The wonderful world of the Web.It's like wonderland there inside your computer, and here's how to get at some of its mysteries. Maybe the abbreviation abbreviation, in writing, arbitrary shortening of a word, usually by cutting off letters from the end, as in U.S. and Gen. (General). Contraction serves the same purpose but is understood strictly to be the shortening of a word by cutting out letters in the middle, WWW WWW or W3: see World Wide Web. (World Wide Web) The common host name for a Web server. The "www-dot" prefix on Web addresses is widely used to provide a recognizable way of identifying a Web site. really stands for Wealth of Worldwide Wisdom instead of World Wide Web. The Web is a treasure trove TREASURE TROVE. Found treasure. 2. This name is given to such money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion, which having been hidden or concealed in the earth or other private place, so long that its owner is unknown, has been discovered by accident. of useful and fascinating information, but it should always be used with this disclaimer: Anyone can say anything on the Web. It's the last electronic frontier, and site content ranges from the Internet's roots as a corridor for academic and military information to the world's largest gossip center. Where else could you find the White House, Pentagon, CIA CIA: see Central Intelligence Agency. (1) (Confidentiality Integrity Authentication) The three important concerns with regards to information security. Encryption is used to provide confidentiality (privacy, secrecy). and Washington Post home pages at your fingertips, then click in to the latest conspiracy theories about who killed JFK? You can find reams of electronic pages on UFOs and the occult. But that's balanced with such erudite offerings as the Cornell Law School The Cornell Law School was formally opened in 1887, but was moved to its present-day location at Myron Taylor Hall in 1937. The law school building, an ornate, Gothic structure, was the result of a donation by Myron Charles Taylor, a former CEO of US Steel, and a member of the Cornell pages of constitutions, statutes and codes for the federal government and states at http://www.law.cornell.edu/statutes.html. So, hang on to your seats, because we're about to take an electronic ride to just a minuscule number of the multitude of fascinating sites offered by the World Wide Web - from silly to profound, useful to entertaining. USEFUL Perhaps the most useful sites are those of search engines, those trusty computer slaves that find what we're looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. . Most Web users are familiar with Yahoo, Alta Vista, Infoseek and others. But there are some multi-engine search vehicles out in cyberland that are inordinately useful. One of the most powerful is Dogpile, which hits 25 different search engines, including Yahoo, Lycos, Infoseek and 22 others simultaneously, as well as conducting usenet, FTP FTP in full file transfer protocol Internet protocol that allows a computer to send files to or receive files from another computer. Like many Internet resources, FTP works by means of a client-server architecture; the user runs client software to connect to and news wire searches. The service is free and user friendly at www.dogpile.com. Along the same lines, Ask Jeeves (www.askjeeves.com) is a better search vehicle for anyone not sure how to phrase or narrow a search. The site can translate "plain English" and steps a user through the search process. The easiest Web site finder that searches other Web finders, according to one NCSL NCSL National Conference of State Legislatures NCSL National College for School Leadership NCSL National Conference of Standards Laboratories NCSL National Council of State Legislators NCSL National Computer Systems Laboratory (NIST) staffer, is found at www.metacrawler.com/. A third option? HumanSearch at www.humansearch.com with "real live humans" to answer your questions. The disadvantage is that it is a service staffed by volunteers and requires two business days to give you an answer. An advantage is that humans are the best at "fuzzy logic fuzzy logic, a multivalued (as opposed to binary) logic developed to deal with imprecise or vague data. Classical logic holds that everything can be expressed in binary terms: 0 or 1, black or white, yes or no; in terms of Boolean algebra, everything is in one set or ," that intuitive leap that can provide the answers a linear programmed machine cannot. DRY, BUT VALUABLE In the day-to-day world of policymaking pol·i·cy·mak·ing or pol·i·cy-mak·ing n. High-level development of policy, especially official government policy. adj. Of, relating to, or involving the making of high-level policy: , information from other states and regions can prove invaluable. One of the quicker ways to have such information at your fingertips is through www.piperinfo.com/state/states.html. The Piper resources guide to government-sponsored Internet sites features links to all 50 states, tribal governments, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands Northern Mariana Islands (märēä`nä), commonwealth associated with the United States (2005 est. pop. 80,400), c.185 sq mi (479 sq km), comprising 16 islands (6 inhabited) of the Marianas chain (all except Guam), in the W Pacific , Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Multistate sites include the Appalachian Regional Commission The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is a United States federal-state partnership that works with the people of Appalachia to create opportunities for self-sustaining economic development and improved quality of life. , the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Multistate Tax Commission, among others. The Census Bureau and the Internet Law Library links are available along with other federal sites; and the national organizations list can take you directly to the pages of the National Association of Counties, the State Services Organization, the American Planning Association The American Planning Association (APA) is a professional organization representing the field of city and regional planning in the United States. The APA was formed in 1978 when two separate professional planning organizations, the American Institute of Planners and the American and also includes state transportation officials, city and county managers, state art agencies, regional councils and a multitude of others. And of course, most valuable of all are the legislative sites you can reach through NCSL's Web site at www.ncsl.org/public/sitesleg.htm. U.S. State & Local Gateway provides a one-stop source for links to state, local and federal agencies at www.statelocal.gov/. Need a fast take on a law or laws? Try www.fastsearch.com/law. It has about everything you might need - Supreme Court decisions since 1937 to links to top law libraries to specialty searches on specific law topics. But if you really want to have fun ... go for the 'Lectric Law Library at www.lectlaw.com/ref.html. Not only can you find a category on "Sex & the Law - Statutes, Articles, News, Humor ..." but the links are scattered with pithy pith·y adj. pith·i·er, pith·i·est 1. Precisely meaningful; forceful and brief: a pithy comment. 2. Consisting of or resembling pith. quotes from such notables as Genghis Khan ("Man's greatest joy is to slay slay tr.v. slew , slain , slay·ing, slays 1. To kill violently. 2. past tense and past participle often slayed Slang his enemy, plunder TO PLUNDER. The capture of personal property on land by a public enemy, with a view of making it his own. The property so captured is called plunder. See Booty; Prize. his riches, ride his steeds, see the tears of his loved ones and ravish his women;" this under General Litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. Matters); Thomas Jefferson ("It is the trade of lawyers to question everything, yield nothing, and to talk by the hour;" Real Property & Landlord/Tenant Issues); and Tacitus ("The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws;" General Business Law). In between are concise pages with some of the most valuable links to be found (and a lot of fun on the way to finding them). Then there are the old standards - not as much fun, but absolutely reliable: * Thomas, the federal government's site for bills, bill status and the Congressional Record A daily publication of the federal government that details the legislative proceedings of Congress. The Congressional Record began in 1873 and, in 1947, a feature called The Daily Digest was added to briefly highlight the daily legislative activities of each House, at thomas.loc.gov * State and federal fiscal and budget information and agencies, FinanceNet, www.financenet.gov * All Politics, www.allpolitics.com for CNN CNN or Cable News Network Subsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world. and Time * Politics Now at www.politicsnow.com (ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. , National Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Morning daily newspaper. Established in 1881, it was purchased and incorporated in 1884 by Harrison Gray Otis (1837–1917) under The Times-Mirror Co. (the hyphen was later dropped from the name). and Newsweek) * Congress Today site from C-SPAN with up-to-the-minute reports from the floor, congress.new.dc.us/c-span/ * Anything you might want to know from the Federal Election Commission, www.fec.gov * Government Accounting Office home page, www.gao.gov/ * Bureau of Labor Statistics Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) A research agency of the U.S. Department of Labor; it compiles statistics on hours of work, average hourly earnings, employment and unemployment, consumer prices and many other variables. , stats.bls.gov/ * The biggest collection of city ordinances and municipal codes to be found anywhere, compiled by the Seattle Public Library The Seattle Public Library is the public library system serving Seattle, Washington, USA. It was officially established by the city in 1890, though there had been a library association active in Seattle since 1868. , www.spl.lib.wa.us/collec/lawcoll/municode.html * A good starting point for financial issues, like credit, loans, ATM fees, savings, interest rates and financial links, www.bankrate.com * A plethora of financial news, including stock quotes, quotes.yahoo.com/?u * The Federal Reserve, www.bog.frb.fed.us/releases And on and on and on ... If the government has it, it's on a Web site. For specifics, go to any search vehicle and type in what you want. Many public policy organizations and think tanks also have home pages, some providing the full text of reports or briefing papers and information about bills or laws on specific issues. They cover the political spectrum from the ACLU ACLU: see American Civil Liberties Union. site at www.aclu.org to the Electronic Policy Network epn.org; Rand Corp, www.rand.org; Heritage Foundation, www.heritage.org; the Family Research Council, www.frc.org; to nonpartisan research on public policy from a variety of viewpoints, www.policy.com. For specialized information, a user can turn to such sites as www.gwu.edu/~mtg/related/statehealth.html from George Washington University George Washington University, at Washington, D.C.; coeducational; chartered 1821 as Columbian College (one of the first nonsectarian colleges), opened 1822, became a university in 1873, renamed 1904. that lists every state department of public health or www.netcom.com/~rcauchi/mdg/states.html for the latest info on state Medicaid services and sites. There's a veritable feast for the true policy wonk - among the entrees, Political Site of the Day, at www.penncen.com/psotd/library.html. On the lighter side, try out www.cais.com/aschnedr/muse.htm, the Daily Muse, for an irreverent running commentary on politics and things political. IT'S THE INFORMATION AGE In the Age of Information, newspapers and the electronic media have jumped on the bandwagon, despite the fact they may be facing their nemesis in the computer. The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Web site is still free, but The Wall Street Journal charges a subscription price. A media search will turn up thousands of publications, television and radio stations online (yes, you can get music over the Internet, too) and will probably include your hometown paper. Two of the more interesting sites include: Web Wombat Online Newspapers, a terrific Australian link to newspapers worldwide - Afghanistan to Zimbabwe - www.webwombat.com.au/intercom/newsprs/index.htm and Internet Press, newspapers, radio, TV, magazines and Webcams throughout the world with lots of extra info, www.club.innet.be/~year0230/link4.htm. You also can take a look at www.usatoday.com/(USA Today); or find any on-line newspaper in the United States at www.mediainfo.com/emedia/us.htm. For constantly updated news stories and video clips, click on www.cnn.com/for CNN. Or listen to National Public Radio's archived news stories or entire programs, like "Morning Edition," at www.npr.org/. A WORLD OF WORDS Politics is a world woven of words whether eloquently arguing the merits of a bill or drafting legislation, its currency is to be found in the myriad arrangements of 26 letters of the English alphabet. The Web opens the doors to a wealth of words and works. To wit: * Project Bartleby Archive, www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/Everything from Bartlett's Quotations (9th edition) to Thomas Paine on Common Sense, EH. Fowler on The King's English (second edition), Carl Sandburg and W.E.B DuBois. All works that can be found online. * The Internet Public Library Internet Public Library - (IPL) A project at the University of Michigan School of Information and Library Studies to provide an on-line, 24 hour public library, chaired by an assemblage of librarians and information industry professionals. features entire books online, www.ipl.org/reading. The offerings can be browsed by author, title or Dewey subject. The site also includes searchable serial publications and newspapers. (Plus a special cyber shelf for the works of Shakespeare, and links to other on-line collections.) For the true wordsmith word·smith n. 1. A fluent and prolific writer, especially one who writes professionally. 2. An expert on words. Noun 1. , try: * Merriam-Webster Online, 160,000 entries, a thesaurus, language info, words from the lighter side, www.m-w.com/. * The First Hypertext Edition of the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, www.bibliomania bib·li·o·ma·ni·a n. An exaggerated preoccupation with the acquisition and ownership of books. bib .com/Reference/PhraseandFable/index.html. Want to know how the alligator got its name? Or who or what Zig is? Then there's the true derivation of "Nor all that glisters gold" and the Latin translation, as well as the definition of zounds zounds interj. Used to express anger, surprise, or indignation. [Shortening and alteration of God's wounds!. ! * Or how about: recent quotes from books, magazines, radio and television; advice from many sources (Never eat anything at one sitting that you can't lift - Miss Piggy); proverbial wisdom (Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm - Malayan proverb); wit (The person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused - Shirley Maclaine); annoying proverbs, aphorisms and more? Try Quotations at www.geocities.com/~spanoudi/quote.html. * Then there's The Word Detective for those "puzzled by posh, confounded by cattycorner, flummoxed by flabbergast flab·ber·gast tr.v. flab·ber·gast·ed, flab·ber·gast·ing, flab·ber·gasts To cause to be overcome with astonishment; astound. See Synonyms at surprise. [Origin unknown. ." Try www.word-detective.com/index.html. * And find out where all those rumors started and the true skinny on such things as alligators in the New York sewers and the guy in the Batman suit at www.urbanlegends.com. For general information, try sunsite.unc.edu and go to the "collection index." There you will find entries on computer help and information, science and health, fun and games "Fun and Games" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on 30 March, 1964, during the first season. Opening narration , politics and society, and on-line publications. Hands down (or typing fingers extended), one of the best overall Web research sites can be found at www.itools.com/researchit, Research-It! Your one-stop reference desk. Here you can search for words in English, computing, rhyming and pronunciation dictionaries; use the thesaurus; translate words from more than 22 languages (including Croatian, Czech and Latin) to English and vice versa VICE VERSA. On the contrary; on opposite sides. ; search for people, religions, quotations, U.S. streets, world maps, Canadian and U.S. telephone area codes; find the CIA Factbook; take a look at stock markets; use the currency converter; and find answers to shipping, mailing and zip code queries. FROM, THE WEIRD TO THE WONDERFUL Mark Twain is on the Web, as is Voltaire; so are the political writings of George Orwell. You can find Poe and James Joyce and Lewis Carroll and the writings of Sun Tzu. If a book or report is in the public domain, chances are someone has taken the time to put it on the Web. And for solutions to everyday dilemmas, it's just about unbeatable. Take travel. Using Fodor's Personal Trip Planner, www.fodors.com/ptp-begin.cgi, you can tailor lodging, food and sights to your inclination and schedule by creating your own miniguide. For those planning to attend NCSL's annual meeting in Las Vegas, the best way to check out the town is through www.lvol.com. Need an address? Try the National Address Finder at www.usps.gov. If you don't remember the entire address, put what you know down at this Web site and chances are you'll find the postally correct address. For listings of people, businesses and e-mail, turn to the Online Yellow Pages, 207.51.123.250/. And speaking of things stately ... what state has an official boat (and what is it)? How many have official state dances? What's the most popular? What are the official tartans and how many have those? For answers, click to www.panix.com/~wlinden/statesym.html. The answers may astound a·stound tr.v. a·stound·ed, a·stound·ing, a·stounds To astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise. [From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen, , amuse and sometimes mystify you. And for a few suggestions for the wonderfully weird, entertaining or just plain time-wasters (call it adding to a knowledge base), try: www.pubcrawler.com www.lightlink.com/grudge/ www.cinema.pgh.pa.us/movie/reviews www.imdb.com/search.html www.dujour.com www.nmnh.si.edu/vert/birds/birds.html www.geocities.com www.ragu.com godzilla.eecs.berkeley.edu/recipes/ hotshotdigital.com/WellAlwaysRemember.html golf.com And the list goes on into cyber infinity. Pages for all tastes generally can be found in "lists of Top 10 Web sites" sponsored by the folks who offer you search engines like Yahoo or Lycos. Interesting, amusing or informational pages also can be found under the appellation ap·pel·la·tion n. 1. A name, title, or designation. 2. A protected name under which a wine may be sold, indicating that the grapes used are of a specific kind from a specific district. 3. The act of naming. of Cool or Hot sites. Or just log on and go ... the search can yield some amazing informational treasures, a few laughs and some thought-provoking tidbits TidBITS is an award-winning electronic newsletter and web site dealing primarily with Apple Computer and Macintosh-related topics. Internet publication TidBITS has been published weekly since April 16, 1990, which makes it one of the longest running Internet publications. . Happy surfing. RELATED ARTICLE: LEGISLATURES COME UP WITH TOPNOTCH WEBSITES Lycos, one of the much-used search engines for the World Wide Web, has analyzed, listed and published online the top 5 percent of Web sites in various categories. In the category of "U.S. state and local government" five legislatures have reached the top rank - Florida, New Mexico, Minnesota, Texas and Washington. Florida's site, "Online Sunshine," has besides bill tracking, daily calendars and profiles of members, information on the state budget and the results of interim research projects. Lycos is impressed with its links to current laws and lobbyists. Says Lycos, "The unlikely keyword for New Mexico's legislative site is simplicity....this place has maybe the best icons we've seen at a government site, but constituents will be glad to see how easy it is to, find a bill, a senator or a New Mexico law." After each session, the site posts a list of bills that passed and committee reports on important proposals. "An innovative state government site." "Texas Legislature Online" gives an immense amount of material, going back to the 1993 session. You can search full-text bills, generate maps of legislative districts and look at House and Senate calendars. This site offers a lawmakers' glossary to help decipher what's really in a bill. It also includes committee meetings and membership. "A model legislative site if we ever saw one," says Lycos. The Minnesota Legislature site, packed with resources, offers expansive committee pages that link readers with proposals and existing laws. The site shows where legislators actually sit in each chamber. The Fiscal Analysis Department shows spreadsheets with financial data for major programs since 1995. It "keeps on adding good stuff..." Visitors to the Washington site get an overview of the state's legislative process, a complete collection of daily calendars listing committee meetings and reports on new proposals. Every bill is tracked to its final destination. There's a searchable index of the state's laws, and even a Kids' Page where a giant apple greets youngsters with topics like "How a Bill Becomes a Law." Lycos, a registered trademark of Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University, at Pittsburgh, Pa.; est. 1967 through the merger of the Carnegie Institute of Technology (founded 1900, opened 1905) and the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research (founded 1913). , judges Web sites on the basis of content, design and overall worth. Its top 5 percent government sites, including the legislative information noted above, can be reached through point. lycos.com/reviews/USStateandLocalGovernment_12151.html. - Pat Wunnicke Dianna Gordon is an assistant editor of State Legislatures and Web surfer (no, not loafer - it's all research-related, really) extrordinaire at NCSL. Entries compiled with much help from other NCSL surfers, errr, staffers. Of course, the best of all state, local and federal links can be found at www.ncsl.org. |
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