Wishes with First Christmas Card 

http://search.eb.com/eb/art-67596
The first Christmas card, designed by J.C. Horsley for his friend Sir Henry Cole, 1843.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online (university net only)

The Earth Calendar 

The Earth Calendar is a daybook of holidays and celebrations around the world. For the purpose of this web site a "holiday" is any day that recognizes a cultural event.

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   In 1806 the First Printed Book in Bulgarian Appeared

Read more:

http://bulgariablog.net/Bulgaria/blog/filteredlist?key=Nedelnik

http://www.jstor.org/view/10497544/di000370/00p00385/0  (university net only)

http://www.omda.bg/BULG/HYSTORY/kiriakodromion.htm

Free Full Text
http://www.freefulltext.com/

FreeFullText.com provides direct links to over 7000 scholarly periodicals which allow some or all of their online content to be viewed by any one with Internet access for free (though some may require free registration). The issue(s) which are available for free are indicated for each title on the alphabetical periodical lists.

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Microsoft released a beta Version of MS Live Book Search
                                                                                                                                          

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World Development Report 2007: Development and the Next Generation

(Browse the list of featured titles)

The theme of The World Development Report 2007 is youth - young people between the ages of 12 to 24. As this population group seeks identity and independence, they make decisions that affect not only their own well-being, but that of others, and they do this in a rapidly changing demographic and socio-economic environment.

Supporting young people's transition to adulthood poses important opportunities and risky challenges for development policy. Are education systems preparing young people to cope with the demands of changing economies? What kind of support do they get as they enter the labor market? Can they move freely to where the jobs are? What can be done to help them avoid serious consequences of risky behavior, such as death from HIV-AIDS and drug abuse? Can their creative energy be directed productively to support development thinking?

(university net only)

(Browse the list of featured titles)

Doing Business 2007 focuses on reforms, identifies top reformers in business regulation, and best practices in how to reform. This volume is the fourth in a series of annual reports investigating global regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Co-sponsored by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation - the private sector arm of the World Bank Group - this year's report measures quantitative indicators on business regulations and their enforcement compared across 175 countries - from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe - and over time. Doing Business 2007 updates indicators developed in the three preceding reports. See the list of featured titles. 

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E-Books

Social Capital, Innovation and Growth: Evidence from Europe

T. Roediger-Schluga & B Dachs, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 

This paper investigates the interplay between social capital, innovation and economic growth in the European Union. We identify innovation as an important mechanism that transforms social capital into economic growth. In an empirical investigation of 102 European regions in the period 1990-2002, we show that higher innovation performance is conducive to economic growth and that social capital affects growth indirectly by fostering innovation. Our estimates suggest that there is only a limited role for a direct
effect of social capital on economic growth.

The University of Virginia's E-book Library

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/subjects/

An on-line archive of standards-based texts and images in the humanities 

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Promoting Sustainable Economies in the Balkans

Less than four years after brutal civil war in Bosnia, the Balkans again erupted in violence during the Kosovo conflict, severely damaging already fragile, regional economies. This task force report recognizes that, while economic reconstruction alone will not be sufficient to bring long-term peace and stability to the region, rising living standards could foster sustainable economic growth and reduced political tensions. Among the report's conclusions are the impending donor fatigue, which will lead the international community to turn its focus away from the region, and the difficulties and necessity of internal reform, without which foreign financial assistance will be of only limited utility. Bringing together top executives in private investment firms, renowned scholars, leaders in the nonprofit field, and key government officials, the report synthesizes the views of all the players involved in economic development. The result is a balanced assessment of what both the international community and the Balkan countries must do to build sustainable economies in the region

E-journals 

HighWire Press: Free Online Full-text Articles
http://www.highwire.org/lists/freeart.dtl

List limited to journals published online with the assistance of HighWire Press 

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NationMaster

http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php

NationMaster is a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, UN, and OECD. Using the form, user can generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics. NationMaster also recently rolled out StateMaster.com, a site that offers similar data mining on US state statistics, using sources such as the US Census Bureau, FBI, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a variety of non-profit organizations.

Selected Internet Resources 

Supreme Court of the U.S. - Docket

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/docket.html
The automated docket system is the Court's case tracking system. It contains information about cases, both pending and decided. The docket provided on this page contains information regarding the status of cases for both the current Term and the prior Term. Information on the docket is updated on the day after an entry is made on the docket. Users can search for cases by using a Supreme Court docket number, a lower court docket number, or a case name. The format for Supreme Court docket numbers is "Term year-number" (e.g., 99-123; 00-45; 00-5001). Word searches can also be accomplished. 

Selected Internet Resources 

Encyclopedia Mythica

The award-winning internet encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and religion. Here user will find everything from A-gskw to Zveda Vechanyaya, with plenty in between. The mythology section is divided to six geographical regions: Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Oceania. Each region has many clearly defined subdivisions that will ease your search.
The Folklore section contains general folklore, Arthurian legends, and fascinating folktales from many lands.