The weekly update:
Lots of links, a busy week. This week marks the 2nd anniversary of the website/weblog (which I converted to Blogger format in August). Last year I celebrated the first anniversary by going to the annual Ramble at Fairchild Tropical Garden, after writing why it marked the anniversary. In the middle of the day, the festival was packed and not as much fun as it used to be. So this year I went early this morning, hoping to get some nice photos to post. No luck. Even early, it was much too crowded, so I came home. It's sad when lovely events get so popular they are destroyed for those who love them. I'd gone to the Ramble every year for many years, and always found a place to park with an easy walk through the gardens, and easy-to-reach booths and exhibits. No more. Maybe next weekend I'll go on a normal day to get those garden photos.
At any rate, here we are starting a third year of Behind the News. Hope you're enjoying it.
(The links page was also first shown two years ago this week to a journalism class at UM, and this week I'll be showing it to another class there, along with a KR writing seminar group. Hope these students find it useful, too.)

Interesting stories/Weblogs:

In case you missed it, an amazing interview with John Muhammad's ex-wife in Wash. Post. (she says it was all directed towards her....)

People need old articles despite the common wisdom that most searchers are seeking recent stories. This story in Library Journal discusses the success of older archive databases.

Lawyers mine TRACfed for data article on LLRX discusses how lawyers use this data. Good hints for journalists.

Who needs a pretty website anyway? KR's are making money, what more do you need? From Business 2.0.

AngryDems.com want to know how mad rank-and-file Democrats are at the party leadership? Read some of these messages....
Fun/Entertaining:

Sadie Hawkins Day Does anyone but me remember this?

Conelrad a history of the atomic age and culture.

California Coastline couldn't get into this after our story the other day, but available now: photographs of the entire coast.
And the useful links:
Reference

A dictionary of units of measurement

Noise pollution clearinghouse find news and answers to questions about noise.

Play Database search for a play by title, author, or search for a monologue; get basic info, including cost per performance.

Holidays coming and no time for shopping? A reminder: Google Catalogs has dozens of catalogs online and you can browse the pages directly.

Webster's Unabridged New subscription service has search of Webster's Third New International Dictionary, plus Collegiate Dictionary, atlas, and thesaurus.

Online gazetteers list from USGS has links to place names databases for several states and countries.

Eldritch Press has lots of free fulltext books online. Huxley, Tagore, WWI literature, Henry James and Henry Adams, Ring Lardner....

Airline History over 650 airlines. Also has airliners.

College profiles useful for high school students, and maybe for journalists? (Not a complete list of colleges, by any means...)

FluNet Global Influenza Surveillance Network.

Drinking water information for consumers from American Water Works Assn.

America in the 1890s: a chronology

Stichguide If you're a quilter, embroiderer, tatter, knitter, etc. you may find these stitches and patterns useful...
News

FindNews a new current news search/directory.
Statistics

Government transportation financial statistics searchable database from BTS.

American Religious Identification Survey 2001 survey, good source for stats on religious membership.

Canadian economy online.

Generosity index: Giving by State, 2002
Governments/Politics

OpenSecrets.org has an analysis of the election online: proving money talks.

Ballot issues nationwide: pigs in Florida, marijuana in Nevada, bilingualism in Massachusetts...list from Stateline.org. Who's funding them? Ballotfunding.org finds out. Florida info.

Political oddsmaker from Campaigns & Elections.
People

Census of Canada, 1901 search geographic areas.

Minnesota death certificate searches now go through 1996!

Marquis Who's Who makes available a database of over a million biographies.Subscription.

Top-Biography database from India has bios of over 350 people.
Journalism

Political reporting online tip sheet from Poynter on learning to use the Web for political coverage.

Local TV study report has individual station/market reports; from Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Editors Web a reminder: you can sign up here to get a daily email listing federal government press releases, schedules etc.
Public Records

Virginia Courts case information civil, criminal and chancery courts.

Nebraska inmate lookup (this uses a port that may cause access problems through firewalls).

Missouri Casenet Civil, criminal, probate and traffic from several counties, and appellate decisions.

State of Minnesota Offender locator

Kentucky Offender/Inmates search currently incarcerated. This site was down when I tried it.

Wisconsin Circuit Courts Access criminal, traffic, forfeiture, family, and civil case information and judgments in circuit courts for most (but not all) Wisconsin counties.
Florida

Florida Confederate pension application database a great resource for finding info about people who lived in Florida in the 1860s, or vets who lived there in later years.

A Buyer's Guide to Florida Candidates Very interesting. Databases of mostly campaign contributions to candidates in Gainesville area....
Business

Llrx article: Updated list, details on corporate filings links to state websites and explanation of material available.

From CBS Marketwatch: Scandal Sheet, listing corporate misdoings; and Earnings calendar, planning tool for corporate earnings.
Tools: no links this week.