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

February 13-20

Information on the financial crisis:

AIG Implodes: the Two Cows Version
http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/2/aig-implodes-the-two-cows-version
If you're scratching your head trying to understand how AIG and other financial institutions lost so much money that taxpayers had to bail them out, here's a parable that helps to make sense of it all.

Final Stimulus Bill: Full Text of Conference Report
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/12/final-stimulus-bill-full_n_166604.html
This just in: the Huffington Post has links to both parts of the conference report and the joint explanation.

Governors To Track Stimulus Money
http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=375439
You probably already know that the Obama administration plans to track expenditures under whichever version of the stimulus bill passes at <http://recovery.gov>. As noted here at Stateline, several governors have already stated their intentions of creating equally public accountability for the way they spend their share of the stimulus. See also Stimulus Watch: Keeping an Eye on Economic Recovery Spending <http://www.stimuluswatch.org/>, a web site that allows "citizens around the country with local knowledge about the proposed "shovel-ready" projects in your city, to find, discuss and rate those projects."

Main Street Stimulus - US Mayors
http://www.usmayors.org/mainstreeteconomicrecovery/stimulussurveyparticipants.asp
Here are some of those "shovel-ready" projects ready to go as soon as funding is available

State Budget Gaps Update
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/press/2009/pr020409gapupdate.htm
After making cuts to adapt to a $40 Billion gap in their 2009 budgets, states are reporting a cumulative budget gap of $84.3 Billion for 2010. Click on the map to see what losses your state's government is expecting.

The usual neat new stuff:

11 Great Hidden Things Google Can Do
http://www.smashingapps.com/2009/01/13/11-great-hidden-things-google-can-do-that-you-should-know.html
I didn't know about most of these tricks, and I actually read the advanced search page from time to time. Your options include searching cached pages, getting Google to serve as a calculator, and getting flight status updates. You might want to visit this site's home page <http://smashingapps.com> for more free open source resources for designers and developers.

Answering Income Tax What Ifs - GovGab
http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/entry/answering_income_tax_what_if
One of the GovGab bloggers has saved you the trouble of rooting around in the IRS web site to find the official answers for questions that may be concerning lots of people in these uncertain times, like "What if I lose my job," "What if my 401(k) drops in value," "what if I lose my home through foreclosure," "What if I sell my home for a loss," etc.

BrightScope
http://www.brightscope.com/
Crunches 401(k) plan data from public resources and presents it as a database of information. The 200 data points examined include the plan's costs, amount of matching contribution and quality of investment options, leading to a numerical rating to each plan, which is then compared to plans in the same industry. Plug in the name of your company and see how your plan ranks; if you're not happy with the results, it has suggestions on what you can do about it.

Concerts on Demand - CBC Radio
http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/cod/
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation opens up its vaults, letting you listen to nearly 1,000 concerts by Canadian performers, classical (instrumental, vocal, chamber, choral, etc.) or pop (blues, folk, roots, etc.) Go back to the CBC Radio2 page for even more options from Canada's National Music Network.

The Discovery of Global Warming - a History
http://www.aip.org/history/climate/
The American Institute of Physics has done what scientists should do more often on important public science issues: explain to non-scientist citizens how science works, the steady accretion of evidence, the voicing of theories to explain it all, the further accumulation of data, and the testing of the theories. You can read chapter by chapter online or buy the book, or just start with the Summary of the History of Climate Change Science.

Infrastructurist
http://www.infrastructurist.com/
A blog and daily digest of news about infrastructure projects, funding, legislation, etc.

Small Science Collective - Mini-zines
http://www.andrewyang.com/sscpage.htmBrowse through the cover art for each of these small gems and click on the ones you can't resist (for me, those were "What's up with food," and "So you've decided to evolve.")

Wikileaks
http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Wikileaks
"an uncensorable system for safe mass document leaking and public analysis. Our primary interests are in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we expect to be of assistance to peoples of all countries who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations." Searchable, and browsable by country and language. The site has added nearly 7,000 Congressional Research Services Reports that Congress doesn't think the public that paid for them needs to have access to. Scroll down past the donation link for links to the most recently added material.

February 6

The 10 Worst Predictions of 2008
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4569&print=1
And to think some of these people are still getting paid for their solemn thoughts (though at least Henry Paulson is already out of the business of dictating federal financial policy).

Academic Earth - Video Lectures from the World's Top Scholars
http://www.academicearth.org/
Browse by subjects, universities, instructors, or "playlist" collections of lectures. Of particular interest: the six lectures on the financial crisis.

Community College Rankings - Washington Monthly
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0709.ccrankings.html
The rankings of the top 30 were intended to identify "community colleges that excel in using teaching methods that researchers have linked to increased student achievement" and "colleges that are successful in helping students earn degrees."

Green Collar Jobs: Executive Summary - California State University
http://blogs.calstate.edu/cpdc_sustainability/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/green-collar-jobs_exec-summary.pdf
This report finds that green business has the potential to provide a lot of living wage jobs not just for professionals but for low income, low education workers as well.

Idealist.org - Imagine. Connect. Act
http://www.idealist.org/
The nonprofit group Action without Borders offers this interactive site so that "people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters..." Search its database to find volunteers, volunteer opportunities, internships, nonprofit jobs, programs, events, materials, organizations, etc.

Land Sharing - CEOs for Cities
http://www.ceosforcities.org/blog/entry/2060
A report on an intriguing idea for putting unused public spaces to good purposes, including "guerilla gardening" and voluntary harvesting.

Layoff Daily
http://www.layoffdaily.com/
Scours news sources across the country for each day's announcements of layoffs, which these days is a real downer. The bright spot is its links to all the reports site editors have found on firms that are hiring.

middlespot.com
http://middlespot.com/
"a powerful new interface for analyzing and managing your search results." It displays results with a screenshots gallery you can pan and zoom, and allows you to save your results to Wordpad or share them with colleagues.

Recovery Money Allocated by State
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/01/house_stimulus_overview.html
The Center for American Progress maps the distribution of funds in the House version of the stimulus package. Check out how much money your state is currently slated to get for jobs and education and infrastructure - IF the bill passes the Senate, that is.

Recipe Goldmine
http://www.recipegoldmine.com/
"the home of thousands of free recipes, including our famous restaurant recipes collection." You can search, or use the site map to browse in a number of ways: by food category, food videos, children's recipes, diet recipes, and more. Especially useful: the collection of "Kitchen hints and tips," and the "kitchen charts" (conversion table for metric, roasting timetables, food substitutions, etc.).

Science Centric - Info Source in natural sciences and technology, breaking news
http://www.sciencecentric.com/index.htm
Searchable, and browsable by disciplines, videos, editorials, art & style (e.g., scientific art and photography).

State of the States: Political Party Affiliation - Gallup
http://www.gallup.com/poll/114016/State-States-Political-Party-Affiliation.aspx
This new and extensive survey of voters' political party preferences in each state shows a decided geographic shift in the political landscape that does not bode well for the Republican party.

January 30

2008 in Photographs - Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/the_year_2008_in_photographs_p.html
Part one of three. These amazing photos encapsulate a year's worth of events, including some stories that didn't get a whole lot of coverage.

Director's Blog, Congressional Budget Office
http://cboblog.cbo.gov/
This brand new blog will be a good place to check for CBO's most recent analysis of proposed legislation. It currently features a summary and link to its detailed analysis of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act - that is, the real CBO analysis, not the fictional one you've been hearing about from TV's talking heads.

Global Warming Animated - Worldchanging
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009214.html
Sometimes what you need to explain a complicated idea is a really good filmmaker or animator. Here are several.

John Thurlow's Children's Sites
http://www.johnthurlow.com/children/Childrens_Home/children.htm
I like the way this man organizes sites for kids - not just in standard subject categories like math and social studies, but also under thinking, imagination & art, fun& challenge, funny things, cool videos, etc.

OAIster
http://www.oaister.org/
One of my all-time favorite reference sites, OAIster is a "union catalog of digital resources" currently providing access to 19,509,922 records from 1072 contributors. Those contributors from around the globe include national libraries, universities, professional societies, businesses, government agencies, and more. The linked collections include virtually every kind of information: documents, books, photos, videos, maps, theses & dissertations, journal articles, etc.

Overcoming Bias: A New Day
http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/12/a-new-day.html
Here's a fascinating suggestion for a new holiday tradition: spend one day resolutely thinking about only new ideas and ignoring old ones and exploring new things. This reminds me of the "living library" program <http://living-library.org/>, where you check out a person to help you understand unfamiliar ways of life.

Recall of Products Containing Peanut Butter
http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/salmonellatyph.html
Provides an update on the investigation of the peanut butter/salmonella connection, links to specific product recalls, and a searchable list of recalled peanut butter products.

TeacherTube - Teacher Videos, Lesson Plan Videos, Student Video Lessons
http://teachertube.com/
Search or browse through categories like Most Recent, Most Viewed, Most Discussed, Top Rated, etc. I don't see a way to browse by grade level, though you can search grade level tags, e.g., "5th grade".

Top 100 Science Stories of 2008 - Discover Magazine
http://discovermagazine.com/columns/top-100-stories-of-2008
Odds are you missed some of these stories, so here's a good place to catch up. You can browse more specifically through "The Year in Environment News," Health & Medicine, Gemetics, etc.

Transportation for America
http://t4america.org/
A vision of how to improve our economy with world-class clean transportation, less driving, safer streets, and healthier communities, from Transportation for America, "a broad coalition of housing, environmental, public health, urban planning, transportation and other organizations."

Who Moves? Who Stays Put? Where's Home? Pew Social and Demographic Trends
http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/721/movers-and-stayers
Pew's research show that famously restless Americans are moving less frequently these days.Check out the full report and the interactive map showing where people are moving from and to.

Who Runs Gov - Government directory
http://whorunsgov.com/
The Washington Post profiles important players in the new administration, Congress, think tanks and interest groups that help shape policy.

January 23

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - Executive Summary
http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary01-15-09.pdf
Here's the starting point for any federal stimulus bill. Released by the House Appropriations Committee on January 15, 2009.

Free Technology for Teachers
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
And how teachers can use it. This won an Edublog 2008 award for Best Resource Sharing Blog.

Golden Gems
http://goldengems.blogspot.com/
A blog that scans old Golden Books.

The Internet Bird Collection
http://ibc.lynxeds.com/
"an on-line audiovisual library of the world's birds that is available to the general public free of charge," searchable by species or key word. Currently features 28,000+ videos and 1700+ photos, representing 5500+ species, with sound recordings coming soon. Impressive, but since that's still only 58% of all the species covered, you can create an account and add your own videos and photos to the collection.

Issue Recovery Bonds To Fund Stimulus Programs
http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/ideas/viewIdea.apexp?id=08780000000556i&srPos=19&srKp=087
Have you posted any ideas on Obama's Citizens Briefing Book site? Here's my idea for encouraging Americans to fund our own stimulus program; if you agree with this or any other ideas posted on this site, please register or log in and vote them up. You're welcome to make your own suggestions as well.

MNN - Mother Nature Network
http://mnn.com/
"MNN wasn’t designed for scientists or experts. It was created for the rest of us, the regular person who wants information written and created in a way that everyone can understand." Offers breaking news, articles, blogs, videos, and how-to guides. Searchable and browsable by format or by categories like transportation, business, food, lifestyle, etc. Students please note that they're looking for college correspondents - 33 state positions aren't filled yet <http://www.mnn.com/family/education-activities/stories/join-mnns-student-correspondent-program>.

National Film Board of Canada - Watch Quality Canadian Documentary, Animation and Fiction
http://nfb.ca/
Canada opens its treasure house of film to public access. Searchable and browsable by title and director. You can also explore them by playlists, on topics like Canada's Diverse Cultures, the Second World War, Winter across Canada, etc.

President Obama's Inaugural Address
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/inaugural-address/
Watch the video and/or read the text here.

SolvingLifesProblems.org
http://solvinglifesproblems.org/
Who does that? Your librarians, that's who. Share your stories here of how libraries and librarians have helped you. The stories will be shared with reporters and elected officials to help build support for libraries, which are affected doubly in any economic crisis: library use goes way up, while funding gets cut.

U.K. Parliament - POST Publications
http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_offices/post/pubs.cfm
These are 4-page briefings on major science issues provided by scientists for the guidance of Parliament. Among the many topics: vaccines and public health, regulating stem-cell therapies, voluntary carbon offsets, computer crime, electronic privacy, women in science, and lots more.

What Obama Should Read
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2009/0901.obama.html
Suggestions from some of The Washington Monthly's favorite writers about books that would help Obama govern wisely. An interesting collection, weighted more toward history and philosophy than policy analysis.

Woof Report: a Free Daily Email Newsletter with Dog and Puppy Tips, Products, Services...
http://www.woofreport.com/
"We sniff out the top dog blogs, websites, newsletters, magazines and pet stores to bring you and your fur family the best of the best."

January 16

15 Skilled and Sublime Nature Photographers - WebEcoist
http://webecoist.com/2008/12/22/nature-environmental-photographers-photos/
If you like nature photography, check out these photographers. Then check out the other browsable image galleries at WebEcoist - nature and landscape photography, of course, but also designs for solar power, geothermal energy, etc.

100 Free DIY Legal Resources on the Web by e-Justice Blog
http://www.criminaljusticeusa.com/blog/2008/100-free-diy-legal-resources-on-the-web/
Annotated links to legal search engines, glossaries, blogs, government resources, podcasts, databases, and more.

The 2008 Edublog Awards
http://edublogawards.com/and-the-2008-winners-are/
Award-winners in categories like Best educational wiki, Best educational use of a virtual world, Best educational tech support blog, Best librarian / library blog, Best class blog, etc. You might want to check out the runners-up as well.

American Social History Online
http://www.dlfaquifer.org/
"Find and use 19th and 20th century primary resources from unique digital collections." Search or browse by subject, place, and time, in collections of historical photographs, broadsides and printed ephemera, posters, first person narratives, cartoons, digitized serials, and more.

Blueprint for a Healthier America
http://healthyamericans.org/report/55/blueprint-for-healthier-america
Courtesy of Trust for America's Health (TFAH), a "non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority." With the inauguration of a new president who plans to spend a lot of money on healthcare, infrastructure, and energy, many organizations are offering their plans. I'll be linking to others as I see them.

Choosing the Right Repair Shop for Your Vehicle - Federal Citizen Information Center
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/cars/glovebox/tm06.htm
Some good advice I could have used when I moved away from my trusted mechanic and had to find a new one in a new town.

EveryBlock - a news feed for your block
http://www.everyblock.com/
If you live in Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, LA, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, or Washington, DC, here's where you can find out "what’s happening on your block, in your neighborhood and all over your city." Browse by topic, address or zip code. This should be of special value to librarians. I've argued elsewhere <http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib297.html> that public libraries should make a point of adding local and neighborhood blogs to their community resource pages.

Global Museum
http://www.globalmuseum.org/
Trade news for those who operate or care about museums. Includes news, job listings, resources, a social network, and more.

Gramophone Archive, 1923-
http://www.gramophone.net/
"Explore every issue of the world's greatest classical music magazine." Members can get the full content of retrieved articles in PDF or e-mail, but non-members can at least get a synopsis of the article, page image, and full citation

Moving Image Source
http://www.movingimagesource.us/
From Museum of the Moving Image, "Articles by leading critics and scholars, an international Calendar, and a Research Guide to online resources." The resource guide is browsable by types of resource (article search, bibliographies, reference, etc.) as well as by criticism, history & styles, industry, people, and technology & craft.

Science Cartoons Plus: the Cartoons of S. Harris
http://www.sciencecartoonsplus.com/pages/gallery.php
Cartoons are a great way for science teachers to engage student interest or make a point. This collection of Sidney Harris cartoons is browsable by topic and specific branch of science.

World Question Center 2009
http://www.edge.org/q2009/q09_index.html
Edge's annual question for this year is, "What will change everything?" Check out the responses by some of the world's leading thinkers. This would be an interesting program idea for libraries.

January 9

95 Old School Games You Can Play Online
http://amog.com/tech/gaming/oldschool-videogames/
Anyone old enough to remember playing video games should love this site which links them to favorite games available online - Dragon's Lair, Frogger, Lunar Lander, Mario Brothers, Pong, all kinds of shoot-em-ups, and lots more.

100 Awesome YouTube Vids for Librarians
http://www.accrediteddldegrees.com/2008/100-awesome-youtube-vids-for-librarians/
A lot of these are purely informational, but there are some entertaining, image-busting ones as well.

Amazing Cityscape Art Made from Unusual Objects
http://www.neatorama.com/2009/01/06/amazing-cityscape-art-made-from-unusual-objects/
See San Francisco constructed out of Jello or cookware, Shanghai out of poker chips and dice, made-up cities created with bottles and food packaging, discarded circuit boards, machine parts, etc. Oddly beautiful stuff.

APIC - American Political Items Collectors
http://apic.us/
This is a great time for political memorabilia collectors. (an Obama chapter has been started already). While this is primarily a membership site for serious collectors, the rest of us can enjoy a guide to what to collect, auction and sale catalogs, web-based databases, print and out-of-print reference works, and a glossary of terms.

Banking on Social Change - Seeking Financial Solutions for All - Changemakers
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/competition/bankingonsocialchange
Since it's pretty clear the international finance system has not served us well, Changemakers sponsored a contest for ideas on remaking it. Here are all the entries, from all over the world.

The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed
http://www.blackpast.org/
Here's a site that anyone preparing for Black History Month will find useful: 2,500 pages of reference materials on African American history in the United States and on the history of people of African ancestry around the world, including an online encyclopedia, full text primary documents, major speeches of black activists and leaders from the 18th Century up, and links to digital archives and other collections.

Civics Quiz - Civic Literacy Report
http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx
The discouraging thing is not how poorly average American citizens performed on this test on US government and political history. It's how poorly college educators and elected officials performed (see a report on it at <http://www.adn.com/opinion/comment/story/627945.html>). How did you do on it?

FDA Warns Consumers about Tainted Weight Loss Pills
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01933.html
If your new year's resolution is about losing weight, and you're tempted to use weight loss pills to speed the process, check this out before you buy.

Green Recovery: A program to create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/09/pdf/green_recovery.pdf
Some really interesting ideas from the Center for American Progress and UMass-Amherst's Political Economy Research Institute. I'll pass on other interesting policy proposals for economic recovery, from both liberal AND conservative sources, as I come across them.

Infrastructure Report Card 2005
http://www.asce.org/reportcard/
With updates for 2008. Since Obama is proposing to spend money on infrastructure, a good look at this American Society of Civil Engineers' report on our failing structures might be a good place to start. Check out the hazardous condition of bridges, dams, drinking water systems, etc. in your own state.

Keeping Family/Household Records
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/money/keeprecords/keeprecords.htm
If nothing is certain except death and taxes, you might want to make sure you're keeping the records the government wants you to have on hand in case of either.

New Deal Network
http://newdeal.feri.org/
With an economy reminiscent of the depression, we're hearing a lot about whether we should use New Deal strategies to fix it - and a lot of misinformation about the New Deal itself.

December 19-January 2

2008 End-of-Year Lists
http://www.fimoculous.com/year-review-2008.cfm
Fimoculous has created a master index to all those other lists, from Time, New York Magazine, Library Journal, Project Foodie, Salon, etc. There are loads of best books, movies, games and music lists, as well as best autos, green architecture, TV ads, comic books/graphic novels, album covers, fashion faux pas, awesomely addictive candies, etc.

2008: The Year in Media Errors and Corrections - Regret the Error
http://www.regrettheerror.com/regret-articles/crunks-2008-the-year-in-media-errors-and-corrections
The annual review of editors' and writers' "my bad" admissions. Don't miss Dave Barry's apology.

Advice for Desperate Men
http://marylaine.com/myword/advice2.html
Once again, I offer a public service, both to men, and to women who are tired of getting vacuum cleaners for Christmas: My column on how to choose gifts for women that show you actually have paid attention to them. The good news is you don't even have to spend a lot of money to make women feel treasured.

Christmas Music Radio Stations Live on the Web
http://www.mikesradioworld.com/xmas.html
If you haven't ODed on mall Christmas music, Here are links to radio stations (many of them international) where you can listen to Christmas music to your heart's content.

Gingerbread Fantastic - YesButNoButYes
http://www.yesbutnobutyes.com/archives/2008/12/gingerbread_fan.html
Why settle for an ordinary gingerbread house when you could build a medieval castle, the White House, Notre Dame, a Dr. Seussian home, a brothel (sorry about that), etc. NSFW but fun.

The Hobbit Name Generator
http://chriswetherell.com/hobbit/
I, Tigerlily Proudfoot, also known as Tari Culnamo in Elvish, thank Chris Wetherell for this. Try it yourself and find out who you would be in a Tolkien universe.

International Photography Contest 2008 Winners - National Geographic
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/photo-contest/2008-winners
Great stuff. You can also click on the drop-down menu to view the People's Choice winners.

Public Officials of the Year - Governing
http://www.governing.com/poy/2008/index.htm
This seems like a good time to remind people that there are many competent, ethical public servants who have used their legitimate powers to improve public services. (It is, of course, a pity that they did not point to any of the outstanding public library directors.)

Simply Scripts - Movie Scripts and Screenplays
http://www.simplyscripts.com/
A cornucopia of scripts for movies, TV, radio, musicals, plays, and anime, along with unproduced scripts and non-English scripts.

Speakaboos - Listen to Fables, Nursery Rhymes, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Lullabies
http://www.speakaboos.com/
Not a great many offerings as yet but they are free to all comers. If you become a member, you can record your own stories and songs as well.

Treasures of the New York Public Library Video Series
http://www.nypl.org/news/treasures/
"Watch as curators and librarians share their passion for the treasures of our remarkable collections." Among the videos: the Harlem Renaissance, the New York World's Fair, 1939-40, Menus and Cookbooks, A Century of Sound, Katharine Hepburn's papers.

Visions of Christmas
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Exhibitions/Christmas/
This online exhibition from the American Antiquarian Society uses illustrations from antique books to reveal the Origins of Christmas, the Evolution of Santa, the history of the Christmas Tree, and images (and a parody) of 'Twas the Night before Christmas.

Zooborns
http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/
A blog dedicated to pictures of brand new zoo babies. Cuteness x10.

December 12

The 40 Best TV Theme Songs of All Time - Paste Magazine

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2008/11/the-20-best-tv-theme-songs-of-all-time.html
There's plenty of room for argument in the selections (the Mary Tyler Moore show theme is not there. Yes, the selections were chosen by a man.). But what nostalgia bait anyway!

Auto Bailout Legislation Discussion Draft
http://taxpayer.net/user_uploads/file/Bailout/2008-12-08_Draft_AutoBailout_Legislation.pdf
This may be a moot point by the time you see this, since Senate Republicans seem determined to filibuster this legislation to death. See also the Big Three [Automakers] Restructuring Plans Submitted to Congress <http://banking.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Articles.Detail&Article_id=573a46c4-822c-435c-8405-8b4c93516b52&Month=12&Year=2008>. As for the TARP bailout funds already committed to the financial system, see The First Report of the Congressional Oversight Panel for Economic Stabilization, <http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/cop121008.pdf>

Green Gift Guide 2008 - Inhabitat
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008greengiftguide/
Some terrific gift ideas for your environmentalist friends and relations, browsable by gender, age, gadgets, stocking stuffers, price range, etc. Also, tutorials are available for handmade gifts.

A Home-Made Christmas - Christmas Crafts
http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/specialfeature/christmas-crafts-ms/
All kinds of home-made stockings, candies, cookies, calendars, ornaments and decorations, and entertainment.

Information Today Holiday Blowout Sale
http://www.infotoday.com/
My publisher is offering 40% off on all books purchased through its web site through the end of Monday, January 12 - including my book, The Thriving Library: Successful Strategies for Challenging Times, and numerous titles by some of the best young thinkers on libraries, librarianship, information, search strategies, etc.

Literary Rock Band Names - Bookride
http://www.bookride.com/2008/11/literary-rock-band-names.html
It turns out that some of the oddest band names (Desperate Bicycles, Five Lose Timmy, Sixpence None the Richer, etc.) are chosen as hommages to the bands' favorite books, plays and poems. Commenters add lots more to the original list.

The Neglected Books Page
http://www.neglectedbooks.com/
This page, and all the similar pages it links to, should send a lot of people scurrying to libraries and used book stores. This would make a great exhibit, discussion, and program idea for libraries - you could put up your own suggestions, and ask library users to recommend their own favorites.

Pimp My Bookcart Winners, 2008 - Unshelved
http://www.unshelved.com/PimpMyBookcart/2008/
Bookcarts in the guise of hot dog stands, fire trucks, Tom Joad's jalopy, and more, are a testament to librarians' imaginations and creative flair.

The Secrets Behind Your Favorite Toys - Mental Floss Blog
http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/20268.html
When your kids play with a slinky, Lincoln Logs, Trivial Pursuit, Play-Doh, and Etch-a-Sketch, you can tell them all about how those toys came to be (or almost didn't get made)

Sneaky Tips for Shopping Online
http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/entry/sneaky_tips_for_shopping_online
GovGab offers tips on comparison shopping, finding coupons, and getting free shipping.

Top 10 Everything of 2008 - Time Magazine
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10
Time's pick of the year's best children's books, food trends, editorial cartoons, gadgets, green ideas, photos, scientific discoveries, viral videos, scandals, TV ads, etc. etc. etc. Fun, though the 1-selection-per-click format is a pain.

December 5

Addictionary: What's Your Word?
http://www.addictionary.org/
Neatorama calls it "a wonderful website for those who love weird, obscure, and well, made-up words." I'm particularly fond of Utini and Miriage, but there's plenty of other amusing and even useful words here.

Best Business Books 2008
http://www.fastcompany.com/multimedia/slideshows/content/books-2008.html
You're bound to find some interesting choices here for gifts or for additions to your library's business collection.

Best Reference Question Ever - PubLib
http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/2008-November/thread.html#120362
This entertaining discussion on PubLib proves that you can never predict what your customers are going to ask.

Better World Books
http://www.betterworld.com/
My favorite source for used books, because it helps libraries dispose of unneeded books while sharing their profits with their chosen nonprofit literacy groups, and then shares its own profits with nonprofit literacy organizations. They have an outstanding selection, and provide quick, efficient service.

Cartoon Commune: Custom comics, children's books, illustrations, animation, and music
http://www.cartooncommune.com/
What a great gift idea: hiring these artists to create personalized comics, illustrations, children's books, songs, etc. And people who've used it give it rave reviews. You can check out samples before you decide to order.

Cat Haiku
http://www.willbraden.com/cat_haiku.html
If you're not a cat person, skip this, but if you are, you'll see your own cat somewhere in here. I'm particularly fond of "let me get this straight/you sleep just 8 hours a day?/how do you function?

Family Fun and Entertainment Ideas for Kids
http://fun.familyeducation.com/
Choose among activities by age ranges, outdoor recreation, backyard science, rainy day activities, etc.

Gift Guide for Library and Book Lovers
http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listgiftguij.html
A little of everything here: bookshelves, art, wearable art, mugs, etc. You might also want to shop at the Unshelved gift store, <http://www.unshelved.com/store.aspx> for collections of the comic strip, prints, bags, and tees.

The Great Male Survey - AskMen.com
http://static.askmen.com/specials/2008_great_male_survey/index.html
While it's unlikely that any library user will ever ask a reference librarian to explain men, or for that matter, women <http://static.askmen.com/specials/2008_great_female_survey/>, armed with these survey results you might just be able to offer some useful information

iSerenity - Environments
http://www.iserenity.com/environments.htm
"Choose a sound and image experience to relax or work by." Choices of sound/slide shows include purring cats, train tracks, wind chimes, waterfalls, songbirds, crackling fire, a "library lullaby," and lots more.

My Kidz a Star
http://mykidzastar.com/
Where parents can upload videos of their kids for family and friends to view, and create a channel in which the child's development can be recorded over time. Free with registration.

Typealyzer
http://www.typealyzer.com/index.php?lang=en
Analyzes blog text to figure out the probable Myer-Briggs personality classification for the author. Fun to play around with, though I wonder about its method (or my personality) since it assigns me to several Myer-Briggs types depending on which page I've chosen from my various sites.

November 21-28, 2008

34 Great Gifts You Can Make Yourself
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/11/13/a-do-it-yourself-christmas-34-great-gifts-you-can-make-yourself/
Some great gift ideas from Get Rich Slowly - games, food, stationery, a memory jar, etc. - although you'll have to work hard at not overeating those homemade truffles. You might enjoy other ideas at the Get Rich Slowly blog as well, like The Best Recession-Proof Jobs, Things It’s Cheaper to Do Yourself, Kids Who Are Smart With Money, etc.

2009 AAAS Science Dance Contest
http://gonzolabs.org/dance/
Here are the rules for entering what is also known as the "Dance Your Ph.D." video contest. Check out previous winners and see how the human body can explain "Individual Differences in Exploratory Behavior of Prairie Voles, "The role of vitamin D in beta cell function," "Precipitation Initiation in Warm Clouds," and such. This could be a real breakthrough for scientists forever struggling to explain their work to ordinary people.

AutoblogGreen
http://www.autobloggreen.com/
"We obsessively cover the green scene." Whether you're interested in green cars, or trying to decide whether whether our government should rescue the big 3 American automakers, this is a good place to keep track of new designs that are in the works or already available.

Change.gov
http://change.gov/
From the office of President-Elect Obama, a site to keep us informed about the transition and presidential appointments, events, and agenda. We are invited to send in our own ideas and share our stories.

Daily Yonder
http://www.dailyyonder.com/
Published by the Center for Rural Strategies, this blog aims to be the "daily multi-media buffet of news, commentary, research, and features" for rural dwellers. Bill Bishop, author of The Big Sort (a book I highly recommend), is one of the editors and contributors.

Financial Crisis Tab Already in the Trillions
http://www.cnbc.com/id/27719011
So, we thought Congress authorized $700 billion, which seems like a goodly amount. But CNBC has been keeping track of the dollars being ladled out that we didn't authorize, and it's even more astounding, and less accountable.

Grandparents.com
http://www.grandparents.com/gp/home/index.html
Getting bored with doing the same old things when the grandchildren visit? Check out the activities, recipes, road trip ideas, and gift ideas here. You can also find expert advice, columns, and a community.

Guidelines for Cats
http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/hum1/guidelines_for_cats.htm
So you think it's simply an accident that your cat throws up on your most expensive carpet or inserts herself between you and your book? James Huggins suggests it's a deliberate plot, part of the rules cats have taught their kittens from time immemorial. Read the rest of them to understand what mere humans are up against.

Life Photo Archive Hosted by Google
http://images.google.com/hosted/life
"Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today," many of them previously unpublished.

Obama's Office of Urban Policy - What are the top priorities?
http://www.obamaurbanpolicy.org/
From the folks who created WalkScore, an open forum for people to contribute their own ideas, and vote on others' ideas, on policies to improve cities.

Over the River and Through the Woods
http://marylaine.com/myword/movers.html
A column I wrote about the uniquely American trait of restless mobility: "You know, in other countries, holidays don't lead to total gridlock in their transportation systems, because people elsewhere stay put a lot more than we do." Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving.

SurLaLune Fairy Tales
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/sitemap.html
This site is a must for anyone interested in the history and culture of fairy tales. For each of the 1,200 tales, there is an annotated full text, a history of the tale, links to illustrations, a bibliography of Similar Tales Across Cultures, and a bibliography of Modern Interpretations in novels, poetry, short stories, film, music, and theatre.

November 14

Archive of American Television Interviews
http://emmytvlegendsinterviews.blogspot.com/
Anyone interested in the history of American television will want to check out these often extensive video interviews, posted in 30-minute segments, with luminaries from all fields who helped to shape the medium. Among them: Norman Lear, James Garner, Phil Donahue, Fred Rogers, Julia Child, David Brinkley, Bob Newhart, Tim Russert, composer Quincy Jones, syndicator Roger King, puppeteer Carroll Spinney (Big Bird), animator Joseph Barbera, and lots more.

Crisis Talk: Policy Ideas on the Financial Crisis - The World Bank Group
http://crisistalk.worldbank.org/
Members of the World Bank Group are blogging here "to provide the latest information on the unfolding financial crisis, both on specific countries and sectors, as well as on the global crisis response. The blog will also feature opinions on what solutions may be possible, what shape the financial sector may take in the future, and how the crisis affects the real economy."

Election Maps - 2008
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2008/
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it can also give entirely false impressions. Professor Mark Newman corrects the misleading appearance of the familiar red state/blue state distribution by adjusting each state's size to reflect its population, does the same for counties, and presents a more nuanced popular vote map with shades of purple to indicate percentage of vote distribution. The site includes an FAQ answering readers questions, and a link to the maps and cartograms he did for the 2004 elections.

The First 100 Days - GOOD Sheet
http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/goodsheet/goodsheet009First100Days.html
This chart neatly outlines what each president from FDR on has done or attempted to do in the first 100 days of his presidency. Not necessarily comprehensive - it's surely worth mentioning that Ford not only pardoned Nixon but extended amnesty to draft evaders - but it's an interesting look back and comparison.

Full Frontal Scrutiny
http://www.frontgroups.org/
This joint project between Consumer Reports Web Watch and the Center for Media and Democracy aims to examine advocacy groups with misleadingly green-sounding names that are actually funded by corporate interests.

GoodGuide
http://www.goodguide.com/
Claims to provide "the world's largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home," with a database of 60,000+ Personal Care & Household Chemical Products. Search, or browse by top rated products in each category.

The Great War Archive
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa/
Contains over 6,500 items contributed by the general public originating from, or relating to, someone's experience of the First World War, either abroad or at home. Includes diaries, interviews, documents, postcards, memorabilia, photographs, and more.

Inside High Ed: Higher Education's Source for News, Views and Jobs
http://insidehighered.com/
Similar in many ways to the premier higher ed trade publication, Chronicle of Higher Education, it offers news, views, blogs, and job ads, except that you don't need to subscribe to read the content or even search the jobs database.

Majors Making a Difference
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/008703.html
If you, or your son or daughter, is looking for a career in which they can make a difference in the world, this series from WorldChanging will be of interest. The fact that several of these seem to be careers of the future makes them even more appealing.

OmniMedicalSearch.com - Medical Image Search Engine
http://www.omnimedicalsearch.com/images.html
I've always argued that searching a restricted universe of carefully chosen topical sites beats any general image search engine when the accuracy and specificity of results matters. Being able to restrict a search to purely medical images is a prime example.

Our Vote Live - Nationwide Data Table
http://www.ourvotelive.org/table.php
The people who maintain the 866-OUR-VOTE national voter assistance hotline present a state by state tabulation of the kinds of problems voters reported on election day. Click on the state name for county by county reports.

USAJobs - The Federal Government's Official Jobs Site
http://www.usajobs.gov/
With the aging of the federal workforce and the coming of a new administration, the federal government is gong to be hiring. Find out all about it here. See also Best Places To Work in the Federal Government, <http://bestplacestowork.org/BPTW/about/> and Where the Jobs Are: Mission Critical Opportunities for America, <http://www.ourpublicservice.org/OPS/publications/viewcontentdetails.php?id=118>

November 7

17 Interesting Facts about Doctors and Patients
http://www.emedexpert.com/blog/general/17-interesting-facts-about-doctors-and-patients/
Among them: "Patients treated with respect more likely to follow medical advice"; "7 things patients expect from doctors"; and "Seven medical myths even doctors believe." This short piece should be required reading for medical students and practicing physicians alike.

America's Favorite Cities, 2008 - Travel & Leisure
http://www.travelandleisure.com/afc/2008/index.cfm
Travel& Leisure asked travelers to rank 25 top American cities in categories like food, culture, nightlife, affordability, recreational amenities, traffic, weather, etc. Check out the resulting rankings, by city or category.

Bailout Sleuth
http://bailoutsleuth.com/
Chris Carey, a a former St. Louis Dispatch reporter, studies SEC documents and court filings to keep track of how our tax money is being doled out, to which financial institutions, how it's being spent, and under whose supervision. You'd think our government would be keeping this kind of eagle eye on our money and informing us, but on the other hand, we might not believe them even if they did, so our thanks to Mr. Carey.

The Broke Library's Guide to a Better Web Presence
http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/files/cheapwebservices_il2008.pdf
There's plenty of good advice in Sarah Houghton-Jan's outline for her presentation at Internet Librarian.

Energy Savers
http://eere.typepad.com/energysavers/
The Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy" blogs about "Smart ways for consumers to tave energy" - and money. It also points out helpful DOE resources - energy calculators, the 2009 fuel economy guide, energy tax credits, etc.

GovSpeak: A Guide to Government Acronyms and Abbreviations
http://ulib.iupui.edu/subjectareas/gov/docs_abbrev
Document librarians at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis have constructed this invaluable aid. UPDATE: librarian Kelly Smith, who created the site when she was at the IUPUI Library, tells me that she continues to maintain and update it at <http://members.cox.net/govdocs/govspeak.html>

How To: The Ultimate Consumerist Guide to Fighting Back
http://consumerist.com/consumer/how-to/the-ultimate-consumerist-
guide-to-fighting-back-revised-edition-316524.php
What to do when some company has wronged you. Consumerist shows you how to complain (politely, hardball, or via the legal route), to whom (includes a directory of corporate executives), and who should get a cc of your complaint.

MedlinePlus: Dementia
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/dementia.html
A guide to resources for not only Alzheimers, but other dementias as well. Like all MedlinePlus guides, it points to high quality resources that provide overviews, news, and info on diagnosis & symptoms, disease management, coping strategies, financial issues, clinical trials, research, organizations, and reference sources.

NewsCred
http://www.newscred.com/This news aggregator limits its coverage to quality news media and blogs, from the US and abroad. See also DailySource.org, which has a similar purpose; its editors select stories for accuracy, fairness, context, and usefulness, <http://dailysource.org/

O Say Can You See - National Museum of American History
http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/
The Museum's new blog "takes readers behind the scenes at the museum, sharing insights and information about our exhibitions, events, collections, research projects, and more." Not to mention construction: a running clock counts down the days, hours and minutes until the museum reopens.

Surviving a Layoff - Job-Hunt.org
http://www.job-hunt.org/layoffs/surviving-a-layoff.shtml
Even if you feel reasonably secure in your current job, you might want to look over the warning signs of a pending layoff, and these do's and don'ts for surving the layoff and preparing to look for another job.

To the Next US President: 100 Words for 100 Days - WorldChanging
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/008925.html
WorldChanging's editors solicited the ideas of "the smartest, most interesting people we know" to suggest, in 100 words of less, what the next president should do in his first 100 days in office. You can read those, or think about your own. If you're a librarian, you could invite your users to contribute their own ideas, or use the topic for a discussion program.

October 31

A personal note: My son and his wife have just welcomed their second son into the world, and I, having spent 3 days taking care of their first son while they were at the hospital, am pooped. There's no way an old lady like me can keep up with the inexhaustible energy of a 2-year old. Since I'm too tired to assemble the usual dozen sites, instead, let me point you to:

What To Do If You Have Problems Voting
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0810/S00473.htm
Some of the numerous voting problems already seen in early voting include machines flipping votes from your candidate to another, other kinds of machine failures, discovering that your name has been purged from the voter registration database, too few machines leading to waits as long as 6 hours, etc. Print this advice out and take it with you so that if you encounter problems, you'll know how to insist that your vote be counted.

October 24

A Roundup of Sites To Help You through the Economic Crisis

9 Sites That Help with Everyday Budgeting
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/105963/9-Sites-That-Help-With-Everyday-Budgeting
The sites highlighted here help you identify the best deals on cell phone plans, mortgages, CDs, and bank accounts, assess your own financial planning, monitor your FICO score, and more.

78 Ways for Your Small Business To Save Money in This Economy - Inside CRM
http://www.insidecrm.com/features/78-ways-save-economy-101408/
Including technology that helps you reduce utility and travel costs, and methods for reducing overhead, office expenses, insurance, and advertising costs. Check out additional suggestions in the comments, as well.

200+ Tools for Surviving the Economic Crisis - Mashable
http://mashable.com/2008/10/16/economic-crisis/
Links to online services and tools for business and personal accounting and budgeting, career advancement, for-sale-by-owner, mass transit and carpooling, car maintenance, shopping with coupons, cheap air travel, and more.

Frugal Living
http://frugalliving.about.com/
As one whose key to raising a son on a librarian's salary (and still saving money) was living economically, I like this site's wide range of suggestions for budgeting, money management, and saving money on household expenses, groceries, entertainment, transportation, etc.

More Sites To Help You Choose Your Candidate

50 Key Senate Votes
http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/728-McCain-and-Obama-50-Key-Senate-Votes
If you've been confused about all the charges in the debates about how the presidential candidates voted on various issues, you may find this chart, which compares how these men voted on 50 key votes. It also illustrates how any candidate can tell a partial truth and still entirely misrepresent their opponent's position. You can also follow a link at the end of the article to see a summary of each candidate's legislative accomplishments.

The Choice, 2008 - Frontline - PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/choice2008/
As it has in previous elections, PBS offers a 2 hour examination of the candidates, "in-depth interviews with the advisers, friends and those closest to these unlikely candidates."

FindLaw: Presidential Election Guide
http://www.findlaw.com/election2008.html
This respect legal resource offers both a round-up of previous stories on the election and the candidates, and a guide to state by state voting rights and voter information.

A Few Reasons for Hope

Bouphonia
http://bouphonia.blogspot.com/
One of my favorite blogs has a regular feature called Friday Hope Blogging, in which she calls attention to the occasional bits of good news that turn up amid the gloom. If you're in need of an especially strong dose of hope, don't wait til Friday, but click on the entire archive of Friday hope blogging.

Great Places in America
http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/
The American Planning Association knows that there are plenty of places in America that have a "true sense of place, cultural and historical interest, community involvement, and a vision for tomorrow," places "where people want to be — not only to visit, but to live and work every day." Follow the links to explore what makes these neighborhoods, streets, and public spaces work. You might also want to look at the Great Public Spaces selections by the Project for Public Spaces, <http://www.pps.org/great_public_spaces/>.

Innovations in American Government Awards
http://ashinstitute.harvard.edu/corporate_site/innovations/
2008_innovations_winners/2008_iag_award_winners_announced
For all the bad rap government has been getting for its failures, many states, cities and regions have developed imaginative solutions for their problems; since 1986, the Innovations in American Government Awards Program has recognized over 400 of them. Links to detailed descriptions of this year's award-winning programs are provided, as well as to the database of all previous nominees and winners.

Technorati: State of the Blogosphere 2008
http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/
Analyzes how the blogosphere is continuing to grow and evolve.

WorldChanging: 21 Principles for the 21st Century
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/008646.html
The Worldchanging blog has been re-running some of its best pieces explaining its core ideas for making the world a better place. Here's "the full list of 21 principles collected in one place for future reference," including social entrepreneurship, creative commons, sustainable food, clean and renewable energy, etc.

October 17

10 American Financial Meltdowns - Neatorama
http://www.neatorama.com/2008/10/08/10-american-
financial-meltdowns-in-the-past-century/
Excellent backgrounders on America's previous financial panics and recessions. If you've been hearing about the Keating 5 recently and wondering what that was, that's explained in the entry on the 1989 Savings and Loan Crisis.

100 Incredibly Useful and Interesting Web Sites - PC World
http://www.pcworld.com/article/151771/100_web_sitesthe_
list_by_category.html
Among the categories in PC World's annual list: Sites that help you survive the recession, be politically informed, get the right news fast, find local stuff, stay healthy, learn stuff, and more.

Ballotpedia
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
"a free, collaborative, online encyclopedia. It focuses on ballots, ballot measures, ballot access for initiatives and candidates, petition drives, the supporters and opponents of initiatives and, in general, all things ballot." Not all states are covered as yet.

Election Protection - the nation's largest nonpartisan voter protection coalition
http://www.866ourvote.org/
The nonpartisan Election Protection coalition aims to "provide Americans from coast to coast with comprehensive voter information and advice on how they can make sure their vote is counted." Check out "Elections 101 for info on voter registration, early & absentee voting, provisional ballots, voter challenges & intimidation, and more. Select your state for information on your polling place, required identification, how to verify that you are registered, etc. Click on en espanol for the Spanish language version of the site.

Expert Village
http://expertvillage.com/
"offers the largest choice [135,000+] of professionally produced and researched videos, to answer your everyday questions." Search or browse by categories. Note that when you've found one set of results, the navigation bar allows you to restrict results further: by newest, most rated, or most viewed; and by tags, e.g., knitting + tips, circular knitting, patterns, how to knit, etc.

GobiernoUSA.gov: informacion oficialen espanol
http://www.usa.gov/gobiernousa/
The GovGab blog <http://blog.usa.gov/> says this "isn't just a translation of its sister site, USA.gov. It features unique resources created especially for the Hispanic community, whether you're new to the US, just visiting, or you're running your own business."

Health Issues for Parents
http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Parents_Health.shtml
Fact sheets from several government agencies, on topics like bullying, ADHD, Bisphenol A (BPA), growth charts, Food Stamps & WIC, vaccines, Public Health Clinic Locator, and more.

JFK Unplugged - NBC Nightly News
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#27164075
NBC News recently found previously unknown tapes of John F. Kennedy, in a conversation shortly before he won the election. This is the portion played on NBC Nightly News. The rest of the tape is available at <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#27168561>.

Money Magazine on CNNMoney.com http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/
Among the current online features that may soothe those of us nervously watching the stock market zip up and down and down and down: "9 Ways To Tough out Tough Times," "What You're Really Voting For," a Real Estate Survival Guide, an Inflation Survival Guide, "Are Money Funds Safe Now?", the regular Ask the Expert column (currently featuring "Dialing back on a 401(k)"), etc.

Project for Excellence in Journalism
http://www.journalism.org/
Given widespread dissatisfaction, from both the right and the left, with coverage of the presidential campaign, there are several features of interest here, including the daily briefing, a weekly Campaign Coverage Index, a historical look at "A Continuum of Condemning the Press," "The Market Meltdown: What Got Covered?," and other studies.

A Simple Book Repair Manual
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~preserve/repair/repairindex.htm
Choose a chapter and learn how to tip in a page, clean the book, repair a spine, fix a torn page, etc. - or figure out whether the book is repairable at all. There's also a chapter on the basic book repair tools.

U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library
http://libraryphoto.cr.usgs.gov/
Access to the USGS's entire collection of "over 400,000 photographs taken during geologic studies of the United States and its territories from 1868 to the present." Search, or browse by categories (Earthquakes, National Parks, Mount St. Helens, Pioneer Photographers, etc.

October 10

100 Skills Everyone Should Know - Popular Mechanics
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/how_to/4284709.html
Includes instruction videos for a wide variety of tasks, such as jumpstarting a car, putting out a fire, replacing a faucet washer, changing a diaper, performing the Heimlich maneuver, etc. Also includes the 20 tools every person needs to have (above and beyond basics like hammer, screwdrivers, wrenches).

The 150 Best Onlne Flash Games
http://www.techcult.com/the-150-best-online-flash-games/
Not being much of a game person myself once I got over my addiction to Tetris, I'll take the word of the folks at TechCult that these action games, arcade games, graphical adventures, logic games, etc. are pretty nifty.

AgingPro: the Complete Elder Care Resource
http://www.agingpro.com/
Aimed at 3 primary constituencies: the elderly themselves seeking to plan their futures, caregivers, and professionals in the field. Whichever angle you approach it from, you'll find the eldercare directory, articles, a community, an "ask the expert" feature, resource links, and more.

Beliefnet: The 12 Tribes of American Politics http://www.beliefnet.com/story/236/story_23639_1.html
Convinced that political journalists oversimplified and misrepresented the religious as "the religious right and everyone else," Beliefnet conducted a survey that revealed "the twelve religious voting blocs in America [that] may be key to unlocking the 2008 election." For each group, there's an analysis of who they are, their numbers, their ideology, what they care about, and where their vote has been trending.

Campus Explorer
http://www.campusexplorer.com/
To start searching for the best matched colleges for you, you can select the type of college, geography, and/or major. The next step is personalization. The Chronicle of Higher Education's Wired Campus Blog says "In addition to the usual features that let users search for and compare colleges, the site can analyze a prospective student’s GPA, test scores, and extra-curricular activities to estimate whether he or she will be accepted into various institutions.”

Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
http://www.econlib.org/library/CEE.html
Interestingly, the current featured article is on Bank Runs. The signed articles by scholars in the field seem designed to be intelligible to non-economists. They describe the background of each concept, and provide bibliography for further reading.

HealthyDiningFinder
http://www.healthydiningfinder.com/site/
"Healthy Dining Menu Choices from Fast Food to Upscale Restaurants." Input your location, price range(s), and other options, and get recommendations from among the restaurants participating in the Healthy Dining Program. Click on the restaurant names to get recommended menu selections from each, along with nutritional information about each entry.

History and Government Questions for the New Naturalization Test
http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/100q.pdf
Those of us who are already citizens by birth or naturalization might want to try answering the questions to see if we knew enough about our country to become a citizen now.

Museums and Learning: a Guide for Family Visits
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/family/museums/title.html
Complete text of a 1998 publication. It offers suggestions to parents to increase children's interest and learning from their museum visits - activities, ways to inspire children's thinking, and a sampling of museum resources.

Public Transportation
http://www.publictransportation.org/default.asp
Among the Transit Facts offered by the American Public Transportation Association are reports on how much money you can save by using public transit, and how much you can reduce your carbon footprint. You'll find other reports, news, and links to other resources as well.

Veteran Report Card - Iraq Afghanistan Veterans of America
http://www.veteranreportcard.org/
"The IAVA Action Fund is the foremost nonprofit, non-partisan advocate for our nation's returning warriors and their families. Our 2008 Veteran Report Card, based on the key veterans' legislation that came to a vote during the 110th Congress, grades every Senator and Representative on their level of support for our troops." Read the entire report or search by state to find out how your own senators and representatives - including both presidential candidates and one vice presidential candidate - have voted on veterans' issues.

Vote Back
http://marylaine.com/myword/vote.html
A column in which I offer a very American reason for voting: the certain knowledge that, no matter who you are, there's somebody who really, really doesn't want you to.

October 3

More on the bailout/economic stabilization proceedings
OK, things are still very much in flux, but here are some documents that may help you follow the debate:

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
http://www.publicmarkup.org/bill/emergency-economic-stabilization-act-2008/
The text of the modified Paulson plan defeated on Monday. As soon as I find a link to the amended version passed by the Senate, I'll add it.

The Congressional Budget Office Analysis
http://cboblog.cbo.gov/?p=173
The CBO examines the requirements and costs of the proposed legislation, and its impact on federal finances.

The Roll Call Vote
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/trailhead/archive/2008/09/29/the-house-vote-roll-call.aspx
Check here to see how your congressional representative voted on it.

The No BAILOUTS Act
http://www.defazio.house.gov/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=441
An alternative to the Paulson plan, proposed by Peter DeFazio and Democratic colleagues.

As for how we got into this mess in the first place, I've read articles from economists and business journalists, but the best single explanation I've found for the sequence of events that created this crisis is by computer scientist Mark C. Chu-Carroll in his blog Good Math, Bad Math, <http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2008/09/economic_disasters_and_stupid.php>. I wish it didn't come with such a partisan spin, but that is at least balanced somewhat by the posted comments.

More Political Information Sites:

CJR Campaign Desk [Columbia Journalism Review]
http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/
A blog that examines both the presidential campaign and the press coverage of it.

Governing's Guide to Ballot Measures
http://ballotbox.governing.com/2008/09/governings-guid.html#more
You'll be voting on issues as well as candidates. Here's a good starting point to find out what will be on your ballot.

Voter Purges - Brennan Center for Justice
http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/voter_purges
This Brennan Center reports that the routine purging of voter lists by state attorney generals, intended to "ensure that voter rolls are dependable, accurate, and up-to-date," can erroneously remove eligible voters as well. If you'd like to make sure you are still registered, check here: <http://www.votersunite.org/info/RegInfo.asp>. UPDATE: mea culpa. It's secretaries of state, not attorney generals, who oversee voting issues.

And now, back to the usual non-crisis picks of the week:

2007 Winners, Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/scivis/index.jsp?id=win2008
The winning entries are proof of the National Science Foundation's contention that "Some of science’s most powerful statements are not made in words." And in some cases, downright beautiful proof.

“Give ‘em What They Want”
http://www.earlyword.com/
A blog for collection development and readers-advisory librarians (and passionate readers), focusing on "titles that are on the rise, media attention that will bring customers in looking for specific titles and vendor issues that affect libraries." In addition to the blog, there are links to best seller lists, fall previews, books being made into movies, and downloadable publisher catalogs.

Preparedness Resources
http://www.amandaripley.com/resources
In her book, The Unthinkable, which I highly recommend, Amanda Ripley examines why some people survive catastrophe while others do not. The website for the book offers preparedness resources, reviews of the book, and a blog.

Sorted Books Project
http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/languagetranslation/sortedbooks.php
Photos of book spines lined up so that the titles in sequence tell a story. Librarians could make nifty exhibits by creating their own sequences.

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