BioNumbers
http://bionumbers.hms.harvard.edu/
A database of “useful biological numbers,” complete with a search engine and full citations. If you need to know how many skin cells the human body has or the estimated number of insects on the Earth at a given moment, then this resource has what you need.
OATD: Open Access Theses and Dissertations
An index to over 1.5 million theses and dissertations from over 600 institutions around the world. Searchable by keyword.
International Architecture Database
http://eng.archinform.net/index.htm
From the website: “This database includes information over more than 44000 built and unrealized projects from various architects and planners. The architecture of the 20th century is the main theme of this database.
It’s possible to look for a special project via an architect, town or keyword with the indices or by using a query form. For most entries you get the name, address, keywords and information about further literature. Some entries include images, comments, links to other Websites or internal links.”
Author Name Pronunciation Guide
http://www.teachingbooks.net/pronunciations.cgi
Ever love a book but you don’t want to tell people about it because you’re not sure how to pronounce the author’s name? Use this site to listen to recordings of authors speaking and explaining their own names.
Guide to State and Local Census Geography
http://www.census.gov/geo/www/guidestloc/guide_main.html
Click on a state name at the bottom of the page to view facts, statistics and key geographic concepts as they relate to census reporting. This will certainly come in handy as the full 2010 Census data is released.
Festival Outlook
http://festival-outlook.consequenceofsound.net/
Festival Outlook is an online database of music festivals and concerts from around the world. Search by festival name, location, lineup (artist or band) or date. Entries provide known festival information and links to official websites.
Historical Oil Spill Information
From NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration, this site provides links to information on particular oil spills in the past, as well as composite news articles on topics such as “10 Famous Spills” and “World’s Largest Oil Rig Sinks.” For general and statistical information, follow the links to “Historical Data” and “Historical Incidents Search Page.” Students might be interested in the photo database, which includes hundreds of images.
ThinkFree Online
http://member.thinkfree.com/member/goLandingPage.action
For our web-savvy customers who don’t have a flash drive when they need one: “With ThinkFree Online, interested parties won’t have to fuss around with carrying flash drives or worrying about whether they have a certain important file handy lodged away in their email. The ThinkFree Online service provides a free web office suite with 1GB of online storage. Visitors can use the program to store documents, and they can also edit and manipulate documents without opening it in a separate program. Visitors will need to sign up for an account here on the site, and this version is compatible with all operating systems.”
>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/
The Scale of the Universe
This site provides a great visual demonstration of scale, from quantum foam and strings to the whole of the universe.
Make Your Own Timeline
“If you’re looking to create a visually compelling and interactive timeline with little fuss, Dipity might be worth a look. With Dipity, visitors can create their own timeline, and populate it with photos, video clips, text, and other items. The mission of Dipity is ‘to organize the web’s content by date and time’, and it is well suited for use by journalists, government organizations, teachers, and museums, among others. Visitors will need to create an account to get started, but the basic version remains free. Dipity is compatible with all operating systems.”
>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/
Bed Bug Database
(Thanks to Beth Dailey for passing this one along!)
A guide from the Environmental Protection Agency that can assist in identifying and treating bed bug infestations. Includes a Q&A section and a search tool for locating pesticide products.
ipl2 Literary Criticism
www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/guide.html
From the folks at the Internet Public Library, this is a great guide to some of the best online sources for literary criticism. The guide is divided into three sections, including “Best Starting Places” and “Starting Places for Particular Time Periods.”
How A Bill Becomes A Law
www.mikewirthart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/howlawsmadeWIRTH2.jpg
This is about as simple as one can explain a complicated process.
Free Green
http://www.freegreen.com/Default.aspx
Free Green offers free house plans for environmentally friendly homes. Custom house plans are available for a fee. (Free registration required to download house plans.)
