Ken Marks's favorite websites

Last week we let you know Tom Lowe's favorite websites. Today we're revealing Ken Marks's favorites, so that our readers can check them out to see whether any of them become your favorite websites too.
    A week from today, next Saturday, we'll tell you motomynd's favorites.


The New York Times. Their news is objective and comprehensive, without all the trash filler that you find on sites like CNN. It also offers the best op-ed pieces by far. I regularly read Paul Krugman, at whose shrine I worship; Tom Friedman, a foreign affairs and green energy guru; and Maureen Dowd, the Queen of Snark. Her politics don't align precisely with mine, but her prose stylings are a wonder.
Fareed Zakaria. The most objective and penetrating look at current events on the Web.
The NYR blog. A product of the editors of the New York Review of Books. It explores a range of political and cultural stories that you can't find anywhere else. Its list of contributors reads like an intellectual who's who.
The Huffington Post. A menagerie of bloggers, many of which have interesting observations about the issues and personalities that people talk about.
Slate.The best written and edited ezine that I know of.
The Conscience of a Liberal. Paul Krugman's blog, sponsored by the NYT. Can't get enough of this guy.
Johnathan Chait Archive. An index into Chait's blog. He's an insightful observer of the political scene and often funny as well.
TED. An array of short video lectures on fascinating subjects. Calculated to challenge your mind.
Khan Academy. Video tutoring on a range of academic and practical subjects. A good way to put a patches on the gaps in your education.
Pogue's Posts. David Pogue' blog, sponsored by the NYT. He writes entertainingly about what's making news in technology.
Rotten Tomatoes. A movie-review site where a number of reviews of the same movie are aggregated. A good way to compare the perspectives that critics bring to their reviews. If you believe, as I do, that movies are the dominant art form or our time, this site is an important tool for separating real art from commercial junk.
Intrade. At first glance, this seems to be no more than a gambling site. Viewers are invited to wager (by "buying shares") on a wide range of timely speculations. Every speculation is phrased as a question that can be answered yes or no. The value of the site to a nongambler (me) is that it serves as an excellent gauge of public opinion on current events, politics, foreign affairs, science, entertainment, and many other topics.

Last, Ken thinks that the most trenchant observations about our society use humor as their vehicle. Therefore, he recommends three comic strips that have genius authors:

Doonesbury. Garry Trudeau has the most consistently insightful take on the political scene that has ever appeared in strip form.
Dilbert. Scott Adams gives us the only strip ever to dissect the insanity of the corporate world, which so thoroughly dominates and demeans the life of the American worker.
Bizarro. Dan Piraro is a master humorist who daily reveals the absurdity in our lives. He uses word play, satire, black humor, hilarious allusions—all the comic nuances that you'd find in a dozen different strips.