Weekend update: The weekly reference collection/research gleanings:
A busy week this week, lots of links, probably the longest list I've posted in awhile...

First, more on the Blackout:

Cities in Darkness a collection of blackout photos from various news websites.

WashPost's Filter column says the Internet kept working right through the blackout. (Note Filter links to news stories in other papers).

You've Got Journals new AOL blog by journalist John Scalzi. Lots of blackout links here on Friday.

Power Outage Traced to Dim Bulb in White House by Greg Palast. Blames George HW Bush, Enron, George Pataki, and George W.

Eastern Power Outage Unfortunate but Entirely Predictable study released Friday from Rocky Mountain Institute.

Talking Points: your blackout experience BBC collects reports from people.

Cooking in a blackout: the Julie/Julia Project blogger tries to do French cuisine without power.

And, the Blaster attacks Microsoft today. If you've got it and are having trouble removing it, some help:

Very good instructions for removing the Blaster Worm from your computer from the Guardian.

Get Net Wise site has advice for keeping Web safe for kids, dealing with spam, avoiding worms and viruses, and privacy.

How to remove MSBlaster from Detroit Free Press's Mike Wendland. Good, simple instructions.

And, nostalgia (Thanks to Sheila for pointing this out):

Poor People's March for Economic and Human Rights: marching from Mississippi to Washington DC. I remember the first one, in 1968 (they built 'Resurrection City' where the Vietnam Memorial is now).

The useful links....

Reference

Civil War Portal recommended directory of war sites and information.

RAND-MIPT Terrorism Databases from Rand Inst. and National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism. Two databases here: Terrorism incidents, and Terrorism chronology.

CDC Yellowbook Handbook for International Travelers.

Drug Image Database from Drugs.com. See what a particular drug is supposed to look like.

Historical hurricane tracks from NOAA.This and some other trackers are already listed on the Hurricane page; I still prefer this animated one from Universty of Illinois.

National Environmental Directory lists over 13,000 environmental organizations.

Love Canal@25 what's happening 25 years after discovery of this environmental disaster.

Bring Them Home Now: organization of military families, etc.
News:

Extra! Extra! RSS Feed the IRE site listing new investigative stories every day now has this XML feed so you can set it up to appear in your news aggregator daily. No aggregator? You can still go to the IRE website and read it there.
Tools:

Lockergnome's RSS Resource.
Journalism:

Society for Young Journalists: just started, only a link to subscribe to listserve on this Website so far. More info in this story by Jonathan Dube of Cyberjournalist.

InteractiveNarratives.org new site highlights great online news presentations.

OS CAR (Open Source Computer Assisted Reporting) has news and links on software for journalists, like SQL, Open Office, and PERL. (Thanks to Derek).

Newspapers lose Web war report from Harvard Business School. From the report:
Some of the more successful newspaper responses include companies like The New York Times, Knight Ridder, and The Washington Post.
Public Records:

New Mexico DWI history search just need name or SSN to search.

Pennsylvania physician profiles; Virginia Board of Health Practitioners database.

Real Estate credit searches in Mass, Conn. gets bankruptcy, lien, foreclosure info. Free search, charge for full records (about $5).
Governments, Politics:

Renewal in Iraq: 100 days of progress from the White House.

Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. Includes a link to U.S. Government Iraq Reconstruction Contracts from State department.

US Government Graphics and Photos: directory page on FirstGov.gov.

White House for Sale Public Citizen site on Bush fundraising.

LA Times Recall coverage and links. (will probably require registration).

Election Law blog from a Loyola law prof.
Statistics:

Digest of Education Statistics, 2002 latest release from Dept of Education.

Global Youth Tobacco Survey

World Factbook, 2003 latest version now online.

Changes to Census Bureau's American Factfinder: will make it a little easier to use, starting Sept 6
Florida:

Florida unclaimed property search .

Florida's Lost Tourist Attractions

Business, People, : No links this week.
Some Interesting stories/Weblogs:

Real Live Preacher blog from a Baptist minister in Texas. Beautiful and thoughtful. Found on Christopher Lydon Interviews of prominent bloggers. Check out the Aggregator page here too: a quick easy way to get news from important blogs as it's updated.

Tumour Diary: Last entry BBC science writer Ivan Noble has been keeping an online diary since a brain tumor diagnosis a year ago. Today he decides to face life and end the journal.

Frauds, Scams and Misinformation on the Web by Mary Ellen Bates in Searchenginewatch.

Political Wire a national politics news blog.

FC Weblog from Fast Company, fast news on business.

Cuba, Alabama: this Weblog 'explores the connections between Cuba and Alabama', including the story of Alabama reserves who were at Bay of Pigs.

Celeb Buzznet photos of celebs moblogged from cell phones.

Baghdad's media explosion BBC story says newspapers and other sources are popping up everywhere.

New use for Weblogs: 20 Questions. Click on 'Comments' to see the questions and answers. Fun from Dave Winer, but this underscores how useful the 'comments' function of a blog could be.
Fun/Entertaining:

Forgotten NY a tribute to what's left of the old NYC (with some modern NY links).

Dilbert Games: several of them, including Catbert Salary Calculator: let the Evil Human Resources Director estimate what you're likely to get.

Someone in Pasco County is Selling their floodwater on EBay.

And, speaking of EBay: George W. Bush National Guard action figure.

Whale Flatulence captured on film.

The Ibiza Experience: P Diddy and Rony Seikaly and Elle Macpherson are there: why aren't you? At least experience some of the fun via this blog......