It's always a joy when I randomly feel the need to check and see if amasci is still up and running and am greeted with the comforting display of good old mid-90s HTML text and links offering all manner of interesting content.
What a dichotomy to the current "all pages must be apps/infinite scroll and optimized for ads" design that has reigned for the last decade or two.
I tip my hat to you sir, for providing 25 years of the pleasure of pursing the scientific method and experimentation, even in areas that would be often dismissed by Those Who Know Things(tm). If a claim is made, well then roll out the experiments and demonstrate it works or it's false.
In the 90s I actually thought you were responsible for the Scientific American Amateur Scientist column but after a year or so of regularly browsing your site I realized you were simply what Amateur Scientist SHOULD have been in the 90s, reflecting the zeitgeist of the prior decades of SciAm AmSci.
I spent plenty of time kicking it on usenet circa 1990 and later, but as a content creator you have to bust out your gopher links for proper cred. ;)
One of the first websites I ever could get to. I was in high school at the time, and feeling pretty alienated. This kept me sane and gave me a hobby that then turned into my career. I'm grateful.
Check out the guy's youtube channel, too, cool mechanical levitation stuff.
When learning electronics as a hobbyist, amasci had some really nice non-textbpook explanations of voltage, current and transistors. Really made you think deeply about the subject.
Here is an example about transistors.
http://amasci.com/amateur/transis.html
Monthly meetings, Tesla-worshippers only. Also some UFO abductees and orgone-believers. Also Boeing engineers and radio hams. http://amasci.com/freenrg/oldmeet.html
To add to the mix: As a teen when I first started frequenting the interwebz, one of my favorite sites was personal website with a lot of great science content, with a very hand-crafted vibe (which continues to this day!): https://fourmilab.ch/
Little did I know that it is the personal website maintained by John Walker, the founder of Autodesk!
It continues to be a pleasure to browse, say, on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
I was curious so I checked it out. It's the website of an artist who makes pin-up style portraits. Some of the images might be considered mildly NSFW if you are in a very conservative environment. It seems the author promotes the concept of body acceptance/positivity. Not sure why the site would deserve the "WTF" reaction.
"anesthetic" is a great malapropism, although more suited to the "modern" sites that try to make your brain numb with little content and much whitespace...
"Slightly NSFW and not PC" is definitely a trait of 90s personal (and even some professional) sites, and personally I prefer that in comparison to the sterile, boring, excessively-inoffensive stuff today.
What a dichotomy to the current "all pages must be apps/infinite scroll and optimized for ads" design that has reigned for the last decade or two.