When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so bad!

esoterica

I am considering making a more comprehensive page about esoteric studies. These are just the websites I have used the most.

Correspondences - If you're curious about the diversity of topics in esoteric studies, this is the place to go. These articles - all open access - cover everything from black metal to the history of Zohar translations to entire issues about masculinities and Islamic esotericism. Did I mention this journal is all open access?

Esoterica - This journal is also about esotericism, but it's been defunct for a long time. It's still a fascintaing time capsule of how scholars thought during the years of its publication, from 1999-2007. Wouter J. Hanegraaff's 1999 article "Some Remarks on the Study of Western Esotericism" exemplifies a period when the very definition of esotericism was more fiercely contested than today.

Internet Sacred Text Archive - This site is ancient and some of the translations are not very good, but you might want to peruse it anyway, particularly the esoteric/occult and Wicca/Neopaganism sections.

Twilit Grotto - This website belongs to Joseph H. Peterson, a translator of many esoteric texts. He has posted some texts that the Internet Sacred Text Archive does not have, such as the Grimorium Verum and texts by other authors like Giordano Bruno. I do not know his background in esoteric studies and cannot vouch for the quality of his translations.

learning

Atlas Obscura - This site gathers a worldwide collection of places and histories that are obscure, educational, or just plain weird. It's not just a travel guide to places like the Library of Mistakes; some articles, like this one about a mysterious tattooed Frenchman, are of historical interest. There are plenty of curiosities that might unexpectedly pique your interest.

Open Culture - Honestly, this is one of the best websites for pseuds like me to quell my need to learn. There are many perks to this site, such as its massive collection of free online courses and daily emails with new material to broaden your horizons. Although it doesn't specialize in weird things the way Atlas Obscura does, fun things do pop up from time to time. For example, did you know that Jacques Derrida flunked his university admissions essay?

Open Yale Courses - These lectures give you a taste of what Yale University students learn in their intro courses, albeit many years ago. Since they're intro courses, they don't presume much background knowledge of anything. My favorites are Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and Introduction to Theory of Literature.

literature

Boatmurdered - I have fond childhood memories of belly-laughing while reading this long Let's Play of Dwarf Fortress with a friend. I know this is a strange definition of "literature," but I think it's a story worth telling and retelling. Any more information would spoil the fun. Welcome to fucking Boatmurdered!

The H.P. Lovecraft Archive - Lovecraft was a racist WASP, but he did write some decent stuff. My favorite story is The Shadow over Innsmouth, though it is also one of his more intensely racist ones.

politics

The Anarchist Library - This library has incredible amounts of content, including very obscure zines and full books, not all of which directly pertain to anarchism. Some of its contents are questionable, but you can also find stuff like Blessed is the Flame by Serafinski, Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault, "A Cyborg Manifesto" by Donna Haraway, and "The Solar Anus" by Georges Bataille. As with the Internet Sacred Text Archive, not all translations are good.

Comics With Problems - Here's a stash of comics with cultural, historical, and/or humorous value - like this pro-segregation pamphlets from the 1960s and this 1956 comic about gun safety from the National Rifle Association. Keep in mind that many of the comics here explicitly depict possibly upsetting topics, such as homophobia, racism, and sexual assault.

Critical China Scholars - If you've been in leftist spaces long enough, you've probably encountered at least one communist whose adoration of China borders on idolatrous (compared to liberatory movements that are not, for instance, genocidal). This site, with its list of resources curated by academic scholars, is a really great detox for the brain.

Marxists Internet Archive - This is not just The Anarchist Library but for Marxists. It hosts plenty of content like archives on Herbert Marcuse and queer liberation. However, commentary from the site itself has a distinctly Marxist bent/bias. Also, sometimes the translations aren't up-to-date, because apparently Marxists are cowards about copyright.

technology

Awesome Critical Tech Reading List - Although this reading list is curated "by programmers for programmers," you don't really need to be a programmer to learn from this list. You can start anywhere, but I recommend reading "Do Artifacts Have Politics?" first, if you can.

NoSurf - The community of r/nosurf (yes, reddit) has curated some guides on how to stop the internet from taking over your life the way it has taken over mine.