End-of-term goodies

So much for the daily updates while I took my Reference class this summer, eh?

But have no fear!  I have some new general reference links to share, fresh from doing my final written assignment:

1.  How Stuff Works.  Actually I think this one came from a coworker, and then I noticed the site got a mention on FARK the same day;  nevertheless it's an excellent clearinghouse for that most vexing question of toddlerhood, "Why?"  Don't think I'm not already boning up.  My fifteen-month-old daughter is just on the threshhold of speech, and as a librarian-in-training I feel I'll have no choice but to answer every inquiry of hers to the best of my professional abilities!

2.  Robert Young Pelton's The World's Most Dangerous Places.   Granted, the web component of this most excellent print survival guide is a little out-of-date, but the majority of its information is still extremely useful and absolutely fascinating.   For example, take the tips on travelling to Chechnya -

Chechnya is currently a republic within Russia... but don't take any bets on how long. Depending on what's going on you need either a Russian visa or a Chechen bodyguard. (About ten is a safe number) Right now its only volunteers, stringers and live fast, die young, types (and DP of course) who enter rebel-held Chechnya. Reporters are allowed to work in the country only on trips organized by the Chechen Interior Ministry. If you hang with the Russians you won't get close to much. If you are in the south with the rebels you'll be too close. Take your pick.

And for those of you who decide that you can't live without such an essential reference at your desk, alongside your dogeared copy of the the New York Public Library Desk Reference, here's the Amazon link to the 5th and most recent (2003) edition of DP (I'd buy it for my reference collection in a heartbeat). 

3.  Oddens' Bookmarks.  You may already be aware of this site, as it's chock full of links to maps, atlases, and gazeteers around the Internet, but if you haven't been there recently I urge you to visit the site again, as its just gone through a major redesign which makes it an order of magnitude less annoying (it's chief drawback before was its sheer clutter, which the webmasters have taken care of with a generous helping of simplicity and elegance).

4.  There was supposed to be a number four, but I forgot it.  Damn - it was a good one, too!