Weekend update: Other things found this week:
Best wishes to all my readers (I know there are a few of you, at least) for a happy and safe new year.
Possibly the best wish we all could have this year is this one of Joi Ito's, for the Global Voices Covenant to become our standard for free communication:

We believe in the power of direct connection. The bond between individuals from different worlds is personal, political and powerful. We believe conversation across boundaries is essential to a future that is free, fair, prosperous and sustainable - for all citizens of this planet.

There's also a Global Voices Blog.

More links....

News:

The Washington Post is making all the day's photos available on the Website. See link which opens up a gallery.

ACLU report on Guantanamo says Bush authorized torture.

AP's chronology of 2004 (first half)

Underwater Times: news from the oceans.
Statistics:

State Populations, 2004, latest stats from Census.

We the People: Hispanics in the U.S., comprehensive report from 2000 Census.

U.S. Arms Sales, 1996-2003, report from Congressional Research Service.

Out of Reach: report on low-income housing in the U.S.

PeriStats: on perinatal health from the March of Dimes. Includes stats in birth, health, birth defects, etc., by state.
Business:

NBA Team Valuations, 2004 from Forbes. Heat still not in top 10, but maybe after this year? Note links here to valuations in football, baseball, hockey.
Journalism:

What Bloggers can learn from Journalists, second part of Steve Outing series.

NewsU: Poynter is starting an online journalism training program in the spring.
Governments, Politics:

Iraqi Elections at a Glance from BBC.

Freedom in the World, 2004, annual report from FreedomHouse.
Some Interesting stories/Weblogs

Two new Florida blogs: Blog de León; Dred (via Florida Blog.)

Sunshine in Britain:
Fascinating post in Gary Price's Resourceshelf to a story in The Times about Britain's new freedom of information law, going into effect Jan. 1. Wow.

From schools to prisons, police authorities to government departments, railway bodies to local councils, any public body must be prepared to release information on its files.

Oh, but: Hundreds of thousands of government documents being shredded, according to The Independent.
(Via J-Walk Blog.)

Our history:
It's been awhile since I've linked to this, and since it seems like everyone in the blogsphere's picked up on it, and it's been recently updated and enlarged, it's time again: David Shedden's New Media Timeline, at Poynter. Covers 1969 (first Videotex, from BBC, New York Times Information Bank) to 2004.

Among those linking to Dave's timeline, here are a couple new media blogs I haven't linked before: Simon Waldman; MIke Manuel's Media Guerrilla.

More on blogging:
From Steve Outing at Poynter, first of a two-part series, What Mainstream Journalists Can Learn From Bloggers.
Interestingly, Outing makes the point I wanted to make in my Watergate anniversary article this summer:

Imagine, say, the coverage of Watergate being treated in part this way. Rather than Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward being the sole storytellers, blog-influenced journalism would have had them in part leading a conversation about the scandal -- and probably turning up new sources in the process. What if Woodward and Bernstein had accompanied their Watergate investigative pieces with a blog that facilitated public conversation and brought in tips from government insiders? I suspect that a Watergate investigation in the blog era would have come to a conclusion faster.

Tool Time:
Some discussion of some interesting new tools: Fred First, at Fragments from Floyd, has tried the AskJeeves Desktop Search and finds it much more useful than Google's. I hadn't downloaded the Google one yet, because of some reviews. I may try this one.
And The Virtual Chase reports on a new tool from Gigablast that lets you set up your own customized search page.
(Added later:) Here's another useful tool, pointed out by Sree Sreenivasan at Poynter: Copyscape, a plagiarism finder.

I've been posting some links for Christmas and some political/war stuff on the Herald blog.

Also via TVC Alert: Time Magazine archive, with articles back to 1923, free if you're a subscriber.

Weekend update: Other things found this week:
Another slow week; guess it's the holidays. Haven't found much to post to the Herald blog, either. I'll keep looking...


More links....

Reference:

Palm and Cycad Societies of Florida has a palm encyclopedia, a cycad encyclopedia, and a cartoon collection.

Babelplex is a search engine that lets you search in one language and retrieves results in that language and in corresponding terms in another language.

End-of-Year roundups via Gary Price: Most popular searches on AOL, 2004; Same from Lycos; Most popular blog posts, from Intelliseek.

Census Facts for the Holidays 2004.

Best Legal Websites: a guide from NY Lawyer.

100 useful Web sites from The Guardian.

Judicial Hellholes: report from American Tort Reform Assn, includes South Florida as one of the hellholes.
Statistics:

The Death Penalty in 2004: a year-end report
Governments, Politics:

Search the Federal Budget with the Vivisimo search engine.

Legal Gateway: get laws by state. Here's Florida. Find lawyers, check the law, check guidebooks to type of law, or check a long list of resources.
Some Interesting stories/Weblogs

Pensacola Beach Blog, a new Florida blog.

New Journalism:
Tim Porter has a comment on the recent announcement by Dan Gillmor that he's leaving the Mercury News to try a new 'citizen journalism' project. Porter says it's "yet another indication of how newspapers cannot retain their most adventurous, risk-taking people".

And, Media Drop has a comprehensive list of newspapers with RSS Webfeeds.

Suffering Minds:
Joe Mozingo, in the Miami Herald, spends time with the mentally ill homeless in Miami and finds there's no alternative for them. Great detail in this story, and wonderful photos by Nuri Vallbona.

Weekend update: Other things found this week:
It's been a slow week. Haven't found much to post, and had less time to browse this week since my main computer had a modem failure. (Still no DSL where I am yet.) After trying to make it work all week, bought a new modem yesterday and now am getting back to normal. Have lots of stuff to read before I get caught up, though. And Blogger slowdowns haven't been helping....


More links....

Reference:

Charity Navigator: good starting point for charity research.

Shades of Belonging: Pew Hispanic study on how hispanics in U.S. identify themselves.

Casualties of War: Notes from a Surgeon. In NEJM, report on military care for the wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan. Stats on numbers of wounded, types of injuries, and discussion of whether care is sufficient.
Statistics:

Statistical Abstract of the U.S. Latest edition, 2004-5.
Governments, Politics:

Shattering the Myth: An Initial Snapshot of Voter Disenfranchisement in the 2004 Elections: report from People for the American Way.

Plum Book 2004
Journalism:

Reporters in the Battlefield: RAND Corporation study on embedding.
Public Records:

Broward County Recording Index: address has changed.
Some Interesting stories/Weblogs

Florida's Juvenile Justice System: revolving door for fired workers; investigation by Palm Beach Post.

Ft. Myers News-Press investigation of the DeSoto County civic center that collapsed in Hurricane Charley, finds county skimped on safety.

Orlando Sentinel investigation finds Florida students spend less time in classrooms.

Wayne Madsden of OnlineJournal.com has been reporting shady stuff in the Florida election: Latest is this, Texas to Florida: White House-linked clandestine operation paid for "vote switching" software. Worth checking out? And what about this affadavit?

Weekend update: Other things found this week:
Jim DeFede's Trip with the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich just keeps getting weirder and weirder....

In another new Miami Herald blog, Idy Fernandez has started posting the results of a really smart project she started a few weeks back: Your Stories. Idy asked readers to send her story ideas and promised to report them. The stories have been running in The Herald, and this blog is her Reporters' Notebook about how it went.

More links....

Reference:

Cryptome Eyeball Series: this site collects maps of strategic locations (lots from Fallujah there now, but also has maps of DC, Iraq, Bush ranch, intelligence centers, lots lots more).

Report on World Trade Center victims health

Commemorative Observances: a Chronological List days/weeks/months authorized by Congress. (Oh, and a decade! We're in the bone and joint decade.)

Who Named It? a database of medical conditions, etc. which carry a person's name.

The Authentic History Center has artifacts from American history, by decade, including some things we'd probably rather forget. Featured now: The Catholic Guild's Treasure Chest kids' magazine did a 1961-series on 'Godless Communism'. The entire thing is onine, including a supporting letter from J.Edgar Hoover.
Statistics:

State of the World Links from World Bank, UN and other international organizations. This page links to all of them. Lots more economic and finance policy resource links on this page.
Governments, Politics:

ICRC Guantanamo Report: press release. (The whole report doesn't seem to be online yet.)

Hot Topics: Guantanamo from JURIST. Great links and news.
News:

U.S. Politics and World News from Nexis, quick links to best stories by topic.

BizJournals RSS: get the news from your favorite BizJournal (like South Florida Business Journal), or news from all over the country by topic, direct to your RSS reader.
Journalism:

Coalition of Journalists for Open Government, headed by Pete Weitzel (former Miami Herald ME).
Florida:

Miami-Dade E-Maps: the county has put up a new page of maps and data. There's also a new address for Broward's Maps and Stats page.
Tools:

Yahoo Shortcuts: easy links to how to search for maps, addresses, zip codes, gas prices, scores, exchange rates, lots lots more.

Reporters Toolbox for international reporters, from Reporters Without Borders' Damocles Network.
Some Interesting stories/Weblogs

Neeka's Backlog, a blog from a journalist in the Ukraine; she's writing about the election crisis. Good Ukraine links here too. And, Orange Ukraine, another blog.

Your PI News: blog by a California PI, with links to interesting public records information.
Fun/Entertaining:

CartoonHub: from Centre for the Study of Cartoons and Caricature, at University of Kent. Great collection of 20th-century British cartoons.

I want to work for this company, too:
Mark Glaser has a wonderful essay on Jay Rosen's Pressthink blog: The Media Company I Want to Work For-- Not Someday, But Now. Says Glaser:

"I am tired of waiting for media companies to change and figure out the way that the business is shifting right beneath their short-sighted eyes. When are they going to understand that their readers are more important than their stockholders? When are they going to understand their readers at all?"

And about this company's Web site: "There would be no registration or walls to content, archives, or old links."
YES!!

Also, Glaser cites several blogs from journalists who do get it, including one I've not seen before: John Robinson, editor of the News-Record in Greensboro. (This is a place that gets it. The Greensboro area seems to be teeming with bloggers, including Ed Cone and Lex Alexander (links on Robinson's blog). There are also four other blogs at the N-R, including Alexander's LexBlog.