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• Amnesty International are a bunch of really cool people doing really cool things. If you haven't heard of them, you need to check them out. If you have, then I can't do much more to describe them.

• The American Civil Liberties Union are more cool people. They don't care if you're popular or not, they care about people's rights. This has, of course, made them fabulously evil in the eyes of certain politicians who bandy about the phrase 'card carrying member of the ACLU' as if it were something bad.

• Polyamory is the shocking concept that you can love more than one person at the same time. It does not mean that you want to sleep with anything that moves. Trust me.

• Bisexualityis the shocking concept that what you find attractive might actually appear in either gender. It does not mean that you want to sleep with anything that moves. Trust me.

• Working Assets Long Distance is a phone company. But they give a skim of their profits to charity, provide free calls to your senator or representative in Congress, and do other cool things. I like these people, and feel pretty good about giving them my money.

• Do you want to give to worthy charities, but sometimes feel that sending money or getting a long-distance company is too much work? The HungerSite lets you be charitable with a click. Sponsors offer to donate a cup of food to the United Nations World Food Program to people in need. How much easier do we have to make it?

• Powell's Bookstore used to be a God among bookstores. They're still pretty cool, and they just seem to keep on getting bigger. They're adding a tower to support more books. It's the largest bookstore in North America, I'm told, and one of the coolest things about Portland. Visit in person--the website just doesn't do it justice.

• The Snowden Environmental Trust doesn't have a webpage just yet, but they're still very cool. A group who buys land so as to preserve it, rather than waiting for the government to make laws which it then breaks anyway. For the moment, their web presence is through another cool page, the Dar Williams fan page. Dar Williams should be played everywhere. Constantly. The only problem is, that would interfere with the constant playing of

• Heather Alexander. Heather is a goddess who plays fiddle, guitar, and the audience. She also blesses us on a regular basis so that we don't get into auto accidents. While you're in Portland visiting Powell's, consider a jaunt across the river to Vancouver to see her perform at R.P. McMurphy's.

• The Shakespeare Page is pretty much what it sounds like. It's the complete works, even the sonnets, with a search engine attached.

• Project Gutenberg is, with any luck, a saviour of literacy in a post-literate point and click society. Texts which are no longer under copyright law are stored in simple text format for public distribution. How much cooler can you get than that, and still be wearing your clothes?

• Sluggy Freelance is the best online comic-strip I've seen. It's funny, and the results are dependable--there's a new comic every day. This addiction is Trip's fault.

• So in return, I addicted Trip to Hellboy who is a demon working for the government. When strangeness threatens to engulf the world, a strange man will come and save it.

• This page shows absolutely no support for the Industrial Workers of the World. Every good American rejects their radical ideas of those who produce our goods having a voice in the production. What's good for big business is good for America. Sit down and shut up.

• Back in Oregon, I used to dance a lot. Well. Only about ten hours a week. But it was probably more time than I spent on my homework. I haven't found anyplace in California as cool as that beat up little corner of the Women's Building, or a teacher as hot as Barbara.

• Nearly four years after it started, I finally surrendered and started watching Babylon Five and am now a complete fanboy. I have a PsiCorp pin on my coat, and a t-shirt that says 'Ivanova is always right'.

• Censorship and prior restraint make me twitchy, and I see the internet as one of the last bastions of free speech. Which is why I find people like The EFF terribly comforting. On a related note, here's an article on one of those CyberCensors in action. This, of course, does not apply to BESS because my friend Larry works for them.

• The Onion is a hoot. They're probably offending somebody right now, as we speak.

• Are you frustrated with the hypocrisy and waste involved in the War on Some Drugs(tm)? There are others who feel the same way. They can organise, why can't you?

• Project Censored are willing to remind us of the price of a 'free' press. Sometimes it's hard being a capitalist who wants to report the Truth to the American People. Every year, these people publish what they feel are the top ten ignored news stories of the year.

• Domestic violence sucks. Everybody needs someplace to turn to when the home, traditionally a safe harbour against troubles, becomes instead the prime source of them.

• Michelangelo's Good Times Penpal has infected my boot sector, and wiped out my hard drive! Pass this on to ten friends in the next 45 minutes and delete any mail with 'AOL4FREE' in the subject line!!! (This site is nicely organised and contains cross-links to many other sites, just in case they don't have the information themselves.)

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