From the news release:

Urban Mapping, Inc., the leading provider of location-rich content for interactive applications, today announced availability of mass transit data for more than 50 transportation systems in the U.S. and Canada. This collection of subway, light rail and commuter rail data powers the Urban Mapping Urbanware: Mass Transit™ database designed to location-enable content, support transit routing and enhance a variety of applications across local search, mobile services, mapping/GIS, real estate and other verticals. More information on Urban Mapping’s Urbanware Mass Transit database, including a coverage map, can be found at http://tinyurl.com/5yr7r5.

Articles include:

+ PREMIS With a Fresh Coat of Paint: Highlights from the Revision of the PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata

+ A Year of Selective Web Archiving with the Web Curator Tool at the National Library of New Zealand

+ Considering the User Perspective: Research into Usage and Communication of Digital Information

+ Adding Value to the Library Catalog by Implementing a Recommendation System

From the AP article:

Researchers at Marquette University say they have developed a first-of-its kind computer program that might one day lend more scientific weight to bite-mark testimony.

Controversy has raged for the last decade over how reliable bite mark analysis is in court. Since 2000, at least seven people in five states convicted largely on bite-mark identification have been exonerated.

The effects of mercury on human health are a common concern. The new NLM Enviro-Health Links page, “Mercury and Human Health ,” includes links to sites about mercury reduction, occupational exposure, compact fluorescent light bulbs, mercury in health care, regulations and state legislation, and preformed TOXLINE and MEDLINE/PubMed searches.

Direct to the site: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/mercury.html

NLM also offers other Enviro-Health Links on topics such as:

+ Children’s Environmental Health
+ Indoor Air Pollution
+ Keeping the Artist Safe: Hazards of Arts and Crafts Materials
+ Outdoor Air Pollution
+ Lead
+ Arsenic

Source: National Library of Medicine

+++ Direct to Database

+++ From the news release:

Our database covers from 1999 to the present. In that time, more than 450 gifts in all were reported having been received by congressmen and their aides by foreign governments. These gifts include tangible ones, such as a ceremonial sword, or travel, such as a ride in a military helicopter. Only gifts above what the law has determined to be “minimal value” is considered reportable. The Senate defines “minimal value” as $100, while the House and executive branch adjust the value by inflation. In 2008, the value for the House and executive branch was $335.

Source: LegiStorm (via Basefsky’s IWS Documented News Service)

Microsoft’s Answer to Google Sky to Launch At End of May

Microsoft will launch Worldwide Telescope, a tool for exploring images of the night sky, by the end of May, free to anyone who wants to use it, Microsoft’s chairman said Friday.

Worldwide Telescope is software that allows people to gaze at the universe through the data collected by telescopes all around the world — and above it: there’s even data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

Source: CIO

UPDATE: Greg Sterling Reports on How the Service is Already Available if the Proper Software is Downloaded.

From the news release:

On Tuesday, May 6, 2008, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein submitted a report, entitled The Founders Online, to the Committees on Appropriations of the U.S. Congress. This report is the National Archives response to concerns raised by the Committees that the complete papers of America’s Founding Fathers are not available online. The Founders Online is a plan for providing online access, within a reasonable timeframe, to researchers, students and the general public. The report is available electronically at the National Archives website: http://www.archives.gov/nhprc/publications.

Source: NARA

+ LTU Technologies Powers International Trademark Database

+ Canada: The Sun launches online baby database (via Vancouver Sun)

+ OA meta-database (via Open Access News)

From the post:

The Web site will let residents compare inpatient procedure prices at more than 80 hospitals statewide. Meanwhile, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano issued an executive order to increase the use of electronic prescribing in an effort to boost patient safety.

Source: iHealth Beat

From iHealthBeat:

The Oregon Web site now provides the average hospital prices for more than 90 medical procedures and conditions at hospitals in the state, as well as cost and quality comparisons for eight common procedures, including heart failure and stroke.

Source: iHealthBeat

A couple of hundred IM acronyms defined.

Source: AOL

Download Google’s Help Files

Did you ever want to get a help file for Gmail, Google Docs or for Google Desktop so you can print it or save it on your computer? All Google services have help centers that include information about features, tutorials, troubleshooting guides, but you need to find the information in a complicated hierarchy of topics or use the search box.

Fortunately, there’s a way to save all the information related to a Google service: append ?fulldump=1 to the address of a Google help center. This doesn’t work for all Google services, but here’s a list of addresses that dump all the information from a help center (note that the pages are very large and are frequently updated)…

Source: Google Operating System (blog)

+ MuseGlobal Partnership Brings Universal Search to the GSA [Google Search Appliance] (via Adhere Solutions Blog)

+ Time Warner and Others Invest in Meebo

+ Yahoo! presentations at Web 2.0 Expo: slides and more

From the announcement:

Bizjournals’ newly launched Business Travel Center provides content-rich information that will arm the frequent business traveler with national news relative to the airline, lodging, tourism, and travel services industries. In addition, the business traveler can now book a flight, rent a car, schedule a hotel stay, and plan a cruise, all while staying afloat of the latest-breaking business travel news across the U.S.!

The Business Travel Center also offers the bizjournals user the ability to explore our Local City Guides; 42 of them to represent each of our 42 market sites for more specialized and detailed information on their particular market of interest. Check out our Local City Guides to read about each city’s top attractions, cocktails, hotels, and restaurants!

Source: BizJournals.com

From the web page:

The Master Drawings Collection (about 5,000 original drawings) offers works by artists of various nationalities. Although most of the images date from between 1830 and 1930, the oldest drawings were created before 1600 and the most recent in the 1950s. The collection represents diverse styles and media and includes finished artworks as well as sketches, preparatory drawings, and designs related to fine prints, paintings, and sculpture.

Source: Library of Congress