of particular interest: the new worker re-employment portal, which directs you to immediate help, finding a job, changing careers, and upgrading your skills.

Catalogs.com - Order catalogs from around the world for free
http://www.catalogs.com/
Online catalogs are great when you know what you want, but physical catalogs are a joy to people who just want to browse and see what's available. Here's a master source for ordering the catalogs that interest you. (I raised a son on goodies from Edmund's Scientific Catalog, and am now planning to do the same for my grandsons.)

Consumer Reports Cars Blog
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/
Among the more interesting recent posts: recent car and truck recalls, best and worst used cars, how to find a good repair shop, and how to make your car last for 200,000 miles.

EcoLabels Center - GreenerChoices.org
http://www.greenerchoices.org/eco-labels/eco-home.cfm
Now that green is in, it seems like every product is claiming to be good for the environment. This site examines how meaningful the label is, whether the claim is verified, whether the label standards are publicly available, whether the certifying organization has conflicts of interest, etc. Search by label, by product category, or by the organizations that certify the products.

Google Maps for Government - Social Government
http://www.socialgovernment.com/2009/02/26/best-practices-google-maps-for-government/
These excellent suggestions for how government agencies could improve services by using Google Maps should stir the creative juices of public employees (including librarians) to come up with their own ideas. I assume, of course, that librarians have already used Google maps to produce maps of nearby restaurants and of historic sites for their users, but there are bound to be some other neat things we can do.

HELP! Educational Blog
http://helptutorservices.com/blog/
Offers lots of interesting advice and discussions. Recent topics include managing test anxiety, identifying gifted kids, the most commonly misused words and phrases, mental fitness exercises to keep you sharp, etc.

Investopedia - Your Source for Investing Education
http://www.investopedia.com/
In addition to its primary role as teaching tool and encyclopedia of financial concepts, Investopedia offers articles on topics of current interest, like, "Are Your Stocks Doomed?" "Debt Management 101," "Taxing Times For Divorced Parents," "Executive Compensation: How Much Is Too Much?" etc.

Library Journal Movers and Shakers, 2009
http://www.libraryjournal.com/?layout=MS2009
Another inspiring set of profiles of librarians who are shaping the future of the profession.

Locate TV - Find TV Shows, Movies & Actors on TV & Online
http://www.locatetv.com/
If you are a fan of obscure TV shows that only pop up on TV now and again without notice, search this site to find out when episodes are scheduled, on which networks.

Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America - Wall Street Watch
http://www.wallstreetwatch.org/soldoutreport.htm
So you're maybe wondering why it was that federal financial regulators were fiddling while our financial system was burning? This report on how the financial industry plowed $5 billion into political contributions and lobbying to free itself from regulation offers an answer.

Urban Street Art, Abandoned Places and Amazing Designs - WebUrbanist
http://weburbanist.com/
Always on the lookout for cool urban design, architecture and alternative art, the site's editors find treasures like "Great Geek Gaming Furniture Designs," "15 Must-See (Post/)Modern Museum Designs," "Food Art: Incredible Art Made from Food," "Wonderful Works of Push-Pin & Thumbtack Art," and (my favorite) "15 Dazzling Modern Library Designs."

March 13

25 People Who Will Affect Your Finances in 2009
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/25-People-Who-Will-Affect-usnews-14264821.html
You may be needing this quick reference guide to the major players as the year's economic news plays out.

American Religious Identification Survey, 2008
http://www.americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/
The results of this survey of over 54,000 American adults - including the decline in the number of self-identified Christians and the rise in the number of those who profess no religion - have come as something of a surprise.

Books Too Good To Put Down - Sports Fiction
http://marylaine.com/bookbyte/sports.html
I offer this annotated list of baseball novels and other sports fiction in honor of the start of spring training - our surest sign that a long hard winter is at last coming to a close.

Business.gov Online Community
http://community2.business.gov/bsng/
Forums where business owners can raise their questions with government officials and with other business owners. Also includes four blogs: In The Loop, Small Business Matters, The Business Law Advisor and The Loans and Grants Advisor.

Cards That Blossom into Wildflowers
http://www.inhabitots.com/2009/03/08/birth-announcements-that-blossom-into-wildflowers/
Is this a nifty idea or what? This may just be the ultimate in recycling.

The Geography of a Recession - Interactive Graphic - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/03/us/20090303_LEONHARDT.html?hp
As you mouse over this map of unemployment rates, each individual county name will display, along with the unemployment rate and one year change in that rate. You can also filter the data by metropolitan areas, manufacturing centers, and rural areas.

Historic American Sheet Music Archive, 1850-1920
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/hasm/
"Provides access to digital images of 3042 pieces from the collection, published in the United States between 1850 and 1920." Search by keyword, or browse by decade.

MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/
Searchable, and browsable by topics and by biographies of some 1600 mathematicians. Chronologies allow you to see the overlapping lives of the mathematicians. The articles are extensive and include both print references and web links.

Open Congress - Track bills, votes, senators, representatives
http://www.opencongress.org/
This searchable site can also be browsed by bills, senators and representatives, committees, industries, and issues. The blog lets you know what's happening now. You can sign up with My Open Congress to get easy tracking of specific issues of interest, or to vote and comment.

SciFri Videos
http://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/
These videos from the NPR show, Science Friday, show you scientists at work on a wide variety of intriguing topics, in a manner that lives up to the show's subtitle, "Making Science User-Friendly." Among the gems you'll find by searching, or browsing by discipline (archaeology, child development, environmental engineering, food and drink, etc.): "Painting with Light," "Hungry Scientist Makes Fizzy Food," "Building an Electronic Nose," "Physics of Basketball," and lots more.

Teendriving.com
http://teendriving.com/
I'm not sure how much teens who think they know everything already will be inclined to use this site's advice on dealing with different driving situations, although the pot has been sweetened with tips on buying used cars and getting better deals on auto insurance. But parents will welcome the driving advice, as well as the guides to safety and monitoring devices.

ZipWho.com - Free Zip Code Demographics
http://zipwho.com/
Get demographics by zip code, or use the advanced search to do a combined search for communities with your chosen percentage of people who meet one or more specific demographic characteristics, along with the percentile ranks of those communities.

March 6

The 10 Hottest Job Opportunities in Infrastructure - Infrastructurist
http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/03/02/ten-hottest-job-opportunities/
And some of them don't require college degrees!

2010 Budget, US Government
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/
President Obama's proposed FY 2010 Budget, along with supporting documents. You can follow further developments in the blog of Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag, <http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/blog/>.

Greener Gadgets Design Competition
http://www.greenergadgets.com/index.php/design-competition/
Check out the top 50 here, and the winners at <http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/03/02/tweet-a-watt-winds-greener-gadgets-grand-prize/>.

The Guide to Sound Effects
http://www.epicsound.com/sfx/
Offers " a number of ideas on how to create various sound effects," including "Blood and guts being torn out," "Dog shaking itself dry," "Helicopter rotors," "Stone coffin opening," etc. Useful for amateur filmmakers and Halloween parties.

Hate Group Numbers up by 54% Since 2000 - Southern Poverty Law Center
http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=366
Read about the various hate groups and incidents in the report, or browse by state to see what's happening near you.

Libraries' Surprising Special Collections - Smithsonian Magazine
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Libraries-Surprising-Special-Collections.html
The scope of our special collections and archives reported in this article won't come as a surprise to librarians, but it will amaze the general public. Jessamyn West points out that since the article failed to provide links, check out the Metafilter thread on the article, which contains links and additional library collections, <http://www.metafilter.com/79654/Treasures-unburied>.

London School of Economics - Podcasts, Public Lectures and Events
http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/podcasts/publicLecturesAndEvents.htm
Distinguished academics and politicians speak on a variety of current international political issues, including the current economic crisis, "the debate about preventing violent extremism," individual and corporate responsibility," the Afghanist and Iraq wars, etc.

One in 31: The Long Arm of American Corrections
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=49398
This report from the Pew Center on the States will be useful as states scour their budgets for places to cut. It "examines the scale and cost of prison, jail, probation and parole in each of the 50 states and provides a blueprint for states to cut both crime and spending by reallocating prison expenses to fund stronger supervision of the large number of offenders in the community."

Political Irony - Humor and Hypocrisy from the World of Politics
http://politicalirony.com/
This blog features a nice variety of political cartoons, videos, commentary, and one-liners from the late shows.

Sci-Fi - Six Word Stories
http://www.sixwordstories.net/category/subject/sci-fi/page/1/
I particularly enjoyed this subset of the Six Word Stories site, <http://www.sixwordstories.net/>; several of the entries are from our favorite science fiction authors (I like David Brin's: "Dinosaurs return. Want their oil back.").

Social Government
http://www.socialgovernment.com/
A blog/feed tracking new ways in which all levels of government are using social media to improve service to and communication with citizens.

The Work of Edward Tufte and Graphics Press
http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/index
A chance to look at the contributions of the man who more than any other person taught us how to effectively present information visually. Particularly notable: his archived answers to people's questions.


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