Readability

Have you ever felt fed up with trying to read something on the web? Are you tired of seeing a congo line of jerkily dancing teddy bears in the banner ad? Does trying to concentrate on the content with all the badly animated ads vying for your attention drive you crazy?

Readability will get rid of most of these distractions.

A free service, all you need to do is drag a button to your bookmarks bar on your browser. I will not work with databases (but then the commercial databases we pay for do not have animated ads). It may not work with other subscription based services either. But for much of the day-to-day reading of the web, it can cut out the visual noise - quickly and easily.

It can also remember your preferred settings for layout and font size, removing the need for you to make these adjustments with every single web site you visit every time.

Searching throughout the world: Country Based Search Engines

Thanks to Phil Bradley who has comipiled links to country-based search engines throughout the world, see

Country-Based Search Engines

http://www.philb.com/countryse.htm

Scope note at beginning of site reads as follows: "Country search engines and regional search engines - currently a total of 4,017 search engines and 222 countries, territories, islands and regions. When 2 versions of a search engine were available I simply listed the search engine in English. I've tried to match the name to the title of the search engine when possible. Failing that I've used the search engine URL as the name." Quote is from website, listed above, retrieved March 8, 2009.

Thanks to Larry for bringing our attention to this terrific site!

The Daily Show on the Financial Crisis

Although not a "scholarly" source, this clip from Jon Stewart's The Daily Show gives a factual run-down of hype vs. reality during 2007 and 2008. Useful as a tool for teaching critical thinking skills in evaluating business news reports.

CNBC gives financial advice.

UPDATED March 16, 2009:

Cramer vs. Stewart.

In the March 12th appearance by Jim Cramer (host of CNBC's Fast Money) on The Daily Show we find out more about Cramer's background in finance as Jon Stewart shows clips of a 2006 interview of Cramer when he worked as a hedge fund manager. Again, this should not be viewed as a scholarly source, but Stewart gives voice to popular anger over the present financial crisis in a most articulate manner.

By the way, you can also view three "out takes" of Cramer's interview on The Daily Show's home page (as of March 16, 2009).