Interesting Links to the 21st Century

2009 H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) - CDC's latest info regarding H1N1. Last week, influenza ctivity, now widespread in 46 states ( FluView), continued to increase in the US as reported in. Flu-related hospitalizations and deaths continue to increase nation-wide and are above what is expected for this time of year.

ACE - a database of song titles licensed by ASCAP in the US. For each title, you can find the names of the songwriters, contact persons, and addresses and, in most cases, phone numbers of publishers to contact if you want to use the work.

Center For Economic Research and Forecasting - Forecasts are not always the most pleasant news, but to be successful, you need to follow the facts and not your feelings.


Center For Plain Language - Plain Language is a Civil Right. Plain language is more than just short words and short sentences ...When you create material in plain language, you consider the audience...the readers.


The Electoral Map - The intersection of politics and geography. A blog where maps tell the story behind the votes — the culture, economics, demographics, history, sports and the stories that influence the map.


New America Foundation - This site emphasizes work that is responsive to the changing conditions and problems of 21st C info- age economy...transforming innovation and wealth creation in an era of shortened job tenures, longer life spans, mobile capital, financial imbalances and rising inequality.


Networking-the info.net -- Social networking information.


New Geography - "Where we live and how to make it better". In addition to the subjects: Economics; Demographics; Politics; Urban Issues; Suburbs; Housing; this site features sections on: Best Cities 2009; Obama's America; Financial Crisis; New Deal 75th Anniversary Series.


Politico - In addition to all the latest political news and headlines, this site includes "a living diary of the Obama Presidency".

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Distressed and Underserved Community

The majority of all bankruptcies are the result of medical bills according Medical Bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: Results of a National Study. . That's 20% higher than results indicated in 2001.

Of those who filed for bankruptcy in 2007, nearly 80 percent had health insurance. Respondents with insurance reported average expenses of just under $18,000. Respondents without insurance had average medical bills of nearly $27,000.

Since 2007, the number of Americans without insurance has increased and filing for bankruptcy has become more difficult due to more stringent laws, according to the report.

Using a conservative definition, 62.1% of all bankruptcies in 2007 were medical; 92% of these medical debtors had medical debts over $5000, or 10% of pretax family income. The rest met criteria for medical bankruptcy because they had lost significant income due to illness or mortgaged a home to pay medical bills. Most medical debtors were well educated, owned homes, and had middle-class occupations. Three quarters had health insurance. Using identical definitions in 2001 and 2007, the share of bankruptcies attributable to medical problems rose by 49.6%. In logistic regression analysis controlling for demographic factors, the odds that a bankruptcy had a medical cause was 2.38-fold higher in 2007 than in 2001.

In addition, the Federal Reserve released the 2009 List of Middle-Income Nonmetropolitan Distressed or Underserved Geographies, in which revitalization or stabilization activities will receive Community Reinvestment Act consideration as “community development.” The designations reflect local economic conditions, including such triggers as unemployment, poverty, and population changes.

Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC): The criteria used to designate these areas can be found here.

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Placeblogger: Discovering, Local Blogs.

Placeblogger is devoted to helping you locate local blogs by local people. Unfortunately, when searching for anything local the results usually come up on the third or fourth page; many people do not have the time or patience to read through three or four pages of links. Placeblogger, instead of basing their results on "number of pages linked from" base their results on geographical location.

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