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A dozen sites
I'm diggin'

*1. Seven key questions about a car company bailout.

*2. Just in time for Thanksgiving, PETA posts a video of turkey abuse on a poultry farm.

*3. The Flip Cam has gone HD with a customizable cover.

4. A fun video to help you with digital conversion.

5. ProPublica's investigation into air marshals gone bad.

6. An awesome storm chaser photo blog.

7. Planet Money is a really good blog about money and finance.

8. ESPN's "The Journey of Richard Jensen" -- the comeback of a wrestler -- is an extra good video.

9. You can lay subtitles or text bubbles on video -- any video. I will be using this to teach about storytelling.

10. I now use Utterz to file audio reports. You can use your computer's mic or any phone. It's simple and would be a great reporter's tool.

11. Kare 11 investigates a local children's transplant hospital.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.

Jobless Rate Surges Again

The U.S. Department of Labor said this morning that the number of people who lined up for unemployment benefits jumped again last week, much more than expected.

Reuters said the increase of 69,000 first-time claims brought unemployment to the highest level since October 2005 and was the largest weekly increase since September 2005.

The latest indicators may put even more pressure on Congress to extend unemployment benefits as part of its "economic stimulus" package.

Get local. What is your local employment picture? Who is losing jobs? Are grad schools, community colleges and trade schools seeing increased enrollment from people who are changing careers or hedging their bets against a possible job loss?

Have the civilian contractors in Iraq seen increased interest in the dangerous but high-paying jobs they offer? What about the U.S. government? (Here's the U.S. government's page on civilian jobs in Iraq.)

Will a higher jobless rate mean that enlisting in the military will become more attractive?

Resources from the U.S. Department of Labor

Career tools

Statistical Information

Wages and Work Hours Statistics:

Posted by Al Tompkins 10:12 AM

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