And one more thing...
Sheila has been compiling comments on RSS. Some very interesting food for thought there. Did you notice Dave Barry had requests for RSS feeds within about 2 days of starting his blog? I guess everyone is getting those emails now.
I use Amphetadesk, and find it useful and enjoyable, but many days I still really prefer linking directly to the websites I like. I like seeing the entire page in front of me. I still read lots of sites that don't have RSS (like Sheila's). Do I need to worry that some people won't go to my site because I don't provide RSS? I have considered upgrading so I can, and may eventually. But probably won't lose any sleep over it...

On another thought:
Please, don't change the Irish Road Signs....(via Metafilter).

Friday links:
More good background stuff on war with Iraq, including Al Tompkins's links lists previously posted to the Poynter Morning Meeting site, now compiled into one page: Al's Iraq Resources.

Also from Al, linked on his page today: Beliefnet links on Iraq and war has links to info on the news from a religious/moral viewpoint.

Via Gary: Abdication Papers is a page on the previously secret documents on Edward VII and Wallis Simpson, from HM Public Record Office. It includes some page images.

And: here's the latest list of National Guard and Reserves called up as of Jan. 22.

Top linked site according to Daypop, today: Kurt Vonnegut interview in In These Times. Brief excerpt:

That said, do you have any ideas for a really scary reality TV show?

“C students from Yale.” It would stand your hair on end.

Thursday links:
Yesterday the last edition of The Spike Report was posted at the Online Journalism Review. This is one of the sites I checked daily for quite some time. It will be missed. You can read several years' Best of Spike here.

Also, Judi recommends a Weblog by her friend Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, PopCultureJunkMail. It's full of fun links on --guess what? -- pop culture. Gael once had a Weblog at the Star Tribune, which I used to look at often, being one of the first newspaper Weblogs, as I recall. The Star Tribune now has a very neat Weblog/magazine page called 2 Cents.

Random links:
The Miami Herald has resumed offering Discussion forums online. This is something that the old Heraldlink (and successors, up until the Real Cities takeover) offered, and were very popular. These seem to be resuming where they left off. Of course, one of the most popular is the Dave Barry forum (The Dolphins discussion, amazingly, has surged ahead). The old DB forum ended up moving to Dave Barry.com, where hundreds of discussions seem to be going at once. If Dave ever adds comments to his blog, who knows what will transpire?

Judi recommends Reasonablyclever.com, where you can design yourself in plastic. Didn't you always want to look like a Lego character? Look for the "Mini-miser".

The kitten bands at Rathergood.com are getting fiercer and fiercer. Wouldn't want to meet the latest kitties in a dark alley! (and I like the names 'rathergood' and 'reasonably clever'...)

If you haven't tried the Squares game, go ahead. You'll get hooked.

Photos from a cold week:
(Well, it was cool, anyway.) The light was incredible, though:

Dave's new blog: (DaveBarry.com)
This didn't take long. After less than a week of trying blogging (see below), Dave Barry has seen the light and started a Blogger blog: davebarry.blogspot.com with the help of Ken Layne. Much better, Dave.

The weekly update:
The news remains frustrating and irritating. How long will this all go on? Every week we have a new poll on Iraq (this one from Pew Center) and dropping presidential popularity polls which indicate little support for war.
The Top defense contractors, 2002 will continue to push for war to increase their revenues. (Check out Making a Killing: the business of war, the 11-part report from Center for Public Integrity.)
The Department of Homeland Security is now established permanently, changing nothing but the bureaucracy. (Seems like the anti-big government party isn't.)
There's propaganda: Apparatus of Lies is the White House's claims against Saddam Hussein. (Read Terry Neal's story on White House campaign in the Washington Post. Note links here to Iraq chronology, more.)
Al's Morning Meeting reminds us that the last war brought Gulf War sickness.
Our commander in chief, who wants to go to war, didn't, 30 years ago: Chronological recap of GWBush's military record.
And his party, which came to power after womanizing in the last administration, advertises a Republican Babe of the Week (from NJ GOP).
(Meanwhile, bloggers, no matter on which side, find ways to use new tools to get their word out, like this one.)
And more useful links....

Reference

SaveRoe.com 30 years of Roe v. Wade.

Medical history of American presidents

Digital National Security Archive a searchable version of the NSA archives from ProQuest. Iran, Afghanistan, Cuba, Nicaragua, etc.

Alexandria Digital Library Gazetteer Server a new worldwide gazetteer from UCSB. Not accessible through some firewalls without tweaking...

Online Etymology Dictionary of word origins.

ExpertWitness.com a directory of experts in lots of fields.

MIT open courseware study online using MIT guides.

Behind the Name etymology and history of first names.
Governments/Politics

EPA Enforcement and Compliance histories online search for local problems.

Regulations.gov new portal provides search of Federal Register documents.

Gary Hart has this week's speech to National Security Council.

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation Library of Congress has put online all Congressional bills, journals and other official documents covering Continental Congress through about 1875.

Links on University of Michigan affirmative action from the U. library, under Jan. 18 links.
Tools

Reverse Telephone Lookup from Verizon.

MSN maps recommended by Gary Price who says the display and printout of the maps is cleaner than other map sites. Also includes detailed Europe maps, and worldwide maps (not so much detail but still better than most).

10 great digital photography tips.

Google Tour
do you know all the things Google can do? This page is only a start....

Online HomeBase new project from Marc Fest (QuickBrowse) allows you to take notes, manage projects, and/or set up calendar and todo lists via a Website.

BBC: On this day in history nice site with links to video and audio. Covers 1950-present. You can also browse the history by Themes.
Journalism

Gene Patterson: editor at Atlanta, St. Pete, Washington Post, whose editorials on race for the Constitution were groundbreaking. This story by Poynter's Roy Peter Clark tells background of Patterson and a new book: "The Changing South of Gene Patterson". A couple of the editorials are reproduced here.
Business:

SportsNation: The Ultimate Standings ESPN analysis of sports franchises' value.
Florida:

Florida's Budget, 2003-4

Connect with a Broward County librarian click on the link and fill out the form, then wait for a librarian to respond. (Or email, or call).
People:

Email.Addresses.com This claims to be the largest database of email addresses in the world. (it finds my Herald address and no others...?)

Al Hirschfeld Library of Congress exhibit. Also: AlHirschfeld.com.

More Bill Mauldin cartoons from PBS.
Statistics:

2001 U.S. Statistical Abstract

New Census estimates

Canada's ethnic population, 2001 from Statistics Canada.

News, Public Records: no links this week.


Some Interesting stories/Weblogs:

Super Bowl Sunday: Urban Legends from Snopes. com.

What is Chiasmus? fun word play site (great for headline writers?).

Census Confusion: who was right on Hispanic majority? from Columbia Journalism Review.

Tim Porter: First Draft another new journalist Weblog.

ReasonOnline online magazine.

Photos of Miami's anti-war protest from Hidden City.

Venezuelan Weblogs "Blog for Liberty".

OJR Editors' Picks Weblog with links to interesting news from Online Journalism Review.

&c new Weblog from New Republic.
Fun/Entertaining:

One Word an online writing exercise.

Draw with a marker. Choose paper. Save and/or email your artwork. Watch it draw all over again. from GE Imagination at Work.

Free Money: if you bought a CD between 1995 and 2000, fill out this claim form.

Friday links:
So Dave Barry has started a Blog. (Sheila found it). It uses the World Crossing software that the discussion groups on his Web page are built on, so doesn't look like a traditional blog. But who cares? It's priceless to get Dave's thoughts directly. Like this, the latest entry (following a flight through frozen hell):
DATELINE MIAMI (THANK GOD) -- I'm back, safe and sound. Although it is Miami, so perhaps "safe" is not the best choice of words.
I don't know what the deal is with airline passengers, but on the St. Louis-Miami flight, the woman in front of me rolled her pant legs up above her knees, took off her shoes and socks, and slathered lotion all over both legs. Don't these people have bathrooms? Are passengers going to start bathing themselves in flight?
or this:
UPDATE
I just assumed this was about Geraldo, but turns out it's not.
http://www.preventcancer.org/colossalcolon/

R.I.P., Bill Mauldin:
As a kid, Up Front was one of my favorite books. I guess most households in the late '40s and '50s had one. As an adult, I've amassed two copies from used bookshops or flea markets. Willie and Joe are like Mother Goose characters to me. Stars and Stripes has a nice tribute with copies of several cartoons, stories from the paper, from the war and after. Here's one: "Tell th' old man I'm sittin' up wit' two sick friends."

More: Toonopedia biography, description of Up Front. Sun Times story.

Too good to wait:
Among this week's links compilation, a couple of real gems:

Online HomeBase new project from Marc Fest (QuickBrowse) allows you to take notes, manage projects, and/or set up calendar and todo lists via a Website.

BBC: On this day in history nice site with links to video and audio. Covers 1950-present. You can also browse the history by Themes.

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation Library of Congress has put online all Congressional bills, journals and other official documents covering Continental Congress through about 1875.
(via Portage, Buzz, and Sree.)

Taxi in Paradise:
Michael Suib drives a cab in Key West, and writes about the people he encounters for The Miami Herald. These are definitely worth a read.

And...a couple new blogs:
OJR Editors' Picks, and &c from New Republic.

The weather, always a surprise:
Cold enough in Miami for a fire:

.

The weekly update:
Free research resources: Some of us are lucky enough to be in cities where the local library system offers wonderful reference tools via the Web. As a holder of a Miami-Dade Public Library card, I can search lots of incredibly useful databases by just entering my card number on this page. Among them: ReferenceUSA, the database of businesses and residential addresses and phones. I pay a lot to have access to this at work: it's great to know I could get it for free just by signing up for a library card. Also available: fulltext stories from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, via Proquest. Here are descriptions of some other new free databases in the library's system.
Check your local library: you, too, may have access to wonderful things you didn't know about.

And more useful links....

Reference

Perpetual Calendar from Infoplease.

Collective terms for animals from AskOxford.com. One of those questions that always comes up: what do you call a group of cats? How about a 'clutter' or 'cluster', 'clowder' or a 'glaring'. (That's what it says. The last one sounds most descriptive to me.)

USuniversities.com find a college or university by degree program or geography.

Martin Luther King day links from Poynter's Dave Shedden.

Jewish Calendar Tools generate calendars, convert dates, lots more.

African American Women's history a guide from About.com.

Black History Hotlist

National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.

Census Facts for African American History Month

American Peace Website lists all the military actions the U.S. has been involved in, by year. Very few years with no links.....

New York Public Library Image Gate the library is putting images online; entire file will be online by next year.

The Nutrition Source: Knowledge for Healthy Eating from Harvard School of Public Health. Very good detailed nutritional info and news.

Acronym Finder
Governments/Politics

Pork Barreling Sen. John McCain has been collecting lists of 'pork' appropriations since FY98.
Tools

Top 10 Web design mistakes of 2002 sure hope some Web designers read this......
News

Broadband TV Central find television broadcasts worldwide on the Web.
Journalism

Journalistic ethics codes this British journalism foundation has links to newspaper and other ethics codes posted to the Web worldwide. Includes Orlando Sentinel, only Florida newspaper.

New York Times ethics code 53-pg. book in PDF.

Picturing business in America National Portrait Gallery exhibit of Wall St. Journal headcuts.
Business:

Key developments in U.S. public companies: enter ticker symbol and get chronology of recent events. From MSN Money.

FTC: Cross-border fraud: information for consumers and businesses, and press releases/fact sheets.
Florida:

Florida Area Codes handy map from PSC.

Address/Tax Rate Lookup from Fla. Dept. of Revenue, find total tax rate including communications services taxes, applicable to an address.

Miami International Press Club: Links a page full of mostly local news and other links.
Public Records:

NY State Board of Elections Financial Disclosure Database campaign contributions by contributor or committee.
People, Statistics: no links this week.


Some Interesting stories/Weblogs:

All Consuming lists books mentioned in Weblogs.

BeSpacific a weblog on technology and law from LRXX's Sabrina Pacifici.

Blawg.org a portal for law-related weblogs (blogs, get it?)

Florida Blog a Weblog by Daytona journalist Mark Lane, with commentary on Florida politics, links to Florida editorial pages and other Florida weblogs.

Voter News Service: What went wrong? interesting article on system failure. On same website (Baseline, on project management): How Florida's voting machine failed (again) from October.

NY Daily News says Rael may have taken his name from a Pete Townshend song; and Mariel Hemingway thinks her uncle "Gloria" may have regretted the sex change....

Herald/WLRN partnership? in New Times.

New Times story on old spooks in Miami
Fun/Entertaining:

AnimatedAtlas.com this 10-minute Flash animation shows growth of the U.S. from original 13 colonies til now. With sound, like sitting through a fast history lecture....

Amazing NYC skyscraper photos:
...at Quarlo.com

(Jan 15th archive. As you scroll down the page, the towers seem to grow....)

Useful background, from Poynter
As always, Poynter Online provides resources for last-minute help on anniversary/holiday stories:
Al Tompkins provides good background info and links on Roe v. Wade (30th anniversary) in today's Al's Morning Meeting (5th item).
And Dave Shedden has compiled Martin Luther King day links.

In another helpful compilation, Gary Price gives us a nice list of Email alert services you can subscribe to, including news alerts.

Also: via Boing Boing, as was yesterday's post about a similar guide to London streets: Barcelona, Madrid en fotos: put in an address or click on map and see photos of buildings. Very cool.

More today:
For those keeping track of local National Guard units being called up, the weekly list posted on the Defenselink site provides names of every unit mobilized so far. The latest list was posted yesterday (long PDF file).

The American Peace Website lists all the military actions the U.S. has been involved in, by year. Very few years with no links.....

Street Sensation provides tours of popular London streets with photos of all the buildings/shops/restaurants, etc. along the way.

Here's a fascinating story: Orlando man trying to prove he's son of the Shah of Iran.

And, from Florida Blog (see Monday's entry): Florida Politics, another Weblog with news and links.

Last but not least: War on Iraq: a game explaining how it will work. These 'games' are getting too serious for me....

Random Wednesday links:
The United States of America has gone mad; by John LeCarre in The Times.
Cloning...tax cuts? animated cartoon from Mark Fiore.
Why the United States should not attack Iraq new analysis from the Cato Institute.

As you might have guessed from previous posts, I love Websites that post photos of real people or places. So here's another I expect to enjoy: A Day in the Life, photos from people around the world with a new photo every day, new location every week.

The Queen's knees:
Featured on front page of The Times today. Looking good at 76....
(via Sky News).

A couple useful Monday links (a little late):
Sunday's Knight-Ridder survey of American opinon on war with Iraq (68% favor waiting, among other things).

On Maurice Gibb: Herald coverage, For the Love of the Bee Gees, a local fan site, Commander Mo's paintball shop in North Miami. Links to more at Yahoo! Full Coverage. (Note: a Herald online request posted late today for tributes to Gibb brought in dozens of responses, many posted here.)

And have you seen the Virtual Journalist?: this starts out as a fun game but ends up linking to Media Whores Online. Serious criticism. FYI, the latter site just announced Bob Woodward has won their highest prize.

And, found on Hidden City: Florida Blog, by Daytona journalist Mark Lane. Commentary on Florida politics, links to Florida newspaper editorial pages, and other Florida blogs.

The weekly update:
As the juggernaut chugs along, we need more and more links on the military and on opposition to the war. Here are a few that came up this week:

Military links are in this Al's Morning Meeting column, third in a series of Iraq war sources.

U.S. Forces Order of Battle daily troop movement info from Global Security.

National Guard and Reserve units called to active duty, as of Jan 8 2003 PDF file from Defenselink. Check the main defenselink page for updates to this (in press releases).

EndTheWar.org large coalition of antiwar groups.

And more useful links....

Reference

EZ2WWW new meta-search site which searches several search engines at once, also includes a category directory.

World Almanac E-Newsletter: January 2003 upcoming events, chronology of last month, birthdays and anniversaries....

National Traffic and Road Closure Information from U.S. DOT, has links to lots of weather/traffic sites too.

NLM Gateway search all National Library of Medicine databases from this page.

The Detroit Project trying to get rid of gas-guzzlers. From Arianna Huffington.

How the World Thinks in 2002 world views on America and other countries, from Pew Research Center.

Like Television includes a Classic TV area where you can download videos of old programs.
Governments/Politics

Presidency 2004 Politics1 has it ready to go: links to candidates, party, other 2004 sites.

Congressional Campaign expenditures, 2002 rankings and stats from FEC.

Thomas Tracker new service from Politicalmoneyline.com will allow you to track legislation on the Thomas congressional website. Will be by subscription.

Political Science Resources from University of Keele.
Tools

Newsknife rates Web news sites.

Weatherbug download a live local weather window to your desktop. This is a large flashy window...Story about Weatherbug in SF Chronicle.
News

New sources in Nexis: Business News Americas, from 1998, Business Monitor International, from 2000; Chronicle-Tribune (Marion IL), from 4/02; Daily News Leader (Staunton VA), from 6/99; El Paso Times, from 1999; Fort Pierce Tribune (FL), from 8/02; Hattiesburg American (MS), from 5/02; Honolulu Advertiser, from 6/02; Iowa City Press-Citizen, from 4/02; Oshkosh Northwestern (WI), 5/02; Pacific Daily News (Guam), 1999; Palladium-Item (Richmond IN); Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton NY); Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI); PR Newswire Latin Edition, 2002; Radio Times (UK), 11/01; Reporter (Fond du Lac, WI), 5/02; Sheboygan Press (WI), 5/02.

El Diario/La Prensa for the first time, the NY newspaper is online.

CBC Archives
Journalism

Headline of the Day from Poynter.

Top 100 newspapers in the U.S. lastest list from Audit Bureau of Circulation. Miami Herald, 29th. There's also a link to Latest released reports.

News for the next generation special report in CJR on youth readership.
Business:

EBizLink Search searches for academic and commercial articles on e-business and technology.
Florida:

Miami-Dade Public Library IPAC Catalog new Web-based catalog makes for easy searching of the catalog. You can create lists and email them to yourself; put a hold on an item; browse bestseller lists. (Note you don't get much detail and need to have a library card and PIN number to access lists. For another search not requiring card, try SEFLIN's My Library Service search. Gives you detail, including which library holds items and whether on shelf, for several South Florida library systems and college libraries.)

Miami-Dade County Artificial Reef Program search or browse the catalog of reefs.

Broward Facts map and Census data on the geographic area you choose. More Broward maps and facts.

Broward licensed auto repair shop search
Public Records:

New in Nexis: Maine Corporation and Limited Partnership Information.
People:

Whatever Happened To? profiles of people who were once in the news.
Statistics: no links this week.

Some Interesting stories/Weblogs:

Oatis.com website of John Oatis, a Reuters journalist (and Columbia U. journalism prof) working in London. Has good tips on public records searching and business sites for journalists. Recommended by Sreenath Sreenivasan.

Business 2.0 Web Guide: Media Blogs

Top Technologies for the coming decade predictions from Battelle.

Defense Tech Weblog

Hidden Bias test check your tolerance level, from Southern Poverty Law Center.

Weird Science
interesting article on news coverage of the Raelians, in National Journal.

Fun/Entertaining:

Windscreen TV photos taken out of car windows....

The Mondrian Machine make your own painting.

More rambles:
Foneblogs. Technology leaps again: these are weblogs posted from mobile phones, augmented by photos from mobile phone cameras. Most are from Ireland, where this software originates.....

Antiwar posters: here and here (plus some military propaganda posters for Iraq).

No more Spike?
The Online Journalism Review's Spike Report will cease the end of this month unless a sponsor is found (end of column). The column has been linking to fascinating stories for a couple years now; with the increase in blogs it's no longer as unique as it was when started, but hate to see any useful newslink site go away....

And in other blogging news, The Scoop's Derek Willis is moving to a new job at Center for Public Integrity (which won't affect his blog, we hope). Derek also says a version of his blog (linking to current CAR and data projects) is going online at the IRE Website (however, the link to a beta version didn't work for me.....).

Wednesday rambles:
Interesting cartoon assessing the democratic candidates in Adam Felber's blog...(do you see the resemblance?) (Thanks to Hidden City.)

From Al's Morning Meeting, a link to U.S. forces order of battle, at Global Security. If the Defense Department won't tell, maybe this will?
Al has also posted the latest in his Iraq links series, with U.S. military links.

Top 100 U.S. newspapers by circulation, from latest ABC reports.

Strong stuff:
Cover of the Daily Mirror:
(from Sky News)

Sunday stuff:

Florida oranges for sale, and a Miami Heat game at the Arena in this week's photos.

In The Herald Sunday, John Dorschner does a great job of deconstructing medical Web sites.

On a different note, Helen's British Cooking site is a great compilation of fascinating recipes. And for the foodies out there, more food and cooking links, if that's not enough.

The weekly update:
So this week, it's Korea. Some useful sites:

CIA World Factbook: North Korea

State Dept: North Korea links to background notes, etc.

BBC Country Profile

BBC Korea Timeline

Yahoo! Full Coverage: news and links

North Korea Nukes lots of good information on military, war plans, nuclear program, etc. from Global Security think tank.

Korea Special Collection lots of information from Monterey Institute of International Studies.

North Korea Special Weapons from Federation of American Scientists.

North Korean Studies page from a professor at Australian National University, based in Russia.

North Korean websites from politicalresources.net.

Washington Post: North Korea story collection and links.

Korea Web Weekly news from Korea.

Korean History links page from UC Berkeley.

And more useful links....

Reference

DeploymentLink Defense Dept site tracks military deployment to Middle East.

Iraq Watch site monitors Iran's weapons of mass destruction program; compiling a database of companies that supplied technology to Iraq.

Military Associations directory help from military.com.

Disaster Finder from NASA.
Statistics

Uniform Crime Reports, Jan-June 2002 (preliminary) from FBI.
Governments/Politics

County report cards from Governing.com includes Broward and Miami-Dade.
Tools

Searchenginez.com a new site combines lots and lots of search engines in one pulldown menu so you can get to them all from one page; also lots of category searches available here.

Got Wi-Fi? want to know where you can go for wireless access?802.11 Hot Spots has a directory of places with wireless internet access. In Miami: a few hotels and airport airline desks.
News

Wikipedia this ongoing project enlists Web users to create an online encyclopedia in many languages. Note the Current Events page, which lists links to the news, including Background articles.
Journalism

International Womens' Media Foundation journalists group.

Lost Remote a group Weblog about the TV industry and new technology, redo of another site by same name.
Business:

Big Class Action database find cases nationwide, by category.
Florida, Public Records, People: no links this week.


Some Interesting stories/Weblogs:

James J. Kilpatrick: My journey from racism column in Atlanta Journal Constitution. Still around at 82...

Rich Gordon writes about news "convergence" in Medill journal

Orlando Sentinel investigation finds criminals under house arrest committed rapes
Fun/Entertaining:

Amazon.com's Purchase Circles find out what people are buying, by geographic area or type of group.

Best of 2002 Online Journalism Review's Spike Report links to some of the year's most fascinating stories/websites.

Re-Date.com enter a date and find out when anniversaries will be.

Create your own snowflake and publish it online.

Firmament: enter a URL and entire text of the web page comes up as links.

Best booking photos of the year from Smoking Gun. Bonus link: Diana Ross' arrest report

This Japanese Weblog asked users of mobile phone cameras to email their New Year's shots...here's what they got.

Drink recipes from American Bartenders School.

The Human Clock enter your time zone and get real time from real people. I made this a separate window on my desktop and really enjoy seeing the time change....For something similar, with words, The Letter Project.

Jim Morin hits the nail on the head again:
In today's cartoon:
.

Sanity on the Raelians....
Joe Soucheray in the Pioneer Press; Fred Grimm in the Miami Herald...and Tim Rutten in LA Times.

Happy New Year to readers:
The blog has been going for a few months now, replacing the previous version which started in late 2000. So Here We Go on a new third year.
Resolutions for the coming year: get cable internet or DSL so I can work better from home. Get more server space and maybe a domain name. Get an RSS feed going.
I've tried to keep this a no-cost hobby but violated that rule when I paid to remove the ad from the blogger page, so the deed is done. This year I guess I'll spend some more money on it. It seems to be worth it.

So for the first day of the new year, enjoy Dave Barry's guide to Miami for visiting Iowans....
"Despite our differences, we South Floridians are united by a common belief, which is that every one of us, regardless of race, or religion, or ethnic background, could be armed."
Good advice. But even so, South Florida's not a bad place to be today: