INTERNET LEGAL
RESEARCH WEEKLY
December 5, 2004
Tom
Mighell
Welcome to Issue #173 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…..
Bilingual Searching
Check out Babelplex, a new meta bilingual search engine. The engine takes your English query, and runs a dual Google query in one of 11 languages. The results are then displayed side by side on the screen. Nifty.Using EEVL for Good
The terrific EEVL (The Internet Guide to Engineering, Mathematics, and Computing) has added some new subject-focused databases: a computing database, a math database, an (you guessed it) engineering database, and a metasearch tool that searches all of them. Check out Gary Price's review at SearchDay for more.An extra consequence of RSS: Notice
Whenever I get the chance, I tell people that RSS feeds are the research tool of the future -- just set the feed, and the news will come to you when it's ready. But Steve Nipper raises a good point -- that if you use RSS to notify you of certain legal-type items (for example, patent searches), you may raise a notice issue.Stocking your Spyware-Fighting Arsenal
Ars Technica has a very useful review of various spyware removal tools on the market, with recommendations on which products to use.Blog #1
Merriam-Webster knows the power of blogs -- it announced yesterday that blog was the Number 1 word of the year for 2004. Now that the world has taken notice of blogs, maybe next year the number one word (or acronym) will be RSS.Battle of the Toolbars
ZDNet has a nifty review of seven of the browser search toolbars in Search and enjoy: 7 search toolbars reviewed. The Editor's pick is the Yahoo! Search Toolbar. It's a pretty great choice -- in addition to the features listed, the Yahoo offering recently began searching the two million entries in the WorldCat library database -- very cool.Lotsa links (but not all?)
Google's great link: syntax may not be all it's cracked up to be. It appears that Google does not return all backlinks in response to a link: command. So keep that in mind when you are running such a search.E-mail that protects you from fraud
If you're tired of trying to figure out which e-mails are legitimate and which are fishing scams, you might want to give the newest version of Eudora, which includes the new Scamwatch tool. It analyzes the links contained in e-mails that you receive, and warns you when the links don't match their hostnames. A terrific way to help protect users from clicking willy-nilly on any old link in an e-mail.Blawgs of the Week
There's a heapin' helping of law-related weblogs for you this week. First, Law.com has finally grasped the importance of blawgs, in a big way -- the Law.com Blog Network is monitoring a whole passel of blawgers, and commenting on them every workday. Tierney's WeblAG is a niche legal blog, which focuses on the world of state attorneys general. Bob Ambrogi, who already publishes the terrific LawSites blog, is now a two-fisted blogger. Check out Media Law, which features news relating to the First Amendment, access to public records, open meetings laws, journalist shield laws, libel and other such issues, with an emphasis on Massachusetts. eLegal Canton is the blogchild of David Canton, a Canadian business lawyer and trademark agent, who also likes to write about technology. Angelo Paparelli is a California immigration lawyer, and he's just starting up his new blog, Nation of Immigrators. Give it a look.
Let the Online Shopping Begin!
It's officially here -- the holiday online shopping season. It is estimated that online sales will increase 19 percent over last year, a huge jump. The best places to get started with your online shopping are -- you guessed it -- shopping search engines. As usual, Search Engine Watch has comprehensive coverage on the subject, devoting a full week to reviewing the state of online shopping. Begin your reading with Shopping Search Week 2004, and then continue on to Shopping Search Update 2004, Part 1, Shopping Search Update, Part 2, and Shopping Search Around the World.
The new Google feature of the week is the Froogle Wish List. Just go to Froogle, find an item you want for the holidays, and click Add to List. Then check the "In Wish List" box, and you'll have created a wish list you can share with friends and family. Great concept -- I just wish Google would make one tweak: when you add something to your list, it only adds the item from one vendor. It would be great if the Wish List could just add the item itself -- then when someone is shopping for you, they would have the ability to choose from the different vendors offering the product.
Finally, take a look at Yahoo's Holiday Gift Center, with lots of great ideas for everyone in your family.
This is Part 2 of a year-end series on maintaining your computer. This week we'll take a look at what you should do every week to keep your PC in tip-top condition:
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
Report Card for America's Infrastructure
The American Society of Civil Engineers grade the nation's roads, bridges, drinking water, and other public works every two years, and post the results here. You can view the grades (which are *not* good), the policy recommendations supported by the ASCE, infrastructure facts on a state-by-state basis, news, and other resources. Some scary grades here.USDA National Nutrient Data Library
The Nutrient Data Library develops food composition databases in order to acquire, evaluate, compile and disseminate composition data on foods available in the United States. There are a number of links here on food composition, but you'll want to spend your time searching the database. Just plug in keywords describing any food item (Nestle Cocoa Mix, for example), and you'll retrieve a complete list of the nutrients found in that product. Very useful.Smokefree Ordinance Lists
The topic of smokefree ordinances usually generates a passionate response, depending on whether you're talking to a smoker or non-smoker. Here you can PDF files of documents describing municipalities that have adopted smoke-free ordinances, using various statistical methods. What would be really useful here would be a set of links to the various ordinances themselves, so researchers could compare and contrast them.Library of Congress Business Reference Services
The Library of Congress has made available links to business and economics research institutions from around the world. From here you can visit the sites of those institutions, or view publications made available on various business and economics topics. You can also view the LOC catalog for more information on documents contained in its collection.The Legal Writer
Raymond Ward is a New Orleans lawyer with a great interest in legal writing. At this site he provides links and articles on improving your legal writing.
Last but not least, some fun and useful sites to start off your week:
Seinfeld remains one of my favorite television shows of all time. That's why I was pleased to see the Jerry Seinfeld Dictionary of Terms & Phrases, for those of you who want to learn more (or reminisce)about Fusilli Jerry, Shrinkage, or Moops.
Want to improve your table manners? Check out SoYouWanna's quick guide to dining etiquette.
Well, that’s it for Issue #173 – 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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