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

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

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)

a community approach to collect as many internet radio stations as possible

audio stream of humpback whale vocalisations from Maui

ad-free audio streams

complete list
Canadian Composers – often very interesting
Radio 1 & Radio 2 – standard Vancouver broadcast (delayed a few seconds)
Ici musique (was Espace musique) – from French-Canada, all kinds of music, playlist log (find out what played when)

radio from UBC

RIP

freeform radio (programming is controlled by individual DJs and covers many genres, generally not mainstream)

San Francisco's Bay Area jazz station

secret agent tunes interspersed with charming clips from James Bond movies

24/7/365 Stravinsky envy

music (no ads) for restless minds

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

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

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

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

Vultr: my present VPS host; Linode is also recommended
Porkbun: preferred ICANN-accredited domain name registrar; DNS tools/options are included with registration