My Links Page

Here are links to some of the web pages I find interesting. Your opinion may differ, of course - but who said you know anything?

Friends' Websites

Are you surprised that some of my friends are geeks like me?  Check some of their websites below.

• The Damento Jugglers - This is a group of people I meet with once a week or so to enjoy some social juggling.  However, the highlight of the evening is the much beloved post-juggling late night snack.  Without these guys, I pretty much wouldn't have a social life (I don't know whether to cheer or sigh).  Check their Yahoo groups page if you want to find out what they are up to lately.
  
• Jim Ley's Web Pages - This is my uncle's web page.  He has a lot of stuff on trains and other very large toys.  He also has a small Brown Family History that talks about my maternal grandmother's family history.
• The Francu Homepage - Andreea used to be one of my coworkers at Intel, and Cristian is her husband.  (Both Andreea and I have since escaped Intel).  I especially like their web page because if you look deep enough you can find several pictures of their couch and the saga of the lost shoe. Cristian works at Google, which prioritizes web pages partly by counting how many links are made to them. Since I just linked to them, their website will now pop up that much faster in Google searches about couches and lost shoes.
• Arvind Karandikar's Home Page - This is the homepage for our very good friend Arvind, who was exiled from the paradise of California to the cold lands of Minnesota until he earned a PhD - then he made the mistake of moving to the even worse hell known as Texas. We had an adventure with Arvind when we all went to India, although for him it was just a visit back home.  Then we went back again to witness his marriage to the lovely Amita. Arvind has read some very interesting books, which look like a lot of hard work - unlike the mindless crap I tend to be partial to.

Friend's Blogs

You've probably read blogs before.  Trust me, it's a different experience when you actually know the person (and it's your loss if you don't know these people).  Check out the blogs of my friends and I'll fill in all the stuff they left out next time you see me.

• Jennifer's "All Up In The Air" Page - Jennifer happens to be the first person I know who admitted to me that she has a blog - an honest to goodness, running commentary on strange happenings and odd observations from her life, updated on a semi-regular basis type blog.  She's quite open and funny (and she is often at her funniest when she's kind of pissed about something).  Also, check out the links to the even less guarded observations from some of her friends' sites.
• T. Paine Rocks - Jennifer's sister Beth started a blog after she found out how much fun Jennifer's blog was (but then again, so did I).  I don't get to see Beth too often because she lives in the horror known as Vacaville, but I catch up with her latest happenings by reading her blog now and then.
• Touching Base - This is the blog of my other friend named Jennifer (I met them both through juggling).  Most people come off a bit more negative in their blogs than they are in one-on-one conversation - I guess because blogs are a nice place to vent.  Oddly, in Jennifer's blog she comes off even more chipper than she is in real life.  Somebody should do a study on that.
  

Odds and Ends That You Might Not Know

This is not the standard website list with entries like CNN, Slashdot, and Salon.com. Yeah, I'm perusing those other pages every day just like you (if you have a web addiction at least), but these are the sites that you may not have been to yet. A lot of them have a political bent, but politics have become a lot more important to me since the lunatics took over the asylum back in 2000.

Politics:

• Talking Points Memo (Josh Marshall) - A center-liberal voice that I respect a lot.  His site is high on solid information and low on moronic name calling (unlike Fox News on the right or folks like Michael Moore on the left).  Also check out the site he started called TPM Cafe - which includes postings from a number of progressive writers.
• Informed Comment (Juan Cole) - Juan Cole is what I would call the "anti-pundit" on all issues involving Iraq and the Middle East.  In other words, he actually knows his shit.  He understands the languages, he knows the history, and he has actually lived there (but he was born in an American military family).  If all you want is someone who will confirm the ignorant prejudices of the majority of Americans, skip this site.
  

• Boing Boing - This is basically a massive blog with entries about weird stuff you can find on the web.  Some of what they point out is fairly obscene, although almost all of it is pretty funny.  Anyway, it is definitely not for everyone.
  
• Kitten Killer - This site is not really what it sounds like.  Just click through it and have a look.  Make sure to click through for the origin of the site name.  Thanks Jennifer, for making me check this out.  I will get you back some day.
• Scifi.com - The bulk of this page is just an advertisement for the SciFi Channel (not that this is a bad thing).  However, if you look on the right side of the opening page you can find some cool stuff like book and movie reviews and a list of news about new movies, books, and games coming out with a scifi/fantasy bent.

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