Friday, September 29, 2006

Small Business Profile for North Carolina

North Carolina had an estimated total of 734,000 small businesses in 2005 according to a report by the U.S. Small Business Administration. See how we compare with other states.

The phone number for the North Carolina District Office in Charlotte is 704-344-6563.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

GOORIP

Beth Comptom - N&R Interactive - pointed me to this image ripper, powered by Google. It is called Goorip. So easy to use, and you can restrict your results to a certain number. You won't be using this at home if you have dial-up. Even with a T-1, you'll be waiting if you ask for 200 photos.

Advertising Revenue Down????

Yahoo! shares are down over 12% today after issuing a third quarter advertising sales warning The whole market is down, but is that because Yahoo is down or because of the coup attempt in Thailand? Hey, it's the stock market, no reason needed for it to plunge, especially if you just turned long.

North Carolina trains getting safer?

A nod to Docuticker - for pointing out a press release from DOT that has a state-by-state list comparing the train accident data from the first six-months of 2006 to the first six-months of 2005. North Carolina had 2 fewer accidents in 2006 compared to the same period for 2005. There is a net reduction of 262 accidents for all states combined.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

TRAC and FOIA

Click here for a compilation page of TRAC’s FOIA activities. The latest is a ruling by Paul L. Friedman, U.S. District Court judge, which significantly expands the range of data that the DOJ is required to provide TRAC.


About TRAC's FOIA Activities in Federal Court
TRAC's core purpose is to make information about the federal government's staffing, expenditures and enforcement efforts more accessible to the public. An essential step in this process is TRAC's systematic and informed use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Net Democracy Guide

The Center for Democracy and Technology, with funding from the Carnegie Corp. has developed a guide to help citizens understand campaign finance rules.

The Center for Democracy and Technology works to promote democratic values and constitutional liberties in the digital age. With expertise in law, technology, and policy, CDT seeks practical solutions to enhance free expression and privacy in global communications technologies. CDT is dedicated to building consensus among all parties interested in the future of the Internet and other new communications media.

Fall Colors and Fishing

On September 20, VisitNC.com will begin featuring weekly fall fishing and fall color reports. .

Friday, September 08, 2006

Hewlet-Packard obtains journalists phone records

From the Washington Post:

HP Investigators Got Reporters' Phone Records
By
Ellen NakashimaWashington Post Staff Writer - Friday, September 8, 2006; Page D01
Hewlett-Packard Co. said yesterday that private investigators it hired to find out who leaked confidential corporate information to the media had accessed private phone records of nine journalists who covered the company, without obtaining their permission
.

More from the Wall-Street Journal

NCAA Financial Reports Database

Belinda Harris, our sister (Roanoke Times) Librarian has pointed out this public database created by The Indianapolis Star. The database tracks the revenues and expenses of sports departments of NCAA schools. You can sort your search by category and conference, and can compare two schools.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Getting started with NC Live

The first thing you have to do to get started using the resources at NC Live is to get your NC Live password. Your must have a North Carolina public library card to obtain the password. If you already have your library card you can call your local library, or visit their web site to get your password. The phone number for the Greensboro Public Library is 373-2471.

Click here for the Greensboro Public Library's Web page. Next click on Premium Information Resouces; enter your library card number and hit "Go". Your NC Live password will be returned.

Now you are set to use the resources at NC Live. NewsBank, whose interface you all know and love (and just one of many vendors) has 15 North Carolina newspapers.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

GOOGLE NEWS ARCHIVE SEARCH

Today Google launched an archive search feature on Google News. Mike Grossman has been working with the folks at Google to get our archive content included in this new search feature.

Here is how Google describes the search:

* As the name suggests, it contains content that is primarily historical in nature.
* The archive search feature on Google News includes both paid content as well as content that is freely available on the web. By including both, we believe that more people will use this feature and discover your content.
* We have developed some new functionality to suggest key dates in which a particular term or story has a significant number of results, and we have added new time-based navigational tools to help users find the articles that are most relevant to their searches.


Using the Advanced Search you can restrict your search to a certain source.

Is Spam Free Speech?

VA. APPEALS COURT
Anti-Spam Conviction Is Upheld
N.C. Man Flooded AOL Customers With Unsolicited E-Mail
By Candace RondeauxWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, September 6, 2006

Briefs filed in support of the defendant invoke "free speech":
"...John Whitehead, president of the conservative Rutherford Institute, who along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia filed a brief in support of Jaynes's appeal, agreed, saying yesterday's ruling would have a "chilling effect" on free speech."

Friday, September 01, 2006

Premature Death Knell

"The death knell of newspapers sounds premature" is an insightful piece by Jack Fuller, a former editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune.

"....Nobody gets all his news from media other than newspapers, simply because newspapers originate most of the information that finds its way into all media."

I don't think everyone knows this to be true.

Read the entire commentary.