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Welcome to Issue #298 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!

Whew! I found myself on two coastlines within 24 hours of each other this week! On Thursday I was pleased to speak in Atlantic City at the ATLA-NJ Conference (thanks, Joe Grassi, for inviting me!) on collaboration tools and technologies. The next morning, I was in Galveston to talk to paralegals on Internet legal research! Time to catch up on my sleep!

Make your screen shots super
Want to make a screen shot of a website, but don't want to pay for programs like SnagIt? Then check out Super Screenshot -- all you have to do is enter the URL, and the site does the rest. You can specify the file type (JPEG or PNG), and the size of the file. Of course, you'll probably have to crop the image before using it in a presentation, but this is a great way to get a quick screen shot of a web page.

Blawgs of the Week
Here are a few of the great law-related blogs featured on Inter Alia this past week:

I'm making my way through a set of tips on computer security, and this week we're talking about safer surfing. Hopefully you're already practicing safe surfing -- if not, here are some tips to keep you bug-free while on the Web.

-- ActiveX is a technology that lets Internet Explorer automatically run software components on the Internet. But you can't know how trustworthy these ActiveX add-ons are going to be. So in IE, disable ActiveX by clicking on Internet Options, then the Security tab. Click the Internet globe button, and then Custom Level. Then you can set most of your ActiveX entries to "Prompt" or "Disable" -- I have mine set to prompt, so I can make decisions on whether to use them on a site-by-site basis.

-- Whenever you're on a site where you need to send personal information (registration info, payment information, etc.), you want to make sure the site's secure. A couple of ways to do this: 1) check for the lock icon in the address or status bar; and 2) look for "https://" at the beginning of the URL.

-- Check out Firefox -- how many of you still haven't tried Firefox? Although it occasionally has security issues, it has nowhere near the vulnerabilities of Internet Explorer.

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!

International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy
This long-named organization used to be affiliated with the United Nations, and its objectives are to contribute to international criminal justice policy development through analysis, research, and consultation. There are two areas of interest here for the researcher: first is the Publications page, where you can purchase some of the books, papers and reports authored by the organization. The Related Sites area will provide you with links to other sites of interest, as well as Web-based resources on various criminal issues such as trafficking, corruption, drug abuse, terrorism, and organized crime.

LSU Libraries Federal Agencies Directory
Here's another good reference for your Bookmarks. LSU maintains this directory of links to all federal agencies -- that's it. You can drill down by the type of agency (Executive, Judicial, Legislative, etc.). Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated since last July, so some of the links might be outdated -- be careful.

Maryland's Peoples Law Library
This is more a site for consumers looking for legal information. It's a self-help website maintained by the Maryland State Law Library, and developed by several different legal aid programs, public interest attorneys, and others. There are links to different self-help topics -- benefits, criminal, family law, mediation, employment, housing, youth law, and many others.

National Alliance on Mental Illness
NAMI bills itself as the largest grassroots organization for people with mental illness and their families. You'll find three major areas here -- the Inform Yourself area provides information on mental illness, treatment, research, and public policy. Find Support will point you to education and training, consumer support, veteran issues, child and teen support, and more. Take Action allows you to join the organization, donate, or otherwise contribute to the goals of NAMI.

NewspaperARCHIVE ($$)
Have I mentioned this site before? Oh well, I'll mention it again. The mission of this site is to be the world's leading provider of historical newspaper content, focusing on individual people and the events that impacted their lives. They boast tens of millions of newspaper pages from 1759 to the present. Best of all, every newspaper is searchable by keyword and date. Unfortunately, it will cost you -- $7.99/month, or a 10-day pass for $29.95.

I'm a big fan of sites that help you schedule meetings, and Tungle is a new, free site that makes it really easy to coordinate meetings with others.

This game is harder than it looks -- in Snowman Skiing, your goal is to navigate the snowman (who is on skis) to pick up the items that will complete his look. Don't hit the trees!

Well, that’s it for Issue #298 – 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.

Subscription Information: If you want to keep on receiving issues of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, send me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net, or visit Inter Alia and sign up there! If you no longer want to receive the newsletter, just click on the link at the bottom of this newsletter.

Archives: Miss an issue? You can read previous issues of the Internet Legal Research Weekly in the Archives.

Questions? New websites? Just want to talk? Send me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net.