Weekend update: The weekly reference collection/research gleanings:
I was really surprised and happy to see the new Herald blog promoted on the front page of Herald.com yesterday (pointed out by Mike Meiners in Newslib-L). Since I suggested it (and it took awhile to make it happen) I was never sure if there was a place for a blog in the Real Cities plan (although, of course, Dan Gillmor's blog at siliconvalley.com is extremely popular, and a couple other KR columnists have tried temporary blogs). So it's nice to see it actually coming together.

So now that there are two blogs, where will the reference links go? I'm still planning on putting any new useful links I find here, even if I've also posted them on the Herald blog. But I don't want to duplicate everything so some of the guides and newsy things I might post there won't also show up here. I still think of this blog as the 'News Research' blog so this is where journalism and research news will remain. I still need to get a feel for what the other blog will be, but since it's on The Herald's site and aimed at 'Herald readers' it will certainly be less personal than this independent blog. Maybe it'll be a little like the difference between Derek's Scoop and Blandiose blogs....(Derek, you continue to be an inspiration....)

The useful links....

Reference

Archivos Virtuales papers of Latin American artists, from Smithsonian.

Aesop's Fables has over 600 fables online!

Older Adult Drivers factsheet from CDC. Also: Safe Senior Citizen Driving: a guide.

Household Products Database from National Library of Medicine, find out whether those things under your sink are safe.

Hearth: home economics archive, from Cornell University. Scanned books and articles from 19th and 20th centuries.
Statistics:

Global Edge great source for access to international statistics and country profiles, from Michigan State.

Charles Bowen (Reporters' Digital How To) in E&P writes on the County and City Data Book, 2000 from Census. This is a great resource I sometimes forget to check when looking for city/county rankings and data....
News:

RocketInfo: now a 'breaking news and weblogs search engine'. This has been a useful news search, now also finds news from blogs.

Google News advanced search lets you pick source, terms in headline, date, etc.

Two new Websites that compile current news from news sites and blogs: Daily Whirl (legal news) and Daily Rotation (tech news).

Tour de Francia 2003: great graphics from El Mundo, españa.

James Davis NYC council member killed in shootout. His "Stop the violence" Website.
Governments, Politics:

Government gazettes online a worldwide directory.

Encyclopedia of Campaign 2004 Part of GWUs' Democracy in Action site; has great collection of information from endorsements to media coverage, to candidate info including staff bios.
Tools:

GoogleAlert sign up to get email notice of any time your search terms appear in Google (this is not connected to Google).

Google News advanced search lets you pick source, terms in headline, date, etc.
Journalism:

Report from the Moblogging conference in Online Journalism Review.
Public Records:

Los Angeles County criminal courts search need to register and pay per search.

A guide to the U.S. federal legal system from LLRX, this is very complete, with links.
Florida:

WWI service records from Florida archives, scanned card files with each serviceman's record, including home address, time overseas, wounds or disabilities.

Sun-Sentinel property search: get recent sales by neighborhood, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Monroe County occupational license search (by company name, see pulldown in lefthand column for owner, occupation searches).
Business:

BizLink nice guide to business reference from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library.
People:

Canadian Naturalization Database: find people naturalized between 1915-1932.

Some Interesting stories/Weblogs:

Fast Forward a new media blog from NDN (New Directions for News).

Peoria Pundit by Bill Dennis, former author of the "Bill's Content" blog.

Baseballblogs.org find lots and lots of blogs on baseball.
Fun/Entertaining:

Beautiful photos of Mont St. Michel