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Sites that Need More Traffic:
marshwiggle.neocities.org
- A site about the Christian walk, philosophy, and other matters. Winner of the prestigious "Funniest 404 Page of All Time" award.
jazzysnoazzy.neocities.org
- Azira's webpage. Prepare for Peeps.
Christianity and Politics:
Southeast Christian Church
- My "home away from home" church. I often watch their
sermons live on YouTube. Don't let the megachurch size fool you
-- they practice what they preach.
The Gospel Coalition
- Articles on Christianity and living out your faith.
Focus on the Family
- An organization dedicated to preserving the Biblical ideal of
family.
PluggedIn
- Focus' media review team. Their write-ups are worth reading before
you head to the theatre -- but beware of spoilers. :-)
Culture War College
- Biblical wisdom from a retired Air Force colonel.
Albert Mohler
- Home of The Briefing, a podcast featuring "a daily
analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview" - my
go-to source for quick news.
WORLD Magazine
- Tired of Big News? Here's a smaller outlet that covers national
news from a Christian perspective.
First Liberty Institute
- Non-profit law firm dedicated to protecting the free exercise
of religion in the U.S.
Alliance Defending Freedom
- Another non-profit law firm dedicated to protecting Americans
and their rights.
NETBible
- My favorite Bible translation for reading, quoting, and studying.
(I also appreciate their stance on Biblical copyright.)
YouVersion
- Ad-free Bible reader for browsers. (BibleGateway.com is another
viable option, though they run some obtrusive ads.)
1792 Exchange
- A site that scores companies based on their commitment (or lack
thereof) to certain political issues and free speech in the workplace.
Good Comics:
Vicki Fox
- A 'furry' slice-of-life comic from a Christian author that's been
around for over two decades.
VHV
- Sci-fi meets magic meets aliens.
The Prospect
- More sci-fi, more magic, more aliens. :-)
Savage Chickens (infrequent language)
- Silly doodles of chickens on sticky notes. Covers every kind of
humor.
The Jenkins
- Geek humor, thought-provoking puns, and some of that fine Monkey
Cola, yes sir!
Ziggy
- A long-running single-panel newspaper strip. One of my favorites.
Breaking Cat News
- The daily lives of neighborhood cats as documented by a team of
feline reporters. Drawn with ink and watercolor.
Faux Pas
- The Carspecken's wonderful comic. A bit too feral for my tastes,
but worth a read if you like good, clean humor.
Coffee Table Comics
- Jason Brubaker's home base, featuring Sithrah, re:MIND, and other
graphic novel masterpieces.
Art and Artists:
Vanilla Arts
- The resource for new Copic artists. More professional wisdom
than I've gotten from any other site -- and most of it's free. The
Blend is also worth the cash, if you have it.
Drawabox
- A moderately helpful tool to get started with drawing fundamentals.
The title is misleading -- "a box" quickly becomes "a
thousand boxes."
Refsheet.net
- A reference sheet hosting site for those without a webpage to
call home. Useful for ArtFight season or people who purchase commissions
often.
Brandon James Greer (YT)
- Entry-level pixel art tutorials. I learned quite a bit from his
videos.
How to Think when You Draw!
- Some of the best technical tips on the Internet.
Blick
- My go-to place for most art supplies. They're generally cheaper
than the local craft stores - especially if you buy enough stuff
to get free shipping.
Violeta-Ink
- A good authorized reseller for Copic markers and ever-needed Copic
Ink refills.
eBay
- Where I actually buy my Copic markers. If you look hard enough,
you can find them for about $1.50 each in bulk or $2.50 per marker
on sale. If you weigh 'em and take care of 'em, they're just as
good as the ones straight from the store shelves. (And there's less
pain on your wallet if one dries up or develops the infamous cracked
cap...)
Synthesizers and Tracker Music:
The OPL Archive
- If you like Yamaha-based chiptune, this is a great place to go.
(You don't need a Sound Blaster to enjoy it, either -- OPL emulation
is done in your brower.)
Skaven's Page
- A classic tracker artist's homepage. It's a bit old, but worth
a look.
Fearofdark
- Another of my favorite tracker artists.
FB-01 Patches
- If you have one of Yamaha's little black boxes and need more sounds
for it, this is a great place to look.
DX7 patch archive
- You'll need a patch loader (such as SYSEX Librarian) for these
files, but they're worth the trouble. They also work on non-DX7
devices, such as Dexed or the Korg opsix [sic].
SynthMania
- A great YouTube channel with high-quality synthesizer demos.
Midera
- Ambient electronica. He plays a mean Prophet~10.
Software and Geek Tools:
GrafX2
- The editor for pixel artists. Say what you will about Aseprite...
this one's better. It's free. It's open-souce. And it runs on (mostly)
era-appropriate hardware.
Pixelformer
- A good, all-around raster editor for quick adjustments. It's a
shame it was never finished.
Krita
- If you want most of the functionality of Photoshop for 100% less
money, this is the program for you.
Paint.NET
- Paint's grown-up cousin.
Furnace
- Incredible tracker software with a wide range of emulated systems.
OpenMPT
- For those of us who want to make tracker music but don't want
to deal with the pain of old systems. :-)
AdLib Tracker
- You'll want to try this if you have access to an old Windows system
and an OPL card. (You can emulate it, but real hardware is more
fun.)
GB Studio
- Make your own Game Boy games. Or test your GB-style art to make
sure it's compatible.
IrfanView
- Open-source photo viewer. It's a touch clunky, but it works.
VLC
- It's "just" a media player. But it'll play basically
anything -- including files that every other player says are broken.
Unicode Charts
- Find cool symbols without an app or annoying, ad-filled webpage.
Archiving and Archive Management:
Streamlink
- Wanna save that Twitch stream for later? Or save off your church's
sermon? Here's a command-line interface to do so. Once you get through
the clunk, it's quite powerful.
YT-DLG
- An easy-to-use GUI for YT-DLP.
HTTrack
- A solid solution for archiving webpages.
WFDownloader
- Ever gone to a site and thought, "Man, I wish I could download
all of that person's art?" WFDownloader has you covered. It works
almost anywhere.
Greaseweazle
- Got floppies? Create high-quality backups of them with one of
these neat devices.
* Reminder: Archive responsibly. Follow copyright laws and refrain
from piracy. (I know, I'm the guy who whines about copyright, but
I do follow the law.)
Retro Technology, Emulation, and Older Games:
Greg "Flux" Gaub
- Greg's page is a wonderful resource for users of Tiger Electronics'
classic Lazer Tag Team Ops (LTTO) taggers. He also has a neat Transformers
page, the old homepage of the Seattle Palm Users Group, and some
other pages that are well worth your time.
Amiga Forever
- If you want to emulate Commodore's best, you'll need to stop by
here. The $30 package has everything you could ever want.
WinUAE
- My Amiga emulator of choice. It natively supports the Greaseweazle,
too.
RetroArch
- The best emulation frontend out there... and it runs on basically
everything.
DuckStation
- Good PS1 emulation with a sleek interface.
PCSX2
- If you want to play PS2 games better than ever before, you'll
want this. (Bring your own BIOS ROMs.)
Dolphin
- Wii and GameCube emulation that's too good for Steam.
PalmDB
- Software, games, and utilities for PalmOS. It's not obsolete...
yet!
Vogons
- One of many wonderful retro tech forums. They've been on the 'net
for 22 years and counting, and they've covered nearly everything
there is to cover.
VPForums
- Like pinball? No arcade nearby? Try Visual Pinball -- they have
recreations of real-life tables and a whole bunch of other neat
stuff.
VPUniverse
- More tables!
MM2X
- Add-ons and mods for Midtown Madness 2. I spent way too
much time on here as a kid...
Simviation
- ... and way more time here. They have heaps of freeware
add-ons for multiple generations of Microsoft Flight Simulator
and Combat Flight Simulator. Go get a new hard drive;
you'll need it.
Flightsim.to
- Freeware add-ons for MSFS2020.
* Don't forget to support your local game stores and thrift shops
by purchasing physical copies of games and software. Emulate responsibly.
:-)
The Internet, Privacy, and Web Hosting:
Namecheap
- A good spot for registering domain names. I don't recommend their
web hosting - HTTPS costs extra, unless you want to install your
own certificates.
TheNewOil
- Learn about web privacy and how you can take back your online
presence.
uBlock Origin
- If you only download and use one browser extension... make it
this one. This one plugin makes the Web far more bearable -- and
warns you of malicious webpages.
EFF
- I don't agree with everything they stand for, but a lot
of their work on privacy is quite noble.
CoverYourTracks
- How well does your browser protect you from fingerprinting? Find
out here.
Windscribe
- I love Windscribe's free VPN. 10GB per month on servers all around
the world. Built-in porn blocking. No-nonsense interface. Extra
data by Tweet. Give it a try. :-)
* Their marketing does have a bit of language and innuendo. I
forgive it - their service is that good.
** Yes, this is a referral link. If you use it, you'll get an extra
gigabyte of data per month (for a total of 11) when you sign up.
Proton
- A nice alternative to GSuite. The free version of Proton VPN is
nice, but a bit slow for my tastes. The paid version is wonderful.
WiGLE
- Take a peek at more WiFi networks than you knew existed on one
big map. Then change your SSID to "FBI Surveillance Van" so nobody
can spot you on said map.
HaveIBeenPwned
- A good site for checking on data breaches.
Namechk
- Want to make a new set of social accounts? See if your username
of choice is available on a variety of platforms.
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