Data Bases & Research

9-11 Resources

2006-11-05T21:20:00.000-06:00

The Resource Shelf is a wonderful site. They even have an enewsletter, which is responsible for a number of the posts you see listed in this blog. This particular post is a collection of resources (articles, photos, videos, etc.) about the 9-11 tragedy. Since the Resource Shelf has these items listed already, it's just a bit easier to send you to their site for the posts. Also it gives you another great source of reference resources. If you are a researcher, or someone who just likes to have facts at your fingertips, I strongly recommend regular visits to the Resource Shelf.

75 Years of "Pull it off in one motion and it won't hurt."

2006-11-05T21:14:00.000-06:00

That's right a site of Band-Aids. Through a series of events, best left to the webmaster to explain, a large collection of Band-Aid boxes are displayed that go back over 50 years. Along with this is some interesting historical information. An interesting look at package marketing over the last 50+ years.

Things to Come that Came

2006-11-05T21:03:00.000-06:00

What most folks refer to as science fiction is sometimes called speculative fiction. Perhaps that sounds like word games to you. But just think about some of the common everyday devices we have today that were speculated on first in science fiction: cell phones, waterbeds, calculators, personal computers, and even Waldo. To see the documentation for this visit this post in RealTechNews. There is a list and posting of over 650 inventions that came to us from science fiction.

Fabulous Holidays

2006-11-05T20:45:00.000-06:00

At Fabulous Foods you can find suggestions for food preparations for various holidays and special events. The standard holidays like Thanksgiving, New Years, and 4th of July are covered. But so are special events like Superbowl parties and Summer vacations. The focus here is on food and the site has things to sell but it also has a lot of free info and ideas that can help make your holiday party something a little special.

Halloween is Here

2006-10-26T11:13:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of Halloween sources. They cover the gamut from costumes to safety and even one with appropriate Halloween quisine.

Halloween.com is a wonderful resource. It contains links for finding a costume or a haunted house. You can find safety tips for the holidays or a little Halloween history. If you have other questions it even contains a Halloween search facility.

If you're looking for a haunted house in your region of the country be sure to try Haunted House.com

If you're looking for something a little different for your Halloween party this is not the place to go. This food is LOTS different! Here is a full seven course meal from the Chilled Brain Spread to the Bloody Heart Dessert. And my personal favorite, the Alien Autopsy Shooters for the aperitif. A collection of really creepy recipes can be found at A Successful Halloween Supper Party. NOTE: All items described are edible and also not made of what they look like.

Have a great and safe Halloween!

Bill Gates Wants to Give You $1,000. True or False?

2006-06-01T14:44:00.000-05:00

Let's face it. A thousand dollars is pocket change to a guy like Bill Gates. So when you check your email and find a letter from Bill saying he will give you a thousand bucks for simply sending him an email your response might be something like: "It could happen." NOT!

The above and thousands of other urban legends have found their way into our emails. Frequently they arrive imploring us to "Send this message to everyone you know." And of course you immediately send it to everyone you know. Then within five minutes after emailing everyone in your address book, you receive a message from one of the recipients telling you this message is a hoax and you should make arrangements to contact all your friends and tell them you've made a real fool of yourself.

Want to avoid this embarrassing situation? Of course you do.

Next time you receive a message about an incurable virus, an electronic greeting card that automatically sends cards to all in you address book, gas boycotts and more; visit Snopes: Urban Legend Reference Site first. It has hundreds, maybe thousands, of these email hoaxes and legends. (NOTE: By the way. One of the above legends is true. Go to Snopes to find out which one.)

Snopes has information concerning the origin of the legend/hoax, the text of email messages carrying the falsehood, an explanation of any aspect of the story that may have a basis in truth. It's the place I go first whenever I get an email stating the United States Postal Service is going to begin charging $.39/email because it's loosing too much revenue because of email.

Ming Tsai Online

2006-03-21T12:21:00.000-06:00

While I may not be one to pull out the pots and pans for supper, I do like spicy food. Apparently so does Ming Tsai, host of several television programs and author of two books. There's a lot of commercial stuff (shopping links) but there's also a lot of free stuff. Weekly recipes are made available along with a recipe archive. Unfortunately I couldn't find any search facility available. Apparently you can also visit Apple's iTunes site and get free downloads of his weekly podcasts by typing "Simply Ming" in the iTune search box.

Sports: The Wonderful World of What If...

2006-03-21T11:45:00.000-06:00

If you aren't playing some fantasy sports game yourself, you probably know several folks who are. These are the people that What If Sports is designed for. Not being exceptionally conversant with these type of games myself, I'll defer to WIF's self description.

"We have established ourselves as the Internet's foremost authority on simulation for MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA and college basketball. Whatifsports.com has expanded to include SimLeagues(tm) that allow users to create teams of their all-time favorite players and pit them against other user-created teams, as well as Dynasty games that put users in complete control of college sports programs."

Membership is free.

Street Magic

2006-03-21T11:27:00.000-06:00

If you like performing magic tricks, StreetMagic might be just what you're looking for. It's a free online magic magazine (Subscribe at Magic Roadshow). It claims to provide information you won't find in books at the public library or even at the local magic shop. Instead it offers techniques for preparing and presenting your illusions to an audience up close. The home page carries endorsements from various magicians and other magic magazines.

Technology Before the 21st Century

2006-02-06T17:44:00.000-06:00

At the Museum of RetroTechnology you can view the technology of the past. Look at the mechanical analog computer worked, steam powered bicycles, compressed air gramophones, and the ammonia motor. Find out what they were capable of and how they were used. The site provides insight into where we were and how we got where we are today. Lest you become to critical of the past, just think about this time next century when folks are looking back at our archaic computing technology, lack of functional ground or air transportation, and our dependence on fossil fuels for energy.

Engineering TravelGuide

2006-02-05T15:54:00.000-06:00

The National Society of Professional Engineers and National Engineers Week have come up with a Sightseer's Guide to Engineering. The sponsors maintain that nearly everything that makes our lives easier, more fun, and more productive, have been designed by engineers. The sight has info about many places in the country where this is evident. A brief description of the location and then why it is interesting from an engineering point of view accompanies each reference.

Memorial Day from Kim Komando

2006-02-05T15:00:00.000-06:00

A lot of sites I post on these blogs are sited by Kim Komando, computer maven of the radio waves, in various newsletters that I receive from her. She also has a website that can be most informative to those seeking additional computer knowledge. This is her Memorial Day site from last May (See how far behind I am with my posts?) that she put together. It contains links to many sources dealing with the history of Memorial Day and the wars since the inception of the holiday.

Kung Hay Fat Choy!

2006-01-27T21:19:00.000-06:00

That's the Chinese equivalent of Happy New Year. Sunday, January 29, 2006 will mark the beginning of the Chinese New Year. What follows is a partial list of sites that will explain this holiday, the Chinese Zodiac, the animals, the elements and more. Many of the sites are exclusively about the Chinese Zodiac, others discuss Feng Shui, culture, and other zodiacs. Enjoy!

All About Feng Shui, Astrology on the Web, China Online, Chinese Astrology, Chinese Astrology, Chinese Astrology Year Chart, Chinese Birthday Chart, Chinese Calendar, Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, Chinese Customs Festivals, Chinese Holidays, Chinese New Year, Chinese Calendar, Chinese Zodiac, Chinese Zodiac, Chinese Zodiac [Ba Zi and Tzu Wei Tou Shu Astrology], Chinese Zodiac Signs, Chinese Zodiac Symbols, Feng Shui Magazine, Feng Shui Store, Horoscope Universe, Info Please Almanac, Kung Fu Magazine Chinese Horoscopes, Legend, Mything Links, Onmark Productions, PhillyChinaTown, Spirit Project, Suite 101: Chinese Astrology, Travel China Guide, Tuvy.com, Year 2006 of Chinese Astrology Red Dog New Year, Zodiac Lore

Trusted Health Information for You

2006-01-18T23:12:00.000-06:00

That's the motto of Medline Plus. Here is Medline's own description of itself.

"MedlinePlus will direct you to information to help answer health questions. MedlinePlus brings together authoritative information from NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations. Preformulated MEDLINE searches are included in MedlinePlus and give easy access to medical journal articles. MedlinePlus also has extensive information about drugs, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and latest health news."

For medical information it seems like a good place to start looking.

Searching with a Map

2006-01-18T22:43:00.000-06:00

Nearly everyone has a favorite search engine they use. Type in a word or phrase, click "okay" and citations appear. Kart00 is different. It draws maps. Kart00 is a megasearch engine which means it goes and scans other search engines trying to satisfy your search. But instead of simply listing citations, it creates a map of subtopics. The subtopics also appear in a sidebar. Simply placing the pointer on the map subtopic or the sidebar and the map lights the way to new subtopic areas. It's an interesting method for narrowing searches but I'm a believer in the old Boolean methods. Best way to find if it works for you is to try it.

The More Words You Search, the Less You Find

2006-01-16T18:47:00.000-06:00

Exalead is a search engine based on the "and" rule. It assumes everything you enter should reside on the same web page. It also finds those sites with the occurrence of these words as close as possible to one another at the top of the search list. There are some preferences such as searching the entire web or just one language. I must admit I found a couple of items out there that never showed up in earlier Google searches. That's not so much a shortcoming of Google but just a different approach to searching that is taken by Exalead. Interesting search engine.

Great Books Online

2006-01-09T17:32:00.000-06:00

That's how Bartleby's lists itself. And it is most accurate. It represents an entire collection of reference books at the best possible price. Free! Everything from Strunk & White's Elements of Style, Bartlett's Quotation, Gray's Anatomy, and more. This should definitely be on every student's favorite list and also on the list of anyone who doesn't own their own reference library.

Gods of Many Cultures

2006-01-06T15:52:00.000-06:00

At GodChecker you can look into the backward of over 2,800 deities. I certainly never thought their could possibly be that many. But there are. Check out African gods, Celtic gods, Mesopotamian gods, and a whole look more. Some gods are better defined than others but overall it gives you a broad overview of the pantheon of gods we have had on our planet.

An A+ for +Plus Magazine

2006-01-06T15:40:00.000-06:00

In my youth I considered math something to be endured. Somewhere about the time I was in college I discovered it might not be a bad idea to start paying more attention in my Statistics classes. Slowly it all started making some kind of sense. +Plus Magazine takes math to the next step. The current issue explores the relationship between the arts and math, the golden ratio (which figured rather prominently in the DaVinci Code). The magazine also contains math puzzles and a career guide.

Preparing for Citizenship

2006-01-06T15:28:00.000-06:00

The U.S. VotebookCitizenship Test website can be useful to immigrant men and women preparing to take their U.S. Citizenship test or to a Civics class. In order to become a U.S. citizen it is necessary "to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of U.S. history and principles of government." There are 100 questions that come directly from the official list of the INS. The difference is that these questions are multiple choice. For the Votebook test 8 of 10 is required to be considered passing.

Obituaries of Boston

2006-01-06T12:35:00.000-06:00

This Obituary Database is a somewhat narrow collection of full-length (?) obituaries from the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald. The dates are rather limited and cover 1971-1974 and 1983-2002. If you decide to try this database be sure to read the disclaimer.

A Browser for Everyone

2006-01-06T12:08:00.000-06:00

4ComTech Freeware Browsers carry browsing to a new level. The site contains download links to free specialized browsers. Here is a partial list of the specialized browsers available: Freeware Browser, Sports Browser, Football Browser, Basketball Browser, Baseball Browser, Games Browser, Wrestling Browser, Freestuff Browser, Genealogy Browser, Health Browser, Tech Browser, Lyrics Browser, Diet Browser, Recipe Browser, and Tax Cuts & Tax Prep Browser.

Most of the browsers are less than 2 megs in size. Did I mention they are free? Here is a sample description of one of the Basketball Browser.

"Basketball Browser [1.68MB] is a basketball themed web browser that delivers easy access to NBA and NCAA basketball news. Read hoops coverage provided by ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS Sportsline, CNN/SI, NBC Sports, and Yahoo Sports with ease by utilizing tabs and quick links. NBA team websites, NCAA Division-1A conference websites, and fan forums are also embedded within this basketball web browser. Basketball Browser automatically finds related basketball links, subjects, fan websites, and topics associated to the current website you're viewing. It features a configurable integrated search engine utilizing the popular engines (Google, Yahoo, Search.com, HotBot, All the Web, etc), and also allows you to save and customize your favorite football websites easily by using toolbar buttons."

Free Email Stationary

2006-01-06T11:49:00.000-06:00

Everyone who sees this site will immediately send 10 emails to their dearest and closest friends. This is a given. Before sending those emails, you might want to take a slight detour and visit SwisBeagle Stationary & Graphics. They have a wide selection of free Outlook Express email stationary. If you can't make your email less boring, perhaps you can at least make it more interesting.

Who's Dead in Cleveland?

2006-01-03T17:22:00.000-06:00

Genealogists will find the Cleveland Necrology File most useful. It contains local cemetery records, and paid, newspaper death notices. The file contains information from: The Cleveland Plain Dealer: 1850-1975; The Cleveland Herald: 1833, 1847-1848, 1876, 1878-1879; The Cleveland Press: 1941-1975. For information after 1975 there is a link at the site to the Cleveland News Index and the Death Notices from The Plain Dealer.

The Unclaimed of Indiana

2006-01-03T17:14:00.000-06:00

With the help of Buck the retriever (see picture at left), you may find your share of over 285 million dollars in unclaimed property currently residing in the great state of Indiana. Enter your name and/or a property number. Then tell Buck to go out and do his thing. As far as I have been able to tell, the service is free. Indiana Unclaimed is a *.gov site.

Searching in South Africa

2006-01-03T17:07:00.000-06:00

When searching for info about South Africa be sure to visit Funnel. This site boasts searching nearly 4.25 million pages and documents from South African web sites. An interesting regional search engine.

Adverse Effects

2006-01-03T16:53:00.000-06:00

Anyone who has ever watched television has certainly seen a variety of advertisements for prescription drugs. Then somewhere during the commercial a disclaimer appears on the screen stating the various adverse effects that may arise from taking the pill. In case you cannot read the one point font on the screen, the announcer reads a laundry list of possible problems and makes it sound as if the side effects are not much more serious than a mosquito bite. The important thing is to get the prescription.

Enter Health Canada's Canadian Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Program (CADRMP). "You can use this database to access information concerning suspected adverse reactions to Canadian marketed health products of pharmaceuticals, biologics (including blood products and therapeutic and diagnostic vaccines), natural health products, and radiopharmaceuticals, as reported to Health Canada through voluntary and mandatory reporting measures."

Golf Courses Around the World

2006-01-03T16:43:00.000-06:00

If you are a golfer and you travel for business or pleasure, you probably make it a point to pack your clubs as well as other necessities. Bookmark Where2Golf to discover a worldwide database of golf courses. It contains info on the top courses in the UK, Ireland, continental Europe, South Africa, and selected sites in the USA.

The LOC version of Local History and Genealogical References

2005-12-30T18:36:00.000-06:00

"The Library of Congress has one of the world's premier collections of U.S. and foreign genealogical and local historical publications. The Library's genealogy collection began as early as 1815 with the purchase of Thomas Jefferson's library." from Local History and Genealogy Reading Room.

Death Certificates in Minnesota

2005-12-30T18:30:00.000-06:00

For genealogists looking for death certificates of ancestors, the Minnesota Death Certificates Index can help in the search. You can search by last name, first name, mother's maiden name, date of death, county and more. The database indexes records (death cards and death certificates) from roughly 1905 to 1996.

Baseball's Negro League Data Base

2005-12-30T18:21:00.000-06:00

Before Jackie Robinson, baseball was a segregated sport. African Americans were not allowed to play in the same league as the likes of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. So a separate league was created. It produced some great ball players and the history of the league is archived at this section of the MLB website. Visit the Negro Leagues Legacy.

Building a House From Scratch

2005-12-28T17:31:00.000-06:00

So you're going to have a house built on that property you bought several years ago. What type of house? How big? How many rooms? Important: Bathrooms? Would you like a French Country style? Or perhaps Southern Colonial? Or maybe simple Prairie Style?

Whatever type of house you want to build you should be able to find just the right set of floor plans at HousePlans.com. With nearly 22,000 house plans available you should be able to find something you like. You can search for houses by type or fill out a form to determine number of bedrooms, bathrooms, garage stalls, etc.

The Ultimate Online Medical Reference

2005-12-28T17:22:00.000-06:00

For decades the Merck manuals have been the mainstay of the medical professions. Many laymen also purchase copies of this medical treatise. Now the Merck Manual of Medical Information is available online. The best part of course is that it is provided free of charge by Merck and Company, Inc. as a public service. While it contains all the features of the printed version it includes impressive extras. It contains photographs and audio and video footage. It is also updated regularly in its online format.

Do You Know How to Find Akrotiri on the Map?

2005-12-12T17:38:00.000-06:00

Akrotiri but Dhekelia are just two of the many countries and locations found in the latest edition of the CIA World Fact Book. The book was just revised in November of 2005 and has the very latest information on the countries and governments of the world. Every entry contains a storehouse of information such as population, economy, military, etc. In addition to the above, the World Fact book also includes information on the more familiar countries of the world like the United States, Germany, Russia, China, and all the rest. An excellent geographical resource.

Who Rules Britainnia?

2005-12-12T17:25:00.000-06:00

Sorry about the bad pun. Ask Aristotle/Guardian Unlimited... "a guide to who holds power across Britain. It contains details of constituencies, MPs and candidates. You can use Ask Aristotle to find information on political power by party, by place, by issue, or even by all three at the same time."

Start Thinking About Mowing the Lawn

2005-12-05T23:20:00.000-06:00

At the British Lawnmower Museum you can find photos of a multitude of lawnmowers. They even have a video available called Lawnmowerworld. You can visit the lawnmower gallery, view lawnmowers of the rich and famous (Prince Charles, Princess Diana, and more). There's also repair info and parts ordering available as well.

Sightseeing from the Comfort of Your Own Office

2005-12-05T23:13:00.000-06:00

While not associated directly with Google, Google Sightseeing is a web site that finds interesting locations each day and gets images from Google Local and Google Earth. Aerial photos appear from various altitudes and some photos cannot be viewed easily. But it does make for an interesting travelogue and can provide some idea of what to look forward to next time you visit that location or a sight nearby.

Surf's Up!

2005-12-05T23:03:00.000-06:00

That is the extent of everything I know about surfing. However there are some folks at WaveWatch that know a whole lot more. They post daily reports on surfing news and waves around the globe. Here in the Midwest we don't have much surf, but maybe those of you on the coast will find WaveWatch useful.

Telephones--The Early Years

2005-11-27T17:33:00.000-06:00

A small but impressive collection of early telephones can be viewed at the Cyber Telephone Museum. The telephones displayed are from 1876-1915. There are brief explanations and descriptions. Interesting, if limited, site.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About ***

2005-11-27T17:12:00.000-06:00

City-Data is the place you want to go if you want information about a particular town or city in the United States. Not only does this site provide basic population and location information about the city of your choice but it also provides crime statistics, demographics, city government administrative budgets, average travel time to work, graphs of annual weather conditions, and photos of the city. I checked this out with 3 different cities, one with a population over one million, the second had a population around 60,000 and a small town with a population under 15,000. They all contained great info.

When loading the information on the city, don't be turned off when the Google ads pop up first with info about companies providing demographic information. The good stuff comes shortly after the ads and it is free.

It's In the Book

2005-11-22T23:38:00.000-06:00

Search Inside the Book is from Amazon.com and allows the researcher to find books in the normal fashion but also does a check of untold numbers of books to search for keywords that may appear inside the book. I'm not certain whether they are performing these searches on new, copyrighted materials or only public domain books. If the former, how come they get away with it and Google doesn't?

Shop Till You Drop

2005-11-20T17:09:00.000-06:00

With the holiday season upon us retailers are advertising all the usual wears at the usual holiday inflated "special" prices. But where do you go to find that special gift? The one that isn't carried at every department store. Try Become. Become is a shopping search engine. It doesn't just help find the product but also buying guides, reviews, articles, specifications and more.

Searching for the Spoken Word

2005-11-20T16:52:00.000-06:00

Most Internet surfers know how to use one search engine or another for finding printed references for a particular topic. They may even be able to find appropriately titled images, sounds or video files. These media searches usually require that the appropriate search phrase is located somewhere on the same page or within the media filename. Podscope actually searches audio and video files and "listens" for the search term. So even if the key phrase does not appear on the printed web page, it will be found in the audio or video file if it is spoken.

CAUTION: Just like text searching, this kind of searching may lead to many false hits when the search term is only mentioned as a casual reference within an audio file. Example: You are looking for info about martial arts and you find an audio interview with a rocket scientist who happens to mention in passing that he likes martial arts movies. The rest of the audio may have nothing to do with your search topic.

Education Reference Site

2005-10-31T11:46:00.000-06:00

Parents looking for activities to do with the kids on a rainy weekend or snow day. Teachers looking for a lesson plan. Students needing help finding info for a research paper. One site can help everyone. It goes by the lengthy name of: Dr. Labush's Links to Learning. Dr. Labush has searched the Internet to find educational research sites that can be useful to parents, teachers and students in grade school through high school. He has organized these sites into topics and set up links to literally hundreds of resources. The downside is there appears to be no keyword search capability. The visitor must find the info they seek by choosing a broad category link and then viewing the hundreds of links (listed in non-alphabetical order). Well worth the visit.

Look! Up In The Sky! It's a Bird! --What Kind?

2005-10-31T11:15:00.000-06:00

All About Birds is a "must visit" site for the truly dedicated bird watcher. It contains a warehouse of info about every aspect of birding. Just some of the topics covered at the site are: how to identify birds, binocular guide, how to attract birds, video gallery and more.

Birthdates of the Famous

2005-10-31T10:40:00.000-06:00

Famous Birthdays is a remarkable site. It contains birthdays of numerous celebrities. Not only those still alive but those long gone as well. In addition to the standard birthdate info, you can click on the personality name and it does an automatic Yahoo! search for that person. Want some photographs? Click on a camera icon and it runs an automatic Google Image search. There is no keyword searching that I was able to find, but the creators of the site seem to have all the major bases covered. You can display birthdates by month, year, last name, first name, and date.

In addition to all of the above, there are links to various specialty databases (sports, imdb, etc) for even more calendar information. To top it all off, the site is a breeze to navigate. These folks have a most useful and efficient site.

In Search of Your Genetic Roots

2005-09-26T17:17:00.000-05:00

You've traced your ancestor's back to the first Pilgrim's to land in North America; your genealogical studies have shown that technically you are 5,485th in line for the British throne. This is just a chronological drop in a bucket to where you really came from. It is now being suggested that every human is descended from an African ancestor that lived over 60,000 years ago. To follow your racial and ethnic lineage back through time visit the Genographic Project. Discover your genetic roots.

Man-made Heavens

2005-09-19T16:02:00.000-05:00

Along with the natural wonders of the night sky are some pretty miraculous man-made wonders. These are the hundreds of satellites that travel around our planet sending various types of information back to the earthbound scientists that sent them up in the first place. At Heaven's Above, you can find out information about nearly any satellite you wish. Things like when it will pass within visual range of your location can be found.

Texts Online from University of Michigan

2005-09-19T15:24:00.000-05:00

UMDL Texts stands for University of Michigan Digital Library Project. It represents a site for access to electronic books, and journals provided by the U of M. There are over 27,000 texts represented here. Most seem to be of the more academic variety so you probably won't find that celebrity tell-all autobiography here. Some of the content is restricted to use of U of M students, faculty and staff.

Search for Financial Info on Yahoo!

2005-09-19T15:18:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! now has a financial search available. The URL is a little different than the for the standard Yahoo! but it takes you directly to the spot. You can seek information on private companies, subsidiaries, individuals within the company, and more.

Look! Up In The Sky!

2005-09-19T15:09:00.000-05:00

Sky and Telescope has a search site for astronomical events. It covers events that take place in the heavens and also events in the form of special events for amateur astronomers here on planet Earth. If you like looking at the night sky and want to know more give this site a try.

Internet Slang Index

2005-09-19T14:57:00.000-05:00

LOL, B4, GAL, IMO, ROFL and many more Internet slang terms and abbreviations can be found at index of Web Slang, Lingo and Acronyms used in chat rooms site. Along with abbreviations you can find an impressive index of emoticons, and some single-character abbreviations. BFN.

Sacred Places

2005-08-25T20:44:00.000-05:00

Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Traditions of the World describes itself.

"Sacred sites are the most loved and visited places on planet earth. Since prehistoric times they have exerted a mysterious attraction on billions of pilgrims from every region and religion. These holy places have the power to heal the body, enlighten the mind, and awaken the soul. Anthropologist Martin Gray spent 20 years as a wandering pilgrim to study and artistically photograph 1000 sacred sites in 80 countries. This web site features Martin’s sacred art photographs and shows the location of sacred places and pilgrimage shrines around the world."

Old Car Manuals

2005-08-22T16:48:00.000-05:00

Do you collect old cars? Have you recently bought an older car? Can't find an owner's manual? Now you just may be able to find it at Old Iron Online: The Old Car Manual Project. This site exists to bring old car manuals to those that need it and know how to use it. So if you have a 1964 Ford Econoline, a 1981 De Lorean, a 1948 Tucker, or a 1986 Gurgel, you can get help here.

Sex Offenders

2005-08-22T16:38:00.000-05:00

The Sex Offenders Registries is a collection of links to the various state data bases of sex offenders. These are official state sites. However the criteria from one state to the next may be different. Therefore along with using the data base for the state of your choice, you should also review the registry laws and/or rules.

Ships and Yachts of America

2005-08-18T21:24:00.000-05:00

The Mystic Seaport Museum of America and the Sea contains the registry of American Ships and Yachts from as far back as 1857. The records were scanned in and come in very slowly with dial up. The image develops after several screen scans. Hopefully this works better on broadband systems.

Search and Compare

2005-08-18T21:05:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time there was a search site called Yagoohoogle! It would search 2 popular search engines and display the results side by side on the screen. I just visited there today and got an unavailable message. So I went to Google to look up Yagoohoogle! and found Twingine. Could it be the two giant search engines thought the original name was too similar to their own? At any rate, Twingine works just like Yagoohoogle! You type in search criteria and you get both searches on your screen side by side. You decide which one is best for you.

Comic Book Characters

2005-08-14T22:18:00.000-05:00

There have been at least five Green Lanterns, two Green Arrows, and several variants of Captain Marvel. Can you name their secret identities? If you even care about such things you will absolutely want to visit Comic Characters Database. Not only does it cover secret identities of the good guys but also the bad guys and their helpers. For every character I looked up there was a picture and a brief bio. Comic book collectors should enjoy this site.

Baseball and Business

2005-08-14T22:01:00.000-05:00

If you like baseball and want to keep up on what team is relocating where or which team is for sale or any other business aspect of the game then you probably want to visit The Business of Baseball. The site has the latest news on expansion and relocations, interviews with key management, even a fan forum where you can write your own humble opinion on the biz.

Free Clipart for Educators

2005-07-20T17:33:00.000-05:00

A modest collection of free clipart, fonts, wallpaper, etc. await the educator at Awesome Clipart for Educators. None of the items are award-winning but they are simple and free. Visitors are asked to fill out a survey stating their status; student, parent, teacher... It's worth a visit.

Don't Look Now, But Your Shoelace is Untied

2005-07-20T17:23:00.000-05:00

At Shoe Lacing Methods one discovers that with 6 pairs of eyelets there are just slightly less than 2 trillion ways to lace a shoe. At this site the webmaster has chosen his 24 favorite lacing methods and diagramed them and excellent step-by-step instructions. There are instructions for standard lacing, boot lacing, and even one-handed lacing. Quite a nice site.

Shopping at the Government Store

2005-07-10T21:36:00.000-05:00

Are you looking for some good, used items. Maybe a car or van? How about office equipment? Or real estate? Well the U.S. Government may just have what you're looking for. Visit the FirstGov.gov shopping page and see if you can find any bargains.

Journal of the H.M.S. Endeavor

2005-07-10T21:29:00.000-05:00

The National Library of Australia makes the journal entries of James Cook (1728-1779) available at this site. This is not a transcript but the scanned images of the original journal. This comes from the library's Digital Collection. Visit the library's home page for more interesting materials as well.

Comparing Hospital Health Care

2005-07-10T21:18:00.000-05:00

"Hospital Compare has quality measures on how often hospitals provide some of the recommended care to get the best results for most patients. You will see some of the recommended care that an adult should get if being treated for a heart attack, heart failure, or pneumonia.

"This information helps you, your health care provider, family, and friends compare the quality of care provided in the acute-care hospitals (general hospitals) and critical access hospitals (small, remote hospitals) that agree to submit data on the quality of certain services they provide for certain conditions. This quality information not only helps you make good decisions about your health care, but also encourages hospitals to improve the quality of health care they provide.

"Quality information is not available on this website for children's, psychiatric, rehabilitation or long-term care hospitals because they generally do not treat adult patients for heart attack, heart failure, or pneumonia."

Where Are You? Google Knows.

2005-07-10T19:31:00.000-05:00

Google has another beta service for us. Actually it's been around for a little while now but it just took me some time to get around to writing it up here. The site is called Google Maps. It allows you to access street maps, magnify them, scroll them and more. You can even get satellite images of the area you are viewing. You don't need an address. You can search for locations the way you perform a general Google search. I've looked at the satellite images but they don't seem to have a time/date stamp on them. So it may be a little difficult to determine the currency of the image.

Once you've looked at your house, your place of work, and some friends and relatives, you might want to load Google Earth Beta. "Google Earth puts a planet's worth of imagery and other geographic information right on your desktop. View exotic locales like Maui and Paris as well as points of interest such as local restaurants, hospitals, schools, and more." The download is free. There are also deluxe versions available for a fee.

Archival Links

2005-07-08T16:43:00.000-05:00

At Archival Internet Resources you can find a huge collection of hyperlinks to various archive sources. These links are categorized as: Master Lists of Archives, Tools for Archivists, Archival Search Engine, Professional Resources, and Searching Resources.

The Archives Hub is a United Kingdom version of the Archival Internet Resources. Or is that the other way around.

Primary Resources Unlimited (Almost)

2005-07-06T17:45:00.000-05:00

The Repositories of Primary Resources has nothing in the way of primary resources. It represents a bridge that links to a multitude of archival sites all over the world. Everything from town council meetings to small town libraries in the most out-of-the-way places. Impressive.

Historical Manuscript Collection 101

2005-07-06T17:34:00.000-05:00

Definitely a site for the academic. But wonderful in the scope of its offerings.

"The Schoyen Collection comprises most types of manuscripts from the whole world spanning over 5000 years. It is the largest private manuscript collection formed in the 20^th century.

"The whole collection, MSS 1-5274, comprises 13,500 manuscript items, including 2,172 volumes.
6,850 manuscript items are from the ancient period, 3300 BC - 500 AD; 3,859 are from the medieval period, 500 - 1500; and 2,791 are post-medieval."

12 Great Books

2005-07-04T21:49:00.000-05:00

The British Library has what it calls a Turning the Pages system for displaying 12 historically significant books in their original format. You can not only view the pages but zoom in on the details. Among the books listed are: Baybar's Qur'an, Golden Haggadah, Versalius's 16th century anatomy and more.

Archives of an Empire

2005-07-04T21:22:00.000-05:00

"The National Archives of England, Wales and the United Kingdom has one of the largest archival collections in the world, spanning 1000 years of British history, from Domesday Book of 1086 to government papers recently released to the public."

Astronomy Stuff

2005-07-04T09:38:00.000-05:00

What follows is a collection of various astronomy sites. The descriptions will be short. If you're into astronomy, you should find something you like. Many of these sites came to me in the Internet Tourbus newsletter mentioned in the post just below this one. The newsletter is great but the Tourbus website is even better. Be sure to visit it as well.

Photographs from Deep Impact probe and Tempe I, courtesy of NASA. Pretty slow access on dial up connection but that's because the event just occurred last night.

ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY

At the Astronomy Picture of the Day you see a different astronomical photograph each day. The site also includes a brief explanation of the image and multiple links for more information on the topic.

Astronomy for Kids attempts to provide astronomical information for kids in a digestible format. It contains images of sky maps, constellations, the planets and more. It even has electronic postcards available.

Before you go anywhere in Views of the Solar System, you must pick which of five languages you want to view: English, French, German, Portuguese, or Spanish. Then it "presents a vivid multimedia adventure unfolding the splendor of the Sun, planets, moons, comets, asteroids, and more. Discover the latest scientific information, or study the history of space exploration, rocketry, early astronauts, space missions, spacecraft through a vast archive of photographs, scientific facts, text, graphics and videos. Views of the Solar System offers enhanced exploration and educational enjoyment of the solar system and beyond."

NINE PLANETS: A Multimedia Tour of the Solar System. Not only is current information made available but this site also discusses the history and myth associated with the various planets in our solar system. In addition to the above info there is also a brief sound excerpt from the appropriate section of Gustav Holst's Nine Planets.

The title of Bad Astronomy is really a misnomer here. The author of the site simply corrects common misconceptions about astronomy. While I'm not a total science geek, I especially like his movie reviews. They discuss the quality of the movie some but tend to focus on the science and astronomy angles of the film. His review of the latest Star Wars film is entertaining, insightful, and amusing. Beware! In order to properly explain the science of a sci-fi film the review may contain some spoilers. So if you haven't seen the film yet, wait awhile before reading his review. There's more than sci-fi movie reviews. Visit the site and you'll see what I mean.

Tourbus to the Stars

2005-07-04T09:18:00.000-05:00

The Internet Tourbus is a website filled with information about the Internet and computers. But it also has a page dedicated to the stars. The Internet Tourbus News Service Astronomy News and Links has brief synopses of various astronomy news articles and then link to the article.

Medically Speaking

2005-07-03T23:28:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Medical Library Association we have a unique website called Deciphering MedSpeak. That's exactly what it helps you do. The site has its own general medical term glossary with links to other sites to help you get additional information. Find out what your doctor is really saying.

A Small Album of Frogs and Toads

2005-07-03T18:38:00.000-05:00

I like frogs. When I was a kid, I would go out to a nearby pond or lake and catch a couple of frogs. I'd bring them home for the summer and then release them back into their habitat in the late summer or early fall. I'd spoil them rotten, feeding them all the night crawlers they could eat.

Enough about me. Frogs and Toads in Color and Sound is a small album of 12 frog images with their accompanying "croaks." You'll need RealPlayer to hear the sound files.

Old Maps and More

2005-07-03T18:34:00.000-05:00

"This site (Historic Cities) contains maps, literature, documents, books and other relevant material concerning the past, present and future of historic cities and facilitates the location of similar content on the web."

Before the Ball Point Pen...

2005-07-03T18:23:00.000-05:00

Before the Ball Point there was the fountain pen. At Penoply, the fountain pen is given its due. There are samples of some of the great pens of the past, a history of the fountain pen, glossary, troubleshooting (for those who may still have an older pen), and more.

Travel Info: Around the Country or Around the World

2005-07-03T18:09:00.000-05:00

This site covers a lot of territory. While it contains very little information of its own, it has links to the sites you'll want to visit before you visit the real place.

"Travelconsumer.com's mission is to provide travelers with a unique and valuable collection of resources, advice, great writing, and unbiased recommendations. Our Web-based discussion group provides an opportunity for travelers to share their adventures, joys, recommendations, and frustrations with each other."

"Travelconsumer.com's content includes every country of the world, the United States, and all of the states within the United States."

A Search Engine Designed for FireFox

2005-06-29T09:36:00.000-05:00

And what a search engine it is. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel many search sites are merely acting as search brokers. That's what you have with TopicHunter. First you choose what type of search you want to do: general, video, reference, directory, etc. Then you are presented with a listing of the most appropriate search sites to use. Pick one of the sites. Type in your search criteria and go get the target of your search. I like searching the web for just about anything and everything. I know about a lot of search engines. But TopicHunter has some sites even I haven't heard of before.

Looking for Someplace to Hold a Party?

2005-06-29T09:24:00.000-05:00

If you're the one responsible for lining up a banquet hall, conference room, or convention site, then Eventective is for you.

"Search nationwide and choose from more than 16,000 facilities and 39,000 event spaces.
Whether you're planning a conference, wedding, corporate meeting, or other event, our user-friendly search engine makes it easy to find the right property - with the right space."

Classic Cars in Classic Commercials

2005-06-29T09:16:00.000-05:00

Get your broadband warmed up for this one. Classic Car Commercials is a collection of commercials made for classic cars and trucks from the mid 1950s-1970s. In order to view the commercials you should probably have broadband or be prepared to wait for a long download on dial-up. Some of the car and truck commercials available are: 1957 Dodge with push-button transmission, 1958 Ford, 1961 Oldsmobile, and a lot more. The site is primarily a commercial for classic DVDs of old television programs. But the commercials are free.

Prescription Drugs and Medicare

2005-06-24T16:50:00.000-05:00

This is the official government Medicare site. This part of the site deals with Prescription Drugs and other Assistance Programs. You can check here for all the latest information on Medicare policies concerning prescription drugs and even drug discount cards.

Eggciting Recipes

2005-06-24T16:45:00.000-05:00

Recipes is the name of the site, but I suspect it's sponsored by some faction of the egg industry. Every recipe I looked at contained eggs and the home page contains a single photo--eggs and a fry pan. If you like eggs or recipes that include eggs, there are dozens of them at this site.

National Forests and Grasslands Maps

2005-06-24T16:39:00.000-05:00

Having traveled through a couple of national forests, it's a pretty good idea to know where you're going. A map can certainly be a big help. To get a map of the national forest or grassland of your choice, visit the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service Maps site. Each map will open in a new window so you can get back to the map home page very quickly by simply closing the current map.

Purchasing a Car?

2005-06-24T16:33:00.000-05:00

Check with one of the most frequently used consumer sources--ConsumerGuide Automotive. You can check out new car reviews, get vehicle history reports on used cars (for a fee), or link to use the links to other ConsumerGuide sites on the Internet.

Auto Google

2005-06-24T16:21:00.000-05:00

Do you have a topic you frequently search for with Google? How about letting Google do the searching automatically and then letting you know when something new shows up? That's what you can do with Google Alerts. You simply type the term/s you're looking for and whether it should search the Web, News, or both and the frequency with which you want it checked. Then Google does the searching based on your search terms and informs you when changes occur.

Search Engine Portal

2005-06-22T17:41:00.000-05:00

Here is another search engine portal. It is called Port Prophecy. It allows you to search various search engines selectively from one site. But it does more. It also allows you to determine what type of information you want such as addresses, sound files, videos, images, etc. After making this decision you are provided with listings of those sites that will search for such items. All you have to do is type in your search.

The Ultimate Trivial Beatles Record Site

2005-06-17T17:47:00.000-05:00

Have you ever listened to a Beatles recording and thought you heard voices speaking in the background? Musical mistakes? Strange transitions? At What Goes On, you will find nearly every Beatles recording--singles and albums--analyzed for mistakes, extraneous sounds, and more. If you are a die hard Beatles fan and want to know everything, this is the place.

Searching the Government

2005-06-06T18:46:00.000-05:00

A special search site, using the Clusty search engine, focuses on the U.S. government. You can search using standard keyword search rules or view various clustered collections such as: Supreme Court, Watergate: Deep Throat, or Hillary Clinton. This is a nice site for those that like to keep abreast of what's happening in government.

Government Science

2005-06-05T16:59:00.000-05:00

This government site provides scientific information on a multitude of subjects. At FirstGov for Science you can find information on Astronomy, Biology, Computers, Math, Physics and more.

Wartime Living Quarters

2005-06-05T16:37:00.000-05:00

BunkerTours is the name of this site that looks at the various conditions of bunker living during several different military conflicts. The author has a special interest in the bunkers of the Maginot Line in France. Along with full-screen photos of the bunkers you can find the author's narrative of visits to these same bunkers. For the war buff, this is a site of interest.

Escape from the Skinner Box

2005-06-05T16:17:00.000-05:00

According to its own description, Rat Lab is "where all the mad scientists go." This site covers everything from how to choose the proper area for your Ph.D. to science experiments you can perform at home and answers science questions you never quite got around to looking up in the library.

To Shake or Not to Shake. That is the Question

2005-06-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

In this world of international business, we meet people from many different cultures. As the saying goes: "You never get a second chance to make a good first impression." You want to show respect for other people's culture. Part of that respect can be shown by greeting the new person in the manner to which they are accustomed. That's what the Business of Touch is all about. It has short animated greeting simulations between people of various cultures. The animation is crude at best but the information displayed may be valuable. My biggest problem is that the site only lists 15 countries at this time.

History in Broadband

2005-05-30T16:56:00.000-05:00

The History Channel Broadband site contains video clips and animations from the many programs available on the channel. Be warned: It is really designed for those with broadband. If you're still using dial-up be prepared for long load times.

Up! Up! And Away!

2005-05-30T16:44:00.000-05:00

Beautiful and amazing are two words that come to mind while viewing the Wings of The Web. These are photographs taken of various planes while in flight. The photos are very sharp. There is also an image of the shockwave generated as a plane breaks the sound barrier. It's like watching a science fiction film as the characters walk through a portal to another universe. The thing is this picture isn't fiction nor tricked out. It's real.

Watch the English Language Change Right Before Your Eyes

2005-05-30T16:21:00.000-05:00

We've all heard comedians get laughs by slightly modifying a word pronunciation or misusing a word in a humorous fashion. But some of our language is changing because of popular mispronunciations and/or misinterpretations. At the Eggcorn database the original word or phrase is documented as well as its misuse or interpretation. Watch the language change. Fascinating for lexiphiles.

History of American Amusement

2005-05-30T16:02:00.000-05:00

At Amusing America, you can find a history of American amusement since the end of the Civil War. This exhibition comes from the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society. Initial navigation comes by clicking on one of 11 graphic hyperlinks strategically overlaid on the image of an early Ferris wheel. To start at the beginning, click on the top center image. History buffs will find the site interesting.

Business Women

2005-05-30T15:37:00.000-05:00

"Enterprising Women brings to life the stories of some 40 intriguing women who helped shape the landscape of American business. Artifacts and costumes, diaries and letters, business and legal documents, photographs and paper ephemera, audio recordings, and interactive technology reveal the trials and triumphs of this diverse group of inventors, innovators and trendsetters. "

This Dark and Stormy has Nothing to Do With Snoopy

2005-05-23T17:47:00.000-05:00

Find the recipe for almost any mixed cocktail at the Digital Bartender data base. Yes there is even a recipe for a drink called a Dark and Stormy Night.

NASCAR

2005-05-23T17:41:00.000-05:00

I'm not a NASCAR fan but some of you may be. If so, this is the site to visit. Here is there description in their own words.

"NASCAR.COM is the premier destination for the NASCAR fan. Providing up-to-the-minute coverage on a 24-hour basis, NASCAR.COM delivers news, statistics and information on races, drivers, teams and industry events. Whether you're new to the sport, or have been a NASCAR fan since they raced on the beach at Daytona, NASCAR.COM brings you closer to the sport."

In addition there are a number of extras: puzzles (NASCAR photos), games, screensavers and more.

The World's Most Beautiful Food Magazine

2005-05-23T17:36:00.000-05:00

That's how Waitrose Food Illustrated bills itself. "This is the place to find out all about how to cook your favourite ingredients, look for a restaurant in your area, search for tips on better cooking or find out about how foods are produced."