What Web sites do you use?

[Boston Guy]

Some friends and I were talking about the Web earlier tonight and discussing which Web sites we tend to use, both on a daily and an occasional basis.

 

It occurred to me that the people who visit M4M are a pretty varied lot and must have, collectively, a great deal of experience with, and knowledge about, the Web.

 

So what Web sites do you use (excluding sex, porn and M4M sites), either regularly or occasionally? Do you have any favorite sites? Or sites you think are fun or unusual or really useful or truly great or you ones you just can't live without?

 

BG

 

Some of the ones I use are listed below:

 

 

Entertainment and some oddball stuff (in no particular order):

 

http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/

http://www.fandango.com/

http://www.tvguide.com/

http://www.topjokesites.com/

http://www.randomjoke.com

http://www.npr.org/audiohelp/progstream.html

http://windowsmedia.com/radiotuner/MyRadio.asp

http://www.classical.net/

http://www.cut-the-knot.com/

http://www.moontaxi.com/home.asp

http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/?id=uk

http://www.allmusic.com/

http://www.kissthisguy.com/

http://www.shockwave.com/sw/home/

http://www.sodaplay.com/index.htm

http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/atoptics/phenom.htm

http://www.totallyofftherecord.com/ -- some of these are hilarious

http://www.iamsad.co.uk/ -- sometimes sad is funny

http://now2000.com/weird/

http://www.mindlessfun.com/

http://www.coolsiteoftheday.com/

http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/bas1/home.htm

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000E2B4F-3BAD-1CF5-93F6809EC5880000 -- Scientific American's 2002 list of 50 very interesting science sites; it's possible to lose hours in this list. Check out The Cave of Lascaux under Archaeology (especially the intro... move the mouse when it blacks out).

http://www.omnimag.com/cool_science/old.html -- Omni magazine's list of cool science sites

 

News:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/

http://www.boston.com/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

http://www.latimes.com/

http://www.usatoday.com/

http://www.londontimes.com/

http://www.newsdirectory.com/

 

Magazines:

 

http://www.economist.com/

http://www.sciam.com/

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

http://www.timeout.com/

http://www.sciencenews.org/

http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/

 

Reference Sites:

 

Dictionaries/Thesauruses: http://www.m-w.com/

http://www.yourdictionary.com/

http://www.wordsmyth.net/

http://www.plumbdesign.com/thesaurus/index.html (Visual Thesaurus)

 

Encyclopedias: http://www.britannica.com/

http://sun2.lib.uci.edu/~martindale/Ref.html

 

The Elements of Style: http://www.bartleby.com/141/

 

Search Engines: http://www.google.com/

http://labs.google.com/glossary

http://cui.unige.ch/meta-index.html

http://www.amdahl.com/internet/meta-index.html

http://www.searchenginewatch.com/

 

Reference Desks/Collections: http://www.refdesk.com/

http://www.hotsheet.com/

http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/dltcl/pld/ref_res.html#portals

http://library.sau.edu/bestinfo/alpha.htm

http://vlib.org/

 

http://www.cas.muohio.edu/~stevenjr/allsites.html -- One man's personal list of great sites; terrific, especially, for science sites

http://fonsg3.let.uva.nl/Homo_Ludens.html -- similar idea, different sites

 

Catalog of Electronic Texts: http://www.infomotions.com/alex/

NY Public Library: http://www.nypl.org/

Library of Congress: http://lcweb.loc.gov/

Project Gutenberg: http://www.promo.net/pg/index.html

Bartleby: http://www.bartleby.com/

 

Maps: http://www.mapquest.com/

http://maps.yahoo.com/

 

Driving Directions: http://maps.yahoo.com/py/ddResults.py

 

Travel Sites: http://www.aircanada.ca/e-home.html

http://www.continental.com/

http://www.delta.com/home/index.jsp

http://www.europebyair.com/

http://www.lufthansa.com/index_en.html

http://www.nwa.com/

http://www.orbitz.com/

http://www.southwest.com/

http://www.ual.com/

http://www.usair.com/

https://rent.drivebudget.com

http://www.dollarcar.com/

http://www.hertz.com

http://www.allluxuryhotels.com/

http://www.basshotels.com

http://www.hoteldiscount.com/

http://www.lhw.com/

http://www.marriott.com

http://www.ramada.com

http://www.starwood.com/

http://www.wyndham.com/

http://www.amtrak.com/index.html

http://www.supershuttle.com/

http://www.site59.com/

 

Language and Travel-Related Sites: http://www.ecnet.net/users/gdlevin/flanguages.html

http://gofrance.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?once=true&site=http://www.kropla.com/

http://www.langintro.com/greek/

http://www.atlantic.net/~bdarl/travel.html -- lists zillions of travel sites

http://vlmp.museophile.com/world.html -- lists museums around the world

 

Art on the Web: http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks.html

 

Webcam Lists: http://www.rt66.com/ozone/cam.htm

http://www.webcamsearch.com/

 

Webring: http://dir.webring.com/rw

 

Health and Medicine: http://www.medicinenet.com/Script/Main/hp.asp

http://www.intelihealth.com

 

Food and Cooking and Food Shopping: http://www.kalustyans.com/

http://www.penzeys.com/

http://www.wine.com/

http://www.gotchocolates.com/

http://www.thenutfactory.com/

http://www.cooking.com/

http://www.dean-deluca.com/

http://www.idrink.com/

http://www.eathere.com/

http://eat.epicurious.com/

http://www.fiery-foods.com/

http://www.gourmetspot.com/

http://www.recipesource.com/

 

Other stuff:

 

Currency Conversion: http://www.xe.com/ucc/

What time is it: http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Eastern/d/-5/java

Calorie counter: http://www.caloriescount.org/cgi-bin/calorie_calculator.cgi

Freeware directory: http://www.freewarearena.com/

http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/Pictures.html -- great Hubble photos

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html -- The Visible Human site

http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/ -- How things work; read the August 14, 2002 entry to see how stupid we can all be (in the same situation, sad to say, I might have done the same thing)

 

In a category by itself:

 

https://www.gotomypc.com/ -- lets me connect to my office and home computers from anywhere on the road (gets around firewalls)

[chrismac]

Oh My God BG - It will take me weeks to sort through all those! Great list!

 

I use Google to find just about everything. Quotes especially. I tune in to CNN online for the latest breaking news several times a day. I check Expedia to fantasize about where I want to go next. Problem is, I never memorize the site names, and often forget to save them to my favorites (except the porn sites, of course - those are SEARED into my favorites file }>).

 

I use http://www.m-w.com for spelling, definitions, and thesaurus rather often.

[Rick Munroe]

That list would have taken my one finger about a week to compose. Did you just transfer your "favorites" list in some way, or did you type all those URL's out manually? I'm tired & in awe from reading it!

[Huey]

Hi BG, A fun topic . Here are a few of the sites I visit at least once per week. Most are entertainment related. They are not in any order, I'm not as together as you seem to be

 

http://theonion.com

http://rottentomatoes.com

http://moviefone.com

http://cdbaby.com

http://mp3.com

http://teveo.com

http://cnet.com

http://jefflevy.com

http://komando.com

http://concierge.com

http://gaypattaya.com

http://hoteldiscounts.com

http://thesmokinggun.com

http://nwlink.com/~ufocntr

http://qtm.net/~geibdan/framemst.html

http://ufoinfo.com/roundup/index.shtml

http://nauticom.net/users/ata/resources.html

http://lot47.com

http://www.dead.net

http://eels.artistdirect.com

http://kcrw.com

http://hob.com

http://billboard.com

http://atomfilms.com

http://facethejury.com

http://maxgalleries.com

http://movieboy.org

http://www.cvmc.net

 

-----------

WAR IS OVER

if you want it

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

[Boston Guy]

It's easy to export your favorites from Internet Explorer: click on File/"Import and Export..." and follow the instructions in the Wizard. It will produce a nicely-formatted HTML file for you.

 

Unfortunately, I couldn't do that here since there are many sites that I have bookmarked that weren't appropriate for the list I was creating for M4M (company confidential sites, customer confidential sites, family sites, technology sites, etc.). I also wanted to re-organize the list slightly from the way I keep it. So I just clicked on the links that I wanted to share and cut and pasted the URLs. It actually went quite quickly and didn't take very long.

 

One-finger typing??? Surely you jest!!

 

BG

[Guest wndrwoman]

Nice post, BG. The 2 newest sites I've discovered (I jump around a bit) are:

 

[http://cockery.com]

and

[http://heartless-bitches.com]

 

Both are hilarious.

 

tina

[+ Charlie]

Do you guys ever step outdoors? How can you possibly visit all those sites on a "regular" basis and still have time for a life?! If I spend more than an hour online a day--unless I'm working online, which I hate--I feel like I've wasted my opportunities for exercise and fresh air, socializing, playing with the dog, working around the house, reading a real book, going to a performance or exhibition instead of reading about it, etc. My favorites list has only six items, and four of them are simply weather reports for places I am interested in.

[Boston Guy]

LOL... Hey Charlie, of course I step outdoors. In fact, I'm heading out as soon as I finish this post. Seriously. :-)

 

But, in fact, there are days when my main PC is logged into the Net for eighteen hours and I have others that are always logged in. One of the almost-necessary results of being in a technology business is being online a lot.

 

My list of bookmarks has grown reasonably slowly for a long time, as I've come across sites I like and add them to the list. The Web changes so much that it's not rare for me to find that one of my favorites is no longer functional, so they come off as well.

 

Having lots of sites bookmarked means I can reach lots of different kinds of information almost at a keystroke. This saves me time and allows me to take a break from work for five minutes whenever I want to and go check the news, read a joke, scan an interesting article or whatever.

 

But there is so much out there that I'm constantly discovering new things that I've never seen before. That's why I started this thread -- to see what others were using and what they liked.

 

BG

[Rick Munroe]

>So I just clicked on the links that I

>wanted to share and cut and pasted the URLs.

 

I can't believe I'm actually asking this, but did you right-click & copy the URL from "Properties"? (this has to be the unsexiest post I've ever written) (but maybe some guys get hot & bothered over computer-illiterate-techno-geeks?)

 

>One-finger typing??? Surely you jest!!

 

OK, two fingers. Two very fast & nimble fingers. And I look at the keys.

[Boston Guy]

>I can't believe I'm actually asking this, but did you

>right-click & copy the URL from "Properties"? (this has to

>be the unsexiest post I've ever written) (but maybe some

>guys get hot & bothered over

>computer-illiterate-techno-geeks?)

>

 

LOL... No, that's not how I did it. Although it would have let me copy the URL's just as fast, it wouldn't let me verify that the sites I copied were all still valid, at least as of last night.

 

So I simply opened two copies of IE. I opened an M4M post window in one. In the other, I clicked on each site to bring it up. I then copied the URL's from the Address field at the top of IE, alt-tabbed to the M4M post window and pasted the URL. So it was pretty fast and let me know all the sites were still working.

 

The only problem I encountered was with some sites that I like a lot: I got waylaid in some, enjoying the current content, and had to remind myself to keep going so I could actually finish the list.

 

>>One-finger typing??? Surely you jest!!

>

>OK, two fingers. Two very fast & nimble fingers. And I

>look at the keys.

 

One of my best friends types the same way. He's been doing it for 30 years. I've suggested that he consider learning to touch-type, but he wouldn't hear of it. He says it's the principle of the thing.

 

BG

[Rick Munroe]

>I simply opened two copies of IE...I then copied the URL's from the Address field

>at the top of IE, alt-tabbed to the M4M post window and

>pasted the URL.

 

That's how I always do it, but every time I do, I wonder if there's some other, more efficient method that I don't know about. Now I know I'm smarter than I'd realized (don't tell anyone; I have my image to protect).

 

>I've suggested that he consider learning

>to touch-type, but he wouldn't hear of it. He says it's the

>principle of the thing.

 

I'm with him! It's not just the principle, but think of the cocksucking time lost if I were to take a typing class.

[jack]

Boston Guy, how do you have time to concentrate on your favorite porn sites, jerkoff, makeout, or do anything else. I'm getting concerned about where you put your focus.:-)

[+ Charlie]

Did you notice in my post and your response that we both have exactly the same number of total posts--569? How weird is that?

[Guest alanm]

Boston Guy, I agree with some of the other posters. Unless most of your time on the computer is job related, you have become obsessed &

need to spend time on other things. I know you did not mean it to happen, but that long, long, long list has me concerned about you.

[Boston Guy]

Hi Alan,

 

Thanks for the note of concern but I assure you it's not needed.

 

As someone who has been working with computers for over 35 years, I'm used to using them efficiently and in ways that some might think of as complex. But they're just tools to get the job done.

 

Long lists of bookmarks are common for computer professionals, who need to be quite organized in order to do their jobs. You should see the lists of some of the people who work for me! :-)

 

Bookmarks allow me to find what I want on the Web fast and without thought and without the need to go search for the site again. They're sort of analogus to the file folders we use on our disk drives.

 

Since my business is computer-related, I am online a great deal. But there are times in every day when I'm waiting for something to happen. In those times, I might have a meeting, make a phone call -- or hit a favorite site to check the news, see what's happening at M4M, order some groceries or a birthday gift for a friend, purchase airline tickets for my next trip, buy movie tickets, read a few jokes... you get the idea. Having lots of bookmarks just makes all those things and more that much easier, giving me more free time at the end of the day instead of less.

 

So thanks for note of concern. I do appreciate it. In return, I suggest you consider using more bookmarks. }>

 

BG

[OneFinger]

>That list would have taken my one finger about a week to compose.

 

Rick, I really like looking at your ass on every post. But, when did I become yours? :+

[Guest alanm]

Boston Guy,

 

I actually use bookmarks extensively. They certainly do make navigating the internet much easier. I have a close friend who is complusive about staying on line many hours a day. None of his internet time is job related. It is hard to get him off the computer.

His extensive list of bookmarks resembles yours, thus the concern.

 

Alan

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

URLS

 

Obviously, my favorite site is one listed by Boston Guy, Google. It is fast, this has been both tested and verified and more accurate than other site. I use it as the basis for many other sites I go to. There are very few sites, besides this one and Yahoo, I visit daily, and I prefer to read my News in actual newsprint. Here are a few random sites not mentioned otherwise and some specific topic sites not mentioned herein:

 

http://www.craigslist.org - which has sub-sites for certain cities and predominated in San Francisco

 

http://www.pac-10.org/sports/ - to keep up with my alma mater and the other schools in my conference.

 

http://www.outfest.org - especially when I am volunteering for the Los Angeles G/L Film Festival as I have for the past two years

 

http://www.kbb.com - The Kelly Blue Book site on line

 

http://www.aegis.com - specific HIV information, including medical breakthroughs and current research

 

http://www.medscape.com - general but somewhat academic medical information; again, if I had specific questions, such as when one of my friends had to go into rehad for a drug addiction and when another close friend had non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a google search provided me with a wealth of great sites to research from.

 

FITNESS:

 

http://www.musclemedia.com

http://www.mensfitness.com

http://www.menshealth.com

 

There are a number of other great sites which you can find on Google for specific body parts, personal trainers, gyms, supplements, steroid use and abuse, home exercise equipment, diet, nutrition, etc., but these have some great exercises, some very easy to understand and comprehend information and very little self-promotional blather.

 

 

COMPUTERS:

 

http://www.apple.com

http://www.downloads.zdnet.com and zdnet.com

http://www.macaddict.com

 

The wonderful thing about Macs is that there is a wealth of great information and freeware and shareware programs available. Again, this is also something you can search, but one site that Huey recommend, CNET, is great for both Windows based and Mac based software programs.

 

TRAVEL:

 

http://www.hotwire.com

http://www.priceline.com

http://www.lastminutetravel.com

 

and Yahoo Travel which uses the Travelocity search engine and gives you a good feel for what airlines have current fares what dates, without having to deal with Travelocity's cookies and registration (thus minimizing spam) - I then go to the airlines I belong to for the tickets.

 

ESCORTING:

 

I visit this site every day, except when traveling. I also go to http://www.hook

 

http://escortx.net/resource/

http://hookonline.org/

[Boston Guy]

I see. Well, no offense taken. :-)

 

BG

[Guest RushNY]

RE: URLS

 

One that i use a lot is http://www.zap2it.com i dont think its been mentioned before apologies if it has its the sort of site that i love

 

Definitely gonna make alist of some of those and check 'em out especially the travel sites .:-)

[Boston Guy]

RE: URLS - Bewitched

 

Hey Rush -

 

Thanks! I'd never heard of Zap2It, so just checked it out. Cool site.

 

The very thing I saw was that Nicole Kidman is considering the role of Samantha in the proposed 'Bewitched' movie. As a child of the 60s, Bewitched was probably my favorite TV show when I was about 10. I loved that show! :-) I think my favorite character was Aunt Clara, but Maurice was pretty cool, too. And, of course, Endorra was great, even though my mother couldn't stand Agnes Morehead because of her role in the McCarthy hearings.

 

So a Bewitched movie would be something I'd happily go see. (I'm not sure the same holds true for ANY of my friends, though.) And I heard about it first from Zap2It.

 

So thanks! :-)

 

BG

[Guest RushNY]

RE: URLS - Bewitched

 

Thanks BG :-)

 

Anyway another one that i find fun is http://www.straightacting.com

take the quiz to find out how 'straight acting' you are i scored 42 points which is Level 3 'mostly straight acting' i suppose the mostly bit covers the times when i have my dick up some guys ass :9

[Boston Guy]

RE: URLS - Bewitched

 

LOL... ok, I know you want me to take this quiz because I brought up Bewitched! :7

 

For the record, I scored 30, "Very Straight Acting"... and then checked out some of the guys listed on the site!!

 

BG

[Boston Guy]

Huey -

 

Finally got a chance to check out a few of the sites you listed. It's been a busy week.

 

It's an interesting list. I probably won't be visiting the alien sites too often, but teveo.com was cool. I get a kick out of checking webcams sometimes -- it's fun to see what other people have chosen to display. So I spent a few minutes checking out some of the ones listed. The cockatiel from Japan was pretty boring but some of the others were more interesting... especially the ones with young guys in them... I don't know, though, about the person who is looking to have people email her (him?) if certain cars, belonging to suspected adulterers, show up in the driveway. :7

 

Concierge.com also looks interesting; another way of looking at the travel industry and I've bookmarked that one.

 

KCRW.com is a good link; I listen to them whenever I'm in So Cal and enjoy their programming. Because I travel so much, I'm often in places where there are no good NPR stations and it's nice to be able to access it from the web. (I've listened to All Things Considered from my hotel room in several other countries while traveling on business; it's like having old friends along.) So that's another one added to the list.

 

Facethejury.com seems to be a knockoff of the old amihot.com. When amihot first came out, I spent about two hours with some co-workers, drinking wine and rating guys. Eventually, though, the novelty wore off, about the same time, I think, as the wine ran out.

 

Thanks for the list. :-)

BG

[+ Hoover42]

As I was going through all of the interesting links submitted here, I discovered a small time-saving step that you can use with Internet Explorer that simplifies the job of typing in a url.

 

If you select the address bar, and are about to type in a URL, say, "http:\\www.usair.com", you can instead type in just "usair", and press Ctrl-Enter.

 

Internet Explorer will automatically enter the prefix and the suffix for you.

 

I know...pretty geeky, right? But I use it all the time now.