"Capitalism is the Predatory Stage of Human Evolution"

Website Wednesday

I guess I might as well talk about some random thoughts today, as if I've never done that before.

• I was so smug about today's website pick since I had picked two beauties for today over a week ago. I was so organized because I sent them both to my mailbox. However, when, in total smugness, I checked to see if I had posted either before (I am thorough, if not too smart) I found I had posted both already. Talk about a balloon popping.
• I don't know if any of you have been following the battle royale between the NJ Gov, who's a bully, and the NJEA, which got to be the most powerful teachers' union in the US by also being a bully. If it weren't that this conflict is really only the first battle in an attempt to move NJ from Blue state to Red state, it would be a hoot. Why? Because, the NJEA needs some very serious reform. It represents professional workers in good, old-fashioned unskilled worker union fashion. However, they did not become a nightmare alone. During the time they were demanding and getting out-of-line raises and benefits, they were negotiating with mostly private sector employees/employers (Boards of Education) for these benefits. Neither side wanted to understand the consequences of these contracts. It's obvious now, with an anti-union Gov, that resentments were sub rosa against this union for a long time. (Just read some of the comments to articles on this topic.) What I find amusing (in a wry, cynical way) is that if this Gov had an ounce of savvy, he could perform a slam dunk against the unions. But he doesn't. He's just antagonized all but a rabid base with his stumbling loudly into areas which are not the purview of a Governor - telling voters to reject school budgets in towns which don't accept a pay freeze and, off the subject but related, telling Bergen County voters to overturn their Blue Laws. Who could have imagined that the NJEA bully would be pitted against another bully? Who would have thought this might be their salvation?
• As I type, I'm watching Angels and Demons. It's really better than The DaVinci Code; which is really faint praise but I can sit through it more than once and I love that theme music.
  

OK, I know you must be thinking: She has nada for a website pick and she's stalling. But you would be wrong. Here it is:

http://www.onlineschools.org

You know that I'm a sucker for lists. They make for easy reading and fast learning (when they are accurate, of course.)

Online Schools says of itself (on this site; you'll see why I'm saying this in a minute):

Our goal is simple - to create a series of curated schools by producing, collecting and cataloging the vast array of visually stunning academic content circulating throughout the Internet.

This is a labor of love - we hope you enjoy it.

On this site, you have a list of "Schools of" sites to click for things like: How 3-D works; Facts about the IRS; The Facts about Poop (that one is very interesting), etc.

This is pretty light reading. But then click "contents from our old site" at the bottom for:

http://www.onlineschools.org/content.html

and you enter a different web world. It seems that Online Schools started out helping people decide if online learning was right for them. On their original site (much less glitzy than their current one) they hyperlink over 50 informative sites. Just a few: 100 Best Book Blogs for History Buffs; 100 Must-Read Blog Posts on the Future of Learning; 100 Blogs Every New Teacher Should Read; or 50 Best Blogs to Learn All About China. You can see you that you now have 350 sites to peruse.

My only caveat is: I can't tell if this is a current website; no date listings except a copyright in 2009. But take a look at Online Schools; it's worth a long visit.