Portent

Yes he also painted as well but of course he is better known for his lifestyle and poems. (From Wikipedia) Bukowski’s writing was heavily influenced by the geography and atmosphere of his home city of Los Angeles. He is often mentioned as an influence by contemporary authors, and his style is frequently imitated. A prolific author, Bukowski wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short-stories, and six novels, eventually having more than fifty books in print. He is often remembered as “The Poet Laureate of Skid Row.”

The database holds 5,566 poem references by Bukowski and each result of the search shows you other poems or story references that appeared in the same magazine or year of publication. It’s an impressive pierce of work though it would be nice if some of the poems were there. Mind you google on Bukowski poems and you’ll find nearly a million results. For example. So if you’re into Bukowski, use this site to find references then hunt them down.

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Popularity: 8% [?]

Government websites don’t usually show up here but I think this one on vehicle recalls warrants coverage. (It’s UK) – a database of all vehicle recalls that you can query to see if your vehicle has had anything wrong with it.

It used to be you had to phone or call in a dealer to find out vehicle recalls information- I had to once with a Ford Orion that needed the jockey wheel replaced. This is a vitally important wheel that was originally plastic in the 1.8 Diesel engines and could break. If that went you lost your timing belt and most likely turned the engine into a pile of useless scrap metal. Ford issued a replacement metal wheel.

So if you buy a 2nd hand car you know where to look, to check for vehicle recalls.

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Popularity: 8% [?]

With its own section on the U.S. Geological Section, the earthquakes Hazard Program is a database of earthquakes around the world that is kept very up to date. Just two days ago for instance there was a 5.5 magnitude quake in Iran just 15 miles from the city of Qom. Yesterday evening there was a 5.1 just 100 miles from Tonga in the Pacific.

Of course if you're interested in historical quakes, such as the biggest ever (in Chile in 1960- 9.5!). I like the fact that the website is itself earthquake proof (by being mirrored). You can also see an hour by hour animation for the last seven days. This is an excellent and very up-to-date resource.

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Popularity: 8% [?]

Yeah, it keeps me awake at night as well (Not!). You’ll find me for example, at work on the 21st floor of the 21st tallest building ( that’s the photo) in London according to Emporis.com, a vast database of buildings, companies and images of buildings.

Film Trivia If you watch the Fat Slags film, a limo pulls up on the forecourt of this building several times in the film.

If you want to keep up with trivia questions on tall buildings, Skyscrapers.com is the easy to remember site for you. It also takes you to the Emporis.com site, which is a free database of 127,527 high-rise buildings being 12 floors and higher. (No mention of how many of them have a floor 13 though!). So for example you’ll find out that there are presently 9,129 buildings under construction, 4,023 proposed and 38 under demolition. An amazing and free resource.

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Popularity: 2% [?]