HOLY SHIT THESE ARE GREAT WEBSITES: Brainsturbator Favorites

We were brainstorming ideas for this title, but I decided that instead of making something catchy up, I should just f***ing swear. After all, what separates Brainsturbator from all those other weird science sites is 1) my cheerful willingness to be offensive and immature, 2) my total contempt for copyright laws and common sense, and 3) my voracious consumption of psychedelic drugs.  There’s no sense in pretending we’re some sort of respectable operation when I give out awards.  Hell, odds are a few of these sites would rather not be associated with me.

This is a collection of what I consider to be some of the best websites on the internets.  I spend a truly unhealthy amount of time on the internets, so I appreciate finding someone who’s put in work and built a quality resource.  This is in no particular order and not all of it will be interesting to you: I tend to have a much wider Curiosity Zone than most people I talk to.  A number of these websites are truly amazing and completely obscure, because the people who run them don’t want to deal with Search Engine Optimization, Web 2.0, keywords, or any of the other obligatory bullshit of “blog” culture.  And that’s a beautiful thing. Here’s a toast to Fucking Art—let’s begin:

Personal Inspirations

Back when I was just a young weirdo who occasionally used email, I thought that Miqel dot com was the most amazingly badass website that ever existed anywhere.  In the years since then, my perspective hasn’t changed all that much, it’s still overflowing with great brainfood and anyone who discovers it for the first time is in for a great night.  Miqel also runs the Paul Laffoley Archive, which is a mutual obsession.

The Website of Tony Smith—this dude has no equal.  His website is basically it’s own internet, you can spend weeks going through his links, lessons and archives.  Tony Smith blew my brains out when I was in high school and I hope to thank him for that in person some day.

I got through high school thanks to the brainfood at Deoxy and the drug information at Erowid. I’m glad they’re both still going strong years later.

And finally, the news page of J. Orlin Grabbe is the best resource I ever found.  We seem to have an unusually high number of overlapping interests: weird science, intelligence agencies, UFOlogy weirdness, economic math and cultural anthropology.  Oh, and beautiful naked women. Although I recommend this page unconditionally, perhaps magnificent breasts aren’t for everyone.  I pity you but I do understand.

Sources of Informed Optimism

The Star Larvae Hypothesis—I just finished digesting this a few weeks ago, so perhaps my judgement is skewed, but this is one of the more amazing Big Theories I’ve come across since Howard Bloom’s work.  It’s laid out meticulously and provides you with a great education over the course of the essay.  Even if you don’t wind up agreeing, you will still learn a great deal and probably wind up with some weird theories of your own.  Which is the whole point, after all.

History is a Weapon—best resource on history I’ve ever found.  Like Howard Zinn, on many wonderful and powerful drugs, this lays out the real history of ongoing war between government and the people they “govern,” control, oppress, murder, etc.  This is a very powerful booster shot of We Can Do This, and I’m grateful to the people who run it.

Imaginify—this is a truly amazing site.  One of the best single resources for Higher Learning I’ve found, out-doing the Grey Lodge Occult Review both in topical scope and in the organization.  It makes sense, it’s aesthetically beautiful and it’s packed full of important information.  You will improve the Earth if you approach this material seriously.  Seriously, you will.

Natural Genesis—describes itself as “An annotated anthology sourcebook for the worldwide discovery of a creative organice universe.” That only seems like a mouthful until you parse it: this is a very grounded site, full of amazing research, links and hard science.  The concept they’re advancing is of course totally heretical, but also probably completely true.  Get ahead of the curve now.

Future Feeder—although this site seems to have slowed down since I first found it, there’s still a wealth of great material archived there and the layout is pretty.  I hope to see them start back up soon because the material was very high-level inspiration, technically dense and high-novelty.

Sources of Creative Catalysts

Social Fiction/Crystalpunk—a truly one-of-a-kind resource, I don’t think anyone has the same overlapping field of interests as Wilfried Hou Je Bek: social activism, bacterial intelligence, crystal patterns and properties, information design, tech for autonomy and independence, and a whole lot more.  Worth returning to often.

Info Aesthetics—I always get inspired checking this site out, it’s just a news page about information design and the presentation of data, but holy shit, is that ever a fertile culture! It’s a very beautiful site with a lot of brainfood—there’s not too many of those, sadly.

Solving Complex Problems—one of the most perfect websites I’ve ever seen.  Explains exactly what it says it does, perfectly, and on top of that it looks wicked cool when you’re high.

Understanding Politics, Economics and Sociology

Rigorous Intuition—I’m definitely biased: I think Jeff Wells is the best of the best for the paranormal, the occult, the conspiratorial...you know, “actual history.” He’s got a book coming out shortly, which I’m looking forward to, but there’s a wealth of material on his site.  Most people I have passed this link on to report that it eats up a week of their lives, so be warned.

Conspiracy Archive—An excellent selection of important material.  It’s a well-cultivated collection, although several people I recommended this site to have been turned off by the “Christian bias.” Personally, I tend to just assume all authors are biased and focus on the actual information they collect.  Guess I’m a weirdo or something. If you, too, can handle ideas from outside your comfort zone, this is a superior place to start assessing “conspiracy theory” claims with well-documented and thoroughly sourced material. 

Cryptogon—the other news site I check every day.  Kevin Flaherty is a standup human: he moved with his wife to New Zealand and they live on an independent farm.  (You can learn more at their site, Farmlet..) Flaherty is an unusually knowledgeable and straight-talking commentator on geopolitics and information warfare, and he’s written some truly amazing papers, too.

DIY Science Resources

Seed Magazine’s Cribsheets—I can’t really get into most magazines for the same reason I can’t watch TV: the fucking ads. So I don’t support Seed Magazine by subscribing, but I do recommend it as one of the most interesting science magazines to come along in awhile.  This is one of their best projects: single page, super-detailed PDF files that explain a complicated process in total clarity, from nuclear power to photosynthesis to string theory. 

Panspermia—this is how the internet should work.  You hear about a theory called “Panspermia,” so you look it up, and the first search result is a website called panspermia dot org—you click on it, and it’s everything you need to know, well-presented, easily printable, and up to date.  Much respect to Brig Klyce for running this for so long.

Future Hi’s “Wild Speculation” Archive—quite a collection of articles.  I think everyone who reads Brainsturbator will find at least a few gems in there, new signals and ideas.  Future Hi has been doing excellent work for a long time now, check out their library, too.

Berkeley Lab Technology Transfer—an inspiring guide to the high-tech materials that Berkeley Lab has been working on.  For anyone brainstorming inventions or solutions, I think this is a very important resource and catalyst.

And, Obviously...

I’m sure I left out a lot—jog my memory and we’ll fit it in for the next round of material.