EOL : Encyclopedia of Life

http://www.eol.org/

The aim of this web site is to list every one of the 1.8 milliion known species of plants and animals on the earth and to provide a web page on each of the species.

Disability.gov

http://www.disability.gov/

The U. S. Dept. of Labor offers this web site to provide easy access to disability-related information and resources.  Information by state is also available.

2009 Sunscreen Guide

www.ewg.org/whichsunscreensarebest/2009report

It’s very hard to know if a particular sunscreen is good or not.  Luckily, the Environmental Working Group created this guide to sunscreens.  It also covers lip balms, moisturizers and make-up products with SPF.  You can look up a particular product or browse the lists of the best products.

Open Library

http://openlibrary.org/

A project of the Internet Archive, the Open Library aims to create a web page for every book in existence.  Currently a very young beta site, the infrastructure has been created and approximately 20 million records are currently searchable.  Full records contain typical metadata fields as well as an image of the book.

State of Tennessee Public Acts, 2009 Public Chapter No. 339 (Guns in Bars Law)

http://state.tn.us/sos/acts/106/pub/pc0339.pdf

This is the Act passed by the Tennessee General Assembly that amends the Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-17-1305(c), to allow anyone authorized to carry a firearm under Tennessee Code Annotated 39-17-1351 to carry a firearm, who is not consuming beer, wine or alcoholic beverages himself or herself,  into an establishment that serves alcohol.   Also included is the text of Governor Bredesen’s veto message, as well as the letter, from the Chief Clerk of the House to the Tennessee Secretary of State, indicating the override of the Governor’s veto of this measure by both the Tennessee House and Senate.

The Scout Report’s Best of 2008-2009

Some of these sites have been covered on here before, but here are The Scout Report’s Best of 2008-2009:

Smithsonian’s History Explorer – from the National Museum of American History

Academic Earth – Video lectures from the world’s top scholars

Chronicling America – Historic American newspapers

National Science Foundation: Discoveries – Reports on recent discoveries sponsored by the NSF

The Mannahatta Project – Recreating New York before it was a city…

Great Issues Forum – Meaningful conversations about important topics

Philadelphia Architects & Buildings – Check out over 250,000 projects from the past, present and future

Reclaiming the Everglades – South Florida’s Natural History

LabCAST – The MIT Media Lab Video Podcast

Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice – From the Museum of Fine Arts

The Literary Gothic

http://www.litgothic.com/index_fl.html

“The Literary Gothic is a Web guide to all things concerned with literary Gothicism, which includes ghost stories, “classic” Gothic novels and Gothic fiction (1764-1820), and related pre- and post-Gothic and supernaturalist literature written prior to the mid-C20. Its target audience is all students and fans of the Gothic, regardless of age, academic level, profession, or just about anything else.”–From the Web site.   Links to many etexts of gothic works are included.

Classic TV Ads

http://www.roadode.com/classicindex.shtml

The Michael Jackson Pepsi ad, the Farrah Fawcett Ultrabrite ad, so many of the old cigarette commercials, the Mr. Clean ads, and many more of the old classic television ads may viewed on this site via RealPlayer or MediaPlayerIE or MediaPlayerFirefox.

Bing : Searching For Health Information

http://www.bing.com/community/blogs/search/archive/2009/07/07/searching-for-health-information.aspx

This is a guide to searching for health information using the Bing search engine, which includes information on what Bing calls the “trusted resources” Bing gives searchers access to.

National Environmental Health Tracking Program

http://ephtracking.cdc.gov/showHome.action

The CDC created this environmental health website to track how the environment affects a person’s health and how people might affect the health of the environment.    Different types of data are used to learn how the environment affects people’s health, including exposure data, environmental hazard data, and health effect data.

ReligionLink.com : Religion Story Ideas and Sources

http://www.religionlink.com/

Though a site for journalists by journalists, this site has much information on current issues relating to churches and on many other religious topics that could be of interest and help to anyone.

BenefitsCheckUp — A Service of the National Council on Aging

“Many older people need help paying for prescription drugs, health care, utilities and other basic needs … [d]eveloped and maintained by The National Council on Aging (NCOA), BenefitsCheckUp is the nation’s most comprehensive Web-based service to screen for benefits programs for seniors with limited income and resources.”–From the Web Site.

Gas Prices In Your Area

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/gasprices/states/index.shtml

You can click on the map on this site to view gas price data for cities in a particular state.

Financial Advisors and Brokers — Check Them Out

http://www.sec.gov/investor/brokers.htm

The SEC offers this page which provides tips on checking out financial advisors and brokers as well as links to sites where information is available to help you evaluate brokers and financial advisors.

Afrigeneas : African American and African Ancestored Genealogy

http://www.afrigeneas.com/

This is a site devoted to African American genealogy, to researching African resources in the Americas in particular, and to genealogical research and resources in general.   It includes links to Census Records, a Surnames Database, a Slave Data Collection, a Marriage Records Database, photographs and much more.