Neat New Stuff

Alexa Page Rank
http://pages.alexa.com/prod_serv/traffic_rankings.html?p=Dest_W_t_40_R1
Type in a URL and find out not Alexa's analysis of the site's traffic rank, but also related sites, a capsule description, an analysis of how people use the site, and an opportunity to write a review of the site on Amazon. You can also browse by subject or browse the top 500 sites. Alexa is a partner of Google and an Amazon company.

Dr.Web's Domain http://drweb.typepad.com/dwdomain/
A new weblog about "All things library and life" from a "Guybrarian in San Diego." Blog entries and quick capsule reviews of his recent reads indicate his interests are wide-ranging, always a good sign.

Encyclopedia of Television
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/index.html
Courtesy of the Museum of Broadcast Communications. While this isn't a good source for info on current programming (the entry on The Muppet Show says that a new Muppet Show will air in 1995), entries on older programs include the cast list, production information, a bibliography, and an essay on the content and development of the show. Entries on idividuals include an essay, a list of productions, links to related articles, and a bibliography. Browsable but not searchable.

Eyewitness to History http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/
Each entry frames the eyewitness account with a brief description of the event and of the person recounting it and includes a bibliography and related links. Browse by time period. There's also a small audio archive of Voices of the 20th Century.

Faces of Valor
http://www.militarycity.com/valor/
"A photo tribute to the men and women of Operation Iraqi Freedom." View by service branch or by timeline. Produced by Military Times, it also includes the best of war coverage from its four branch-specific journals, which are linked in.

Government Performance Project 2003
http://governing.com/gpp/2003/gp3intro.htm
Actually this is an assessment of each state's taxation system. After reading the comparative analysis and charts, you'll want to check out your own state's report card for adequacy of revenue, fainess to taxpayers, and management of the system.

Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics http://intuitor.com/moviephysics/
A fun way to teach physics while undoing the misconceptions fostered by movies. Browse by specific movie reviews, or by the violated physics principles (falls, explosions, scaling, etc.)

Keeping Found Things Found: A Research Project of the Information School at the University of Washington
http://kftf.ischool.washington.edu/
Plenty of research has focused on how people find information, but very little on how they keep track of it once they've found it. There are already some papers available here, with more to follow. You can help the research by participating in the survey they're conducting.

Knowledge Hound: the How-To Hunter
http://www.knowledgehound.com/
"the Web's biggest directory of free how-tos." Browsable and searchable.

MetaList of Year End Reviews, Top Ten Lists and Best Lists
http://www.fimoculous.com/year-review-2003.cfm
A round-up of collections of the best, worst and most frequent in movies, journalism, books, spam, search terms, web sites, etc.

Mooter - Web Search http://mooter.com:8080/moot
another search engine that displays result clusters visually.

Once More with Hobbits: a LOTR and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Musical Adventure
http://omwh.gloria-mundi.net/
This doesn't have any reference value whatsoever, but it is fun.

PDAs and HandHelds in Libraries and Academia
http://web.simmons.edu/~fox/PDA.html
Megan Fox shows us "How the academic library is using PDA technologies" and links to resources and sample projects.

Planetary PhotoJournal: Images of Mars and all available satellites
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/targetFamily/Mars
This photojournal is one place you can follow the pix coming back from Spirit without going through NASA's annoying flash page.

the 12 Days of Christmas Cost Index http://www.pncbank.com/12days/
How goes the economy? The cost of 5 gold rings dropped by 5.6 percent, and the pear tree by 28.6 percent from last year, but the price for swans and calling birds has driven costs up markedly from previous years' surveys.

2003 Snow Sculpture Championships
http://www.themoens.com/Photos/Events/snowSculpture/
y2003/main.htm
Photos from this year's championships and previous years as well, along with a video on how they make the gigantic blocks of snow.

Catland: Gallery
http://www.lilitu.com/catland/gallery.shtml
the cat-centric art of Louis Wain and a few other artists of his period.

Choral Public Domain Library http://www.cpdl.org/
This free sheet music library has over 6,000 scores downloadable as pdf files. It appears to have sound files for many of the pieces as well, though since they didn't play on my own system I can't vouch for them.

Christmas-Carols.net http://www.christmas-carols.net/
A good place to refresh your memory of Christmas carol lyrics, especially those second and third verses. Most come with midi sound files as well.

Food Timeline: Christmas Foods
http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/kid/christmasfood.html
"Origins & history of selected traditional Christmas foods," like mincemeat, plum pudding, eggnog, stollen -- and just what IS a sugarplum, anyway?

Gamer Dad: Gaming with Children
http://www.gamerdad.com/
"Game reviews from a parental perspective." Includes a holiday shopping guide, as well as articles, interviews, previews of upcoming releases, a message board, and more.

Gingerbread House Photo Album
http://frankysattic.home.comcast.net/pictures.html
It's amazing what art you can make with gingerbread and a little frosting. Also includes links to recipes and other gingerbread crafts.

Holiday Snowglobe
http://ww12.e-tractions.com/snowglobe/globe.htm
Already animated even before you click and drag to shake it.

Joy of Soup http://www.joyofsoup.com/
A soup recipe blog, with a recipe archive.

the Official Kwanzaa Website http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/
"All about the holiday, its origins, its symbols, and its significance."

Online Etch-a-Sketch
http://www.elfmovie.com/swf/etchasketch/index.html

Online Magnetic Poetry
http://www.magneticpoetry.com/magnet/
Just as much fun as refrigerator poetry, with multiple thematic kits to choose from. Making sense is optional. My poem from the rock and roll kit:
Write beneath a loud, fast rhythm.
Scream. Explode. Smash the language.
After, a sweet guitar solo.
Night lyrics sound through smoke.

Veggie Table - All Info about Vegetarianism
http://www.veggietable.allinfo-about.com/
Includes suggested menu items and recipes for a Christmas dinner.

WhatGoes Around http://whatgoesaround.org/
"a new non-profit organization that's revolutionizing giving in America." A gift registry where you can list the charities you'd like people to donate to in your name.

Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Crafts
http://www.bhg.com/bhg/category.jhtml?categoryid=/templatedata/
bhg/category/data/Christmas_Crafts.xml
Tips for making your own giftwrap, ornaments, wreaths, and stockings, and some holiday crafts for kids, too. Follow the navigation bar for ideas for Christmas entertaining, handmade gifts, etc.

Breeds of Dogs http://www.thebreedsofdogs.com/
An alphabetical index of dog breeds with photos, brief histories of the breed and descriptions of its characteristics.

EPA Science Inventory http://www.epa.gov/si/
"a searchable Agency-wide catalog of science activities and scientific and technical work products (for example, risk assessments, technical studies and guidance, and research.)"

Health Poll Search
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_poll/hpoll_index.cfm
The result of a partnership between the Kaiser Family Foundation and The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, this searchable archive of over 65 years of findings about public opinion on health issues helps you discover how Americans' views of health issues have changed over time. If you're not familiar with the outstanding research the Kaiser Family Foundation publishes, click on its icon to explore health policy issues including Medicaid, health coverage for the uninsured, state health facts and policies, and more.

HomeTownLocator Gazeteer: Census Info, Physical and Cultural Features, Aerial Photos, Maps... http://Gazetteer.HomeTownLocator.com
This is nifty. Type in the name of a populated place and get links to aerial photos and regional, local and topographical maps. You can also get an aerial photo of your home, or find the (air miles) distance between two places.

TheImage.com http://www.theimage.com/
Galleries includes photos and info on the properties of gemstones and of minerals. Also, try your skill at identifying the objects in the close-up gallery.

Internet Archive: Moving Image Archive http://www.archive.org/movies/movies.php
This historical collection of some 1200 amateur, educational, and industrial films and commercials from 1927 to the present is free and open for everyone to use. A wide range of topics and historical time periods is represented here -- you can view the 1936 Pittsburgh flood, the Kennedy Nixon debate, a 1948 documentary on the modern airport, etc.

JobWatch http://www.jobwatch.org/
The Economic Policy Institute "tracks current trends in the U.S. labor market and offers up-to-date readings on its status." Includes state-by-state job trends, updated monthly and a section on National Jobs and Wages."

LawKT.com - Search Publications from Leading Law Firms http://law.surfwax.com
Searches through over 60,000 law firm publications and articles.

Mistletunes http://www.mistletunes.com/A compendium of info on Christmas songs by rock musicians, from lesser known or novelty songs, like "I Want an Alien for Christmas," by Fountains of Wayne, or "Christmas at the Zoo" by the Flaming Lips, to better known offerings from the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Elvis Costello, Jimi Hendrix, Spinal Tap, the Pretenders, and more.

Resources for Winter Holidays
http://www.waterborolibrary.org/christm.htm
Waterboro Library's annotated guide to resources for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and the solstice.

Today in Literature: Great Stories, People, Books & Events in Literary History
http://www.todayinliterature.com/
"features a new original biographical story each calendar day about the great writers, books, and events in literary history. Our articles are supplemented with links to recommended websites where you will find author biographies, electronic texts, reviews, quotes and other reference materials..."

Air Force Link - Photos http://www.af.mil/photos.html
A searchable gallery of over 2,700 photos of aircraft, operations, people, and "Remembering 9-11-01."

Daily Jigsaw - Shockwave.com http://www.shockwave.com/sw/content/jigsawpuzzles
You can play the daily jigsaw for free, adjusting the background color and level of difficulty to your own preferences. You can also buy and download several sets of puzzles and a jigsaw puzzle maker to use on your own photos. One of my favorite daily stops.

eScholarship Editions
http://texts.cdlib.org/escholarship/
The California Digital Library has digitized "the full-text of nearly 1400 book-length academic works, of interest to both scholarly and general-interest readers," published by the University of California Press. All titles are accessible to University of California faculty, staff, and students; 400+ titles are available to everyone. Those 400 cover a wide range of topics, including the history of wine in America, the tobacco wars in California, the art of Chuck Jones, strategies for regulating risky technologies, and the Kitty Genovese case.

Elfwood Science Fiction and Fantasy Art http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/elfwood.html
You can search for specific types of images or get lost for hours enjoying the virtual tours of these strange and beautiful worlds. Keep in mind that none of the art is free for copying.

Governing: WebWatch
http://www.governing.com/webwatch.htm
This frequently updated site is full of remarkably good sites state and local governments have created to provide imaginative services. The sites are useful in and of themselves, but they're also great idea generators for library webmasters.

MapsArea.com http://www.mapsarea.com/
A guide to world maps and atlases, place name sites, map libraries, weather maps, historical maps, interactive maps, and more.

New Dream Marketplace [the Conscious Consumer Marketplace]
http://www.newdream.org/consumer/marketplace.html
"We make it easier for you to buy environmentally and socially responsible versions of everyday items-from coffee to paper to energy for your home. Just click on the links below and we'll get you to the nearest local or online source for the goods."

Online Speech Bank
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speechbank.htm
"an index to and growing database of 5000+ full text, audio and video (streaming) versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recorded media events, and a declaration or two." Browse alphabetically for speeches and speakers, or by broad topics like Christian Rhetoric, Movie Speeches, The Rhetoric of 9-11, etc.

Recalls.gov http://www.recalls.gov/
One stop shopping for recalls of defective products, consolidating info from six government agencies.

Special Issues - Gary Price's List of Lists
http://www.specialissues.com/lol/
As you know, magazines are often great sources of lists -- top college rankings, top 100 national advertisers, the InfoTech 100, etc. -- and many of those are available on the web. Gary Price's original list of links to these is now being maintained and added to at SpecialIssues.com.

Story of Africa - BBC World Service http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/
"tells the history of the continent from an African perspective. Africa's top historians take a fresh look at the events and characters that have shaped the continent from the origins of humankind to the end of South African apartheid." Browse by region or broad topic like slavery, Islam, Independence, etc. Includes audio files of BBC programs.

Vital Communities: Resources for Community Revitalization and Reinvention http://www.vitalcommunities.com/
This intelligently designed and thorough guide, provided by Meg Sarff of Davenport Public Library, aims "to document the work being done in some cities and towns and to provide information that can inspire and assist other communities in reinventing their surroundings."

360 Degree Tours of Ground Zero Memorial Finalists http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/wtc/nyc-gz-finalists,0,7540624.htmlstory?coll=nyc-wtc-headlines
Newsday offers both the 360 degrees tour and photographs of the eight finalists' designs for the memorials. You can also follow the links to Rebuilding, The Lost, and the Attacks.

Another World Is Here http://www.worldchanging.com/
A shared weblog, "WorldChanging.com works from a simple premise: that the tools, models and ideas for building a better future lie all around us. That plenty of people are working on tools for change, but the fields in which they work remain unconnected...we do our best to bring you links to (and analysis of) those tools, models and ideas in a timely and concise manner."

Dead or Alive? http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf
If you're wondering whether a celebrity is still alive or not, search or browse alphabetically or by field or by cause of death among the 6648 famous (and semi-famous) people listed here. Other features: "Died on This Date," "Died in the Last Six Months," "Died Before Age 30," Statistics, and more.

Faithful Reader
http://www.faithfulreader.com/
News, reviews, and author interviews on books of interest to Christians

firstamendmentcenter.org: CRS Reports on First Amendment Topics
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/about.aspx?item=crs_reports#
As mentioned last week, Congressional Research Service reports are hard to find on the web. Here's another source, on topics such as education vouchers, campaign finance reform, hate crimes, flag protection, internet privacy, etc.

HBS Entrepreneurs http://www.hbs.edu/entrepreneurs/
The Harvard Business School presents "a video archive that captures insights from leading members of the HBS entrepreneurial community. Entrepreneurs speak on a common set of themes including their development as entrepreneurs, strategies for identifying opportunity and leadership."

Internet Use in Libraries Fact Sheet
http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=Library_Fact_Sheets&Template=/
ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=49155
Statistical data on internet access and on the use and costs of filters.

Medicare Drug Benefit Calculator
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/static/kncalc.cfm
"This calculator allows users to enter their prescription drug costs to determine what they would pay under the Medicare reform proposal currently being considered in Congress."

MLS Graduate Student Resume Database
http://db.arl.org/careers/res/submit.html
The Association of Research Libraries "allows graduate students within 6 months of graduating from an MLS program, or within 6 months of completing a post-MLS residency or fellows program, to post their resumé in one of the most visited online recruitment services in the academic and research library community."

The Money Map
http://www.fundrace.org/moneymap.php
A geographic look at the financial support for the presidential candidates, both Democratic and Republican.

One-Look Reverse Dictionary
http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml
Type in your meaning and it will sort through its thousands of dictionaries to produce a range of possibly matching words. You can also use it to generate a list of words in a category 9e.g., ball games), explore related concepts (e.g., orange), and answer identification questions (e.g., capital of Montana)

Physics Finder http://www.physicsfinder.org/
Find content in journals published by the American Institute of Physics. Articles are free to subscribers, available by purchase to non-subscribers.

Soldier Stories
http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/soldierstories/
A feature of the Army News Service, http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/news/index.php, this has some good stories about individual soldiers, and links to television news stories of soldiers in action.

Sustainable Metropolis
http://www.metropolismag.com/html/sustainable/home.html
Of particular interest: case studies in sustainable development, green design, etc.

the Academic JFK Assassination Site
http://karws.gso.uri.edu/JFK/JFK.html
Commemorate the anniversary by visiting a site aimed at "Understanding the assassination with principles of evidence, critical thinking, and physical science." Examines (digitized) evidence and scienctific topics such as wound ballistics, and analyzes conspiracy theories, the critics, the legal perspective, the assassination in fiction, and more.

African Legacy - Recording Africa's Visible Archaeology
http://apollo5.bournemouth.ac.uk/consci/africanlegacy/
Click on the images to explore projects and topics like cultural landscapes, looted antiquities, and more.

Bloogz - the Blogs Search Engine http://www.bloogz.com/
Try out searches both here and in Daypop, http://www.daypop.com/, which searches blogs, news and RSS feeds. Each seems to have some unique coverage.

Collect Britain - Putting History in its Place
http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/
the British Library's biggest digitization project. A "panorama of images from the British Library’s famous collections. Maps, prints and drawings, photographs and documents, rare early sound recordings from around the globe – you’ll find them all here over the coming months as the site builds a rich picture of the country’s regional history."

Experts Database - CollegeNews.org
http://www.collegenews.org/x2736.xml
The Anapolis Group, "an organization of the leading national independent liberal arts colleges," offers a keyword searchable guide to professors who are willing to lend their expertise to the news media. A great resource for anybody who believes the best way to get an answer is to call somebody who knows the subject cold.

IDEAS http://ideas.repec.org/
"the largest bibliographic database dedicated to Economics and available on the Internet. Over 200,000 items of research can be browsed or searched, and over 110,000 can be downloaded in full text." Useful for public policy and finance issues as well as pure economics.

Libraries Change Lives Award
http://www.cilip.org.uk/practice/awards/changelives.html
"Celebrating the value of libraries to people and their communities." Take a look at previous award winners and ask yourself why your own library isn't celebrating its effects on people's lives this way every year, with full media coverage?

The Memory Hole - List of Videos from the Congressional Research Service
http://www.thememoryhole.org/crs/videos.htm
Congressional Research Service reports and videos are not generally available online unless members of congress have linked them on their websites, but they are available free if you write your representative. Memory Hole has also preserved 300 CRS reports at http://www.thememoryhole.org/crs/. The widely ranging topics of videos and reports include bioterrorism, immigration, social security reform, AIDS in Africa, the CAFE Standards, child support enforcement, identity theft,

National Academies Press - Childhood Cancer Survivorship (2003)
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309088984/html/
You might want to keep in mind that this book, like all the other books from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, is available both as a book you can order from the NAP site and as a free download.

New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, 3rd ed. http://www.bartleby.com/59/
Freely available from Bartleby. Searchable and browsable. Entries have internal links to related concepts, so it's easy to explore a topic more fully.

Open Archives Forum - OAI for Beginners - the Open Archives Forum Online Tutorial
http://www.oaforum.org/tutorial/
"The essence of the open archives approach is to enable access to Web-accessible material through interoperable repositories for metadata sharing, publishing and archiving." This tutorial is an introduction to the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting.

The Role of Metro Areas in the US Economy
http://www.usmayors.org/metroeconomies03/metroecon_0603.pdf
Or, why it matters that metro economies are sluggish -- they account for 85.6% of production of goods and services and 84% of national employment. Lots of useful data and analysis here, from an interested party, the US Conference of Mayors.

Turkey Carving 101
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=channel1288
Idiot-proof instructions and pictures of the process from Martha Stewart.

Virtual Eco-Sphere http://www.open2.net/diyscience/ecosphere/
Invites you to "build an ecosphere without getting your hands dirty." Choose your soils, plants, and animals, and then watch the simulation to see what happens.

The American 1950's
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/home.html
Alan Filreis's fully-linked list of readings for his course on the literature and culture of the period. The rich mix includes Alan Ginsburg, Mickey Spillane, the Checkers speech, Supreme Court decisions, Mickey Mantle's FBI file, Arthur Miller, Elvis Presley, and lots more.

CPANDA - Cultural Policy & the Arts National Data Archive
http://www.cpanda.org/
"An interactive digital archive of data on the arts and cultural policy in the U.S., available for research and statistical analysis, with data on artists, arts and cultural organizations, audiences, and funding for arts and culture." The Quick Facts page has statistical info on artists, audiences, organizations, and support for the arts. You can browse or search, and download, a Data Archive of "numeric data of interest to researchers and others concerned with arts and cultural policy." Still under construction; much more data is promised.

CSA Movement
http://csacenter.org/movement.html
There's a growing interest in community-supported agriculture. This site explains what it is and how it works, and provides a directory of participating farmers, searchable by state or zip code.

How Much Information?
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info-2003/
2003 Update of the Berkeley research project that attempts to estimate how much new information is created each year. Truly mind-boggling.

Library Filtering Comparison Chart http://filtering.galecia.com/
Compares filter systems on such measures as platform and pricing, blocking technology, methods for overriding/turning off filters, and other administrative issues.

Library Grant Money on the Web: a Resource Primer
http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/nov03/becker.shtml
A useful review of available resources, by Bill Becker in the November issue of Searcher.

NewsHub - Technology
http://www.newshub.com/tech/bytime.html
Indexes news from a variety of technology websites, updating every 15 minutes. You can do a full-text search for recent articles as well. You can also click tabs for science, health, entertainment, sports, and financial news.

Panoramic Maps Collection
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pmhtml/panhome.html
Another Library of Congress production. Browse by state for these historical birds-eye representations of cities.

The Puppetry Home Page http://www.sagecraft.com/puppetry/
All things puppetry -- news, festivals and events, exhibits, schools and scholarships, organizations, definitions, traditions around the world, and more.

Researching Medical Literature on the Internet
http://www.llrx.com/features/medical2003.htm
A newly updated pathfinder, by Gloria Miccioli in LLRX.

Thinks.com - brain games, puzzles and pastimes http://thinks.com/index.htm
"Thinks.com has the unique distinction of consistently being recognized as a top Education site as well as being a top Entertainment site." A source of puzzles, word games, chess problems, brainteasers and more.

Web Based Resources
http://ejw.i8.com
"Supporting on-campus and distance learning...An Educational Gateway to the best Electronic Journals and Selected Websites" by discipline. Maintained by retired Emporia State librarian Lewis Armstrong.