May 2004

Web Sites I Read Daily

1. Arts and Letters Daily
A very close friend ordered me to begin checking up on this site. We had discussed our struggles finding a variety of news and social commentary on the web. Sure, one could go from one paper to another, and then from magazine to magazine, but there is not always time for that. ALDaily, updated once every weekday, and once on the weekend, compiles three kinds of articles in three, very long, columns: Articles of Note (news primarily - off the beaten path, obits), New Books (reviews), and Essay and Opinion (just that.)

The articles come from a wide variety of sources, and from both sides of the debate. For a first time visitor, the site can appear daunting. The articles are kept for a very long time, and the list of links on the left side seem to go on forever.

Arts and Letters Daily is, now that I think of it, the Drudge Report's sophisticated, smarter and less catty half-sibling.

2. Butterflies and Wheels
ALDaily linked to an article here, which I enjoyed. I pocked around the site for a while, and became addicted. This site is definitely opinionated, and in a direction I prefer. B&W links to articles and opinion pieces Vedic science in India, ID nutjobs in school boards, anti-intellectual attacks from the right and left, religion, and GM food science - just to name a few. Their banner motto is: Fighting fashionable nonsense.

The most delightful feature on the site is the "Fashionable Dictionary". A witty collection of terminology, which is often used to stifle intelligent argument. An example: "Assumption - Something to be examined when it is our opponent's and taken for granted when it is our own." The site's editors are publishing the dictionary soon. It should be a terrific read.

3. The Panda's Thumb
This one is the last and most resent link in the chain that started with ALDaily. This is a blog by and for pro-evolutionists. Each day, at least one comment is left by one of the contributors. It may be about a scientific discovery, or a battle against some ID movement in a school district. The writers are smart, and they are tired of being beaten at the PR game by the Christian-funded ID'ers.

For years, I have been frustrated by the last of active outreach on the part of the scientific community with regard to evolution. Darwin's theory, which is not at risk of being toppled any time soon, is losing a PR battle waged by pseudoscientists with bullhorns. Right now, there is a growing number of people who have started web sites which reach out to those brave souls, lost in a sea of ignorance and fear-mongering, in need of knowledge. For me, The Panda's Thumb is more than enough.

4. Achewood
Ray.

Todd.

Roast Beef.

It's the best comic strip available for human eyes. No comic strip is better. Not in the paper, and not on the web. Achewood is tops.