Directory of Useful Websites
TECHNOLOGY
BUSINESS & FINANCE
NEWS
SHOPPING
SEARCH, REFERENCE, AND PORTALS
CAREER
FUN AND LIFESTYLE
PERSONAL
Answers
That Work - to software questions, hardware problems
Digital
Photography Review -
Reviews, comparisons, forums, and
buying guides.
Whatis -
Receive a simple definition of anything
IT-related.
Technology Review -
Fascinating cutting-edge tech stories
from the brainiacs at MIT.
Webopedia -
An essential resource for anyone
baffled by Internet acronyms.
W3Schools -
Free Web-building tutorials from
basic HTML and XML to advanced scripting.
Netcraft -
Enter a URL and find out what lies
beneath the sites you admire.
SecurityFocus -
Read techie articles about all aspects
of computer and Net protection.
SEARCH, REFERENCE, AND PORTALS
HowStuffWorks -
Lock picks, legislative process,
Magna Doodles, RAID 5 — it's all
in there.
About.com -
Experts and enthusiasts teach you about
almost anything.
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention -
Knowledge is disease-preventing power.
One of this site's most comforting
features is a page that
debunks current
health rumors and hoaxes (www.cdc.gov/hoax
_rumors.htm).
WebMD -
Symptoms, diseases, syndromes, conditions,
procedures, drugs, and diagnostics tests.
Dictionary.com -
A metadictionary, a thesaurus,
a translator, and a source of grammar
help.
Encyclopædia
Britannica - one of the most respected
sources on just about
everything.
FirstGov.gov -
Your portal to the U.S. government on
the Web.
Librarians' Index to the
Internet -
Use this comprehensive guide to the
Net to find Web sites vetted by experts who
know quality when they see it.
The
Library of Congress -
The largest library in the world
fits right in your browser. Use LOC's monthly
online magazine, Wise Guide, to discover
many of the site's buried treasures.
Nolo -
Everyman's source of legal information.
Bloomberg.com -
A Bloomberg and his money will never
be parted. Don't just read the site.
Watch and listen, too. Live Bloomberg
TV and radio feeds are always available.
SmartMoney.com -
The experts at Dow Jones offer analysis
and opinions on this personal finance
supersite.
TheStreet.com -
Wall Street, that is. It has the
facts you need to find the shortcuts while
avoiding the potholes. Choose
from an impressive list of 40 columnists to find your
favorite
mix of opinions on personal finance,
stocks, and options.
Dice -
Tech job listings, undiluted by nontech
job listings.
Monster -
Everyone knows Monster. Register
with Monster's new networking service to tap into millions
of potential
career contacts, searchable by occupation
and ZIP code.
FlipDog -
more jobs
https://www.linkedin.com/ -
networking tool
AMG All Music Guide -
They're not exaggerating much.
BBC News -
One of the most popular sources of
world news, the BBC tells you what's happening
in 43 languages. BBC's Cult Television
page is a shrine to cult classics
like 'Doctor Who' and cult newcomers like Buffy the
Vampire Slayer and The Family Guy.
The New
York Times On the Web -
The paper of record: Visit for news,
op-ed pieces from writers like Maureen
Dowd, and thoughtful analysis.
Mother Jones -
insightful features that offer depth and insight
NPR -
Terry Gross, Click and Clack, and This
American Life: some of radio's best,
online.
The Onion - "Six
Dead in West Point Panty Raid" The laughs keep
coming in the spirit of the "Daly Show."
Salon.com -
You can still read some of Salon.com's
incisive content free, or view an
ad to get a premium day pass. Note that
the $35 annual Premium subscription
also gets you subscriptions to three magazines: Wired,
National Geographic
Adventure, and U.S.
News and World
Report.
Wired News -
Still the Web's best source for great
insights on how technology affects
culture, society, and business.
Citysearch -
Where to go and what to see in new cities—or
even in your own backyard.
Epicurious -
Tasty sauces are among this site's
16,000 recipes. Go beyond the recipe
listings to check out the travel content.
Great restaurant recommendations too.
ifilm -
One of the biggest collections of
movie, TV, and video clips on the Web.
National
Geographic -
Still my ideal employer. Click on
'Search' to find an online index to
the print publications that goes
all the way back to 1888.
Smithsonian
Institute -
established for the "increase and
diffusion of knowledge."
FatWallet - bargain shoppers
hangout.
PriceWatch - find the lowest price.
Slick Deals - has new bargains every day.
ConsumerReview.com -
Reviews of electronics, sporting
goods, cars, computers, and more
from the people who love them. MTBR.com
is tops!
Netflix -
No more late
fees from Blockbuster - a huge
selection and free shipping.
Overstock.com -
A lot of good deals on a huge
selection of stuff that other places didn't sell.
PriceGrabber.com -
find that deal.
Surprise.com -
Gift ideas for your latest girl,
estranged uncle,
grandmother, etc.
Techbargains.com -
A clearinghouse of—well, good deals
of tech stuff.
Bike
Works - A great place to shop for some nice bikes.
Taylor County Extension - The proud product of my hard work!
The greatest weight
steal after you into your loneliest loneliness
and say to you: "This life as you now live it and have
lived it, you will have to live once
more and innumerable times more; and there
will be nothing new in it, but
every pain and every joy and
every thought and sigh and everything
unutterably small or great in your life
will have to return
to you, all in the same succession
and sequence - even this spider and this
moonlight between the trees, and even
this moment and I myself.
The eternal hourglass of existence
is turned upside down again and again,
and you with it, speck of dust!"
Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your
teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus?... Or how
well disposed would you have to become to yourself
and to life to crave nothing
more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation
and seal?
from Nietzsche's The Gay Science, s.341, Walter Kaufmann transl.
Self-Reliance
I read the other day some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional. The soul always hears an admonition in such lines, let the subject be what it may. The sentiment they instill is of more value than any thought they may contain. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, -- that is genius ...
There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried. ...
A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace. It is a deliverance which does not deliver. In the attempt his genius deserts him; no muse befriends; no invention, no hope.
The nonchalance of boys who are sure of a dinner, and would disdain as much as a lord to do or say aught to conciliate one, is the healthy attitude of human nature. A boy is in the parlour what the pit is in the playhouse; independent, irresponsible, looking out from his corner on such people and facts as pass by, he tries and sentences them on their merits, in the swift, summary way of boys, as good, bad, interesting, silly, eloquent, troublesome. He cumbers himself never about consequences, about interests: he gives an independent, genuine verdict. You must court him: he does not court you. But the man is, as it were, clapped into jail by his consciousness. As soon as he has once acted or spoken with eclat, he is a committed person, watched by the sympathy or the hatred of hundreds...
These are the voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world. Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.
Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance
Environmental Protection, eh? This little incident relating to wetlands pollution is worth noting. Here is the Resignation Statement of Bruce Boler.