Tuesday, May 31, 2005

My Fellow Americans

American Rhetoric, the site is a repository of over 5,000 video and 200 audio and full-text versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews and other recorded media events from throughout recorded american history.

Other places to read or hear oratory include HistoryChannel.com/speeches and Gifts of Speech, which features women.

Monday, May 30, 2005

O Captain! My Captain!

The Walt Whitman Archive is an electronic research and teaching tool that sets out to make Whitman’s vast work, for the first time, easily and conveniently accessible to scholars, students, and general readers. Whitman, America’s most influential poet and one of the four or five most innovative and significant writers in United States history, is the most challenging of all American authors in terms of the textual difficulties his work presents. The Archive sets out to incorporate as much material as possible, drawing on the resources of libraries and collections from around the United States and around the world.

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Legend In My Own Mind

Legends is Paula Kate Marmor's personal journey through the worlds of Robin Hood, King Arthur, D'Artagnan, and other swashbuckling characters of balladry, fiction, and film, from the shores of Avalon to the dungeons of Zenda. Legends provides a guided access to primary source material and up-to-date scholarship, personal essays and extended reviews, historical surveys and thoughtful commentary as well as romance, adventure, and panache.

Saturday, May 28, 2005

If Some One Asks You If Your A God, You Say... Yes!

Godchecker's Mythology Encyclopedia currently features over 2,000 deities. Browse the pantheons of the world, explore ancient myths, and discover Gods of everything from Fertility to Fluff with the fully searchable Holy Database Of All Known Gods.

Friday, May 27, 2005

Lexicool

Lexicool.com's online dictionary directory currently has links to over 4,000 bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and glossaries freely available on the Internet. Each resource found is ranked as objectively as possible according to its presentation, ease of use, general usefulness and size (number of entries, number of languages). The position of a dictionary or glossary in search results depends on this ranking.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Project is a global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers working to build a publicly accessible online archive of ALL documented human languages. The goal is to create the most broad and complete reference work on the languages of the world to date- a reference work of relevance for academic researchers and educators. Check out both the Document database with 2,302 total languages, 61,623 individual text pages and 2,254 Volunteer contributors; and the Word list database with 1,384 languages, 3,090 total lists and 404,451 distinct words.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Politics International

Political resources on the net. More than 24,319 listings of political sites available on the Internet sorted by country, with links to Parties, Organizations, Governments, Media and more from all around the world.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Bird Call

"Online version of John James Audubon's Birds of America ... from an 1840 'First Octavo Edition' of Audubon's complete seven volume text." Includes Audubon's images and original text descriptions. "Bird species can be found listed alphabetically, or categorized by family. Audubon's drawings of some species' anatomical features are also included in the 'figures' section." The online edition includes a list of species that have become extinct since Audubon's time and a list of state birds.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Common Cause

Common Cause is a nonpartisan nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest. Now with nearly 300,000 members and supporters and 38 state organizations, Common Cause remains committed to honest, open and accountable government, as well as encouraging citizen participation in democracy.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Not The Queens English

Language Varieties Web Site, this site is about varieties of language that differ from the standard variety that is normally used in the media and taught in the schools. These include pidgins, creoles, regional dialects, minority dialects and indigenized varieties. The most interesting part of the site is the descriptions of particular varieties spoken around the world.

Saturday, May 21, 2005

International Accents

The speech accent archive, this site examines the accented speech of speakers from many different language backgrounds reading the same sample paragraph. Currently, they have obtained 423 speech samples. Brought to you by Steven Weinberger an Associate Professor for the Program in Linguistics in the Department of English at George Mason University.

Friday, May 20, 2005

Legislature

Plogress.com was built to provide current information on what our representatives are doing in Congress! The update the site every morning, with all new legislation, and is broken down by state and then representative. The site is new so some features have not rolled out yet, but this is looking like the fastest and easiest way to keep up to date on all legislation.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Do It Yourself

DIY Network is your television source for the latest do-it-yourself projects, including Home Building; Home Improvement; Automotive & Boating; Crafts; Gardening; Living; and Woodworking. DIY's website, DIYnetwork.com, features step-by-step instructions for all that you see on-air, totaling more than 15,000 projects online.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Rules of Engagement

Reference Guide to the Geneva Conventions, includes history, guides, online and offline resources, an index to the conventions, the full text of the conventions, and text and information about other treaties.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Home On The Plain

The Encyclopedia of North American Indians, this 1996 encyclopedia presents a collection of articles on subjects relating to American Indians. Topics include tribes, individuals, treaties, cultural traditions, arts, and more. "Nearly half the tribal entries — from Creek to Hopi to Iroquois to Navajo to Zuni — were prepared by tribal members." Includes maps and is browsable by topic.

Monday, May 16, 2005

Insider Information

InsideWorld provides country background information for many countries and regions. Information covers topics like economy, government, demographics, geography and more. InsideWorld is a collection of country and region web sites providing local news and information to a worldwide audience. You have access to InsideWorld’s 24/7 headlines for the latest stories. Or sign up to receive a free daily e-mail with current affairs, business, economy, politics and more for the countries you select. InsideWorld publishes a growing number of Country Portals. Each portal providing site visitors a comprehensive overview of web sites currently on-line for the country of your choice. You can find all Portals at one convenient address.

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Rampant Lion

International Civic Arms, the largest website on civic heraldry. This site is devoted to civic heraldry, i.e. coats of arms of countries, states, provinces, towns, villages. This site does not have family coat of arms information.

Saturday, May 14, 2005

For The Record

The Search Systems Free Public Records Directory the largest directory of links to free public record databases on the Internet. Find business information, corporate filings, property records, unclaimed property, professional licenses, offenders, inmates, criminal and civil court filings, and much more. Click on the links below to browse the public record links by geographic location or use our "Public Record Locator" above to search for a type of public record in a specific area. With over 28,570 free searchable public record databases.

Friday, May 13, 2005

One Stop Law

The Legal Information Institute offers all opinions of the United States Supreme Court handed down since 1992, together with over 600 earlier decisions selected for their historic importance, over a decade of opinions of the New York Court of Appeals, and the full United States Code. They also publish important secondary sources: libraries in two important areas (legal ethics and social security) and a series of “topical” pages that serve as concise explanatory guides and Internet resource listings for roughly 100 areas of law.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Standard Deviation

STATS monitors the media to expose the abuse of science and statistics before people are misled and public policy is distorted. Since 1994, STATS has sought to hold U.S. journalists to the highest standards of reporting accuracy, while providing them with concrete assistance to help them better understand the complexities and limitations of scientific and statistical material. The sites focus is on the following policy areas: education and child rearing, drug use and abuse, public health and disease, polls and surveys, gender issues, crime and defense.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Primary Documents

The University of Michigan's Documents Center is a central reference and referral point for government information, whether local, state, federal, foreign or international. Its web pages are a reference and instructional tool for government, political science, statistical data, and news.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

News Vault

The Television News Archive collection at Vanderbilt University is the world's most extensive and complete archive of television news. The collection holds more than 30,000 individual network evening news broadcasts from the major U.S. national broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN, and more than 9,000 hours of special news-related programming including ABC's Nightline since 1989. These special reports and periodic news broadcasts cover presidential press conferences and political campaign coverage, and national and international events such as the Watergate hearings, the plight of American hostages in Iran, the Persian Gulf war, and the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001. Material in the archive can be identified for use through the TV-NewsSearch Database. In addition, through its detailed content related to news events, this resource also serves as a unique reference tool for studying historical and political events.

Monday, May 09, 2005

Busy Executive

CEOExpress.com is designed to be the executive's interface to the Internet. The site's peer editor recognizes that executives have precious little time to obtain all the information they require to conduct business. At the same time, much of the information that executives need is available on the Internet. CEOExpress takes all that information, and by employing expert human editors and "mind ergonomics," pares it down to the 20 percent that is most critical and useful. That information is delivered to the user's desktop in a clear, easy-to-use format. The site's ultimate goal is to be the best executive assistant imaginable, providing a tool that users would have created themselves if they had the time and knowledge of the Internet. CEOExpress filters and organizes the content executives need on the Internet while adding features to the site to make their lives even more streamlined and efficient. Email, stock quotes, headline news and customization are all conveniences users appreciate.

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Speak Out

Based in Washington, DC, SpeakOut.com is America's leading non-partisan Internet activism Web site and online opinion research company. Launched in February 2000, SpeakOut.com's primary mission is to enhance the democratic process by enabling citizens to have a direct impact on the decisions that affect their lives. Users enjoy a wide variety of news and information tailored to their interests and activism tools allowing aggregated messaging to a vast array of public officeholders, candidates, business and news executives.

Saturday, May 07, 2005

I'm Not Gunna Try It, You Try It

Iateapie.net provides reviews of 'diet foods'. This means foods that are light, reduced fat, fat free, sugar free, low carb and anything else being marketed towards people aiming to live a more healthy lifestyle. These reviews are done by real people not affiliated with food manufacturers. They also have useful articles on nutrition.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Geography Community

The Geography Network is a global community of government and commercial data providers who are committed to making geographic content easily accessible. Through the Geography Network, you can access many types of geographic content including dynamic maps, downloadable data, and more advanced Web services.

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Sea Earth Air Land

EarthTrends is an online source for timely, accurate, and relevant environmental and sustainable development information, developed by World Resources Institute (WRI). EarthTrends offers five ways to explore the site: a searchable database, pre-formatted data tables, maps, country profiles, and text and graphics "Features" articles. You can use these five tools to access information in 10 topic areas: coastal and marine ecosystems; forests and grasslands; water resources and freshwater systems; agriculture and food; climate and atmosphere; population, health, and human well-being; economics and business; energy; biodiversity and protected areas; and environmental governance.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Living in the City

City-Data.com provides a variety of valuable facts on different areas across the nation. Visitors can check out the typical statistics, including population, race and median age/income, but there are also figures on different colleges, typical climate and temperature for various months of the year and the strongest AM/FM radio stations. One of the directory's best features is a series of Top 100 lists, organizing cities by topics such as "Highest Located Cities" and "Shortest Commuting Times."

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

America's Children

America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2004. Represents the seventh annual monitoring report on the status of the Nation's most valuable resource, our children. The site also highlights International Comparisons, links to tables and databases comparing the well-being of children in the U.S. with those in other countries. You can Search for Related Resources, Federal and non-Federal sites with statistics on child well-being. The site also has a special feature, Nurturing Fatherhood Report, The report contains a summary of the proceedings from the March 1997 conference on improving data and research on fathering, fertility, and family formation. In addition, the report also contains the research papers written for the conference and the recommendations for data collection activities endorsed by the Forum. The report represents the collaborative work of federal staff, noted researchers, advocates and foundation partners. You can also get the previous years studies, America's Children: 2003, America's Children: 2002, America's Children: 2001, America's Children: 2000, America's Children: 1999, America's Children: 1998 and America's Children: 1997.

Monday, May 02, 2005

Go For the Gold

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Gold and Platinum Awards program was launched in 1958 in an effort to create a standard by which to measure sales of a sound recording. In the beginning, there was only a Gold album award for the sale of 500,000 copies. As the industry grew, other awards were developed. The Platinum award (1,000,000 sold) was created in 1976 and with the advent of the compact disc and the subsequent increase in sales, the Multi-Platinum award was created in 1984. On March 16, 1999, the RIAA launched the Diamond Awards, honoring sales of 10 million copies or more of an album or single.

Sunday, May 01, 2005

In Your Neighborhood

The FFIEC geocoding system. The FFIEC gathers data from the 2000 census to tell you about your neighborhood's median income, minority population, average house age, and occupancy level. The site isn't slick—it contains the kind of raw demographic information banks consult in determining home loans—but it is 100% U.S. Census–approved.