Good Reading
This page was originally intended as a way of keeping track of any
good papers and articles, mostly computer-related,
that I've downloaded from the Internet. However, that got to be more trouble
than it's worth - I can always look up a paper using a search engine - so I've
mostly been adding links to collections of papers and articles, e.g., magazines
with on-line articles, E-zines, etc. There is lots of good stuff out there -
enjoy!
Blogs
Computing-related blogs are found under Computers.
Political blogs are found under Politics.
- BlogBites - "blog bites.
like sound bites. but without the sound."
- AKMA's Random Thoughts
- C Street.us
- Cosmic Variance - "random
samplings from a universe of ideas".
- "Out of the Crooked Timber
of Humanity, No Straight Thing was Ever Made."
- Dispatches from the Culture
Wars - "Thoughts From the Interface of Science, Religion, Law
and Culture".
- Jason Rosenhouse's
EvolutionBlog -
"Commentary on the endless dispute between evolution and creationism."
- John Wilkins' Evolving
Thoughts - "Evolution, culture, philosophy and chocolate!"
- fantastic planet
- Scarlett's Fastidious
& Precise - "a lyric from Queen's song 'Killer Queen'".
- Fighting OCD - "A journal
of my fight with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)".
- Steven D. Levitts and Stephen J. Dubner's
Freakonomics Blog
- Jamie Zawinski's jwz - the
eclectic hacker.
- LanguageHat
- Carl Zimmer's The Loom -
"A Blog About Life, Past and Future".
- Leonard Richardson's News You Can
Bruise
- John Dufresne's
Occasional Web Log
- Stephanie Dray's Peaks and
Valleys - "Writing, Politics, and Minutia".
- Elayne Riggs' Pen-Elayne
on the Web - must be a Beatles fan!
- P.Z. Myers'
Pharyngula - science!
- RealClimate - commentary on
"climate science by working climate scientists for the interested
public".
- David Dobbs' Smooth
Pebbles - "[writing] on science, medicine, nature, and culture."
- Theo's Impressions &
Such - "speaking with much energy for the good of others is
naturally exhausting".
(del.icio.us)
- Wilson's Blogmanac -
"Think universally, Act terrestrially". (The blog for
Wilson's
Almanac, a daily E-zine.)
Meta-Everything
- Diggdot.us - "Digg, slashdot, and
del.icio.us/popular".
- freshnews.org - "fresh tech news
from around the net". Recent headlines from a bunch of technology web
sites.
Everything
- Ars Technica - "The PC
Enthusiast's Resource".
- Digg - "a technology news website
that combines social bookmarking, blogging, RSS, and non-hierarchical
editorial control".
- Freshmeat - "the largest
index of Linux software on the Web". Plus
handheld software!
- Slashdot - "News for nerds, stuff
that matters".
- UserFriendly.org
Various and Sundry
- Hacknot -
"is a forum for the discussion of issues facing software developers
who strive for a quality result. The unreasonably biased and highly
opinionated are welcome."
- I, Cringely - Robert X.
Cringely's insightful musings on the computer world.
- Joel on Software -
ramblings, mostly on computer-related topics.
(Discussion
Groups)
- Jon Emmons' Life After
Coffee - "I broke a user agreement."
- Scot Finnie's Scot's
Newsletter - "covers Windows, broadband, do-it-yourself networking,
Microsoft, and the Internet."
- Gary Murphy's TeledyN
Embedded Computing
Gadgets and Games
Handhelds and PDAs
Operating Systems
- osOpinion - "Tech Opinion
commentary for the people, by the people".
- WinPlanet - "A World of Premium
Windows Information and Tutorials".
Programming Languages
Software Development
Web Design and Development
Miscellaneous
- Builder.au - "by developers
for devlopers".
- Paul McJones' Dusty
Decks - "discuss[ing] historic computer software and hardware".
- InformIT - articles, book
excerpts, etc.
- Mappa.Mundi Magazine -
from 1999 to 2001, "examined how we see and use the Internet via an
eclectic mix of articles about technology, history, and the future of
cyberspace."
- ACM's Queue - helps
you "anticipate and assess the challenges" raised by "new and emerging
technologies". Whatever. What you'll find on-line and in the free
print edition are interesting readable articles by practicing computer
professionals.
- ACM's Ubiquity -
"IT Magazine and Forum".
- UserInstinct - "the
user-centric UI webzine".
Fiction
- anacrusis - "fiction for the
attention-deprived".
- FanFiction.Net - "unleash your
imagination and free your soul". Fan-written stories for books, video
games, TV shows, movies, and so on.
- The Practical Press -
"The place where bloggers come to be creative -- fiction, poetry,
drama, screenplays, art, photos, literary reviews and discussion,
we do it all."
Mystery
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror
- AlienSkin
Magazine - "Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror Magazine".
- Anotherealm: A Zine of Short
Speculative Fiction
- Aphelion: The Webzine
of Science Fiction and Fantasy
(back
issues)
- Dark Moon
Rising - science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
- Deep Outside
SFFH - science fiction, fantasy and horror.
- Horror Masters - an
extensive collection of old and new horror stories. (All stories
are in PDF format.)
- InterText: The Online Fiction
Magazine - an established E-zine with great short stories in
a variety of
genres:
"Present Tense", "Science Fiction", and "The Fantastic", as they say.
(back
issues)
- Planet Magazine -
science fiction and fantasy.
- Quantum Muse -
alternative,
science fiction,
fantasy,
and book.
- SCIFI.COM - has an excellent
archive
of "classic" and "original" science fiction stories.
- Strange Horizons -
speculative fiction.
Genomics
- "Boulder Data
Interchange Format" by Lincoln Stein - is a brief overview of and
manual for a PERL-friendly, data interchange format for genome analysis
software. The PERL objects? Boulders, stones, and pebbles (nested
stones), of course!
- Primer
on Molecular Genetics by Denise Casey, for the Department
of Energy - an excellent, fairly detailed overview of the Human Genome
Project. I've seen so many links to it, would it be fair to call it a
"classic" in the field? (The link above is to the 1992 version of the
primer. An updated, but abridged,
2003
edition is available.)
- "An
Introduction to Biocomputing" by David Steffen -
is the informative introduction to the
BioComputing
HyperText Coursebook.
- "Visualizing the
Genome" by David B. Searls - includes a description of his RSVP
(Rapid Sequence Visualization in PostScript), a suite of PostScript
programs that perform preliminary sequence analysis and generate
graphic output. The programs also run on any computer that has a
PostScript interpreter, so you're not restricted to a printer!
- "The
Importance of Standards and Componentry in Meeting the Genome
Informatics Challenges of the Next Five Years" by Nathan Goodman,
Steve Rozen, and Lincoln Stein - discusses the benefits of building
tools in a modular fashion with standardized interfaces between the
modules and proposes a study of the existing practices and of ways
of merging them into some type of cohesive standard. (Also see
"The
Case for Componentry in Genome Information Systems" by the same
authors.)
History and Literature
Medicine
- Emerging Infectious
Diseases - "a peer-reviewed journal published by the
National Center for Infectious Diseases".
- History of Diseases -
a collection of links compiled by the Karolinska Institutet.
- Psychiatric
Times - "a monthly trade publication with news and clinical
articles read by psychiatrists, allied mental health professionals and
primary care physicians who treat mental disorders".
Miscellaneous
- Drew Curtis' FARK.com - "[A]t this
rate by the end of the year there will be more people reading Fark than
will be alive on the planet at that time. It will be interesting to see
how that works out."
- Worth1000 - "the top creative
competition and photoshop contest site on the web."
- Libarynth - "a parafictional,
semifunctional (deeply InterTwingled) collection of documents,
notes and RandomNess in the smouldering rubble of babel."
Music
Periodicals
Politics
Radio
- The White Rose Society -
"Liberal/Progressive Talk Radio Audio Archives" in MP3 format, including
Randi Rhodes and Mike Malloy.
Frequently Read
- Alternate Brain - "Truth
from around the World". (Fixer
& Gordon)
- John Aravosis'
AMERICAblog -
"A great nation deserves the truth".
- Jerome Doolittle's BAD
ATTITUDES
- Booman Tribune - "A
Progressive Community".
- Paul Krugman's The
Conscience of a Liberal
- Crooks and Liars -
"John Amato's virtual online magazine... OK, It's a blog!"
- Daily Kos - "State of the
Nation".
- Kevin Drum at
Mother Jones.
- Atrios' Eschaton
- Firedoglake - "... bedlam is
dreaming of rain ..."
(Attackerman,
Emptywheel,
TBogg)
- First Draft - "writing is only
real on the first draft". (Athenae, Holden, Jude, and Scout)
- Brad DeLong's
Grasping
Reality with Both Hands - "The Semi-Daily Journal of Economist
Brad DeLong: A Fair, Balanced, Reality-Based, and More than Two-Handed
Look at the World".
- Glenn Greenwald
at Salon.com.
- Group News Blog - "The
heirs to Steve Gilliard's The News Blog. Progressive politics, news,
food, sports & the arts. Stopping the war. Smart, good people &
a safe space. Pull up a chair and hang."
- Digby's Hullabaloo
- General J. C. Christian's
Jesus' General - "An 11
on the Manly Scale of Absolute Gender".
- Steve Soto's The Left
Coaster - "An outside-the-Beltway perspective on current events,
politics, media, and the arts. We are proud to be part of the
Reality-Based Community."
- Barbara O'Brien's The Mahablog -
"Making the World Safe for Liberalism".
- PBD - Progressive Blog Digest
- Steve Benen's and Hilzoy's
Political Animal
- Avedon Carol's The Sideshow
- Eric Blair's Slacktivist -
"Knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend".
- Joshua Micah Marshall's
Talking Points Memo and
TPMmuckraker -
"They've got muck. We've got rakes."
- The American Prospect's
TAPPED
(Dean Baker,
Ezra Klein)
- Think Progress
(Wonk Room,
Matthew Yglesias)
Every So Often (A-L)
- Robert M. Jeffers' Adventus
- alicublog - "[I]ts editors
pen somber, Shackletonian missives from their lonely arctic outpost."
- Eric Alterman's
Altercation -
"Is this the right room for an argument?"
- American Politics
Journal - "Opinion * Invective * Satire".
- American Street -
"Remember, as far as anyone knows, we're a nice normal family." - Homer
Simpson.
- BadTux the Snarky Penguin -
"In a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin."
- BartCop - "Political Humor and
Commentary".
(Bartcop Forum)
- Brad Friedman's The Brad Blog -
"The uprising continues ..."
- Bring It On!
- BuzzFlash.com - headlines and
commentary, plus the
Buzzflash Mailbag.
- CathiefromCanada -
"Do not go gentle into that good night. Blog, blog against the dying
of the light."
- Aziz Poonawalla's City of
Brass - "Principled pragmatism at the maghrib of one age,
the fajr of another".
- Common Dreams NewsCenter -
"Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community". Breaking
news, columns, and lots of links to news services, periodicals,
columnists, and radio and television stations.
- CorrenteWire - "boldly shrill
members of the reality-based community."
- The Crisis Papers - "News,
Opinion and Commentary from the Progressive Internet", edited by
Ernest Partridge, Ph.D. and Bernard Weiner, Ph.D.
- Cursor - "Media Patrol".
- The Daily
Howler - Bob Somerby points out egregious howlers (both
definitions of
the term) in the media.
- Center for American Progress'
Daily Progress Report
- Democratic
Underground, the
latest
threads, and their famous
Top Ten
Conservative Idiots (updated weekly).
- Jo Fish's Democratic Veteran
- EconoSpeak - "Annals of
the Economically Incorrect".
- Len's First Door on the
Left - "Just remember this: I am olderer and wiserer."
- David Cogswell's HeadBlast
- Hoffmania! - "All That's Left!
Liberal News & Free Speech".
- Juan Cole's Informed Comment -
"Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion".
- Paul Corrigan's and Tim Francis-Wright's
K Marx The Spot -
"We are living in a materialist world, and this is a materialist url!"
(Creators of Bear Left!)
- LiberalOasis - "where the
Left is right and the Right is wrong".
- Jake Sexton's Lying Media
Bastards
Every So Often (M-Z)
- Make Them
Accountable - Carolyn Kay's commentary.
- Matthew Yglesias
- David Brock's Media Matters for
America
- Tom Tomorrow's This Modern
World
- Jerome Armstrong's and Chris Bowers'
MyDD - "Due Diligence of Politics,
Election Forecast & the World Today".
- Swopa's Needlenose
- Nitpicker
- Rorschach's No Capital -
"Political blog from the radical left, because the Invisible Hand is
giving you the finger."
- Noam Chomsky
- Oliver Willis - "Like
Kryptonite To Stupid".
- David Neiwert's Orcinus -
"Policy, Culture and Journalism in the 21st Century".
- Pandagon
- Mark Kleiman's The Reality-Based
Community - "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his
own facts."
- Attaturk's, Champollion's, and DeDurkheim's
Rising Hegemon -
"Angst-Filled Missives on the Fate of American Democracy ..."
- Scoobie Davis
Online - "LA Surfer, Pundit, and Party Crasher".
- Seeing the Forest -
"For the Trees".
- Demosthenes' Shadow of the
Hegemon - "One Writer, One World, One Darkened Alley".
- The Shrill Blog - "The
Offical Blog of the Ancient and Hermetic Order of the Shrill".
- Bruce Garrett's The
Story So Far ...
- Susie Madrak's Suburban
Guerrilla - "Keeping a jaundiced eye on the corporate media."
- Greg Saunders' The Talent
Show
- Jeralyn Merritt's TalkLeft -
"the politics of crime".
- TomPaine.com -
"The best progressive insight and action. All day."
- t r u t h o u t (William Rivers
Pitt)
- uggabugga - and its
"Bushisms
Analyzed".
- Steve Clemons' The
Washington Note
- James Wolcott
- Maru's WTF Is It
Now?!? - great pictures!
- Some Guy With a Website -
"Cartoons & Commentary from August J. Pollak".
People to See and Places to Go
- The Lefty Directory -
"A Guide to the Blog Left", compiled and maintained by Brian Linse.
- Link Crusader - "Bill's
BEST Links to Progressive & Anti-Bush Sites, News, Activist Tools,
Campus Activism, & Yahoo! Message Boards".
Religion
Science
- "The Alternate View" -
"cutting-edge science" columns by physicist John G. Cramer from the
pages of Analog Science Fiction & Fact Magazine.
- American
Scientist - "The Magazine of Sigma Xi, The Scientific
Research Society".
- CHANCE -
"features articles that showcase the use of statistical methods and
ideas in the social, biological, physical, and medical sciences".
That's a dry description of what is actually an entertaining and
informative magazine aimed at the interested layperson. The online
articles are in PDF format.
- Discover -
a popular science magazine.
- Hot A.I.R. - "Rare and
well-done tidbits from the Annals of Improbable Research".
- New Scientist
(the British counterpart to Science News?) also has the
full text of selected articles, both from the current issue and from
back issues.
The articles are aimed at the interested layman and cover a broad
range of scientific subjects.
- Perspectives on Science and
Christian Faith - a publication of the American Scientific
Affiliation. If you explore the web site, you'll find a number of
on-line articles and book reviews.
- Science News -
"the weekly newsmagazine of science".
- Scientific American -
scientific paradise - for the layman, more or less.
- Skeptical
Inquirer - published by the Committee for the Scientific
Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CISCOP).
- The Panda's Thumb -
"dedicated to explaining the theory of evolution, critiquing the
claims of the anti-evolution movement, and defending the integrity
of science education in America and around the world."
- SciTech Daily Review - "science,
technology, future developments, innovations, implications".
- "The
Outer Reaches of Life", excerpted from John Postgate's book
of the same name - discusses (with some humor thrown in here and
there) the conditions required to sustain life as deduced from the
range of life known on earth.
