Photos of Beijing, China

In honor of the 2008 Olympics (beginning in just a few days - 08/08/08), my sister has put a slideshow of pictures from our October, 2006 trip to Beijing on the right side of her Adventurous Women Blog.

Because she was busy training (and her camera was having issues) and because I was wandering around by myself, about 95% of those pictures were taken by yours truly (she says 90%...). I can't take credit for how good they look, though. My cheap, digital camera is awesome!

You can click directly to the slideshow at Picasa here.

Criminal History Check with Free, Detailed Results

'Sounds implausible, right? I thought so too. So did Paul M. Bush over at Legal Dockets Online (he blogged about this yesterday). The truth is that CriminalSearches is providing just that. I tested it out and the results look good. However, there doesn't appear to be any contact (though you can fill out an e-mail form to inquire about partnering with them) or "About" information on this site. Who is running it and why? What are the privacy concerns?

The search results provide information about the crimes committed, sentences, codes violated, and additional information about the individuals (including date of birth). They even provide information about the source, so you can follow up with the government institution.

I did a search on an individual I know to have a record. Sure enough, the information was there. In fact, there was more information there than I had obtained through the government site.

I conducted some random searches and found that even traffic violations are showing up at CriminalSearches.com. One example is someone who rode their bicycle on the wrong side of the road. It's hard to imagine how that information could be useful to anyone, but there you have it.

The Virtual Chase to Close Shop

I just returned from vacation and was very shocked (and more than just a little dismayed) to find out that Genie Tyburski will be closing down The Virtual Chase. The (faint) silver lining is that it looks like she will continue to post for several more months.

So, get it while you can (until May 2009 at the latest). You can read Genie's farewell announcement at The Virtual Chase.

Overview of the Development of U.S. Congressional Committees

An Overview of the Development of U.S. Congressional Committees has been significantly revised (originally featured in two parts in Law Library Lights back in 2004) and just added to LLSDC's Legislative Source Book.

This 21 (PDF) page document was written by Michael Welsh, Senior Legislative Librarian at Pillsbury LLP with assistance from Ellen Sweet, Legislative Reference Specialist, Tax Division, U.S. Department of Justice, and Rick McKinney, Assistant Law Librarian, Federal Reserve Board Law Library. Related to this, is McKinney's new Standing Committees of Congress: 1789 to Present.

LinkedIn Groups Searchable This Friday!

Finally, the "groups" at LinkedIn will be searchable. For far too long, there has been a message on LinkedIn that says,

"The groups directory is not currently open. We are working on creating a searchable directory for all groups. If there are groups you wish to join, you may click on the group logo from the profile of a group member and request to join."

However, I just received an e-mail that says,

Dear Abbie,

On Friday, July 11th, we are pleased to announce that LinkedIn will launch a searchable Group Directory.

To ensure users can find and join your group, please review and update the description and settings for your group: Law Librarians

Sincerely,
The LinkedIn team