Speaking of simulations, how about trying your hand at balancing the US federal budget? This simulation lets you go through each departmental category -- defense, non-defense energy, general science, agriculture, transportation, etc. -- and decide which parts to increase and which to decrease. There are two versions; a short version lets you increase/decrease/eliminate by category, while the long version lets you get into the details for each category. It's an incredibly useful -- and sobering -- tool for thinking about how federal budgets work, and what can be done to decrease the deficit while still paying for desired programs.
(Via Boing Boing)
