I am within three years of my retirement, and as I look back over my work history, I take pride in the number of divesified careers I have enjoyed. I enjoyed the humor of the following as it sums up some of my thoughts towards work and where it can take us.
My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned ... couldn't concentrate.
Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the ax.
After that I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn't suited for it.
Then I decided to become a Travel Agent, but I found the work too foreign.
Next I tried working in a muffler factory but that was exhausting.
I tried working as a retail store manager but I was always losing the inventory.
Next was a job in a shoe factory; I tried but I just didn't fit in.
I became a professional fisherman, but discovered that I couldn't live on my net income.
I tried becoming a consultant but no-one would listen to me.
I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining.
I tried politics once, but since I could only be truthful, my downfall was inevitable, and I didn't last long.
So then I got a job in a gymnasium, but they said I wasn't fit for the job.
I got a job as a historian until I realized there was no future in it.
Just for the html of IT, I tried web design but I kept forgetting my (java) script .
I finally landed a job as a teacher but they said I had no class.
So I am now considering retiring, because I think I would be perfect for that job!
Your ideas and suggestions are important to us. Let us know if you
have a favorite site that you would like to see on this site.
page, you can email me and I will look at it. However if you visit my Free For All
Education and Travel Page!
you can add pages yourself
You can chat to others and let them know your views on Travel and Education (site ideas, general comments etc, can be added here) by Visiting My Message Board!
You can also give me your links, ideas and thoughts by sending me an Email.
Visit my on-line
stores
The Teachers
Store a collection of products that I think will help
teachers in the classroom.
Searching the WEB is a skill that needs to be learned
If it is not learned, you may waste hundreds of hours of your valuable time.
The Internet is full of good information. There are thousands of
Search Engines on the Net to help you find the information you
need, but you need to learn how to use each one effectively.
Each Search Engine uses
different rules for its search and the following is just a
general explanation of what happens when you start your search.
Many Search Engines look for or
use indexes that are created by computers. Therefore, if you are
not familiar with how a search engine works the search terms you
use, may give you different results than you may be expecting.
When a computer indexes a site it picks out keywords from the
titles and URLS. In some cases, the search engine also uses
keywords from the text of the articles that are on the page, in
other cases it uses words that are hidden from the general user
in Meta Names and Meta Keywords that are entered by the creator
of the page.
Since many search engines just use words it is very important to avoid common words that will
result in the retrieval of too many items. Words such as AND, OF,
FOR and other similar words should almost never be used in a
search. If you are familiar with Boolean searches you should know
that most Internet search tools do NOT support true Boolean
searches.
Each Search Engine gives you valuable tips and hints on site that you should read. Once you
read these tips and become familiar with the search engine, then
you will know the best way to define a search with each engine.
If you need more advice on search engines, I suggest you visit Search Engine Advice a site that provides advice on which
search engines and when and how to use them.
Not all of the services below are "true" search engines that crawl the web. Many services are attempts to index the entire web by using "DIRECTORIES" that depend on humans to compile
their listings. In fact, most of the services below offer both search engine and directory
information, though they will predominately feature one type of results over the other.
AOL Search allows its members to search across the web and AOL's own content from
one place. The "external" version, listed above, does not list AOL content. The main
listings for categories and web sites come from the Open Directory (see below). Inktomi
(see below) also provides crawler-based results, as backup to the directory information.
Before the launch of AOL Search in October 1999, the AOL search service was
Excite-powered AOL NetFind.
Formerly called All The Web, FAST Search aims to index the entire web. It was the first
search engine to break the 200 million web page index milestone. The Norwegian
company behind FAST Search also powers the Lycos MP3 search engine. FAST
Search launched in May 1999.
Go is a portal site produced by Infoseek and Disney. It offers portal features such as
personalization and free e-mail, plus the search capabilities of the former Infoseek
search service, which has now been folded into Go. Searchers will find that Go
consistently provides quality results in response to many general and broad searches,
thanks to its ESP search algorithm. It also has an impressive human-compiled directory
of web sites. Go officially launched in January 1999. It is not related to GoTo, below.
The former Infoseek service launched in early 1995.
AltaVista is consistently one of the largest search engines on the web, in terms of pages
indexed. Its comprehensive coverage and wide range of power searching commands
makes it a particular favorite among researchers. It also offers a number of features
designed to appeal to basic users, such as "Ask AltaVista" results, which come from
Ask Jeeves (see below), and directory listings primarily from the Open Directory.
AltaVista opened in December 1995. It was owned by Digital, then run by Compaq
(which purchased Digital in 1998), then spun off into a separate company which is now
controlled by CMGI.
Ask Jeeves is a human-powered search service that aims to direct you to the exact
page that answers your question. If it fails to find a match within its own database, then
it will provide matching web pages from various search engines. The service went into
beta in mid-April 1997 and opened fully on June 1, 1997. Results from Ask Jeeves also
appear within AltaVista.
Direct Hit is a company that works with other search engines to refine their results. It
does this by monitoring what users click on from the results they see. Sites that get
clicked on more than others rise higher in Direct Hit's rankings. Thus, the service dubs
itself a "popularity engine." Direct Hit's technology is currently best seen at HotBot. It
also refines results at Lycos and is available as an option at LookSmart and MSN
Search. The company also crawls the web and refines this database, which can be
viewed via the link above.
Academy
of Achievement People who have shaped the 20th century
by their accomplishments in the arts, public service, sports, business
and science and exploration.
The
Biographical Dictionary Biographies of more than 22,000
notable men and women who have shaped our world from ancient times to
the present day.
Biography.com A
searchable database of 20,000 famous people, from the folks who produce
the TV show Biography.
Chiefs
of State and Cabinet Members Who's in charge here? The
CIA maintains this comprehensive database of influential leaders in all
non-U.S. countries.
Dead
People Server Search for, um, "dead-certain" answers to
the question, "Is this person still alive?". A directory of "interesting
celebrities" who are no longer with us.
Find-A-Grave Looking
for the dirt on the graves of noteworthy people? Find photographs of
headstones and maps with driving directions at this uniquely
"underground" site.
4,000
Years Of Women In Science Biographies of influential women
inventors, scholars, writers, mathematicians, astronomers, and other
scientific specialists.
Nobel
Laureates Database Though the search interface is obtuse
and difficult to use, this is a complete directory of all Nobel
Laureates since 1901.
People
On Postage Stamps Most well-known nationals are normally
honored by their own countries on stamps, but they are often unknown
elsewhere. See who's "internally" famous around the world.
The
Royal Database Biographies and historical data of world
royalty from the Roman Emperors to the few remaining royal families
still recognized today.
World
Biographical Index This site is based on the 5th edition
of the World Biographical Index containing about 2.4 million short
biographical entries for "emminent individuals."
Dental
Related Internet Resources Find a dentist, learn about
cavities, even discover the fascinating world of dental art and
literature among the 2,000+ resources available through this site.
The
Network A who's who of the Internet economy. Search by
last name or company, or use an alphabetical directory to find the
gliterati of the Net.
Lawoffice.com Find attorneys in all
countries, by City or Province, office name or practice area.
Celebrity Search
Engines & Directories Links to major celebrity search sites for finding Web
sites, addresses, and other information about famous people.
InfoUSA.com Find people by name, reverse phone number. A business marketing site to help find client, but good for finding other people also.
Bigfoot Fast
telephone, address, email and home page finder. Accepts queries in
several languages other than English.
InfoSpace One
of the best people finder directories.
Internet
Address Finder Search for email addresses using a
database of more than 6,700,000 names.
Nedsite
Search Center A huge collection of links to a wide
variety of people finder, white pages, and email directory Web sites.
Reverse
Phone Directory Direct access to three reverse phone
directories, that provide you with a name and address from a telephone
number.
Switchboard Features
listings for more than 115 million residences, with a unique
"knock-knock" feature that allows "unlisted" people to choose who
will—and won't—view their information.
Telephone
Directories on the Web Links to online phone books worldwide,
including white pages, yellow pages, business directories, email
addresses and fax numbers.
The
Ultimates This meta-search directory provides easy to
use forms to search a wide array of Web-based phone books, email
directories, and trip planners.
WhoWhere? WhoWhere
features telephone listings, email addresses, personal home pages, and
business URLs. Also listings for U.S. Government employees, Internet
phones, more.
World
Email Directory WED's directory contains more than
8,000,000 email addresses and more than 140,000,000 business and phone
addresses worldwide.
Genealogy
Search Links to major genealogy search sites for
researching your family tree, from your About.com Guide.
GENDEX
WWW Genealogical Index This metasearch engine indexes
more than 2,400 databases containing genealogical data for more than 7.8
million individuals with more than a quarter-million surnames.
Internet
FamilyFinder Enter a name into Family Tree Maker's
ancestry archive, and if it finds a match you can download the entire
family tree.
Social
Security Death Index U.S. death records, including
actual social security numbers (someone please pass the smelling salts
to the online security/fraud expert who just fainted).
Corrections
White Pages Do not pass go, proceed directly to this
directory to locate prison staff, sheriffs, bail-bondsmen, parole
officers... well, you get the picture.
Directory
of Women's Organizations A good 'ol gURL network: Search
for women in this database of 9,000 feminist groups by location,
category, category and location, or name.
The
Marine Guest Book Eliminate the grunt work of finding a
U.S. Marine Corps buddy, platoon, battalion, division—even vets of
specific boot camps or battles—with this search engine.
Musiconn If
you're a musician, Musiconn will strike a chord. Search for musicians,
buy and sell gear, or browse the index of musician resources (clubs, Web
sites, etc.).
National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children Search the
archive of missing children photos, or use the other tools available on
this extensive online resource to help protect and rescue abused kids.
Sikh
Directory Seeking a Sikh? Search this global directory
by name, Gurdwaras, age, business, or if you're marriage-minded, use the
Sikh
Matrimonials search.
Class
Mates Locate high-school pals in this index of 27,000
high schools covering all 50 states, Canada and about 300
American/Canadian territorial and overseas high schools.
High
School and College Alumni Database Track down lost friends
with this database of 17,000 U.S. High Schools and 10,000 colleges,
featuring a message center, reunion postings, automated email updates
and more.
PhoneNumbers.net Look
it up: search links to databases with categories including phone,
residential, phone, business/organization, email addresses, fax numbers,
and miscellaneous.
Excite is one of the most popular search services on the web. It offers a medium-sized
index and integrates non-web material such as company information andsports scores
into its results, when appropriate. Excite was launched in late 1995. It grew quickly in
prominence and consumed two of its competitors
Unlike the other search engines, GoTo sells its listings. Companies can pay money to
be placed higher in the search results, which GoTo feels improves relevancy. Non-paid
results come from Inktomi. GoTo launched in 1997 and incorporated the former
University of Colorado-based World Wide Web Worm. In February 1998, it shifted to its
current pay-for-placement model and soon after replaced the WWW Worm with Inktomi
for its non-paid listings. GoTo is not related to Go, above.
Google is a search engine that makes heavy use of link popularity as a primary way to
rank web sites. This can be especially helpful in finding good sites in response to
general searches such as "cars" and "travel," because users across the web have in
essence voted for good sites by linking to them.
GoHipGohip.com This is a site that I found when I was looking for information about England. It is a Meta Search Engine and it is very good. I think it is as good as MAMMA, (still my favorite). Check it out!
Like AltaVista, HotBot is another favourite among researchers due to its large index of
the web and many power searching features. In most cases, HotBot's first page of
results comes from the Direct Hit service (see above), and then secondary results come
from the Inktomi search engine, which is also used by other services. It gets its directory
information from the Open Directory project (see below).
Originally, there was an Inktomi search engine at UC Berkeley. The creators then
formed their own company with the same name and created a new Inktomi index, which
was first used to power HotBot. Now the Inktomi index also powers several other
services. All of them tap into the same index, though results may be slightly different.
This is because Inktomi provides ways for its partners to use a common index yet
distinguish themselves. There is no way to query the Inktomi index directly, as it is only
made available through Inktomi's partners with whatever filters and ranking tweaks they
may apply.
LookSmart is a human-compiled directory of web sites. In addition to being a
stand-alone service, LookSmart provides directory results to MSN Search, Excite and
many other partners. AltaVista provides LookSmart with search results when a search
fails to find a match from among LookSmart's reviews. LookSmart launched
independently in October 1996, was backed by Reader's Digest for about a year, and
then company executives bought back control of the service.
Lycos started out as a search engine, depending on listings that came from spidering
the web. In April 1999, it shifted to a directory model similar to Yahoo. Its main listings
come from the Open Directory project, and then secondary results come from either
Direct Hit or Lycos' own spidering of the web. In October 1998, Lycos acquired the
competing HotBot search service, which continues to be run separately.
Microsoft's MSN Search service is a LookSmart-powered directory of web sites, with
secondary results that come from AltaVista. RealNames and Direct Hit data is also
made available. MSN Search also offers a unique way for Internet Explorer 5 users to
save past searches.
Netscape Search's results come primarily from the Open Directory and Netscape's own
"Smart Browsing" database, which does an excellent job of listing "official" web sites.
Secondary results come from Google. At the Netscape Netcenter portal site, other
search engines are also featured.
Northern Light is another favourite search engine among researchers. It features one of
the largest indexes of the web, along with the ability to cluster documents by topic.
Northern Light also has a set of "special collection" documents that are not readily
accessible to search engine spiders. There are documents from thousands of sources,
including newswires, magazines and databases. Searching these documents is free,
but there is a charge of up to $4 to view them. There is no charge to view documents on
the public web -- only for those within the special collection. Northern Light opened to
general use in August 1997.
The Open Directory uses volunteer editors to catalogue the web. Formerly known as
NewHoo, it was launched in June 1998. It was acquired by Netscape in November
1998, and the company pledged that anyone would be able to use information from the
directory through an open license arrangement. Netscape itself was the first licensee.
Lycos and AOL Search also make heavy use of Open Directory data, while AltaVista
and HotBot prominently feature Open Directory categories within their results pages.
The RealNames system is meant to be an easier-to-use alternative to the current web
site addressing system. Those with RealNames-enabled browsers can enter a word like
"Nike" to reach the Nike web site. To date, RealNames has had its biggest success
through search engine partnerships. In particular, it is strongly featured in results at
AltaVista, Go and MSN Search.
Snap is a human-compiled directory of web sites, supplemented by search results from
Inktomi. Like LookSmart, it aims to challenge Yahoo as the champion of categorizing
the web. Snap launched in late 1997 and is backed by Cnet and NBC.
WebCrawler has the smallest index of any major search engine on the web -- think of it
as Excite Lite. The small index means WebCrawler is not the place to go when seeking
obscure or unusual material. However, some people may feel that by having indexed
fewer pages, WebCrawler provides less overwhelming results in response to general
searches. WebCrawler opened to the public on April 20, 1994. It was started as a
research project at the University of Washington. America Online purchased it in March
1995 and was the online service's preferred search engine until Nov. 1996. That was
when Excite, a WebCrawler competitor, acquired the service. Excite continues to run
WebCrawler as an independent search engine.
Yahoo is the web's most popular search service and has a well-deserved reputation for
helping people find information easily. The secret to Yahoo's success is human beings.
It is the largest human-compiled guide to the web, employing about 150 editors in an
effort to categorize the web. Yahoo has over 1 million sites listed. Yahoo also
supplements its results with those from Inktomi. If a search fails to find a match within
Yahoo's own listings, then matches from Inktomi are displayed.
Here are some specialized search engines that may interest you, if you still cannot find what you want using the search engines above. The people who populate the WEB are constantly adding search engines to make it easier to find information. So as we are made aware of engines that may be useful to you, I will add information here.
Webliography
Maintained by librarians and staff of Louisiana State University
Libraries, this is a collection of annotated listings for
WWW sites and resources. This guide is compact and easy to use, while
still managing to be thorough--which is exactly what you'd expect
from a site designed by librarians. Among other things, you can find
useful links to electronic publications, governmental organizations,
and a whole bunch of reference materials.
The All-In-One Search Page is another one of those sites that give
you access to more search engines than you'll ever want to use.
Although this site provides a gateway to the searching capabilities
of the major search engines, you'll probably find it more useful for
conducting a specialized search. If nothing else, All-In-One Search
Page is worth a visit just to see the number and variety of search
engines gathered here.
Search BC! is a family friendly search engine for British Columbia. The
www.SearchBC.Com search engine is completely concerned with online British
Columbia, Canada.! They only promote your BC business, your Internet community and
they are the web search engine for TV For BC. This is one search engine that if you are
doing business in BC you should be registered with.
devSearch
If you're a site designer or Web developer, you probably spend a lot
of time searching the Web for information that will help you do your
job, and you may well have been frustrated by the difficulty of
performing a narrowly focused search of only the best content.
Using devSearch, you can now search more then 20 sites--including
Wired Digital's Webmonkey, CNET's builder.com, Netscape's DevEdge, and
developer.com--on specific HTML, scripting, design, and other
developer-related topics. What's more, you can narrow the focus even
more by targeting a specific site. This site is particularly helpful
in light of the fact that many sites that target Web developers lack a
powerful search engine of their own.
Canada.com Whether you're an actual Canadian or just want to play one on the Web,
you now have access to a localized search engine in the form of
Canada.com. Backed by Southam, Canada's largest newspaper
conglomerate, Canada.com provides powerful search capabilities and a
good mix of features designed to make this site your first stop for a
whole range of information. For example, Canada.com hosts a News Cafe
site that provides extensive news coverage from all the Southam
papers. (Southam owns 33 of Canada's daily newspapers, including The
Vancouver Sun and the Vancouver Province, The Calgary Herald, The
Edmonton Journal, The Hamilton Spectator, The Ottawa Citizen, and The
Montreal Gazette.) The site also provides links to online travel
reservations and information, a business directory, weather forecasts,
TV listings, horoscopes, comics, lottery results, polls, chats, and a
national discussion forum.
The search engine's default setting lets users scour the entire Web,
but it also contains options for geographically limiting a search.
(Choose from North America, Canada, Europe, and more.)
Inference Find
The folks at Inference Corporation have developed a very fast--and
very slick--meta-search engine for searching the Web. Touted as "the
Intelligent Massively Fast Parallel Web Search," Inference Find will
query six search engines and give you fast, accurate and--best of
all--well organized results. After simultaneously tapping into
WebCrawler, Yahoo, Lycos, Alta Vista, InfoSeek, and Excite, Inference
Find merges the results, removes redundancies, and organizes the
results into handy groupings. (Note that use of the engines mentioned
here is subject to change.)
Inference Find searches each engine for the maximum number of results
allowed, and it even goes so far as to query some engines multiple
times. For example, because InfoSeek return only ten items at a time,
Inference Find calls on it three times, for a total of 30 returned
items.
Of course, you can find any number of search engines that return a
ton of results--when often all you need are the one or two correct
ones. This is where "clustering" comes in. After retrieving the huge
list of results, Inference Find clusters them by putting similar
items together. This can make a big difference in producing hits that
are accurate and easy to navigate.
Zip2 City Guide Whether you're traveling, just moved to a new city, or simply want to
know what's going on in your hometown, the offers a
convenient way to search for business, people, and events in cities
all across America. Not only can you quickly locate a business in
your target city, but you can also find your way around with the
accompanying maps and detailed door-to-door directions. Also, because
Zip2 has created partnerships with local newspapers, you can search
for meals, movies, exhibits, and events--and then read a local
review. In some cases, you can even see menus, movie times, or links
to Web sites.
DisInformation
When you get tired of the mainstream point of view or grow weary of
the "facts" according to corporate-owned media, it's time to put a
little "Dis" in your Information--and that's exactly what the
DisInformation search site offers. Calling itself "the subculture
search engine," this site offers a searchable database of more than
30 million documents. It also collects and indexes the most
subversive, "hidden" material on the Web, rates the results on a
scale of 1 to 4 all-seeing pyramids, and lays it all out in a
browsable format. Categories include Propaganda, Revolutionaries,
Censorship, Counterculture, Counterintelligence, and Newspeak.
If you have
other sites that you want on this page email me, I will look at
them or you can add them yourself on my Free For All
Education and Travel Page!
You can also add travel and educational links that you think would be interesting to others.
A great travel site for you to check. Secure Transactions
I believe that travel is one of the best educational experience a person can have. We learn about new areas, about other people while having fun. I have, in the above links, put together travel links to over 100 countries, 300 Airlines, 150 Airports and other great holiday planning resources, from around the world to help you plan your travels and vacations. To help you save money I have linked to a very good currency converter and a great currency cheat sheet which you can print out and carry with you when you travel.
While a
starting list of sites can be given, the electronic medium of the
Internet is a constantly changing one. New sites and sources of
information are being added daily. New places will appear
frequently and those that aren't maintained can disappear
quickly, as a result this page is always under construction. The
Internet is constantly evolving and changing. If you click on a
link and find that it doesn't get you to the site, it is very
likely that you will still be able to find the site using the search
engines on this page.
Use a key word or the name of the site. This will bring up a list
of possibilities to choose from. Most sites still do exist, but
they may have just changed their location. If you do find a new
address for one of my links please e-mail me and let me know so
that I can update the links, or let me know if you have a site
that you think should be added.
These pages contain material
that I have created as well as links to pages that were created
by others. I have visited each page that I have linked to but I
have not visited each link on every site. Your ideas and
suggestions are important to me. If you have any comments or if you would like information
on how we can help, please If you have any comments or if you would like information on how we can help, please Email Me!
