Jon's Website

Don't miss the seperate page of Save-the-world links. They're linked on the main page, but I decided to leave a link here too, in case you miss the other.

Contents

• Computers
• Computer Retailers -- sellers I trust
• Computer Security
• Columnists -- all sorts, including computer-related columns
• Friends' Sites -- meet people almost as wierd as me
• Funny sites -- guaranteed to be pretty weird... none of that tired joke-of-the-day stuff
• hoaxes and urban ledgends -- Information sites. For the love of muffins, please help stop the plague of silly emails
• Lego -- home of "The Only Lego Link You'll ever need"
• Misc. sites -- stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else at the moment
• Web Comics! -- better than crack OR the Sunday Funnies

CD-Recordable FAQ

Information on CD-R/RW hardware, recording software, media, and anything else you could care to know

Lockergnome

This is a cool computer-ish newsletter... Definately not hard-core programmer stuff, just interesting/cool things about computers, news, that sort of stuff. I had a subscription panel posted here, but I removed it because it really broke up the flow of the site. Just click the link to sign up. (:

Tasty Bits From the Technology Front

Another cool newsletter, covering all sorts of computer news

www.FreeIM.org is apparently dead. So never mind. I just like their link graphic.

Runtime Computer Systems

A small computer retailer run by a friend that I've known since 3rd grade. They don't always have the most absolutely rock-bottom prices, but I can vouch for their friendliness, fairness, customer service and integrity. And if you don't see exactly what you want on their website, give them a call and they'll do whatever they can to help you. (Within reason, of course. I asked my friend to rob a bank for me once because I was not happy with my annual income. He refused.)

CVE

Comon Vulnerabilities and Exposures website. An industry-wide effort to provide security flaws with a common naming system in order to better coordinate discussions between security communities. Not an exploit database in and of itself.

CERT

United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, national clearinghouse for security information

ciac.org

The U.S. Department Of Energy's Computer Incident Advisory Center.

Known vulnerabilities in Mozilla

Just what it says. Patch your browser!

All sorts, including computer-related stuff

Thomas Sowell

This guy is... either a hard-core Republican or a Libertarian, something like that. But don't be put off by that. He's a very good writer, and raises some interesting points. Even if you don't agree with what he says, I hope he at least makes you think.

My apologies if I've missed anybody. I haven't taken the time yet to make sure this is any kind of complete listing. Also, not listed in any particular order, save for being divided by category. Want to appear in my list, or think you should? Just ask!

Local

Chad

My best friend for a long, LONG freaking time. Go read his writing or I'll make sure you regret it. He's good.

Adam

Guy I know through Chad. Likes Final Fantasy 3, as you can see from his link. Runs a messageboard of note. Also maintains, amongst other things, a picture archive with amusing pictures (who would've thunk it?) of Adam and his friends (including yours truly) doing amusing things.

Laine's wry-grin.net

Very cool girl I met through Chad, Adam and/or Adam's messageboard.

Char's Frogprince Illustrations

A girl I met all the way back in Junior year of high school. She does drawings for a living. Go buy some!

forums.megatokyo.com
- and -
surrounding environs

_Quinn's azaphrael.org

One of the best poets I have yet to meet and a good person besides. Read his writing, too, or... well, you'll really be missing out. Also see a site he maintains, called negatokyo.com, which is an archive of poetry from the MT story forums.

Garran

Another poet I met through Megatokyo. w00t. I need to think up something better to say about the poor guy, but I'm too darn tired right now.

Wizard of Kitty

Skittle-fuled, kawaii beyond words, utterly normal and utterly unique as well. These are just some of the makings of a girl who could be considered my "online little sister".

Simon ('netname occasionally Sims)

If ever there was someone (besides me?) who never gave himself enough credit, this crazy guy with a zany, razor sharp, acid-coated wit is it. He keeps insisting on sending me nifty arts of my characters, so look for them to get posted sometime soon.

Squee's helpgeeks.com

Squee is (yet) another cool guy I met through the MT forums, and the random, written RPGs that sprang up there. w00t. Friends are good things to have.

'Netside

My online friend Harmonie (aka. Symphonie). Haven't talked to the poor girl in a while. Need to look her up some time. ^^;

The Rockin' Homepage of Scott Robichaud

Met Scott in high school, back in... 1996 or '97, in my robotics class my Sophomore year of high school. He was crazy way back when, and nothing much has changed. He's a fun guy, so stop by and say hi.

Japanese Engrish

This site features pictures of various bizzare "translations" of English that are used in Japan...

Muffin Films

Insane Shockwave Flash movies about muffins by an Animation graduate student for her PhD project. Monty Python-esque. Other than that, it defies descrption.

Plauder Smilies

A large collection of crazy graphical smilies for use on messageboards, etc.

OXymoron Humor Archive

This is an archive of amusing things put together by some people at Merton College in England. While I haven't browsed the archives too thouroughly, I did really like the ASCHII art section, most specifically the ASCHII cows page. Some good, OLD-school computer humor here. (:

Redneck Neighbor

More crazy-455 sites. This one was linked to me by another of my old friends. The title says just about everything that needs saying.

A Tribute to Ray Harryhausen (added 2003 0302)

...and presumably the rest of The Village People as well. This is a silly animation set to the Chinese(?) version of "YMCA". Fear with great trembling fear.

Tom Lehrer's "The Elements" song (added 2003 0919)

If you've ever seen the Animaniacs sketches where Yakko sings all the countries of the world, or Wakko sings all the states in the US, well, this is where they got the idea from. It's just so freaking cool!

snopes.com

The San Fernando Valley Folklore Society's Urban Legends Reference Pages. Their extensive database has yet to let me down whenever I'm researching any sort of hoax, from sick or missing children to HIV needles duct-taped to the backs of gas pumps or public phones. Though to be fair, I have yet to verify any of the many sources they publish with each of their articles.

vmyths.com

A virus hoax website independant of any AntiVirus manufacturers. I've given the site a cursory browse and, based on the site's attitude toward computer security, information disclosure and fearmongering, I plan to come back. It even seems like an interesting resource for real computer security information, as well as fighting hoaxes.

The 419 Coalition

Known as 419 scams, Nigerian scams or Advance Fee Fraud. This site gives information on what this scam is and what to do should you receive a 419 solicitation, who you can forward mail and email to for investigation, and the like.

Missingkids.com

An information clearinghouse run by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and therefore probably a source of more reliable information than chain emails crying "help me find my baby". I have not investigated this thoroughly; my conclusion is based mostly on the name.

hoaxbusters.ciac.org

The U.S. Department Of Energy's Computer Incident Advisory Center hoax pages. The CIAC is supposedly a very old and venerable computer security site. Based on a very cursory investigation, the hoax pages don't seem as easy to use as snopes. But this is still another option for research.

Symantec Security Response Center

Where a major Antivirus vendor publishes information on virus threats and hoaxes. May not be as worthwhile as vmyths.com; have not compared.

urbanlegends.about.com

Presumably another fairly reputable page to research hoaxes, based on the fact that it's part of the giant about.com conglomerate. I have not investigated it much, as SNOPES usually serves my limited needs.

truthorfiction.com

Another hoax research site, also uninvestigated by yours truly.

The only Lego site you'll ever need

In lieu of an actual Lego links page, I'm including this link to a great Lego links resource. My Lego Universe page is even listed there.

ColorQuiz.com is a cool little personality test site. And one thing about me & personality test sites: how many do you see listed here? This is a pretty accurate test. 'Nuff said.

Magical Troubleshooting Crossover Fighting Federation Ultra

Ultra is sort of like professional wrestling. Only good. That's about the best description I've heard of this free online serial story. Consisting of about 90 "episodes" (with two final ones supposed to show up sometime or another), Ultra pits characters from various anime and video games against each other in a weekly series of matches in the context of a sports entertainment show. Besides all the fighting, there's human drama, behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing, no less than three (maybe more, I haven't read all of it yet) attempts to destroy existance as we know it, and even some good writing to boot. Worth checking out, at least.

The Oblique Strategies

A collection of thoughts and questions meant to be used as a sort of muse. When one has writers block, or is similarly stonewalled in another creative endeavour, you're supposed to select one of these phrases at random and use it to un-stick your mind. The site gives a better explanation.

www.sfpeaks.org (added 2003 0302)

See the San Francisco Peaks! ...Ok, so not in Real Living Color, but at least a webcam image of them. The Peaks are, oddly enough, just north of Flagstaff, Arizona, where I lived for about 10 months between 7/2000 and 5/2001.

Web comics are better than crack! I used to have to limit myself to just seven comics (in order to keep the time it takes to read 'em down), but I've since dropped off to just two or three. There are really hundreds or thousands out there, but there's only so much stinking time in a day. And some (most?) comics aren't really worth it, either. Listed alphabetically.

Somewhat generic but enjoyably cute and innocent Magical Girl comic. Riley (she's a girl) is especially cute. Need to update my "fanboy" page. ^_^;

This has got to be my absolute favorite comic right now. A video game freak and an aspiring graphic artist take a day-trip to Japan and end up stuck there, wherein they have adventures involving (so far) Japanese Schoolgirls, "assertive" boothbabes, the undead, and one Rent-a-zilla. All drawn in a great manga style by a guy in Ann Arbor, Michigan! Go hometown (or at least home state). And go here. You won't regret it.

Webcomics I used to read, and might eventually go back to

Avalon is a comic about a small group of Canadian high schoolers. It's got great humor, drama, high-school romance, and a good dose of nostalgia for masochistic post-high-school folks like me. Check it out (:

Don't be fooled by the size of the link graphic. This is a *real* fantasy story. Excellent writing and enviable art skills, not to mention good comedy and characters, all by a guy with a really cool pen name: Carson Fire.

This comic is to computer geeks almost what Dilbert is to engineers and all office workers in general (though the comedy here is generally more gentile and less acidic). Only, it's got a much better storyline, more well developed characters, and better art to boot. Add a talking slime mold and an evil marketing director (I mean REALLY evil... She could give Chad a run for his money), and you have one *darn* cool comic.

R.I.P. NeoBaka. It was a really good little anime-style comic about two college guys who find a robot girl in their room. But they stopped making 'em. The archives are still a good read, tho, even if it's only a partial story.

Ah, Sluggy. One of the webcomic classics, and one of the longest running, too. About a freelance web designer, his freelance bum (and crazy inventor) friend, a psychotic, switchblade wielding bunny (as seen in the link banner), and a whole host of other characters. Rife with pop-culture spoofs, jokes that Seinfeld would die for, and some darn good art. Definately a good read. Just watch out for the archives... Sluggy has been going since... uh... sometime in '97 I think.

When a comic's full title is "Zebra Girl: a comic about life, change, and spontaneous combustion", you KNOW it's good stuff. A recent college grad is accidentally turned into a demon by one of her roommates... and so the fun begins. This guy has some wicked humor that reminds me a lot of my friend Chad's, art skills out the wazoo, and can even do a decent dramatic storyline from time to time.