links

software

Unix...
software for Unix, &c.
Windows...
software for Microsoft Windows
Mac OS X...
software for Mac OS X
Plan 9
the successor to Unix (see also Plan 9 from User Space which runs under Unix); even if one does not use this directly, it's well worth reading about the ideas behind it

people & ideas

Edge
promotes inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues

imagery

Earth Nullschool
excellent interactive visualization of global data
Visible Earth
a catalog of NASA images and animations of our home planet
Edward Burtynsky
remarkable photographic depictions of global industrial landscapes
rotten.com
the kind of imagery, of a documentary and degenerate nature, which is generally not available publicly (and due to possibly disturbing content, the site is not linked; you'll have to type it in yourself, now that you've been warned)

audio & music

radio-browser.info
a community approach to collect as many internet radio stations as possible
The Whalesong Project
audio stream of humpback whale vocalisations from Maui
CBC Radio & Radio Canada

ad-free audio streams

CiTR 101.9 FM
radio from UBC
The Cowboy Cultural Society
RIP
WFMU
freeform radio (programming is controlled by individual DJs and covers many genres, generally not mainstream)
KCSM 91.1 Jazz Radio
San Francisco's Bay Area jazz station
Secret Agent
secret agent tunes interspersed with charming clips from James Bond movies
Zappa Stream Radio
256 kb/s of Stravinsky envy
Polushon Radio
music (no ads) for restless minds

reference

Tree of Life
information about the diversity of biological organisms on Earth, their evolutionary history (phylogeny), and characteristics
BadCorp.org
domain has been abandoned; I wonder what happened...
learn more about the consumer-corporate complex: who owns what, where your money goes, what it supports...
Ryan Drum
interesting articles on various plants affecting human phsiology

miscellaneous

BugMeNot
user-maintained database of usernames/passwords for accessing otherwise free information on websites which require account registration
GasBuddy.com
local (Canada & USA) realtime gasoline price information
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
more interesting (if not more useful) than Greenpeace

Vancouver (local information)

Lions Gate Bridge traffic
real-time (when working) information including several camera feeds
FreeGeek
accepts all computer equipment, free of charge, in any condition (working or not), for ethical recycling within North America; they also run a computer thrift store
Recycling Council of BC
some useful recycling information, especially the Materials Exchange
Vancouver weather
5-day weather forecast from Environment Canada
weather, IR+visible
animation for west coast
weather, precipitation
measured by radar
weather, GOES Alaska loops
IR, visible, WV

WWW services

These choices represent much research in the difficult and dubious domain of Internet-related services.

Opalstack
formed by the good people of my previous host (Webfaction) after a hostile takeover; you can even compile and run your own software but I decided to move to a VPS
Vultr
my present VPS host; Linode is also recommended
Porkbun
preferred ICANN-accredited domain name registrar; DNS tools/options are included with registration