Yet another research aid: Nationmaster

[Robert_Moriyama]

"Nationmaster.com

One of the simpler name changes from the 'Atlas of old' has been Czechoslovakia splitting into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  These names are at least recognizable.  How about the implosion of Yugoslavia into six different countries!  No problem - Nationmaster has all of the latest countries, the statistics, flags, maps as well as an associated encyclopedia.  As the introduction states, "NationMaster, a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations, . . . is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, UN, and OECD."  There is capability to 'generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics with ease.'  The content is updated regularly giving you the latest statistics on the object of your search.  You'll want to keep your old Atlas and globes but go to Nationmaster.com for all your current country research!"

http://www.nationmaster.com

Robert M.

PS The new Beta version of GoogleEarth seems faster than the old one and has more up to date / higher quality photos of at least some areas. (Jakarta, Indonesia, for instance, was just a blur before -- now some parts are clear enough to identify landmark buildings and such).