Good to see Bill Gates and his foundation are making a big push on educational awareness in the US, finding avenues to encourage kids to finish school in ways that actually speak to the kids and not just preach at them . . . in venues or contexts that the kids frequent too . . . the New York Times has a piece about his effort at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/08/AR2009090802422.html (note the dismal . . . no, apalling . . . numbers for American kids who actually finish school . . . in many ways the US is falling way behind quite a few of the countries that Americans like to pretend are backwaters of the world).  US infrastructure is having problems (we have had cellphone service all over the world including some countries that are quite comfortably third world but as soon as we touched down in the US this last trip cell service became problematic) . . . more and more kids are homeless right now in the US . . . education has never been much of a priority for kids who live in the underdeveloped countryside or the urban jungle and now it's become even less a priority for kids who live in the so-called comfortable areas.  This does not bode well unless initiatives are taken right now.  The US has become underproductive and undercompetitive and unfortunately trends seem to point to that continuing.  The Gates program is at least a point in the right direction.