The Lighthouse Library

Welcome to the Library :
Each area on The Lighthouse homepage has its own library that specializes in that particular interest. Here you'll find information that is of general interest to Web Crawlers.

Search Engines and Indexes

Do you know the difference between a Search Engine and an Index?

When you use a Search Engine, you submit specific words or phrases and their computer will return the URLs of web pages that contain those words or phrases. An Index works more like the 'yellow pages' or a table of contents; you look up the category in which you are interested and then move to sub-categories and then to individual web sites.

The big difference is that a dumb old computer can collect the data for a Search Engine while it takes a person to figure out where a site goes in an Index.

Of course, lately, the indexes seem to be transforming into portal sites (sites people set up as their start pages which offer a variety of services).

Search Engines

Alta Vista: Claims to have the largest of the Web-search databases.
InfoSeek Guide: Claims to have the smartest search tools.
Lycos: Claims to house the largest database of Web pages.
Open Text: Arguably the best-designed search site on the Web.
Search.com from c|net: This site links to hundreds of other search sites, many of them in specialized fields.
The Webcrawler at The University of Washington. In spite of it's name, it's searches are quick.

Indexes

Yet Another Hierarchically -- Officious/Obstreperous/Odiferous/Organized -- Oracle
(aka 'YAHOO') Please don't ask us what those words mean.
This site has become one of the top 'portals' or entry points for the web.
Excite: Provides an array of search capabilities, news, etc configurable by the user.
Magellan - This is the index that rates sites with stars.
Starting Point Another portal site, offering various services including free email.

Libraries

Looking for something specific on the Web; try using a 'virtual library'.

Internet 1996 World Expo.
WWW Virtual Library at CERN. The Web started at CERN, and this is one of the most complete sources of information.
EINet Galaxy is one big resource for many subjects.

Reference Books

Elements of Style : The famous book by W. Strunk on writing style. Excellent and somewhat humorous.
Project Bartleby : Columbia University. A public library for the Internet.
Britannica Online: This is an online encyclopedia. Subscription service

Book Sellers

BookWeb. From the American Booksellers Association.
Amazon Bookstore. This may be 'Earth's biggest bookstore'.
Internet Book Shop. Or perhaps this is the largest bookstore...
Booktalk. Find all the buzz about books!
Advanced Book Exchange A consortium of used and rare booksellers! We highly recommend this site.
Bookwire, the first place to look for book information.
Internet 1996 World Expo.
Book Stacks Unlimited, Inc. A local bookstore - No matter where you live.
Check out stately Wayne Manor!
Publishers' Catalogues.
Association of American University Presses.
Springer-Verlag: The New York home page of the famous publishing house.
Bookpool: Check out the sales at this bookstore.
Oxford University Press.
Elsevier Science Home Page.

Financial Information

How to Check Your Credit Reports Did you ever wonder what your credit records say about you? Here is how you can find out.
Quicken web site : A comprehensive site; probably not the best for a novice. It has the Morningstar database in full, newsletters, and information on over 5,000 mutual funds. You do need to register, but there is no charge and no junk mail. You can also get stock prices with a 15-minute delay. The market on buggy whips is a bit weak at the moment, but we expect it to come snapping back any day now.
The American Association of Individual Investors is a non-profit organization which is pretty much explained by their name.
Mutual Fund Investors Center - an extensive, educational site that makes extensive use of frames.
Mutual Funds Interactive - another site with a variety of resources to learn about investments and investing.
Stock Smart - and yet another. At least one of these sites must have something you would find interesting.
Pathfinder - Time/Warner's site which includes Money Magazine. In Raptor's opinion, Money is one of the best financial news magazines and their web site maintains that standard. This is a news site and is updated daily. You can even register to receive a daily email update!
Mutual Funds Magazine. This site basically offers the text of the published magazine including the columns and regular features. The site is attractive and, as the names suggests, focuses on mutual funds. Registering (which is not required but gives more access) will get you on their email list.
Fidelity Investments Online Investment Center. Fidelity is the largest mutual fund company and their web site reflects that. It is extremely comprehensive. If you have investments with Fidelity or are considering it, you should definitely check out this site.
The Vanguard Group is one of the largest mutual fund companies and is best known for their index funds and low fund expenses. Since many financial advisors recommend an index fund as your core holding, you might want to check out Vanguard. This site offers their shareholder newsletter and a great deal of excellent educational material in addition to the usual (company news and information about the funds they offer).
American Century Funds. A company you've probably never heard of - because it is the result of the merger of Twentieth Century Funds and The Benham Group. A nice site but you need a java-capable browser.

Global Information

National & International Travel:

United Rising.
Microsoft Expedia Travel.
Eurotrip: Budget travel in Europe.
US Dept of State. Info about US policies, politics, travel and passports.
US Government WWW Servers
Country Maps from Europe.
Tourist Information. Links to US and foreign cities - Weather, sports, eateries, parks.

Weather and News:

The Weather Channel.
The Daily Planet. Weather information from University of Illinois. Very nice.
Intellicast: NBC News's online guide to weather and skiing info.
BBC News. International news from the U.K.

Moving or Driving:

MapQuest!: Have maps made for you online! Plan a car trip using ``TripQuest''.
RentNet: Search for your next apartment! Shows photos, floorplans and more!

Computer & Technology Information

Magazines:

The Site Magazine and TV show.
NetGuide Magazine.
Windows Magazine.
Internet World Magazine.
Ziff-Davis Publishing - Nine magazines, including PC Magazine which has utilities you can download plus a list of 100 interesting/useful web sites.

Tekkie Stuff:

Free Internet Source Code: Just what you think... Java stuff and more.
HTML Math Overview: Mathematics within html.
WebSlingerZ: Consulting, software and marketing on the WWW.
SunSITE: Software, Information, and Technology Exchange; at the University of North Carolina.
Bill Thibault: Multimedia ideas from the Computer Science Department of California State University, Hayward.
Scandal Supercomuting Project. A research group at CMU designing a portable supercomputing language NESL.
Circuits and Systems Group at TUDelft, Netherlands.
IBM Homepage.
A check for the Pentium floating point flaw: Start Windows Calculator, compute((4195835/3145727) * 3145727). If result is 4195835 then chip is ok. If the result is 4195579 then chip is flawed.
See also: [Physical Studies: Tools of the Trade]
List servers: An introduction on list servers and how to use them.

HTML Notes and Reference:

ASCII Symbols for use in html files.

Return to the Top.
Return to the Directory.