Some corners of the Internet that I love

When I was writing the blog post on Internet nostalgia and what I miss about the bygone eras of the web, I began to also reflect on what I get to appreciate about the present landscape of the online world. There are still so many treasures or hidden gems that I can celebrate today about the Internet, and I often share them with others to make sure the demand for these contents never dries out. In the spirits of showing gratitude for the constant value, wisdom, and entertainment I can derive from these resources, here is a compilation of some of my favorite corners of the Internet (in no particular order).

Vlogbrothers

John and Hank Green are no strangers to the Internet, and it’s been incredible to witness their channel celebrate its 16th birthday recently. Though I didn’t actually watch their videos when they were all the rage on YouTube (circa late 2000s), it didn’t take me long to appreciate the messages and format of their videos once I was on board. In this 2020s era of the Internet, they offer pretty much the only kind of contents that I wish would be more commonplace out there. What truly separate them from other creators are their electrifying passion for so many different things, their ability to weave wisdom into simple, everyday observations, and their incredible story telling skills. The short, five-or-so-minute long videos packed with insightful and profound – sometimes emotional and sometimes intense – wisdom leaves me reassured that, even after 16 years of making videos nonstop, John and Hank will always manage to simultaneously point us to some illuminating, unheard-of perspectives and inspire us to make the world a better place.

Aeon.co

Each time I venture into this website of pure brilliance, I’m baffled by how everything Aeon offers is available to everyone at absolutely no costs. Here, one can find quality writing and excellent insights from experts about a wide range of topics, and there is surely something for everyone. Aeon has a mixture of long essays, short “idea” pieces, or videos that sometimes offer answers, but sometimes also throw the readers into a whirlpool of questions and puzzlement. This personal blog of mine has a lot to thank Aeon for, because each time I visit the website, I’m bound to discover a potential topic to write a blog post about, or get more informed to lay out my opinions on an issue. No paywalls, no ads, just a dedication to the pursuit of ideas and knowledge, Aeon is certainly one of my favorite sites out there on the Internet. And of course, I shall mention…

Psyche.co

Aeon’s sibling and what I refer to as a “highbrow self-help blog” (but of course, the joke isn’t to trivialize what one can find on Psyche). This is a digital magazine that presents ideas as well as practical lessons in psychology, philosophy, and lifestyle through essays and how-to guides. The writing is somewhat more accessible compared to the contents of Aeon, but is still anchored in research and an attempt to take our “psyche” more seriously, not less. The self-help fan in me naturally gravitates towards the guides section.

Seterra

I might not earnestly jump on the geoguessr train (or plane?) but I absolutely adore Seterra (now owned by geoguessr apparently). I spent far too many hours doing geography quizzes and learning capital cities and country flags, which probably comes down to not a lot of benefits after all (except for some geography points at trivia games, perhaps). My favorite is the world map quiz where I just list out all countries in the world in one go with a timer. The memorization aspect of these games is surprisingly therapeutic, as it truly takes me not a lot of brain power at all, yet I feel highly accomplished when I manage to recall the exact location, name, or geography facts of a country. Any fellow geo nerds out there can try this website out if you haven’t already!

The StoryGraph

Now if you are a reader, why aren’t you already using The StoryGraph? It’s an excellent reading tracker that gives the user a powerful visualization tool to see various characteristics of the books they read, such as book lengths, genres, moods, or pace. I switched to The StoryGraph a while ago from Goodreads (the most commonly used reading tracker/social media) and found it far superior. Their non-cluncky interface and cool visualizations are the selling points, though I have to say the social dimension of StoryGraph has yet to be truly alive. It’s rather challenging to uproot people from their existing Goodreads community and convince them to move elsewhere. This is precisely why I keep telling my reader-friends to make the switch, and hopefully soon more people will find out about this platform (all while they’re constantly making improvements to their website – unlike Goodreads which has remained somewhat the same for ten years).

The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings)

This is the curatorial genius of Maria Popova and one of my oldest discoveries on this list. I started reading Brain Pickings some time in my middle school years and was overwhelmed not only by the vast collection of arts, literature, and media curated on the site, but also by the lexicon of Popova’s own writings. Perhaps the complexity of her subjects added to the entanglement that I experienced while reading this blog – it was often too dense and scholarly for my teenage brain. In my undergrad, I discovered the blog once again and identified an affinity with the kind of dedication that Maria Popova reserved for each piece of culture she collected and described. I don’t consistently follow new posts from The Marginalian, but I love stumbling upon hidden gems and rare artifacts unearthed by Popova each time I visit the blog.

The Book of Life

Many are familiar with the Youtube channel The School of Life, and some probably are aware of their extensive library of articles (pretty much the scripts/transcripts of the videos). In many ways, The Book of Life is similar to Psyche (which I mentioned above), though the former has a generally more unified tone and perspective compared to the latter. The Book of Life is evidently the work of one single team rather than various non-collaborating authors. Some of the key ideas and philosophies from The School of Life have even been captured in a singular article for they are reiterated so often. It is a helpful resource run by a team of clearly very talented writers, philosophers, and animators/video makers.

Struthless

On the topic of self-improvement: this YouTuber right here is a pretty cool dude who makes helpful and wholesome videos but doesn’t give off the pretentious vibes of self-help “guru” on the Internet. I like this channel because it sometimes presents issues we deal with and how to address them from unconventional angles. Cam (the guy behind the channel who is also a professional animator/illustrator) just seems genuinely nice and fun to watch.

Our Changing Climate

Our Changing Climate publishes short, digestible videos that address a range of topics surrounding the climate crisis, often aiming for a multifaceted perspective. This is one of the many YouTube channels I follow that focus on climate change and sustainability, but I often recommend this one in particular because of how relevant and accessible the videos are. On top of that, the channel is not driven by profits from sponsorships nor by the desire to “give the answer we want to hear”. Straightforward messages and practical knowledge about the climate crisis are what make Our Changing Climate one of my favorite climate communication channels on YouTube.

Obligatory Note of Hope

At one point I was quite invested in figuring out a way for young people like myself who feel stressed and tired of everything that’s happening in our 21st century world to reignite some hope for the future. I stumbled upon this website in my search and thought it was such a delightful yet simple resource for “trying times”. Obligatory Note of Hope isn’t groundbreaking like some of the other items on this list, but its simplicity is the exact answer for when everything feels overwhelmingly bad. With each piece of advice comes a short quote to offer some rationale for or description of the suggestion.

1000 Most Common Words

I have been on a journey of learning two new languages for the past few years. Though I have yet to fully committed to a serious learning process, I’ve identified a methodology to make language learning more effective (for me). One of the very first things that would aid my comfort with a new language is a grasp of its most commonly used vocabulary. 1000 Most Common Words is a (free!) tool that literally displays 1000 most common words in several languages, and all I need to do is to copy them into an excel file and attempt to memorize the list. The list is not 100% accurate or complete (because there is no simple, direct translations for many words or phrases from one language to another), but this is one of the most useful resources I’ve found so far for learning foreign languages.

Doge2048

A relatively recent discovery, Doge2048 is my favorite time-waster these days. A twist to the 2048 game, this gives a good laugh too with the iconic doge and his variations. Trying to earn a high score isn’t even about the high score, but about finding out what the next-level doge face would be.

Histography.io

This masterpiece of a website gives the user a visual timeline of the world’s history, broken into several categories and made up of little dots that represent individual events. I’m sure I have yet to explored every functionality available on this website, but already it’s a neat tool for seeing the continuity of time in such a cool, visually striking manner. The Editorial Stories interface offers a fascinating way to browse and read about key events in history. For each of these events, there is the corresponding Wikipedia article built into the page, and (if lucky) a video to describe the details of the event further.

Every Noise At Once

I went from knowing maybe 10 musical genres off the top of my head to discovering an infinite range of genres thanks to this website. I wouldn’t say I have the most malleable taste in music, meaning that new, experimental music doesn’t easily grow on me. My preferences for sounds have been largely consistent, and I listen to just a few genres all the time. What Every Noise At Once offers is an ingenious system for exploring sounds that transcend my musical comfort zone. I like “sampling” a bit of genres with intriguing names, searching for artists that belong to a particular genre, seeing the characteristics of some artists or albums, and finding tracks and playlists via the Every Noise’s Spotify profile. Same with Histography, I have probably only scratched the surface of the website, and hopefully with time I’ll get to discover more hidden treasures on Every Noise.

Coolors.co

Digital paint chips that are even more fun! A must for any design project or just to play around with color combinations. And to actually know what each shade of each color is named? Unnecessary, I think, but also hella fun.

Rookie Magazine

I should have mentioned Rookie in my Internet nostalgia blog post, because the magazine is no longer active. However, it might as well deserve a spot on this list since fortunately, the whole archive of Rookie remains accessible today (thank you Tavi and team). Rookie Magazine was how I discovered my love for blogging and writing on the Internet in my adolescent years. I found so much inspiration from the Rookie writers, many of whom were around my age or only slightly older. Their talents and passions for art, creativity, writing, and the practice of philosophizing their own everyday experiences triggered my whole journey for self-expression through blogging, art and design, and so much more.