Another List of Power

In this next installment of self-aggrandizement, I'll share some of my favorite web sites.  From science and social-science blogs to my favorite webcomix, the list below is what occupies my internet time when I'm not watching the YouTube vids I shared last week.

This week:  Best of the Web.

The Best (IMO) of the Web

Blogs
Besides for our favorite blog friends (Streak, Mrs. Furious, Mr. Furious, us), here's a couple blogs I enjoy in no particular order:

What If?
From the cartoonist of XKCD (see below) comes his blog whereby he answers wild and weird questions from whomever emails him.  He picks the most fun or intriguing, and using a combination of good science and wild-assed guesses, he does his best to answer.  This site is so fun.  My favorite:  the first one that kicked-off this site.  Relativistic Baseball.

It's Okay to be Smart
This is the Tumblr that started the YouTube Channel I shared last week.  Joe got his start blogging his thoughts, linking to cool and engaging science, and generally celebrating what we know and can know about the universe.

The Drunken Moogle
The blend of Geek culture and adult beverages.  This guy makes up mixed drinks based on popular video game and geek culture.  He also links to interesting nerd-related drinking apparati (pint glasses with superhero capes, shot glasses etched with Game of Thrones sigils, etc).  I might or might not have some of the glassware listed there...

Skepchick
One of my favorites, second only to What If, above.  It's a blog run by women, whereby they discuss feminism, atheism, secularism, science, pseudoscience, and skepticism.  Their commentary on feminism is especially thoughtful and engaging and makes me think really hard about my privilege and how I might come across, and my own latent sexism that I don't even recognize.  Challenging stuff.  I love their takedown of internet trolls.  They have a daily "Skepchick Quickies" post that always links to fun, angering, enlightening bits, beautiful of teh interwebz.  They've created some spin-off sites as well; one of them is Mad Art Lab.  Beautiful art based on scientific principles.

Sci-Fi in Six
Quite simply: science fiction stories told in 6 paragraphs or less.  Fun! Little tastes of much bigger stories.  Concepts come to fruition in just a few sentences.  Worlds revealed that make you curious for more.  Love this kind of stuff.

Tiny Little Love Stories
Whoever runs this blog is sick.  A sick, sick bastard with a sick sense of humor.  And I love it.

WebComix
What I really enjoy about webcomix is that they can be examinations and critiques of our world presented in a way that finally makes sense.  Humor blasts through things that make us so mad or concerned.  Laughter in recognition of our own faults is wonderful medicine.  Here's some of my faves.

Questionable Content
It's hard to describe why I like this comic so much, but I'm hooked.  It takes place in an alternate Earth, where much is the same as ours but there are other advancements that are much different.  It allows Jeph Jacques, the author, to introduce interesting concepts, characters, and technology without it being a big deal why.  Other than that, it's a "slice of life" comic with characters I like a lot.

Atland
The comic is over now, or at least for now.  It's storyline has been resolved, but left open if Nate Piekos, the author, ever comes back to it.  I hope he does.  But it's worth going to the beginning and reading through.  Fantasy comic, funny, subtly picks fun of typical fantasy tropes while being an engaging comic.

Wondermark
Smart-assed, snarky humor mixed with old hand-drawn comics in the Victorian style.  Bizarre and hilarious comic.

XKCD
Do I really need to describe XKCD?  If you're not reading it, you're not a nerd.  And you don't care.  This is the grand-daddy of webcomix.  Sometimes, to get the math or computer programmer humor, I have to use Google, but that's not often with this one.  Brilliant.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Sometimes updated multiple times a day, this comic is hilarious, twisted, sick, poignant, and everything in between.  I love how the author plays on common concepts.

The Oatmeal
Another funny, insightful comic.  One of the best, actually.

Enjoy all this as much as I do!