General References

Airborne Express Shipment Tracking
Track your shipment anytime, anywhere in the world. Enter your airbill number, click on the Track Shipment Now button and receive detailed information about the status of your shipment.

Anagram Generator
Ever try to figure out a catchy phrase that will translate into a memorable telephone number? Using Brendan's Telephone Anagram Generator, just enter the numbers and receive a lovely selection of anagrams.

Answers.com
This self-described "New Standard in Reference” is a free, online reference guide with information covering more than four million topics. Answers.com differs from search engines in that it provides quick answers to specific questions, as opposed to results that link you to a list of related topics. The site's editors draw their data from more than a hundred reference sources including dictionaries, thesauruses (thesaurii?), encyclopedias, and atlases, so you can count on answers being reliable. Check it out!

Aphorisms Galore
"An aphorism is not an aphorism unless you know what it means." Winston Churchill

Archiving Early America
Dedicated to early American documents. Included are original newspapers, maps and writings from 18th-century America, as well as documents from the colonial period.

Area Codes Directory
U.S. and Canadian area codes listed in numerical order with associated city, state or province, or listed by state/province, in alphabetical order.

Ask an Expert
Ask a question, and you'll receive an answer by e-mail from one of the volunteer resident experts.

Bachelor's Degree Online
Online education continues to grow, expanding educational opportunities to individuals who previously had few options. With numerous options now available, it is easy to become overwhelmed. This site provides the knowledge and guidance needed to select just the right program. Understanding that trying to find a balance with full-time employment, parenthood, family time, and community involvement (No, seriously!) is important, this site has gathered a wealth of facts, statistics, and advice for prospective students to help find a program that fits one's unique and typically busy/hectic/dysfunctional lifestyle.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations

Business Form Letters
More than 500 sample business letters, searchable alphabetically, from Acceptance-of-Proposal letters to Xmas Thank-You letters.

Date and Time Gateway
Provides local time for every major city and region around the world.

Dewey Decimal System
The most widely used library classification system in the world. Didn't understand it as a kid; don't understand it today.

Dictionaries Online
Search “more than 2500 dictionaries and grammars” (their word, not mine), including specialty dictionaries and dictionaries in more than 300 languages.

Digital Librarian
A librarian's choice of the best of the Web.

Edmund's Automobile Buyer's Guide
Comprehensive information, including pricing, about new and used cars.

Elements of Style
William Strunk's classic reference is a must-have for any writer with an abiding concern for the principals of English style, usage, and composition.

Fast Facts
Fast access to almanacs, calendars, dictionaries, encyclopedias, grammar and style resources, languages, libraries, newspapers and magazines, political information, quotations, statistics, travel, weather, and more. If I could only bookmark one Web site, this would probably be it. From here, you can get anywhere. Trust me.

Federal Express Tracking
Did your package absolutely, positively get there yet? Type in the airbill tracking number and find out.

How to Call Abroad
Provides visitors with up-to-date information about dialing internationally from the USA, Canada or any other country that's part of the North American Numbering Plan. International area codes are displayed by country, plus city and cellular codes, and telephone directories.

I-Tools
Includes dictionaries, English, computing, rhyming, pronunciation and translation of words into virtually any foreign language

Kelley Blue Book of New and Used Car Pricing
Includes names, manufacturers, models, options, and pricing information.

Library Spot
One of several sweetspot Web sites designed to make finding the best category-specific information on the Web a quick, easy and enjoyable experience. Library Spot presents a wealth of library-related resources conveniently located in one Web site.

Measurement Conversion Calculator
Extremely useful Web site the next time you need to convert kilderkins to vedros. Let's see, are there 5.538 vedros in a kilderkin or is it 1.125 firkins to the reaumur? Perhaps I'm just preaching to the quire.

Merriam-Webster Online

National Center for Health Statistics
The Federal Government's principal vital and health statistics agency. Click the FastStats link to access statistics from A to Z, which includes everything from Accidents to Work-Related Injuries. Why a work-related injury is not considered an accident, I don’t know, but now you have something to research when you visit the site. No thanks necessary.

National Weather Service
Obtain weather conditions for the past 24 hours, forecasts, watches, and warnings for the U.S. Includes radar graphics, weather maps, also International weather conditions, aviation and marine weather.

NewsBCC
A global news site that collects articles from more than 6,000 sources in 70 countries and presents them in a nice, easy-to-read interface.

Newspapers Worldwide at The Paperboy
Links to more than 5,000 newspapers worldwide. Iif you need fast access the Botswana Gazette or Mr. Modem’s personal favorite, the Zambezi Times, this is the site for you! Membership costs $3.50/month, and don’t forget to tip the paperboy.

Newspapers of the World Online
Want to know what people on the other side of the world are reading with their morning coffee or borscht? Metagrid provides access to more than 8,000 newspapers and magazines. Newspapers are arranged by countries; magazines arranged by category, from Animals to Travel.

Nuclear Blast Mapper
Here’s a cheery little site where you can find out how a nuclear attack on your neighborhood will affect your "quality of life." Just choose your weapon, name the target, then read about the carnage you can expect. Bring on those lazy, hazy, crazy days of nuclear winter.

Old Farmer's Almanac, The
How can anyone not have a warm-and-fuzzy feeling knowing that the Old Farmer's Almanac is always just a mouse-click away? A classic.

One-Look Dictionaries
Over 147 dictionaries and glossaries in one location

Parliamentary Procedures
Jim Slaughter is an attorney and a CPP (Certified Professional Parliamentarian, as if you didn’t know.) If your knowledge of Robert’s Rules of Order consists of periodic outbursts of “I move to adjourn,” I would entertain a motion to adjourn to this Web site. Here you’ll find charts and articles on meeting procedures, wonderfully merciful "cheat sheets" for Robert's Rules, a calendar of parliamentary events, parliamentary news updates, and a bi-weekly brainteaser that will make your head hurt.

RefDesk
A compendium of proven news, information, entertainment, and weather sites. Beautifully organized, this site houses hundreds of excellent links. Makes a great start page for your browser. The site's host is Bob Drudge, Matt Drudge's (The Drudge Report) father.

Roget's Thesaurus
Let's see, what's another word for thesaurus?

State Facts
Each state is listed with capital, nickname, motto, tree, song, and more information than anybody could possibly care about.

U.S. Naval Observatory Clock
High-tech way to set your watch!

U.S. Post Office ZIP Code Look-up

United Parcel Service Tracking
Do you think your package got there yet? Prevent PDT (Package Delivery Tizzy) syndrome. Type in your UPS tracking number to check the status of your shipment.

Universal Translator
Enter a word in any language and it will be translated into many other languages.

What's the Meaning of This?
Find definitions and origins of phrases such as In the limelight or Keep a stiff upper lip. You can also submit a phrase for definition.

World Fact Book
This CIA-published work contains a huge amount of reference information about other countries. If you ever need to know who's heading the government of Niue or what the capital of Tuvalu is, this is the place to turn! (Yes, it is Premier Frank Fakaotimanava and Funafuti is the captial. Good guess!)

World Holiday Information
Hosted by OnlineSchools.org, this site provides a wealth of information and activities in conjunction with holidays ranging from April Fool's Day, which is thought to have originated in 16th Century France (those bourgeoisie were such practical jokers!), through Veteran's Day (which began in 1919 as Armistice Day), plus more international holidays than you can shake a Festivus Pole at.

Yahoo! Maps
Enter any address and view a detailed street map

ZIP+4 ZIP Code Look-up, U.S. Post Office
If you need to know the plus-4 extended ZIP code for a postal mailing address, you can find it by using this U.S. Postal Service site.