Here’s a new feature that we’ll do on a regular basis. If you know of goodies (podcasts, videos, etc.) related to what we generally discuss here, and if you think other readers might appreciate them, please drop us an email (or post your tips in the comments section below) and we’ll do our best to post them.

Below, you’ll find iTunes’ ranking of the top 25 educational podcasts. For your convenience, we’ve included links to the feed for each podcast so that you can access it any way you like. We’ll aim to
update this list twice per month and highlight what’s new and worth listening to.
#1.

China is the 800 pound gorilla among the new emerging world powers Its economy, says Goldman Sachs, may outsize every economy except the United States by 2016, and even surpass the US as soon as 2039. There is no point in belaboring things. China will be a force to be reckoned with.

Most of the outside world didn’t care. They didn’t even know what Steve Jobs was talking about. But within tech circles it was a big deal, a landmark moment. Jobs’ s anti-DRM manifesto, Thoughts on Music, moved us all closer to the day when music would be set free. (DRM = Digital Rights Management. Get more info here.

If you take even the slightest time to read the newspaper these days, you’ll know that the two
most important emerging powers are India and China.

The only downside to using a feed reader (Bloglines, Google Reader, MyYahoo, etc.) to access Open Culture
is that you won’t be able to see our podcast directories which reside
in our left nav bar. To assist you, we have pasted links below that
will give you direct access to the podcast collections.

Along with Brazil, Russia is the other junior member of the BRICs (see Part 1 for more on the BRIC concept.)
While it’s not necessarily the country that’s first on America’s list of future economic competitors, it’s expected to be a player.

According to a much discussed report by Goldman Sachs, the economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China — or what they collectively call the BRICs — are rapidly growing and could overshadow today’s major economic powers (including the US) by 2050.

Here’s a quick recap of what we brought you this week:

Is America Broken?: A Talk with The Economist’s New Editor-in-Chief
Jazz Great Sonny Rollins on iTunes and Youtube
The Lowdown on the Shiite-Sunni Divide
The Mother Lode of Public Radio Podcasts
A Not-So-Cliché Valentine’s Day
Welcome to the Islamic Reformation (and How

Even if you don’t agree with its Euro conservative posture, The
Economist always comes off as
eminently rational and sensible when
grappling with political issues, and certainly unwilling to put spin
ahead of good reporting, which separates it from many of its American
counterparts.