Links
Here are a few of my favorite sites on the internet for your surfing convenience!
Search Engines:
How to find what you're looking for...
Google: The internet's premiere search engine.
AllTheWeb.com: Nice Google alternative, because Google censors...
Froogle: Yet another groovy tool from Google, for finding great consumer deals.
BTJunkie: Bit Torrent search engine. If you don't know what bit torrent is, then forget about it.
YourDictionary.com: Every dictionary you could ever want...
WikiPedia: The Great Library of Wikixandria
WikiLeaks: Secret government documents and insider info. Coolness.
Boddit: Search all the deal sites (i.e. Pricewatch, Slickdeals, Techbargains) at the same time.
News and Information:
If you've abandoned the mainstream propag... er ... news organs...
Google News: The Google Search engine for the inquiring news junkie.
Topix: All the local news. From anywhere...
WORLD Magazine: The premiere Christian news magazine.
DrudgeReport: The internet news revolutionary that the Propaganda Wing of the Liberal Left loves to hate.
Cybercast News Service: A conservative news wire service.
Fox News: The only prime time news source worth anything.
Washington Times: One of the few print media still worth reading. Check it out...
American Thinker: Conservative blog that has the mainstream news rags quaking.
The Rush Limbaugh Show's home page: Easily one of the most influential men in the late 20th century and beyond.
Wired News: Your one-stop source for cutting-edge technology news and analysis.
MIT Technology Review: More groovy tech news.
The Register: Lymie tech site
Popular Science: Gadgets. Lotsa gadgets (and groovy tech news).
Broadband Reports: Your one-stop source for all things Broadband related, and news from the beleaguered telecommunications community.
Junkscience.com: Your source for straight facts on health and the environment, flying in the face of current green propaganda.
News of the Weird: Truly, truth is stranger than fiction.
Oddly Enough: Strange but true news from Reuters.
Snopes.com: The straight scoop on all the bunk propagating across the net these days...
Truth Miners: The truth about all the Christian urban legends being passed around by believers.
VMyths.com: Virus legends, myths, and other security hysteria...
GlobalSecurity.org: You can view up to date satellite surveillance images right here.
Christian Resources:
Are you a disciple of Christ, a child of God, a student of His Word? Here are some useful online resources:
BlueLetterBible.org: A prime repository of online Bible study tools.
E-Sword: Where to get Rick Meyers' superb, FREE, Bible Study program.
The CyberHymnal: This site has over 3,700 Christian hymns and Gospel songs from many denominations. You'll find lyrics, scores, MIDI files, pictures, history, and more.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library: Online archive of 1,000's of important church documents and Christian writings, including facsimile's of many invaluable primary source documents.
Christian History Institue: Loads of info on church history, with lots of free access to historical articles and research, along with a searchable database.
Institute for Creation Research: Home page of this venerable organization, started by pioneers of Creationism like Henry Morris and Duane Gish.
Answers in Genesis: Ken Ham's page, loaded with research and scholarly articles on Creation Science.
Theopedia: An online, theological encyclopedia, patterned after WikiPedia. Although I would by no means rely on this site as a systematic theology, it is handy for defining theological terms.
Comics:
UBERSOFT: Surrender your soul and perish, mortal!: Home page of the hi-larious web comic, Helpdesk. Fantastic satire of the Microsoft monop...er...corporation, and the helpdesk environment in general.
User Friendly: Yet another fantastic web comic about geeks working for a private ISP.
Movie news:
I'm something of a movie buff, especially old movies, you know, back when directors still understood the art form that is cinema, and when lots of eye candy and a two-dimensional plot didn't qualify.
The Internet Movie Database: Extensive info on any movie made. Ever.
Superhero Hype: Home page for fan sites relating to all manner of comic book movie adaptations, including Spiderman and Batman.
Yahoo!Movies: Teaser info for all kinds of upcoming movies in several different genres (Used to be UpcomingMovies.com).
ComingSoon.net: More of the same (news, rumours, and what not), BUT, also for upcoming DVD releases.
Big Idea Productions: Home Page of the most excellent VeggieTales cartoon.
Pixar, Inc.: Home Page of the excellent Pixar productions.
TV.com: Episode guides to hordes of television series. Useful if you're looking to download old TV eps.
Jump The Shark.com: When exactly did my favorite show plunge to earth in flames? This site tries to answer that question.
Browsing Enhancements:
Security:
You can't take browsing for granted anymore. Besides the known threats of virii and trojans, there's an increasing number of "hijacker" spybots out there that install themselves without permission, and commandeer your browsing experience for their nefarious masters. Additionally, there's the ubiquitous pop-up ads, banners, and other bothersome ads cluttering the Information Superhighway. Here is a list of utilities and stratagems that I have employed to eliminate 99.9% of all ads, banners, etc., and also safeguard your browsing against intrusion.
Javacool Software: Home of SpywareBlaster. SpywareBlaster keeps spyware from installing by adding a long list of bad sites to IE and Mozilla's block lists.
Spybot S&D: Spybot Search and Destroy is the premier spyware cleaning tool on the Net these days. It even has an Immunize feature that automatically blocks drive-by downloads and other hijacker spybots, for the click-happy among you... ;)
AdAware: AdAware is the other premier spyware cleaning tool on the Net. It has a free version available for download. When used in conjunction with Spybot, there is little that will ever escape to plague you, the end user.
Dan Pollack's Hosts File: Where to obtain that lovely, cross-platform networking implement, the Hosts file, which may be used to block all unwanted domains at the source. I have used it for years to completely secure my browsing, regardless of what browser I use.
Firefox Stuff:
The best way to avoid most of the problems associated with Internet Explorer is
The best browser. Period. Stop wasting your time with Microsoft's vain and failed effort to monopolize the browser market.
Once you have Firefox, you need extensions to expand it's functionality:
AdBlock Plus: Browsing without AdBlock Plus is unthinkable. Blocks the majority of banner ads and popups you'll encounter on the web.
BugMeNot: I hate compulsory registration. This site maintains a list of logins and passwords for a variety of sites using such nonsense, and allows you to bypass them swiftly.
Customize Google: Keeping Google honest. Removes ads, sponsored links, disables tracking cookies, and a whole lot more. Covers Google's entire family of tools.
Download Statusbar: Replace the Downloads popup window with a neat, minimalist statusbar.
Fasterfox: Firefox tweaker and optimizer that speeds up page loads, as well as provides a timer so you know exactly how long it's taking your pages to load.
Fast Video Download: I hate waiting on YouTube. Why not download the video you want quickly, with FlashGet for instance, and watch it without waiting? This little extension makes that happen.
Flashgot: Mates Firefox with the most popular download managers (FlashGet, GetRight, et al). Allows for mass downloads of multiple files.
Forecastfox Enhanced: Enhanced version of Forecastfox, a weather extension that, unlike WeatherBug, doesn't spy on you. Provides better animated radar displays than Forecastfox.
Foxmarks: Synchronizes your bookmarks across multiple machines.
GMail Manager: Puts an icon on your status bar that automatically logs you in to GMail and notifies you of new email for all your GMail accounts.
Google Page Rank: Puts an icon on your status bar that gives you Google's page rank for any given page you visit.
Greasemonkey: Browsing without Greasemonkey is unthinkable. This incredibly useful extension allows for the installation of scripts that can rewrite websites on the fly, removing annoying page elements, or adding new functions not already there. The complete repository of all such scripts can be found at UserScripts.org.
IE Tab: Occasionally, very occasionally, you may run into a page that, because it was poorly written to begin with, needs some element of Internet Explorer to display properly. IE Tab utilizes the Internet Explorer Core HTML Rendering Engine to display Internet Explorer dependent pages properly in Firefox. Why is this so groundbreaking? Very simply, you can now do Windows Update within Firefox. It jives very well with the WindowsUpdate Extension, which adds a Windows Update link to your Tools menu. Give IE the back room of the house!!
Remove It Permanently: Browsing without RIP would be unthinkable. Lets you blow away any page element you can click on (like iframes, grrr...).
Remember Mismatched Domains: Lets you instruct Firefox to quit pestering you about mismatched domains.
Tab Mix Plus: Tweaks Firefox's famous tabbed browsing to make it even more useful.
Torbutton: Works with Vidalia and Privoxy, available as a package here. Gives you one-click, off-the-radar, anonymous browsing.
UI Tweaker: Remove various unnecessary elements from the Firefox UI.
Additionally, you may want to change the look of Firefox. My theme of choice has always been Noia 2.0 eXtreme.
Computer Geek Stuff:
Beware, O Newbie! Prepare thyself for the esoterica of the Computer Geek...
LifeHacker: Hack your world!
OpenDNS: Chances are, your DNS sucks. This provides fast, clean DNS resolution.
Speakeasy Speed Test: Check out your pipe...
HowardForums: Clearing house for all manner of cellphone related hacks and tips.
iPod Hacks: Cool things you can do with an iPod.
vLite: Vista doesn't HAVE to be bloatware.
Video Help: You know, you don't have to passively sit there and be told what to do by your DVD player. Many models can indeed be hacked, thus placing you, the consumer, firmly back in the driver's seat.
The GetHuman 500 Database: Tired of hold music? Wanna talk to a human? Here's the master list of secret codes to get you past the mechanical gatekeepers at most businesses...
Thomas Distributing: Gadgets need batteries. The best and cheapest source of re-chargeable batteries can be found right here.
All Net Tools: Web based network diagnostic tools.
Hexillion: Central Ops: More network diag tools. Their whois is more detailed.
DriverGuide.com: Over 70,000 drivers live here. If you can't find what you need anywhere else, then here's your lifeline.
FindFiles.com: Collection of links to mirrors for most any file you'd care to download, for ease of use with the Download Manager of your choice.
FindSounds.com: Default sound effects driving you bats? Get your custom sound effects here...
ASCII Art Generator: ASCII Lives! Actually, still useful for generating nifty signatures and what not.
Tom's Hardware Guide: A repository of all manner of HW related info, such as overclocking and motherboard reviews.
Pricewatch: Where us techs go to check current lowest prices on drool-inspiring gear that we can't afford, but which will eventually comprise the "ultimate PC we'll build one of these days when we have money."
NewEgg: You don't often need to go anywhere else for gadgets and gear. Hands down best customer support of any online tech dealer I've yet done business with.
ExtremeTech: Lots of great DIY computer project ideas.
ARSTechnica: Tech news, hints, tips, etc.
ThinkGeek: Lots of groovy, cool gadgets and assorted pro-geek paraphanalia.
CoolTools: The name says it all...
Codec Guide: Where to get the ever evolving kLite Mega Codec.
The Red Shirt Society: Join the revolution today!
AYBABTU: What you say!!
Garfield Minus Garfield: So much funnier without that stupid cat or that retard dog.
CatsThatLookLikeHitler.com: The French feline community stands ready to offer their surrender.
Zombie Squad: Are you ready for the inevitable zombie holocaust?
Patently Silly: Yes. America's patent and copyright system is a joke. Here are a few of them...
Bookpool.com: Discount technical books (always need more tech books)
WebMonkey: Your one-stop source for all your Web Development needs.
The Internet Archive: A visual historical archive of the Internet.
HubbleSite.org: Home of the Hubble telescope, and bunches of killer pictures of the cosmos.
Flash Earth: See the Earth, from your chair! Too cool...