Weekend update: The weekly reference collection/research gleanings:

Lots of links this week, although some may already have been posted here or on the Herald blog. I like to gather them all together in categories weekly, anyway, though, in case anyone is collecting them that way.

One of the big themes this week was search engines and other search tools. Lots of mentions, especially on Gary Price's ResourceShelf, and other places. Here are some that came up:

• Feedster fast, efficient search of Weblogs and news feeds. Nice thing about it: you can sign up to use Feedster as a Web based news aggregator, giving you feeds from whatever blogs and news services with RSS you like, but can also create a feed of a Feedster search!
  
• Ay-up, another new Web search, has a caching feature, rare in search engines except for Google.
  
• Dogpile: haven't used this Web metasearch engine in awhile, but this week it got best results for me on a difficult search that I tried in many places. Check it out (it's now part of InfoSpace.)
  
• Gigablast: this reportedly fast search engine is now adding to its database, at the rate of several million documents a day.
  
• Yahoo! News Search in Beta.
  
• Topix: New news aggregator, find news by location or topic.
  
• Findory News another Web news site, but this one will customize itself for you depending on what you click on.
  
• Metrobot: search for businesses in a city. Doesn't include any Florida cities, though.....

More useful links....

Reference :

Thesaurus of refugee terms from UNHCR.

Motorcycle laws by state from AMA.

Per-Serving.org information on nutritional value of foods. Includes links to nutrient calculators.

History of Bread from the UK Bakers Federation.

10 most endangered national parks from Natl Parks Conservation Assn, lists Everglades (again) and Biscayne (new this year) among the 10.

Yale, Slavery and Abolition the university discusses its heritage, including colleges named for slaveholders....
Florida:

Search Herald obituaries: this page from Herald.com will search 365 days of obits in the Miami Herald.
Tools:

PC World: Web Stars. Annual review of best Web sites.
Journalism:

The Campaign Desk from Columbia Journalism Review, critiques campaign coverage, including blogs.
Business:

Metrobot: search for businesses in a city. Doesn't include any Florida cities, though.....

Selling Crime: report on high crime gun stores, from Americans for Gun Safety Foundation.
Statistics:

Journey to work trends, 1960-2000 in the U.S. and major metro areas, new study by DoT.

Census: Minority Links quick links to facts on ethnic populations.
Governments, Politics:

Election resources, part 3 from Gary Price.

New York Times: Campaign 2004. Quick access to recent stories, profiles.

Factiva's media visibility index tracks mentions of presidential candidates in news stories.

Ethnic Majority covers "African, Hispanic (Latino), and Asian Americans in Politics".

The Campaign Desk from Columbia Journalism Review, critiques campaign coverage, including blogs.

Bloggerstorm in Iowa: Dean campaign is pulling together coverage of the caucuses from Weblogs.

CNN's Campus Vibe: reporting political/campaign 2004 on campus. Includes a correspondent in Gainesville (UF).
News:

Yahoo! News Search in Beta.

Topix: New news aggregator, find news by location or topic.

Findory News another Web news site, but this one will customize itself for you depending on what you click on.
Public Records:

Some Federal courts will be offering transcripts online: press release for pilot project. No Florida courts included, yet.
People: no links this week.

Some Interesting stories/Weblogs:

Herbert Gans interview on Jay Rosen's Pressthink blog.

NY Observer on NYT Baghdad buro (Filkins and Sachs).

The Barrelin' Bushes Kevin Phillips takeout (book excerpt) on history of Bush family operations in the Mideast. Reprinted on Common Dreams website, no registration.

A nation wiped out: island nation of Niue, by typhoon, home of .nu Internet domain.

Bush's Mars plan: old news? See this 1988 Time cover.

Juan Cole prof at U.Michigan writes on Iraq, arab culture, news.

The Cheating Culture: Web site promoting a book by this name by David Callahan, but the site has a blog with news on cheating, and lots of background info.

Lost Among Us: great online presentation of San Bernardino Sun on mentally ill.

New Washington Post Blog: White House Briefing, by Dan Froomkin (brother of UM law prof Michael, whose blog had the link.

Cyberpolitics Blog from Cyberjournalist.

Doug Clifton's Weblog Plain Dealer editor.

Odd Blog: this is on the Oregonian Web site; this link is on a very strange mugshot.

New Yorkish: a Gawker-type blog.

Aboard the QM2: Seattle Times travel editor visits the ship in Southampton and files reports via blog.

QM2 package in Newsday, with history, slide shows, etc. and story by Orlando Sentinel cruise columnist.

The New York Times "Rage-o-Meter": measuring the hatred of the Times day-by-day.