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Nuclear Waste Route Maps

According to the Environmental Working Group, one seventh of all Americans live less than a mile from one of the proposed routes planned for the shipping of radioactive nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Their Web site, at http://www.mapscience.org/, provides a Nuclear Waste Transport Atlas which shows the details.

Note this site works best with a 5.0 or higher browser. Enter an address and zip code in the appropriate boxes, or fill in the state and city if you don't have a zip code. Click on Get Map.

The map is of the zip code and surroundings with shaded areas to indicate the closeness of the route. The map also marks the locations of schools and hospitals as well as shows whether the route is by rail or highway. (It also
treats you to several potentially unsettling statistics, like the number of fatal tractor-trailer wrecks and train wrecks in the state, as well as the amount of nuclear waste already in the state.)

Above the map is a box detailing how far your query address is from the route and how far it is from the nearest nuclear waste source. Beneath the map are frequently asked questions linking to answers. Interesting, if not exactly
comforting.

Study Ranks Internet-Accessible Cities

In 1997, Ohio State University professor, Morton O'Kelly headed a study measuring the Internet accessibility of cities in the US. Washington, DC, Chicago, Dallas, New York, Atlanta, San Jose and Los Angeles were then recognized as the "Big 7," having the most total linkages to Internet backbones.

The study was repeated in 2000 and the results are to be revealed in the July issue of Environment and Planning B. The only difference in the Big 7 is that San Francisco has replaced San Jose. However, the 2000 study does indicate a western shift in accessibility as additional tiers of Internet elite cites appear
on the scale. Cities on the new second tier include Sacramento moving from 65th in 1997 to 25th in 2000, Salt Lake City going from 37th to 15th and Portland, Oregon coming up to 19th from 40th. Check out the press release from Newswise at
http://www.newswise.com/articles/2002/7/TOPCITY.OSU.html.

Gulf War Medical Research Library

The Gulf War Medical Research Library, located at
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/medsearch/, is a joint effort of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, along with Health and Human Services. The objective is to provide a source for information about health issues related to service in the Gulf War.

Search options include searching the Research Projects, Major Focus Areas or All. Narrow your search with a keyword as I did when searching "anthrax" under Major Focus Areas. My search netted 6 matches out of the nearly 2400 total documents, listing the Focus Area and providing a link before giving a brief
document description. Likewise, searching for anthrax under Research Projects provided three results in the same format.

An advanced search feature is available for searching research as well as text Research can be searched by keyword, title, author or year. There are additional drop-down menus under research searching to select from Project
Sponsor Agency, Research Focus or Symptom Focus. Symptom Focus areas range from Accidents & Injuries to Vaccines & Protective Medications and includes Genetic Studies and Military Working Dogs.

Regional Councils Around the World

The National Association Of Regional Councils has a page of Regional Councils of Governments and Metropolitan Planning Organizations all over the world at http://www.narc.org/links/cogslist.html.

The list is broken down by states in the US, and then other countries from Australia to to Sweden. Only a link is available; no description is included.

Also available on this site is a main link page  (http://www.narc.org/links/linksmain.html) that leads to related associations and other hot links, as well as a back issue archive of the NARC newsletter.

Google and Yahoo Extend Until September

Buried in an article about Yahoo's results at CNET
(http://news.com.com/2100-1023-942888.html) is this line: "Yahoo also said it extended a deal to carry Google's search listings as a backup for its own search directory until September."

Though it may not be, it seems to me that this is another indication that Google and Yahoo are not going to extend their agreement past September. And there are a couple of other bits of Yahoo news that are bothering me as well. Add this to Yahoo's new ad agreements and the fact that the Viacom rumor has been floating around again (mentioned on Yahoo Finance yesterday) and I suddenly find myself glued to news about Yahoo.

Colorado State Answers Agricultural Questions

Colorado State University Cooperative Extension has created an Internet question and answer service called AnswerLink. It's available at http://www.answerlink.info.

At this site you can check a database of questions or submit your own. Let's start with the FAQ database.

The database lets you search by keyword and narrow your search to a variety of topics (from 4- H & Youth to Wildlife. Subtopics are available as well; of course they vary for each topic.) A search for the keyword "deer" found nine results ranging from how to keep deer out of a garden to how to cut up a deer carcass. Sometimes questions are answered directly, while sometimes the answer points to an online factsheet ("Cutting Up a Big Game Carcass.")

If you can't find what you're looking for, you can ask a question. Once you register (registering requires only a name and e-mail address) you can ask a question. The answer will be returned to you via e-mail.

If you've got an agricultural question that's been nagging at you, this is worth a look.