The Web hasn’t exactly turned out as researcher Tim Berners-Lee envisioned. In 1989, it was Berners-Lee who sat in his Geneva lab and proposed a “global hypertext project” to be known as the World Wide Web. Not for a minute did he consider that URLs would end up being plastered on everything from TV commercials to garbage trucks. He just wanted to have a way for scientific types to share information at a distance. Terms like “cyberporn” and “pop-up ads” were never even discussed.

But if Sir Tim is at all disappointed that his collaboration vehicle didn’t work out for the science community (for a variety of legal reasons), the rest of us are pretty impressed with the Web, and, scientists or not, our lives have been dramatically altered by Berners-Lee’s invention. It’s sort of like turning your sofa inside-out to look for a quarter and finding a long lost diamond ring. (Actually, it’s nothing like that, but it’s getting late and the Red Sox just lost, so cut me a break.)

While we all understand that the Web is still young and rather clunky, we also know that any bit of information we want to know is out there somewhere, if we just know where to look. John Wayne’s real name (Marion Morrison); the day Wilt the Stilt scored 100 points (March 2, 1962); a year’s tuition at Harvard Business School ($33,650).

But search engines, while indispensable, must literally traverse six billion websites for you, 5.99999 billion of which have nothing to do with your search string. For that reason, a good database is like gold because it narrows down your search and saves you time. I’ve found three that I rely on heavily:

The Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) is fantastic. It’s by far the best Internet database I’ve ever used because it’s so comprehensive and accurate. If you never go to movies or watch television, this database isn’t for you. But if you’re like me, often wondering things like: who that guy was who played Burt Reynolds’ sidekick in The Longest Yard (James Hampton); how many movies did Humphrey Bogart play private detective Sam Spade in (just one, The Maltese Falcon); and when did Abe Vigoda die (umm…he’s still living), then IMDb.com is worth its weight in popcorn. A few years ago, I met a guy who said his father had been in some movies with Marlon Brando and Cary Grant. (”Sure, pal. And Sophia Loren happens to be my live-in aunt.”) Well, as you’ve already guessed, I checked it out on IMDb.com and the guy was telling the truth. His father was Ivan Triesault and he had actually been in seventy movies. (Cost me lunch at Sbarro’s.)

I won’t spend too much time on BaseballReference.com because I know I’m more of a baseball nut than most people. But I’ve had the pleasure of introducing this website to several baseball fans over the years and it’s won me a fair bit of appreciation. It loads quickly because it has almost no graphics and the HTML is very basic. BaseballReference.com gives you stats on everyone who has ever played a single major league baseball game. From Ty Cobb to Fred Ostendorf, they’re all in there. The database has team information as well. Who won the 1909 World Series? Pirates over Tigers in seven. What team used to be name the Superbas? The Dodgers. Talk about settling bets. It’s all there in black-and-white, just waiting to prove to you how poor your memory is.

PCwebopedia.com is terrific if you need a technical definition quick. It’s particularly helpful if you work in the software industry, where testosterone-induced he-men try to outdo each other with increasingly cryptic code-words and acronyms on an hourly basis. Don’t feel stupid if you don’t know all the latest terms – no one does. That’s why you need PCwebopedia.com. Now, when I’m in a meeting and some eyelid-pierced college grad spews forth: “Once we set up the KIXX database with a gerrylid-type 7 processor, we can handle 37-blat traffic over double-sim-jam VASCO lines,” I just nod knowingly, jot down the terms, and look them up later on PCwebopedia. Then I say terrible things about the guy behind his back. But that’s just me.

Someday, the big search engines will be smart enough to answer all of our questions rather than returning a slew of irrelevant hits. But until then, hooking up to some good databases can save you a good deal of frustration and win you some bets.