The Penquin thread got me thinking.  There’s a wealth of very cool websites out there, some of which descend upon the internet community like a bolt of lightning (like our Sphenicidae friend above), but others are visited by a small loyal group (or live collecting dust in our bookmarks).  However they make our lives just that little bit sunnier.  Then we can share and bask in the wonder that is the internet.  The daisies on the side of the information superhighway :)

So, lets say you are stuck on a desert island, which happens to have a DSL connection and a power point connected to a PC and nothing else (well, perhaps a rain coat for the PC - and bulk coffee).  Or even better, pretend you are in a business meeting that is dragging on into eternity..  what websites would you visit to keep yourself sane? 

Lets set some rules here.  Google is a given.  So is anything that helps you in your job, or would be approved by your employer as a Good Thing (like smh.com.au).  Listing the AMS website will make you look like a teachers pet.  Listing your own website will make you look like a self-publicist ;)..  apart from that, what are the 6 obscure but high quality sites that you can stay interested in for hours, or that are spectacularly useful or funny? 

I’ll post my 6 in a bit.  I thought of the topic before I collated my list :)

1.) As a business man the ATO is a given.
2.) I will say the AMS forum as it really is very good at distracting me from work, the boss really hates it when I spend far too much time on it. (I’m the boss)
3) Suite 101 is the other forum I visit often.
4.) Internet “Reversi” a clever little game that keeps me occupied.
5.) Boat Point - the place dreams are made of and after looking I need to wipe the drool of my screen.
6.) Car yards - I have just spent a few weeks researching vans and have just bought a KIA Pregio van as a result.

craig

How about putting in the links…

[quote author="Adam Gregory"]How about putting in the links…

Yup, links are good.  for the syntax:

This will produce: link text .  Make sure BBCode is enabled.  You can also just type the url and it sometimes autolinks: http://www.google.com.au/

Also, Craig, you need to come up with 2 more.. 1. is disqualified because it’s directly related to work, and 2. becuase you aren’t allowed be a big brown noser ;)

These sites would keep me sane.  I make no claim to their being funny (or obscure, for that matter).
[list=1]
[*] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ( Sydney mirror )
[*] Arts & Letters Daily
[*] Project Gutenberg and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
[*] Christian Classics Ethereal Library , especially Early Church Fathers
[*] Your Guide to Languages on the Web
[*] Noncanonical Literature
[/list:o]
While nobody is looking I will slip in a seventh: ZNet (warning: do not follow this link if you are allergic to so-called ‘radical politics’).

I’m in trouble, internet reversi is a prepackaged microsoft game which does not have a net link, AMS, is out along with the ATO, so I am minus 3 links.

I must not be as nerdy as some, as I have no more to offer.

craig

1. Gramophone Classical CD Review - will be even better when they finally get the search engine back up.

2. Christianbook - cheapest place to buy most Christian reference books - especially with the Aussie dollar so strong.

3. Amazon - obvious but an enthralling place to waste time.

4. Winepros - for searching James Halliday’s reviews.

5. Sydney Symphony Orchestra

...I wouldn’t even need six sites. I’m so easy to please.

[list=1][*] Dove Booksellers : For the books I checked, cheaper than Christianbook.com and without the very silly books which are to be found there (and on other Christian book sites). And the shipping costs are less as well (quite important when stranded on an island).

[*] Slashdot : Hardly obscure, but always interesting (for some).

[*] NET Bible : Put your so-called study Bible to shame!

[*] Accordance Bible Software : The “Rolls-Royce” of Bible software (Mac only).

[*] ABZU : A close call between this and Okeanos for aNE stuff.

[*] photo.net : Good source of info if you’re interested in photography.[/list:o]
Frankly, I don’t know how to limit this to 6, but that will do for now.

Hmmmmm.... tough one.

I would have said

- Gospelcom.net but my employer would approve

- Whitepages.com.au - but not only would my employer approve, secondly it wouldn’t do me much good since I don’t have a phone on my desert island

So I guess I am left with -

- istockphoto - the designer’s dirty little secret and hours of endless ooohing and aahhing.

- Shockwave - so I could get addicted to Collapse all over again

- Amazon - particularly if I had smuggled my credit card onto the island and could purchase ebooks

- Ebay - again presuming I had plastic and the local postie delivered

- Ninemsn - so I could keep up to date with what was happening with the people playing Survivor on the next island over

- Antithesis - because maybe if I was stuck on a desert island with nothing better to do I would finally be able to spend the hours needed trying to understand the structure of that site.

PS. Rowen - I must protest about the blatant discrimination when it comes to computer platforms allowed onto desert islands. I’m lucky I read this thread at home on my PC because my albino iMac at work would be terribly affronted if she knew of your prejudice. 

Re: Desert Island Linkage

[quote author="Rowen Atkinson"]Lets set some rules here.  Google is a given.  So is anything that helps you in your job, or would be approved by your employer as a Good Thing (like smh.com.au).  Listing the AMS website will make you look like a teachers pet.  Listing your own website will make you look like a self-publicist ;)..  apart from that, what are the 6 obscure but high quality sites that you can stay interested in for hours, or that are spectacularly useful or funny? 

Ergh… as an employed web geek, that culls my list by about 95%. Can’t I just post my OPML file? ;)

Hmm I can’t post any of teh funny ones lest they be nsfw :o

Anyway, here’s the best of the rest:

k10k - the mother of all design sites

photo.net - mmm, pruuddy pictures

Jason Kottke’s blog - My sister asked me why I like this once. I was at a loss for words. I still am.

noisetheory.net - classical what?!

mefi - when really bored.

gizmodo - *drool*

and as a special bonus…

the onion is always good for a laugh ;)

Honourable mentions go to OCAU mostly for their health & fitness forum, metacritic which would undoubtedly be useful with k++ or BT (hey you’re on an island ;) a couple of forums and sites I’m not going to mention due to sheer geekiness (heheh), photography blog and dpreview … ohh but thats too many :)

[quote author="Dani Treweek"]
- istockphoto - the designer’s dirty little secret and hours of endless ooohing and aahhing.

Stock.Exchg is possibly even better..

[quote author="Dani Treweek"]
PS. Rowen - I must protest about the blatant discrimination when it comes to computer platforms allowed onto desert islands. I’m lucky I read this thread at home on my PC because my albino iMac at work would be terribly affronted if she knew of your prejudice. 

They still do Macs do they?  Hmm, well I guess you should charitably interpret “PC” in it’s generic “personal computer” form.

Still organising my linkage.  And, No, Luke, publishing your opml file is cheating ;) no matter how many cool feeds you have..

del.icio.us - It’s amazing what people find

Red vs Blue - If you’ve played Halo, this is hillarious

Blogs4God - Often finds some very intersting discussions.

Zeldman - ‘cause he knows his stuff!

StopDesign - great design site

userfriendly - if you work in IT (esp tech support) this will keep you sane

Glenn

[quote author="Rowen"]Stock.Exchg is possibly even better..

Oooooohhh!

Now I forgive you for your political incorrectness when it comes to platforms ;) Hmmmm- wonder if they have any good photos of grey-heads for the brochure I am currently designing… off to see!

Edit: Gotta say though that the search feature at Stock.Exchg is pretty sucky! I typed in ‘man’ and it came back with nothing!

Quality & quantity declines fairly rapidly after those two afaik, but if your looking for stock here’s some handy links (via etc blog ).

Ta Luke!

[quote author="Dani Treweek"]Edit: Gotta say though that the search feature at Stock.Exchg is pretty sucky! I typed in ‘man’ and it came back with nothing!

Try “male” instead Dani

Glenn