INTERNET LEGAL
RESEARCH WEEKLY
August 10, 2003
Tom
Mighell
Welcome to Issue #121 of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, a newsletter that delivers relevant and timely legal research information, and other fun stuff, to your inbox every Sunday. If you like what you read, please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to do the same! To subscribe, all you have to do is visit Inter Alia and fill out the subscription form -- it's free!
And away we go…..
Your e-mail is NOT expiring
If you receive an e-mail titled "Your Account," be extra careful -- there's a new worm traveling the Internet that masquerades as a note from a system administrator. You're okay if you open the e-mail -- just don't open the attachment, or you'll be infected. Learn more about the mimail worm, and make sure you have downloaded the most recent patches from Microsoft.Blog communities
TheCorporateCounsel.net has a new feature -- Blog City -- with a listing of weblogs concentrating on corporate law and governance. Further down the road you'll find another community, Medical Weblogs, a weblog aggregator featuring -- you guessed it -- medical weblogs.Two New Google Features
This week, Google introduced not one but TWO great new features. First Google debuted a new search feature that allows you to also search for a term's synonyms. Just place a tilde (~) in front of the word, and Google's results will also display links containing synonyms of the word you're using. And Google News will now send you News Alerts for items you specify. Just plug in your search terms, specify the method of delivery (once a day or "as it happens"), enter your e-mail address, and sit back and wait for the alerts to roll in!Other new search engine features
Google's not the only active search engine out there; two other search engines are offering new services, too. First, Ask Jeeves is now featuring "Smart Search" Shortcuts, allowing you to search for zip codes, maps, news, and other basic information just by entering a few simple keywords. Alta Vista also has some new goings-on, including changes to the news service as well as the search results layout.La traduzione ha reso facile
Michael Fagan has launched a beta version of his Translation Wizard, which will translate text or entire web pages for you, in a multitude of languages.Saving your searches
Gwen Harris discusses tools that help you save searches for resubmission later, and how to get search engines to alert you when new pages are found.Primer on RSS
PC World features an article on that "growing web standard," RSS. A nice introduction to anyone who 1) is an info-junkie and 2) wants to learn more about simplifying their searches.Blawgs of the Week
Not a week goes by without another installment of new law-related weblogs. Here goes...Robert Unterberger, the founder of Legal Writing Success, has been very busy launching not one, not two, but three blawgs last week -- the New Jersey Personal Injury Lawyers Blog and Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyers Blog, for those interested in tort law, and the Law Student Writing Blog -- Whew! Missouri lawyer George Lenard publishes George's Employment Blog. Proper Binge is published by someone soon to be a "1L at one of this nation's top law schools." The Mommy Blawg will offer commentary on all manner of things, including pregnancy, childbirth, homebirth, child development, health, vaccinations, home schooling, classical education, access by the poor to legal services, personal and religious liberties, the latest Supreme Court decision, and more. FalconRed hasn't even been admitted to law school yet, but he's looking. And (like me) he loves The Amazing Race! Richard Carstone & Co. is about to become a first-year law student. Second-year law student Christopher presents Law, Politics, and Press, focusing "primarily on civil rights, civil liberties, and media law and issues." And Reality Checker explores the gap between political rhetoric and reality.Another tip for Windows XP users: have you tried TweakUI? It's an unsupported tool from Microsoft that gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface. With it you can: set your system to log you on automatically at start-up; specify how Windows groups programs; set Windows to let applications steal focus or not; and much more! Head over to the Microsoft PowerToys page and look for TweakUI.
Do you have a question about searching the Internet or your computer in general? Drop me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net – I’ll post your question (don’t worry, I won’t use your real name) and try to get an answer for you!
Legally Relevant – Sites on the Internet
NTSB Accident Database
This database contains information from 1962 and later about civil aviation accidents and selected incidents within the United States, its territories and possessions, and in international waters. You can use the database query to search by date, aircraft, operation, or NTSB status. Especially interesting is the page with monthly lists of accidents, which is updated daily. A dataset from each year since 1982 can be downloaded for you to keep, and there are listings of other products available for purchase or download.CDC Wonder
Wonder was developed by the Centers for Disease Control to promote information-driven decision making by placing timely, useful facts in the hands of public health practitioners and researchers, and to provide the general public with access to specific and detailed information from CDC. The general public has access to more than thirty numerical databases and document collections. Additional information is available for public health practitioners. The databases available include Assisted Reproductive Technology Reports, Combined Health Information Database, Fatal Accident Reporting, Population/Census State Projections, and many more.Council on Ocean Law
The COL intends this site to serve as a reference center, document library, and guide to information related to the development and application of ocean law, and in particular to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Many of the links are reported as "Coming Soon," but you'll find a lot of information on LOS (law of the sea) and related conventions, as well as federal policy regarding ocean law.eBizSearch
eBizSearch is a search engine from Penn State University focusing on e-business. It searches the Web and catalogs academic articles as well as commercially produced articles and reports that address various business and technology aspects of the topic. Just enter a keyword or author, and find related documents or places where the author or topic has been cited. If you know of a document that should be included in the database, it's a cinch to add it.Ethics Updates
This site is maintained by Lawrence Hinman, a professor of philosophy at the University of San Diego. It is designed primarily to be used by ethics instructors and their students, and is intended to provide updates on current literature, both popular and professional, that relates to ethics. There's a lot to see here. The main part of the page is divided into two areas: Ethical Theory and Applied Ethics. Ethical Theory contains links to such topics as moral theory, relativism, utilitarianism, Kant, and more. Applied Ethics discusses specific topics including abortion, the death penalty, poverty, sexual orientation, and others. There's an ethics forum and a glossary of terms commonly used in ethics. This is a terrific content-rich site!GetNetWise
GetNetWise is a joint project of a multitude of Internet industry corporations and public interest organizations. Its goal is to help users of the Internet, particularly families, protect themselves and their children against hackers, spammers, pornographers, and more. There are four main topics: 1) keeping children safe online; 2) stopping unwanted e-mail and spam; 3) protecting your computer from hackers and viruses; and 4) keeping your personal info private. Each area offers tips and tools to use in protecting yourself, as well as action to take if your privacy is compromised.How Appealing
Those of you who regularly visit the blogosphere already know about How Appealing. It's one of the most well-known law-related weblogs on the Internet, and probably the most popular single-issue blawg around. The site is maintained by appellate lawyer Howard Bashman, and contains daily postings of all things appellate, including reports of decisions from courts nationwide, links to federal and state judiciary news, and other news related to the law. One of his great features is "20 Questions for the Appellate Judge," where Howard interviews state and federal court judges. My only complaint? Howard, you really need to move away from Blogger, to Movable Type or another format!CoolLawyer ($$)
This site seeks to prove that it is possible to impart helpful legal information to consumers and businesses in a non-patronizing, educational manner with a responsive and straightforward approach. CoolLawyer was created by lawyer Judith Silver and provides some useful information. There are forms you can download for a fee (from $1 to $150), an area to learn about incorporating your business, and a library that contains articles, cases, and other information about Internet law.MobilePhoneNo.com
If you're looking for someone's mobile phone number, this probably isn't the place to find it. Like most mobile phone directories on the Internet, this one relies on individuals to register their own numbers -- maybe that's why I couldn't find mine. But it does contain quite a few cell phone numbers, mostly from people from the US and the UK. Give it a try.Net Snippets ($$)
If Internet research is your thing and you're looking for a tool to manage the information you find, Net Snippets may be the one. The software provides users with tools to clip, annotate, edit and manage information found on the Internet without leaving the comfort of their browser. There are also features allowing you to collaborate with others in your work or research group. It will save PDF as well as HTML, and it will even create a citation for the page you save. It's $79.95 for the single user.
Finally, some fun and useful sites for you this week:
Someone has created the Random Personal Picture Finder -- it enters random numbers into the Google Images database, and returns images matching those numbers. Fun for you Internet voyeurs out there.
And if you have always wanted to know exactly how e-mail works, but were afraid to ask, now you don't have to.
Well, that’s it for Issue #121 – I hope you liked it! If you did, pass this along to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to subscribe. Also, feel free to drop me an e-mail any time if you have questions, or if you have websites or other topics you want included in a future issue.
Tom Mighell
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