Looking for info on the breeding habits of the naked mole rat? Try http://www.findarticles.com
Findarticles.com is a free database of magazine and journal articles. They have articles dating back to 1998 (you know, way back then) from over three hundred magazines and publications. Sometimes the AU library or your local library just doesn’t have the resources you need for papers, but a journal database such as this one can fulfill those needs. For example, a fellow AU student was having trouble finding sources for her research paper on art therapy. There were a whopping 2 or 3 books at the AU library, and about the same amount at her local library. After typing in “art therapy” in the search box on Findarticles, I came up with 221,881 items related to art therapy (too bad she’s already done her paper).
You can do a general search, view subject listings or see the comprehensive publication list by alphabetical order (which also includes a lot of Canadian mags, YAY!!). The publications range from Contemporary OB/GYN to American Handgunner (remind me to renew my subscription). Overall the site is easy to use and very extensive, a good tool for research on virtually any subject. For that information on the breeding habits of the naked mole rat click here: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1169/1999_August-Sept/55466310/p1/article.jhtml. Fascinating stuff.
Neat stuff: Findarticles.com is not limited to scholarly searching. You can find information on just about anything here. After typing in “Nickelback”, I came up with 103 articles, enough to satisfy my Chad Kroeger jonesing.
Not so neat stuff: Be careful what you wish for. Some of the articles found will not relate to the subject. Like a lot of search engines, articles will come up that just happen to contain a word you typed in. After searching for Kids in the Hall, I found a lot of articles relating to kids and halls but not what I was really looking for (Scott Thompson where are you?). However, placing the phrase in quotes will ensure that you get that exact phrase, and not just a bunch of single word searches.
Rating: ***1/2 / 5 I like this website and it is a great resource for students, but the amount of unrelated articles on quite a few of the searches put a sour taste in my mouth.
Need to book a band for your nephew’s bar mitzvah in Nunavut or you just know a label will sign your heavy metal accordion band, you need http://www.kickinthehead.com
From their mascot, the beaver with an attitude, to their motto “true north strong and loud,” kickinthehead.com is quintessential Canada. According to their bio, kickinthehead was developed to “help people achieve a greater appreciation for Canadian music.” I love this site, but all gushing aside here’s the bits and parts of it.
The main feature of this site is the searchable band database. What’s different from other databases is that the bands add themselves and their own information. You can then search for band/artists by a search engine, geographic location or alphabetically. For example I clicked on Alberta (which has 569 bands listed), from there I go to Edmonton (which has 189). Number 93 are a sister duo called Hush. They (and other bands) add their own info under the categories of genre, news and events, year founded, members etc. They can also have a link to their official website. Hush’s site is at http://www.geocities.com/hush_twin and they are not a bad group (Ok, ok you caught me in a shameless plug).
Anyway, brazen nepotism aside, there are 4654 bands listed on kickinthehead, and every province and territory is represented. Most of the bands are unsigned, and a lot of links to their own sites or mp3’s available for listening. You can also click on the link “gigs” and see who’s playing in your area.
For the struggling musician this website is a respite from bossy agents, greedy managers and snooty A&R people. There is an exhaustive listing of record labels and contact information. Hint#1- Most of the labels have contests for free stuff. Hint#2- Most labels don’t have their criteria for sending in demos in a visible part of the site, look in the FAQ section.
Check out the classified section on KITH for used instruments or musicians (there are a lot of out-of-work guitarists). Basically there’s something for everyone on this site, whether you’re a music fan or looking for a break. Kick In The Head has tons more stuff in there, so check it out! (by the way, there are no decent Bar Mitzvah/Wedding bands in Nunavut).
Neat Stuff: Kick in the Head has a bi-weekly newsletter you can sign up for. They also have Chat Attack’s daily music news listed and monthly features.
Not so neat Stuff: There is an unholy amount of dead links on this website. To their credit they do have a report dead link button you can click on, but it gets annoying (maybe I should start reporting the dead links?).
Rating****/5 I do love this website, and I don’t see how anyone couldn’t, but the dead links kept irritating me and I think the site could be organized better. All that aside, KITH proves the Canuck music scene is diverse and rockin’ (I swear I haven’t used the word “rockin” since I was twelve and I promise you I won’t do it again).