ROBBY HOOVER

Interesting Links

Sites

TV Tropes

A wiki website that collects and documents descriptions and examples of plot conventions and devices, more commonly known as tropes, within many creative works.

tvtropes.org

SCP Wiki

A collaborative writing wiki centered around supernatural and paranormal phenomena and the secret organization who contains this phenomena.

scp-wiki.wikidot.com

The Cutting Room Floor

A site dedicated to unearthing and researching unused and cut content from video games.

tcrf.net

Smithsonian Open Access

The Smithsonian's open access library, containing millions of digital assets under a creative commons license (you can even use them for commercial work)!

si.edu

The Lost Media Wiki

A community led wiki website that categorizes and tracks down lost or hard to find media!

lostmediawiki.com

Internet Archive

A digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge" containing millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.

archive.org

WhoSampled

A database of information about sampled music or sample-based music. Who sampled what songs and that sort of thing!

whosampled.com

We Become What We Behold

A short, five minute game about news cycles, vicious cycles and the hold they have over us as people.

ncase.itch.io

Elder Scrolls Lore Guide

A really cool guide that outlines the lore within the Elder Scrolls universe. From history to cosmology.

ladynerevar.com/lorebuff

Wikivoyage

The free worldwide travel guide. An official, non-commercial sister site of Wikipedia for sightseeing, activities, cuisine and accommodation around the world.

wikivoyage.org

Sounds of the Forest

A website that lets you listen to the sounds of different forests around the planet. A forest sound map.

timberfestival.org.uk

MIMO - Musical Instrument Museums Online

The world's largest freely accessible database for information on musical instruments held in public collections, containing the records of 64166 instruments and rising.

mimo-international.com/MIMO/

The Old Net

Surf the early web again! This site allows you to view websites all across the internet, but if you were back in the days of Web 1.0!

theoldnet.com/

fallen.io

An interactive documentary that puts the casualties this world sustained during the Second World War into a chilling perspective. It's got some inaccuracies here and there, but cool none the less.

fallen.io

1 Pixel Wealth

An interactive website that puts the staggering amount of wealth a small group of people in our society have into perspective. Do you know what the difference between a million and a billion dollars is? About a billion dollars.

mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/

Abundant Music

A procedural music generator that doesn't require any musical knowledge to generate music.

pernyblom.github.io/abundant-music

Double Pendulum Playground

A simple physical system that exhibits rich dynamic and chaotic behavior with a strong sensitivity to initial conditions.

theabbie.github.io

108 Keys

An webpage that's all about the first 108 key piano that has ever been constructed, called The Beleura

www.stuartandsons.com/108keys

Template Maker

A large collection of easy-to-follow templates for folding your own boxes, frames, bags, envelopes, trays and more!

templatemaker.nl

HowLongToBeat

How long are your favorite video games? HowLongToBeat has the answer.

howlongtobeat.com

Cover Your Tracks

Test your browser to see how well you are protected from tracking and fingerprinting

coveryourtracks.eff.org

TV/Monitor Viewing Distance Calculator

Optimal viewing distances to see benefits of High Resolution TV/Monitors

stari.co

Open Source Alternative To

Discover 400+ popular open source alternatives to your proprietary SaaS

opensourcealternative.to

Urban Dictionary

A must have if you are over the age of 25 and still want to keep up with understanding current slang.

urbandictionary.com

Xenharmonic Wiki

An incredibly robust resource on alternate musical tunings, how they work and even guides on dipping your toes in on how to play within them and on how harmony moves within them.

en.xen.wiki

MetaRack

JavaScript modular synthesizer

metarack.github.io

Interactive Skyrim Map

An interactive map of Skyrim, one of the provinces that is central to the Elder Scrolls franchise.

srmap.uesp.net

Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom

A completely free (and well written) online music theory text book written for learning music in the context of the modern day, by Robert Hutchinson.

pugetsound.edu

LOTR Project

An interactive map of Middle Earth, which lets you view events, points of interest, timelines, paths taken by characters and much more!

lotrproject.com

Juchify

A music streaming website that focuses on music from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)

juchify.com

Privacy Tools

Website for Encrypted Software & Apps

privacytools.io

How a Car Works

An educational website full of pictures, illustrations, videos and more explaining the ins and outs of how automobiles function.

howacarworks.com

Hook Theory Chord Progression Trends

An interactive online dataset, which allows you to view the most common patterns and trends within chord progressions, as analyzed from the Hook Theory dataset

hooktheory.com

There's An AI For That

Thousands of AI for hundreds of different tasks

theresanaiforthat.com

Erowid

An educational, non-profit that documents both legal and illegal psychoactive substances, citing published literature, experts in related fields, and the experiences of the general public. They act as a publisher and a library.

erowid.org

HALOME.NU

Have you ever left a Halo title running on your TV, just to listen to and watch the main menu? Now you can relive your favorite Halo title menu in your browser.

halome.nu

Running Reality

An interactive map that lets you explore any date in the history of human civilization from 3000BC to today.

runningreality.org

What's Your Vote Worth?

An interactive, educational website which highlights how undemocratic the United States really is and how broken the electoral system is

petrichor.studio

TripSafe

Research-backed education on psychedelics

tripsafe.org

Scaruffi's Alternative Canon

An alternative canon of challenging albums from outside the mainstream of rock music. Also available in classical and jazz flavors.

scaruffi.com

LibriVox

Free public domain audio books, read by volunteers from around the world.

librivox.org

A Study of Musical Scales

A study of musical scale, in which every possible combination of note is analyzed

ianring.com

New Whirling School

An annotated compilation of the 36 Lessons of Vivec (more Elder Scrolls lore)

newwhirlingschool.com

Raga Junglism

A great resource for guitar players looking for new ways to play. Host to over 100 alternate tuning schemes.

ragajunglism.org

Scribble Diffusion

Turn your sketch into a refined image using AI

scribblediffusion.com

SciHub

A controversial non-profit org dedicated to the free access of scientific information for everyone

sci-hub.se

The Evolution of Trust

An interactive guide to the game theory of trust.

ncase.me

mindmaps

Free, online mindmapping software, no account needed

mindmaps.app

Learn DVORAK

A typing website that allows you to learn DVORAK, an alternative keyboard standard that is designed to reduce wrist injury over time and improve efficiency.

learn.dvorak.nl

How Much Money is That?

A site which volumetrically visualizes what large sums of money looks like.

howmuchmoneyisthat.com

Swiss Army Knife Wiki

The Online Encyclopedia of the Swiss Army Knife

sakwiki.com

Range Finder

Find your Vocal Range for Singing

ramseyvoice.com

Frontend Mini Challenges

Collection of frontend challenges for learning and machine coding round interviews

github.com

Learn TDD

Learn Test-Driven Development in the framework of your choice.

learntdd.in

Digital Maps of the Ancient World

A compendium of maps from and of European antiquity

digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com

Fretful.io

A scale/chord/intervals reference tool

fretful.io

Grooveful.io

An online, practice oriented drum machine

grooveful.io

The /r/place Atlas

An interactive, online atlas of /r/place, a collaborative online canvas, explaining each of the regions and iconography.

draemm.li

Map of Science

ETO's Map of Science collects and organizes the world’s research literature, revealing key trends, hotspots, and concepts in global science and technology.

sciencemap.eto.tech

ChatGPT Leetcode

Leetcode accuracy and results from Chat GPT solutions

gptleetcode.com

Six Degrees of Wikipedia

Inspired by the concept of six degrees of separation, you can traverse Wikipedia hyperlinks to find the least number of clicks it takes to navigate between any of it's nearly six million pages.

sixdegreesofwikipedia.com

Try Colors

An online color mixing tool that allows you to match Hex, RGB, HSV or CMYK colors with real world paint colors.

trycolors.com

Sea Level Rise Viewer

View sea level rise and potential coastal flooding impact areas and relative depth.

coast.noaa.gov

Articles

Building a Second Brain: An Overview

A methodology for saving and systematically reminding us of the ideas, inspirations, insights, and connections we’ve gained. It expands our memory and intellect using the modern tools of technology and networks. It's not only for preserving those ideas, but turning them into reality.

fortelabs.com

The Town That Went Feral

When a group of libertarians set about scrapping their local government, chaos descended. And then the bears moved in.

newrepublic.com

Celebrating Plantasia

“Plantasia at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden,” was an evening of multi-sensory experiences inspired by Mort Garson’s 1976 album Mother Earth’s Plantasia.

moogmusic.com

How Far Cry Primal Brought Ancient Languages Back To Life

Far Cry Primal features reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, spoken by everyone in the game. Ubisoft hired a team of linguists who brought the ancient language into the game.

player.one

USSR VS ADSR - Soviet Synths

The history of the once thriving Soviet Union synthesizer industry and their use among electronic musicians in the Soviet Union. They also highlight some of the more notable synths from this era.

musictech.com

A Guide Through the Darkened Passages of Dungeon Synth

A Bandcamp article outlining the history of Dungeon Synth and how it's evolved as a genre along with tons of listening recommendations.

daily.bandcamp.com

How Many Scales Are There?

An article that answers the fabled question in music; How many possible scales can exist?

fromthewoodshed.com

A Brief Guide to Metal In China

A scene report from Bandcamp that talks about the numerous underground/DIY Metal scenes in China

daily.bandcamp.com/scene-report/metal-in-china

A General Guide to the Nature Documentary Music Score

An incredibly interesting article that outlines the methodology behind writing a score for a Nature Documentary.

emily-stewart.com/

The Defender

A large biography on the fascinating life of NBA player Manute Bol.

magazine.atavist.com/the-defender

Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed

An article, both bitter and sobering, that discusses how the heavy degree to which the system we have found ourselves in has shaped our daily lives and how our culture and lifestyles have been used as weapons of oppression against us.

raptitude.com

Nineteen Seventy Three

The cybernetics program in Salvador Allende's Chile, in which they used a combination of supercomputing and primitive machine learning to create a highly efficient decision support system for resource distribution, very similar to the systems used by corporations such as Walmart and Amazon today.

damninteresting.com

Project Cybersyn

Another brief synopsis on Project Cybersyn

99percentinvisible.org

Designing Freedom, Regulating a Nation

An academic research paper that dives further into the details and technical makeup of Chile's Project Cybersyn.

homes.luddy.indiana.edu/

Fractals: A Mathematical and Technical Exploration of Infinite Complexity

Fractals are fascinating structures characterized by self-similarity and infinite complexity. Their presence is pervasive in nature, art, and computer-generated graphics, with applications spanning diverse fields. This essay examines the mathematical principles behind fractals, their generation through iterative algorithms, and how they have revolutionized computer graphics and complex systems modelling.

medium.com

Five Notes

A musical study on how the Pentatonic Scale Guided the Evolution of Contemporary Classical Music. It's commonly known of it's influence on traditional musics and music as a whole, but seldom is spoken of it's influence on European Common Practice music.

interlude.hk

The Pencilsword: On a plate

A webcomic that talks about how different upbringings and environments shape a person's future from birth and the false perception people have on working hard being a guarantee for success.

www.rnz.co.nz

Every Noise At Once Genre Study

A study on musical genre as a whole coupled with an analysis of Spotify's genre statistics.

puddlegum.blog

Microsoft Japan's 4-day work week study

An article about an experiment Microsoft did with a 4-day work week in its Japan office that saw productivity jump by 40%.

businessinsider.nl

The Protected Class

An examination of the first documented gangs in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

knock-la.com

Richard Dadd and the magical genre of Victorian fairy painting

An article that examines and explains the history of the fairy painting, a specific trope found throughout art.

artuk.org/discover

Do Chinese People Lead More Nuanced Emotional Lives?

A study in cross-cultural psychology that examines the differences in how the west and the east view emotional nuance in their lives.

priceonomics.com

Untreated Mental Illnesses: The Causes and Effects

An essay on the pandemic of untreated mental illness that plagues our country and world at large, as well as how it effects us on an individual level.

pphr.princeton.edu

Why Fantasy Matters

A fantasy author talks about why they write fantasy and why it's important for young readers.

wired.com

Beatport Analysis

A musical analysis of the top 100 tracks on Beatport, an electronic music outlet

edmprod.com/beatport-analysis

Bathory: the triumph and tragedy of the man who invented black metal

Bathory mainman Quorthon pioneered black metal and Viking metal. But he was an enigma in life and death.

loudersound.com

Mastodon Guitarist Talks Economic Realities of Band Life

An article in which a touring Metal musician outlines the harsh reality of economic struggle that comes with being a full time musician.

metalsucks.net

The Racist Roots of Gun Control

A write-up on the history of how restrictive firearms legislation has been used numerous times in the United State's past to oppress racial minority groups.

extranewsfeed.com

From Middle-earth to the Middle Kingdom

An article on how Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings' found its way into Chinese culture.

theonering.net

How Russia keeps the memory of heroes of the Great Patriotic War alive

An article discussing the immense ceremony in Russia commemorating veterans of the Great Patriotic War (the eastern front of the second world war).

rbth.com/history

The Paper Billionaire Argument

A short piece of writing from the same author as '1 Pixel Wealth' that dispels the notion that "the wealth gap does not exist because no one that rich could afford to liquidate their assets!". One of the most educational and informing pieces i've read for being so short.

github.com/MKorostoff/

Tolerance is not a moral precept

An article discussing paradox of tolerance, in which if one is tolerant of intolerance, intolerance inevitably stifles tolerance.

extranewsfeed.com

Complex Systems Theory: How Science Solves Social Issues

A new discipline called complex systems theory uses scientific approaches to understand and predict social issues. This emerging field gives us concepts and tools to help us navigate our world, which is growing more connected and therefore more challenging to navigate.

northropgrumman.com

IBM and the Holocaust

A bone-chilling exposé by Edwin Black on the pivotal role that IBM played in the computerization of the Holocaust, and the millions of dollars in profit they made off of these atrocities.

besacenter.org

Dinosaurs and the Anti-Shrink-Wrapping Revolution

An article discussing the poor paleo-art around dinosaurs and the misconceptions they have lead to. Dinosaurs didn't look how Jurassic Park told us they did!

blogs.scientificamerican.com

Inside The Battle of Hayes Pond

When 500 Indigenous Americans Chased The Ku Klux Klan Out Of North Carolina

allthatsinteresting.com

Tolkien's Paintings

The paintings, maps and illustrations of J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

www.tolkienestate.com

RPGs were around hundreds of years before D&D

A historical article that catalogues the rich history of storytelling, parlor games, war gaming and tabletop role-playing that D&D traces its roots through.

dicebreaker.com

There's no speed limit

There is a path laid by those who have come before. You can walk it or you can run it. There is no speed limit. Creating new things (research or art) is what takes time.

sive.rs

What is FOSS?

An article all about what constitutes 'Free and Open Source Software'.

itsfoss.com

Medicare for All Would Save the U.S. Trillions

Medicare for All Would Cover Everyone, Save Money and End Medical Debt, The Numbers Don't Lie

citizen.org

The Chinese ‘Debt Trap’ Is a Myth

The narrative wrongfully portrays both Beijing and the developing countries it deals with.

theatlantic.com

The hell bangers of Botswana’s underground metal scene

Botswana’s heavy metal culture gets hyped for all the wrong reasons, but, beneath the surface is a DIY subculture uncorrupted by the outside world.

huckmag.com

To be creative, Chinese philosophy teaches us to abandon ‘originality‘

A philosophic writing that offers an alternative perspective on creativity to help us see it as a standard thing that everybody participates in, rather than an extraordinary gift only enjoyed by a few.

psyche.co

All Programming Philosophies Are About State

A short read, which describes the manner in which all programming philosophies are concerned with state.

worldofbs.com

Cyberpunk Needs a Reboot

Cyberpunk once stood out as a vital genre of anti-capitalist fiction. Now, it’s been reduced to a cool retro aesthetic easily appropriated by the world’s richest man to sell ugly Blade Runner–esque trucks.

jacobin.com

Animals Think And Feel. Here's How We Know.

A National Geographic article that investigates the notion that some people have that animals do not think or feel (crazy if you ask me).

nationalgeographic.com

Is poverty the mother of crime?

A scientific research paper that goes into detail on the roots that most crimes have in poverty

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Worker Cooperatives Are More Productive Than Normal Companies

When maximizing profits isn’t the only goal, companies can actually work better.

thenation.com

Creating a game for Atari 2600 in 2022

A fascinating article that highlights how, if one desired, program a game for the Atari 2600 in the modern day

medium.com

Why people adore the Polivoks Synth

The history of the Soviet-made Polivoks synthesizer, known for its unique tone and design

rbth.com

The Nitrous Oxide Philosopher

A deep dive into psychedelic drugs, what they can mean for human mental health, as well as human spiritual connection to the world

theatlantic.com

Vagus Nerve as Modulator of the Brain

A scientific research study on the Vagus Nerve, the actual 'mind-body connection' in all of our bodies

frontiersin.org

Your Brain On Art

How music, dance and poetry can help your brain. The idea that art has a measurable effect on the brain and its structure, has support from a growing number of scientific studies.

npr.org

A Beginners Guide to Noise Music

An attempt to sketch out the contemporary noise scene and (very briefly) link this cultural space to a few foundational historical scenes and moments.

thehardtimes.net

Why People Misperceive Crime Trends

Did you know that Chicago is not the "murder capital of the US", as commonly claimed? That it's not "worse than Afghanistan", as has been claimed?

nytimes.com

Meet the Night Witches

A historical look at the 'Night Witches', who were an all-woman Soviet bombing regiment, who used old school bi-planes to stay quiet and escape detection.

history.com

This Teenager Killed Nazis With Her Sister During WWII

A historical telling of Freddie and Truus Oversteegen, who assassinated several Nazi officers during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands

history.com

Lake Baikal

Read about the world's oldest and deepest lake, so big that it is often misconstrued as the sea. It holds 20% of all freshwater on earth and home to thousands of species found nowhere else.

livescience.com

How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations

How western intelligence agencies manipulate and control online discourse using some truly despicable tactics, similar to those utilized during COINTELPRO, such as the FBI-King suicide letter.

theintercept.com

The Door Problem

“So what does a game designer do? Are you an artist? Do you design characters and write the story? Or no, wait, you’re a programmer?”

lizengland.com

The Last Auchwitz Liberator Drove a Tank Through It's Barbed Wire Walls

An interview with David Dushman, a former Red Army solider, who was the last surviving liberator of Auschwitz, before his death. The article also details various members of the Red Army's first hand experience's during the liberation of the camp.

washingtonpost.com

Goldman asks ‘Is curing patients a sustainable business model?’

Goldman Sachs analysts attempted to address their [shareholders] concerns that cures could be bad for business in the long run. How sad for them.

cnbc.com

Zak Kiernan, maker of dungeon synth and comfy synth

An interview with Zak Kiernan, a black metal, dungeon synth and comfy synth artist shedding some light on the genre for the general public.

chicagoreader.com

Global 4-day week pilot was a huge success, organizers say

33 companies and 903 workers trialed a 4-day work week, after which, they decided they would never go back. Productivity increased, worker quality of life increased. Wins all around.

cnn.com

The stories of China's bowed string instruments

One article from a series of articles talking about the stories behind how China's traditional instruments were developed!

cgtn.com

A surprisingly strong link between altitude and suicide in the U.S.

Over the past two decades, researchers have observed that people living at higher altitudes have an increased risk of suicide. Why is this?

bigthink.com

Evidence That Short People Live Longer: What We Know

Research indicates a possible link between above average height and specific diseases, as well as longevity potential.

healthline.com

Undergraduates' Work Blames Comet For 6th-century 'Nuclear Winter'

Scientists at Cardiff University believe they have discovered the cause of crop failures and summer frosts some 1,500 years ago – a comet colliding with Earth.

sciencedaily.com

Ambience as an Instrument

A short, interesting article about an electronic music microgenre known as 'Mallsoft'

www.ultimate-guitar.com

Music Genealogy

Music Genealogy is, in short, the study of music genre. It's the field that studies the pattern of musical genres that have contributed to the development of new ones!

musicmap

An interactive educational resource on most major genres of music and their descendants and predecessors!

musicmap.info

Map of Metal

An interactive website focusing specifically on the evolution of Metal music!

mapofmetal.com

Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music

An interactive website focusing specifically on the evolution of Electronic music!

music.ishkur.com

Every Noise at Once

A website that scrapes large amounts of music from Spotify and sorts them into their niche sub genres for you to explore.

everynoise.com/

Space Photography

Hubble's Top 100

The ESA's top 100 images from the Hubble Space Telescope

esahubble.org

Hubble's Hidden Treasures

The results of the ESA's competition for astronomers, both amateur and professional, to submit their picks for the best deep cut from Hubble's image archive.

theatlantic.com

Hubble's Picture of the Week

A new picture, every week, from Hubble's image archive

esahubble.org

Phylogeny

The Tree of Life! I've always been curious about the fossil record and what evolved from what. These are a few sites to help you navigate what we know!

OneZoom

Allows you to explore the tree of life in a way similar to a geographic map, but using fractals

onezoom.org

The Catalogue of Life

The most complete authoritative list of the world's species

catalogueoflife.org

Lifemap

Another 'map-like' explorer, it includes a lot of extinct species, but lacks further information on a lot

lifemap.univ-lyon1.fr

Tree of Life Explorer

A simpler, more trimmed down understanding of the tree of life

evogeneao.com

Open Tree of Life

A popular data source for this kind of thing, even utilized by other members of this list, presents in a horizontal list view

opentreeoflife.org

Interesting Wikipedia Links

© Robby Hoover 2022