chosen by your "librarian without walls," Marylaine Block mblock@netexpress.net

January 18

25 Things You Should Never Put on a Resume - HR World
http://www.hrworld.com/features/25-things-not-to-put-on-resume-121807/
Good advice for jobseekers, from human resource experts.

Bitacoras
http://bitacoras.com/
A portal for 250,000+ Spanish language blogs.

Can One of You Afford To Quit? Kiplinger.com
http://kiplinger.com/tools/managing/afford.html
Kiplinger says before deciding to have one parent stay home with the children, you need to consider the reduction of income and new expenses, and to re-examine saving goals and priorities. This worksheet helps you determine whether you can afford it.

Ex Libris, #308
http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib308.html
I've reviewed a couple of books I think both librarians and general readers would find fascinating: Microtrends and Super Crunchers.

Footnoted.org
http://www.footnoted.org/
This blogger, author of Financial Fine Print, studies corporate financial reports to uncover lavish deals for executives, funded with profits that would otherwise go to shareholders.

Fruits and Veggies Matter
http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/index.html
Fill in the blanks to see how much someone of your age, sex, and level of physical activity should be consuming each day, and get tips and recipes to help you incorporate them into your daily routine.

Housing Education Program
http://housingeducation.org/
Suze Orman recommends the advice offered here on both "unlocking the door to home ownership" and "early delinquency intervention." Anyone facing an unaffordable reset of an adjustable rate mortgage should take a look.

Inside Iraq - Blog
http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/iraq/
Anyone who wonders what daily life in Iraq is like these days should take a look at the firsthand accounts of McClatchy Newspapers' Iraqi journalists, based in Baghdad and outlying provinces.

Music News Toolkit: 50+ Links for Discovering New Music
http://mashable.com/2007/09/20/music-news/
Includes sites that specialize in specific types of music, and sites that try to match your tastes based on your favorite artists, songs, and playlists.

Photobucket: Image hosting, free photo sharing and video sharing
http://photobucket.com/
The largest photo sharing site in the UK.

Subject-Focused Lists of Government Databases
http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/Subject_focused
Courtesy of GODORT. Also includes the link to their guide to State Agency Databases.

Tips for Conserving Water: GovGab
http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/entry/go_green_tips_for_conserving
The GovGab bloggers offer a nice round-up of resources for those of us in drought-affected states.

Vampire Energy
http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/transparency/008/trans008vampireenergy.html
If you want to know how much energy you're using, and how much it's costing you, for every device you leave in standby mode, look here. Owners of plasma TVs will be especially shocked.

January 4-11

50 Greatest Fishing Lures
http://www.fieldandstream.com/fieldstream/photogallery/article/0,13355,1179845_8,00.html
It's never too early, too cold, or too out-of-season for avid fishers to start thinking about the best methods and lures.

100+ Ways To Organize Your Life
http://mashable.com/2007/10/26/100-ways-to-organize-life/
If your new year's resolution is to finally get organized, here's a nice collection of sites to help you do that.

2007: the Year in Cats
http://www.neatorama.com/2007/12/31/2007-the-year-in-cats/
Neat-o-rama's best pictures, videos and news stories about cats for the year.

Africa Hit Music TV
http://www.africahit.com/
If you know nothing about African popular music, here's the place to start learning. It offers music, videos, and news.

A Big List of Sites That Teach You How To Do Stuff
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/tutorial_sites.php
And if your new year's resolution was to learn to do something, the sites here are full of videos and expert advice on a wide variety of topics.

Brain Fitness, Health and Exercise Guidance
http://www.sharpbrains.com/
Its mission is "to provide individuals, companies and institutions with the best science-based information and guidance for Brain Health and Fitness," including regular features on the science behind it, stress management, mental exercise, memory, the link with physical exercise, etc.

cArtalog Project Gallery - University of Iowa Libraries
http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/pr/cartalog/gallery.htm
What do you do with dead catalog cards? If you're an artist, maybe this: "A small community of library staff—motivated by both nostalgia and library subculture-- has come together to give the card catalog cards themselves a rebirth."

The DataWeb
http://www.thedataweb.org/
"a network of online data libraries that the DataFerrett application accesses the data through. Data topics include, census data, economic data, health data, income and unemployment data, population data, labor data, cancer data, crime and transportation data, family dynamics, vital statistics data..."

Drummer Hunter
http://www.drummerhunter.com/
A mating service for bands in need of drummers and drummers in need of gigs. Post your profiles here.

Free Online Math Calculator, Converter
http://easycalculation.com/
Calculators for virtually any math function or conversion - standard deviation, root mean square, matrix addition, acceleration converter, etc. Most are accompanied by tutorials explaining the function.

Geek the Vote '08: Popular Mechanics' Science and Technology Election Guide
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/4237333.html
A simple chart with links to any stated positions of the candidates on topics like fuel economy, digital technology, environment, infrastructure, science education, etc.

iread
http://iread.pbwiki.com/
The Iowa State Library invites you to: "Wander around our wiki to find great books on all kinds of topics. Be sure to add titles to our lists, if you'd like!" It would benefit from reviews and/or plot descriptions of the recommended books, but it's a nice start - AND you can add to it.

Most Literate U.S. Cities
http://www.livescience.com/health/071227-literate-cities.html
Though the quality of a city's library was not a direct measure, it's noteworthy that virtually all these cities have spectacularly good libraries. Is that cause or effect, do you suppose?

Pronetos - Professors' Network
http://pronetos.com/
A social network for scholars: "We give you a platform to network and collaborate with your colleagues all over the world."

Sesame Street Video Archive
http://video.sesameworkshop.org/
Not complete, but a good, searchable start for those who want to view a favorite sketch or song once more.

Theatre Resources from Artslynx
http://www.artslynx.org/theatre/
Loads of resources here on every topic you can think of and some that might not have occurred to you, including children's theatre, costume design, "fight direction and stage combat," make up, props, and lots more.1

Third Culture Holiday Reading
http://www.edge.org/documents/books07_index.html
The folks at The Edge noticed that all those "best books of 2007" lists omitted science books, and rectify that omission here.

Top 101 City Lists
http://www.city-data.com/top2/toplists2.html
Lots of rankings of cities or zip codes, in categories like average income, commuters, charity contributions, percentage with postgraduate degrees, etc.

World Question Center 2008 Annual Question
http://www.edge.org/q2008/q08_index.html
The World Question Center asks, and noted thinkers answer, "What have you changed your mind about, and why?" Good question for librarians, too - what service or technology you once rejected have you now embraced? What service or technology you once embraced are you now having reservations about?

December 7

CEOs for Cities: Research
http://www.ceosforcities.org/rethink/research/
These reports offer proven ideas for increasing a city's economy, vitality and well-being, and present libraries as part of the solution: see especially the report on "Leveraging Anchor Institutions for Urban Success." For related research, check out the reports at the International City/County Management Association's "Local Government and Public Library Partnership Initiative" page, <http://icma.org/main/bc.asp?bcid=884&t=0>.

Complete Baby Safety and Childproofing Solutions for the Home - Bob Vila
http://www.bobvila.com/Showrooms/OneStepAhead/index.html
If there's a new baby in your life, or the baby is now old enough to get into trouble, you'll want to check this out. While you're on the site, you can explore all the other home improvement ideas.

Do Something
http://www.dosomething.org/
Site creators believe that "young people have the power to make a difference." This site gives them tools to do so: ideas, message boards, info on grants, a zipcode-searchable database of volunteer opportunities, and more.

English Pronouncing Dictionary with Instant Sound Free
http://www.howjsay.com/
A well-read person knows hundreds, even thousands, of words that they've never heard anyone pronounce. Search through the 82,576 sound files and listen while somebody pronounces your mystery word.

Help Your Country
http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Usgresponse/Help.shtml
If you're feeling the charitable spirit of Christmas, the US government links to a variety of volunteer opportunities and ways to support the troops. For other ways to support American soldiers and their families, see also America Supports You, <http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/americasupportsyou/index.aspx>

Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles
http://www.cut-the-knot.org/content.shtml
Search or browse by topics including sites for teachers, sites for parents, games and puzzles, visual illusions, arithmetic, probability, algebra, fallacies, fractals, and more.

Oriland - What Origami Can Be
http://www.oriland.com/index.asp
Where you can learn origami, admire entire kingdoms made of paper fantasies, try out the diagrammed models yourself, and more.

Six Techniques to Get More from the Web than Google Will Tell You
http://www.cio.com/article/print/156900
This article from CIO magazine draws on the good advice of librarians Ann Cullen and Jessamyn West.

TV Theme Music
http://www.televisiontunes.com/browse.html
The themes from over 3,300 favorite TV shows will instantly recall all kinds of good memories. Listening to the Fraggle Rock theme was a wonderfully cheery way to start my day.

Top 100 Mystery Novels of all time
http://www.mysterywriters.org/pages/resources/Top100.pdf
See if you agree with the members of the Mystery Writers of America.

Visual Dictionary Online
http://visual.merriam-webster.com/
A little tricky to use, but well worthwhile. You can browse by broad theme like Animal Kingdom, Food& Kitchen, Arts & Architecture, Science, Sports & Games, etc. The search engine takes some getting used to: enter your word, wait for the word to display under IMAGES, click on it, and hit GO TO. When the image(s) display, the theme it's part of is highlighted on the nav bar. Sometimes detailed images that ARE there, like the pommel horse, won't show up in a search but can be accessed through the broader category they're part of, in this case gymnastics.

November 30, 2007

Access to Archival Databases
http://aad.archives.gov/aad/
The National Archives is a goldmine of records for historians and genealogists. You can search all data files simultaneously, or browse through categories like war casualties, immigrants, soldiers, personal names,

Cats Can Fly (38 pics)
http://static.iftk.com.br/mt/2007/11/cats_can_fly_38_pics.html
This is fun: amazing pics of cats caught in mid-flight between here and there.

Connexions - Sharing Knowledge and Building Communities
http://cnx.org/
"a place to view and share educational material made of small knowledge chunks called modules that can be organized as courses, books, reports, etc." Currently houses 4800+ modules covering arts, business, humanities, math, sci-tech, and social sciences.

Flight Delay Information - Air Traffic Control System Command Center
http://www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp
Here's help for travelers. Search for delays by name of city, or airport code. Note that this covers all commercial airports, not just the ones highlighted on the map.

The Knitted Garden
http://www.bhkc.co.uk/data/the_knitted_garden.htm
You can use the patterns here to knit your own garden, complete with birds, flowers, spiderwebs, frogs, and ornamental paving stones - or just admire the artistry on display here.

List Universe
http://listverse.com/
"the greatest resource online for top 10 lists and more!" on virtually any subject you can think of, not to mention some fairly bizarre topics that wouldn't occur to most of us. I always recommend lists to librarians as a great starting point for discussions, exhibits, and events, and even as a community service (see "Top 10 Post-Thanksgiving Recipes").

TheMiddleClass.org - Featured Legislation
http://themiddleclass.org/
Where you can "learn about the latest legislation of significance to the current and aspiring middle class," and how your own Congressional representatives have voted on those issues. Among the topics covered here: corporate accountability, debt and bankruptcy, retirement security, consumer issues, etc.

NewsTrust.net - Your Guide to Good Journalism
http://www.newstrust.net/
If you lack the time to read multiple news sources, or don't trust any of them, check out NewsTrust, whose reviewers "evaluate each article against core journalistic principles such as fairness, evidence, sourcing and context." Readers can submit stories for review, or submit their own reviews.

The Ten Videos To Change How You View the World
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/miscellaneous/the-ten-videos-to-change-how-you-view-the-world.html
From the annual TED conference, where "the best thinkers come together and share their ideas." Among these fascinating talks: Seth Godin on marketing, Will Wright on "Toys That Make Worlds," Daniel Gilbert on "Why Are We Happy - or Not?"

TV Land
http://www.tvland.com/tvlhome.jhtml
The cable station designed for the TV generation offers classic video clips, full episodes of shows, celebrity interviews, trivia, and a variety of "countdowns," like the 100 Greatest Quotes and Catchphrases," and "the 50 Greatest TV Icons."

Wish Lists: Gadgets and Gear for the Holidays - Wired
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/gadgetreviews/magazine/15-12/wishlist
Who would know better than the professional geeks at Wired what gifts your own favorite geeks are longing for?

Wonkosphere
http://wonkosphere.com/
"the best place to keep a finger on the pulse of the 2008 Presidential election. We use patented technology to scour the blogosphere and analyze what is being said, who is saying it, and whether they're ranting or raving." Check out reports for each of the candidates, browse through Conservative Buzz, Liberal Buzz and Independent Buzz, or check out posts with the highest buzz rank.

November 23

20+ Sporting Social Networks
http://mashable.com/2007/10/21/sports-social-networks/
Whatever sport you're into - walking, golf, fishing, football, biking, NASCAR, cricket, etc. - Mashable helps you find an online community of equally avid fans to chat with.

60 Second Science - Scientific American
http://www.60secondscience.com/
News, articles and daily 60-second podcasts from Scientific American. Search or browse the archive by category. Recent podcasts have tackled issues like brain sex differences, false memories, the Dover "Scopes Trial," "superdupernovas," etc.

150+ Monty Python Sketches
http://onemansblog.com/2006/12/01/a-compendium-of-150-monty-python-sketches/
How nice to have a consolidated list of videos of your favorite Monty Python sketches - Confuse-a-Cat, Ltd., the Ministry of Silly Walks, the Dead Parrot, Upperclass Twit of the Year, and so much more.

Beyond the Basics: Interesting Features on Library Web Sites
http://marylaine.com/libsite.html
This presentation outline, updated for my talk at the Arizona Library Association last week, is the the result of examining hundreds of library web sites in depth as I researched my book, The Thriving Library.

Christmas Traditions Around the World
http://www.caslt.org/research/christmas4.htm
An annotated guide to numerous sites detailing international Christmas traditions. Teachers and librarians may especially be inspired by an elementary school's internet scavenger hunts.

I Can't Believe It's Vegan
http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/
Handy lists of hundreds of foods in your grocery store that have no animal-derived content in them.

List of Films Based on Poems - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_poems
And far more of them than you would ever guess. It's not just Beowulf and Dr. Seuss books that have inspired moviemakers, but also Gunga Din, The Raven, Jabberwocky, The Cremation of Sam McGee and many others.

Logical Fallacies - The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe
http://www.theskepticsguide.org/logicalfallacies.asp
Print this out, and you'll be able to play Logical Fallacy Bingo during the political debates.

My Family Health Portrait
https://familyhistory.hhs.gov/
Construct your family medical history here and print it out whenever you go to a new doctor; it will save you the effort of trying to remember once again who in your extended family had what medical condition.

NPR Music
http://www.npr.org/nprmusic/
A new service that National Public Radio calls "a free, multi-genre, multimedia Web site that presents the best of public radio music." Listen to or watch concerts, studio sessions, and interviews, and check out news and reviews.

Periodic Table of Comic Books
http://www.uky.edu/Projects/Chemcomics/index.html
"Click on an element to see a list of comic book pages involvingthat element," then click on thumbnails to see the whole strip. Another wonderfully sneaky way to interest kids in science.

Top 100 Mac Apps - Chris Pirillo
http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/11/06/top-100-mac-apps/
I'm not a Mac person, but I'll trust tech guru Pirillo, whose fans have been begging for this.

November 9-16

30+ Charity & Fund Raising Tools
http://mashable.com/2007/11/05/30-charity-fund-raising-tools/
'Tis about to be the season that inspires thoughts of charity (and tax deductions), so check out Mashable's links to resources for both fund raisers and would-be donors.

BookSpoke
http://www.bookspoke.com/
This "social network for readers and writers" is new, but has great possibilities. It provides online book clubs and forums for readers, and a free home base for writers seeking an audience.

Brijit - Great Content in 100 Words or Less
http://www.brijit.com/
Aims to make it easy for readers to find the best media content quickly. Its editorial team examines about 85 print, broadcast and internet resources (some liberal, some conservative, some devoted to topics like science, business, etc.), links the articles, rates them, from "not a priority" through "must-read," and abstracts them. The archive is searchable.

Craftster Community
http://www.craftster.org/
Where people share tips about making things. With the holidays approaching, you might especially want to check out their tips on "Toys, Dolls and Playthings," and "Occasions and Holidays."

CRS Annotated Constitution
http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/
Given the recent questions about whether the President or the Congress are overstepping the powers granted them by the Constitution, this will come in handy: a clause by clause explanation of what the Constitution says and how it has been interpreted by the courts over the years.

Cultural Profiles Project
http://www.cp-pc.ca/english/index.html
The Canadian government provides this guide to the culture and history of its many immigrant groups. For each country represented, it offers a brief history and information on the country's family life, education, food, sports, spirituality, and more.

FactCheckED
http://www.factchecked.org/
A curriculum aid to teach students how to be savvy consumers of news. Include lesson plans on analytical thinking, fact-finding, and recognizing deception, and on understanding political discussions of current issues. Also includes a dictionary of political and journalism terms, and a guide to internet sources.

HealthGrades - Research Hospitals, Doctors and Nursing Homes
http://www.healthgrades.com/
What you can get for free here is info on available physicians and nursing homes in specific US cities, and a very basic evaluation (1-5 star rating and how it compares on expected outcomes) of hospitals' performance in various specialties. For a fee, you can get detailed evaluations of the physicians, hospitals, and nursing homes.

Maps in the News
http://www.mapsofworld.com/mapinnews/maps-news/index.html
Learn world geography one event at a time. Earthquakes, cyclones, the cricket world cup schedule, and international agreements become learning tools. See also the Maps of Current Interest at the Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas, <http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/>.

Neatorama
http://www.neatorama.com/
One of PC Magazine's favorite 100 blogs. If you're a fan of BoingBoing, you should like this, which PC Magazine calls, "your go-to destination for everything quirky, weird, and extraordinary."

A Quick Guide to Gaming in Libraries
http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2007/a-quick-guide-to-gaming-in-libraries/
A great place to start boning up on the topic, with links to presentations, reports, news stories, blog posts, case studies, and books.

Regulatory Resource Center - OMBWatch
http://www.ombwatch.org/regresources
Shows how the regulatory process works in the US, and how citizens can comment on proposed rules and file petitions for rulemaking. Includes a glossary of the opaque terminology of regulators.

November 2

2008 US Congressional Elections Portal
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=2008_elections
Right now all the emphasis in the news media is on presidential candidates, but given widespread dissatisfaction with Congress, this wiki from the producers of Congresspedia could be just as useful for voters, with its "profiles on candidates for Congress, coverage of the elections, listings of local blogs for each state and informal groups of citizen editors who are working together to improve and expand related articles." It also provides info on candidates' campaign finance, and their ties to special interest groups. For sitting members of Congress, it links to info about their voting records and controversies.

Cool Tools for Webmasters: IL2007
http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2007/10/il2007-cool-too.html
Sarah Houghton-Jan blogged this Internet Librarian presentation and has links for all the tools mentioned.

GovGab: Your US Government Blog
http://blog.usa.gov/
The bloggers, who work for the General Services Administration, encounter daily all kinds of good information published by the feds, which they blog about and link to. And when they encounter real life problems, like needing to find a less expensive place to live, or understanding the different organic food labels, they know how to find government sites that provide the help and information they need.

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/
The Consortium says it's "the world's largest archive of digital social science data. We acquire, preserve, and distribute original research data and provide training in its analysis." The data files are searchable and browsable; each item retrieved includes a description, scope of the study, dates and geographic region, methodology, and information on access. There's a data use tutorial on the website as well.

LazyLibrary - read less, get more
http://lazylibrary.com/
If you have students whose chief concern in any assignment is how many pages they'll have to read, you may want to bookmark this site, which aggregates only those books from Amazon's database which are 200 pages or less.

MedStory
http://medstory.com/
Bills itself as "intelligent search for health and medicine," this site helps users focus broad queries by presenting them with the most relevant qualifiers for their searches. For example, a search on Vacular Dementia suggests relevant drug therapies, procedures, complementary medicine strategies, names of researchers, and related conditions; it also allows users to restrict results to research articles, clinical trials, or stories from the news media.

Mortgage Rates Sending You Reeling? Here's What To Do
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/homes/rea04.shtm
There's hope and good advice from the Federal Trade Commission here for those who are terrified that they won't be able to keep up with payments and might lose their homes.

Neuroscience for Kids
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html
The nice thing about a science site for kids is that it explains concepts at a level ordinary adults can understand it as well. We can learn the basics of the brain, spine, and senses here, and find info on brain disorders, the effect of drugs on the nervous system, and more.

Obscure Store & Reading Room
http://www.obscurestore.com/
The Poynter Institute's Jim Romanesko finds, cherishes, and shares the weirdest news stories he comes across. If you're interested in serious news about journalism, follow the link to his other blog, Poynter Media News.

Parent Hacks - Real world parenting tips from real parents
http://www.parenthacks.com/
"Here's everything that was left out of the instruction manual. Oh yeah. There is no instruction manual." The searchable archive of parent-submitted tips includes categories like "Sleep (yours and theirs)," "getting organized," "travel/going out," "fun/toys," and lots more. It's one of PC Magazine's 100 favorite blogs.

Save Your Favorite Magazine. Stop Postal Rate Hikes
http://action.freepress.net/campaign/postal
I try to avoid political advocacy, but this is a critical information issue. Librarians know the importance of making multiple viewpoints available. A hike that favors mainstream publications and places higher burdens on smaller, alternative periodicals is likely to limit the available range of ideas available to help resolve public issues. This site lets you send your opinion to your congressional representatives.

Seniors Resource Guide
http://www.seniorsresourceguide.com/
This excellent source offers a directory of services, custom-written articles on senior issues, and annotated links to selected resources on concerns such as caregiving, finance, health and wellness, etc.

October 26

2007 Breakthrough Awards - Appropriate Technology, Third World Solutions
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4225945.html?series=37
With these awards, Popular Mechanics honors solutions to global problems that are simple to use, reliable, and inexpensive. Among the winners: a responsive prosthetic arm, a DIY water cleaner, a non-turbine wind alternative, and more.

Ask Oxford: Ask the Experts
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/?view=get
"a database of some of the questions sent in to the Oxford Word and Language Service team," including frequently asked questions like "What is the longest English word?" and "How many words are there in the English language?" Also included is a "Jargon Buster" that "gives clear and concise definitions for grammar and literary terms."

Chess Toolbox - 30+ Online Chess Resources
http://mashable.com/2007/09/24/chess-toolbox/
Mashable delivers again, linking to everything a devoted chess fan could want: live games online (at any level of expertise), correspondence games, portals, forums and social networks, and news.

Committee to Reduce Infectious Deaths: 15 Steps You Can Take To Protect Yourself
http://www.hospitalinfection.org/protectyourself.shtml
Anybody who's planning a hospital stay will be interested in this advice on how to avoid picking up deadly bacteria there.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Official Website
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Jon Stewart fans rejoice! The searchable archive of Daily Show clips here goes back to 1999.

DipNote: US Department of State Blog
http://blogs.state.gov/
" Blogs.state.gov offers the public an alternative source to mainstream media for U.S. foreign policy information. This blog offers the opportunity for participants to discuss important foreign policy issues with senior Department officials.

Enablemart - Assistive Technology
http://www.enablemart.com/
SeniorsResourceGuide.com says it is "the worldwide leader in assistive technology distribution. They provide over 3,000 assistive technology and assistive living devices from over 200 manufacturers."

KnowledgeSpeak
http://knowledgespeak.com/
"The daily intelligence resource for the STM publishing industry." Offers news, interviews with key players in the business, "Resources" (articles, white papers, and presentations), and a calendar of events.

Lifehacker: Tips and downloads for getting things done
http://lifehacker.com/
A searchable collection of tips and strategies for making your technology and your life work better. Among the current offerings is a handy decision guide: What To Take with You in the Event of an Evacuation.

Mahalo: Human-powered search
http://www.mahalo.com/
Tech entrepreneur Jason Calicanis' most recent project. Heads up: When I met him at ConvergeSouth, he told me that he's scouting librarians to serve on his team of experts.

Our Favorite 100 Blogs - PC Magazine
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2192210,00.asp
It led me to several useful and entertaining blogs I'd not seen before, so I bet it will do the same for you.

Solar Decathlon
http://www.solardecathlon.org/
See the winners of the US Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon, in which 20 college and university teams compete to "design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house."

October 19

10 Questions
http://www.10questions.com/
Here's the deal: You propose questions for the presidential candidates; you vote to choose the ten best questions; the candidates will post their video answers; you decide whether they actually answered the questions.

The 2007 Great Places in America Awards - American Planning Association
http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/
Read all about the "good design, functionality, sustainability, and community involvement" that make these 10 streets and 10 neighborhoods work well for their inhabitants.

CDC - Antibiotic/Antimicrobial Resistance
http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/
Explains the nature of the problem with resistant bacteria, particularly the scary one that's been in the news lately, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The site also discusses diseases connected with those bacteria, prevention tools, and the CDC's programs for dealing with the issue.

Dr. Toy's 100 Best Products 2007
http://www.drtoy.com/awards/2007_3_list.php
Stevanne Auerbach, an author and expert on educational and skill building toys offers parents a useful guide to some of the year's best products. For each item, she gives a brief evaluation, the intended age level, image, price, and the manufacturer's website.

Eat Local Challenge
http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com/
A blog by people "committed to challenging themselves to eat mainly local food during a specific period of time during the year." It's full of news and stories about the challenges and benefits of the increasingly popular idea of eating locally grown foods. Search, or browse by categories like farmer's markets, dining out, growing your own food, canning and freezing, etc.

EM-DAT: Emergency Disasters Database
http://www.em-dat.net/
"The international disaster database," from 1900 to 2007, provided by the World Health Organization as a decisionmaking guide for disaster preparedness and "an objective base for vulnerability assessment and priority setting." Search for country profiles, or disaster profiles by type (drought, wild fires, extreme temperatures, industrial accidents, etc.). Also includes a glossary.

In the Bookroom -- Blog on LibraryJournal.com
http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/770000077.html
Pretty much everybody at LJ pitches in to comment on the book business in general and on the books these lucky people get first crack at (they receive about 1,000 per week).

Innovation Tools - Innovation Weblog
http://www.innovationtools.com/weblog/innovation-weblog.asp
The blog is a "meta-index" of good ideas on "innovation research and best practices and strategies, innovation management," and more. Search, or browse through their articles, creativity tools, and resource centers. You can also follow the links to other weblogs on innovation and creativity.

LessLawn.com
http://www.lesslawn.com/
Whether you want less lawn out of ecological concerns or drought-induced necessity, this site provides advice on low-maintenance alternatives and landscaping.

Positive Uses of Social Networking in Libraries
http://www.leonline.com/yalsa/positive_uses.pdf
Young adult librarians respond to the challenge of YALSA's "30 days of positive uses of social networking project. Every day throughout October three YALSA bloggers posted ideas and information about using social networking in the school and public library."

Shipping Container Housing Guide
http://www.shipping-container-housing.com/
There's a shortage of low-cost housing in the US, and an excess of shipping containers from overseas because we're importing more goods than we're exporting. These two problems meet in one solution: converting shipping containers into housing. This site is a portal to news, information, and how-tos about such conversions.

Talking with Kids about Tough Issues
http://www.talkingwithkids.org/
The Kaiser Foundation and Children Now offer "practical, concrete tips and techniques for talking easily and openly with young children ages 8 to 12 about some very tough issues: sex, HIV/AIDS, violence, drugs and alcohol."

October 12

6th Annual Awards for Environmental Reporting: Society of Environmental Journalists
http://www.sej.org/contest/index4.htm
The stories and documentaries summarized and linked here cover topics like toxic toys, western forest fires and their consequences, the growing sustainable design movement, mining by mountaintop removal, etc.

2007 MacArthur Fellows
http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.2913817/k.3EC5/2007_Overview.htm
Read all about the 2007 winners of the so-called "genius" grants, including a forensic anthropologist, an environmental geographer, an inventor, a painter/installation artist, a neuroboticist, a medieval historian, a blues musician, and more.

Anecdote
http://www.anecdote.com.au/index.php
This Australian management consulting firm's blog deals with the power of storytelling to affect change in organizations. Searchable, and browsable by topics like Anecdotes, Change Management, Communities of Practice, Knowledge Circulation, Narrative, etc.

Astronomy Media Player
http://www.jodcast.net/amp/index.html
"A selection of the best astronomy podcasts from around the world." Includes astronomy courses, observations of the night sky, "ask an astronomer" podcasts, and podcasts from observatories and space agencies.

Candidate Match Game - USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/candidate-match-game.htm
Answer these questions about your own stance on a variety of issues, and the program will tell you which Republican or Democratic candidate best matches your views.

Cornell University Food and Brand Lab
http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/index.htm
This lab specializes in research on the psychology of eating and overeating. Much of its research on the cues that lead us to overconsumption (which has been distilled in Brian Wansink's intriguing book Mindless Eating) is available here, in summary form and full text documents.

Google Shared Stuff
http://www.google.com/s2/sharing/resources/static/html/help.html
Google's answer to del.icio.us allows you to create a Shared Stuff page, email the page, with a custom message, or post the page to other social bookmarking sites.

Improbable Research
http://improbable.com/
"Research that makes people laugh, then think." A blog from the folks who brought you the IgNobel Prizes and the Annals of Improbable Research, which celebrate scientific research on such topics as the side effects of sword-swallowing, how sheets become wrinkled, the invention of an electro-mechanical teenager repellent, feline reactions to bearded men, etc.

Librarians: the Party People
http://marylaine.com/party.html
The outline for my presentation at the Nevada Library Association provides links to stories about image busting librarians and entertaining, attention-getting library parties, programs, festivals, competitions, and stunts. For a discussion of why such events matter, see my current ExLibris column, http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib307.html.

Lost in Translation
http://tashian.com/multibabel/
See what happens when you feed in a phrase and put it through multiple translations.

National Friends of Libraries Week
http://folusa.org/sharing/national-friends-week.php
Which is October 21-27. If you're not geared up for it yet, FOLUSA offers some organizational tools and some good ideas from the network.

Research Recap: Highlighting the Best Equity, Credit, Market and Economic Research
http://www.researchrecap.com/
This site summarizes and links to intriguing research on financial and economic matters. Search, or browse the broad general categories. Another feature, "Research Zeitgeist," examines which of those stories generated the most hits in the past week.

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Neat New Stuff I Found This Week
by Marylaine Block
Copyright 1999-

Send comments, or suggestions for additional links to mblock@netexpress.net.