State Government Tax Collections

The US Census Bureau provides the public with a website that can be described as “a summary of taxes collected by state for up to 25 tax categories. These tables and data files present the details on tax collections by type of tax imposed and collected by state governments.” The data on property, income and sales taxes goes back to 1992.

http://www.census.gov/govs/www/statetax.html

Polls Galore

PollingReport.com is an independent, non-partisan resource on trends in American public opinion. This site provides poll results on a variety of issues including politics, social, health, financial and the environment. Get a jump on the 2008 elections and see who the frontrunners are!

http://www.pollingreport.com/

Pollen Counts

It’s getting into your house now that you’ve opened your windows; it’s already all over your car; it’s an unsightly mess on the ponds and pools and it’s making a lot of people unhappy…very unhappy. It’s pollen, and right here, right now, it’s everywhere. Find out how bad it is–as if your nose can’t tell you, on Pollen.com.

http://www.pollen.com/Pollen.com.asp

Smithsonian Magazine’s Photography Contest Winners

The winners of the 4th Annual Photo Contest for Smithsonian Magazine have been announced. This site presents the nine finalists and the winner in each of 5 categories: People, Americana, Altered Images, The Natural World and Travel. You may also view the finalists and winners from last year’s contest.

http://photocontest.smithsonianmag.com/v4/index.php

Sounds On The Internet

Now that you know what the correct collective noun is for a group of bees, FindSounds is a website where you can listen to the noises they make. Categories of other sounds to be heard on the site include: holidays, household, mayhem, musical instruments, people, tools and vehicles.

http://www.findsounds.com/types.html

Beastly Garden of Wordy Delights

You may recall the bulletin board in the Library a few years back that listed some interesting collective nouns for animals, birds, etc. Here’s a website that not only has the collective nouns but also the names for the male and female of the species, the name of the sounds they make and the name for the offspring.

http://www.anapsid.org/beastly.html

Volunteer On Vacation

“Globe Aware , a nonprofit 501 (c) (3) develops short-term volunteer programs in international environments that encourage people to immerse themselves in a unique way of giving back.” Travel to countries including Cuba, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Brazil and Romania.

http://globeaware.com/

Need To Get In Shape?

TheTrainingStationInc.com provides a wide variety of animated exercise examples for almost every muscle in your body–just go do it!

http://thetrainingstationinc.com/exercises.html

Visuwords-An Online Graphical Dictionary

This site is a graphical dictionary or a visual thesaurus, if you prefer. Check out your favorite words or use their random button to see what comes up.

http://www.visuwords.com/

What’s A Webby?

“Webby Honorees, Nominees and Winners truly represent the best of the Web. They are but a small percentage of total entries and have been chosen by members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences based on a number of creative and functional criteria.”

http://www.webbyawards.com/