Living up to its claim of being "the single best resource for facts on the Web", RefDesk has a searchable database, reference tools (which include 26 encyclopaedias, almanacs, an interactive atlas, the King James Bible and an airline flight tracker) and a huge index of subject categories. It also provides links to hundreds of newspapers, magazines and TVchannel websites. At www.refdesk.com
Irish statistical information is available from the Central Statistics Office. Its website provides information on topics such as population (for example: the numbers living in Irish towns in 1996, and the number of women in Ireland 1901 to 1996), agriculture, crime and transport. The searchable site also includes press releases, details of statistics due out soon and links to the huge public databases of the United Nations and the World Bank, as well as statistical organisations around the world. Search: www.cso.ie
Samuel Beckett was born today in 1906, and Julie Christie was born tomorrow in 1940. To search biographies of more than 25,000 famous - and not-so-famous - people, search: www.biography.com
Want to check the definition of terms relating to medicine, chemistry, molecular biology, physics, plant biology, radiobiology, science and technology? Check out Dr Graham Dark's online searchable medical dictionary, which comprises more than 46,000 entries and includes links to other Net resources. At: www.graylab.ac.uk/omd
Next week: Check your facts part 2
smarriott@irish-times.ie
