Need your help for my blog
May 3, 2011 7:46 AM   Subscribe

Help me spot interesting topics and ideas for my blog.

I have had a blog now for some 8 years and get lots of traffic. I find myself turning increasingly to posting offbeat facts, places, historical events that I find interesting and which I think readers will too. Example: this morning I posted a piece on the slave ship Amistad, gave materials on its history, the trial, and a photo of the reconstruction of this slave ship.
That event is history but one many do not know about. i would like to have a ready source--a book or site--where I can quickly skim to locate other events or things of interest to put together as posts.
Wikipedia, though very full, is too difficult for ease of use.

Any books or sites that I might find useful for my purposes?
thanks in advance.
posted by Postroad to Grab Bag (7 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
For history it is always inspiring to go trolling through older newspapers or books.
posted by JJ86 at 7:56 AM on May 3, 2011


Try Wikipedia's Random Article button as a starting point, then go on from wherever it takes you?
posted by bentley at 9:09 AM on May 3, 2011


Arts and Letters Daily is a trove of oddball stuff, more thoughtful stuff, and a collection of links on the side that should keep you busy for a while.
posted by timsteil at 9:21 AM on May 3, 2011


Response by poster: WILL ONCE again try Wiki random. A&L among the many I go through daily...What I have found sometimes useful: get a site that is of interest and then click on FireFox Related Links...More?
posted by Postroad at 9:29 AM on May 3, 2011


I used to use Delicious for this - just type a random tag word into the search and check through a page. Not sure if that will still work though.
posted by anastasiav at 9:46 AM on May 3, 2011


The Internet Scout Project has lots of good stuff and is searchable (e.g.) and categorized (e.g.).
posted by bentley at 9:46 AM on May 3, 2011 [1 favorite]


The TodayILearned subreddit might be worth checking periodically (even if many of the posts fall into the "what rock have you been hiding under?" category).
posted by JaredSeth at 10:36 AM on May 3, 2011


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