Best of the Web: Reference

The three letters after the dot in a computer file's name (such the ".doc" in "resume.doc") are called the extension and they tell you what kind of file it is. Here's a comprehensive listing of those extensions.

Links to a broad range of federal information resources available online, which can be searched by category.

Numerous links to current and reliable nutrition information, icluding food composition, dietary supplements, dietary guidelines, and special topics.

See how popular a first name or last name was in the 1990 Census.

The FXConverter (Foreign Exchange Currency Converter) provides up to date exchange rates for 164 currencies.

This organization affiliated with the Council of Better Business Bureaus "collects and distributes information on hundreds of nonprofit organizations."

This site provides information about outdoor adventure travel. Topics covered on this site are: hiking, camping, national parks, travel destinations, gear, books, and tours.

A comprehensive site that provides links to grammatical and literate websites, grammarian.com also has an "Ask a Grammarian" service that allows visitors to email their grammar questions.

Provides information about time zones, daylight savings time, world time, time zone maps, official time, international time zones, Greenwich Mean Time, military time, atomic time, New York time, Eastern Standard Time, and a time zone converter.

Find a wealth of information on a nonprofit's operations, programs, finances, and personnel on this indispensable site.

Easy-to-use portal providing free access to news, news headlines, and news sources worldwide.

This online city guide provides door-to-door subway and bus directions, maps for New York City,

Calculate the distance -- as the crow flies -- between any two cities around the world.

An A-Z dictionary of the International System of Units, the metric system, and English traditional systems with a history and overview of each. Comprehensive.

An extensive database of free cleaning-related information, links to service providers, and product reviews.

The largest website of its kind, Idealist.org lets you search or browse through tens of thousands of nonprofit and community organizations in over 165 countries. The Nonprofit Career Center lets you search for jobs and internships all over the world, there is an extensive list of global volunteer opportunities as well, and information for possible donors.

InfoHub provides information about unique vacations for people with special interests.

This site provides forecasts and advisories for recreational activities and sports.

One of the sites maintained by the News Division volunteers of the Special Libraries Association, this one archives foreign newspapers papers are organized by region and country.

Input a word and get all possible anagrams.

Collections of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts for educational use. Find primary sources in ancient, medieval and modern history as well as African, East Asian, Islamic, Jewish, Lesbian and Gay, Science, and Women's history. This is a wonderful site for primary sources on the Internet.

Links to online newspapers from around the world organized by region and country, searchable by keyword.

Offers new and used car pricing as well as decision guides, side-by-side comparisons, car reviews and other tools, tips and advice.

Search for relationships between words, concepts, and people in this combination thesaurus, rhyming dictionary, pun generator, and concept navigator.

The New York Times Book Review has developed this map with interactive features linking book excerpts to their various locations on the island of Manhattan. The subtitle explains it all: here's where imaginary New Yorkers lived, worked, played, drank, walked and looked at ducks.

An extensive collection of links to Websites containing biographies of "individuals who are no longer living or whose public life and career are well behind them."

Provides travel guides, maps, and message boards for locations throughout the world.

Materials accessible here are Cornell University Library's contributions to Making of America (MOA), a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. This site provides access to 267 monograph volumes and over 100,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints. The project represents a major collaborative endeavor in preservation and electronic access to historical texts.

The University of Michigan's contributions to MOA. This site provides access to approximately 8,500 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints from the university's collections.

Free ebooks in various formats for PDAs.

Map an address or get directions from Point A to Point B.

Connects people with meaningful volunteer opportunities that significantly improve the quality of life in New York City. Provides links to organizations in NYC which accept volunteers.

Official site for buses, trains and other transportation in the Metro area. Includes schedules, fares and current service advisories.

This is a search engine dedicated to travel sites and airline information. It provides one search of several resources for ticket prices and hotels. The search results link to the service providers.

Use Monstermoving.com to look up apartment and home listings, mortgage quotes, moving quotes, and city comparisons.

An update on the U.S. government food pyramid, the new pyramids are designed to be personalized.

Offers product and pricing information.

After you enter a "valid U.S. postal address" this site will write the address in the proper format along with the ZIP+4 code.

Interactive, multimedia, layered maps of the U.S. with fascinating data that allow you to track the spread of zebra mussels or pinpoint active volcanoes, to name just two possibilities.

The National Consumers League is a private, nonprofit advocacy group that provides information about issues such as child labor, privacy, food safety, and medication.

NPR provides listeners with "noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming."

"NetAid's mission is to mobilize people in developed countries to make ending extreme poverty a global priority."

Helps teenagers develop career aspirations by enlisting the support of experienced industry professionals entirely through the Internet.

A nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people get more involved in their communities. Search for volunteer opportunities which match your interests and geographic location, find charities to which to donate money, and locate an elected official or media contact to voice your opinions on a variety of topics.

Seeks to unite and enable caring New Yorkers to help people in need and improve their city through volunteer service and creative giving.

New York Radio Guide features links to FM Stations by frequency and call letters, AM Stations, Program Listings, and This Week's Highlights.

Provides information for New York State consumers about arranging a funeral, Medicaid issues, casket purchasing, embalming issues, and other topics related to death and grief.