data.gov

[Spider]

I just discovered the US Government website, Data.gov (http://www.data.gov)

"The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. Although the initial launch of Data.gov provides a limited portion of the rich variety of Federal datasets presently available, we invite you to actively participate in shaping the future of Data.gov by suggesting additional datasets and site enhancements to provide seamless access and use of your Federal data."

Now, instead of being limited to information put out by the supposedly unbiased news media, you can get it from the horse's mouth. This, along with The CIA World Fact Book (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html) will give you fabulous research tools with a remendous amount of real data.

Here is a BBC report on it -- BBC News - US calls for 'YouTube' of government data (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8576891.stm)

[Blessed]

thanks for the link Frederick - this is the kind of thing that my curious, data-checking side likes to know about!

[vangogh]

Thanks for the link Frederick. Looks like some great info there already and it'll be interesting to see how it grows.

One thing I'm happy about with the current administration is how much they're opening up government with sites like this one. They're definitely trying to make our government more transparent. Whether or not most of us will take the time to look is another thing, but more and more information is becoming available to us, which is a great thing.

[statts]

I like it. I too agree the media biases are making it difficult to get information if you don't get it yourself.

[vangogh]

With a username like statts you have to like the site don't you? :)