I’m sick of politics right now, but…I have a lot of busy work to do the next five days, so I need to have some kind of distraction. What are some good non-political things to read online? I just keep clicking through my usual routine of 10 or so political sites, then wishing I hadn’t.
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HelloRochester
http://dog-shame.com/
NCSteve
Well, besides XKCD, there’s the indispensable:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
Girl Genius webcomic.
Note: it’s “Gaslamp Fantasy”, not “Steampunk”
Phylllis
Dr. Grumpy never fails to crack me up.
PeakVT
You’re too lazy to find kittens on your own? Sheesh.
me
Sad nes? Is that something like this?
schrodinger's cat
If you want to a snarky take down of self important bloggers;
fashion, life style, healthy living, you name it, check out Get off my Internets
For style blogging gone wrong check out the forum; Worst fashion blogging Pictures
For a similar treatment of TV shows both the ones on air and off check out Television Without Pity
Metrosexual Manichean Monster DougJ
@schrodinger’s cat:
Those look great!
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@me:
I was expecting that kind of pic, and I still chuckled. Kryptik, weak to cheap laughs.
khead
Sports. Pick one.
It doesn’t matter which one – the reporting/reading will still be better than politics.
Big Wayne
Yeah. I hear ya, Doug. It’s depressing. And it’s going to get much, much worse — for decades — if Romney wins and starts replacing the few remaining Supreme Court “liberals” with conservatives.
Crashman
Check in on Longform.org and Longreads.com. They post links to full, long form, mostly non-fiction articles from various magazines and alt-weeklies. There’s a lot of interesting stuff on there, focused on all sorts of topics.
Cassidy
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: Couldn’t get into Girl Genius, but I really wanted to. Have you read Looking for Group or Order of the Stick?
Percysowner
For humor Cracked. For weird entertainment if you like TV and Movies TV Tropes. Both of these become massive time sinks as you follow one link to another, hours of fairly mindless fun.
Hypatia's Momma
The Bloggess and the Hyperbole-and-a-Half archives. (ALL THE THINGS!)
I go through a lot of archives when I’m bored. Web comic archives are always good for that.
Steeplejack
@MMM DougJ:
I stumbled on Ed Piskor’s series “The Hip Hop Family Tree” at Boing Boing a while back and have found it fascinating.
ETA: Link is to the first installment.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Cassidy:
I never could get much into those, myself. Tried (not very hard, admittedly), just couldn’t click with it.
NonyNony
@Percysowner:
TV Tropes was going to be my suggestion. Even if you’re not a fan of TV it’s more about tropes in general and there’s something there for everyone who is interested in narrative regardless of the medium.
I can’t go there anymore. For me it’s like crack or something – I start to read articles and then I look up and it’s 4am.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Hypatia’s Momma:
But…all the things? :(
Chris
Look at nextdraft, on the web or as an app. 10 well chosen interesting reads a day
schrodinger's cat
@Metrosexual Manichean Monster DougJ: You are welcome! Fun fact: There seems to be a high incidence of Mormon women in fashion/style and life style blogging world.
If you read the comments, you will notice that the cat ladies on GOMI make the vicious snarling jackals of BJ seem like puppy dogs.
Hypatia's Momma
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: Alot!
Cris (without an H)
When the world wears you down, read about outer space.
And of course TV Tropes is a great way to open dozens of new tabs and finally find yourself saying “how did I get here?”
Thoroughly Pizzled
Less Wrong, if you want to read about rationality and psychology.
Astronomy Picture of the Day, if you want to destress.
Hark a Vagrant, if you want to be awesome.
Jay in Oregon
@NonyNony:
You and most everyone else on the internet.
As for recommendations, people have suggested many of my favorites. I have Cute Overload and Dog Shaming bookmarked as pick-me-ups; there’s also People Don’t Always Suck.
Fred Clark over at Slacktivist is always a good read, such as his recent post on Chick-Fil-A’s Biblical Family of the Day.
Cris (without an H)
Allie Brosh’s account of her struggle with depression — the entry that is still, a year later, the front page post — is one of the most harrowing and inspiring descriptions of what it really feels like.
gbear
Go watch car crash compilations on YouTube. The Russian ones.
Comrade Mary
Letters of Note. Long, gorgeous, sometimes surprising letters and other communiqués from cultural figures and plain old humans from across the centuries. There’s lots of smart stuff, lots of funny stuff, and some downright odd stuff (“This is my son. He speaks Greek.“) but this is sad in a way that shows you that while politics is an important force for human happiness and health, the day to day vagaries of the political horse race means fuck-all in comparison.
MattF
jwz.org
various linguistics/language blogs:
language log
languagehat
University Diaries
Comics Curmudgeon
In The Pipeline (an organic chemist, try the ‘won’t work with’ tag for descriptions of various explosive or smelly or toxic substances)
Trooptrap Tripetrope
Dark Roasted Blend – general interest links to cool stuff around the webs.
PopeRatzy
It is October, what happens in October? Funny you should ask, Baseball playoffs. Turn off the computer and watch you some Oakland A’s as rookies play havoc with “conventional wisdom”
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@PopeRatzy:
I’m still bitter that the Fuckin’ Yankees took the AL East yet again. I was desperately hoping either the O’s or Rays could take the division with the other grabbing a wild card.
Lowkey
MetaFilter! Whenever I am looking for internets fare more substantial than LOLs and kitties, and I’m burned out on politics, MeFi is always one of my first stops.
Suffern ACE
Go to foreign policy and brush up on what is going on other places. Or try dawn.com and become an expert on Pakistan. Imran Khan…Populist hero or same old same old?
LGRooney
My first turn if I want away from politics is the Guardian Football site but if I’ve perused everything there and there is no live play-by-play, I go to Myrmecos (bug photography, if you’re into that kind of thing).
Comrade Mary
@Lowkey:
Oh, HAHAHAHAHA! /collapses with very sore sides
Seriously, if you avoid the political threads, you can have fun here. The Ask Metafilter section, where people ask for advice on practically anything you can think of, is also good. Try browsing by the categories on the right.
(There are also many, many threads on kitties, if you;re into that kind of thing.)
In addition, you can choose from the teeny tiny Popular and Best Of links at the top of any page to get to, umm, the popular and/or the best stuff. This is the place where I found out that data guy Edward Tufte smells really, really good.
The prophet Nostradumbass
Basic Instructions is quite funny.
burnspbesq
The online version of Under the Radar magazine is a good place to keep up on indie rock.
schrodinger's cat
@Suffern ACE: I don’t know much about Imran the politician, except that he is a America bashing demagogue. I remember him from his cricketing days, he was a handsome devil back then.
Daulnay
I’ll second Girl Genius. If you’re unfamiliar with it, start at the beginning. Mad Science at its best.
MikeJ
The xkcd spinoff, whatif.
Raven
Valentine gone.
Just Some Fuckhead
Lions vs. Hyenas on Youtube.
schrodinger's cat
@Thoroughly Pizzled: Love the Astronomy Picture a Day. Thanks!
PeakVT
@gbear: Those are insane. The India traffic videos can be funny, too.
Butch
Can I just say, apropos of sadnes…I live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (the part that’s attached to Wisconsin) and as a result of a quirk in FCC guidelines we get Wisconsin rather than Michigan TV stations. So I’m not only bombarded with annoying political advertising, I’m bombarded with annoying political advertising that is entirely irrelevant to my vote.
Hypatia's Momma
For both hyperbole and “history”, Badass of the Week.
Hypatia's Momma
@Cris (without an H):
She’s still dealing with that, albeit now with professional help.
Sad_Dem
Picky point, but what is Balloon Juice’s style for blog post headlines? Some days it’s inconsistent Chicago Manual of Style, but today it’s tending toward having everything lowercase except the first letter.
Oh, and “sadnes.”
Steve Crickmore
This arts and letters compendium site, ALDaily is about the most literate I know, if a little conservative in politics.
Raven
@Butch: Spent one of the longest day and night of my life trying to get from the Sault back to Champaign after taking my sis up their to be with her boyfriend who was fleeing the draft!
Jay in Oregon
Halp! I are moderaterated! I don’t think I overdid the links…
JenJen
I, for one, prefer the NHL to politics when I’m looking for a big dose of Let’s Get Pissed Off.
Fuck you, Gary Bettman. Fuck you right in your ear.
Mandalay
Not for everyone, and not much good for reading, but there are some great programs to listen to on the (Australian) Philosopher’s Zone, here:
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/
Random samples of the available broadcasts:
– How do octopuses think?
– Kurt Gödel and the limits of mathematics
– Philosophy in Afghanistan
– What do we know and how do we know we know it?
– The puzzlement of Ludwig Wittgenstein
Comrade Mary
Krulwich Wonders, from one of the Radiolab guys. All text, no narration or sound effects, if that kind of thing bugs you.
Origuy
Well, there’s Boing Boing, of course. Then Science Daily for science news unfiltered by J-school graduates. I always forget about McSweeney’s until someone posts a link to it.
From “I’m Comic Sans, Asshole”:
Nancy Cadet
I recommend a trip to Paris via the blog DavidLebowitz.com “The Sweet Life in Paris.” it’s a foodie blog by an American chef ( formerly at Chez Panisse), now living , eating, drinking and cooking in Paris.
Alex S.
Blind gossip dot com, though maybe not today.
Funkula
http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-series
A collaborative fiction project presented as a catalog of mysterious objects with paranormal properties. Started out as a creepypasta from 4chan but became so much more.
Babbington
Reddit. I mean, obviously politics is there, but it’s easy to avoid. You can waste a day in /r/aww alone. It’s a rabbit hole. You can log off anytime you like, but you can never leave.
TV Tropes. Also a rabbit hole. That’s probably a trope.
Snopes. Total, TOTAL rabbit hole. Or is it? True or False?
Tetrapod Zoology. A tetrapod hole of awesome science about things with four legs and one head and sometimes tails.
Use caution when googline “rabbit holes,” incidentally. Some things can’t be unseen.
300baud
http://textsfromlastnight.com/
Butch
@Raven: I love it up here but you definitely can’t be in a hurry to get anywhere!
Arclite
Oglaf. BE WARNED: Raunchy, and most definitely NSFW.
Raven
@Butch: Especially if you were hitchhiking in the summer of 72 with hair down to your ass and a zz top beard!
joel hanes
I quite like The History Blog
And Strange Maps.
And though apparently extinct, the archives of Laputan Logic still amaze.
Also, too, Tom Hilton is liveblogging the sesquicentennial of the 1861- Brewer geological survey, at Up And Down California.
White’s Creek Journal is a calm kind of place.
What’s the limit of links in one post to prevent moderation?
joel hanes
You could count Patrick Farley’s Electric Sheep
Squarely Rooted
@MikeJ:
agree agree agree
AGREE AGREE AGREE AGREE AGREE
Geoduck
Putting in another vote for TVTropes, since I contribute to the site regularly. Particularly, if you’re a fan of Dcotor Who, check out this.
And there’s the webcomic that I draw. All will visit it now!!
Jay in Oregon
@Funkula:
I wasn’t going to link to the SCP Project, because it’s as timesink-worthy as TvTropes if you get into it.
I remember spending most of day one weekend reading articles; my wife was kinda annoyed with me after hour 4 or 5…
Suezboo
Coyote Crossing by Chris Clarke about his wanderings in the California desert. He’s also now blogging at Freethoughtblogs.I really enjoy his writing.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@Suezboo: Yes! Just discovered him via PZ. Very cool. I gotta start digging into his posts more often. Especially since I know next-to-nothing about the CA deserts despite them being just up the road.
Doug: If you like science: The Loom, Not Exactly Rocket Science, Pharyngula, Why Evolution Is True, Cosmic Variance and Bad Astronomy can keep you busy reading almost forever with tons of cool stories that cover a shit-ton of topics. And all are pretty accessible to lay-people.
ErinSiobhan
http://longreads.com/
Some politics but lots of other interesting stuff.
dianne
Science Daily News is my favorite non-political blog.
Paul Harrington
http://www.futilitycloset.com
zero politics
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
McSweeneys. Where some of us can get lost for
weeksdayshours on end.muddy
ExecutedToday.com
Fascinating.
jwalden91lx
http://www.chronozoomproject.org/
erops
1812 day by day. Following the war and the year. You can get hooked:
http://1812now.blogspot.ca/2012_10_01_archive.html
Shadow's Mom
http://www.splitworlds.com/
Emma Newman, lovely woman, excellent writer.
Comrade Mary
@Arclite: And excellent.
I am bookmarking the living fuck out of this thread. Nice job, guys!
someofparts
This is not reading per se, just really beautiful and inspiring. It’s part of the gallery of work from a site for Child’s Own Studio. They take a child’s drawing and make an actual three-dimensional stuffed toy from it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/childsown/sets/72157623877403860/
way2blue
KPIG [www.kpig.com] Always works for me when I need a distraction from current events…
Arclite
@Comrade Mary: Yeah, Oglaf is pretty fucking hilarious. Apparently, the artist attempted porn and ended up at humor. It’s funny that sometimes we thing our talents are A and when we try A we discover that they are actually B.
Arclite
@Comrade Mary: Yeah, Oglaf is pretty fucking hilarious. Apparently, the artist attempted porn and ended up at humor. It’s funny that sometimes we thing our talents are A and when we try A we discover that they are actually B.