Searching The Deep Net

The Turbo 10 Meta Search Engine is like many other meta searchers on the surface--that is until you design your own search engine clusters. Turbo 10 allows you to create clusters of search engines in groups of 10. You can pick from a list of over 2,300 search engines and data bases. This allows Turbo 10 to do a meta search using only search engines that search for pictures, or music files, or even recipes. What a wonderful variation on the meta search theme.

Thrill Ride Safety

There are probably hundreds of amusement park rides out there that function without failure of any sort. But Ride Accidents do occur. This site was not designed to scare people away. I think it was designed to make people aware of the fact that these rides are potentially dangerous if proper precautions are not followed. Along with press releases concerning every ride accident that occurs, there are also articles on how you and your family can have good safe fun at the amusement park.

Meta Medical Search

There's now a meta search engine for medical searches. The Omni Medical Search site searches such medical search engines as: CDC, clinical trials, eMedicine, Healthfinder, Healthopedia, and more. Unfortunately it's an "AllWords/AnyWords" type of search and doesn't have full Boolean capabilities.

Furl It!

You hear a snippet of an interesting news story on the radio or TV. You go to Google News or some other news source to get the full story. It's a keeper so you print it. Two months later you can't find the print out. You placed the URL into your favorites but the article is no longer there. What to do? Furl It!

Furl provides the user with an online storage space where you can store the actual page and recall it later today or next year. It captures the web page not necessarily the URL. So even if the article is no longer on the original web site in six months you have it in your online Furl account. When retrieved it looks exactly like it did on the original web site.

You must register and the site is not as intuitive as it might be. So be sure to read the instructions carefully. It is well worth the effort. I frequently find magazine and newspaper articles that I want to keep but it's a hassle turning them into Word documents. This is a good way to maintain the article and the layout with a single click.

War In The 20th Century

World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War and more are all displayed on the Conflict Map. Using Shockwave technology this site displays a world map with conflicts posted by icons. Unfortunately in some cases the conflict icons overlap one another with the number of conflicts being so great. A timeline slide bar allows you to display a map for 10-year periods of 20th century conflicts. Placing your pointer on the icon for a conflict will result in a very brief explanation of that conflict. Excellent for history classes.

Movie Mistakes

Have you ever watched a movie and seen the microphone dip down into the screen? What about a water bottle that constantly fills, then empties, then fills again all during the same scene? MovieMistakes has all of these and more. Some mistakes are continuity ( fluctuating beverage levels), technical (crew member visible in mirror), historical (modern currency used in a time before it was issued). These are just some of the movie mistakes displayed at this site. If there is a weakness to this site, it is the limited scope of the movies listed. Most of them are current with just a few older films. The site boasts over 38,000 bloopers and goofs posted. Viewers can submit goofs they've spotted as well. Next time you plan on going to the latest box office biggie, visit MovieMistakes first, it'll either ruin the film for you or make it that much more entertaining.

CitySearch

Whether you're visiting or a long time resident, CitySearch will help you find events and restaurants in the area. You're in a strange city and you have a craving for Thai food. Type in a zip code and then the cuisine type and you'll get a list of the appropriate restaurants in proximity order to the center of your zip code area. It works great for theater and entertainment venues as well.

Candy Wrapper Museum

The Candy Wrapper Museum web site represents 25 years of collecting by the site's creator. While he has the run-of-the-mill Snickers and 3 Musketeers, he also has wrappers from celebrity candy like the Muhammad Ali Crisp Crunch or Reggie Jackson's Reggie Bar. Wrappers have a broader meaning to this museum curator. You can see this in the bowling pin package containing dozen of miniature, chocolate bowling balls. Each wrapper comes with a brief comment. The info at this site could be used to provide a detail of authenticity to a novel or short story taking place in an earlier time period.

Invisible Web Stuff

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration provides a web site with access to over 400 databases with millions of records. The search interface is kind of clunky and the listed databases do not seem to be in any kind of logical order. What this site provides is a list of additional online resources in a wide range of subject categories.

EncycloComedia

It seems like every standup comic now has his or her own sitcom. There's even a reality show based around comedians. Well, now there's an encyclopedia of comedians called EncycloComedia. It contains a brief biography, venues, and additional resources about hundreds of comedians. Comedians are listed in alphabetical order from Abbott and Costello to Zacherly.

Who Speaks What Where.

The Modern Language Association has put together a language map. This map displays areas around the country where different languages are spoken. It shows the information for the country, state and county levels. A frequency color key will also tell how many people in the designated area speak the chosen language. Certainly useful to marketing and advertising companies.

Automobile Pricing Guide

If you're thinking of selling or trading in your old car you can find approximately how much you will get for it. The site is sponsored by the National Automobile Dealers Association (N.A.D.A.) and provides detailed information on how much that old car is worth. It also shows how much the dealer will probably charge for it. The estimate is based on mileage, location, accessories (on newer cars it might make a difference but on older cars forget it). If you're interested in buying a particular make, model, etc. you can also search the database for a dealer with just what you want. Before you buy or sell that car, look to the N.A.D.A. website.

Finding The Ideal Pet

Are you looking for a dog, cat, or something more exotic. Petfinder is a national database that has listings of animals up for adoption at animal shelters around the country. Enter the animal, breed, gender, and your zip and you'll get a listing of animals that fit your requirements, usually with photos and a detailed history/biography. A great service.

Classical Piano Database

The Pianopedia site boasts data for 861 composers, 49 countries, over 5,100 works, and over 14,700 movements or excerpts. You can search by composer, nationality, title or even key and mode. Along with the basic information about the composition, it provides one more vital piece of information on many-- not all--of them. Where the music can be purchased. Great site for piano teachers, students, and performers.

Organize your photos with Picasa

Google recently purchased Picasa and is making it available as a free download. Picasa finds and catalogs your photos on your hard disk in minutes. Use it to create slide shows, edit, print, and share your photos. The program is a 3.6MB download so if you're using a dialup it will take a little time. I don't know if Google will continue to offer the product free forever or if it just for a limited time.

Science Toys In Minutes

That's the claim of Science Toys You Can Make With Your Kids. Using common household items you can create items to demonstrate scientific principles. Not only does the site sound like a dream for parents with scientifically inquisitive children but also for schools with budget limitations. Work with Lasers, lenses, metals that melt in hot water, crystal radio sets and more.

Scrapbook Keepers Alert!

Scrapbooks are becoming a big thing. They are being created and maintained by people of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, and economic classes. This site is for them. The site is Scrapjazz and has over 1,000 links to scrapbook related sites. Some sites are suppliers, others chat rooms and forums, and yet others deal with photography or genealogy. Everything relates to scrapbooks.

Medical Tutorial

A medical tutorial called Spider Nevi is the source of a huge data base linking to sources of medical information. Spider Nevi allows you to search by keyword but also contains hyperlinks of the top 50 searches with the number of searches requested. Simple front page but quite a deep range. Many of the items listed may not be available through standard search engine searches.

Spy Letters Of The American Revolution

Spies played a very important part in the American Revolution. The spies provided the intelligence the generals used to get all the glory for themselves. Spy Letters of the American Revolution come from the Sir Henry Clinton Collection at the Clements Library.

It's The Blawg

What happens when you mix blog technology with lawyers and legal firms? You get blawgs of course. The EDDix Views on News site has a directory of what it considers to be the top 50 blawgs out there. Most of these blawgs are not written for the layman. Lawyers should find them interesting.

Encyclopedia Mythica

Just about anything you would like to know about mythology, folklore and legends are covered in Encyclopedia Mythica. The keyword search is thorough and hones in quickly on what you are looking for. In Chinese mythology there exists the peach of immortality. I simply type the word "peach" for the search criteria and was rewarded with several different stories about the peach in question. Excellent for all things mythic.

Abraham Lincoln Papers

The Library of Congress and Knox College have put together an impressive collection of over 20,000 documents from the 1850s through Lincoln's presidential years. The documents consist of incoming and outgoing communications, enclosures, notes, speeches and more. The Abraham Lincoln Papers represent a great resource for Lincoln and presidential scholars.

Coming In For A Landing

The Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields web site contains information about more than 1,100 airfields. Paul Freeman has not only the stats (number of runways, length, etc.) but also photographs, maps, and historical background.

Fuel Cost On Road Trip

How much will the total gas bill be on a road trip from Chicago to Pittsburgh driving a 1995 Toyota Celica? This is the question the AAA Fuel Cost Calculator will answer for you. It calculates the current gas prices on the path to your destination and the average gas mileage for the year, make and model of vehicle you are driving. Then it comes up with a total gas cost. The only thing it doesn't calculate or all those wrong turns and little side trips to museums, parks, and other entertainments.

Historical Directories

"Directories of counties and towns are among the most important sources for local and genealogical studies." The University of Leicester has created a Digital Library of Historical Directories from England and Wales covering the time period of 1750 through 1920. For those with ancestors from Great Britain the site should be most useful.

An Invitation To An Event

The web site known as Evite contains a data base of events around the country. You enter a zip code, category and travel radius and it comes up with a list of public events in that area. You can also post event information here and make it a part of the data base. This is a great tool for groups holding special events.

Google Toolbar Update

Normally I don't cover Google here because it's a more mainstream type of research tool. However there is a new update that will be available soon to your Google toolbar. PCWorld has an article describing the change that will soon allow you to enter a name in the location bar and Google will automatically interact with it and find the appropriate home page. Read the article if you want to know more.

New England Shipwrecks

Hunting New England Shipwrecks contains information and images of various shipwrecks that took place in the New England area. Over 200 pages of information at this site provide the facts and legends about the shipwrecks of your choice. The site navigates easily with a sidebar that makes your exploration of this site easy. There are also links to other shipwreck sites and articles.

Movie Archives

The goal of the Movie
Archive:

"...is to provide easy access to a rich and fascinating core collection of archival films.

By providing near-unrestricted access to these films, we hope to encourage widespread use of moving images in new contexts by people who might not have used them before."

It contains contemporary television programs, music videos, old classic films both silent and sound and more. Good viewing to you.

Rover To Earth. Come In Please

Star Trek and Star Wars attest to the fascination man has with outer space. But it's more than the adventure and romance. It's actually viewing another planet, millions of miles from Earth. That's what the Mars Exploration Rover is doing. It has been sending images to Earth for some time now. NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab at the California Institute of Technology has a large collection of these images available for viewing. Each image comes with a brief explanation of what you are viewing. Every image is not extraordinary but many are (I didn't realize Mars had clouds).

Comparing Nursing Homes

We don't like to think about it. But there comes a time when the infirmities of the body make it impossible for us to properly care for ourselves or for those we love. A nursing home is necessary but which one should we choose? The Medicare Nursing Home Compare web site lists nursing homes all over the country. They can be searched by name, geography or proximity. You can get a general overview of several nursing homes or a 5 page (that's what it was for the 6 I looked at)report of comparisons with national averages, violations if any and what type, and quantity (nursing hours) of care.

Obituaries 101

That's really the name of this site and it is dedicated to that very topic--obituaries. Obituaries 101 contains obituaries from both daily/weekly print and broadcast sources. It provides links to the newspaper or network and then the user performs whatever search is available from that media site. My searches have brought only current obituaries to the screen. For archived obituaries you'll have to find another source.

Prints and Photographs Reading Room

The Library of Congress is a rich resource for many of the sites listed in this blog. This is one more in that listing. The Prints and Photographs Reading Room is a great source for historical photographs and prints. It contains approximately 60% of the total collection and you can search the entire site or look in specific collections for just the right historical image you need. Not all images are displayed and some require payment to receive a copy.

Air Travel Pricing

TravelZoo has nothing to do with animals or zoos that I was able to discover. It is a search tool for helping travelers find the best deals on flights between airports. Type in your starting airport, then the destination airport, the departure/return dates and it guides you to the appropriate sites to find the best value for that trip.

How Far Can You Afford To Go To Save Money

We've mentioned web sites that allow you to compare gas pump prices in a given area. But how much do you really save if you have to travel an extra 2 miles from your regular gas station? How about 10 miles from your regular station? Are you still saving money? Or are you losing money in the cost of expended fuel to get a savings of a few pennies per gallon? The Kiplinger Gas Station Comparison will help you make that determination.

Someone, Call Security

Do you need a security or fire alarm installed? Is it residential, home, bank, or government? The UL Alarm Finder web site is a data base containing UL-certified alarm installation companies in your area. These companies have been audited for compliance to UL Standards for Safety and national safety codes. The data base is simple and easy to use. You tell it where (zip code), how far (miles from zip code to perform search), location of installation (residence, business, bank, government), and type (fire or security). That's it.

Directory of America's Hospitals

The U.S. News Directory of America’s Hospitals web site can be used to research over 6,000 hospitals in the United States. They can be searched by an A-Z index, name, or state. A basic search takes you to general info about the hospital and additional links will provide more information about the chosen hospital.

Wi-Fi Zone Finder

Your travel around the city, the state, the country. You need a wireless connection. Where can you go? While the Wi-Fi Zone Finder doesn't list everyplace where connections can be found it does have a large listing of locations that provide public wi-fi access. Great when you're in a strange town.

African Journals

African Journals Online contain hyperlinks to a wide variety of professional and academic journals from and about Africa. List of journal hyperlinks can be viewed alphabetically from Acta Academica to the Zimbabwe Veterinary Journal. You can also view listings by subject or country. The links take you to the homepage of the journal.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence Sources is a blog containing a list of hyperlinks to various sites dealing with artificial intelligence. The good news is the list is in alphabetical order. The bad news--it's not annotated. So there is no real information about where the hyperlink will take you.

Drug Information

DrugDigest describes itself in the following way:

DrugDigest is a noncommercial, evidence-based, consumer health and drug information site dedicated to empowering consumers to make informed choices about drugs and treatment options.

It not only covers FDA pharmaceuticals but also homeopath supplies. Check for interactions between registered pharmaceuticals and your herbal treatment. The two don't always play nice together.

Video Game Blog

Joystiq is a video game blog. It contains links to the very latest information about electronic gaming. That may be new equipment, games, concepts, or contests.

Television And Elections of the Past

Television marketing of presidential candidates has changed in the last fifty years. The Living Room Candidate contains video clips of presidential ad campaigns from 1952 to 2004. A great historical reference. The scary part is I've seen all these ads when they appeared on TV the first time.

Everything Medieval

The sites real name is Mostly Medieval but it seems to me like it covers everything from this period. This site provides information about research, festivals, clip art, medicine, religion and a whole bunch more about the medieval period. Should be a great resource for anyone writing a novel from this time period.

Military Buddies

Looking for a friend from the days when you were in the military? Military.com may be the place to go. The site has records for over 20 million military personnel. In order to use this site you must be a member but membership is free.

USGenWeb Project

The USGenWeb Project is a warehouse of links and information for anyone working in the area of genealogy. Information in the areas of census, cemetery tombstones, help for researchers and more are available here.