Databases

The Center for Science in the Public's Interest (CSPI) offers up a Chemical Cuisine database rates additives — used to preserve foods or affect their taste, texture, or appearance — from ‘safe' to 'avoid.'

A direct link to the ratings is here. You can make a bookmark and save it on your phone's desktop. Come across an ingredient on a package and you want to know if it's safe? Check the database.

This site has been around forever and I've always found it rather neat: a searchable database of all registered dog names in NYC.

Trying to choose a name for your new friend? See how common it is in NYC, which is probably a good way of gauging how common it is in general.

You'll notice that there are no Shakedowns. There wasn't when I named her 12 years ago, either.