Look IT Up

With summer officially here, IT's mind turns to beloved warm weather activities. Among them, swimming is very much at the forefront. And, thanks to a website we recently found, we'll never be pressed to find a pool. Swimmers Guide is an online database of publicly accessible, year-round pools worldwide. It currently includes over 18,000 pools in 156 countries, from Andorra to Zimbabwe. Listings include the cost of admission, the pool's dimensions, whether there are diving boards, and links to the pool's website and online maps if available. Most listings are public pools or in hotels, and include facilities in airports, hospitals, and pool-cum-bowling-alleys. Our only complaint? The requirement that facilities be open a minimum of eight months a year to be listed means some of our all-time favorite outdoor pools will never make the cut.

Still, we love this site. Not only because it enables us to swim on six continents, but also because we're generally enthusiastic about quirky directory sites. If you're not in the mood to live the life aquatic this summer, there are online directories available to help you find worldwide spas, North American music festivals, and Minnesotan lakes. Double Feature Finder highlights movies scheduled back to back so you can spend entire summer scorchers inside the nearest air-conditioned Cineplex. Sadly, two of our favorite directories have recently gone the way of the dodo. We have yet to find a suitable replacement for Culture Finder, but there do seem to be a couple of contenders to fill the gargantuan gap left in our lives by the demise of Sushifinder.com. All we can hope is that the disappearance of directories is a trend headed for its own demise.