10 websites you might not have heard of
Every once in a while, you run into someone who’s lived in a particular city for a long time and knows her way around. She call tell you the best local restaurants, the coolest clubs, and which places to avoid at all costs (the real-life equivalents of 4chan.org). I like to think of myself as that person — except for the Internet. So I might as well show everybody around. Here are ten good sites that you’ve probably never heard of:
1) TheFuckingWeather.com:
The best thing about thefuckingweather.com isn’t the joke; it’s the simple and clean interface. No clutter. No waiting for image ads to loads. It even automatically knows I want Cambridge weather because I’m connecting from MIT’s campus. Other weather sites could learn a thing or two from this site.
2) News.YCombinator.com: Y Combinator’s Digg-esque news site is one of the best places to go for technology and startup-related news. Perhaps the best part is that it’s also relatively troll-free.
3) RapGenius.com: Self-described as “a rap lyrics encyclopedia that anyone can edit,” Rap Genius is different from other lyrics websites in that it lets you click on words and phrases in song lyrics, and it explains what they mean. An indispensable site — especially when The Far East Movement and their random inclusion of aircrafts model names that no one has ever heard of before are involved. Eminem and his minor celebrity references have just met their match.
4) StumbleUpon.com:
Okay, so maybe you have heard of this site before, but there are enough people who haven’t that I thought I’d include it.
Basically, StumbleUpon is sort of like Pandora, except instead of introducing you to new music, it lets you find new websites based on your interests and which sites you’ve previously liked and disliked. Along with a Firefox Add-on, there are now also Android and iPhone apps. I hope StumbleUpon doesn’t mess up your GPA too badly.
5) Scholar.Google.com:
Who said Vera Multi-Search is better than Google? Plus, if you’re using an MIT IP address, Google Scholar will even direct you to the appropriate link when articles are available through MIT Libraries.
6) HDWhite.org/puzzle:
I still haven’t finished it, but it’s already one of my favorite puzzles of all time. Warning: it’s hard.
7) DoINeedAFlashIntro.com:
This site provides useful advice for web designers and developers. All web designers should bookmark this site for reference purposes.
8) HyperPhysics.Phy-Astr.Gsu.edu/HBase/HFrame.html
Along with the vast majority of the human population, I’m a visual learner, which is why the words in math and physics textbooks should be used to elaborate on the diagrams, not the other way around. That’s what Georgia State University’s physics website does. It even has Wikipedia-style links whenever it uses a previous concept in an explanation. The site was incredibly helpful during my freshman GIRs.
9/10) RotoWorld.com and FootballOutsiders.com
If you play fantasy football, Rotoworld.com is the place to go for news and analysis. I’ve searched through a lot of sites and listened to a lot of fantasy football analysts. Rotoworld’s managing editor, Gregg Rosenthal, is the best fantasy football analyst. Period.
If you’re looking for advanced metrics, Football Outsiders has the goods. If you want to be a fantasy football champion — and by being a champion, I mean turning the exciting and unpredictable world of sports into a mind-numbing exercise of number crunching — this is the site to go to.