Friday Fun Thread: Your Internet Endorsements

[beachmom]

I have been meaning to do this for a while. In honor of John Kerry's fight for Net Neutrality, I thought it would be fun if we shared what websites, apps, podcasts, etc. that we really enjoy, and don't limit this to only politics and news. Any topic is suitable. I would love to hear what others have discovered, as the internet is so limitless, it's amazing the wealth of possibilities out there.

So here are my endorsements:

1. Ezra Klein's new Wonkroom.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/wonkbook/

It's a response to that godawful Playbook on Politico which is a set of useless gossipy facts and talking points gathered by Mike Allen. In sharp contrast, Ezra's list (which you can also get in the form of an e-mail) is meat and potatoes topics with great links. It is posted every morning about 7 AM or so.

2. My environmental Twitter list:

http://twitter.com/beachmom12/environment

Although I created the list, my endorsement is for the underlying writers that make up the list. It is not in any way supposed to be a comprehensive list of environmental writers/groups. Instead, it's a nice place to go to find out what is happening in regards to the environment fairly quickly (with an emphasis on climate change).

3. Podcast: Sound Opinions

Okay, enough with the serious stuff. Anyone interested in finding out what is going on in contemporary music, this podcast is absolutely stellar. In fact, I wish there were political pundits as good as these two guys. Modeled after Siskel & Ebert, this rock and roll talk show is comprised of Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun Times and Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune. They cover music news (often focusing on interesting topics like music piracy, the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger, the state of the music industry, net neutrality, etc.), music reviews, and often have live guests. Please consider checking out their latest episode starring a hip hop artist from Somalia (!) who tells his story and then sings & raps extraordinary music, like nothing I have ever heard before. That is Show #231, which you can stream or download.

http://www.soundopinions.org/

4. Podcast: BBC's A History of the World in 100 Objects

Each podcast is under 15 minutes, and focuses on one object from the British Museum, and what it means in terms of human history. I have listened to 8 so far, and for such a short podcast, I feel transported to another world.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/

A note about podcasts: you don't need to own an iPod to enjoy. iTunes itself is free, and often you can just download directly to your computer and listen.

Believe me, I have more I could recommend, but I thought this was a start. So, fellow JK supporters: what do you recommend?