Here you will find a bunch of websites, blogs and services which I often read, refer to or make use of. An occasionally shrinking, but mostly ever growing list.
Topics
Friends
- Akkana ⋅ A renaissance woman to be found amongst bits, boulders, books and the stars. ⋅ RSS
- Jed ⋅ Writer, editor, computational linguist. ⋅ RSS
- Joe ⋅ Designer, comedian, technomensch.
- Kathleen ⋅ The well-read librarian. ⋅ RSS
- Mary Anne ⋅ Writer, professor and zesty cook. ⋅ RSS
- MemeMachineGo! ⋅ The blog of Zed and friends.
- Morrisa ⋅ Exquisite and beautifully disturbing art and writing. ⋅ RSS
- nj ⋅ Brilliant hacker, musician and photographer.
- Philip ⋅ Poet and physicist.
- Samuel ⋅ Mad Bit-Flipper, artist and meandering hiker. ⋅ RSS
- Simon ⋅ Confidant, computer guru, entomologist. ⋅ RSS
- Thida ⋅ A writer on the road to Mandalay.
Software development
- A List Apart ⋅ Useful articles on web development and design. ⋅ RSS
- Accessites.org ⋅ A showcase of well designed, accessible websites. ⋅ RSS
- Colorblind Webpage Filter ⋅ A tool to emulate various forms of colorblindness while viewing websites.
- CSS Zen Garden ⋅ A gallery to inspire creativity with Cascading Style Sheets.
- Mozilla Developer Center
- Onlinetools.org ⋅ Javascript tools, tips and articles by Christian Heillman. ⋅ RSS
- Web Standards Project ⋅ Promoting accessible and standards compliant web technologies. ⋅ RSS
- WordPress Codex ⋅ Online documentation for WordPress.
- XHTML Character Entity Reference
Oddity
- Cute Overload ⋅ When cute is amusing and weird.
- Jardin Méchanisme ⋅ One of the first websites I visited, and remains one of my favorites of the High Bizarre. Also check out its subsidiary, the Surrealist Compliment Generator.
- Super Snail ⋅ One of Julian's sites, containing fun event pictures.
Comics online
- Comics Worth Reading ⋅ Okay, not an online comic. Rather, CWR is one of the earliest comic review blogs. And remains one of most thoughtful and well-written ones. ⋅ RSS
- Digger ⋅ The adventures of a wombat engineer-geologist, by Ursula Vernon.
- Finder ⋅ Anthropology meets story telling and art, by Carla Speed McNeil.
- Galaxion ⋅ An excellent space opera, by Tara Tallan.
- Girl Genius ⋅ The adventures of Agatha Heterodyne, by Phil and Kaja Foglio.
- Lowbright ⋅ Contains the superb work of Derek Kirk Kim.
- Tea Club ⋅ Martial arts, bears and, of course, tea. What's not to like? By PMBQ.
- Xeno’s Arrow ⋅ Fascism from a child's perspective, with a lively dose of sci-fi. By Greg Beettam and Stephen Geigen-Miller.
Society
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Electronic Privacy Information Center
- Junkbusters ⋅ How to reduce and avoid telemarketing, spam and junk mail.
- Planned Parenthood ⋅ Know your reproductive rights and responsibilities.
- Smart Voter ⋅ Non-partisan information on election topics, organized by the League of Women Voters.
Science & natural history
- BugGuide ⋅ Need to identify an insect or spider? Go here.
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology ⋅ Excellent for bird watchers.
- Exploratorium ⋅ The best hands-on science museum in the world.
- Jepson Herbaria ⋅ Botanical information on plants in California and beyond.
- National Weather Service
- PillAdvised ⋅ A cross reference for medications and supplements (herbs and vitamins), and how they interact. ⋅ RSS
- The People's Pharmacy ⋅ Since the 1970s, the Graedons have offered newsletters and radioshows, now blog articles and podcasts, on the world of medications and alternative/complementary remedies. ⋅ RSS
Reference materials
- Common Errors in English ⋅ Consider this an updated version of Elements of Style.
- HoaxBusters ⋅ Computer oriented hoaxes, info on viral myths and chain letters.
- Lorelle on WordPress ⋅ Lorelle VanFossen covers not only WordPress development and usage, but also includes great advice on writing and blogging. ⋅ She also has quite a few useful articles at the Blog Herald. ⋅ RSS
- Snopes ⋅ The urban legends information site.
- Wikipedia ⋅ An encyclopedia for everyone. Links to English version.
Journeys & travel
- Bay Area Hiker
- Flightview ⋅ Airline flight tracker.
- Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
- Pillows and Pancakes ⋅ Bed and Breakfast guide, including a Google map locator.
- Sigalert.com ⋅ Realtime traffic report for the Bay Area.
- Special Places to Stay ⋅ Non-US guides for those who prefer sustainable, non-twee practices in their accomodations.
- Transit/511 ⋅ Transit info for the Bay Area.
Food
- 101 Cookbooks ⋅ Innovative vegetarian recipes by Heidi Swanson. ⋅ RSS
- Chocolate & Zucchini ⋅ Clotilde Dusoulier, who rarely leaves a recipe unaltered. Like me. ;-) ⋅ RSS
- Desert Candy ⋅ Mouthwatering, inspiring food presented by Mercedes.
- Epicurious ⋅ Recipes and articles from the publisher of Gourmet and Bon Appétit.
- Simply Recipes ⋅ Delicious recipes expertly written by Elise Bauer. ⋅ RSS
- Sunset Magazine Food
- TeaGuide ⋅ Tea rooms and tea stores around the world.
- TeaMap ⋅ Tea rooms in the US.
- The Kitchn ⋅ Good resource for cooking questions, recipes, food and living in the kitchen.
- Upton Tea Imports ⋅ High quality (including organic) loose-leaf tea, in bulk. Great choices and fast shipping!