Friends and Other Miscellaneous Links

A few of my good friends are now geeky or clueful enough to have web pages. I would be indeed remiss if I didn't at least include links here to:

• Jeremy Bagai doesn't have his own page, but his recently established fortuitous press does...
  (People who speak Italian might enjoy this interview, and I really recommend this pained Google translation for anybody. :)
• Deborah Beck, queen of the ancient world, is well settled in now at Swarthmore.
• Steve Bogart, web-logger extraordinaire and The Bass To Call
• Sid Gunawardena, my racquetball partner (Frankly, this photo frightens me...)
• Michele Hangley has a corporate presence over at her law offices.
• Reece Hart, pilot, coffee addict, and all-purpose geek, now returned to the Left Coast (but never updates anymore).
• Jim Kacian, pal and fellow editor, has a cute write-up here, and can be seen more clearly here
• Rob Manning looks very professorial over at Haverford, but I'm really more interested in how he looks at home...
• Paul Mena is sipping beers and writing haiku from coast to coast...
• Amy Rifkind, my college roomie, looking quite lawyerly
• Michael Tucker, who is attempting to keep up a weblog on interesting bits (and who just had a baby!).
• Others will be added here as they enter cyberspace, or send me their updated URL's (for sites with more than baby photos)... This could be you! (go,go,go!!!).

Minor vices and other fun stuff:

• Here's a look at the daily reads that I visit from work -- blogs, comics, and more...
• An amazing page of origami, with links to millions of others.
• Homepage of NPR, with links to Real Audio (with today's broadcasts)
• If you're a word geek like I am, you might enjoy Wordwatch, which has weekly installments of research into/commentary on word history and grammatical usage. Even more fun is this pseudodictionary, which collects many words which should, but sadly don't, exist... I also have a collection of my own Favorite Words from a variety of sources (and for a variety of reasons).
• the Guide to Human Languages has disappeared, but you can still visit a site explaining Lojban, a mind-boggling "artificial" language...
• it might not seem that way, but a love of language has also led me to the usenet group alt.adjective.noun.verb.verb.verb (or aanvvv, to insiders) -- its FAQ will give you a flavor for the place...
• In the wacky use of language and literature, my old friend Scott Berk has contributed to X Magazine (formerly X magazine, then Dryer Systems Mag; you figure it out), which is highly amusing.
• If you're in the mood for something totally pointless, you might get a giggle out of this series of scientific tests on marshmallow bunnies that a friend of mine found, or the even more tasteless Stick Figure Death Theater site...
• To really follow that mood, check out the anti-inspirational posters and other dark humor on the Despair.com site! Too good!
• For would-be web page designers, starting places and beginner tips have been put together on this barebones HTML guide, a useful summary of available background/text colors is provided on this RGB chart (with another spot for the less stable pastels), and for counter-examples to good practice check out pages that really suck.
• If your creative ambitions are more modest, you can always visit the Crayola home site!
• Just for fun, here's a link to all kinds of urban legends
• In response to public pressure, I have now included a glimpse of me that you can view if you insist...
• and finally, I can't leave out a small photo of each of my cats...