INTERNET LEGAL
RESEARCH WEEKLY
July 11, 2004
Tom
Mighell
Independence Day Issue
Welcome to Issue #158 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…..
In Good Company
A newcomer to the electronic discovery scene, EDDix, has posted a list of the top 50 law-related weblogs on the Internet. I was pleased to find that Inter Alia was included on the list. It's a good listing of important legal weblogs you should be watching. Give it a look.And another honor, on the same day
I was also excited to find that Inter Alia has been named the MVP Site for July over at Internet Tools for Lawyers. Jerry Lawson always chooses interesting and helpful sites each month, and I'm flattered to be included. Thanks, Jerry!New ways to Furl
Last January I discussed a new bookmark manager called Furl, which allows you to keep an online archive of web pages you want to save. Now Amy Gahran over at Contentious introduces her 10 Cool Things to Do With Furl. Check 'em out.Get help in Utah, 24/7
This is cool -- the state of Utah government website is offering 24/7 live chat for help with finding information on the site, or otherwise obtaining information on Utah. Nice!A world for Google-philes
In last month's Searcher magazine, Paul Piper discusses the sites that have sprung up in response to Google in Google Spawn: The Culture Surrounding Google. There are some nice links to other sites that use Google or otherwise make Google easier to use.MSN's Latest Attempt
For months (years, maybe), we have heard that Microsoft has been working on a search technology that will out-Google Google. So far, it hasn't really happened. Last week, however, MSN debuted a revamped MSN Search, which looks a little like Google. The back-end of the search engine is still provided by Yahoo!, so MSN still has a good way to go. SearchDay has a review of the updated search engine.Self-help for your clients
I have been very late in reporting this new site, so I suggest you take a look at it ASAP, to catch up with everybody else. Michael Lowe, a Dallas lawyer and friend of mine, has created RecordHelp.com, a site that provides information to individuals on expunging certain criminal records, without a lawyer's help. It's nice to be able to refer a client to a service like this -- they'll appreciate that it's not all about the fees with you...The trouble with IE
It seems that every time you turn around, Windows is asking you to update your system to correct a "critical flaw" in Internet Explorer. These problems make some wonder if IE might be emptying your bank account. Many experts are recommending a turn away from Internet Explorer, to products like Mozilla, Netscape, or Opera. I'm currently using FireFox, which is a great alternative. The only problem I'm having is that I have come to rely on a myriad of add-on programs that only work with Internet Explorer; dealing with those programs without Internet Explorer is kind of a pain.Blawgs of the Week
Another helping of law-related weblogs to start off your week: Adam Smith, Esq. features an inquiry into the economics of law firms, brought to you by Bruce MacEwen, a New York lawyer/businessman. Sanford Hausler, a New York attorney, presents Second Opinions, a blog about the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and its opinions. Law Professor Blogs is a network of weblogs designed to help law professors in their scholarship and teaching. The Embassy Law Blog presents current developments in embassy, consular, and immunity law. Very timely.Have you visited a website lately that you want to see again, but you can't remember where it is? Do a little digging into your history. In Internet Explorer, select View, then Explorer Bar, then History. Click on Search and enter text matching the page you want to find. IE will scan the text of pages and display matches for you.
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
State-Specific Exchanges
Part of the EPA website, this page is a directory of recycling programs throughout the United States. Just pick a state and find the name, address, phone number, and in some cases website of any exchange found in that state.Drugs@FDA
The FDA presents this catalog of FDA-approved drug products, including approved and tentatively approved prescription, over-the-counter, and discontinued drugs. You can search by drug name or active ingredient, or browse for any drug. Once you find a drug, you can review the drug's marketing status, as well as its approval history and related documents.Electric Power Industry Glossary
Want to know how a Greenfield Plant differs from Unit Energy Consumption? You'll want to check out this glossary, provided by EnergyCentral.com. Lots of Electric Power Industry words here for you to learn.EurekAlert!
EurekAlert! is an online press service created by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. which aims to provide a forum where research institutions, universities, government agencies, corporations and the like can distribute science-related news to reporters and news media. Such news is then stored in archives to be readily accessible to the viewing public. You can search by keyword, or browse the news index by subject, from Agriculture to Technology & Engineering. The news is all quite recent and timely. But what this site really needs is an RSS feed!FedNet ($$)
This site bills itself as the leading provider of Washington based, real-time and archival multimedia information. The primary service offered here is reCap, which allows you to search and replay congressional video within moments of the debate; in fact, the service claims to be the only congressional database searchable within 10 minutes of the spoken word. Pretty cool stuff, huh? I don't know how much this costs, though -- you'll have to call to find out.PRWeb
PRWeb has offered free online press release information services since 1997. You can search the press releases in several ways: by day, by country, by category, or by geographical area. Those who create an account may submit press releases to be posted here, and journalists can create their own custom news feed. Those of you with a newsreader can also subscribe to any of a large number of RSS feeds.
Finally, a few fun and useful sites for your pleasure this week:
For those of you who are tired of waiting on the phone for tech support, much less paying for it, check out HelpOnThe.Net, which offers free tech support for those in need.
If you're tired of always getting caught in speed traps, maybe you should become a member of the National Motorists Association, whose goal is the elimination of speedtraps. Here you'll find a listing of speed traps around the country.
Well, that’s it for Issue #158 – 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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