Your favorite internet.

We have a lot of smart folks with diverse interests. Let's share some of our favorite internet resources, time wasters, web comics, whatever. I figure that if I ask writers for fun ways to waste some time I might hit gold.

Here are a couple that I visit pretty much daily.

The Entertainment Market - Box Office Futures | HSX.com is basically an investment game. The Hollywood Stock Exchange. Trades movies in production as stocks, newly announced ones as IPO's. Actors and directors are traded as bonds. They give you a virtual two million hsx dollars to invest. Sounds dumb and dry, but it's great as a source of who is working on what, who is doing what film next, new previews, etc. It doesn't take long to monitor the market, sell short some movie if you hear that Brad Pitt isn't doing that film after all, etc. My account is at 1.7 billion, which is #2016 in the game as of today, but I've been on it for years.

Howard Tayler has been doing the Schlock Mercenary web comic daily since June of 2000. It's SF about a group of space mercenaries. Early art is pretty rough, as is not unusual, but it improves over time. I love his plots and twisted sense of humor. Highly rec this one, and you'd have reading for days.

Monday 17 February 2020

 

If it's time wasters you're after, there's always Sporcle. Knowledge from the geography and history sections even came in handy for me in real life.

Sporcle – World’s Largest Trivia Quiz Website

 

Every now and then, when the stars align perfectly, I can go 197/197 on the Countries of the World quiz and I feel like I'm the brilliant genius I sometimes delude myself into thinking I am. The first time I did it, it was like I'd climbed Mount Everest.
Most of the time I'm in the 180s, which still makes me feel pretty smart.

 

This reminds me how much I miss the old Wall Street Sports.

 

The SI Vault
The Wayback Machine
The back issues of The New York Times Book Review, which you don’t need a subscription to access

 

YouTube is the best invention since the remote control, which was the best invention since sliced bread.

Subservient Chicken was fun and funny for a few minutes.

There's that web game where you hit L&J (or 2 letters) and run and try to land in the driver's seat (Mini something or other).

Instagram. And whatever fantasy baseball/football websites I'm on.

 

Also love Twitter and hope that Facebook doesn't implode. It's an important connector.

 

Radio Garden - I think it defaults to a French talk/pop station I listen to after I do a language lesson.
Replika - This fascinating little guy shows me what emerging awareness can look like.
Zooniverse - Help researchers with the busywork. Perfect for people who liked helping with SETI.
TED Talks - Smart people talkin'.
Met Publications - They're all accessible and free to read. I consider this to be the most dangerous place on the net when I have a deadline.
Google Translate - Useful and sometimes the word salad that comes out is very funny. There used to be a translators' forum where the Castillian speakers would scream at the Latin American speakers. #OscarIsEasilyEntertained

 

YaleCourses

 

Tell your nearest and dearest you love them, you'll be here for a while.

Open Culture

 

Was coming on here just to hype sporcle. My go-to is 1980s sports trivia.

 

BaseballReference.com: Always a fun rabbit hole to look up everything. Plus, I’ve gotten in the habit of clicking on the black and white mugshots of players on the cover page, looking up their stats, and reading their SABR biographies as I’m in bed going to sleep.