#reference

Any Human Ever — Random historical life generator

Interactive tool that draws random historical lives by combining randomized birth years (weighted by population exponential growth), geographic locations, and generated life narratives. Uses AI image generation (FLUX.1). Claims real historical sourcing. Appeared on HN frontpage 3x, suggesting quality/novelty interest.

NationalDex — Pokédex Reference Tool

Minimal open-source web-based Pokédex covering all 1025 Pokémon across every generation. Features generation-specific stats, type matchups, learnsets, abilities, evolution data, and integration with Pokémon TCG cards. Allows browsing by type, building teams, and comparing Pokémon across game generations.

Movie Scene Map — Filming Locations Database

Interactive map database of 15,716+ real filming locations across 166 countries for films, TV series, video games, anime, and manga. Users can search by title or location to discover where productions were shot or set.

Metapatterns

A human-curated compendium of software architectural patterns organized into a hierarchical pattern language. Hand-illustrated reference site showcasing hundreds of patterns grouped into ~20 metaclasses. Online version of author's book with clean, intuitive NoUML diagrams.

I Have Been Clawed – Index of coding agent incidents

A source-aware archive documenting incidents involving AI agents and chatbots. Hand-curated, niche reference site with careful attribution to original sources.

The Restroom Archive

A curated repository of publicly accessible restrooms, mapping niche infrastructure for travelers, people with medical needs, and community members seeking functional information.

SkyLens — Live 3D Satellite Tracker + Declassified UAP Archive

Interactive 3D real-time satellite tracker combined with a curated archive of 375+ declassified government UAP case files, NASA asteroid tracking, and space news. Free, no signup required, RSS feed available.

Ancient Library

Interactive reader for 1,060 Greek and Latin classical texts with full parsing — click any word to see lemma, morphology, and dictionary entries (Lewis & Short for Latin, LSJ for Greek). Beautifully organized by genre across 140 authors.

Diátaxis — Documentation Framework

A systematic, pragmatic approach to organizing and writing technical documentation. Proposes four documentation types (tutorials, how-to guides, reference, explanation) and their relationships. Reference site maintained by an enthusiast with substantive research and methodology.

New Parts for Old Computers

A researched, community-curated catalog of hardware upgrades and parts for vintage computers (Apple, Atari, Commodore, PC systems, etc.). Includes 12 sections, 149 pages, 762 products with documented research methodology. Each product links to makers, documentation, or reliable sources. Also covers reverse-retro (using vintage parts with modern systems). Active, well-organized reference site with RSS feed.

So You Want to Learn Physics

Hand-curated self-study physics curriculum by Susan Rigetti. A comprehensive learning guide used by 600,000+ readers to learn physics from first principles, with an updated second edition (2021).

30 Essential ML Papers - Curated Learning List

A hand-curated collection of 30 foundational AI and deep learning papers with plain-language explanations, based on Ilya Sutskever's reading list for John Carmack. Full papers hosted with beginner-friendly guides to difficult concepts.

Postgres Is Enough

Curated directory of PostgreSQL extensions and tools, with a philosophical argument that you can consolidate Redis, Elasticsearch, Kafka, MongoDB, and similar tools into a single Postgres database. Well-designed, thoughtfully written, community-validated on Lobsters.

The Naturalist's Library

A complete digital edition of William Jardine's 40-volume natural history series (1833–1843) with over 1,300 restored hand-drawn illustrations of birds, mammals, insects, and fish. Preservation and restoration project organized by subject (ornithology, mammalia, entomology, ichthyology). High-quality facsimile editions with thoughtful presentation.

NameThatUI

Visual dictionary for UI elements. Describe what you see ("the pale pill behind the menu bar", "the dots you drag") and get the proper name, API symbol, and coding prompt. Hand-curated reference organized by platform (macOS, Web) with trending/newest tags.

IKEA Complexity Index

Interactive tool visualizing assembly complexity across IKEA's product catalog. Handcrafted reference site offering a novel way to explore and understand IKEA products.

Immersive Linear Algebra

Interactive linear algebra textbook with fully interactive figures. A handcrafted educational resource by academics (Ström, Åström, Akenine-Möller) covering vectors, matrices, eigenvalues, and fundamental linear algebra concepts. The first textbook to pair mathematical exposition with fully interactive visualizations.

Verba Prima — Opening lines of famous literature

A curated reference site featuring the opening lines of famous literary works. Personal project that gained attention on Hacker News (6 frontpage mentions). Handcrafted editorial collection with a clear, specific scope.

The Index of Indexes

A maintained meta-index of indie web and blog indexes, curating discovery tools for the small web ecosystem. 38 entries across 6 categories including curated directories, feed aggregators, and personal site collections.

command-not-found

Find the package that contains a command. Covers major Linux distributions and macOS.

OneLook

Search multiple dictionaries at once. Reverse dictionary, thesaurus, and pattern matching.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Authoritative, peer-reviewed philosophy reference. The definitive resource for philosophy.

HyperPhysics

Encyclopedic physics reference. Concept maps connecting physics topics.

Organic Chemistry Portal

Organic chemistry resources. Reactions, mechanisms, and synthesis.

Basketball Reference

Complete basketball statistics. Every player, every game, every stat.

Pro Football Reference

Complete NFL statistics database. Historical and current stats.

FBref

Soccer/football statistics. Comprehensive data from leagues worldwide.

MathWorld

Comprehensive mathematics encyclopedia. Definitions, theorems, and explanations for every math concept.

Learn X in Y Minutes

Quick reference guides for programming languages. Learn the syntax of a new language in one page.

explainshell

Paste a command line and get a breakdown of every argument. Essential for understanding complex shell commands.