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The PBS show, Frontline, has produced an outstanding 54 minute video explanation of the current world economic crisis. It’s called “Ten Trillion and Counting.”

In the video, they lay out the historical factors that got us to this point and shed light on policies and institutions that have prevented addressing the problem sooner. They also make projections about the potential outcomes of staying the course and reveal the perils of making the sweeping changes that will be necessary to remain a viable country within the next 25 years.

This is a serious report that should be mandatory viewing.

Take an hour to bring yourself up to speed.  It will likely scare the hell out you and make you mad.  It will also give you the resolve to finally start making courageous choices while there’s still a chance to turn this around.

Take me to the PBS website to watch “Ten Trillion and Counting”

P.S. The video player looks like a graph depicting the national debt

RethinkingSchools.org offers a free, interactive web application that does a great job of teaching the locations of countries in and around the Middle East.

Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan are mentioned often in the news but few Americans have any idea where any of these places are.

Thirty five countries from this important region of the world are presented in a word pool and the objective is to drag and drop them into the correct positions on a map.  Countries “stick” when they’re in the right spot and you can use trial and error to figure out countries that you’re unsure of.

This ability (trial and error) is where the power lies; I thought I was pretty well versed in geography but soon discovered that I had a lot to learn.

If you’re teaching anything related to this region or just want to become more educated yourself, then go check this out.

Take me to RethinkingSchools.org to learn about other countries