The World Ahead 2024: Five Stories To Watch Out For

The Economist: "What are the stories set to shape 2024? From the biggest election year in history, to how to control AI and even taxis that fly, The Economist offers its annual look at the world ahead." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRMVF0PPqZI&t=4s 00:00 - The World Ahead 2024 00:33 - Vital votes 03:34 - Taxis take off 07:10 - …

Death of Newspapers Leads to Incivility, Hyper-partisan Divisions

PBS News Hour: "Over the past few decades, more than 2,000 newspapers across the country have closed, leaving many communities without a reliable source of local information. Researchers say this crisis in journalism, driven by changes in technology, is fueling the country's political divisions. Judy Woodruff visited a community in Texas that recently lost its …

Wisdom From the Life of a 109-Year-Old Neighbor. What the Writer Learned From Him

The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable Life of a 109-Year-Old Man by David Von Drehle, a writer for The Washington Post, is excerpted in the newspaper, with reflections that include philosophy. Charlie lived half the history of the US. Like everybody else, Charlie experienced tragedy, beginning with the death of his father when …

12 Fascinating Stories About Some of the Giants of History

Writer George Spencer has published more than a dozen outstanding pieces on some amazing characters in history on his Substack site, "Courage 101: True Tales of Grit and Glory." They could be part of a gripping package for beginning students of history or anyone with an interest in the topic. "Hey Bulldog! His Destiny: Save …

Safer, More Efficient, and Cheaper Nuclear Energy Is Coming

Generation IV Nuclear Reactors are still in the research phase, but promise clean energy that is safer, cheaper, more efficient and cheaper than that produced by current nuclear power plants. It will also be able to work with renewable energy in future energy systems. Generation IV plants still have not solved the problem of nuclear …

Might Technological Innovations Put the Brakes on Climate Change?

According to hopeful experts, getting to zero carbon emissions by 2050 is certainly attainable, especially with new technologies, some of which are already in use. In short, there are many reasons to be optimistic rather than pessimistic about the ability of humans to adjust to and ameliorate climate change. The New Yorker, 2021: "Amid an …

Collective Mobilization: How the US Came Together During WWII

Historian Ken Burns pointed out that "in times of crisis, Americans have come together for the greater good. During WWII, General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford Motor Company converted entire factories to support the war effort. At its Willow Run plant in Michigan, Ford produced one B-24 long-range bomber every hour. Here's a #UNUMShort from Ken …

The Rise of Cotton: Crash Course Black American History #13

Crash Course Black American History with Clint Smith, PhD: "Cotton is everywhere in our modern world, and it became a hugely important crop in the 19th century United States. Cotton was a huge economic boon to the US, and much of that wealth was built on the backs of enslaved laborers. And cotton didn't only …

In Social Movements, Media Often Makes A Difference

Media inventions often make a huge difference in the building of social movements. The invention of the smart phone, with the ability to record video, has sparked outrage over police brutality and the killing of unarmed African Americans. A number of observers have argued that police brutality isn't new, just newly recorded and documented. Likewise, …

Hiroshima: Dropping the Bomb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF4LQaWJRDg BBC Studios: "Hear first-hand accounts from the air and ground, re-telling every memory from the day the world first witnessed the horrors of atomic warfare." This four-minute video clip managed to build tension and create fear over the dropping of the first nuclear bomb on Japan in August of 1945. "Mankind invented the atom …