THE BEST

Stephen Fry

I just discovered stephenfry.com. With apologies to those who have known and loved it as it deserves, I, a newbie to frydom, present it as brilliance incarnated.

Just listened to the first two episodes of "Series 2." (I listened to it as a podgram, but you can get the audio episodes on his site on a desktop computer too, or in iTunes.)

I'm sure I would love to read his writing, but to hear him speak it with that Fry voice is ineffably fulfilling. (and it makes me use words like "ineffably")

I have yet to explore the rest of the site; that's my plan as soon as I "publish post."

www.stephenfry.com

Technology, entertainment, design

TED.com

It's free!

Stars, moons, nebulae, and planets of the day

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Do what I do, browse the universe with your morning cup of coffee.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

App of the Day

It has to be Blogwriter, since I'm composing this on the iPhone. Free version works great.

Hidden gems of wikipedia

Best of Wikipedia

I'm not going to talk about Wikipedia itself—I find it very useful and all (with grains of salt at the ready), but you already know everything you want to know about it, I'm sure.

Twice a day "Best of Wikipedia" highlights a weird, fascinating, and/or loopy entry; visitors can also nominate their picks.

http://bestofwikipedia.tumblr.com/

Site of the Day: What's that song mean?

I'm not going to recommend a site for song lyrics—there's tons of them out there, and each one seems to be as good (bad) as the other.

After wading through many sites for song meanings, however, I do have one that stands out. There's no guarantee that anything on it is true, but at least you can easily find your song or artist without being bombarded by obnoxious ads.

http://www.songfacts.com/

Starting Apps

Facebook ... free
Kindle ... free
NYTimes ... free
TwitterFon ... free
WeatherBug Elite ... 99¢
Brushes ... $4.99
iBird North ... $9.99
Just Tune ... 99¢ (guitar tuner)
Pandora ... free
Public Radio ... free
Remote ... free
Shazam ... free
SmackTalk ... 99¢
TED ... free
What's On TV? ... free
Wikiamo ... free
YouTube ... free

Starting Sites (no one should be without) III

Pandora

If you don't use it, start. On the iPhone, too.

http://www.pandora.com/

Starting Sites (no one should be without) II

Go Fug Yourself

Guilty secret (no longer): I waste a lot of time looking at celebrity fashion and critiques thereof. My favorite fashion site features two writers (Jessica and Heather) of infinite wit and irrepressible sensibility. Ogling Tilda Swinton and Rumer Willis just doesn't get any better.

http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/

Starting Sites (no one should be without)

The Daily Dish

Andrew Sullivan, of The Atlantic Monthly, blogs about politics, culture, and blogging itself. A self-described conservative, Sullivan collates much of the daily chatter that would otherwise be bewilderingly noisy. I don't always agree with him, but I trust his discernment, and he's proven that he'll admit when he's wrong.

Look for occasional Mental Health Breaks for just that.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/