The Internet: More than Just Google, Part II

As I noted in a blog post last month, only about 0.03 % of all the information stored on the Internet is accessible via search engine. For the majority of what's stored on servers around the world, you have to use databases. Most of them were created by publishing companies, which in turn lease access to libraries. However, a surprising number are available for free. You just have to know that they exist and what they're called. Like MedNar, a database I wrote about last time, BizNar is another product of Deep Web Technologies that uses federated search to retrieve information on business topics or specific businesses from news sources, trade magazines, social media, and government bureaus. Whether you want to learn about real estate, solar energy, llama ranching, or leasing commercial aircraft, this is the place. However, as with MedNar, a broad search can retrieve an overwhelming number of results.  After a search, you'll see the results subdivided on the left-hand side of the screen by topic, source, author, and publisher, which can help you find what you want. Yummly.com's slogan is "explore the world's recipes," and Yummly did offer an impressive variety of results for some of the searches I tried.  You can filter search results by (for example) season, allergies, dietary preferences (e.g., "ovo vegetarian"), publisher, cuisine, and technique. Recipes include calories, number of ingredients and time required. I'm definitely going to try some of the recipes I found, including one for Szechuan noodles and another for Punjabi chicken. Warning: Yummly requires you to create an account or login via Facebook or Google before letting you see search results. If you love American history there's no better virtual place to spend time than American Memory at the Library of Congress. The scope of this collection is staggering: you can browse eighteenth-century broadsides, listen to interviews with former slaves, read about Spanish folk theater in New Mexico, look at photos of Chinese newcomers to nineteenth-century California, and read Abraham Lincoln's letters. And that's just the smallest glimpse of what's available here.