Three interactive maps - Foreclosure Rates | Unemployment Rates | Median Household Income | show foreclosure and jobless rates as well as household income by county. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111494514

Free Kindle books: a guide For all but the Kindle Store, you’ll need to transfer the books manually using a computer and USB cable.
Project Gutenberg: 33,000 free e-books, including all of the classics, available in Kindle, HTML and simple text formats.
Google E-Bookstore: The free section is filled with thousands of free, scanned copies of books, available in Kindle-friendly PDF formats.
Internet Archive: Millions of primarily rare, out-of-print works in multiple languages and formats (including Kindle), especially useful for academic work.
Open Library: 20 million user-contributed items in multiple editions and formats (including Kindle).
ManyBooks.net: Nearly 30,000 titles, many of which have been pulled from Project Gutenberg. Has a good collection of little-known Creative Commons works.
LibriVox: Thousands of free audiobooks.
http://mashable.com/2010/12/25/free-kindle-books/

BATTLE GROUND, Wash.—Sue Foster knew what she needed to do when her border collie, Taff, was expelled from puppy school for herding the black Labs into a corner. She rented some sheep. Then she bought another border collie and rented some grazing land. Then she bought some sheep of her own. And a third border collie. Now, like the old lady who swallowed the fly, Ms. Foster keeps a llama to chase off the coyotes that threaten the lambs that go to market to finance the sheep that entertain her dogs. Border collies, first bred along the frontier between England and Scotland, are compulsive herders, with instincts so intense they sometimes search for livestock behind the television when sheep appear on screen, says Geri Byrne, owner of the Border Collie Training Center, in Tulelake, Calif. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704681804576017731348653642.html

In Brooklyn, the answer to Prospect Park's geese problem may be a dog. Park officials plan to use a border collie to scare away Canada geese - so that the feds won't come in again and kill the waterfowl. There was an uproar when nearly 400 geese were culled over the summer out of fear they might interfere with planes in the sky. Now, park officials are on a wild-goose chase for less brutal ways to control the population - like destroying unhatched eggs and ticketing people who feed the birds. "We don't want to be a place where the federal government feels they want to come in and remove them," said park administrator Tupper Thomas. "This is the most humane way that we won't end up with a batch of geese." Critics said anything is better than killing off their fine-feathered friends, though they disapprove of using dogs to scatter the flocks.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/11/18/2010-11-18_officials_will_use_border_collie_to_scare_away_prospect_park_geese_so_they_wont_.html

Facing budget gaps and an aversion to new debt and taxes, states and local governments are slapping residents with an array of new fees—and some are applying them to nonprofits. That marks a sharp departure from long-standing tax exemptions mandated by state law or adopted on the theory that churches, schools and charitable organizations work alongside governments to provide services to the community. The issue is on display in Houston, where some flood-prone roads are in such disrepair that signs warn drivers, "Turn around, don't drown." Houston's taxpayers in November narrowly voted to adopt a "drainage fee" to raise at least $125 million a year toward the cost of improving roads and storm-water systems. The city will charge fees to property owners, and it won't grant exceptions to churches, schools and charities. Some cities are charging religious groups property taxes on buildings no longer used for worship. Other localities are soliciting voluntary contributions. Albany, N.Y., recently passed an ordinance asking schools, hospitals and other nonprofits to contribute to city services. In Minneapolis, residents recently began paying a street-light fee that also applies to nonprofits, which in some places pay fees for elevator safety and fire inspection. Drainage fees that apply to nonprofits have been adopted by cities that include Richmond, Va.; Lafayette, Ind.; and Verona, Wis. Such fees are emerging now because the federal government has been cracking down on how cities handle the rain that rolls off roofs, parking lots, and other impervious surfaces, sometimes causing floods and ripping up roads. The runoff can collect debris, oil and other pollutants and ultimately drag it all into the nation's waterways. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703548604576038080723678202.html

Quote Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784)

Q: When a television show says 11 million people watched last night, how do they know this and so quickly?
A: The Nielsen Co. uses electronic devices in about 17,000 households to estimate how many people watched particular television programs. About 95 percent are "set meters," which record what program is being watched on a television or is being replayed on a digital video recorder. The rest have additional "people meters," which record who in the household is watching. The information is automatically sent overnight to Nielsen, which distributes it to clients, including television networks and advertisers. Of course, "Nielsen households" know their viewing is being monitored, and family members must participate directly if they have a "people meter." Critics say this opens the system to abuse and skewed results. The Nielsen Co., a privately-held Dutch company headquartered in New York, is active in about 100 countries and does many other kinds of market research. Its revenues for the third quarter were about $1.29 billion. -- The Nielsen Co., various sources, Peter Mattiace.
Q: What is the smallest earthquake that can be felt by people?
A: About 2.0 magnitude is generally the lower range of an earthquake being felt, although there are documented cases of people feeling earthquakes in the high 1 magnitude range. Many people close to the epicenter of such small events may feel them, but the vibrations are so slight that they commonly do not recognize them as being from an earthquake. -- Ohio Geological Survey.
http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Dec/JU/ar_JU_122710.asp?d=122710,2010,Dec,27&c=c_13