Featured Link Archive
Here is where I will put past featured links.

Oct. 26, 2004
Vote Smart
Today's featured link is important and timely. With the elections just around the corner, you need to know for whom it is you are voting. A lot is said and promised, but this web site gives the straight facts in a no-nonsense and nonpartisan manner. Don't know who your representatives are? Enter in your zipcode and it will look them up for you. Want to know about the campaign finances of a particular candidate? There is a great link just for that. The site uses the National Political Awareness Test to get candidates to fess up to their beliefs. It is a very interesting site that should be in the personal decision-making toolbox of every voter. But sadly, I believe most people will just go to the polls and vote with their emotions. Ah, well.

Oct. 1, 2004
The first link is to Sluggy Freelance, my favorite web comic. I hesitated to include such a popular site, but I just reread the strip and couldn't help myelf. I actually am a fan of several web comics, and have been reading several for literally years, but this one outshines the multitude of others out there. It is actually one of the more successful webcomics and better known ones out there, but that doesn't mean it is mainstream. Hardly. You will never see this comic in a newspaper (but then, most comics in the newspaper are not very funny anymore). The humor has a punch to it. Sluggy has been around since 1997 and is still going strong. As I said, I just reread (fourth time, I think) all of the archives, and I have found he gets better each year (although I could tell he was getting a litle tired in 2002, but he cut back on his schedule and has a guest artist for every Sunday now). What amazes me is that the author/artist, Pete Abrams, has managed to keep a very detailed, intricate mythology and a multitude of story arcs fairly straight. I haven't ever tried to catch continuity errors or such, and I know he has left story-lines dangling, but rather than lose sleep over potential errors, his characters will make a comment or joke about bad plot-lines, breaking the fourth wall for a moment, and then continue with their messed up lives. I am not someone who laughs out loud very often, but this strip is able to consistently, plus the characters are engaging and likeable, like Riff, Torg and Zoe (especially Zoe). Even Bun Bun, the violent bunny with a switchblade. Um, I could go on for a while about this wonderful comic, but you should experience it yourself. Prepare to have your life taken over for a while, as you read the archives. It really wouldn't make sense to start from the current strip, because there is so much back story (7 years). There is a nice new viewer guide to help you get going. So go, get out of here and worship the comic. Isn't it nifty?