No time for serendipity?

Recently, while speaking to one of my brothers, I heard him say the following: "I don't have time for real serendipity. I prefer guided serendipity." This, in reference to the few blogs and newsfeeds that he follows by way of strolling through the less-noticed nooks and crannies of the Internet (less-noticed until they get blogged, that is).

While I was still sputtering from the lexical implications, he pointed me to a directory that I was embarrassed not to know (I prefer to think I'd forgotten it: I suppose that means mental frailty in myself is preferable to ignorance? George Washington: "There is no restraining men's tongues or pens when charged with a little vanity." Blogger, heal thyself.)

The Librarian's Index to the Internet has, among many other valuable nooks and crannies of its own, two good starting points for the "Hidden Internet."

Unresolved, however, remains the question of whether these things should remain hidden. Things and ideas which would, in a pre-Internet world, (properly?) remain the hidden manias and obsessions of those seeking more (too much?) from an otherwise mundane life, now coalesce into communities so specialized they can only exist thanks to the obliteration of time and geographic constraints offered by the "connected" life. Darwin never imagined such an evolution. In the bosom of one's like-minded fellows, it's easy to imagine that such obsessions are normal, desirable, and gosh darn it, everyone should know about it! I'll end with one case-in-point to speak for itself:

Airlinemeals.net

You know who you are. Send me a photo to publish here, the world deserves to understand this art form.