Following up on yesterday's piece about the SEC's EDGAR changing, the J.J. Hill Library wonders whether other government sites will follow. "A recent study from Princeton researchers suggests that the government give up creating their own Web sites altogether and instead focus on creating data feeds of government information to third party site creators. Interesting, in that this would surely result in better-designed sites, troubling in that it may bring agendas into the mix of public data. We’ll keep a keen eye on the developments."
I opined: "How will this play in the copyright issue? Currently, most govt stuff can't be copyrighted, but if the vendor brings 'value-added', then who owns what?
Maybe I'm being overly cynical. Probably not."
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Goodbye, Edgar. Hello, IDEA
SEC Plans Switch From Edgar To Interactive Database
Edgar, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s electronic database of corporate filings, will be replaced by a new system dubbed IDEA, or Interactive Data Electronic Applications, the SEC announced Tuesday.
“This isn’t just a renaming of Edgar,” but an entirely new approach, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said at a press conference to unveil the new system.
IDEA will supplement Edgar to start and eventually replace it altogether. Once the system is up and running, Cox said it will give investors faster and easier access to key financial information about public companies and mutual funds.
Edgar, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s electronic database of corporate filings, will be replaced by a new system dubbed IDEA, or Interactive Data Electronic Applications, the SEC announced Tuesday.
“This isn’t just a renaming of Edgar,” but an entirely new approach, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said at a press conference to unveil the new system.
IDEA will supplement Edgar to start and eventually replace it altogether. Once the system is up and running, Cox said it will give investors faster and easier access to key financial information about public companies and mutual funds.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
I Love My Librarian Award Announced
From the announcement:
Carnegie Corporation of New York has awarded the American Library Association $489,000 to support a new Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award.
Administered by the ALA’s Public Information Office and Campaign for America’s Libraries, the award will launch this year and will continue annually through 2013. The award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of librarians for their efforts to improve the lives of people in their community.
Carnegie Corporation of New York has awarded the American Library Association $489,000 to support a new Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award.
Administered by the ALA’s Public Information Office and Campaign for America’s Libraries, the award will launch this year and will continue annually through 2013. The award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of librarians for their efforts to improve the lives of people in their community.
USFA Announces 2007 Firefighter Fatalities Report
The report continues a series of annual studies by the United States Fire Administration of on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States. The USFA is the single public agency source of information for all on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States each year.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
IRS Issues Summer 2008 Statistics Of Income Bulletin
he Internal Revenue Service released the summer 2008 issue of the Statistics of Income Bulletin, which features tax year 2005 data on the growth in profits and tax liability reported by foreign-controlled domestic corporations.
According to 2005 data, there were 61,820 foreign-controlled domestic corporations (FCDCs), accounting for 1.1 percent of the total of all U.S. corporations. However, FCDCs generated $3.5 trillion of total receipts with $9.2 trillion of total assets, accounting for 13.7 percent of receipts and 13.9 percent of assets reported on all U.S. corporation income tax returns.
According to 2005 data, there were 61,820 foreign-controlled domestic corporations (FCDCs), accounting for 1.1 percent of the total of all U.S. corporations. However, FCDCs generated $3.5 trillion of total receipts with $9.2 trillion of total assets, accounting for 13.7 percent of receipts and 13.9 percent of assets reported on all U.S. corporation income tax returns.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Do Business Definition Decisions Distort Small Business Research Results?
According to SBA: This working paper has two purposes. It presents special tabulations from the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Business Owners (SBO) to offer the public detailed information on businesses with and without employees and their owners (including owner age, home-based status, franchises and financing).
Second, the authors consider the characteristics of nonemployer and employer businesses. Their examination shows that research results based on data on nonemployers are not necessarily applicable to employers and vice versa.
A copy of the report is located here and the research summary can be found here.
Should you need further information, please feel free to contact Brian Headd or Radwan Saade at (202) 205-6533 or advocacy@sba.gov.
Second, the authors consider the characteristics of nonemployer and employer businesses. Their examination shows that research results based on data on nonemployers are not necessarily applicable to employers and vice versa.
A copy of the report is located here and the research summary can be found here.
Should you need further information, please feel free to contact Brian Headd or Radwan Saade at (202) 205-6533 or advocacy@sba.gov.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Canadian dollars per litre
On a website, I saw a reference to the price of gas as 1.279. Initially, I didn't get it. Then I realized I was on a Canadian website and it was a reference to Canadian dollars per liter. So what is that in US dollars per gallon? And how do I figure it out without having to do two calculations, one for liter to gallon and another for the currency.
Google, of course. To use my example, type: 1.279 CAD per litre in USD per gallon and click "Google Search". When I did it at noon on August 11, the result was "1.27900 (Canadian dollars per litre) = 4.58349234 U.S. dollars per US gallon". By the way, it doesn't matter if you spell "litre" or "liter".
What you will need is the three-letter code for currency, which you can find several places, including here, one of the sites noted on this website.
More about Google's unit conversions g=here.
Tip of the cap to Arthur @ AmeriNZ, who mentioned this on his podcast.
Google, of course. To use my example, type: 1.279 CAD per litre in USD per gallon and click "Google Search". When I did it at noon on August 11, the result was "1.27900 (Canadian dollars per litre) = 4.58349234 U.S. dollars per US gallon". By the way, it doesn't matter if you spell "litre" or "liter".
What you will need is the three-letter code for currency, which you can find several places, including here, one of the sites noted on this website.
More about Google's unit conversions g=here.
Tip of the cap to Arthur @ AmeriNZ, who mentioned this on his podcast.
Monday, August 11, 2008
My Blogger Nightmare is Over
Last week, I found that I could post blogs on this blog - thus the test posts, whicjh I'm leaving up for posterity - but that I couldn't actually see the main blog page. This was weird, because it happened to only one of my five Blogger blogs. Moreover, if I had the specific link to a previously posted item, I could get to that.
Looking through Blogger help, I finally discovered that a number of people were having the same problem, getting an error message that started with bX. I posted my situation on some Blogger board and Saturday, it seemed to be working again.
Actual content soon.
Looking through Blogger help, I finally discovered that a number of people were having the same problem, getting an error message that started with bX. I posted my situation on some Blogger board and Saturday, it seemed to be working again.
Actual content soon.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Annual Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems
The Reason Foundation's 17th Annual Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems measures the performance of all state-owned roads and highways from 1984 to 2006. The study calculates the effectiveness and performance of each state in 12 different categories, including traffic fatalities, congestion, pavement condition, bridge condition, highway maintenance costs, and administrative costs.
Estimates of U.S. population for July 1, 2007
La Paz, Ariz., Population is Nation’s Oldest County. Also, 302 counties, or nearly one in every 10, are “majority-minority” — meaning the county had a population with more than 50 percent minority residents.
Among the majority-minority counties with a minority population of 1 million or more were Bronx, N.Y.; Miami-Dade, Fla.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Queens, N.Y.; Bexar (San Antonio) and Dallas, Texas; San Bernardino, Calif.; Kings (Brooklyn), N.Y.; Harris (Houston), Texas; Santa Clara (San Jose) and Riverside, Calif.; Cook (Chicago), Ill.; and Orange, Calif.
Among the majority-minority counties with a minority population of 1 million or more were Bronx, N.Y.; Miami-Dade, Fla.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Queens, N.Y.; Bexar (San Antonio) and Dallas, Texas; San Bernardino, Calif.; Kings (Brooklyn), N.Y.; Harris (Houston), Texas; Santa Clara (San Jose) and Riverside, Calif.; Cook (Chicago), Ill.; and Orange, Calif.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
International Visitation to the U.S. on the Rise
Visitor Spending Hits Record High in May
The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced that 4.3 million international visitors traveled to the United States in May, an increase of 14 percent over May 2007. For the first five months of 2008, visitation was up 12 percent compared to 2007. International visitors also spent a record $11.8 billion in May, a 21 percent increase from May 2007.
The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced that 4.3 million international visitors traveled to the United States in May, an increase of 14 percent over May 2007. For the first five months of 2008, visitation was up 12 percent compared to 2007. International visitors also spent a record $11.8 billion in May, a 21 percent increase from May 2007.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
New York Adjusted Gross Income and Tax Liability
New York Adjusted Gross Income and Tax Liability - Analysis of 2005 State Personal Income Tax Returns by Place of Residence
This annual study provides statistical information on New York State personal income tax returns that were timely filed during 2006. The data are from full-year resident, full-year nonresident, and part-year resident returns. The report categorizes returns as either taxable or nontaxable, depending on the presence or absence of taxable income and income tax liability. Data presented include the distribution of New York adjusted gross income and tax liability by residence and the value of deductions, exemptions, and taxable income by income class.
To download the entire publication and statistical tables, please visit here.
This annual study provides statistical information on New York State personal income tax returns that were timely filed during 2006. The data are from full-year resident, full-year nonresident, and part-year resident returns. The report categorizes returns as either taxable or nontaxable, depending on the presence or absence of taxable income and income tax liability. Data presented include the distribution of New York adjusted gross income and tax liability by residence and the value of deductions, exemptions, and taxable income by income class.
To download the entire publication and statistical tables, please visit here.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Occupational Outlook Quarterly
Summer 2008
In this issue:
+ Working in politics (PDF; 881 KB)
+ The class of 1993: Earnings and occupations by college major, 1 and 10 years after graduation (PDF; 2.1 MB)
+ Healthcare jobs you might not know about (PDF; 664 KB)
+ Brief items of interest to counselors and students
+ You’re a what? Home stager (PDF; 216 KB)
+ Job openings by industry (PDF; 280 KB)
In this issue:
+ Working in politics (PDF; 881 KB)
+ The class of 1993: Earnings and occupations by college major, 1 and 10 years after graduation (PDF; 2.1 MB)
+ Healthcare jobs you might not know about (PDF; 664 KB)
+ Brief items of interest to counselors and students
+ You’re a what? Home stager (PDF; 216 KB)
+ Job openings by industry (PDF; 280 KB)
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Is Cuil Cool?
A new search engine, Cuil - pronounced "cool" - started today. You can read all about its claims of being "better than Google" here and here, among many other places. Apparently, it was having start-up jityters, as one person indicated that one couldn't access it at all fotr a time.
But I got through and tried New York State Small Business Development Center; it actually suggested the whole name after I had typed New York State Sm
My result:
We didn’t find any results for "New York State Small Business Development Center"
Some reasons might be...
a typo. Please check your spelling.
your search includes a term that is very rare. Try to find a more common substitute.
too many search terms. Please try fewer terms.
Finally, try to think of different words to describe your search.
It’s the first item on Google. Meh.
And as a matter of vanity, I cuiled my blogs and they showed on the 7th page, while they're on the first page on Google.
As this writer noted: Cuil Not So Cool.
But I got through and tried New York State Small Business Development Center; it actually suggested the whole name after I had typed New York State Sm
My result:
We didn’t find any results for "New York State Small Business Development Center"
Some reasons might be...
a typo. Please check your spelling.
your search includes a term that is very rare. Try to find a more common substitute.
too many search terms. Please try fewer terms.
Finally, try to think of different words to describe your search.
It’s the first item on Google. Meh.
And as a matter of vanity, I cuiled my blogs and they showed on the 7th page, while they're on the first page on Google.
As this writer noted: Cuil Not So Cool.
Monday, July 28, 2008
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