The weekly update: Last for a week.
Taking a quick week vacation starting tomorrow, so probably no updates until after the 3d. (Unless I get access on the way).
Meanwhile, Just a few new things this week: starting with the war stuff (every week, more war stuff).

Ready.gov Homeland security for you.

Latest National Guard/Reserves callups dated Feb. 12.

IraqWar.info summarizes and links to news reports.

And more useful links....

Reference

About Herbs, Botanicals, and other products from Sloan-Kettering.

Space Shuttle Investigation Reference from NASA.
Governments/Politics

City of Seattle business license database wouldn't it be nice if more cities did this?

Explore Parliament a guide to Westminster...
Journalism

Behind the Journal-Times the Racine, Wisc. paper publishes this Weblog to explain coverage issues.

Readership Institute the Northwestern site has survey results, a resource library.
News:

You won't read this in print online-only newspaper columns and weblogs, from Steve Outing.

Aurora de Chile this newspaper was published in 1812 and 1813. This website is reproducing each issue day by day, as if it were a website of a current paper.

Latinclips.com a clipping service for Latin America news.

Pacific Northwest newspapers clippings collection scanned clips from Seattle, Portland, and Lewiston newspapers, among others, collected in the 1930s. Searchable.
People:

Records in the Illinois State Archives include lots of genealogy databases like veterans' records, marriage licenses, death and slavery/emancipation indexes, historical criminal records, homicide and coroners' records, lots more.

Annual survey of top philanthropists from Chronicle of Philanthropy. Includes a searchable database, if you're registered.
Florida:

, Public Records , Tools , Statistics: no links this week.

Some Interesting stories/Weblogs:

How to love the U.S. from BBC.

Dollars from Heaven Pittsburgh Post-Gazette analysis of NASA research spending in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio areas.

We have met the enemy Phillyburbs mag compares Reagan's speeches to Bush administration's....

Ultimate swimsuit 40 years of Sports Illustrated issues...

Photos of people in Baghdad.

NASA and the spellbound press 1986 story from CJR.

Multilingual Polling article by Sergio Bendixen in Columbia Journalism review.

On obit writing by Ari Goldman of NYT. Better done by older reporters?

A Conversation with J. Albert Diaz Herald photographer is interviewed on Poynter website. Note the great slide show linked here, from the Lure of the Burbs series.
Fun/Entertaining:

Typing practice, disguised as a game...

Bea's Diary illustrated diary of a Toronto woman, nicely done....

Fire tragedy:
Poynter's Al Tompkins has assembled some very useful links for covering The Rhode Island fire, including good links on the band Great White and Ty Longley, lists and links on other historical fires, Rhode Island fire code, and lots more.
Poynter's also working on assembling more breaking news coverage on the fire.
Providence Journal's the place to go for local coverage, but unfortunately they don't seem to have dropped registration requirements for the big story...But Sheila Lennon's putting some of the news and links on her blog on the paper's site.

And on it goes....
The Florida library petition now has over 12,000 signatures...and good links to coverage of the Jeb Bush fiasco continue to appear on Florida blog and Florida politics. Along with links to stories about a $7.5 million Web contract to a company that promised to hold a job for Noelle Bush, and a threat to eliminate the state auditor's office that criticized a cozy mining deal....
Would you like medical news in your newsreader? Medscape now offers RSS feeds of medical/health news.
Gene Weingarten, formerly Dave Barry's editor at the Miami Herald's lost lamented Tropic Magazine, may be one of the funniest writers around. Here he interviews the author of the "worst novel ever published in the English language".
Via Gary, New unclassified maps of Baghdad, Iraq, Mideast can be downloaded from Natl Imagery and Mapping Agency.

More Weblogs:
Blogstreet's visual neighborhood: put in a blog URL and get a visual map of related blogs.
Peter Scott's Library Blog at Xrefer. Has info about the great Xrefer reference databases, and other library news.
And more:
Dave Barry talks to Slashdot.

Ramblings:
I like this quote, on Lakelandcam today:

Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
T. S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot) 1888-1965

New Weblogs:
New Media Musings JD Lasica's new Moveable Type blog, replaces his Manila version.
And, found in JD's blogroll: Teleread, a digital library blog.
Inside the Journal-Times the Racine, Wisc. paper's weblog discusses coverage issues. (via Rewrite!)

Is this how You feel? (at right)

A Monday surprise:
Does this (Dan Gillmor's announcement of Google's purchase of Pyra Labs -- Blogger!) mean that my archives won't disappear regularly and I won't keep getting those 'failed to save template' messages?

The weekly update: Journalists' stories, war links and more:
I'm a sucker for books about newspapers or journalists. I'll pick up any one I find. This week I've read three:
Al Neuharth's Confessions of an S.O.B is over 10 years old now, and has been on my shelf for a long time. Picked it up last week and read it in a couple days. A guide to success in business, it's still full of some fascinating stories about his time as a Miami Herald reporter/editor, then with Knight Ridder in Detroit, and with Gannett when it changed from a Rochester-based small NY state newspaper chain to the biggest chain in the country with Florida Today and then USA Today. I remember when Gannett went public the year I graduated from college. I actually considered buying stock in this home-town company. Too bad I didn't.

John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter's Love by the Glass. A perfect Valentine's week read, a love story about two journalists who met at the Miami Herald, fell in love with each other and wine. This one kept me up all night. Because I knew Dotty and John (mostly Dotty), I was mesmerized. Even if I hadn't, the story of a black woman from Tallahassee and a Jewish man from Jacksonville becoming America's guides to drinking wine -- and their obsession with Dotty's face -- is wonderful.

First Job, by Rinker Buck. A name I recognized, maybe because I read his earlier book about a childhood cross-county plane trip years ago. The story of a young man's first job out of college, as reporter at The Berkshire Eagle, one of America's most respected small-town papers. Wonderful stories of hard-core journalists, beautiful mountains, and intriguing girlfriends, capped by a lifetime friendship with a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer. This is worth a read, if only for the tornado and John Wayne/Norman Rockwell stories. And maybe even more, for insight into what journalism, politics, and sex were like in 1973. Very different, and fondly remembered.

War stuff:

War Coverage Resources from Assn of Electronic Journalists. Great collection of terrorism/bioterrorism/war links.

Links to antiwar organizations in the US and UK, others.

Iraq War Wire from EIN News wire. Original stories require subscription, but this page has links to news from lots of other sources.

Iraqwatch from the Wisconsin Project, collects information about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Includes searchable database of suppliers, much more, including this:

Government documents on Iraq great page of links to documents from governments worldwide.

Latest National Guard, Reserves called up list dated 2/5.

Duct Tape? National Institute for Chemical Studies actually recommends it in a chemical emergency in this study: Shelter-in-Place. People living near the Anniston Army Depot have lots to worry about (links from contributors to NICAR-L listserv).

And more useful links....

Reference

U.S. Statistical Abstract, 2002 latest edition.

Human Rights Watch World Report 2003

NGO Research Guide from Duke library.

Ocean World from TAMU (Texas A&M), has lots of oceanography data.

Geode USGS maps and data to download using an online reader. Includes South Florida map/data.

Best and worst states for taxes report from the Tax Foundation.

GeoNet Names Server database of foreign geographic feature names, from National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA).

State by state smallpox vaccination report from CDC.
Governments/Politics

How many bills did your congressperson sponsor (or cosponsor) in last Congress? This report in Thomas will tell you.

Science.gov new U.S. government science portal, search or browse for science info.

Congressional Pictorial Directory, 108th Congress get photos of legislators. (105th - 107th also available).

LEGISInfo search Canadian Parliament documents online.
Journalism

Why Won't Johnny Read? story on youth reading habits in Newsday.
Business:

NBA Team Valuations new, from Forbes. Need to register to see (free).
Florida:

Today in Florida History new site under construction from Florida Historical Society

Vote for the Florida quarter design

DowntownMiami.com includes downtown guide, city news, chat rooms.

New on City of Miami website: Current bid solicitations, Commission Agendas

South Florida traffic cameras: see what the road looks like before you head out. Or dial 511 plus location code go get reports by phone.

Miami-Dade is a top pick among counties, and Pembroke Pines is a top pick among cities' websites in the MuniNet annual survey.
News:

NewsNext a news planning site for British journalists.

NewsFox provides European press releases.
Public Records

Collier County (Florida)Courts: a new version but still requires software download that won't work on my work PC.

Texas marriages index for 1966-85 and 1985-2001; Texas divorces, 1968-2001.

Tennessee real estate assessments for 90 of 95 counties.

North Carolina voter registration search
Tools

, People, Statistics: no
links this week.

Some Interesting stories/Weblogs:

How bloggers make news Sheila Lennon's Providence Journal-based Weblog is now linked daily from the paper's front page. This week, among other fascinating things, she tells of an Iraqi Weblogger: I'd seen links to his blog on other sites, but Sheila read deeper and reports that this Iraqi in Baghdad is finding solace from another Weblog -- in Israel. A strong tale and one of the many stories Sheila pulls from the blogosphere...

Bibliolatry an interesting library Weblog.

Clarín: Weblogs new Weblog en español, including lots of info about Weblogs, how to set up, etc.

The Shuttle: When is too much news not enough? good analysis by journalism Weblogger Tim Porter of two columns questioning amount of Columbia stories in most newspapers. Fascinating quotes from the Wall St. Journal column cited here:
"War, Ambrose Bierce once observed, is God's way of teaching Americans geography...The tragedy of the Columbia is God's way of teaching Americans about the geography beyond our own solar system and of urging us to consider profound questions about our role there."

The Arcata (CA) Eye "America's most popular obscure small-town newspaper". Especially good for the police reports, with entries like this:
5:17 p.m. The footbridge was the wrong place to be right about now, what with that fortyish “transient type” man in a knit cap of doom. After firing off verbal abuse and even death threats at someone with the callous temerity to walk past, he was arrested on a public drunkenness charge and taken to a steely haven.

Grade inflation at Virginia universities nice investigative report in Virginian-Pilot.

Last closeup of Columbia on ground fascinating, detailed photo.
Fun/Entertaining:

These weapons of mass destruction cannot be displayed weirdest 404 message yet.

Disco Squirrels

Can't resist this...:

(from Sky News)

Great resources you can use today:
Derek Willis announces that the IRE Blog he has been working on is now available. It's called Extra! Extra! and is a list of great investigative and computer assisted reporting stories.
Gary Price has posted links to Today's Security Council statements.
And Al Tompkins linked to more: War Coverage Resources from Assn of Electronic Journalists, and Iraq War Wire from EIN News. (Original stories require subscription, but this page has links to news from lots of other sources.)

In other news...
The Florida State Library petition is up to 4882 signatures.


Photo sent to the BBC ("From the San Francisco demonstration." Bob Morris, US.):

Think you're smart?
Take some of the online quizzes from ACES, the Copyeditors' website. I ran through the Mideast one and got an F. Sobering. (Would have done better if I'd taken my time, but then, how much time do you have on deadline?)
And: can you figure out how this works? Flash Mind reader. (via Al Tompkins).
(But since this site is #1 on Daypop, you've got to expect some one would have solved it...here and here...)

Mad as hell?
OK, folks, here's a chance to let Jeb know what you think about his state library plan: A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE STATE LIBRARY OF FLORIDA, THE DIVISION OF HISTORIC RESOURCES AND THE MUSEUM OF FLORIDA HISTORY, online petition made available by the folks at Florida Historical Society.
They've had so many requests from petitioners from outside the U.S., they've had to revise the petition form.....at this writing, 2434 signatures!

Some interesting things today:

American Press Institute has purchased Journalists' Toolbox, the web directory published by journalism prof Mike Reilley (note address hasn't changed).

The BBC site asking people to send in mobile phone photos of news events (noted by many bloggers) has posted some anti-war demo photos already.

And: a couple useful links posted by Journolist: How to read an email header guide to avoiding cons and helping identify spam artists, from Genie Tyburski of The Virtual Chase; and NewsNext a news planning site for British journalists.
Oh, yes, and (reminded just now by a NewsLib posting), Sree had a listing today of Iraq Alert from Reuters' Alertnet, resources for relief workers. Great news and links. Main Alertnet page has links to other potential disaster info.

In Sunday's paper:
The Miami Herald's editor, Tom Fiedler, answers columnist Jim DeFede's criticism of the paper. And, also in The Herald, the beginning of a huge series by Debbie Cenziper and Jason Grotto on Miami-Dade County's deteriorating schools. Serious CAR work here by Jason.

And another thing....
Tim Porter's relatively new First Draft journalism Weblog is gathering steam, and today is full of fascinating stuff. He takes a look today at the Shuttle stories about possible effects of electrical phenomena like Red Sprites, Elves, and Blue Jets. I spent quite a bit of time reading and linking to this stuff yesterday at work, but Tim's put it all together here. Lots more on this blog (including an 'overstaffed' newspaper and the Tony Ridder discussion), don't miss it.

Also, a fascinating look at newspaper relevance during the Civil War on Rewrite, the future of newspapers blog.

And (via Derek Willis), The Center for Public Integrity has released information about upcoming legislation which would increase government surveillance and information restrictions.

The weekly update: War, tragedy, and spelling:
Yesterday The Herald had a story announcing that since sponsorship of the annual Spelling Bee had been dropped, there'd be no Bee this year. What a reaction! This story raised more ire than any I remember in quite awhile. Today, The Herald reports new sponsors have been found.
It's gratifying to know that people care so much about spelling. Shows there's still a future for readers and writers, if not for newspapers. (Let's hope that goes for researchers too.)

Oh, yes, and also in The Herald today: while we weren't looking, we've been invaded.

There's more in the news than I want to read about possible war with Iraq this week, but some useful sources:

War with Iraq: Costs, Consequences and Alternatives from American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Iraq: Map sources Congressional Research report.

Report for Congress: Potential military operations in Iraq Congressional Research report dated 1/13/03.

Colin Powell's remarks to Security Council

The body bag story by Sydney Freedberg in St. Pete Times. And then, of course, The Navy needs morticians.

Interview with Saddam Hussein by former British cabinet member Tony Benn.

Although I've collected shuttle links all week, I won't be posting here yet. Leave that to the linksmeisters at Poynter and IRE and Journalists' Toolbox, for now. But, as an example of how we manage to commercialize everything:

Columbia tiles, newspapers, etc. for sale on E-Bay

And more useful links....

Reference

Dictionary of Units of Measurement

Physics and Astronomy Reference from Physlink.com.

Yesterland Disney history.

Disability Resources from Allabilities.com.

Sports Illustrated Covers going back 50 years...

Centropa: Jewish history in Central and Eastern Europe.

Bug Bytes: want to know what different insects sound like?

Spain, The United States, and The American Frontier: Historias Paralelas from Library of Congress and National Library of Spain.
Governments/Politics

Federal Lobby Directory new easier-to-use search for lobbyists from PoliticalMoneyLine.

New TRAC report on Federal judges and sentencing patterns.

Buying of the President, 2004 financial disclosure of possible candidates, from Center for Public Integrity.

U.S. Budget, 2004.

2002 Census of Governments
Tools

OZ Guide Internet directory for Australian Journalists. (New address).
Journalism

Nora Paul on Shuttle coverage in Cyberjournalist.net (related to her Digital Storytelling project).

Another gallery of shuttle coverage (see also the one at Poynter) from Cyberjournalist.

What Liberal Media? First chapter of this new book by Eric Alterman is online. Amazon entry.
Business:

Air Travel Consumer Report, 2002 from Aviation Consumer Protection Division of DoT.
Florida:

Dade County Reform Coalition (election reform).
News:

The Water Barons huge international report from Center for Public Integrity's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Public Records

Miami-Dade Criminal and Civil Infractions
People, Statistics: no links this week.

Some Interesting stories/Weblogs:

More on Weblogs for rookies: History of Weblogs by Dave Winer.
Fun/Entertaining:

Country Joe is collecting new lyrics to "Feel-like-I'm-fixin-to-die rag". (Joe's main page.

Home Despot Shop. Destroy. Rule. "We sell, you conquer".

Mirror Project photos in mirrors.

Librarians and newspapers?
Steven Cohen, of Library Stuff, has this to say about newspapers today:
Newspapers? Bah!!
Every morning, my wife and I browse through the newspaper. I immediately turn to the sports section, while she reads the comics. If there is enough time, then I might actually read a few articles in the main section, but that only happen once a week (at most). Ironically, I recently read an article about the "younger generation" not relying on newspapers for news; rather, they are reading news online.
They might as well have splashed the words "Duh" as the headline. Of course they are going on the Web for news. Its easier, its more current, and its hip. Some teenagers wouldn't be caught dead reading the New York Times in print format (the sunday edition probably woudn't fit in their backpack anyway). Who can blame them. Duh!
(Note: was this the Newsday article discussed in this Tim Porter/First draft entry?)

Why no posts?
Been doing nothing but shuttle research all week. But, in case you missed it, Dave posted this week on why he lives in South Florida. It's why I live here too: one day, one page of The Herald, with 4 or 5 incredibly weird stories.....
Tomorrow will post a few links. Unless I go into the office again....

Shuttle and blogging, again:
Still have second thoughts on the value of blogs to news coverage? Take a look at Shuttle Lost. It's a Weblog posting links to interesting shuttle stories on other Weblogs. Talk about convergence.....(via Cyberjournalist).

Can't miss this:
Jim DeFede, who used to criticize Miami Herald management as a Miami New Times writer, now talks about Knight-Ridder cost-cutting and its effect on the paper from the inside: What happened to The Herald?. Unusual, to say the least.

More on Shuttle and Blogging
Shuttle Disaster Coverage Mixed, but Strong Overall by Staci D. Kramer in Online Journalism Review.
Moon Missions: Dave Winer discusses how we cover death.
And: How blogging (almost) changed journalism, by Chris Mooney in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Back to the Shuttle:
More great links at Houston Chronicle; NASA's Columbia site; from Gary Price; CyberJournalist and Poynter (on coverage).

The weekly update: thoughts on new tools, and useful links:
Friday, I sent a message to the NewsLib group discussing opportunities for news librarians/researchers to use or create Weblogs. So far there's little interest or awareness of this area. At least, however, researchers -- and journalists -- should be reading journalism blogs, for more insight into the value in blogging (there are some library/research and other blogs listed here too).
And here's a related topic that we should be paying attention to: RSS/personal news syndication. Read other bloggers in new media,librarianship, and journalism, and you'll see this is a subject that matters.
RSS (Rich Site Summary/Real Simple Syndication) is a wonderful way for people like me to gather the news I want to read from whatever sources I need to keep up with. It's something that every news agency and newspaper should be offering. (In many cases news readers can only get the headlines from a syndicator like NewsisFree. Getting the full text directly into your news reader is much more useful.) It's something bloggers can offer, too, depending on the tools they use. More info on RSS is here: Weblog Tools.
I commented on RSS, Friday, with a link to some interesting discussion going on on Sheila Lennon's site. Here are a couple more RSS links that came up this week:

News that comes to you Online Journalism Review's JD Lasica on RSS news syndication/news readers.

The Next Frontier by Rusty Coats, from American Press Institute.

KFSource a law librarian's weblog; includes a special section on RSS.

And more useful links....

Reference

Irish Resources in the Humanites from UC Dublin.

Terrorism Preparedness Compendium from CDC, articles from Morbidity and Mortality Report on Anthrax, Smallpox, and other terrorism resources.

National Guard and Reserves called up as of Jan. 22.

Al's Iraq Resources war, military and Iraq links from Poynter's Al Tompkins.

UN Iraq weapons inspectors report

Natural History Notebooks short profiles (with line drawings) of plants and animals.

Federal Clip Art purchase clip art of logos, badges, aircraft, a lot more, in republish quality (PC or Mac).

Beliefnet links on Iraq and war news from a religious/moral viewpoint.
Governments/Politics

Political State Report this Weblog summarizes and links to political news by state. (From The Daily Kos).

CapitolHearings.org listen to Congressional hearings live; from C-Span.
Tools

Boardreader searches message boards.
Journalism

Elements of Digital Storytelling report from study by Nora Paul and Christina Fiebich at UMN new media center.

The Reporter's Privilege guide from Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Rewrite a Weblog on the future of newspapers, from editors connected to Medill school.
Business:

Statistics of U.S. Business, 2000 from Census.
Florida:

Florida Center for Environmental Studies at FAU. Has a Links database where you can search over 600 environmental links. (Or you can browse alphabetically).

MiamiStories.com Yup. Just stories. You can even Click on this map to find stories about a particular part of town. This site's been around for awhile. Nice design. Nice links page too.

Craigslist Miami new, a Miami version of the apparently wildly popular online bulletin-board sites which started in S.F., spread to NY, and now here. People post events, jobs, things for sale (or wanted). Check it out. (NY Times story on Craigslists here.)

Florida pl8s: a collection of old Florida license plates (and other states/countries).
People:

Abdication Papers previously secret documents on Edward VII and Wallis Simpson, from HM Public Record Office.
News:

Boston Globe project on world hunger a yearlong series of stories.

A couple interesting new features on the NY Times website (registration required): Standoff with Iraq brings together stories, maps, graphics, and the Iraq Navigator links guide compiled for NYT newsroom.
And: Al Hirschfeld and his work an online tribute and slide show.

From a NewsKnife press release via email: Newly launched Google News Watch at www.newsknife.com monitors Google News regularly, comparing it with 27 major US news web sites and 12 UK news sites. The idea is to see how well Google’s robot picks the top news stories compared with leading US and UK sites.
Public Records

New York State UCC records search.

California Business Portal search corporations, limited partnerships.

Statistics: no links this week.


Some Interesting stories/Weblogs:

Rewrite a Weblog on the future of newspapers, from editors connected to Medill school.

Behind the Homefront a new Weblog from Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press; "A daily chronicle of news in homeland security and military operations affecting newsgathering, access to information and the public's right to know."

If you've bookmarked Dave Barry's Weblog at the davebarry.blogspot.com address, be aware that the blog will be moving to the Davebarry.com address sometime soon. You can reach it from there now.

Digital Edge awards from NAA, awarding innovative Website news and ads.

Political State Report this Weblog summarizes and links to political news by state. (From The Daily Kos).
Fun/Entertaining:

"George Bush" writes a Nigeria letter

Researchers, journalists and bloggers helping each other:
As is happening more and more lately, we can rely on our online colleagues to help us get through big news events. Today was no exception: early in the day, Gary Price posted some invaluable links to the NewsLib listserv, and other researchers followed suit.
Then IRE messaged us that they'd put a list of good links out: Shuttle news and research links from IRE.
This afternoon, Poynter created a couple of great resources: Shuttle Disaster links (Al Tompkins), and How to use the Net for better coverage (Steve Outing).
Dave Winer's been soliciting links on Columbia on his Scripting News site, including some from Webloggers who saw the fall, or have other useful information. Just now, Mike Reilly of Journalists Toolbox announced he is compiling links too. I'm sure there are more I should mention, but most of my browsing was focused on what I was working on today.
We are all indebted to these great online journalists, and I think the reaction to this disaster will reinforce the value of Weblogging to journalism (and vice versa?).

BTW, The Herald put out an Extra edition this afternoon (PDF here) which came out about 5 p.m. Herald coverage here.

"Look, Daddy, It's an angel". In Florida Today.

News gets in the way
Was half way through getting ready to update, but now am on my way to work. Space Shuttle has exploded. See you tomorrow.