Bob's Various Links Page

Note that some of these links have opening screens that are bypassed by these links. Don't worry; I'm not doing anything illegal here (though in some other cases I've noticed and/or heard about, bypassing such access would be). I've done this purely for convenience. (At some time in the future, I'll put in links to the opening screens, many of which are rather clever, for people who like them.)

On the whole, though, please remember that this page is my link page, set up as a sort of bookmark page for myself. I'm sharing them with you so you can also enjoy this stuff, and I do welcome (to say the least) any suggestions or recommendations for more sites, but if I don't like a website for any reason I won't be putting a link to it on this page, no matter who asks or in what manner. (Well, maybe if a yakuza obayun made some threats....)

Note, too, that it's been quite a while since I updated these links, so some of them may be dead or redirected. I expect to be fixing that by year's end (no promises, though).

One of my personal favorites is the website for Carman Ministries Inc. Carman is a singer, rapper, and storyteller who performs music in a variety of styles with a powerful Christian message. I've been to a couple of his concerts in the past few years, and believe me, he does give a powerful show. Any Christian who enjoys a variety of musical styles (as I do) should at least check out this man's page. Any person (Christian or not) who enjoys a variety of musical styles should at least consider attending one of his concerts.

Then there's DC Talk, my all-around favorite music group. Their roots are in rap, and they still concentrate on that, though they seem to have developed a special love for the Northwest and adopted a "grunge" look and sound. This trio's Web site is kept nicely up to date. At their Portland stop of their fall tour for their Jesus Freak album (a concert which Colleen and I attended), they recorded for both a live album and a concert video, so there should be news on that soon.

Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family is another powerful Christian ministry, with a lot of material for various (smaller) ministries.

A generalized clearinghouse for Christian information (especially "chat room" interviews with Christian music stars) is Global Christian Network, a fun site on several counts.

Though it may arguably belong more in a Cable Networks section of my links (should I ever actually do such a thing), The Christian Broadcasting Network, of which the cornerstone is The 700 Club, really has more in common with the other Christian links here, so I put it here. In particular, check out the writings of Scott Ross on this site.

E-mail me (via the link above) if you have suggestions for more Christian links.

The Internet Movie Database has information on actors, actresses, voice-over performers, directors, producers, and just about every other position in motion pictures and television. Whether you want to know who provides the voice of Alfred Pennyworth in Batman: the Animated Series, or just want a complete filmography for Humphrey Bogart, this is your site.

More on the fun side is Star Links, a sort of "game" that will link any two movie and/or television performers together via "links" -- that is, performers they've worked with in the past. Well, it's a little complicated to explain; just go try it out, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Of course, The Oracle of Bacon at Virginia is "The Ultimate Star Links Game," since it was developed from the book Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (or maybe it was the other way around). From here you can determine an actor's "Bacon Number," know their movies in common, and even link to similar games with Arnold Schwartzenegger and Elvis Presley. It's basically just that much more meaningless fun! (I wonder if this guy could create a similar page for Suzanne Whang?)

Along the same vein is the Whang Number Index, a similar game that one can play with Suzanne Whang, a "Road Warrior" on Fox After Breakfast who happens to be my personal favorite TV personality.

For the average, everyday, conventional search where I'm looking for something relatively well-publicized but I just can't remember where it is and I don't have a bookmark for it, A2Z from Lycos is the handiest and (for me at least) the fastest.

When I want a nice, thorough search utilizing "fuzzy logic," I go to AltaVista. This is ideal when I don't have a specific item or page in mind, but just a general idea of what I'm after.

If what you're searching for is a particular file for your computer, then Filez is the place to go. With thousands upon thousands of programs, fonts, and other files at its fingertips, it should come in very handy for anyone who likes to collect a certain type of file, or who just wants to find one helpful little utility.

HotBot is, on the whole, my search engine of choice, especially when I want something specific but have no idea as to where to find it. You can search for not only a collection of words, but a specific phrase, a person's name, or a variety of other word types. The best way I can think of to describe it is that it's appropriately named.

Last but not least, the Infoseek Guide is not only a nice place to try when none of the other engines I've linked to above work, but it's the only engine that I know of that will search through email addresses for you when you know who you're looking for but not where to find them. This feature alone justifies its existance.

(Yes, notably, Yahoo! isn't on this list. I know a lot of people really like that one, but I personally find it rather cheesy. To each his own, I guess.)

One is Pixelsight, from which I've gained most of the really cool graphics on my site, such as buttons and original logos. (The background hex pattern, logos belonging to companies, and certain other graphics are what I've "borrowed" from other sites.) This is a really handy site, and so far is essentially free. (However, there's been an announcement that the owners will soon be charging a small subscription fee for its use, so be forewarned.)

The other site is Vicinity Corporation's MapBlast!, which will locate any address anywhere in the United States and locate it on a map. Special options they have include interactive Java maps, and computer-generated driving directions. You can also customize the map that MapBlast! creates with a limited but growing number of options. Whether you want a map for your website or just want to figure out where the heck something is, it's worth checking out.

There are a couple of additional locations that don't quite fit into any of the above categories.

Elections are happening all the time (yes, even in odd-numbered years), and the Vote Smart Web site, as the online extension of Project Vote Smart, is an excellent place to check on the effects of your vote. Its site includes information on elected officials' views on various issues, voting records, and extensive links to information on political issues, whether you want to support your side of an issue (either side of any issue) or just make up your mind. And before you worry about its being partisan in any way, know that it's endorsed by a large variety of people from all over the political landscape.

This is probably also a good time to offer you a Welcome to Corvallis, Oregon. With this link, you can "get to know" this lovely city in which I live. This site also has connections to a variety of related links, including the current weather, the local newspaper (the Gazette-Times), and so forth.