http://www.pluralism.org/index.php

Like many academic projects, the Pluralism Project began as a small gathering of academicians interested in exploring a rapidly changing phenomenon of social life, in this case, the world of religion. Since its inception in 1991, the Pluralism Project (located at Harvard University) has engaged in a broad research agenda that includes providing educational resources to college educators and disseminating reports on the nature of religion in American cities. On their site, visitors can learn about their activities, and perhaps most interestingly, examine some of the online resources they have created. These resources include calendars of religious events, online slide shows (such as the one that profiles a Hare Krishna community in West Virginia) and bibliographies of key works dealing with various faiths, including Buddhism, Jainism, and Islam. Finally, visitors can also sign up to receive their monthly email newsletter. [KMG]

http://science.nasa.gov/realtime/

While NASA has offered a number of fine sites about their research for the general public over the years, this particular site may be one of their best. With a minimum of fuss, visitors can use several of the online tracking applications offered here to locate hundreds of satellites and other such large objects in space. A good way to start a visit to this site is by taking a look at the J-Track 2.5 section, as it offers a quick way to find out the current location of the Space Station and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Additionally, visitors can also locate weather satellites using this application. The Live 3D Java Tracking Display here allows visitors to monitor close to 700 satellites that are in motion around the earth. Finally, visitors can also use a handy application offered here that allows them to determine which satellites might be seen from their location in the night sky. [KMG]

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/

While many people may eventually become aware of how their elected officials in the U.S. Congress voted on a particular bill or resolution, this database created by the Washington Post will allow them to find out rather quickly. Utilizing a variety of authoritative data sources (such as the web site of the Senate and the Library of Congress’s THOMAS site), the database contains the results of every vote cast in the Congress since 1991. Visitors can look at vote results in a variety of different ways, such as particular Congress or a particular individual. Recently, they also added a selection of “Votes by Type”, such as those cast on impeachments, treaties, and vice-presidential tiebreakers. Additionally, the site contains a RSS feed of recent votes by each member of Congress. [KMG]

http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/200512_katrinaindex.htm

The Brookings Institution has released a number of reports on the efforts to rebuild the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina over the past few months, and a number of them have garnered significant attention by policymakers and other interested parties. This 47-page report authored by Bruce Katz, Matt Fellowes, and Mia Mabanta, gives a detailed data-oriented summary of the recent progress that has occurred. Some of their findings are not particularly encouraging, including the revelation that unemployment rates continue to rise throughout the affected region and that buying food is still rather difficult to do throughout the metropolitan area. The report does offer some positive news, such as the fact that the number of open bus routes in Orleans Parish has increased. Overall, this is a very well-researched paper that should prove valuable to anyone with an interest in the future reconstruction and sustainability of this area. [KMG]

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/vanvechten/

Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1880, Carl Van Vechten had a career in a host of artistic endeavors throughout his life, including his written works and his prodigious work in photography. After graduating from the University of Chicago, he became a staff writer with the Chicago American and he soon found himself asked to also provide photographs to accompany his copy. During this period, he also published his first book of essays and then later began photographing a number of landscapes and acquaintances. This particular collection from the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress brings together close to 1400 of his photographs for consideration by the web-browsing public, and it is definitely worth several visits. The casual visitor may want to begin looking through the photographs by browsing the occupational index listings, which include artists such as Georgia O’Keefe, Truman Capote, Ossie Davis, and Ethel Waters. Finally, visitors may also want to look over a timeline and biographical sketch of Van Vechten, which also appear on the site. [KMG]