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Websites of Knowledge?
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
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...
I still look at groups.google.com (mainly because I can't get access to an NNTP server at work). I still find answers on newsgroups that I really can't find anywhere else. (Try using a MS JDBC client....good luck finding anything on MSDN.)
I use dictionary.com a lot. It's not only useful for translating words (I'm not a native English speaker) and looking up synonyms, but also has a decent scope of information about technical terms.
Then there's of course Eric Weisstein's World of Science for everything related to physics, chemistry and mathematics.
AMG is my first stop for anything pop music related, excepting lyrics. I'd be interested in hearing about a good lyrics database that doesn't bombard me with pop-ups.
If information assurance is ur bag, www.infosyssec.com is a pretty great resource. Lots of links to good stuff. Their news site www.snpx.com is good too. and Funny.
The Internet Movie Database has everything there is to know about movies and TV series, and the people involved in them. An invaluable resource to all movie viewers.
Make even shorter URLs - 8LN.org
I happen to like yaxay.com for images and PHP info. If you're into culture, although sometimes annoying, I like Kuro5hin.org.
From their homepage:
Wikipedia is a multilingual project to create a complete and accurate open content encyclopedia.
All the articles are under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Wikipedia
How Stuff Works
has everything you want to know about math. Scienceworld has some cursory scientific information as well.
http://arxiv.org/ is invaluable if you're interested in scientific publishing. It's been around for more than a decade and I know of no better research archiving and dissemination project. I imagine that it was designed for a specific community (researchers) but, as nothing but a spectator, I've found it to be a great source of information and worth visiting regularly.
--Asa
webopedia.com
whatis.com
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
(Hah. thehun is a blessing and also a curse, because there are a million imitators that suck.)
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 (grep is my friend).
--TheOrangeSquid Is it any wonder things seem so awry? We swim in a sea of confusion and don't have to think to survive
As an alternative for dictionary.com, try www.m-w.com
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 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. 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 (including me) are now in the process of proofreading the famous Britannica 11th Edition for inclusion in the Gutenberg set. At the current rate, it'll be done in about a year. But perhaps with more volunteers...
For movie reviews, rottentomatoes.com is pretty good.
Mathworld 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.
I love the All Music Guide. This is a very useful database of artist bios, discographies, album reviews, and recommended albums for particular artists.
"The dinosaurs died because they didn't have a space program." - Niven
searchlore.org
serachlores.org
Beware if you -- from Redmond
anywhere is this site. The firest pages are safe tho.
I use several of those listed above and would like to add this one to the list. It covers a broad range of topics.
-- Some days you're the dog; some days you're the hydrant.
http://www.skepdic.com/ http://www.2think.org/ May I recommend you also read Shadows Of Forgotten Ancestors by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. It's the missing 67th book.
There are several sites that I look at regularly for different programming things.
When I did windows development Code Project was a lifesaver, nowadays that's been replaced by the venerable Perl Monk
For online books I'd browse through The Assayer, and for zany reference nothing beats How Much Is Inside .. Stuff!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/ its like the Hitchhikers Guide, but for our real world.
www.howstuffworks.com has been stated, and is a staple of mine.
1 tequila 2 tequila 3 tequila floor
Also, I find that Security Focus has a huge backlog of very useful and interesting information for those concerned with computer security. In that same vein, dbaseiv.net [Google cache, the site seems to be down right now] is shaping up to be a huge repository of computer security knowledge.
The Linux Documentation Project 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.
--sdem
--web
currency converter - findsounds.com
how stuff works - infoplease
about.com - librarian's index
rebecca's reference - tom mayo's links
-words:
acronym/abbr -lookup -finder -bm
trans -babelfish -worldlingo -google bm
bartleby
phrontistery
pseudodictionary
jargon file
--music
epitonic - pitchfork
sonomu - electraum
gnod - audioquarium --books:
amazon - abebooks - bookfinder
gutenberg & onlinebooks
loc.gov - lambiek comiclopedia - rebecca's books
.
. hmmm
If you want any info on the Sun, other stars, satellites, planets, Iridium Flares, etc ...
Heavens Above is a good place to start.
Actually it is rocket science...