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Sites I like

A ceramic orange tabby cat wears a spacesuit.
Photo by Hester Qiang / Unsplash

Let's reclaim the Internet, let's take it back from the manipulated walled gardens of social media. Let's build our own things, and make it weird and independent again. Here are some spots I like to check in on.

News & commentary

Journalism ain't what it used to be.

  • The Guardian - I like to get news from an outside-of-the-US source. They have a US edition, but I stick to the UK edition. I've learned a lot about how UK politics work as a side bonus!
  • Mission Local - 🦋 - SF news serving our general end of town.
  • Phil Lewis - 🦋 - Current events reporting on issues impacting Black America.
  • Contraband Camp - 🦋 - Commentary on current events from a Black perspective, founded by funny and brilliant historian/journalist Michael Harriot 🦋.
  • Rebecca Solnit - 🦋 - Feminist perspective on current events.
  • Heather Cox Richardson - Historian's perspective on current events.
  • Gwendolyn Ann Smith - 🦋 - Gwen is the co-founder of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, and she writes a regular column for the East Bay Reporter, Transmissions.
  • Albert Burneko - 🦋 - A fantastic and funny writer. Mostly writes about sports, but I'm less interested in those so I skip them, pls don't tell him.
  • Lainey Gossip - Entertainment gossip that strips back the industry sheen, with smart analysis. I especially love the movie reviews by co-editor Sarah Marrs 🦋, she's all-around brilliant.

Baking & cooking sites

Where I turn for recipes and learning.

  • King Arthur Baking - Well-tested baking recipes, with extensive Q&As for each, plus helpful, real reviews. They also have a blog with lots of great how-to info.
  • NY Times Cooking - Cooking and baking recipes, well-tested. Community ratings are real and the comments can be very helpful.
  • Sally's Baking Recipes - Well-tested baking recipes, with very detailed instructions. You can count on her recipes to work, but she skews a bit sweet. Her scones are more like muffins, her muffins are like cupcakes. Her cookie game is strong.
  • Serious Eats - I don't use it for recipes, but for understanding some techniques. It's especially helpful for sous vide.
  • Bakes by Brown Sugar - I like her curd recipes.
  • Pies & Tacos - Macaron how-tos and troubleshooting.
  • Indulge with Mimi - Macaron how-tos and troubleshooting.
  • How to Mix Food Dyes - A must-read for mixing artificial food coloring. Set aside your color wheel and your RGB & CMYK know-how, food dyes are weird.

Personal blogs

I love it when you own your voice and share it.

  • Alcademics - 🦋 - San Francisco booze nerd Camper English brings his sharp brain and science love to the bar world. He likes ice, a lot a lot.
  • Cabel Sasser - 🦋 - Personal blog of Cabel Sasser, of Panic and weird snacks.
  • Jeffrey Morgenthaler - 🦋 - More useful if you're a professional bartender, which I've never been, but I respect the nerdery and I learn from him.
  • Impeccable Table Manners - The Guardian (UK newspaper) has a weekly thing where they set up two strangers on a blind date. Writer Justin Myers does his own commentary on the dates, and has for years and years. He doesn't do it every week anymore, but I still check every week, just in case.
  • The Quiet Ripple Defines the Pond - Personal blog of a friend I worked with years ago. Sweet and gentle diary of life, mostly in Okinawa and sometimes San Francisco.
  • Spectre Collie - 🦋 - Personal blog of my friend, Chuck Jordan.

YouTube channels

High quality only, nowhere near the cesspool side of YouTube.

Parenting & neurodiversity

Amazing brains and hearts and souls.

  • Homeschool Humuhumu - My other blog, it's about homeschooling.
  • Lives in the Balance - A collaborative approach to parenting that works. It looks weird to outsiders who are used to a different model of parent/child relationships, but it's light years better than the old ways.
  • Seth Perler Guide to 2e - I haven't used Seth Perler's consulting services, but he has a useful primer on the world of twice exceptionality.
  • Attachment Nerd - I honestly haven't spent time at her website, but I got a lot from her when I was still on Facebook and Insta.
  • Laughing at Chaos - Parenting blog from a friend with 2e kids. Her kids have grown, but the stories are still a helpful mirror for parents of 2e kids.

Other places

Some odds & ends, emphasis on the odd.

  • Giuseppe González on Insta - Badass Boricua bartender entering his cranky grandpa era, 10/10, the only reason I still poke my head into Instagram these days.
  • Homestar Runner - A Trott family favorite, they're still producing new stuff once in a blue moon.
  • HORG - Taxonomy of occlupanids, a critical online resource.
  • Unsplash - A great resource for photographs available for free use on your blog, as long as you link back to the photographer with credit. I try to use my own photographs to illustrate my posts, but sometimes I want something I don't have.

Crosswords

Crosswords are my reset button.

  • NY Times Games - Home of my favorite daily crossword. I also play Connections, Threads, and sometimes Sudoku. (I actually play on the iPhone app, though, not the website.)
  • LA Times Crossword - Home of my second favorite daily crossword, also excellent.
  • New Yorker Crossword - Most daily crosswords are easiest on Monday and get harder through the end of the week. The New Yorker does it opposite, providing counterprogramming that feeds my Monday itch for a challenging crossword.
  • The Atlantic Crossword - Not my favorite, but I do it anyway. The Sunday crossword is often pretty good.
  • Kameron Austin Collins is my favorite crossword creator, I'm excited whenever his name pops up. I also like Zhouquin Burnikel, Erik Agard, and lots more I'm currently blanking on.