WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?
WHOSE NUMBER IS THAT?
Enter a phone number to get a name and address. Some unlisted numbers.
http://www.reversephonedirectory.com/
WHOSE IDEA/MONEY IS THAT?
You can find out who owns what copyright and what patent and who has gone bankrupt in the last quarter century at the Industry Canada site: http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/
WHOSE WEB SITE IS THAT?
GOVERNMENT OF CANADA (Your tax dollars at work)
http://canada.gc.ca/depts/major/depind_e.html
STATISTICS CANADA
http://www.statcan.ca/start.html
SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/csc-scc/en/index.html
SUPERIOR COURT JUSTICES (Ontario)
http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/superior_court_justice/justices_scj.htm
ACCESS TO JUSTICE NETWORK (Legal info for Canadians)
http://www.acjnet.org/nahome/default.aspx
WHO OWNS THAT COMPANY?
In Ontario, the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations will tell you everything you want to know about who owns companies in the province.
WHO OWNS THAT HOUSE?
Take an address or name to the land titles office and you can find out what mortgages are held on that property. For a fee, of course.
WHO OWNS THAT CAR?
In Ontario, you can search the owner of a licence plate or vehicle identification number at the Ministry of Transportation for $12.
EVERYBODY’S FOIs (already filed)
METRIC CONVERSIONS
http://admiralmetals.com/metric_conv.htm
MATH HELP
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~shane007/maths
CURRENCY CONVERSIONS
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? (Rough translations)
http://babelfish.altavista.com/
ANOTHER WORD FOR “WHATEVER”?
http://thesaurus.reference.com
HOW TO SWEAR IN 150 LANGUAGES
http://www.insultmonger.com/swearing/index.htm
FOR THOSE WHO USE A FOREIGN SWEAR WORD IN A HEADLINE
JOURNALISM GOSSIP, JOBS, TIPS, NEWS
BIG HELP
Everything you need to know about Canadian journalism
Journalist’s toolbox (American Press Institute)
http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/toolbox/
Reporter’s desktop (Duff Wilson, investigative reporter for The Seattle Times)
http://www.reporter.org/desktop/
Need a lift after a really bad night on the desk? Read a great story
REPORTERS NEED INSPIRATION? GET THEM OUT OF THE OFFICE!
“Where do you get fresh ideas?” the rookie reporter said.
“Well,” said the grizzled old veteran, “if I was looking for something out of the ordinary, I’d go to an area of town that hasn’t been written about for some time and I’d ask people: ‘What’s the most interesting person or thing in this part of town?’ If six answers to this question don’t give you at least a Page One brightener, then move to another part of town and ask again. Believe me, it works.”
Ten minutes later, the rookie was still surfing the Internet for inspiration.
Sigh.
-30-
Kevin Scanlon is a senior editor at the Toronto Star and frequently gives seminars on copy editing.