Criminal Searches - Making you feel safer or increasing your fear? [more inside]
posted by tellurian on Jul 24, 2008 - 44 comments

Got roots? The American Family Immigration History Center has made available online the passenger manifests for all the ships that docked at Ellis Island from 1892 to 1924. It's searchable by name, and you can look at a photostat of the actual page of the manifest. I found my great-uncle (Demetrios Calisperis, from Samos, Greece, debarked Ellis Island Nov 1907, at age 11 -- hiya, Uncle Jim!). Free to register and search. Paid membership lets you build a family scrapbook about your ancestor that can be searched by other researchers.
posted by BitterOldPunk on Jul 14, 2003 - 9 comments

Isn't this how the IMDB got started? Maybe this guy will eventually be able to sell out. (But to who?)
posted by Steven Den Beste on Oct 30, 2000 - 14 comments

One word: Creepy. (Note that IBM doesn't actually own this patent -- they just run the patent lookup service.) Props to Victor.
posted by jjg on Oct 5, 2000 - 15 comments