In 2013, just how much did the United States suffer from the government shutdown? Did India's economic slowdown affect its overall security and governance? And did the Arab Spring make any lasting progress toward genuine democracy?

This one was shown this week.

GDELT Global Dashboard Provided through the support of the United States Institute of Peace, this highly experimental prototype dashboard offers an overview of global protests (pink) and conflict (red) across the entire world, as monitored by the GDELT Project, combining a rolling animated map of the past 180 days (visualizing macro-level spatial patterns) with a clickable map of major events monitored over the past 24 hours, updated each morning by 6AM EST.

The interactive map and list includes the name of current president and prime ministers of countries of the World.

Two centuries ago, Paris, a city with a population of half a million, barely extended beyond its medieval footprint. São Paulo was still largely a small trading outpost for gold and exploration expeditions. And Los Angeles was just a pueblo of a few dozen buildings.

Great tool! Population Pyramid of WORLD in 2010

Monday, 105 lawmakers from both parties sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, urging him to change a relatively obscure uniform requirement for the U.S. armed forces that some argue infringes on religious beliefs. People who observe religions that require specific hair or dress traditions have to seek an accommodation from a superior to break the Defense Department's uniform requirements.

This is a good one for us as educators...

Posted: Poverty, disease and broken hearts -- can religion be the answer to these and other problems in today's world? According to a recent Gallup poll, 57% of Americans believe that religion can solve all or most of today's problems. While still a majority belief, the number is down from 82% who believed this in the 1950s, while the number of Americans who believe religion is old fashioned and out of date has grown to 30% from less than 10%.

The Big Religion Comparison Chart is a comparison chart of religions that compares the origins, beliefs, practices, and texts of world religions, small religions, ancient cults and new religious movements.

The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public - and a third of adults under 30 - are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling.

These are great for this unit. Click on the "Abrahamic" religions to show connection with diffusion of those religions. It categorizes them pretty well too.

Not exactly perfect, and very complicated but it is a good visual to show students the connections of a lot of religions.