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Automobiles
Auto Recall List - This link accesses the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration's database of auto manufacturers'
recall information.
Auto
Technical Service Bulletins - This link accesses the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration's database of auto manufacturers'
technical service bulletins.
Business
Office
Space Calculator - This links takes you to a page that
uses two methods to calculate needed office space.
Room Space Calculator - This calculator estimates the
maximum number of people or exhibit booths that fit in different
size rooms with different configurations.
Conversions
Conversions
- Convert just about anything to anything else.
Over 5,000 units, and 50,000 conversions
Financial
Accounting Terminology - This site provides short definitions
of accounting and financial terms ranging from accelerated depreciation
to zero-coupon bonds.
Charity Navigator - This is a a nonprofit
organization that evaluates and rates charities. Some
of the features of the site require you to register, but
registration is free.
Glue
This to That - This site provides
the answer to a question we often ask at WJH - What kind of
glue do I use to glue this to that? (OK, so we don't
really ask that question very often, but this web site does
have the answer.)
Graphics Tools
ColorTools.Net
- This site provides a number of links that can help you
with computer graphics topics like browser-safe colors,
conversion of RGB to Hex, etc. It adds to the usual
set of color explanations and conversion to include tools
that mix colors, match colors, and perform other tricks.
Internet Tools
Answers.com - Answers.com
is an enhancement for Internet browsing and searching tasks.
You point at a word, press the alt key and click the mouse to
display a window that provided definitions, a list of similar
words, a web search interface, and , if the word is the name of
a company, a current stock quote, news links, and more.
The information includes data from over 100 encyclopedias, dictionaries,
glossaries and atlases. Answers.com is often much faster
than using a search engine and is free.
Internet Scams
- This site lists and discusses the latest Internet scams and
rumors. Its a good place to check up on that e-mail deal
that looks too good to be true.
Urban Legends Reference Pages
- The database at Snopes.com contains the story (the real story)
behind urban legends, and those e-mails we all get describing
some event like dogs and cats dying from Swifter mop usage.
They debunk the myths and document the stories.
NonProfit Tools
Charity Navigator - This is a a nonprofit
organization that evaluates and rates charities. Some
of the features of the site require you to register, but
registration is free.
TechSoup.org - TechSoup provides a range of
technology services for nonprofits, including news and
articles, discussion forums, and discounted and donated
technology products. Thanks to donations from over 25
technology partners (including Adobe, Cisco, Intuit,
Microsoft, and Symantec) TechSoup offers current hardware
and software products at costs that are typically 4% - 20%
of retail costs. They also have lists of free
downloadable tools that are applicable to nonprofits.
Poll Data
PollingReport.com - This site collects data from
various surveys. It shows both current opinions and
trends as determined by various polling organizations.
Places to Live
Sperling's
Best Places - This site includes a cost of living calculator
as well as information on crime rates, schools, climate, health
issues, and more for cities in the U.S.
References
Dictionary:
Legal Terms - This site provides a definition of legal
terms in plain English - if that is possible.
References: Price's
List of Lists covers everything from the top 10 U.S. soft
drinks to the top 25 network television broadcasts to the Indonesia's
largest conglomerates. There has got to be something here
you've been wanting to know.
References: The
Reference Desk claims to "the single best source for facts
on the net". They may be right.
Sales Tax
Sales Tax Rate -
If you know a specific street address you can
look up the sales tax rate that is applicable for that
location.
This site by Avalara allows 50 free rate lookups per month for all
states, municipalities and other taxing jurisdictions in
the US and Canada. You can also sign up for
additional queries per month if you need them.
Social Security Administration
Social Security
Benefits Planner - This page includes online forms that
allow you to apply for retirement or surviving spouse benefits,
links to benefits planners, and links to benefits calculators.
Telephone Tools
gethuman - This
web site provides the details on how to call a company and
actually get a person on the phone instead of spending 20
minutes talking to Bob the automated attendant and hearing
"for blah, blah, blah, press 3". gethuman is a
volunteer group that figures out the short cuts to real
people and publishes them on the web site.
Travel
Cruise
Ship - Sanitation Inspections - This page allows you to
search the database of sanitation inspections of international
cruise ships of the U.S. Center for Disease Control. For
some of these ships, it looks like if you are thinking about a
cruise, you might want to fly.
Destination
Health Guidelines - This page contains information regarding
travel to various worldwide destinations and the health precautions
you should consider. It is part of the Center for Disease
Control website.
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Animals
Cute Overload - This web site is just pictures and
videos of animals being "cute". There is no real
reason to go there except that sometimes it really beats the
news and other serious things.
Art
The Art-o-mat
is a refurbished cigarette vending machine that has been converted
to vend original art. There are currently over 80 machines
scattered around the U.S. (and one in England). They currently
provide work by over 400 artists from 10 countries. You
put in a token (which costs 4 or 5 dollars) and pull the handle
for your art item of choice. There is more information and
pictures of selected machines at the link above and a list
of machine locations
here.
Dictionary (in Limerick form)
OEDILF
- The Omnificent Dictionary in Limerick Form - Well, this is
not really a dictionary. It is actually a collection
of limericks that are submitted by readers and can be
searched by topic. So, if you are actually looking foe
a definition you probably want to look elsewhere.
However if you want a limerick about something like
"accounting" where could you do better than this?
(submitted by Robert Holland) -
An accountant is paid to count money
So that shareholders know nothing funny
Is draining their hive,
Lest their shares take a dive
When their honey begins to get runny.
Do It Yourself
Paper Toys - This was a tough call. Is this
site Cool or is it really Useful? Say you need a quick
model of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre or Jimi Hendrix's
guitar. Just go to Paper Toys, print the paper
version, cut and fold it following the instructions, and
there you have it.
Fashion (Sort of)
Ian's Shoelace
Site is a fun and educational site.
According to the site: " It was just over 21 years ago that I
invented a super-fast way of tying my shoelaces. I named this
technique the
Ian Knot,
the World's Fastest Shoelace Knot, and have been sharing it with
the world in a variety of ways ever since." (It takes
practice, but it works.)
"Fun, fashion & science in this quirky site about shoelaces. Whether
you want to learn to lace shoes, tie shoelaces, stop shoelaces
from coming undone, calculate shoelace lengths or even repair
aglets, Ian's Shoelace Site has the answer!"
Math
So, you know that if you divide the circumference of a circle
by its diameter you get PI (not PIE - PI). And, you
also know that while PI is normally shortened (at least in
everyday conversation) to 3.1416 or maybe even 3.14, it is
actually an irrational number - it just keeps on going after
the decimal point. (It is also transcendental, but
that is not the topic of this Cool note.)
Naturally, once you realized PI is irrational you wondered
if you favorite number string ever shows up as a string in
PI. Wonder no more. Just go to the the
PI-Search Page
input your favorite string (or any numeric string really)
and sit back and let the computer amaze you. (As
an example, the WJH phone number - 3438075 - occurs at
position 970,544 (counting from the first digit after the
decimal point. The 3. is not counted.))
Science
Wow Movies! - Dr. David Alciatore of the College
of Engineering at Colorado State University has assembled a set
of Windows Media files showing clips of various activities shot
with a high-speed camera. There are too many scenes to list
here, but our favorites include dropping the slinky, dropping
the light bulb, hitting various things with a hammer, and the
rubber band. The site is
here.
Movie Physics - As accountants we have a mission to
find the truth among all the numbers. The folks at
Movie Physics have a similar (and, we believe, equally
important) mission. This site points out the
inaccuracies and downright stupidities in the dramatic
effects that often are substituted for scientific reality in
movies. This site is both educational and
entertaining.
Shopping
Woot.com - Woot
is an online store that focuses "on selling cool stuff cheap".
To accomplish this they sell only 1 product at a time. Each
product is available until it sells out or until 11:59pm central
time when it is replaced by the next product. Many products are
refurbished and, of course, the cooler the item the sooner it
sells out.
Headlinedeals.com
is a website that presents the latest deals, rebates, and
e-coupons for a wide variety of products. They have
one of the largest collections of Dell deals on the web.
Sports
Squirrel Fishing - Start
here. Then, go
here for
more pictures of one of the most interesting sports to be found
on a college campus.
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