Social media I use, or have used in the recent past:
First, News (and advice columns):
- infoMania is my current favorite news outlet. I have such a crush on Sarah Haskins, but I find every single segment and host enjoyable.
- Slate is good, opinionated news-like material. I enjoy many of their political commentaries. I used to love their advice columnist, Dear Prudence, as well as The Green Lantern, who answers environmental quandaries, such as "Is a a hybrid really worse for the environment than a Hummer?" (Spoiler: No, it is not.) Prudence has become rather judgemental, though, and I've gotten out of the habit of reading Green Lantern.
- Salon is not as well organized, in my opinion, as Slate--despite having better URLs for their various sections--but it has equally good content. I'm a big fan of Broadsheet, a section of the site devoted to "women, politics, [and] culture." Their advice column, Since You Asked, is usually a good read, if you don't mind verbosity.
- Techdirt is full of all sorts of technological tidbits.
Comics:
- Unshelved seems as good a place to start as any. Hi-librar-ity.
- XKCD - Mostly science jokes and funny geekery. Some liberal arts majors have been harmed in the making of this comic. Sometimes the real joke is in the alt tag, so make sure to mouse over after you read the comic.
- Something Positive is snarky, funny, sad, and lovable--mostly snarky--and I have trouble imagining how to make it better, other than more Choo-Choo Bear. It's best read in order from the beginning, really.
- A Softer World - As others have said, "Sometimes when I read ASW, I don't know whether to laugh or cry." I'd rather not risk describing it further than that, other than to say it uses photos, rather than drawings. Look for alt tags there, too.
- Planet Karen is a kind of diary for the author/artist, who is gothy and feminist and sweet and, yes, sometimes a little depressed. I look forward to her updates and worry about her when she hasn't made any in a while.
- Two Lumps is pretty much what my comic about my cockatiels would be, if my cockatiels were Russian Blue cats and I had any artistic talent at all.
Blogs I Read:
- Librarian.net - "Putting the rarin' back in librarian." Her catchphrase bothers me no matter how many times I think about it and decide to let it go. But it really is catchy, isn't it?
- Barbara Ehrenreich's blog - After reading Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream, I looked for Ehrenreich on the Internet and was pleased to see she had a blog. While I don't always agree with her--often, but not always--I do laugh-so-as-not-to-cry at some of her bleak humor.
- Roy Tennant's Digital Libraries Blog - Self explanatory.
- Girl Wonder is a site for fans of comics who don't like women's usual role in the superhero genre and want to fight for change. I like Dr. Stephen Dann and Karen Healey.
- A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette - A snappier and more amusing take on the "snarky librarian" genre than Annoyed Librarian manages. (Though I read AL sometimes.)
- Dr. Gridlock's DC Transit Blog - OK, I don't read this much anymore, but I used to check it nearly daily. If someone from the DC area gets this far into my homepage and learns of Dr. Gridlock from me, that'll make posting it worthwhile, right? If these guys ever come back, I will keep reading them, though. I'm a public transit geek and think that sufficient funds diverted in that direction would go a long way toward saving the world.
- Kendrick Hang's blog. Ken's a great photographer and all-around awesome guy. Scroll down to Artomatic to see the show he was in!
- Dana's Blog - My first great CS TA, taught me to be pretty good at CS (back in the day), as well. It's a shame I didn't retain more of it, but the blame is all on me for that. She doesn't update as often as she should.