P H I L O S O P H Y P A T H W A Y S ISSN 2043-0728 http://philosophypathways.com/newsletter/ Issue number 5 31 March 2001 CONTENTS I. Your Top Ten Philosophy Sites II. About.com Spotlight on Philosophy Programs III. Who Will Employ Gladys Gilbert? -=- I. YOUR TOP TEN PHILOSOPHY SITES From 'The Glass House Philosopher' 29th March: "On Wednesday evening, half-way through my third pint of lager in 'The Royal', as I watched my smoke rings drift to the ceiling, I had a bright idea. Why not get visitors to the Pathways web site to vote for their favourite philosophy sites on the internet? I spent Thursday morning writing the page and testing it, and posted it the same day. I've called it 'Vote for your favourite philosophy site!'..." Bright idea, or just plain crazy? If you would like to vote, just go to: http://philosophypathways.com/topten.html Click on 'voting form'. Enter the details of your favourite philosophy web site - or the site you enjoyed visiting most this week - and choose the category which best describes the web site. Don't forget your name and e-mail, and if possible the webmaster's name and e-mail so that they can be notified if their site makes the top ten. Then click 'submit' to register your vote. It's as simple as that! Votes will be counted and the results posted each week. Top ten rankings will be decided by cumulative total, which I believe will give a more accurate representation of philosophy sites with lasting appeal. I haven't yet decided whether or not to include the Pathways web sites in the listings. The argument for is that people should be allowed to place their vote as they see fit. The argument against is that the whole purpose of the listings is to give a guide to other philosophy sites on the internet worth visiting. What do you think? Will the idea ever get off the ground? It is up to you. Go and register your vote now! -=- II. ABOUT.COM SPOTLIGHT ON PHILOSOPHY PROGRAMS By sheer coincidence (or was it??) the About.com Philosophy Newsletter 'The Premise' was published just yesterday, with an item on 'Your favourite philosophy program': The Premise: A Philosophy Newsletter from About.com March 30, 2001 - Vol. 3, No. 12 Spotlight: Your Favorite Philosophy Program? Someone recently sent me their choices for the top 10 philosophy departments in the United States. I though it might be interesting to throw it out to all of you and see what kind of information we get. Here's what I'd like to do, if you're interested: sometime in the next month, send me your pick for what you feel is the best philosophy department (or the top 3, or 10, whatever, although try to keep it to 10 or less) in the country of your choice. Put "Schools" in the subject line so I can more easily collect these. If you'd like to make any comments on why you feel a particular program is superior to others, feel free to include that as well. I'm not sure exactly how I will be compiling the information yet, but some time in May I'll put a section online with the results. Send your choices to philosophy.guide@about.com. Rich Gray About.com Guide of Philosophy http://philosophy.about.com philosophy.guide@about.com - Coincidence or not, this is too good an opportunity to pass up! If you are a Pathways or Philosophical Society Diploma student, e-mail Rich Gray at philosophy.guide@about.com to vote for the Philosophical Society of England distance learning programs. Put 'Schools' in the subject line. "If you'd like to make any comments on why you feel a particular program is superior to others, feel free to include that as well." - Your vote really will make a difference. Thanks! -=- III. WHO WILL EMPLOY GLADYS GILBERT? A short while ago, I received a message on the Pathways 'Feedback' form from Gladys Gilbert, a registered nurse based in the UK. As a number of Pathways and Diploma students are working in the British health service, I promised Gladys that I would reproduce her comments here: "I am an unemployed Registered Nurse...I was with Gateway District Health Department for seven and a half years...I keep hearing about the nursing shortage, but I am drawing Unemployment Benefit. I know at the age of 55 most people don't want to hire you. However, I have been trained in all areas of public health, I only have an A.D. in Nursing. But after raising my children, I got my G.E.D. and my L.P.N. license, and then my R.N. license, as well as a Paralegal degree...Yet I cannot find work. I love your page and this is just a comment, maybe if I attach my resume, it could be posted somewhere, any positive actions would be of help. I feel like my nursing career is over, yet I am trained in so many areas. Thanks for listening, keep up the good work. Gladys." If you have any suggestions, or would like to offer your support - or best of all, a job! - please e-mail Gladys Gilbert at: mymother174@hotmail.com . - That's all for this issue. Remember, tomorrow is April Fool's Day, so watch out for pranks! Geoffrey Klempner --------------------------------------------------------------- Philosophy Pathways is the electronic newsletter for the Pathways to Philosophy distance learning program To subscribe or cancel your subscription please email your request to philosophypathways@fastmail.net The views expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of the editor. Contributions, suggestions or comments should be addressed to klempner@fastmail.net ---------------------------------------------------------------