Websites of Knowledge? 105
AvantLegion asks: "Every now and then, I stumble upon a website that is just a veritable tome of knowledge - be it of a certain theme (like Snopes.com) or more general information (Everything2.com). Free documentation databases are invaluable, but rarely seem to come up very early in Google searches. What websites out there do you consider to be indispensable sources of knowledge? (save the obvious Slashdot jokes). Where do you look up information besides combing through search engine results?"
The Straight Dope (Score:5, Informative)
They've got a good search engine, and answers to all kinds of interesting questions. I've spent many an evening browsing through the archives...
Old School Technology - Newsgroups (Score:3, Informative)
MSDN (Score:3, Interesting)
Two (Score:3, Informative)
Then there's of course Eric Weisstein's World of Science [wolfram.com] for everything related to physics, chemistry and mathematics.
Alternative dictionary site (Score:4, Informative)
Also dict.org (Score:3, Interesting)
I can see why you'd prefer dictionary.com, though. They have better foreign language support, and a thesaurus; dict.org has several different algorithms for searching (that you ca
The All Music Guide (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The All Music Guide (Score:2, Insightful)
Not pop, but... (Score:2)
Re:The All Music Guide (Score:2, Informative)
Security Tome (Score:2, Informative)
IMDb (Score:5, Informative)
Re:IMDb (Score:3, Informative)
For a more specific entertainment niche, I got to Setlist.com [setlist.com] for (duh) setlist information.
The best geography/government site: the CIA World Factbook [cia.gov]. I'm not sure how the CIA landed that responsibility but it's very well done.
And, of course, for Americans the IRS forms site [irs.gov] is a must.
Re:IMDb (Score:4, Funny)
IMDB wouldn't really help, because at that point I'd be paralyzed with the shame of my intimate knowledge of CHiPs and thus unable to get to the computer.
Re:IMDb (Score:1)
Re:IMDb (Score:3, Interesting)
As the TV becomes the computer becomes the home theatre becomes the DVD player becomes
Re:IMDb (Score:2, Informative)
Re:IMDb (Score:2)
Re:IMDb (Score:2)
Yaxay.com (Score:2, Informative)
How Stuff Works (Score:3, Interesting)
Wikipedia (Score:2, Informative)
Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] is a multilingual project to create a complete and accurate open content encyclopedia.
All the articles are under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Re:Wikipedia (Score:1)
You're missing the obvious ones (Score:5, Informative)
How Stuff Works [howstuffworks.com]
I remember a while back... (Score:1)
Mathworld (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Mathworld (Score:2)
Topography (Score:2)
Just discovered a fantastic one this morning: TopoZone [topozone.com]. In an age where everybody everywhere is trying to make a buck on information, it's refreshing to find an government/academic grade information store accessible (digitally at least) for free.
Re:Topography (Score:1)
It has USGS aerial photos [microsoft.com] as well as topo maps of most of the contiguous United States. There are commercial applications, such as ExpertGPS [expertgps.com], that use Terraserver to support some pretty cool features.
Yeah it's "sponsored" by M$, but if you're a map geek like me this site is great.
sources (Score:1, Offtopic)
There are these sources I can find without too much difficulty. Usually access is pretty easy. The interface is bit clumsy, but familiar enough to be user friendly. The great thing is that they are permamently static. They are totally unhackable, too. The page design is nice and simple -- no dumb "navigation" graphics. You don't even need to be logged in. I use those sources a lot.
Re:sources (Score:2)
arXiv.org e-Print archive (Score:4, Informative)
--Asa
hyperphysics (Score:2)
I like hyperphysics [gsu.edu] because they link the different areas of physics graphically. A map to knowledge is sometimes more helpful than the actual knowledge.
-metric
Re:When I look for stuff... (Score:3, Informative)
But yeah, for information, there's TONS of stuff out there. I've actually found that the best way to find a really cool page is to start with something specific, punch in a very careful and exact google query, look at the first 10 or 20 hits, and find the one that seems to be the most all-around informative, and bookmark it. If you're really clever, you can categorize your bookmarks, but I'm lazy and I don't (g
Don't confuse knowledge with information (Score:3, Insightful)
Sorry to be so pedantic, but the speaker [berkeley.edu] at my college graduation said something along the lines of, "seek knowledge, not information" and it's the one thing from his speech that has stuck with me. Use information to gain knowledge, and use knowledge to gain wisdom. It is only through the power of the willing human mind that each transforms into the next.
But anyway, back to your regularly scheduled links full of cool information...
if I want to know "How much is inside?" (Score:1)
http://www.cockeyed.com
Drugs (Score:1)
Not just fun drugs, either. All kinds of information about all kinds of pharmaceuticals (too lazy for spell check)
Re:Drugs (Score:1)
investing (Score:1)
They're even tech sites! (Score:4, Informative)
webopedia.com [webopedia.com]
whatis.com [whatis.com]
http://lokarnos.com/ (Score:1)
- doug
The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:1, Troll)
Every now and then, I stumble upon a website that is just a veritable tome of knowledge
There are 66 veritable tomes of knowledge in this single online compilation [biblegateway.com]. It's completely searchable by word or numeri
Re:The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re:The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:1, Troll)
Leviticus 21:16-21 -- This is about the qualifications for priests in ancient Israel. Just as the animals given for sacrifice had to be without physical blemish, a priest handling the animals would also have to be without physical blemish. It is all symbolic. In contrast, the Messiah brought in the era of personal priesthood. Every believer is to be a priest. Don't ask me to explain the beliefs or practices particular
Re:The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:2)
As for Isaiah: So the bible predicts that when the messiah comes, the moon will generate light, not merely reflect it? What mechanism will that be? Antimatter-matter conversion? The materials the moon is made from would not be able to undergo fission, and fusion will not be very effective. Also, what will
Re:The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:2)
Well, Isaiah 13:10 mentions the sun right before the part about the moon: "The sun will be dark when it rises." Whoah! The sun doesn't rise! The earth is just spinning on its axis so that half its surface is facing opposite the sun. Does that make the verse wrong? Of course not. It's just a description of how the sun appears.
And how can the sun rise and be dark? There's no need for wild speculations in
Re:The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:1)
Religious geeks - god save us.
Re:The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:1)
God made man perfect, but then man fell in the Garden of Eden.
> Quite nice then, to reject the
> people he made for service to him.
Why would God _owe_ us salvation?
Re:The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:1)
Related to that, if God is perfect, how come Satan appeared? Woudln't that be because God isn't perfect after all?
Re:The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:2)
How does Satan have any bearing on the perfection of God?
Re:The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:1)
Why put the tree there at all? Since he knows it all he would already know what would have happened.
Why flood the whole earth and punish innocent people when he knew it wouldn't work?
And the original sin comes from God as well. After all he created the angel who turned evil, and created Adam and Eve who fell to the temptation. Again
Re:The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:2)
God created imperfection. The existence of Satan is pretty much in keeping with the fact that God created imperfect beings and then gave them "free will".
Consider it akin to a video game. When I "create" a video game, bad stuff gets introduced to the good guys in the game. To do any less would make the system pretty pointless.
The point of life on Earth is that it falls well short of Heaven.
Re:The "Beginning of knowledge" (Score:1)
Imagine I'm some biologist that manages to create a new specie of animal. It's fairly intelligent, let's say smart enough to understand simple statements and orders, but also very aggressive. Now, I come to this creature and tell it "Sit here quietly and don't hurt anybody". Then my student, who I knew who was a moron since a long time a
Obvious Slashdot jokes (Score:1)
My favorites (Score:4, Informative)
Then again, it's sort of redundant to mention the PPR in this story, since it tends to turn up in Google searches.
Bartleby.com [bartleby.com] has all kinds of reference books available, and lots of other stuff online. Like all of the Harvard Classics.
I'm suprised I'm the first to mention Project Gutenberg [gutenberg.net]. Maybe people don't think of it as a reference site, since mostly it's good for downloading whole public-domain texts. But various volunteers [archive.org] (including me) are now in the process of proofreading the famous Britannica 11th Edition [wikipedia.org] for inclusion in the Gutenberg set. At the current rate, it'll be done in about a year. But perhaps with more volunteers...
Re:My favorites (Score:2)
Movies and maths (Score:2, Informative)
For movie reviews, rottentomatoes.com [rottentomatoes.com] is pretty good.
Mathworld [wolfram.com] is great for maths- related information. A website from the makers of Mathematica-- one reason why ideologically I prefer Mathematica over Maple, even though my uni uses the latter. Wolfram is simply more involved in education.
Nobody's mentioned this one! (Score:2)
All Music Guide (Score:4, Informative)
Re:All Music Guide (Score:2)
Road geek sites (Score:2)
There is a Links page from the front that will provide a huge compendium of lists to other resources for the road geek in you.
Re:Road geek sites (Score:1)
Basic and not so basic net lore. (Score:3, Informative)
serachlores.org
Beware if you -- from Redmond
anywhere is this site. The firest pages are safe tho.
Another one (Score:2, Informative)
Answers. (Score:1)
For finding acronyms (Score:1)
Acronymfinder.com [acronymfinder.com]
Great Source for free online computer books (Score:3, Interesting)
Some random links .. (Score:2, Informative)
There are several sites that I look at regularly for different programming things.
When I did windows development Code Project [codeproject.com] was a lifesaver, nowadays that's been replaced by the venerable Perl Monk [perlmonks.com]
For online books I'd browse through The Assayer [theassayer.org], and for zany reference nothing beats How Much Is Inside .. Stuff [cockeyed.com]!
Sports information (Score:3, Funny)
draw the line (Score:2)
are you implying that goatsex and tub girl are somehow reference works?
or does this have to do with grits? what the hell are you talking about?!
Slashdot.org (Score:1)
General ones (Score:2, Informative)
www.howstuffworks.com has been stated, and is a staple of mine.
Citeseer (Score:1)
Good way to keep track of the latest papers in different fields.
Telephone connection information (Score:2)
The best thing is, there's a WAP interface so you can easily do such lookups right from your phone.
Re:Telephone connection information (Score:2)
FAQs.org (Score:5, Informative)
Also, I find that Security Focus [securityfocus.com] has a huge backlog of very useful and interesting information for those concerned with computer security. In that same vein, dbaseiv.net [dbaseiv.net] [Google cache [216.239.51.100], the site seems to be down right now] is shaping up to be a huge repository of computer security knowledge.
The Linux Documentation Project [tldp.org] is full of HOWTOs relating to Linux, if you've got a Linux problem that you need to work out (though HOWTOs make for really boring recreational reading).
This is just what I can come up with off the top of my head, I'll probably post a reply to this when I remember more.
people's homepages... (Score:3, Informative)
--web
currency converter [xe.net] - findsounds.com [findsounds.com]
how stuff works [howstuffworks.com] - infoplease [infoplease.com]
about.com [about.com] - librarian's index [lii.org]
rebecca's reference [rebeccablood.net] - tom mayo's links [smu.edu]
-words:
acronym/abbr -lookup [www.ucc.ie] -finder [acronymfinder.com] -bm
trans -babelfish [altavista.com] -worldlingo [worldlingo.com] -google [google.com] bm
bartleby [bartleby.com]
phrontistery [50megs.com]
pseudodictionary [pseudodictionary.com]
jargon file [catb.org]
--music
epitonic [epitonic.com] - pitchfork [pitchforkmedia.com]
sonomu [sonomu.net] - electraum [electraum.com]
gnod [gnod.net] - audioquarium [geocities.com] --books:
amazon [amazon.com] - abebooks [abebooks.com] - bookfinder [bookfinder.com]
gutenberg [promo.net] & onlinebooks [upenn.edu]
loc.gov [loc.gov] - lambiek comiclopedia [lambiek.net] - rebecca's books [rebeccablood.net]
MOD PARENT UP !! (Score:1)
Re:Best Website EVER (Score:1)
I use... (Score:1)
Merriam-Webster [webster.com] when I need help spelling in English.
DVD-Basen [dvd-basen.dk] when I want to find a review of a DVD-movie.
two more (Score:1)
www.discogs.com is useful for electronic music release information.
www.onelook.com is a good dictionary.
P.S. m-w.com has a toolbar (like the google toolbar) which I find very useful.
CIA World Factbook (Score:2)
Re:CIA World Factbook (Score:2)
Ade_
/
Looking up at the sky (Score:3, Informative)
Heavens Above [heavens-above.com] is a good place to start.
For DVD purchasing (Score:2)
IMDB for games (Score:2)
Perl Design Patterns (Score:1)
TVTome (Score:1)