Learn Something New

Information


Damn Interesting

Each day a short article on a obscure subject is posted to this site. Many articles cover long-forgotten history, such as the B-52 that crashed into the Empire State Building, and the great molasses flood of 1919 that killed twenty-one people. Others delve into the technology and science that everyone knows of, but few know about - the truth behind truth serum, and the history of velcro.

How Stuff Works

This site contains detailed but simple explanations of the inner-workings of electronics, automobiles, scientific experiments, and essentially anything else that is capable of being distilled.

Straight Dope

Learn the origin of the term "polka dot," what the "K" in K Mart stands for, and who invented the smiley face. Straight Dope has been around in various forms since 1973 and shows no sign of stopping.

Wikipedia

Though its accuracy has been disputed, Wikipedia is generally a good source of encyclopedic information on any subject. It's especially useful for info on more obscure subjects.

Inspiration


43 Things

It's said that writing out one's goals increases one's chance of success, and 43 Things is a very cool implementation of this idea. Make a list of 43 goals (if you want to add more, you have to complete a goal first), keep on track with reminders and "cheers" from other users, and collectively chart your progress with other users who share the same goal.

StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon was one of the original sites of "social bookmarking" phenomenon. Interesting sites are tagged with relevant keywords so that other users, upon searching for a these words, will stumble upon them. A free Firefox extension provides a "stumble" button which, when pressed, will produce a random site that is amazingly well-tuned to one's interests.

Smart Stuff

The best inventions are often the simplest and most seemingly self-evident devices. This site will have you wondering "why didn't I think of that?"

Misconceptions


Snopes

Snopes has debunked (and even confirmed) nearly every conceivable urban legend. It's an amazingly deep source of pop culture apocrypha.

Bad Astronomy

The science geek in me finds this site awesome.