The folk at crayola.net offer a free service that's great for everyone: you create your own online newspaper from their ever-expanding, unfiltered international collection of sources. You even name your paper: Joe's Gazette, The Turner Family Monitor, etc. and provide a slogan -- you know, like "all the news that's fit to print."Choose selections from around the world in areas of national, local and world news; oped, weather, info-tech; religion; health; science; lifestyles. There are more.
Even comics. Peanuts, Dilbert, Calvin & Hobbes, etc. Columns. Ann Landers, Dave Barry, Rush Limbaugh, the New York Times Editorials .... Lots of stuff for you, regardless of whether you're red or blue.
Not only is this a free service, but a valuable one. Each day, the reader is provided an opportunity to read international perspectives voiced in a variety of locations, for example: the Jakarta Post (Indonesia); the Mirror and the Guardian (England); Kyoto News (Japan); Pari Business News Daily (Bulgaria); the Daily Star (Lebanon); and the Daily Telegraph (Australia), in addition to a large collection of top-tier American news sources (e.g., the New York Times, Reuters, etc).
Reading about the Tsunami from an American news source is one thing. Reading about it in the Jakarta Post is another.
You can also add your own sources. Anything with a URL can be placed on your personal, online paper.
There are some kinks with setting up the graphics, etc. and you may need to play with two-screen versus one-screen layout, things like this, before your personal paper is running smoothly. Once it's done, though, it's one click to crayon.net and a smile as you think about those subscription prices that you're not having to pay.
