Brian Gongol
How will teachers be trained to be effective financial-literacy educators?
It should be glaringly obvious that Americans need a dose of financial literacy, and if primary and secondary schools are going to be the places where they'll get it, then someone needs to teach the teachers. We're living in a complicated world, where some people think a massive financial crash could soon happen in China, and where others are credited with avoiding a banking panic in the US. There's no getting around the huge impact that money has on our lives, and the problem of economic ignorance is massively costly, both on an individual basis and on the entire economy.
Guerrilla gardening
A company is selling vending machines with "seed bombs" -- mixtures of clay, compost, and seeds -- that it hopes people will buy and throw into vacant lands. On one hand, it's a great idea -- lots of vacant spaces in urban areas become overgrown with weeds and serve not just as eyesores, but as sources of weed contamination for nicer green spaces nearby. But on the other hand, it's hard not to see this causing some kind of scare at some point or another: The seed bombs look a little like plastic explosives, and it was just two years ago that cartoon characters from "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" put Boston police into a panic. Roll in this weekend's bombing attempt in Times Square, and there are plenty of reasons to expect trouble at some point when a police officer sees someone throwing a seed bomb and suspects something more troublesome afoot. On a related note, though, it's a pleasure to see people dedicating old cigarette vending machines to loftier uses.
Stephen Hawking's visions of life in the universe beyond Earth
(Video)
Chevrolet Suburban turns 75
Quite remarkable that the model has been evolving -- but intact -- for three quarters of a century, or more than half of the time automobiles of any sory have been on the planet. The airline industry, which hasn't been around quite as long as the automobile, has gone through a great deal more convulsions than this one vehicle model.
If the budget hasn't depressed you already...
(Video) ...see it in stacks of pennies
Reenacting those lesser-known incidents in history
Serious flooding in Tennessee
