Although there are several places that you choose as your go to destination for option 2, I suggest trying HowStuffWorks.com first. Here is a brief guide to why:

1. There are a heck of a lot of articles – Let’s say that you are fighting with a friend over a rumor you’ve heard about cows producing more methane than cars. A quick search of HowStuffWorks.com (with the search terms “Cows and Methane”) produces an article called “Do cows polute as much as cars?”. The article is only a few short pages long and includes many, many links that you can browse for further information. Your question answered, you win five bucks from your friend.
2. The articles are easy to understand – Suppose you learned that CO2 scrubbing is used in your local power plant. What in the world is CO2 scrubbing?? Here is a paragraph from the resulting search on HowStuffWorks.com:
“After the fossil fuel is combusted in air, the resulting gases are collected and chilled. The solvent is then added and absorbs the CO2, forming a new compound in a reversible chemical reaction. The new compound separates out from the other gases by entering a more solid state that gets pumped to a new chamber and reheated. The heat causes the CO2 to come back out of solution so that it can be diverted to storage. The solvent is sent back to the beginning of the cycle to be reused, and the cleaned flue gas is released into the atmosphere.” It’s about as easy to understand as an article on the subject could ever be.
3. You can learn about the people who wrote the article – Wikipedia is fantastic, but the same question is raised again and again: who wrote what you’re now considering as fact?? In the above CO2 scrubbing example on HowStuffWorks, we learn that the article was written by Jennifer Horten, who has a degree in environmental studies. Admittedly, she only has a B.S. (kidding), but who wrote the Wikipedia equivalent? Well the most recent editor of the equivalent article on Wikipedia was written by someone at the ip address 173.17.188.146. I’m not sure how to check that person’s background :). If you dig a bit deeper, you’ll see that the article was started by someone who has posted extensively on “Zambia” and “Rugby”. Again, I’m not sure what credentials that provides. (For news on how Wikipedia is trying to improve this image click here)
4. Sometimes there is a video! – I’m a big believer in pictures to simplify complex subjects. HowStuffWorks not only provides images, but sometimes it includes video! The videos are always a bit stiff, but they still provide quick details on most subjects. Here is an example video for how decaf coffee is made.

Obviously, there will always be a place for Wikipedia and good ol’ Google, but they don’t have to be your first stop when searching for credible information.

Try out HowStuffWorks.com from the makers of the discovery channel.

~ab