Most of the internet is crap. This is a curated list of sites that mostly defy being crap, or make notable efforts in that direction.

Blogs

BLDGBLOG Architectural conjecture, urban speculation, landscape futures…
The Charnel-House: from Bauhaus to Beinhaus. A candidate for “best blog on the internet,” easily.
Cory Doctorow’s Craphound and BoingBoing.
Bruce Schneier’s blog on cryptography, privacy and squid.
KrebsOnSecurity is excellent, in-depth reporting on computer security.
McMansion Hell is the kind of architectural critique that the bourgeois ought by law be required to review.
Popehat is “a group complaint about law, liberty and leisure.”
27B/6 has the side-splitting funny. Start with Missing Missy. If you require video evidence, watch Spardha reading Missing Missy.

Search

DuckDuckGo an excellent Google alternative.
Yandex another excellent Google alternative.
StartPage a privacy-oriented search provider that does not log ip addresses of users.
Alibris (used books).

News & Podcasts

No Agenda A news dissection and analysis program by the Podfather, Adam Curry, and noted veteran technology reporter John C. Dvorak, in the form of a wacky morning radio show. Don’t let the soundboard fool you, this is a serious and seriously excellent program, with no mercy for either “The Left” nor “The Right,” and with no advertisers, the program has No Agenda.
Against the Grain A topical social justice and related issues program.
The Corbett Report An investigate reporting program emphasizing “open source journalism.”
Democracy Now is Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez’s daily news and current affairs program.
Free Speech Radio News is an independent journalism collective with regular programming and reports from voices the world over.
History of Philosophy (without any gaps) is an excellent presentation covering the history of formal human thought.
Mel and Floyd current affairs and comedy talk show from a rotating cast of chuckleheads on their lunchbreaks from Madison, Wisconsin. With James Brown, Mel, Mr. Smartypants, Melvina and sometimes even Floyd him self, it’s monkey, er, wombat-time!