The Koran (Qur'an)

AskSam has posted a searchable version of the Koran.

"The central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur'an, in its original Arabic, to be the literal word of God that was revealed to Muhammad over a period of twenty-three years until his death." AskSam has placed three translations of the Koran in an askSam searchable format for download or searching online."

Other searchable tomes on AskSam:
The Bible (King James version)
Other ebooks include works of Shakespeare, Jane Austin, Charles Dickens, etc.

Looking for experts???

Oldies but goodies

Profnet

Enter as a journalist. You need to register but the service is free. Still promoting the ability to: target the type of expert you're looking for, target a specific state or region, and cloak your question. Touting newer features: have responses come to a Profnet in-box, turn off your query responses when, and subscribe to specific in-the-news categories.

Sources and Experts
This listing prefers "organizations that make it possible to search for experts by area of specialty, that provide contact information (phone and e-mail) and that show credentials."

Kitty Bennett, retired news researcher extraordinaire from St. Pete, created this resource which is still being maintained by SLA's news division.

Appreciate the prod from today's NewsLib listserv.

Government Search Engines

Have you noticed that you don't always find U.S. Government sites and articles with your usual Google search? That's because they're frequently part of the "hidden" or "invisible" web. You must use a search engine that is specifically designed to seek them out.

LLRX.com provides this most helpful guide "The Government Domain: A Cornucopia of Government Search Engines"

Featured search engines include:
FirstGov - The U.S. Government's official portal
Google Government Search - yes it is Google, but one of their "designer products"
GovMine - For local, state and federal sites but only for .gov and .mil file types.

Thanks to LLRX.com - legal research blog

Wind and Rain Resources

IRE has put together a comprehensive Storms & Flooding resource page.

Included are data, stories and tipsheets to help cover Oregon's most frequently occurring weather events.

NOAA and the National Weather Service offers this archive of local weather extremes and records, holiday weather, COOP data, and area climate summaries. One of the files offers daily precipitation measurements for Portland from 1941 through 2005. Others include climate studies, years-in-review, and rainfall maps.

In times of change...

I don't have many sayings taped to my computer... but boy has this one helped over the years.

"The best way to cope with changes in your life," the Rev. George Hall said last Sunday, "is to take the lead in creating them."

Associated Press War Casualties database

The URL for the Associated Press War Casualties database has changed. The new URL is: http://nrcdata.ap.org/casualties/.

This AP database contains casualty information for members of all coalition forces. Names of service members who have died are entered only after their official release by the military. Since names are not always released immediately, the number of names in the database may not correspond to overall numbers of deaths reported by military authorities. Information on captured or missing service members has been obtained from the military or directly from the members' families. The database does not include injured service members because comprehensive information on them is not available.

If you have any problems or questions please contact the Associated Press News Research Center at NIRCResearch@ap.

Newsroom login and password for the new AP site remain the same.

For Oregon and Southwest Washington casualties, see our in-house database. Go to the Newsroom Homepage, click on Research Web, then click on Iraq War - War Dead - Oregon or Washington; or access directly: http://newsdata.oregonian.com/research/Data/OregonCasualtyFile.htm

OpenSecrets.org

MONEY-IN-POLITICS RESOURCES FOR ELECTION NIGHT

Consult OpenSecrets.org and experts from the Center for Responsive Politics

"WASHINGTON (Nov. 7, 2006) - OpenSecrets.org, the award-winning Web site of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, contains numerous resources for reporters needing campaign finance figures on Election Night and following November 7th. The Center's acting executive director, Sheila Krumholz, and communications director, Massie Ritsch, are also available to analyze Tuesday's results and the role of money in what the Center predicts will be the most expensive midterm election ever.

Based on pre-election campaign finance reports, CRP has revised its prediction of the total cost of the '06 congressional election from $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion.

MEDIA CONTACT: Massie Ritsch, Communications Director
Center for Responsive Politics
Office: (202) 857-0044 x111
Cell: (202) 365-8225
editor@capitaleye.org

Here are direct links to some of OpenSecrets.org's most useful features on Election Night:

CONGRESSIONAL RACE PROFILES - Summary figures, industry breakdowns and geographic breakdowns for candidates in every House and Senate race in the country. Look up by candidate or state. (http://www.opensecrets.org/races/index.asp)

2006 ELECTION OVERVIEW - Fascinating stats including total fundraising by federal candidates; incumbent advantage in fundraising; top overall donors by organization and industry; most expensive races; total contributions by state, as well as top metro areas and ZIP codes; and more. (http://www.opensecrets.org/overview/stats.asp?cycle=2006)

BIG PICTURE: HISTORIC DATA - Statistics to put this election in context, based on elections going back to 1990 in some cases. (http://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/index.asp)

DECISION '06 SERIES - From CRP's online newsletter, CapitalEye.org, profiles of 25 of the most competitive races around the country, focusing on the money and interests financing them. OpenSecrets.org also contains summaries of even more hot races. (http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=229)

2006 PRE-ELECTION ANALYSIS - The Center's observations of trends in the 2006 election. Stats on PAC giving, major industries, individual donors and 527 committees. Based on the pre-general campaign finance reports filed Oct. 26, CRP is revising its prediction of the overall cost of the midterm election from $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion. (http://www.opensecrets.org/pressreleases/2006/PreElection.10.25.asp)

POLITICAL PARTIES - Analysis of the fundraising and spending by the national party committees, which have been unusually active in this election. (http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/index.asp)

527 GROUPS - Total fundraising and spending by these issue advocacy groups, top individual donors to 527s and fundraising breakdowns of the top 527s. (http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtes.asp)


ABOUT THE CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS
The Center for Responsive Politics is the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Founded in 1983, the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center aims to create a more educated voter, an involved citizenry and a more responsive government. CRP's award-winning Web site, OpenSecrets.org, is the most comprehensive resource for campaign contributions and analysis available anywhere. Support for CRP comes from a combination of foundation grants and individual contributions. The Center accepts no contributions from businesses or labor unions."

From the CRP Press listserv

Portland Historical Timeline: 1843 through 2001

"The Timeline is a chronicle of events and actions in the history of city government and the Portland community. It includes milestones of City programs; events that affected the growth and development of the City; people and organizations which have served citizens; and events such as wars, fires, and floods that have affected life in Portland."

The timeline also "includes links to history pages on the web sites of individual bureaus and programs where more detailed information can be found concerning specific functions."

The Portland Timeline is one of the offerings featured on PortlandOnline.

Ms. Dewey

New Search Engine

Cute or obnoxious... you decide

It appears that Ms. Dewey - a librarian knows everything! Purported to be a Microsoft product, it's fun to ask her questions, in any event.

Hits display could be way better, and you don't want to leave this search engine open.

P.S. You need to plug in your headphones to your soundcard.