We all run dry sometimes.
Nicki's brown bagger yesterday, on internet research, included a list of web sites that Poynter's Al Tompkins said he uses to find ideas (and if you're familiar w/Tompkins' "Morning Meeting" on Poynter's web site, you know he comes up with some pretty good stuff).
Some of the more unusual or interesting:
http://www.firehouse.com/ -- firefighter/EMT site, industry news, etc.
http://www.agriculture.com/ -- includes topics ranging from rural suicides to crop reports
http://www.mtv.com/ -- as Tompkins says, it's a quick way to stay up on pop culture even when you're not into pop culture
http://www.topix.net/ -- you can search for news by zip code
http://buzz.yahoo.com/ -- most searched-for words on the web
http://www.mouseprint.org/ -- The website, MousePrint.org, says it "turns advertising on its head by focusing on an ad’s asterisked fine print footnote rather than the headline." it has an attitude.
www.cdc.gov/mmwr -- cool stuff about bad diseases. the 'mm' stands for 'morbidity and mortality.' enough said.
If you want Al Tompkins' whole list, I can run you a copy or Nicki probably has more copies.
Tompkins also suggested using RSS feeds to put multiple sites you might use to troll for story ideas in one place -- on your Yahoo! page, or Google page, or whatever. If you're interested but not familiar with RSS or how to use it, holler.
Also, Nicki e-mailed those at the bagger a story-finding list Ted Sickler had sent out some time ago. It's here.
And, the ydr.com staff is an "editor" on that Topix page for York, meaning we add and update stories frequently. One thing to note about that, is it's what feeds in the local headlines to cnn.com!
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