It’s all about where you draw the line

Ah, yes… the ubiquitous links page. I’ve tried to include links that are useful, as opposed to simply throwing in everything I know of. The “Friends’ Pages” section is, however, completely gratuitous.

Philosophy/ Commentary/ Politics:

• U.S. Founding Documents — Searchable versions of the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Federalist Papers. New rule for politicos: you’re not allowed to argue the Constitution unless you’ve actually read it. Read ‘em. Know ‘em. Love ‘em.
• Stephen’s Guide to Logical Fallacies — A wonderful resource for anyone who… well, who argues much of anything, ever.
• USS Clueless — Steven Den Beste is not only a skilled commentator, but he can be very funny. Highly intelligent writing.
• The Cato Institute
• The EPA’s Bad Science on Tobacco —“Lies, Damned Lies, and 400,000 Smoking-Related Deaths” [PDF] (No. . . I don’t smoke. Never have. Don’t own a tabacca company, neither!)

Fun Stuff:

• Squirrel Fishing! — An unusual experiment at Harvard. . ..
• Cheapass Games — Makers of some excellent games (at any price). Be sure to check out Brawl while you’re there.
• GenCon — A huge Role-Playing Game/Science Fiction convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Indianapolis, Indiana every summer.

Swing Dance:

• Don’t miss The Traveler’s Swing Dance Directory on this very site!
• Windyhop — Comprehensive Chicago-based swing dance information, including event and class schedules, tips, links, bulletin boards, and more.
• Ron’s Swing CD Reviews — What can I say, but. . . this guy has a lot more time to write reviews than I do!
• DanceStore.com — Purveyors of dance shoes, instructional videos, hard-to-find clothing, etc. . ..
  • DanceStore Homepage
  • Lindy Hop QuickTime movies — Very cool footage of dancers in action!
• Blue Moon Groove (Chicago) — Founded by Evin Jacobson and Noel Galang, these are the teachers I’ve mainly studied with — Recommended!
• Big City Swing (Chicago) — Instruction and events
• Riley and Margot (Chicago) — Instruction, DJ services, educational programs, and more. Riley is widely considered the best swing DJ in Chicago.

Friends’ Pages:

(in democratic reverse-order-in-which-I-added-them)

• Synset Technologies A computer support and consulting firm in the Chicago area. George is the man to know.
• Gregory F. Ceurvorst — has a really big pipe organ. It’s right next to his piano.
• Spirit of ‘76 Yacht Racing — Ed Kearns’ sailing site
• Brad’s Home Page — Brad Miller’s personal site
• Donzell Photography — Donzell Gordon’s photography business
• Cirena — Tina Kreuz’s personal site — in English and German! “Oh mein <censored> Gott!”
• Melted Arts - Ewan Green’s commercial website, offering a unique style of graphic design.
• duncan-whiteman.com — Heather Duncan-Whiteman’s rather minimalist personal site
• Winterstar’s Castle — Anna (Whethern) Turner’s personal page, modeled after (you guessed it) a castle motif. Dragons included.

Other Sites I Programmed:

• Realty & Mortgage Co. — This is a from-the-ground-up rewrite I did of an existing visual design, using 100 percent CSS. The rewrite roughly doubled the site’s download speed, while increasing accessibility and eliminating discrepancies in the site’s appearance from one browser to the another. R&M Co. is a great Chicago-based property management company. They have a ton of apartments for rent around the city and surrounding areas.
• Germania Place — A beautiful Chicago special events venue. I designed, programmed, and implemented this site, though I no longer maintain it. Thus, over time it will inevitably become less and less the site I created. [Update -- it is no longer at all the site I created]

Miscellaneous:

• Bare Bones Software — Makers of BBEdit, the software I use to program & maintain Striderweb.