Web Guide - Technology & Construction

TECHNOLOGY

How Stuff Works
Ever wondered how refrigerators, VCRs, or diesel engines work? Find answers to those burning questions and more at this site.

National Inventors Hall of Fame (Inventure Place)
Search for brief biographies of famous inventors by their names, their inventions, or their dates of induction into the Hall of Fame.

CONSTRUCTION

FEMA: Taking Shelter From the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your House
This publication is part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's site. As its title indicates, it contains instructions on how to plan and build a safe room to protect you from storms. This booklet was produced in conjunction with the folks at Texas Tech's Wind Engineering Research Center. You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader plugin to view the information they provide, although they do provide a toll-free phone number to order the booklet.

Home Maintenance and Repair
A site created by the Michigan State University Extension Dept. Contains commercial-free, fulltext information on many aspects of home repair and maintenance -- from cleaning lamp shades to repairing wall electrical outlets.

The Natural Handyman
The Natural Handyman is a professional handyman in a small New England town. In his own words, the NH site exists "To help the average person be more confident in dealing with everyday repairs, adjustments, and installations at home, at work, or wherever" and "To aid all of you knowledgeable, experienced people ... both professional folks and the 'weekend warriors.'" He has home repair articles, a newsletter, and links to other Internet resources. The ads do tend to get in the way, but the information is worth it.

theplumber.com
As its subtitle indicates, this page is "The Plumbing Page for Plumbers and DIYS'rs." It includes a detailed history of plumbing, links to print articles on plumbing, a link to the Plumbing & Mechanical Magazine, a Plumbing Care & Repair Handbook (your first stop when the tap leaks), among many other links. Even if your tap isn't leaking right now, you'll still want to stop by to read articles like "The Men That Made the Water Closet."

Water Wells Tutorial

This free, online tutorial covers all aspects of safe drinking water well construction: from tips on how to make a hand pump to sealing the borehole. Lifewater Canada, a nonprofit organization, maintains this site as part of their efforts to "ensure that people everywhere have access to adequate supplies of safe water."