Five Best Web Sites

A friend got me thinking about the five web sites that I like the best ... or most depend on ... which is largely the same thing.

1.google.com
2.wikipedia.org
3.imdb.com
4.xkcd.com
5.fark.com

This list has it all. Search, email, news and other odds-and-ends (like unit conversions, calculator, etc.) are all provided by Google. By extension one could include YouTube under this heading, but, I don't care that much about it, so I'm not willing to set that kind of precedent.

Wikipedia is the closest thing we have to a real-life Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. What more need be said?

If I can't remember that actor's name, but I know I saw him in that one movie with the funny line that goes thus-and-so, a quick quote search on IMDB and I've found the movie; then a quick scan through the cast list, and there is his name. It's just beautiful.

In spite of xkcd's author's strong understanding of math and physics, he seems willing to accept that the entire universe came into existence randomly. He also likes Lisp. Anyway, I try to over-look these things, because he produces some of the funniest comics known to man.

And Fark's complete lack of sympathy for all things tragic, and willingness to point out all things stupid, makes it the perfect way to round out the list.

Got anything better?

Update: Honorable mention goes to slashdot.org, which I faithfully visit every day, but if I have to pick only five sites, I think I'd let Slashdot go. The user comments are the best, however. Nothing comes close.