Lisa bug's links

Updated 20 June 2006.

These are links I like. Each link will open in a new window. Let me know if any of the links are broken.

new Useful Timewasters Blogs - Individual Blogs - Group

Useful Links

Accuweather.com - daily weather: I check this every day. True to its name, it's usually accurate, and has saved me on many a day
Bug Me Not - free logins and passwords to save you from registering: Have you ever gone to a new site, only to find out the content is for subscribers or registered users only? Bugmenot allows you to bypass this annoyance by providing free login info to many websites. The logins are user-contributed, so they don't all work, particularly if you're seeking to cheat by accessing paid content for free. But if you hate registering for sites, this is the place for you
Ehow.com - how-to guides for everything: This is a good resource for finding concise, clear directions on how to do almost anything. I've consulted it for how to cook new foods, how to give a massage, how to unclog a toilet... The user-contributed tips are sometimes even more useful than the official guides.
Epicurious Food Dictionary - food and wine dictionary: This is the best online food dictionary I know. There's a wine dictionary, too.
Flickr - best web photo album service: Flickr blows Webshots and all those other album sites out of the water. It's clean and sexy and has all kinds of nifty features the others don't, like individual comments forms for each photo and photo tags. Unfortunately, there are limitations on the free service, so you'll either have to live with those or cough up $25/year for a paid account.
Give.org - reports on charitable organizations: If you ever support charities, try looking them up on this site first. They don't have every charity listed, obviously, but most of the biggest ones are here. You can get detailed information about many aspects of each organization, including how much the CEO is paid, and pie charts on how they use their funds.
Google Image Search - search for images: Search for images using Google.
Google Scholar - search for scholarly articles: Search scholarly works in all disciplines. I've found some fun stuff this way.
Hoaxbusters - internet hoax debunker: I go here whenever I get a chain email. As far as I know its information is accurate.
iGive - donate to your favorite charity whenever you shop online: Choose your favorite charity from their list, then download their software (or just go through their website) every time you shop online at participating stores. They'll donate a portion of your purchase price to that charity. I'm contributing to The Milo Foundation. Yay!
MenuPix - restaurant menus online: Search for restaurant information, reviews, and menus at this great site. The menus are scanned-in images of the actual restaurant menus, so you can see the pictures, logos, and anything else that's on the menu.
Mozilla Firefox - best web browser: If you're not using Firefox, you don't know what you're missing. It's free to download and is so much better and more elegant than Internet Explorer. If you've always used IE it might take you a while to learn how it works, but once you've got the hang of it, you'll never use anything else. My favorite feature is tabbed browsing, which lets you browse as many sites as you like in the same browser window.
Omea Reader - a faster way to read blogs and news sites: Since I first learned about RSS feeds a year or two ago, I've been hooked on using RSS to keep up with the latest news and blog updates. My feeds have kept me well-informed and have saved me hours of web surfing. Basically, you download an RSS reader, tell it the sites you like, and it downloads site updates as they happen--so you don't have to keep browsing around to all your news sites and blogs to see if they've updated. (There's a better explanation of RSS here.)

Omea Reader is the best (and prettiest!) RSS reader I've found. Not only can you organize feeds into categories you set, but you can also download a plug-in for Firefox (see above) that lets you add sites directly to Omea while you browse, just by clicking a button.
Responsible Shopper - shoppers' watchdog: This site contains information about the business practices of many well-known companies, including Gap, Nike, etc. I like this site because it tells you both what companies have been praised for, and what has earned them criticism.
Reusable Bags - headquarters for environmentally friendly shopping bags and other products: I don't want to make a habit of listing stores on my links list, but this one is too cool not to include. Those paper and plastic bags we get at grocery stores are so wasteful, why not get some reusable ones? Reusable Bags has several that are much better looking than those dowdy canvas models, along with a whole host of other handy products. If you're not sure whether you want to spend money on grocery bags, consider the cost a donation to helping the environment. You'll feel good every time you use them, really.

I also mentioned the site, and my experience with their products, in this journal entry and this one.
Rydia.net - webhosting for artists: Rydia hosts my site. It's friendly and affordable and run by two good friends of mine. In the time they've been hosting me, Erik's domain has crashed or had problems at least three times, while mine hasn't had a hitch, and Lorelai and Dormando (aka Wei-Ling and Alan) have helped me out several times with questions and improvements. If you're looking for a webhost, and you're an artist of any kind, check Rydia.net out!
new Snacksby - personalized recipe site: Snacksby is a nifty new recipe site that lets you search for recipes based on what ingredients you have in your kitchen -- for instance, a search for cheese, bread, mustard, and butter will turn up Grilled Cheese, Alton Brown style-ish. Recipes are reader-generated, which means you can contribute your own, and if you register for a free account you can store the ingredients of your pantry for future searches.
Symantec Security Check - security tool for your computer: Go here to check how secure your computer is against threats. There's also a tool to see if you've got any viruses lurking on your hard drive.
UV index - daily UV index for your region: This page, generated daily, tells you the intensity of ultraviolet rays today in your region of the US. Don't forget your daily SPF 15!

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Timewasters

This is my own carefully and lovingly chosen selection of time-wasting sites. Quality entertainment for those times when you're bored, but not bored enough to sift through all the ads and other stupid stuff on Bored.com.

American Folk - wide-ranging collection of American popular culture

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Blogs - Individual

Some of these people I know, some I don't, but I enjoy all their sites.

The Amateur Gourmet: A food blog with all kinds of useful and entertaining information, maintained by a law student-turned-playwright. I love this site because it's really weird and eclectic but it also makes me laugh all the time.
baking sheet: Nicole of bakingsheet updates almost every day with a new recipe, her comments on it, and a beautiful photo. Bakingsheet is one of my favorite food blogs because unlike so many others, it's interested in quality over quantity: one well written, interesting, and attractive post once a day is just right for me.
Blaurb's journal: This journal belongs to my dear friend Jennifer. Lately she hasn't been able to update as frequently (bioengineering grad school will do that to you), but her entries are thoughtful and fun to read.
Daniel's journal: Another fellow grad student, Daniel also updates less frequently then before. But I enjoy his entries and his occasional online "mix tapes" (sorry Daniel, couldn't think of a cooler term).
J.K. Rowling: I love Harry Potter and I think Jo Rowling is a fabulous role model, and her site is one of the coolest I've ever seen. It's updated frequently and has all these little secret things in it that makes it true heaven for HP/Rowling fans. Site updates are also detailed on The Leaky Cauldron (see Group Blogs, below).
Kevin Hsieh: Kevin is an old friend and actor/filmmaker whose site contains a well-written blog, photos, and examples of his work.
Kikimasu's livejournal: Always entertaining or thought-provoking, always full of music, though updated less frequently than before due to work. Kiyomi has another lj devoted to her thoughts on baseball.
The Veg Blog: A blog by a committed vegan, about vegan food and animal rights issues. Also has occasional interesting health/nutrition info and recipes.
W. Lorelai Wu's livejournal: This page belongs to someone I've known since we were both only slightly older than toddlers. It's a pleasure to see how she has made the most of her many talents, and what an exciting life she's leading, every time I read. Also she updates frequently! Hooray!
Wil Wheaton Dot Net: You may remember Wil Wheaton from his starring role as Gordie Lachance in Stand By Me, or from his role as Ensign Wesley Crusher on TV's Star Trek: The Next Generation, but I don't--I've never seen either. Instead, I found his site when Erik told me about it, and I've been a regular reader of his blog since then. (I've also seen him in action at Acme Comedy Theatre.) Wil's insights into the Hollywood acting life are fascinating, but it's the honesty of his writing and the sincerity of his voice that have kept me so interested in what he has to say. He occasionally leans toward the melodramatic, but in this case that only serves to propel us further into his world and the emotions he's feeling.

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Blogs - Group

Apartment Therapy LA: LA-specific site with great ideas and links for spiffing up the apartment. There are also versions for SF, Chicago, and NYC, and a NY-based one for the kitchen.
blogging.la: Daily updates on what's going on in LA. I read this in conjunction with LAist and I'm still trying to decide which I like better. If you don't live in LA, there are versions for other metro areas as well.
LAist: Daily updates on what's going on in LA. I read this in conjunction with blogging.la for news, events, and other info about the city. And as with blogging.la, there are other versions of this blog for people who don't live in LA -- SFist, for example.
The Leaky Cauldron - Harry Potter-related updates (books and movies): The internet is full of Harry Potter fan sites. This is my favorite destination for Potterite news and community.

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