Cool Web Sites
by Don Singleton
Tulsa Computer Society
From the May 2004 issue of the I/O Port Newsletter
Including links previously reviewed at
http://www.educationindex.com/index.html,
http://www.komando.com/,
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/arch.htm,
and http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html
An alphabetical index of dog breeds with photos, brief histories of the breed and descriptions of its characteristics.
"Science questions and answers for kids of all ages." The anonymous Dr. Universe plies her trade at Washngton State University and "tackles all questions, not just science. She has a whole campus of experts to call on, experts in just about everything." Browsable and keyword-searchable.
I love to read quotes from famous people. They can be funny, insightful or sometimes just plain curious.
Search today's site for quotes made by or about famous people. There are silly ones listed --like this quote attributed to Zsa Zsa Gabor: "I'm a great housekeeper. I get divorced. I keep the house. "
There are also the profound thoughts of Mohandas Gandhi, such as, "An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching."
This site is great if you're creating your own greeting cards, giving a public speech, need a line for your e-mail signature or want some fun reading.
A searchable Agency-wide catalog of science activities and scientific and technical work products (for example, risk assessments, technical studies and guidance, and research.)
"Holding politicians accountable," the site creators examine recent statements by politicians or political organizations from any political party, and print the claim, test its truthfulness, and cite their sources.
Having a sick pet can be heart-wrenching and frustrating. It's nice to know that there is a reference manual that can answer almost any question.
With over 12,000 indexed topics and 1,200 illustrations, The Merck Veterinary Manual claims to be the single most comprehensive electronic reference. After looking at it, it's hard to discount that claim.
Has your cat been diagnosed with feline leukemia? Find out the various treatments or future prevention and control. Thinking of forgoing store-bought food for your cat or dog? You might want to read the section on nutrition first.
If you have a pet, you might want to bookmark this site.
This is nifty. Type in the name of a populated place and get links to aerial photos and regional, local and topographical maps. You can also get an aerial photo of your home, or find the (air miles) distance between two places.
A joint project of The Bugwood Network and USDA Forest Service. Browse by categories (wildlife, forest plants, trees and stand types, etc.) or search. Judging from the image numbers I retrieved, the collection seems to include several million images.
The Arctic Tundra is a fascinating and beautiful place. Although you may think of it as a vast wasteland, it's really not. It's an important place that sustains life and culture.
Each year, educators and explorers brave the cold to educate students and the world. This year, the Polar Huskies are dogsledding across Nunavut. They will meet
with Inuit elders and students, document Arctic change and conduct experiments.
You don't have to be a student to participate. Through this Web site, you can take part in chats or e-mail the Polar Huskies questions or notes of encouragement.
Type in a URL and find out not Alexa's analysis of the site's traffic rank, but also related sites, a capsule description, an analysis of how people use the site, and an opportunity to write a review of the site on Amazon. You can also browse by subject or browse the top 500 sites. Alexa is a partner of Google and an Amazon company.
The puzzles presented here "range over geometry, probability, number theory, algebra, calculus, and logic. All require a certain ingenuity, but usually only pre-college math... Explaining how an answer is arrived at is more important than the answer itself. To this end, hints, answers, and fully worked solutions are provided, as well as links to relevant mathematical topics."
Are you underpaid? It's easy to feel this way, especially after you hear about an athlete or musician signing multimillion-dollar contracts. Believe it or not, you may be richer than you imagine.
Enter your annual income into the Global Rich List. It then compares your salary with the global average annual income. It's a great reminder of how well off most Americans are.
Each entry frames the eyewitness account with a brief description of the event and of the person recounting it and includes a bibliography and related links. Browse by time period. There's also a small audio archive of Voices of the 20th Century.
"Provides access to the World's very best place-based Web sites." Most of the sites are prime image and map resources, like Nineteenth Century Mississippi River Scenes, Historic Colorado Photographs, Three Strolls through Paris, Sites and Scenes of Rio de Janeiro. An ongoing project; some continents are not as yet well-represented.
Have you ever wondered how a common object or product is made? This site will explain it all to you.
Over 40 different products and manufacturing processes are explained in plain English. Airplanes, candy boxes, you name it! You must have the Macromedia FlashPlayer plug-in to view the content.
"A photo tribute to the men and women of Operation Iraqi Freedom." View by service branch or by timeline. Produced by Military Times, it also includes the best of war coverage from its four branch-specific journals, which are linked in.
This database currently includes 12471 plays, 5618 writers, and 326 monologues, searchable by title, author, genre, cast size and gender, length, set complexity, keyword in plot description, and other factors, enabling you to match possible plays to your available budget, cast, and skills.
Sometimes we end up in careers that don't appeal to us. How do you get out of them, and what should your next job be? Find out through your interests and personal style.
The Princeton Review has a great online quiz. Answer each question to discover your personality and style. It could get you started in a brand new career!
Actually this is an assessment of each state's taxation system. After reading the comparative analysis and charts, you'll want to check out your own state's report card for adequacy of revenue, fainess to taxpayers, and management of the system.
We live in a highly connected society. Most people have one, if not multiple, cell phones, pagers, PDAs and e-mail accounts. And so often we use it to keep in touch with our friends and family. That’s why I thought you might like to know about The Emergency E-mail Network.
It provides instant notification of local, regional, national and international emergencies. Register your e-mail address and the way you want to be notified -- computer, PDA, cell phone, digital pager or fax. Then choose the categories you want to be notified about -- severe weather information, utilities outages, Amber Alerts, etc. You can even turn off notifications during specific time periods.
Learn good and bad design through exploration and discussion. Design your own watch or logo.
A fun way to teach physics while undoing the misconceptions fostered by movies. Browse by specific movie reviews, or by the violated physics principles (falls, explosions, scaling, etc.)
Your personal information may be given out without you knowing it. There are companies that maintain databases and sell information.
LexisNexis is one such company that maintains a database of people for governmental agencies, private companies and legal professionals. This information generally contains your name, address, previous addresses and phone number(s).
You can remove yourself from this list by filling out a form. If you want a previous address removed, simply fill out the form again.
This kid safe Web portal has everything a kid would need. Play games, find homework help, watch cartoons and more!
"The Web's biggest directory of free how-tos." Browsable and searchable.
Ever wonder what type of information Web sites gathered about you when you visited? BrowserSpy allows you to spy on yourself. It tests your Internet browser and computer and reports on your: operating system, browser and version, connection to the Internet, cookie information, versions of various software and more.
Why does it do this? It shows you what other Web sites can potentially find out about you. Of course, most of this information is mundane and harmless. BrowserSpy is best used to identify what needs to be upgraded.
This math site presents you with real situations. Most challenges are for children in middle school. Figure This! targets the entire family.
A round-up of collections of the best, worst and most frequent in movies, journalism, books, spam, search terms, web sites, etc.
Computer people speak their own language. Today's site helps dispel confusion encountered when faced with a brand new acronym.
Whenever you encounter a string of letters or numbers, jump over to The Ultimate Computer Acronyms Archive (TUCAA). You'll be able to follow any conversation like a techno-savvy pro! You can search or browse, or download the archive.
Read interesting news and articles about animals, nutrition, the environment and more. Play games, solve puzzles or conduct experiments.
Another search engine that displays result clusters visually.
For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here
Tulsa Computer Society 5/01/2004
Don Singleton, President